Category: Tech

Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 employees due to declining sales

Amazon is reportedly getting ready to lay off thousands of office workers due to decreasing sales and worries about an impending recession.

The e-commerce giant’s office personnel could lose about 10,000 of their employees, according to US media sources who requested anonymity.

Cuts are anticipated to have an impact on departments like e-commerce and personal devices.

The business warned it had overhired during the pandemic and had previously implemented a hiring freeze and stopped some of its warehouse expansions. Additionally, it has taken steps to close off some areas of its operations by shelving plans for things like a personal delivery robot.

The business announced last week that cutting costs would be a priority in its annual review of business operations. “As part of this year’s review, we’re of course taking into account the current macro-environment and considering opportunities to optimize costs,” the e-commerce company said in a statement.

According to media sources, the precise number of positions that will be eliminated is still uncertain.

Amazon is battling a dip in online sales after the epidemic saw a surge in its revenue. Despite a 15 per cent increase in overall revenue in the most recent quarter, the company has remained concerned about the forecast as the slowdown spreads to other industries, including its long-profit-boosting cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services.

On social media, the company’s founder Jeff Bezos, who is no longer serving as CEO but is still chairman of the board, declared that it was time to “batten down the hatches.”

Amazon joins a long list of other tech firms that have announced layoffs in an effort to signal an impending economic collapse. Included in the list is Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, which recently announced plans to eliminate 11,000 jobs, the largest reduction in staff in company history.

According to a survey by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which analyses such announcements, US-based tech companies have cut more than 28,000 jobs overall this year, more than double the number from a year ago.

November 15, 2022

50 keyboard shortcuts every Windows user should know

Keyboard shortcuts can help you stay focused, lessen repeated effort, and greatly boost your productivity. For instance, you may select text and use the shortcut Ctrl+C to copy it. The shortcut is quicker than lifting your hands off the keyboard, using the mouse to highlight, right-clicking, choosing copy, and then putting them back on the keyboard.

There are several keyboard shortcuts offered in Windows, but you do not need to master them all. Just the ones that will make your life simpler and increase productivity should be kept in mind.

These are the major keyboard shortcuts that every Windows user needs to be familiar with:

Keyboard shortcut	Action
Ctrl + A	Select all content.
Ctrl + C (or Ctrl + Insert)	Copy selected items to clipboard.
Ctrl + X	Cut selected items to clipboard.
Ctrl + V (or Shift + Insert)	Paste content from clipboard.
Ctrl + Z	Undo an action, including undelete files (limited).
Ctrl + Y	Redo an action.
Ctrl + Shift + N	Create new folder on desktop or File Explorer.
Alt + F4	Close active window. (If no active window is present, a shutdown box appears.)
Ctrl + D (Del)	Delete selected item to the Recycle Bin.
Shift + Delete	Delete the selected item permanently, skipping Recycle Bin.
F2	Rename selected item.
Esc	Close current task.
Alt + Tab	Switch between open apps.
PrtScn	Take a screenshot and stores it in the clipboard.
Windows key + I	Open Settings app.
Windows key + E	Open File Explorer.
Windows key + A	Open Action center.
Windows key + D	Display and hide the desktop.
Windows key + L	Lock device.
Windows key + V	Open Clipboard bin.
Windows key + Period (.) or Semicolon (;)	Open emoji panel.
Windows key + PrtScn	Capture a full screenshot in the “Screenshots” folder.
Windows key + Shift + S	Capture part of the screen with Snip & Sketch.
Windows key + Left arrow key	Snap app or window left.
Windows key + Right arrow key	Snap app or window right.

Desktop shortcuts

On Windows, you can use these keyboard shortcuts to open, close, navigate, and perform tasks more quickly throughout the desktop experience, including the Start menu, Taskbar, Settings, and more.

