Your Tech Story

trending

Elon Musk

Did Elon Musk unwittingly expose his alt-Twitter account?

Elon Musk on Twitter recently introduced a feature that allows content creators to request that Twitter users subscribe in order to access their unique content. The chosen account must be subscribed to on a monthly basis by each user.

Elon Musk
Image Source: gizmodo.com

Elon Musk stated in a message to content creators, “Content creators may wish to enable subscriptions on this platform. Just tap Monetization in Settings.” The profile photo next to Musk’s, though, was what got people’s attention online. This profile photo showed that Musk had multiple accounts open on his personal device.

Also Read: Why is Amazon shutting down Halo Division?

When internet users started looking around, they discovered an account with the exact same profile picture as the one in Musk’s tweet. The username of the account is @ErmnMusk, and the profile image is of Musk’s son. It is obvious from the account’s Twitter bio that it was set up in November 2022. Even though the account only occasionally tweets, there are a lot of responses. and frequently lack logic.

Elon Musk pretends to be his son, who is close to three years old, in a few tweets from the account. “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” the most recent tweet reads. On December 6 of last year, another tweet reads, “For the love of God, can someone follow me.”

The majority of the tweets are completely meaningless and arbitrary, though, thus it’s possible that this account was formed with the express purpose of shitposting, according to a brief peek at the “Replies” section.

The account additionally responded to a tweet that included Caroline Elliso, the former CEO of Alameda Research, in its image. Alameda Research was a trading firm that specialized in cryptocurrency. The company suffered severe losses in October 2021.

According to reports, a cryptocurrency market crash cost Alameda Research about $2.8 billion in losses in a single day. The trading company submitted a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in November 2022.

People are responding to the tweets as the account steadily attracts the curiosity of a growing number of online users. One person suggested, “Ask dad to give you $8 for a blue cheque,” and another said, “Can you ask your father when Tesla is going to buy more Dogecoin?”

Also Read: How to send a secure email in Gmail?

Elon Musk’s purported alt account has about 48,000 followers. It should be emphasized that Musk has not formally asserted that he is the one uploading offensive content from this account.

Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, is known for his frequent online shenanigans. His Twitter page is a regular topic of attention, with posts ranging from contentious statements to updates and announcements on what is happening at his numerous firms.

Amazon

Why is Amazon shutting down Halo Division?

Amazon sent out a note to Halo customers today announcing that it is shutting down its Halo Health division, effective July 31. Included in the announcement is news of layoffs, as well as full refunds on hardware purchased over the past 12 months.

Amazon
Image Source: businesstoday.in

That includes Amazon Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Rise, and a bunch of accessories. That’s not an unprecedented move (Google did something similar when it recently shut down Stadia), but it’s a sign of goodwill for customers and a tacit acknowledgment that the hardware won’t be worth a hell of a lot when its associated services shut down. The company will also be ending subscription fees and refunding those that were pre-paid.

Also Read: OpenAI rolls out ‘incognito mode’ on ChatGPT

In a letter addressed to “Halo Member,” the company says, “At Amazon, we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas like Amazon Halo in our efforts to delight customers.” All of the above-mentioned products will stop working at the start of August. Additionally, Amazon has included instructions on how to recycle the hardware and save scan images to a phone’s camera roll.

The corporation announced 9,000 layoffs at the end of last month, bringing the total to 18,000 since January. The first round had a disproportionately negative effect on Amazon’s hardware divisions, with the Alexa/Echo team receiving a lot of attention.

When the first Halo tracker went public in August 2020, privacy advocates reacted negatively. The range continued to expand swiftly, including the Halo View, an $80 Fitbit rival, along with other fitness and nutrition programs, in late 2021. It unveiled the Halo Rise, a nightstand sleep tracker, in September of last year, and it went on sale in December.

Amazon Halo is a fitness wearable device and accompanying app that was launched by Amazon in August 2020. The device is designed to help users improve their overall health and wellness by tracking various aspects of their lifestyle, including activity levels, sleep, body fat percentage, and even their tone of voice.

The Amazon Halo device is worn as a wristband and features sensors that can track a user’s heart rate, motion, and temperature. The device also has a microphone that can be used to analyze a user’s tone of voice and provide feedback on their communication style.

Overall, the Amazon Halo is designed to be a comprehensive health and wellness tool that can help users make positive changes to their lifestyle by providing personalized recommendations and insights.

Microsoft

Is Microsoft going to unbundle Teams and Office?

Microsoft has decided to stop including its Teams remote collaboration program in its Office productivity package, according to Financial Times.

The organization is taking action to address any EU antitrust concerns, which are the biggest regulatory worries they have encountered in the last ten years. Companies will soon have the option to purchase Office with or without Teams installed, according to FT’s sources, “but the mechanism on how to do this remains unclear.”

