Technology News Update for This Week:
Facebook May Be Planning to Fire Thousands of Employees:
It is truly a bad time to be working for social media companies. First, it was Twitter and now it’s Meta’s turn to go through a round of mass layoffs, says a new report from The Wall Street Journal. However, it seems that Facebook’s parent company is going above and beyond its bird rival with thousands of possible cut-offs. Sources familiar with the matter have reported that the layoffs could begin as soon as Wednesday this week.
Concave FORT Wins P@SHA ICT Award in the Category of Security Solutions:
Concave FORT, a Lakson Group Company, won the P@SHA ICT award in the category of Security Solutions in an award ceremony held in Lahore. The award was received at a time when Concave FORT was working diligently in the arena of digital space, providing impeccable security solutions to client businesses. In the technologically fast-paced world of the 21st century, the concept of security is more vivid and practiced in the digital space, where large companies with even larger databases require constant security to protect their data against malware and hackers.
Samsung Dropship App Lets You Transfer Files to Any Device:
Samsung is making it easier to share files between different platforms and devices through a new app called Dropship. It is only available in South Korea at the moment and can be downloaded through Galaxy Store. Dropship lets you share up to 5GB worth of files per day by uploading them through the host device and generating a QR code that others can use to scan and receive the file.
Elon Musk Faces Lawsuit For Mass Twitter Layoffs:
Elon Musk has been firing Twitter employees left and right as soon as he took charge at the social network, and now he’s getting in trouble for it. Former Twitter employees that were fired by Musk are suing the company in a class-action lawsuit for the mass layoffs. The lawsuit argues that the fired workers were not given appropriate notice beforehand in accordance with both the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) and California WARN Act. Both of these acts require companies to notify employees at least 60 days ahead of a mass firing.
AMD Announces High-End Gaming GPUs to Rival Nvidia:
AMD has announced its latest and greatest desktop GPUs to date that are meant to rival Nvidia’s newest RTX 4000 graphics cards. Team Red has unveiled two new flagship cards at its launch event dubbed the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and the RX 7900 XT. These graphics cards are the world’s first to feature a chiplet-based design and are based on the company’s RDNA 3 architecture. The GPU die is made up of two primary components called the Graphics Compute Die (GCD) and the Memory Cache Die (MCD). The GCD features the new 5nm process while the MCD sticks to the older 6nm node.
CCP Dismisses Colgate Palmolive’s Complaint Against P&G’s Safeguard TV Commercial:
The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has dismissed the complaint filed against Protector & Gamble (P&G) Pakistan Limited in accordance with the law. The inquiry report concluded that Safeguard soap offers superior protection against germs as compared to ordinary (non-antimicrobial) soap. According to the inquiry report of CCP, the complaint was filed by Colgate Palmolive (CP) Pakistan against P&G for the alleged violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act 2010.
Elon Musk Wants to Cut Down Twitter Infrastructure Costs by $1 Billion:
Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk has been making drastic changes to the social network soon after he took office. He has fired dozens of Twitter employees in a massive downsizing sweep including executives and managers alike. He is also planning to make the blue tick verification a paid privilege and it seems that it will cost $8. According to sources familiar with the matter, Musk has now directed the Twitter team to save up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure costs. The information reportedly comes from an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters. This raises concerns about Twitter’s functionality during high-traffic events like the U.S. midterm elections.
Redmi K60 is Coming Soon With Dimensity 8200 and 2K AMOLED Screen:
The Poco F4 series (Redmi K50) never arrived in Pakistan, but we can still set our hopes for the Redmi K60 lineup to change things around. The upcoming K series phones have already entered the design verification stage and now we have new details thanks to the notable tipster Digital Chat Station. The tipster claims that the vanilla Redmi K60 will be powered by MediaTek’s high-end Dimensity 8200 SoC. It does not match up with the likes of Dimensity 9000, but it still ranks higher than mid-range chips. It is yet to be officially announced, but it’s clear that it will be a successor to the current Dimensity 8100 chip.
This is What Realme 10 Will Look Like:
Realme’s latest midrange phone, called Realme 10, is only a few days away from launch. The Redmi Note 12 rival is set to launch on November 9 and most of its specifications have been confirmed already thanks to its teaser campaign. The company has now confirmed the phone’s design as well and it is exactly as the leaks predicted. The official reveal shows the Realme 10 in its Clash White color, which has a gradient design on the back. There is no separate camera cutout for the 50MP setup.
Pakistan’s Waada Buys Rival Firm to Become Top Insurance Startup:
Karachi-based online insurance startup Waada has acquired a rival company to become Pakistan’s largest insurance-tech startup, according to the company’s official press release. The company has acquired MicroEnsure Pakistan, a subsidiary of MIC Global that operates in South Asia and Africa, in an all-stock buyout. Waada did not disclose the deal’s value and also announced the completion of a $1.3 million seed round from local angel investors and foreign venture capital firms.
