Elon Musk-owned X (formerly known as Twitter) could soon start charging new users an annual fee to give them access to write, like, reply to, or bookmark posts on the platform. The billionaire confirmed the plans to charge new users on the microblogging platform on Monday, stating that the move was aimed at reducing spam on X. A recurring fee on an annual basis could be charged, according to a report, but there is no clarity on the duration for which users will be charged for these basic privileges on the platform.

Musk confirmed the development after @xDaily, an account that posts news related to the social media platform, re-shared a code tracker’s post about the platform charging new users before they can make posts. The original poster @xUpdatesRadar claimed to have found the information about this policy within the strings of codes within the web version of X. Replying to the speculation, Musk said, “Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots. Current AI (and troll farms) can pass “are you a bot” with ease.”

The original post found information that hints at how the new policy might work. One block of text stated, “New accounts are required to pay a small annual fee before you’re able to post, like, bookmark, and reply. This is to reduce spam and to create a better experience for everyone. You can still follow accounts and browse X for free.” The account also claimed that the company had earlier tested this policy in New Zealand and the Philippines.

While curbing spam seems to be the main reason behind the move, Musk also shared another reason for enacting the subscription model for new users. In a separate post, he said, “The onslaught of fake accounts also uses up the available namespace, so many good handles are taken as a result.”

The announcement has garnered mixed reaction from the user base. Some users called the decision “unfortunate but necessary”, pointing at the issue of bot accounts spamming popular posts, while others expressed concerns over its effectiveness. One user said, “Bot farmers have money, as do professional trolls and influence operators. If anything, they’re more likely to be willing to pay than authentic users because this is literally their income stream.”

Sharp’s new compact Dolby Atmos soundbar, the HT-SB700, looks like it delivers an impressive spec for an equally impressive price, but if you’re outside Europe you’ll need to be patient. While the soundbar has launched in Germany – and can also be found to pre-order on Amazon in Italy and The Netherlands – it hasn’t yet been launched in the US, UK or Australia, although its rollout to more countries looks imminent. 

The new soundbar looks like it’ll be worth waiting for, too. At £189 / €199 (roughly $235 and AU$367), it offers a lot of audio tech for not a lot of money. To put that into perspective, it’s a lot less than Denon’s new cheap soundbar, which also undercuts the likes of the Sonos Ray, making it very competitively priced. 

A new survey has found that a CISOs main concern continues to be ransomware, despite AI cyber attacks continuing to increase in severity.

The survey, conducted by ClubCISO in collaboration with Telstra Purple, found that ransomware attacks (67%) ranks higher than both software supply chain/third-party risks (64%) and software vulnerabilities (59%) as the biggest threat to organizations.

Top chipmaker Nexperia suffered a ransomware attack last month which saw threat actors get away with a terabyte of sensitive corporate data. 

“Nexperia has become aware that an unauthorized third party accessed certain Nexperia IT servers in March 2024,” the company said in a statement shared with BleepingComputer. “We promptly took action and disconnected the affected systems from the internet to contain the incident and implemented extensive mitigation.”

Google unveiled the Pixel Fold in May last year, marking its first foray into the foldable space. The Pixel Fold 2 is said to be in the pipeline with a new design and hardware upgrades. However, a new report hints that Google could change the naming convention for its foldable smartphone. The tech giant will reportedly launch the next foldable with the “Pixel 9 Pro Fold” moniker. This indicates a major shift from the original Pixel Fold. Additionally, the upcoming Pixel 9 series is said to include four models.

A report by Android Authority, citing a Google insider, suggests that Google will use a different name for the Pixel Fold 2. The upcoming Pixel foldable could be known as “Pixel 9 Pro Fold” instead of Pixel Fold 2. This renaming strategy hints at the integration of the next foldable phone into the Pixel 9 series rather than keeping it as a standalone device. 

The publication further claims that the Pixel 9 series will include four models this year— Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. The latter is said to be internally called “comet”. All these models are said to run on the rumoured Tensor G4 SoC.

If Google proceeds with the Pixel 9 Pro Fold moniker and integrates the second-generation foldable into the Pixel 9 series, then we can expect it to launch alongside the rest of the Pixel 9 series in October rather than at Google I/O in May.

Google is yet to confirm Pixel Fold 2 and Pixel 9 Pro Fold monikers. Of course, things may change before the final release of the handsets, so all these details should be considered with a pinch of salt.

Pixel Fold was launched in May last year at the Google I/O 2023 event. It carried a price tag of $1,799 (roughly Rs. 1,47,500) for the base model with 256GB storage.

The Pixel Fold runs on Google’s Tensor G2 SoC, coupled with a Titan M2 security chip and 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It has a triple rear camera unit, comprising a 48-megapixel primary wide-angle lens, a 10.8-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 10.8-megapixel dual PD telephoto lens. For selfies, there is a 9.5-megapixel sensor on the outer display and an 8-megapixel inner selfie camera. The phone houses a 4,821mAh battery with support for 30W charging and wireless charging.

