All posts by Paul Stradling

News

Featured Article : What Is Twitter’s ‘Blue Tick’ All About?

Following announcements that Twitter under Musk will generate revenue by blue tick subscriptions, we look at what this means and at the blue tick chaos that followed the announcement.

What Is this ‘Blue Tick’ ? 

Twitter’s paid-for Blue service, launched last year, is a subscription service – $7.99 (£6.99) per month in the US, also available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and now in the UK since 10th November. Primarily, the Blue service is a way for users to verify (by use of a blue tick next to their name) that their account is genuine. The Blue service also gives subscribers other editing and customisation options that free accounts don’t have.

Why Blue Tik? Why The Need To Signal That An Account Is Genuine? 

Back in 2021, the service was introduced following reports that perhaps as much as 19 per cent of Twitter accounts could be fake and untrustworthy. This problem appears to have persisted.

Back in June, for example, When Elon Musk was in the process of trying to buy (i.e. a takeover of) Twitter, he threatened to pull out of the sale over the amount of spam and fake accounts / bot accounts (not run by humans) which Twitter said made up 5 per cent of Twitter accounts.

These fake / bot accounts, and parody accounts are a problem, not just from Twitter’s (and Musk’s personal) point of view in that they affect the platform’s quality and could reduce value for money for advertisers but mainly because, from the user’s point of view, they are used to (for example) send adverts or scams to users, influence public debate by tweeting political propaganda, and generally spread disinformation.

What Should The Blue Service (Blue Tick) Provide? 

Subscribers to Twitter’s Blue service should receive:

– The verifying tick next to the name in the user’s profile.

– The ability to edit their tweets, e.g. to correct typos or clarify meanings, up to five times within the first 30 minutes of tweeting. However, the tweet shows that it’s been edited and shows users the previous versions.

– An ‘undo’ function which gives a short “cooling-off” period before a tweet goes live. This could, for example, be used to tag more people.

– The ability to change the colour of the app icon, change the general colour theme, and change the text size.

– The ability to upload longer (up to 10 minutes) and better-quality videos (1080p HD quality).

– The ability to use NFTs (non-fungible tokens) as profile photos, e.g. a piece of digital art they’ve purchased.

– Top Articles and priority ranking for subscribers. Users can use this section to see what which articles are creating a buzz.

Other points of interest about the blue tick system are:

– Whereas the old blue checkmark (prior to Musk taking over) indicated active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that had been independently verified by Twitter based on certain requirements, the new post-Musk blue checkmark could mean:

– Either that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria, or that the account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue.

– Accounts verified under the old system can keep their own blue badges.

There is also news that features coming soon to the Blue service will include fewer adverts, priority ranking in search, and mentions and replies for “quality content” posted by subscribers.

Backdrop Leading To Blue Service Chaos  

Elon Musk’s Blue service introduction, however, has been born out of great change and turmoil for the social media platform which has led to a chaotic week for blue tick. Some of the turbulent backdrop which has fuelled the chaos includes:

– Musk’s $44 billion takeover leading to mass job cuts – Twitter cutting roughly 50 per cent of its workforce.

– Twitter top executives reportedly being sacked, i.e. Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadd.

– Fears that Twitter could change for the worse under Musk’s ownership, i.e. reinstating unpopular banned users and controversial figures and allowing the wrong kind of ‘free speech’. Also, the dropping of thousands of (outsourced) content moderators have led to fears of a drop in quality and possible rise of misinformation.

– Elon Musk warning that Twitter could face bankruptcy unless more (non-advertising) revenue could be generated, e.g. by the Blue service.

– Elon Musk announcing that all but “exceptional” Twitter employees need to come back to working in the office for at least 40 hours per week or their resignation will be accepted.

– Reports that Twitter users are leaving the platform in protest over Musk’s ownership and moving to competing, and decentralised social network ‘Mastodon.’

– America’s Federal Trade Commission warning that “no chief executive or company is above the law”, fears over Twitter’s approach to security, and questions about this in relation to possible Saudi involvement in the Twitter takeover.

Blue Chaos 

It is against this backdrop that the introduction of the Blue service, a way to generate revenue at a time of falling ad sales, appeared to be in chaos as the following, and more, happened:

– A wave of blue tick verified (but fake) accounts impersonating influential brands and celebrities tweeting fake news plus having to be suspended and removed. Fake/parody accounts included those for Apple, Nintendo, BP, Chiquita, Mark Zuckerberg, President Joe Biden, Donald Trump, George W Bush, Tony Blair and, almost inevitably, fake Elon Musk and Tesla accounts.

