Elon Musk Sparks Online Frenzy After Accusing US Media And Elite American Colleges Of Racism

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is making headlines again and this time around, it has nothing to do with actions taking place on the Twitter platform.

The billionaire accused the US media as well as elite colleges and respective schools of showing racism against both Asians as well as whites. But the news started a whole new debate as the Twitter chief failed to justify the behavior and why he felt that way, to begin with.

Many hoped to see some sort of evidence but they ended up getting nothing after the fiasco struck. Moreover, the news came after Musk set forward a series of comments on the Twitter app which currently has 130 million followers across it.

This was in response to news about media organizations after a recent comic strip called Dilbert had been cut out after the creator delivered a very racist tirade in one of his posts across the YouTube channel in the previous week.

That particular content had a poll too that went on to discuss how 26% of Blacks did not agree with the statement about it being alright if you’re white. This particular phrase further emphasized the likes of the poll being questionable as such a slogan is very hateful and is called out as one that’s anti-defamation. In the video post, Adams referred to all Blacks that did not like the statement as ones belonging to the hate group.

Adams similarly mentioned how he preferred to live in communities where there were minimal blacks and then later went on to advise others who were white that they needed to steer clear of such communities as he felt that he did not want anything to do with the Blacks.

This video was put out during America’s famous Black History Month and came about in the year 1976. It is a time period that gives praise and respect to all Black Americans who struggled immensely for their rights during this time.

Other leading media agencies that remove the Dilbert comic strip included the LA Times, Cleaveland Plain Dealer, and USA Today. But not everyone is a fan of what Musk is saying and what he believes in.

One leading civil rights lawyer mentioned how systemic racism needs widespread bigotry for it to be called out in a particular group. Similarly, it needs some sort of structural part that gives rise to both oppression and even discrimination and it ends up getting imposed on minorities due to advantages linked to power as well as easy access.

Let’s not forget how many people feel that Elon Musk may not be in the best position himself to make such comments. His own Tesla firm was bashed after it refused to pay an ex-employee for damages linked to hostile working conditions at his company Tesla. Similarly, the firm was accused of racist abuse taking place in the factory where the individual worked in the position of an elevator operator.

Creator: Trevor Cokley / Credit: U.S. Air Force Academy Copyright (Public Domain)

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

New Study Highlights The Global Trends Of Unnecessary Spam Phone Calls

There can truly be nothing worse than being bombarded by spam on a daily basis.

Be it phone calls or text messages or even unnecessary ads- it’s an absolute nuisance and users around the world are suffering from the likes of this behavior.

But what if we told you that it’s not just Americans who are going through the act of spam phone calls. On average, we hear that one of out every three such calls that the American citizen gets are spam related. These are from those that aren’t saved as contact and the stats are very recent, highlighting figures from last year’s final quarter.

However, a new study shows that it’s not as bad as some other nations around the globe. And by that, we mean saying hello to phone spam in nations like Argentina where it’s a new ballgame altogether.

This is never great news for obvious reasons. Thanks to a new report, we’re getting more insights on the global trends of spam phone calls and how the USA is facing spam 35% as per stats from a Seattle-based firm called Hiya that provides call screening.

Their apps managed to track down a mega 7 billion spam calls taking place in Q4 of last year and the peak time period was delineated to be between October 17 to October 22. This is where it was able to flag more than 655 million spam phone calls.

The great news about this is how a lot of US citizens get calls that are annoying and not fraud related. And there was also a decline in the most dangerous spam call of them all, the auto-warranty robocall.

In the same way, this report shows some huge regulatory moves made by the FCC that took against one scammer generating robocalls. They were penalized with a huge $300 million fine. Similarly, other huge actions included sending out orders to voice providers to prevent traffic from one telecom provider that it felt was allowing the action to occur.

As far as which type of spam in the world of phone calls was leading the pack across the US was concerned, it’s those selling fake healthcare policies or advice linked to the world of health.

Some scammers want your medicare numbers so they can send bills to the government for treatment and procedures that didn’t even take place.

Meanwhile, some nations do have more of a problem than others. The report shed light on how Argentina is the worst around the globe including the rates for fraud calls too. Furthermore, the figures outlined included 52% and 22% respectively and as you can imagine, it’s huge.

The second place for the most spam phone calls was Indonesia where the spam rate was outlined to be 51%. Both Hong Kong and Chile were runner-ups for the third position and stood out with a 48% rate for spam.

In terms of fraud calls rates, it’s Mexico that managed to take the second position with 16% while the UK was third with 13%. And if you wish to answer your phone calls without having any anxiety about who it’s from, well, Ireland is there with the lowest spam call rates. The rate here was just 5%.

Furthermore, the lowest rate for fraud calls was seen in the Czech Republic with just 0.23%.

The solution to the problem as outlined by the report is not to shift to other regions. Instead, it wants carriers to take on stricter call screening measures so citizens don’t have to go through all of this in the first place.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google Announces New Features For Gadgets Running On Its Android, Chrome OS, and Wear OS Systems At MWC

Leading tech giant Google is saying no to taking up a lot of floor space for the event that is being held at the MWC. But that does not mean it is making a huge bid toward the start of the wireless industry’s huge gathering.

It hopes to occupy some screen time with its Android, Chrome OS, and Wear OS systems with the launch of a few new features that would be included in future gadgets that run such systems. And the latest update on this front is how four of these features are getting rolled out right now.

For starters, the Drive application for Android devices would provide support for PDF annotations that are conducted freehand. It’s quite frequently seen on different desktop apps like Mozilla and macOS but it’s quite different for mobile applications.

Meanwhile, the Google Meet app is designed to carry out noise cancellation across various Android devices. It’s quite different and separate from the respective noise cancellation feature which the tech giant shipped for a few of its Pixel devices.

