Category: european commission
Facebook and Disney to downgrade streaming quality in Europe due to COVID-19
Facebook is temporarily downgrading the quality of video streaming in Europe on its social platforms Facebook and Instagram in response to a call for action from the European Commission, per Reuters. Disney has also said it will work to shrink bandwidth used by its streaming service, Disney+, which is due…
Read More
YouTube goes SD streaming by default in Europe due to COVID-19
YouTube has switched to standard definition streaming by default in Europe. We asked the company if it planned to do this yesterday — today a spokeswoman confirmed the step. The move was reported earlier by Reuters. It’s a temporary measure in response to calls by the European Commission for streaming…
Read More
Startups developing tech to combat COVID-19 urged to apply for fast-track EU funding
The European Commission put out a call Friday for startups and small businesses which are developing technologies that could help combat the COVID-19 outbreak to apply for fast-track EU funding. The push is related to a €164M pot of money that’s being made available for R&D via the European Innovation…
Read More
European Commission goes teleworking by default over COVID-19
The European Commission is switching all staff in “non-critical functions” to remote working from next Monday in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In an email sent to staff today the Commission writes that president Ursula von der Leyen has activated a business continuity plan that requires all but those in…
Read More
European lawmakers propose a ‘right to repair’ for mobiles and laptops
The European Commission has set out a plan to move towards a ‘right to repair’ for electronics devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. More generally it wants to restrict single-use products, tackle “premature obsolescence” and ban the destruction of unsold durable goods — in order to make sustainable…
Read More
European Parliament moves to majority teleworking in response to COVID-19
The European Parliament is instructing managers to prepare for all but a minority of staff to work remotely for 70% of the week as of next Monday — dialling up its response to Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Full-time remote working may follow, it has also said.…
Read More