Apple And Google Join Hands To Stop Stalkers Misusing Bluetooth Location Trackers Including AirTags

Tech giant Google and Apple are teaming up to stop stalkers from being successful at their malicious actions.

The companies claim stalkers are misusing location trackers that make use of Bluetooth technology such as Apple’s own AirTag.

Both firms set out a draft entailing standards and some of the best practices involved in the tech industry today. This would be dedicated to the Internet Engineering Task Force and would stop unwanted tracking from taking place through Bluetooth devices. The news was confirmed by leading iPhone maker Apple through a press release mentioned on Tuesday.

Such a specification that combines input from device producers and safety groups enables people to get notified while getting tracked via Bluetooth and without any form of consent.

At the moment, users of Apple were provided with alerts on their respective devices about unwanted tracking technology that may be located near them. But this alert is not applicable to Android platforms or any other label for trackers.

Trackers of Bluetooth are trying to make way for huge benefits for users. But at the same time, they’re also trying to make way for means entailing unwanting tracking, and to solve the issue, action on an industry level is required. This was confirmed today by Google’s VP for engineering of Android devices.

While Air Tags from Apple and other trackers using BlueTooth are designed to work around issues linked to missing things such as keys, devices, and wallets, they’re at the same time trying to make way for stalking people. Hence, it’s very possible for anyone to slip AirTags or other things for tracking into a bag without gaining consent and without the ability to track locations.

One of the main elements here is linked to reducing the number of misuse cases that continue to arise as we speak. It’s a situation arising on the OS level and that means it can detect trackers produced by different firms on a number of devices that people utilize on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, some Bluetooth device firms including the likes of Samsun, Eufy, Tile, and Chipolo mentioned how supportive they are of this initiative.

Both tech giants Apple as well as Google are trying to address some feedback regarding this matter after a period of comments ends. And they hope to release a plan that implements all standards.

Furthermore, Apple claims that it hopes its features would be up for grabs toward the end of the 2023 period. And that would be supported across future versions of Android and iOS.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Chrome Browser’s Lock Icon Is Being Replaced With A More Neutral Option Amid Misleading Concerns

The Chrome Browser’s lock icon is going away and it’s getting replaced with another option that is deemed to be more neutral in design.

The news was published today where Chrome revealed how it was keen on transitioning the browser that is known to alert users about their connection being a secure one. Now, the plan is to put forward an option that is not only more neutral but a design that sets forward a better experience for users.

The reason for this great change is linked to research that proves how this current lock icon might serve as a security risk and is misleading as well.

For those wondering why the lock icon is going away? Well, it’s an artifact that arises from a period when we saw secure connections as the exception and not a norm. At that time, users were counting on this green-toned lock as a reminder that all connections were secure and there was nothing to worry about.

In the past, a lot of people assumed that sites such as finance and e-commerce used to require secure connections and such sites did not carry out transactions or did not need to have connections that were secure.

With time, that attitude was changing and we saw Android maker Google and a few other firms reveal how they wished to encourage publishers to go from one secure connection to the next to better the privacy of users and their respective safety.

The tech giant went as far as making this HTTPS connection a factor for ranking. But mind you, still, some experts feel HTTPS is pointless for sites that are non-commerce.

There was a recently published announcement set out by Chrome that states how HTTPS is rare and at one point, the Internet Explorer showed up as alerts so users would be aware of secure connections through HTTPS and how things were alright. In cases when the whole HTTPS was not common, this lock icon got attention to further protections given by HTTPS.

But that’s not true today as HTTPS has turned into a norm and not an exception. And Google is making sure Chrome evolves accordingly with time.

Google’s own latest research shed light on how such lock icons are misleading for so many people and it creates a sense of false security across the board.

This lock icon doesn’t mean that this site is safe but it means such connections are coming forward through a secure protocol.

