When Free Basics was launched in India by Facebook, it met with a lot criticism, the big bone of contention being its alleged violation of net neutrality by being a zero-rating platform that offered free access to a limited number of services. There were also worries that Facebook was using the service to collect more data on users, and about what the social network’s ulterior motives could be. Eventually, the service was shut down last year, after many rightful protests from Internet activists in the country. Now, a report outlines all the things that are wrong with Facebook’s Free Basics including violation of net neutrality,…
Author: Loknath Das
Alphabet Inc’s Google aims to train 10 million people in Africa in online skills over the next five years in an effort to make them more employable, its chief executive said on Thursday. The US technology giant also hopes to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, a company spokeswoman said. Google’s pledge marked an expansion of an initiative it launched in April 2016 to train young Africans in digital skills. It announced in March it had reached its initial target of training one million people. The company is “committing to prepare another 10 million people for jobs of the…
Internet colossus Amazon on Thursday reported its profit shrank in the recently ended quarter despite surging sales as it poured money into growth. The US-based company said that net sales increased 25 percent to $38 billion (roughly Rs. 2,44,047 crores) when compared to the same period last year, but that profit plunged 77 percent from a year ago to $197 million (roughly Rs. 1,265 crores). Investments, depreciation of equipment, share buys and other expenses ate into revenue in a familiar pattern of Amazon putting long-term growth ahead of short-term profit. “Our teams remain heads-down and focused on customers,” Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said…
Red Dead Redemption 2’s release date has been pushed back to 2018, but that hasn’t stopped rampant speculation on what to expect. The latest bout, now fuelled by comments of Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two which imply that the Wild West open-world adventure could have a bigger online component than expected. “Obviously we know what Rockstar tends to do. And Rockstar’s activities have been transformed by Grand Theft Auto Online,” Strauss Zelnick said to Games Industry. Though fans of Red Dead Redemption would expect Take-Two to have it succeed as well as GTA does, that doesn’t seem to be the case. To put it into perspective, 2008’s…
Hours after billionaire Elon Musk made a public aspersion about Mark Zuckerberg’s knowledge, by saying Facebook chief executive’s understanding of artificial intelligence is “limited,” Zuckerberg has reaffirmed why he is so optimistic about the nascent technology. To recall, Musk was responding to Zuckberberg’s comments made during a Facebook Live broadcast, where the Facebook CEO called out naysayers. In a public post, Zuckerberg congratulated his company’s AI research division for winning the best paper award at the “top” computer vision conference for research in “densely connected convolutional networks” subject. In the same post, Zuckerberg shared “one reason” why he is so optimistic about AI. These efforts, he…
Facebook on Tuesday announced several updates to make its Live 360-degree videos a more lucrative proposition for broadcasters and more attractive to media consumers. The social networking company has now added support for up to 4K resolution for streaming 360-degree Live videos. It has also added the support for virtual reality to the service as well. Notably, users will be able to see the 360-degree Live videos in 4K through Samsung Gear VR headset but Oculus Rift users will not be able to use the functionality just now. The Samsung VR headset users will be able to see Live 360 videos through the Facebook app through ‘Watch…
I am one of these “unqualified” teachers (60% rise in unqualified teachers, says Labour, 26 July), although I have worked in education for 26 years, in a variety of sectors – higher education in the UK and overseas, secondary education (both co-ed boarding and single-sex day schools), adult education services, private tutoring. I have an Oxbridge degree, and an MA and PhD. I am a published author in the disciplines of both music and English literature. For 10 years I was a head of sixth form and then university tutor in an independent girls’ day school. And yet I am deemed…
NEW DELHI: With rumours of the Centre planning a withdrawal of the newly-introduced Rs 2,000 note doing the rounds, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar has said there was no news of its scrapping, adding the Rs 200 note will be in circulation soon. “No news that Rs 2,000 will be scrapped,” Gangwar told IANS in an interview. “The reduction in printing of new Rs 2,000 notes is a separate issue. But that needs to be confirmed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RBI will give information on Rs 2,000 notes,” he added. According to media reports, the government…
There is an ongoing battle in America to change the way children, particularly children from low-income families, a disproportionate number of whom are children of color, are able to access schooling. In this continuing saga, moments like the one that is now playing out in Illinois are extraordinarily rare. While the partisan brinkmanship now taking place in Springfield over the state’s education funding bill is actually quite common, the opportunity to transform the lives of low-income students across the state is actually quite unique. That’s because far too many of those in power across the country refuse to empower low-income and working-class parents…
Chief Justice Susan Denham said concerns over social media were “widespread and real” and that new laws were needed. Her comments follow concerns during the Jobstown trial over the use of social media by supporters of the seven defendants and the use of Twitter by defendant Paul Murphy TD, who even received a warning about his tweets from the Director of Public Prosecutions. Speaking at the launch of the Courts Service Annual Report 2016, Ms Justice Denham said the “fundamental” right to a fair trial needed to be protected. She is sending a draft discussion paper this week to the…