Author: Jim Hendler
Jim Hendler is a ReturnByte journalist who closely follows the advancement of Internet technologies and social media. Follow him on Twitter at @jahendler
Meta removes 63,000 Instagram accounts associated with extortion schemes
Meta has removed a large number of Instagram accounts from Nigeria in an effort to combat sextortion scams. The accounts mainly focused on adult men in the US, but some also targeted minors, according to Meta. The removals are part of Meta’s larger effort to crack down on sextortion on its platform in recent months. Earlier this year, the company added a security feature to Instagram posts that automatically detects nudity and alerts users to potential extortion scams. The company also provides in-app resources and safety tips about such scams.…
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World of Warcraft employees achieve ‘form a union’ milestone
The World of Warcraft (WoW) team, including artists, designers, engineers, producers, quality assurance (QA) testers, and other game developers, have formed a union. Over 500 workers at Blizzard Entertainment studio voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and established the World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild, as announced in a post on the union’s official account. Blizzard studio is the latest major game studio to form an alliance amid the uncertain layoffs and studio closures in the gaming industry. Bethesda Game Studios, the studio behind the Fallout and Elder…
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Today, a massive 100-foot asteroid will be making a close approach to Earth – be sure to check its speed and distance.
Calling all stargazers! Mark your calendars for July 25th, 2024, when the 100-foot-wide asteroid “2024 NV1” will come close to Earth. Rest assured, despite its size, NASA has closely monitored its path and assures us that it will pass by at a safe distance of 3.35 million miles. No need to worry about any potential impact. Safe passage and high speed Although the asteroid’s size may seem alarming at first – comparable to a small airplane – its actual trajectory poses no threat to Earth. According to NASA’s exact calculations,…
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Prepare for the first Supermoon of 2024: Skywatchers to witness stunning lunar event on August 19th
The upcoming supermoon on August 19 at 2:26 PM ET will be the first of the year, when the Moon appears larger and brighter due to its close proximity to Earth during its orbit known as perigee. In India, the supermoon will be visible at 11:56 PM IST. There will be Supermoons in 2024 Fred Espanak, a former NASA astrophysicist and eclipse expert, has identified four supermoons that are scheduled to occur in 2024. These supermoons will appear in August, September, October, and November. Espanak defines a supermoon as a…
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Meta AI now provides instant wardrobe suggestions for Meta Quest headset users.
Meta AI is now available on Meta Quest, allowing users to receive personalized wardrobe recommendations through a mixed reality headset. In a recent demonstration, a person wearing a Meta Quest headset asked the AI for advice on which T-shirt color would complement a pair of shorts they were holding up, receiving instant and realistic suggestions. Meta Quest joins Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses in the Meta AI with Vision app Meta AI was introduced last year, built on the Meta Llama AI model, and has since been integrated into several product…
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Meta AI now available in Hindi for WhatsApp and Instagram users, chatbot now supports 7 additional languages.
Meta AI is now accessible in seven additional languages, including Hindi and Hinglish. The announcement of Hindi language support comes a month after Meta introduced its AI Chatbot in India. India, with its vast user base on platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads, is Meta’s largest market. Meta AI now available in these languages Meta AI users on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Facebook can now interact in French, Hindi, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese as well as Hindi romanized. Meta aims to increase language support in the future. The…
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China plans to establish lunar ground stations to connect Earth and moon
Chinese researchers have proposed an ambitious initiative to create a robust network connecting Earth and the moon. Spearheaded by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, the project seeks to transform space exploration and communication. The plan involves setting up lunar ground stations and a satellite network to facilitate worldwide monitoring, navigation, and instant communication services. Comprehensive lunar network infrastructure The proposed lunar network infrastructure includes the construction of three lunar ground stations and the placement of 30 satellites. These facilities facilitate…
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Meta AI is now accessible in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and other languages.