– Reports that US far-right activists have been able to purchase Twitter blue ticks, and of accounts purchasing blue ticks using AI generated images of fake personalities.

– Confusion over the introduction of new grey “official” badges instead of blue ticks on some high-profile accounts, which were then suddenly scrapped by Elon Musk, only to be re-instated on some Twitter profiles.

– Some US users reporting that the Twitter Blue subscription system was no longer available to them.

– Elon Musk announcing that parody accounts would need to include parody in their name going forward.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The takeover, the speed and apparently drastic nature of the job cuts (mass layoffs by email) and other changes and concerns about what Twitter could now become under the ownership of the controversial Elon Musk have created a turbulent environment in which to try and quickly introduce a new and apparently flawed blue tick service.

Falling ad revenues were the main reason for the introduction of the blue tick service as a much-needed extra source of revenue. However, an air of chaos and parody and fake accounts may have seriously dented confidence in blue tick, and it appears that a general unease about what Twitter will be under Musk may account for many users apparently switching to Mastodon. Given that Tesla’s fate may also be linked to the fate of Twitter, despite Musk optimistically tweeting that “Usage of Twitter continues to rise. One thing is for sure: it isn’t boring!”, chaos, turbulence, uncertainty, and security fears are not attractive to businesses (and advertisers), and news of brutal mass layoffs by email ordering people back to the office and acting too much like a billionaire are not attractive to many social media users.

Also, there is a fear that Twitter could now be much more easily exploited by bad actors to spread disruptive disinformation and other malicious activities. Events are still happening thick and fast at Twitter but for the time being, confidence in blue tick appears to have been seriously dented.

News

Tech News : Meta Cuts 13% Of Its Workforce

Meta has announced that it is laying off a masive 13 per cent of its workforce globally in re-structuring market uncertainty about the Metaverse vision.

Losses Lead To Layoffs 

Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced the 11,000-employee layoff from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, after Reality Labs, the division building the metaverse, suffered £3.16bn losses between July and September this year (the largest loss the company has made). The previous quarter also showed disappointing results.

Expensive Re-Brand 

It should also be noted that Meta also spent around $15 billion last year on its re-brand which, coupled with the lack of growth and the losses may also have contributed to the need for re-structuring and layoffs.

Told By Email 

Mr Zuckerberg reportedly emailed staff about the layoffs, blaming his own over-optimistic view of post-pandemic demand for e-commerce. Employees were informed that the layoffs will mean:

– There will be reductions in every organisation across Meta’s Apps and Reality Labs and some teams will be affected more than others.

– Recruiting will be disproportionately affected because fewer people will be hired next year.

– The business is being restructured “more substantially.”

Thanks For The Impact

In the US, as well as being thanked for their “impact” on Meta’s business, those being laid-off were reportedly told in their emails that they would receive at least 16 weeks salary plus two weeks’ wages for each year served with company.

Remind You of Twitter? 

The big Meta layoffs are painfully similar to Twitter’s recent massive job cuts with 50 per cent of the company’s global workforce (7,500 people) being given their marching orders. Elsewhere in the big tech company world, Amazon, Alphabet and Apple are reported to have hiring freezes in place.

Ploughing On With The Metaverse 

Despite half a year’s poor financial results due to cash being shovelled into the slow-moving Metaverse vision, Mark Zuckerberg appears to be fully committed to it and ready to plough on. Also, despite little investor confidence betraying a lack of understanding of the Metaverse vision, some commentators have noted that society is moving more towards the virtual world every day. This could mean that Mark Zuckerberg is on the right track but may not be moving fast enough with it yet.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Meta, like other big tech companies has faced challenges like a lack of growth and declining ad revenue since the pandemic, as well as stiff competition from the likes of TikTok. Meta, however, appears not to have been able to communicate to investors exactly what the Metaverse and its value is while at the same time appearing to plough a lot of money into a vision that is not delivering yet. This combination of the investors’ responses to a lack of certainty, tough times, plus outside competition have therefore led some people to speculate that big tech itself may be in trouble and this has prompted Meta’s need to shed jobs to steady nerves.

