Technology

Battlefield 2042 is one of the terrible rated games on steam due to bugs and glitches. Battlefield is a brand which competes with other FPS rivals like Call of Duty, Halo, and other big names. However, it went on to become one of the worst-rated games on Steam.

As a result, EA and Dice studios launched a major patch today. It is said that the patch will enhance the gaming experience and solve over 150 bugs.

In a recent post, EA stated that they have fixed several bugs and issues that are bothering the players since November 12.

While the most recent update will fix most of the in-game issues and offer a top-notch experience.

This major patch include a few changes, where players can complete weekly missions to earn XP and exclusive rewards.

Besides this, it also solved various issues like visual glitches, spawning, audio rendering, weapons, vehicles, and collision issues.

Additionally, there are IFF (Identify Friend Or Foe) marker upgrades to identify enemies during intense combats.

Players will get to experience reduced clutter and increased visibility in the game menu along with better matchmaking in the cross-platform matches.

EA also stated that there’s another small update to fix general bugs and balance changes in early December.

Source Link : Battlefield 2042: The Latest Patch Update Fixes Over 150 Bugs

Recently, Google shared the list of best apps and games on the Google Play Store. Now, it’s Apple who revealed the most famous apps and games of the App Store in 2021.

This list includes all the Apple devices like Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Watch.

Apple also mentioned that the winners on this list are those who offered the best experience in 2021.

Based on the reports, Toca Life World is the best iPhone app of 2021, whereas LumaFusion is the best app for iPad. Although, the best Mac app is Craft developed by Luki Labs Limited.

The best iPhone game of this year is League of Legends: Wild Rift by Riot Games while the Netmarble Corporation’s Marvel Future Revolution is the best iPad game of 2021.

However, Mac isn’t designed for gaming, but Cyan’s Myst stood out as the best game of this year.

Carrot Weather is the best Apple Watch app of 2021 which is a rival to Apple’s Weather app.

DAZN takes the crown as the best Apple TV app and Space Marshals 3 is the best game.

Lastly, Mistwalker’s Fantasian is the Apple Arcade game of the year.

Apple states that the winners are selected by Apple’s App Store Editorial Team from across the globe “for delivering exceptional quality, innovative technology, creative design, and positive cultural impact.”

Source Link : Apple Revealed The List Of Best Games And Apps Of 2021

OnePlus is going to launch the upcoming 9RT with a different name in India this month.

However, the specs of this monster packs a punch as it will come in two storage and RAM variants.

The 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant might cost Rs. 34,999, whereas the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage variant might be priced between Rs. 39,999 – Rs. 37,999.

It means there could only be two variants. As the tagline states “Never Settle”, we need to wait for some time to find out what OnePlus settles for.

If this turns out to be true, then the 9RT will be in the line of Realme, and Xiaomi phones in the Rs. 40,000 segment.

It is said that the name of the mid-ranger will have a name change for Indian release.

Nevertheless, there won’t be a drastic change as they’re just giving space between 9R and T, hence OnePlus 9R T.

Besides the pricing, the phone will be packed with interesting specs similar to the Chinese models.

The phone comes with a huge 6.62-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display coupled with a 120Hz refresh rate and 600Hz touch sampling rate.

Just like it’s elder cousins, the 9RT will feature a Snapdragon 888 processor.

It’s even the same in the camera department as it comes with 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor, 16MP ultra-wide, and 2MP macro camera including 16MP front camera.

Nevertheless, there’s no official confirmation from OnePlus while the phone is expected to release anytime soon.

Source Link : Take A Look At The New One Plus Mid-ranger

When you post a photo dump on Instagram, or a carousel of multiple images, you aren’t anticipating that you’ll want to delete a single, individual photo from the batch. And up until November 2021, you couldn’t. If you wanted a picture gone from your grid, you’d have to delete or archive the entire carousel.

But, now, if you want to digitally cut your ex out of the picture, you can do just that.

Pick your fighter

First, you’ll need to navigate to your profile by opening up the Instagram app and clicking your photo in the bottom right-hand corner. Now, scroll down to whatever carousel you’d like to delete an individual photo from and click it.

