Chip shortages are hurting auto manufacturers, Facebook isn’t going to notify the half a billion users whose data got leaked, and Verizon issues a recall for its hotspot devices due to a fire hazard.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Friday, April 9 and I’m your host Alex Coop.
General Motors is the latest auto manufacturer to sound the alarm bells over the global semiconductor chip shortage. CNBC is reporting that GM is halting production at its plants in Tennessee, Michigan and Mexico later this month and expecting other plant shutdowns in Kansas and Canada through mid-May. Ford made a similar announcement last week, noting impacted plants are in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri and Ontario, Canada. Didn’t think that chip shortage was going to a big deal? Think again.
Facebook says it won’t notify the more than half a billion people caught up in the huge leak of personal information. The news comes on the heels of a huge data breach involving more than 530 million users’ data. The leaked information includes phone numbers, dates of birth, and more. Facebook says malicious actors scraped profiles using platform vulnerabilities years ago, and that it didn’t inform users when the leak happened, and doesn’t have plans to do so now. A spokesperson for the social media giant told the Independant that Facebook was not confident it had full visibility on which users would need to be notified. Yeah, that should lead to a pretty hefty GDPR fine.
And lastly, Verizon is recalling 2.5 million hotspot devices after discovering that the lithium ion battery can overheat, creating a fire and burning hazard. The recall impacts Ellipsis Jetpack mobile hotspots imported by Franklin Wireless Corp, which were sold between April 2017 and March 2021. A Verizon spokesperson told CNBC that just over 1 million of the recalled devices are currently in use, meaning currently or recently used by customers.
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 Briefing 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. I’m Alex Coop, thanks for listening!