tech
Symphony Mobile unveils Symphony Z60
Symphony Mobile announced the launch of its newest smartphone - Symphony Z60- packed with advanced features and powered by the latest Android 12 operating system.
The Symphony Z60 boasts a large 6.6-inch HD+ IPS full lamination punch-hole display with 90Hz refresh rate and equipped with a 1.6 GHz Octa-Core Processor.The phone features a dual rear camera setup with a 52MP UHD primary camera and a 2MP portrait lens. The 8MP front camera ensures sharp and detailed selfies.
The Symphony Z60 comes with ample storage options, including a 3GB RAM + 64GB ROM variant and a 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM variant, providing plenty of space for storing apps, photos, and videos. Additionally, the smartphone is powered by 5000mAh Li-Polymer Battery with 18-watt fast charging.
In terms of connectivity, the Symphony Z60 supports 4G/3G/Wi-Fi/BT/GPS/OTG, providing seamless internet connectivity and easy sharing of files.
The Symphony Z60 is competitively priced at 9999 Taka for the 3GB RAM variant and 10499 Taka for the 4GB RAM variant, making it an affordable choice for consumers.
"We are thrilled to introduce Symphony Z60, our latest offering in the smartphone market," said Mr. Jakaria Shahid, Managing Director of Symphony Mobile.
China’s Alibaba to roll out ChatGPT rival Tongyi Qianwen
Alibaba, a Chinese technology giant, has announced plans to roll out its own artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT-style product called Tongyi Qianwen.
In recent months, technology companies around the world have unveiled their own so-called generative AI chatbots.
Earlier this year, Alibaba revealed it was working on a rival to ChatGPT, reports BBC.
Tongyi Qianwen roughly translates as "seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions", although Alibaba has not given an English version of the name.
Its cloud computing unit says it will integrate the chatbot across Alibaba's businesses in the "near future" but did not give details on its timeline.
"We are at a technological watershed moment driven by generative AI and cloud computing," Alibaba's chairman and chief executive Daniel Zhang said as Tongyi Qianwen was launched.
The company said Tongyi Qianwen, which is capable of working in English as well as Chinese, will initially be added to DingTalk, Alibaba's workplace messaging app.
It will perform a number of tasks including turning conversations in meetings into written notes, writing emails and drafting business proposals, the company said.
Alibaba said it will also be integrated into Tmall Genie, which is similar to Amazon's Alexa voice assistant smart speaker.
Interest in generative AI has surged since the release of ChatGPT by Microsoft-backed OpenAI in November.
ChatGPT can answer questions using natural, human-like language and it can also mimic other writing styles, using the internet as it was in 2021 as its database.
Microsoft has spent billions of dollars on the technology, which was added to its search engine Bing in February.
The US software giant also said it will embed a version of ChatGPT in its Office apps, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
Alphabet's Google and Chinese technology group Baidu have also announced their own AI models and released similar chatbots.
Huawei announces winner of Facebook Quiz campaign
Huawei has recently announced the winner of Digital Bangladesh Mela Quiz campaign that was arranged on Huawei Bangladesh Facebook page.
The participant who has answered all 10 questions correctly and met other requirements have been selected as the winners as per the criteria announced for this quiz.
The quiz campaign was organized in January of this year with an announcement that whoever answered all the questions correctly following the guidelines would be selected as the winner.
The competition got more than 11 thousand responses against 10 quizzes.
Md. Ali Hossain, from Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj, came out victorious as the sole winner of this competition after fulfilling all requirements.
The winner has been awarded a GT3 Classic Smart Watch.
Tanvir Ahmed, Head of Media, Huawei South Asia, said, “Technology will play a vital role in building our smart Bangladesh.
"We always want to share our insights and knowledge for a better ICT ecosystem. With that inspiration, we share diversified information and resources for our audiences on all our social media platforms," he added.
BWIGF: Ensuring women have a say in internet governance
The Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF) and its special body the Bangladesh Women IGF (BWIGF) Saturday organised a day-long training workshop on governance in the capital.
The Bangladesh Women IGF works to ensure a gender perspective is included in the key debates around internet governance issues, such as content regulation, privacy, access, and freedom of expression.
It also aims to increase women's participation at the BIGF and IGF and related fora, support capacity building of gender advocates, and promote more effective linkages between local, regional and global initiatives on gender and information society.
Today's workshop helped the participants explore internet governance in different ways through several new ideas and discussions.