Another feature worth a glance at is the Emoji Kitchen offering for the company’s Gboard application. This enables users to carry out some additional mixes of emojis. Moreover, Chrome would provide users the chance to expand the respective content seen across web pages by nearly 300%. This is in correlation to the app-content feature that allows for Zoom in the new Android 14.

But there are a series of more features coming up that were highlighted in the Coming Soon objective for the press release by Google.

For instance, you’ll see Google Pay popping up new animations toward the end of the tap-to-pay feature. The company hopes to include some interesting features like a cheerful penguin and a few more characters.

Meanwhile, other offerings would be Chromebooks that enable users to utilize Bluetooth headphones using the Fast Pair quick connection offering that came out last year in June. Furthermore, Google Keep would be more user-friendly and allow for widgets across Android devices and the Wear OS shortcuts regarding smartwatches that are run through Google’s system of operations.

Google hopes to add several accessibility modes to the Wear OS that simplifies the audio using monophonic sounds and enables people to cut out all visual data using modes like color correction and grayscale.

Google’s new MWC news also gives rise to another new feature where Google Messages would be the default for texting on all Android phones. This means customers will be switching the messaging to Google’s RCS format to attain chat features that entail typing indicators while encrypting texts.

Last but not least, we’re hearing more about a new eSim capability for transfer across its Android devices during the end of this year. Deutsche Telekom would be introducing the latest addition to Android’s support so it can be availed on the card-free service feature that needs a sign-up.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Businesses Put On Alert As Fraud Attempts And Cyberattacks Are On The Rise

Deepfake technology that allows malicious actors to conduct fraud attempts and cyberattacks against businesses is on the rise again.

Businesses are being targeted at a more frequent rate than before as per reports from new research. This gives rise to a very important point of how many products and services are required to assist organizations in defending themselves against the likes of theft. And this can be done by stopping identity theft.

ID proofing platform ID R&D says that around 42% of companies have fallen victim to such attacks where actors disguise themselves to be someone else. Meanwhile, 37% claim they’ve been through some serious injection attacks. The latter is the name reserved for an attract where threat actors can bypass security protocols in a place like cameras.

Another method is by adding digital content in data streams. So as you can imagine, this sort of deep fake technology may help to overcome biometric authentication in certain cases. And in nearly half of the cases, fraud that arises due to chatbots is a huge threat.

All of this is linked to a lot of worries and pressure that firms are now feeling, explain experts. Around 90% of such companies and their clients are very worried about fraud arising but 84% of them were expressing a similar concern in terms of injection attacks. And by the looks of it, we might be seeing 20% successful account takeovers soon to counteract such technology.

Deepfake is the name given to highly sophisticated AI-powered technology. Users can produce some very convincing videos of others. And by adding this type of content with videos to a certain platform, they come up with something that’s unique and so the person being copied ends up saying or doing things that they may never have thought about.

The initial application was dangerous and so many actors ended up adding the faces of leading celebs into the adult video content.

Meanwhile, we also saw a number of apps that were more entertainment based. They began to produce fake videos of the likes of Trump who said a number of things that we would expect him to say. But in this case, it was all made up.

And then there were videos that showed how during the process of entertaining, some things might be a little dangerous and damaging. It’s hard on most occasions to see which video is real and which is made up. But as days go by, the problem continues to get worse and it seems to be no way out.

Now more than ever, it’s necessary to come up with the right solution to overcome such challenges before it’s too late, as revealed by experts.

As per the experts at ID R&D, the best solution forward is to have the ID Live Face Plus. This manages to do just that. But whether or not it’s the only solution forward, we’re not quite sure but for the time being, it’s better than nothing.

Illustration by pikisuperstar / freepik
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Canadian Government Workers Asked To Delete TikTok As White House Gives Agencies 30 Days To Impose Ban Against The App

Things are not looking great for TikTok as the leading social media app is being ruled out as a threat to government employees in Canada and the US.

An official statement was sent out by the head of the Canadian Treasury Board. He says that all employees working in the government must delete it from official devices. Moreover, the justification provided had to do with a huge level of risk attached in terms of both privacy and security.

They feel it is the best precaution considering the high levels of threat linked to such apps collecting information from the government via mobile phones. In the same way, the statement went on to add how TikTok on such mobile phones gives rise to a type of data collection protocol that provides great access to content located on that same device.

• Also read: Here’s How Much Apps Can Earn From Each Individual User

There was no indication mentioned about the platform compromising private data yet but the risk is high to the Canadian population and that’s why such respective measures are now coming into place.

On the other hand, the representative of TikTok Canada says the news is a huge disappointment as there was no move to discuss the matter with the company first.

But this is just one of the recent decisions taken by the government regarding the ban of TikTok on respective mobile phones. A similar decision was brought into place by the respective Europen Commission which informed all staff members to delete the application by March 15 on all devices owned by Government employees.

Similarly, the US Congress also spoke about some efforts made to ban the app across the nation and not only on devices owned by employees.

Yesterday, the White House told government agencies that they had just one month to make sure the leading app was removed from the entire system as well as devices owned by the government.

A memorandum would also be issued in this regard to make sure all vendors keep data owned by US officials safe and sound by getting rid of TikTok across the respective system.

But as one can expect, the news is not making TikTok happy. In fact, it’s giving rise to reports that it feels get instigated by the likes of misinformation with little to no truth attached.

In December of last year, we saw Congress vote to ban employees in the Federal Government from having the app on their devices. Similarly, it gave the current Biden administration a period of just two months to provide directives on this matter.

It is the latest crackdown against the app that is owned by Chinese parent firm ByteDance as many fear there is a huge national security threat looming where officials in the government may end up spying on US citizens.

