Current Final

Category: Tech

  • Apple steps up iPhone 14 production shift from China to India

    Apple steps up iPhone 14 production shift from China to India

    In an attempt to expand its manufacturing base outside of China, Apple has recruited another assembly partner for the iPhone 14 production lineup in India, according to Bloomberg.

    Following Foxconn, which started making the iPhone 14 models in India in September, Taiwanese contract maker Pegatron will manufacture the model in the country.

    The iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and most recently the iPhone 14 are all produced at Apple’s Taiwanese assembly partners Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron’s iPhone manufacturing facilities in India. The production of the most recent model has seen a significant reduction in the time between Chinese and Indian output from months to weeks.

    In the five months since April, Apple has exported $1 billion worth of iPhones from India. Despite being modest by Chinese standards, India’s rising iPhone production indicates Apple’s willingness to invest there as a rival to China’s dominance in electronics assembly, which has recently been weakened by the latter’s zero-COVID policy.

    Following an epidemic at the factory, which resulted in the metropolis of nearly 10 million people being shut down, Foxconn’s major Zhengzhou plant, which employs about 200,000 people, has been subject to the same limits. According to one report, when COVID-19 rules in China become more stringent, iPhone production might decrease by as much as 30 per cent the following month.

    Despite the coincidence of events, Apple’s long-term production development plans in India are unrelated to China’s lockdown issues, even though they do serve to emphasise the company’s utter reliance on only one nation.

    Apple is playing a long game by shifting its production lines away from China, one that won’t have a significant influence on its supply chain for many years. According to a recent Bloomberg article, it would take eight years to relocate just 10 per cent of Apple’s production capacity from China, where over 98 per cent of iPhones are still produced.

  • WhatsApp launches ‘Communities’ to organise group conversations

    WhatsApp launches ‘Communities’ to organise group conversations

    Communities, a new WhatsApp feature that offers bigger, more organised conversation groups that was first put through testing earlier this year, is now officially available.

    Communities introduce a number of new features to the messaging platform with the goal of enhancing communication and organisation among businesses, clubs, schools, and other private groups. These features include admin controls, support for sub-groups and announcement groups, 32-person voice and video calls, larger file sharing, emoji reactions, and polls.

    Communities itself provide end-to-end encryption and can accommodate groups of up to 1,024 users.

    Emoji reactions, massive file sharing (up to 2GB), and the option for administrators to remove messages are just a few of the features created for Communities that have already made their way to the WhatsApp platform before today’s debut. According to the business, WhatsApp will now enable polls, 32-person video calls, and larger group sizes more widely outside of Communities.

    Due to the fact that both the new feature and Facebook Groups enable features like sub-groups, file sharing, admin functionality, and more, there may initially be some parallels between the two. WhatsApp Communities, however, are designed to be used by people who may already be connected in the real world, unlike Facebook Groups, which are frequently used by dispersed strangers with a shared interest.

    Since WhatsApp is phone number-based, as opposed to Facebook, members of these discussion groups already know one another because they may have swapped phone numbers or at the very least provided their numbers with the group admin. The phone numbers will only be made visible to admins and members of the same sub-groups as you; they will remain concealed from the rest of the Community.

    This aims to strike a compromise between users’ demands for privacy and the necessity of enabling communication amongst group members. For instance, even if you don’t know every parent on your child’s sports team personally, you’re probably at ease talking to them in a small group setting that might be a part of the larger school community.

    In addition, WhatsApp Communities are concealed, in contrast to Facebook Groups, which may be found on the site. You must be asked to join; there won’t be a search or discovery option available.

  • $8 for Starbucks coffee is cool, but a Twitter badge is not? Netizens react to Musk’s meme

    $8 for Starbucks coffee is cool, but a Twitter badge is not? Netizens react to Musk’s meme

    Elon Musk’s intentions to charge an additional $8 per month for the Twitter Blue service have both amused and incensed online users. This may be the rationale behind Musk’s defense of his choice to charge verified users for their Twitter blue tick badge.

    Musk appears to have turned to memes in an effort to spread the word about his lofty goal of turning Twitter into a revenue-generating platform. The head of SpaceX, who is renowned for his blunt assessment of everything on Earth, has been jokingly outlining his new plan.

    https://twitter.com/Therealdavedfs1/status/1587894312838529024

    In one of his tweets, he posted a meme depicting individuals enjoying their $8 Starbucks coffee while grumbling about having to spend the same amount to maintain their Twitter verification badge.

    Users reacted strongly to the meme that compared the cost of coffee to that of a Twitter subscription. Some people praised the choice, while others criticised the millionaire.