Edit your carousel

Once you’ve navigated to the photo carousel you’d like to edit, click the three dots on the top right corner, next to your profile name. This will give you a few options: from “Delete” to “Archive” to “Share.” Click “Edit.”

Trash that photo

Scroll to the photo you’d like to erase from the carousel, and click the trashcan icon in the top left — the icon is on top of your photo, just below your profile name.

When you click the icon, a pop-up will appear, asking you if you’d like to delete that photo with a bit more information detailing what happens when you do that. Click “Delete.” Once you’re happy with your decision and done editing your carousel, click “Done” on the top right corner, and you’re all finished!

If you delete a photo that you actually want to keep in the carousel, don’t worry — you have 30 days to change your mind. Simply navigate to your settings, click “Account,” and go to “Recently Deleted.” That will allow you to restore deleted photos. However, after 30 days, all deleted content will be gone forever.

So choose wisely.

Source Link : How To Delete Individual Photos From A Carousel On Instagram

Just hours after acknowledging the contribution of ‘Indian Talents’, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared a hilarious soviet-era meme featuring new Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal. While the photoshopped picture is making huge waves on the internet, it shows Agrawal’s face on dictator Joseph Stalin’s body. But that’s not all, as the second cropped image in the meme also features Twitter co-founder and Agarwal’s predecessor Jack Dorsey. Well, Musk didn’t write any caption, but the hilarious meme hinting at Dorsey’s decision to step down from his position has surely grabbed a lot of attention and gone viral on the social platform.

pic.twitter.com/OL2hnKngTx

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2021

After hours of speculations, Dorsey finally decided to step down as the CEO of Twitter on Monday evening. Taking to the microblogging platform, Dorsey shared a screenshot of his resignation while announcing his decision. While the Twitter co-founder, who managed to firm for 16 years reasoned ‘talks about the company being ‘founder-led’ as one of the key reasons for his decision, Dorsey even praised Agrawal in his resignation. “He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone-deep,” Dorsey wrote.

not sure anyone has heard but,

I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl

— jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021

Soon after Agarwal’s appointment, Musk joined the ongoing celebration by responding to a tweet highlighting Indian talents leading top tech companies like Google, Adobe, Microsoft and others. “USA benefits greatly from Indian talent,” the World’s richest man tweeted while admiring Indian talents. But Musk’s recent tweet featuring a funny soviet-era meme has gone viral, garnering a lot of attention. Check out a few reactions here:

pic.twitter.com/tUqINMQl8s

— evolve (@evolvedzn) December 1, 2021

pic.twitter.com/IYAQasGJg3

— Patel Meet (@mn_google) December 1, 2021

🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/C9khI4tgiv

— Just a kid from Newnan (@brasr818) December 1, 2021

This stance says a lot
“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” pic.twitter.com/xUIaZLSyZe

— QUEEN 👑 (@queenrose9000) December 1, 2021

A former IIT Bombay student, Agarwal was an integral part of the Twitter team for nearly a decade before being appointed as the CEO earlier this week. Sharing his excitement, the new Twitter CEO penned a thank you note to Dorsey and even expressed his gratitude to the entire team as well.

Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support 💙 https://t.co/eNatG1dqH6 pic.twitter.com/liJmTbpYs1

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) November 29, 2021

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk Proposes To Sell More Tesla Stocks While Mocking US Senator Bernie Sanders On Twitter

Cover Image: Twitter/Shutterstock

Source Link : Elon Musk Mocks Parag Agarwal and Jack Dorsey With A Sarcastic Soviet-Era Meme

Say hello to Block.

The company formerly known as Square Inc., which includes a host of businesses like Cash App, Tidal, and Square, announced a new blockchain-associated name Wednesday. In a press release explaining the change, what is now Block made clear that yes, its new name is — at least in part — an intentional nod to the technology behind Bitcoin.

“The name has many associated meanings for the company — building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome,” reads the statement in part.

This emphasis on cryptocurrency shouldn’t come as a surprise. Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter and current CEO of payment company Square Inc., is notoriously obsessed with crypto in general, and Bitcoin specifically.

