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Google can soon read your doctor’s bad handwriting

Many doctors prescribe medication in haste, thereby making it almost impossible for their patients to comprehend what they intended to write. This issue has existed for decades, and many tech companies have repeatedly tried to fix it without much to no success. Google is now attempting to translate those difficult-to-understand texts.

Google
Image Source: forbes.com

On Monday, at its annual conference, Google announced that it is partnering with community pharmacies to explore ways to recognize doctor handwriting.

Read More: Google Chrome rolls out memory and power-saving modes

The feature, which is currently in research and not yet available to the public, enables users to either snap a picture of the prescribed medication or attach one from their photo library. After processing the image, the application senses and highlights the medications mentioned in the note, as demonstrated by a Google executive.

This will act as an assistive technology for digitizing handwritten medical documents by augmenting the humans in the loop such as pharmacists, however no decision will be made solely based on the output provided by this technology,” the company said in a statement.

Source: techcrunch.com

Google for India is the firm’s annual conference in the South Asian business, where a variety of brand-new developments are showcased. The corporation also stated that it is working on a single, unified model that will comprise more than 100 Indian languages including both speech and text in order to enhance the internet journey of the incoming millions of South Asians.

It has nearly five hundred million users in India which makes it an important business for the firm. However, it has also been one of the toughest years for Google in the South Asian business, where it has been struck twice over the past months by India’s antitrust regulator.

We’ve started working on the complex process of identifying what’s written on medical prescriptions by building an assistive model to digitize it, using AI, for medical healthcare professionals”, said by Google India in a statement.

Source: 9to5google.com

A similar type of technology has already been used in Google Lens, a multipurpose object recognition tool powered by Artificial Intelligence that can detect and recognize data and translate different languages. The Google Lens application can currently be used to virtually encode handwritten notes, though the feature varied depending on how easily readable the handwriting was. 

Elon Musk

Elon Musk proposes to step down as head of Twitter in the poll

Amid a series of issues involving the popular social media platform, Twitter owner Elon Musk uploaded a poll on Sunday asking the public whether he should step down as CEO.

“Should I resign as CEO of Twitter?” Musk asked in a tweet.

“I will follow the outcome of this poll,” he added.

Source: thehill.com

As of Sunday, approximately 58 percent of Twitter users wanted Elon Musk to resign, whilst also 42 percent wanted him to remain as the CEO. The poll closed early Monday morning.

Elon Musk
Image Source: deadline.com

Musk jokingly posted a tweet after posting the poll saying, as the phrase goes, be cautious what you wish, as you might get it.

Musk ended up taking Twitter private with his multibillion-dollar acquisition of the firm earlier this year, progressing to fire the majority of its execs and disintegrate its board of directors. He still owes creditors who helped finance the acquisition billions of dollars.

The poll was conducted amid the latest uproar over his erratic handling of the platform, in response to a new Twitter strategy forbidding users from publicizing other social media platforms. Musk suspended the accounts of tech journalists who have been critical of him earlier this week.

The 51-year-old CEO also wrote on Twitter that polls will be held in the future to decide on major company policies.

Musk apologized saying It won’t happen again.

Musk lifted the prohibitions on the journalists after conducting a survey during which 59 percent of Twitter users demanded that the accounts be restored immediately.

The proposed regulations on publicizing other social platforms come at a time when many liberal Twitter users are looking for alternatives.

Meanwhile, brands are removing their advertising from Twitter at an alarming rate. Musk has repeatedly stated that Twitter’s financial situation is dire.

You must like pain a lot,” Musk tweeted, noting the company “has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.” Yet Musk denied that he has a new CEO in mind.

No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Musk tweeted. “The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive.”

Source: cnn.com
microsoft

Microsoft bans cryptocurrency mining on cloud services

According to media sources, Microsoft has prohibited cryptocurrency mining from using its internet services in order to protect all of its cloud users.

Microsoft has amended the Universal License Terms for Online Services, which went into effect on December 1. Microsoft has restricted the use of online services for crypto-mining. It is implemented to safeguard its consumers and cloud services. The IT behemoth announced the latest changes earlier this month.

MIcrosoft
Image Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

The update stated, “Neither Customer nor those that access an Online Service through Customer, may use an Online Service … to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft’s prior written approval.”

Microsoft’s Summary of Changes to the license mentioned, “Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.”

