Archives January 2024

Health tech brand Oura is rolling out a new feature called Resilience that will create an assessment of a person’s ability to handle “physiological stress”.

The tool is coming to the Oura Ring and can be accessed on the official app, where it will be located underneath the sleep monitoring readout with an on-screen rating. These ratings range from Limited up to Exceptional with a few in between like Adequate and Strong. Limited is the lowest grade, meaning you’re not doing a very good job at mitigating your stress level, though improvements can be made. As you can probably guess, exceptional means you’re doing just fine. Stress levels are low, you’re thriving; keep doing what you’re doing. 

Resilience readout

Block Inc. began cutting jobs as part of the firm’s goal to cap its workforce at 12,000 employees. 

Block, run by Jack Dorsey, announced the cap when it reported third-quarter earnings in November, and took steps to achieve the goal on Tuesday, according to the company. Block, which offers the Cash App and Square payments services, said the goal of 12,000 staffers will be achieved by the end of the year.

The company declined to give specific details on how many jobs were affected. It has sought to rein in costs amid efforts to boost earnings. Dorsey said in November that the workforce cap will be in place “until we feel the growth of the business has meaningfully outpaced the growth of the company.”

In December, Tidal, the music streaming service once owned by recording artist Jay-Z and now part of Block, cut more than 10% of staff as part of its parent company’s wider austerity moves. That affected about 40 staffers across various Tidal departments, including a portion of the curation team that builds playlists, people familiar with the cuts said at the time.

Also read other top stories today:

Brain Chip Implanted! A lucky individual has become the first human to receive a brain implant from Elon Musk’s Neuralink, marking a step toward being able to steer computers with our minds. Is that the right way to go? Find out out here.

Bad news for Apple! Influential technology analyst Ming-Chi Kuo warned that the company is expecting lower demand for iPhone 15 and the upcoming iPhone 16 in 2024. Know all about it here.

Samsung Woos China with Ernie Bot! Samsung will feature Baidu Inc.’s Ernie Bot as a key attraction of its new Galaxy S24 smartphone series in China. Dive in here.

One more thing! We are now on WhatsApp Channels! Follow us there so you never miss any updates from the world of technology. ‎To follow the HT Tech channel on WhatsApp, click here to join now!

If you have been planning to buy a new Mac for your personal or professional use, then this may be a good time to get one as Flipkart is offering a massive discount on a particular Mac device.
The device we are talking about is Mac Mini which was launched at a starting price of Rs 59,900.
Mac Mini is available at a discounted price
Mac Mini with Apple M2 chipset with 3.5GHz clock speed, 10-core GPU, octa-core setup, 8GB Unified memory and 256GB of SSD storage is currently listed at a flat Rs 5,000 discount on Flipkart.
After the discount, it is available for purchase at Rs 54,900. But, you can get it for as low as Rs 50,900 using HDFC Bank cards as Flipkart is offering an additional discount of Rs 4,000 on the purchase of Mac Mini.
Mac Mini: Specifications

Granblue Fantasy: Relink‘s director Yasuyuki Kaji has said that he feels “terrible” for how long the game spent in development.

In August 2023, developer Cygames announced that after several delays over the past few years, Granblue Fantasy: Relink will finally launch on February 1, 2024, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC.

