Techi

Amid the ongoing quarterly earnings season, it is Facebook-parent Meta’s turn. For the three months ended September 30, the social media company witnessed a rise in its revenue and profitability alike. Its revenue amounted to $40.59 billion, beating the estimated $40.29 billion and clocking an annual growth of 19%. For the same period, the company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $6.03, significantly exceeding Wall Street’s expectation of $5.25. Its net income, on the other hand, clocked a rather slow growth – rising by 35% annually to amount to $15.7 billion for the period. Its operating margin also clocked a small growth to reach 43%, while Meta’s overall costs and expenses for the quarter rose by 14% to amount to $23.24 billion. Going forward, the company expects its revenue for the current quarter to amount to $45-48 billion, while its overall expenses for the full year is estimated to fall somewhere between $96-98 billion. “We had a good quarter driven by AI progress across...

Apple’s shiny new high-performance MacBooks are finally here. The Cupertino tech giant has unveiled the revamped MacBook Pro lineup, introducing it with the powerful M4 chip. The new MacBook Pro comes with Apple Intelligence – Apple’s suite of AI-powered tools and services – and will be made available in space black and silver finishes. Central to the revamped MacBook Pro lineup is the introduction of the family of the M4 chipset. The devices will come with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max processors, bringing an upgrade in both CPU and GPU performance. Apple describes this as “the world’s fastest CPU core” and “the industry’s best single-threaded performance,” meaning that this will be useful for users who are engaged in video editing, 3D modeling, software development, and similar tasks. The M4 Max can be configured with up to 16 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores, and it also comes with a second-generation 16-core neural engine, which allows for enhanced machine learning capabilities as well. Ther...

Google parent Alphabet has exceeded Wall Street estimates on both revenue and profit for the third quarter of the year – according to its financials, this was led by rapid growth in AI and cloud services alike. For the third quarter of the year, Alphabet secured a total of $88.27 billion in its revenue, marking a growth of 15% year-over-year (YoY) from the $76.7 billion it secured in the same period last year. It also exceeded analysis estimates of $86.3 billion. Q3 2024 also saw Alphabet’s net income amount to $26.3 billion (an increase from $19.7 billion), while its operating income climbed to $28.5 billion. The company’s diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose to $2.12/share, exceeding the estimated $1.85. Its operating margin rose to 32%. From the looks of it, Google’s search business has been the main driver of this annual growth in revenue, accounting for more than 50% of the total revenue earned. For the three months ended September 30, 2024, the search business generated $49.4...

A month after Apple’s iPhone 16 series was launched, the smartphone lineup has officially been given the boot in Indonesia. The government has now banned the sale and use of Apple’s latest generation of smartphones and other newly launched products, including the Apple Watch Series 10. “If there is an iPhone 16 that can operate in Indonesia, that means that I can say, the device is illegal. Do report it to us,” Industry Minister Gumiwang Kartasasmita commented on the matter. “We, the Ministry of Industry, are yet to be able to issue permits for the iPhone 16 because there are still commitments that Apple must realise,” Kartasasmita added. The country currently has the largest economy in Southeast Asia, with a GDP of $1 trillion. This brings the question: exactly why is the iPhone 16 series being banned, and what “commitments” are being referred to here? For one, it seems that it refers to the tech company’s incomplete investment pledge of 1.71 trillion rupiah (approximately $109 mi...

We are set to see more of AI tools, that can use computers without any human guidance. Last week, it was Anthropic – with its Claude AI assistant – and now, Google has thrown its hat into the ring. The tech giant, according to a report from The Information , is now gearing up to roll out Project Jarvis, a new AI tool that will enhance the way users interact with the internet. According to a report by The Information, Project Jarvis is a “computer-using agent” that operates specifically within the Google Chrome web browser. Google seems to have taken a page out of the popular Tony Stark AI assistant from IronMan, wherein J.A.R.V.I.S (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) is an advanced AI assistant who helps Stark in his ventures both as the (former) CEO of Stark Industries and the superhero Iron Man. Google’s Project Jarvis is not so advanced (obviously) but will be able to automate various web-based tasks. This includes conducting research, making purchases, and booking travel ar...

Apple seems to be going all out on its upcoming lineup of products. From the looks of it, the Cupertino-headquartered tech titan will introduce multiple gadgets starting Monday, October 28, including a mew MacBook Pro. “Mac your calenders! We have an exciting week of announcements ahead, starting on Monday morning. Stay tuned,” Apple’s Grek Joswiak wrote in a post on X. According to reports, the new models of MacBook Pro will have two variants – 14-inch and 16-inch – and come equipped with the powerful M4 chipset, as well as a redesign. According to a leak by the popular Russian YouTuber Wylsacom, the base model of the MacBook Pro M4 will come with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. This will be the standard configuration (marking an improvement from the previous MacBook Pro lineup, wherein the M3 chip came with only 8GB of RAM). Still, the storage configuration is expected to remain at 512GB, while its physical design is unlikely to undergo major changes. As per the unboxing video ...

