The FDA bans the sale of Juul e-cigarettes, Meta sees a promising future ahead, and Netflix is speaking with potential partners to help it enter the advertising space.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Friday, June 24, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is banning the sale of Juul e-cigarettes in the U.S. The ban is part of the FDA’s broader review of the vaping industry following years of pressure from politicians and public health professionals when vaping became more common among high schoolers. Juul had sought approval from the agency for its vaping device and tobacco pods, which are available at five per cent and three per cent nicotine strengths. Juul’s international expansion efforts haven’t taken off due to regulations and a lack of consumer interest, making the U.S. its largest market. According to CNBC, Juul intends to seek a stay on the decision and is exploring options, which include appealing the decision or engaging with the FDA.
Source: CNBC
An operating system built by Meta could be in the works as Mark Zuckerberg wants the metaverse to be a major part of the company’s business this decade. Zuckerberg did not shut down the idea of creating an operating system for his company’s various platforms when asked about it on CNBC’s “Mad Money.” He added that by the end of this decade, he expects one billion users in the metaverse, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue. The Meta CEO said the plan all along has been to get to “One billion or two billion users and scale from there.”
Source: Business Insider
Netflix confirmed that the streaming company is speaking to multiple potential partners to help it enter the advertising business. The streaming service’s co-chief Executive Ted Sarandos said that the company may even build its own ad business in the future, according to The Wall Street Journal. Netflix said in April that it’s interesting in an ad-supported version of its platform and in recent weeks has talked with various partners that could help enact those plans. In fact, the company has allegedly been in talks with Google and Freewheel to provide an ad server. With that said, the company is still easing into the market to find out which approach works best.
Source: Wall Street Journal
If the only thing that’s stopping you from switching to an electric vehicle (EV) is long charging times, you may be in luck. American company Enovix has unveiled a new EV battery that can be charged to almost 100 per cent capacity in under 10 minutes, breaking records for electric vehicle battery charging. The silicon anode technology helps the battery charge from zero per cent to 80 per cent in just about five minutes. Enovix’s battery could eradicate one of the major obstacles people face when buying one, namely the amount of time required to recharge the vehicle. The company’s chief executive officer said fast charging capabilities could help accelerate the mass adoption of EV.
Source: Daily Star
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Tom Li.