Technology

San Francisco, Feb 17 (IANS) Apple, the only Big Tech company that has avoided mass layoffs to date, has reportedly started laying off third-party contractors.

The New York Post reported, citing people with direct knowledge, that the iPhone maker has started to cut ties with hundreds of contractors quietly.

"Instead of waiting for contracts that are typically renewed every 12 to 15 months to expire, Apple is firing contractors outright," said the report, citing sources.

Apple did not comment on the report.

According to the report, firing contractors is a move to cut costs.

The company hasn't disclosed the size of its contractor workforce, but reports suggest it numbers in the thousands.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had called layoffs at the company a "last resort kind of thing", adding that "You can never say never".

Cook had told the Wall Street Journal that Apple is managing costs very tightly.

"We want to manage costs in other ways to the degree that we can," he was quoted as saying.

Apple faced supply chain disruptions in October and November as China faced Covid surge and protests erupted at its key supplier Foxconn's main factory in the country.

Cook said that Covid-related challenges "significantly impacted the supply of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max and lasted through most of December".

As a result of a challenging environment, "our revenue was down 5 per cent year over year", he added.

According to Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives, Apple didn't overhire during the pandemic.

Apple's employee count went up by about 7 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021.

Cook has already taken a huge pay cut of $35 million, or more than 40 per cent of his compensation.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 16 (IANS) As ChatGPT shows that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gotten incredibly advanced, tech billionaire Elon Musk has warned saying, one of the biggest risks to the future of civilisation is AI.

According to CNBC, Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, the US firm which developed the popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.

"It's both positive or negative and has great, great promise, great capability, but, with that comes great danger," Musk told attendees at the World Government Summit in Dubai, UAE, when he was asked about how he sees technology developing 10 years from now.

ChatGPT is an advanced form of AI that is powered by the GPT-3 large language model. It is programmed to recognise human language and generate responses based on massive amounts of data.

Moreover, Musk said that "ChatGPT has illustrated to people just how advanced AI has become. The AI has been advanced for a while. It just didn't have a user interface that was accessible to most people".

He noted that, unlike cars, planes, and medicine, AI has no regulations or rules keeping its development under control, according to the report.

"I think we need to regulate AI safety, frankly. It is, I think, actually a bigger risk to society than cars or planes or medicine," said Musk.

Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board of directors in 2018 and no longer owns a stake in the company.

"Initially it was created as an open-source nonprofit. Now it is closed-source and for-profit. I don't have an open stake in OpenAI, nor am I on the board, nor do I control it in any way," he mentioned.

As part of his decision to create OpenAI, Musk stated that Google wasn't paying enough attention to AI safety.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Average data consumption per user in India reached 19.5GB per user a month in 2022, which is equivalent to 6,600 songs, a report showed on Thursday.

Mobile data traffic in India jumped 3.2 times in the last five years, reaching over 14 exabytes per month, according to Nokia's annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report.

The report revealed that pan-India mobile data usage per month grew from 4.5 exabytes in 2018 to 14.4 exabytes in 2022.

Together, 4G and 5G subscribers now account for almost 100 per cent of the total mobile data traffic in the country.

"India has seen a massive uptake of mobile broadband based on successful deployment of 4G LTE networks. We believe that 5G will take mobile broadband consumption to the next level in India by enabling new digital use cases for both consumer and enterprise segments," said Sanjay Malik, SVP and Head of India Market at Nokia.

At an aggregate level, total mobile data consumed in India is expected to more than double by 2024.

Over 70 million 5G devices are estimated to have been shipped to India in 2022, indicating a strong traction for 5G in the market.

According to the report, enterprise spending on private 5G networks will be driven by new use cases in diverse industry verticals, including manufacturing, utilities, transportation and healthcare, among others in India.

The country's investment in private wireless networks is expected to reach around $250 million by 2027.

"It is essential that this growth is managed in a sustainable manner while supporting India's aim to become a trillion-dollar digital economy," Malik added.

--IANS
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Taipei, Feb 16 (IANS) Chip maker MediaTek on Thursday launched the Dimensity 7200 chipset to amplify gaming and photography smartphone experiences.

