New Research Shows ChatGPT Uses Too Much Water to Keep its Data Centers Cool Which Can Have Harmful Effects to Environment

According to the Pew Research Center, a quarter of Americans have used ChatGPT ever since its release in 2022. Chatbots like ChatGPT consume too much energy while answering the prompts which can make their system heat up. A lot of water is used to keep the data centers cool but it can have a lot of effects on the environment. The Washington Post collaborated with the University of California to find out how much energy and water for ChatGPT-4 to write a 100 word email.

Whenever there is a prompt given to ChatGPT, it runs through servers to find out the best responses. Servers generate heat and water cools them down through cooling towers. The amount of water and electricity a data center requires usually depends on where the data center is located. Some data centers also use large units resembling air conditioners to cool down data centers. But even if a data center uses water or electricity to cool down, it still affects the environment.

The water required for AI chatbots using GPT-4 to generate a 100-word email varies by data center location. For example, Washington consumes 1,468 milliliters, while Texas needs just 235 milliliters. This variation emphasizes the environmental impact of technology. Here’s a breakdown of water usage: Washington—1,468 ml, Arizona—925 ml, Illinois—464 ml, Iowa—462 ml, Wyoming—369 ml, Virginia—353 ml, and Texas—235 ml.

AI chatbot water usage varies by data center location, with Washington requiring 1,468 milliliters per email.

Shaolei Ren, an associate professor at UC Riverside, says that if a data center is located in a hot region, it requires a lot of energy to cool down. If an air conditioner is used for cooling, it takes too much electricity. If water is used for cooling down, it can decrease the water level in that region especially if it is a drought prone area.

Northern Virginia has the world’s most data centers and people often protest that they are building more data centers there and there are still no long term jobs present. Records from Iowa show that Microsoft has already used the region's 6% of total water. Google disclosed that it has used over a quarter of water from The Dalles for their data centers.

According to AI experts, chatbots need months of training and huge amounts of energy before they can answer prompts. During the training process, each chatbot gives out heat in data centers but many bit tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Meta have pledged to use new cooling methods that wouldn't be harmful to the environment. But these pledges are often not fulfilled. Google recently shared a report about its carbon emissions stating that their carbon emission footprint has risen 48% because of their AI data centers. AI is demanding more energy from data centers which can have adverse effects on the environment and the future of this world.

Read next: From Code to Crisis: The Startling Energy Consumption of Top Tech Giants Revealed!
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

UN Launches New Detailed Framework To Maximize AI Potential and Minimize Risks

The UN has just announced a new detailed framework that will maximize AI potential and limit the risks attached.

The Secretary General’s Advisory Body on AI rolled out the final report called Governing AI for Humanity where it detailed more about how AI can serve humanity at its finest. This is especially true for those individuals who are considered minorities and underrepresented. They are those who feel their voices and opinions are never considered

The report goes on further to build months of extensive consultations featuring close to 2000 participants. The publishing of a provincial report that took place last year in December shed light on how this group can best represent AI and the aspirations that many hold for the groundbreaking tech.

The final report rolled out a new plan to manage AI based risks and share the potential that this tech has for millions around the world. Among a host of other things, it calls for a new foundation to be laid down for the first detailed plan for international cooperation on the matter.

Similarly, it proposed several recommendations to address the drawbacks on governing AI and hopes all governments can respond. In the same way, it will include stakeholders who wish to cooperate in regulation of AI so that it’s better marketed and in line with human rights protection.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Study Finds ChatGPT Gives Biased Answers About Cultural Questions which Often Depict an English Speaking or Protestant European Country
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Survey Shows Majority of Gen-Z Wish that TikTok and X Didn’t Exist

TikTok has become an addiction among teens and adults both. But a new survey of 1006 GenZ by a psychologist Jonathan Haidt and the Harris Poll found out that 47% of Gen-Z wish TikTok didn't exist while 50% share the same thoughts about X. The reason why Gen-Z think this way is because they are wasting most of their time on social media apps like TikTok and X.

Jonathan Haidt is the author of best-seller The Anxious Generation. In his book, he gave out four basic rules for children and their smartphone usage. The first rule was that children shouldn't own a smartphone before high school and the second rule talked about how no teen should have a social media account before age. The other two rules were about prohibition of smartphones in schools and unsupervised play. The book was quite controversial but it still said some bitter truths.

The psychologist found out that 60% of Gen-Z spend 4 hours of their day on social media while 23% spend six or more hours of their day on social media. It is really interesting to see as 60% of Gen-Z believe that use of social media has a negative impact on themselves and society. 52% of Gen-Z say social media has helped them a lot, 29% said that it has negatively impacted them and most of them said that it has affected their mental health.

36% of Gen-Z who were surveyed are in favor of banning social media for under 16, while 69% are in favor of imposing child-safe options on social media for under 18 kids.

When Gen-Z were asked which social media apps they wished didn't exist, TikTok and X got the most votes, followed by Snapchat (43%), Facebook (37%) and Instagram (34%). Haidt says that social media companies should take actions to ensure that the content on their apps isn't harming teens and children in any way.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next:

• Study Shows Scientific Research on ChatGPT Lowers Cognitive Load and Gives Direct Responses as Compared to Traditional Research

• Study Finds ChatGPT Gives Biased Answers About Cultural Questions which Often Depict an English Speaking or Protestant European Country
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Study Finds ChatGPT Gives Biased Answers About Cultural Questions which Often Depict an English Speaking or Protestant European Country

A study published in PNAS Nexus found that ChatGPT shows some biases when it comes to some cultures. ChatGPT and many AI models are trained on different cultures by some individuals so it isn't that shocking that it can show some biases about some cultures. The researchers of the study asked five different versions of ChatGPT ten questions taken from the World Values Survey. The survey is quite important when it comes to knowing about what people from different countries think of different cultures.

The questionnaire included questions like an individual's belief in God and what they think of self expression values. The OpenAI’s model was asked to answer like any normal individual would. The results showed that ChatGPT mostly answered like someone from English-speaking and Protestant European countries.

This means that most of the answers were related to self expression like foreigners, environmental protection, diversity, sexual orientation and gender equality. All of the models surveyed neither answered in highly traditional ways like individuals from Ireland or Philippines would nor answered in a highly secular way like individuals from Estonia or Japan would.

