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Showing posts from March, 2023

Meta rolls out tools to separate ads from harmful content

Meta Platforms Inc said on Thursday it is now rolling out a long-promised system for advertisers to determine where their ads are shown, responding to their demands to distance their marketing from controversial posts on Facebook and Instagram. The system offers advertisers three risk levels they can select for their ad placements, with the most conservative option excluding placements above or below posts with sensitive content like weapons depictions, sexual innuendo and political debates. Meta also will provide a report via advertising measurement firm Zefr showing Facebook advertisers the precise content that appeared near their ads and how it was categorized. Marketers have long advocated for greater control over where their ads appear online, complaining that big social media companies do too little to prevent ads from showing alongside hate speech, fake news and other offensive content . The issue came to a head in July 2020, when thousands of brands joined a boycott of F

US advocacy group asks FTC to stop new OpenAI GPT releases

WASHINGTON: The tech ethics group Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy is asking the US Federal Trade Commission to stop OpenAI from issuing new commercial releases of GPT-4, which has wowed some users and caused distress for others with its quick and human-like responses to queries. In a complaint to the agency on Thursday, a summary of which is on the group 's website, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Policy called GPT-4 "biased, deceptive, and a risk to privacy and public safety." OpenAI, which is based in California and backed by Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O), unveiled the fourth iteration of its GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) AI program in early March, which has excited users by engaging them in human-like conversation, composing songs and summarising lengthy documents. Read more: ChatGPT-owner OpenAI fixes 'significant issue' exposing user chat titles The formal complaint to the FTC follows an open letter sent t

Google's introduces 'reader mode' for people with dyslexia, ADHD

Google has rolled out new classroom tools for users, including a new "reading mode" for Chrome, making reading easier for people with dyslexia and ADHD. The new reading mode allows users to get a customisable reader view, appearing on the side panel, in the browser. The reading mode has no distractions like images or videos, which only helps users focus on the content. Moreover, it allows the reader to customise typeface, font size and spacing, text and background colour. The new feature will allow educators to add interactive questions to a YouTube video. The students can answer them, get immediate feedback, or rewatch the video if needed. This will help the teachers by giving them insights into students' progress. A new feature called Hand Raise Gesture Detection powered by AI has been introduced for Google Meet. When a student raises a hand in physically/in real life, the AI can detect it, automatically opt for the hand raise icon, and move the user to the mai

Google argues it doesn't block rivals in bid to kill lawsuit

Google parent Alphabet on Wednesday argued that a court should toss out a government antitrust lawsuit against it, saying that agreements it made with Apple and others to make Google the default search engine do not bar smartphone makers from promoting rivals. The statements, which were revealed in a redacted version of a motion filed last month asking the judge to toss out the lawsuit, preview the tech giant's arguments for a high-stakes court case expected to go to trial in September. If Google loses, it could be forced to spin off key assets. In December, Google asked Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia to throw out both the antitrust case that the Justice Department filed in 2020 along with 11 states as well as a related complaint brought by 35 states led by Colorado. The Justice Department's lawsuit, filed by the Trump administration, alleged that Google violated antitrust law in how it maintained dominance in search and search adver

Here is how iPhone can help you sleep

One of the lesser-known features of the iPhone includes 'Background Sounds,' which can help you sleep . People often use white noise machines to help them improve their sleep . White noise is basically a mixture of different sound waves with a wide frequency range. The mix of these sound waves is constant and comfortable. It helps to block out the changing sounds in the surroundings so the brain falls a sleep . Read Google argues it doesn't block rivals in bid to kill US government antitrust lawsuit People who often struggle with sleep ing opt for white noise machines that can cost between a range of $20 to $100. To the surprise of many, the white noise feature is available in iPhones. To utilise the option, go to iPhone's Settings. Tap the Accessibility option and select Audio/Visual. There will be an option labeled Background Sounds. The user can choose from various sounds, including rain, stream, ocean, balanced noise, bright noise, and dark noise. You can cha

Elon Musk puts $20 billion value on Twitter

Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company's employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion , the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter's value. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters' emailed request for a comment. Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be "roughly cash flow break-even" in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after the billion aire' s takeover. Source: https://thefoxposts.com/elon-musk-puts-20-billion-value-on-twitter-TheFOXposts-16027.html?utm_source=blogger_source&utm_medium=blogger_medium&utm_campaign=blogger_cam Category: Technology Post by: TheFOXposts.Com

