Internet
Google announces $10 billion ‘digitization fund’ for India
Agence France-Presse Alphabet’s Google on Monday said it will spend around $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups, marking its biggest commitment to a key growth market. The investments will be done through a so-called digitization fund, highlighting Google’s focus on the rapid pace of growth of apps and software platforms in India, one of the world’s biggest internet services markets. “We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, said on a webcast during the annual “Google for India” event. “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.” Google has already made some direct and indirec...
UK government takes $500 million stake in space exploration firm OneWeb
As part of a consortium that includes Indian telecom Bharti Global, the UK government will invest $500 million and take a “significant equity share” in space exploration firm OneWeb, it announced Friday. OneWeb, which has its headquarters in the UK, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in March, after it was unable to secure financing. Bharti Global also will invest $500 million as part of the deal. OneWeb is one of several companies working on an Internet-from-space project, using a combination of low-altitude satellites to beam internet connectivity to ground terminals on Earth’s surface. It was slated to launch a constellation of 650 spacecraft, and its plans included providing internet coverage for the Arctic. So far, it has launched 74 satellites for the project. Frida...
Google Doodle celebrates the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth
In celebration of the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, Google has produced a video Doodle set to the first verse of the poem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often called “The Black National Anthem.” It’s a 90 second piece of rousing animation that honors the end of slavery in the US. The video features art from artist Loveis Wise, music produced by Elijah Jamal, and the poem is read by LeVar Burton. Although slavery officially ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, it wasn’t until June 19th, 1865 that the federal order reached Galveston, Texas on the western edge of the Confederacy. Juneteenth is shorthand for “June Nineteenth.” “This is an American story about freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I hope that in these brown faces many Americans can see themselves,” s...
Microsoft is replacing newsroom journalists with machines
Dozens of news producers who oversee MSN websites for Microsoft are being replaced by software. Media reports in Seattle, where the company is based, say around 50 news producers in both the US and Britain will not have their contracts renewed. Microsoft says the decision is not related to the pandemic. Get more stories like this on Twitter You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
Instacart’s tip-baiting system is short-changing shoppers – US senators
Instacart’s tipping system is getting some new scrutiny from Congress. In a pair of letters today, a group of senators led by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) raised concerns that the service’s tipping system may be unfair or deceptive and called for a regulatory investigation of the practice. One letter sent to Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta took the service to task for allowing buyers to promise large tips but reduce them to zero after an order is fulfilled. “People are facing unprecedented economic hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the senators wrote, “and so we hope online delivery companies like yours are taking the necessary steps to protect shoppers and prevent unfair and deceptive practices.” Reached for comment, Instacart defended the system, arguing that it typically increases the...
Google reportedly rescinds 2,000 contract worker jobs
Google rescinded offers to more than 2,000 contract and temporary workers in an effort to curtail new spending as the pandemic continues to sink ad revenue, according to The New York Times. Ruth Porat, Google’s chief financial officer, said last month that the company would slow the pace of hiring this year “given that we are faced with a global crisis of uncertain depth and duration.” The 2,000 contract positions would have been located across the globe, according to the Times, and they represent a small fraction of Google’s workforce. The company reportedly has more than 130,000 contractors on top of 123,000 employees. Still, it speaks to the significant hiring slowdown that Porat telegraphed last month. The pandemic has caused a slowdown in the advertising market, which is where Google ...
Cynthia Morgan killed her career with her mouth, hands – former manager
The former management of Nigerian dancehall Star, Cynthia Morgan, has threatened to expose her over her recent claims about Jude Okoye. Morgan had in an Instagram live session on Saturday disclosed how her music career slipped after her contract with Jude Okoye ended on a terrible note. She disclosed that her Vevo accounts and stage name ‘Cynthia Morgan’ were taken away from her after the fallout with Okoye. But, her former manager, known as @JoyTongo on Twitter took to her page, warning her to reveal the truth of what transpired between her and Jude Okoye. She revealed that Morgan’s attitude and pride led to the downfall of her music career and not her management. Her tweets read: “Cynthia Morgan, this is 2020, we haven’t forgotten all your dirt Internet does not lie, emails don’t lie and...
South Africans Ready to Disclose Their Online Activity to the Government
Sourced from Fintech News. Thirty-eight per cent (38%) of South African consumers say they are happy for the government to monitor their social media activity to keep its citizens safe – this is according to Kaspersky’s latest report, Social credits and security: Embracing the world of ratings. At the same time, 67% of local respondents were ready to reveal their private data in exchange for a unique offer in an online shop. However, for many consumers, it still remains unclear how these automated systems of data-driven services work: 55% of all the users participating in the poll admitted they still can’t figure it out. The growing popularity of social media networks and online services has led to a growth in social scoring systems – automated algorithms based on users’ behaviour and infl...
Facebook chief ‘worried’ about China’s influence on internet regulation
Agence France-Presse Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday he is “worried” that other countries may be trying to imitate China’s approach to regulating the internet. “Just to be blunt about it, I think there is a model coming out of countries like China that tend to have very different values than Western countries that are more democratic,” Zuckerberg said during an hourlong video conversation Monday with European Union Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton. The Facebook CEO added that it was up to Western democratic countries to have a clear framework for data privacy. “We have a joint responsibility to help develop this,” he said. It was the latest instance of Zuckerberg citing the risks of a Chinese model of the internet spreading around the world. He made similar comments last year,...
