tech news

Amazon plans to trim employee stock awards amid tough economy

As the world’s largest online retailer experiences an unstable economic climate, Amazon.com Inc said it will limit employee stock grants, a component of its compensation scheme.

Employees of Amazon are given shares of Amazon stock as just a component of their complete compensation scheme. These stocks are known as Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). These stocks vest throughout time as opposed to being granted at one time.

The tech behemoth stated in March that it intended to eliminate 9,000 employees, making it the most recent business in that sector to do so in the context of a potential downturn.

Also Read: Meta releases AI model that can identify items within images

Adding to a surge of job losses that have rocked the tech industry as a challenging economy compels corporations to get smaller, this announcement comes weeks since Amazon declared a new round of major layoffs.

“We made the decision to reduce RSU (restricted stock units) awards in the final outlook year by a small amount (other years are not impacted),” an Amazon spokesperson said in an emailed statement, without specifying the period of the final outlook year.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The announcement comes with Amazon’s announcement of a 2nd round of huge job cuts a few weeks earlier, adding to a surge of job losses that have rocked the technology industry since tough economic times compel firms and various businesses to become smaller.

The proposed adjustment to the firm’s pay scale was initially reported by Business Insider, which also stated that Amazon would re-evaluate 2025 salary during the initial quarter of 2019 to prepare for stock variation

“The company was weighing the possibility of adjusting its compensation model in the future to be more balanced between base cash compensation and equity, after looking at the combination of an uncertain economy and its compensation budget,” the spokesperson said.
Source: livemint.com

Following a nearly 50 percent share decline in 2022, Amazon’s share price has increased this year by more than 20 percent.

Also Read: Google Workers in London stage walkout over job cuts

As a part of massive layoffs, Amazon.com Inc. fired around 100 staff from its video-game businesses, Game Growth, including Prime Gaming, and the firm’s San Diego facility.

Even with its Crown channel which is an entertainment channel on the Twitch streaming video service, Amazon has had difficulty making the most of its gaming tools.

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

Meta releases AI model that can identify items within images

On Wednesday, Meta, the owner of Facebook, released a collection of image annotations that it claimed was the biggest ever of its kind combined with a model based on AI that can identify specific items within an image. The final dataset contains over 1.1 billion masks of segmentation from over 11 million licenced and privacy-preserving photos.

The organization’s research department said in a blog article that the company’s Segment Anything Model, or SAM, could recognise objects in pictures and videos even when it hadn’t seen those objects during training.

Also Read: Google Workers in London stage walkout over job cuts

SAM allows users to select objects by clicking on them or by entering text commands. Typing the word “cat” in one demonstration caused the tool to generate boxes around each of the multiple cats in a picture.

Meta noted, “Meta stated, “Our objective was to build a foundation model for image segmentation… a promotable model that is trained on a variety of data and can adapt to specific tasks, analogous to the use of prompting in models of natural language processing.”

However, in contrast to images, videos, and text, the segmentation data required to train such a model is not easily accessible online or anywhere else. So, with Segment Anything, we set out to simultaneously create a segmentation dataset of unprecedented scale and develop a general, prompt segmentation model.”

Since Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot became an internet hit in the fall, sparking a surge of investments and a race to dominate the area, large tech firms have been bragging about their artificial intelligence advances.

Though it hasn’t yet made a product available, Meta has teased a number of features that use the generative AI made famous by ChatGPT, which generates entirely new material rather than just recognising or categorising data like other AI.

Examples include a programme that creates surrealist films from word cues and another that turns prose into pictures for children’s books.

Also Read: UBS to cut up to 30% of the global workforce

According to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, adding these generative AI “creative aids” to Meta’s products is a top focus for this year. Internally, Meta does make use of SAM-like technologies for tasks including tagging photographs, removing objectionable information, and choosing which articles to promote to Facebook and Instagram users.

The corporation said that the introduction of SAM will increase access to that kind of technology. A non-commercial licence will be required to download the SAM model and dataset. Users who upload their own photographs to an associated prototype must also consent to use them strictly for study.

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.

Google workers in London stage walkout over job cuts

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

Following a dispute regarding layoffs, hundreds of Google workers organized a protest at the company’s London offices on Tuesday.

Google’s parent company Alphabet revealed in January that it would be laying off 12,000 workers globally, or 6% of its total workforce.