Keyboard shortcut	Action
Windows key (or Ctrl + Esc)	Open Start menu.
Ctrl + Arrow keys	Change Start menu size.
Ctrl + Shift + Esc	Open Task Manager.
Ctrl + Shift	Switch keyboard layout.
Alt + F4	Close active window. (If no active window is present, a shutdown box appears.)
Ctrl + F5 (or Ctrl + R)	Refresh current window.
Ctrl + Alt + Tab	View open apps.
Ctrl + Arrow keys (to select) + Spacebar	Select multiple items on desktop or File Explorer.
Alt + Underlined letter	Runs command for the underlined letter in apps.
Alt + Tab	Switch between open apps while pressing Tab multiple times.
Alt + Left arrow key	Go back.
Alt + Right arrow key	Go forward.
Alt + Page Up	Move up one screen.
Alt + Page Down	Move down one screen.
Alt + Esc	Cycle through open windows.
Alt + Spacebar	Open context menu for the active window.
Alt + F8	Reveals typed password in Sign-in screen.
Shift + Click app button	Open another instance of an app from the Taskbar.
Ctrl + Shift + Click app button	Run app as administrator from the Taskbar.
Shift + Right-click app button	Show window menu for the app from the Taskbar.
Ctrl + Click a grouped app button	Cycle through windows in the group from the Taskbar.
Shift + Right-click grouped app button	Show window menu for the group from the Taskbar.
Ctrl + Left arrow key	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.
Ctrl + Right arrow key	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word.
Ctrl + Up arrow key	Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
Ctrl + Down arrow key	Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph.
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow key	Select block of text.
Ctrl + Spacebar	Enable or disable Chinese IME.
Shift + F10	Open context menu for selected item.
F10	Enable app menu bar.
Shift + Arrow keys	Select multiple items.
Windows key + X	Open Quick Link menu.
Windows key + Number (0-9)	Open the app in number position from the Taskbar.
Windows key + T	Cycle through apps in the Taskbar.
Windows key + Alt + Number (0-9)	Open Jump List of the app in number position from the Taskbar.
Windows key + D	Display and hide the desktop.
Windows key + M	Minimize all windows.
Windows key + Shift + M	Restore minimized windows on the desktop.
Windows key + Home	Minimize or maximize all but the active desktop window.
Windows key + Shift + Up arrow key	Stretch desktop window to the top and bottom of the screen.
Windows key + Shift + Down arrow key	Maximize or minimize active desktop windows vertically while maintaining width.
Windows key + Shift + Left arrow key	Move active window to monitor on the left.
Windows key + Shift + Right arrow key	Move active window to monitor on the right.
Windows key + Left arrow key	Snap app or window left.
Windows key + Right arrow key	Snap app or window right.
Windows key + S (or Q)	Open Search.
Windows key + Alt + D	Open date and time in the Taskbar.
Windows key + Tab	Open Task View.
Windows key + Ctrl + D	Create new virtual desktop.
Windows key + Ctrl + F4	Close active virtual desktop.
Windows key + Ctrl + Right arrow	Switch to the virtual desktop on the right.
Windows key + Ctrl + Left arrow	Switch to the virtual desktop on the left.
Windows key + P	Open Project settings.
Windows key + A	Open Action center.
Windows key + I	Open Settings app.
Backspace	Return to the Settings app home page.

November 14, 2022

Twitter halts $8 subscription program after fake accounts abuse service to impersonate major brands

After users started misusing it to impersonate major companies and known personalities, Twitter appears to have suspended its $7.99/month Blue membership service, which allowed customers to pay for a verification check mark.

This week, Twitter introduced a feature that lets users purchase a checkmark that had previously been used to denote a verified or official account in its iPhone app. Friday saw the removal of the Twitter Blue sign-up option from the iPhone app.

The swift suspension of the service shows that, at least right now, CEO Elon Musk’s grand strategy to attract new user-based revenue isn’t succeeding as anticipated.

According to NBC, due to the expensive subscription service, many pranksters started setting up fake Twitter accounts. It made the site even more conducive to false information, and numerous easily obtained checkmarks were used to discredit corporations, governments, and celebrities.

According to a current Twitter sales employee, the company decided to reduce Twitter Blue verification due to the influx of impersonators.

The employee, who wanted to remain anonymous because they were not allowed to speak on behalf of Twitter, said that a fake Eli Lilly account that tweeted that “we are excited to announce insulin is free now” caused a major issue.

Before it was deleted, the tweet remained visible for several hours. Later, the genuine Eli Lilly account tweeted, “We regret to individuals who have received a false message from a bogus Lilly account.

Following the fraudulent message’s publication, the stock price of Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical firms, notably AbbVie, which was also the target of a Twitter impersonation, both fell precipitously. Major stock indices were then rising during a market surge.

Another imposter mocked Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla by mimicking the blue subscription checkmark for paid subscribers. In a barrage of insulting tweets, a user whose name looked to be “@TeslaReal” claimed, “honestly the 53 per cent reduction in stock price doesn’t phase[sic] us. We are the ones who are most knowledgeable about Crashing.