The Dimensity 7200 delivers the same TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 4nm second-generation process found in the Dimensity 9200, and is ideal for ultra-slim designs in a variety of form factors, said the company.

"The MediaTek Dimensity 7000 series will be vital for mobile gamers and photography enthusiasts who are looking for an affordable way to squeeze the most battery life out of their phones without skimping on performance," CH Chen, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communications Business Unit, said in a statement.

For gamers, the MediaTek HyperEngine 5.0 technology provides AI-based Variable Rate Shading (VRS) for power savings, CPU and GPU smart resource optimization for longer battery life, and other enhancements for smooth gameplay.

Moreover, utilising MediaTek's Imagiq 765 and a 14-bit HDR-ISP, the Dimensity 7200 supports 200MP main cameras for epic photography, according to the company.

To further optimise power and performance, MediaTek's built-in AI Processing Unit (APU) maximises the efficiency of AI tasks and AI fusion processing.

The chipset also supports 4K HDR video capture and allows users to capture content from two cameras at Full HD resolution while keeping everything in focus using all-pixel autofocus technology.

Additional features include -- up to Full HD+ and a refresh rate of 144Hz for brilliant displays, Bluetooth LE Audio technology and Dual-Link True Wireless Stereo Audio for wireless earbud support, AI SDR-to-HDR video playback for enhanced multimedia experiences, and more.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 16 (IANS) Tech giant Apple will reportedly introduce its mixed reality (MR) headset at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

In a tweet on Thursday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said, "Apple has postponed the planned introduction of its mixed-reality headset from around April to June at the annual WWDC conference, the latest setback for Apple's next major device."

Last month, it was reported that the tech giant's MR headset will use motors to automatically adjust lenses for perfect images.

Many quality-of-life improvements over the existing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headset formats are expected to be featured in the upcoming headset.

It was also rumoured that the MR headset is expected to offer well-being features such as exercise and meditation.

The headset is likely to use iris scan instead of Face ID or Touch ID to identify people.

Moreover, it was reported that the iPhone maker was developing software that would give users an easier way to create their own AR applications on the upcoming MR headset.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS) Industrial manufacturing major Siemens on Thursday announced the launch of private industrial 5G router, a critical component for the manufacturing industry in its digital transformation journey.

If there is no available 5G network, the device switches automatically to 4G or 3G networks.

The applications on private industrial 5G offer long-term benefits to a wide range of customer segments such as intra-logistics, autonomous machines, industrial edge, remote diagnostics, augmented reality, assisted work, wireless backhaul, edge computing and mobile equipment.

While in most consumer applications the focus is mainly on high data rates, industrial networks tend to focus more on low latency and high availability.

"This is where private 5G networks step in as they can be configured to suit the requirements of the manufacturing industry. Private 5G networks also offer data security," said Suprakash Chaudhuri, Head -- Digital Industries, Siemens Limited.

Siemens' industrial 5G routers — Scalance MUM856-1 and MUM853-1 will enable enhanced Mobile broadband transmission, massive machine type communication and ultra-reliable low latencies.

The routers connect local industrial applications to public 5G, 4G (LTE) and 3G (UMTS) mobile wireless networks.

These can be used to remotely monitor and service plants, machines, control elements, and other industrial devices via a public 5G network -- flexibly and with high data rates.

‘Scalance MUM856-1' offers high bandwidths of up to 1000 Mbps for the downlink and up to 500 Mbps for the uplink -- providing high data rates for data-intensive applications such as the remote implementation of firmware updates.

The devices can also be implemented in modern communication networks.

Various security functions are included in order to monitor data traffic and protect against unauthorised access, said the company.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 16 (IANS) Israeli cloud-based web development services company Wix has laid off 370 employees in a second round of job cuts, most of them in the customer service department in the US.

In August last year, the company laid off 100 employees, with the majority of those laid off working outside of Israel, reports Globes.

"With a heavy heart, I share with you that we have parted with 370 of our people. Most of them belong to our customer service organisation, and most of them are in the US. Their managers have already informed them about the difficult news, offered support, and explained the process that is expected to take place," Wix president Nir Zohar was quoted as saying.

