Current Final

Category: Tech

  • YouTube, Facebook content moderators sign PTSD disclosure

    YouTube, Facebook content moderators sign PTSD disclosure

    Technology and media company Verge has published a detailed report on Facebook and YouTube’s ‘content moderation’ processes in which people have to sign a form that says:

    “I understand the content I will be reviewing may be disturbing, It is possible that reviewing such content may impact my mental health, and it could even lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I will take full advantage of the weCare program and seek additional mental health services if needed. I will tell my supervisor/or my HR People Adviser if I believe that the work is negatively affecting my mental health.”

    However, this policy is not for everyone, here is the reason why.

    According to the report, only new joiners were asked to sign the forms, whereas existing employees were being sent the form as an update. In addition, this policy is being implemented in a company called ‘Accenture.’

    The Accenture is a multinational company that provides content moderation services to various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. The job of content moderation is outsourced because a huge amount of Data is posted on social media platforms. It is certainly not possible for the company to moderate all content on its own.

    However, the nature of the job is gruesome because the moderators have to view highly sexual and violent content which results in severe mental health issues. The reports come as Facebook faces lawsuits from former content moderators over a range of mental health issues in California and Ireland.

    Cases of PTSD and other mental health issues have been on the rise among content moderators. In 2019 The Verge published a behind the senses report of the Facebook Moderators.

    One moderator quoted in that report said he “sleeps with a gun by his side” after doing the job.

    Mental health experts say understanding the psychological strains of this job does not mitigate its risks.

  • How to reduce social media’s toxicity

    How to reduce social media’s toxicity

    You often decide to take a break from social media that is called “toxic” by a large number of people.

    Toxic social media is disturbing the sanity of their minds because there are tons of disturbing news out there. Despite deactivating all social media profiles, you see them coming back again. Yes, it is addictive, but here is what you can do to reduce its toxicity.

    1. UNFOLLOW ON FACEBOOK

    Most of us have Facebook profiles along with other 1.5 billion people who use it every day. We all started with sharing pictures on our profiles, or with our friends, but now it has turned into a battlefield of narratives between people. The best thing you can do is to ‘unfollow‘ those people who you want to avoid.

    Facebook is structured in a way that it will show you everything that you have searched in the past or what your friends are discussing, but when you unfollow someone, you’ll no longer see their activities or discussions.

    In some circumstances, you cannot unfriend or block a person, because of the reaction that you will get would be proportional to a threat of breakup or a divorce. So unfollow that person to cut down negativity.

    2. Stop tapping on everything on Instagram 

    Although you might have control over what you follow on Instagram, you may turn off comments on your posts, or you do not follow hashtags that you do not like. But, what about the search tab that shows you the weirdest stuff you cannot even imagine in your nightmare. Here come the algorithms of Instagram.

    If you are tapping on the pictures of dogs, 50-60% of the picture you might see would be of dogs – the rest of the pictures will depend on the previous searches done from your account. So, if you want to cut down what you see in the search tab, skip it for a few days and tap on only those items that you want to follow.

    3. Twitter is not easy

    Cutting toxicity on Facebook or Instagram might be little convenient, but handling Twitter in this regard is tricky. You might follow a writer that posted something you like, but their next tweet ruins your entire day, what you can do about it? Here is what you can do.

    To block or unfollow that most toxic account would be just right. But if you like the real tweets of someone’s account and do not like their retweets, you can simply turn off retweet on a per-account basis. Moreover, you can use quality and advance filters to censor the words you do not like.

    These are few tools you can tweak to filter toxicity, but if you really want to cut down of social media poison; discipline yourself. The biggest filter one can use is to have positive thinking, but that is another topic for some other day.

  • Mohammad Bin Salman allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos’ cellphone

    Mohammad Bin Salman allegedly hacked Jeff Bezos’ cellphone

    Amazon founder Jeff Bezos phone was reportedly hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

    According to The Guardian report, Bezos’ phone received a ‘malicious file’ from the WhatsApp number of the crown prince. After a few hours, the phone started transmitting a large amount of data to an unknown receiver.

    A few months after the intrusion, MBS was accused in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Although, there was no tangible evidence against MBS’ involvement in the murder of Khashoggi, the journalist was working for The Washington Post which is owned by Bezos.

    Furthermore, information about Bezos’ personal life was also breached and provided to a tabloid, owned by American Media Inc (AMI). In consequence, AMI published a story revealing his extramarital affair. AMI insisted that the information was a tip off by the brother of Bezos’ girlfriend, however, the billionaire’s forensic team concluded that Saudis had managed to access his cellphone information.

