Twitter's Hide and Seek: Disappearing Checkmarks and Secret Likes

Are you sick of being judged because you have a nice blue checkmark next to your Twitter username? Prepare to conceal it, along with your tweet likes and in-app subscriptions, very soon. Twitter has some exciting news for you!

Twitter is working on alternatives to allow users to hide their blue checkmarks in what appears to be a subtle self-criticism. If you have a Twitter Blue subscription, you will soon have access to a toggle that magically removes your blue tick, as spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi. However, some behaviors, including publishing lengthier tweets or using text editing tools, may reveal your Twitter Blue status. As a result, if you opt to go anonymous, you may have to give up some features.

Wasn't the blue checkmark the ultimate status sign, denoting the chosen few? Wasn't it a symbol of power, democratized by Elon Musk when he cried excitedly, "Power to the people"? Apparently, the flawed view of the checkmark drove the development of this new function. You may now donate money to Twitter 2.0 without fear of being tagged as an Elon Musk supporter.

To be honest, it's a little perplexing. Elon's original idea was to make people want the blue checkmark so much that they would pay $8 monthly. And now Twitter wants people who have it to be able to hide it? Since it's in development, there must be a market for it, and based on the most recent data, Twitter appears to be one of them.

But wait, there's more! Twitter is also empowering individuals to manage what others view. Consider the ability to conceal your likes and subscriptions from inquisitive eyes. These new toggles, as demonstrated in an image posted by T(w)itter Daily News, will allow you to hide your likes tab and even prohibit Twitter's API feed from accessing that data. You may also keep your subscriptions private, following whatever interests you without fear of criticism.

This has the potential to be a game changer for adult entertainers and anyone looking to share NSFW content with the public. It might pave the way for new growth opportunities and position Twitter as a rival to companies like OnlyFans for creative monetization.

Prepare to play hide and seek on Twitter! Soon, you can remove that blue tick, keep your preferences hidden, and pursue your passions without fear of judgment. Twitter's new features may add mystery and intrigue to your social media experience.

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by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

E-Commerce’s Top Trio: Electronics, Toys, and Fashion Dominate Sales

According to the latest data shared by Statista, electronic appliances, toys, and do-it-yourself items, including clothing and fashion, are currently the top 3 areas hosting most of the purchases made online. The report says that these areas account for almost 2/3 of the online sales made worldwide.

The report further added that even though e-commerce runs throughout the year, the purchases reach their peak during three mega sale events, including Amazon Prime Day, which recently came to an end on July 12th, followed by the Black Friday sale, which starts the day after Thanksgiving and is considered the official start of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday is followed by Cyber Week, which starts on the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

These three mega campaigns are crucial for the e-commerce industry because they generate a significant portion of the total online shopping revenue. People look forward to these events to find discounts and grab the products they want at lower prices.

It’s not surprising that electric appliances are at the top of the list because they are usually expensive things that people buy, like smartphones, laptops, and others such as washing machines. These items are important for many people and can be quite costly, so it makes sense that they are popular during online shopping campaigns. People are often looking for deals and discounts on these products to save money while getting the things they need for their homes or personal use.

Fashion taking up almost twenty percent of global e-commerce revenue is quite impressive when anyone thinks about it. Even though individual fashion items may not be as expensive as electronic devices, fashion makes up for that by selling a large quantity of items. So, while each fashion item may not have a high price, many people buy lots of fashion items, which adds up to a significant amount of money. People love to shop for clothes, shoes, and accessories online, and the fashion industry is able to make a lot of revenue by selling a large volume of these items.

The experts at Statista believe that buying food online has the potential to grow a lot. They predict that the revenue from online food shopping could increase from over $300 billion in 2023 to more than $600 billion in 2027. That’s a big jump in just a few years. However, even with this growth, the revenue from online food shopping won’t reach the same level as the three big segments mentioned earlier. So, while online food shopping is expected to grow significantly, it won’t surpass the revenue generated by those popular shopping periods anytime soon. It is forecast that in the upcoming 4 years, sales in tech will enter the trillion-dollar zone.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Bill Gates’ Blog About AI Risks: Emphasizing Employee Retraining and Support in the Evolving Workplace

By now, we are all familiar with the breakthrough of Artificial Intelligence that has revolutionized industries and reshaped our lives innovatively. Yet, as excitement surged with its transformative impact, a corresponding rise in hysteria and unease was observed, primarily impacting workers and learners.

Bill Gates, an avid supporter of AI, published a blog post on Tuesday discussing AI and its risks. In it, he challenges this fear, the drawbacks of AI, by leaving behind an optimistic overview regarding the efficient use of AI technology and society having to adapt accordingly. Gates states that AI will impact the workplace and that workers require retraining.

The Microsoft cofounder considers that the future of AI is not as promising as it appears to be, nor is it as bleak as it seems. He states that the stakes may be high, but he has a positive outlook on managing AI tech. He compares the introduction of AI with revolutionary advancements that people were first uncertain about but later learned the usefulness of inventions like computers, cars, and calculators.