At the event, Afroza Haq Rina MP, an adviser to the Bangladesh Women IGF, called for ensuring affordable internet for all women to improve their lives and livelihoods.
Bangladesh Women IGF Secretary General Farha Mahmud Trina, former secretary Md Nasir Uddin Ahmed, AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, Khaza Md Anas Khan, country manager of GIGABYTE Technology, BIGF Secretary General Mohammad Abdul Haq Anu, Shahnaz Sharmeen, chief reporter of Nagorik TV, and Shahnaz Munni, chief news editor of News 24 TV, were present.
realme C55 now available for pre-order
Youth-centric brand realme recently introduced realme C55, its latest addition to the Champion C-series, equipped with four segment-first features.
Now, realme fans can pre-order this device with attractive offers; as pre-orders began on April 2, according to a press release.
This phone is equipped with the first-ever 64MP AI camera in the segment, up to 16GB dynamic RAM, 33W Supervooc Charge and an Ultra Slim Sunshower design.
The pre-ordering procedure begins with visiting the https://realmebd.com/c55-prebook .
Upon clicking the link, a page will appear where the interested customer will need to fill out a form mentioning name, phone number, shop area, territory, shop name, phone variant and colour, then click “Pre-order now.”
Upon completion of the procedure, the customer will receive a confirmation text and call from a Realme customer service representative.
Afterwards, the customer will have to make a payment of Tk99 at the nearest realme outlet, as part of the confirmation process.
These pre-ordering customers will receive free screen/display protection and a replacement warranty for six months.
Moreover, they will also be subject to a cashback of up to Tk5000 upon replacing an old device on SWAP.
To top it off, the customers will also enjoy free internet data on Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink. Pre-orders are available for the 6GB RAM/128GB ROM variant only.
Adding to all those, one lucky winner will receive a cash prize of Tk1 lakh and a few lucky customers chosen via lottery will also receive a Realme C55 for free.
Moreover, 1000 pre-ordering customers will receive a free Realme sports bottle. The winners will be selected through a lottery.
The phone is powered by 8GB dynamic RAM expandable up to 16GB, the device ensures a seamless experience and is available in two colours: Sunshower and Rainy Night – accounting for a premium and outstanding look.
TikTok's parent has a new app: What to know about Lemon8
As lawmakers debate whether to ban TikTok nationwide, its Chinese parent company has introduced a new app that's already getting some traction.
The app, called Lemon8, is likely to face some of the same scrutiny as TikTok, which has been dogged by claims the Chinese government could force its parent company ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or push misinformation on the platform.
TikTok maintains that hasn't happened. And it's attempting to convince lawmakers it can keep user data safe.
Meanwhile, ByteDance is pressing ahead with its expansion plans. Here's what you need to know about the company's new app:
WHAT IS LEMON8?
Lemon8 is a photo-based app that resembles a mixture of Instagram and Pinterest, and is sprinkled with videos that look like the ones posted on TikTok. Social marketing experts say the app is also reminiscent of the Chinese social media and e-commerce giant Xiaohongshu, which translates to "little red book."
Like TikTok, Lemon8's main feed features a "following" section that lets users look at content from creators they follow, as well as a "For You" section that recommends other posts. It also segments posts under different categories, like fashion, beauty and food, and allows users to explore content in other ways.
Similar to TikTok and other social media sites, Lemon8 collects user data, such as IP address, browsing history, device identifiers and other information.
Both the Apple and Google Play app stores list its owner as Heliophilia Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based company that shares the same address as ByteDance and TikTok.
HOW POPULAR IS IT?
Lemon8 was first launched in Asian markets in 2020 and has already made headway in countries like Thailand and Japan, with roughly 7.4 million and 5 million downloads respectively, according to the app analytics company data.ai.
It was introduced in the U.S. in February with little fanfare, but all that changed when media organizations started paying closer attention and some TikTok influencers began promoting it.
As of Sunday, the app had 290,000 downloads in the U.S., the vast majority of which happened in late March, according to data.ai. It's also listed as one of the most popular apps on Apple's app store.
Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at Influencer Marketing Factory, said ByteDance reached out to her company in late February and gave a lengthy presentation about the app and how influencers can use it. She said the agency, which connects brands with influencers, is recommending that influencers try out the app but isn't doing the same with brands since Lemon8's user base is still relatively small.
