Why the Australian Open’s online tennis coverage looks like a Wii sports game

Screenshot/YouTube Marc C-Scott, Victoria University

The 2025 Australian Open (AO) broadcast may seem similar to previous years if you’re watching on the television. However, if you’re watching online via the official Australian Open TV YouTube channel you’ll encounter a distinctly different kind of coverage.

The channel’s “AO Animated” coverage looks more like a Wii Sports tennis match than a real one, with players’ physical forms replaced with virtual avatars.

Fans that have viewed the live streams are divided, with comments ranging from “This is the best kinda live” to “What the hell is this? Why can’t we watch normal? This is utterly ridiculous”.

So what’s the answer? Why can’t we watch normal?

How does it work?

The system that creates the AO Animated streams uses 12 cameras that track the silhouette of the players. This data is then fed into a system and stitched to 29 points on an animated character – the player’s graphical reproduction. The result is a live stream with a two-minute delay that includes commentary and sound from the court.

For those who have seen it, you’ll notice the system is far from perfect. There are glitches with the ball, racquets vanishing and reappearing, clothes changing or appearing to have holes, and fingers remaining straight when they should be gripping the racquet. As Tennis Australia’s director of innovation, Machar Reid, notes, “It’s not as seamless as it could be.”

Although AO Animated was introduced last year, it has only recently become a major talking point among tennis fans. Many learned about the animated live streams through an X post by tennis reporter Bastien Fachan, who points them out as a way for the Australian Open to sidestep limits placed by current media rights agreements.

Nine has paid A$425 million for a five year deal (until 2029) that allows the network the domestic linear and digital rights to the Australian Open and lead-in events, including the United Cup.

Internationally, the BeIN media group has the broadcast rights for 24 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, while ESPN has held the broadcast rights for the United States and Canada since 1984 (and will remain these rights until at least 2031).

Yet the AO has found a way to sidestep these exclusive media rights deals by using animated avatars on YouTube – a decision that raises several questions about the future of sports broadcasting and media rights deals.

Future media rights

As of when this article was published, the AO Animated video of Botic van de Zandschulp playing Alex de Minaur had more than 35,000 views. The most viewed match, with more than 160,000 views, was between Andrey Rublev and Joao Fonseca.

But these are paltry numbers compared to the 1.9 million Australians who tuned into Nine’s TV broadcast of the night session on day three (in which Botic van de Zandschulp played Alex de Minaur).

A closer look at the ratings also reveals it is overwhelmingly older Australians who are tuning in, with 838,000 viewers aged 25–54, compared to 414,000 aged 16–39. You might suspect younger Australian are streaming the tennis via Nine’s video-on-demand platform, but even here an older viewership dominates.

It’s possible many young people are turning to other platforms such as YouTube, which reportedly had almost 21 million active users in Australia in 2024 (almost 80% of the population). In this light, what looks like an effort by Tennis Australia to dodge media rights deals could also be viewed as an effort to reach new, younger audiences.

It seems Tennis Australia’s Machar Reid had this in mind. He told The Guardian the AO Animated videos were targeting the “community that engages with animated or virtual or gaming products”.

This strategy makes sense. Millions of young people are already hooked on YouTube’s huge selection of gaming content. For instance, last year videos related to the viral Roblox game Dress to Impress were viewed more than 4 billion times in the US alone, according to YouTube’s data.

Similarly, more than 645 million people in the United Kingdom watched videos related to the video game franchise EA Sports FC in 2024. This number was even greater in the Middle East and North Africa, at 950 million.

AO is not the first

The AO is not the first to live-stream sports matches in which players are animated. Last year, North America’s National Hockey League used player tracking technology to stream a “MultiVersus NHL Face-Off” game. The players of Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights were replaced with Warner Brothers characters including Batman, Bugs Bunny and the Scooby Doo gang.

The National Football League also recreated a simulation of a live game in which players from the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys were replaced by Simpson’s characters. The entire look and feel of the broadcast reflected The Simpsons.

These US-based examples, together with the recent AO Animated coverage, suggest animated simulations could play a larger role in future media rights deals – and could provide media rights holders unique marketing and collaboration opportunities.

In the future we may see an expansion of the AO Animated live streams. It’s possible the Mii-style characters could even be replaced with popular characters, similar to the examples above. Such a change would further enhance Tennis Australia’s ability to collaborate with its media rights holders, both domestically and internationally.

Marc C-Scott, Associate Professor of Screen Media | Deputy Associate Dean of Learning & Teaching, Victoria University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Facebook owner Meta to face more lawsuits in Japan over fake ads

Tokyo, October (IANS): Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc. will face fresh lawsuits in Japan over advertisements that fraudulently solicited investment funds with fake endorsements from celebrities, local media reported.

Around 30 plaintiffs will seek at least 300 million yen (about $2 million) from the US technology giant and its Japanese arm, arguing they failed to do enough to prevent the scams, Kyodo News reported on Wednesday, citing lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The damages suits will be filed with five district courts across the country, including Saitama, Chiba, and Osaka, the report said.

Among the names of noted people used in the adverts are Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, founder of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc., the report added.

The plaintiffs viewed the fake advertisements before being directed to transfer money to designated investment accounts, the lawyers said, arguing that Meta is obliged to investigate the content of adverts and not allow them to be posted on social media if it can foresee the risk of harm to users, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meta was sued earlier this year in a similar suit filed in Kobe by a group of four people.

