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Apple To Release iOS 16.1 Update With New Features on October 24

Apple will launch iOS 16.1 on October 24, 2022. The new update will be accessible on iPhones running on iOS 16 i.e iPhone 8 and models thereafter.

Apple has revealed that iOS 16.1 will be released soon and will include new features like “Live Activities,” “Clean Energy Charging,” etc. The latest update will include a few significant changes. With the help of Live Activities, users will be able to stay informed about events in real-time through their lock screen.

Using this feature users can simply glance at the lock screen to keep up with a current sporting event, monitor their ride’s progress, or check the status of their order. In essence, a widget in the notification area will pop up to display real-time updates, somewhat like other notifications.

The new update allows users to remove the Wallet application from their iPhones. As one may anticipate, uninstalling the Wallet app prevents you from using a number of features, such as Apple Cash, Apple Pay, and Apple Card. The new iOS 16.1 supports Matter.

A new intelligent connectivity standard called Matter will allow compatible devices to function in unison across the platform. Clean Energy Charging seeks to reduce the carbon emissions of the iPhone by planning charging periods for when the grid is utilizing greener energy sources.

The new battery symbol, which finally shows the percentage, was one of the new features of iOS 16. It was already fairly good, but iOS 16.1 improves it a little by making the font bigger and hence easier to read.

Due to their smaller displays, some iPhone models, including the iPhone XR, 12 mini, and 13 mini, were unable to show the battery percentage. However, all iPhones operating the most recent OS version now have access to this feature thanks to the iOS 16.1 update.

Apple will now provide customers with more precise control over the copy-paste capability with the next iOS 16.1 update. One can now allow or restrict copy-paste functionality for every app. One can choose to have the app request their consent each time they want to copy material from another app. Additionally, one can permanently permit it or refuse access; the choice now mostly rests with the user.

With the introduction of iCloud Shared Photo Library in this update, there is a new, seamless way for families to share images with a different iCloud library in which a maximum of six users can collaborate, contribute and enjoy. Existing photos can also be added to the iCloud Shared Photo Library, and the system will automatically organize them according to several criteria, including date, by default.

Prior to iOS 16.1, Apple’s home workout app Fitness+ needed an Apple Watch device to function, however, this requirement is no longer a factor. Users can now monitor their workout sessions from an iPhone even without the Apple Watch. Apple does not currently provide the Fitness+ service in India.

On October 24, Apple will also release the updated iPad OS 16.1. Users of iPads will notice a number of changes in the new iPadOS 16, most notably the contentious new Stage Manager multitask function.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Uber Launches Ads Division to boost their Revenue

Uber, a ride-hailing service, has started its own ads division to connect customers with companies by playing video ads while they are in their cabs.

By playing video ads during the ride, Uber’s ads division hopes to connect customers with companies. The business introduced “Uber Journey Ads,” a fun way for companies to connect with their customers. To operate Journey Ads, Uber has already partnered with more than 40 well-known companies.

At first, these advertisements will only be shown in a few markets. Though some experts warn it could cause issues with user privacy, the company believes the new ad-targeting service has enormous potential for revenue growth.

Uber’s General Manager for the ads division, Mark Grether noted: “We have a global audience of valuable, purchase-minded consumers who, as part of our core business, tell us where they want to go and what they want to get.

While consumers are making purchase decisions and waiting for their destination or delivery, we can engage them with messages from brands relevant to their purchase journeys.

And with 1.87 billion trips last quarter, that means we can connect advertisers to consumers on average five times per month across rides and delivery.”

Uber also provides thorough data and analysis, which aids businesses in creating marketing initiatives that have a bigger effect on their target audience. The ride-hailing platform provides “Sponsored Listings” across Uber Eats to help brands stand out from the crowd and attract customers.

Uber’s “Homepage Billboards” provide sponsors the option to put advertisements on the Uber Eats homepage, and “Sponsored Emails” allow brands to push offers to Uber and Uber Eats customers by mail to their inboxes.

As per Uber, the new ad-targeting tool would enable brands to use information about riders’ previous travel patterns as well as their specific geographic locations to position ads. For example, a company might purchase ads targeted at that place if a user requests an Uber to go to a particular store, movie theatre, or airport.

Additionally, Uber will now permit a single brand to sponsor the entire journey, beginning with the initial request for the cab. These so-called “journey ads,” will be sold on a trip-by-trip basis rather than the typical pricing for digital advertising by consumer impression

This will allow brands to display a user different ads in three parts in the user’s trip: while waiting for a car, while driving, and once the user has arrived at the destination.

According to Mr. Grether, the rider can make purchases by clicking an ad without exiting the Uber app. Advertising on in-car tablets will also be included in separate pilot initiatives in the United States and India, he said.

Tech giants like Google and Meta, have been known to record users’ web activity to target them with ads. Retailers like Walmart and Kroger can keep track of your shopping habits to the advantage of the businesses that partner with them for advertising.

