Here is the top trending news from the world of technology. News that every tech enthusiast should keep a tab on.
1)
Wikipedia’s Mobile Website now offers a Dark Mode
Wikipedia has finally caught up with its peers as it now finally allow users to switch to dark mode. This feature will come pretty handy for users who want to access Wikipedia in low light condition as well as for those who don’t want to strain their eyes. To activate the dark mode, you simply have to go to the settings menu and switch on the dark theme. Currently, you can access dark mode only in mobile website though global roll out will take time. It may take nearly a month for this feature to arrive on its desktop version. Wikipedia has been lethargically slow in implementing this feature as all popular platforms – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp – have been offering it since 2018-19.
2)
Amazon’s AI Shopping Assistant ‘Rufus’ is now generally available in US
Starting from today, customers living in the US can access Amazon’s recently launched AI powered shopping ‘Rufus.’ The shopping assistant, which you can find in the bottom right of the app’s main navigation bar, aims to streamline your shopping experience; by helping you find products, performing product comparison and offering product recommendations. Rufus has been powered by Amazon’s internal LLM though the company hasn’t been all that transparent about which website’s data it used to train its AI chatbot. It will be interesting to see whether Rufus proves to be a vanity feature or will make a real difference to customer’s shopping experience.
3)
SoftBank buys UK’s AI chipmaker ‘Graphcore’
In a bid to gain foothold in the AI chip industry, SoftBank has acquired UK based chip making company Graphcore. Although financial details of the deal have not been made public, the deal is estimated to be around $600 Mn, which is lower than what Graphcore had secured during its last funding round; clearly highlighting company’s weak financial position. It is worth noting that SoftBank already has a significant stake in another British based chip making company Arm. Undoubtedly, Japanese telecom giant wants to consolidate its position in the AI chip market as artificial intelligence continues to transform various industries.
4)
YouTube Short launches Dozens of new features for Content Creators
YouTube Short is taking competition with TikTok head-on as it launched slew of new creative options for content creators. This includes ability to turn longer videos in short clips, editing and styling captions with different fonts and colors, remixing the already remixed short clip or offering text-to-speech function (similar to TikTok). These features are likely to give huge boost to content creator’s earnings though we will have to wait for sometime to gauge the effectiveness of these tools. With nearly 70 Bn daily views, YouTube Short has certainly made its presence felt. However, it still has lot of catching up to do with TikTok, which is the current market leader in short video format.
5)
SpaceX’s Starlink set to enter Sri Lanka
Starlink – Space X’s satellite internet arm – is all but sure to enter the Sri Lankan market. The Sri Lankan government is leaving no stone unturned to give red carpet to Elon Musk’s company, even amending the decade long telecom act. The amendment will introduce a new license category, which will allow Starlink to enter the island nation’s telecom space. Although Sri Lanka is a small country and has been embroiled in economic turmoil in recent years, it boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in South Asia; making it a lucrative market for Starlink.