Here is the top trending news from the world of technology. News that we feel every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Google starts rolling out Passkeys – A Passwordless future
Google on Wednesday took a big stride towards future when using password to login to your accounts will become a thing of past. This is all thanks to Google’s new feature Passkeys, a new cryptographic keys solution that requires a pre-authenticated device. Passkeys will essentially ditch traditional passwords and SMS verification system with a local PIN or a device’s own biometric authentication. But the good thing is that this biometric data won’t be not shared with Google or any other third party, which gives a great security to your data. Experts claims that Passkeys will also end the scope of phishing attack and password stealing theft. Although Google said that it has started rolling out Passkeys for global users, it will take quite some time before this feature is launched in all the markets.
2)
White House pushes for 30 percent tax on electricity used for crypto-mining
The crypto industry is as such going through tough times and there is another bad news coming from the Biden administration. In its budget for the fiscal year 2024, the Biden administration has proposed to levy 30% excise tax on the electricity used for cryptocurrency mining operations. This tax has been officially named as Digital Asset Mining Energy or DAME excise tax. The U.S government argues that the cryptomining firms are not paying for the full cost that they are imposing on others including huge environmental pollution caused by cryptomining operations. The White House further added that pollution caused cryptomining operations adversely affects the low income population.
3)
Meta warns ChatGPT Malware is on rise
As the buzz around ChatGPT continues to grow so have been the hackers who are ostensibly misusing the generative AI platform. According to Meta, it has witnessed a drastic increase in malware disguised as ChatGPT and similar AI software. The social media giant claims that in March 2023 alone, it has unearthed “ten malware families using ChatGPT and other similar themes across the internet. Meta said that it has blocked more than 1,000 malicious links originating from its platforms, further adding that fake ChatGPT tools are often disguised as mobile apps and browser extension. Like any other hacking scam, the true aim of ChatGPT’s scam is to steal the account credentials of the users, Meta concluded in its blog post.
4)
Google Employees Angry over CEO Sundar Pichai’s Hefty Pay Rise
Google Employees are not all that happy over CEO Sundar Pichai getting handsome pay raise amid all the drastic cost-cutting. According to reports, critical conversation have been growing louder among the Google staff about Pichai taking home huge pay check while the tech giant has been busy in cutting jobs across the company. Many employees are arguing, as per the media reports, that Pichai should have taken the pay cut in accordance with the cost-cutting measures that the company has recently resorted to. According to the SEC filings, Google CEO earned an impressive $226 Mn including stock awards.
5)
Adobe’s $20 Bn Figma acquisition comes under UK antitrust Scanner
After blocking the Microsoft – Activision Blizzard Deal last week, UK’s anti-trust body, the Competition and Market Authority (CMA), has now turned its focus on Adobe’s $20 Bn Figma acquisition. CMA has confirmed that it has launched an initial “phase 1” merger enquiry against the deal and has given two weeks’ notice to relevant stakeholder to comment over the same. By the way, UK’s anti-competition body is not the only one to securitize this high-profile deal. The deal is also facing regulatory scrutiny in other countries including in the US. Adobe had acquired digital design platform Figma for $20 Bn in September last year.