Uber has been developing its advertising business for several years, but the majority of its development to date has come from ads placed on the food delivery app Uber Eats.

The new division of Uber will face competition from rivals like Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart Inc., all of which are fighting for an increasing share of the advertising budgets of companies looking to reach consumers online.

Uber, which joined the advertising market in 2019, has stated that it hopes to generate over $1 billion in revenue from ads by 2024.

Meanwhile, a recent U.S. proposal that could prevent gig workers from being classified as independent contractors will likely result in higher costs for businesses like Uber and Lyft.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures Stunning Image of Pillars of Creation

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

NASA’s most conscientious observatory has done it once more. The James Webb Space Telescope has turned back an infrared image of the famous Pillars of Creation, which is the sharpest and the most detailed portrait of the spectacular star-forming region ever seen.

Translucent columns of cool interstellar gas and dust are punctuated by piercing, bright points of light in the ethereal scene. According to NASA, the majority of these are stars, and the reddish balls of fire near the edges of the pillars are newly created stars.

“The three-dimensional pillars look like majestic rock formations, but are far more permeable,” NASA wrote. “These columns are made up of cool interstellar gas and dust that appear – at times – semi-transparent in near-infrared light.”
Source: huffpost.com

These are not to be confused with the deep red, magma-like areas that run along the inside perimeter of a few of the pillars. This is caused by the turbulence caused by stars that are still forming and shooting supersonic jets of material into space where they collide with other materials. In a nutshell, this is how cosmic chaos appears.

Fortunately, these epic explosions and cosmological collisions are thousands (approximately 6,500 light-years) of light-years away from Earth.

NASA’S Hubble Space Telescope photographed this region of the universe for the first time in 1995. The Hubble successfully conducted a follow-up mission in 2014, and numerous other observatories have focused their telescopes on the Eagle Nebula.

“When knots with sufficient mass form within the pillars of gas and dust, they begin to collapse under their own gravity, slowly heat up, and eventually form new stars,” NASA said. “Young stars periodically shoot out supersonic jets that collide with clouds of material, like these thick pillars … The crimson glow comes from the energetic hydrogen molecules that result from jets and shocks. This is evident in the second and third pillars from the top – the NIRCam image is practically pulsing with their activity.”
Source: huffpost.com

A side-by-side comparison of the new photo and Hubble’s view of the cosmic phenomenon reveals how Webb’s infrared instrument can see through the dust and gas curtains that shroud the scene.

NASA shared an image of the cosmic bubble wrap known as the Bubble Nebula. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured the image. The cosmic bubble wrap is situated in the constellation Cassiopeia which is about 7,100 light-years away from Earth and you may know, one of the highly known star bubbles is the Bubble Nebula.

Images like Pillars of Creation, as well as additional data from Webb, will be used by NASA and astronomers around the world to gain a better understanding of the process of star formation.

Suhani Jain

I am a student pursuing my bachelor’s in information technology. I have a interest in writing so, I am working a freelance content writer because I enjoy writing. I also write poetries. I believe in the quote by anne frank “paper has more patience than person

Microsoft fires around 1,000 Employees Across Multiple Divisions

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

Microsoft has laid off nearly 1000 employees across multiple divisions, including the Xbox and Edge teams. The layoffs affected less than 1 percent of Microsoft’s latest reported workforce of around 221,000 people, Axios stated by citing an anonymous source.

The US tech behemoth officially confirmed the elimination of a small number of positions and the intention to increase its employee count in the future earlier in July.

In a statement released by Microsoft said, “Today we had a small number of role eliminations. Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities regularly, and make structural adjustments accordingly.”
Source: financialexpress.com

Microsoft’s 1000 employees layoff is the latest in a string of job cuts or hiring freezes in the United States as the global economy slows. Due to the global economic slowdown, rising inflation, and other factors, several technology companies, which would include Meta Platforms Inc, Twitter Inc, and Snap Inc, have cut jobs and stopped hiring in recent months.

Meta recently laid off 60 contractors who were reportedly chosen at random by an algorithm. Snap officially confirmed its plan to reduce its headcount by approximately 20 percent of its full-time employees worldwide on August 31, 2022.

A Twitter user going by the handle KC Lemson who is a Microsoft veteran and product supervisor in the office of the Chief Technology Officer tweeted on Monday that she had been laid off by Microsoft. Several other long-serving Microsoft employees were affected by the layoffs together with KC Lemson.

When we talk about current layoffs, a Microsoft spokesperson said, “like all corporations, we consider our enterprise priorities frequently, and make structural changes accordingly. We will proceed to take a position in our enterprise and rent in key areas in the year forward.”
Source: indiatoday.in

Wipro and Infosys have both officially declared layoffs this year in India. Aside from attrition, many companies, such as Apple, Oracle, and Google also, have publicly stated a hiring freeze for the months to come. As of late July, Crunchbase revealed that more than 32,000 workers in the US software industry had been laid off in mass layoffs.

