Musk's Heroic Offer: Legal Avengers for Unfairly Treated Social Posters!

In a move with tongues wagging and memes multiplying faster than rabbits in springtime, tech magnate Elon Musk has swooped in with a bold promise. Hold on to your virtual hats, for Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla and SpaceX, has promised that his X social networking platform would aid people who have experienced the scary consequences of publishing or liking something judged "inappropriate" by their workplace.

Musk, the modern-day Tony Stark, made the startling news on his platform X, formerly the Twitterverse. Disgruntled keyboard warriors will no longer be left to fend for themselves after being unfairly smacked on the wrist by their bosses. Musk, with a cape that reads "Justice," declared, "If you've been wronged because of an innocent like or an amusing post on our haven of thoughts, we've got your back, and your legal bills too!"

But hold on, there's more! This intergalactic defender of social media justice isn't satisfied with simply bearing the legal costs. That's just too average for Musk. He's pledged to wield his legal sword deftly, pledging to create a noise loud enough to rouse a sleeping T-Rex. "We won't merely sue," Musk declared with a wink and a flourish, "We're talking about an auditory explosion, so mind-bogglingly loud that even the company boards will scramble for earplugs."

And if that wasn't enough to make your keyboard click with delight, Musk said that X has recently been on a roll. This digital playground appears to have seen monthly users soar to the sky, leaving Earth's atmosphere far behind. The scoreboard reads over 540 million users and counting – talk about a global water cooler moment!

But let's not forget the backstage drama – X is undergoing a metamorphosis similar to that of a caterpillar into a butterfly but with more pixels and less leaf-munching. Falling ad income has forced Musk's social media spacecraft to restructure its strategy, ensuring that cat memes and viral dance challenges continue to grace our screens.

This monumental statement follows Meta Platforms' attempt to dethrone the bird that formerly signified our thoughts taking flight. What was Musk's reaction? A casual rename of Twitter to X, followed by a logo redesign. What is the goal? An "everything app" where you can share your cat's antics, philosophical musings, and unicorn-shaped pancake recipes all in one place.

According to legend, even Musk's most powerful creations have difficulties. It's not all rainbows and rocket launches in his galactic-scale sociological experiment. Ad income, the golden goose that keeps this digital kingdom afloat, has plummeted, and dreams for an advertising comeback have turned into a wild goose chase.

So there you have it, people! Elon Musk, the guy who sent a vehicle into space and dreams of colonizing Mars, has suddenly emerged as social media's savior. He's become the caped crusader for people who have ventured to voice their ideas on the internet, promising legal help and spectacular judicial fights. It remains to be seen if this digital quest for justice will be a blockbuster smash or a story for the history books, but one thing is certain: the age of the cyber-knights has arrived, and Elon Musk is leading the battle!

Read next: Twitter's Cash Register Rings Louder in July
by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

Twitter's Cash Register Rings Louder in July

Well, well, well! If it isn't our feathered buddy X, he's sending a message from the digital trees. Is it frightening? Are you worried? Don't worry, guys, the tale continues as we delve into the Twitterverse's, or should we say, X-verse's, financial antics.

Our chirpy buddy has recently experienced some revenue problems, but worry not, for July arrived like a superhero in a cape! Please start the music! Twitter's mobile money machines, often known as applications, strutted their stuff, bringing in a stunning $4.9 million net income. Hold on, that's not even the greatest part! After Apple and Google complete their coin-collecting dance, this enormous stack of cash is the product of the App Store and Google Play tag team.

So, with July's record-breaking revenue, X is back in the game after a hiccup or two. Let's give a virtual high-five to July, shall we? It proudly claimed the title of "Biggest Month of Revenue" in the app's history. Talk about smashing records like a certain green giant smashing through buildings – oh wait, the wrong universe. But you get the picture, right? This July jackpot surged 9% higher than the previous peak in April. Just when you thought you knew what a peak looked like, X swoops in with some peakier peaks.

Now, let's rewind a bit. May and June weren't exactly glamorous for our birdie. The revenue rollercoaster took a nosedive, plummeting 20% in May to a meager $3.6 million. Ouch! June was even more dramatic, making $3.3 million feel like pocket change. Was it the birds building a nest over Twitter's coffers? Nope, it's all about those subscriptions. They're like that one side dish everyone wants at dinner but no one orders. Elon and his gang had hoped for a subscription feast, but the hunger wasn't as strong as they had hoped.

Prepare your popcorn, for the X-verse is full of surprises! Elon decided it was time to divide the wealth - or, at the very least, the ad income - in a twist that would make even the most brilliant movie plot envy. Popular users are now getting a piece of the pie. So, if you're sipping your morning coffee and sharing your daily musings with the rest of the world, know that you're contributing to the ad money bonanza.

The plot thickens, and we eagerly await the next thrilling chapter! But here's the interesting question: With Twitter becoming X and all, will this cash windfall be the norm, or are we in for a rollercoaster ride with a few loop-de-loops? Tune in next month, same X-time, same X-channel, to see if this financial tale gets juicier or if X's wings grow slightly soggy.