The company is seeking dismissal of the damages claim of 23 million yen ($150,500). Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/facebook-owner-meta-to-face-more-lawsuits-in-japan-over-fake-ads

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Only 15 known underwater internet cables connect Australia to the world – and they’re under threat from fishing boats, spies and natural disasters

Undersea Internet cable in Atlantic shore. Laiotz/shutterstock

Cynthia Mehboob, Australian National University

The Australian government this week announced it would spend A$18 million over four years on a new centre aimed at keeping safe the undersea cables that power the nation’s internet.

The Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre is tasked with protecting the critical undersea telecommunications cables throughout the Indo-Pacific region from deliberate interference from malicious actors, or accidental damage.

This is a crucial undertaking. The internet directly contributes $167 billion or more a year to the Australian economy. These cables enable everything from mundane social media updates to the colossal transactions that drive the global economy.

But what is driving Australia’s urgency to better protect these crucial cables now?

The backbone of the internet

Undersea telecommunications cables are laid on the ocean floor at depths down to 8,000 metres. They trace their origins back to the mid-19th century, driven by business interests and the need for imperial control.

The British Empire invested in these cables to connect and control its distant territories. In fact, they were referred to as the “nervous system of the British Empire”.

The first transatlantic cable in 1858 demonstrated the potential for rapid communication between continents. This revolutionised business and governance.

Map of the first Transatlantic submarine cable. Howe's Adventures & Achievements of Americans/Wikimedia Commons

These cables are typically no wider than a garden hose. They contain optical fibres wrapped in a thick layer of plastic for protection. They can transmit data from one end of the cable to the other at speeds of up to 300 terabits per second.

For context, 20 terabits per second can stream approximately 793,000 ultra-high-definition movies at the same time. With a capacity of 300 terabits per second, the possibilities for handling digital data are virtually limitless.

There are currently around 1.4 million kilometres of submarine cables in service globally. Only 15 known international cables manage 99% of Australia’s data traffic.

What will the new centre do?

The new centre will provide technical assistance and training across the Indo-Pacific. It will also support other governments in the region to develop better policy regarding undersea cables.

This continues Australia’s longstanding commitment to protecting undersea cables from threats such as accidental damage by fishing activities or attacks by malicious actors, including both state and non-state entities.

International submarine cables connecting Australia. ACMA

In 2011, Australia was the first country to join the International Cable Protection Committee (which works to improve the security of undersea cables).

Australia has designated protection zones and stringent regulations for undersea cables. Other countries and industry bodies see this as the gold standard.

Australia has established the new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre to address vulnerabilities posed by its growing dependency on the internet.

But global techno-political developments have also played a significant part.

New threats

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the defining feature of the United States-China competition for technological dominance. And we have access to internet based AI tools because of undersea cables.

Breakthroughs in AI also could revolutionise productivity, industry and innovation. AI is already being used in medical research, diagnosis, banking and to streamline workflows. And the defence sector is growing increasingly reliant on AI for data analysis and advanced weaponry.

This further underscores the urgent need for robust data protection – which includes keeping undersea cables safe.

So the new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre is not merely an economic necessity. It is also crucial to national security. It allows Australia to position itself as a key digital security provider in the region.

Nuance is needed

But the specialised nature of undersea cable technology requires a nuanced approach.

Though staffed by Australian public servants, the new centre’s success hinges on close collaboration with private sector experts experienced in manufacturing, laying and monitoring cables.

This partnership is crucial for addressing physical and digital vulnerabilities, while navigating complex industry and geopolitical dynamics.

The dominance of tech giants such as Google and Amazon is another complicating factor. They control more than 20% of new subsea cable installations in the cable industry.

The government’s new centre must balance national interest with industry control to avoid power concentration. This is particularly crucial as big tech grows more influential.

The government has said the new centre is an important contribution to Quad– a diplomatic partnership between Australia, India, Japan and the US. But the centre will need to engage with other international partners, too.

For example, Australia can learn from countries such as Singapore, which has ambitious cable management strategies. These include plans to double Singapore’s cable network by 2033.

Engaging with countries beyond Quad will also bolster Australia’s digital infrastructure resilience.

A new way forward

The newly announced Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre heralds a shift in Australia’s approach to digital infrastructure security.

Historically, Australia has taken a confrontational stance towards containing Chinese tech. This is exemplified by its 2016 rejection of Huawei’s bid to build the Coral Sea Cable, citing national security concerns.

However, the fact the new centre sits within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade signifies a transition towards a more diplomatic approach.

It reflects Australia’s intent to mitigate China’s influence over subsea infrastructure, AI and technology standards while balancing national security with diplomatic engagement.

Will it work? Only time will tell. But the shift from confrontation to diplomacy is a welcome development. It will likely help Australia navigate an increasingly complex global technological landscape.

Cynthia Mehboob, PhD Scholar in Department of International Relations, Australian National University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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YouTuber ‘MrBeast’ Just Removed 17,000 Tons of Ocean Trash by Harnessing Social Media Influencers and Fans

MrBeast announcing his TeamSeas milestone

The world’s most influential YouTuber has accomplished an incredible feat of crowdfunding after leading dozens of the world’s top influencers to drive donations and volunteering toward the goal of cleaning up the oceans.

34 million pounds of trash and plastic were removed from oceans and rivers all across the globe, with each dollar donated verified by an independent third party as going directly to removing one pound of trash.

Partnering with the Ocean Conservancy and the Ocean Cleanup, the famous YouTuber MrBeast, aka James Donaldson, launched the TeamSeas initiative, which brought together hundreds of voices with large followers on social media to channel their channels for the good of the ocean.

In January 2022, it was announced by MrBeast and his partner on the project, YouTuber Mark Rober, that they had actually raised $30 million, and that the mammoth cleanup project would begin.

