Technology

The low-cost app called START (Screening Tools for Autism Risk using Technology) can be used by community healthcare workers to quickly and inexpensively identify children with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders in India, said the researchers, which also include those from universities of London and Reading in the UK.

Researchers from India, the UK and US tested the app with 131 two- to seven-year-olds living in low-resource neighbourhoods of Delhi. The tests were carried out at the homes of the children, by non-specialist healthcare workers, educated to high school level, using the START app.

Through a series of simple games, questions, images and activities on a tablet computer - such as popping bubbles and looking at patterns and images - the app measured the social preference, sensory interests and motor skills of the children.

The results, published in the journal Autism, showed that the app was 86 per cent accurate in identifying children with any neurodevelopmental disorders, and 78 per cent accurate in specifically identifying autism. This performance is significantly higher than standard screening assessments for neurodevelopmental disorders used by non-specialists.

According to Professor Bhismadev Chakrabarti, director of the Centre for Autism at the University of Reading, the results could help faster identification of children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, in all parts of the world.

"Autism is diagnosed by highly trained professionals, but most autistic people live in parts of the world that harbour few or no such autism specialists, and with little autism awareness.

"So many autistic people go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed or misunderstood, so we designed the START app to identify autism and related conditions anywhere.

"The START app puts a successful screening tool for autism and related conditions into the hands of the people already working in communities for children's health," Chakrabarti said.

The app makes use of a series of tests that measure different domains of behaviour associated with atypicalities in autism. Children with neurodevelopmental conditions preferred looking at geometric patterns rather than social scenes, were fascinated by predictable, repetitive sensory stimuli, and had more trouble completing precise tasks with their hands.

The app also included questions for parents, combining all the scores to help distinguish autistic from non-autistic children.

The families and healthcare workers using the app said START was easy to use, fun for children to take part in, and could be used in family homes even with background noise and distractions.

--IANS

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According to a Reddit user, the latest Samsung Health beta app, version

6.24.1.023, includes a “Feature List” that mentions “Ring Support,” reports

SamMobile.

However, the list does not provide any additional details of this feature.

It is also possible that “Ring Support” is included in the latest Health

beta app because the tech giant might want to add support for smart rings

made by other companies.

Or, the company might be planning to do both, release the Galaxy Ring and

bring support for third-party rings on the Health platform, the report said.

In February, it was reported that Samsung was working on Galaxy Ring for

health tracking.

The company was granted the Galaxy Ring trademark by Korea Intellectual

Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS).

The Galaxy Ring classifications explained the product as a “smart device

for measuring health indicators and/or sleep in the form of [a] ring.”

The Galaxy Ring will likely monitor the wearer's health and physical

activities similar to a smartwatch.

--IANS

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Since May 2016, the company has not allowed new Premium subscribers to pay for service through Apple’s in-app purchase, citing the tech giant's "tax" on App Store purchases, reports Variety.

However, those who had previously subscribed to Spotify using that method could continue to do so until now.

The company is now emailing affected subscribers about the upcoming change.

"We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment," Spotify was quoted as saying.

Moreover, the email notification informs Spotify customers that their account will "automatically switch to our Free, ad-supported service… If you wish to keep your Premium subscription, you will need to re-subscribe after your last billing period has ended and your account has been moved on to the Free account".

To begin the new subscription, users must choose one of the payment methods accepted by Spotify, including credit cards and PayPal, the report said.

Spotify and Apple have had a long-running dispute, with Spotify accusing Apple of anti-competitive practices.

In February, the European Commission updated its anti-trust case against Apple, sending a fresh statement of objections to the tech giant clarifying its concerns over App Store rules for music streaming providers.

The Commission said that Apple breached antitrust laws by stopping rival music firms like Spotify from advertising where and how users could subscribe to their apps.

According to the statement of objections, Apple abused its dominant position by imposing its own in-app purchase payment technology on music streaming app developers and restricting app developers' ability to inform iPhone and iPad users of alternative music subscription services.

--IANS

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The new effects include Dust Max, Black and White Film, Light Leak and more, reports Android Police.

These effects add a personal touch to the users' videos.

The Poster effect makes the video appear like folded paper, while the Layouts effect offers a neat block-by-block look to the selfie videos.

Moreover, the company has made video playback controls easier to use.

Along with the play and pause buttons, there are now buttons to skip forward and backward.

Also, the company has removed the old floating box style and added a full-screen view which shows up when users activate the profile menu, the report said.

Last month, the tech giant had added new editing features to the photo sharing and storage service, including Portrait Light, Portrait Blur and Dynamic, for Google One (cloud storage service) subscribers on the web.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the company was testing an on-demand cinematic effect feature in Google Photos.

--IANS

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Between May 1 and May 31, 6,508,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned and 2,420,700 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users in the country.

In the month of April, WhatsApp, which has more than 500 million users in India, had banned a record over 74 lakh bad accounts.