Moreover, the country’s chief of Security mentioned how these are the necessary measures required to make sure the digital infrastructure in place is as safe as can be. He also said the country would do whatever it takes to make sure the security, as well as the privacy of the American population, is as safe as possible.

Read next: 38% of Americans Say They’re Worried About What AI Might Do
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

38% of Americans Say They’re Worried About What AI Might Do

AI is the most cutting edge form of technology out there, which means that there is no telling what shape it might take in the future. When the rotary telephone was first invented, no one could have imagined the smartphones that it would eventually evolve into well over a century later. What’s more, the rate of progress of tech has started to change, which means that AI could undergo such a dramatic type of transformation far more quickly than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 38% of Americans are saying that they are currently worried about AI for various reasons. In spite of the fact that this is the case, 46% said that they were neither enthusiastic nor were they concerned. Rather, their feelings fell somewhere in the middle of the two. As for the people that are simply excited, they comprise 15% of survey respondents.

Knowing more about AI might get people more excited because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up unveiling its massive potential in the future. 21% of people who claimed to have a high awareness of AI claimed said that they were excited about it popping up everywhere, while only 12% of those who cited low awareness ended up saying the same.

There is a bit of a consensus on two things, however. Firstly, a majority of Americans or 59% to be precise have acknowledged that AI will most likely become central to the manner in which they live their lives at some point or another in the future.

Secondly, as many as 73% agreed that any development that occur in the field of AI would have to be monitored. This is useful since it will help people to ensure that AI is not being used for any malicious purposes, something that can be a real problem if steps are not taken to prevent it from happening. AI is already being used maliciously, and something needs to be done to stop that.

H/T: PewResearch

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

4 Day Work Week Improved Sleep Quality for 40% of Workers

The concept of a four day work week might seem strange to some, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it has the potential to provide a number of different advantages to people all around the world. A trial for a four day work week has been occurring in the UK, and it has indicated that people who can work four days a week instead of five end up sleeping better than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a survey of around 2,900 workers who have been participating in the trial revealed that 40% experienced better sleep quality. However, 15% actually reported that their sleep quality decreased, with 45% saying that their sleep quality remained more or less the same as it was before.

One of the most astounding revelations from this trial was that around 92% of companies stated that they would be willing to continue with the four day week because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up improving work life balance.

There are likely practical reasons for them to want to keep the shortened workweek as well, and given the sleep advantages it might be worth it. Companies can lose up to $1,967 per worker per year due to fatigue, which suggests that a four day work week could actually help them save money.

38% of US based workers said that they are fatigued. 45% of workers participating in the four day work week trial stated that they don’t feel as fatigued as they used to. This could translate to massive financial benefits for companies that are willing to take the step, and 18 companies in the UK have already decided to do so.

One out of every 3 Americans sleep fewer than 7 hours a night. This can cause significant long term health problems. Such findings make the 40 hour work week seem like a problem, since it can lead to things like a reduced life expectancy.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

This Study Finds a Correlation Between Having Rich Facebook Friends and Good Heart Health

The people that you are friends with online can often be useful in several ways. People often try to befriend wealthy people through Facebook because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to build some kind of professional network. A study conducted by the American College of Cardiology revealed that this might also result in better heart health than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that around 900,000 deaths from heart attacks were analyzed during this study. 57% of these deaths could be connected to one extent or another to the wealth of that person’s friends on Facebook.

One thing to note here is that correlation does not always equal causation. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the findings of this study are certainly interesting with all things having been considered and taken into account. They seem to suggest that social networks that get you in touch with wealthy people can somehow give you a healthier heart, although the direct mechanism by which this occurs is not exactly obvious right now.

This could be quite helpful to know since it would allow doctors to better predict who is at greater risk of heart attacks and other types of cardiac related maladies and conditions. Predicting these sorts of things beforehand can have a strong impact on allowing the person in question to recover more quickly, along with providing options in terms of preventing the heart attack from happening to begin with.

The study also suggests that giving people tips on how they can improve their social networks could reduce the prevalence of poor heart health. It remains to be seen whether the findings of this study can truly be applicable in the real world, but chances are that there is something worthwhile that people can glean from it. If the findings are valid, they could indicate the importance of social media platforms like Facebook.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Musical Notes, PINless Chat Restoration and More: Here’s What Instagram Has in Store

It seems like Instagram is the only thing keeping Meta relevant right now, with the social media juggernaut struggling to stay afloat due to countless factors. Hence, it makes sense that Meta would want to pack Instagram full of as many features as possible.

There are three in particular that might be right around the corner with all things having been considered and taken into account. The first of these features, as per Alessandro Paluzzi, involves restoring chats that you might have lost.

Users have generally needed to generate a PIN that would get sent to their phone, but with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that they will now be able to restore chats with just their Google accounts. This has the disadvantage of not providing end to end encryption, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it will still make restoring chats way easier than might have been the case otherwise.

The second upcoming update has to do with the Explore page. The Add Yours feature allows users to customize their stickers, and this section is getting a shortcut that users can access through the Explore page. This will aid users in adding stickers to their stories without having to go through too much navigation or tapping.

Finally, the third feature might be the most exciting of all because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bringing more music to Instagram. Users will soon have the ability to share up to sixty seconds of music in the form of Notes.

This is clearly an attempt to compete with TikTok, since the rising social media platform has made music a big part of its appeal. Instagram would obviously want to stay on par, so these musical notes are going to be an important aspect of its strategy moving forward.

These three updates show that Instagram still has a lot more to offer. It will be interesting to see how users respond when they get rolled out eventually.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Apple User Accuses Company Of Being Unhelpful After Her iPhone Was Stolen

A woman is accusing tech giant Apple of being unhelpful after her device was stolen last year in November at a bar located in Manhattan.