Beyond that, however, the name change can be read as part of a larger tech-industry trend. Like Google and Facebook — two companies which restructured their sprawling corporate properties under the umbrella names of Alphabet and Meta, respectively — before it, Square Inc. becoming Block allows the company to disassociate its eponymous point-of-sale product from its other ventures.

Which, if the goal is to go all in on cryptocurrency, could help with any resulting public relations fallout. Because in essence, that’s what this name change boils down to: public relations.

“The name change to Block distinguishes the corporate entity from its businesses, or building blocks,” explains the press release. “There will be no organizational changes, and Square, Cash App, TIDAL, and TBD54566975 will continue to maintain their respective brands.”

How disruptive.

Source Link : Square Announces Performative Blockchain-Related Name Change

A few malicious Android apps are stealing the banking details of the users. Shockingly, these apps have over three million downloads in the Google Play Store.

These apps contain Trojan which steals the user’s banking details including passwords, codes, two-factor authentication (2FA), and so on.

Such apps breach the security concerns of the Google Play Store and step inside the user’s device to steal personal data.

Based on reports, these apps show up cryptocurrency wallets, QR scanners, and PDF scanners.

The apps minimized the limitations for preventing the use of accessibility services for blind people to stop the automatic installation of apps without the user’s permission.

These illegal groups use workarounds to stay unnoticed by Google Play security protocols and malware checkers.

Users can normally download these apps from the Google Play Store just like every other app. But, these apps ask the users to download updates from a third-party source.

If users agree to download these updates, the third-party source will inject malicious programs into the device which will help to steal the baking information.

Anatsa is an advanced Android banking trojan, and also the largest malware group in the market.

This advanced system can transfer all the money from the user’s bank account to the malware operator’s account.

Also, there are other notorious malware groups like Alien, Hydra, and Ermac stated by researchers.

Android users must be aware of these malicious apps as Google Play Store is the home for various harmful apps and games.

Source Link : Android Alert: These Apps Are Breaching The Security Concerns

The iPhone 13 series has been recently launched while Apple is likely to release their next SE edition soon.

According to reports, the Apple iPhone SE 3 could be released in the first quarter of 2022; i.e around March or April.

It’s the same launch time which the iPhone SE 2 was launched in 2020.

“Apple is staying with the plan to release its third-generation iPhone SE in 1Q22 and four models under a new series in 2H22. The third-generation iPhone SE is expected to be a major instrument in helping Apple establish a presence in the market segment for mid-range 5G smartphones. Its production volume for 2022 is forecasted to reach 25-30 million units,” states 9to5Mac reports.

However, there isn’t much information leaked about the upcoming SE, but it is likely to come with the 5G support. If this turns out to be true, then it will be the cheapest iPhone with 5G connectivity.

It also features the latest A15 Bionic chipset from the iPhone 13 lineup.

Coming to the design, it is said that it may be similar to yesteryear’s iPhone XR with a notched display and a single rear camera setup including Face ID support.

Also, many tech enthusiasts and Apple fans are eagerly waiting for the SE model. So, it looks like Apple is gonna take the markets by storm this holiday season.

The upcoming SE lineup will help Apple to acquire a good market share.

Source Link : iPhone SE 3 Is Expected To Hit The Markets In Early 2022

Oppo Reno 7 series was recently launched in China. The company is going to release in India soon.

It is expected to release in January, 2022 while Oppo shared the price details of the Reno 7 lineup in India.

However, the Reno SE isn’t going to come India, but the Reno 7 might be priced around Rs. 30,000 and the Reno 7 Pro might be priced around Rs. 40,000.

Although, the prices are quite similar to it’s predecessor, where the Reno 6 costs Rs. 29,990 and the Reno 6 Pro costs Rs. 41,990.

Moreover, Oppo is set to launch a new pair of TWS earbuds with the Reno 7 lineup alongside the Watch Free.

Coming to the spec sheet, the Reno 7 comes with a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate.

The phone features the Snapdragon 778 SoC paired up with 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM.

It has a three-camera setup which consists of 64MP main camera, 2MP macro camera, and 8MP ultra-wide camera including a 32MP front camera.

Whereas, the more high-end Reno 7 Pro has similar specs as it has a bigger 6.55-inch AMOLED display and a more powerful MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Max chipset. Instead of 64MP, the Pro model has a 50MP primary camera.