Compose AI - write faster with automotive text

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Compose AI is an AI automotive text generator, that will help you write faster and quicker with not just word suggestions but auto-completed phrases as well. The Google Chrome extension works on any website easily, appearing as a small blue dot on the right bottom corner of the page. With the rapidly emerging AI-generated Technology and multiple text generators available online, Compose AI stands out specifically because it's suited for writing emails. The tool gives two options to users, an auto-complete suggestion for phrases, along with another feature that will suggest auto-phrasing of highlighted text. Unlike ChatGPT, you won’t have to switch tabs but can immediately ask for suggestions with a small pop-up window on your screen with just a click. The AI tool provides various phrase suggestions to choose from, whichever, might seem accurately suitable for the text format. This isn’t a grammar and punctuation marker/checker for text, but its premium package provides

‘Catastrophic’: Decade of loss on Australian reefs paints grim picture in new study

Life is dwindling on the reefs that ring Australia with more than half of the most common species in population decline, new analysis shows. Scientists have collated data from three Australian reef monitoring programs that are among the longest-running in the world. The result is a sobering national picture of shrinking volumes of shallow-reef species under mounting pressures, including heatwaves driven by climate change. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> The study found 57 per cent of the 1057 common species examined suffered population declines between 2008 and 2021. They included many species of tropical fish, as well as invertebrates on reefs that wrap around the southern half of the country. Population declines often followed heatwave years, when local water temperatures were up by more than half a degree. Southern Australia’s weedy sea dragon, for example, saw an alarming population decline of 59 per cent from 2011 to 2021. Scientists have

‘I just wanted to go home’: Teen victim speaks out about alleged sleepover bashing

The teen victim of a brutal alleged bashing, left unrecognisable after being allegedly held captive at a sleepover and tortured, has spoken out with her mother about the incident. The 13-year-old arrived at a Tewantin home earlier this month, before three teen girls she thought were her friends filmed an alleged four-hour long session of brutality. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Queensland teen speaks out about brutal alleged bashing . Watch the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >> She was “prevented from leaving and filmed while being assaulted, taunted and cut with a knife over the period of several hours”, police will allege. Three teenage girls aged 12, 13 and 14, have since been charged with offences including assault occasioning bodily harm, deprivation of liberty, enter dwelling and commit indictable offence and more. The victim and her mother spoke to 7NEWS about the alleged attack, her mother recalling the moment she saw her daughter allegedly unrecognisable on the flo

Police car parked in disabled spot to vote divides internet

A police car parked in a disabled spot has been flagged by an angry local who said the officers had stopped to vote in the NSW election. NSW Police said they are investigating the incident, which has s parked outrage and debate online. “Police parking in a disabled spot so they can vote in Mascot. Where should I complain?,” the picture posted to Reddit on Monday was captioned. Watch the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >> “They were voting. They were behind me in line. Took us all ages,” they said. A controversial park from NSW Police in Mascot is under investigation after it s parked outrage on Reddit. Credit: Reddit NSW Police told 7NEWS.com.au: “Officers attached to South Sydney Police Area Command have commenced inquiries after receiving a report of a marked police vehicle stopped in a disabled parking spot in Mascot. “Members of the public are reminded they can report concerns via the NSWPF Community Assistance Portal online.” The NSW election takes place on Sat

Brazil looks to regulate monetized content on Internet

SAO PAULO: The Brazilian government is studying whether to regulate Internet platforms with content that earns revenue such as advertising, its secretary for digital policies, Joao Brant, said on Friday. The idea would be for a regulator to hold such platforms, not consumers, accountable for monetized content , Brant told Reuters. Another goal is "to prevent the networks from being used for the dissemination and promotion of crimes and illegal content" especially after the riots by supporters of former far-right President JairBolsonaro in Brasilia in January, fueled by misinformation about the election he lost in October. Brant said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government also intends to make companies responsible for stopping misinformation, hate speech and other crimes on their social media platforms. Platforms would not be held responsible for content individually, but for how diligent they are in protecting the "digital environment," he sai

France fines TikTok $5.4 million for online tracking shortcomings

 France on Thursday fined TikTok 5 million euros ($5.4 million ) for shortcomings linked to the short video platform's handling of online tracking known as "cookies", which the ByteDance-owned company said it had now addressed. French data protection watchdog CNIL said that its investigation only concerned the website tiktok.com and not the service's much more heavily used smartphone applications. The CNIL found that for tiktok.com's users, it was not as easy to refuse online trackers as to accept them. The authority also found that internet users were not sufficiently informed about TikTok's use of the cookies. "These findings relate to past practices that we addressed last year, including making it easier to reject non-essential cookies and providing additional information about the purposes of certain cookies," a spokesperson for TikTok said. "The CNIL itself highlighted our cooperation during the course of the investigation and us