Over Rs. 32 Billion of USF Funds Remain Unutilized:
Funds of billions of rupees under the Universal Service Funds (USF), an entity responsible for providing telecom services in remote areas of the country, remain utilized. According to the audit document available with ProPakistani, an amount of over Rs. 36. billion was spent by the Universal Service Fund in the last five years, while an amount of Rs. 32 billion could not be utilized till June 30, 2021.
Shell Pakistan Celebrates 75 Years in Pakistan
Being the oldest energy company in the country, with a strong and rich legacy, Shell Pakistan hosted a ceremony to celebrate its 75 years in Pakistan, together with its employees, partners, industry leaders, business professionals, and academia. The ceremony also included Shell Tameer Awards 2022, a nationwide contest to recognize the best and brightest young entrepreneurs in Pakistan. This year, over 250 applications were received for the awards program and 30 finalists were shortlisted in six award categories.
Could social media swing it?:
There was probably a time when posting videos about the politics of farming on social media definitely wasn’t considered cool.
But TikTok may have changed that, and it could be changing the results of elections too. Videos about this month’s US midterms have been viewed hundreds of millions of times.
How BBC’s voter profiles were shown hate and disinformation online:
Disinformation and Social Media correspondent Marianna Spring set up a series of social media accounts to investigate what voters are being recommended online at a turbulent time for US politics. After over two months of running the profiles, this is what she found. I open up Britney’s Instagram and click on an account that’s been recommended in her feed. I’m greeted by a meme falsely declaring that President Joe Biden never really won the 2020 election, and several others targeting named female politicians with misogynistic comments and abusive language.
‘It’s so liberating’: The people quitting social media:
When Gayle Macdonald reached a summit in Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountain range earlier this year, she didn’t just stop and take in the moment. Instead, the 45-year-old did what a great many people would do – she looked for the best spot to take a selfie for her social media accounts. Gayle even admits that she moved dangerously close to the edge while doing so. It was after that moment, for which she was berated by her husband, that she decided to quit social media. “I was like, ‘this has got to stop,'” recalls Gayle, a British expat who lives near the Spanish city of Grenada. “Taking a photo was previously the first thing I thought about when I got out of the car.
Twitter users jump to Mastodon – but what is it?:
In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, some users have been seeking alternative platforms. One of the biggest beneficiaries has been Mastodon. But what is it? The social network says it now has over 655,000 users – with over 230,000 having joined in the last week. On the surface Mastodon looks like Twitter – account users write posts (called “toots”), which can be replied to, liked and re-posted, and they can follow each other. Under the bonnet, though, it works in a different way.
The indie band that never went away:
When you’re 15 years into your music career, you’re most likely not expecting to gain a legion of new fans. The Wombats’ first album, A Guide To Love, Loss, and Desperation, was released a decade and a half ago. But if you go to a Wombats concert today, most of the people in the front row are likely to have been toddlers when it was released in 2007. At the time, the album went to number three in the charts. But this year, the Liverpool trio sold out the O2 and their fifth album went straight to number one. So how has it all happened?
Twitter confirms fee for blue-tick verification after Musk takeover:
Twitter has confirmed plans to allow users to buy blue-tick verified status. In an update for Apple devices, the company said the feature would be open to users in certain countries who sign up for its Twitter Blue service for $7.99 (£7) per month. The policy change is controversial, amid concerns that the platform could be swamped with fake accounts. It follows Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk, who on Friday laid off around half of the company’s workforce.
Why mourners are opting to scatter ashes by drone:
A former RAF pilot has started a business in which he scatters the ashes of loved ones from a drone. Christopher Mace, the founder of Aerial Ashes, said he was inspired to start the venture after scattering the remains of ex-service personnel at sea during his time in the forces. The option is being offered to grieving families in the East Midlands after Aerial Ashes formed a partnership with funeral director A.W. Lymn. Drone technology has become increasingly prevalent in the funeral world, with A.W. Lymn already offering mourners the option of filming their final farewells from the sky. “The actual spectacle of the release of the ashes itself does look spectacular and so that’s something that is a good takeaway for the families,” Mr. Mace said.
Jack Dorsey: Twitter co-founder breaks silence on Elon Musk takeover:
Twitter co-founder and ex-CEO Jack Dorsey have addressed the mass sackings at his former firm, apologizing for growing Twitter “too quickly”. Half of the social media giant’s staff are being fired, a week after Elon Musk bought it in a $44bn deal. Billionaire Mr. Musk has said he had “no choice“ but to slash the company’s workforce as the firm is losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day. The Twitter staff took to the platform to express their anger at the firings. In a statement posted on the microblogging site, Mr. Dorsey – who quit as CEO in November and left the board of directors in May – said Twitter staff “are strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment is. I realize [sic] many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize [sic] for that.”