"As you know the global economy has dramatically slowed down. We see this in all sectors ... As a result of which Wix and all its rivals have experienced a global slowdown, the significance of which is that we need to staff a smaller customer service," he added.

Meanwhile, US-based cloud communications company Twilio has announced to lay off about 17 per cent of its global workforce in a second round of job cuts amid cost-cutting measures.

In September last year, Twilio sacked 11 per cent of its employees - more than 850 people from its 7,800-strong workforce globally.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 14 (IANS) Apple has issued a new security update to fix a vulnerability in iPhone and iPad's operating systems that hackers have been exploiting in the wild.

The security patch is available for iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 5th generation and later, according to the company.

"Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution," said Apple.

The tech giant admitted that it "is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited".

Apple acknowledged The Citizen Lab at The University of Toronto's Munk School for their assistance in discovering and alerting the company about the vulnerability..

The Citizen Lab is known for exposing government hacking sypware made by Israel's NSO Group.

This latest bug was in WebKit, Apple's browser engine that's used in Safari.

The iOS 16.3.1 and iPadOS 16.3.1 security updates are now available for download to fix the vulnerability.

Last year, Apple released a major update (iOS 14.5) that allows users to tell apps to stop tracking them, adds 217 new emojis, and fixes a slew of 50 security bugs, according to Motherboard.

The company had also released another update to fix two vulnerabilities that hackers were using to exploit iPhones in the wild.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) India will need 30 million digitally skilled professionals by 2026, and about 50 per cent of the current workforce would require to re-skill themselves in areas of emerging technologies, a new report said on Friday.

Currently, India has about 500 million people of working age, and industry data suggests that only 49 per cent of total youth (age group of 22-25 years) in the country is employable, according to employment services provider TeamLease.

"Our own survey have indicated that 75 per cent of companies face a skill gap in the industry. Even among people, who can stay in their current jobs, 40 per cent of fundamental abilities are likely to change and thus re-aligning the skill strategy will be crucial for companies," said Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive Director, TeamLease Services.

Moreover, the report suggests that developing a skills matric, conducting skill audits to target specific learning journeys and intermingling upskilling within the company culture; a comprehensive skill development strategy will lead to a more sustainable future of work.

The proposed suggestion also includes having an effective outcome-focused learning approach with structured impact evaluation metrics.

"Over 2 million jobs in AI, Cyber Security, and blockchain are expected to remain unfilled in 2023. Additionally, the workplace is evolving so rapidly that 76 per cent of the global workforce is not equipped with the requisite skills to function in the new digitally focused workplaces," mentioned Chakraborty.

"The long-term goal of all skill development programs must focus on the creation of a future-ready and future-proof workforce for that is the only way we can tackle the fluctuations in the world of work and infuse a sense of greater stability. The adoption of sustainable skill development thereby creating a healthy talent pipeline in any country is the only way to address the vagaries of talent Inequity."

According to the World Economic Forum, investing in upskilling could boost India's economy by $570 billion by creating 2.3 million new jobs by 2030, the report said.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Feb 10 (IANS) Google on Friday launched its new 'Immersive Stream for XR' service for all Google Cloud customers, with which users will not need any powerful hardware or a special application to be immersed in a 3D or augmented reality (AR) world.

Users can click a link or scan a QR code to immediately be transported to extended reality (XR), the tech giant said in a blogpost.

"Immersive Stream for XR is being used to power the 'immersive view' feature in Google Maps, while automotive and retail brands are enhancing at-home shopping experiences for consumers, from virtually configuring a new vehicle to visualizing new appliances in the home."

Moreover, the new tool supports content developed in "Unreal Engine 5.0".

In order to serve tablet and desktop devices, the company has also added the capability to render content in landscape mode.

"With landscape mode and the ability to render to larger screens, there is more real estate for creating sophisticated user interfaces (UIs) and interactions, for more full-featured immersive applications," the tech giant said.

The tool "leverages Google Cloud GPUs to host, render, and stream high-quality photorealistic experiences to millions of mobile devices around the world", it added.

Meanwhile, the company also released its latest Chrome beta, version 111, which includes a trial for a feature that might make the browser's picture-in-picture feature more useful, and much more.

--IANS
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