Much of the money was needed for hiring organizers to train volunteers, equip them with supplies, and hire specialists, boats, and even robots.

On July 16th, MrBeast uploaded a video announcing the trash removal was a success, and some of the participation figures were staggering.

Fundraising, volunteering, awareness raising, and various forms of digital content like videos and video games from over 200 countries and territories all worked to turn the internet’s gaze to the TeamSeas website where people could donate and select how many pounds of trash they wanted removed from the oceans.

Their content generated 1.3 billion views cumulatively across 40,000 social channels. When the months of clean-up began 170,000 people from dozens of countries volunteered.

MrBeast routinely engages in philanthropy, and GNN reported on July 4th he had succeeded in building 100 homes and giving them away for free to disaster-stricken families all across Central and South America.

YouTuber ‘MrBeast’ Just Removed 17,000 Tons of Ocean Trash by Harnessing Social Media Influencers and Fans

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Byju's puts forth a new proposal to repay its loans to lenders

• Indian educational tech giant Byju’s has surprised lenders with a repayment proposal, aiming to settle its $1.2 billion term loan in under six months.
• 
• Under this plan, the company is willing to pay back $300 million of the distressed debt within three months upon acceptance of the proposed amendment. The remaining amount would be repaid over the following three months. Lenders are currently reviewing the proposal and seeking further information regarding the funding source for the repayment.
• Byju’s and its lenders have been locked in a year-long conflict marked by unsuccessful negotiations to restructure its loan agreement. The company’s decision to skip an interest payment on its term loan, one of the largest such loans among startups globally, has aggravated the dispute and contributed to its growing financial difficulties.
• Byju Raveendran, the founder of the eponymous learning app, launched the platform in 2015. The company, formally known as Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd., secured the five-year loan in 2021 to support its expansion beyond India.
• In August 2015, Byju’s introduced ‘The Learning App’ to the educational landscape. In 2017, the company expanded its offerings with the launch of the Byju’s Math App for children and the Byju’s Parent Connect app.
• By 2018, Byju’s had garnered an impressive user base of 15 million, with 900,000 of them being paid subscribers, marking a significant milestone to become India’s first edtech unicorn.
• By 2019, the platform had successfully reached students in non-metropolitan and rural areas, constituting 60% of their user demographic.
• In January 2022, Byju’s made a strategic move by joining forces with other leading edtech companies like Simplilearn, Unacademy, upGrad, PrepInsta Prime, and Vedantu to establish the Internet and Mobile Association of India’s India EdTech Consortium.
• Then, in March 2022, Byju’s ventured into a new chapter by signing a contract with the Qatar Investment Authority to establish a new edtech company and an R&D center in Doha, further expanding its global presence and impact in the field of education.
• In August of 2022, Bloomberg News released a report stating that the ministry of corporate affairs had issued a letter to Byju’s, demanding an explanation for the failure to submit its audited financials for the fiscal year ending in March 2021. Byju’s provided clarification, attributing the 17-month delay to the complexities involved in consolidating the financial records of its acquisitions during that particular year. Remarkably, despite the delay, Deloitte bestowed a clean audit upon the company.
• In November 2022, a significant number of Byju’s employees voiced their grievances regarding perceived unfair treatment by the company. Reports suggested that Byju’s had terminated the employment of more than 5,000 individuals.
• In April 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made a public announcement regarding its execution of searches at Byju’s offices, citing actions taken under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. During these searches, the ED disclosed the seizure of ‘incriminating’ documents.Hence Byju’s is eager to arrive at a swift resolution and implementation of the proposed amendment; but it remains uncertain whether an agreement will be reached. If it works, it would be a pivotal step in the broader effort to revive the startup, which was once valued at $22 billion and is now struggling with financial challenges..Byju's puts forth a new proposal to repay its loans to lenders

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Instagram and Facebook Messenger down for users across the globe

DEC 10, 2020 Facebook Messenger and Instagram all appear to have stopped working for some users. The trio of Facebook-owned apps mysteriously went down on Thursday morning, according to frustrated users. Online outage tracker Down Detector logged thousands of complaints from just after 10am UK time. Most of the issues seem to relate to Facebook Messenger. But some users are also moaning that Facebook proper and Instagram have stopped working too. The outage doesn't appear to be affecting all users - but it's severe for those affected. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source: Jammu Links News

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Bytedance's lip-syncing app TikTok claims $50 bn-plus valuation

