NewsBytes Briefing: William English, computer mouse co-inventor, dies at 91
A lot has happened over the weekend. William English, the computing pioneer and visionary who helped develop the first-ever computer mouse with Douglas Englebart several decades ago, passed away at the age of 91 on July 26, reported The New York Times. English suffered from respiratory failure, according to the outlet. Here are the other major updates.
Microsoft poised to buy TikTok US and more
Microsoft officially confirmed the plan to buy TikTok in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The company was said to have paused the talks after US President Donald Trump said he would ban the video-sharing service. However, in a blog post, Microsoft said it's resuming discussions following a conversation between CEO Satya Nadella and Trump. The discussions will be completed by September 15.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon brings NASA astronauts home
Elon Musk's SpaceX, as we all expected, was successful in bringing NASA astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, safely back from the International Space Station using its Crew Dragon spacecraft. This return wrapped the first manned spaceflight from the American soil in over nine years and has prepped SpaceX to offer a regular taxi service to the space station and back.
3 charged, 1 arrested in connection with Twitter hack
On July 31, authorities in the US, including FBI, IRS, US Secret Service, and Florida law enforcement, arrested 17-year-old Graham Clark of Tampa, Florida, for being the mastermind behind Twitter's mega hack. Clark reportedly tricked a Twitter employee into giving away their access to internal tools while three others, Nima Fazeli, Mason Sheppard, and unidentified minor, sold access to accounts hijacked through those tools.
Other important developments to note
Among other things, Google is set to launch its all-new Pixel 4a on Monday, just ahead of the first open sale of the new Nord from OnePlus. Beyond that, Apple and Samsung have applied for the Indian Government's PLI scheme to make and sell more smartphones in the country, while WhatsApp's Android beta has revealed 138 new emojis coming to the messaging service.
Finally, some COVID-19-related updates
On Sunday, over 52,000 new coronavirus infections were detected in India, taking the nationwide tally to over 18 lakh, with more than 38,000 deaths. While no vaccine has been approved yet, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla, who is bringing Oxford's shot to India, confirmed that his company is working on its own vaccines, with the goal of making them available by 2021-end.