    “They don’t see the vision Mr Musk. I’d pay $80 for a checkmark for even just 30 minutes. Everybody hating on Elon should instead be grateful for the service he is doing for us. He doesn’t get enough appreciation,” said a user. “Mocking of users will continue until profits improve,” chimed in another user.

    Another meme posted by the Tesla CEO depicts two characters discussing shelling out $8 for freedom of speech. Another responds to the question of why pay $8 for Twitter verification by stating that he can still use Twitter for free without the advantages.

    He claimed that Twitter is a fascinating site in another tweet. “Twitter is simply the most interesting place on the Internet. That’s why you’re reading this tweet right now,” read his tweet. In another tweet, Musk said it was good to be attacked by right and left at the same time. “Being attacked by both right & left simultaneously is a good sign,” he wrote.

    On November 1, Musk announced the $8 per month subscription plan for Twitter on his Twitter account. The new CEO continued by outlining several premium services to which users will have access.

    According to him, platform users will be able to publish long videos and audio files as well as receive priority treatment for replies and remarks. Additionally, there won’t be many adverts on subscribers’ feeds.

  • Best-selling author slams Musk’s plan to charge $20 for Twitter’s blue tick verification

    Best-selling author slams Musk’s plan to charge $20 for Twitter’s blue tick verification

    Elon Musk, who recently acquired control of the microblogging network in a $44 billion deal, responded to bestseller author Stephen King’s tweet expressing dissatisfaction over the anticipated cost for a verified badge.

    There have been rumours that Twitter would soon begin charging verified users a monthly charge for the blue ticks on their handles, Mr King said, “$20 a month to keep my blue check? F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”

    The monthly charge is the subject of much rumour, with some reports stating it will be around $5 per month and others estimating it to be as high as $20. The author’s tweet on Enron relates to the significant US corporation’s spectacular collapse following years of explosive growth.

    Responding to Mr King’s tweet, Mr Musk said, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”

    Many people believe it is not worthwhile to pay for a blue tick, while others contend that there is nothing wrong with charging individuals for the blue tick. The buzz surrounding the charge for a certified badge has ignited a heated debate.

    According to Musk, who oversaw the dramatic events that led to the dramatic developments of the Twitter takeover that also reached the court, the verification process for accounts is being updated. He made no further explanations.

    If the initiative is approved, users would have to pay $4.99 per month for Twitter Blue in order to keep their “verified” badges.

    Although the project may still be shelved because the CEO of Tesla Inc. has not made a final decision, Platformer predicts that verification will most likely be included in Twitter Blue.

    Musk dissolves Twitter’s board of directors

    In order to further solidify his authority over the social media network, Elon Musk earlier dissolved the Twitter’s board of directors.

    After purchasing the business last week, the multi-billionaire will serve as its CEO, putting an end to months of negotiations over the $44 billion acquisition.

    He has taken swift action to leave his stamp on the company, which is utilised by journalists and politicians all over the world.

    He is thinking about making adjustments to Twitter’s verification process and eliminating positions. According to reports, the first round of layoff is being discussed and may affect 25 per cent of the company’s workforce.

  • Instagram fixes bug that locked users out of their accounts

    Instagram fixes bug that locked users out of their accounts

    Instagram announced on its Twitter account that an outage that started on Monday morning has been fixed.

    Instagram locked users out during the downtime and informed many of them that their accounts will be suspended on October 31, 2022. Due to a bug, numerous accounts with massive followings lost a considerable portion of their followers.

    The majority of reports of the problem appeared to come from iPhone users, with some claiming that their app recently crashed and became unusable prior to an update earlier this morning.

    “We’ve resolved this bug now — it was causing people in different parts of the world to have issues accessing their accounts and caused a temporary change for some in number of followers,” Instagram wrote. “Sorry!” The platform first confirmed the issue on Twitter at 10:14 AM ET but didn’t say things were resolved until many hours later at 6 PM ET. Adam Mosseri, who heads up Instagram, also apologized for the outage.

    Around the time Instagram acknowledged the problem, reports on Downdetector reached over 7,000, although they have levelled off since then.

    Around 10:15 AM ET, a quick glance at Cristiano Ronaldo’s Instagram account revealed that, although it still had 493 million followers the day before, it appeared to have lost 3 million of those. However, the figure has now risen to 493 million. More than a million fewer people were using Instagram’s main account.

  • NASA captures ultraviolet image of the Sun ‘smiling’ back at Earth

    NASA captures ultraviolet image of the Sun ‘smiling’ back at Earth

    This week, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an ultraviolet image of the sun with three black spots that resemble a smiling face. This face may be a harbinger of a solar storm that might cause issues for Earth.

