There is a date: the European Union has determined that December 28, 2024 will be the deadline after which all phones (and, for that matter, tablets and other new gadgets on the market) will have to include a USB-C input for wired charging.
Laptops will be required to switch to USB-C by April 2026.
In other words, this is the absolute deadline in which Apple - the last significant company that does not use the standard charging connection today - will be able to align with the new law, which, as I remember, was approved by the Union about two months ago.
Will you line up?
Apple, photo: I.P
The law will actually go into effect in twenty days - December 28, 2022 - but the member states of the Union are given 24 months to implement it in practice, so that Apple (which has already announced its willingness to comply with the union's demand and move to USB-C), gets two full years to organize for the move and make the changes the necessities in its production lines.
Estimates in the industry are that as early as next year, the first iPhones will arrive in stores that will abandon Apple's old Lightning connection in favor of USB-C, but the American company has not yet announced which models these are.
Laptops will be required to switch to USB-C by April 2026, Photo: None
"TikTok is a wolf in sheep's clothing": a lawsuit against the Chinese giant
The state of Indiana in the USA is suing Tiktok on the grounds that Bitdance, the Chinese parent company of the world's leading social platform for youth, is violating the country's consumer protection laws. These are two separate lawsuits that were filed yesterday (Wednesday) in court.
In the first lawsuit, it is claimed that Tiktok exposes its young users to inappropriate content, while the second lawsuit claims that Tiktok does not bring to the public's attention the ability of the Chinese government to extract from the application sensitive consumer information of the users.
US-China war? Tiktok, photo: Reuters
"TikTok is a wolf in sheep's clothing," the lawsuit said.
"As long as it can deceive and mislead consumers about the risks associated with their information, those consumers and their privacy are easy prey."
The lawsuit also claims that TikTok's algorithm exposes users to inappropriate content such as alcohol, smoking, drugs and sex.
When it comes to minors, this is indeed a problem, especially in view of the fact that the age limit for the application in Google and Apple stores is 12.
A wolf in sheep's clothing?
Tiktok, photo: Reuters
Although the discussions are still at the beginning, a spokesperson for Tiktok said that "the safety and privacy of our community is a top priority", clarified that the company invests heavily in the development of new security mechanisms, and noted that Tiktok is confident that it will be able to answer "all US national security concerns" .
The lawsuit by the state of Indiana comes about a month after the FBI declared that the app poses a threat to US national security, because Chinese law requires all Chinese companies to comply with the government's requirements and share information with it. More to come.
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