Jack Dorsey apologizes for mass layoffs at Twitter: Heres what he said

Facing trolls on social media, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Saturday apologised to sacked Twitter employees, saying that he grew the micro-blogging platform too quickly.

Reports earlier said that several Twitter employees hate Dorsey for their current sad status after the hostile takeover by Elon Musk who has fired almost 50 per cent of the Twitter workforce.

"Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that," Dorsey posted.

"I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don't expect that to be mutual in this moment...or ever and I understand", he added.

Dorsey quit Twitter in November last year, handing over the baton on Parag Agrawal, who is among those sacked.

Following his departure from Twitter, Dorsey changed his financial services company Square to Block and introduced Bluesky, a decentralised social networking platform.

Dorsey posted on Twitter that Bluesky intends to be "a competitor to any company trying to own the underlying fundamentals for social media or the data of the people using it".

In 2019, Twitter founded Bluesky as a way to develop a similar decentralised concept for the company.

Dorsey owns 18 million shares of Twitter which are valued at over $1 billion.

(Except for the headline and cover image, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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India is now looking at developing a home-grown drone industry

The Indian government is focusing on building a leading drone industry worldwide, with the manufacturing unit set up locally. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, announced the Make in India scheme in September 2014. Since then, the industrial sector in the country has prioritized manufacturing products locally within the country.

Drones are available in all shapes and sizes. The smaller drones typically carry three of four rotors and can carry something small like a camera. The bigger ones look more like aeroplanes, can take substantial payloads, and are usually used by the military. As a result, India banned the import of drones, except ones used by the military and for research and development.

Drones to be produced in India?

Former joint secretary at the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation, Amber Dubey, says, "Drones can be an essential creator of economic growth and employment due to their ease of use and versatility, especially in India's remote areas. Moreover, given India's traditional strengths in information technology, frugal engineering, innovation, and its huge domestic demand, it has the potential to build a global drone hub by 2030. 

Currently, drones are involved in all sorts of jobs in India. Police use them to monitor congestion, and border security forces are utilizing drones to monitor the movement of smugglers and traffickers. In addition, drones have been a great help in agriculture, where they monitor crops' health and spray them with fertilizer and pesticides. A Drone Federation of India official, Rajiv Kumar Narang, stated, "India has set an aim of being a drone hub by 2030, but I think we should take cautions because we currently don't have an ecosystem and technology initiatives in place." He adds that the drone industry needs a robust regulator to oversee all the safety measures and help develop an air traffic management system for drones in the country. In addition, India lacks the network of industries and companies that are required to make all the parts that a drone infrastructure needs. Many components are currently imported, including motors, batteries, flight controllers, etc. However, the government will seemingly introduce an incentive scheme to boost domestic industries. Despite the limitations, the government and the firms are confident there will be a high demand for drones. 

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Xbox prices will now see a slight hike Could cost 55,990 in India

Microsoft has announced that it is again raising the price of its video gaming console in India. The company hiked the cost of the next-gen console for the third time after its launch in the country. As a result, the Xbox Series X will now be available for ₹55,990. However, the company is yet to announce the hike officially, but Twitter user Rishi Alwani (@rishialwani), revealed the news.

When the Xbox Series X launched in late 2020, the console was listed for ₹49,990. However, Microsoft raised the Series X price to ₹52,990 four months ago. Therefore, the new price rise would be an over 5 per cent increase. It will be the second price hike in four months and is likely down to the weakening power of the Indian Rupee (INR) against the US Dollar (USD). The Series X India price increase comes in the wake of Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer admitting that they won't be able to hold Series X's current US price for long. 

New Xbox Series X/S price increase

The Xbox website still mentions the price of the Xbox Series X as ₹49,999. However, the cost of the accessories has gone up now. For example, the Xbox Series X wireless controller (Robot White) has increased from ₹5,690 to ₹5,990. In addition, the wireless controller with USB C (Black) will now cost ₹5,990 instead of ₹5,390. Also, the wireless controller in Shock Blue and Electric Volt colours is now costing ₹6,490 instead of ₹5,890. In addition, the Mineral Camo Edition wireless controller will now be available for ₹6,990 instead of ₹6,390. Meanwhile, the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller's price has increased from ₹15,990 to ₹17,990.

Rumours that Sony's PlayStation5 will receive a price hike are also surfacing online. However, Microsoft's rival has yet to confirm the news about its next-gen console. As a result, the disc and digital editions of the Sony console continue to show the pricing as Rs 49,999 and Rs 39,999, respectively, on platforms like Flipkart, where you can pre-book the console, despite stocks remaining tight.

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Apps can now integrate DALL-E API to help users create AI-generated artwork

As per the official blog post published by DALL-E, "developers can now integrate DALL-E directly into their apps and products through our APL." Adding to it, the post reads, "more than 3 million people are already using DALL-E to extend their creativity and speed up their workflows, generating over 4 million images a day." 

DALL-E can now be integrated into other platforms

Essentially, developers of apps can now integrate the DALL-E image creation AI into their code. It will enable users to create images using the app instead of heading to the platform. DALL-E also announced that Microsoft is bringing its AI into a new graphic design app, Designer. The app will help users create professional-quality graphics that are social media-ready. 

