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Microsoft

UK restricts Microsoft, Activision from buying interest in each other

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An interim order prohibiting Microsoft and Activision acquisition has been issued by the UK’s antitrust watchdog. This comes weeks after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the regulatory body, decided to prohibit the $68.7 billion merger of the two companies.

Microsoft and “Call of Duty” creator Activision were required to obtain the CMA’s “prior written consent” prior to completing any acquisitions related to their respective businesses, according to an order released by the CMA on Thursday.

Microsoft
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It is the latest action taken by the UK’s watchdog to increase supervision of the two businesses amid concerns that the competition will suffer as a result of the landmark agreement reached in January 2022.

Also Read: Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

The primary worries of the regulator center on Microsoft’s potential for undue influence over a growing cloud gaming business in what would eventually become the largest takeover deal in gaming history.

The CMA barred Microsoft from buying Activision due to worries that the transaction will change the direction of the rapidly expanding cloud gaming business, resulting in less innovation and fewer options for UK gamers in the future, the regulator stated last month.

The CMA initially launched its investigation into the transaction in September 2022, with its initial notice regarding its worries coming in February.

Microsoft President Brad Smith disagreed with the CMA’s ruling from last month, saying the tech giant will appeal. He claimed that the CMA’s judgment revealed “a flawed understanding” of the market for cloud technology and that it demonstrated its choice to disapprove of a “pragmatic path” toward resolving any competition concerns.

Microsoft’s representative issued the following statement: “We remain firmly committed to this deal and look forward to presenting our case to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.”

On January 19th, 2022, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. However, the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) expressed concerns that the acquisition could significantly reduce competition in the UK gaming market and ultimately lead to higher prices for consumers.

As a result, the CMA issued an interim order on April 5th, 2022, which temporarily prohibited Microsoft and Activision from integrating their businesses in the UK.

The proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is one of the largest in the history of the video game industry. Activision Blizzard is a leading publisher of video games, with popular titles such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush.

Also Read: EU antitrust regulators seeking more info on Apple Pay

Microsoft, on the other hand, is one of the world’s largest technology companies and has been expanding its gaming business in recent years through the Xbox brand.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for ensuring that mergers and acquisitions do not result in a reduction of competition in the market. The CMA has the power to investigate mergers and acquisitions and can prohibit them if it determines that they would harm competition.

Help Me Write

What is Google Help Me Write?

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This year’s Google I/O had a strong artificial intelligence theme, and prompt-based text generation—especially in Google’s Office suite—was a major component of that theme. Many new features were added to some of our top Google apps, like Help Me Write, at the most recent Google I/O event.

Help Me Write
Image Source: hindustantimes.com

Google said on Wednesday at its Google I/O event that Gmail will soon have a tool that will use artificial intelligence to compose complete emails for users.

Also Read: How is the new Google AI search different from the Bard chatbot?

The “help me write” function is essentially an extension of the auto-replies and generative text Google already employs in Gmail. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, cited the example of requesting a flight refund when introducing the feature.

A whole message requesting the refund is created by the AI feature using data from earlier communications with the airline. The message can then be edited as desired and sent.

After the text has been created, users can edit it to make it more effective for their purposes. The I’m Feeling Lucky option is available, as well as options to formalize, elaborate, and shorten. Since March, this function has been accessible to a small group of trusted testers, and Google says a wider audience will have access to it later in the year.

Help Me Write users will be able to offer suggestions a thumbs up or down, which should help the technology become more accurate and timely over time.

This is just one illustration of how Google is enhancing Google Workspaces with Generative artificial intelligence (AI) features to provide its users with more accessibility. Help Me Write can be used to overcome writer’s block and facilitate communication between people in both professional and everyday settings.

With the new Help Me Write feature coming to Gmail and Google Docs, users will be able to construct emails and writing sections based on fewer inputs. It is essentially an enormous enlargement of the Smart Prompts technology, which currently exists and can autocomplete sentences depending on what a user typically writes.

Also Read: What is the admin review feature on WhatsApp?

Email fundamentally changed how we communicate in the five decades since its creation, but it has also grown tedious. An email has become a chore for many of our routine tasks, such as scheduling a pet sitter, asking a doctor for medical information, or requesting refunds from merchants.

Help Me Write is poised to have a significant impact on how the world communicates via email given that Gmail has 1.8 billion active users.

