Tuesday, March 19

Technology

Advertisers Spend Another Record Amount on Radio Advertising
Business, News, Technology

Advertisers Spend Another Record Amount on Radio Advertising

Advertisers spent a record amount on radio advertising last year. Audify, the marketing organization that represents all major audio makers, reported this. In total, the expenditures yielded almost 226 million euros, 16 million euros more than a year earlier. According to Audify, more was invested in the first quarter compared to the same quarter in 2021. Then the increase was almost 16 percent on an annual basis. In absolute terms, they generated the most income in the fourth quarter, more than 81 million euros. The number of audio advertising companies also grew in 2022 to more than 2200. They purchased a total of more than 5.7 million spots. Retail is the industry that makes the most use of this form of advertising.v
US Law in the Works That could Ban TikTok
Business, China, News, Technology, US

US Law in the Works That could Ban TikTok

On Tuesday, two US senators will introduce a bill that would give the president the power to label and ban technology from abroad as a threat. Among other things, the law would allow President Joe Biden to ban the popular platform TikTok. TikTok is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance and has come under fire since the company admitted that certain employees had access to users' data in the United States and Europe. Biden's predecessor Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok in the US in 2020, but his planned measures failed in court. The new bill was drafted jointly by a Republican and a Democratic senator. An anonymous source tells Reuters that the White House has provided input for the motion. Last week, another proposal that could lead to a ban on TikTok was rejected by ...
European Commission Bans TikTok for All Its Employees for Fear of Espionage
Europe, News, Technology

European Commission Bans TikTok for All Its Employees for Fear of Espionage

The European Commission has asked all its employees to remove the Chinese social media platform TikTok from their phones. A spokesperson for the Commission confirms this to our editors. The measure comes to "increase the cyber security of the commission". This morning, the Commission emailed all EU officials asking them to remove TikTok as soon as possible. The measure applies to all business phones and to personal devices if they contain work-related apps. Anyone who does not remove the app before March 15 will no longer have access to work-related software, such as the mailbox or Skype for Business communication software. "The measure is intended to increase the Commission's cyber security," said a spokesman for the Commission. TikTok regrets the Commission's decision, the ...
Rumour: Apple Will Release a Foldable iPad in 2024
Business, News, Technology

Rumour: Apple Will Release a Foldable iPad in 2024

Foldable screens have been hip for several years with brands such as Samsung and OPPO, but Apple has remained averse to this hype until now. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, this will change next year when the tech giant introduces a foldable iPad. Other insiders, however, have their doubts about that claim. In a series of tweets, Ming-Chi Kuo, usually very knowledgeable about Apple's future plans, says there won't be a new iPad for the next nine to 12 months. According to the TF International Securities analyst, Apple is fully focusing on a brand new foldable model, which should see the light of day in 2024. Production would take place at the Chinese company Anjie technology. Kuo gets his information from sources he has in Apple's Asian supply chain, says MacRumors. Ming-C...
China is Taking Stricter Action Against Deepfakes for Fear of Disinformation
China, News, Technology

China is Taking Stricter Action Against Deepfakes for Fear of Disinformation

China has introduced new measures against companies that offer deepfakes. By limiting such digital manipulations, the country wants to combat disinformation. With 'deepfake' technology, you can replace someone's face with someone else's in a photo or video. Based on artificial intelligence, this technique is very popular on social media, where it is often used for humour. But several experts and now the Chinese government warned that this technique is "also used by unscrupulous people to spread false information, tarnish the reputation of others, and impersonate someone else to commit fraud." The new legislation now requires companies that offer the technology to discover their users' true identities. In addition, every deepfake must be labelled to avoid "any confusion" among...
More Users of Twitter Alternative Mastodon After Musk Takeover
Business, News, Technology, US

More Users of Twitter Alternative Mastodon After Musk Takeover

Twitterers are switching in large numbers to the alternative social medium Mastodon. Since the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk last Friday, Mastodon has gained many tens of thousands of new users, according to CEO Eugen Rochko. "This is quite a lot for a day, isn't it?" Rochko said via his own platform. The CEO reported nearly 71,000 new Mastodon users 48 hours after the official moment of the takeover. The platform has been around for years and is trying to provide a "cleaner" version of Twitter. Musk wants Twitter to focus more on freedom of expression, which can increase the number of hateful messages and misinformation on the platform. Twitterers complain that they have lost many followers in a short period. As a result, many Twitter users also write a message announcing...
Research: Less Demand for Computers and Laptops Due to Inflation
Business, News, Technology

Research: Less Demand for Computers and Laptops Due to Inflation

The demand for computers and laptops is declining rapidly. According to market researcher Canalys, sales in the third quarter were nearly a fifth lower than a year earlier, reflecting reluctance from consumers, schools and businesses amid high inflation. About as many computers are still sold as before the corona pandemic. Demand has risen sharply in the past two years due to the many working and studying from home. Despite the still relatively high figures, the rapid decline is worrying Canalys. “Not just for sellers, but all stakeholders in the industry. Chip companies Intel and AMD face setbacks from poor computer sales, and smaller component manufacturers are slashing production and profit expectations.” Demand from consumers and education has been lower for some time, bu...
Foldable Smartphones are Far from Breaking Through
News, Technology

Foldable Smartphones are Far from Breaking Through

While the largest maker of foldable smartphones speaks of 'unseen popularity', foldable smartphones appear to serve just one percent of the market. Moreover, that figure will remain low for a long time, market analyst IDC expects. This year, IDC expects to sell just under 1.36 billion smartphones. 1.1 percent of that, 13.5 million units, are foldables. That is relatively little, given that the foldable devices have been on the market for a while and the main player, Samsung, is promoting them fully. By 2026, IDC expects the market to grow at an average annual rate of 1 percent to 1.159 billion smartphones. By then, there will be a circulation of 2.8 percent or 41.5 million foldables. These are strongly relative figures compared to what Samsung recently suggested. The Korean t...
Study Microsoft: Managers Especially Afraid of Working From Home
News, Technology

Study Microsoft: Managers Especially Afraid of Working From Home

Managers fear, often unjustly, for the productivity of their employees when working from home. However, a study by Microsoft shows a big gap between those bosses and their employees. Managers are the ones who are concerned about the productivity of employees who work from home. That's according to a major study from Microsoft (and anecdotal evidence from just about everyone who's been pushed back to the office recently). Some 87% of employees surveyed in the study said they could work from home just as efficiently or even better. However, 85% of managers just didn't think so. Those managers find that hybrid or home working makes it very difficult to monitor employee productivity. For the study, Microsoft surveyed 20,000 employees in 11 countries. "We need to get over that 'pr...
Study: US Bitcoin Production as Polluting as 6 Million Cars
Business, News, Technology, US

Study: US Bitcoin Production as Polluting as 6 Million Cars

The energy needed to produce bitcoins in the United States produces as many emissions as about 6 million cars a year. That's what environmental groups say in a report. They, therefore, call on American states to ban new activities for mining digital coins so as not to further damage the climate. The mining of bitcoins by computers uses a lot of energy because of the complex calculations involved. According to environmental groups, bitcoin production in the US caused CO2 emissions of 27.4 million tons in the period between mid-2021 and 2022. That's three times the emissions of the largest coal-fired power plant in the US and nearly equal to the annual emissions of 6 million cars. According to a recent White House study, 38 percent of global bitcoin mining now occurs in the US....