New Study Shows Students Who Use AI Are Less Productive and Have Low Chances to Succeed in the Future

According to a recent repot, most of the youth use generative AI like ChatGPT because they lack cognitive skills and have less chances to succeed in life. Many AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini have become crucial parts of people’s lives, especially students, and they are being used for enhancing learning. But generative AI also encourages cheating in students. That’s why the researchers of a new study wanted to know how generative AI correlates with the performance of students.

Executive functioning (EF) or cognitive processes are important for learning as they have focus, research and memorize the stuff. These processes are important in educational settings as they play a role in completing complex tasks like writing papers. People with lower EF levels often struggle to complete their tasks. On the other hand, higher EF levels promise success in school and professional life.

The report says that when adolescents use AI tools, their EF levels get challenged. Students who already have lower EF levels often use generative AI to write their assignments. This means that AI tools provide support for students who are suffering from low EF and cannot do well in schools. Even though AI tools are said to boost productivity, it can be more harmful for people who are not even productive at all.

To find out more about it, the researchers conducted a study among two groups: Group one had 385 adolescents between the ages of 12 to 16 and group two had 359 students between the ages of 15 to 19. The results of the study showed that 15% of the adolescents and 53% of the older teens use AI tools for work. As older students have more complex assignments, there is more AI use among them.

The use of AI tools is getting more common in educational institutions with a German study showing that two thirds of the university students use AI tools for different purposes. 75% of the adolescents in Sweden use AI tools to structure their presentations, write analysis and for other studying purposes. But there should be a line drawn between what is cheating and what is just taking help from AI for studying. Many students copy entire assignments from AI tools which is considered cheating. If students are just using AI tools for getting ideas or for outlines, then it should be considered okay. Students and educators should also check for AI generated work as many academic papers have AI writing.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Can AI Be A Better Boss Than Humans? This New Survey Has The Answer
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Major Blow To X As Brazil’s Supreme Court Orders Immediate And Complete Suspension Of The App

Elon Musk is not going to be happy as Brazil’s Supreme Court has issued an order for an immediate and complete suspension of the X platform. Furthermore, both Google and Apple were directed to remove the app from their stores on an urgent basis.

Musk had already anticipated this yesterday when he published through his X account that the country was freezing Starlink’s accounts. This was a clear signal that the X app would be suspended soon and today the news has been confirmed.

The decision was taken by the top judge in the Brazilian Supreme Court after a legal battle with the platform. Musk was ordered to block several accounts known for spreading misinformation but X failed to do so, calling it a violation of free speech.

This did not sit well with Judge Alexandre de Moraes who was sick and tired of the constant feuds with the tech billionaire. The judge further imposed a daily fine of nearly $9000 for anyone using other means such as VPNs to evade this ban.

Elon Musk reacted to the news by rolling out some more controversial opinions including baseless conspiracies about the country’s voting machines. He also accused the government of bankrupting those who tried to promote truth.

Friday is when we first saw the country freezing Starlink’s accounts which meant no domestic transactions could be done. This is Musk’s satellite broadband service which links more than a quarter of a million users in the country.

It’s a big blow to X because Brazil is the second most populated nation in South America so that’s losing out on a lot of revenue and users. Clearly, Musk is not going to be happy.

Before Musk could announce shutting down operations in Brazil, it looks like the court acted swiftly to ensure things went down just like they had planned to do so. They felt the operations were undermining their democracy and they had proof of many accounts spreading false information.

We saw an incident taking place in January last year that was an insurrection similar to that seen on Capitol Hill on January 6. A lot of controversial elements and stories were published online that Brazil felt could further worsen matters in the country.

This ban is not the first time that we’ve seen lawmakers and authorities make similar threats in the past, calling out apps for noncompliance. In 2022, the same judge ordered a complete shutdown of Telegram in the nation. The reason was the same, it failed to combat misinformation.

In this case, Elon Musk has taken the threats and ban more seriously and on a more personal level. He criticized the judge in a hostile manner and has been feuding with him on several occasions now. Musk anticipated the ban but vowed to be more transparent about the matter with the world while vowing to take legal action.

Read next: Massive Data Breach Raises Questions About Data Brokers' Security Practices and Responsibility
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Massive Data Breach Raises Questions About Data Brokers' Security Practices and Responsibility

A dataset of 170 million sensitive data which included names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, skills, education history and employment history of individuals roaming freely on the internet. After tracing who leaked the data, it was found that it was leaked by a San Francisco based data broker, People Data Labs (PBL). The website of PBL has data of 1.5 billion individuals which is used for recruiting, sales, marketing and data enrichment purposes.

The data was leaked because of an Elasticsearch server which was left unprotected, and was not directly linked to the company. It is being said that a third-part is probably responsible for this data leak. Even though the third-party hasn’t been identified yet, it is very important to have a password on Elasticsearch server or else your data can easily be obtained by threat actors. These threat actors can easily expose your data in seconds which can end up in identity theft and fraud.

Cybernews research team says that data brokers are always in controversy because they do not check and control the data completely and it often ends up in the hands of wrong parties. The threat actors can use your data for many large attacks. PDL was also responsible for leaking data in 2019, and it was also done by an unprotected Elasticsearch server and PDL refused to take responsibility.

The current data leak was marked as Version 26.2, suggesting that it can be related to the previous data leak. Even if PDL is not responsible for the leak, these kinds of leaks taint the reputation of data brokers and clients cannot trust them anymore. As PDL experienced a data leak in 2019 previously, it shows how ignorant they are being with people’s data and are not thinking about personal data security.

If you think that you have been potentially affected by a data leak, make sure to stay cautious of phishing attacks and scams. Use some data removal services to protect against future data leak, use strong passwords and enable two factor authentication. Always monitor your accounts to check any suspicious activities.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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• Can AI Be A Better Boss Than Humans? This New Survey Has The Answer

• How Many Hours Do People Work Around the World?
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

How Many Hours Do People Work Around the World?

