Victoria Fox's Blog, page 149
January 4, 2024
Apple is risking 80 billion in 2024 in a wave of legal battles
New EU regulations and crucial cases in US courts will test the profitability of the technology giant’s services business this year.
Apple will face several legal battles in 2024 . The decisions made by the US and EU authorities in the coming months will determine the future of its services business, which generates 85 billion dollars (78 billion euros)
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January 3, 2024
Orange suffers a drop in internet service throughout Spain due to a cyber attack
The telecommunications company Orange has experienced the fall of its Internet service in Spain during the afternoon of Wednesday after being the victim of a cyber attack that has affected network management.
The French company has indicated through its profile on the social network some of his clients.
Precisely, through the same social network, users of the Orange service have reported that “they have been without Internet access all afternoon”, from different parts of the country, such as Barcelona or Asturias.
As revealed by the Downdetector portal, the number of notices about the Orange service would have skyrocketed around 4:00 p.m. , with a peak around 5:30 p.m., the time after which the reporting of incidents would have decreased.
The entity has indicated around 8:00 p.m. that “the service is practically restored” , despite the fact that there are still clients who cannot connect to the network.
On the other hand, Orange has highlighted that in “no case is our customers’ data compromised” and that the cyberattack “has only affected the browsing of some services.”
The new 'veto' on Huawei threatens the profitability of Zegona and Orange
The Executive will be able to set the 5G equipment supply policy for each operator, which anticipates more restrictions on Chinese equipment that would have a high cost for the two companies.
The Government has attributed the power to directly set the supplier strategy of telecommunications operators that have 5G networks in Spain, which may imply that the Executive requires them to reduce or completely eliminate
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Or sign up with your Google account in two clicksVoxel will strengthen in Europe and the Middle East after growing 22% in 2023
The technology firm based in Barcelona closed last year with sales of 18 million, the highest in its history.
Voxel , a Catalan technology company specialized in electronic invoicing and payment solutions between companies , closed last year with revenues of 18 million euros, the highest in its history, and with a year-on-year growth of 22%.
Looking ahead to 2024, the company aims to improve this data and increase its business by 24% to reach 23 million euros. It will do so with a very clear objective: to strengthen itself abroad, which already represents 70% of its business , especially in Germany, France, Benelux, Central Europe and Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
This year, Voxel also foresees greater activity in Spain, “given the approval of the new electronic billing regulations by the Government,” the firm’s CEO, Ángel Garrido, tells EXPANSIÓN.
Solutions in this area for tourism and restaurant companies are the core of the business, which has just been complemented with the launch of a payment platform between companies in these sectors. “If now the most widespread formula is virtual payment cards, we have introduced alternatives, since what this industry was asking for were more flexible mechanisms,” adds the manager.
The challenge that Voxel sets itself in the medium term, three years from now, is that digital payment systems for companies end up being their main source of income, without neglecting electronic invoicing and everything that is associated with it, such as “regulatory compliance.” , says Garrido.
Voxel has 206 employees distributed between Barcelona, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Melbourne (Australia). This last delegation was incorporated after purchasing a company specialized in payment solutions in 2021 to consolidate itself in Asia-Pacific.
Founded in 1998, Voxel works worldwide with 50,000 hotels; a thousand travel agencies and tour operators ; 1,200 food, beverage and maintenance suppliers and 3,000 restaurants and franchises. In total, the firm manages one hundred million electronic invoices a year in more than one hundred countries.
Telefónica signs the ERE for 3,421 employees that will cost 1,300 million
Telefónica has closed today with the unions the ERE for 3,421 employees, with an expense that the operator has placed at 1,300 million.
Telefónica has closed today with the unions UGT, CCOO and Sumados-Fetico the ERE by which it will reduce its workforce in Spain by 3,421 employees . The operator has informed the CNMV that it foresees a cost of 1,300 million for these layoffs, which represents a unit cost of 380,000 euros per worker, well below the cost of the latest exit plans.
The company has indicated in a relevant fact that “the current value of the Plan expenditure is estimated at a provision of around 1,300 million euros (before taxes), without impact on cash. The average annual savings of direct expenses will be around of 285 million euros from 2025. In any case, the impact on cash generation will be positive from 2024 , as will the capture of savings, since the departure of employees is estimated to take place from the first quarter of 2024. “.
