Here is today’s top trending news from the world of technology. News that every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Facebook Surges Past 3 Billion Monthly Active Users
While announcing its second-quarter results on Wednesday Meta claimed that its popular social media platform Facebook has surpassed 3 billion monthly active users for the first time in its history. This indicates a 3% rise from the preceding quarter and a 15% surge compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Meta said that impressive growth in Facebook’s MAU was driven by strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, which now accounts for more than half of Facebook’s MAUs. Although many claim that Facebook’s popularity is sliding, the impressive figure of over 3 Bn monthly users clearly demonstrate that the platform is still very much thriving.
2)
Indonesia bans Elon Musk’s ‘X Domain’ due to link with Porn & Gambling
Indonesia has temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s X domain, the domain chosen by Elon Musk for Twitter’s recent rebranding. Indonesian authority claimed that the block was put in place after it was revealed that the domain had been used by websites that hosted pornographic and gambling content in the past. Officials in Indonesia have said that it would only lift the ban once it receives assurances from Musk that X.com won’t be used for hosting such harmful content in the future. The ban will come as huge embarrassment for Musk as it clearly shows that his unplanned decision to rebrand ‘Twitter’ to ‘X’ is facing challenges.
3)
Netflix Posts High-Paying $900,000 AI Job amid Hollywood Strike
Netflix has listed an AI job worth $900,000 amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes to protect actors & writers’ jobs from AI. The job posting is for a machine learning product manager who will help the streaming company to “shape our catalogue of movies and TV shows” and also optimize the production of original movies and TV shows. The job posting has been met with heavy criticism with many calling it as yet another reminder about how AI could threaten the job of writers and actors. Netflix, on other hand, has defended the listing, arguing that it is simply looking to leverage the AI technology.
4)
AWS announces generative A.I. tool to streamline doctor paperwork
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new service called AWS HealthScribe. AWS HealthScribe is a generative AI tool that can automatically develop transcripts and summaries of patient visits. AWS claim that this tool is just as in accuracy and reducing error in patient’s records. This service could potentially prove to be a major gamechanger for doctors and healthcare practitioners as it could save enormous amount of time for them. AWS HealthScribe is powered by Amazon Bedrock, which is AWS’s service for building generative AI applications. AWS HealthScribe is currently available in US, Canada, and the European Union.
5)
Waymo cuts back on self-driving truck ambition
Autonomous driving technology company Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has announced that it is pulling back on its effort to develop autonomous truck technology and will instead focus on ride-hailing services. A small number of employees were laid off as a result of this decision. Waymo’s trucking unit, also known as Waymo Via, was developing self-driving technology for long-haul trucking. The company had been testing its self-driving trucks on public roads in Arizona and California and was aiming to launch a commercial service in the next few years.