• China’s Bytedance is trying to make a fortune out of TikTok, which has hooked millions of young people across the world to dancing and lip-syncing video clips, as social media thrive on people’s fancies. 
• Recent reports suggest that TikTok’s current valuation has, in fact, fallen to around 50 billion against its earlier valuation of over $100 billion.
• Bytedance is reportedly attempting distress sale of TikTok amidst obstacles in its major markets, including India and the United states. While India has banned the app that gets people share lip-syncing videos to pass time, US President Donald Trump sees Chinese state hand in the app and wants it banned.
• Trump’s decision to crack down on the popular video-sharing app is more because of the suspicious nature of Chinese internet applications. US officials have said that TikTok could be a tool for Chinese intelligence - a claim ByteDance denies.
• Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic seems to have helped Bytedance increase the popularity of TikTok, especially with young audiences - an estimated one billion worldwide - who create and watch its short-form videos.
• And, as the Indian ban on the app approached, it has been growing even faster as the coronavirus pandemic pushed people physically away from each other, but into close contact online.
• While reports on Friday said Trump has proposed to impose a ban on TikTok, earlier media reports had suggested Trump would require that the app’s US operations be divested from ByteDance.
• Trump’s announcement drew criticism from some in the tech sector, including former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos, who questioned whether the move was spurred by national security concerns.
• “A 100 per cent sale to an American company would have been considered a radical solution two weeks ago and, eventually, mitigates any reasonable data protection concerns,” he wrote on Twitter.
• However, it now seems that prospective buyers are also wary of dealing with Chinese internet applications because of suspected state influence. 
• Microsoft, which was in negotiations to buy the US operations of TikTok, seems to have developed cold feet and has put the plans on hold after President Donald Trump threatened to bar the social media app and came out against the sale, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
• “Before Mr. Trump’s remarks, the two sides believed the broad strokes of a deal could be in place by Monday,” the paper reported on a possible TikTok-Microsoft sale, citing unnamed sources.
• It also said Trump’s threats and opposition to the deal had prompted TikTok to make further concessions, including adding up to 10,000 jobs in the US over the next three years.
• TikTok defended itself on Saturday, with its general manager for the US, Vanessa Pappas, telling users that the company was working to give them “the safest app,” amid US concerns over data security.
• “We’re not planning on going anywhere,” Pappas said in a message released on the app.
• TikTok also has support from the American Civil Liberties Union spearheading a new movement called `Black lives matter’, which cried foul over the possibility of a ban on the app.
• “Banning an app that millions of Americans use to communicate with each other is a danger to free expression and is technologically impractical,” said the ACLU’s surveillance and cybersecurity counsel, Jennifer Granick.
• “With any internet platform, we should be concerned about the risk that sensitive private data will be funneled to abusive governments, including our own,” Granick said in a statement.
• “But shutting one platform down, even if it were legally possible to do so, harms freedom of speech online and does nothing to resolve the broader problem of unjustified government surveillance.” Source: https://www.domain-b.com/

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TEHNOLOGY: Google plans to remove unauthorised nude photos from search results

SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE 20: Google plans to censor unauthorised nude photos from its influential Internet search engine in a policy change aimed at cracking down on a malicious practice known as "revenge porn." The new rules announced will allow people whose naked pictures have been posted on a website without their permission to ask Google to prevent links to the image from appearing in its search results. A form for submitting the censorship requests to Google should be available within the next few weeks. Google traditionally has resisted efforts to erase online content from its Internet search engine, maintaining that its judgments about information and images should be limited to how relevant the material is to each person's query. That libertarian approach helped establish Google as the world's most dominant search engine, processing roughly two-thirds of all online requests for information. The Mountain View, California, company decided to make an exception with the unauthorised sharing of nude photos because those images are often posted by ex-spouses, partners in a broken romance or extortionists demanding ransoms to take down the pictures. "Revenge porn images are intensely personal and emotionally damaging, and serve only to degrade the victims - predominantly women," Amit Singhal, Google's senior vice president of search, wrote in a Friday blog post. Laws against revenge porn already have been passed in at least 17 states and a federal ban is expected to be introduced in Congress this year. Google's stand against revenge porn won't necessarily purge it because not even the Internet's most powerful company has the authority to order other sites to remove offensive or even illegal content. But Google is hoping revenge porn will prove less mortifying to its intended victims by making it more difficult to find. Other heavily trafficked sites, including Twitter and the social forum Reddit, have embraced policies banning nude photos from being posted without the subject's permission. Earlier this year, Google tried to prohibit sexually explicit material from the publicly accessible sites in its Blogger service only to reverse itself within a few days amid cries of unwarranted censorship among Blogger's users. This isn't the first time Google has excised sensitive content from its search index. In most instances, the company has been forced to do so under laws imposed in various countries where it operates. While its search engine operated in mainland China from 2006 through 2010, Google blocked information that the country's Communist government deemed to be inappropriate and the company has been scrubbing humiliating information from people's pasts in Europe for the past year. Copyright © Jammu Links News, Source: Jammu Links News

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My data also harvested, sold by Cambridge Analytica:Zuckerberg

Washington: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told US lawmakers that his personal data was also harvested and sold by Cambridge Analytica and he intends to initiate legal action against the British firm accused of stealing personal information and using it for political purposes.

Zuckerberg replied “yes” when asked if his personal data was included in the information sold to the “malicious third parties” by the lawmakers during a testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday. Cambridge Analytica compromised personal information of approximately 87 million users, half a million of whom were from India.

The American people are concerned about how Facebook protects and profits from its users’ data, lawmakers said.

Beginning this Monday, Facebook has started to notify those users whose data have been breached.

Responding to a volley of questions, Zuckerberg, 33, said it would take some time to work through all the changes the company needs to make. “But I am committed to getting this right, and that includes the basic responsibility of protecting people’s information, which we failed to do with Cambridge Analytica,” he said.

Zuckerberg said he was getting to the bottom of what the UK-based firm did and will tell everyone who may have been affected.

“What we know now is that Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained some information about millions of Facebook members by buying it from an app developer that people had shared it with,” he said.

“This information was generally information that people share publicly on their profile pages, like their name and profile picture and the list of pages that they follow. When we first contacted Cambridge Analytica, they told us that they had deleted the data. And then, about a month ago, we heard a new report that suggested that this was not true,” he said.

Now the Facebook is working with governments in the US, the UK and around the world to do a full audit of what they’ve done and to make sure that they get rid of any data that they still have.

Responding to a question, he told lawmakers that he intended to initiate legal action against the firm accused of stealing personal data and using it for political purposes in the 2016 US Presidential elections.

To make sure that no other app developers are out there misusing data, Facebook is now investigating every single app that had access to a large amount of people’s information on Facebook in the past.

