Meta is expanding its use of generative AI with new sticker creation tools for Instagram

As per the recent leak, social media giant, Instagram is experimenting with a new generative Artificial Intelligence-based stickers update within the platform. This new feature will allow consumers to create their unique stickers using this technology.

This update will turn out to be a source of creativity for consumers as they can make stickers of their choice with AI's assistance.

The following techniques are intended to function by producing numerous variations of a certain design and then scoring each one according to predetermined standards like color, shape, and general appeal. The user is then shown the top designs for selection.

The app has been onto this update for some time. It has been paying attention to current technologies in recent years, and these updates are examples of such focus.

The following update can turn out to be a game-changer for Instagram, as AI is currently the talk of the town. Also, stickers play an important role in unleashing consumers' creativity within the platform. By allowing them to create their stickers, the platform is giving them even more tools to express themselves and connect with their followers.

Moreover, the update is most likely to be engaged with brands and internet influencers for marketing objectives. Creating unique and aligning stickers to the brand will allow them to stand out and engage with their audience in new ways.

Still, AI's impact on creativity seems to be a question mark in many places. As per many experts, reliance on this technology can kill creativity and limit creative expressions among individuals.

The company hasn't still announced the final release date of this feature. It is currently in testing phases and is hoped to be rolled out soon to all individuals.

Thus, to sum up, the latest update of Artificial Intelligence-based stickers carries a strong potential to be the game changer for the king of social media. Further, it will provide a variety of tools and experiences to its consumers to unleash and bring out their creativity. However, it raises some doubts about its impact, but it remains a mystery how the consumers will respond and react to this upcoming update.

Image: Alessandro Paluzzi
Read next: 52% Of Search Experts Believe AI Will Be Very Important In The Future For Delivering Relevant Search Results
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Be Aware of the Alarming Rise of Phishing Scams Attacking Your Business

The latest Avast survey uncovers phishing attempts are becoming increasingly prevalent and are directed at your company more frequently than ever before.

According to a recent study, the frequency of spoofing and scamming attacks climbed by a shocking 40 percent during the early months of 2023 compared to the exact span of the previous year.

According to the Avast Threat Report, cybercriminals are increasingly using a popular hacking tactic in which they imitate well-known brands and trick targets by claiming they are entitled to a rebate. In fact, this has become the most widely used method of raid in the existing threat landscape.

According to findings, this particular kind of hacking saw a 25% in the United Kingdom. Notably, a specific fraud concerning emails vowing refunds for undelivered packages experienced a substantial wave in frequency during this time. In addition to making false refund promises, the fraudulent emails mentionedearlier also had attachments. Once downloaded and started, these attachments would enable the installation of destructive malware like the infamous data stealer RedLine.

To deploy the information crook, the assaulter employed a variety of methods, including distributing OneNote or Adobe Sign documents. In the case of the former, the files included add-ons that could control the malicious download process. As for the last, detractors used the honest service by delivering a link to host the malicious program, thereby fooling easy targets into downloading it.

Researchers recently reported that the ultimate objective of these kinds of assaults is to obtain valuable private data that may then be utilized for fraud. This critical finding was recently uncovered by investigators, highlighting the grave risk posed by these increasingly refined cyber threats.

According to Jakub Kroustek, the Spyware Research Director (RD), has the vision that one's data has no value is a grave untruth. In reality, scammers devote significant time and resources to swipe such data precisely because it carries immense value to them. This emphasizes the need that people and organizations to maintain alertness and use strong security measures to protect their confidential data.

In today's digital landscape, it is now extremely difficult to believe any message or communication on the outside, regardless of its obvious source. Even messages that seem to be from trusted individuals such as friends, bosses, or prominent brands may be fraudulent, thanks to the constantly shifting strategies used by fraudsters. This unfortunate fact was recently underlined by experts, highlighting the need for constant circumspection and warning when navigating the digital; world.

Read next: New Alert Issued Against Trojan Android Apps On Google Play Store That Secretly Run And Decrypt Malicious Payloads
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

AI Chatbots Are Taking Over The World As Downloads Reach Millions Across The App Store

AI chatbots are really taking over the world and if you fail to believe us, well, you might want to take a closer look at the App Store data.

Figures for downloads are skyrocketing in the App Store and this is not the first time that we’ve said something like this. In fact, we agree that such things will not last forever but by the looks of it, it’s super hot at this moment in time.

What’s hot is how there are millions of people installing it and the dollars are coming in hot. And while we do see quite a lot of apps with the chatbot theme present around us, making it big on the App Store, this one is on a new level altogether.

The past few weeks in particular have been great and it’s quite in demand right now too. Many wonder why they did not get their hands on it in the past and if you’re one of them, what are you waiting for?