Howard Delafield international (HDI), a woman-owned team integrating behavioral insights and emerging technologies hosted Gamechangers’ 24 earlier this month. The event aimed to showcase the impact of the Go Nisha Go game in shaping knowledge and behaviors among 15–19-year-old girls. The role-play game is calimed to be downloaded by over 300,000 adolescents, shows players the power of choice-making through an avatar and how the decisions they make shape their lives.
The game has five levels that cover negotiation with parents, menstruation, consent, contraception, and delaying early marriage in a fun and interactive way. The research, conducted by Population Council Consulting, is claimed to have revealed significant improvement for girls who played the game. Those who played the game were at least twice as likely to have comprehensive knowledge of modern contraceptives, including condoms, oral contraceptive pills, and emergency contraceptive pills, compared to those who did not. Fertility awareness, denoting a correct understanding of the menstrual cycle and pregnancy window, was nearly non-existent (3.5%) at baseline, but at the endline, the players had a 119% higher likelihood to know about it. The likelihood of intention to seek help for contraceptive and menstrual-related issues was higher amongst players by 132% and 115%, respectively. Results also indicate that girls in the treatment group had a higher ability to seek health advice and buy menstrual products online, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Direct-to-consumer (DTC) approach. Notably, confidence to control the timing of marriage, negotiate contraceptives and consent was also higher by 1.7, 1.2, and 2.9 times, respectively.
Dr Susan Howard, Co-founder of HDI, professor at George Mason University, and the visionary behind Go Nisha Go, shared, “The overall takeaway is that fun and interactive games can activate the motivation and desire to learn through a challenge or quest, simulate ‘push-pull’ conflicts, and allow players to experience choices in a safe place. Moreover, games can nudge players to explore in-game resources and try products and services for use in real life. Finally, games can stimulate confidence in real life through successes and failures within the game with the option to ‘replay’.”
Speaking at the event, Dr. Zoya Ali Rizvi, Deputy Commissioner, National Health Mission, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, said, “Go Nisha Go represents a significant step towards empowering adolescent and young people with knowledge that extends beyond the virtual world. This knowledge supports positive behaviour and informed decision-making by them.”

It’s been confirmed that the new co-development studio Shapeshifter Games, which was founded by a number of former Volition staff, is teaming up with inXile Entertainment on its upcoming steampunk role-playing game Clockwork Revolution.

In case you missed it, Shapeshifter Games was unveiled earlier this week. At the time, it was said that the studio would “partner with world class developers and publishers” and be “focused on AAA game development,” with a goal of creating “a more sustainable environment for developers to do their best work.” It also teased that it was “already hard at work with a top publisher on their next great IP,” and it now seems that we know what it is.

Flipkart announced that it will soon make same-day deliveries to select regions in India. A wide range of products will be eligible for this shipping option, the company confirmed. Although the firm has not set a specific date within which the service will be available to users in the country, it has provided a general timeline for the same. It is first scheduled to roll out to users in a few cities. Eventually, this shipping option will be rolled out to all users in the country.

The company announced on Wednesday that same-day delivery will soon be available for Flipkart users in India. The service will start rolling out in February and will first be available in 20 cities. Customers in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Patna, Raipur, Siliguri and Vijayawada will be the first to gain access to the service.

Flipkart noted that for users to access same-day delivery, the order for an eligible item will need to be placed by 1pm. The customer can then be assured of getting the concerned item delivered before 12am (midnight). Orders placed after 1pm on a given day will be delivered the next day.

According to Flipkart, the service will be scaled out over several months to reach more users until the shipping option is available to users all across India. The firm added that several products – including mobiles, fashion and beauty items, lifestyle products, books, home appliances and electronics will be eligible for same-day delivery.

Amazon, a competing e-commerce platform in the country, offers different shipping options to its users including same-day delivery. For Amazon Prime members, same-day, one-day and two-day delivery options are free. Both Prime Lite and non-Prime users can access same-day and one-day delivery at an additional fee of Rs. 175 and Rs. 125 per item, respectively. However, Prime Lite members can enjoy a free two-day delivery — customers without a Prime subscription will need to pay an additional Rs. 120 per item instead.

---

ChatGPT has made a significant impact globally since its launch in November 2022. Since then, both individuals and businesses have been exploring the various ways ChatGPT can enhance their operations. OpenAI‘s chatbot provides a diverse set of functionalities, including understanding and responding to natural language prompts, addressing user queries, creating content, translating text, coding, generating images, and solving mathematical equations.
It’s quite an impressive array of capabilities, especially considering how far ChatGPT has come since its inception in November 2022.

What Does ChatGPT Do Exactly?

