Twitter is planning a new tool to let users automatically block and mute abusive accounts.
With the new safety mode, the micro-blogging platform will automatically detect accounts that “might be acting abusive or spammy.”
The company will limit how those accounts can engage with your content for seven days.
During its virtual Analyst Day on Thursday, the company showed a presentation where a slide revealed that the feature will be a toggle in the new safety mode.
“Automatically block accounts that appear to break the Twitter Rules, and mute accounts that might be using insults, name-calling, strong language, or hateful remarks,” the description read.
Currently, not many Twitter users in India are aware of how to report abuse or harassment they face on the open communication platform, opting for the wrong way of posting an abusive photo or tweet and then requesting us to take action.
At the moment, users can report abusive behaviour directly from a Tweet, profile or Direct Message. Multiple Tweets can be included in the same report to help Twitter gain better context while investigating the issues to get those resolved faster.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India announced new rules on Thursday to regulate content on social media, making Facebook, WhatsApp and others more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages.
The rules — part of an effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government to tighten the leash on Big Tech — come after Twitter recently ignored government orders to drop content related to farmers’ protests.
India is the largest market by users for both Facebook and its messenger service WhatsApp.
The new rules issued by the government, called the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, will be legally enforceable.
They will require big social media companies to set up a grievance redressal mechanism and within three months appoint new executives to coordinate with law enforcement.
Social media firms should be “more responsible and accountable,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, the minister for information technology, told reporters in outlining the rules.
Big social media firms will be obliged to remove content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order, according to the rules.
The government also said companies need to assist in probes or other cyber security-related incidents within 72 hours of receiving a request. They must also disable within a day any post depicting an individual in a sexual act or conduct, said the rules, a draft copy of which was reported by Reuters on Wednesday.
IT minister Prasad also told reporters the rules would oblige the companies to reveal the originator of a message or post when legally ordered.
Facebook said it welcomed rules that prescribe ways to address challenges on the web. “The details of rules like these matter and we will carefully study the new rules,” it said in a statement. Facebook-owned WhatsApp declined to comment.
A Twitter spokesman said the company would study the guidelines and looked forward to continued engagement with the Indian government.
“We believe that regulation is beneficial when it safeguards citizen’s fundamental rights and reinforces online freedoms,” he said in a statement.
Chinese tech giant Huawei has announced that its smart wearables are now open to third-party apps.
Huawei has created a live proof of concept of a third-party app with a workout app for the Watch GT2 Pro called Fitify, reports GSMArena.
Fitify is a fitness app that is fine-tuned for mobile devices and wearables. With over 10 million users in 170+ countries, the App has 900+ exercise guides. The company seems to have used HMS’s 5 integration kits like Account, Push, in-app purchases, Analysis, and Wear Engine.
The App is now available on the App Gallery, supports up to 18 languages — English, Arabic, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Turkish.
As per the report, the app was created using five integration kits developed by Huawei Mobile Services, and the Chinese company aims to provide “one-stop, full-spectrum operational support for all app content providers” that may be interested in launching apps for its wearables.
As far as the Huawei Watch GT2 Pro is concerned, that smartwatch launched back in December as a high-end offering from the company.
Australia’s laws forcing Google and Facebook to pay for news are ready to take effect, though the laws’ architect said it will take time for the digital giants to strike media deals.
The Parliament on Thursday passed amendments to the so-called News Media Bargaining Code agreed between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday.
In return for the changes, Facebook agreed to lift a ban on Australians accessing and sharing news.
Rod Sims, the competition regulator who drafted the code, said he was happy that the amended legislation would address the market imbalance between Australian news publishers and the two gateways to the internet.
All signs are good, Sims told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The purpose of the code is to address the market power that clearly Google and Facebook have. Google and Facebook need media, but they don’t need any particular media company, and that meant media companies couldn’t do commercial deals, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair added.
The rest of the laws had passed earlier, so they can now be implemented.
The South Korean unit of tech giant Google is considering lowering its planned commission rate for in-app purchases, lawmakers said on Tuesday, amid complaints from local software developers over steep commission costs.
According to lawmakers from the parliamentary committee on science and technology, Google Korea representatives have told committee members that they were persuading the company headquarters to lower its planned 30 percent commission on in-app purchases.
Google has announced a plan to newly introduce the 30 percent commission to all in-app digital goods purchases in South Korea later this year.
Company representatives did not share further details, lawmakers added.
A recent government projection showed that Google’s new commission policy would lead to an increase in app store costs for South Korean developers by more than 150 billion won (US$136 million).
The new billing policy has met fierce opposition from local tech groups and politicians, while some South Korean lawmakers have called on Google to reduce the commission rate, reports Yonhap news agency.
Buoyed by renewed surge in the demand for smartphones and rising device costs may push the local smartphone market beyond the record Rs 2-trillion mark in 2021. While disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic led to the market size shrinking for the first time last year, in 2021, the market is expected to touch unprecedented levels — both in terms of volume and value.
In 2020, the local market recorded a fall in the number of units shipped, as shortage in supply of components and the lockdown brought the market to its knees during the first half of the year.
“Stay-at-home mandates, remote learning, travel restrictions, and manufacturing shutdowns led to a sluggish first half (shipments declined 26 per cent year-on-year, or YoY),” observed the International Data Corporation (IDC).