Several crypto investors in India have failed to pay 30 percent tax on profits they made via crypto activities in the last two years, possibly due to regulatory unclarity and lack of customer awareness, crypto tax firm Taxnodes has warned, urging the community to pay their crypto taxes on time. In conversation with Gadgets360, the Singapore-headquartered firm has pointed out that crypto tax compliance in India continues to remain ‘very low’ since these taxes were first levied back in 2022.

Avinash Shekhar, the CEO of Taxnodes, says that there exists a misconception that the government lacks ways to trace crypto transactions — leading opportunists to believe that they can pull off tax evasions.

Shekhar has urged Indian crypto traders and investors to ensure that they are complying with the tax laws while compiling their filings this year. Chiming in with several market players on this notion, the Taxnodes CEO said it would do the Web3 industry good if the Indian community gains the government’s trust with discipline and compliance.

“To foster the mainstream adoption of crypto assets as a viable investment option, it’s imperative for startups, consumers, and governmental bodies to collaborate synergistically and adhere to government guidelines. This collaborative effort may entail the government to implement effective, yet relaxed regulations,” Shekhar said.

In 2022, India’s finance ministry brought the digital assets sector under its tax regime. Under existing laws, all crypto incomes in India are taxed by 30 percent. In order to keep a track of these otherwise largely anonymous crypto transactions, Indian government also levies a one percent TDS on each crypto transaction.

Despite several requests from Web3 firms for revision and reduction in these tax percentages, the finance ministry is yet to announce any changes in policy.

Between 2022 and 2023, merely 0.07 percent crypto holders in India paid their crypto taxes, a report by Sweden-based tech research firm Divly had claimed last year. Shekhar also noted that the primary reason for low tax compliance in India stems from a lack of awareness among taxpayers.

Until April 2023, the controversial one percent TDS on each crypto transaction reportedly fetched the government over $19 million (roughly Rs. 157 crore).

In February this year, CBDT Chairperson Nitin Gupta had disclosed that around Rs. 180 crore was collected through the TDS levied on crypto transactions, during the 2023-24 fiscal.

Shekhar, accessing the situation, has noted that the primary reason for low tax compliance in India stems from a lack of awareness among taxpayers.

Instagram is reportedly working on a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered initiative that will allow influencers — users with large followings — on the platform to automate direct engagement with their followers. As per the report, the platform’s “Creator AI” is currently under testing. The feature is said to offer AI chatbots to influencers that can be trained using their data and be deployed to direct messages (DMs) to interact with followers. The chatbot could also mimic the influencer’s mannerisms to give the impression that the followers are speaking with the influencer.

The New York Times reports that the Meta-owned social media platform is pitching its Creator AI programme to popular influencers on the platform with a substantial following. The report cited unnamed people briefed on the project and highlighted that the project is currently in its early stages of testing. Once it rolls out, the initial plans are said to be focused on adding AI capabilities only to the influencer’s DMs, but later it could be extended to the comment section on their posts as well.

The programme will reportedly allow influencers to deploy an AI chatbot to their DMs which will then interact with all the followers that send a message. It is designed to help with one of the biggest pain points of popular content creators which is responding to an overwhelming number of messages. Not responding to them is considered a lost opportunity to develop organic engagement on the account, and attempting to interact with hundreds or thousands of followers directly every day could be extremely time-consuming.

As a solution, these AI chatbots will be trained on the influencer’s data, such as their posts, captions, comments, audio from Reels, and even message history, to learn the mannerisms of their texting style, as per the report. It is said that influencers will have control over the dataset the AI is trained on.

This is not the first time Meta has experimented with AI chatbots that impersonate a living individual. Last year, the company released AI avatars, which were autonomous AI chatbots based on popular celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, YouTuber Mr. Beast, and rapper Snoop Dogg. The social media giant created AI characters that behaved similarly to the real personality and ran their own Instagram and Facebook pages. Users can message these bots to simulate a conversation experience of talking to the celebrity it is based on.

Like most AI trends, the reception of this feature will be determined by public perception. On one hand, it can be a fun way for users to know their favourite influencer better, on the other, some users may not be fans of the simulated experience.

Motorola has launched two new wireless earbuds that bring Bose’s audio tuning and best-in-class active noise cancellation for very competitive prices. It’s calling the new earbuds: the Moto Buds and Moto Buds Plus. 

The Moto Buds Plus are the more attention-grabbing earbuds of the two, as they sport some impressive features that you’d find in the best wireless earbuds for a budget price of just £129 (roughly $160 and AU$250 but we have yet to get pricing for other regions). There’s hi-res audio support along with active noise cancellation and Dolby Atmos with Head Tracking tech to provide dynamic directional audio when listening to compatible continents.