Microsoft fixes the Surface and Apple takes on the US government

These are the top stories of the week. Apple's taking on the US government. Microsoft makes the surface better and everything else you need to know. Apple CEO Tim Cook published an open letter on Apple.com opposing a US government order which would make apple built. Build a backdoor to the iPhone. He says the FBI wants Apple to make a new version of the iPhone operating system circumventing several important security features and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation of the San Bernardino attack. Cook says no version of iOS exists with a backdoor, and a tool in the wrong hands could allow any iPhone to be unlocked. According to CBS News, Cook is willing to challenge the government all the way up to the Supreme Court. Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted support for Cook's position, saying that if Apple must follow this order It can be a troubling precedent. Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book had a big problem. The had issues with sleep and power management. Some Surface Books would continue running when they were supposed to sleep. That led to battery drain. Well, that should be over now. Microsoft just issued a firmware fix that should let your Surface Book or Surface Pro For sleep better. Twitter's got some new features. First off, Twitter introduced gif search in tweets and direct messages. That feature's rolling out on iOS, Android, and on the web in the next few weeks. The gif search is powered by Giphy and Riffsy. Twitter also introduced the ability to shoot and share videos in DMs. That is also rolling out in iOS and Android right now. You know what's next. Says that right there. It's rapid fire time. Apple's introduced an updated version of iOS 9.2.1 that fixes iPhones bricked by the infamous Error 53. Error 53 was triggered when an iPhone recognized an unofficial repair of the iPhone home Home button. You can get the fix via iTunes. Apple's also replacing flawed USB-C charge cables that were included with MacBooks sold until June 2015. Info on affected cables is at apple.com. Google announced that Picasa is set to shut down in May. Picasa web albums will continue to this in some way. Google Photos will take Picasa's place. And Peter Mayhew, the actor plays Chewbacca is releasing pictures of the original Star Wars script on his Twitter account. He said it's leading up to a big announcement. You can follow him @thewookieeroars. Let's see what flew under the radar. This time it's Astro Teller. He's the Head of X, what used to be known as Google X. That's a place where Google makes crazy projects like self-driving cars, Google Glass, and Internet by Balloon. Teller gave the world an insight as to what projects X wound up abandoning. Last year X gave up on vertical farming because it didn't produce staple crops like rice or grains. X also ditched a lighter-than-air variable buoyancy cargo ship because the prototype would be in the neighborhood of $200 million. Dollars. Google's nuts, but maybe not that nuts. Now you're all caught up in facts. To get your daily dose of tech news, check out CNET.com/update. For a weekly dose, hit up CNET.com/radar. I'm Iyaz Akhtar, signing off. [BLANK_AUDIO]