Amazon’s Latest Earnings Report For Q4 2023 Shows Massive $14 Billion Ad Revenue

The end of 2023 was a successful one for tech giant Amazon who managed to secure huge profits in Q4, thanks to its advertising services.

The company has reached a more than successful target of $14 billion after hitting new records in revenue generated through advertising. These stats mark a huge 26.8% rise during the same time when we compare stats from 2022. This result is better than the predictions made by media outlet Wall Street Journal.

The performance is certainly outstanding and helps to safeguard the organization in terms of digital ads and its recovery from a very challenging and shaky start to the year 2023. This kind of trend is more than likely to boost users’ confidence among those marketers who work and plan each and every step of their move.

It would not be wrong to mention that such successful facts and trends regarding superior performance and revenue continue to build the trust of marketers and ensure they remain optimistic at all times.

So what can we expect from the future, well, Amazon hopes to get a net sales target going in the $138 billion and $143 billion range during Q1 of 2024. This would display a growth arising between 8 to 13% when you compare stats from Q1.

What does the firm’s CEO have to say on this front? According to him, Q4 has transformed into a serious and record-breaking endeavor.

CEO Andy says their fast delivery for those having a Prime subscription is worth a mention. They are also lowering costs to ensure the masses stay happy and smiling. And this resonates well with all individuals across the board. These are reflected in happy clients who cannot get enough, generating great satisfaction among the masses.

Let’s not forget how the company’s advertising services are at their peak as we speak. They have driven all kinds of positive results and with new firms springing up and picking up the pace, seeing such feedback from Amazon customers is going to be loved by all for obvious reasons.

The CEO hopes this is a great and positive start for 2024 and then hopes the company will work toward building bigger targets for a more successful year and many more to come. Amazon said it hoped advertising revenue would continue to spiral in an upward direction.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen/HumanEdited

Read next: Meta Shares Solid Performance Stats For Q4 2023 Including 25% YoY Revenue Increase
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Google Bard Introduces Image Creation Feature Using Imagen 2, Competing with OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus

Google's Bard AI chatbot is leveling up to take on OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing/Copilot image creator. Under Sundar Pichai's leadership, the tech giant has announced some nifty upgrades, adding image creation capabilities with its Imagen 2 AI model and enhancing the Gemini Pro version.

Jack Krawczyk, Bard's product lead, highlighted these improvements, making Bard a globally accessible AI partner for various tasks. A free tool for crafting AI images is now part of Bard, expanding its user base.

Now all users need is, just ask the Google Bard in regular chats to create one or more images of any particular idea, and it'll return with prompted images.

Google's Gemini Pro, tailored for language processing, now supports over 40 languages. This includes Korean, Spanish, Tamil, Italian, and Russian, making it accessible in more than 230 countries. The advanced understanding, summarizing, reasoning, and coding capabilities of Gemini Pro, along with Bard's double-check feature, enhance user experiences.

A major update is Bard's integration of AI image generation using the Imagen 2 model, directly competing with OpenAI's ChatGPT Plus with DALL-E 3. Users can prompt Bard with descriptions like "create an image of a creative looking modern robot working on laptop for work," and it generates visuals in 10-30 seconds.

Despite Bard's speed, it has limitations. Aspect ratio adjustments and non-English prompts are not supported. Google addresses copyright concerns, allowing users to report legal issues related to AI-generated media.

In my testing, I asked Bard to create an image, and it returned with the result featured below. At first glance, it looks good, but upon downloading the images, they appear to be of very low quality with low pixel count, particularly when I ask Bard to generate more. While, on the other hand, Bing and ChatGPT Plus produce a lot more better quality (I'd say high definition) photos with less chances of producing garbage/glitchy results. 

Image: Created using Bard AI. Uploaded without editing. Which shows the results are not very appealing.

Surprisingly, as of now, Google is not allowing other users to download the images I created, even when I share those chats publicly. This could be due to the fact that the tool is still in its development phase.

Back to the topic, to ensure ethical use, Google limits the creation of inappropriate content and embeds digitally identifiable watermarks in images. This helps users distinguish between AI-generated visuals and those crafted by human artists.

In addition to Bard updates, Google introduces ImageFX, an experimental image generation tool powered by Imagen 2. Available in the AI Test Kitchen, ImageFX provides users with expressive chips for refining prompts and exploring creative dimensions. The AI Test Kitchen also showcases other projects like MusicFX, creating tunes up to 70 seconds, and TextFX, an experiment for creative artists.

🖼 Introducing ImageFX in @LabsDotGoogle.

This new tool offers users a powerful interface to quickly and safely explore image generation.