The agreements have been unanimously supported by the company and the workers’ representation (UGT, CCOO and Sumados), with 24 votes in favor , zero against and no abstentions, as reported by the company to the National Markets Commission. and Values.
As CCOO sources had informed Europa Press, the union was still waiting for its state council to meet this Wednesday morning to ratify the pre-agreements of the collective agreement of related companies and the collective dismissal, as has finally happened, since some areas of the union had been against the approval of the ERE due, mainly, to the insistence on the part of the company that, in the event that the total number of planned departures with voluntary resignations was not reached, there would be forced dismissals .
Cut casualtiesTelefónica has proposed 2,958 departures for Telefónica de España , almost 28% less than the 4,085 that were proposed at the beginning of the negotiations; 397 in Telefónica Móviles , almost 59% less than the initial 958, and 66 in Telefónica Soluciones , almost 19% less than the initial 81.
Therefore, the company has reduced the impact of the collective dismissal by 33% in relation to the 5,124 departures that it proposed to the unions at the beginning of the negotiations.
Likewise, the company has improved the economic conditions offered to employees who will finally leave the company and has brought them into line with those of the previous exit plan, negotiated in 2021.
ConditionsIn the proposal conveyed to the unions on December 21, Telefónica offered employees born in 1968 an income of 68% of the regulatory salary until the age of 63 and 38% until the age of 65.
For those born in 1967, 1966, 1965 or 1964 , 62% of the regulatory salary until age 63 and 34% until age 65, to which is added a voluntary bonus of 10,000 euros.
Meanwhile, for workers born in 1963 or previous years, it offers an income of 52% of the regulatory salary until age 63 and 34% until age 65, to which it has also added a voluntary bonus of 10,000 euros.
Likewise, the final ERE proposal by Telefónica includes the reversibility of income, which implies that in the event of death the legal heirs will receive the pending compensation.
Also included is the payment of the employee’s Social Security discount during unemployment, group insurance up to age 63, and 100% basic health policy up to age 63 (or as long as the Special Social Security Agreement is paid).
In addition, it includes the departure of the 100 employees who were not able to do so in the previous exit plan , among other issues.
The period of affiliation to the ERE will take place between January 9 and February 8, 2024 and the company’s response will be on February 14. Departures will mainly begin on February 29 of next year , but the ERE will be open until March 31, 2025.
New agreementIn turn, on December 21, Telefónica and the unions reached a pre-agreement for a new collective agreement of related companies (CEV) that will come into force on January 1, 2024 and will extend until December 31, 2026, although with the possibility of extending it for another year.
This pre-agreement includes issues such as the maintenance of the current salary review clause linked to inflation , which takes the form of a proposal for a salary increase of 1.5% per year and a review in relation to the CPI at the end of the agreement.
Also an October “productivity bonus” of 300 euros with 150 euros consolidated for each year of validity of the agreement and the maintenance of bienniums and seniority without limitation.
Regarding the working day , the company accepted the unions’ request to reduce it to 36 hours during the validity of the agreement, while including six days for “unforeseen and urgent matters or personal matters without justification.”
Another element that it includes is the flexible weekly working hours, where the bonus will be improved “up to 30% of the consequent reduction.”
The current dental policy will also be maintained and will be extended to the entire staff of the three legal companies (Telefónica de España, Móviles and Soluciones).
Amazon is finally taking down its Drive cloud storage today
Today, Amazon is finally pulling the plug on its Drive cloud storage service. Starting tomorrow, any data still present in the cloud will no longer be accessible, at least not via the Amazon Drive app or website.
Assuming an information page, you can still access your files via Amazon Photos. It is not entirely clear whether this only concerns photos and videos and other file formats are deleted. Files in the recycle bin will be lost anyway.
The Amazon Drive app.
With Amazon Photos you get 5GB of cloud storage for free. Amazon Prime members are allowed to store unlimited photos (and up to 5 GB of video). Subscriptions for extra storage space (up to 1 TB) can also be taken out.
Source: Amazon
Hardware.Info TV: a household name in the Dutch tech community
Hardware.Info TV was a household name in the Dutch tech community. We were early with this concept; the first episodes were made in 2006. To illustrate: Linus Tech Tips had not yet started its videos on YouTube. In addition, the Hardware.Info TV episodes were longer; they lasted 10 to 20 minutes. Frank Everaardt really wanted the concept to continue and new episodes to appear regularly. Over time, they even became mandatory at some technical colleges. The format was based on a host who often interviewed someone from the Hardware Info editorial team about innovations in the hardware field.