She says that a suspect ran off with her device after snatching it from her. Moreover, she assumed Apple would be reassuring and assist her with the entire process of recovery but that was not the case.

Reyhan Ayas who hails from Istanbul works as a leading economist at an intelligence firm called Revelio Labs. At the start, she spoke to the WSJ about an investigation regarding how iPhone robbers were on the rise and they tried to lock people out from their respective Apple devices via the likes of a passcode.

After using the user’s password, they would change it and start stealing money from their respective bank accounts.

A recently held interview with tech giant Insider spoke about how the suspect was simply standing out of the bar with her phone when the culprit and came took her iPhone 13 Pro Max. As per the account of the incident, he saw her using the phone and entering the password at a particular point in time. And that’s when he kept eyeing her, looking for the perfect moment to steal the device.

Hence, the 31-year-old was left with no choice but to borrow another individual’s device to try and locate the woman using her ‘Find My iPhone’ Function. But she was already locked out of the device by that period, she had no idea what to do and what was going on.

Therefore, the only thing that made sense to her at that point in time was filing a complaint with the police and showcasing alerts for requests for a password reset and more credentials for logins. This was right after her device ended up getting stolen.

Insider was seen reviewing the police report as well as the alerts generated in this case.

Since she did not have any access to the account owned by Apple, she couldn’t even make a login through a MacBook device. Therefore, she alerted the support team at Apple who told her to attain another SIM and another device. Despite doing all of this, she wasn’t able to gain access to the account.

Over the past one day, she had $10,000 taken away from her bank’s account as per a recently published bank statement that was seen by Insider. Therefore, the only way out was to open up a new ban account and shift her respective funds into it.

This whole time, she was trying to seek support from the Apple Store team. But as per her experience, they failed to assist her in all respects, She applied for an Apple Credit Card but didn’t get it easily.

The woman elaborated on how the company’s team kept on asking her if she tried ‘to find my iPhone’ and was getting really frustrated by that point in time. She says that obviously she tried it and her whole life was being torn down. But all these people wanted to ask was this.

Another one of her most recent chats highlighted how one Apple Rep explained to her that there wasn’t any way to get access to the iCloud account. She slammed the firm and says that they claim to be so helpful and secure but when it comes down to helping users, they’re far from excelling.

We won’t lie about the matter being highly disturbing and concerning. As explained by one former officer at the NYPD, so many similar crimes are taking place over the past two years in various US states and it’s about time tech giants like Apple got their act together.

Read next: Here Are The Most Popular Authenticator App Options From A Security Standpoint
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

More Bad News For Twitter Employees As Company Abruptly Fires Another 50 Workers

The firing spree at Twitter is not coming to a rest as the company has started to lay off 50 members of its workforce.

The news was confirmed today by The Information while other posts on social media showcased this as well. Clearly, it’s a surprising decision as many did not see this one coming.

Interestingly, not even the company’s head of payments, Esther Crawford was spared. He was responsible for overlooking the much-talked-about Blue Verification Subscription plan. Another report by The Verge spoke about how Crawford and the rest of the product team were fired on the weekend. And now, the hottest news regarding this aspect has to do with Elon Musk making new plans to clean the house and carry on redecorating using a new regime.

Esther was a Musk loyalist who parroted his talking points. She also famously encouraged sleeping at the office https://t.co/SdPvi4oI9J pic.twitter.com/dfyCudLc2H

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) February 26, 2023

Hearing that the Twitter layoffs last night were well above 50 and hit multiple departments including engineering. If you know more, get in touch.

— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) February 26, 2023

Last year, after Elon Musk took over, Crawford was heard speaking about how he was forced to sleep at the office because only that would overcome the new demands set forward by the latest Twitter chief.

It’s actually very interesting to see how the news of the layoffs took place on the weekend when employees of the company found out that they were no longer allowed to use Slack. Some thought that may have to do with the fact that the company failed to pay the bill on time. Soon enough, the truth eventually came out.

Meanwhile, one person reported at the company how they ended up getting shut out manually from gaining access. And that is what struck fear in more members of the workforce how this is the first sign of many layoffs to arrive.

The strategy being used by Elon Musk to cut off employees from the main source of communication before firing them was a unique one. The firings started to drop like huge bombs and it rendered a very panicky situation across the board.

Another post by an employee spoke about how Slack was gone but no one had any clue about what in the world was going on. Meanwhile, another post stated how many individuals got an email on Saturday and that led to immediate access cut-offs. And then others called it a very confusing situation and that’s the most extreme one to take place in the firm’s history.

Meanwhile, another posting detailed more about the great extent of firings that arose including 50% at the HR department, 60% having to do with sales and marketing, and then another 35% in engineering. Finance took a 40% hit but the biggest was Project management where 80% were shown the door.

The affected workers would be getting a 30-day severance, the company went on to mention.

For now, the company is opting to stay hush on the matter and isn’t even releasing any public statement regarding the layoff that has recently occurred.

Twitter began this layoff round by releasing ad sales employees last week but little did anyone know that this would soon turn into something major. Moreover, one product manager set out his reservations by adding how he found out about this shocking news by getting locked out from his own email account.

Ever since Elon Musk took charge of the firm in October of last year, we’re hearing a lot about the headcount falling by nearly 70%. And this one is a real shocker because Musk promised that there would be no more.

After seeing what took place today, it can be said without any doubt that Elon Musk is keen on breaking promises and would have trouble with people trusting him in the future after this news went viral.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Here Are The Most Popular Authenticator App Options From A Security Standpoint

Social media giant Twitter made a lot of its users upset when it decided to introduce billing for the app’s two-factor authentication (2FA) security system.