Microsoft is also adding DALL-E in Bing and Microsoft Edge with Image Creator, allowing users to create images themselves if regular web searches do not return what they want. Another platform that happens to be the world's first fashion and lifestyle operating system called CALA is also powered by DALL-E. "CALA's new artificial intelligence tools will allow users to generate new design ideas from natural text descriptions or uploaded reference images."

The AI image generation tool now has better moderation

Another photo startup, Mixtiles, uses the DALL-E API to "create and frame emotionally resonating" artwork. In addition, users now have full ownership rights over the images they make. DALL-E also has a new moderation system that includes filters for hate symbols and gore. "As a part of OpenAI's commitment to responsible deployment, we will continue to make trust & safety a top priority so that developers can focus on building."

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Twitter starts firing Indian employees content moderation team reduced to 15 people: Report

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter turned out to be a nightmare for the employees as the company reportedly laid off 3,738 people out of its total workforce of 7,500, a report by Tribune India mentions. Earlier this week, the company sent out an email to all its employees saying they will be notified whether they are retained or fired by Friday, November 4, 2022. 

Twitter lays off a majority of its staff in India

The mass layoffs come at a time when Twitter is facing a massive drop in advertising revenue. From what it looks like, the company is running low on income. It is unable to meet its costs, which could also be the reason behind the massive layoffs and a hasty push in revenue streams, including the controversial Twitter Blue subscription that includes verification.    

Citing PTI, Tribune India reports that the microblogging platform laid off almost half its staff on November 4, 2022. Twitter has also fired "the majority of its over 200 employees in India." In addition, Twitter India's entire marketing and communications staff has been fired. As per sources, people were fired from the engineering team as well. 

Justifying these job cuts, Twitter mentioned in its email to employees that it is an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path. Ironically, Musk-led Twitter has instructed the employees from discussing any aspect of the layoffs or related information on social media platforms. 

Twitter’s current content moderation team might be limited to 15 people

The job cut's full details were unavailable while writing this report. As per a report by Reuters, "cuts were smaller in the team responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation." However, this contradicts another report from Bloomberg that said the present content moderation team had been reduced to 15. 

Yes, you read that right! The report mentions that Twitter "has frozen some employee access to internal tools used for content moderation and other policy enforcement, curbing the staff's ability to clamp down on misinformation ahead of a major US election."

Previously, the Twitter staff used agent tools to ban or suspend accounts deemed to have violated the content policy. However, since Muskk's takeover, these tools are no longer available to the concerned team. Typically, the access to content moderation tools is with hundreds of Twitter employees, but last week, it was reduced to about 15 people. 

The restriction is in place purposefully as Twitter wants to keep its software code safe during the change to new ownership. Meanwhile, Twitter is temporarily closing its offices “for the safety of employees as well as Twitter systems and customer data."

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Airtel launches 5G Plus services at the new terminal of Kempegowda airport in Bengaluru

The new terminal of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, has become the second airport in India to get access to 5G services. The telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has launched its 5G Plus services at the terminal yet to be inaugurated, as per a report by 91Mobiles.

People can access 5G Plus at the new Bengaluru Airport

The report mentions that people with supported devices, people can access 5G Plus services at the arrival and departure terminals, lounges, boarding gates, and migration and immigration areas. Airtel has previously informed users that there is no need to change their 4G SIM to get 5G Plus services, as the SIM is already 5G-enabled.

Announcing the 5G Plus services at the Bengaluru airport, Airtel's CTO, Randeep Sekhon, says, "I am thrilled to announce the launch of Airtel 5G Plus in the new terminal at BLR Airport." Adding to it, Sekhon says, "passengers flying in and out of Bengaluru will not only witness the most modern and contemporary airport but will also get to experience the cutting-edge Airtel 5G Plus service."

Bharti Airtel provides 5G in eight cities in India

Currently, Airtel offers its 5G services in eight cities in the country, including the capital Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Siliguri, Nagpur, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. However, having a 5G-enabled device is not sufficient as the manufacturer should also provide support for 5G services, which is why iPhones and certain Samsung smartphones are not able to access 5G services at the moment.

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Instagram will soon allow users to mint and sell NFTs

Instagram has announced that they are testing a new feature with digital collectibles that will allow users to share NFTs that they have created or bought directly from the social media app. There will be no fees associated for sharing an NFT on Instagram. Here is everything you need to know about this update! 

What are NFTs?

NFTs, also known as non-fungible token are a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. It is “minted” from digital objects that represent both tangible and intangible items. It is generally built using the same kind of programming like Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.

While anyone on the internet can take a look at an NFT, or even click a screenshot to save it, an NFTs allows the buyer to own the original item. Not only that, it contains built-in authentication, which serves as proof of ownership. In simple words, NFTs are like collector’s items, but unlike physical items, they’re digital only.

How do NFTs work on Instagram?

Users will be able to share NFTs on Instagram that they have created or bought from their Digital Wallet. So, after their digital wallet is connected to Instagram, users will have the ability to choose which NFTs from their wallet they would like to share on Instagram. The NFT will be available in the post section on their profile.

While creators can share NFTs on Instagram for free, other people on Instagram will be able to buy the NFTs directly within the app itself. This will be done through in-app purchases on both iOS and Android. 

As of now, Instagram is not taking a cut of the creators’ revenues. The company has also confirmed that “We’re testing these new features with a small group of creators in the US first, and hope to expand to more countries soon.”

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