Find out more. → https://t.co/WuX3HYzzJi pic.twitter.com/OVxTtneuyp

— Google DeepMind (@GoogleDeepMind) February 1, 2024

Read next: Sundar Pichai Unveils Google's AI Innovations: Circle to Search, Lens, and Bard Redefining the Future
by Irfan Ahmad via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Reinforces Security and Privacy with Locked Chats on Web and Automated Account Reports

Whatsapp is coming up with a new feature that will enable the user to lock their chats on WhatsApp web, as spotted by WBI.

Users have been demanding locked chats on WhatsApp web and now Meta's messaging platform has already started working on it. The locked chats will have a separate tab for them that will greatly protect the user’s privacy. Anything about tab placement and its design is too soon to discuss as WhatsApp hasn’t said (officially) anything about it. What some experts are anticipating is that the tab is likely to have a code that will help the user to hide their private chats.

Keep in mind that a lock for chats on WhatsApp is already available on its iOS and Android. There are a lot of advantages to locking your chats on WhatsApp in terms of privacy and security. The biggest advantage of locking the chats on WhatsApp web will be when the user will be working among other people and wants to protect their privacy. WhatsApp is working hard to add new features on the app and on Web WhatsApp so users can easily use it without worrying about their privacy and security.

This new feature shows that WhatsApp wants users to feel secure while chatting with people on their platform.

On the other hand, WhatsApp is also working on automating account reports in an upcoming update. The beta version for Android 2.24.3.30 reveals a feature that will generate monthly reports for user accounts and channels automatically. This promises users a hassle-free way to stay informed about their account activities without manual intervention, enhancing convenience and efficiency. The development aims to streamline the process initiated in 2018, allowing users to effortlessly track changes in their account information over time. Further details on this feature will be shared as the update progresses.

Read next: Content creators on YouTube can now highlight their top clips, reaching more viewers with a new feature
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Content creators on YouTube can now highlight their top clips, reaching more viewers with a new feature

Last year, Creator Insider talked about the research tab on YouTube that included content gaps on shorts. The search tab gives a summary of what the audience on the platform are searching for. The summary on the research tab can give viewers ideas about content gaps and what type of content users want on YouTube. A content gap topic appears when users cannot find exactly what they are searching for. The content creators on YouTube can take help from those content gaps to create content that doesn’t exist or could be improved. All of these updates are available on Studio Desktop (that was previously just limited to mobile) with more improvements.

Another feature Creator Insider discussed was how many users discover new clips on Reddit or Discord, but cannot find them on YouTube. Now, YouTube has launched the feature that will enable content creators to highlight their top clips on their channel so more viewers can discover and interact with them. To use this feature, the users have to enable it by going to the YouTube Studio’s customization tab.

A new analytics feature for playlists is also being introduced on YouTube. If you have a channel and want to see your playlist’s analytics, just click on the playlist and YouTube will show you grouped analytics for videos in the playlist. This feature is similar to the analytics feature on advanced mode, but it is for the playlists. Another feature that YouTube is adding for content creators is automatic early access. Till now, creators had to manually change it but now they can automatically set a date on which the Members First video has to be released to the public in later days. This means that creators can release the video just as Members first but can set a date to release it publicly later. When the video is available for members, they will receive a notification and when it’s available for the public, the general subscribers will then receive a notification as well.

Read next: Q4 2023: Google's Ad Revenue Surges by $6.48 Billion, YouTube Ads Cash In at $9.2 Billion
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

OpenAI Faces Legal Issues in Europe Over Data Privacy Concerns

OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, might have to pay big fines. Italy's main technology authority has accused them of not following Europe's data privacy laws. The issue seems to be about not controlling the content for young users.

In Italy, the Data Protection Authority, called the Garante, informed OpenAI they might have broken data protection rules. They did not give details on what OpenAI did wrong or what actions they might take.

The Italian regulators are worried about young users seeing bad content on the chatbot. OpenAI's website says users should be at least 13 years old and those under 18 need permission from a parent or guardian.

The Italian agency is also looking at how OpenAI collects data from users to train the chatbot. The Garante thinks OpenAI might have broken rules in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

Italy had banned ChatGPT before, the first time in Europe, but they allowed it again after OpenAI answered their privacy concerns.

The EU law says companies can be fined a lot of money if they break these rules.

It's not clear if OpenAI will face another ban because of this new issue. The Garante has not made any comments yet.

OpenAI disagrees with the Italian agency. They say they follow the GDPR and other privacy laws.

They are also trying to use less personal data in their systems. OpenAI wants to keep working with Garante to solve these problems.