The decision was made in the midst of a wave of layoffs sweeping corporate America, especially in the tech industry, where companies have so far fired over 290,000 employees since the year’s beginning, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi.

Also Read: UBS to cut up to 30% of the global workforce

The trade union Unite, which has hundreds of Google workers in the UK as members, claimed that the company had disregarded employee complaints. According to Unite regional officer Matt Whaley, “Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil.

They and Unite will not back down until Google allows workers full union representation, engages properly with the consultation process, and treats its staff with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

Speaking anonymously out of concern for retaliation, a Google employee who was present at the walkout told Reuters that discussions with company management turned out to be “extremely frustrating.” He stated, “It has been difficult for those involved. We have a redundancy process for a reason so that employees can make their voice heard,” they said. But it feels as if our concerns have fallen on deaf ears.”

In many European countries, Google’s top management has held layoff discussions in accordance with local labor laws. Employee representatives claimed that Google had rejected their suggestions to limit job cuts, and employees at the company’s Zurich branch in Switzerland conducted a walkout akin to this one last month.

A representative for Google stated, “As we said on January 20, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles globally.

We know this is a very challenging time for our employees. In the UK, we have been constructively engaging and listening to our employees through numerous meetings, and are working hard to bring them clarity and share updates as soon as we can in adherence with all UK processes and legal requirements.”

Also Read: Google Drive now caps the number of files you can create

In the UK, Google has a workforce of over 5,000 employees. The Sundar Pichai-led corporation said it was ready for “a different economic reality” and that the CEO accepted “full responsibility” for the choices that resulted in the layoffs when it announced them in January.

In an effort to prepare for a global economic slowdown, a number of other tech firms, including Microsoft, Twitter, and Meta, among others, have fired thousands of employees. Apple Inc. reportedly cut staff within particular corporate store teams earlier this week, signaling a change in the way the company handles layoffs.

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.

Google Drive now caps the number of files you can create

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

As previously disclosed by Ars Technica and CNET, Google has put a restriction on the number of files you can upload and save to Google Drive. Even though you paid for more storage, the firm announced to The Verge that the update enabled users to generate a total of 5 million items in Drive. Google, however, quickly undid the adjustment and promised to come up with an alternative.

“We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance,” said Google in a tweet. “While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.”
Source: theverge.com

Also Read: UBS to cut up to 30% of the global workforce

There was a 5 million file limit, but it only related to the number of files you could create in Drive, not to the total number of files that could be shared with your Drive. In other words, if the files weren’t all your creation, you might have had more than 5 million of them in the system.

Ross Richendrfer, a Google representative, first claimed that the modification was made to ensure high performance and dependability and that it would assist stop misuse of the company’s systems. Richendrfer stated that if you exceed the limit, you will be notified and can approach Google customer support to resolve the situation.

While it would seem ludicrous for a single person to upload 5 million files, some people have exceeded that figure. A customer with 7 million documents in Drive claims, in a Reddit post seen by Ars Technica and CNET, that Google abruptly stopped allowing them to add new files in February, even though they had not yet reached the 2TB storage limit they had paid for.

Several additional users claim to have experienced the file restriction at approximately the same time and that they originally thought it to be a bug on Google’s problem tracker website.

An individual with 2TB of capacity and an aggregate file size of over 400KB would exceed their file cap before when they went out of storage space, as was noted in the Reddit thread. Secondly, unless they choose to reduce their documents into zip folders, some customers may be spending even more space than they utilize.

Also Read: Netflix Might Be Putting Its Video Games on TVs

User responses suggest that Google may not have informed those who would be affected by the new restriction ahead of its deployment, leaving them scrambling to transfer or reduce files once the policy took effect.

While it does indicate that shared Workspace folders can store a total of 400,000 files, it doesn’t appear that Google changed its Google One or Workspace help sites to notice the limit. Google could have at least provided those who do with a proper warning, even if the bulk of users probably don’t have 5 million data held in Drive.

Suhani Jain

UBS to cut up to 30% of the global workforce

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

After wrapping up its acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS will reduce its employees by 20 percent to 30 percent, eliminating up to 36,000 employees globally, according to a senior UBS manager quoted in the SonntagsZeitung.