News

Tech Insight : Amazon’s Sparrow Robot Could Replace Humans

Amazon is reported to be testing the machine learning ‘Sparrow’ robot arm that could handle 65 percent of its 100+ million diverse parcels.

Challenge 

Although Amazon already uses robot arms called ‘Robin’ and ‘Cardinal’ to re-direct boxed-up pre-delivery items around its warehouses, the challenge has been to create a robot arm that can detect, recognise, select, and handle a huge variety of different shapes and sizes of products prior to packaging, in the handling part of its business.

Sparrow 

The Sparrow robot arm leverages the technologies of computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to help detect and select items.

The Benefits 

Amazon sees the potential benefits of Sparrow as:

– Enabling the company to work smarter, not harder, and to operate efficiently and safely.

– Enabling employees to focus their time and energy on other things by taking on repetitive tasks for them.

– Helping to drive efficiency by automating a critical part of the fulfilment process.

Replacing Human Workers?  

Although Sparrow’s unique capabilities may be good news for Amazon’s Ecommerce future, it could be bad news for its human workers. The effects on jobs by increased automation at Amazon have been a concern of labour unions (the Amazon Labor Union) for some time now, although a recent study suggested that more robots were needed anyway to plug a labour shortage at Amazon. Also, some commentators have suggested that rather than creating large-scale job losses, an increase in the use of robots in Amazon warehouses could simply mean a de-skilling of the labour force (saving on training), job stagnation and insecurity.

Supporting, Not Replacing 

Amazon, however, chooses to frame Sparrow as “a major technological advancement to support our employees” rather than a machine learning, highly dextrous robot that could cost many of them their jobs.

Back in September, for example, Amazon’s robotics chief Tye Brady, however, was reported as saying that the robots are not intended to replace workers but to collaborate with human workers to do a job.

Create New Kinds Of Jobs Too 

Amazon has highlighted how it believes the use of Sparrow and other robots in its business has already created (and could create more) new kinds of jobs related to maintaining the robots. Amazon says, for example, “The design and deployment of robotics and technology across our operations have created over 700 new categories of jobs”. 

On its ‘About Amazon’ website, the company gives the example of its Amazon Mechatronic and Robotics Apprenticeship which it says helps employees “learn new skills and pursue in-demand, technical maintenance roles” and leads to a 40 per cent increase in the pay of participants.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

With Amazon being the largest manufacturer of industrial robots in the world, and with Sparrow being another of several types of robot arms already in use in Amazon warehouses, it is highly likely that automation plus the pursuit of benefits like efficiency, safety, and 24-hour / 365 days a year working (and no protests) looks likely to continue. Although unions have protested about automation, some have suggested that more unionisation could simply mean a harder push for automation.

Amazon’s re-framing of Sparrow being a robot that will help rather than replace workers and even create more tech maintenance-based jobs sounds good, but with more than 1.6 million people on the Amazon payroll, and more robots like Sparrow that can ‘learn’ to keep improving, its hard to see how many people at the company’s warehouses aren’t going to end up being made redundant over time. For Amazon, however, the efficiencies automation could bring are likely to make the company even more competitive and powerful.

News

Tech News : Zoom Hopes New Features Make It “One Stop Shop”

Zoom has announced that its new (beta) productivity tools, Zoom Mail and Calendar (clients and Services), combined with its existing features will mean that workers will have everything they need in one app.

Give Workers A ‘Toggle Tax’ Break 

Zoom says that the new productivity tool, working together with existing features within Zoom, such as Zoom Meetings, Phone, Whiteboard, and Team Chat will mean that “teams can move quickly and seamlessly from email to a video meeting, elevate a chat message to a phone call, collaborate on projects, and early next year, they can share out whiteboards, all without ever leaving the Zoom app.” 

The New Tools 

Zoom’s new (beta) productivity tools are:

– Zoom Mail and Calendar Clients. These will let any Zoom user (free or paid) access their existing email accounts from popular third-party email services directly in the Zoom desktop app. Zoom says that this is designed to help users to focus more on their work by saving them the trouble of having to toggle between different apps.