Generative AI and AI-powered tools have blurred the lines between authentic photography and altered content, leading to a rise in fears about deepfakes and the dangers they possess. Google is addressing this issue by bringing new labels to its photos. These labels will roll out from next week, and users will be able to see detailed metadata within the app that reveal whether AI tools and features were used to modify the image. “We often make edits to our photos to make them pop. Sometimes, that means making a simple change to a photo, like cropping it. Other times, it might involve more complex changes like removing unwanted distractions or objects, perfecting the lighting or even creating a new composition. These used to be time-consuming complex tasks, but AI has changed that — powering editing tools like Magic Editor and Magic Eraser in Google Photos,” John Fisher, Engineering Director at Google Photos and Google One, said in a blog post on the matter, adding, “To further improve ...

The past few days have seen several of India’s largest airlines receiving an alarming number of hoax bomb threats. These threats, which have numbered over 100 in a week, have triggered the authorities to activate emergency protocols to ensure passenger safety. The Indian government though, has now publicly criticized X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – for not doing enough to hinder the multitude of hoax bomb threats, considering most have originated from accounts on X. The past week has seen an alarming increase in bomb threats being issued to airlines operating from Delhi – in fact, in the past eight days alone, more than 150 flights have received fake threats, and pilots have preferred to land the planes before reaching their destinations. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in widespread disruption of flights, including those from Akasa, Air India, IndiGo and Vistara. The first bomb threat had been issued last week, on October 16, and was meant for an Akasa Ai...

In the latest development of Tesla’s pursuit of autonomous vehicles, the company has begun to test the service with its employees in the San Francisco Bay Area. Elon Musk – the CEO of Tesla – shared the details during the EV maker’s third-quarter earnings call, noting that this will allow employees to summon rides using a prototype app. Musk aims to roll out paid, driverless rides by 2025 in California and Texas – a development that would make a major milestone in the company’s efforts on autonomous vehicles. Currently, employees who can hail the rides will have the vehicles come with safety drivers. “For Tesla employees in the Bay Area, we already are offering a ride hailing capability,” Musk said on the earnings call on Wednesday. “With the development app, you can request a ride, and it’ll take you anywhere in the Bay Area,” he added. As for the commercial rollout of a fleet of autonomous vehicles, Tesla plans to roll out modified versions of its existing Model 3 and Model Y vehi...

Edtech major Byju’s has once again run into another major setback. India’s Supreme Court has now decided to overturn a prior ruling by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT), one that gave the green light to a settlement agreement between Byju’s and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), as well as closed insolvency proceedings against Byju’s. The legal tussle between the edtech firm (once a giant in the Indian edtech landscape) and the BCCI began when it first filed a petition with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In the petition, it alleged that Byju’s had defaulted on payments related to a sponsorship agreement. In response, NCLT went on to initiate the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), which was later suspended when the NCLAT approved a settlement between Byju’s and BCCI. This provide some much-needed relief to Byju’s at that time, and came even as financial creditor GLAS Trust Company LLC (the trustee for the lenders who are owed ...

If you are a LinkedIn user, then you may have noticed a dip in your follower counts. You are not alone in this regard – industry analyst Matt Navarra noted in a Threads post that multiple users have noted steep drops in their follower counts – drops that result in the loss of hundreds (even thousands) of connections overnight. Now, following hours of speculation and rumours, LinkedIn has officially commented on the matter. “We heard some members may have seen a change in their connection and follower count,” the company said in a post on micro-blogging site X. “Our team quickly looked into this. We’re happy to report this has now been resolved.” LinkedIn, at 03:00 PDT, first announced that some members “may be experiencing issues with their follower and connection count on LinkedIn. We’re actively working on this.” Seven hours down the line, the platform broke its silence, announcing that the issue has been resolved and apologized for the inconvenience caused. We heard some member...