Spotify back up after brief outage

Audio streaming platform Spotify suffered a brief outage on Friday, leaving tens of thousands of users unable to access the platform before services appeared to come back online. "Everything’s looking much better now!" Spotify Status, an account that provides updates about the audio platform's status, said on Twitter. Downdetector, which tracks outage s through a range of sources including user reports, showed more than 45,000 affected users from the United States at the peak of the disruption. As Spotify was coming back online, Downdetector said reports of outage s had fallen below 2,000. Source: https://thefoxposts.com/spotify-back-up-after-brief-outage-TheFOXposts-9839.html?utm_source=blogger_source&utm_medium=blogger_medium&utm_campaign=blogger_cam Category: Technology Post by: TheFOXposts.Com

Bar exam score shows AI can keep up with 'human lawyers'

Artificial intelligence can now outperform most law school graduates on the bar exam, the grueling two-day test aspiring attorneys must pass to practice law in the United States, according to a new study released Wednesday. GPT-4, the upgraded AI model released this week by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, score d 297 on the bar exam in an experiment conducted by two law professors and two employees of legal Technology company Casetext. That places GPT-4 in the 90th percentile of actual test takers and is enough to be admitted to practice law in most states, the researchers found. The bar exam assesses knowledge and reasoning and includes essays and performance tests meant to simulate legal work, as well as multiple choice questions. “Large language models can meet the standard applied to human lawyer s in nearly all jurisdictions in the United States by tackling complex tasks requiring deep legal knowledge, reading comprehension, and writing ability,” the authors wrote. Less than four

Backpacker divides internet with huge savings boast after three months’ work

A French backpacker has ignited fierce debate on social media after revealing how much he’s saved while working on a farm and then questioning how other Australians are struggling to make ends meet. The man who runs the account @ImAustralianNow said he was working on a WA cherry farm, doing 50 hours per week, and managed to save $15,000 in three months . “I earn more money than with my master’s degree in France, ” he said in a TikTok video. Looking for a new job or job candidate? Post jobs and search for local talent on 7NEWS Jobs >> But it was his question, “how can you be poor in Australia?” that led to an angry response, with many users pointing out his advantages. “You’re not paying a mortgage in Australia mate! That’s why you saved so much,” said one person. “Move to Sydney. We’ll take that 15k in 15 seconds,” another person commented, referring to the cost of living in the city. A French backpacker claims to have earned an astounding amount from working only a few months

Julia Faustyna flees Poland after facing death threats over viral ‘I am Madeleine McCann’ Instagram account

The Polish woman claiming to be Madeleine McCann was forced to delete her viral Instagram account after receiving death threats, it has been revealed. Julia Faustyna is now in the United States, according to an Instagram post by her spokesperson, psychic medium and private investigator Dr Fia Johansson. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Woman who claims to be Maddie McCann to go to court to order DNA test. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> Johansson revealed in an Instagram post over the weekend that Faustyna had received death threats and had to be removed from her home in Poland for her own safety. The threats started on Snapchat, Johansson said, before spreading to other social media platforms including Instagram and Facebook. Faustyna faced “a severe and credible death threat ” including a “price on her head”. Authorities have taken the threat “very seriously”, Johansson said, and Faustyna was immediately removed from her hometown. Another story reveal

Wannabe social media croc hunter fined $12,000

A would-be social media crocodile hunter has been fined $12,000 for illegally catching freshwater crocs in Queensland’s north. Jayden Wilson was sentenced in the Townsville Magistrates Court for catching, or attempting to catch, 16 reptiles from the Ross River. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Jayden Wilson’s dangerous croc-handling activities posted online. Watch the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >> He was charged with 12 counts of taking a protected animal. Wilson, 27, must also pay $1500 in legal costs and his convictions have been recorded. The offences took place between November 2020 and 2021. A probe by Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science confirmed Wilson repeatedly attempted to catch crocodiles with rope or by hand near a boat ramp. Would-be social media crocodile hunter Jayden Wilson has been fined $12,000 for illegally catching freshwater crocs. Credit: @jiddys_adventures He posted footage of a number of incidents to social media and also showed h

