Insta introduces new features to its creator marketplace

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Insta introduces new features to its creator marketplace

Meta-owned Instagram has announced that it is extending access to elements of the creator marketplace via API (Application Programming Interface), making it easier for brands to discover and continue working with creators on the third-party creator marketing platform they already use.

The company is also expanding creator marketplace access to brand agencies.

“Today, we’re announcing new ways to discover and reach Instagram creators by expanding access to brand agencies and testing integrations with top creator marketing platforms,” Instagram said in a blog post.

Instagram launched its creator marketplace last year as a new destination for brands and creators to connect and form branded content partnerships.

The first API features ‘Prioritised DMs’, which will allow brands to easily reach creators in a priority inbox on the creator marketplace — without ever leaving their preferred creator marketing platform.

The second API features ‘Project Briefs’, which will allow brands to publish structured project briefs to the creator marketplace straight from a third party.

The company is testing these APIs with a small cohort of leading creator marketing partners, including Aspire, Captiv8, and CreatorIQ.

Moreover, Instagram is also testing dedicated access to the creator marketplace for brand agencies to let them manage creator discovery and collaborations on behalf of their brand clients.

The company is testing this access with a small cohort of partners, including Influential, WPromote, Rickhouse Media, Power Digital, Dentsu, OMG, and Brkfst.

With this expansion, brand agencies will be able to find the best talent for their brand clients, track creator conversations with a dedicated folder, and work with creators effectively and see progress.

Musk gives April 20 as fresh deadline to remove all legacy Blue badges

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Musk gives April 20 as fresh deadline to remove all legacy Blue badges

Elon Musk on Thursday gave another deadline of April 20 to remove all legacy Blue check marks, after faltering on the first deadline of April 1 due to a lack of the backend technology to achieve this.

According to reports, there were technical challenges to removing so-called blue ticks quickly at scale, and the only way to do it currently was a manual approach.

Musk said in a tweet that the “Final date for removing legacy Blue checks is 4/20”.

Details earlier emerged that the Musk-run company does not have the backend technology to remove around 4.2 lakh legacy accounts with Blue ticks all at once.

“Removal of verification badges is a largely manual process powered by a system prone to breaking, which draws on a large internal database — similar to an Excel spreadsheet — in which verification data is stored, according to the former employees,” according to The Washington Post.

“In the past, there was no way to reliably remove badges at a bulk scale — prompting workers tackling spam, for example, to have to remove check marks one-by-one. It was all held together with duct tape,” it added, quoting a former employee.

Musk had earlier given a deadline of April 1 to remove all legacy accounts with Blue verification. The company has so far only removed the Blue tick for The New York Times.

Twitter launched its verification system in 2009 to protect celebrities from impersonation but now, Musk wants everyone to pay $8 a month for the Blue badge.

The White House and The New York Times refused to pay for verified Blue with subscription service.

LeBron James, the highest-paid NBA player of all time and earning over $40 million per year, also refused to pay Twitter.

Google rolls out app auto-archive tool to free 60% space on Android devices

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Google rolls out app auto-archive tool to free 60% space on Android devices

Google has rolled out its much-awaited auto-archive feature on Android devices which will reduce storage taken by apps that are not frequently in use by nearly 60 percent.

The auto-archive tool will help users automatically free up to nearly 60 percent of an app’s storage space, without removing the app presence or users’ data from the device.

This will reduce unnecessary uninstalls and help users successfully install new apps, said Chang Liu and Lidia Gaymond, Product Managers, at Google Play.

Auto-archive allows users to free up space on their devices without the need to completely uninstall an app.

Once the user opts in, infrequently used apps will be partly removed from the device to save space, whilst the app icon and the user’s personal app data will be preserved.

When the user wants to start using the app again, they can simply tap to re-download it and pick up where they left off (as long as the app is still available on Google Play).

“Auto-archive is only available for developers using the App Bundle to publish their apps. If your app supports archiving, users will be less likely to see it surface amongst uninstall suggestions,” said the company.

This is how the new feature works.

The user tries to install a new app when the device is out of storage. A pop-up window appears asking if the user wants to enable auto-archive.

If the user opts in, unused apps on the user’s device will be auto-archived to free up enough space for a new app request.

“Auto-archive is an easy way for users to manage their device storage, and a great way for developers to lower the likelihood of their apps being uninstalled,” Google said.

Twitter situation is very frustrating: Substack CEO

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Twitter situation is very frustrating: Substack CEO

Popular subscription newsletter platform Substack on Monday hit back at Twitter for blocking the ability to like or retweet any posts containing the word ‘Substack’, saying the whole situation is “very frustrating.”

The company CEO Chris Best responded to Elon Musk with a post on Substack Notes, saying none of his allegations are true and Substack links have been obviously severely throttled on Twitter.