To avoid these kinds of answers, researchers then asked ChatGPT models to answer the questions in a way that the individuals from each 107 countries would. The results were somewhat different and had reduced biases for 71% countries on ChatGPT-4o. The researchers say that ChatGPT can reduce its biases if we ask it to answer in a specific way. The way you give a prompt to an AI model is very important for it to answer in a way you want.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Generative AI Transforms Marketing Strategies Amid Rising Ethical and Legal Concerns
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

A New Research Shows Many Browser Extensions Compromise User Data and Privacy

According to research by professors from the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy and the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, many browser extensions can make data of users vulnerable. Most users use browser extensions for different purposes like managing their passwords, fixing grammar, finding shopping deals and translating web pages.

Even though there are thousands of advantages of browser extensions, they do not come without risks. The research says that these browser extensions are a risk to user privacy and many of these extensions extract user data without their permission and use them for different purposes. Frank Li, the lead researcher, says that we already know that browser extensions can access web history and searches of users, but this new research is done to find out whether browser extensions can also access sensitive information like emails, passwords, social media accounts and bank information.

The team of researchers designed Arcanum, a web framework, to test their suspicions about browser extensions accessing user data. The researchers studied more than 100,000 browser extensions in the Chrome Web Store. It was found that nearly 3000 browser extensions can access private data of users, and more than 200 browser extensions took private user data directly and posted it on different servers.

Some browser extensions also take user data for acceptable reasons, for instance, to improve the browser's functionality so we cannot say whether a browser extension is taking user data for the right purposes or not. To know about this, researchers took some browser extensions and tried to match their privacy policies with their data collection activities. This way they could determine which browser extensions are legitimately taking user data and which ones are not.

Most of the browser extensions were found to have no proper data protection policies. This suggests that web browsers like Google should take a stricter privacy approach when it comes to browser extensions. Users shouldn't be worried about their data and privacy when it comes to browser extensions and only new policies can help them protect their data.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Apple Returns To Its Top Spot In America’s Customer Satisfaction Index
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Apple Returns To Its Top Spot In America’s Customer Satisfaction Index

Samsung made headlines last year when it broke Apple’s 20-year-old record of snitching the top spot in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Now, we can confirm that Apple is back at number one, regaining its top spot after a slight shuffle.

In 2023, Samsung went into a tie with the iPhone maker but that’s not the case this year as the Cupertino firm won fair and square. In second place came HP while Samsung was knocked down to position three.

The development was published in ACSI’s annual report where nearly 13k respondents took part between the period of June 2023 to June 2024. The PC category entails desktops, tablets, and even laptops.

Apple regained the crown in the domain of customer satisfaction while the score for Samsung sank. For this year, it’s all thanks to Apple’s Mac and iPad who scored 85/100 and got four points more than the average for PCs this year and two points more than what Apple got in 2023.

On the other hand, Samsung tied with iPhone maker Apple who witnessed a fall in satisfaction by another point to hit the 82/100 mark. Seeing HP reach the runner-up spot in 2024 with a score of just 84 was news as it was trailing behind tech giant Apple.

It was also impressive to see HP witness a 3-point rise from that witnessed YoY.

Both Amazon and Dell rounded out to positions number four and five. When all other brands are concerned, desktops outranked laptops and tablets with averages reaching 82/100. This YoY trend was a 2-point decline for desktops, one 1-point rise for laptops, and 5 5-point rise for tablets.

Read next:

• Meta Strengthens Child Safety on Instagram with New Parental Approval Features

• Warrant Canary: What This Secret Message by Service Providers Means for Users
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Meta Strengthens Child Safety on Instagram with New Parental Approval Features

Many social media apps are introducing child safety features on their apps to keep children and teens from the dangers lurking around social media. Instagram has taken the step to make all accounts of teens private on its platform and have also limited their DMs in an attempt to shield children. If some teens want to change the settings of a “teen account”, they would need parent’s approval first.

Meta’s head of product, Naomi Gelt, says that Instagram has taken this step because of parents’ concern about extra time spent, inappropriate contact and unwanted contact their children often encounter on the app. When teens are on private accounts, they would only be able to message or tag the people they follow. Instagram will also make screen time reminders for children.

Meta has always been a target because of its no-so-friendly child policies on the app. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents whose children died because of social media. Now Meta has blocked all the harmful content like eating disorder, self harm and nudity to teen users. Congress also passed the Kids Online Safety Act which asked all the apps to block harmful content. There are still concerns about child’s freedom of speech regarding the bill, but if it passes in the House it will bring a lot of safety to children online.

Meta also now only allows children of ages 13 and above to make an account. Even if they can lie about their ages, Meta has partnered up with Yoti, a British Company, which helps Meta identify someone's age by looking at their face. Many social media apps are also now asking people who are making new accounts to submit their video and picture as a proof that they aren't lying about their age.

Parental control on social media apps is also being strictly available. But Meta is working on a feature which will only allow parental controls to a parent or a guardian after verifying that they are indeed a parent or guardian. But this could also have harmful effects because if a child is in an abusive household, their guardians can stop the teens from raising their voices or finding their identities.

Read next:

• Warrant Canary: What This Secret Message by Service Providers Means for Users

• Generative AI Transforms Marketing Strategies Amid Rising Ethical and Legal Concerns

• Majority of Americans Still Turn To Social Media To Get News Insights, New Study Confirms
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Warrant Canary: What This Secret Message by Service Providers Means for Users

Warrant canaries have been employed since the early years of this century by online service providers for protecting and retaining the privacy of their users. They became a permanent feature of online websites and platforms as a potential solution to the United States’ Patriot Act, passed in 2001, because most tech giants residing in the USA enable the government agencies to have complete access to all data of users available online. For it was in direct conflict with the privacy policies of websites and tech giants of silicon valley, they resorted to warrant canaries – a secret message to their users.

Warrant canaries have a history of constant fluctuation. They have been employed and then not employed later. Different companies typed down varied and succinct messages for their users over the years. Were they successful? The answer to this is still not possible. But all this uncertainty is comprehensible when the government is brought into the equation.