IDC is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets.
Total shipments recorded its first fall — declining 2 per cent to 150 million units, from 153 million in 2019.
However, it is the fall in the average selling price (ASP) of handsets that impacted the market size more than the fall in volume numbers.
According to estimates, the ASP for smartphones last year came down 5 per cent YoY to Rs 11,200. Since their introduction in the market in 2010, ASP for smartphones before 2020 have never recorded a fall in the Indian market.
Resultantly, in 2020, the total market size shrank to Rs 1.68 trillion, from Rs 1.77 trillion in 2019.
According to experts, a poor economic outlook played a key role in this decline.
“Mass-market consumers were less inclined towards upgrading their handsets. Most of the volumes were driven by purchases that were absolutely imperative,” said Navkendar Singh, research director at IDC.
Salary cuts, job losses, and subdued consumer sentiment — a large section of consumers opted for cheaper options that were just enough to serve the purpose. It was a major paradigm shift from the earlier trend where mass-market consumers were driving ASP up, even as they were willing to spend more on smartphones as a lifestyle barometer.
In 2021, however, with a significant jump in ASP and higher volumes, the market is estimated to touch Rs 2 trillion. From its previous high of Rs 11,600 in 2019, the ASP for smartphones is now estimated to breach Rs 12,300.
LG Electronics said on Wednesday its smart TV platform will be used by other TV makers this year as the company eyes boosting its software capability.
LG said some 20 TV manufacturers, including RCA, Konka and Ayonz, will release TVs installed with its webOS platform.
To attract more TV brands using its smart TV platform, LG said it has also signed partnerships with streaming giants like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon, as well as remote controls solution provider Universal Electronics Inc.
The world’s top OLED TV maker hopes the latest move helps the company generate profits and reinforce its presence in content and software services.
LG Electronics said webOS’ openness, easy accessibility and user-friendly interface will attract more TV makers and that it will actively support content and broadcasting services to expand the ecosystem of its smart TV platform.
In recent years, LG Electronics has been trying to upgrade its software capabilities in the TV business, reports Yonhap news agency.
Last month, it acquired U.S.-based TV data analysis startup Alphonso Inc. so that it can offer enhanced and customised services to users of its smart TVs and streaming platform.
According to market researcher Omdia, smart TVs accounted for 84.8 per cent of total TV shipments last year. The portion is expected to top 90 per cent in 2024.
Google Maps is now getting a full-fledged dark mode on Android, the feature has been in testing since September 2020.
“These days, we are all experiencing a bit of screen fatigue. With the dark themes in Google Maps soon expanding to all Android users globally, you can give your eyes a much-needed break and save on battery life,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Once your Google Maps has been updated, you can turn it on for your entire phone by heading to Settings > Theme and pick Always In Dark Theme.
The company also introduced some updates to Android Auto. In addition to custom wallpapers, Android Auto is now going to feature games as well.
For longer drives, you and your passengers can stay entertained with voice-activated games like trivia and “Jeopardy!”. Just say, “Hey Google, play a game” to get started.
Android Auto is also getting a split-screen feature that will put Maps side by side with media controls,
Google is also rolling out Password Checkup to Android to help alert you about potential leaks or data breaches that may have exposed your existing passwords to hackers.
BlueStacks, the world’s largest Android gaming platform for PCs and Macs, is bullish on India and with over 2 million games across numerous developers, the company is revolutionising the way Android gaming is taking shape in the country, a top executive said on Monday.
BlueStacks has over 500 million users globally across more than 200 locations.
“India is an extremely large mobile gaming market for us. Last year, the pandemic drove a surge of gamers across the world, including India, which saw a near 100 per cent jump in user base,” Rosen Sharma, CEO BlueStacks, told IANS in an interview.
A typical BlueStacks user is spending an average of 5 hours playing mobile games every day.
According to Sharma, the gaming eco-system in India is majorly driven by mobile games.
“With developers coming out with bigger and heavier games, more mobile gamers will play in interruption-free environments and migrate to PC-based platforms. Mobile games are not designed for long gameplay,” he noted.
Founded in 2011 by Sharma, Jay Vaishnav, Harvinder Sawhney and Suman Saraf, BlueStacks has a global team of over 400 people.
BlueStacks, that has crossed 1 billion downloads, has launched BlueStacks 5 (Beta) update that promises a 40 per cent reduction in RAM usage.
Microsoft and European media groups on Monday urged EU regulators to require online platforms to seek arbitration in disagreements over how to share revenues with news publishers, a sticking point in the spat between Facebook and Australia.
The EU’s 2019 overhauled copyright rules, which force Alphabet unit Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with musicians, authors and news publishers to use their work, are not sufficient, Microsoft and the publishers said.
“This initiative is a logical next step,” Microsoft Vice President Casper Klynge said, adding that the company already shares revenues with publishers via its product Microsoft News.
Facebook last week imposed a news ban in Australia in protest against a forthcoming law that would require online platforms to reach deals to pay news outlets for content, or agree on a price through arbitration.
The call by Microsoft, the European Magazine Media Association, European Newspaper Publishers Association, European Publishers Council and News Media Europe comes as EU lawmakers limber up for talks with the European Commission and EU countries on rules to rein in US tech giants.
Mansa 