In September 2023, Meta AI was introduced with the Llama 2 learning language model. Almost a year later, Meta has revealed a new set of capabilities for its AI assistant, along with a new LLM called Llama 3.1. These updates include an expansion of who can use Meta AI. With the addition of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Cameroon, Assistant is now available in 22 countries. It is also available in new languages: French, German, Hindi, Romanized Hindi, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. However, some of the new features…
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Reliance Jio enhances Rs. 349 prepaid plan, now offers 30 days validity- Complete information provided
Reliance Jio has made changes to its Rs. 349 prepaid recharge plan, signaling a significant update to its telecom services. This modification follows recent price increases on a range of prepaid and postpaid plans. The revamped Rs. 349 plan, now known as Hero 5G, was made in response to customer input, the company stated. Reliance Jio revised plan details Updated Rs. The 349 prepaid plan now offers users a 30-day validity period, up from the previous 28-day validity period. Despite this extension, the daily limit remains at 2 GB per…
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New patent suggests Meta may be taking inspiration from Apple for upcoming Vision Pro headset
What feature of Apple Vision Pro is “exciting” Meta According to a report from PatentlyApple, Meta has filed a new patent designed to mimic the EyeSight feature of the Apple Vision Pro. The Meta Platforms patent, formally titled “Embedded Sensors in an Immersive Reality Headset to Enable Social Presence,” reveals that the company may be planning a redesign of its Quest headset, or it may be planning an entirely new headset design to support this feature. Apple’s Eyesight technology, Meta notes that some of the facial interface sensors may include…
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Pure sulfur crystals on Mars accidentally discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover
For the first time, NASA scientists have discovered pure sulfur on Mars thanks to the Curiosity rover accidentally revealing a cluster of yellow crystals while driving over a rock. The area appears to be abundant in sulfur, marking an unexpected find as previous observations only showed sulfur within minerals on the Red Planet. NASA notes that elemental sulfur forming in such conditions has not been linked to the history of this location before. Curiosity broke open the rock on May 30 while driving through an area known as the Gediz…
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Top reads for the week: The Light Eaters, Paranoid Gardens, and I Was a Teenage Slasher
We have been intrigued by the latest fiction, nonfiction, and comics that have been released. I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones is something of a slasher expert. The author has tackled the genre in several of his novels (most notably the Indian Lake trilogy, which features a slasher-obsessed protagonist) and has an ongoing Fangoria column devoted to his influences, so it’s no surprise to see that he’s published another take on the canon. But this time we get a different perspective: that of a…
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Switzerland introduces unique tourism concept: Rent a 3D-printed suicide pod for ₹1700
Switzerland is close to introducing a new assisted dying method with the Sarco, a portable suicide pod created through 3D printing. The introduction of this device is seen as a major advancement in the country’s end-of-life options by The Last Resort, an organisation that focuses on assisted dying. How the Sarco Pod works The Sarco pod, designed to facilitate a controlled and pain-free end of life, was originally unveiled in 2019 and has since generated much discussion. The device works by filling its chamber with nitrogen, which quickly lowers oxygen…
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Newly discovered black hole near the center of the galaxy could be another ‘missing link’
Recently, a team of international researchers at the University of Cologne in Germany uncovered one of the most uncommon types of black holes in the universe. While studying a group of stars near the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A (Sgr A) at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy, they detected indications of an intermediate-mass black hole. NASA has described this type of black hole as the “missing link” in the study of black holes. Black holes vary in size from supermassive to primordial, and the intermediate form…
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Schim is a creative and visually stunning platformer, but it suffers from some repetitive gameplay.
Schim, a highly anticipated game this year, proved to be an enjoyable experience for me. This charming platformer features unique creatures called Schims, which inhabit every object and living being in the game. These frog-like entities rely on their host for sustenance, but can become lost if the host is neglected, damaged, or undergoing significant changes. You play as Schim, a stand-out person who is going through a difficult spell in her life. No prizes if you guess the goal is to reconnect with them. You’ll have to navigate some…
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Issue with CrowdStrike causing Windows to reboot
UPDATE: The CEO of CrowdStrike has issued an apology for the Microsoft Windows outage and has assured that systems will begin to recover shortly. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized for the widespread global IT outage affecting the Windows operating system. In an interview with NBC News, he “vowed” to work with CrowdStrike’s partners to get the services back online. “Many of the customers reboot the system and it’s coming and it’s up and running. It can take a while for some systems that don’t automatically recover,” Kurtz said. “We deeply regret…
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Major companies worldwide affected by faulty cybersecurity update, including banks and airlines
An extensive outage of Microsoft Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) has affected numerous companies globally, including airlines, broadcasters, and others. The issue stemmed from a flawed update from security company CrowdStrike, which resulted in PCs and servers getting stuck in an unrecoverable boot loop. Although the update has been reversed, many machines continue to be impacted by the glitch. “We have widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts occurring on multiple sensor versions,” CrowdStrike wrote in a pinned Reddit post. “[We’ve] identified the deployment of content associated with this…
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Meta to refrain from sharing multimodal AI models with EU due to regulatory uncertainty
Meta has announced that it will not be making its upcoming multimodal AI model and future versions available to customers in the European Union due to a lack of clear guidance from European regulators. The models are intended to handle text, images, and audio, and are meant to enhance AI features on Meta platforms and Ray-Ban smart glasses. “We will launch the multimodal Llama model in the coming months, but not in the EU due to the unpredictable nature of the European regulatory environment,” Meta said in a statement to…
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Meta introduces paid Instagram and Facebook options for Indian businesses: Cost, advantages, and additional details
Meta, owned by Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed its plans to expand the Meta Verified program for businesses on Instagram and Facebook in India. This subscription service will enable businesses to obtain the coveted “blue tick” verification badge, confirming their authenticity to customers. In addition to the verification badge, the plan offers various features including security measures and protection against impersonation. Learn more about the Meta Verified subscription options available to businesses in India. Meta Verified subscription plans Meta has been testing Verified subscription plans for over a year now, and…
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