The chart below ranked countries according to their average working hours by sourcing data from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development).

An interesting fact about this ranking is that there is a gap of 864 hours (36 days) between the country with the most working hours and the country with the least working hours.

The country with the most working hours, as of 2023, is Mexico with 2207 hours worked annually per person. The second and third countries with the most working hours are also from the Americas: Costa Rica and Chile with 2171 and 1953 hours worked annually respectively. The reasons why these countries have the most working hours could be due to several factors like economic structure of the country, social policies and lower wages. If the workers are getting low wages, they need to work more to create a comfortable living for them.

Some other countries with the most working hours include Greece, Korea, Canada, Poland and the USA. The countries with the least working hours are from the European Union and have strong economies. All the employees from these countries also get 4 weeks paid holiday every year. These countries include Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and the Netherlands. Denmark and Germany are at the end of the list, meaning they have the least working hours. Denmark has 1380 annual working hours, whereas, Germany has 1343 annual working hours which makes 168 8 hour workdays in a year.

Country	No. of 8-hour workdays	Annual Hours Worked per Person
Mexico	276	2207
Costa Rica	271	2171
Chile	244	1953
Greece	237	1897
Israel	235	1880
Korea	234	1872
Canada	233	1865
Poland	225	1803
U.S.	225	1799
Czechia	221	1766
New Zealand	219	1751
Estonia	218	1742
Italy	217	1734
Hungary	210	1679
Australia	206	1651
Lithuania	205	1641
Ireland	204	1633
Spain	204	1632
Portugal	204	1631
Slovak Rep.	204	1631
Slovenia	202	1616
Japan	201	1611
Latvia	194	1548
UK	191	1524
France	188	1500
Finland	187	1499
Luxembourg	183	1462
Iceland	181	1448
Sweden	180	1437
Austria	179	1435
Norway	177	1418
Netherlands	177	1413
Denmark	173	1380
Germany	168	1343

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Meta’s Carbon Footprint In The Spotlight: Discrepancies Over The Company’s Emissions Arise

It’s not easy to unravel the claims made by tech giants today regarding their carbon footprints. The same appears to be the case for tech giant Meta.

While the company’s sustainability report is out to answer any questions on people’s minds about greenhouse gas emissions, it’s not easy to decipher. Many are confused about whether or not the organization's claims about a drop in emissions are true or not.

The discrepancies are arising because you need to take a simple fact into consideration. Is Meta talking about total emissions or is it making the claims after net emissions? If it’s being done locally, you have to determine the key points where the company operates as well.

As seen in the chart above, the light gray-toned bars display gas emissions and since 2019, the figures have kept going upwards. This means the levels of carbon dioxide polluting the environment are at an all-time high.

The dark bars then show market-based results where the emissions have kept falling since last year. Hence, when you look at this footprint, they are half as small. Now the question is what to believe and why.

While Meta might be highlighting the smaller figure or drop in emissions at the report’s top, we need to take both of them into consideration when making a final decision. This is especially true, considering how effective market-based efforts can be in getting rid of pollution and therefore impacting climate change.

The emissions on paper are close to half but it’s not easy to claim how much it’s reduced as a whole. This is compounded with claims from Meta that it balances its high energy use with its renewable purchases for energy.

The company has highlighted the importance of several steps it’s taking to offer better support to both wind and solar initiatives near data centers. One study showed how its support for several renewable energy sources will give rise to 9800MW to local grids next year. It similarly hopes to curate geothermal energy for data centers so it’s really pushing through on this front.

Whatever the case may be, we feel a lot of progress needs to be made. Meta sourced close to 8.5% of the purchases for renewable energy as per the firm’s latest tech assessment.

As a whole, if we were to conclude, the company’s carbon footprint is much bigger than what it was four years back. Keeping in mind its goal for net zero emissions by 2030, lots of work must be done.

Remember, there are a lot of different operations involved on this front. From supply chain to usage of consumer products, the list is long. As we can see now, it’s drifting further and further from its end goal so it’s about time to reconsider. What do you think?

Read next: Many Large Websites Begin Blocking Apple’s AI Web Crawler After Increased Warnings
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Many Large Websites Begin Blocking Apple’s AI Web Crawler After Increased Warnings

Many large-scale websites are getting tired of Apple and its AI web crawler.

Despite several warnings issued in the past, the iPhone maker’s web crawler continues to land on different websites and extracts data for Apple’s AI training endeavors. The list of names who have confirmed this act of Apple are plenty and they are some very big names in the tech world.

While Apple continues to deny the act and says it respects the wishes of these companies, it’s doing otherwise.

As per recently published research, Apple is crawling on sites belonging to Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Craigslist, the NYT, The Financial Times, The Atlantic, and Vox Media. Now, many of these organizations are left with no choice but to block the company as Apple continues giving the cold shoulder.

The practice of using robotic crawlers is not something new. It’s been in the works for a long time but these bots are now taking others’ data for training AI models. And that’s not something many feel is right as it robs them of their hard work.

The news is alarming as Apple Intelligence is all set to launch soon and we can see why Apple might be engaging in these tactics. As per reports from the NYT, many companies are blocking web crawlers at a record-breaking rate and most of these are AI firms.

The study that came to that conclusion shared how 14k web domains were included for training AI data sets. It’s a necessary step that publishers feel they need to take to stop data from getting harvested.

As per estimates from research experts, around 5% of all data present and 25% of data coming from the best sources was restricted. Most of those were set up via a Robots Exclusion Protocol which is an ancient method for owners of different webpages to stop bots from this move. It’s usually done via files dubbed robots.txt.

It’s very interesting to see Apple disregard the voices of many companies and enable tradeoffs of AI crawlers for scraping AI websites and deciding that it’s not worth it.

