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The iPhone 15 is just days from launch, and will come with a change that Apple might never have wanted to make. The company will remove the Lightning port from the bottom of the iPhone, where it has been used for charging and data transfer since the iPhone 5 in 2012. Instead, it will move to USB-C, a slightly larger and more generic port. Apple has long resisted that port, even as it has comes to other Apple devices including its iPads and MacBooks. But it has been forced to do so by new rules coming from the European Union, which seek to reduce clutter and digital waste by requiring companies to use one charger. That new ruling applies to everything: not just phones, but other small electronic devices such as tablets and GPS systems. But since it was announced, much of the discussion has focused on Apple and its iPhone, largely because it was the only major company to resist the change. When the regulation was being discussed, Apple publicly and unusually criticised it. It said that the change would actually lead to more digital waste, since iPhone users would be forced to throw away their old cables, and that it would set a dangerous precedent in allowing governments to change how products are designed. Instead, it encouraged regulators to look at the other end of the cable: the one that plugs into the wall. If that was standardised then users could still rely on having somewhere to plug their cable into, and Apple already sells the iPhone with USB-C to Lightning cables. But late last year, after years of discussions, the European Parliament approved new rules that would require new devices to support USB-C. Apple confirmed soon after that it would comply with the rules. Apple does not intend to mention any of those regulatory changes or its opposition to them when it announces the iPhone at an event next week, however, according to a new report Bloomberg. Instead, it will aim to stress the benefits of the new technology. Apple will focus on the fact that customers will be able to use a single charging cable for their iPhones as well as their Macs and iPads; that there will be faster transfer speeds for the more expensive Pro phones; that charging will also sometimes be faster; and that they can be used with chargers from other, non-Apple devices. Some have suggested that Apple could limit the USB-C phones to Europe. But would have led to supply chain problems and customer confusion, the Bloomberg report suggested. Apple is still faced with a number of drawbacks for the change, however, including spending on the switch and losing money from licensing products that work with Lightning. The biggest danger might be opposition from users: when Apple switched to Lightning in 2012, it received sustained criticism from customers who were forced not only to buy new wires but also new devices such as docks that relied on that connection. This time around, however, customers might be more ready for the switch since USB-C is already used in so many products. The company will also put a USB-C cable in the box, and has been focusing on other charging technologies such as its proprietary MagSafe. However, Apple removed the charging brick from iPhone boxes with the iPhone 12 in 2020, and touted the environmental effects of doing so in a way that suggested it would not add it back again. As such, some customers might find themselves with enough cables, but nothing to plug them into, Bloomberg suggested. Read More Here’s when you will actually be able to get the new iPhone Apple is about to reveal the new iPhone – and a lot more Apple announces major event to reveal new phone Apple says its new product is making people ‘audibly gasp’ The powerful technology hidden in every iPhone – and all around you Vodafone users say they can’t call people

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Just two weeks after fleeing his home with barely more than the clothes on his back and the phone in his pocket, 23-year-old Ashot Gabriel is at a tech conference promoting one of the last things he has left: his startup. He is one of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian refugees who were forced out of Nagorno-Karabakh in late September when Azerbaijani forces retook control of the breakaway enclave. Alongside his two brothers – who evacuated in a single car with their parents and a grandparent on 28 September – Gabriel is now attempting to start a new life from temporary accommodation in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan. “We lost our property, but we also lost ourselves,” he says. “We have lost our previous lives. We are starting everything from scratch.” His online marketing startup, Brothers in Business (BIB), was offered a last-minute stand at the DigiTech Expo, with organisers hoping that technology will help offer a solution for the country. As a landlocked nation lacking the natural resources of its historically hostile neighbours, Armenia’s nascent tech industry is seen as a way to achieve sovereignty and future stability in the long term, while also assisting with the humanitarian crisis in the short term. The country was once a tech hub in the region – one of the world’s first computers was built in Armenia – but much of Armenia’s talent left following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. A new scene emerged when émigrés returned to the country after finding success in Silicon Valley, establishing the country’s internet network and providing a foundation for startups to emerge. There are now an estimated 300 pre-seed-stage startups in Armenia, and around 100 seed-stage startups, in fields ranging from quantum computing to electric bikes. “We have this vision: Tech is the ultimate direction that will help Armenia to succeed,” says Narek Vardanyan, CEO of Prelaunch.com, whose company acts as a platform to help local startups establish themselves on the market. “We are landlocked, we have no natural resources. All we have is talent. And our only way we can develop is technology,” he says. “We don’t have a backup plan. There is no Plan B. We are betting everything on technology.” Armenia’s most successful startup so far is Picsart, an online photo editor that has grown to become the country’s only unicorn – a company with a valuation north of $1 billion. Picsart is among those offering their resources to help refugees, fast-tracking the launch of an educational program that will be offered for free to refugees and war veterans, training and reskilling them in everything from machine learning to graphic design. Hayk Sahakyan, a creative director at Picsart, says there has been a “huge number” of people interested so far, including children. This idea of building up Armenia’s tech industry through education can be found through two privately funded initiatives that are providing free courses in STEM subjects to tens of thousands of young people throughout the country. The first is TUMO, which provides free supplemental education to 12-18 year olds in creative technologies, ranging from game development to music. Since the first TUMO centre opened in Yerevan in 2011, dozens of centres have sprung up throughout Armenia and the rest of the world, including hubs in Berlin, Paris and Los Angeles. One of its six core centres and three smaller “Box” centres had to be abandoned during the Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month. “External circumstances can literally kill us. But whenever anyone asks me whether Armenia has a future, it’s here,” says Zara Budaghyan, head of communications at TUMO. “Technology has the potential to provide a more stable economy, but also better lives. International support has been lacking. We need to rebuild by ourselves. We are broken. But this gives us something to believe in.” The second educational initiative is a network of technology, science and engineering laboratories set up in rural communities, offering children from 10-18 free after school classes. Established by UATE – a business association that also runs the DigiTech Expo – several of the labs in Nagorno-Karabakh also had to be shut down in September. UATE chief executive Sargis Karapetyan, who grew up in the region, says around 200 of his relatives were among the refugees. Karapetyan considered cancelling the DigiTech conference, saying there is still a deep distrust of Azerbaijan. There are fears that the annex was only part one. The next stage, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes could happen “within weeks”, could be an invasion to establish a land corridor between the two parts of Azerbaijan. When asked what prompted the decision to persevere with the tech conference despite personal tragedy and the threat of further chaos, Karapetyan replies: "Technology will save the world.” Read More Scientists receive powerful ‘radio burst’ that travelled billions of years Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta’s new AI Ray-Bans to braid daughter’s hair Solar energy is set to eclipse fossil fuels as world passes ‘tipping point’ Scientists receive powerful ‘radio burst’ that travelled billions of years Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta’s new AI Ray-Bans to braid daughter’s hair Solar energy is set to eclipse fossil fuels as world passes ‘tipping point’

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