Friday, April 28, 2023

WhatsApp Web not able to detect QR code? Try these fixes

WhatsApp allows its users to use its instant messaging service on a PC via WhatsApp Web. However, the QR code displayed on the computer screen may not always get detected by the smartphone camera, leading to difficulty in the linking process. https://ift.tt/UaSrI4L

Solana's SOL is up about 125% since December 31, outperforming bitcoin's 78% rally, as the blockchain tries to move past its association with Sam Bankman-Fried (Sidhartha Shukla/Bloomberg)

Sidhartha Shukla / Bloomberg:
Solana's SOL is up about 125% since December 31, outperforming bitcoin's 78% rally, as the blockchain tries to move past its association with Sam Bankman-Fried  —  The SOL token of the Solana blockchain has more than doubled this year, outperforming Bitcoin, as the project tries to move past …



A profile of Sarah Cardell, the UK CMA's Chief Executive, who played a key role in shaping the policy that led to Microsoft's Activision takeover being blocked (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
A profile of Sarah Cardell, the UK CMA's Chief Executive, who played a key role in shaping the policy that led to Microsoft's Activision takeover being blocked  —  Former corporate lawyer has attracted the ire of the US group by blocking its $75bn acquisition of Activision



Sony reports 6.3M PS5 sales in Q4 2022, up from 2M in Q4 2021, taking FY 2022 to 19.1M and 38.4M since launch, and $29B revenue for FY 2022, up from $19.9B YoY (Steve Dent/Engadget)

Steve Dent / Engadget:
Sony reports 6.3M PS5 sales in Q4 2022, up from 2M in Q4 2021, taking FY 2022 to 19.1M and 38.4M since launch, and $29B revenue for FY 2022, up from $19.9B YoY  —  Now that it's solved its supply shortages, Sony is seeing a lot of pent-up demand for PlayStation 5 consoles.



Vice Media lays off over 100 employees, shuts World News brand

Vice Media is laying off more than 100 employees as part of restructuring its global organisations, along with shutting down its Vice News Tonight broadcast, reports said. https://ift.tt/sR3zFdK

A profile of Liu Xiaoping, a dog food seller on Pinduoduo who coaches Chinese merchants on using legal action to fight Pinduoduo's refund-without-return policy (Viola Zhou/Rest of World)

Viola Zhou / Rest of World:
A profile of Liu Xiaoping, a dog food seller on Pinduoduo who coaches Chinese merchants on using legal action to fight Pinduoduo's refund-without-return policy  —  A dog food seller known as “Lawsuit Bro” is leading the fight.  — A dog food seller on Pinduoduo has emerged as an unlikely hero …



Thursday, April 27, 2023

STMicroelectronics defies chips gloom with Q1 beat

STMicro reported first-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $1.10 on a 20% increase in revenues to $4.25 billion. Analysts had expected EPS of $0.99 and revenues of $4.19 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv Eikon. https://ift.tt/kYlUAhn

SpaceX's Starship launch comes under US FAA scanner

SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, which exploded after launch, has now come under the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) scanner for reportedly spreading plumes of potentially hazardous debris endangering human lives as well as habitats of animals. https://ift.tt/GENz6n7

How to disable ‘Contact is Now on Google Pay’ alerts

Google Pay allows users to transfer money and sync contacts. However, some users may find the notifications alerting them about their contacts joining the platform annoying. The app provides an option to disable the feature. https://ift.tt/IdPTty5

Elon Musk hints at bringing back Snapchat, Instagram-like feature on Twitter

The company CEO has hinted that Twitter may bring back ‘Fleets’ – but in a new avatar. Fleets is an Instagram and Snapchat-like ‘Stories’ feature that enabled users to post primarily text-based stories that disappeared after 24 hours. In a thread, another user asked whether Musk is also planning to bring Fleets back. To this, the CEO said that “But not in the way it was done last time.” https://ift.tt/rO98hVf

A profile of ASML, the most valuable tech company in Europe, as the US-China chip war escalates; ASML's next apartment-sized machine ships in 2025 for $380M+ (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A profile of ASML, the most valuable tech company in Europe, as the US-China chip war escalates; ASML's next apartment-sized machine ships in 2025 for $380M+  —  In 1984, Martin van den Brink, a young Dutch engineer, joined a newly created venture in a quiet corner of the Netherlands.



An analysis of Baidu, Bilibili, Bing, Douyin, Weibo, and other Chinese search platforms finds 60K censorship rules, implemented differently by each service (Jeffrey Knockel/The Citizen Lab)

Jeffrey Knockel / The Citizen Lab:
An analysis of Baidu, Bilibili, Bing, Douyin, Weibo, and other Chinese search platforms finds 60K censorship rules, implemented differently by each service  —  This report has an accompanying FAQ.  —  Key findings  — Across eight China-accessible search platforms analyzed — Baidu …



YouTube Music to let users publically share the songs they have on loop

YouTube Music, the music streaming app from Google, may receive a social feature that lets users share their listening stats with others. This rumoured addition may come in the form of a settings toggle. According to a 9to5Google report, YouTube Music is expected to make the ‘Enable public stats’ toggle available in the ‘Advanced Privacy Settings’ section on the ‘Channel Settings’ page. https://ift.tt/CKLnP9O

Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in international payments to counter Western sanctions (Gleb Bryanski/Reuters)

Gleb Bryanski / Reuters : Russia's finance minister says Russian companies have begun using bitcoin and other digital currencies in i...