But we should not be surprised if more AI giants go about blocking companies now after learning about Apple’s shocking actions. Interestingly, most of the firms complaining are big tech giants. Smaller-scale enterprises don’t seem to mind or care as it makes little to no difference to them.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: OpenAI and Anthropic Agree To Share AI Models With US AI Safety Institute
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

OpenAI and Anthropic Agree To Share AI Models With US AI Safety Institute

The US AI Safety Institute was first established last year for better regulation of AI models. Now, both OpenAI and Anthropic have signed an agreement with the institute to ensure the complete safety of various projects. This will help give the tech giants more feedback before model design and after the launch.

We saw OpenAI CEO Sam Altman drop hints this past month about the deal and now Google’s spokesperson is also confirming that discussions are in the works.

For now, no other company tackling the AI space was said to be included but we do hope to share more information when it’s available. It’s interesting how the news came when Google updated its chatbots and Gemini image generators.

The director of the US AI Safety Institute shared a statement on this matter. She says safety is the main factor that fuels tech innovation. This is why such agreements are necessary and the institute looks forward to greater collaborations in the future as this is the start.

She also spoke about the deal as a serious milestone to better drive the future of AI

The institute is designed to curate and publish the latest guidelines on this front while setting up tests and practices that determine the potential dangers linked to this system. As we all are well aware, AI can do a lot of good but the opposite is also true.

This is certainly the first deal of its kind. The agency hopes to get more access so it can reach more models out there before they get launched for the public. Such agreements and collaborations minimize risk and better evaluate the capabilities of AI models to enhance security. We’re also hearing more about how the institute has major plans to link with the same agency in the UK.

The news comes as regulators around the globe are trying to introduce more AI guardrails but fail to tackle the concerns on the rise. We did see California introduce a new bill regarding AI safety recently but that does come with a hefty $100M cost.

This bill is also a little controversial as it forces many AI firms to roll out kill switches which shut down models in cases where they go out of control.

Read next: Your Phone is the New Shopping Mall – See How It’s Taking Over!
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Encrypted Messaging: The Best Available Apps To Use in 2024

When it comes to communicating online, privacy becomes a consistent demand of users of the digital world, so the tech giants, like Meta, made end-to-end encryption a built-in function or feature of their apps used for chatting and calling. This encryption makes the conversation between two people remain private and secure, hindering all kinds of outside interference.

But there are numerous encrypted messaging apps available today, which leads people into the agony of choice. You must go for the best available encrypted messaging apps that are secure to the extent that even governments and the building companies cannot intrude into their messaging and breach their encryption.

The following are the best encrypted messaging apps that you can use for secure conversations in 2024:

Signal

Image: Mika Baumeister / Unsplash

Available on both android and IOS, Signal is the best available app for encrypted communications. It offers messaging as well as voice calls and group chats, all of which could be set on self-destruct mode to erase any trail of communication. Its encryption protocol is so reliable that even Whatsapp and Facebook employ it.

You can also use Signal on desktop, just like Whstapp, with the assistance of Chrome browser plugin. The company also enables users to move their Signal account from one device to another and to retain the account even after switching phone numbers.

Being open-source and user friendly, it is the best choice for people wary of their security and data breaching.

Telegram

Image: DIW-Aigen

Telegram is another popular app used to deliver encrypted messages to others. Telegram is a cloud-based app using its own MTProto encryption. The difference between Signal and Telegram is that it is not in encryption mode by default. Users have to enable secret chat mode to send encrypted messages. Just like the previous app, you can send messages as well as make voice calls and do group chats. Moreover, it also allows messages to self-destruct at the scheduled time.

Telegram has become a huge platform for group discussions, for it allows a large number of users to be in the same group at the same time. But do remember, these group chats are not encrypted. Having only two members in a conversation is a prerequisite to that.

WhatsApp

Image: DIW

The most widely-used app for communication globally, WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption, based on Signal’s encryption protocol, to its users. It keeps receiving updates regarding security and privacy every now and then, making the app more reliable and sync with the time.

The app can be used on desktop via its QR code. It offers disappearing messages at the scheduled time, the feature of self-destruct mode on messages and images once viewed and backup of chat and contacts if users change devices. Whatsapp also allows its users to see who has read or not-yet-read their messages in a group. iPhones users can even transfer their chat history to an android.

Additionally, if someone is in doubt about Whatsapp encryption, they can conveniently check and verify the claim by opening a chat in the app, tapping on the name, opening the menu and then clicking on verify security code. Now you can verify its encryption either by scanning the given QR code on his/her phone, or by comparing a 60-digit number.

Offering encrypted communication, sending of all types of media and convenience in using it makes WhatsApp one of the best messaging apps in the world.

Threema

Threema is different from the above-mentioned three: it costs $3.99 and does not require a phone number to function. The app also employs end-to-end encryption based on NaCl cryptography.

The app does not require users’ phone numbers or credentials for a personal account. Rather, it assigns a unique ID key to all users, which makes them anonymous and allows them to communicate without revealing their identity. Similarly, the app also generates a QR code to be shared with other users to whom someone might not want to reveal their identity. But users can choose to make an account with their phone numbers or email if they want such secrecy.

Threema, like the other apps, can send encrypted messages, images and videos, and make encrypted calls. Moreover, it allows polling about members and group chat too.

Threema costs a few dollars, but that might be its plus point, for tighter security does require some spending.

Wire

Wire’s encryption protocol is based on Signal’s protocol and its code is open-source. Wire is free and does require a phone number, like Whatsapp.

The app offers end-to-end encryption on messaging, voice calls and video calls, and the sharing of files and GIF as well. Moreover, the app supports multi-platform cross-device syncing and multiple accounts serving different purposes. The app also has a business version, serving the specific purpose

The company has inclined itself more towards business usage, but common people can still benefit from the app available both on IOS and android.

Viber

Once a popular messaging app before the introduction of Whatsapp, Viber has lost its popularity in the last decade due to the availability of better apps. But still it is one of the best apps available for free for encrypted communication.