Microsoft
Image Source: betanews.com

There are allegedly ongoing discussions with EU regulators, but “a deal is not certain.” “We are mindful of our responsibilities in the EU as a major technology company,” Microsoft told the Financial Times.

Also Read: What is Auto-GPT and why does it matter?

We continue to engage cooperatively with the commission in its investigation and are open to pragmatic solutions that address its concerns and serve customers well.”

Microsoft and Slack don’t get along very well. Slack stated that it was “genuinely excited to have some competition” when Teams first launched. Slack’s CEO subsequently asserted, “Teams is not a competitor to Slack.”

Despite the CEO’s assertions, Slack stated in a 10-Q form that Microsoft Corporation was its current “primary competitor” in October 2019. Then, in 2020, Slack complained to the EU against Microsoft.

Microsoft’s response was that Slack “suffered” since it didn’t support video conferences. If not for Windows, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, questioned whether Slack would even be around. During that time, Slack’s general counsel stated, “We’re asking the EU to be a neutral referee, examine the facts, and enforce the law.”

Microsoft is currently dealing with its first legal problems in ten years. The corporation entered into a settlement with the European Commission in 2009, promising to give customers in Europe a choice of web browsers; it was later fined €561 million in 2013 for persistently failing to uphold that promise.

Of course, the antitrust scandal that made it famous occurred when it was first compelled to split into two businesses; however, the decision was eventually overturned by an appeals court.

In an agreement reached in 2001, Microsoft and the DOJ agreed to limitations such as not sharing APIs with outside developers and allowing PC makers to include non-Microsoft applications on their hardware.

It is understandable that regulators would intervene when tech giants like Microsoft and Slack engaged in such a public battle. To see if Microsoft unbundling succeeds, we’ll have to wait.

Also Read: Will Dead Island 2 Be On Game Pass?

The corporation has been rushing to get regulatory permission for its intended $69 billion acquisition of game producer Activision Blizzard in recent months. According to reports, the corporation is anticipated to get the go-ahead from the EU and the UK. It has until July to satisfy the US Federal Trade Commission.

To allay those worries, Microsoft provided 10-year legal arrangements to distribute Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms and cloud-streaming service Boosteroid. Sony apparently turned down a comparable offer.

ChatGPT

How Will ChatGPT Change Education and Teaching?

Over the years, technology has changed schooling in countless ways. Although it has increased students’ and instructors’ access to resources, it has also increased disparities and interruptions in the classroom. Whether one likes it or not, technology in educational settings is likely to stay, and it keeps getting better. In 2022, ChatGPT was released to the general public by OpenAI, a firm that does research and development in the field of artificial intelligence.

ChatGPT
Image Source: sciencenews.org

Anybody with a gadget and internet connectivity can use ChatGPT for free, thereby rendering it widely accessible, especially for students most of which are online these days.

Also Read: What Is ChaosGPT: Can The AI Bot Destroy Humanity?

An artificial intelligence (AI) computer program called ChatGPT uses its intelligence to interpret and emulate natural human language in the responses it generates.

The AI in the program employs a transformer-based neural network with a sizable database to analyze the incoming data and produce a response. When a human user enters queries or orders into ChatGPT, the AI analyses the text and produces the response according to the neural network data.

As an AI language model, ChatGPT can offer several benefits to education and teaching. ChatGPT can help personalize the learning experience for each student.

By understanding a student’s learning style, strengths, and weaknesses, ChatGPT can create tailored learning experiences that cater to the individual needs of each student. ChatGPT can provide quick and easy access to information on any topic.

Students and teachers can ask questions and receive answers almost instantly, which can help facilitate learning and understanding. It can assist teachers by providing them with real-time feedback on student progress, suggesting appropriate learning resources, and answering students’ questions.

As a language model, ChatGPT can help students improve their writing and communication skills by suggesting vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. ChatGPT can also help teachers grade assignments more efficiently by providing automated feedback on student work, saving them time and allowing them to focus on other important aspects of teaching.

Overall, ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize education and teaching by providing personalized learning, quick access to information, support for teachers, improved language skills, and efficient grading.

The chatbot from OpenAI has already been incorporated into educational technology businesses’ apps, such as Duolingo and Quizlet, which produces digital flashcards and practice exams used by half of the high school pupils in the US.

A fact sheet regarding ChatGPT’s possible influence in classrooms was also created by OpenAI in collaboration with educators. The business claims that when it created a free tool to identify text authored by a chatbot (although its reliability is limited), it also talked to educators.

Also Read: Win 11’s AI feature smart snap layout is out. Is it worth the hype?