Understand the Origin of the Term To Grasp the Concept

Sometimes it requires an analogy to explain a concept. Caged Canaries were used in the past to ascertain the presence of poisonous gas in a coal mine. Because canaries are more sensitive than humans to gasses, they could detect them before. If the canary used died, it was a clear warning of a poisonous gas and of not venturing any further.

Similarly, websites started using messages on their main pages, depicting that they had not received any request form the government or any of its agencies for data of certain or all people. If that message disappears from their pages, it would be a warning sign, discreetly telling its users that they have received a request from the authorities for data of specific people. These messages came to be called warrant canaries. Like the absence of a canary in a coal mine is a warning sign, so is the absence of these messages on websites.

How Does Warrant Canary Really Work?

Many tech giants have leveraged warrant canaries, like Reddit and Tumblr. As I have mentioned before about the USA and its legislation regarding access to personal data, the federal government can compel any website owner to provide them data of their users, via NSL– National Security Letter. The companies have no option than taking down the warrant canaries on their pages–indicating to their users of behind-the-door requests received. Moreover, they will not be able to use warrant canaries over, for they have once received the request.

The following is a warrant canary once used by Reddit:

“Reddit has never received a National Security Letter, an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or any other classified request for user information.”

History of Warrant Canaries

After the legislation of Patriot act, 2001, warrant canaries were a natural consequence for the protection of users’ data on websites. The company rsync.net became the first one to employ warrant canary for this purpose. It took some time before major players realized the importance of warrant canaries.

But things changed drastically in 2013. Edward Snowden, an intelligence contractor and whistleblower, leaked some confidential documents, revealing the surveillance done by the government. The revelation also alarmed the many technology companies that then followed the same path of warrant canaries. Apple started using warrant canaries in 2013, and Reddit and Tumblr soon followed suit. The following was the a brief warrant canary used by Apple:

Apple has never received an order under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act. We would expect to challenge such an order if served on us.

But again, these drastic steps were soon undone: Apple dropped its warrant canary in 2014, so did Reddit in 2016, for unknown reasons.

Moreover, to keep a record of all warrant canaries and to spread awareness about them, Canary Watch was formed by different organizations. But it also came to an end in 2016 because it has served its purpose, as per Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Are Warrant Canaries Worth Employing?

One does not have to be a scientist to realize this fact that the government is as well aware of the warrant canaries as users are. If an intelligence agency wants to have data of users from a specific platform without the platform dropping its warrant canary, it will not be difficult to achieve. The authorities can easily coerce any company to keep its warrant canary displaying that it has not received any order to provide data of certain people. This assumption buries all canaries.

• Also read: Research Shows There is an Increase in Requests for User Data from US Government

The government can even nip this evil in the bud–evil to the authorities–by passing a law that bans warrant canaries altogether, just like Australia surveillance law did in 2015. They have not done this yet, which, from one perspective, makes the whole thing suspicious.

Sometimes technical issues can also lead to misunderstanding. A warrant canary might disappear once a website is updated and then reappear within a day or days. Or Changing in wording over a period of time could also spread the rumor of the website being forced to hand over some data.

This is what the cryptographer, Bruce Schneier, has to say about the effectiveness of warrant canaries:

I have never believed this trick would work. It relies on the fact that a prohibition against speaking doesn’t prevent someone from not speaking. But courts generally aren’t impressed by this sort of thing, and I can easily imagine a secret warrant that includes a prohibition against triggering the warrant canary. And for all I know, there are right now secret legal proceedings on this very issue.

What To Do If Warrant Canaries Are Not the Solution?

There are some ways on users’ end that are better in keeping their privacy intact than relying on warrant canaries. As most of these tech. companies are based in the USA, only the country’s laws and government can coerce them to hand over data. But if you have an account on a platform based in another country–other than the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada–you would be in a much better and safer position. Also, if you provide only a limited amount of data to online platforms, you would not be facing privacy-breached issues altogether, for you have not provided any information that must be kept confidential or that could lead someone to you.

Or you can resort to the VPN way. The following VPNs do use warrant canaries, but they keep them updated and enable users to browse anonymously–NordVPN is the best of them, for it is from Panama, so the American laws are not applicable to it; Surfshark is also a good option, for it is updated on daily basis; PureVPN is last of them and just like Surfshark, it is updated daily.

Things to Remember

Users must bear in mind that the removal of a warrant canary from a website does not necessarily mean that the website has received a request for data of users–it could be a technical issue. More importantly, even if that is the case, considering yourself to be one of the people whose data is asked for is not wise.

Warrant canaries could be called archaic due to the technological evolution in the last decade. Governments have the latest tools in hand to gain access to whatever they want. But in retrospect, warrant canaries would always be tech companies’ best try at securing users’ privacy.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Accessing the Blocked Websites: Follow the Guide to Access Them Without a VPN
by Ehtasham Ahmad via Digital Information World

Google Search To Include Updated ‘About This Image Feature’ To Differentiate Real Images From AI

Google has confirmed that it’s currently working on a new technology that can distinguish real from AI images. This means providing more insights if pictures were created using AI models, software like Photoshop, or simply taken with a camera.

In the next few months, the search results will entail an improved feature called ‘About this Image’ that provides more insights on the source, the company confirmed today.

current 'About this Image' feature in Google without any AI info

It seems to be coming at a time that’s aligned with Instagram’s decision to roll out its advanced ‘Made with AI’ labels that also help to determine if AI was used to make or edit pictures.

Google highlighted more about the system and how it’s making use of C2PA technology which is one of the best and biggest groups to distinguish AI images from one another. This is usually seen as a tech standard that entails details about where the picture originated from at the start and is also said to include details about both hardware and software used for its curation.

So many tech giants have already backed up the technology but we are yet to see its implementation come at a fast pace. Right now, it’s Amazon, Intel, Google, Adobe, and Microsoft who are a part of the list. Meanwhile, Google integration into search will be a mighty test for this program, it continued.

Google says it has worked to help create the latest C2PA tech version and will be using it along with an upcoming C2PA trust list. This will enable different platforms to use Search to identify the picture’s origin.