The app offers end-to-end encryption on messaging, voice calls and video calls. It provides the features of self-destructing secret chats and hidden chats, to remain elusive on a shared device. Viber also has an additional safety feature of coloured icons depicting the state of encryption when communication with someone–gray, green and red icon colors for encrypted communication, encrypted communication with a reliable contact and an anomaly respectively.

But it is free and provides end-to-end encryption in communication, which is enough for some people to download and use it. Do remember, calls to non-Viber users are not free!

Facebook Messenger

Image: Mariia Shalabaieva/Unsplash

Another highly popular app for communication globally is Facebook Messenger. Because Facebook has the most number of users, so does the Messenger. It is free and convenient to use and the best option to many. As mentioned above, it is based on the encryption system of Signal.

The messenger app offers end-to-end encrypted communication to its users, including voice calls, video chats, groups chats and images, with the features of self-destruct mode and disappearing messages.

The truth is that it is not the best option for encrypted messaging, especially when compared to the ones mentioned above. But it is still good enough to fall at number seven.

Dust

Dust employs AES-128 and RSA-2048 encryption in its system to provide security. The app keeps messages saved in RAM, not in phone storage as a safety measure.

Dust offers encrypted communication as well as self-destruct mode on its messages. It also keeps you anonymous by not mentioning your name and alerts users if a screenshot is taken. The app also has additional security features of privacy watch-dog and stealth search tool to sustain privacy on the web.

The app is not as well known as some of the apps listed above, but it is still an option to consider.

Why Should One Go For Encrypted Messaging Apps?

Encrypted messaging has become a necessity due to the stark rise in data breaching and hacking online. With the increasing presence of people online, privacy has to be sustained while communicating with others regarding matters that users want to keep to themselves or among a selective group of people. The conventional way of texting or communicating does not serve the purpose–for anyone could have a sneak peek at your personal messages–so encrypted messaging apps are the solution.

The foregoing list of apps reveals to readers which is best for them, after considering the security features they offer, to retain their privacy online.

Read next: Here Are the 6 Best Free VPNs in 2024

by Ehtasham Ahmad via Digital Information World

Google Gears Up For Launch Of Gems And Imagen 3 To Advanced Subscribers After Much Deliberation

Google is giving users the chance to create AI images of others through its Gemini AI tool. It’s a major rollout, considering how the company pulled out Imagen 3 a couple of months back.

Gemini’s senior product director confirmed the news through a new blog post where he shared that early access to the latest Imagen 3 generator will soon be up to grabs for advanced users. The same would be the case for those with Business and Enterprise, beginning in the next few days.

The company has included some serious tech advancements to this product and also enhanced evaluation sets while clearing product misconceptions. So you can see this as a red teaming effort.

The Android maker was left with no choice but to halt the feature where AI images of others could be generated. Some users reported serious inaccuracies and made calls for immediate changes.

When one user requested a picture of a German soldier from 1943, what he got was far from what he expected. The results featured racially diverse images that were far from the actual ones.

Google confirmed that the latest image generator does not show support for real people, minors, or those about controversial themes. Furthermore, the company admits that nothing is perfect and therefore that must be taken into consideration when using Gemini too.

Moving on to Gems, the company promised a customized version of Gemini this year in May at the I/O conference. The rollout was marketed as a way for the tool to remember specifics or detailed instructions.

The main advantage is saying hello to subject-specific results that save users a lot of time on difficult tasks. All you need to do is add some instructions and see the tool rewrite that into something more structured. It will feature goals, rules, and behaviors such as the tone and any other customization.

Gemini also hopes to give users some premade offerings like a learning coach, brainstormer, writing editor, coding expert, and career guide. Gems is also launching in the next few days to all advanced users so stay tuned.

Both offerings are sure to take Gemini far above what many had anticipated about the AI tool’s capabilities. Google is clearly sticking to its promises if things go as planned.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Analysis Shows Google, Facebook and Amazon are More Prone to Password Hacking in 2024

Researchers at Kaspersky revealed that there is an increase in password-hacking on different websites such as Facebook, Amazon and Google.

Facebook, Amazon and Google’s passwords are most seeked out by hackers because they can help them in data theft, credit card fraud and malware distribution. If hackers hack your Google accounts, they can easily get through the passwords of your other accounts. Gmail is like a key for hackers to hack your other account too. Once they get to Gmail, it is not hard for them to hack your other connected accounts too.

Kaspersky analyzed 25 biggest brands to find out which ones are most accessible to cybercriminals. It was found out that there has been a 40% increase in cyber attacks on these brands in 2024 from 2023. There were 26 million attempts recorded to hack passwords on these brands in the first half of 2024 alone.

There was a 243% increase in phishing attacks seen on just Google accounts alone in the first half of 2024. 4 million attacks had been blocked by Kaspersky Security Solution but most of the passwords couldn’t be protected which gave an easy way to hackers. A security expert at Kaspersky, Olga Svistunova, said that there has been a major increase in attacks on Google this year. Hackers who can access Google accounts can easily hack other accounts too.

According to Kaspersky, Facebook recorded 3.7 million phishing attacks while Amazon had 3 million phishing attacks this year. Other brands which were quite vulnerable to hackers and got frequently hacked too were Netflix, DHL, Apple, PayPal, Mastercard and Instagram. Brands which saw an increase in targeting this year were American Express, AirBnB, HSBC, LinkedIn and eBay. Users should always be alert about these types of attacks and should take measures to safeguard their accounts.

Image: DIW-Aigen
Read next: Survey Reveals Google's Favoritism and AI Threats Are Major Hurdles for SEOs
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Survey Reveals Google's Favoritism and AI Threats Are Major Hurdles for SEOs

According to the survey conducted by Aleyda Solis, Google’s preferences of certain websites and some search features are giving SEOs a hard time. 52% of the SEO respondents said that Google favoring big websites and user generated content are some of the big factors that are giving them a hard time.