– Zoom Mail and Calendar Services. The Zoom Mail service will allow customers (in the U.S. and Canada at present) with Zoom One Pro or Zoom Standard Pro plans to be set up an email account hosted by Zoom at no additional cost. Also, customers with a Zoom One Business or higher plan will be able to set up a custom domain. The Zoom Mail service also gives end-to-end encryption for any emails sent between active Zoom Mail Service users and expiring emails with access-restricted links for external recipients. Zoom says that its Zoom Mail Service is “designed for small-to-medium businesses without dedicated IT resources who also have a need for enhanced privacy in their business communications, such as law firms or any business needing to share private information within their team.”  

More Planned 

Zoom is also set to introduce features like Zoom Spots in early 2023. The feature “virtual coworking space” enables more spontaneous video calls to replicates the “working alongside” aspect of an open office. Zoom also offers cloud VoIP services with ‘Zoom Phone.’

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

These new tools are squarely aimed at SME businesses and see Zoom competing with platforms like Teams, Slack, Google Meet, Skype, and the likes of WhatsApp which has been introducing a raft of new features, thereby widening its appeal to business customers. As Zoom points out, it hopes that these tools, which relate to “business critical” communications will make business customers more dependent on (and loyal to) just the Zoom app for most of their business comms needs and stop them from “hopping between apps”, i.e. using competing apps. The end-to-end encryption and expiring emails aspects of the new tools are reminiscent of valued features of WhatsApp (Teams also offers E2EE for calls). Ever since the pandemic dramatically swelled the numbers of users for Zoom and other comms apps and collaborative working platforms, there has been a battle raging for market share with an expansion of features to cover more and more business needs to make themselves more of one-stop-shop.

News

Sustainability : Environmental Benefits of Lab-Grown Meat

With lab-grown, cultivated meat looking as though it could tackle environmental and animal welfare issues, we look at the Dutch origins of this new produce, its benefits, and how tech has played an important role in creating the product.

What Is ‘Cultivated Meat’? 

Cultivated meat / cultured meat is real meat, but not taken from as living animal that has been slaughtered. Instead, it is made from collected animal cells (fat and muscle stem cells) which are then grown in vitro (in the lab) and shaped into familiar forms of edible flesh. The process can take two to three weeks to complete.

The Issues 

The issues of continuing down the path of slaughtering 80 billion animals per year for meat are:

– Animal suffering and the ethical perspective.

– Livestock produce 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gasses (UN figures).

– A massive 26 per cent of the earth’s terrestrial surface being taken up by livestock grazing.

– Livestock using 8 per cent of global freshwater.

– Human population growth is making the above numbers unsustainable.

Benefits 

The benefits of cultivated meat are:

– Satisfying the appetite for protein in human diets without the farming or animal cruelty issues.

– Reducing the risk of viruses being transferred from farm animals to humans.

– Having complete control of the nutrition profile.

– No waste in production and less need for the quantity and expense of raw materials compared to the meat industry (and plant-based meat industries) and, therefore, less environmental impact in producing the raw materials.

– Sustainability.

Challenges to the Growth of Cultivated Meat Adoption 

Although the cultivated meat sector is growing, its faces many challenges in achieving the wider adoption of cultivated meat products. For example:

– High production costs which may be passed on in high prices.

– Difficulty in scaling-up (it is currently small-scale production).

– Ethical concerns. For example, some have questioned the ethical stance of the biggest producers (SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies) and their investors. Also, a lack of packaging disclosures, the possible use of modified yeast cells, and lack of knowledge about the long-term health and environmental consequences of eating the cultivated meat have all been discussed as ethical concerns.

– Opposition by the meat industry and its supply chain and farmers who have a lot to lose if cultivated meat is accepted as a viable and preferred alternative to their products.

– Food regulations.

– Public perceptions of and knowledge about cultivated meat (mainly concerns about safety). For example, Food Standards Agency Research (UK – conducted by Ipsos Mori, Dec 2021/Jan2022) shows that although 78 per cent of people have heard of cultivated meat, a quarter of people would only try it if they knew it was safe, and 23 per cent said they would try it if they thought it was properly regulated.

– The need for fat and salt to get a similar taste profile to other meat products, making it a less healthy options.

Origins 

Cultivated meat was first produced as far back as 1948 in the Netherlands by Dutch medical school student researcher, Willem van Eelen. Fast-forward to 2005 and Van Eelen (with others) convinced the Dutch government to fund research into cellular agriculture. From this came Dutch cultivated meat companies Mosa Meat and Meatable. There are now around 170 companied globally working on cultivated meat.