    Meanwhile, the government of Saudi Arabia has denied these allegations and have asked for an inquiry into them.

    Nonetheless, the allegations will seriously damage the efforts of the Crown Prince in bringing Western culture and economic investments into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  • TikTok beats Facebook to become second most-downloaded app in world

    TikTok beats Facebook to become second most-downloaded app in world

    TikTok, a video-sharing social networking app, has beaten Facebook to become the second most downloaded app in the world in 2019. The platform owned by China-based ByteDance came second to Whatsapp in terms of downloads.

    As per market analyst Sensor Tower’s ranking, both TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin amassed a total of 740 million downloads in 2019. The reports consist of worldwide downloads for Google Play Store, iPhone and iPad. They, however, did not include data from Apple apps, pre-installed Google apps and Android downloads from third-party stores based in China.

    The company is making efforts to monetize the app, it had a successful year in terms of revenue grossing over $176.9 million in 2019.

  • Four WhatsApp features that will make your life super easy

    Four WhatsApp features that will make your life super easy

    WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps with more than one billion users across the world. 

    The application goes through constant updates and we might not know the features that are available for us.

    Reply to your friend in a group privately

    We all have friends and best friends. Want to postpone friends meet up by telling your best friend the real reasons?  

    WhatsApp now allows you to send private replies to a friend, you may want to respond privately in a group. The feature makes life easy by ending the trouble of finding the one-to-one chat you have with that one particular friend. 

    Here’s how IOS and Android users can do it

    IOS Users: Press and hold a message in a group chat>select more>reply Privately. The message will show up in your one-to-one chat with the text box below, then you can write whatever you want.

    Android: Press and hold a message in a group chat>select the three buttons in the top right corner>reply privately. The message will appear in your one-to-one chat with the text box below, as it does if you reply to a specific message like above.

    Removing images/videos from a particular chat

     We all know how important is our phone’s storage is? If a particular WhatsApp group or chat is taking too much storage space, you can delete messages, chats, videos, and audio from a specific chat.

    All you have to do is. Go to Settings>> ‘Data and Storage usage’ Select ‘Storage Usage’ and you will see all groups and contacts ranked according to the storage space they are taking.

    Select the group and tap on the ‘manage messages’ option at the bottom. Now, select and clear data (videos, GIFs, Photos, etc.)

    Pin important chats

    If you want to see a specific chat always on top. You can pin the chats on top even if there are no new messages or notifications to access them faster. You can pin three chats on top. 

    IOS users: Simply swipe right on the chat and select the option to pin. You can also unpin the chat in the same manner.

    Android users: Simply long-press on the chat message you want to pin and hit the pin icon on the top bar of the app.

    Call-waiting

    The application has also introduced a call waiting feature which allows users to receive an incoming call while they are already in the middle of another call. Earlier, the users did not have such an option. 

    The feature is available for download on Google Play Store and App Store.

  • Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    Twitter to allow users to decide who can reply to their tweets

    In a surprising tech twist, Twitter announces that it is testing new ways to limit online abuse and will allow users to control who can reply to their tweets.

    Kayvon Beykpour, VP of product at Twitter revealed the plan at a conference in Las Vegas saying that, “the primary motivation is control…We want to build on the theme of authors getting more control, ” reports TechCrunch.

    Twitter will be experimenting with different options on who can reply and how much control to give the author of a tweet.

    The most private option would prevent anyone from replying to a tweet and users can select who they want to reply to their tweet. Other options include in limiting replies to people mentioned in the tweet or followers only.

    WATCH: PTI’s supporter Dr. Farhan Virk reveals why his Twitter account was deactivated

    It is unclear when this option will be released.

    Many Pakistani journalists, especially female anchors, have complained about on-going abuse on Twitter.

    Watch what anchor Gharidah Faruqi had to say when asked about being heavily trolled online in this The Current Life interview.

  • Jazz conducts successful 5G tests

    Jazz conducts successful 5G tests

    Jazz has successfully tested out the fifth generation of mobile technology. Twitter handle of Jazz announced the news. When launched, 5G will meet the evolving needs of tomorrow’s customers.

    https://twitter.com/jazzpk/status/1213472918941896704

    The tests were conducted at Jazz’s Digital Headquarters in Islamabad, where average download speeds of 1425 Mbps and upload speeds of 68 Mbps were achieved.