This is not the only trouble for OpenAI. They are facing legal and regulatory issues in the US too. In the US and Europe, authorities are looking at OpenAI's relationship with Microsoft for potential competition issues.

This attention grew after Microsoft helped bring back OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, who was briefly fired.

OpenAI is also dealing with a lawsuit from the New York Times. The newspaper says OpenAI used its articles to train ChatGPT without permission or payment.

Image: DIW

Read next: Microsoft Sees Revenue Growth in Latest Financial Quarter
by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World

Microsoft Sees Revenue Growth in Latest Financial Quarter

Microsoft has reached a big milestone. It is now a $3 trillion company. Its latest financial quarter was the strongest so far.

The money it made from search and news ads grew by 8%. Though, this is a bit less than the 10% growth in the previous quarter.

LinkedIn, which is part of Microsoft, also did well. Its revenue went up by 9%.

The total revenue in Microsoft's productivity and business area was $19.2 billion. This is a 13% increase.

For the quarter ending December 31, 2023, Microsoft's total sales were $62 billion. This is 18% more than last year.

The company's net income also went up a lot. It was 33% higher at $21.9 billion.

A big part of this success was due to Office and cloud services. These areas make up about 60% of Microsoft's total revenue.

The gaming side, especially Xbox, also did well. Xbox's revenue went up 61% because it bought Activision Blizzard. This helped increase the total gaming revenue by 49%.

Even though Microsoft did well overall, the growth in search and news ads was not as big as other areas.

LinkedIn's steady growth might mean it's doing better than other parts of Microsoft. Microsoft is using AI in many ways to get new customers and improve productivity.

Satya Nadella, the leader of Microsoft, shared some thoughts. He said they are now using AI a lot, not just talking about it.

They put AI into every part of their technology. This is helping them get new customers. It's also making things better and more productive in many areas.

Image: DIW - AIGen

Read next: Microsoft Edge In Hot Waters Again After Being Accused Of Data Theft
by Mahrukh Shahid via Digital Information World

Apple Fears UK Government Will Quietly Veto Tech Changes Made By Leading Companies

iPhone maker Apple is worried about the power that the UK government holds in terms of pre-approving any kind of changes in store for security features by leading tech giants.

A series of proposals for changes required for updating the 2016 IPA was discussed recently where the Home Office claimed it showed massive support for any kind of tech that was based upon privacy as the goal was to keep the nation safe.

A spokesperson for the government mentioned how they were always on the lookout to update modern technology in the best way imaginable to make sure everything remained updated at all times.

Another statement from the UK government added how there was a clear need to support innovation but if it was coming at the cost of users’ privacy then that was necessary to look at in detail as the main goal was to ensure the nation’s safety.

In cases when the government refused to make any changes for updates made by tech giants like Apple, it wouldn’t be released in other nations too as the public wouldn’t be informed about any of this.

At the moment, the country’s government is looking to make updates as they do support innovation but not at the cost of security. They have always been super clear about the support that tech innovation and privacy brings to the table which entails E2E encryption.

All such changes would be debated at the House of Lords on Wednesday as the tech giant feels it’s quite an overreach by the British Government.

It would not be wrong to mention how a host of people are all concerned about what changes people can expect to arise so soon. The goal is to secretly veto protections of users from all over the globe and stop them from giving them to clients.

Speaking to the BBC recently, the Home Office says it understands what’s going on right now and there are a series of issues like terrorism and abuse that’s at peak and it’s time that those responsible are brought to justice.

Meanwhile, the current law in place has been called out by critics as a total snoopers chart but that’s not the first time that the iPhone maker has lashed out against a host of proposals to enhance the scope.

In July of last year, we saw the leading tech firm mention how its goal was to pull out services like Facetime and iMessage from the United Kingdom instead of compromising the security of the future.

Through such law proposals, things would go above and beyond the usual iMessage and FaceTime as it entails a host of products.

During the start of January, plenty of civil liberties such as the Big Brother and Open Rights Group as well as Privacy International were out and about, showing great support as well as opposition for leading parts of the bill.

The groups mentioned how they were so worried that such changes would force technology and firms including those located abroad to keep the government aware of plans for better security and privacy. In this way, the government would put out notices to stop changes like these from taking place.

This would work to quietly but effectively convert private firms into areas of surveillance and erode security belonging to both the web and devices.

Such changes would be in line with reviews of the currently existing laws and entail a wide array of updates around data collection and making use of records about internet connection.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen

Read next: New Study Shows that AI Will Help in Increasing US GDP to About $1 Trillion in Coming Years
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World