Category: Business
Training AI using Facebook and Instagram Data
Tech firms have been rushing to find fresh, multiformat data to build and improve models that can power chatbots, image generators and other buzzy AI products. Plans to use peoples’ public posts and images on Facebook and Instagram to train artificial intelligence (AI) tools belonging to parent company Meta have been attacked by digital rights
Boosting Japan’s falling birth rate
Japan’s capital Tokyo will launch its own dating app as part of government efforts to boost the plunging national birth rate. Stating one’s income is common on Japanese dating apps, but Tokyo will require a tax certificate slip to prove the annual salary. It’s not unusual for municipalities to organise matchmaking events in Japan, where
Russia’s answer to Musk’s Starlink
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites operate in low-Earth orbit and also use inter-satellite laser links to pass data between one another. This allows it to offer broad internet coverage around the world. Russia has been banned from using Starlink, though reports suggest that Russian forces are getting the company’s terminals through a complex black market and bringing
Watching Instagram adverts
The social media platform currently allows people to swipe or scroll past adverts that appear in its main feed of images and videos, as well as in its Stories and Reels feeds. But it is now trialling a feature called “ad break”, which users say they can not flick past as usual. It remains to
Donald Trump on TikTok
Mr Trump, who has amassed more than 3.6 million followers since launching his account on Saturday, said he will use “every tool available to speak directly with the American people”. In 2020 he signed a presidential executive order attempting to ban the platform for its links to China, which was ultimately blocked by US courts.
Houthis attack on Iran Cargo ship
The Houthis in recent months have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250
ICQ is shutting down after 27 years
ICQ is considered one of, if not the earliest instant messaging service on the internet. The platform, named after the phrase “I Seek You,” was developed by a small Israeli company named Mirabilis and launched in November 1996. ICQ predates other popular IM services like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) which became synonymous with the instant
AI in Microsoft video game
Microsoft is planning to integrate its AI technology into video games. The tech company had shown off at the Microsoft Surface and Windows AI event how its Copilot AI could act as a user guide in a number of programs, including video games. Now, Microsoft has released two demonstrations of the algorithm at work in
Hacking Phones
For more than 15 years experts have known that ss7 could be abused to locate a phone user, intercept their text or voice data, or send texts or spyware to a device. Russia has exploited ss7 to track dissidents abroad. In the mid-1960s enterprising hackers realised that if they blew a particular toy whistle down
Zoom “post-quantum” end-to-end encryption
Zoom is adding “post-quantum” end-to-end encryption to its video and voice meeting software. The aim is to protect communication data sent between its apps once quantum computers are sufficiently power to compromise existing encryption methods. Several initiatives are now under way to identify and develop post-quantum cryptographic algorithms organizations can deploy to become quantum-resilient. To