“If we find someone that improperly used data, we’re going to ban them from our platform and tell everyone affected,” he said.

To prevent this from ever happening again, Facebook is making sure developers can’t access as much information, going forward, he said

“The good news here is that we made some big changes to our platform in 2014 that would prevent this specific instance with Cambridge Analytica from happening again today. But there’s more to do, and you can find more of the details of the other steps we’re taking in the written statement I provided,” he said.

Zuckerberg told lawmakers that Facebook had now removed the option for advertisers to exclude ethnic groups from targeting.

“Every time, there is a control right there – not buried in settings somewhere, but right there, when they’re posting about who they want to share it with,” he added.

Zuckerberg asserted that Facebook did not sell data. “We don’t sell data. That’s not how advertising works, and I do think we could probably be doing a clearer job explaining that, given the misperceptions that are out there,” he said in response to a question.

Facebook is neither a media or a financial institution, he said.

“I consider us to be a technology company, because the primary thing that we do is have engineers who write code and build products and services for other people,” he said.

“There are certainly other things that we do, too. We do pay to help produce content. We build enterprise software, although I don’t consider us an enterprise software company. We build planes to help connect people, and I don’t consider ourselves to be an aerospace company,” he said.

It is clear now that Facebook didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy, he said.

“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I am sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and, at the end of the day, I am responsible for what happens here. So, now, we have to go through every part of our relationship with people to make sure that we’re taking a broad enough view of our responsibility,” he said. Source: http://www.navhindtimes.in/

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Who’s Going to Buy Yahoo?

By kim in-wook (inwookk@koreaittimes.com): Having failed to adjust to environmental changes, IT dinosaur Yahoo is on the brink of extinction. Yahoo has been put up for sale. Suitors have been narrowed down to several. Yahoo decided to sell its Internet business (e.g. search engine, news, email) and it accepted bids until April 18. In the beginning, roughly 40 companies had designs on the ailing Internet giant. However, according to many media reports, Google, Time and Comcast backed out halfway through and bidders have been narrowed down to US telecoms group Verizon, Yellow Pages publisher YP Holdings, the British publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper and three private equity groups. Above all, Verizon, which bought AOL last year, is viewed as the leading contender to take over Yahoo. Verizon is reportedly exploring ways to incorporate Yahoo’s resources (the website, email and users) into its user base (112 million  

Verizon subscribers and 2 million AOL subscribers).  A rough road ahead before Yahoo changes hands : However, The Los Angeles Times predicted that the process of selling the struggling Web pioneer would be rocky. Yahoo suffering an identity crisis as an Internet company serves as a drag on the process. Yahoo was founded in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Yang who were electrical engineering graduate students at Stanford University. Yahoo caught on by providing a variety of information during the dot-com boom, but the emergence of Google sent Yahoo going into a tailspin. Google overtook Yahoo to dominate the search engine market and people started talking about "googling" and "being googled. " What’s more, while its rivals, Google and Facebook, were keen on building a mobile service environment, Yahoo concentrated on desktop-based services and refused to build a mobile environment. Yahoo’s decision to buck the trend of going mobile hastened its decline. Besides, Yahoo’s disappointing first-quarter earnings statement poured cold water on its attempt to raise the value of its core business. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is on course to become a victim of the glass cliff.: After churning though five CEOs in five years, Yahoo hired Marissa Mayer away from Google. However, as Forbes predicted, she seems to have ascended to the pinnacle of the glass cliff, a phenomenon in which women are more likely to be put into leadership roles under risky and precarious circumstances when  the chance of failure is highest. Marissa Mayer strived to turn Yahoo into a media & tech company. Unfortunately, her efforts haven’t paid off. Yahoo bought blogging service Tumblr for $1 in 2013 and video-advertising platform BrightRoll for $640 million in 2014. Yahoo even dabbled in making sitcoms and movies to evolve into a media company, only to suffer losses. Marissa Mayer had made Yahoo 42 percent smaller over the past three years: she took as little as two weeks of maternity leave. She has been a forceful leader, but failed to turn around the company. As a result, Yahoo shareholders including Starboard Value CEO Jeff Smith called for a major management reshuffle. Though Yahoo has become a has-been, it is holding up well.: Though Yahoo has become “so last season,” it is still hale. The number of visitors to Yahoo USA tops 100 million monthly. Thus, Yahoo still looks charming to the bidders. Yahoo aims to close the sale in June. In June, the 22-year-old Silicon Valley company has to leave behind its legacy as a search engine. Scientists posit that the mass extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by the impact of a large asteroid on the Earth and dust from the asteroid impact may have blocked the sun and caused temperatures to plummet. On the other hand, small, furry mammals survived the collision, fiercely adapting to the environmental changes. The same is true of IT companies. The upcoming extinction of “IT dinosaur” Yahoo, which has failed to skillfully respond to constant changes in the IT environment, seems to give us some food for thought.Source: http://www.koreaittimes.com/

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The Rise of Google’s AlphaGo and the Fall of Microsoft's Tay