Though, we need to wait for a few months for the official confirmation from Oppo.

Source Link : Oppo Revealed The Reno 7 Lineup Prices In India

CD Project Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 was released in a rush in late last year. However, the developers are planning to release the next-gen update for consoles soon.

This update significantly improves the gameplay and the company is aiming to release this update in the first quarter of 2022.

Initially, the update was about to release by the end of this year, but it got delayed due to various reasons.

The developers claimed that this next-gen update will enhance the performance on the latest consoles like PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

But, the company haven’t revealed complete details about this exclusive update.

Also, there isn’t any news that shows the difference in performance compared to the current version.

It is said that there will be a huge bump in the graphics segment. Additionally, it is a free update for those who already own Cyberpunk 2077.

This is a great news for all the Cyberpunk fans as many game titles won’t get a free update. On the other hand, Skyrim Anniversary Update requires the gamers to pay an extra $20.

Cyberpunk 2077 had a bumpy launch last year after several delays. As the game has various bugs which disappointed many players.

It became so frustrating that Sony dropped this game from it’s store for a while.

The company apologized for this issue while the upcoming next-gen update solves these issues and ensures a better and smooth gameplay experience.

Besides the Cyberpunk 2077, the company also announced that the new update of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is going to be released in the second quarter of 2022.

Source Link : Cyberpunk 2077: A Major Update Is Going To Roll Out in The Early 2022

From the past few months, there has been a lot of speculations rifed up about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S22.

There are many rumours that the S22 lineup might pack the Qualcomm Snapdragon high-end processor and the S22 Ultra will feature an S-Pen.

Also, there are renders of S22 Ultra with a built-in S-Pen slot.

Recently, a famous Korean tipster, Ice Universe shared some details of the Galaxy S22’s display and camera.

The details suggest that the S22 lineup will house a triple camera setup including the 10MP selfie camera.

Both the S22 and S22 Plus models will have a primary 50MP camera of f/1.8 Samsung ISOCELL GN5 lens with 1µm pixels, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 10MP telephoto sensor with 3x optional zoom. And the front camera is 10MP with an f/1.4 aperture.

Coming to the display, S22 models will feature a 6.06-inch display and a bigger 6.55-inch display on the S22 Plus models.

It’s an Infinity-O display with a punch hole at the top-centre.

Nevertheless, it’s important to keep in mind that these are just speculations, but not official specs of the device.

The South Korean giant is yet to reveal the complete details of it’s upcoming flagships later this year.

Source Link : The New Samsung Galaxy S22 Display And Camera Details Leaked

You have to start somewhere, even if that occasionally means right back at square one.

That seems to be the thinking of a coalition of U.S. lawmakers who, on Monday, reintroduced proposed legislation seeking to prevent automated bot accounts from dominating online sales. Dubbed the Stopping Grinch Bots Act, the measure aims to prevent what are in effect scalpers for physical goods ahead of the holiday season.

“New tools are needed to block cyber scammers who snap up supplies of popular toys and resell them at astronomic prices,” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, one of the bill’s four Democratic sponsors, is quoted as saying in an accompanying press release.

And while the spirit of the Stopping Grinch Bots Act may be in the right place, as it was the first time it was introduced in 2019 before dying in the House, experts who support the effort caution that, without strong follow-through from officials like the Federal Trade Commission, it may not be enough to combat a problem exemplified by sold-out Nintendo Switches and impossible-to-score PS5s.

So observed John Breyault, the vice president of public policy, telecommunications, and fraud at the consumer advocacy-focused National Consumers League, over email. Speaking of the similar 2016 Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which was signed into law by former President Barack Obama and seeks to prevent automated ticket scalping, Breyault acknowledged the difficult task of preventing bot-powered scalping and markups.

“While both the BOTS Act and the Stopping Grinch Bots Acts are important consumer protection bills, we would be the first to acknowledge that they aren’t silver bullets to the bots problem,” he said. “Whether you’re talking about the BOTS Act or the Stopping Grinch Bots Act, their efficacy in addressing the bots problem is only as good as the resources devoted to enforcing them.”