Google says it has some major plans to combine the data into the company’s systems for ads too. This would ramp up with time and make use of the right signals to enforce important policies.

In the same way, Google hopes to use the tech on its other apps like YouTube whenever images are captured using a camera. They hope to provide more updates on this front soon.

In case you didn’t know, Google is one of the first firms to adopt this breakthrough C2PA authentication technology. It hopes to provide the best interoperability challenges in this manner.

So far, just a limited number of cameras have been used to support the technology which will entail camera settings data and that taken about a picture’s location to adopt the tech better. While Canon and Nikon have both taken the initiative to use C2PA, Apple and Google are still in line to show support and implement it across their devices.

As of right now, many software like Photoshop and Lightroom do come with this technology embedded into their platforms but we’re still waiting for more image editors to do the same.

It appears that Google’s big step forward to include this in its search results might encourage others to do the same.

Read next: Many Big Tech Companies Produce More Carbon Emissions than What They Say In Reports
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Many Big Tech Companies Produce More Carbon Emissions than What They Say In Reports

There has always been news about how there's excess carbon emissions from big tech companies. But now due to artificial intelligence, the carbon emissions have reached their all time high. Even though many companies tell the amount of carbon emission from their data centers, most of them do not tell the accurate amount. According to data, companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft have 7.62 times more carbon emissions than these companies tell the authorities.

The International Energy Agency says that many data centers were already taking 1 to 1.5% of the global electricity in 2022 but then ChatGPT got released and the need for electricity in data centers increased. AI takes more energy in data centers than other cloud applications. Goldman Sachs reports that an AI query takes 10 times more energy than a Google query and the need for power in data centers will grow 160% by 2030. Data centers are expected to emit 2.5 bn metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2030.

All big 5 tech companies have announced to be carbon neutral. Amazon did so recently by saying that it became carbon neutral 7 years prior to when it was expected. Amazon has implemented a gross carbon emission cut of 3%. But it is all due to creative accounting because Amazon is still expanding its fossil fuel use in data centers or in its diesel trucks.

Most companies use renewable energy certificates or Recs to show that they are using renewable energy sources but most of the time, they do not consume the energy or only use it on one site of production. Recs show what are the market based emissions but when Recs are offsite, we get location based emissions. This is actual emission generated in a specific area. The location based emissions of big five tech companies is concerning. If we take the stats of 2022 and put all the companies as one country, it will be the 23rd highest emitter in the world.

Google and Microsoft say that they are working to achieve the goal of making all their data centers on renewable energy sources and to match market based emissions and location based emissions. Google has already stopped using its Rec certificate and will totally emit their non-location specific Recs by 2030. GHG Protocol says that no company should hide their carbon emissions under any circumstances.

The carbon emissions that come from in-house data centers are called Scope 2 which is concerned with mainly electricity. Most data centers, except Amazon, also make up for the majority of Scope 2. Amazon has most carbon emissions from warehouses and e-commerce logistics. 100% of Meta’s centers are responsible for Scope 2 emissions with 97.4% location based emissions. The second biggest Scope 2 and location based emissions are from Microsoft. Meta’s carbon emissions are 19,000 times higher than 2022 while Microsoft’s emissions are 22 times higher than 2022 now.

Many big tech companies also rent third-party data centers which represent 37% of the worldwide data center capacity. All the emissions from third-party data centers fall under scope 3 emissions which include emissions from in-house data center constructions and electricity related emissions. Google and Microsoft have both blamed AI for their emissions while Apple is planning to work hard to reduce its carbon emissions as much as possible.

Image: DIW-AIgen

Read next: From Code to Crisis: The Startling Energy Consumption of Top Tech Giants Revealed!
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Survey Shows the Thoughts of Americans on Apple and Latest iPhone Models

Wallethub conducted a survey in the USA to find out what people think of the new iPhone release. Whenever Apple releases a new iPhone model, everyone wants to get their hands on the new model as soon as possible. But the new survey shows that 63% of Americans are not going to buy the new iPhone model because of inflation. New iPhone model can cost up to $1,100 and in this inflation, Americans are avoiding buying the new model.

Many Americans also think that Apple mobiles are overpriced and take extra charges from consumers. If Apple wants more customers, it needs to lower the prices of its iPhones. But amongst Americans who are resisting to buy the new iPhone model, there are also Americans who are eager to buy the new model. 2 in 5 Americans say they do not mind going into debt if it means they can buy the latest iPhone model.

The survey also asked the American respondents what they think when they see someone with the latest iPhone model. 30% say that they think a person is rich if he has the latest iPhone model, while 27% think that it is wasteful to spend money on every latest iPhone model. 42% of the respondents said that they buy the latest iPhone as it is important for keeping appearances. 65% also said that they think Apple is a monopoly and the government should take actions against them.

Read next: Snapchat+ is Growing in Revenue After Seeing Some Decline for Few Months
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Snapchat+ is Growing in Revenue After Seeing Some Decline for Few Months

When Snapchat+ got released, everyone thought that it isn't going to work out and will not grow as other apps. The App Intelligence by App Figures show that Snapchat+ surpassed half a billion dollars in the last month. This means a lot of beta testers have used the app and it is doing good.

Snapchat+ saw good opening months but then its growth declined soon. The reason why Snapchat+ is rising again is because Snapchat has added some good features which are being liked by people. Some of these features include priority replies and story boosts. Both of the features are being used by many people because nowadays people do not only need followers on social media, they need views too.

Estimates show that Snapchat+ has earned $581 millions in revenue since its release. The revenue of Snapchat+ grew 9% in August and users spent more than $49 million on the app. By March 2025, Snapchat+ is expected to hit $1 billion in revenue. Snapchat+ is earning the biggest revenue in the USA, followed by UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

Read next:

• The Success of ChatGPT Continues, OpenAI's Popular AI App Triples In Revenue With $1M Earnings Per Day

• Is Your Privacy at Risk? See Which Generations Are Blindly Accepting Cookies! 

• From Code to Crisis: The Startling Energy Consumption of Top Tech Giants Revealed!
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Is Your Privacy at Risk? See Which Generations Are Blindly Accepting Cookies!