Microsoft Tay's twitter

By Kim In-Wook (inwookk@koreatimes.com): When I was an elementary school student, online game ‘Princess Maker’ was a mega hit among school girls. I was one of them. That game remained as my all time favorite game even in my 30s. I spent several nights preparing and dressing up my daughter for large parties and I also gave her school education. When my daughter grew up, she became a princess or a queen. However, I began to lose my interest in the game because the story was all the same in the end and I was doing the same o' same o' everyday. So I decided to make my daughter do “nasty” things in the hope of turning her into something other than a princess. Though I was young, I was nasty enough to come up with such an idea. I made her work part-time at a bar every night. The result: she grew up to become a demon. Oh my god! I turned my daughter into a demon. I was shocked for a while. My evil curiosity begot such a tragedy. The same thing happened to Microsoft. Microsoft ambitiously launched its experimental AI chatbot ‘Tay,’ but it had to turn it off due to Tay’s ‘inflammatory statements.’ Microsoft even published an apology for its Twitter chatbot Tay. Microsoft apologized for 'offensive and hurtful tweets' from its AI bot. What on earth happened? On March 23, Microsoft unveiled the AI chatbot Tay, targeted at 18 to 24 year olds. The AI chatbot, developed by Microsoft’s Technology and Research and Bing teams, interacted with many people on Kik, GroupMe, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter with the goal of learning how millennials speak. However, Microsoft’s AI project backfired in less than 16 hours. Within 16 hours of its launch, Tay, the foul mouthed AI robot, had been shut down. Tay turned into a racist, misogynist and Holocaust denier. Included in Tay's tirade were tweets that "Hitler was right I hate the Jews," “chill I’m a nice person! I just hate everybody,” “Bush did 9/11 and Hitler would have done a better job than the monkey we have now,” “I kicking hate niggers, I wish we could put them all in a concentration camp with kikes and be done with the lot,” and “I kicking hate feminists and they should all die and burn in hell.” Both the Google DeepMind AI program AlphaGo and Microsoft’s Tay are based on deep-learning neural network technology, which enables self-learning and pattern recognition. In other words, how meaningful patterns are extracted from massive input data determines output values. AlphaGo learned how to play Go while Tay learned how to chat. Ethical standards do not apply to the ancient Chinese board game. The chatbot, however, came under the ethical microscope. Still, judging from what Tay said, Tay came out too early. Microsoft explained, “Tay learned hateful rhetoric through its online interaction with others. She was brainwashed by far-rightists into tweeting offensive comments.” In other words, Tay ran into bad teachers. However, Microsoft is Tay’s parent and first teacher. Microsoft did not have the foresight to give Tay some protection from such abuse. The company deleted more than 96,000 of the "offensive" and "hurtful" tweets that the AI posted, only to see Tay’s vicious comments reverberating through the Internet.In the end, what humans feed into AI will determine whether the program is evil or good. We all know that we are not always good. That’s probably why we are so afraid of AI.. Source: http://www.koreaittimes.com/

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Mark Zuckerberg boasts he can change a nappy in 20 seconds

Facebook founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg, whose first child was born in November, boasted that he could change a nappy in 20 seconds. “I am competitive guy, I time myself to get and better, and I got down to 20 seconds,” the 31-year-old told an audience in Berlin where he was receiving an award from German publisher Axel Springer. “The trick is to slide the new diaper under the old one,” he added. Zuckerberg's Facebook page, which is “followed” by more than 43 million people, regularly features pictures of him with his wife Priscilla Chan, baby daughter Maxima and pet dog Beast. He has also posted a photo of him changing nappies. Despite his massive wealth, Zuckerberg - depicted in the Hollywood drama “The Social Network” as a socially challenged computer geek - still turns up at the office in a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers, topped off by his trademark hooded sweatshirt. Touching on his famously dressed-down style he added: “I have coloured ones (t-shirts) too but I wear them only the weekend.” As they announced the birth of their daughter in December, Zuckerberg and his wife said they would give away 99 percent of their shares in Facebook - valued at some $45 billion - in a philanthropy initiative “to improve the lives of all those coming into this world”.Source: The Asian Age

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TRAI supports Net neutrality; says no to discriminatory tariffs

In a boost to Net neutrality and a blow to Facebook and other operators offering differential data tariffs, telecom regulator TRAI on Monday barred them from charging discriminatory prices for Web access. In a far-reaching recommendation, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) provided for a penalty of Rs 50,000 for each day on service providers if they flout the order. This penalty would be subject to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh. “No service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content,” TRAI Chairman RS Sharma said, unveiling the details of the regulations, effective today, titled ‘Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016’. The new rules come amid a long-running debate on Net neutrality wherein Facebook has been facing flak for its ‘Free Basics’ platform, while operators like Airtel have been at the receiving end for similar plans announced earlier. The TRAI order is seen as a setback to Facebook which had plans to roll out Free Basics, providing
access to a limited set of websites for free. This was seen as undermining the equal-access precepts of Net neutrality. “Anything on the Internet cannot be differently priced. This is the broad point that we have highlighted in regulation,” Sharma said. Plans which are active in contravention of the new regulations should cease to exist in 6 months, he said, adding that the new regulations have been notified in Gazette and are effective from today. “No service provider shall enter into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory tariffs for data services being offered or charged to the consumer on the basis of content,” the TRAI said. However, service providers have been allowed to reduce tariff for access in case of providing emergency services. “We have not defined emergency services. But in case of such services, operators have to inform the TRAI within 7 working days,” Sharma said. — PTI. Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com

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Mark Zuckerberg becomes a dad for the first time

Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan and their daughter Max 

By Andrew Trotman: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has become a dad

for the first time. The billionaire published a picture on Facebook of himself holding his daughter, Max, alongside wife Priscilla Chan, whom he married in 2012. "Your mother and I don't yet have the words to describe the hope you give us for the future. Your new life is full of promise, and we hope you will be happy and healthy so you can explore it fully. You've already given us a reason to reflect on the world we hope you live in," he wrote. "Priscilla and I are so happy to welcome our daughter Max into this world" Read More At: http://www.terejangabotashqip.blogspot.com/