Some people used to think that this lock icon was a clear definition of a safe website and hence it automatically trusted that this website people were visiting was completely safe. But that is quite a harmful ordeal as phishing and malware websites tend to commonly showcase lock icons.

Today, Google says its studies prove that people keep on thinking that this lock icon is linked to safety.

Therefore, they want the world to know that this lock icon arose in the year 2016 after the research arose proved how so many people misunderstood the true meaning. And despite the firm’s efforts into clearing up the misconception, just a small majority, 11% understood what that lock really represented.

While the misunderstanding isn’t harmless, all phishing websites make use of HTTPS and tend to put out lock icons.

And now that this confusion is increasing as we speak, even organizations like the FBI are putting out guidance regarding the icon and how it doesn’t confirm website safety.

As a replacement, we’re hearing about a Tune Icon. This is a better representation of how secure a website is without trying too hard to imply safety.

Read next: Google Bans More Than 173,000 Developer Accounts And 1.4 Million Play Store Apps To Combat Malicious Fraud
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

A Closer Look At How Cutting-Edge Generative AI Technology Is Altering The Marketing Landscape

The world we’re living in today is clearly getting impacted by the evolution of technology. And recently, the hottest debate is linked to generative AI and its role in altering the marketing landscape.

The marketing sector is one that continues to evolve as we speak. And for businesses to stay ahead of the game, they need to be mindful of all the trends designed to keep a lasting impression on the audience.

Generative AI has arrived with a bang and today, it’s being hailed as one of the best and most groundbreaking advancements in the past few years. The impact on the marketing sector is believed to be huge and to help give the world a better picture of how that was made possible, well, we’re bringing forward a new study that highlights just that and more.

An infographic from Novacloud shows us how AI has really taken a toll on marketing trends. It’s a visual journey like no other that displays how such technology is affecting today’s landscape, for better or worse.

It’s all about curating customized content and elevating audience engagement too. Remember, generative AI redefines a great many possibilities linked to both firms and marketers. It’s truly a captivating world and one that needs to be explored further in terms of how it’s getting reshaped into something worth connecting with people and bringing out the most meaningful outcomes imaginable.

Today, a whopping 77% of firms are making use of AI technology including generative AI. The latter is the term reserved for producing an algorithm for new content that makes use of existing content. So when you feel content that’s already present in the market in the system, what you end up with is something evolutionary.

This could be in the form of audio, code, text, images, simulations, and video as well.

At the end of the day, the goal is to teach systems based on machine learning. By making use of existing content, the machine must make use of AI to come up with content that’s new.

Tools like ChatGPT are making use of 45 terabytes and that’s a lot. You can think of it as a huge amount of library space, bookshelf space, and a cost worth $12 million. Today, so many marketing professionals are finding new ways to better old problems.

So as we speak, the world continues to rapidly adopt the concept of Generative AI and so many sectors are using it today. Both high-tech/telecom and legal services stand at 28% while finance stands at 24%.

Retail is 22% while Automotives is 20%. Healthcare is 14% but this is just the start as trends have really picked up the pace in such a short span of time. Research has proven that in the past 5 years, Generative AI use has more than doubled.

Coming to the marketing sector, it has impacted email marketing, customer service, and marketing lead scoring the most with figures ranging between 83% to 87%. Fraud stands at 64% while cross-selling stands at 63% and service chatbots stand at 47%.

AI is really assisting with different growth areas and it’s making business productivity go up by 40%. Therefore, it would not be wrong to mention how such smart tools are really paving the way for more opportunities. Common ones that are in use today include Bard, Nova, ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Make A Video.

But despite achieving so many breakthroughs, it would not be wrong to mention experts feel the tools are still in their infancy. This is just the start and experts feel there are endless opportunities coming soon.