Already On The Market In Singapore 

Singapore is currently the only country where cultivated meat is on the market (since 2020), following the country’s food agency becoming the first regulatory body to approve the sale of lab-grown chicken from Eat Just, a Californian start-up.

How Technology Is Helping The Development of Cultivated Meat 

One of the main ways that technology is helping in the development of cultivated meat is in computer modelling (simulations of living systems) e.g., to help predict behaviours with bioreactors. This could contribute to the scaling-up of production and reducing of cost that would be needed to meet and stimulate higher demand in the future.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

At present, challenges such as very high production costs, the need for regulation and approval by food standards bodies, along with the need to find effective ways to scale-up, the success of plant-based alternatives and public perceptions are all challenges for cultivated meat to overcome before going mainstream. Technology such as computer modelling is already contributing to meeting the two major challenges of scaling up production and bringing down costs. Out in the marketplace, however, although many companies are working on cultivated meat, it is only actually on the market in one country. Plant-based meat products have shown that the public will buy and use alternatives to meat, but overcoming consumer concerns about safety and perceptions that lab-grown meat may be a slightly creepy concept are factors which, along with the other challenges, may mean that that it will be some time yet before most of us will be picking up lab-grown meat in the supermarket.

News

Security Stop-Press : Top Three Malware Threats Identified

Check Point’s latest Global Threat Index has highlighted how three particular malware families (info-stealers) made up approaching a fifth (16 per cent) of global detections in September. These are AgentTesla (RAT malware) that affected 7 percent of organisations, SnakeKeylogger, a Modular .NET keylogger and credential stealer that affected 5 per cent of organisations, and the Lokibot info-stealer (used in phishing emails) that accounted for 4 per cent of attacks.

The advice is to remember to keep using simple but effective cyber hygiene practices including taking regular backups, using antivirus and keeping it updated, and being particularly careful with email security and not clicking on any suspicious links in emails.

News

Tech Tip – Convert Picture Of A Data Table To A Usable One In Excel

Microsoft Excel is still one of the world’s most widely used data tools and a new feature (for desktop), ‘Data from Picture’, means that you can now import a picture of a data table and convert it into a usable one within Excel. Here’s how:

– Save a cropped-down screenshot of an excel data table.

– Open Excel and go to the ‘Data’ tab (top menu).

– Select the (new) ‘From Picture’ option (top menu).

– From the drop-down options choose ‘Picture from file’.

– Select and click ‘insert’. Right hand side of the screen will show as collecting and preparing data.

– Click ‘Review’ or ‘Insert Anyway’ if happy you’re happy that the table produced is accurate.

News

Tech News : ‘PimEyes’ Search-By-Photo Stalker Scare

Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has filed a complaint to the ICO that the face recognition search engine PimEyes may be unlawful, plus it could be enabling surveillance and stalking.

What Is PimEyes? 

PimEyes is a search engine that uses facial recognition technology to provide a reverse image search tool, and a photo search mechanism so that users can search for any face they upload and find which websites publish images of their faces to protect their privacy. It can also be used to assist investigative journalists. PimEyes only searches images posted publicly.

Complaint 

Big Brother Watch has made a complaint about PimEyes to the UK’s data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The privacy campaign group’s complaint is based around suggestions that:

– The online facial recognition website is “unlawful” and enables surveillance and stalking “on a scale previously unimaginable” and is “deeply privacy-intrusive”.

– PimEyes is a threat to the privacy of millions of UK citizens because it is allegedly unlawfully processing their biometric data. For example, PimEyes could be processing the facial images of millions of UK citizens which are regularly searched without the knowledge or consent of those citizens.

– It could enable people to “surveil, harass and stalk” others because it allows anyone on the internet to upload a photo of any person’s face (including a child’s), search billions of faces, find matches, and track them across the Internet. This could include, for example, finding person’s place of work, and finding a person’s photos in any media articles, personal blogs, dating websites, employment profiles, and other publicly available websites.

– PimEyes could be used to discover the identity of an unknown individual seen in revenge porn or child sexual abuse material.

– Although PimEyes asks customers to use the technology ethically, it doesn’t appear to place limits on the type of images that may be used for search or have any safeguards to prevent people using the service to extract a library of photos of someone other than themselves.

Enables Intrusion and Stalking? 

