ShinyShiny snippets: Kanye announces Twitter return with ‘shalom’

    Kanye West has returned to Twitter with the Hebrew word "shalom" after his account was previously blocked for antisemitic posts. He posted the word - often translated as "peace" but also used as a greeting or farewell - with a smiling emoji on Sunday evening. A few hours before, he tweeted: "Testing Testing…

ShinyShiny snippets: Trump back on Twitter after poll decision!

Donald Trump is back on Twitter after an online poll voted for his return. The platform's new owner Elon Musk had announced on Saturday evening that, following the vote, the former president would be reinstated, almost two years after he was removed following the 6 January US Capitol riots.  On hearing the news, the former…

ShinyShiny snippets: Twitter staff locked out of office until next week

Elon Musk has locked Twitter staff out of offices until next week as hundreds of employees reportedly resigned after being given an ultimatum by the billionaire. The closure until Monday was revealed in an email to staff and no reason was given. Hundreds of employees have quit the company after Mr Musk told staff they…

ShinyShiny snippets: UK’s EV Road Tax exemption to end

Electric vehicles will not be exempt from vehicle excise duty – or road tax – from April 2025, the UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said. Announcing the change as part of his Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt said the move was designed to make the motoring tax system “fairer”. Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is a tax…

ShinyShiny snippets: NASA sends Artemis rocket to moon

NASA's most powerful rocket ever has launched into space in the first step of a mission to return humans to the moon. The next-generation, multibillion-dollar Space Launch System lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with the Orion spacecraft in tow. It surged off the launch pad…

ShinyShiny snippets: Pics of Google Pixel Fold phone leaked

  These leaked high-quality pictures illustrate the design of the highly anticipated Google Pixel Fold (Image: Front Page Tech) While many Android fans may have already upgraded to the recently released Pixel 7 series of smartphones (from US$596 on Amazon), tech enthusiasts who are looking for a brand-new and fresh form…

ShinyShiny snippets: Concerns over speed put people off broadband social tariffs

Concerns about broadband speed are putting eligible households off signing up for discounted broadband deals, research from Which? has shown. It surveyed more than 2,000 people eligible for fixed broadband social tariffs to uncover the barriers to signing up. Worryingly, four in 10 of those surveyed who are eligible for and aware of social tariffs…

ShinyShiny snippets: Meta slashes 11,000 jobs to cut costs

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has become the latest big tech player to wield the axe in the tougher global economy, laying off 13% of its workforce. The firm announced on Wednesday it will cut its global headcount by more than 11,000 employees as part of a wider shake-up of the business that…

ShinyShiny snippets: iPhone maker invests in Tesla Cybertruck challenger

Lordstown Motors' electric pick-up truck, the Endurance Foxconn, which makes iPhones for Apple, says it is deepening its investment in a US electric pick-up truck firm, which could challenge Tesla's Cybertruck. The technology giant is spending up to $170m (£147.8m) on shares in the loss-making start-up Lordstown Motors. The major cash…

ShinyShiny snippets: Virgin sells stake in Hyperloop

Sir Richard Branson is preparing to sell off Virgin’s stake in a US hyperloop start-up as interest in the technology envisioned by Twitter billionaire Elon Musk fades. A source said Virgin will begin stripping its branding from US business Hyperloop One over the coming weeks and will divest its equity stake at the same time.…