Read next: New Survey Says US Consumers Don’t Understand Common Terms Users To Describe AI Products
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Over a Quarter of Internet Users Say Their Browsers Are Too Cluttered

The internet has become a core component of the daily routines of billions of people around the world. According to recent data, over 5 billion people spend approximately 6 and half hours a day surfing the web, but there is a major problem that prevents their user experience from being optimized. Research conducted at Aalto University revealed that approximately 25% of people that use the internet everyday are beginning to get frustrated by cluttered web browsers.

Based on the findings in this research, users need to open up multiple tabs if they are attempting to conduct some kind of research. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that users are often hesitant to close tabs since this can make their research more challenging than might have been the case otherwise.

Additionally, users are facing problems with trying to perform an assortment of diverse tasks on one web browser. Most users have tabs open that service a wide array of needs because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up getting everything done in time. However, this leads to even more clutter, and as more and more tabs are opened, this clutter only becomes worse.

The only way to reduce this stress is to adopt a problem centric strategy that will lead users to modifying their behaviors. Closing a tab after you are done using it can allow you to decrease stress levels, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, most users prefer to just not think about stress while they are in the midst of experiencing it.

The purpose of this research was to shed some light on usage practices and how they can be changed to meet the needs of the day. Pop ups and other forms of ads might worsen the level of clutter that is inherent to browsers, which makes it necessary for companies like Google to do what they can to decrease intrusive ads such as these ones as soon as possible.

Read next: This Report Reveals Widespread Government Crackdowns on Twitter and Facebook
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New AI-Based Decoder That Enables People’s Minds To Be Read Non-Invasively Has Been Created For The First Time

The power of AI technology cannot be denied and it appears that with each passing day, we’re getting to hear more about developments.

A recent breakthrough in this regard is now being spoken about that translates brain function into a long stream of continuous text that continues to be created. It’s a massive development that enables a person’s thoughts to be read in the most non-invasive manner and that too, for the first time.

This innovative decoder may even end up reconstructing speech with the help of great accuracy when people are busy listening to stories or imagining them in their minds, silently. And that too, only makes use of fMRI scan data. Meanwhile, decoding systems of the past now require surgical implants and this latest advancement puts up the prospect of how new ways are restoring speech in some people and these are struggling in terms of making communications due to strokes or other kinds of motor neuron conditions.

One neuroscientist mentioned how such a development is truly shocking because it’s working out so well too. And working on something like this for 15 years and now finally seeing it happen before your eyes is really something.

Such achievements go above the limitations that arise with fMRI which means that while such methods may map out your brain’s activity at a specific area with great resolution, there might be some kind of time difference that does make the whole concept of tracking in real time not a very fruitful ordeal.

This kind of lag does exist because the fMRI scans are designed for measuring the kind of response in terms of blood flow to your brain’s functions. And that would peak and go back to the baseline over a period of 10 seconds. Therefore, it means this is the most powerful type of scanner that can’t improve on something like this. It’s not only very noisy but sluggish in terms of neural activity.

Such limitations do make it so much harder to evaluate your mind’s overall activity in terms of natural speech as it provides a huge mishmash of data that arises over a timespan of a few seconds.

But with the development of such huge language models, you’re representing speech and giving some scientists the chance to evaluate various neuronal patterns that correspond to words having a certain type of meaning instead of attempting to read things out, one word at a time.

Certainly, it was not very easy or straightforward. You really had to undergo a very intensive learning process for this study, three volunteers needed to be inside a scanner for a span of 16 hours each. And they were busy listening to podcasts. Then the decoder underwent training to match your brain’s activity and that meant saying hello to huge language models like GPT-1 which happened to be a precursor for ChatGPT.

In terms of non-invasive technology, experts are calling this a huge development when compared to what was done in the past.

Read next: ChatGPT Just Failed This Accounting Exam
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Instagram’s New Features: Enhancing User Experience with the Ability to See Who Liked Your Story, Add Captions, and Post Comments

Meta-owned Instagram has become a popular social media platform with over one billion active users globally. The platform has evolved itself over the years with new features and updates. According to the tweets posted by Alessandro Paluzzi, a mobile developer and leaker, as well as Hammod, the platform is currently working on three new updates that are meant to increase engagement among users.