    A small geomagnetic storm watch has been issued for Saturday by the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While geomagnetic storms may produce stunning auroras in the sky, they can also interfere with GPS and cause dangerous currents to flow through the electricity system and pipelines.

    The coronal holes, which are black patches, are places where solar wind escapes into space more rapidly and readily, keeping those places colder. According to the Exploratorium, a museum in San Francisco, these winds may reach speeds of up to 1.8 million miles per hour.

    People took advantage of the chance to create memes and change the smiling sun to resemble a pumpkin or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from the Ghostbusters series.

    In 2014, NASA acquired pictures of the sun that similarly resembled jack-o-lanterns and gave them the name “Pumpkin Sun.” The sun’s active regions, which are what made up the jack-o-face, lantern’s indicate magnetic field disruptions that give rise to solar storms like solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

    Solar physicists employ telescopes that can picture the sun in the extreme ultraviolet spectrum because the human eye cannot see some wavelengths of sunlight. SDO highlights a specific region of the sun’s atmosphere using 13 different light wavelengths.

    “Ultraviolet light from the sun can show us the origins of solar storms that can lead to power outages, cell phone disruptions, and delays in shipping packages due to the rerouting of planes from over the pole,” Joseph Gurman, a researcher at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Solar Data Analysis Center said.

    “Wednesday’s image was taken at 193 angstrom light, giving it the yellow, light orange hue. The 2014 image was taken at a blend of 171 and 193 angstrom light, colorizing the sun in gold and yellow “to create a Halloween-like appearance,” according to NASA.

    Shockingly, both pictures were taken in October, just in time for Halloween.

  • Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for blue tick badge

    Twitter is planning to start charging $20 per month for blue tick badge

    Only a few days after taking over as Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk is apparently working on some significant improvements. The Twitter Blue membership and even the verification procedure, which awards verified accounts with a “Blue tick,” are expected to undergo modifications.

    According to reports, the Twitter Blue membership will be connected to it, and Musk also has big price increases planned for the subscriptions.

    The new Twitter Blue membership will cost customers $19.99, according to a report by The Verge. Additionally, Twitter accounts that already have the blue tick will need to abide by this new system and pay for it.

    Verified users will have a total of 90 days to switch to Twitter Blue before they lose their checkmark. Employees of Twitter have also been told to resign or move quickly with this new membership plan. According to the article, a deadline of November 7 has been set for the staff.

    Twitter Blue, a paid monthly opt-in membership that grants exclusive access to premium services, was introduced last year. This, according to Twitter, will allow you to personalise your Twitter experience. In the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, the subscription service is now available.

    It will be interesting to watch how Musk implements both a worldwide rollout and a complete overhaul of the payment system. Twitter Blue may be bought in-app on iOS and Android in the territories that are eligible.

  • Easiest way to sign up and sell products on Daraz

    Easiest way to sign up and sell products on Daraz

    Many small to large businesses are now listed on Daraz and are generating great earnings.

    There is no doubt that online enterprises will play a significant role in Pakistan’s future as the globe continues to move toward a digital economy.

    You can now experience what it’s like to work with the world’s top online commerce technology and logistics company, thanks to Daraz’s acquisition by the Alibaba Group, which makes it simple to grow your business from the comfort of your home.

    Surprisingly, joining Pakistan’s largest online marketplace is not that difficult.

    All small to medium-sized businesses can open stores on Daraz with dedicated one-on-one support, where sellers can get free business advice any time of day or night! Additionally, merchants will have free analytics tools at their disposal to aid in the optimization of their online business.

    On its official website, Daraz claims to have initiatives that reduce financial burdens by offering 0% commission. From May 1 through June 30, all newly registered and existing vendors are exempt from paying commission fees. Additionally, sellers can enjoy free pick-up and storage, promotional credits, and discounted packaging.

    Daraz offers express sign-ups for all new sellers, enabling you to launch your venture and begin selling on the platform in less than two days.

    How to sign-up

    Simply pick up your phone and text “Daraz” space “Name” to 7575 to get started, or you can also sign up as a vendor on the platform’s seller sign-up page.

    If you’re just getting started with your online business, Daraz also provides free training and instruction for online sellers through webinars offered by Daraz.

    According to its website, Daraz is the largest virtual marketplace in South Asia, with more than 20 million products listed in more than 100 categories on both its website and mobile application. The marketplace aims to empower and enable tens of thousands of sellers to interact with millions of customers in this cutting-edge technological era.

  • ‘I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands’: Trump welcomes Musk’s takeover

    ‘I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands’: Trump welcomes Musk’s takeover

    The takeover was hailed, but former US president Donald Trump, who was permanently banned from Twitter after the riots on January 6, 2021, said little about making a comeback. “I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs who truly hate our country.”

