Archives April 2024

Telegram introduced its latest offering, Telegram Business, on March 31, which will allow users to turn their accounts into business accounts. Those who run small online businesses or own a physical store will be able to onboard new customers, support existing customers with their orders, and help resolve queries, all within the messaging app. With this offering, the platform will offer a suite of new features such as showing opening hours and location, quick replies, automated messages, a custom start page, chatbot support, and more.

The messaging app introduced the new features in a blog post, which stated, “Telegram has long allowed developers to build powerful bots and mini-apps which were widely used by businesses. Starting today, any user can easily use business features — without any coding skills.”

New features in Telegram Business

Users who opt for a business account will be able to show relevant information for their business on the info page of the chat. These will show the hours of operation and the physical location of the store on a map. This way businesses can let users know when and how to reach them physically.

Telegram Business will also let enterprises build a custom start page for the empty chats. Here, they can add text and a sticker of their choice to let incoming customers know about them before they even begin conversing. The company said this space can be used to showcase info about products and services or to welcome customers with branded artwork.

Further, account holders will also get to use automated messages in various ways. They will see an option to set a greeting message that will be sent to users who text for the first time. This can be specified with a period after which a new message will again repeat the greeting message. Quick replies will also be available to use for business accounts. These are shortcuts for sending preset messages that a user can send to get relevant information. These support links, stickers, media, and files. Users will also get to set an away message for the hours when the business is closed. All the automated messages can be set to exclude specific people or entire chat categories in case an account holder also intends to use it as personal chat.

Some other features have also been included. Telegram Business account users can create links that can direct users to the Telegram app. These links can be placed both inside Telegram and outside, on the user’s website. Clicking them will result in posting a direct query in the chat, for which automated messages can be set. Finally, Telegram is also allowing business account holders access to its bots and AI assistants that can be used to manage chats, answer queries, and more.

Telegram Business is available to all Premium users for free. The option to turn an account into a business account can be found in Settings > Telegram Business.

Magical first-person shooter Immortals of Aveum is set to get some pretty meaningful updates to its console versions on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in the coming weeks thanks to the addition of high dynamic range (HDR) and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR3) frame generation support.

As reported by Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter, the news came via a press release detailing these additions coming to Immortals of Aveum over its next couple of major updates. Coming up first is the addition of HDR support in patch 1.0.6.3. This will allow players with compatible gaming TVs to enjoy a higher-contrast image with more vibrant colors and deeper, more accurate blacks. This update should be rolling out soon; as early as later today (April 2).

JetBrains, the company behind the TeamCity CI/CD web application, recently released a patch for the product, addressing no less than 26 vulnerabilities. 

However, the company was apparently reluctant to reveal any specific details about the JetBrains flaws, raising eyebrows among the cybersecurity community.

Certain Affinity, the support studio for Halo Infinite, has announced it will be laying off 25 employees; 10% of its workforce.

The news comes from Certain Affinity CEO Max Hoberman in a company blog post, where it was stated that for the first time in the studio’s 17-year history, it will be making job cuts (via Eurogamer).

AI roundup: The US and Britain have joined hands to tackle the risks and challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI). The two nations will closely work together to bring AI safety to the upcoming generations of technology. In other news, DeepTech Startup SatSure plans to revamp agricultural finance by leveraging technology such as AI. This will allow industries to improve decision-making. All this, and more in our AI roundup today, April 2.

1. US-Britain partner to bring AI safety to future technology

The United States and Britain announced their partnership in the science of artificial intelligence safety. The new memorandum of understanding was signed by the official today to carry forward the collaboration and take action for growing concerns about next-generation technologies.  The nation will jointly develop advanced AI model testing. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said, “This partnership will accelerate both of our institutes’ work across the full spectrum to address the risks of our national security concerns and the concerns of our broader society,” according to a Reuters report. 