Highlighting teachers' concerns regarding computers and calculators decades ago and how they stressed over those technologies stifling their students' learning skills, Gates establishes parallels between those worries about using AI in essay writing. He references a teacher, Cherie Shields, who uses AI in her classrooms. She suggested adapting to the new tech, relating AI to how teachers first taught students how to use search engines for their studies, and recommending lesson plans based on using ChatGPT to assist with essay writing and learning.

Gates also discusses workers’ worry about AI replacing their roles and possibly leaving them unemployed. Even people in executive posts fear they risk unemployment due to AI. The findings from a survey commissioned by Checkr, an employee screening service, revealed that 79% of workers feared that AI threatened their job and income. But on the other hand, 86% of the respondents would accept salary reductions in exchange for reduced working hours. Gates further emphasizes the importance of workers receiving support and retraining to successfully adapt to the progression to an AI-powered workplace, leaving it up to the governments and businesses to ensure that they're not neglecting workers.

Gates claims that AI’s impact will not be like the Industrial Revolution but will be as drastic as the introduction of personal computers. A Goldman Sachs research announced that Generative AI like ChatGPT could impact 300 million jobs. But that finding doesn’t imply that 300 million people would become unemployed, but instead reveals the potential automation of some elements of their professions.

Additionally, Gates asserts that word processing applications didn't eliminate office work but permanently altered it. If employers and employees evolved and adapted to it, they can manage in an AI-powered world. AI will impact White-collar professions, such as the legal, administrative, and finance fields, the most when compared to blue-collar industries, which would be least affected.

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by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

YouTube Evolving For its Content Creators

YouTube is the most influential social media site in the entire world. What makes the website so unique and better than any other media app is its open platform policy for video uploading by anyone. The idea that YouTube runs its underlying principle of exchanging information, ideas, and content attracts people from all walks of life since the platform will always have something to offer to its viewer.

It is essential for YouTube content creators to not only make good content but to come up with dazzling titles that are meaningful to the video itself and attract the viewer in the first place. Therefore, coming up with good titles for YouTube videos can be hectic.

Enter YouTube AI-powered tool that suggests the video creators with titles based on the video description and transcript. The way this new YouTube AI tool works is pretty simple; all you have to do is fill out the YouTube Studio video description column, and the new title will appear under the title field area in the upload flow. The AI-powered system will gather signals from the app to further increase the tool's accuracy to suggest more precise and relevant ways for video titles. Although the uploader can go ahead and title their videos immediately, or if they need assistance, the video title suggestion option is always available.

According to YouTube, the only downside of this option is that the title suggestion will be given within a few hours because the systems will take time to assess the content entirely and then develop video title suggestions.

But a video title suggestion tool isn’t something YouTube is investing its AI power in. Recently a video thumbnail A/B testing feature was added with the same purpose to increase the performance of quality content.

What's more interesting is that YouTube is expanding its efforts to make the platform a more safe and neutral place for its users. The company is carrying out creator’s voluntary surveys on gender identity, race, and ethnicity to promote fairness in the most unbiased manner. The initial creator survey was done in 2020 as a trial experiment to gain insight into how the YouTube processes help user segments. Therefore, the company is expanding its approach to reshaping its influence on its users and content creators by expanding its program to various regions.

YouTube gave an official statement in which they show the intention to make sure that their system is free of any unintentional bias. In the meantime, they provide the artists with equal opportunities. The statement on YouTube's behalf accepted that their existing process is limited because they only have information about the content, not the creators themselves. As they hope to seek further information about the artists, YouTube aims towards a safer and more neutral platform for its content creators.

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by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Meta’s CTO Admits That The Term Metaverse Does Lack Clarity And Definition

If you’re still a little confused with the term metaverse and continue to wonder if that word ended up doing more harm than any good for its company, well, you’re not the only one.

The tech giant’s CTO recently gave the company’s users the chance to ask him anything under the sun and during that discussion, we got to know quite a few interesting things.

Believe it or not, two whole years have gone by since we last heard about the firm rebranding itself. The entire purpose was to put dedicated emphasis on the metaverse. And at that time and until today, people continue to remain baffled as to what the metaverse meant and what it is.

But the company’s CTO is very understanding of this behavior and wants you to know that the confusion is valid.

Andrew Bosworth claimed that those running the firm’s development sector that looks after the metaverse requested him to embark on a unique question-and-answer session. He was thrown all sorts of queries in his direction and via his story on the Instagram app, he got a huge list of intrigued users that had so much to talk about.

Bosworth hosted the session and took all queries including what he felt about the new and much anticipated Quest 3 headset and what he liked in his coffee too. But one point that really did take him and other executives by surprise was a query related to what he felt about the Metaverse doing more harm than good.

At first, the top CTO launched but he told users that while the term was not incorrect, some issues did arise in terms of it lacking a clear vision. Yes, there was confusion as it’s ambiguous and if you sat down to describe it in detail, you might struggle.

