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client-side encryption

Google expands Gmail client-side encryption to more users

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After launching in the beta the previous year, Google recently made public that Gmail’s client-side encryption mode has now become readily accessible for companies and education providers.

The feature prevents even Google from viewing the contents of the emails it hosts, with data encoded before it enters Google servers. According to the firm, this can be beneficial for businesses that must meet stringent compliance or confidentiality standards.

client-side encryption
Image Source: uctoday.com

Although Workspace “encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries,” CSE gives organizations total control over their encryption keys. “Starting today, users can send and receive emails or create meeting events with internal colleagues and external parties, knowing that their sensitive data (including inline images and attachments) has been encrypted before it reaches Google servers,” Google wrote in a blog post.

Source: engadget.com

Also Read: Are all Google One subscribers now able to access Magic Eraser?

Claims about the firm striving to enhance the encryption for its email service date as far as 2014, so it’s encouraging to discover that client-side encryption is officially ready.

Even So, the functionality is not aimed at everyone; it’s solely accessible by individuals who have Education Standard, Workspace Enterprise Plus, or Education Plus accounts and not personal accounts. It’s also not especially simple to install, as the process seems to be geared toward IT departments.

This functionality is disabled by default, which will annoy many security professionals, and can be activated after a consumer deploys an important management service incorporated with their authentication server.

Although encrypting Drive files & Calendar events are a great addition, CSE protections might be most impactful in Gmail. After all, organizations can send an email to third-party companies instead of sharing data as well as calendar invites with them. In any case, Google claims that CSE is now available for all vital Workspace applications.

“Users can continue to collaborate across other essential apps in Google Workspace while IT and security teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations,” the Googlers said.

Source: theregister.com

Also Read: Google tests blocking news content for some Canadians

Whilst also Gmail is undoubtedly among the most efficient applications for client-side encryption, Google has also made the feature available in a number of its various other Workspace apps, including Drive, Docs, as well as Meet.

It also stated earlier in the month that client-side encryption is now readily accessible for Google Calendar, allowing businesses to add extra security to an event’s synopsis and attachments.

snapchat

Snapchat launches A.I. chatbot powered by OpenAI’s GPT

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Snapchat has just launched an AI chatbot backed by the latest edition of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. As per the CEO of Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, AI chatbots will progressively get to be a component of everyday lives in a very short period of time.

Snapchat’s bot, termed as “My AI,” will be wedged into the app’s chat section above messages with friends. Whilst the bot will originally be accessible only to Snapchat Plus subscribers for 3.99 USD per month, Evan Spiegel informs The Verge that the primary objective is to ultimately make it accessible to all of Snapchat’s 750 million users every month.

Snapchat
Image Source: smartmobsolution.com

“The big idea is that in addition to talking to our friends and family every day, we’re going to talk to AI every day,” he says. “And this is something we’re well positioned to do as a messaging service.”

Source: theverge.com

Also Read: Microsoft brings iMessage to Windows 11, will it last?

At the moment, My AI is mainly just a smartphone-friendly edition of ChatGPT within Snapchat. The main distinction is that Snap’s edition is more limited in its ability to respond. Snap workers have trained it to follow the firm’s trust and safety guidance rules and not respond with profanity, violence, sexually explicit material, or political opinions.

“My AI can recommend birthday gift ideas for your BFF, plan a hiking trip for a long weekend, suggest a dinner recipe, or even write a haiku about cheese for your cheddar-obsessed pal,” the company wrote in a blog post. “Make My AI your own by giving it a name and customizing the wallpaper for your Chat.”

Source: techcrunch.com

It has additionally been removed from features that have previously resulted in ChatGPT being blacklisted inside some schools, such as, when attempting to get it to write a thesis or dissertation on different topics, and it respectfully refused. Snap intends to continue fine-tuning My AI since more persons make use of it as well as report inappropriate behavior.

Also Read: Twitter Cuts More Engineering, and Product Jobs to Curb Costs

Whilst also ChatGPT has rapidly become a productivity tool, Snap’s approach to generative AI is more akin to a persona. My AI’s profile page is similar to that of a regular Snapchat user, albeit featuring an alien Bitmoji. The style implies that My AI is intended to serve as a Snapchat friend you’re able to hang out together with, rather than a search engine.

Google

Google tests blocking news content for some Canadians

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Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., announced on Wednesday that it is implementing tests that may restrict access to news material for certain Canadian users as a potential countermeasure to the government’s internet news law.

The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau unveiled House of Commons Bill C-18, the “Online News Act,” in April. This legislation outlined regulations that would compel Google and Facebook to enter into business agreements and compensate news publishers for their material.

Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

In an email statement to Reuters, a Google spokesperson stated, “We’re briefly testing potential product responses to Bill C-18 that impact a very small percentage of Canadian users. We run thousands of tests each year to assess any potential changes to Search.”

Also Read: Amazon Web Services pairs with Hugging Face to target AI developers

As it considers potential responses to the bill, the company said on Wednesday that it is momentarily restricting access to news material for less than 4% of its Canadian users. The update affects both its widely used search engine and Android’s Discover tool, which offers news and sports content.

The test, which will last for approximately five weeks, has an impact on all forms of news content, the company said. The tech giant acknowledged that the time-limited tests “limit the visibility of Canadian and international news to varying degrees”.

Canadians won’t be frightened, according to a spokesperson for Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez, who also criticized Google for copying Meta’s strategy. She stated, “Canadians need to have access to quality, fact-based news at the local and national levels, and that’s why we introduced the Online News Act.

Tech giants need to be more transparent and accountable to Canadians.” Due to worries about laws that would require digital platforms to compensate news publishers, Facebook issued a warning last year that it might restrict the sharing of news material on its network in Canada.

A government report claimed that a similar law in Australia, which went into force in March 2021 after negotiations with major tech companies resulted in a brief suspension of Facebook news feeds there, has largely succeeded. The Canadian news media sector has fought Facebook and requested more control of tech firms from the government in order to make up for the financial losses the sector has endured as a result of Facebook and Google’s steady increase in market share of ads over the years. Since 2008, more than 450 Canadian news organizations have shut down, with 64 of those happening in the previous two years.

Also Read: Google Chrome rolls out long-awaited battery-saving features

Google voiced concerns about the proposed law to a House of Commons committee, saying that it would favor big publishers over smaller outlets, would not require publishers to follow fundamental journalistic standards, and could lead to the spread of “cheap, low quality, clickbait content” rather than public interest journalism.

The corporation has stated that it would prefer to contribute to a fund that would compensate news publishers indirectly, comparable to the Canada Media Fund. The bill was approved by the House of Commons in December and will soon be reviewed by the Senate.

15-Inch MacBook Air

15-Inch MacBook Air Rumored to Launch in April

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Ross Young and Bloomberg have both up until recently speculated on the prospect of something like a 15-inch MacBook Air. Bloomberg, in general, and especially, has suggested earlier that a release within the early summer of this year is possible. Back in December, Ross Young confirmed the spring 2023 release.

15-inch MacBook Air
Image Source: appleinsider.com

Young clarified that the 15-inch MacBook Air remains on the path for a summer release in a tweet to his Super Followers, according to 9to5Mac.

“15.5-inch MacBook Air started panel production this month,” Young said. “We would expect an early April launch.”

Source: 9to5mac.com

Also Read: Is Apple really coming out with a foldable iPad?

During this point, we have not yet noticed anything additional about the MacBook Air with a 15-inch display. Even so, you would think it’d be a replica of the 13-inch MacBook Air, although with a larger screen.

13.6 inches & 15.5 inches will be the two sizes in which the Macbook Air will be available by Apple. the MacBook Air was sold in two different sizes earlier by Apple which was 11 inches & 13 inches, but somehow it ultimately pared down the lineup and removed the smaller size.

Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable apple analyst has also explained the rumored 15-inch MacBook Air, and although he claims that it will not be called a “MacBook Air,” however simply a “MacBook.” as per the analyst. The 13-inch MacBook Air just arrives with an M2 configuration but the M2 & M2 Pro configurations will be obtainable in the new 15-inch MacBook

Bloomberg reports that, in addition to the significantly bigger screened MacBook Air, Apple is working on a 12-inch MacBook. This machine, on the other hand, is not anticipated to be available till the end of 2023 or slightly earlier in 2024.

The year before, the MacBook Air received a significant remodel, with a design equivalent to the new Macbook Pros, including a display notch as well as sleeker edges. This new model has been extremely well recognized, and we hope it will be carried over to the latest 15-inch MacBook.

Also Read: Amazon Subsidiary Zappos Lays Off Around 20% of Staff

The sleeker bezels, in general, and especially, could perhaps mean that somehow the 15-inch MacBook Air provides a bigger screen in a more compact size. The 13-inch MacBook Air’s screen was increased from 13.3 inches to 13.6 inches whilst also preserving the same overall footprint during its redesign last year.

Zappos

Amazon Subsidiary Zappos Lays Off Around 20% of Staff

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As per individuals associated with the job cuts as well as a Zappos memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Zappos fired more than 300 of its workers the previous month, representing approximately 20 percent of the firm’s workforce in Las Vegas.

