All posts tagged: Billions

Microsoft, Amazon to invest billions in French tech: Report

Published by Parlour News

Microsoft on Sunday announced four billion euros in investment for developing data centres in France, joining fellow US giant Amazon in committing to the country’s tech infrastructure. Microsoft, Amazon to invest billions in French tech: Report(Reuters FILE Photo) The announcements came on the eve of the seventh Choose France Summit, the aim of which is to attract foreign investors to the country. Macron will host it at the Chateau of Versailles near Paris. Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now! Microsoft’s president Brad Smith told AFP the move to strengthen its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure was the tech giant’s biggest-ever investment in France since its arrival 41 years ago. France’s “longstanding commitment to carbon-free energy markets” and its status as a “critical leader” in Europe explained the decision, Smith said. A new data centre will be created in eastern France, while existing sites in the Paris region and the southern city of Marseille will be expanded. E-commerce behemoth Amazon will …

Microsoft Finds Major Security Flaw ‘Dirty Stream’ in Android Apps Totalling Billions of Downloads

Published by Webster

Microsoft discovered a major security vulnerability in multiple Android apps last week that could be exploited to gain unauthorised access to apps and sensitive data on the device. Interestingly, this security flaw does not come from the system codes, but an improper usage of a particular system by developers that can lead to loopholes prone to exploitation. Notably, the flaw has been highlighted to Google, and the tech giant has taken steps to make the Android app developer community aware of the issue. In a post on its Security Blog, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team stated, “Microsoft discovered a path traversal-affiliated vulnerability pattern in multiple popular Android applications that could enable a malicious application to overwrite files in the vulnerable application’s home directory.” The researchers also highlighted that the vulnerability was spotted in several apps in the Google Play Store that had a combined total of more than four billion installations. This vulnerability emerges when a developer incorrectly uses Android’s content provider system, which is designed to secure data exchange between different apps on a …

BLACKPINK joins Taylor Swift and BTS in Spotify’s Billions Club with How You Like That

Published by Parlour News

BLACKPINK has made history by joining Spotify’s Billions Club alongside famous pop icons like Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake. The famous K-pop girl group reached the milestone after their 2020 hit single How You Like That garnered more than one billion streams this week. The four-member group is the first and only K-pop girl group to have achieved this feat to date. BLACKPINK makes history by joining Spotify’s Billions Club(AP ) BLACKPINK makes Spotify history, joins Billions Club The group consists of four K-pop idols- Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. Thanks to their popularity on a global level, BLACKPINK is regarded as the “biggest girl group in the world.” Their new Spotify record makes How You Like That the first song by a female K-pop group and the first Korean song without collaboration by a K-pop act to have 1 billion streams on the platform. Hindustan Times – your fastest source for breaking news! Read now. With their 2020 hit, the group has joined another K-pop and global sensation, BTS, who have two tracks, Dynamite …

Apple’s iPhone Sales Target Billions Below Wall Street Expectations as China Business Suffers

Published by Webster

Apple on Thursday forecast a drop in iPhone sales and targeted overall revenue $6 billion (roughly Rs. 49,714 crore) below Wall Street expectations as its China business took a hit. This overshadowed overall fiscal first-quarter sales and profit that beat analysts’ targets, powered by iPhone growth, sending Apple shares down 3 percent in after-hours trade. The results confirmed some analysts’ concerns that the company’s signature product is losing ground in the key Asian market where consumers are buying foldable phones and phones from Huawei, powered by a China-made chip. “China is the most competitive smartphone market in the world, and that hasn’t changed,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told Reuters in an interview. He said iPhone sales there were down “mid-single digits” in the December quarter, when accounting for currency exchange rates. “In China, Apple is facing more competitive challenges not only because of Huawei but also because of foldables, which is a very popular and fast-growing segment in China – and as we all know, Apple does not have a foldable device – yet,” said IDC analyst …

Google spent billions of dollars to lay people off

Published by Webster

Google spent $2.1 billion on severance and other expenses as it laid off more than 12,000 employees over the course of 2023. And the layoff charges keep coming: in just the one month of 2024 so far, the company has already spent $700 million on employee severance charges as part of layoffs targeting another 1,000-plus roles. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, revealed the figure alongside its fourth-quarter earnings release on Tuesday. Despite the cuts, Google ended 2023 with growth across most of its core business lines. Google posted $86 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, a 13 percent increase year over year. The search giant’s core digital ads and cloud computing businesses also showed steady growth, which CEO Sundar Pichai credited to Google’s investments in generative AI. Closing down offices cost Google, too Google’s primary revenue generator, its search engine business, generated $48 billion, a nearly 13 percent jump year over year. The company’s subscription services and devices segment generated $10.7 billion, thanks primarily to subscriptions to YouTube Premium and Music, YouTube TV, …

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is still chasing billions to build AI chips

Published by Webster

A new report from Bloomberg says that once-again CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman’s efforts to raise billions for an AI chip venture are aimed at using that cash to develop a “network of factories” for fabrication that would stretch around the globe and involve working with unnamed “top chip manufacturers.” A major cost and limitation for running AI models is having enough chips to handle the computations behind bots like ChatGPT or DALL-E that answer prompts and generate images. Nvidia’s value rose above $1 trillion for the first time last year, partly due to a virtual monopoly it has as GPT-4, Gemini, Llama 2, and other models depend heavily on its popular H100 GPUs. Accordingly, the race to manufacture more high-powered chips to run complex AI systems has only intensified. The limited number of fabs capable of making high-end chips is driving Altman or anyone else to bid for capacity years before you need it in order to produce the new chips. And going against the likes of Apple requires deep-pocketed investors who will front …

Selena Gomez Joins Ex-Beau Justin Bieber As She Enters Spotify’s Billions Club With Track Lose You to Love Me

Published by Webster

Selena Gomez Enters Spotify’s Billions Club, Which Also Has Justin Bieber ( Photo Credit – Instagram ) Music sensation Selena Gomez is not leaving the top spot in headlines anytime soon. While she was being highly discussed for her alleged online feud with Hailey Bieber, she became the highest-followed woman on Instagram by crossing 400 million followers. Now, the singer has entered the Billions Club playlist on Spotify. Sel began her career as a child actor with the children’s TV series Barney & Friends. She further went on to star is Disney shows, such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Wizards of Waverly Place. However, her musical journey began in 2008 when she signed a contract with Hollywood Records. Selena Gomez is currently at the peak of her career and reaching various milestones. While she was rejoicing after crossing 400 million followers on IG, entering the Billions Club is indeed calling for another celebration. The singer entered the club with her 2019 track Lose You to Love Me from her album Rare …

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Charged by US SEC For Defrauding Investors Out of Billions of Dollars

Published by Webster

The US Securities and Exchange Commission charged disgraced cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday with defrauding customers out of billions of dollars, a day after he was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the United States. “Today we are holding Mr. Bankman-Fried responsible for fraudulently raising billions of dollars from investors in FTX and misusing funds belonging to FTX’s trading customers,” the exchange said in a statement. “We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The statement added investigations “as to other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing.” Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform was plugged by celebrities in advertising campaigns, and the cyber whiz kid became a regular presence in Washington, where he donated tens of millions of dollars in political contributions. But after reaching a valuation of $32 billion, FTX’s implosion was swift following a November 2 report on …