Paytm has reported its numbers for Q2’25, with losses increasing on an year-on-year basis but coming down on a sequential basis. On paper though, the company achieved a PAT (Profit After Tax) of ₹930 crore, thanks to ‘exceptional gain’ from its selling of the Insider events booking business to Zomato . The same quarter from last year saw the company booking a loss of ₹290 crore. However, keeping the sale proceeds aside, Paytm continues to bleed cash, and in fact at a faster clip compared with last year. Losses without the sale proceeds amount to ₹485 crore, a 70% increase from last year. Though it does represent a 41% decrement compared to previous quarter of this year, when losses were ₹840 crore. Paytm’s stock price is reflecting the disappointment from these Q2 results, with the stock trading in the red since morning and down nearly 4% at the time of writing. In terms of other relevant numbers, the company’s operating revenue stood at ₹1,660 Cr, which is up 11% on a sequential ...

Chipmaker Qualcomm, at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, has now revealed the Snapdragon 8 Elite, its latest flagship mobile chip. The company describes it as “the most powerful and world’s fastest mobile system-on-a-chip ever,” and is set to come to high-end smartphones from leading manufacturers such as Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, and Xiaomi in the coming weeks. AI remains the focal point of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and Qualcomm aims to use this chip to take generative AI on mobile phones to new heights. The company notes that the chip will make “on-device multi-modal generative AI applications a reality on smartphones,” and comes with a real-time camera assistant that can recognize objects as users capture photos or record videos. Alongside this comes support for up to 320MP camera sensors and AI-driven tools that are integrated into the image signal processor (ISP) to allow real-time for camera adjustments. The Snapdragon 8 Elite also builds upon Qualcomm’s previous breakthr...

Apple Intelligence is coming soon. The Cupertino-headquartered tech titan is set to roll out its highly anticipated iOS 18.1 update sometime next week, bringing a host of AI-powered features to Apple’s family of devices. As of now, the tech behemoth is yet to reveal an exact release date for iOS 18.1. Several reports however indicate that the update is expected to be available on October 28, marking the introduction of the first set of Apple Intelligence features. With this, users will have access to advanced AI capabilities, such as Writing Tools, notification summaries, updates to the Control Center, and a Clean Up feature in the Photos app. Some features will be introduced in the initial rollout, while the others will be introduced over the course of the coming year. Speaking of features, iOS 18.1 is set to bring advanced Writing Tools to users, providing real-time aid in text compositions with suggestions for spelling, grammar, and even word choice. With this, users will be able...

AI models, so far, have been used for a variety of tasks. Now, they will be used to check the work of other AI models. This is something that Meta – the parent company of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram – has been working on for quite some time, and earlier last week, the company revealed that it is launching several AI models from its research arm – Fundamental AI Research (FAIR). Chief among the new models is a model that can check and evaluate the work of other AI models (which is a major breakthrough). Called the Self-Taught Evaluator, the model is described by the company as a “strong generative reward model with synthetic data.” Capable of generating its own training data, this model does away with the requirement of the human element during the training phase. It creates contrasting outputs based on data generated by other AI systems, and leverages another AI model to evaluate them (enabling the Self-Taught Evaluator to constantly assess its performance). This b...

AI startups, and generative AI startups in particular, are blazing through VC cheques at breakneck speed — a recent report states that a staggering $56Bn has been invested in generative AI in past two years. The latest upstart expected to join this ever-growing list is Perplexity AI – which is in talks for a fresh fundraise, that may value the firm at $8Bn, reports WSJ . If the talks go well, then the upcoming funding round would see the San Francisco-based startup raise nearly $500 million. This would skyrocket the firm’s valuation to around $8 billion, which is more than double its current worth of $3Bn, which  it achieved earlier this year itself. The company integrates conversational AI with real-time web search capabilities, aiming to provide a challenge to traditional search engines by creating a chatbot-like interface. The AI search engine provides answers to prompts with relevant citations and sources (making it a user-friendly alternative and ensuring that they can ver...

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin has now undergone a rebrand – the one-year-old crypto-based identity verification project will henceforth be known as simply “World.” This rebrand was announced at an event in San Francisco. Alex Blania – co-founder and CEO of Tools for Humanity (the start-up that created World), said that the former name “just doesn’t work anymore.” “…as the scale of the project grows along with the importance of World ID’s proof of human protocol, the name “Worldcoin” no longer encapsulates the mission of the project—to accelerate every human. At the event, Blania and Altman introduced the World Network, or World for short. With its three key pillars (World Chain, World ID and Worldcoin), World is truly a network of real, verified humans built to enable an optimistic future in which humans will continue to be at the center of AI progress,” the company noted in a blog post on the matter. At the event on Thursday, the company also unveiled a revamped version of the Orb, one th...