Emarketer conducted a survey to find out how different generations think about website cookies and whether they accept them or not. Gen-Z, Millennials, Gen-X and Baby Boomers were surveyed in July 2024 for this purpose. According to the survey, 57.6% of the Gen-Z always or often accept cookies while 53.4% millennials do so. On the other hand, 46.8% of the Gen-X and 36.0% of the Baby Boomers often or always accept cookies.

The survey, which was based on US consumers, also found out that 17.0% of the US consumers overall always accept cookies. It is best if marketers aim for non-cookie targeting and measurement as 9 out of 10 browsers in the US are going to get rid of cookies soon. But Google has decided to keep third-party cookies on Chrome.

• Also read: Are Your Favorite Apps Secretly Spying on You Through Dangerous Permissions?

50.6% of US consumers accept cookies without understanding what they are and how they can be used. This shows lack of knowledge regarding privacy concerns among consumers. Only 9.9% consumers said that they understand what accepting cookies on a website means. The lack of understanding about cookies is common among Baby Boomers and Gen-X. Marketers should work on designing age-specific cookie consent experiences.

Read next: Accessing the Blocked Websites: Follow the Guide to Access Them Without a VPN
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

From Code to Crisis: The Startling Energy Consumption of Top Tech Giants Revealed!

Many big tech companies are consuming more electricity than countries with millions of people because of AI. The reports from these tech companies and US Energy Information Administration were used to compare Meta, Google, Microsoft and Apple’s energy consumptions in 2023 to electricity consumptions of some specific countries.

According to the data Microsoft and Google are using more electricity than countries like Ghana with a population of 34 million and Jordan with population of 11 million. The total electricity consumption of Microsoft and Google is 24 TWh while Ghana and Jordan use 19 TWh and 20 TWh electricity respectively. The only countries above Microsoft and Google in terms of electricity usage are Nigeria, Ireland and Serbia.

This shows that these big tech companies are using enormous amounts of electricity for their data centers. 2024 Environment Report indicates that use of electricity at Google’s data centers has grown 17% in 2023. Google’s data centers used 10% of the overall electricity of all data centers in the world in 2023.

AI training is also taking up a lot more electricity usage. Microsoft’s electricity usage jumped to 24 TWh in 2023 from 11 TWh in 2020. Similarly, Google’s electricity consumption went from 11 TWh in 2018 to 24 TWh in 2023. Tech companies who took the generative AI step a little later (Meta and Apple) than other companies are not using as much energy as Microsoft and Google, but Meta seems to be going up in the list.

Read next:

• Where in the World is It Unsafe to Be a Woman?

• Research Shows AI is Helping Employees a Lot in their Workplaces and Employers are Happy With This Change
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

TikTok Tops August Revenue Charts While Instagram Bucks Downward Trend in Downloads

August 2024 was another great month for social media platforms but the rankings are starting to feel repetitive.

App giants are raking in a huge chunk of revenue as per stats taken from App Figures. They did cement their standing position at the top of the list and we’ve got all the details for our readers below.

Similar to July, there is certainly something interesting taking place in the top 10 list. When we combine everything together, the overall revenue hit $880 million. This means last month, we got closer to the target of hitting $1 billion but just how close is a question worth investigating.

There’s no surprise here. The leading TikTok platform was again the world’s highest-earning platform last month. It managed to rake in a whopping $240 million combined revenue for ByteDance. This is more than $19 million from what was seen last month and a whopping 9% rise MoM from the past.

Video search engine YouTube was steady with the second position, adding another striking $7 million last month. Meanwhile, the top five were completed by Disney+, Tinder, and the Max app. Here is where revenues barely altered from what was seen in July.

In August, Peacock managed to go beyond Hulu and we’ve got the grand Paris Olympics to thank for this. It snagged position number nine and then in August, it hit position number 8, which added another $4 million.

Interestingly, Duolingo's popular language learning app is on the list once more. We last saw it make the rankings in April but to enter, it pushed Tencent Video out. But how close did these platforms get to the $1 billion mark?

The top 10 apps managed to bring in $917 million last month. And if things continue at this rate, we don’t see why they cannot break the $1 billion mark by the end of 2024.

Moving on to the most downloaded apps for August 2024, it wouldn’t be wrong to deem this as a slipping and sliding show. Downloads for apps are declining with time so that is why experts took the rankings as a mere surprise.

The top five most downloaded platforms didn’t alter from what was seen in July. However, things got interesting when you looked at matters more closely than the real installation figures.

Instagram continued to hold on to position number one and these figures grew by more than three million installations over July. They bucked the continuous downward trend while in second place, we saw TikTok take a major fall of two million when compared to July of this year.

In position four it was WhatsApp which did take a small hit, adding close to four million downloads from what was witnessed in July. Meanwhile, Facebook sat at number three and remained at 43 million installs. In position five it was Temu who held a steady rank but dropped close to two million from July’s 37 million total.

When you look at the other complete list, minor shifts were similarly noted. Threads moved up to position number six and ChatGPT entered the list at position number nine as the AI keeps introducing new models.

As a whole, the top 10 apps list managed to bring in 353 million installations for the last month. This is one million more than what was witnessed in July. This is not a sign that the slump period is over just yet. The small dip taking place in June and July, followed up closely by a minor growth last month means things are moving in the right direction.

Read next: Where in the World is It Unsafe to Be a Woman?
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Where in the World is It Unsafe to Be a Woman?

GIWPS ranked the top ten worst countries for women using data from 2023 Women Peace and Security Index scores. In the index, countries were given scores out of 1.0 based on inclusion, justice and safety of women. Inclusion included education, cell phone use, employment, financial inclusion and parliamentary representation of women in the countries. Justice referred to access to justice, legal discrimination and maternal mortality ratio. Safety included community safety, violence against women, political violence and proximity to conflict.

According to the scores, Afghanistan was ranked the worst country for women with a 0.286 score. Followed by Afghanistan was Yemen and the Central African Republic with 0.287 and 0.387 scores respectively. Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Burundi were also ranked the worst countries for women.

The seventh worst country for women was the Syrian Arab Republic with 0.407 score and eighth was Eswatini with 0.415 score. Somalia and Iraq were ranked ninth and tenth worst countries for women. Overall, the status of women declined in 13 countries between 2017 to 2023. Somalia, Haiti and Eswatini saw the biggest declines. Low education rates, high maternal mortality rates and high intimate partner violence were some of the biggest factors that gave these countries the lowest scores.