It also remains to be seen if the app will take off more organically or flop. The last five years have been littered with social media platforms that got a lot of hype, only to vanish in the end, said Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at the creative agency Mekanism. He pointed to examples like BeReal and Clubhouse, which garnered a lot of attention in the past two years before users turned their attention elsewhere.
"Social app success is difficult to achieve and harder to maintain," Gahan said.
WHAT HAS BYTEDANCE SAID ABOUT THE APP?
ByteDance did not reply to a request for an interview about how it plans to grow Lemon8. But the company's general counsel Erich Andersen noted in an interview with the Associated Press at a cybersecurity conference last week that it will continue to develop the app.
"We're obviously going to do our best with the Lemon8 app to comply with U.S. law and to make sure we do the right thing here," said Andersen, who also serves as TikTok's general counsel. "But I think we got a long way to go with that application — it's pretty much a startup phase."
As part of that work, ByteDance is already seeking job applicants for a few U.S.-based roles that will help grow the app's partnerships with influencers on beauty, food, health and other topics.
WHAT ELSE IS BYTEDANCE DOING?
Another app owned by ByteDance, called CapCut, is also listed on Apple's app store as one of the most popular apps in the U.S.
CapCut markets itself as an "all-in-one" video editing tool that allows users to cut or speed up their content, and do other things like add filters and music.
Data.ai, the app analytics company, said that app was released globally in April 2020, roughly a year after it was introduced in China. As of Sunday, the group said the editing tool had been downloaded 60 million times in the U.S. and 940 million globally.
ARE LAWMAKERS ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT THE OTHER APPS?
There is support for a bipartisan bill in the Senate, called the RESTRICT Act, that does not call out TikTok but would give the Commerce Department power to review and potentially restrict foreign threats to technology platforms. But it has faced some pushback from privacy advocates and ring-wing commentators who argue the legislation is too vague and could be abused.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, who sponsored the bill along with Republican Sen. John Thune, said in a prepared statement that the legislation would make it easier to go after other risky apps like Lemon8.
"For too long, our government has been playing a game of Whac-A-Mole when it comes to addressing the various foreign technology threats popping up all around us," said Warner, D-Va. "The RESTRICT Act would establish a risk-based, intelligence-informed process to evaluate and mitigate the risks posed by tech from adversarial nations, whether that be Huawei, TikTok, Lemon8, or the next viral technology product pushed by an authoritarian nation."
Are robot waiters the future of restaurant industry?
You may have already seen them in restaurants: waist-high machines that can greet guests, lead them to their tables, deliver food and drinks and ferry dirty dishes to the kitchen. Some have cat-like faces and even purr when you scratch their heads.
But are robot waiters the future? It's a question the restaurant industry is increasingly trying to answer.
Many think robot waiters are the solution to the industry's labor shortages. Sales of them have been growing rapidly in recent years, with tens of thousands now gliding through dining rooms worldwide.
"There's no doubt in my mind that this is where the world is going," said Dennis Reynolds, dean of the Hilton College of Global Hospitality Leadership at the University of Houston. The school's restaurant began using a robot in December, and Reynolds says it has eased the workload for human staff and made service more efficient.
But others say robot waiters aren't much more than a gimmick that have a long way to go before they can replace humans. They can't take orders, and many restaurants have steps, outdoor patios and other physical challenges they can't adapt to.
"Restaurants are pretty chaotic places, so it's very hard to insert automation in a way that is really productive," said Craig Le Clair, a vice president with the consulting company Forrester who studies automation.
Still, the robots are proliferating. Redwood City, California-based Bear Robotics introduced its Servi robot in 2021 and expects to have 10,000 deployed by the end of this year in 44 U.S. states and overseas. Shenzen, China-based Pudu Robotics, which was founded in 2016, has deployed more than 56,000 robots worldwide.
"Every restaurant chain is looking toward as much automation as possible," said Phil Zheng of Richtech Robotics, an Austin-based maker of robot servers. "People are going to see these everywhere in the next year or two."
Li Zhai was having trouble finding staff for Noodle Topia, his Madison Heights, Michigan, restaurant, in the summer of 2021, so he bought a BellaBot from Pudu Robotics. The robot was so successful he added two more; now, one robot leads diners to their seats while another delivers bowls of steaming noodles to tables. Employees pile dirty dishes onto a third robot to shuttle back to the kitchen.
Now, Zhai only needs three people to do the same volume of business that five or six people used to handle. And they save him money. A robot costs around $15,000, he said, but a person costs $5,000 to $6,000 per month.