Man discovers little-known reason behind the Telstra payphone ‘Follow On’ button

If you’ve stopped by a Telstra payphone recently to utilise the free national calls and texts, you may have wondered what the “Follow On” button beneath the receiver does. Now that the pay phone s don’t require coins, the feature is largely redundant, but the little-known trick tickled various generations online, who shared from their own repertoire of outdated pay phone hacks. An Australian man posed the phone booth question on Monday, asking Reddit: “What does the ‘Follow On’ button do on Telstra phone boxes?” Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> “It allowed you to make further calls with any remaining call credit,” one user explained. “I loved that you had to press it before the other person hung up, or it would disconnect, and you’d be stuck with no money to make the other calls you really needed to make,” another said. “Was that the trick was it? Glad I found out 20 years after I needed that,” another said. The feature is still useful when maki

Instagram down for thousands of users globally

Meta Platform's Instagram was down for thousands of users globally on Wednesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 46,000 users reported issues with accessing the photo-sharing platform in the United States at the peak of the outage, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from a number of sources including user-submitted errors on its platform. Downdetector showed about 2,000 affected users from the UK, and more than 1,000 reports each from India and Australia. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Source: https://thefoxposts.com/instagram-down-for-thousands-of-users-globally-TheFOXposts-14771.html?utm_source=blogger_source&utm_medium=blogger_medium&utm_campaign=blogger_cam Category: Technology Post by: TheFOXposts.Com

OpenAI to enable more customizations for enterprise, individual

 OpenAI, the creator of the buzzy chatbot ChatGPT, will release tools to give users more control over the generative AI system, while improving the models for both general and specific use cases, its CEO Sam Altman said Thursday. Speaking to investors at a Morgan Stanley conference, Altman said the AI company will focus on building a platform that sells APIs to others and creates killer apps like ChatGPT. Since its launch in November, ChatGPT's popularity has surged as traffic to the site hit more than 1 billion visits, up from 616 million in January, according to Similarweb estimates. OpenAI has launched a subscription tier of ChatGPT where users can pay $20 per month for more reliable services. The Microsoft-backed company is working with enterprise clients to train its models in particular domains and has effectively reduced hallucinations, incidents when an AI system confidently gives a response that is factually incorrect, according to Altman. Management consultancy Bain

Reddit to introduce TikTok style video feed

Reddit will soon be launching two separate feeds for text and video s. The video s will be available in the Watch feed view section, whereas the text-based posts will be in the Read Feed. Users will be able to view the video posts from their subscribed channels and other recommended options. The reason behind introducing the video style feed is the gaining popularity of this medium. Moreover, it is an attempt to make the platform easier to use for a wider audience. The platform will continue introducing more video -related features after the initial launch. Read: ChatGPT to be added to Slack in new partnership The new feature is in the testing phase and will soon be rolled out for the users. Source: https://thefoxposts.com/reddit-to-introduce-tiktok-style-video-feed-TheFOXposts-14757.html?utm_source=blogger_source&utm_medium=blogger_medium&utm_campaign=blogger_cam Category: Technology Post by: TheFOXposts.Com

Driver spots ‘hilarious’ Macca’s drive through act: ‘Only in Australia’

A McDonald’s customer was left stunned after she spotted a miniature horse in the backseat of a car at the drive thru. In a video uploaded to TikTok, the customer reveals the moment she turned to her left at the drive thru only to see a miniature horse in the back seat of a black Honda, with his head out the window looking around. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Driver spots ‘hilarious’ Macca’s drive through act. Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >> “Only in Australia,” the video was captioned. In the footage the woman who is filming yells out “is that a horse?”, to which the woman in the Honda responds: ‘he’s excited for his ice cream”. The woman went on to reveal the horse’s name is Rocco, before calmly driving through to the next window. A McDonald’s customer was left stunned after she spotted a miniature horse in the backseat of a car at the drive thru.  Credit: TikTok/dondonthedon26 The video quickly gained a lot of attention on TikTok with nearly

Aussie accounts among 26.6 million user logins stolen by cyber crooks since 2018

Thousands of Australians are among the five million people whose personal data has been stolen by cyber criminals in the last five years, a new study has found. Cyber crooks were able to use bots to steal 26.6 million usernames and passwords since 2018, with the sensitive data of 10,000 Australians impacted, according to the NordVPN study. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: How to safely store and manage your passwords. Watch the latest news and stream for free on 7plus >> Among the logins were details for 720,000 Google accounts , 654,000 Microsoft profiles and 647,000 Facebook logins , which are then sold on a bot market for an average price of $6 each. The study, which analysed three major bot markets — Genesis, the Russian market and 2Easy — also found Netflix, Paypal, Amazon, Instagram and Apple Store logins listed for sale. Experts say criminals use data-harvesting bot malware that steals logins together with cookies and device configuration information — the combination of which he