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The mobile messaging app was initially released in 2009, and was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for a whopping $19 billion. In 2017, it reached the mark of 1 billion active users. While WhatsApp has been the world’s most popular chat app, it’s had its fair share of controversy. Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the app’s co-founders, left Facebook in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Their reason for leaving the company was disagreement with management regarding the inclusion of ads in the app as a means of monetizing WhatsApp....

The big idea is that human-like AI is an upgrade. Computers compute, but AI can learn. Unfortunately, humans aren’t very good at the kinds of tasks a computer makes sense for and AI isn’t very good at the kinds of tasks that humans are. That’s why researchers are moving away from development paradigms that focus on imitating human cognition. A pair of NYU researchers recently took a deep dive into how humans and AI process words and word meaning....

In the US, the highway safety regulator is investigating a series of accidents where Teslas on autopilot crashed into first-responder vehicles with flashing lights during traffic stops. The decision-making processes of “self-driving” cars are often opaque and unpredictable (even to their manufacturers), so it can be hard to determine who should be held accountable for incidents such as these. However, the growing field of “explainable AI” may help provide some answers....

The digital design industry is maturing. With established best practices and the advent of design systems, it is now possible to strive for a longer design life for the products we create. We can aim for digital classics instead of one-hit wonders. Industrial design is the poster child of longevity. The timeless charm of a Vespa scooter. The iconic contours of a Coca-Cola bottle. The elegant angles of an Eames lounge chair....

Setting your company up for continuous growth and possibly reaching unicorn status is pretty much the holy grail for startup founders — but finding the exact way of how to reach that goal is the tricky part. I rang up Tunde Kehinde — a seasoned emerging markets entrepreneur who co-founded Africa’s first unicorn, Jumia Nigeria, and now runs Lidya — to pick his brain on how to find the perfect co-founder, how to scale, and when entrepreneurs should give up on ‘hope....

Even in the more vertically-integrated world of Apple, within the App store software companies build and sell applications to enhance the company’s operating system. The very existence of Silicon Valley is built upon a rich interaction of diverse organizations and talented individuals working in harmony to create a better experience for users. In many ways, the cloud has delivered on the promise of the positive benefits of an ecosystem by creating platforms where everyone can benefit....

While the eventual downfall of Internet Explorer was seen as a foregone conclusion by those who monitor web trends, the news might come as an unwelcome surprise for those who are somewhat less up-to-date. For the most part, though, this news is a whimper rather than a bang — a footnote at the end of an iconic story spanning more than 25 years. As a current professional in the IT industry, I’ll break down some possible reasons for this decision, and what we can learn from it....

Has something like this ever happened to you? You go on a website, and there’s a spinner which loads forever, or an empty screen that forces you to stare, a disabled button that never enables, or even a page that drains your battery only for the phone to die in the most inconvenient circumstances. One day, my colleague was refactoring the Big Ball of Mud inside of one of the many API services of their company....

On that date, an update for the new OS will begin to roll out to users on fully compatible devices, but it’s also when the first new devices preloaded with Windows 11 will become available in stores. As with its larger Windows 10 updates, Microsoft is using a phased, very gradual update rollout, which means casual users may have to wait until mid-2022 to get the update. In Microsoft’s own words: That said, I’d imagine users who are keen to upgrade to Windows 11 immediately can probably do so by joining the Windows Insider Program, or manually installing the ISO (the latter will be the only way to install the OS if you’re running on officially unsupported hardware)....

“Gold is the only escape from global monetising,” wrote famed fund manager Crispin Odey in a recent letter cited by Bloomberg. “In the short term, the money will be made on the inflation bet.” Wall Street mainstays like Greenlight Capital and Blackrock Inc. share Odey’s enthusiasm for the precious metal. Recently, both funds reportedly sent letters urging investors to consider storing their wealth in gold ahead of inflation caused by renewed quantitative easing measures set in place by the Federal Reserve....

The City of York has launched what it claims is the UK’s first municipal-wide real-time transport modelling system. Working in partnership with PTV Group, Wood Group and modelling firm RelativeGAP, the city council is now using the technology to manage its road network and monitor areas with no sensors or cameras. The system combines offline transport models with live traffic data to provide the council’s control room with a network-wide forecast of current and predicted congestion....

As a B2B business, everybody found themselves in the same boat rocking back and forth. This meant that the way we communicated with, sold to, and dealt with our customers changed. The year 2020 was one that changed B2B business forever. It required the adoption of new approaches and techniques to get by. I want to share the same customer experience approaches and techniques that I’ll be taking into 2021 with my community....

Researchers from Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, have created a new kind of biodegradable electronics they call MycelioTronics. And it has great potential to reduce the e-waste that plagues hardware of all types. The sustainability challenge in wearable tech In 2019 alone, 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of e-waste was generated — a figure that continues to rise. Tackling this is of the utmost importance in protecting the environment....

Android Police first spotted the update, and the company confirmed to multiple sources that the feature is rolling out to “most Premium markets,” with more to come. Until now, YouTube has limited downloads to 720p. While not the worst thing in the world – especially considering downloads are only available on mobile devices – it’s not up to snuff for most flagship phone screens, let alone an Android or iOS tablet....