Opening thoughts. Meta Platforms Inc. is shutting down a feature that it says never truly caught on. End-to-end encryption for Instagram direct messages (or as the cool kids call it, DMs) will no longer be supported after 8 May.
Mind you, unlike WhatsApp, end-to-end encryption was never a default setting on Instagram DMs—except some users in some geographies had the ability to opt-in. If you have enabled this on some chats and they are about to be impacted, Meta says “you will see instructions on how you can download any media or messages you may want to keep”.
EDITOR’S MARGIN: Finding a Solution
There is a serious shortage of hard drives, solid-state drives and memory, and executives tell me time and again that they expect this trajectory to continue through 2026. Coincidentally, I’ve written about the WD_Black P10 Game Drive (this is an HDD) as well as the Sandisk Extreme Fit SSD, which is incredibly interesting. Nevertheless, back to the point.
A team of researchers from the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), the University of Tokyo, Kyoto Institute of Technology, and Tohoku University have had a new magnetic material breakthrough, which can indirectly lead to the end of the current memory and storage crisis. They say, thin films of ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂) display altermagnetism.
Magnetic materials are critical for memory devices. Ferromagnets make it easy to write data, even though they are sensitive to magnetic fields. Antiferromagnets are said to be more stable against such stray interference, as well as temperature changes. Something for tech companies to investigate further, one would guess.
The research team fabricated RuO₂ thin films with a single crystallographic orientation on sapphire substrates. By carefully selecting the substrate and fine-tuning growth conditions, the researchers controlled how the atomic lattice aligned during film formation. This control was essential for obtaining consistent and interpretable magnetic behaviour, crucial for storage and memory applications. “These results show that controlling crystallographic orientation is key to revealing and utilising altermagnetism in RuO₂ thin films,” they say.
SECOND THOUGHTS: DailyObjects’ not so lofty Loft
I almost always have opinions about charging accessories—essential devices, after all, considering how our phones, tablets and laptops have evolved.
A few days ago, came across something called the DailyObjects Loft charging station. It is priced at a whopping ₹4,999 (as with most DO things, grossly overpriced in my humble opinion) and the big pitch is the Instagram influencer friendly colour options—there’s an orange and a green in there as well. For this price, I’d obviously be analysing utility closely.
It looks good, has a good layout balancing Type-D sockets plus USB-C ports, and the braided cable is a nice touch for longevity. The company states the USB-C is rated at 65W in total (45W for USB-C1 and 20W for USB-C2 when used simultaneously)— though I cannot be too sure which is which because the ports don’t seem marked. Since this is GaN5, you would have the technological improvements of better heat resistance and charging voltage consistency.
And that’s where I have a problem. The Type-D ports on this charging station are a limitation—it’s a glorified power strip. And that is exactly my point—power strips have the universal multi-plug receptacle. Many of our tech accessories use Type A/B flat pin plugs, and for those, the Loft will require you to use a three-way plug. Since much of DailyObjects’ focus is on the show of it all, a three-way will ruin that look. In my book, the StuffCool ChargeCube Mini 65W may be a less beautiful thing in comparison but will prove to be a much better product overall.
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