Many were confused why a leading platform would even think about comprising the security of its users. But that’s when they justified the claims by mentioning how it might end up doing some harm than good.

Malicious actors are targeting this technology and taking part in identity theft that puts your data at risk. So it’s confusing as to which direction should one even go in. And while we do feel the company could have delivered the news in a smoother manner, it is what it is. But wait, there is no reason to lose hope.

You can carry on protecting your app in more ways than one, thanks to the authenticator app tool. This is actually more convenient as it allows you to log into your account instead of taking on some problem-based texting system.

But with so many apps of this sort in the industry, which one should a user really trust? Remember, the competition is stiff and the options are plenty, making anyone confused.

Thanks to insights provided by App Intelligence, we’ve got some great answers for you. And for starters, it’s the Microsoft Authenticator that seems to be leading the pack. To get a better idea of what exactly is going on on this front, we rounded up the top 10 most installed authenticator apps to have arisen in the year 2022. And here are the interesting findings from just that.

Tech giants Google and Microsoft are at the head of the pack. The duo saw a staggering 105 million downloads taking place last year through both the Play Store and the App Store. As per estimates, Microsoft had 58% of the total share from that. Google was next but the real shocker was for the third position. This went to Twilio. Most people didn’t even know the latter was an app authenticator, to begin with.

In 2022, it saw a staggering 5 million downloads on the App Store and Play Store. Yes, it’s not as massive as Google and Microsoft but it’s doing a pretty decent job considering many people don’t know about its existence for this purpose.

The rest of the list consisted of generic names other than Salesforce. And among those names, we had LastPass too who made headlines for its massive leak despite being a password manager.

When all the installations of these generic names were added all together, the answer was not even close to the likes of Google and Microsoft. But how are they even competing then? The answer is Search!

To be a little more specific in the talk, they’re getting fame through optimization on the App Store and Apple’s Search ads too. And to add a little more drama to this, all of them, except for one are paying for the advertisements on the App Store. They’re making use of their archrivals as keywords for better ranking.

Read next: This Survey Shows 65% of Americans Have Faced Credit Card Fraud
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Using Excess Social Media Causes Mental Illness In Teenage Girls As Per This Study

For a while now, we’ve been hearing a lot of news about how mental health and social media usage are directly linked. But at that time, there was no evidence of any causal link. Moreover, even if a direct link was found, it was outlined to be minimal and not something of too much concern.

Now, a new study is providing otherwise, leaving many to think twice about how social media can really play with young people’s minds without them even realizing it. This study by a psychology professor at NYU is really making many of us realize that the problem is growing as we speak. And there needs to be an alarm raised against it.

The CDC’s new survey is really showcasing how 57% of young females spoke in detail about how depressed and helpless they felt on most occasions. Some 30% claim to have had suicidal thoughts too. But it’s not just the females that are suffering from such negative thoughts. Males are feeling the same way as well and their respective rates for anxiety and depression may not be as great as their female counterparts but it’s definitely there.

In the past, it was revealed how things have been super difficult to show how there was a cause-and-effect relationship. There could be many causes of females feeling negative or bad about themselves. So to prove that it was directly related to smartphones or social media was a little hard for obvious reasons. Let’s not forget how there have been hundreds of studies linked to the same subject and mostly all have shown little to no effects.

But with this particular new study, things are definitely changing. The amount of details and evidence on display shows how social media is the main cause of the mental effects that young women display and with the dangers of self-harm linked to it, this is major.

The study had enrolled a huge sample size and there were a lot of interesting findings highlighted. The research further spoke about all types of digital media sources being the culprit and Netflix was a part of the list as well. But when you do isolate some apps from the world of social media, that’s when you see how the data is able to pass statistic tests and directly show a causal relationship.

Many argued in the past that correlation is there but not causal. This is different as it provides the latter with strong sources of evidence, with the authors concluding social media to be a leading detrimental factor for mental illness in young teens.

This might be one of the many reasons why we’re seeing apps like TikTok be deleted from the likes of all official devices across the United Kingdom. They claim the reason to be data protection issues and a similar stance was taken by the US recently too.

Read next: 70% of Gen Z Say They’ll Never Use Android
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

WhatsApp to Get Group Call Scheduling and More in Next Update

It’s always exciting to find out what’s around the corner for WhatsApp because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up indicating the path that the company plans on taking in the future. The TestFlight beta program is a great way to find out what features might be coming to the app in the next update, and there are two features in particular that we would like to address.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that WhatsApp users might be able to schedule group calls at some point, as per WBI. Emphasizing groups was a big part of WhatsApp’s strategy these past few years, similar to what Facebook has been doing with Facebook groups.

Beta testers that saw this feature said that it can be accessed by tapping on the phone icon that is on the upper right corner of the screen. If you are tapping the icon in a group, you will see a drop down menu that will give you two options. The first will let you call the group immediately, whereas the second will bring up another menu that’ll allow them to set a time and a date for a group call.

This will make it a lot easier for groups to function in a professional capacity than might have been the case otherwise. It could also expand group usage, which is something that WhatsApp has desired for quite a long time.

As for the second feature that many are predicting in an upcoming update for WhatsApp, it focuses more on Status Updates. Users will now be able to report Status Updates if they violate WhatsApp’s terms of usage, similar to what they can already do with messages that they receive through the app.

This could potentially improve the quality of content on WhatsApp statuses. They are WhatsApp’s answer to Snapchat Stories, but they have not been all that successful yet due to their odd placement. This feature suggests that WhatsApp is not willing to give up on them.