One of the newest features that Instagram has rolled out is the ability to see who liked a story after 48 hours. Previously, users were only able to see who viewed their story and who reacted within the first 24 hours of posting it. However, with this new update, users can now see a list of everyone who liked their story, even if it has been more than 24 hours since it was posted.

Another feature that Instagram is currently working on is the ability to add captions to stories. Currently, users can only add text overlays or stickers to their stories, but with this new feature, users will be able to add longer captions that appear at the bottom of their stories. This will allow users to provide more context or information about the content they are sharing, making it easier for their followers to understand the purpose of the story.

Lastly, Instagram is also working on the ability to post comments on Stories. Currently, users can only react to stories with emojis or send direct messages to the user who posted the story. However, with this new feature, users will be able to post comments directly on the story, making it easier to have conversations and engage with their followers.

These new features are a clear indication that Instagram is committed to enhancing the user experience on the platform. With the ability to see who liked your story after 48 hours, users can have a better understanding of their audience. The ability to add captions to Stories will also make it easier for users to provide more information about their content, while the ability to post comments on Stories will foster more engagement and conversations between users.

Hence it can be said that Instagram will continue to be a leading social media platform with innovative features that keep users engaged and connected. With the introduction of these new features, people can expect to see more engagement and better insights into their audience. It is visible that Instagram is committed to providing its users with the best possible experience and will continue to roll out new features to ensure a better experience.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Israel Is Making Use Of New Facial Recognition Technology For Surveillance Of Palestinians, Warns Amnesty International

The state of Israel is doing everything in its power to keep Palestinians at bay. And if that includes constant monitoring then so be it.

The country is currently making use of trial-based facial recognition systems to undergo surveillance of Palestine so it can get more intelligence reports. These confirmations were recently put out by the general secretary of Amnesty International through a chilling warning revealed today.

The liberal charity announced how it was working hard in terms of growing its surveillance network and dousing down deep into the nitty and gritty details of another country that it sees as enemies. And this behavior was not okay as it just strengthens the grip that the Israeli Government has over Palestine.

More details mentioned how both Hebron and the occupied East Jerusalem were making use of facial technology for the sake of recognition. It supported a dense network comprising CCTV cameras that kept all Palestinians at bay and under a state of constant observation.

This sort of surveillance further leads to the creation of hostile environments, the firm continued to explain.

Such systems dubbed Red Wolf are designed to track Palestinians' moves and also automate the restrictions regarding their movements, it continued to explain.

So when Palestinians end up going through checkpoints at the level where such a group operates, their face gets scanned without them even knowing this. And when compared to biometric entries seen on databases that are exclusive and reveal information about Palestinians, it’s just a matter of invasion on Israel’s part.

This facial recognition system makes use of data to see if individuals may pass checkpoints and carry out a biometric enrollment of any new facial scan. If there is no entry for such an individual, they would be denied any passage.

This sort of monitoring is now getting dubbed as gamified while another system called Blue Wolf which is controlled through a platform and gives out rankings based on a figure related to the number of people in Palestine that get registered.

Commanders from Israel have sent out presents to battalions that get the highest score. This would provide a great incentive in terms of keeping Palestinians under control. Moreover, such an app also gives soldiers of Israeli troops the chance to get details about Palestinians present on another major database dubbed Wolf Pack.

The general secretary adds how they were able to document how a new kind of facial recognition system could ensure the draconian type of restrictions that would limit the movements of Palestinians that use biometric data in an illegal manner.

Additionally, there is a huge threat they have in terms of providing massive force and arbitrary arrest. Such Palestinians would now be forced to contend with the huge risk of getting tracked down through modern technology and algorithms that bar them from entering the neighborhoods depending on data stored across surveillance databases.

Read next: People find artwork generated by artificial intelligence to be less creative
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World