According to the Swiss publication, up to 11,000 workers in Switzerland would be laid off. By the end of the previous year, the two lenders collectively employed approximately 125,000 people, with about 3 percent of the overall working in Switzerland.

The anticipated layoffs surpass the 9,000 job losses that Credit Suisse disclosed before UBS’s steady for the past month rescue of the company. Given the significant similarities between the two former competitors, a multiple of that amount of job cuts had been anticipated as the ultimate total.

Also Read: Accenture to Cut 19000 Jobs as IT Spending Slows

An inquiry for comment made by phone outside of regular business hours was not immediately answered by UBS.

UBS has publicly stated that it will be as transparent as it can on job cutbacks. Even though it was obvious that there would be large job cuts, the lender considers talent retention to be an important execution risk for the acquisition.

Firms like Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, & JP Morgan Chase are preparing to hire some wealth managers as well as investment bankers who are certain to lose their jobs.

Credit Suisse bankers looking for work have already descended onto headhunters in droves.

The Swiss administration introduced the 3.3 billion USD emergency purchase of Credit Suisse by its own greater Swiss rival on March 19 following five days of negotiations facilitated by officials.

As per Switzerland’s minister of finance, Credit Suisse had enormous asset outflows as a consequence of several scandals, which could have caused it to implode the coming Monday if no measures were taken.

To force the purchase without needing to get necessary approvals from shareholders, the authorities used emergency law. Hence, even if many irate voices are anticipated at the two institutions’ annual general assemblies, which are this week, the impact on shareholders will be Hence, even if many irate voices are anticipated at the two institutions’ annual general assemblies, which are this week, the impact on shareholders will be minimal.

Major shareholder and Norway sovereign wealth fund, has declared it will not support the re-election of numerous Credit Suisse directors which includes chairman Axel Lehmann.

Also Read: Apple launches ‘buy now, pay later’ service in the US

The report states that because of the intricate, protracted process required to merge the banks, it is anticipated to be one of the most profitable contracts for providing financial services advice at times.

Comment requests made outside of business hours were not answered immediately by UBS, BCG, Bain, McKinsey, or Oliver Wyman.

Suhani Jain

Apple wins U.S. appeal over patents in $502 mln VirnetX verdict

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

In the long-haul dispute between the two corporations regarding privacy-software technology, Apple Inc. convinced a U.S. appeals court to retain a patent tribunal’s decision that would jeopardise a 502 million USD award for patent licencing company VirnetX Corporation on Thursday.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s judgement to invalidate the two rights that VirnetX claimed Apple had violated was upheld by the U.S. Appeals court for the Federal Circuit.

The ruling was disappointing, according to VirnetX Chief Executive officer, Kendall Larsen, and the corporation is thinking about asking for a rehearing or trying to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Also Read: Apple launches ‘buy now, pay later’ service in the US

After that decision was made, VirnetX stock dropped more than 14 per cent by Thursday afternoon. Immediately following the company’s announcement that it will distribute a special cash dividend to its stockholders and expected a possible future payment from the Apple lawsuit, the stock had increased by 55 per cent before the decision had been made public.

A call for comment from an Apple spokesperson elicited no immediate response.

The 13-year legal conflict between the two firms has involved numerous trials & challenges. After finding that Apple violated the VPN (virtual private network ) rights question in Thursday’s verdict, an East Texas court fined VirnetX 502 million USD in 2020.

Apple has filed a separate appeal of the judgement on its own behalf, although the Federal Circuit has not yet made a decision. Both sides argued that maintaining the decree cancelling the patents would probably also invalidate the jury verdict when the court heard mixed statements in the two cases in September.

“If the court upholds the (USPTO’s) decision, we have a big problem,” VirnetX attorney Jeff Lamken of MoloLamken said at the September hearing. “I don’t think we have an enforceable judgment.”
Source: finance.yahoo.com

Also Read: Apple announces new classical music app

On Thursday, the Federal Circuit upheld findings made by the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board that the rights were ineligible due to prior works that had similarly described discoveries.

In a different case, VirnetX triumphed against Apple in 2016 with a 302 million dollar judgement that was subsequently enhanced to 440 million dollars in an East Texas court. The case involved claims that the technology giant had incorporated its internet-security technology into functionalities like FaceTime video conversations.

Suhani Jain

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