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The global app economy continued its recovery in 2024, showing significant growth in consumer spending despite a slight decline in app downloads. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, consumer spending on mobile apps and games reached $127 billion worldwide across the App Store and Google Play, reflecting a 15.7% increase from the previous year. This growth, however, was largely driven by Apple’s App Store, as spending on Google Play saw a slight decline. In contrast to the rise in spending, global app downloads fell by 2.3% year-over-year, totaling nearly 110 billion. This decrease affected both iOS and Android platforms, with…
Flipboard, known for its social magazine app, is taking a leap into the era of the open social web with the introduction of its latest app, Surf. Unlike its original app, which allowed users to curate content from blogs, news outlets, and traditional social media platforms, Surf is designed to help users discover and navigate the open social web. Currently in invite-only beta, Surf supports decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky, as well as other public content such as blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels. Surf operates on open protocols, including RSS for website and podcast updates, Bluesky’s AT Protocol, and…
Arctic Wolf has acquired Cylance, BlackBerry’s cybersecurity division, for $160 million, a sharp decline from the $1.4 billion BlackBerry paid for the startup in 2018. As part of the agreement, which is expected to close during BlackBerry’s fiscal Q4, the company will receive $80 million upfront, with the remaining payment due a year later. Additionally, BlackBerry will acquire approximately 5.5 million common shares in Arctic Wolf. BlackBerry CEO John Giammatteo described the deal as mutually beneficial, stating, “This transaction is advantageous for all stakeholders. Customers will continue to enjoy uninterrupted service and benefit from Arctic Wolf’s expertise in cybersecurity. Arctic…
Microsoft has unveiled its latest addition to the Phi series of generative AI models, named Phi-4. This new model brings notable improvements over its predecessors, especially in solving mathematical problems, which Microsoft attributes to enhanced training data quality. Currently, Phi-4 is accessible only for research purposes through Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry development platform, under a research license agreement. The platform provides limited access to the model, which was made available starting Thursday night. Phi-4 is the newest member of Microsoft’s small language model lineup, featuring 14 billion parameters. It enters a competitive market alongside other compact models such as GPT-4o…
The European Union has introduced new cybersecurity regulations aimed at enhancing the safety of connected devices. These rules, outlined in the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), require manufacturers to provide ongoing security updates and address vulnerabilities in their products. While the act officially came into force recently, manufacturers have until December 11, 2027, to fully comply with its requirements. The CRA was initially proposed over two years ago with the aim of strengthening the security of various connected devices, including smartwatches, internet-enabled toys, and app-controlled home appliances. The rapid growth of such devices has raised concerns about increasing hacking risks, highlighted…
Yelp has unveiled a range of new features to close out the year, including AI-powered review insights, a personalized home feed with diverse content types, and a revamped inbox for business owners. For consumers, Yelp is now categorizing reviews into themes like food quality, service, and ambiance. Each theme is accompanied by a sentiment score ranging from 1 to 100 and classified as positive, neutral, or critical. Tapping on a specific category brings up relevant reviews, making it easier to understand a restaurant or nightlife spot’s strengths and weaknesses. These AI-powered insights are currently available for restaurant, food, and nightlife…
Meta has unveiled its latest generative AI model, Llama 3.3 70B, which aims to deliver the performance of its predecessor, Llama 3.1 405B, but with significantly reduced costs. This marks a major step forward in Meta’s efforts to optimize the efficiency of its AI technologies. In a post shared on X, Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s Vice President of Generative AI, highlighted how advancements in post-training techniques, such as online preference optimization, have allowed Llama 3.3 to achieve superior results without requiring extensive computational resources. Meta provided a detailed performance comparison, showcasing Llama 3.3 70B outshining competitors like Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro,…
If you’re stuck at work but want to embrace the holiday spirit, Festivitas, a delightful macOS app, can bring festive cheer to your computer screen. This creative app decorates your Mac with twinkling holiday lights that dangle from your menu bar and illuminate your dock. The app was developed by Simon B. Støvring, a software creator known for crafting popular tools like the text editor Runestone, the scripting app Scriptable, and JSON editor Jayson. In the days leading up to the release of Festivitas, Støvring teased its features on social media, showcasing its customization options. Festivitas allows users to personalize…
A Russian programmer has accused the Federal Security Service (FSB) of installing spyware on his Android phone after being detained in Moscow earlier this year. Cybersecurity experts confirmed the presence of spyware, which was likely installed when authorities physically accessed the device and coerced him into providing the password. Kirill Parubets, a systems analyst of Ukrainian descent, detailed the frightening ordeal. Living in Ukraine since 2020 and identifying as an opposition activist, Parubets has supported Ukrainians financially and with humanitarian aid following Russia’s invasion in 2022. His return to Russia in 2023 was solely to handle paperwork related to obtaining…
A coalition of Canadian media companies, including the Toronto Star, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Globe and Mail, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement and unjust enrichment. The suit claims OpenAI used content from their platforms to train its AI models without consent or compensation. The plaintiffs argue that the content used to train ChatGPT reflects significant investment in terms of time, effort, and financial resources from their journalists, editors, and staff. The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI bypassed proper channels to access this information, stating, “Rather than acquiring the content legally, OpenAI has chosen to exploit…