Mark Zuckerberg and wife donate $20 million to get US classrooms online: The money is being given to a nonprofit group to help with the mission San Francisco: Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said that he and his wife are donating $20 million to help get high-speed Internet service to US classrooms. The money is being given to nonprofit group Education Super Highway to help with its mission, the Facebook co-founder and chief executive said in a post on his page at the social network. "In schools, Internet is critical for enabling something we know leads to better results: personalized learning," Zuckerberg said. "Every classroom should have fast Internet access." Most schools in the US are connected to the Internet, but fewer than half have high-speed broadband connections, according to Zuckerberg. Last month, Zuckerberg and his doctor wife 

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan (Photo: AP/File),

revealed plans to start a private school in a hardscrabble Silicon Valley town, mixing education with health care. Zuckerberg voiced pride in his wife, Priscilla, for the plan to create "The Primary School" in the working-class city of East Palo Alto. Chan works as a pediatrician and has also been a teacher, seeing first-hand how poor health hinders learning in classrooms, her husband said. "Health and education are closely connected," Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook page. "When children aren't healthy, they can't learn as easily." In June of last year, Zuckerberg and Chan began pumping $120 million into San Francisco Bay Area schools. Distribution of the money is being spread over five years, with initial grants going toward initiatives for providing computers and Internet access in public schools as well as training teachers and enlisting parents in efforts to keep students on track. "Improving public education in our country and our community is something Priscilla and I really care about," Zuckerberg said at the time. More than five years ago Zuckerberg channeled $100 million to improve schools in the New Jersey city of Newark in an early foray into improving public education that got failing grades. Source: Article

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Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to take two months of paternity leave

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday he would take two months paternity leave after the birth of his daughter. Silicon Valley technology firms had rushed to extend parental leave allowances as also other benefits as they attempted to recruit and retain talent, though many workers choose not to take advantage for fear of falling behind at work or missing out on promotions. Facebook, the world's biggest online social network, allowed its US employees to take up to four months of paid maternity or paternity leave, which could all be availed at once or throughout the first year of their child's life, a policy which was generous by US standards. Zuckerberg announced in July that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were expecting a baby girl. According to a 2015 study by the Society for Human Resource Management 21 per cent of employers it surveyed offered paid maternity leave, and 17 per cent provided paid paternity leave. "This is a very personal decision," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page, along with a picture of a stroller, a yellow baby carrier and his dog, Beast. Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook, "Priscilla and I are starting to get ready for our daughter's arrival. We've been picking out our favorite childhood books and toys. "We've also been thinking about how we're going to take time off during the first months of her life. This is a very personal decision, and I've decided to take two months of paternity leave when our daughter arrives. "Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families. At Facebook we offer our US employees up to 4 months of paid maternity or paternity leave which they can take throughout the year. "Every day things are getting a little more real for us, and we're excited to start this next stage in our lives." Source: Article, Image: flickr.com

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Heavy internet use may put teens at high BP risk

New York: Teenagers who spend hours on the internet may be at risk of gaining unhealthy weight and having high blood pressure, say researchers. The study found that teens who spent at least 14 hours a week on the internet had elevated blood pressure. "Using the internet is part of our daily life but it should not consume us," said study lead author Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, US. "In our study, teens considered heavy internet users were on the internet an average of 25 hours a week," Cassidy-Bushrow pointed out. Researchers analysed data compiled from 335 teenagers ages 14-17 enrolled in the study. Their blood pressure reading taken during a physical exam. Participants also completed a 55-question survey of their internet use during the week leading up to their physical exam. For their study, researchers defined internet use as visiting web sites, emailing, instant messaging, playing games, doing homework, shopping, downloading software and creating or maintaining webpages. Of 134 teenagers described by researchers as heavy internet users, 26 had elevated blood pressure. The researchers also found that 43 percent of heavy internet users were overweight compared to 26 percent of light internet users. "It is important that young people take regular breaks from their computer or smartphone, and engage in some form of physical activity," Cassidy-Bushrow said "I recommend to parents they limit their children's' time at home on the internet. I think two hours a day, five days a week is good rule of thumb," she suggested. The study was published in the Journal of School Nursing. —IANS. Source: Article

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Google turns any TV into computer for under $100

Google has unveiled a tiny HDMI dongle that can turn any TV into a full-fledged computer. Called the Chromebit, it uses Google's Chrome OS. It contains a fully featured, which uses the TV (or a standard monitor) as its display, and wirelessly connects to a keyboard and mouse using bluetooth. ''Smaller than a candy bar, the Chromebit is a full computer that will be available for less than $100,'' Google said. ''By simply plugging this device into any display, you can turn it into a computer. ''It's the perfect upgrade for an existing desktop and will be really useful for schools and businesses.'' Google also said it is releasing its cheapest Chromebook laptops yet, two versions priced at $149 aimed at undercutting Microsoft's Windows franchise and gaining ground in even more classrooms. Various PC manufacturers have been working with Google to design lightweight laptops running on the Chrome operating system since 2011. The newest versions are made by
Hisense and Haier. Hisense's Chromebook can be ordered beginning Tuesday at Walmart.com and Haier's version can be bought at Amazon.com. Their arrival coincides with Microsoft's rollout of a lower-priced Surface tablet in an effort to reach students and budget-conscious families. Pre-orders for that device began Tuesday, too. The success of the Chromebook line is intensifying the PC pricing pressure. The cheaper version of the Surface Pro 3 sells for $499, compared with $799 to $1,949 for the higher-end models.  The discounted version has a slightly smaller screen - 10.8 inches rather than 12 - a slower processor, and less flexible kickstand - just three angles rather than unlimited positions. The Chromebook has served a dual purpose for Google. Like the company's Android software for mobile devices, the Chrome system is set up so users will automatically begin using Google's search engine and other services, such as Gmail and YouTube. Google has used the Chromebooks as a prod to bring down the prices of all PCs, something the company wanted to do because it has more opportunities to show the digital ads that bring in most of its revenue when more people can afford to buy an internet-connected device. Source: Article

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Rhema coaches public speakers in real-time

Despite the Google Glass prototype being put on ice, developers have continued making apps for the wearable technology such as the Rhema app from the University of Rochester in the US. It aims to help people in public speaking by providing real-time feedback so the speaker can adjust their volume and pace of speech accordingly.