Indeed, without proper enforcement mechanisms measures like the Stopping Grinch Bots Act are destined to languish — that’s assuming they even get signed into law in the first place. This concern, highlighted by Breyault, is based on recent history.

Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission only announced its first BOTS Act-related enforcement action in 2021. That case, which saw the FTC levy millions of dollars in fines against automated ticket resellers, is specifically what the BOTS Act was designed for. That it took years for the FTC to make such a move highlights the fact that the Stopping Grinch Bots Act, like the BOTS Act before it, won’t do anyone any good if the powers it grants are rarely, if ever, used.

Eric Budish, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, expressed a similar thought over email. Like the NCL, Budish, who in 2019 gave an FTC keynote on the online tickets market, said he supports efforts like the Stopping Grinch Bots Acts and emphasized the importance of action.

“Bots harm consumers and undermine retailers’ efforts to sell their product the way they want to,” he said. “I’m not a lawyer, but making a harmful practice illegal does seem like a useful step on the way to curtailing it. Enforcement will also be key.”

According to the office of Representative Paul D. Tonko (D-NY), the bill’s sponsor in the House, 50 percent of all web traffic is generated by some form of bot.

Breyault, like Budish, emphasized that there’s plenty more which needs to be done.

“As we have testified in the past, anti-bot legislation should be one part of a broader set of reforms that increase transparency and accountability in the ticketing marketplace,” he said.

In other words, stopping unscrupulous bot-armed scalpers from buying up sought-after goods is something that will likely remain on many people’s holiday wish list for years to come. But, with the Stopping Grinch Bots Act, at least our elected officials have made that wish explicit.

Source Link : Politicians Want To Ban Bot-Fueled Online Shopping. Experts Agree.

The Taiwanese giant is working on its upcoming MediaTek Dimensity 7000 following the Dimensity 9000 earlier this month.

There are a few leaks regarding this high-end chipset, where the Dimensity 7000 may include the Mali G510 GPU and Cortex-A78 cores.

According to a famous Chinese tipster, the Dimensity 7000 chipset will support 75W fast charging as well.

However, the Digital Chat Station states that the Dimensity 7000 will be an octa-core processor and built on TSMC’s 5nm process.

This chipset houses four Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz and four Cortex A-78 cores clocked at 2.75 GHz.

Also, it is said that the chipset might comprise the latest ARM Mali-G510 GPU that edges out the Mali-G57 GPU.

The Mali-G57 has a 22% improved efficiency and 100% performance bump over its predecessor. So, the Dimensity 7000 will be able to handle high-end games and heavy apps smoothly compared to its predecessor.

However, MediaTek hasn’t revealed anything yet regarding the upcoming Dimensity 7000, but, it’s expected to launch in mid-range devices soon.

Source Link : The New MediaTek Dimensity 7000 Chipset Is A Powerhouse

Google Play Store revealed the best Android apps and games of this year.

As 2021 is about to end in a few days, Google India shared the list of most popular apps and games among the users.

According to Google, there is a massive growth in the usage of e-learning apps to to the lockdown.

The best apps of 2021 is Bitclass: Learn Anything. Live Together.

It’s the best digital learning app that provides interactive classes for a variety of categories such as dancing, banking, maths, etc.

“Reiterated the emergence of a digital learning culture in India fueled by innovative localized solutions,” says Google.

Coming to games, Battlegrounds Mobile India was chosen as the best game of 2021. And the best user’s choice game of 2021 is Garena Free Fire Max.

Besides these, Clubhouse was selected as the best user’s choice app of 2021 due to high volume of downloads within a short span.

“India’s rising fondness for voice and audio-based platforms,” Google adds.

Here’s the complete list of the best apps and games of 2021.

Best Games For Tablets

1. The Procession to Calvary
2. Overboard!
3. My Friend Pedro: Ripe for Revenge
4. Chicken Police – Paint it RED!

Best Game Changers

1. Unmaze – a myth of shadow & light
2. Tears of Themis
3. NieR Re[in]carnation
4. JanKenUP!

Best Pick Up and Play

1. Cats in Time – Relaxing Puzzle Game
2. Switchcraft: The Magical Match 3
3. Disney POP TOWN
4. Dadish 2
5. Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!

