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Dithering Digest #12 — Weekly Tech Roundup — Intelligent Dithering
Welcome to issue #12 of the Dithering Digest Weekly Tech Roundup of geeky news and links.
The news in the UK has been dominated by the ongoing enquiry into the Fujitsu / Horizon Post Office scandal. More and more damning evidence has been coming out showing that Fujitsu were aware of bugs in the system right from the start, and yet it has taken some 15 years since the problem was first reported on to get justice.
We are increasingly reliant on software, and it can never be assumed that the system is always right. And with the advance in AI, these systems will become harder to analyse and problems like this could become more common. Tight regulation and scrutiny of these systems will be essential to avoid catastrophe in the future.
Have a lovely weekend, and enjoy the links.
$1 billion knocked of Fujitsu market cap
As a result of the botched handling of the Horizon / Post Office scandal which resulted in almost a thousand postmasters falsely accused of theft / fraud, Fujitsu have seen share price plummet. A small price to pay for the horror that was inflicted on innocent users of their faulty software. Many of the victims ended up bankrupt, isolated from family and in at least 4 instances, committed suicide.
Apple lose patent battle and remove blood oxygen sensing
Apple have lost their battle with Masimo over the use of the blood oxygen sensor in the Ultra 2 and Series 9 Apple Watch. The ban will only affect sales of Apple Watch in the US, so it looks like they will give special serial numbers to units being sold in the US and disable the blood oxygen sensor via software. In the event they get the ban overturned on appeal they can simply issue a software update to re-enable the sensors on those devices.