    Jazz CEO Amir Ibrahim, talking about the successful 5G trials, said, “We are pleased with the initial 5G trials and are ready to fast track the technology across Pakistan, whenever the process gets started by the government. These trials showcase our commitment towards a digital Pakistan, which is why we have been the frontrunners in deploying the latest mobile technology.”

     “Successful conclusion of these 5G trials is a matter of pride for us as we have always tried to provide the latest technologies to the masses,” said Jazz CTO Khalid Shehzad. “Our network is spread throughout Pakistan and once the pre-requisites are set for the commercial launch of 5G in the country, Jazz will ensure no one is left behind in attaining the benefits this next-gen technology will offer.”

    Jazz is ready to offer 5G’s game-changing potential whenever the government allows for the commercial launch.

  • ‘Bijli aati hai?’: Twitter reacts to Fawad Chaudhry’s invitation to Tesla’s Elon Musk

    ‘Bijli aati hai?’: Twitter reacts to Fawad Chaudhry’s invitation to Tesla’s Elon Musk

    Twitter has reacted to Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry’s invitation to American billionaire and owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, to establish a car factory in Pakistan in a rather amusing way.

    Taking to Twitter and tagging Musk, the minister had on Sunday replied to a news story regarding an announcement by the United States (US) automaker to build half a million electric vehicles a year at its future factory outside Berlin.

    “Dear Elon Musk your next destination may be Pakistan where 68 per cent of world population lives within 3.5 hours flight radius from Islamabad,” tweeted Fawad.

    “We offer ten years zero tax facility and custom free import for factory setup, no other country may offer, plus we are the world’s 3rd biggest freelance software exporters,” he added.

    It wasn’t later that Fawad’s proposal attracted trolls, especially from India.

    https://twitter.com/DH2078/status/1214044887177285633
    https://twitter.com/TrulyMonica/status/1213827796524359680
    https://twitter.com/jaybeeaar/status/1214063106583777281
    https://twitter.com/Bilal84509893/status/1213707711214432256
    https://twitter.com/Agneevasircar/status/1213840061231296512

    According to reports, Tesla is planning to build half a million electric vehicles a year at its future factory outside Berlin.

    Planning documents posted online Friday reveal that the US automaker wants to construct Model 3 and Model Y vehicles at the site in Gruenheide, as well as “future models.”

    The so-called Gigafactory – Tesla’s fourth – will include facilities to assemble entire electric vehicles, including the production of batteries.

    The plans will have to undergo an environmental impact review and public consultation.

    Tesla aims to start operating the plant in July 2021, an optimistic time frame by German standards.

    Construction of a nearby airport for Berlin began in 2006 and the opening has been delayed for eight years.

  • Police to launch crime app, install alert button in Rawalpindi police stations

    Police to launch crime app, install alert button in Rawalpindi police stations

    Rawalpindi’s Regional Police Officer (RPO) Dr Sohail Habib Tajik has said that a crime App was being launched to facilitate citizens in registering complaints about any criminal activity, Dawn reported.

    According to the details, the RPO revealed this news while addressing a press conference at his office for the first time after assuming the charge.

    Dr Sohail also said that a “helper” button will also installed in police stations to facilitate citizens in registering complaints about any criminal activity in the city.

    In case of failing to get the police response, the complainant can press the helper button which will automatically forward an emergency call to all senior police officers. The button will generate a SOS message as soon as the complainant presses it.

    All senior officers, including the RPO, district and circle police officers, will receive the message at the same time, making it impossible for the police officials present at the police stations to ignore the complaint.

    The RPO said, “All available resources will be spent on the police force,” adding that he believe in transparency and want to get positive results by introducing community policing in the city.

    Dr Sohail also said that people were afraid of visiting police stations to lodge their complaints but the mobile app would help them approach the authorities without any fear.

    He further informed that a total of 400 police employees serving at residences and offices of police officers had been called back and posted to police stations to strengthen the police working more.

    RPO said that his top priority was to gain citizen’s confidence and to change public perception about police department.

  • Madrassa students won a robotics competition at Taxila University

    Madrassa students won a robotics competition at Taxila University

    Students from Jamia Baitul Salam participated in an educational competition held at HITEC University Taxila. The madrassa students won robotics competition beating participants from 20 other universities.

    Not only this but they also won Urdu speech competition and spelling bee contest. 

    Every year HITEC University arrange an inter-university event that involves different curricular and co-curricular competition. Over 20 educational institutes take part in different activities. 

    Jamia Baitul Salam is one of Islamic welfare educational institutions that offers their students worldly knowledge under the shade of religion. The institute also offers both matriculation and O level education to the students.

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