Browsing: Technology

Japan is set to increase its spending on chip-gear by a staggering 82% in a bid to bolster its position in the global semiconductor market. The spending boost will put Japan ahead of other major chip-making markets, including China, Europe and the Middle East. Although Taiwan remains the biggest spender on chip-fabrication equipment, Japan’s surge in spending is significant. According to data from SEMI, a global association of chip-making equipment producers, Japan’s planned investment is worth around $7 billion. This move by Japan also follows the nation’s plan to restrict the export of key equipment required to manufacture chips, such…

In an effort to help content creators grow and build communities, Meta Platforms is testing a monthly subscription service, called Meta Verified. This service lets users verify their accounts with a government ID and get a blue badge. It will cost $11.99 per month on the web or $14.99 per month on Apple’s iOS system or Android, according to Reuters, and includes extra protection against impersonation. The launch of Meta Verified will begin in Australia and New Zealand this week, followed by gradual launches in other countries. This is Meta’s first foray into subscription services, following Twitter’s announcement last month…

After warranty expires, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 screens crack for no reason. Apparently, some Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 users are experiencing cracks in their foldable displays. Even worse, the damage occurs after the warranty has expired without any trauma or impact on the device. Due to the fact that the phone is out of warranty, there is not much that can be done. A repair of the display costs $800. That’s 73% of the original cost of the phone to fix something she didn’t break. Several Galaxy Z Fold 3 owners have experienced the same thing. Last month, a…

The governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, announced Friday that Amazon Web Services plans to invest $35 billion in new data centers within the state by 2040. This will be the state’s largest economic investment in history. According to a news release from the governor’s office, both party leaders in the General Assembly support the pending deal, which will provide millions of dollars in incentives. According to the Associated Press, if approved, Amazon would receive incentives from a new Mega Data Center Incentive Program as well as a grant of up to $140 million for workforce development site improvements and other…

According to reports, Twitter continues to be in the midst of an advertising squeeze. This is because the social media platform has seen a 40% reduction in revenue after over 500 clients ceased spending on the platform. Twitter’s daily revenue was down 40% year-over-year, according to the tech newsletter Platformer, while the Information reported that more than 500 of Twitter’s top advertisers had halted spending since Musk bought it. Twitter’s main revenue source is advertising, which accounted for more than 90% of its $5.1 billion in revenue in 2021, but after the Tesla CEO’s $44 billion (£35 billion) acquisition, clients…

It was announced today that Apple would be introducing the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with Apple’s next-generation pro silicon, M2 Pro and M2 Max, which will deliver even superior power efficiency and battery life to pro users. With its M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, MacBook Pro tackles demanding tasks, including effects rendering, which is up to six times faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, as well as color grading, which is up to two times faster. As a result of Apple’s silicon, MacBook Pro has the longest battery life ever achieved by a Mac. A number…

The Azure cloud service from Microsoft now provides general access to OpenAI’s software. The company stated that more businesses would be able to utilize OpenAI’s large language models, including DALL-E 2 and Codex. The company also plans to add OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot to the service in the near future. Microsoft will make available a “fine-tuned version” of ChatGPT that has been trained to run on Azure AI infrastructure. In 2019, Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI to help bring “secure, trustworthy, and ethical” artificial intelligence to the public, while focusing on Azure AI supercomputing. Both companies have been expanding their…

After Virgin Orbit reported an anomaly that prevented its rocket from reaching orbit early on Tuesday, Britain’s attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment. The “horizontal launch” mission left from the coastal town of Newquay, southwest England, carrying Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket under the wing of an aircraft called the “Cosmic Girl”, and was then released over the Atlantic Ocean. “An anomaly appears to have prevented us from reaching orbit,” according to the company. It is a further blow to European space ambitions after an Italian-built Vega-C rocket was unable to lift…

In a report published on Monday, Semafor quoted people familiar with the matter as saying Microsoft Corporation is discussing investing $10 billion in OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT. This would value the San Francisco-based company at $29 billion. A number of other venture capital firms have contributed to the funding round. Deal documents have been sent to prospective investors in recent weeks, with the intention of closing the round by the end of 2022, according to Reuters. According to a Wall Street Journal report, OpenAI is in discussions to sell existing shares at a valuation of roughly $29 billion. This…

In one of the largest Twitter data breaches ever, 400 million Twitter users’ data was up for sale on the dark web. One day earlier, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced their investigation into a previous Twitter data leak that affected over 5.4 million users. In late November, a previous breach was found. A sample of data was posted on a hacker forum to prove its authenticity. User information includes email, name, username, follower count, creation date, and sometimes phone number. In the hacker’s sample data, there are some really high-profile user accounts. Data from the sample includes Alexandria…