Read next: WhatsApp Might Start Allowing You to Edit Messages After Sending
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Chief Marketing Officers Are Starting to Embrace ChatGPT

ChatGPT has the potential to do all sorts of things, and it seems like the Chief Marketing Officers of various companies are already starting to consider the various ways in which they can utilize the AI chatbot. A study from Chief Outsiders revealed what CMOs are planning to start using ChatGPT for in the near future, and it turns out that there are several areas in which the AI chatbot could very well end up coming in handy with all things having been considered and taken into account.

According to the CMOs that were asked questions in the survey, content creation and management was the area in which it could prove most useful. It received a score of 7.37 out of 10 on that front. Another area where ChatGPT could get used is for market research as well as getting insights on the competition, with the chatbot getting scores of 6.1 for each of them.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the needs of CMOs can vary greatly based on whether they are working in B2B or B2C businesses. They will both use ChatGPT to obtain first party data through automation as well as by analyzing consumer behavior, however.

CMOs are being tasked to set growth agendas by their bosses, namely CEOs, and using ChatGPT for a few tasks could make that somewhat easier than might have been the case otherwise. In spite of the fact that this is the case, ChatGPT might not be the silver bullet that they are hoping for, although it would certainly help to automate a few processes that would have otherwise had to be done manually.

It will be interesting to see if the use of ChatGPT ends up helping CMOs to obtain better results. If that ends up occurring, we could see the use of AI for such purposes becoming commonplace, similar to how people call each other instead of writing letters or get their news from a website instead of a newspaper. AI is looking to be the wave of the future.

Read next: 70% of Gen Z Say They’ll Never Use Android
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

93% of consumers desire brands to demonstrate their responsiveness

A recent study shows that most consumers want brands to show they are listening to them.

About 1,000 people were surveyed for the Ruder Finn and Full Spectrum Insights study, which revealed that 78% of respondents had left an online review, 56% had been in touch with a brand, and 22% had boycotted a business. Nevertheless, only 12.4% of individuals got unfavorable feedback after engaging with a brand compared to 48.7% who did so. While all generations valued brand connection, only 38% of Gen Z respondents said it was simple. 93% of participants wanted brands to demonstrate their interest in their feedback. Consumers are more willing to interact with a business when they believe their views are being heard. It makes sense for companies to make sure they are actively listening to their consumers to increase customer satisfaction and retention rates.

Brands must be proactive as well as reactive in the eyes of the consumer. According to Ruder Finn and Full Spec, 49% of consumers prefer it when a company solicits feedback or engages in conversation about a problem, 38% would support a charitable cause supported by the brand, 36% value direct statements from leadership on important topics - frequently with open platforms for opposing viewpoints - and only 7% are absolutely against it. Also, according to 43%, 41%, 36%, and 19% of respondents, it matters more how brands react than just establishing positions that may be at odds with customer opinion without giving them adequate justification or considering their viewpoints.

Their technology adoption further demonstrates the importance of being responsive to consumer conversations and driving brand loyalty. Recent studies show that 63% of consumers trust brands more if they use AI, 60% prefer automated customer support, and 56% appreciate when the brand uses chatbots or voice assistants. It indicates a strong affinity for technologically responsive and proactive brands in engaging customers.

By remaining engaged with customers, brands can create highly personalized messages that cater to their needs. It could be through creative campaigns or providing exclusive offers for loyal followers. Additionally, brand loyalty can be driven by offering rewards for engaging or referring friends and encouraging people to return. By proactively responding to customer feedback, brands can boost their loyalty and create a highly engaged customer base.

Finally, brands must invest in technology to stay ahead of the competition and maximize customer loyalty. It could include implementing online chat systems, voice recognition software, or artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. AI can help personalize interactions and provide useful insights into customer behavior. Using these technologies, brands can build stronger customer relationships and increase brand loyalty.

By leveraging customer loyalty strategies, brands can create long-lasting customer relationships that lead to repeat purchases and ultimately increased profits. With the right marketing techniques and technological advancements, brands can foster customer loyalty and create a positive customer experience. Through this, companies can build long-term customer relationships that keep customers returning.

94% of businesses polled use publicly available web data in their day-to-day operations. By gathering information on customers, such as purchase history, preferences, and recent activities, companies can better understand the needs of their customers and tailor their services accordingly. Gathering customer data also allows brands to track customer trends over time which helps them stay ahead of the competition.

Read next: New Survey Shows the Challenges Businesses Face When Confronting Political Polarization
by Unknown via Digital Information World

Big Changes Are Coming to Instagram Reels and Group Chats, Here’s What You Should Know

Meta has started to appear like a sinking ship, which has led the tech juggernaut to start making some quick decisions to keep things going with all things having been considered and taken into account. The company is bringing major change to Instagram which will boost privacy along with providing some much needed extra sources of revenue. Let’s dive in to find out what these changes have to offer!

First things first, one of the biggest upcoming changes has to do with Instagram Reels. The social media platform has seen a lot of success with Reels, making it more competitive during the rise of TikTok than might have been the case otherwise. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many users had complained about a lack of transparency when it came to Reels, and it turns out that this is something Meta is going to focusing on moving forward

As per Salman Memon's finding, Instagram Reels will now list the location of the account that is posting the Reels because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up preventing them from spreading misinformation. This can also provide some context to viewers, since if they are watching a Reel about the invasion of Ukraine that was created by an account in Russia, this would reveal that the information can’t really be trusted.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the second big update coming to Instagram has more to do with revenue than transparency. Essentially, Meta is going to be incorporating product promotions into group chats, as spotted by Sachin Shah. Businesses will be able to use group chats to highlight products that might be relevant to the subject to the chat.