Madeleine Stone, Legal and Policy Officer at Big Brother Watch highlighted their concerns saying that “PimEyes enables privacy intrusion and stalking on a scale previously unimaginable” and “lawlessly scans billions of our photos without our knowledge or permission”. She also said of PimEyes: “Images of anyone, including children, can be scoured and tracked across the internet. This extraordinary power is available to anyone at the click of a button and could be secretly used by potential employers, university admissions officers, domestic abusers or stalkers.” 

What Does PimEyes Say? 

PimEyes is reported to have said that its search engine is not intended to be used for surveillance of others and that it is actually in talks with law enforcement agencies in several countries, including the UK, about using PimEyes to combat crimes against children, human trafficking, and terrorism.

Similar To Clearview AI 

Big Brother Watch has highlighted the similarity between the business model of PimEyes and Clearview AI Inc, another facial recognition company. Clearview AI Inc had a database of over 20 billion facial images and was fined £7.5 million and ordered to delete all UK data by the ICO earlier this year for violating data protection law by unlawfully processing the biometric data of UK citizens.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

It is possible to see how there are useful aspects to the PimEyes search engine when used responsibly and ethically, e.g. people using it to protect their own privacy or journalists using PimEyes as part of their work. However, if, as Big Brother Watch has pointed out, the business model is very similar to Clearview AI Inc who have already been fined, and if it is acting unlawfully in relation to UK data protection laws, things may not go well for PimEyes. It is worrying that it appears that anyone could misuse the search engine and gather photos and an information trail about anyone else without their knowledge or consent. It particularly concerning that this apparent lack of privacy and ease of misuse could potentially endanger children. It remains to be seen what action (if any) that the ICO takes. This story is also reminder to all other businesses and organisations that data protection laws do cover images as well as other data and that consent is an important part of data protection laws to consider.

News

Tech News : WhatsApp Launches ‘Communities’

Meta’s WhatsApp has announced the global rollout of it ‘Communities’ feature along with in-chat polls, 32-person video calling, and groups with up to 1024 users.

Communities 

The Communities feature, for iOS and Android, allows users to connect multiple groups, e.g. schools, local clubs, non-profit organisations, and businesses together under one umbrella to organise group conversations on WhatsApp. In Communities, users can switch between different available groups to get information, plus admins can send important updates to everyone in the Community.

More Secure Than The Alternatives? 

The Communities feature is likely to take over from Groups, and offers an alternative to platforms like Discord, Slack, and Meta’s own Messenger, with the extra selling point of “a level of privacy and security not found anywhere else”. For example, WhatsApp says about Communities: “The alternatives available today require trusting apps or software companies with a copy of their messages – and we think they deserve the higher level of security provided by end-to-end encryption.” 

In-Chat polls 

Another new feature also being launched in WhatsApp soon is in-chat polls. Tested back in April, and similar to voting polls features on other platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, in-chat polls can be used in Groups and Communities to make it easier for group members to make democratic decisions or to gather opinions of group members on specific subjects.

32 Person Video Calling & Groups With Up To 1024 users 

WhatsApp has also announced the rollout of 32-person video calling (more than is allowed on a Discord or Slack video call), and groups with up to 1024 users which it says can be used in any group but will be particularly helpful for Communities.

Loads Of New Features Lately 

Meta’s WhatsApp has been piling-on the new features this year to help it compete more effectively in an environment where, following the pandemic, online groups and collaborative remote working has become the norm for many. New features introduced this year include:

– Privacy features like Leave Groups Silently, Choose Who Can See When You’re Online, and Screenshot Blocking For View Once Messages.

– Emojis and the ability to share files within WhatsApp up to 2GB in size.

– Improvements to voice messaging, including Out of Chat Playback, Pause/Resume Recording, Waveform Visualization, Draft Preview, Remember Playback, and Fast Playback on Forwarded Messages.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The new ‘Communities’ feature is about Meta capitalising on the fact that many non-profit organisations, as well as businesses now use WhatsApp, and that building in more engagement and loyalty among these valuable segments could also deliver competitive advantage and benefits. This follows attempts dating back to 2018 to attract more small businesses (of which there is a large number) with WhatsApp Business followed by its testing of a multi-device capability to appeal to multi-device owning (business) users. Adding features to expand the capabilities of Communities, i.e. in-chat polls, 32-person video calling and groups with up to 1024 users enable WhatsApp to both compete effectively with a raft of its rivals (Slack, Discord, Twitter, Instagram), create a successor Groups, establish WhatsApp as a leading group comms app, and fully take advantage of the post-pandemic demand for effective online group chat and information platforms.

