‘Reasonable evidence’ Tesla knew about problems, PlayStation 5 Slim pre-orders live in UK


A judge has found “reasonable evidence” that Elon Musk and other executives at Tesla knew that the company’s self-driving technology was defective but still allowed the cars to be driven in an unsafe manner anyway, according to a recent ruling issued in Florida. Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge Reid Scott said he had found evidence that Tesla “engaged in a marketing strategy that painted the products as autonomous” and that Musk’s public statements about the technology “had a significant effect on the belief about the capabilities of the products”. The Guardian 

The threat of fraud and cyber scams is a 365-days-a-year problem when it comes to online shopping. But just as the rate at which retailers hit you with promo emails scales up at this time of year, so too does the risk of falling foul of criminals trying to access your bank account. According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), shoppers lost more than £10m to cyber criminals over last year’s festive shopping period. Sky News 

Image: Sony

Sony has begun taking UK pre-orders for the PlayStation 5 Slim, its redesigned PS5 model that now offers an optional disc drive. The PS5 UK release date is next Wednesday 29th November, and as of this morning you can now pre-order one via Sony’s own online store PlayStation Direct, priced £479.99. This is for the model with a disc drive, rather than without. Other retailers have begun offering the PS5 Slim too, with Amazon offering both the PS5 Slim with a disc drive (also at £479) and the PS5 Slim without a disc drive (for £389). Both models feature the same 1TB of onboard storage. Eurogamer 

Apple is unlikely to put a fingerprint scanner of any kind in any of its future iPhones. According to a Chinese report, Apple has reportedly shut down the tools it used to produce and enable Touch ID in the past, while the last of the Touch ID components were used in the third-gen iPhone SE (2022). Apple is expected to adopt a full-screen design for the fourth-generation iPhone SE with Face ID on board, instead of developing an under-display Touch ID sensor as most Android makers do. GSM Arena 

Kurfürstendamm, Berlin’s famous boulevard. The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) is visible in the distance – Berlin, Germany

One of the biggest creditors in Volta Trucks, the electric vehicle start-up which filed for bankruptcy last month, is closing in on a deal to buy it from administrators. Sky News has learnt that Luxor Capital Group, which was both a shareholder in and lender to Volta, is in advanced talks with the company’s administrators about a deal that could salvage hundreds of British jobs. Automotive industry sources said on Thursday that Luxor had emerged as the likeliest buyer of the UK-based operation. Sky News 

Computer chipmaker Broadcom has completed its $69bn (£55bn) acquisition of cloud computing firm VMware, wrapping up one of the biggest takeover deals in the technology sector. The deal was scrutinised by regulators around the world ahead of last clearance from China. There were concerns it could be affected by US-China tensions. The approval follows a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at Apec summit in the US last week. BBC 

Chris Price