The second biggest threat to many SEOs (48%) is Google preferring its own features and services instead of some external sites. 41% said that AI overviews are also affecting their SEO strategies. There are also some things that are slowly becoming threats to SEO experts. Due to many users using LLMs to search for something instead of Google (37%), addition of AI in Google search results (32%) and users searching on social platforms instead of search engines (28%) are also posing some real threats.

Even though these are some major threats to SEOs, some of the SEOs are preparing to combat these threats. The survey also asked SEOs how they are preparing their strategies that can fight off these threats. Most of the SEOs responded that they are planning to improve the quality of their work, and only sharing the content that is engaging, helpful and valuable. Some also responded that they are working on E-E-A-T which refers to experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trust and is a collection of signals that are needed to make a website rank.

Some respondents of the survey also reported that they are planning on traffic diversification which basically means that you should focus more on your audience than SEO and Google. Some SEO experts also stay updated on every SEO news and new Google features so they can plan accordingly whenever there is need for it.

Read next: Google Meet Users Can Generate Summaries During Video Calls Thanks To Gemini
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

X Takes On Zoom And Google Meet With A New Video Conferencing Tool

A while back, we heard about Elon Musk declaring his desire to make X an all-rounder app. He hoped to include job listings like LinkedIn and payments similar to PayPal. Now, he’s taking on Zoom and Google Meet with tests for a new video conferencing tool.

Thanks to one X employee, we know that the tool is currently in the testing phase as he confirmed taking on an internal conference with this latest offering. As per his comments, the feedback received from other team members was strong and that’s why the company is going ahead with the rollout soon if things go as planned.

They are right now working on bettering the tool with enhancements like pinning speakers and alerts to make users more aware of when people are joining the app or leaving it. The owner of X responded to this post using the fire emoji which clearly indicates he’s thrilled for the launch and also a confirmation that it’s happening.

Remember, Elon Musk is not longer providing responses to long press meets and inquiries so this is the best we can expect from the X owner himself. Meanwhile, one app researcher did show more details on what X users can expect.

This includes creating new meetings through the iOS platform, either quickly or later. So as you can imagine, it’s quite like online tools used for video conferencing.

Meanwhile, another app expert did share how the feature could even allow hosts to set up unique codes for all of their meetings. Participants only need to enter this when they are joining.

BREAKING: Each X Conference will have a unique code that you can share with people to let them join! pic.twitter.com/ZSOYb40QjH

— Nima Owji (@nima_owji) August 23, 2024

For now, there is no confirmed release date or plans for a rollout just yet. But we do hope to see something arriving soon.

X does give users the chance to make the most of video streaming through Spaces already. But at the same time, Zoom and Google Meet give users the chance to switch from one style of conferencing to another. Hence, seeing both the offerings of these apps merged into one will no longer be a surprise to us.

For now, we’re going to keep a close eye on the feature. During the year’s start, X did roll out a calling feature that was switched on for all by default. However, it came with privacy issues like no IP address which masked the protection.

We hope this time around, it’s safer and more secure in terms of privacy.

Read next: Instagram Allows Users To Add Text To Photos Straight From The Editor
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Instagram Allows Users To Add Text To Photos Straight From The Editor

Instagram is giving users the chance to incorporate text into their images, straight from the post editor.

This means users will not be required to use separate platforms to edit images, especially when they only need to incorporate text. Remember, text is always a useful addition to make a certain post stand out from all others in the feed. Similarly, it assists people in seeing information that might become lost inside the caption.

The usual post editor also gives users the chance to add another image on top of the first one as a sticker. After you press the layered photo, you can play around with the shape as per the app’s latest post.

It’s a fun and exciting feature whereby you can find the most clever ways to use the images.

Both Reels and Stories on Instagram are also getting some enhancements regarding text. While some fonts are new, there are also effects and animations added to make them stand out.

The news about the latest feature from Instagram comes at a time when the app is trying to experiment with another offering that’s quite similar to Snap-Map.

Read next: Creators Express Concern After Meta Announces Spark Platform Shut Down
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Creators Express Concern After Meta Announces Spark Platform Shut Down

Creators are not happy with Meta’s sudden decision to pull the plug on its Spark platform. The app gave many third parties the chance to create AR effects but that’s no longer going to be the case.

The news was published on the company’s Facebook community account for Meta Spark. This is where creators spoke about how disappointed they were with the news. Remember, the app was also a means of livelihood for many creators, and shutting doors means putting hundreds out of work.

The news did not come with any warming but as a sudden decision that led to confusion and chaos on the creators’ part. Many are now issuing demands as to why this decision was made as others ask for accountability on Meta’s part.

The effective deadline has been outlined as January of next year after which the AR tools will no longer be in use. However, those already created and under the ownership of Meta will still be available for use across its different apps.

Meta tried to cover up the anger by speaking about how grateful they were to the community and stakeholders who helped make the project a success. It was first rolled out seven years back when AR was first introduced. Since then, it has required a lot of creativity and innovation, also giving rise to extended reach to millions.

All the effects created using Sparks tools were utilized billions of times, Meta confirmed. It would not be wrong to call it one of the company’s biggest AR apps during that era. Moreover, it was not only restricted to Instagram and Facebook but also Messenger. When it launched, it was already in use by 600k creators from more than 190 different nations. Clearly, the app was making head waves.

Meta says the choice to scrap the app was not linked to its popularity or adoption. Instead, it was designed after a proper assessment. According to Facebook’s parent firm, it was a necessary call, and like all of its other offerings, it is prioritizing what it feels can best serve the general public.

There are some reports about Meta making creators and developers happy with better initiatives at this year’s Meta Connect event that will take place next month. This includes the company’s plans to roll out AR smart glasses. Now the question is whether or not that’s going to be a good enough replacement for Spark.

From what we can see right now, it does not seem like it. A lot of creators have invested time, money, and knowledge to transform Spark into an app by which they can make a living. It was doing good for the company and for many creators. Hence, shutting it down is still a mystery that creators may never be able to solve.