Byju’s had once been a beacon of success in the Indian ed-tech sector, soaring to great heights during the days of the pandemic and the subsequent shift to online learning. Such were the heights, that several government officials and ministers had started calling it the poster child of India’s startup scene. But come 2023 and 2024, and those days of glory are clearly long behind the firm. And now, founder Byju Raveendran has officially confirmed the same, describing Byju’s current valuation as effectively “zero” in a press conference. This is a steep contrast to its previous peak of $22 billion in 2022. At its peak, the nine-year-old Byju attracted investments from prominent global firms such as General Atlantic and BlackRock, and the firm quickly leveraged this support to become the most valuable startup in the country. This rapid growth came with its own set of challenges, though, especially as the initial rise in demand began to stabilize. In fact, Byju’s aggressively pursued an e...

Netflix reported an impressive performance for the third quarter of the year, surpassing Wall Street estimates when it comes to subscriber growth, revenue, and profit margins for the period. For the three months ended September 30, the streaming service giant reported earnings per share (EPS) of $5.40, blowing past analysts’ forecasts of $5.12. For the same period, its revenue also exceeded market expectations, reaching $9.83 billion, compared to the predicted $9.77 billion. This marks an annual growth of 15% compared to the revenue in the corresponding period last year. Furthermore, Netflix’s net income rose to $2.36 billion from $1.68 billion a year earlier, clocking a YoY growth of 41%. Going forwards, Netflix aims to secure $10.13 billion in revenue and $4.23 in EPS for the current quarter. Netflix’s operating margin for Q3 2024 also amounted to 30%, while its operating income rose to $2.9 billion for the same period. Its free cash flow surged to $2.19 billion as well. “We’ve de...

Social media company Meta has now initiated yet another round of layoffs across its organization. From what we know so far, the latest round of job cuts has impacted employees across several key divisions. This includes employees who are working on Threads, recruiting, legal operations, and design, in addition to those working on core platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp. Reality Labs, Meta’s division focused on virtual and augmented reality, was also affected by this round of job cuts. Meta is no stranger to layoffs, and the newest development simply continues a trend of workforce reductions seen over the past two years. Two years ago, the social media giant axed 11,000 people (which amounted to 13% of its workforce). Later last year, it gave job cuts to nearly 10,000 employees (as well as withdrawing 5,000 unfilled positions) as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency.” The casualties of the latest round of layoffs is unknown (for now), and comes at a time when Meta is noti...

For all the Kindle lovers out there, Amazon has some good news – the e-commerce behemoth has now expanded its Kindle lineup with four new devices, including one that finally gets colour display. “There’s never been a better time to pick up a Kindle. Amazon is introducing an entirely new lineup of Kindle devices, including the first-ever color Kindle, a reimagined Kindle Scribe, the fastest Kindle Paperwhite ever, and a new entry Kindle in a fun, new Matcha color,” the company noted in an official statement. The launch comes on the same day when Apple announced a fresh iteration of its iPad mini line-up. For users who are unwilling to empty their pockets, Amazon offers an entry-level device, which sports “premium Kindle features.” These include a front light that is now 25% brighter, improved page-turn speeds, 16GB storage, a higher contrast display, and improved page-turn speeds. There is also a new colour option – Matcha Green – and is priced at $109.99. Known as the Kindle ColorS...

Apple has now revealed yet another addition to its family of gadgets – an updated version of the popular iPad Mini. This marks the first time the device has got a significant upgrade in the over three years. The device includes a faster A17 Pro chip, more storage, Apple Intelligence, and more. “There is no other device in the world like iPad mini, beloved for its combination of powerful performance and versatility in our most ultraportable design. iPad mini appeals to a wide range of users and has been built for Apple Intelligence, delivering intelligent new features that are powerful, personal, and private,” Bob Borchers, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, commented on the matter. “With the powerful A17 Pro chip, faster connectivity, and support for Apple Pencil Pro, the new iPad mini delivers the full iPad experience in our most portable design at an incredible value,” he added. There are new colour options as well – users can buy the latest Mini in either muted blue or pu...

If you were trying to use Facebook or Instagram yesterday, then you may have run into difficulties. You are not the only one – from the looks of it, both social media platforms experienced disruptions on Monday, which left users in multiple regions unable to access the platforms. The disruptions had the most severe impact in the US – sparking frustration among users – as reports of issues started to surface in the early afternoon. The latest string of complaints was at 9:09 AM (today, October 15) with a total of 16 reports. Currently, there are no user reports for current problems at the platform, and Instagram seems to be up and about once more. The outages also affected users from other parts of the world, including the UAE, and other Meta services, such as Threads, Meta’s newest social networking platform. When it comes to outages, Downdetector is the place to go to get the latest updates on the development. Downdetector – the website that tracks real-time service outages based o...