So, to summarize in terms that even your pet goldfish can understand: After a few months where its wallet suffered a nasty case of hiccups, X enjoyed a huge, massive wallet-filling triumph in July. Will X continue to fly to new heights, or will it become mired in a revenue riddle? Only time will tell, my friend.

Chart courtesy of AppFigures

Read next: 61% of Influencers Have Signed Up for Threads, and Over Half Have Posted Sponsored Content
by Rubah Usman via Digital Information World

61% of Influencers Have Signed Up for Threads, and Over Half Have Posted Sponsored Content

Meta was long rumored to be working on a so-called Twitter killer spurred by the acquisition of the micro-blogging social media platform by Elon Musk. Twitter has suffered greatly under Musk’s tenure, with the controversial CEO making several questionable decisions including recently announcing the change of the iconic brand name to “X”.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Meta’s response to Twitter, Thread, has been seeing a huge surge of influencer activity. While its number of daily active users has gone down by a whopping 70%, 61% of all influencers stated that they have made accounts on the platform.

What’s more, 54% of the influencers that have signed up for Threads stated that they have already posted some kind of paid content to the platform with all things having been considered and taken into account. 84% are open to posting sponsored content at some point, so there is a lot of potential in this new market that might make it more viable than might have been the case otherwise.

This comes from a survey conducted by Sensor Tower, and it reveals that Threads is already making its way into content creator culture. Such a trend is important because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up attracting more users to the platform down the line. Chances are that Meta will be doubling down on influencers in the near future so that Threads can continue its growth trajectory.

The first ten days after the launch of Threads have been a bit of a mixed bag. 24% of all of the users that signed up ended up deleting their accounts after just ten days, but the influx of influencers suggests that all is not lost quite yet. It will be interesting to see where things go from here on out, since Twitter is now a shadow of its former self. This leaves the door wide open for Threads to take its place in the world of social media.

Source: Izea / First Look: The Impact of Threads

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New Security Warning Issued After Ransomware Attacks Increase Globally With The US In The Lead

Ransomware attacks are currently increasing globally and it's the US who happens to be at the forefront.

Security researchers unveiled through recent stats how the US is in the prime position of a threat as more than 43% of the attacks took place in the country and continue to rise as we speak.

The report comes to us thanks to Malwarebytes who added how the study showcased a huge rise between July of last year and June of this year. And it’s the US that seems to be at the forefront of it all. The company adds how the 1900 of those that were reported happened to originate from America and it’s a whopping 75% rise from the previous year’s data.

Other nations that were similarly affected including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and others continually see a rise in this kind of behavior but still are much less when compared to the US. moreover, the report added how close to 48 groups dealing with ransomware had carried out such kinds of attacks and they were highlighted in the report that was just published.

The list of those who were part of the victims included American firms, government enterprises, and a list of so many others that were outlined in this period. What is even worse is how the attackers didn’t even spare the likes of those institutions that deal with healthcare and education and hence were impacted majorly too.

What is very interesting is how the huge rise in figures that were displayed in the article had to do with those attacks that ended up getting reported. So the real figure could go as high as 1900. And the entire point of this attack was to take ransoms so that more firms could quietly make payments and everything remains hushed undercover.

Now the question is that what does a ransomware incident mean? Well, the latter is a term that’s reserved for denying users and firms access to different files witnessed on computers. What really happens is that software locks things up stringently and after the amount demanded as ransom gets paid, the user would attain decryption keys to attain access again to their files.

As one can imagine, it’s a major shakeup in the digital world and one that’s causing confusion across the board.

One of the main or leading offenders of the group is highlighted as Clop and they’re known for having links to Russia. The latter is a crime-based firm that did arise in the past as well and got notable attention that amps up attacks and the scope related to it.

Then in June of last year, we saw make the most of the vulnerabilities and file transfers that breached so many servers, entailing the biggest pension fund you’ll find in America.

The expert highlighted how the transition toward zero-day software exploitation might delineate a huge alteration in the usual game and also provide an explanation as to why there’s a rise in such incidents as compared to the usual phishing emails involved. The same is the case with downloads that come bombarded with malware.

But that’s for America. What about the rest of the world? We’re seeing the figures for countries like France double in 2022 and then we see some unequal attacks taking place against the government as well.

The United Kingdom saw close to 200 attacks arising from nearly 32 different groups which is certainly a huge amount when compared to stats from previous years.

In 2022, the UK only reported one ransomware incident each month but now, it’s gone up to eight attacks taking place each month.

Read next: New Study Shows How AI is Boosting Ransomware
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google and Meta Made Record Breaking Ad Investments in the UK in 2022

The UK has been increasing its regulations surrounding the use of data, and this has put the squeeze on major tech corporations such as Meta and Google with all things having been considered and taken into account. In spite of the fact that this is the case, these two tech juggernauts spent record breaking amounts of money on ads in the UK as of 2022.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google spent a total of £195 million on UK based ads in 2022. This represents a 16% increase year over year, which makes this the single largest ad spend that Google has ever made in the British isles.