So many chatbots from the AI world are setting forward major native interfaces for the ChatGPT tool and they make use of crazy pricing strategies. They’re charging a little more than what such AI tools charge on the web. And this particular web interface is quite simple and most of us are carrying out chat in this regard as well. A point does come where you wonder how things can be this easy right?

Well, you’re wrong in that aspect. We make use of Explorer to figure out which apps have the AI and chatbot terms aligned against their names. And there were plenty making the $1 million target each month across the App Store. There were a total of five different chats doing just that.

They included the likes of AskAI, Genie, AI Smith, AI Chat, and ChatOn. This particular list is ranked out thanks to revenue at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, as per recent estimates, the top five applications located on the Million Clue ended up making an earning total of $20 million in terms of net revenue, thanks to the App Store in the month of January.

This is the net so we’re talking about what happy developers ended up keeping and were able to reinvest in things like advertisements. Tech giant Apple received $8 million in terms of its fees.

Developers make use of so many different types of apps and therefore, you end up guessing how many years they actually took to create them. And we’ll give you a hint of how that period was not very long at all.

• Also read: The World’s Most Downloaded Apps For April 2023 Revealed

Coming down to its daily revenue and how it changed with time, we can see how it has come a long way in terms of where it began and where it happens to be present at this moment in time.

At the start of this year, the group proved how it was earning a combined total of $2.9 million of net revenue. All such platforms happened to be around and there was this exception linked to Ask AI.

The combined total went up to around $3.9 million by the month of March and this further shot up to $9.8 million in the month of April.

This is all net so it’s the final deal of what developers would end up keeping.

There is even another AI-related application that many witnessed rising up the charts in the period called Ninja AI. By the looks of it, the popularity is rising.

H/T: AppFigures

Read next: 2023 Is Proving To Be A Strong Year For Twitter As Mobile Revenue Peaks Despite Fall In Downloads
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

The World’s Most Downloaded Social Media Apps For April 2023 Revealed

A new month means a new beginning but it also marks the chance to glance over the previous month’s performance. And today, we’re taking a look at the most downloaded apps on the Google Play Store and App Store for April 2023.

It’s time for analysts to crunch up the figures and rank the apps as the most installed platforms by users from all over the world. And we’d just like to inform you that there were not any major surprises.

The news comes to us thanks to App Intelligence who did a great job at laying down the statistics regarding the matter. The numbers have been crunched and they’re being ranked as per the most downloaded applications so let’s take a look!

Instagram isn’t very interesting as there are no surprises related to how it’s the most downloaded application around the globe. The same was true for March and we’re seeing it be the same for April as well.

The month of April ended with a staggering 44 million new figures for downloads from the Apple App Store as well as the Play Store by Google. But right behind that was TikTok and as expected, it was great to see its sibling Facebook ending the month on another high with just 38 million downloads.

Both Instagram and arch-rival TikTok has been a couple for quite some time now so we were forced to see through the most downloaded articles in which period they weren’t associated with one another and the very close competition they included. And that went as far back as the year 2021 March.

But do not worry, the app was close behind Facebook and that had nearly 37 million downloads across April, thanks to estimates provided.

Both WhatsApp and CapCut were rounded out of the leading five apps for the month of April across both of these stores and that added a staggering 31 million and 27 million for users in both of these pools as per the recent estimates.

CapCut is really trying hard to make it big and we’re seeing it rise to dominance for quite some time now. And there is a very good reason why. This video editor is making waves in the market that has a lot of cash and there are not too many competitors out there today.

Others like Splice and Facetune are also present but CapCut may really win the race and take them over, thanks to the competition provided by TikTok.

It was revealed how April really brought great success for CapCut as it turned out to be the most downloaded application from the App Store and more than 50% of its downloads happened to be from there.

With time, it was slowly but surely in the charts for revenue too. And we do feel it could make it up big in terms of dominance and be much ahead of others during the summertime.

Other than this app called CapCut, April was not too interesting. Both Meta and Android maker Google were leaders across the list and we do expect that to happen.

Meanwhile, the estimates did also prove how the top ten most installed applications around the globe were seen making their way toward 270 million devices in the month of April. That’s a huge 12% decline from the month of March and it’s quite noticeable if you ask us. Clearly, not a lot to hide in that regard.

With May arriving, it’s going to see if trends remain the same or if some major changes do come forward.

H/T: App Figures

Read next: Nearly 25% of Global Phone And US Calls Are Spam or Fraud
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Facebook’s Paid Online Event program is being terminated by Meta

Facebook’s paid online event service is coming to an end, as Meta the parent company of the platform, has decided to shut it down. The service was known for letting content creators as well as brands earn revenue from organizing online events. Viewers were required to pay in order to enter the online event.

Three years ago, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was rolled out globally to assist business accounts in growing their businesses as well as give creators more opportunity to earn from the platform. However, things have started to change as Meta has decided to spend more time addressing the problems faced by content creators.