For now, if you do have some published effects stored on Meta’s apps, we suggest you save all of your project files before it’s too late.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: This Little-Known US State is a Hidden Gem for Tech Careers – See If Yours Made the List!
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

This Little-Known US State is a Hidden Gem for Tech Careers – See If Yours Made the List!

TorGuard conducted a research to find out which states in the USA are best for tech-careers. When we think about high-tech jobs and digital careers, California’s Silicon Valley always comes to mind. But it isn’t the only place where techs are in high demand. The researchers conducted the study by keeping some key factors in mind like hourly salaries, local tech forces, local cost of living, and career opportunities in each state.

The research found that California remains the best state in the USA for tech opportunities. It has an average of $64 hourly salary for techs techs with an average $142,270 annual salary. You may think that second best state for tech careers would be bigger states like New York or Florida, but it’s actually Virginia. Researchers found that Virginia has the second highest job opportunities for tech experts, with Washington coming in third place. Washington offers the highest number of tech jobs for every 1,000 jobs in the state.

The fourth and fifth place was for Maryland and Colorado. Connecticut, which was the 10th best state for tech opportunities, has the most free tech events. Other states in the top ten included Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas and Utah. New York was the 11th best state for tech jobs while Florida was 12th.

On the other hand, the states which had the least amount of tech opportunities were Louisiana (46th), Kentucky (47th), Wyoming (48th) and Mississippi (49th). The state which would be the hardest to find a tech career in is West Virginia. According to researchers, Virginia had a very low cost of living, with low salaries and almost no tech and business events.

Rank	State	Mean annual wage for tech jobs	Median hourly wage per tech jobs	No. of jobs per 1000 jobs	Total tech employees	No. of business establishments	No. of job postings per 1,000 people	Free tech events per 1,000 people	Cost of living as per tech salary	Total score
1	California	1	1	4	1	1	4	5	34	75.83
2	Virginia	6	6	2	3	17	1	26	45	66.19
3	Washington	2	2	1	2	11	14	7	46	65.74
4	Maryland	4	4	3	4	22	2	10	33	63.89
5	Colorado	7	7	5	6	16	3	9	44	58.21
6	Massachusetts	3	3	6	9	9	6	16	4	57.38
7	New Jersey	8	8	8	8	19	5	15	32	51.40
8	Texas	16	17	11	7	4	7	8	39	49.27
9	Utah	19	21	7	5	23	8	6	28	47.84
10	Connecticut	11	11	22	21	25	15	1	20	47.53
11	New York	5	5	19	15	3	34	20	22	47.37
12	Florida	21	23	21	10	2	16	3	19	45.36
13	North Carolina	12	12	9	12	6	11	19	42	44.46
14	Arizona	19	20	13	11	20	12	17	17	41.99
15	Georgia	18	19	15	14	13	13	13	41	40.51
16	Delaware	9	9	12	27	43	17	22	40	40.09
17	Oregon	13	13	18	18	14	22	23	14	39.83
18	Rhode Island	10	10	10	29	39	19	32	26	38.51
19	New Hampshire	14	14	14	22	36	23	38	13	37.81
20	Minnesota	15	15	16	13	15	24	36	38	37.68
21	Illinois	17	18	32	16	7	9	21	43	37.07
22	New Mexico	20	22	27	34	35	36	2	35	36.81
23	Michigan	29	31	24	26	5	20	14	27	34.70
24	Idaho	15	16	34	33	31	10	33	23	33.81
25	Pennsylvania	23	25	25	24	10	40	31	21	32.72
26	Kansas	27	29	20	20	32	13	42	36	32.40
27	Nebraska	33	35	17	17	37	18	27	29	32.31
28	Ohio	25	27	26	25	12	33	40	29	31.60
29	Hawaii	24	26	39	37	39	27	35	2	30.82
30	Alabama	25	27	28	30	24	21	24	37	30.75
31	Wisconsin	34	36	23	19	27	35	18	15	30.73
32	Missouri	38	41	21	23	18	26	29	25	30.42
33	Tennessee	36	39	33	29	8	41	11	24	29.74
34	Nevada	28	30	44	38	29	29	4	11	29.50
35	Vermont	22	24	29	42	42	31	42	5	28.87
36	South Carolina	31	33	31	28	21	41	25	17	28.73
37	Iowa	30	32	30	29	33	25	44	31	27.51
38	Oklahoma	40	43	36	32	32	30	12	29	26.65
39	Indiana	39	42	38	31	28	38	34	16	25.06
40	Alaska	32	34	45	46	46	32	30	3	24.58
41	South Dakota	42	46	37	35	44	28	39	9	23.64
42	Maine	45	37	35	36	38	37	37	1	23.30
43	Arkansas	43	47	40	39	34	39	46	12	21.04
44	North Dakota	41	45	41	40	45	42	41	10	20.90
45	Montana	37	40	42	43	41	47	43	6	20.42
46	Louisiana	26	28	48	45	30	44	45	30	20.20
47	Kentucky	43	48	43	41	26	45	48	8	19.12
48	Wyoming	35	38	47	48	45	46	28	18	18.26
49	Mississippi	44	49	46	44	39	43	47	7	15.20
50	West Virginia	45	44	41	47	40	48	49	1	14.75

This study ranked U.S. states for tech careers using eight weighted metrics. Each metric was scored, scaled, and totaled to determine the rankings. Factors included wages, job numbers, postings, tech businesses, free events, and cost of living, with assigned weights reflecting their impact.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

French President Confirms No Political Motives Behind Arrest Of Telegram’s CEO

The world was stunned to see the CEO of the famous texting platform Telegram arrested after landing in France recently.

A lot of questions were raised including whether or not the decision had a political intention. Now, French President Macron has released a statement on this matter. He confirmed that it was part of an independent investigation and therefore had nothing to do with the country’s politics.