Best Indie Games

1. My Friend Pedro
2. Huntdown
3. Bird Alone
4. Ronin: The Last Samurai
5. DeLight: The Journey Home

Best Competetive Games

1. Summoners War: Lost Centuria
2. Pokemon Unite
3. Suspects: Mystery Mansion
4. MARVEL Future Revolution
5. Battlegrounds Mobile India

Best Apps For Self growth

1. Embibe: Learning Outcomes App.
2. BitClass. Learning Anything. Live Together.
3. Evolve Mental Health: Meditations, Self-care, and CBT.

Best Apps For Wear

1. Calm
2. My Fitness Pal
3. Sleep Cycle: Sleep analysis and Smart alarm clock.

Best Apps For Fun

1. Clubhouse: The Social Audio App
2. Hotstep
3. FrontRow: Learn Singing, Music, Rap, Comedy & More

Best Apps For Good

1. being: your mental health friend
2. Speechify – text to speech tts
3. Evergreen Club – Health, Fitness, Fun & Learning

Best Apps For Everyday Essentials

1. SARVA – Yoga & Meditation
2. Guardians from Truecaller
3. Sortizy – Recipes, Meal Planner & Grocery Lists

Best Apps For Gems

1. Learn Product Management & Marketing Skills @ FWD
2. Jumping Minds – Talk & Feel Better
3. Moonbeam I Podcast Discovery

Best Apps For Tablets

1. Concepts: Sketch, Note, Draw
2. Canva
3. Houzz – Home Design & Remodel

Source Link : Take A Look At The Best Android Apps And Games Of 2021

Realme GT 5G was released earlier this year in India and China which turned out to gain huge sales.

Remembering the success, Realme is going to release it’s successor, Realme GT 2 Pro.

Realme has recently announced it’s name and the first look was launched a few hours later.

An famous tipster, Steve Hemmerstoffer released the exclusive renders.

The Realme GT 2 Pro is looking absolutely gorgeous in the high-quality renders.

The designers completely changed it’s look and it doesn’t share any similarities with it’s predecessor.

However, it’s new horizontal camera module is quite similar to the Google devices like Nexus 6P, Pixel 6/6 Pro.

The horizontal camera edge features a triple camera setup with dual LED flash.

According to minute details, the phone might come with a 50MP GR lens and a 32MP front camera.

The GR lens is one of the best camera lens that can be placed in the smallest camera body.

It’s best known for it’s backlight resistance and reduced ghosting.

On the front, it houses a 6.8 inch WQHD+OLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate.

The back panel is said to be made of ceramic and metal frame.

“Starting point for the journey into the high-end global market and is another step towards pursuing leading innovations in the industry,” says Realme.

This Realme flagship is expected to be priced at $799; i.e Rs. 60,049 and is going to launch in the first quarter of 2022.

Source Link : Realme's Upcoming Flagship Resembles Pixel Device

The United Kingdom’s anti-competitive watchdog has ordered Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to sell off the popular GIF sharing platform Giphy.

In a press release, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it found Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy “concerning” and harmful to competition between social media platforms. Furthermore, the CMA said that its “concerns can only be addressed by Facebook selling off Giphy in its entirety to an approved buyer”.

Giphy is one of the biggest GIF-making and sharing sites on the interest. It offers a wide range of tools to its users for creating, remixing, and sharing GIFs. In May 2020, Facebook announced that it had acquired Giphy for nearly $400 million and is planning to integrate it with Facebook and Instagram.

“People will still be able to upload GIFs; developers and API partners will continue to have the same access to GIPHY’s APIs, and GIPHY’s creative community will still be able to create great content,” Vishal Shah, Facebook’s Vice President of Produce, wrote in the announcement blog post.

However, the CMA had said that during its investigation, it found that Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy could deny or limit its access to other platforms and drive more traffic to Meta’s own social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Furthermore, it also raised privacy concerns and said that Meta could force other platforms to hand over more data in order to access Giphy’s services.