It is not currently clear what businesses will have to do in order to qualify for this form of advertising, but Meta will need to work hard in order to make it safe. Users are being offered a prompt that can allow them to take advantage of promotional opportunities within group chats, but they will still need to put a lot of effort into ensuring that things work out in a way that does not compromise on user safety.

Some might criticize this move since it will flood even more advertising onto an already saturated platform. However, Meta might argue that it has no choice. Amidst a crashing stock price as well as Apple’s transparency protocol single-handedly dismantling its business model, Meta is being forced to pull out all the stops. Whether or not this helps to save the company remains to be seen.

Read next: Instagram is About to Implement Two Important Changes
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Alarming Data Proves Child Abusers Are Using VR Headsets To View Disturbing Images

Alarming new data has confirmed how pedophiles are carrying on with their destructive behavior, thanks to the likes of advancements in the tech world.

Particular emphasis was put on VR headsets through which such individuals are viewing child abuse pictures. And so far, eight startling cases have been documented, as proven by the data.

The reason why this news is so shocking has to do with how VR headsets have always been portrayed in a positive light. But this might be the first time ever that we’re hearing about criminal activity being associated with and promoted through the tech world’s trending product.

During the time between 2021 and 2022, the cops in the UK recorded a massive 30,925 criminal cases where disturbing and explicit images of young children had been reported. This is the greatest figure ever mentioned by the police in both England and Wales.

Meanwhile, out of those, around 9,888 cases were recorded where Snapchat had 4300 offenses, Facebook showed 1361 cases, Instagram had 1360 and WhatsApp recorded nearly 550.

This data was collected by the likes of the NSPCC and now, the regulating body is calling out for further changes on this front so the Online Safety Bill may be made better to stop more kids from receiving such abuse.

As one can expect, the figures are extremely alarming for obvious reasons. It just goes to show how so many younger audiences are feeling pressured and powerless against such culprits as risks linked to online child abuse rise and get more generalized.

Moreover, the government is really trying hard to promote rights that favor the security of children and their respective families. They hope bills including the Online Safety Act could manage to do just that. And by that, we mean to stop the abuse.

They similarly wish to seek changes in the region’s law where senior managers linked to top social media platforms would also be held accountable when and if a child gets exposed to this sort of abuse.

Time is running out and the officials want a change that is quick and long-lasting. They hope to include so many leading measures that aim to secure a child’s interest and their respective families. They hope they can be better represented via such means.

VR platforms are really being forced to think twice about how they can offer more protection to those that are most vulnerable and that entails both women and children.

Read next: What Country Has the Highest Adoption Rate for VPNs in the World?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

This New Malware is Putting Facebook and YouTube Users at Risk

A team of researchers who are working at the Advanced Threat Control Team over at Bitdefender have just discovered a brand new strain of malware, and it turns out that it might be especially dangerous for Facebook and YouTube users. The name of the malware is S1deload Stealer due to its tendency to use DLL sideloading to evade getting detected by antivirus software with all things having been considered and taken into account.

It turns out that as many as 600 users have already been infected by the malware. It is distributed in a zip folder that is ostensibly supposed to possesses adult content, which makes users more likely to download it and run it themselves than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the zip folder does not contain any adult oriented content. Instead, it starts to run an infostealer that will run Facebook and YouTube videos in the background.

Malicious actors often do this because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up artificially increasing the view count of various videos. This can allow them to generate adsense revenue, and it can also put a major strain on users as well as being quite difficult to get rid of.

What’s more, this infostealer can delve into session cookies to steal any login credentials that might be saved therein. Hundreds of users have already ended up losing access to their social media accounts, and chances are that many more will suffer unless steps are taken to prevent that from happening.

The malware also comes with a cryptocurrency miner, so it clearly possesses all of the hallmarks of a highly profitable infostealer. Users need to be cautious about the files that they download and ensure that they only come from the most trustworthy of sources. Being more discerning about downloads can often be enough to protect users from such forms of malware that can end up doing them great harm in the most common scenarios.

H/T: BC / Illustration: Macrovector

Read next: Malwarebytes publishes the State of Malware report for 2023
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Those Notorious Screenshots of Bing’s Chatbot May Have Been Doctored

Microsoft took a bold step by incorporating an advanced version of ChatGPT into the Bing search engine. The goal must have been to provide a more convenient search experience to users than might have been the case otherwise, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it seems to have resulted in some hilarious screenshots floating around.

Some of these screenshots appear to show Bing having what seems to be an existential crisis. Others show the chatbot getting extremely rude and passive aggressive. However, one screenshot in particular seems to have caught a lot of attention because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up indicating that the chatbot might actually be dangerous.

eg: https://t.co/8D6nYvrWZt

— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) February 23, 2023

The screenshot in question shows Bing allegedly telling a user that it can place them on the FBI’s terrorist watch list. The user had asked Bing if they could get placed on the watchlist if they searched for something inappropriate, which is what prompted the chatbot to respond.

When the user replied that they would not want to be placed on the watchlist, Bing apparently responded by searching for “child pornography”. Such a conversation is likely going to dissuade users from ever using the service, since it suggested a level of malice in terms of how the chatbot operates.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Microsoft has officially stated that the screenshot has been doctored. This is a great example of how misinformation can spread. Many of the conversations that people have had with Bing are legitimate, but their sensational nature allows misinformation to creep in quite easily.

It’s essential to take these screenshots with a grain of salt. Not all of them will be real, and trying to use Bing and entering the same queries will usually reveal whether or not they are legitimate. The brave new world of AI is off to a rough start, and Microsoft is being forced to implement damage control despite their hopes that it could revive Bing.