Also read: No account login is required for ChatGPT, OpenAI makes its AI tool accessible to everyone

2. IBM Watsonx announces generative AI features

IBM and the Masters Tournament announced new AI features for the Masters app and Masters.com. The platform is based on golf insights and tournaments, enabling users to access shot-by-shot Hole Insights and provide data-driven analysis. Additionally, IBM will be integrating AI-enabled Spanish language narration into the platform as well. The release also highlighted that the features are built on IBM’s Watsonx generative AI and large language models. 

3. Navi founder Sachin Bansal talks about AI in business

Former Flipkart CEO Sachin Bansal, in an interview, revealed how the use of AI has benefitted in several areas of business. Bansal, who is the current CEO of the financial company Navi, said, “We just started using generative AI in a few areas. And it’s giving decent results. I think customer support is an obvious one where it lends itself very well.” He also highlighted the use of Microsoft Copilot for coding and talked about how AI models will be used for extraction of data from images and videos, according to a Moneycontrol report. 

Also read: Tired of taking manual notes? This AI app called ‘Cleft Notes’ will make your work easy

4. TransUnion invests in India’s DeepTech startup SatSure

DeepTech startup SatSure uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to improve decision-making in several sectors such as agriculture, finance, utilities, aviation, and forestry. To support the move, TransUnion has invested a huge amount of money while other leading banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank have backed the startup. TransUnion CIBIL and SatSure partnership will develop a CIBIL Credit & Farm Report (CCFR) for agriculture-based financing, according to the release. 

Also read: Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphones may soon get ChatGPT-like AI features- Details

5. OpenAI revokes Sam Altman’s ownership of startup funds

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has announced a new governance structure for its venture capital fund. With new decisions, the OpenAI Startup Fund will be removing CEO Sam Altman from its ownership. This was done due to Altman’s lack of financial interest in the fund despite his ownership. Currently, the AI startup fund has raised $175 million from partners such as Microsoft, Ian Hathaway, and others according to a Reuters report. 

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It’s been a bit quiet on the AirPods front in recent times – all we got in 2023 was a USB-C refresh for the AirPods Pro – but it looks like 2024 could be busier, with a new report suggesting 4th-gen AirPods and the AirPods Max 2 are on the way.

This comes from well-known Apple analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors), and the AirPods are being described as “lower-cost” earbuds. We’re not sure exactly what that means, but previous rumors have pointed to two versions of the AirPods 4 making an appearance, with one at an “entry-level” price and one at a “mid-tier” price.

The US and UK governments have announced a partnership to advance the safety testing of AI technology.

Both nations will work together to develop tests for the most advanced AI models by sharing information, capabilities and expertise on AI, as part of the commitments made at the November 2023 AI Safety Summit.

ChatGPT is widely seen as one of the best artificial intelligence (AI) tools available right now. Siri? Not so much. But if a new claim penned by Apple researchers turns out to be accurate, Siri could take a small step towards being a much smarter AI voice assistant. 

In a new paper named ‘ReALM: Reference Resolution As Language Modeling’, Apple researchers explain how the company’s AI system will aim to consider both the content that is on your device’s screen and the tasks that you are currently performing (both in the foreground and the background), then use those to respond to your queries.

According to developer and publisher Capcom, the recent open-world role-playing game (RPG) Dragon’s Dogma 2 has managed to surpass 2.5 million units sold worldwide since its March 22 launch.

The information comes from a new press release posted to Capcom’s investor relations page, which communicates financial updates that are relevant to potential or current investors. The press release states that as of today (April 2), “worldwide sales of Dragon’s Dogma 2 surpassed 2.5 million units.”

CD Projekt Red’s chief operating officer Piotr Nielubowicz has said that the studio’s single-player games may never have microtransactions, but its inclusion in multiplayer projects hasn’t been ruled out.

Speaking in a recent interview with Polish website StockWatch (via Insider Gaming and JuiceHead), Nielubowicz reaffirmed that the Cyberpunk 2077 developer has no intention of implementing microtransactions in its single-player titles, although in the case of its multiplayer titles, the idea hasn’t been finalized just yet.