Technology

San Francisco, Dec 17 (IANS) Google has launched a beta of its client-side encryption for Gmail on the web, which will ensure sensitive data in email bodies, and keep attachments unreadable even to Google servers.

The customers of Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard are eligible to apply for the beta until January 20, 2023, said the company.

"Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs," Google said in a blogpost.

Moreover, the customers will retain control over encryption keys and the identity service to access those keys.

The client-side encryption is already available for Google Drive, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Google Meet, and Google Calendar (beta).

The company said that it will be accepting beta applications and allow listing customers over the next several weeks.

It also mentioned that the service will not be available to users with personal Google accounts.

Last month, the tech giant announced a new "package tracking" feature in Gmail that will help users view their package tracking and delivery information right in their inbox.

The feature will provide important details at a glance, such as estimated arrival date and status, like "label created", "arriving tomorrow" or "delivered today".

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San Francisco, Dec 15 (IANS) Microsoft has banned cryptocurrency mining from its online services to protect all of its cloud customers, media reports said.

Microsoft's Summary of Changes to the license states: "Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval."

Within the license itself, there was hardly any more info, reports The Register.

Moreover, a section headed "Acceptable Use Policy" states: "Neither Customer nor those that access an Online Service through Customer, may use an Online Service: to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft's prior written approval."

"Cryptocurrency mining can disrupt or even impair Online Services and its users, and is often associated with unauthorised access to and use of customer accounts," Microsoft told The Register.

"We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud," Microsoft was quoted as saying.

"Permission to mine crypto may be considered for Testing and Research for security detections," it added.

Last year, Microsoft warned customers about a new crypto mining malware that can steal credentials, remove security controls, spread via emails and ultimately drop more tools for human-operated activity.

Called 'LemonDuck', the crypto mining malware targeted Windows and Linux systems, spreading via phishing emails, exploits, USB devices and brute force attacks in various countries, including India.

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San Francisco, Dec 12 (IANS) Google Home application is reportedly showing a "could not reach" error message to many users when they are adding smart home devices.

As a result, the users are unable to add new devices, thus preventing the process from finishing, reports 9To5Google.

The Home application can control Google-owned products like the most recent Nest Cam and Nest Thermostat, as well as thousands of third-party devices made by other companies.

Normally, adding devices requires linking an account with another service, however right now, that procedure appears to be broken.

Earlier this month, the tech giant was reportedly making more user interface (UI) changes as its Home application ramps up preview testing for its major redesign, but it also appeared to be breaking existing Assistant routines for some users.

The new page allows routines to manage various features of each device, as opposed to the previous page's drop-down settings that only allowed users to adjust the on or off settings for each light or switch in their home.

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San Francisco, Dec 12 (IANS) Twitter CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the micro-blogging platform will increase the tweet character limit from 280 to 4,000.

It all started when a user asked Musk, "Elon is it true that Twitter is set to increase the characters from 280 to 4000?"

To this Musk replied, "Yes".

Several users expressed their thoughts on Musk's post.

While one user said, "It would be a big mistake. Twitter's purpose is to provide fast news. If this happens, a lot of real information is lost," another commented, "4000? That's an essay, not a tweet."

On the other hand, Twitter on Sunday started to roll out 'Community Notes' to all users globally.

According to the company, "Community Notes aim to create a better informed world by empowering people on Twitter to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading Tweets."

"Contributors can leave notes on any Tweet and if enough contributors from different points of view rate that note as helpful, the note will be publicly shown on a Tweet," it added.

Meanwhile, Musk on Monday called all the bots on the micro-blogging platform to attack him.

He wrote, "Calling all bots & spams. Please attack me!"

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San Francisco, Dec 3 (IANS) Twitter boss Elon Musk has said that the micro-blogging platform is serving 90 billion tweet impressions per day.

"Twitter is now serving almost 90 billion tweet impressions per day! Just how incredibly alive the system actually is will become obvious as we show view count on all tweets," he tweeted.

Last month, Musk tweeted in which he said that Twitter may exceed one billion monthly users in the next 12 to 18 months.

He tweeted: "I think I see a path to Twitter exceeding a billion monthly users in 12 to 18 months."

Moreover, in the same month, Musk said that the micro-blogging platform has added 1.6 million daily active users in the last week.

He tweeted: "Twitter added 1.6M daily active users this past week, another all-time high."

Further, the micro-blogging site had told advertisers that its daily user growth has hit an "all-time high" after Musk's takeover even as several advertisers left the platform amid internal chaos.

According to a company document obtained by 'The Verge', Twitter's monetisable daily active user (mDAU) growth has accelerated to more than 20 per cent after Musk's takeover.

As per the report, Twitter has added more than 15 million mDAUs, "crossing the quarter billion mark".

Twitter last reported 237.8 million mDAUs and a 16.6 per cent annual growth for its second quarter.

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San Francisco, Dec 3 (IANS) Google has announced that it is testing end-to-end encrypted RCS (Rich Communication Services) group chats, which will be available to some users in the open beta program over the coming weeks.

With this feature, one-on-one texts sent using Messages by Google will be encrypted so they are private and secure and can only be seen by the sender and recipient, according to the blogpost.

"RCS doesn't only make texting more secure -- it makes the experience better, too," Google said in a blogpost.

"SMS texting lacks a lot of what smartphones are capable of doing, but RCS means you can send and receive high-quality photos and videos, see real-time typing indicators and read receipts, name group conversations, add or remove contacts from group chats, and text over Wi-Fiathis list goes on," it added.