A judicial inquiry was launched last month where Paul Durov was questioned for being involved in a series of criminal acts that went against the law. This is why he was detained after his private jet landed in the country.

In another statement rolled out regarding the matter, a series of violations were so serious and involved child abuse material, fraud, criminal transactions, and even drug trafficking. Also, the fact that his company was unwilling to cooperate with the investigation and share documents with the authorities was concerning.

Macro’s statement on the matter is actually the first ever public comment made regarding this arrest. He posted more on the matter through his social media account on X, adding how France stands by its freedom of expression. But that has its limits and when things go out of the framework and citizens are at risk, no one is above the law.

Macron also called reports terming the CEO’s arrest policy as false information. He says it has nothing to do with politics and the judges will now determine the final verdict on the issue. Durov is currently under detention and it could extend to the evening hours of Wednesday. He would either be released or charged for the allegations put up against him.

Durov holds citizenship in several countries including the UAE, France, the Caribbean Island of St. Kitts, and Russia. Therefore, Russian officials were not happy about the news. They expressed anger at the detention decision.

Russia has gone as far as to call it politics and is a clear proof of hypocrisy linked to freedom of speech concepts in the Western world. Similarly, the decision to put Durov in detention upset Kremlin officials as well. Many Russian critics opposed the Kremlin's decision of blocking Telegram but could not do so and that’s why the ban was withdrawn.

The UAE has also spoken out on the matter and says it’s keeping tabs on the case. They similarly requested France to provide more details on the Durov case on an urgent basis.

The French and UAE military forces have a strong military bond with France in full control of a naval base in the city of Abu Dhabi.

Telegram has close to one billion users around the globe and was first founded by Durov to combat intensifying pressure from Russia over freedom of speech.

Since then, it’s been targeted by many and threatened to be taken down as it didn’t participate in censorship despite being pressured to do so. Countries like Russia did not appreciate it showing the truth about the war with Ukraine and Durove was pressurized to take the site down. He refused and opted to leave the nation.

Russians were able to share news freely and they were very happy to use the app to communicate. Let’s not forget how the platform also served as a famous choice for Ukrainians to get the latest news and updates including those about the war. Interestingly, they were also informed about any air raids and alerts for missile strikes.

After his arrest in France, the app released a statement about how it is following all EU laws. It similarly highlighted its moderation of content to be improving and as per standards.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: TikTok’s New AI Feature Will Change How You Create Content Forever!
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok’s New AI Feature Will Change How You Create Content Forever!

TikTok has been the top social media app for some years now and it continues to add interesting features on the app. The new features keep users engaged on the app and this way users create new fun content for their followers. There are several third-party text-to-speech tools available, but TikTok as a go to platform creator was lagging behind when it comes to such handy built-in feature, by which users can add voices to their texts. But now TikTok has introduced a new AI text-to-speech feature which will let users create AI voices.

To get the AI voice feature, users have to record some sentences in their voice on TikTok and TikTok will create an AI duplication of their own voice. When you’ll record a TikTok with a text on it, TikTok will recommend you an “AI Voice” feature. Once you click on “Create your own AI Voice”, you will be directed to record your voice so TikTok can create a voice that is similar to yours using AI. After the voice is recorded, you can save it and use it whenever you want.

AI Voice created on TikTok will be private but users can make it public whenever they want. Users will be able to find AI Voice feature in the “Recommended” section.

H/T: Jonahmanzano / Threads

Read next: OpenAI, Microsoft, And Adobe Garner Support For New California Bill That Watermarks AI Content

by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

OpenAI, Microsoft, And Adobe Garner Support For New California Bill That Watermarks AI Content

Tech giants are now garnering support for watermarking AI content. The first three to do so include OpenAI, Microsoft, and Adobe.

The companies are strongly supporting the bill from California. It’s a huge turn of events as they had previously opposed the decision to do so. Now, thanks to new amendments in the bill, it looks like they’ve changed their minds.

The bill would ensure everything produced using AI including pictures, videos, and audio features a watermark signaling AI production. As it is, a lot of firms are already in the practice of doing so. However, experts did realize how not a lot of people like to read metadata. Similarly, the AB 3211 law forces big tech giants including X and Instagram to add watermarks in a manner that the average person can understand. This way, nothing remains hidden.

Microsoft, Adobe, and OpenAI are all part of the C2PA coalition that helped better the law and produce metadata. This is the standard practice for marking any AI material.

In April of this year, we saw one trade group oppose the AB 3211 law and refer to the bill as burdening the tech sector. They also felt it was not going to work and therefore issued a letter to the state’s lawmakers. Seeing changes made to the bill has drastically altered their minds and now they’re all for supporting it.

Read next:

• World-Leading Workplace Applications are Becoming Unreliable

• TikTok is Now the Frontier for Political Discourse
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

World-Leading Workplace Applications are Becoming Unreliable

Want to look for the best and most reliable workplace application? Well, here is the list of the most unreliable applications for the workplace that you can skip right away to save yourself a lot of time and energy. TRG Datacenter's survey found that Gmail, Microsoft, and Monday.COM had the most disrupted services in 2023 alongside Slack, Outlook, and Google Drive.

The TRG survey had 30 best workplace platforms under analysis as they came across shocking insights that raised several questions against their credibility. Outlook had the longest crashes lasting for an average of 5 hours. On the other hand, Gmail disruptions negatively affected 1.8 billion users all around the world, accounting for 20% of the global population.

The most intriguing thing that came out of the analysis was the fact that almost all corporate American companies outsource important functions to third-party applications. On the other hand, another study conducted by CIO Dive, which surveyed almost 5,000 employees showed that in May 2023, 11 applications were used by an average American desk worker as compared to 6 applications in 2019 to complete their task.

As per TRG Datacenter's finding, Monday.COM had outrages once a month making it the worst service of all. Whereas Slack and Outlook had 5 significant outrages in 2023, however, the only difference was that the Slack disruptions were short duration and had a much better response time for the fix compared to Microsoft Suite.