Twitter

Twitter to soon allow calls and encrypted messaging

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Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter Inc., provided information on upcoming improvements arriving on the social network on Tuesday, which includes calls and encrypted chat.

Musk hinted at “Twitter 2.0 The Everything App” plans a year ago, saying it would include functions like payments, long-form posts on Twitter, as well as encrypted direct messaging (DMs).

Twitter
Image Source: telegraphindia.com

“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Source: finance.yahoo.com

Also Read: Crypto exchange Bittrex files for bankruptcy after SEC complaint

Twitter’s calling feature will put it on a level with other platforms for social networking such as Facebook and Instagram, which have similar characteristics. 

Musk stated that commencing on Wednesday, a form of encrypted direct messaging will be accessible on Twitter, but he did not specify whether calls will also be encrypted.

a few days ago, Twitter stated that it will begin a purging process by deleting and archiving user accounts that had not been used for a while.

As reported by Hootsuite, Twitter had about 400 people working there in 2011 but today has over two times as many daily active users. The social media tool predicts that the number of monetizable daily active users, roughly 238 million people, will rise by 16.6 percent in 2022.

In an interview recently, Elon Musk disclosed that Twitter now only has 1500 employees, compared to the 8000+ individuals who worked there when he first bought the social media network. Even so, insiders at Twitter have claimed that the social networking site only has roughly 1000 staff members as a result of a recent wave of layoffs.

When existing contract workers are removed, two company-acquainted individuals claim that the workforce is much smaller compared to the 1,500 workers, CEO Musk had previously said BBC News remained on work. The multibillionaire didn’t specify whether or not these employees were part of his total.

Also Read: Qualcomm to acquire Israeli auto-chip maker Autotalks

Although Musk took the position of CEO previously this year, Twitter’s workforce has decreased by roughly ninety percent, as reported by Business Insider. The article added that the firm currently only has 500 engineers left.

the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, has acknowledged that Elon Musk is failing to improve the microblogging service. He has accused the Twitter board of pressing the “44 billion dollars” sale of the company to the chief executive officer of Tesla.

Apple Pay

EU antitrust regulators seeking more info on Apple Pay

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The European Commission announced on Wednesday that EU antitrust investigators are searching for additional details on Apple’s smartphone payment system, Apple Pay. This is an indication that the regulator is trying to plug any gaps in its allegations against the iPhone manufacturer.

Apple Pay
Image Source: thehindu.com

A year ago, the EU antitrust authority alleged Apple conspired to make it hard for its competitors to establish competing solutions for Apple devices by limiting their access to its tap-and-go Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, which is utilized for mobile wallets.

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

“We can confirm the sending of requests for information,” a commission spokesperson said while declining to provide details.

Apple opted not to respond.

Apple has already mentioned the popularity of PayPal within its iOS smartphone OS as an alternative for users, along with rival MobilePay from Denmark, Swish from Sweden, as well as Payconiq from Belgium.

complainant Vipps and a mobile payment app from Norway claimed that NFC options are inefficient and uncompetitive.

It is rare for the commission to ask competitors and retailers for material now, three months afterward, Apple justified itself in an inquiry on February 14.

Following such hearings, the regulator normally makes its decision. If proven guilty of breaking antitrust regulations, the agency has the power to penalize Apple a maximum of ten percent of the company’s worldwide revenue.

Apple also debuted the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) scheme in the United States in March, posing an imminent danger to the fintech industry, which is currently dominated by companies like Affirm Holdings as well as the Swedish payment provider Klarna.

With its “buy now, pay later” support, Apple is attempting to enter the loan industry. As a result, the corporation has established guidelines regarding how it will accept transactions. If you’ve been a loyal client in the past, this is one important consideration.

The Apple Pay Later service, which was introduced a year ago but is still under testing, will assess consumers based on their purchasing patterns in addition to which Apple products they now own.

Also Read: What is Apple’s rapid security response?

The service, which enables users to make purchases and spread-out payments over time, will also check to see if users have applied for an Apple Card credit card or any additional cards, they have associated with their Apple Pay account.

According to the firm, Apple Pay Later will enable customers to split expenditures into four installments spaced out over six weeks without any interest or fees. It will first be made available to a small number of users to bring it out to everyone in the upcoming months.

Google

How is the new Google AI search different from the Bard chatbot?

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In an effort to dispel concerns that it is falling behind Microsoft Corp.’s OpenAI-powered Bing search, Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Wednesday showed off an improved core search product that incorporates more AI in its solutions.