The most popular messaging platform also received 3,912 grievance reports like "ban appeals" in May in the country, and the records "actioned" were 297.

“Accounts Actioned" denotes reports where WhatsApp took remedial action based on the report and taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result.

"This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform," according to the company.

In a bid to empower millions of Indian social media users, the Centre recently launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) that will look into their concerns regarding content and other issues.

The newly-formed panel, a move to strengthen the country's digital laws to tame the Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions of social media platforms.

In a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of 'Digital Nagriks’.

--IANS

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"We’re expanding our “Why Am I Seeing This?” feature in Instagram Reels tab and Explore, and Facebook Reels in the coming weeks, after previously launching it for some Feed content and all ads on both Facebook and Instagram," Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs at Meta, wrote in a blogpost.

"You’ll be able to click on an individual reel to see more information about how your previous activity may have informed the machine learning models that shape and deliver the reels you see," he added.

Moreover, the tech giant said that it wants to be more transparent about its AI (artificial intelligence) systems and give more control to users over the content shown to them.

"Today, we’re building on that commitment by being more transparent around several of the AI systems that incorporate your feedback to rank content across Facebook and Instagram. These systems make it more likely that the posts you see are relevant and interesting to you,” Clegg said.

Meta is also testing a new feature on Instagram which will make it possible for users to indicate that they are “Interested” in a recommended reel in the Reels tab, so the company can show them more of what they like.

Users can already select "Not Interested" from the three-dot menu on the post to see fewer posts of that type.

Further, the company released 22 system cards for Facebook and Instagram, which will give information about how their AI systems rank content, some of the predictions each system makes to determine what content might be most relevant to users, as well as the controls they can use to help customise their experience.

The cards will cover Feed, Stories, Reels and other surfaces where people go to find content from the accounts or people they follow. The system cards will also cover AI systems that recommend “unconnected” content from people, groups, or accounts they don’t follow.

--IANS

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The initiative will include new, free coursework developed with LinkedIn, including the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI in the online learning market, a new open global grant challenge in coordination with data.org to uncover new ways of training workers on generative AI and greater access to free digital learning events and resources for everyone to improve their AI fluency, according to the company.

Under the Professional Certificate on Generative AI coursework, workers will learn introductory concepts of AI, including a look at responsible AI frameworks, and receive a Career Essentials certificate when they pass the assessment.

"This Professional Certificate on Generative AI is currently available in English and will launch in Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese over the coming months on LinkedIn Learning," Microsoft said in a blogpost on Wednesday.

Moreover, the tech giant is also launching a trainer toolkit for teachers, trainers, and facilitators, which will provide skilling resources and training to local communities.

The toolkit will include downloadable, bite-sized content for trainers, including a new AI course built for educators by Microsoft Education and content on the practical uses of AI, the company said.

"AI offers perhaps even more potential for the good of humanity than any invention that has preceded it," said Microsoft’s President and Vice Chair Brad Smith.

Additionally, the company is releasing the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge, a free technical training challenge to learn essential AI skills with Microsoft products and services, beginning on July 17.

--IANS

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"If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features," the tech giant said in a Workspace Updates blogpost on Wednesday.

Earlier, these features were only available in traditional Meet meetings.

"Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience."

The Q&A feature in Meet provides an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school.

Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers. On the other hand, businesses can use this feature to help make meetings more inclusive, allowing everyone to ask questions. Also, participants can submit and upvote their favourite questions without disrupting the flow of the call.

Polls are a way to quickly gauge the pulse of the audience. Users can use polls to identify topics that need more discussion or test understanding of the meeting content.

"This means business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they're absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive," the company said.

--IANS

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Before debuting a new product, the company sends information to partner retailers and mobile carriers to help them prepare for the new product’s release, reports SamMobile.

According to @_snoopytech_, the company already sent the information about the new Galaxy Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Tab S9 series.

However, the leaker mentioned that the company has not shared any information about upcoming audio products.

This indicates that a new pair of Galaxy Buds might not be unveiled at the Unpacked event.

Earlier this month, Samsung had announced that it will unveil its next-generation foldable devices at the Galaxy Unpacked event in late July in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

The Unpacked event will take place at the Convention and Exhibition Center (COEX) in Samseong-dong.

Seoul was chosen this year due to its influence on global trends through its innovative and dynamic culture, and it also shows the company's strong confidence in the foldable category.

--IANS

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Beta users will receive a message that invites them to try calling their groups, reports WABetaInfo.

Earlier, only the ability to place audio calls with up to 32 people was available on Windows.

However now, with the latest update, beta users can also video call with up to 32 people.

The new feature is currently available to some beta testers that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Windows update, and is expected to roll out to more users over the coming days, the report said.

In November last year, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced this feature for Android and iOS.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the messaging platform was rolling out a screen-sharing feature for video calls to some beta testers on Windows.

With this feature, users will get the choice to share a specific window or the complete screen with everyone participating in the video call.

--IANS

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