Technology

San Francisco, March 23 (IANS) Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox Internet browser, has introduced a new startup called Mozilla.ai, which the company hopes "will build a trustworthy and independent open-source AI ecosystem".

The company said that it is initially investing $30 million to build this new startup.

"The vision for Mozilla.ai is to make it easy to develop trustworthy AI products. We will build things and hire/collaborate with people that share our vision: AI that has agency, accountability, transparency and openness at its core. Mozilla.ai will be a space outside big tech and academia for like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers and builders to gather," Mark Surman, the executive president of Mozilla and the head of Mozilla.ai, said in a blogpost.

Moreover, the company stated that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralised and trustworthy AI ecosystem -- a real counterweight to the status quo.

The initial focus of the new startup Mozilla.ai will be the tools that make generative AI safer and more transparent and people-centric recommendation systems that don't misinform or undermine the company's well-being.

Later this year, the company mentioned that it will announce additional initiatives, partners, and events in which people can participate.

In December last year, Mozilla completed the acquisition of the US-based virtual spaces and events start-up Active Replica to bolster its metaverse strategy.

Mozilla purchased the startup as it builds out Hubs, the company's virtual reality (VR) collaboration platform.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a new feature that will let poll creators limit users to only one choice, which is available for some beta testers on Android.

According to WABetaInfo, this feature will allow users to select only one option which they feel most strongly about.

The report also said that this feature is helpful as it will make the poll results more accurate as users are limited to one choice.

Moreover, this is even useful in cases where only one answer is required. This is because when users must choose just one option, they are more likely to engage with the poll and think more deeply about their choice.

The report also said that the feature was also in development for iOS, and after installing the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS update, some beta testers may be able to use this feature.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is also rolling out a tweaked link preview interface on iOS beta.

For beta testers, a new row will now appear above the chat bar when a link is entered into the platform, and the application will animate the row while loading the link preview.

Earlier, users had no indication whether the platform was loading the preview or not, which undoubtedly caused confusion and wasted time while they waited for it to arrive.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Facing a nationwide ban in the US, Chinese short-form video making platform TikTok still have access to "troves of personal data of Indian citizens" who once used the app before it was banned in June 2020 by the Indian government over national security concerns along with several other Chinese apps.

According to a report in Forbes, the data of Indian users "remain widely accessible to employees at the company and its Beijing-based parent ByteDance".

Before the ban, TikTok had about 150 million monthly active users in the country.

"I don't think Indians are aware of how much of their data is exposed to China right now, even with the ban in place," a current TikTok employee told Forbes.

Almost anyone at the companies with basic access to their tools can retrieve and analyse granular data about past TikTok users in India, "including everyone from prominent public figures to the average person".

ByteDance has more than 110,000 employees around the world, including in China, the US and Russia.

In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said they "have steadfastly complied, and continue to remain in full compliance, with the government of India order since it was implemented".

"All user data is subject to our robust internal policy controls surrounding access, retention, and deletion," the company spokesperson was quoted as saying.

This powerful demographic data, especially on TikTok's unmatched Gen Z userbase, could also be highly valuable for commercial purposes, the report said, quoting the TikTok employee.

The Chinese short video-making app sacked its entire India staff -- about 40 employees - in February.

Chinese short video-making app TikTok has sacked its entire India staff -- about 40 employees -- and February 28 will be their last working day.

The ByteDance-owned platform reportedly told its employees they would receive up to nine months of severance package. However, most of the staff will only get three-month severance.

In a statement to IANS, a company spokesperson had said that "we have taken the decision to close our India remote sales support hub, which was put in place at the end of 2020 to provide support to our global and regional sales teams".

"We greatly appreciate these employees and their impact on our company, and will ensure they are supported at this difficult time," the TikTok spokesperson added.

In June 2020, the government banned TikTok along with 59 other Chinese apps citing security concerns.

Since then, the country has banned over 300 Chinese apps, including WeChat, Shareit, Helo, Likee, UC News, Bigo Live, UC Browser and many more.