Twitter UK staff get deadline over cuts consultation:
Twitter staff in the UK who face losing their jobs have been given three days to nominate someone to represent them in a formal consultation about their employment. Under UK employment law a consultation has to be carried out before redundancies can be made. An email seen by the BBC from Twitter’s European HR department says they have until 0900 Tuesday to decide who to put forward and was sent on Friday night.
Twitter: Musk defends deep cuts to company’s workforce:
Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk says he had “no choice” but to slash the company’s workforce as the firm is losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day. Half of the company’s staff are being let go, a week after Mr. Musk bought Twitter in a $44bn (£38.7bn) deal. Twitter staff have been using the platform to talk about their dismissal. There are concerns Twitter could water down content moderation but Mr. Musk said the firm’s policies remain “absolutely unchanged”. As reports emerged on Friday that thousands of staff at Twitter around the world were losing their jobs, questions were asked over the future of employees responsible for taking down harmful material. Online safety groups and campaigners have suggested Mr. Musk might relax moderation policies, making Twitter less effective at removing hate speech and disinformation from the platform.
South Norfolk Council spends £17,000 on bin-day reminder app:
An app that tells users to put out their bins has been launched by a council, at a cost of about £17,000. South Norfolk Council hopes the weekly reminder will boost revenue by increasing recycling rates. It said it had more than 2,000 downloads in the first week. Graham Minshull, the cabinet member for a clean and safe environment, said it would keep residents “in the loop” and “push” environmental targets.
Robot with ‘brain’ near Cheltenham sorting plastic waste:
A waste management company is trialing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to sort plastic waste. Grundon has invested in a robotic arm at its Bishop’s Cleeve site in Gloucestershire which can pick rubbish at “a human rate”. The Zen Robotics machine learns to remember plastic in a similar way to which humans learn to recognize items. The company hopes the technology will increase the volume of recyclable material Grundon can capture. The ‘Fast Picker’ arm is supplied by a Helsinki-based supplier of robotic waste separation technology – Zen Robotics.
Billions being spent in metaverse land grab:
Nearly $2bn (£1.75bn) has been spent on virtual land in the past 12 months, as people and companies race to get a foothold in the metaverse, research shows. But we are years away from the metaverse emerging as a single immersive space online where people can live, work and play in virtual reality. So is the land grab one big gamble? With her giant dark red Mohican and permanent cigarette, artist Angie Taylor’s avatar does not look like a typical land mogul. But she is one of a growing breed of people staking a claim to new virtual worlds. “I bought my first metaverse parcel in July 2020 and paid about £1,500. I bought it for exhibiting my own work, but also for running metaverse events that would promote my art and also other people’s art,” she says. Angie, from Brighton, built two galleries full of strange and beautiful digital artwork, which is being sold in cryptocurrency, on her land in the Voxels world.
India gambles on building a leading drone industry:
Newly qualified drone pilot Uddesh Pratim Nath is excited about the opportunities his new skills have opened up for him. “Being certified has opened new avenues for me. I have been working with different industries like survey mapping, asset inspection, agriculture, and many others,” he says. Drones come in all shapes and sizes. The smaller ones typically have three of four rotors and can carry something small like a camera. The biggest, usually used by the military, look more like airplanes and can carry substantial payloads. Mr. Nath, 23, had been designing drones but decided that being certified to fly them would bring more job satisfaction and financial rewards. A five-day course was enough to get him started, and he’s now flight-testing drones that will be used for mapping. Next, he wants to master flying heavier and more complicated models.
Will people sign up for Netflix’s cheaper ad service?:
People settling into their sofas for a bit of Netflix now have a new option – to pay less for their favorite shows but watch with adverts. Netflix has launched its Basic with Ads streaming plan in 12 countries – which it intends to expand over time. It’s a massive change for the tech giant, which pioneered the world of ad-free, subscription-based streaming. But as rising costs and offerings from new rivals prompt audiences to quit, the company had to act. In announcing the new service, Netflix said it was confident it now had a “price and plan for every fan”. It is charging £4.99 a month in the UK, and $6.99 in the US for the new plan – a roughly 30% discount to the firm’s cheapest ad-free option.
Twyford fury at ‘blot on the landscape’ 5G phone mast:
A phone mast that could be built on protected green space would be a “blot on the landscape” residents have said. Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL) wants to site a 5G mast in Twyford, Berkshire, but its application has attracted more than 30 objections. Residents claim the 20m mast would be a “monstrosity”. MBNL argues without it the local community’s network coverage would be transported “back to 2005”. The telecommunications company wants to install the 5G pole next to King George V Recreation Ground to provide network coverage for operators EE and 3.