For marketers, the impact of so many changes to the Twitter platform is a significant challenge; several have already suspended their expenditure there.

Some users who had already paid for the programme also reported that their freshly acquired blue checkmarks had vanished from their accounts.

No one from Twitter was immediately available for comment. Musk was unavailable for comment right away.

The removal of Twitter Blue verified comes as Musk and Alex Spiro, who is currently serving as Twitter’s top lawyer, are attempting to reassure staff, clients, and regulators that they will abide by all legal requirements and the terms of an earlier FTC consent decree.

“I cannot emphasize enough that Twitter will do whatever it takes to adhere to both the letter and spirit of the FTC consent decree,” Elon Musk wrote in a company-wide email that CNBC was able to get on Thursday night.

In a subsequent email, Spiro stated that his team had communicated with FTC officials on Thursday and that Twitter would soon be subject to the agency’s “initial forthcoming compliance check.” He made it clear that any violations would be the responsibility of Twitter, not “those who work at Twitter.”

November 12, 2022
IT minister announces new launch date for 5G

The government is expected to introduce 5G in July 2023 instead of next month.

Syed Amin ul Haq, the minister of information technology and telecommunications, said that the effort would help further expand the IT industry and its export at an exponential rate while announcing the new date.

Speaking at a ceremony for the UBIT Career Fest 2022, which was put on by the University of Karachi’s Department of Computer Science, the minister expressed confidence that the new deadline for the introduction of 5G technology would be met without further delay.

“Our IT industry has already witnessed robust growth,” he said. “As compared to the other 43 ministries of Pakistan, the highest increase in exports has been registered by the IT and telecommunication sector. The exports of other ministries increased by 2 to 3 per cent only over the last couple of years while the exports of IT and telecom jumped by 47.44 per cent during the same period. “It reflects the potential which we need to capitalise on,” the minister remarked.

The young IT graduates can seize the expanding opportunities being offered by the IT companies amid huge funding of $373 million from the government for the startups, he claimed, demonstrating that future job needs can be met with the cooperation of industry and universities.

November 11, 2022
‘We do not comment on rumours,’ Telenor Pakistan responds to reports suggesting that the company is being sold for $1 billion

Multiple online news outlets reported that Telenor, a telecom operator, intended to sell its business in Pakistan for $1 billion, which ignited a debate on social media.

There is a lot of uncertainty about the authenticity of this news since a few Telenor employees have also denied the reports and asserted that they are fake.

The company has yet to make an official announcement in this regard, with the exception of responding to a Twitter user’s question who asked whether these reports are legit. “We do not comment on speculations and rumours,” Telenor replied.

According to Bloomberg, Telenor is moving forward with plans to sell its business in Pakistan, which might be worth $1 billion, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Norwegian telecommunications operator is working with Citigroup Inc. and will welcome first-round bids for the firm later this month, according to insiders.

Telenor announced in July that it would conduct a strategic assessment of its Pakistan unit after incurring a 2.5 billion-krone ($244 million) loss on operations in the growing market.

The people predict that strategic customers with operations in Pakistan from the Middle East and Asia will express interest. They stated that there is no assurance that the ongoing discussions would result in a transaction. Telenor and Citigroup representatives declined to comment.

Telenor’s stock increased as much as 2.4 per cent on Wednesday. The company’s market worth increased to $13 billion as the stock rose 1.8 per cent in Oslo.

In October, Telenor said that the third quarter’s underlying profitability in Pakistan decreased by 22 per cent, in part as a result of the nation’s growing energy costs. This had a negative effect, but it was partially offset by a gain from Pakistan’s repeal of a SIM tax.

One of Telenor’s four Asian countries, Pakistan, saw a gain of 600 million crowns ($57.79 million), which was related to a court ruling on the applicability of tax on SIM cards for mobile phones from 2014 to 2020.

In recent years, Telenor, which serves 175 million users across eight countries in the Nordic region and Asia, has worked to reduce expenses and increase cash flow in order to fund greater dividends and 5G expenditures. The company’s greatest efforts to date have involved attempts to consolidate markets in South-East Asia, including a $8.6 billion acquisition in Thailand and a $15 billion merger to create a telecoms leader in Malaysia.

Telenor Asia, which also manages the company’s operations in Pakistan and Bangladesh, is in charge of both units.