ChatGPT employs machine learning and natural language processing techniques to examine text from various sources such as books and articles. By leveraging these training materials, the chatbot can recognize patterns within natural language.
Upon receiving a prompt from the user, ChatGPT scrutinises it to grasp the context and then predicts the most suitable words to address the query, drawing from the patterns it has learned from its training data. This enables ChatGPT to provide responses that are both grammatically and semantically accurate.

What Can I Do With ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an exceptionally adaptable tool offering numerous avenues to enhance your workflows. Below are some ways you can leverage ChatGPT, accompanied by examples.
Answering Queries: ChatGPT’s remarkable ability lies in its aptitude to respond to queries. Simply input a question into the prompt box, akin to how one would with a search engine, and ChatGPT promptly furnishes a response.
Content Generation: Another noteworthy feature of ChatGPT is its capacity to swiftly generate content tailored to your audience’s needs. This encompasses a spectrum of content types, ranging from articles, blogs, essays, and copy, to scripts, press releases, emails, resumes, and cover letters.
Translation: ChatGPT’s expertise in dissecting source texts extends to facilitating text translation across various languages. Input the text requiring translation along with the desired target language, and ChatGPT promptly provides the translated output. However, it’s essential to note that ChatGPT may encounter challenges with intricate text and non-European languages.
Code Development: An exemplary application of ChatGPT is in the realm of coding, where it excels in creating, refining, and elucidating code across popular programming languages like Python, JavaScript, C++, and Java.
Music Composition: Users can harness ChatGPT’s capabilities to aid in music composition, from proposing chord progressions and melodies to generating MIDI files. Moreover, it can assist in devising tablature, facilitating experimentation with novel musical concepts.
Editing and Proofreading: Beyond content creation, ChatGPT serves as a valuable editing and proofreading tool. By instructing the chatbot to scrutinise input text, users can identify spelling errors and other stylistic enhancements.
Mathematical Problem Solving: ChatGPT extends its utility to mathematical problem-solving, elucidating concepts and executing a gamut of operations, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, unveiled its Q4 earnings today, presenting a mixed bag. On one hand, Search continued its reign as the undisputed king, powering revenue growth and showcasing the enduring strength of Google’s core competency. On the other hand, ad revenue missed Wall Street expectations and YouTube‘s growth sputtered, leaving investors with a mixed bag of results.
Google Services revenues of $76 billion were up 12% year on year, said Ruth Porat, CFO, Google. In Google Advertising, search and other revenues grew 13% year on year. Overall, Google recorded $86.3 billion in revenue, up 13% versus last year in both reported and constant currency. “Search remained the largest contributor to revenue growth,” said Porat.
“We are pleased with the ongoing strength in Search and the growing contribution from YouTube and Cloud,” Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, said in a press release. “Each of these is already benefiting from our AI investments and innovation.”
AI bets paying off?
Google’s focus on AI-powered search experiences, where users get personalised results based on their intent and context, seems to be resonating. “By applying generative AI to Search, we are able to serve a wider range of information needs and answer new types of questions, including those that benefit from multiple perspectives. People are finding it particularly useful for more complex questions, like comparisons or longer queries,” Pichai told investors.
Revenues from the cloud division were $9.2 billion for the quarter, up 26%. “We’re very pleased with the momentum of GCP with an increasing contribution from AI,” Porat told investors. Overall, the full-year revenue from Google Cloud business was $33 billion, up 26% from last year. “The Cloud team is intensely focused on bringing the benefits of Gemini, our industry-leading AI technology, to enterprises and governments globally, and we are gratified with the level of engagement,” Porat added.

Mercedes-Benz had a glaring vulnerability in an open-source repository that exposed its source code, a treasure trove of valuable, sensitive information, and put the company at risk of regulatory fines. Whether or not anyone managed to exploit the flaw before it was found and plugged, remains to be seen.

Cybersecurity researchers from RedHunt Labs found a GitHub repository belonging to a Mercedes employee in late September 2023.