Google also has a chatbot called Bard that rivals ChatGPT, the OpenAI chatbot that has sparked a lot of user interest with its human-like responses. According to the company, conventional searches on Google may still be used to find and seek out information, such as finding a product to buy.

Google
Image Source: reuters.com

Bard is a chatbot with a character that can have conversations that seem human-like and is intended to serve as a tool for creative collaboration, such as writing software code or captions for pictures.

Also Read: Google I/O 2023: How to watch and what to expect

The Search Generative Experience, the improved search feature, keeps the familiar search bar’s look and function on Google’s home page.

The difference is in the responses: if the new Google determines that generative artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to respond to a query, the AI-generated response will appear at the very top of the results page. The standard Web links are still available below.

For instance, a person searching for “weather New York” will typically be directed to an eight-day prediction, but if they search for “what to wear in the California city,” AI will give a long response, according to a test done for Reuters earlier this week.

The result included links to websites where it found such advice and said, “You should bring layers, including a short-sleeved shirt and a light jumper or jacket for the day.” Additionally, users will have access to a brand-new “conversational mode,” which works similarly to Bard and ChatGPT in that it keeps track of the user’s previous inquiries to make it simpler for users to ask follow-up questions.

However, the business emphasizes that the conversational mode is merely meant to improve search results and is not intended to be a chatbot with a personality. For instance, unlike Bard and ChatGPT, it will never use the “I” statement in its responses.

Also Read: What is the admin review feature on WhatsApp?

The Bard chatbot is designed to engage in natural language conversations with users, typically in a specific domain such as customer service or personal assistance. It uses natural language processing and machine learning to understand the user’s questions and provide helpful responses While both systems use AI, they have different goals and capabilities.

Google AI search is focused on information retrieval and presenting relevant results to users, while the Bard chatbot is focused on conversational interactions and providing assistance to users in a specific domain. Bard is already accessible without a wait list in over 180 nations, according to the business, which also wants to provide support for 40 additional languages.

admin review

What is the admin review feature on WhatsApp?

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WhatsApp, a platform for instant messaging owned by Meta, is currently developing new updates and upgrades. For users to have a seamless and simple experience on the platform, Whatsapp provides new updates every other month. According to recent news, the tech company is working on delivering a new feature dubbed “admin review” for Android that would provide group admins with more tools so they can manage their WhatsApp group more effectively.

admin review
Image Source: ommcomnews.com

WhatsApp, a platform for instant messaging owned by Meta, is currently developing new updates and upgrades. For users to have a seamless and simple experience on the platform, Whatsapp provides new updates every other month.

Also Read: Google I/O 2023: How to watch and what to expect

According to recent news, the tech company is working on delivering a new feature dubbed “admin review” for Android that would provide group admins with more tools so they can manage their WhatsApp group more effectively.

According to WABetaInfo, group users on the app will be able to report particular messages to the group admin after WhatsApp launches the feature and it is activated on your mobile device.

According to the article, once a group member reports a message as improper or in violation of the group’s rules, the feature will enable group administrators to delete the offending posting.

Once it is implemented, WhatsApp’s group settings section will provide the new option to remove the message from the group. In the meanwhile, the article added that WhatsApp will display the reported texts in the group in a new part of the app within the group details page, which would be accessible only to group administrators and not to other group members.

A future update to WhatsApp’s app will make beta testers aware of the capability to report texts to group administrators.

On the other hand, according to some beta testers, WhatsApp is also apparently rolling out a new side-by-side’ function for Android users on its WhatsApp tablets platform.

Users will have more control over the platform’s user interface on their Android tablets thanks to WhatsApp’s “side-by-side” functionality, which enables them to flip between discussions without losing track of their ongoing chats.

The admin review feature on WhatsApp is a feature that allows group administrators to review and approve messages before they are posted in a group chat. When this feature is turned on, any message posted by a group member will be held for review by the group administrator(s) before it is visible to the rest of the group.

Also Read: Does the EU draft Data Act put trade secrets at risk?

This feature can be useful for group administrators who want to ensure that the messages posted in their group are appropriate and in line with the group’s rules and guidelines. It can also help prevent the spread of misinformation and spam in the group.

To enable the admin review feature, the group administrator(s) can go to the group settings, select “Group Info”, and then toggle on the “Admin Only” option under the “Send Messages” setting. After this is done, any message posted by group members will require approval from the group administrator(s) before it can be seen by other group members.