Sunday, July 31, 2022

Inside China's $16B virtual influencer industry, as motion capture actors complain of hard working conditions powering their avatars four to five hours per day (Rest of World)

Rest of World:
Inside China's $16B virtual influencer industry, as motion capture actors complain of hard working conditions powering their avatars four to five hours per day  —  Hidden behind the perfect faces of China's $16 billion virtual celebrity industry is an angry, overworked labor force.



Cyberattack on Illuminate Education, exposing information on 1M+ students, highlights the dangers of stockpiling sensitive info on millions of school children (Natasha Singer/New York Times)

Natasha Singer / New York Times:
Cyberattack on Illuminate Education, exposing information on 1M+ students, highlights the dangers of stockpiling sensitive info on millions of school children  —  At a moment when education technology firms are stockpiling sensitive information on millions of school children, safeguards for student data have broken down.



How Tor is fighting Russia's efforts since December 2021 to block the anonymous browser, such as by using Telegram to share details of volunteer-run Tor bridges (Matt Burgess/Wired)

Matt Burgess / Wired:
How Tor is fighting Russia's efforts since December 2021 to block the anonymous browser, such as by using Telegram to share details of volunteer-run Tor bridges  —  Russia has been trying to block the anonymous browser since December—with mixed results.  —  For years, the anonymity service Tor …



A look at the GOP's escalating pressure campaign against Google over Gmail's filters allegedly marking fundraising emails from right-wing candidates as spam (Washington Post)

Washington Post:
A look at the GOP's escalating pressure campaign against Google over Gmail's filters allegedly marking fundraising emails from right-wing candidates as spam  —  As fundraising slows, the GOP is blaming Gmail's spam filter.  The tech giant rejects claims of bias but is moving to placate Republicans, anyway.



How to withdraw money from your EPF account online

Every month, 12 percent of every regular employee's basic pay (and dearness allowance, as applicable) is contributed to the fund. The contribution is saved in the employee's EPF account, and at retirement, the entire amount contributed—along with a matching contribution from the employer and interest—can be withdrawn. https://ift.tt/9zFiAw8

How to collaborate on a Word document on a desktop, phone, or online

The ability to collaborate on work documents enables people chosen by you to give feedback on your presentation or to make quick changes to it. https://ift.tt/9TdDAK5

A look at the supply chain resilience myth, as efforts to replicate the chipmaking process inside single countries or regions reveal and exacerbate bottlenecks (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia:
A look at the supply chain resilience myth, as efforts to replicate the chipmaking process inside single countries or regions reveal and exacerbate bottlenecks  —  TAIPEI — In the sweltering Asia summertime of mid-June, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. urgently dispatched a team …



Saturday, July 30, 2022

Salesforce, whose logo appeared on Helium's website, also says it is not a Helium partner; Helium has removed both Lime and Salesforce logos from its website (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Salesforce, whose logo appeared on Helium's website, also says it is not a Helium partner; Helium has removed both Lime and Salesforce logos from its website  —  Helium listed the two companies as users on its homepage  —  On Friday, Mashable reported that Helium, a crypto project praised …



What Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks has been his recent big 'mistake'

Zuckerberg, responding to an employee question at a company-wide meeting on Thursday, said he had hired too aggressively and failed to account for the possibility of an economic downturn, according to a person who heard the remarks. https://ift.tt/oE2UuFf

Why Elon Musk is 'unhappy' with Wikipedia

After the online encyclopedia platform Wikipedia suspended the editing of the "recession" page, tech billionaire Elon Musk slammed co-founder Jimmy Wales and said the platform is "losing its objectivity". https://ift.tt/5ZD3xdh

Amazon sees largest-ever drop in workforce

Amazon has reduced its direct workforce by nearly 1 lakh, the largest sequential drop in its history, primarily at its fulfillment centres and distribution network. https://ift.tt/axzgOAP

How Modi's government is increasingly skirting India's own internet rules to crack down on free speech and dissent on social media, under a "fake news" pretext (Mark Bergen/Bloomberg)

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
How Modi's government is increasingly skirting India's own internet rules to crack down on free speech and dissent on social media, under a “fake news” pretext  —  Sandeep Ravindranath, an Indian filmmaker, posted his latest work to YouTube in May. The video …



Why Indonesia has blocked Yahoo, Paypal and several gaming websites

Indonesia has blocked search engine website Yahoo, payments firm Paypal and several gaming websites due to failure to comply with licensing rules, an official said on Saturday, sparking a backlash in social media. https://ift.tt/K1GxeqW

Friday, July 29, 2022

Meta concerned about next quarter as it faces its first-ever revenue drop

Total revenue, which consists almost entirely of ad sales, fell 1% to $28.8 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, from $29.1 billion last year. The figure slightly missed Wall Street's projections of $28.9 billion, according to Refinitiv. https://ift.tt/IKyPTaq

Amazon sees resilient consumer demand as shares jump 13 percent

Amazon, like much of the retail industry, is facing a reckoning. Major rival Walmart Inc this week said it would make much less this year than it once expected. US consumer confidence has tumbled to a recent low, and some are sticking to lower-priced essentials to manage economic woes. https://ift.tt/zEo3MqK

Sources: ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300B as part of a recent buyback offer, one of its highest valuations ever (Wall Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal : Sources: ByteDance is valuing itself at about $300B as part of a recent buyback offer, one of its highest valuation...