The initial buzz surrounding ChatGPT was mostly centered on how effective it is at administering tests. In fact, this was a major selling point for OpenAI when it released GPT-4 in March, the most recent iteration of the big language model that powered the chatbot.

It excelled on the AP exams in a number of subjects, including macroeconomics, psychology, US history, macro-art history, and environmental science.

Password Manager

How can we use Apple’s new All-In-One Password Manager?

A password manager can create secure passwords for all of your services and then save them. But since these apps can be difficult to master and, at best, aren’t free, the majority of people don’t use them.

Even those who are aware of the benefits of using two-factor authentication and password manager rarely do so because it seems tedious to download and maintain yet another app.

Password Manager
Image Source: wired.com

So, if you use Apple devices, you no longer require additional apps: You can even link your gadget with a PC running on Windows to store your passwords and obtain two-factor authorization codes for you.

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

The fact that Apple offers this feature is fantastic for this reason. On the other hand, it has a drawback: it is somewhat muted if not entirely buried. Even so, this feature allows Safari users who own multiple Apple devices to rapidly generate and save strong passwords for each of their accounts.

Check that the iCloud keychain is turned on in the System Settings on the device you are using. You might need to enable the feature there to get started. Installing iCloud for Windows, which syncs passwords with Chrome or Microsoft Edge, is also recommended for Windows users.

Start using the devices and saving passwords as you go to add passwords to Apple’s secret password manager. There is typically a pop-up prompting if you want to keep your password when you sign in for any account on the internet in Safari or in any other application on the iPad or iPhone. For autofill, use the iCloud Keychain.

The simplest method of adding accounts is to simply click the “Save Password” button, which will save both your username and password. Alternately, if you’re creating a new account, you’ll typically be given an automatically created strong password; if not, type it in the field to the right of the password box on mobile devices or at the top of the keyboard.

Also Read: What’s new in Apple’s iOS 16.4 update for iPhone users?

On the desktop, one may press the key symbol. In either case, you ought to see the option to “add a new password,” which can produce a secure password for you automatically. Your device will now prompt you to enter your login information and password when you log into the website going forward.

The login and password boxes will normally be filled up when your identity has been verified using TouchID, FaceID, or the system’s password. By doing this, you can avoid having to remember the usernames and passwords you use to log onto websites.

chip production

Why is Samsung’s cut in chip production good news for industry?

As a severe recession in the worldwide semiconductor business continues, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. disclosed on Friday that it would make a significant reduction in chip production after reporting a worse-than-anticipated 96 percent drop in quarterly operating income.

The biggest memory chip & Television manufacturer in the world saw its shares rise 3 percent in early trade, whereas rival SK Hynix Corp. had its shares rise 5 percent as investors embraced the idea of decreasing production to maintain pricing power.

chip production
Image Source: bloomberg.com

In a succinct initial earnings statement, Samsung calculated that its net revenue decreased to 600 billion won which is about 455.5 million USD in January-March from 14.12 trillion won a year ago. In 14 years, this quarter’s revenue was the worst of any other.

Also Read: Are Google’s AI supercomputers faster than Nvidia’s?

“Memory demand dropped sharply… due to the macroeconomic situation and slowing customer purchasing sentiment, as many customers continue to adjust their inventories for financial purposes,” the company said in a statement

“We are lowering the production of memory chips by a meaningful level, especially that of products with supply secured,” it added, in a reference to those with sufficient inventories.

Source:economictimes.indiatimes.com

For Samsung, the hint of a decrease in output is quite important because it had said before it was only going to make modest adjustments, such as pausing production to fix production lines, contrary to a total shutdown. It failed to specify the size of the targeted cut.

The first-quarter income was less than the more conservative 873 billion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate. Early in the week, some predictions were scaled back.

According to business records, it was the minimum revenue since the first quarter of 2009, when it reached 590 billion won.

Data center operators, cellphone and computer manufacturers, as well as other semiconductor customers, are avoiding making fresh chip shopping and using up stocks as a result of the weakening customer demands for tech products caused by growing inflation.

Experts projected that the decline in memory chip costs and the subsequent decline in inventory values caused the semiconductor division to suffer a quarterly economic loss of much more than 4 trillion won which is 3.03 billion USD.

Also Read: Why is Twitter blocking Substack links?

This would mark the semiconductor industry’s first quarterly deficit since the initial quarter of 2009, which is a significant departure from what is often a cash cow that, in good years, contributes around 50 percent of Samsung’s earnings.

According to Samsung, revenue probably decreased 19 percent compared to the same time last year to 63 trillion won. In the coming weeks, the company is scheduled to announce comprehensive profits, containing divisional breakdowns.