Although I was certainly not a fan of the first hour, I watched all the longer episodes of Hardware.Info TV on YouTube. When the original concept stopped about three years ago, it was a loss for Dutch tech YouTube. Although the format continued for another two years under the name Tweakers Tech Hub, it was no longer the same. The last Hardware.Info TV episode was posted online on August 28, 2020.
In honor of Hardware.Info TV, we searched for – and found – the first and last episodes and briefly discuss the top 15 episodes that got the most views on YouTube. In addition, we would like to give you as readers the opportunity to place a request under this article to add some of your personal favorite episodes.
The first and last episode of Hardware.Info TVThe first episode of Hardware.Info TV was provided by Koen Crijns and Frank Everaardt. This episode was not yet on YouTube, but could be viewed via the website itself.
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Frank and Koen were (slightly) younger than they are now. A first for that time was that the videos were already recorded in HD quality at 720p. The first episode discussed separate coolers and – for that time – chunky laptops. With that first episode, the gentlemen created a concept that has been successful for thirteen years.
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The last episode was a Viewers’ Questions special with Koen Crijns and Eric van Ballegoie. Topics discussed in this episode in 2020 included the TV as a monitor, new GPUs and CPUs, and flight sims. The recordings were now made in 4k and the entire production appeared a lot more professional. The team was shooting three episodes a week around this time. After this last Hardware Info TV episode, the channel was renamed Tweakers Tech Hub; in that sense it continued to exist under a different name – but it was no longer the same as before.
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January 2, 2024
Bernd Fix: The virus came in the mail
The computer virus comes by letter from East Frisia. This is the state of the art in 1987. In his student apartment in Heidelberg, Bernd Fix fumbles a diskette out of an envelope. He slides it into the drive on his computer.
At that point, the virus on the disk had already traveled over a thousand kilometers in the mail, taking a detour via fellow hackers in East Frisia and Vienna. It is still unclear who developed the virus. The program is one of the first computer viruses to spread freely. It later becomes known as the Vienna virus.
January 1, 2024
Samsung's upcoming QD-OLED, Neo QLED and QLED TVs make early appearances
The line-up of televisions that Samsung will probably show during the CES 2024 trade fair has appeared online early. DisplaySpecifications discovered the QLED, Neo QLED and QD OLED TVs in the certification of the South Korean inspection body NRRA. It is said that the next QD-OLED flagship, the S95D, will be released in the US and Europe in sizes of 55″, 65″ and 75″. The same applies to the successor to the S90C, the S90D, which will also be released must make at the fair. Further specifications of these devices are not yet known.
In addition, four new Neo QLED models, which use miniLED technology, will be available. This concerns the 8k top model QN800D, which will be available in sizes of 65″, 75″ and 85″, and three 4k TVs (the QN85D, QN90D and QN95D). According to SamMobile, the latter three will probably be available in 55″ , 65″, 75″ and 85″ formats, although the site claims that a 95-inch version of some models will probably also be made. In addition, these televisions will have a refresh rate of 120Hz.
Furthermore, DisplaySpecifications mentions the arrival of three 4k-120Hz OLED screens, the Q70D, Q75D and Q80D, with sizes varying between 55″ and 85″ (with the latter TV model also being available in 98″). Finally, there should be two new versions in the Crystal UHD line will be available. The smallest possible size of the DU8000 and DU8500 is reportedly 43 inches, while at their largest they measure 75 inches.
Sources: DisplaySpecifications, SamMobile
Sapphire releases RX 6750 GRE graphics card, but only in China
Sapphire has released a new AMD Radeon RX 6750 GRE model, the so-called Black Diamond Edition. You can get it in China for the equivalent of €385.
It is unclear whether the card will be available outside of this region. GRE cards (‘Golden Rabbit Edition’) are in principle only released on the Chinese market, although the RX 7900 GRE has already been spotted a number of times in Europe, for quite interesting prices.
The RX 6750 GRE Black Diamond Edition.
AMD’s RX 6750 GRE comes in 10 and 12 GB variants, and judging by the specs, it appears to be rebrands of the RX 6700 and the RX 6700 XT (and not the RX 6750 XT) respectively. Sapphires Black Diamond Edition card is based on the 12 GB-6750 GRE. For the time being we have to make do with the regular RX 6700 XT, currently available for around €360.
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