Read More: Microsoft to Offer Call of Duty on Nintendo Devices if Activision Deal Closes

Microsoft suggested requesting pre-approval authorization to use any of its online services for cryptocurrency mining in the ‘Acceptable Use Policy’ section of its website, which comes amid rising worries about cyberfraud and threats.

The company noted, “Cryptocurrency mining can disrupt or even impair Online Services and its users, and is often associated with unauthorized access to and use of customer accounts.

We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud. Permission to mine crypto may be considered for Testing and Research for security detections.”

Cryptocurrency cloud mining enables users to mine without the need for additional hardware or equipment. According to statistics from the blockchain research firm, Blockchain Council, this aspect of no cost associated has piqued clients’ interest in cloud mining. Microsoft Online Services, a part of the company’s SaaS strategy, is its hosted software product.

One of these services is the Microsoft Azure cloud computing network, which offers cryptocurrency mining for several subscription kinds. As was reported earlier, Microsoft also tested out blockchain services on Azure, but in September of last year, the project abruptly ended.

According to sources, Microsoft cloud computing systems have experienced storage issues in recent years as a result of constraints in the ongoing supply chain. Microsoft issued a warning to users about a new cryptocurrency mining malware last year that has the ability to steal credentials, disable security measures, proliferate via emails, and eventually drop additional tools for human-operated operations.

The cryptocurrency mining malware known as “LemonDuck” is propagated by phishing emails, vulnerabilities, USB devices, and brute force assaults in a number of nations, including India. It targeted Linux and Windows systems. This is not the first time that a major IT company has prohibited cryptocurrency mining on its website.

Similar rules apply at Google, which forbids mining without explicit written consent from the company. A mining malware threat detection solution for hacked accounts in Google’s cloud service was added earlier in 2022. Google stated last year that the majority of “malicious actors” had utilized compromised cloud accounts to mine cryptocurrency.

Crypto mining is likewise not permitted during the 12-month free trial of Amazon’s AWS. If users decide to mine on AWS, they can be charged a fee and risk having their accounts suspended.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk starts banning critical journalists from Twitter

Several Elon Musk-critical journalists have been blocked by Twitter.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner and self-described freedom of speech absolutist, made a big effort to restrict the press on Thursday evening when he suspended the Twitter accounts of several prominent journalists.

Elon Musk
Image Source: theverge.com

In the midst of his spat with Sweeney and the now suspended @ElonJet account controlled by the teen, Musk had threatened to suspend any Twitter accounts that published real-time information on a person’s location.

The accounts of Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, and other reporters who have actively covered Musk in recent weeks have all been abruptly and permanently suspended.

Read More: Elon Musk sells another $3.58 billion of Tesla shares

Musk stated that the journalists had broken his new “doxxing” policy by disclosing his “exact real-time” location, which amounted to what he called “assassination coordinates,” in a series of intermittent tweets. Musk’s precise real-time location didn’t appear to be provided by any of the journalists who were banned.

Thursday night, CNN issued a statement denouncing the “impulsive and unjustified” suspension of O’Sullivan and others from Twitter. CNN noted, “Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who used Twitter. We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.”

Musk later reaffirmed his allegation that he had been doxxed in a Twitter Spaces hosted by a BuzzFeed journalist. Shortly before his suspension, O’Sullivan posted on Twitter that the social media platform had suspended the account of Mastodon, an up-and-coming rival social media platform, allowing @ElonJet, an account that updates the location of Musk’s private jet.

Doxxing is the act of publicly disclosing a person’s home address or other private information online. However, the banned Twitter account had tracked Musk’s plane using openly accessible flight data that is still available online.

The restrictions raise several concerns about the platform’s future, which has been dubbed a “digital town square.” The suppression of journalists by Musk raised serious concerns about his alleged support for free expression.

Musk has stated numerous times that he wants to allow all legitimate expression on the platform. He had tweeted, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter because that is what free speech means.”

Climate activists commonly utilize accounts like ElonJet to highlight the severe environmental impact that private jets have. Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, and Elon Musk have all faced criticism this year for utilizing aircraft when more environmentally friendly alternatives might be employed.

Musk has long objected to the live sharing of his private jet’s whereabouts. He even went so far as to make the @ElonJet account manager an offer of thousands of dollars to take the account offline at one point.

After Twitter announced new rules barring accounts that track users’ real-time whereabouts, the @ElonJet handle, which had accumulated over 500,000 followers, was indefinitely suspended on Wednesday. Musk also deleted any accounts that included links to such data. Earlier, Twitter had no limitations regarding location sharing.