Later, he goes on to compare it to the great confusion many faced during the start of the 1990 era. This is when the word internet arose and people didn’t know what to expect. And yes, in case you did not know, it’s still rather hard to define what exactly the web means in today’s day and age. Yes, we’re using it but if we were asked to explain using simple terms, we just might struggle.

The issue with the metaverse is linked to how people have all kinds of understandings of this term. It’s quite normal when you are working hard to create such types of technologies.

But he did add that Meta never wished that the process of rebranding would be able to get so much spotlight. He felt that no one would ever notice but they did and the corporation went above and beyond its goals linked to the world of rebranding.

One year back, insiders at the company spoke about the CEO and his never-ending chats linked to the metaverse. It was his only purpose and all efforts were directed toward it as he strongly felt this was the future.

And despite the millions of funds allocated for this purpose, it just failed miserably in terms of lifting up and getting the success Zuckerberg envisioned.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Here Are America’s Most Profitable Corporations

The stock market has been going through an extended period of turbulence, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, most companies within the US have been enjoying their most profitable year in 2022. Data from Fortune has been compiled into a chart which reveals the companies that turned the highest profit in 2022, and it is no surprise that Apple came out on top with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The tech juggernaut earned nearly $100 billion in profit in 2022 alone, or $99.8 billion to be precise. This represents an impressive 5.4% increase year over year, although this is by no means the highest profit growth rate we saw in America. That honor belongs to the energy company Exxon Mobil, which saw an astounding 141.9% increase in profits as compared to 2022. This brought Exxon Mobil’s annual profits to $55.9 billion, which also gave it second place in this list.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that JPMorgan Chase came in third. It received profits of $37.7 billion in 2022, although this was a 22.1% decrease from 2021. Pfizer came in fourth place with $31.3 billion in profits, also seeing an extremely healthy growth rate of about 42.7%.

Verizon rounded off the top five list with $21.3 billion in profits, even though they say profits decline by 3.7% within the span of a year. In sixth place, Home Depot became the most profitable retailer of all with $17.1 billion, which represents a 4.1% increase as well.

Visa also did reasonably well, reaching 7th place with $15 billion in profit, and it enjoyed a robust growth rate of 21.5%. Procter and Gamble came in close behind at 8th place with $14.7 billion, and a growth rate of 3%. Meanwhile, Tesla’s whopping 127.5% increase in profits landed it in 9th place, earning the company $12.5 billion in a single year.

Finally, we saw UPS in tenth place. The transportation and logistics company suffered a 10.4% profit decrease, but it still earned $11.5 billion in profits in 2022.

H/T: Visual Capitalist

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Hot Hot Heat: The World Sizzles with Record-Breaking Temperature Adventures

Keep your popsicles handy because things are heating up! The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially revealed that we have had the warmest week on record (from July 1st to 7th). As if that weren't enough, we also experienced the warmest June on record! It's as if the planet has become a massive oven, and we're all feeling the heat.

But don't worry, you won't win this tournament by acquiring a sunburn. We're talking about absolute temperature records breaking all around the planet. It's as though Mother Nature is playing a game of "How hot can it get?" Since 2017, she's been setting some scorching new marks.

Let's take a look at some of these sweating feats. South Asia chose to turn up the heat to unthinkable levels in April and May of this year. Thermometers in Thailand (45.4°C), Vietnam (44.2°C), and Laos (43.5°C) were melting as they reported mind-boggling temperatures. It was so scorching that even the sun begged for relief!

They weren't the only ones who demonstrated their temperature control abilities. Down in Australia, Onslow broke its national record by hitting 50.7°C. Not to be outdone, Florida in Uruguay joined the fun with a temperature of 44.0°C. And across the pond, the United Kingdom surprised us by breaking its all-time high at 40°C in July 2022. Talk about some tea!

Even Antarctica, the home of ice and penguins, was not immune to the heatwave. During the summer of 2020, temperatures at the Esperanza base climbed beyond 18°C. It's as though they exchanged their parkas for sunscreen!

The hot tour, however, does not end there. In 2019, Europe caught fire as temperature records were destroyed. Belgium led the way with a blistering 41.8°C, while Germany followed with 41.2°C. It was so hot that even the sausages begged to be taken off the grill!

Let's go back in time a little. Pakistan and Kuwait set records in 2017, with temperatures reaching a scorching 53.7°C and 53.9°C, respectively. And, regarding all-time records, we can't forget about Furnace Creek in the Californian desert. It triumphantly claimed the title in 1913, with a mind-blowing 56.7°C. It's as if the thermometer was a cruel joke on us!

So, everyone, brace yourselves for these extreme temperature excursions. The Earth appears to be transforming into a massive sauna, and we're all along for the steamy journey. Keep hydrated, seek shade, and invest in some ice cream stocks while we're at it. Keep cool out there, and let's hope the weather cooperates soon.

H/T: Statista

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by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World