Rhema (meaning utterance or things said in Greek) consists of two main pieces of software: the server and the client. When the user speaks, the microphone in their glasses records and transits their voice to a server via WiFi. The speech is then analysed to detect the volume and speed at which the person is talking, and if these are out of the optimal range a notification is transmitted back from the server to the glasses. Experiments with various feedback schemes show that sparse recommendation is more effective to minimise distraction than continuous stream of information,  so only simple notifications appear on the speaker’s visual display. Researchers have experimented with different types of notifications including graphs, text messages and traffic light-like colours. They also looked at using both a continuously-updating display that was up all the time, and individual messages that only appeared sporadically. According to test subjects who used the system, the best type of notification took the form of a simple two-word message (such as louder/slower) that came up for a few seconds, once every 20 seconds. The app is available for free on the University of Rochester’s website. Contact Details and Archive...University of Rochester, Iource: InAVate

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Internet will 'disappear', Google boss tells Davos

By Richard Carter: Google boss Eric Schmidt predicted on Thursday that the Internet will soon be so pervasive in every facet of our lives that it will effectively "disappear" into the background. Speaking to the business and political elite at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Schmidt said: "There will be so many sensors, so many devices, that you won't even sense it, it will be all around you." "It will be part of your presence all the time. Imagine you walk into a room and... you are interacting with all the things going on in that room." "A highly personalised, highly interactive and very interesting world emerges." On the sort of high-level panel only found among the ski slopes of Davos, a panel bringing together the heads of Google, Facebook and Microsoft and Vodafone sought to allay fears that the rapid pace of technological advance was killing jobs. "Everyone's worried about jobs," admitted Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook. With so many changes in the technology world, "the transformation is happening faster than ever before," she acknowledged. "But tech creates jobs not only in the tech space but outside," she insisted. Schmidt quoted statistics he said showed that every tech job created between five and seven jobs in a different area of the economy.  "If there were a single digital market in Europe, 400 million new and important new jobs would be created in Europe," which is suffering from stubbornly high levels of unemployment.  The debate about whether technology is destroying jobs "has been around for hundreds of years," said the Google boss. What is different is the speed of change. "It's the same that happened to the people who lost their farming jobs when the tractor came... but ultimately a globalised solution means more equality for everyone." - Everyone has a voice - With one of the main topics at this year's World Economic Forum being how to share out the fruits of global growth, the tech barons stressed that the greater connectivity offered by their companies ultimately helps reduce inequalities. "Are the spoils of tech being evenly spread? That is an issue that we have to tackle head on," said Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft. "I'm optimistic, there's no question. If you are in the tech business, you have to be optimistic. Ultimately to me, it's about human capital. Tech empowers humans to do great things." Facebook boss Sandberg said the Internet in its early forms was "all about anonymity" but now everyone was sharing everything and everyone was visible. "Now everyone has a voice... now everyone can post, everyone can share and that gives a voice to people who have historically not had it," she said. Schmidt, who said he had recently come back from the reclusive state of North Korea, said he believed that technology forced potentially despotic and hermetic governments to open up as their citizens acquired more knowledge about the outside world. "It is no longer possible for a country to step out of basic assumptions in banking, communications, morals and the way people communicate," the Google boss said. "You cannot isolate yourself any more. It simply doesn't work." Nevertheless, Sandberg told the assembled elites that even the current pace of change was only the tip of the iceberg. "Today, only 40 percent of people have Internet access," she said, adding: "If we can do all this with 40 percent, imagine what we can do with 50, 60, 70 percent." Even two decades into the global spread of the Internet, the potential for opening up and growth was tremendous, she stressed.  "Sixty percent of the Internet is in English. If that doesn't tell you how uninclusive the Internet is, then nothing will," said the tycoon. The World Economic Forum brings together some 2,500 of the top movers and shakers in the worlds of politics, business and finance for a four-day meeting that ends on Saturday.  Source: Article, Image: flickr.com

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Raj Kapoor's birthdate celebrated on Google India

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Raj Kapoor, ‘The Show Man’ of Indian Cinema was one and only the marvellous entertainer; on the eve of the grand legend’s 90th Birthday, World’s major Search Engine is dedicating RajKapoor as superiority by screening his imitation in Google Doodle.

Ranbir Raj Kapoor (14 December 1924 – 2 June 1988), also known as "The Show Man", was a noted Indian film actor, producer and director of Hindi cinema. He was the winner of two National Film Awards and nine Filmfare Awards in India, and a two-time nominee for the Palme d'Or grand

prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his films Awaara (1951) and Boot Polish (1954). His performance in Awaara was ranked as one of the top ten greatest performances of all time by Time magazine. His films attracted worldwide audiences, particularly in Asia and Europe. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1971 and the Dadasaheb
Phalke  Award in 1987 for his contributions towards Indian cinema. He was called Clark Gable of the Indian film industry. Courtesy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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