The Zappos job cuts were part of a larger round of cutbacks at Amazon which are anticipated to impact over 18,000 staff members, according to the Wall Street Journal. Those who are also the latest in a string of shifts by Zappos’ lifelong parent corporation that, according to individuals associated with the companies, have largely crumbled Mr. Hsieh’s legacy.

Zappos
Image Source: inventiva.co.in

In the early 2000s, Mr. Hsieh led Zappos from its starting as just an online shoe business to its selling to Amazon in 2009 for 1.2 billion USD, & he remained in charge of it independently till his death at the age of 46 in November 2020. He has been well-known as a leading pioneer via his greatest book “Delivering Happiness,” in addition to being a famous and successful downtown Las Vegas developer.

Also Read: Dell to slash about 6,650 jobs in latest tech job cuts

As per individuals associated with the businesses, one of the massive modifications at Zappos is the departure of a longstanding Zappos executive and Mr. Hsieh’s right-hand man for many years Tyler Williams, who resigned from the firm during the latest round of layoffs.

In an email to employees in January, existing CEO Scott Schaefer named the layoffs “extremely difficult news,” echoing views expressed by many other tech titans following recent layoffs.

“As we enter 2023, we are still facing an uncertain economy which required us to continue to take a hard look at our business, and respond in a way that ensures we are set up for long-term success,” he wrote to employees.

Source: wsj.com

According to individuals associated with the industries, Mr. Hsieh was willing to sell the company to Amazon upon the condition that the firm will function independently, even though Amazon is much more engaged in Zappos as well as its management decisions than it was when Mr. Hsieh managed the company. Zappos is presently financially viable, even if it has yet to meet all of the growth set targets by Amazon, according to the company.

Also Read: Google has rolled out Immersive View for Maps across five cities

An Amazon spokeswoman said, “We’re proud of everything Zappos has accomplished since joining forces with Amazon in 2009, and we continue to support their ongoing commitment to delivering the best possible customer experience.”

Source: wsj.com
1Password

1Password will soon skip passwords in favor of passkeys

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Starting this summer, the password vault 1Password will allow you to safeguard your password vault with a passkey, embracing a new authentication technique that is intended to be as simple to utilize as passwords but much more secure.

When it relates to creating and memorizing the tens or hundreds of passwords we use every day, password managers are fantastic. However, a single password might be a vulnerability for a hacker attempting to access all of your accounts.

1Password
Image Source: engadget.com

Chief Product Officer of 1Password, Steve Won noted, “For passkeys to be the way forward, it’s not enough for them to replace some of your passwords,” They have to be able to replace all passwords — including the one you use to unlock 1Password.”

With the support of the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance, a business alliance, Apple, Microsoft, and Google developed passkeys. Passkeys employ a method similar to hardware security keys, the most secure login technique available, but they are made to be simpler to use when authenticating into an app or service.

Also Read: Google will blur explicit images in search by default

One must have a device like a smartphone or a computer that is registered with the application or service in order to utilize passkeys. The second authentication step that the device does will probably be a biometric scan of one’s face or fingerprint. Advocates of passkeys contend that they will be as user-friendly as passwords while being significantly safer.

Their benefits include blocking phishing attacks because they can’t be used on fake websites meant to trick users into providing personal information.

Even if someone steals their master password, 1Password has an additional authentication safeguard called a secret key required to access this password on a new device, so it’s not necessarily a catastrophe. Passkeys, however, are superior and “a win-win for both security and usability,” according to Won.

Passkey support was added to iOS by Apple in 2022, and Google added it to Chrome in 2022. This year, Google is introducing it to Android.

The majority of users probably create, save, and sync passkeys using Google or Apple password managers, but Dashlane, a competitor of 1Password, began beta-testing passkey functionality for logging in to passkey-supporting websites and applications in September.

With 1Password’s method, users may extend passkey authentication to some other trusted device utilizing already-existing passkey QR code functionality after they set it up on one device, such as their phone.

Also Read: Salesforce’s Bret Taylor to Start AI Firm With Departing Google VP

The growing security problems related to conventional passwords are the driving force behind the use of passkey technology. They can be hacked or otherwise exposed in data breaches, giving attackers access to personal data, and they are vulnerable to phishing attacks.

Even if users presently sign in to one 1Password account utilizing biometrics like Face ID or fingerprint scanners, the company reminds users that while these sign-on features may be more secure, they are ultimately still dependent on the passwords they are attached to.