Month: April 2022
More Twitter Users Sign Up
Twitter, which this week agreed to be bought by billionaire Elon Musk, has said its user numbers grew faster than expected over the past year. New users grew faster outside the US, by 18.1%, than in its home market where numbers were up 6.4% over the 12 months to the end of March. While Mr
Transnistria importance in Russia- Ukraine war
Russia’s latest focus is Transnistria, an unrecognised breakaway republic on Moldova’s south-eastern border with Ukraine. On Monday the region’s state-security ministry in Tiraspol, its self-proclaimed capital, was shelled. Two explosions on Tuesday wrecked antennas for Russian radio in the village of Maiac. They may have been false-flag attacks. Russian units in the area were reportedly
Mental Health Treatment in Ukraine
More than 5m people have fled the Russian invasion, and many have carried with them trauma and loss. That has been compounded by the economic stress of living abroad, and by family separation Ukrainian men aged 18-60 must stay and help defend their country. The World Health Organisation estimated in March that at least half
China’s martial rhetoric on Covid-19
Most countries have accepted that covid cannot be eradicated. Helped by vaccines and treatments, they have decided to live with the virus. China, however, is still determined to defeat or at least contain it. The discovery of dozens of cases in Beijing has led to mass-testing (see China section). Individual neighbourhoods are being locked down.
Twitter Re-Engineering
Compared with its rivals Facebook, Instagram and TikTok Twitter is a minnow. But the deal matters. One reason is that Twitter’s size belies its importance. As a haunt of politicians, pundits and wonks, it does much to set the political weather a digital “public square”, as Mr Musk put it. The world’s best-known engineer gives
Apple child sexual abuse detection tools
Alerts will warn children when they receive or attempt to send an image believed to contain nudity and offer them support and guidance. The tool will be joined by other on-screen interventions in searches on Apple’s Safari web browser and those done via virtual assistant Siri or the Spotlight tool, which appear when users search
Nreal Smart glasses
Augmented reality is when virtual objects or content are overlaid on to the real world. This is becoming an increasingly popular technology through gadgets such as smart glasses, but also through smartphone cameras and games such as Pokemon Go. The Nreal Air augmented reality glasses will be released later in the spring. The Nreal Air
online hate speech and disinformation
Big tech firms will have to make it easier for users to flag problems, as well as empowering regulators to punish non-compliance with massive fines. The move would force big tech companies to police themselves harder, make it easier for users to flag problems and empower regulators to punish non-compliance with billions in fines. The
Snapchat Pixy selfie drone
Camera firm Snap has unveiled an autonomous flying camera device which automatically captures pictures and video which can then be shared to Snapchat. Called Pixy, the small device takes off and lands in the palm of a user’s hand and tracks the head and body of the owner in order to follow and capture content
Samsung slammed over “Deaf Tone” and Woman ad running at night
Samsung has received a backlash after it launched its “disrespectful” Night Owl campaign showing a woman running alone at night. The advert shows a woman running through the streets of London in the early hours by herself while wearing Samsung headphones. The tech giant has since faced extreme criticism for the “tone deaf” campaign in