News

Featured Article : Speech Recognition And Voice Commands

In this insight, we look at how you can use voice commands to carry out tasks in Windows, plus how speech recognition technology can be used for voice control of different systems and devices.

How Does Speech / Voice Recognition Work? 

Voice commands can be used to carry out tasks in Windows, plus Android and iOS, and in other situations due to the use of speech/voice recognition technology. Speech recognition works by combining a range of technologies, tools, and algorithms such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and contextual awareness as conversational AI which facilitates a real-time dialogue between a human and a device or system.

How To Set Up Speech Recognition In Microsoft Windows 

Microsoft Windows Speech Recognition enables you to use voice commands to operate Windows on your computer. It is supported by Windows 8.1, 10, and 11 and allows you to control your PC with your voice and dictate text, i.e. Speech Recognition transforms your voice into text on the screen in different Windows apps and enables you to write emails in Microsoft Mail using just speech.

How To Set Up Speech Recognition In Windows 

Speech recognition in Windows doesn’t work by default so, to switch it on:

– Type ‘Settings’ in the start field or press the Windows key+ I.

– Click on ‘Time & Language’ and ‘Speech’ (left-hand side menu).

– Click the ‘Get Started’ button under the ‘Microphone’ heading to test for any microphone issues and follow any trouble-shooting instructions.

– Use the Windows key + Ctrl + S to open the ‘Set Up Speech Recognition Tool’ to train Windows to recognise your voice by following the instructions.

– Answer the questions about the microphone / microphone headset you’re using and its positioning and click ‘Next.’

– Choose whether to disable ‘Document Review’ (the way the system improves its understanding of your way of speaking), click ‘Next’ and choose whether to opt for manual or voice activation (manual is the default). To choose manual recognition, press the Windows key + Ctrl or click the on-screen microphone.

Activating It 

Once Speech Recognition setup has been completed and it is enabled in Windows, to activate it for manual operation, say “start listening” or click on the on-screen microphone, or for voice activated operation say, “start listening.” To stop it from operating say “stop listening”.

Sending An Email In Windows Using Your Voice 

It is possible to compose an email in Microsoft’s ‘Mail’ app, for example by:

– Saying “launch mail”. Alternatively, you can click on the ‘+’ in the left-hand side bar (create a new message) and use voice commands from there.

– Say “show numbers”. This divides the email operation into numbered sections that you can then refer to (saying ‘OK’ for the right ones) in your voice commands to construct and send the email.

– Write the email address by spelling out the letters individually, e.g. say “press a”, “press n”, etc, and “press @ sign”.

– Dictate the message and use commands such as “new line” and “new paragraph”.

– Find the numbered section for the send button, then say “OK”.

Commands 

Microsoft’s Speech Recognition supports many commands. A full list of commands can be seen here.

Sending Texts From Android and iPhone 

Voice commands can also be used to send texts from Android and iPhones. For example:

– For Apple, follow the steps to set up voice controls here and how to dictate text can be found here:

– For Android, follow the steps for setting up voice control here.

Others Popular Uses For Voice Recognition Technology / Speech Recognition 

Many of us have used / are regularly using voice commands to activate services and carry out tasks. Popular examples include:

– Digital assistants / virtual assistant technology used for smart speakers and phones, e.g. Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri (Apple).

– Speech recognition / voice chatbots used for multiple purposes, e.g. customer service automation, company websites, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Many businesses have been reaping the benefits of saving time/costs and being able to offer 24/7 assistance by enabling customers to use voice activated systems, e.g. in customers service (online chatbots and phone systems) and to operate aspects of their service.

Microsoft, Apple, and Google also offer users the capability and convenience of using voice activation for their operating systems, which can help businesses by saving time, simplifying tasks, and enabling multi-tasking. Speech recognition and voice commands can also help businesses (like Microsoft and others) offer wider accessibility. Although these systems inevitably don’t always operate as smoothly as they should (as anyone with a smart speaker will know), the hope is that these technologies along with how they work together will improve over time to the point where we are not so tied to a manual keyboard, mouse, and screen-touching to carry out work and personal tasks.