Zhai said the robots give human servers more time to mingle with customers, which increases tips. And customers often post videos of the robots on social media that entice others to visit.
"Besides saving labor, the robots generate business," he said.
Interactions with human servers can vary. Betzy Giron Reynosa, who works with a BellaBot at The Sushi Factory in West Melbourne, Florida, said the robot can be a pain.
"You can't really tell it to move or anything," she said. She has also had customers who don't want to interact with it.
But overall the robot is a plus, she said. It saves her trips back and forth to the kitchen and gives her more time with customers.
Labor shortages accelerated the adoption of robots globally, Le Clair said. In the U.S., the restaurant industry employed 15 million people at the end of last year, but that was still 400,000 fewer than before the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association. In a recent survey, 62% of restaurant operators told the association they don't have enough employees to meet customer demand.
Pandemic-era concerns about hygiene and adoption of new technology like QR code menus also laid the ground for robots, said Karthik Namasivayam, director of hospitality business at Michigan State University's Broad College of Business.
"Once an operator begins to understand and work with one technology, other technologies become less daunting and will be much more readily accepted as we go forward," he said.
Namasivayam notes that public acceptance of robot servers is already high in Asia. Pizza Hut has robot servers in 1,000 restaurants in China, for example.
The U.S. was slower to adopt robots, but some chains are now testing them. Chick-fil-A is trying them at multiple U.S. locations, and says it's found that the robots give human employees more time to refresh drinks, clear tables and greet guests.
Marcus Merritt was surprised to see a robot server at a Chick-fil-A in Atlanta recently. The robot didn't seem to be replacing staff, he said; he counted 13 employees in the store, and workers told him the robot helps service move a little faster. He was delighted that the robot told him to have a great day, and expects he'll see more robots when he goes out to eat.
"I think technology is part of our normal everyday now. Everybody has a cell phone, everybody uses some form of computer," said Merritt, who owns a marketing business. "It's a natural progression."
But not all chains have had success with robots.
Chili's introduced a robot server named Rita in 2020 and expanded the test to 61 U.S. restaurants before abruptly halting it last August. The chain found that Rita moved too slowly and got in the way of human servers. And 58% of guests surveyed said Rita didn't improve their overall experience.
Haidilao, a hot pot chain in China, began using robots a year ago to deliver food to diners' tables. But managers at several outlets said the robots haven't proved as reliable or cost-effective as human servers.
Wang Long, the manager of a Beijing outlet, said his two robots have both have broken down.
"We only used them now and then," Wang said. "It is a sort of concept thing and the machine can never replace humans."
Eventually, Namasivayam expects that a certain percentage of restaurants — maybe 30% — will continue to have human servers and be considered more luxurious, while the rest will lean more heavily on robots in the kitchen and in dining rooms. Economics are on the side of robots, he said; the cost of human labor will continue to rise, but technology costs will fall.
But that's not a future everyone wants to see. Saru Jayaraman, who advocates for higher pay for restaurant workers as president of One Fair Wage, said restaurants could easily solve their labor shortages if they just paid workers more.
"Humans don't go to a full-service restaurant to be served by technology," she said. "They go for the experience of themselves and the people they care about being served by a human."
Vivo V27e Review: Worth its price tag?
The Vivo V27e is one of the latest mid-range smartphones to come out of Vivo’s product lineup in 2023. With its sleek design, powerful specifications, and an array of features, the Vivo V27e has started gaining popularity among smartphone enthusiasts. This latest Vivo smartphone is currently available in Bangladesh. Let’s take a look at the specs, pros, cons, and price of Vivo V27e.
Key Features of Vivo V27e
Design
The Vivo V27e is undeniably one of the most attractive smartphones in the market today, with its sleek and elegant design. Its Glory Black color option is gorgeous, and the Lavender Purple variant stands out with its elegant look.
Despite its slim and lightweight build, measuring about 7.7 mm (Glory Black) or 7.8mm (Lavender Purple) thick and weighing 185 grams (Glory Black) or 186g (Lavender Purple). Therefore, this device is easy to manage with one hand.
Vivo V27e is built with composite plastic sheets. Not to mention, the plastic feel on its back panel is a downside in terms of aesthetics.
Read More: April 2023 New Release: Top 8 Upcoming Smartphones in Bangladesh
The usual ports and buttons are present on the Vivo V27e, including a USB-C 2.0 port, a hybrid dual nano-SIM card tray, and a single loudspeaker located at the bottom. The volume rocker and power button are on the phone's right side, while the fingerprint scanner is integrated into the screen.