“The tie-up between Facebook and Giphy has already removed a potential challenger in the display advertising market,” Stuart McIntosh, who presided the independent inquiry group that investigated Giphy’s acquisition, said in a statement. “Without action, it will also allow Facebook to increase its significant market power in social media even further, through controlling competitors’ access to Giphy GIFs. By requiring Facebook to sell Giphy, we are protecting millions of social media users and promoting competition and innovation in digital advertising.”

Source Link : Meta Ordered To Sell Off Giphy By UK Anti-Trust Regulator

Twitter co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey shocked the entire world by resigning from his role on Monday evening. While speculations of Dorsey stepping down were making rounds on the internet since Sunday, post his ‘I love Twitter’ tweet, the 45-year-old shared a screenshot of the resignation letter he sent to the company and wrote, “not sure anyone has heard but, I resigned from Twitter.”

not sure anyone has heard but,

I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl

— jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021

Dorsey, who managed the company for nearly 16 years, stated “There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led’. Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders,” as one of the key reasons for stepping down from his position.

Furthermore, he was all praise for Parag Agrawal, who has been announced as the next CEO of Twitter. “He leads with heart and soul and is someone I learn from daily. My trust in him as our CEO is bone-deep,” Dorsey wrote in his resignation mail. Meanwhile, Agarwal shared his excitement on social media by tweeting a message along with a screenshot of the mail he sent to Dorsey and the team. “Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support,” he wrote.

Deep gratitude for @jack and our entire team, and so much excitement for the future. Here’s the note I sent to the company. Thank you all for your trust and support 💙 https://t.co/eNatG1dqH6 pic.twitter.com/liJmTbpYs1

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) November 29, 2021

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk joined the banter too by joining the celebration of Agrawal’s appointment as the new Twitter CEO. “USA benefits greatly from Indian talent,” Musk replied to a tweet that talked about how top tech companies like Microsoft, Google and others are managed by Indian CEOs.

USA benefits greatly from Indian talent!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 29, 2021

An avid Twitter user, Musk, who enjoyed a historic 2021, went on to earn the title of the richest man in the world by becoming the first person on this planet to surpass the $300 billion mark. While he climbed the ladder of success, he used the Twitter platform to take direct jibes at his adversaries. And Musk’s recent social media spat with US Senator Bernie Sanders did grab a lot of attention.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk Is Ready To Fight World Hunger Crisis, But Has One Condition

Cover Image: Shutterstock

Source Link : Elon Musk Is All Praise For New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, Admires 'Indian Talent'

Tiny cameras are incredibly useful, especially in medicine. Cameras are used in multiple procedures such as endoscopy, that help doctors accurately diagnose diseases. However, current imaging technologies used in medicine tend to often produce blurry and distorted images, limiting their usage.

Now, a team of researchers from Princeton and Washington Universities have developed a new camera system that is barely larger than a grain of salt. Despite its tiny size, the camera can take crisp, full-colour images that rival images taken from cameras with lenses nearly half a million times larger.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers have the compact size of the camera makes it well-suited for use minimally invasive medical diagnostic procedures. Furthermore, the researchers also suggest using an array of thousands of these tiny cameras for “full-scene sensing”, by turning surfaces of large areas into cameras.

The new camera system is radically different compared to conventional cameras. It uses a technology called “metasurface”, which is manufactured similar to a computer chip. Nearly 1.6 million cylindrical posts – barely the size of a human HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) – stud the metasurface, which itself is less than half a millimetre wide.

“It’s been a challenge to design and configure these little microstructures to do what you want,” Ethan Tseng, co-author of the paper and a computer science PhD student at Princeton, said in a press release. “For this specific task of capturing large field of view RGB images, it’s challenging because there are millions of these little microstructures, and it’s not clear how to design them in an optimal way.”

Each cylindrical post acts as an optical antenna, capturing light. However, each post is slightly different in design. The researchers say this was necessary to “correctly shape the entire optical wavefront”. The light captured by the post is then fed to a machine-learning algorithm, which then combined the interaction between the cylindrical posts to produce a crip, full-colour image.

“Although the approach to optical design is not new, this is the first system that uses a surface optical technology in the front end and neural-based processing in the back,” Joseph Mait, a former senior researcher and chief scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, who was not involved in the study, said in a press release.