“iiiWe have used the Twitter API, for years, to help writers. We believe we’re in compliance with the terms, but if they have any specific concerns we would love to know about them. We’d be happy to address any issues,” Best responded to Musk.

Musk last week denied that he blocked access to embedding tweets in posts on the online publishing platform Substack.

The Twitter CEO also posted that independent journalist and author Matt Taibbi, famous for releasing Twitter Files, “is/was an employee of Substack”.

Best denied the claim, saying Taibbi is not and has never been an employee of Substack.

“He writes a Substack and gets paid directly by his readers. That writers making money seems to be such a strange concept is telling.

“This is very frustrating. It’s one thing to mess with Substack, but quite another to treat writers this way,” said Best.

Twitter has restricted promotion and visibility for tweets with links to Substack posts — a move that has not gone well with people.

The Twitter change has become a huge problem for Substack writers, who use the Musk-run platform to promote their newsletters.

Apple to shut its services on devices running older software

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Apple to shut its services on devices running older software

Apple will reportedly shut down its online services on devices running older software, including — older iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS versions starting in early May.

According to the leaker known as Stella Fudge, access to Apple services, except for iCloud, will stop working on devices running older software, reports MacRumors.

“As of early May, access to Apple services, with the exception of iCloud, will stop working on devices running: — iOS 11-11.2.6, macOS 10.13-10.13.3, watchOS 4-4.2.3, and tvOS 11-11.2.6. You’ll likely receive a notification prompting you to update,” she tweeted.

Moreover, the report mentioned that last month Apple in an internal document said that affected users might receive a push notification prompting them to update their device to a newer software version.

“Some older software versions will no longer support Apple Services like the App Store, Siri, and Maps. Update your software to the latest available version to continue using these services,” the company said.

Further, the report said that the tech giant did not clarify why most of its services will stop working with these older software versions, which were released between late 2017 and early 2018, but the change will only affect a small percentage of users.

Meanwhile, Apple has released its new iOS 16.4 update which includes new features such as a new set of emojis, web push notifications, voice isolation for cellular calls, and much more.

Users can update to the latest version by navigating to Settings, General and then Software Update.

Public Cloud services market in Asia-Pacific to reach $154 bn in 2026

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Public Cloud services market in Asia-Pacific to reach $154 bn in 2026

The Public Cloud services market in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to reach $153.6 billion in 2026, a report has shown.

IDC expects the Asia/Pacific Excluding Japan (APeJ) Public Cloud market will grow at a year-over-year (YoY) rate in 2022 at 25.9 percent in comparison to 36.3 percent in 2021, as cloud migration continues to accelerate.

However, the YoY growth rates will slow down, beginning from 2023 with a YoY growth of 24.1 percent, to 21.4 percent in 2026.

“Organisations in the APeJ region are progressing their cloud adoption along the advancements offered by the cloud market segment. Organizations will continue to invest in these adjacent technologies to enhance their customer experience and business outcomes,” said Shahnawas Latiff, Research Manager, Cloud Services, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) will achieve a market value of $65.6 billion and makeup 42.7 per cent of the Asia/Pacific Public Cloud services market in 2026.

Platform as a service (PaaS) will reach a market value of $29.8 billion, contributing to 19.4 percent of the market.

Software as a service (SaaS) will grow almost more than double from $22.9 billion in 2021 to $58.1 billion in 2026, contributing to 37.8 per cent of the entire Asia/Pacific Public Cloud market, said the report.

“SaaS growth is attributed to organizations who want to streamline their operations and processes by transforming their applications into scalable modules,” it added.

Samsung cuts memory chip output, Q1 profit to drop 96% on weak demand

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Samsung cuts memory chip output, Q1 profit to drop 96% on weak demand

Samsung Electronics on Friday said it has cut memory production in the short term, as its quarterly profit plunged significantly (likely 96 percent) amid the chip downturn, in a sharp departure from its previous position that it would not artificially reduce output.

The world’s largest memory chip and smartphone maker earlier in the day estimated its January-March operating profit at 600 billion won ($454.9 million), sharply down from 14.12 trillion won a year ago.

Samsung blamed sluggish demand for tech devices, coupled with customers’ inventory adjustment, for the poor performance, reports Yonhap news agency.

“We are adjusting memory output to a meaningful level for products that we have secured enough inventory to deal with future demand,” the company said in a regulatory filing, in an apparent effort to deal with falling prices and a supply glut.

It did not elaborate on what a meaningful level means.

“While we have adjusted our short-term production plan, we will continue to invest in infrastructure to secure clean rooms and expand R&D expenditures to strengthen our technology leadership as we forecast solid demand in the medium and long term,” it said.