“We’ve included both startups and publicly traded companies that are based in the US. We’ve also included companies based elsewhere that have a sizable team in the United States, such as Klarna,” the analysis said.
Source: financialexpress.com

The company has recently launched its new Microsoft Surface line-up, which consisted of the Surface Laptop 5, Surface 9 Pro tablet, Studio 2+, and numerous other products. On October 25, the company will release its fiscal second-quarter financial results.

Suhani Jain

A new ad campaign from Meta is aimed at the iMessage service from Apple

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Sandhya Gupta

In an advertisement that intensifies the business rivalries between the two prominent Silicon Valley tech companies, Meta has taken an aim at Apple’s iMessage.On Monday Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta shared a photo of an advertisement in New York’s Penn Station suggesting that WhatsApp from Meta is more private and secure than Apple’s iMessage and conventional text messages.

A billboard comparing WhatsApp’s “Private” bubble to the Green and Blue bubbles of Apple’s iMessage may be seen in the Meta CEO’s shared Instagram photo. Apple has consistently emphasized the privacy and safety of iMessage.

The blue and green bubbles in iMessage serve to distinguish between messages sent from an iPhone and those sent from an Android device. The blue bubble confirms that the recipient has an Apple device whereas the green bubble indicates that the receiver uses an Android device.

Zuckerberg made a post on Instagram stating, “WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats. With WhatsApp, you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button. And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have.”

End-to-end encryption refers to the design of the messaging system, which prevents the service provider from viewing the contents of the texts or providing them in compliance with a legal order. iMessage and WhatsApp are both encrypted.

On either service, however, messages and backups might be kept in a fashion that allows the company to access them. Wireless cellular carriers preserve SMS communications.

There are several factors for Meta to criticize Apple in this situation. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social media businesses’ advertising has suffered since Apple’s ‘App Tracking Transparency’ tool was made available in April 2021.

By using this option, social media companies are prevented from tracking a user’s data on other websites or apps. According to one report, this Apple feature would cost Facebook nearly $22 billion alone in 2022. This feature debuted with iOS 14.5.

The Meta ad follows a previous effort by Google in which it attacked the blue bubbles used by iMessage. Google wants Apple to use Rich Communication Services(RCS), a newer text messaging technology that replaces SMS communications with enhanced capabilities and encryption.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook advised users to just purchase one iPhone for each person they wish to interact with, indicating that the company currently has no intentions to do this. However, if WhatsApp becomes a serious competition in the US, it’s absolutely feasible that its stance may change.

Over 2 billion people use WhatsApp worldwide. In the US, it isn’t the default texting app. Meta seeks to increase WhatsApp’s US user base. Recently, Meta has promoted WhatsApp focusing on security and privacy.

Not just Meta, but other tech firms have criticized iMessage from Apple. A valid criticism of Apple’s privacy-focused iPhone advertising is the reality that iMessage still relies on SMS and cannot be used to safely contact people who use Android phones.

In the meantime, a recent update to WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, allowed certain beta testers to create groups with up to 1,024 members.

Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

Kanye West to buy the right-leaning social media platform Parler

Leave a Comment / News, Tech News / By Suhani Jain

After being banned from Twitter and Instagram for anti-Semitic posts, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West has offered to buy the right-wing friendly social media network Parler. The owner of the platform, Parlement Technologies, and Kanye West, legally known as Ye, have said that the acquisition would be completed in the fourth quarter, but no price was disclosed.

The agreement, according to Parlement Technologies, includes the use of private cloud services via Parlement’s private cloud and data center infrastructure.

kanye West was kicked off of Twitter and Instagram a week ago for making anti-Semitic comments on a post, that the social media platforms, claimed violated their guidelines. According to internet archive records, Kanye West stated on Twitter that he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”. He was trying to make an apparent reference to the US defence readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.

He was rebuked earlier this month for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Paris Fashion Week show.

The acquisition or potential purchase of Parler would give Kanye West control of a social media platform as well as a new outlet for his opinions and have no gatekeeper to filter his opinions. Kanye is no stranger to controversy, having previously suggested that slavery was a choice and referring to the Covid-19 vaccine as a “mark of the beast” which indeed were nonsensible comments.

“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial, we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Kanye stated in a prepared statement.
Source: indianexpress.com

The acquisition could also revitalize and brought life into Parler, which has continued to struggle in the face of competition from other conservative-friendly platforms such as Truth Social. Parler, which was introduced in August 2018, did not gain traction until 2020.

However, it was taken offline following the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Parler announced a relaunch a month after the attack announcing its comeback. It was re-released on Google Play last month.

“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech,” Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer said in a prepared statement.
Source: indianexpress.com

Suhani Jain

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