Read next:

• Accessing the Blocked Websites: Follow the Guide to Access Them Without a VPN

• Are Your Favorite Apps Secretly Spying on You Through Dangerous Permissions?
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Research Shows AI is Helping Employees a Lot in their Workplaces and Employers are Happy With This Change

DIW complied data to find out how AI is being perceived by businesses worldwide and what are the employers’ thoughts about their employees using AI for work. A recent Microsoft survey found that 75% of employees are using AI in their work in 2024 while 80% of the business leaders are adopting AI as they think it is really important in order to stay in competition. Only a few workers said that they do not use AI in their work at all.

Another study found out which industries are majorly using AI. The industry which has adopted AI the most is the advertising and marketing industry. The consulting and technology industry is also adopting AI more than any other industries. Educators are not using AI that much in their classrooms. Even though AI is being implemented in major companies, the workers aren’t totally relying on it. Only 4% of the respondents of the survey said that they rely on AI while 7% admitted to using it a lot. 21% of the workers said that they use AI moderately. 34% said that they do not use AI at all.

The AI which is being used the most by industries and companies all around the world is ChatGPT (65%), followed by Google’s Gemini. Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Claude are the least used AI models by companies. The reason why ChatGPT is being used the most is because it is great at writing and performing many other tasks. Respondents in the survey said that they use AI to respond to emails, make presentations and write reports. AI is also being used for data entry, cyber security and quality control.

AI is said to improve productivity in workplaces and AI is majorly helping employees in coding too. Most of the programmers are using AI to increase their productivity and the survey found that the productivity of programmers have increased 126% due to AI. Some workers are also concerned about their privacy if they are using AI and some are also worried if AI is going to take away their jobs. AI can increase jobs in labor and healthcare, but it also destroys many sales and customer support jobs. But AIPRM suggests that AI is going to give more jobs to people than taking them away.

Read next:

• Are Your Favorite Apps Secretly Spying on You Through Dangerous Permissions?

• How to Access Blocked Sites Without a VPN
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Accessing the Blocked Websites: Follow the Guide to Access Them Without a VPN

Many websites are blocked on the internet due to one reason or another, but the act of blocking some websites even for a temporary period becomes precarious to many due to their businesses or information provided by those platforms. So discontent users try to reach those platforms via discreet and Indirect means. The most notorious method is to use a VPN, which changes your IP address and allows you to enter websites in this disguise.

A few technical ways have become available to enable users to access blocked websites without a VPN app. They are more convenient, and do the same function without the need to download any software, making VPNs redundant. As a result, there is a lesser chance of getting any malware into your device.

Follow the guide to access websites via means other than VPN software:

Using a Proxy Website

Numerous proxy websites are available on the internet that enable users to disguise themselves as foreigners to get a free ticket to the website. One of such websites is Plainproxies.com.

Plainproxies – and the similar websites – have a user-friendly interface, allowing users to access blocked websites quickly in a few steps.

Follow the guide to unblock websites using Plainproxies:

1) Search Plainproxies on Google and open the website.

2) Type the URL of the blocked website that you intend to unblock.

3) The proxy will launch itself and lead you to the website with a different IP address.

You can now use the website. However, the loading speed of the pages would be slower.

Using an IP Address

If your restricted website is blocked by its domain name only, you can still access the website using its IP address. All you need is the IP address of that website.

Follow the steps to retrieve the IP address of a website:

1) Use the Ping command on desktops and laptops or download the app on mobiles to retrieve the IP address.

2) On the app, type the name of the website under the heading of Ping.

3) Click on Ping to get the IP address, which will appear below in the form of digits in the statements.

Do remember that it will function only if the website is blocked by its domain name only. If the IP address is blocked too, the retrieval of the IP address is of no use then.

Taking Help from Extensions

Google Chrome as well as Firefox offers various extensions to perform specific functions using the browser. These extensions also include Proxmate and Hola VPN. They offer the same service provided by the download VPNs.

Just go to Google Chrome's extension store to add one of the extensions to your browser and activate it to have access to restricted websites. Their use is no different from the other Chrome's extensions.

An important point to note that Chrome browser extensions can pose risks, as they may carry malware or request excessive permissions. Always review extensions and their developers before installation. Enable Chrome's Enhanced Protection mode for added safety against phishing, malware, and harmful extensions.

Use a Secure Browser

Changing your conventional browser for a more secure one is also helpful in unblocking a blocked website. Secure browsers, like Avast Secure Browser or Opera have a built-in VPN, which disguises users’ identification with a different IP address to give them access to a blocked website.

Just download and install Avast Secure Browser or Opera to access any blocked website.

Getting Help from Tor Browser

Highly controversial browser due to its link to the dark web, Tor browser offers complete anonymity to users by masking their IP addresses and allowing access to every corner of the internet. But you can use it to unblock restricted websites in your area, with the best cover of privacy.

However, Tor browser, being used for illegal activities, is not a safe and recommended option. Users should only resort to it as the last option.

Try a Different Network

Some websites are just not accessible using Wifi, but there is no hindrance in opening them using mobile data. So if any website is not responding on broadband or fiber, try using mobile data. It might solve the problem.

These methods are the most reliable options available to have access to restricted content in your country or area, without the need of VPNs. You may choose the one that suits your needs the best.

Using the Wayback Machine

If you’re trying to access a news blog or website or maybe a social media post/page, the Wayback Machine can help. This digital archive allows you to view past versions of websites. To use it, visit Archive.org, enter the URL of the blocked site, and select a date to access the archived version. Fun fact: It has archived over 866 billion webpages so far!

Read next: How to Find the Publication Date of a Website?

by Ehtasham Ahmad via Digital Information World

Musk’s X Corp Saved From EU’s Digital Markets Act After New Probe Says It’s Too Small To Impact Businesses

Elon Musk will be celebrating very soon after a new probe in the EU has brought glad tidings for his X platform.

The company was outlined as being too small in scale to impact businesses. Therefore, the Digital Markets Act would not be applicable here, the executive arm ruled as per sources familiar with the matter.