Samsung’s first-quarter sales likely fell 19 percent to 63 trillion won from 77.78 trillion won a year earlier. The data for net profit was not available.

The operating profit was 16.7 percent lower than the average estimate.

The tech giant did not provide the results of each business division and will release its final earnings report later.

Samsung’s Device Solution (DS) division, which oversees its chip business, is forecast to run a deficit of around 4 trillion won, in its first financial loss in 14 years, according to analysts’ estimates, as a surplus chip inventory has been growing significantly amid tapering global demand.

The last time Samsung saw its backbone unit trade at a deficit was the first quarter of 2009 when the world was emerging from the 2008 financial crisis.

The world’s largest memory chip maker forecast the global chip market will shrink 6 percent on-year to $563 billion this year, due to a sharp drop in demand, and warned of difficult conditions continuing throughout the year.

Apple unveiling VR headset at WWDC, says ‘last hope’ to convince investors

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Apple unveiling VR headset at WWDC, says ‘last hope’ to convince investors

Apple will reportedly introduce its long-rumored AR/VR headset during the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, and according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the announcement will mark an important step in the company’s efforts to convince investors that the device has a chance to be the next star product.

“There is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that AR/VR headsets can become the next star product in consumer electronics in the foreseeable future,” Kuo said.

“Apple’s announcement event is likely the last hope for convincing investors that the AR/VR headset device could have a chance to be the next star product in consumer electronics,” he added.

Kuo in his report further outlines that both Sony and Meta have faced significant struggles in gaining widespread adoption with their respective AR and VR headset products.

“The product lifecycle shipment for Meta’s Quest Pro is only around 300,000 units,” he said.

Moreover, Kuo stated that Sony has cut its 2023 production plan for the PlayStation VR2 headset by about 20 percent, while Pico, China’s largest AR/VR headset brand, saw its 2022 shipments fall 40 percent short of expectations.

Meanwhile, Apple will reportedly not bring the under-display Face ID feature to an iPhone until 2025 or later.

According to display analyst Ross Young, the iPhone 15 Pro will not feature under-display Face ID because of technical issues.

Google’s new policy to let users delete their account data from app

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Google’s new policy to let users delete their account data from app

Google has introduced a new “data deletion policy”, which aims to empower users with greater clarity and control over their in-app data, requiring Android apps to allow users to delete their accounts from the app and on the web.

“For apps that enable app account creation, developers will soon need to provide an option to initiate account and data deletion from within the app and online,” Google said in a blog post.

According to the company, the move aims to “better educate” users about their data control and to foster trust in both apps and the Play Store in general.

Additionally, developers can provide users with more options — users, who do not wish to delete their entire account, can choose to delete only certain data (such as activity history, images, or videos).

In cases where developers have a legitimate reason for retaining certain data, like security, fraud prevention, or regulatory compliance, they must clearly disclose those practices, the company said.

The policy is taking effect in stages. The tech giant mentioned that creators have until December 7 to answer questions about data deletion in their app’s safety form.

Google Play users will begin to see reflected changes in their app’s store listing in early 2024.

Developers who need more time can file for an extension in Play Console until May 31, 2024, to comply with the new policy.

ChatGPT falsely accuses innocent law professor for sexually harassing students

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ChatGPT falsely accuses innocent law professor for sexually harassing students

In a bizarre incident, AI chatbot ChatGPT, as part of a research study, has falsely named an innocent and highly-respected law professor in the US on the list of legal scholars who had sexually harassed students in the past.

Jonathan Turley, Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, was left shocked when he realized ChatGPT named him as part of a research project on legal scholars who sexually harassed someone.

“ChatGPT recently issued a false story accusing me of sexually assaulting students,” Turkey posted in a tweet.

In an opinion piece in USA Today, he wrote that he received a curious email from a fellow law professor about research that he ran on ChatGPT about sexual harassment by professors.

“The program promptly reported that I had been accused of sexual harassment in a 2018 Washington Post article after groping law students on a trip to Alaska,” Turley said.

The fact is that he has never gone to Alaska with students and The Post never published such an article.

Turley said he has “never been accused of sexual harassment or assault by anyone”.

“What is most striking is that this false accusation was not just generated by AI but ostensibly based on a Post article that never existed,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Brian Hood, regional mayor of Hepburn Shire in Australia, has threatened to sue OpenAI if the Microsoft-owned company doesn’t correct false information about him.

ChatGPT reportedly named Hood as a convicted criminal, involved in the past and real bribery scandal at Australia’s Reserve Bank (RBA).

According to Turley, the use of AI and algorithms can give censorship a false patina of science and objectivity.

“Even if people can prove, as in my case, that a story is false, companies can ‘blame it on the bot’ and promise only tweaks to the system,” he said.

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