The Centre in February blocked over 230 apps, including 138 betting and about 94 loan apps, which were traced to Chinese links.

--IANS
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San Francisco, March 16 (IANS) Tech giant Microsoft is releasing an early access version of the "Minecraft: Bedrock Edition" game on Chromebooks.

The game features cross-device play with friends, access to Minecraft Marketplace and the ability to play on Realms, the company said in a Minecraft blogpost on Wednesday.

"While it won't be available for everyone to buy yet (the full release will come later) it marks an exciting step towards making Minecraft more accessible to even more people."

Early access means that in this first stage, only specific Chromebook devices which meet the minimum requirements will receive the option to purchase Minecraft.

So, users will have to check the Google Play Store to see if the game is available for them.

With the early access version, the company aims to test the game's performance before making it available to more players.

"Between now and the official launch date, we'll be working hard to make sure that Minecraft runs smoothly on Chromebook," the tech giant said.

"We don't have a confirmed release date for the full version of Minecraft for Chromebook yet, but once it's officially released, everyone with a compatible Chromebook will be able to download it from the Google Play Store," it added.

--IANS
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San Francisco, March 7 (IANS) Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature for iOS beta which will allow users to set an expiration date for groups.

The new option will be available within group info, reports WABetaInfo.

When this feature will be released, users will be able to choose from various expiration options such as one day, one week or a custom date.

Moreover, users will also likely be able to change or remove an expiration date which was set before if they change their mind.

However, the choice will be personal and will not be applied to other group participants.

This feature will work as a good storage tool to save space by helping users to manage groups over time.

The ability to choose an expiration date for the groups is currently under development and is expected to be released in a future update of the application, the report said.

Meanwhile, last week, it was reported that the messaging platform was rolling out a sticker maker tool on iOS, which will allow users to convert images into stickers, eliminating the need for third-party applications to create stickers.

--IANS
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New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Twitter went down for millions as users reported several issues with the platform -- from links not opening to images stopped loading and more -- as there was only one person handling the platform's application programming interface (API).

When users clicked on links, they were greeted with a mysterious error message reporting that "your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint".

Images stopped loading as well and some users said that they could not access TweetDeck.

About 85 per cent users had trouble with the web version of Twitter while 13 per cent had issues with the mobile platform

In a tweet, the company said that "some parts of Twitter may not be working as expected right now".

The company's support account tweeted, "We made an internal change that had some unintended consequences."

The change in question was part of a project to shut down free access to the Twitter API, according to Platformer.

Last month, Twitter announced it will no longer support free access to its API.

It ended the existence of third-party clients and drastically limited the ability of outside researchers to study the network.

The change had cascading consequences inside the company, bringing down much of Twitter's internal tools along with the public-facing APIs, reports The Verge.

Musk tweeted on Tuesday: "A small API change had massive ramifications".

"The code stack is extremely brittle for no good reason. Will ultimately need a complete rewrite," he posted.

There have been at least six high-profile Twitter outages this year, as Musk has fired thousands of employees, including those handling APIs and codes.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 17 (IANS) Microsoft is reportedly working on adding a new end task option to the Windows 11 taskbar, which will allow the ability to force close an app when users right-click on it in the taskbar.

According to Windows Latest, this new option has started appearing in the latest Windows 11 test builds.

Windows 11 currently allows users to kill any process using Task Manager, Command Prompt, PowerShell, and Settings as long as they can identify the name or Process Identifier (PID).

Moreover, the report mentioned that Task Manager also comes with a new search bar, making it much easier to identify background processes.

The new Windows 11 test build also comes with a big update for accessibility features.

This update enhances the Live Captions feature by adding support for several new languages, including Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, and others.

Further, the tech giant is also trying out different designs for snap layouts, including new ways to improve the discoverability and usage of snap layouts, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Microsoft will reportedly bring a new feature to Windows 11, which will allow users to control RGB lighting.

Twitter user Albacore found that the latest Insider build of Windows 11 includes a hidden feature for controlling RGB components.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 17 (IANS) Tech giant Microsoft is officially supporting Windows 11 on Apple's M1 and M2 Macs, by partnering with the software company Parallels.