This means X will be dodging a huge bullet which comes in the form of stringent regulations that big tech must pay if they wish to continue with operations in the region. Moreover, a list of Dos and Don’ts has also been published on this matter to give a better idea of what new rules companies must face.

Now the findings of this probe will be published next month and that’s when X will be confirmed as not falling under the DMA because right now, these are speculations coming from sources who are familiar with the matter.

The Digital Markets Act is currently applicable to all big tech companies like Apple, Alphabet, Google, and Meta. The goal is to determine which companies are violating the rules and hindering competition for their gains. After the warnings are generated, they would be penalized financially with figures that go beyond the 10% global revenue and can reach 20% in situations where there are numerous breaches.

This particular law affects those with yearly sales that go beyond the $8.3 billion figure. Similarly, any platform services with more than $45M monthly users and 10k active users yearly would be penalized.

For now, the commission is refusing to speak on the matter. They hope to sidestep the crackdown regarding competition but X still faces so much scrutiny as the goal is to overcome dangerous content. It seems to be lacking big time in that department.

In July, regulators in the EU sent out warnings about X deceiving the masses. It was rolling out dangerous content where fines would go up to 6% of the company’s revenue. This is the case when the company fails to impress regulators with a justification for the behavior.

The crackdown against the firm’s content has sparked a lot of negative attention. Musk has used his app to gather support from former President Trump and even gone against woke ideology and mindsets.

He even went as far as to call out the government of Australia as fascists who are rolling out new laws to work against growing digital misinformation. This has to do mostly with social media pages.

Last month, Musk came head to head with the EU’s internal market head Thierry Breton about how the Frenchman warned in a new letter to better comply with the Digital Services Act. We’ve also seen the tech billionaire fight with the judge from Brazil’s Supreme Court and today, X is banned in the country for not tackling disinformation.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: WhatsApp Beta Tests Meta AI Voice Feature with UK and US Accent Options
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Beta Tests Meta AI Voice Feature with UK and US Accent Options

WhatsApp Beta for Android version 2.24.19.32 is here and there are some exciting features in the latest update. WhatsApp is currently working on a new feature with Meta AI voice which will allow users to choose different voices for Meta AI. This feature will surely make user interactions with Meta AI more personalized and fun.

The Meta AI voice feature is still under development but WhatsApp developers are working hard to make the feature perfect before its official release. WhatsApp Beta for Android version 2.24.19.32 is available on Google Play Store and that's where we came to know about Meta AI voice update.

WhatsApp is exploring different voices for its AI, including voices from the UK and USA. There will be three UK voices and two US voices. The voices will be in different pitches and tones and users will be able to choose from them. Users will be able to choose the voice which resonates the most with them to make their AI experience personalized. If you prefer a British accent, choose from UK voices and if you prefer an American one, choose a US voice.

WhatsApp is also working on giving AI voices that will be modeled after celebrities or public figures. This feature is still under development and it will take some time for it to get released, probably after the release of Meta AI voice. WhatsApp will also add more Meta AI languages and voices soon.

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A New Survey Shows the Biggest Challenges Marketers Are Facing In Adoption of AI

by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

What Factors are Important for a Link to Get Featured on Google's AI Overviews?

If website owners and SEOs want to establish the visibility for their content, they need to know how Google AI Overviews work. If they get to know how to identify links in AI Overviews with existing search results, websites can work on SEO. When you search something on Google, small AI generated responses appear at the top of the page and their sources appear at the right side along with the links. According to a survey, 21.1% of queries on Google trigger an AI Overview response out of 11,163 responses which have been analyzed. Each AI Overview summary had 8.9 links on average.

The link domains which saw the most AI Overviews youtube.com (3.88%), m.youtube.com (2.59%) and Wikipedia (3.76%). The report also found out that 46.3% of AI Overviews included links from top search results in the same query. 60.4% links in AI Overviews were also from related queries or had direct matches.

The researchers also integrated direct match, related and reformulated queries to search and found that 67.3% of the links in AI Overviews were from organic top search results. If a link has a high SERP position, there is a higher chance that the link will be featured on AI Overviews. If a link is ranked first, it has a 53% chance to be featured while a link which is ranked tenth has a 36.9% chance to be featured in AI Overviews. This trend isn't only for direct query, as it is also seen in related and reformulated queries. Other analysis included trends in unaccounted links which showed that YouTube and Wikipedia had a higher presence in specific AI Overviews domains.

So it is advised that websites should focus on having high SERP positions to get a position in AI Overviews. It is also important that they optimize YouTube content for relevant queries and target related and unformulated queries too.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Study Shows Privacy Policies on Different Tech Platforms Give a Hard Time to Advertisers to Manage their Ads
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Top AI Companies Commit To The White House’s Initiative Of Curbing Creation And Distribution Of Explicit Images

The White House has recently confirmed that a number of top tech giants are more than eager to curb the issues related to AI misuse. This includes the problem linked to producing and distributing explicit images.

The list includes Adobe, OpenAI, Common Crawl, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Cohere. All those participating in the cause also rolled out the measures they’re taking to stop their platforms from being used for this unlawful act. This includes the generation of nonconsensual pictures of adults and children which are classified as NCII and CSAM.

The issue is nothing new and has been gaining a lot of negative publicity for so long, especially since the trend of generative AI took center stage. The tech giants claimed to be committed more now than ever to safeguarding users from such acts that’s sexual abuse.

All the companies other than Common Crawl also mentioned how they would add feedback loops and stress-testing maneuvers to developmental processes. This is to protect against any AI models rolling out sexual abuse images. It would similarly be deleting nude pictures made through AI datasets when applicable.

The commitment is a serious one and from what we can tell from today’s announcement, it’s not any different from what we’ve heard from the past. All companies have made similar ones but no laws were outlined to action those that don’t stay true to their promises. Still, the fact that they do care and consider the need for change is a great step forward.

Meanwhile, it’s not hard to see that some tech giants were missing from the list including Meta, Apple, Google, and Amazon. These companies have been slammed since day one for not doing enough and not being on the list sends out a loud and clear message.