The modifications followed Musk’s decision to reinstate past Twitter policy violators and cease enforcing the restrictions on Covid-19 disinformation.

TikTok

US Senate passes bill to ban TikTok on government devices

A bill prohibiting federal employees from using the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok on devices owned by the government was approved by the U.S. Senate late on Wednesday by voice vote.

The bill, which was supported by Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Rick Scott of Florida, and Marco Rubio of Florida, was approved by senators unanimously on Wednesday night.

TikTok
Image Source: engadget.com

Hawley noted, “TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk to the United States, and until it is forced to sever ties with China completely, it has no place on government devices. States across the U.S. are banning TikTok on government devices. It’s time for Joe Biden and the Democrats to help do the same.”

Before being brought to President Joe Biden for approval, the bill still must be passed by the US House of Representatives. Before the current congressional sitting ends, which is anticipated to happen next week, the House of Representatives would have to pass the Senate bill.

The decision is the most recent move by American lawmakers to impose sanctions on Chinese firms amid concerns about national security that Beijing would use them to surveil Americans. The Senate took this decision after North Dakota and Iowa joined a rising number of American states this week in barring TikTok, owned by ByteDance, from state-owned devices out of worry that data would be given to the Chinese government.

Read More: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas

In August 2020, legislation to prevent TikTok from being used on government equipment was unanimously enacted by the Senate during the previous Congress. Senator Josh Hawley of the Republican Party, the bill’s sponsor, revived it in 2021.

TikTok is already prohibited on devices used by many governmental institutions, including the Defense, Homeland Security, and State departments. As previously stated by Hawley, “TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and has no place on government devices.”

Governors of North Dakota and Iowa have issued orders forbidding executive branch departments from installing the app on any technology provided by the government. Similar measures have been taken by almost a dozen American states, including Alabama and Utah this week.

TikTok, which has over 100 million users in the USA, dubbed the action as a “politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States”.

As part of the national security assessment that was started under previous President Donald Trump, the company stated that it was preparing strategies “that we are well underway in implementing” to even further safeguard the platform in the US. The statement read, “We will continue to brief members of Congress on the plans.”

Australia and other nations have seen calls to ban TikTok, and Taiwan recently attempted to ban it on public devices. India blocked the TikTok app in 2020. Due to a Trump executive order that prohibited new downloads, TikTok was facing an effective ban in the US two years ago. However, judges rejected the order, and it was never put into effect.

President Joe Biden eventually revoked it. ByteDance was also ordered by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is in charge of examining foreign ownership in the US, to sell TikTok in 2020. The company is still in talks with that agency.

Tesla

Elon Musk sells another $3.58 billion of Tesla shares

Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly released one other 3.6 billion USD in stock purchases on Wednesday, bringing his combined score this year to nearly 40 billion USD and upsetting investors since the firm’s shares slumped to two-year lows.

According to a US securities filing, he sold 22 million shares in the world’s most profitable automaker over three days, from Monday to Wednesday.

Tesla
Image Source: foxbusiness.com

This is the second large stock sale he has made since his 44 billion USD acquisition of Twitter in October. It’s unclear whether the purchases are linked to the Twitter purchase, but they irritate investors who believe he’s shifting his attention and resources away from Tesla.

“It doesn’t put a lot of confidence in the business, or speak volumes for where his attention is at,” said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at brokerage IG Markets, where Tesla is a popular stock among small-time investors.

“It’s not a good situation. I’ve spoken to a lot of investors who have Tesla shares and they’re absolutely furious at Elon.”

Source: deccanherald.com

Tesla did not respond immediately to a Reuters request seeking comment, and Musk did not respond to an email sent outside of business hours. According to Refinitiv data, Musk’s 13.4 percent stake in Tesla is down from around 17 percent a year ago.

Read More: Elon Musk’s Twitter Dissolves Trust And Safety Council

Tesla’s stock price has gotten halved this year, trailing both automobile manufacturers and the wider tech-heavy Nasdaq, which is down approximately 30 percent in the present year. Musk’s overall sale over the last year is worth nearly $40 billion.

“It will start to be tiring for investors,” said Tareck Horchani, head of the prime brokerage dealing at Maybank Securities in Singapore.

Source: deccanherald.com

Musk’s fortune, which is mostly invested in Tesla stock, has fallen in value this year, and he temporarily lost his label as the world’s wealthiest person last week, as per Forbes, when he was defeated by Bernard Arnault, CEO of Louis Vuitton.