Overall, the Vivo V27e is a stunning device that you would want to showcase with a clear case. It comes with a transparent case, a USB-A to USB-C cable, a 66W charger adapter, a SIM ejector tool, and some paperwork.
Display
The Vivo V27e boasts a large 6.62-inch AMOLED screen with moderately sized bezels, providing a maximized display that is neither too thin nor too thick. The device's AMOLED display, with a resolution of 1080 x 2400, delivers stunning and vivid colors with impressive detail sharpness, even when used under bright sunlight.
One of the standout features of the Vivo V27e's display is its 120Hz refresh rate, which offers smooth and seamless scrolling for a more fluid user experience. The device also features a punch-hole selfie camera, a more modern alternative to the traditional water drop notch design.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Review: Worth the price tag?
Overall, the Vivo V27e's display is a great feature for a mid-range device, delivering top-notch visuals and a smooth user experience.
Biden says it remains to be seen if AI is dangerous
President Joe Biden said Tuesday it remains to be seen if artificial intelligence is dangerous, but that he believes technology companies must ensure their products are safe before releasing them to the public.
Biden met with his council of advisers on science and technology about the risks and opportunities that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence pose for individual users and national security.
“AI can help deal with some very difficult challenges like disease and climate change, but it also has to address the potential risks to our society, to our economy, to our national security,” Biden told the group, which includes academics as well as executives from Microsoft and Google.
Artificial intelligence burst to the forefront in the national and global conversation in recent months after the release of the popular ChatGPT AI chatbot, which helped spark a race among tech giants to unveil similar tools, while raising ethical and societal concerns about technology that can generate convincing prose or imagery that looks like it's the work of humans.
While tech companies should always be responsible for the safety of their products, Biden's reminder reflects something new — the emergence of easy-to-use AI tools that can generate manipulative content and realistic-looking synthetic media known as deepfakes, said Rebecca Finley, CEO of the industry-backed Partnership on AI.
The White House said the Democratic president was using the AI meeting to “discuss the importance of protecting rights and safety to ensure responsible innovation and appropriate safeguards” and to reiterate his call for Congress to pass legislation to protect children and curtail data collection by technology companies.
Italy last week temporarily blocked ChatGPT over data privacy concerns, and European Union lawmakers have been negotiating the passage of new rules to limit high-risk AI products across the 27-nation bloc.
By contrast, “the U.S. has had more a laissez-faire approach to the commercial development of AI,” said Russell Wald, managing director of policy and society at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.
Biden's Tuesday remarks won't likely change that, but Biden “is setting the stage for a national dialogue on the topic by elevating attention to AI, which is desperately needed,” Wald said.
The Biden administration last year unveiled a set of far-reaching goals aimed at averting harms caused by the rise of AI systems, including guidelines for how to protect people’s personal data and limit surveillance.
The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights notably did not set out specific enforcement actions, but instead was intended as a call to action for the U.S. government to safeguard digital and civil rights in an AI-fueled world.
Biden's council, known as PCAST, is composed of science, engineering, technology and medical experts and is co-chaired by the Cabinet-ranked director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Arati Prabhakar.
Asked if AI is dangerous, Biden said Tuesday, “It remains to be seen. Could be.”
Saudi Arabia’s Etidal finds 6mn extremist content on Telegram between Jan and Mar 2023
The Saudi Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) found 6,004,218 extremist content on the social media platform Telegram between January 1 and March 30 this year.
Furthermore, the two platforms have assisted in the closure of 1,840 channels that disseminate and promote extremist ideology and are affiliated with three terrorist groups (ISIS [Daesh], Al-Qaeda and Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham), reports Saudi Gazette.
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The Etidal team identified and monitored the three terrorist organizations' activity on Telegram in Arabic, it said.
It discovered 2,773,902 pieces with extremist content on 477 Hayat Tahrir al-Sham channels, 1,807,215 such pieces on 1,040 Daesh channels, and 1,423,101 pieces on 323 Al-Qaeda channels.
The Etidal monitoring team observed a peak in broadcasting activity on Telegram on January 9 this year, with 451,911 pieces of content shared and referenced to, and a peak in account creation on March 27, with over 101 channels launched in a single day, the report also said.
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The cooperation between Etidal and Telegram continues for the second year in a row, increasing the total number of items deleted from February 2022 until now to 21,026,169; these included extremist content and 8,664 terminated terrorist channels.