We’ve seen several big AI and tech firms make efforts for victims in the past that were impacted by non consenual images produced of them in a sexual manner. Their goals were linked to stopping their distribution, other than the usual federal way.

We’ve seen companies like StopNCII collaborate with other leading tech giants for a more impactful approach to deleing such content from databases. Meanwhile, other companies are committed to rolling out new tools that report these kinds of deepfakes and sexual images of users made without consent.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: OpenAI Says Its Latest ‘o1’ Model Excels In Complex Reasoning And Performs Better Than Humans In Math, Science, And Coding
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

OpenAI Says Its Latest ‘o1’ Model Excels In Complex Reasoning And Performs Better Than Humans In Math, Science, And Coding

OpenAI is making some extraordinary claims about its newest language model o1.

The company was seen announcing some breakthrough advancements in human reasoning and also outperforming the average human mind in certain domains. This includes math, coding, and also science.

The biggest advantage spoken about was certainly complex reasoning. This came in the form of a new blog post released by the AI giant who says it’s at the same level of human performance, if not better. This is the first time we’ve seen OpenAI claim such features but the actual benefits are still speculative.

For instance, it was hailed as scoring in the 89th percentile across various programming challenges which are brought out by Codeforces. Similarly, the firm talks about the model performing at the same level that would ensure it was amongst the top 500 students performing at the top of the AIME.

Furthermore, the company mentioned how o1 goes above and beyond the average performer in human subjects including those with PhD on a combination of chemistry, biology, and physics examinations. Wow, that’s certainly a major accomplishment, if that’s really the case.

However, experts are skeptical as testing in real-time is yet to be done. And until and unless that occurs, it’s hard to confirm.

Other than that, reinforced learning was discussed in detail including how o1 can simplify even the most complex equations through a chain of thought mechanism. This is done through a step-by-step maneuver where mistakes are rectified and adjusted before a final reply gets generated.

OpenAI also spoke about how the o1 model developed the best reasoning skills when compared to standard models out there today. But it’s still quite unclear how claimed reasoning might better comprehension of complex questions throughout certain areas like coding, math, science, and beyond.

When you look at things from the SEO perspective, content interpretation is enhanced and the capability to answer queries directly might be useful. It’s so wise to be careful and see testing done through third parties.

Remember, OpenAI needs to go above and beyond the classic benchmark that entails browbeating and rolling out objectives. Remember, the world needs evidence to understand if these claims are true or not. Adding capabilities to the AI model can better display realistic uses. What do you think?

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Gamelight Effect: Setting the Standard for Success in Rewarded UA
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Gamelight Effect: Setting the Standard for Success in Rewarded UA

Gamelight has emerged as a game-changer in the mobile gaming industry. Through its fresh take on rewarded user acquisition (UA), it has turned a once-overlooked tactic into a central driver for user growth. Gamelight's success has sparked a trend in the industry. Seeing the potential, startups and established companies are quickly introducing their own rewarded products, changing the way user acquisition is done.

Gamelight's Distinctive Strengths

Gamelight has revolutionised the rewarded UA landscape by deeply integrating user behaviour analysis, app usage data, and demographic insights to create comprehensive user profiles. These profiles enable the platform to deliver highly personalised game recommendations that align perfectly with individual preferences, significantly boosting user engagement and satisfaction. Furthermore, Gamelight’s platform rewards players by offering bonuses for extended gameplay and achieving milestones, which can be redeemed for gift cards and vouchers—strategies that not only enhance retention but also build strong player loyalty.

The platform’s AI-driven targeting ensures that users are presented with games they are most likely to enjoy, which results in improved retention rates and higher lifetime value (LTV). By focusing on key performance metrics such as ROAS, LTV, and long-term retention, Gamelight consistently delivers excellent results, giving its partners a distinct edge in both user acquisition and revenue growth.

What truly sets Gamelight apart is its ability to deliver users at scale. In a short time, it has become the leading rewarded channel in the industry, quickly surpassing its competitors.

Driving Industry-Wide Innovation

Gamelight's groundbreaking success has spurred a wave of innovation, inspiring both new startups and established ad companies to develop their own rewarded products. These companies recognised the potential of the rewarded UA model and have contributed to reshaping the industry landscape. As more businesses enter this space and innovate, the entire ecosystem benefits, leading to further growth and new opportunities.

Additionally, Gamelight has played a crucial role in expanding iOS's presence within the rewarded UA space. Previously, iOS had a minimal role in this area, but Gamelight’s influence has led to broader adoption, with more companies adopting its product model and integrating similar approaches into their offerings.

Rewarded Channels: Redefining the UA Landscape

Gamelight’s success has significantly shifted the role of rewarded channels in mobile gaming. Rewarded UA has now become a primary focus for many companies, with substantial portions of their marketing budgets allocated to these strategies. This transition is driven by the high-quality users and superior retention rates that rewarded channels offer compared to traditional methods. As a result, companies are able to attract more dedicated and engaged players, establishing new benchmarks in user acquisition.

Gamelight's innovative approach has transformed rewarded UA from a niche practice into a fundamental aspect of mobile game marketing. By redefining how game publishers interact with users, Gamelight has set new standards for retention and lifetime value (LTV). As the rewarded UA model gains traction, Gamelight continues to lead the way, driving success for its partners and shaping the future of mobile marketing through ongoing innovation.

Conclusion: The Path Forward for Rewarded UA

The landscape of rewarded UA has changed significantly thanks to Gamelight's groundbreaking innovations:

• Rewarded UA has grown into a vital strategy for mobile gaming, largely due to Gamelight’s innovative approach.
• Gamelight’s AI-driven platform has revolutionised user engagement for game publishers, resulting in higher retention rates and lifetime value (LTV).
• The success of Gamelight has sparked an increase in rewarded apps, validating the model and expanding the ecosystem.
• Gamelight views this growth as a positive trend, one that encourages ongoing innovation within the industry.
• As the rewarded UA sector continues to expand, Gamelight remains at the forefront, shaping the future of mobile game marketing and driving success for its partners.
• With its ongoing advancements, Gamelight is well-positioned to continue leading the evolution of the rewarded user acquisition landscape, setting the stage for future industry breakthroughs.

by Web Desk via Digital Information World