ShinyShiny tech roundup: Perfect electric car revealed on EV day

Image: AutoExpress

The perfect electric car for 2021 will boast the charging speed of the Porsche Taycan, the practicality of a Citroen e-Berlingo, the interior of a BMW i3 and the range of a Mercedes EQS. These qualities, and more, have been combined to create the Autovia EV-21, revealed today, on World EV Day. Autovia, publisher of Auto Express, Carbuyer and DrivingElectric, has crunched data from the Driver Power ownership satisfaction survey, pooled market information from the group’s car sales site BuyaCar.co.uk, and used its own expert insight to identify the qualities that car buyers think make up the perfect EV. The result is the Autovia EV-21, a hypothetical car constructed from the key elements of the very best new electric cars on sale today, a vehicle that proves the tipping point for new electric cars is already here. AutoExpress

The mum of one of the world’s best professional Fortnite players has signed a contract with a gaming organisation to develop her own career. Anne Fish, 58, has managed her son Benjy “Benjyfishy” Fish, since he went professional three years ago. The British gamer says she began playing the game in February to improve her understanding. She quickly amassed a large following online and has now signed a paid contract with an esports firm. “I never thought in a million years that I would ever be playing Fortnite or streaming online or ever be in a position to be able to be signed by an organisation, so it’s really exciting,” she said. Anne streams her games on Twitch to her 430,000 followers and puts out videos of her matches to her growing YouTube fanbase of 165,000. BBC

Facebook has been accused of breaching equality laws after its technology was found to favour men when targeting job adverts for male-dominated roles such as mechanics and pilots. The campaign group Global Witness has filed complaints with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Information Commissioner, claiming a Facebook algorithm designed to show jobs to the most interested candidates is discriminatory. In one case, 96pc of those who viewed an advert for a mechanic were men, while 95pc of those who saw a nursery nurse posting were women. Adverts for pilot positions were disproportionately seen by men, while those for psychologists were far more likely to be seen by women. Telegraph

Australia’s highest court on Wednesday made a landmark ruling that media outlets are “publishers” of allegedly defamatory comments posted by third parties on their official Facebook pages. The High Court dismissed an argument by some of Australia’s largest media organizations — Fairfax Media Publications, Nationwide News and Australian News Channel — that for people to be publishers, they must be aware of the defamatory content and intend to convey it. The court found in a 5-2 majority decision that by facilitating and encouraging the comments, the companies had participated in their communication. AP News

Social media influencers who receive money from companies to promote products must clearly label such posts as advertisements, a top German court ruled on Thursday. If the influencers are not paid, they can show products without the advertising label, the Federal Court of Justice ruled in the cases of three influencers on Facebook’s (FB.O) social media site Instagram. Influencers with thousands of followers can earn large fees from companies to promotes a product on Instagram. The court said one fitness influencer should have been clear she was advertising when she was paid to promote a brand of jam. Reuters

Chris Price