NewsBytes Briefing: LG might shutter mobile phone business, and more
Excited about the upcoming LG rollable phone? Buying one might be a bit difficult since LG could shut down its smartphone arm by April. The beleaguered Korean mobile phone maker has been racking up losses by the billions and LG is unable to find a buyer for it. Given the circumstances, LG may find it wiser to just shut down the whole operation instead.
Microsoft wants its employees back in office by next week
While LG is scrambling to shut down its mobile business, Microsoft will reopen its Redmond headquarters next week. Starting March 29, Microsoft will give even non-essential employees the option to either work from home or office, or a mix of both. But with more than 53,000 employees in the campus, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will handle the state's office occupancy restrictions.
Microsoft get serious with Xbox with plans to purchase Discord
In more Microsoft news, the company is in talks to purchase gaming-centric voice and chat platform Discord for $10 billion. While Microsoft already owns Skype, that has nowhere near the competence or versatility of Discord, which is the choice of geeks all around due to its infinitely customizable discussion servers. Microsoft is basically spending the big bucks to rope in a younger demographic.
Banking and payment apps crumble due to Android's WebView bungle
Few realize how most smartphone apps are glorified front ends for existing websites. Android users were intimately reminded of this fact by the recent fiasco involving Android System WebView, which is a system component that allows apps to display web content. A glitch in the critical system component affected Gmail, Google Pay, and several banking apps, which heavily depend on WebView for basic functionality.
NASA literally blows the lid off its robotic Mars helicopter
Finally, here's something that didn't crash—NASA's Ingenuity helicopter. That's largely because it hasn't flown yet. However, NASA managed to successfully blow off the protective armor revealing the first rotorcraft to operate on another planet. Even when it does manage to fly in the future, the initial flight will be three meters off the ground. They don't call it a small step for nothing.