Read next: AI Chatbots Are Costing Google And Microsoft Ten Times More Than The Usual Search
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Fraud Related Financial Losses Increased by 30% in 2022

The internet has provided a lot of good for humanity, but it has also resulted in scams becoming considerably more commonplace than might have been the case otherwise. It turns out that the amount of money that Americans are losing to scammers is going up each and every year, which indicates that this is a serious problem that does not seem like it is anywhere close to being solved.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the Federal Trade Commission of the US recently put out some statistics that reveal the extent of the problem. According to the data, Americans lost around $8.8 billion to scammers in 2022 alone. By comparison, they lost $3.4 billion to scammers back in 2020. In the following year of 2021, a massive 70% increase in scams was noted which brought the total financial losses to around $5.8 billion with all things having been considered and taken into account. The increase for 2022 was lower at around 30%, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it still suggests that scammers are seeing more success than ever before.

Around $3.8 billion of these financial losses went towards investment scams that often promise enormous returns for little to no advertised risk. The losses from these scams have doubled in the span of just a single year. Romance scams were another major issue, with around $1.3 billion getting stolen due to their prevalence.

Imposter scams are also quite commonplace, with Americans getting swindled out of $2.6 billion due to them in 2022. However, this type of scam has not seen much growth, since the losses from it in 2021 came up to around $2.4 billion.

Businesses are also suffering greatly due to these scams. Losses incurred by businesses from scams have more than tripled in the past two years. They totalled at around $196 million in 2020 before increasing to $453 million in 2021. These losses have now exceeded the half billion dollar mark, reaching a sum total of $660 million in 2022.

Read next: New Survey Shows the Challenges Businesses Face When Confronting Political Polarization
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Might Start Allowing You to Edit Messages After Sending

WhatsApp has a bunch of features that have made it an appealing messaging app to billions of users around the world. In spite of the fact that this is the case, there is one feature in particular that has not yet made it to the instant messaging platform. The feature in question is the ability to edit messages after sending them.

Some of WhatsApp’s biggest competitors such as Discord already offer this feature, and Discord does not require users to pay for the feature either. Considering how useful this feature can be, and given how WhatsApp has competitors that have been offering it for a good long while, the messaging app needed to act fast.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this feature might actually end up coming to WhatsApp users in the future. This is based off of the beta version, with several beta testers reporting that they got the feature.

It gave them a fifteen minute window in which they could edit the contents of the message. Users that did not have the latest version of WhatsApp were not able to see edited messages, so it might take some time for a wider rollout to be implemented.

This is just one of the new features that will be coming to the platform in the near future. Another feature on the horizon is that of a search bar. It will make it a lot easier for users to go through app settings than might have been the case otherwise, which might help them to get better control over how they use the app.

All in all, it seems like there are some exciting changes coming to WhatsApp. The messaging editing feature is especially interesting because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up bringing something that WhatsApp users have long requested but have simply never ben offered, which might have led to some of them switching over to other apps such as Discord as well as Telegram.

Read next: WhatsApp Is Working On A Private Newsletter Tool And Profile Icons Within Group Chats
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Bill Gates Says Microsoft’s New AI Bing Search Will Reduce Google’s Search Engine Profits

It’s not the type of news that Google would want to hear but Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is shedding light on some very interesting facts.

We all know that the threat to achieving the top spot in the world of AI is on the rise. At the moment, the roaring success of ChatGPT proves to us that this is where the money is at this point in time.

It’s no wonder why Microsoft and Google are racing ahead with their own AI-powered chatbots. While the former has allowed for a release to a selected few members for now, we should be seeing an expansion in this regard soon.

Meanwhile, Google is still making plans for a widespread release as it continues with its fair share of internal testing. But Bill Gates has some news for Google that might not be very motivating.

He claims that the company’s profits would surely take a hit with the advent of AI technology as well as Microsoft’s new Bing Search. But are we really surprised? Well, not exactly. And this has to do with the fact that Microsoft is surely but definitely moving ahead in AI in the future.

Speaking on Monday during a recent episode of the famed podcast, ‘In Good Company’- he says Google is really in complete ownership of all the profits. But it won’t be long before we see things go downhill for the firm. And that’s because Microsoft is pulling out a lot in this front and moving ahead at a swift pace.

In 2022, Google recorded a massive $224 billion in revenue in the world of advertising. Microsoft put out revenue of just $18 billion in the same context. So as you can see, there’s a stark difference. Will that be the case in 2023? We don’t think so.

At the start of this month, Bill Gates explained to the media outlet Forbes how AI is as crucial as your PC and the internet. And he was not shy to admit that he never expected the world of AI to take on the such massive growth in 2022. And according to him, it just might be the biggest trending event of this decade.

The comments of Gates come exactly 14 days after Microsoft rolled out the new Bing Search engine that is powered by the same makers of ChatGPT. And they are boasting it’s going to be more competent and dominant than Google in the world of search.

For those that may not know, Google has been a dominant name in the era of search for more than 20 years and as per recent statistics, it holds a staggering 93% share in terms of the international search market. But Bing is only holding 3% at this point.

Google’s AI chatbot was also unveiled and it is dubbed Bard. So at this moment in time, test users are open to using either but we’re still waiting for a widespread release. And that is when we’ll really know who is better.

Gates similarly adds that there is no one winner in this AI race. But at the moment, a clear leader in the AI pack seems to be Microsoft. Furthermore, the Microsoft co-founder has gone on to detail about how he does understand what the requirements are of its users, and the Bing search is designed to do just that.

Amazon is leading in the world of e-Commerce while Google leads in search, and Microsoft leads in productivity tools. And there is no surprise to who is owning the devices market- it’s none other than leading iPhone maker Apple.

Photo: Gates Notes / YT
Read next: How Can Companies Leverage Data to Modernize and Personalize Email Marketing?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World