As for Meta, its total ad spend for 2022 sat at around £90 million. This is less than half of what Google spent, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, Meta has increased its UK ad spends by as much as 58% in the span of a single year.

Interestingly, traditional media seems to have the lowest priority as far as these companies are concerned. In 2021, Google invested around £3.1 million on press advertising, but they cut this nearly in half in 2022 by spending just $1.6 million.

Meta also saw a similar decrease from £1.7 million to just £900,000 in the same period. This seems to suggest that these companies are increasing their ad budgets but are diverting far more resources towards non-traditional media outlets than might have been the case otherwise.

Such a trend makes sense because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up focusing on the media channels that truly matter. 61% of Google’s total ad spend went towards digital video, which happens to include its own company, YouTube. Meta, on the other hand, spent the biggest chunk on outdoor advertising with £29.3 million followed by its own field of social media which got a £23 million cash infusion in 2022 to keep the ball rolling in the UK.

H/T: Pressgazette

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Deep Fake Speeches are Undetectable by Humans

Artificial intelligence has changed the landscape of how we perceive things; from making better life decisions for humans to better risk management and future prediction to making in-depth analytical assumptions and taking businesses to new heights, AI is capable of doing it all. For the most part, people have been talking about how the impact of AI in their life is highly beneficial. Still, at the same time, in the background, some voices from tech experts regard the ethical concerns of more and more power being taken by AI in navigating our lives.

Among AI's most prominent ethical concerns and risks is the advancement in deep fake technology, which is algorithmic systems to mimic a natural human voice or physical appearance. Deep fakes are made using trained data sets of machine learning. They use the data sets to learn similar behavior patterns that impersonate human voice or bodily features so accurately that it almost resembles an original sound and video appearance.

Research done by the University of London researchers found that at this moment, humans can only detect 73% of the generated Deep Fake speeches for English and Mandarin.

At the initial stages of deep fake development, thousands of hours of samples were required to generate a similar quality of original audio. Through the working principles of machine learning, the more data is fed to the system, the better it will generate more precise results in less time. Therefore latest deep fake algorithms are not about producing the same person’s voice with relatively high accuracy by just using a three-second audio clip. Now because of the availability of open sources, people can now seek expert help and feasibility to train the algorithms in only a few days.

Mega tech companies like Apple have made official statements about the release of AI-driven softwares for its iPhone and iPad products that will be able to create an accurate copy of a person’s voice with only 15 minutes of authentic recordings. The research team at the University of London generated 50 deep fake voices using tts algorithms (text-to-speech). The ai models were trained on public datasets available on the internet, as one model was for the language of English and the other one was for Mandarin.

The samples produced by deep fake and authentic samples were later played to 529 participants to test if they could identify the difference between the actual and fake recordings. The results concluded that only 73% of the fake speech recordings and the percentage of 73% improved only a little when the participants received appropriate training on the identification and the aspect of spotting deep fake speeches.

Kimberly Mai, a computer scientist at the University of London and the author of another prominent study on deep fakes, said that the findings show that humans cannot identify profound fake speeches. The further shocking thing was the revelation that the samples of deep fake that most people are not able to locate were trained on the old machine learning algorithms, and now it raises a more thought-provoking question if the deep fake speeches are made via the newer and more precise machine learning algorithms will the humans be able to detect them?

The advancing capabilities of deep fake to produce more accurate recordings are highly concerning, mainly falling into the hands of criminals as they can use such technology to harm people immensely. In 2019 an incident happened when a criminal used a deep fake recording to convince the CEO of a British energy company to send thousands of pounds to the wrong supplier by using the fake voice of his boss.

Read next: 22% of Employees Are Regularly Using AI at Work
by Ahmed Naeem via Digital Information World

Reading Settings on Google Chrome Just Got More Complicated

Trying to find any kind of information online has become somewhat harder due to the presence of ads that can make neurodivergent people face significant challenges along the way. Individuals with ADHD often find themselves getting distracted, and this is why Reading Modes on browsers like Google Chrome started to become commonplace.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google Chrome is set to redesign Reading Mode. Chrome has had a troubled history as far as its Reading Mode is concerned, with the Alphabet owned web browsers frequently enabling and disabling it.

The main reading mode that users might be familiar with comes with useful strip because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to adjust text size settings. You can also alter the spacing between letters and add themes as per your preference.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, upcoming builds for Google Chrome seem to suggest that this side strip is going to go away. Instead, all of the settings contained within it will be accessible through a gear icon. Some are saying that this will make Reading Mode less effective than might have been the case otherwise.

Instead of a single strip that contains all of the settings you would need, you will have to open the drop down menu by clicking on the gear icon. There are several sub lists that will open up as well with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Google may be trying to declutter the sidebar in order to open up space for other things that may prove useful in the future. It will be interesting to see how Google Chrome compensates for the added complexity of its reading mode. It is currently the single most popular web browser in the world, but Safari and Firefox’s simpler reading modes may be able to give them some momentum, and Microsoft Edge might also get a boost if this update does not get approval from consumers.

H/T: Leopeva64

Read next: Microsoft Edge Reaches 10.75% Market Share, But Its Still Struggling Against Chrome
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World