10 things in tech you need to know today

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Elon Musk

Getty Images/ Scott Olson

SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know this Friday.

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1. A rocket SpaceX was testing exploded on a launch pad in Florida. The blast destroyed the $60 million (£45 million) rocket itself and Facebook's $200 million (£150 million) Amos-6 satellite that it was carrying.

2. Mark Zuckerberg is "deeply disappointed" by the explosion that destroyed Facebook's first satellite. Facebook wanted to use the satellite to beam free internet to developing parts of the world like sub-Saharan Africa.

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3. Ireland might decide to keep the €13 billion (£10 billion) Apple tax windfall after all. The European Commission ordered the Irish government to collect the back taxes from Apple earlier this week but Ireland's finance minister said the country didn't want them.

4. Europe needs to invest close to $800 billion (£602 billion) in its digital infrastructure to catch up with the United States and China. That's according to the European Union commissioner responsible for the issue.

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5. Samsung is considering a recall for its latest smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, following reports of battery explosions. If Samsung issues the recall, it would replace the battery in affected phones, according to a report from The Korea Herald.

6. Apple is planning to push ahead with its €850 million (£716 million) Irish data centre. Some were concerned that an EU tax ruling that has ordered it to pay €13 billion (£10 billion) to the Irish government and concerns that multinationals may put Apple off investing in the country.

7. Spotify is making users change their passwords because other companies keep getting hacked. The music streaming service recently sent out an email to some users prompting them to change their passwords "to protect your Spotify account."

8. Brexit just pushed a fast-growing London betting startup towards the US. The startup is called Smarkets and it's expecting revenues of £20 million for FY 2016.

9. Alphabet's Google has suspended Project Ara, Reuters sources say. Project Ara is Google's ambitious effort to build what is known as a modular smartphone with interchangeable components.

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10. It looks like Apple finally joined Twitter. An official account for the tech giant has shown up on the social media platform.

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