Source Link : This Tiny Camera Smaller Than A Grain Of Salt Can Capture Full-Colour High-Resolution Images

In normal times, a product sharing a name with a virus variant would be bad for business. But these are not normal times, and crypto is decidedly not a normal business.

A little-known token soared in value after the World Health Organization designated Omicron a “variant of concern” on Friday. Dubbed, yes, Omicron, the token shot from around $65 in value to $675 by Sunday, according to Crypto.com.

And while the price has since fallen to $308 as of the time of this writing, the timing of the surge suggests it’s based on little more than the token’s shared name with the latest variant. That’s right, people are buying a more or less random token — itself a fork of another project — for the meme potential.

Those behind the Omicron project are clearly aware of the token’s oddly fortuitous spike, tweeting a side-eye emoji in response to the news.

Notably, despite viral claims to the contrary, the Omicron token had its name before the WHO named the latest variant.

Omicron would not be the first token to see its value increase in response to apparent meme-based speculation — the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency is perhaps the most recent example of that phenomenon — and it will surely not be the last.

After all, memes, like exuberance, are often irrational.

Source Link : Omicron Crypto Skyrockets, And You Can Probably Guess The Reason

Three former Google engineers are suing their former employer, alleging they were unjustly fired after calling out “evil.”

Filed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday, the lawsuit claims software engineers Rebecca Rivers, Sophie Waldman, and Paul Duke had merely followed a contractual obligation to hold Google to account regarding its “Don’t be evil” mantra — an obligation they say was imposed by the company itself.

“Google terminated each Plaintiffs’ employment with it for adhering to the directive ‘Don’t be evil’ and calling out activity by Google that they each believed betrayed that directive,” read the lawsuit. “Each Plaintiff fulfilled their contractual duty to Google by advising it… ways in which Google was ‘Doing evil.'”

In particular, the call out concerned Google’s alleged intent to do business with border and immigration officials under Trump’s administration in 2019. Ethical concerns regarding organisations such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were a significant issue at the time, with the U.S. government ultimately holding over 69,000 children in custody over the course of the year.

According to the lawsuit, Rivers, Waldman, and Duke each signed an employment contract which included Google’s Code of Conduct. This Code read, in part:

“[‘Don’t be evil’ is about] following the law, acting honorably and treating each other with respect. The Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put ‘Don’t be evil’ into practice. It’s built around the recognition that everything we do in connection with our work at Google will be, and should be, measured against the highest possible standards of ethical business conduct… And if you have a question or ever think that one of your fellow Googlers or the company as a whole may be falling short of our commitment, don’t be silent.”

To many, certain actions of agencies such as CBP and ICE very clearly constitute “evil.” As such, Waldman and Duke launched an internal petition in Aug. 2019 requesting that Google affirm it would not work with these organisations, in line with its commitment not to “be evil.” Rivers subsequently discovered that Google had offered a free trial of a cloud platform to CBP, information which was added to the petition. 

The plaintiffs allege that all information included in the petition was already freely accessible by all Google employees, and that they repeatedly directed their co-workers not to share it outside the company. The suit also contends that an internal investigation failed to find them at fault and they were not reprimanded in any way.

Nevertheless, all three engineers were fired in Nov. 2019, with an internal memo from Google’s Securities and Investigations Team stating that they were let go for “clear and repeated violations of our data security policies.” This allegedly included “systematic searches” for information “outside the scope of their job.”

Mashable has reached out to Google for comment.

Days before the firings, around 200 Google employees rallied outside its San Francisco office in support of Rivers and another suspended staffer, accusing the tech giant of retaliation. Rivers had been placed on administrative leave after Google interviewed her regarding her access of documents concerning the company’s relationship with CBP.

Google’s infamous “Don’t be evil” motto was quietly removed from the company’s Code of Conduct in mid-2018. In some ways this makes sense. We’ve learnt anything from the past five years, it’s that what constitutes “evil” can be extremely subjective. This lawsuit also demonstrates the aspirational phrase has caused the tech giant some headaches.

But on the other hand: yikes.

Source Link : Former Google Employees' Lawsuit Claims They Were Fired For Calling Out 'Evil'