"Parallels Desktop version 18 is an authorised solution for running Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Enterprise in a virtual environment on its platform on Apple M1 and M2 computers," the tech giant said in a support page.

The Arm version of Windows 11 has limitations which can impact users' ability to use various types of hardware, games and apps, including "those that rely on DirectX 12 or OpenGL3.3 or greater."

Microsoft is also providing another alternative for users to access Windows 11 on an M1 or M2 Mac, that is "Windows 365 service."

According to the company, Windows 365 is a "software-as-a-service solution for organisations of all sizes, offered on a per-user, per-month basis."

Moreover, there are a variety of pricing options and Cloud PC configurations available based on users' performance needs.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the tech giant announced that it was releasing "Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25300" to the Dev Channel, which includes more languages support for Windows 11's live captions feature.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS) It may seem rather convenient to search for a phone number on search engine but not many realize that this could be a trap set up by miscreants.

Two recent incidents prove this.

In the first case, a man was duped of Rs 71,000 when he surfed the Internet to find the number of a hospital. His wife had fallen ill and he called up the number for consultation.

The victim, Bhagwandin, was asked to deposit Rs 10 through Phonepe to get the patient's registration done for consultation with a doctor of Indiranagar.

Since the victim told the miscreant that he cannot make the payment through the app, on which the miscreant asked him to share the bank account number, which he did.

He was asked to download the QuickSupport app and pay Rs 10 through the app. A little later the victim got an OTP on his registered mobile number and the miscreant asked him to share it.

"I was given a registration number and was asked to visit the hospital the next day at 10 a.m. to consult the doctor there. However, when I reached there, I was told that the hospital did not do any advance registration and gave consultation to the patients on visit only," he said.

After his wife was admitted, the man went to an ATM to withdraw the money, he came to know that Rs 71,755 had been withdrawn from his bank account.

SHO, Indiranagar, Chhatrapal Singh, said that an FIR has been registered and assistance of cyber cell has been sought for the probe.

In another case, a resident of Aminabad was duped of over Rs 64,000 in the name of purchase of sweets from a prominent shop in Sadar locality under Cantonment.

The victim, Ashok Kumar Bansal, placed an online order for sweets from the shop after he searched the mobile number of the shop on Google. He said that the person who took the call asked him to furnish details of his bank account for the payment.

"I paid Rs 64,110 for the order but when I reached the shop to take the order, I came to know that the mobile number was fake, and I have been made a victim of fraud," said Bansal.

Superintendent of Police, Cyber cell, Triveni Singh, said that when a user downloads this type of (Quick Support) app, they give all the permissions to the app.

"Permissions include access to all other apps, gallery, and contact lists. With this permission, miscreants take remote access to the phone. When any electronic device is on remote access, the person who has taken the remote access can clearly see all the activity on the device," he added.

While the victim is busy filling his name, number and paying Rs 10 as service charge, miscreants can watch the pin code, which is then used to withdraw the money later.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 17 (IANS) Meta has introduced new broadcast channels on Instagram, which is a one-to-many messaging tool that will allow creators to engage directly with their followers at scale.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement on the social networking platform with his own "Meta Channel."

"Creators can also use voice notes to share their latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments, and even create polls to crowdsource fan feedback," the company said in a blogpost on Thursday.

However, only creators can send messages in the broadcast channels and followers can react to content and vote in polls.

The company further mentioned that more features will be added to these channels in the coming months, such as the ability to bring another creator into the channel to discuss upcoming collaborations, crowdsource questions for an "ask me anything" and much more.

Once a creator gets access to broadcast channels and sends the first message from their Instagram inbox, their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel," it added.

Moreover, followers can leave or mute these channels at any time and can also control their notifications from creators.

Creators can also encourage their followers to join by using the "join channel" sticker in Stories.

"We're currently testing broadcast channels with a handful of creators in the US and plan to expand in the coming months," Meta said.

"We'll be testing broadcast channels in Messenger and on Facebook in the coming months," it added.

--IANS
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