During the first three quarters of 2022, Telenor Pakistan’s income decreased by about 8 per cent in Norwegian Kroner terms but increased by 4 per cent in Pakistani Rupee terms, staying at NOK 3.390 billion (Rs82.57 billion) as opposed to NOK 4.270 billion (Rs79.36 billion) during the same period of 2021.

In comparison to NKO 1.425 billion (Rs26.68 billion) during the same period last year, or in 2021, Telenor Pakistan reported total revenues of NOK 1.320 billion (Rs29.53 billion) during the third quarter of 2022. This represents a 7.5 per cent decline in NOK terms and a 10 per cent increase in rupee.

Intense floods throughout the quarter had a negative impact on the Group’s business in Pakistan. Consumers’ purchasing power was impacted by the circumstance, which also resulted in network failures and raised prices.

November 10, 2022
Twitter to roll out new ‘Official’ badge for prominent accounts

When it debuts its new $8 service with the blue verification badge, billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform Twitter will introduce an ‘Official’ tag for select verified accounts, including prominent media outlets, celebrities and authorities, its early stage products executive Esther Crawford said on Tuesday.

Twitter’s safety and integrity chief, Yoel Roth, stated that the business delayed the introduction of the new Twitter Blue subscription product until after the US midterm elections on Tuesday due to concerns about impersonating public people.

According to those familiar with the situation, fake government accounts are a common issue on Twitter around the world. Crawford stated that the “Official” badge will not be for sale and will only be available to administrations, significant media outlets, businesses, company associates, and other prominent personalities.

A Reuters story states that the social networking site Twitter will launch a new $8 premium subscription option. According to Esther Crawford, the company’s early-stage products executive, the major media organisations and governments will be among the Twitter accounts that are verified and so referred to as “Official” on Twitter.

Those who subscribe to Twitter Blue, a new subscription service that won’t really verify user identities, will be able to get blue checks.

Even though the official label won’t be offered for sale, select accounts will get it, and it won’t be accessible to all. Governments, private companies, trade associations, large news organisations, and some other public personalities will be allowed to have it.

November 9, 2022
Oculus creator makes VR headset that actually kills users if they die in the game

Palmer Luckey, a virtual reality pioneer and the developer of Oculus – now better known as a part of Facebook’s Meta – created a VR device that will actually kill the player if they lose the game.

NerveGear, Luckey’s murderous headset, looks like a Meta Quest Pro coupled with three explosive charge units located above the screen.

The charges are aimed at the user’s forebrain, and if they detonate, they will entirely demolish the user’s skull.

Wearing a NeveGear VR headset, players start Sword Art Online, a new game based on the Japanese anime and book of the same name.

Luckey described the ‘killer’ VR on his blog:

Today is November 6th, 2022, the day of the SAO Incident. Thousands of VRMMORPG gamers were trapped by a mad scientist inside a death game that could only be escaped through completion. If their hit points dropped to zero, their brain would be bombarded by extraordinarily powerful microwaves, supposedly killing the user. The same would happen if anyone in the real world tampered with their NerveGear, the virtual reality head-mounted display that transported their minds and souls to Aincrad, the primary setting of Sword Art Online.

The players must battle their way through a 100-floor dungeon in order to escape a lunatic scientist’s virtual reality.

Don’t get too thrilled or scared because the killer VR headset is not yet available for purchase.

Luckey sold Oculus, the underpinning of Mark Zuckerberg’s march to the metaverse, to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion.

November 9, 2022
Elon Musk fires more than 90% of Twitter India staff

Twitter Inc. terminated more than 90 per cent of its employees in India over the weekend, “severely depleting its engineering and product team in a prospective growth area.”

The firing frenzy is part of global reductions by new owner Elon Musk.

.According to persons familiar with the situation who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, Twitter’s India offices employed just over 200 people before the cuts, leaving it with only about a dozen employees. The offices are in Bengaluru, Mumbai, and New Delhi.

Due to its sizable potential pool of new online users, India is a crucial growth engine for international internet companies like Twitter, Meta Platforms Inc., and Google, a division of Alphabet Inc.

The businesses must comply with “increasingly strict regulations” intended to rein in giant digital enterprises in the country.

According to one of the employees who spoke with Bloomberg, the product and engineering teams in India that worked on a worldwide mandate accounted for roughly 70 per cent of the jobs that were eliminated.