According to the platform, as the world is changing, such online paid events are now a thing of the past. According to one of the officials, with creators now preferring meeting their viewers personally instead of hosting online events, the company is shifting its focus to solving the issues faced by the creator community. The program will no longer be available starting next month, and if anyone wants to host any such event, they only have time until May 8.

Initially, at the time of the program’s introduction, it was announced that all of the money generated by any creator would be kept by the creator and that the platform wouldn’t charge any fees. The announcement was repeated over the next three years, but at the end, Meta decided to put an end to the service.

It won’t be the first time any such service has been made unavailable. With short video content starting to get famous, Meta decided to discontinue the live shopping program and start working on a new video format for content. However, Facebook is not the only platform where such features are being removed. Clubhouse, an audio chat room application, experienced a similar action when fifty percent of its employees were fired by the company.

All that’s left to see is what steps Meta will be taking in order to achieve its new goal of assisting creators with the problems they have been facing and if any other services will be taken down in the future.

Read next: YouTube Is Working On Enhancing Its Channel Display Options So Creators Can Maximize Engagement
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Nearly 25% of Global Phone And US Calls Are Spam or Fraud

Quite a few people who are based in the US have begun to pay attention to the striking rise in spam calls that they have been receiving as of late. A study conducted by Hiya recently revealed that around 25% of all phone calls made in the US are nuisance calls, and 0.73% are outright fraud attempts with all things having been considered and taken into account.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, it bears mentioning that the number of calls that are flagged as spam has actually decreased by 26% between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. This still averages out to 14.5 spam calls per person per month, which basically means that regular Americans receive approximately one spam call every two days or so.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there has still been a rise in the proportion of fraud calls in the first quarter of 2023. Whereas fraud calls comprise around 0.73% of all calls in general, they come up to 1.8% of the total if we just look at this quarter.

One explanation for this is the holiday season in Q4 2022. Spam calls usually go up in this period because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making people more likely to fall for them. Hence, spam calls are usually lower than might have been the case otherwise during the first quarter of a year, which seems to suggest that the number is actually stagnant.

However, a stagnation in the growth rate of spam calls is actually a heartening sign. It indicates that these calls are not seeing all that much success, and if the current trend persists we might see a marked decline in such calls over the next few years. Most of these calls involve medical scams, so consumers need to be on their guard if they receive a call that asks them to provide any type of medical information to the person on the other end.

Read next: Apple Hits New Record As The Average Selling Price For iPhones Stands At An All-Time High
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Android Users To Get Relief As Google Collaborates With Samsung To Kill Apps Running Unnecessarily In Backgrounds

A common complaint that we’ve seen arise from Android users is how so many apps continue to run unnecessarily in backgrounds. But it appears that Google may have found a solution to this.

The problem is encountered more with Android than iOS as the former does not kill such apps that continue to function without many people even noticing. The end result is battery drainage and that’s never appreciated for obvious reasons.

Today, the Android maker says it is working hard to address such background inconsistencies that are linked to Android 14 as it collaborates with Samsung by getting a new buy-in.

This simply means the South Korean tech giant is going to make it easier to get rid of such apps that developers try to manipulate by allowing them to run continuously. And when asked why, they come up with the excuse that it might restrict background work or prevent some key foreground services. So then they blame poor app performance on this.

While some developers feel the idea is good, others claim to be working around Android’s guidance and also added how following every restriction was not possible.

Today, Google says it has a starting goal with Android 14 and that’s designed to make it so much simpler for a few developers to produce applications that work in a consistent manner through several Android devices.

Google is on the search to solve the problems and challenges arising. And for that, they’re setting out deeper collaborations with various Android hardware producers to ensure APIs are readily available for conducting background work. They are those that get support in a predictable manner and arise consistently throughout the ecosystem.

Today, it’s Samsung who is getting the honor of the privilege of being the first to collaborate on this front. It’s all being made possible thanks to a new One UI 6.0 that enables foreground services to function appropriately on Android 14 while being given a guarantee to work so well, provided they align with the new policy set out by Android regarding APIs.

Samsung adds how this partnership came about in the creation of a unified policy that it feels will work well for all of its Galaxy users.

Alongside this news, we saw Google put forward a trio of changes that users can expect soon to arrive. For starters, there would be a clause to declare types of foreground services while requesting permission and when it’s necessary to use those.

Secondly, there would be a new data transfer procedure that indicates the job type. This would convert the whole experience of managing huge user uploads and downloads into a much more smoother experience. And lastly, the company’s new policies for Google Play would ensure there is the right use of foreground services. And that is what initiated such job transfers to arise in the first place.

Moreover, all developers were also requested to send feedback on the matter to ensure consistent results.

Read next: Predators Are Using Webcams to Prey on Children According to This Study
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World