Google has been urging manufacturers and carriers to use RCS, a supercharged version of SMS that includes features such as typing indicators, delivery and read receipts.

It has also launched campaigns to convince Apple to adopt this standard for its own Messages app.

"Today, all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard -- except for Apple. Apple refuses to adopt RCS and continues to rely on SMS when people with iPhones message people with Android phones, which means their texting is stuck in the 1990s," Neena Budhiraja, group product manager for the Messages app, said in a blogpost.

"Hopefully, Apple can #GetTheMessage so we don't have to keep waiting to remove the whole acegreen-versus-blue bubble" thing," it added.

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New Delhi, Dec 2 (IANS) Telegram's next step is to build a set of decentralised tools, including non-custodial wallets and decentralised exchanges for millions of people to securely trade and store cryptocurrencies, its Founder and CEO Pavel Durov has said.

He said that this can fix the wrongs caused by the excessive centralisation, "which let down hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency users".

"The Blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralisation, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power. As a result, a lot of people lost their money when FTX, one of the largest exchanges, went bankrupt," said Durov.

Cryptocurrency users should switch to trustless transactions and self-hosted wallets that don't rely on any single third party.

"We, developers, should steer the blockchain industry away from centralisation by building fast and easy-to-use decentralised applications for the masses. Such projects are finally feasible today," said the Telegram CEO.

He said that it took only 5 weeks and 5 people, including himself, to put together Fragment -- a fully decentralised auction platform.

"Fragment has been an amazing success, with $50 million worth of usernames sold there in less than a month. This week, Fragment will expand beyond usernames," said Durov.

The time when the inefficiencies of legacy platforms justified centralisation should be long gone.

"With technologies like TON reaching their potential, the blockchain industry should be finally able to deliver on its core mission - giving the power back to the people," he emphasised.

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New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) Twitter on Thursday suspended the account of Pranay Pathole, a 24-year-old IT professional from India who is a Twitter friend of Elon Musk for years.

The micro-blogging platform also suspended the account of Twitter Owners Silicon Valley account for violating its policies.

"Digging into this now," tweeted Musk.

Pathole's account was also suspended for violating Twitter rules.

In August, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk met his Twitter buddie from Pune at his Gigafactory in Texas.

Pathole who works as a software developer for Tata Consultancy Services said it was so great to meet Musk in person.

"It was so great meeting you @elonmusk at the Gigafactory Texas. Never seen such a humble and down-to-earth person. You're an inspiration to the millions," he said in a tweet, posting a picture of Musk with him.

Musk and Pathole have been friends since 2018 on Twitter, and keep discussing a myriad of topics from space to cars and more.

In May, Musk had said that he is not running Pathole's Twitter account.

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London, Dec 1 (IANS) TikTok is hosting dozens of videos that glorify violence by Russia's Wagner Group of mercenaries and they have been viewed more than a billion times, according to a new report, media reported.

Wagner has sent mercenaries into Ukraine in big numbers.

US-based NewsGuard, which focuses on online misinformation, says some of the videos appear to show the execution of a former Russian mercenary.

TikTok has said it will act against any content violating its policies.

NewsGuard said it had identified 160 videos on the short-video platform that "allude to, show, or glorify acts of violence" by the mercenary group, founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, BBC reported.

Fourteen of those videos showed full or partial footage of the apparent killing of former Russian mercenary Yevgeny Nuzhin which saw high engagement within days of being uploaded last month, it said.

Analysts said one video of the murder was viewed at least 900,000 times before it was taken down. TikTok is owned by China-based firm ByteDance, BBC reported.

Nuzhin had been serving a jail term for murder but described how he had been recruited by Wagner and was then captured by the Ukrainian military. He told Ukrainian journalists he had switched sides voluntarily and denounced the mercenary group.

It is thought he was then part of a prisoner exchange and within days a gruesome video involving a sledgehammer was posted on a Wagner-linked channel on the Telegram messaging app.

NewsGuard found that TikTok's algorithm appeared to push users towards
violent Wagner Group content.

When an analyst searched for the term "Wagner", TikTok's search bar suggested searches for "Wagner execution" and "Wagner sledgehammer". The same search in Russian resulted in the suggestions "Wagner PMC", "Wagner sledgehammer" and "Wagner orchestra". Wagner refers to its fighters as "musicians", BBC reported.

NewsGuard also found that videos could be found on TikTok showing another Wagner murder involving an army deserter in Syria in 2017 and that they had reached millions of users, BBC reported.

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San Francisco, Nov 20 (IANS) Microsoft's virtual keyboard application SwiftKey has unexpectedly made a comeback on iOS's App Store.

"Based on customer feedback, SwiftKey iOS has been relisted on the Apple App Store," Microsoft's Caitlin Roulston said in a statement to The Verge.

"Please visit Support.SwiftKey.com for more information," Roulston added.

Despite the comeback, SwiftKey's latest update is still dated August 11, 2021.

"Stay tuned to what the team has in store," said Vishnu Nath, Microsoft's vice president and general manager of OneNote and the Office product group.

According to Microsoft's chief technical officer (CTO) of its maps and local services division, Pedram Rezaei, the company will be "investing heavily in the keyboard."

In September this year, the tech giant had announced it would end support for SwiftKey on iOS devices and remove it from the Apple Store on October 5, after facing several user complaints.

"We are ending support for Microsoft SwiftKey iOS. Thank you for being a user of our product. The app will be delisted from the App Store on October 5, 2022," the company had said in an update.

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