    Trump was banned after the 2021 attack on the US Capitol, which the Republican leader is suspected of instigating. Musk has said he might lift the ban.

    Former Russian President and current Vice-Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, tweeted his congratulations, saying “Good luck @elonmusk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And quit that Starlink in Ukraine business.”

    Others urged Musk to undo restrictions imposed by the social network. In response to @catturd2, a random account with 852,000 followers, known for being a big supporter of Trump’s election fraud claims, and who said it was “shadowbanned,” Musk tweeted “I will be digging in more today.”

    Margarita Simonyan, the head editor of the Russian state-run media outlet RT, pleaded with Musk to “unban RT and Sputnik accounts and take the shadow ban off mine as well.”

    Musk and Twitter are under increasing pressure since he plans to address the Twitter workers on Friday after the purchase is finalised.

    “Hey @ElonMusk, now that you own Twitter, will you help fight back against Trudeau’s online censorship bill C-11?” tweeted Canada Proud, a group attempting to unseat Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada.

    According to Musk, Twitter may serve as the basis for a “super app” that does everything from ride-hailing to retail and money transfers.

    However, Twitter is having trouble retaining its most active users, who are crucial to the company. Less than 10 per cent of monthly active users are “heavy tweeters,” but they produce 90 per cent of all tweets and 50 per cent of global income.

  • Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and what it means for you

    Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and what it means for you

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tesla and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has finally closed the $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter.

    The “Chief Twit” allegedly fired Twitter’s senior executives, including its CEO Parag Agrawal and its head of legal policy Vijaya Gadde, on Thursday after closing the $44 billion deal.

    The takeover may bring significant changes to Twitter. The indicators have gotten stronger since the senior management was fired on the first day. Musk has previously made various allusions to the possibility of changing the online platform.

    This might not be good news if you use Twitter and value your online privacy. The platform has struggled with privacy and security issues for years, and it has been slow to put any potential fixes into action. As a result, it’s possible that everything you’ve ever done or said on Twitter, whether it was in public or private, including your direct messages, belongs to one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, a man notorious for being unpredictable, childish, and even vengeful.

    Additionally, it is now owned by a man who wanted to fire 75 per cent of the company’s employees, which might further jeopardise Twitter’s security.

    Noman Javed, an electrical engineer from Lahore, Pakistan, who has been using Twitter since 2010, said that given how immature and erratic Musk has always been, “anything is possible” on the social networking site. Musk has previously stated numerous times that he wants to support free expression and allow people to write anything; although this may sound positive, it can also be risky. As if everyone can tweet anything they want without worrying about being blocked or experiencing any negative effects.

    Javed anticipates that there may be increased disputes and debates on the platform, particularly between Indian and Pakistani users who regularly argue over a variety of topics, including sports and religion.

    According to TIME, when Musk commenced the takeover in April, he wrote CEO Agrawal, “I have a tonne of ideas.”

    Musk lists the preservation of “free expression” on Twitter as one of his key concerns. One of the primary advocates for removing Trump from the platform, Vijaya Gadde’s dismissal is regarded as the first step in that direction.

    After the attacks on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, Trump was taken from the podium. A few other right-wing speakers were banned from the stage for promoting false information and divisive ideas.

    In a survey Musk conducted in March, he found that 74 per cent of users wanted an “edit” feature. The edit button has already begun to undergo testing on Twitter, but it has not yet been made available everywhere.

    Musk has spoken out against the pervasive use of bots on Twitter. Musk said in September that 90% of the replies on his tweets are automated. Even Agrawal was targeted with the assertion that eight out of ten Twitter accounts are bogus.

    He might take action in the coming days based on bots and phoney accounts. However, a Scottish digital university called CodeClan claims that if Musk bans bots, he might lose as many as 13.5 million followers.

    According to Bloomberg, in April, Musk reportedly disclosed to the banks his plans to create features to increase business revenue, including novel ways to monetize tweets that contain significant information or go viral.

    He suggested ideas including charging a fee when a third-party website wants to reference or incorporate a tweet from a verified person or organisation.

    A UCLA adjunct professor named Robert McCann claims that Musk’s public criticism of Twitter and its leadership has caused a “significant erosion of trust” on the website.

    Employee morale can suffer, and it might “spook” potential customers. Additionally, due to the restructuring at the very top, more employees may voluntarily quit the company after the purchase.

    In an open letter to advertisers published on Thursday, billionaire Elon Musk said he wouldn’t allow Twitter to devolve into a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” His apparent goal was to allay users’ and advertisers’ concerns the day before his $44 billion acquisition.