November 7, 2022
After Twitter, Meta reportedly planning ‘large-scale’ layoffs this week

With plans to layoff thousands of employees this week, Facebook parent company Meta will join a growing list of digital companies that are reducing their workforces.

As of September 30, Meta has over 87,000 people working for it across its various platforms, which include the social media sites Facebook and Instagram as well as the messaging service WhatsApp. According to WSJ, the social media business had reduced its ambitions to hire engineers by at least 30 per cent in June, and Mark Zuckerberg had advised staff to prepare for a slowdown in the economy.

In his announcement of Meta’s dismal third-quarter results, CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that the company’s headcount will not rise by the end of 2023 and might even decline significantly.

“In 2023, we’re going to focus our investments on a small number of high-priority growth areas. So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year. In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today,” Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call in late October.

Profits for Meta dropped to $4.4 billion in the third quarter, a 52 percent year-over-year decline. The poor findings had a significant negative impact on Meta’s stock price, which dropped by 25 per cent in one day.

Over the past year, the company’s market value has decreased to $600 billion.

In a previous open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s shareholder Altimeter Capital Management stated that the company needed to streamline by eliminating positions and capital expenditures. They also stated that investors had lost faith in Meta as a result of its increased spending and pivot to the metaverse.

Owing to increased interest rates, rising inflation, and a European energy crisis, several technological businesses, including Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc., and Snap Inc., have reduced workforce in recent months.

November 7, 2022
‘There is no choice when the company is losing $4 million per day’: Musk justifies cutting half of Twitter’s workforce

On Friday, Twitter laid off half of its 7,500-person workforce as the company’s troubled big restructuring under new owner Elon Musk got under way, only one week after his sensational takeover.

Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists.

Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.

Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2022

According to an internal memo seen by AFP, “approximately 50 per cent” of the workforce was affected and would immediately lose access to business computers and email.

Workers from all over the world who were let go used Twitter to express their anger or disbelief and bid farewell to one of Silicon Valley’s most recognisable enterprises.

“Woke up to the news that my time working at Twitter has come to an end. I am heartbroken. I am in denial,” said Michele Austin, Twitter’s director of public policy for the US and Canada.

Prior to the layoffs, Twitter restricted access to all of its locations and asked staff to remain at home while they awaited word on their futures with the firm.

The cull is a part of Musk’s effort to obtain financing for the massive $44 billion acquisition, for which he sold $15.5 billion worth of Tesla shares and took on billions of dollars in debt.

After his massive acquisition, Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been frantically looking for new revenue streams for Twitter, including the notion of charging users $8 per month for verified accounts.

The actions would help Twitter combat the possibility of losing advertisers, which are the company’s primary source of income, since many of the major businesses in the world postpone their ad purchases after learning of Musk’s well-known contempt for content controls.

The volatile businessman lamented a “huge loss in revenue” on Twitter on Friday, attributing it to “activist groups” who were pressing advertisers.

“We did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” he added.

This seemed to be a reference to Musk’s previous meeting with civil rights organisations, where he heard worries that Twitter will unleash a wave of hate speech a week before the US midterm elections. Musk had promised that Twitter would not turn into a “free-for-all hellscape” in an effort to calm people down, but his assurance was swiftly contradicted by a tweet spreading a rumour that the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been attacked.

“We are witnessing the real time destruction of one of the world’s most powerful communication systems. Elon Musk is an erratic billionaire who is dangerously unqualified to run this platform,” said Nicole Gill, Executive Director of Accountable Tech.

She was a member of a group of 60 rights organisations that demanded on Friday that advertising on the Musk-owned platform be boycotted.

“Elon Musk has demonstrated that it’s not possible for him to keep the brand safeguards that have existed on Twitter in place. There’s no more time for trust but verify, it’s time for escalation,” said Angelo Carusone, President and CEO of Media Matters for America.

Although very popular with celebrities and opinion leaders, the California-based business has historically struggled to turn a profit and has lagged behind Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok in terms of user growth.

Since Musk finalised his acquisition late last week and immediately set about dissolving its board and removing its chief executive and key managers, Twitter employees have been preparing for this kind of unpleasant news. Five Twitter employees who had previously been let go filed a class action lawsuit against the business late on Thursday, alleging that they had not received the legally mandated 60-day notice period.

The US Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which grants employees the right to early notification in situations involving large layoffs or plant closures, is cited in the lawsuit.

November 5, 2022