The fourth place goes to Google Drive for its crashes which affected one billion users at work and for about 90 minutes per average. Similarly, Zoom also had four major crashes of a time duration of 2.5 hours affecting 300 million users.

Service	Major Crashes	Duration in Hours	Users	Reliability Score
Monday.com	10	0.75	225,000	25.5
Gmail	6	3.5	1,800,000,000	55.0
Microsoft Teams	6	5	280,000,000	20.7
Slack	5	0.75	18,000,000	45.8
Outlook	5	5	400,000,000	26.7
Google Drive	4	1.5	1,000,000,000	61.7
GitHub	4	1.5	100,000,000	46.7
ClickUp	4	1.5	4,000,000	45.1
Salesforce	4	1.5	150,000	45.0
Zoom	4	2.5	300,000,000	44.0
Notion	4	2	30,000,000	42.5

Read next: BroadBandNow's Analysis Claims Internet Prices Have Remained Steady Despite Inflation
by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

TikTok is Now the Frontier for Political Discourse

Over the decades information broadcasting has been through several shifts that completely changed how we view content, particularly news. At first, it was the radio that was the primary source of information for most people, then came the newspaper and later digital networks like news channels. It wasn’t until the last decade that social media became prominent in its ability to share news within seconds from multiple sources at the same time. In the last few years, Twitter (not known as X) took over and in the last 2 years, the spot is equally taken by TikTok.

Despite TikTok being famous for its short spam entertainment clips. A Pew Research Center survey has shown that almost 50% of TikTok users under 30 use the app to get news updates regarding politics. TikTok is so popular among the masses that American presidential campaigns for the 2024 elections are also advertised on the app for voter outreach.

The survey also showed that 48% of the people who are between the ages of 18 to 29 use TikTok for political news and issues. While 36% of people between the ages of 30 to 49 use TikTok for political updates. Additionally, the stats also include TikTok being used by 22% of users aged 50 to 64 years and 24% of those aged 65 and older getting the political news.

TikTok is the frontrunner for political news sharing as compared to other social media platforms. 7% of the age groups of 18 to 29, 8% of the 30 to 49, and 50 to 64 years old used social media platforms for politics as the figures make up only 2% of the TikTok users sharing news who belong to the age group of 65 and older.

Furthermore, a total of 36% of TikTok users post on the platform, out of which 44% of the age group of 30 to 49 post on the app. Whereas, 37%of those who are between 18 to 29 and 26% of those 50 to 64 years old ever post on TikTok.

What's more interesting about the survey is that the researchers also found that 84% of the TikTok users say that they ever encountered posts that are related to current events and 80% have ever seen other people sharing their opinions about those current events. Moreover, 57% of the users on TikTok see the news articles reported, posted, shared, or linked and 55% ever see the content of breaking news of an event as it's happening. However, users under the age of 30 are more likely to see the content relevant to public opinion about current events than any other age group.

The insights from the survey regarding TikTok being the front runner for political content viewing, the researchers were more intrigued to understand whether or not democracy itself is impacted by the platform users and if yes then in what ways. One thing that the researchers pointed out right away was the fact that American politics was impacted by the debates that went around TikTok, particularly for the young voters.

Comparatively, 33% of TikTok users think that the political discourse on the platform is a good thing for advancing democracy compared to 17% against this notion, while 49% beg to differ that it has no impact on the overall status of democracy. Meanwhile, 45% of the 30 and under age group thinks that TikTok and political discussion on the platforms is a good thing, in comparison to 30% for 30 to 49 years old, 23% for 50 to 64 years old, and 15% for 65 years old and older.

Oftentimes just like X, TikTok becomes a warzone for political bashing and debates between Republicans and Democrats which even led to the attempts by lawmakers to ban the app over national security issues. However, the March survey of the Pew Research Center found that there are very few differences between political parties on TikTok on the subject of how democracy is overall impacted.

Read next:

• Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest in France Sparks Debate on Privacy, Crime Prevention, and Censorship

• Survey Reveals TikTok Tops Video Content Platforms for Brands and Retailers

• Nearly 39% of Americans Believe AI Etiquette Matters for the Future

by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's Arrest in France Sparks Debate on Privacy, Crime Prevention, and Censorship

French authorities have extended the detention of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, after arresting him at a Paris airport on Saturday. The Russian-born tech entrepreneur is accused of several crimes related to his messaging app, including fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism promotion, and cyberbullying.

Durov, 39, was apprehended at Le Bourget airport after flying in from Baku. The investigating judge has extended his detention for up to 96 hours to continue questioning. At the end of this period, the judge will decide whether to release him or press charges.

The arrest follows allegations that Durov did not do enough to prevent criminal activity on Telegram. Despite knowing he was wanted, he arrived in Paris on his private jet. Telegram, in a statement, defended its actions, claiming compliance with EU regulations and maintaining that Durov regularly travels across Europe without hiding.

The Russian embassy in Paris has accused France of avoiding cooperation, requesting access to Durov. Russian officials have criticized his decision to leave Russia, suggesting it has complicated his position with international authorities.

Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing Kremlin demands to shut down opposition groups on VK, a social network he founded. He then focused on Telegram, which has grown into a major platform with 950 million monthly users and is heavily used for sharing news and information, especially about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The app is also known for its encryption and minimal content moderation, making it popular among political figures and controversial groups.

Critics argue Telegram has become a hub for extremists and conspiracy theorists, with little effort to curb hate speech or illegal content. Despite these concerns, the app remains a preferred tool for those seeking privacy and uncensored communication.

After Durov's arrest, Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson publicly supported him, emphasizing their stance against censorship and promoting the idea of free expression.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: 

• Survey Reveals TikTok Tops Video Content Platforms for Brands and Retailers

• Nearly 39% of Americans Believe AI Etiquette Matters for the Future
by Asim BN via Digital Information World