Welcome to a special (UK) Bank Holiday edition of the 404.
I realise I have the minimum amount of your attention today, and that you’re achieving things the 404 isn’t intellectually or creatively capable of doing. But here goes!
Headlines
Microsoft Flight Simulator has been turning heads since its release almost two weeks ago. Players and observers alike have been transfixed by its photorealistic graphics.
Some pilots have been using the real time weather feature to track real weather events, such as Hurricane Laura.
I spoke to two of these virtual storm chasers:
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It’s been yet another big week for TikTok. On Thursday, CEO Kevin Mayer threw in the towel, citing the ‘structural changes’ and changes to his role as a result of a possible ban in the US.
The very same day, Walmart became the latest company to throw its hat in the acquisition ring. The retail giant could help Microsoft in its bid to take over TikTok parent company Bytedance.
Counter Donald Trump’s claims that the Chinese government could gain access to the huge amount of US user data the app collects, its head of security states the data is stored in the US.
An individual employee has joined Bytedance in suing Donald Trump over the proposed ban.
Across the pond, the British government is likely to place restrictions on TikTok, but won’t stop the app from establishing its international HQ in the UK.
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Despite a ban, posts praising the actions of alledged shooter Kyle Rittenhouse have spread across Facebook despite a ban.
Despite the platform designating the event as a mass shooting, which invokes a ban on praise and support, one fundraiser for Rittenhouse was shared 17,000 times.
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A wave of accounts shared an identical message criticising the NBA players decision to boycott the Playoffs in response to Jacob Blake’s near fatal shooting.
The message is more likely copied and pasted by accounts belonging to real people, rather than automated bot accounts.
BBC reporter Marianne Spring made the observation, linking the chain tweet to another, election themed one she reported on about widely shared earlier in the week.
Twitter also announced it will automatically hide tweets which are copied and pasted without modification.
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In response to Epic’s decision to circumvent App Store rules, and take Apple to court could have grave consequences. Apple is now threatening to cut support for the Unreal Engine, Epic’s huge suite of game building tools used by third parties.
A restraining order temporarily preventing Apple from cutting support is in place. It does not however, compel Apple to put Fortnite back on the App Store.
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Donald Trump’s other proposed social media ban would prevent US citizens from conducting transactions on WeChat, a Chinese messaging and commerce App.
This could effect the way Hollywood companies do business with contacts in China.
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BBC Sport has introduced new measures to combat hateful comments. The measures, including blocking accounts and referring more serious cases to the authorities, will apply across all of its social media accounts.
They come after a BBC Sport survey showed nearly a third of elite women athletes have been abused online.
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In India, 2000 third party sellers using Amazon have clubbed together to file an anti-trust suit against the company. Investigations into Amazon’s treatment of third party sellers are ongoing in Canada and Germany.
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The Bank holiday momentarily came a week early for some, as Zoom experienced widespread outages on Monday morning.
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It might be time to change your Fortnite password: the selling stolen accounts comprises a black market worth $1 billion annually.
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