Apple becomes the first trillion dollars US-listed company

Apple becomes the first trillion dollars US-listed company

The company founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak was worth $3bn when Jobs returned to revitalize Apple in 1996.

During the day, the share price of the iPhone maker jumped by 2.8% to $207.05, passing the $1tn (£762bn) mark in New York trading.

Its stock has soared 9% since Tuesday when Apple's third-quarter earnings exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

The company, which was started in a garage in Palo Alto by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, has transformed the way people communicate with its ubiquitous iPhone.

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007 it kicked off a smartphone revolution, leaving the giants of the mobile phone industry Nokia and Blackberry struggling for survival.

Alphabet, the parent of Google, scrambled to provide its Android software to power mobile phones, making sure Apple didn't steal a huge march on rivals.

That helped Samsung to become the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer, while China's Huawei overtook Apple to become the second-largest smartphone seller this week.

Apple has turned to the courts to protect its advantage and won multi-million dollar payouts from Samsung for allegedly copying some of its technology.

Mr. Jobs, who returned to revitalize the company in 1996 when Apple was worth $3bn, died in 2011.

Before the release of the iPhone, Apple was reporting revenue of less than $20bn and profits of less than $2bn from the sale of its Mac personal computers in 2006.

Last year, sales had risen to $229bn and profits to $48.4bn, making it the most profitable public-listed US company.

Apple, which has seen its stock surge more than 50,000% since its stock market listing in 1980, has struggled to produce a product that replicates the success of the iPhone.

While Apple is the first company to hit the trillion dollar mark, it is likely to be followed by Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft. Amazon is currently worth $875bn, Alphabet is valued at $850bn and Microsoft $823bn.

Video call up to four friends on WhatsApp

WhatsApp claims that group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and designed to work reliably around the world in different network conditions. — WhatsApp

Call the squad: WhatsApp users can now make group voice and video calls with up to four people at a time.

“Over the last couple years, people have enjoyed making voice and video calls on WhatsApp. In fact, our users spend over two billion minutes on calls per day,” WhatsApp posted on its blog.

With that in mind, the messaging company under Facebook has rolled out group calls for voice and video for both iOS and Android users.

The feature works a little like setting up a chat group – first, start a one-on-one voice or video call, then tap the new “add participant” button on the top right corner to add more contacts to the call.

WhatsApp claims that group calls are always end-to-end encrypted, and designed to work reliably around the world in different network conditions.

This suggests that video quality may be reduced to accommodate slower network speeds, or possibly downgraded to voice calls even.

The announcement did not elaborate if a future update will allow more people to be added in a group call. 

Facebook unveils tools to tell users when to stop scrolling

Facebook unveils tools to tell users when to stop scrolling

Facebook Inc, during all its years of expansion, has been focused on one thing above all else: getting people to spend more time in its social network. 

Now, as tech giants face increasing criticism over the addictive nature of their products, the company is releasing features that do the opposite. Facebook and Instagram, its photo-sharing app, will add controls to help people measure how much time they’re spending on the sites so they can dial it back if they want to. Users can also mute notifications on the apps for a certain period of time or sign up to get an alert when they’ve been scrolling for too long. 

“It’s not just about the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram but how they spend that time,” Facebook said in a blog post-Wednesday. “It’s our responsibility to talk openly about how time online impacts people – and we take that responsibility seriously.” 

Most companies haven’t focused on that issue until recently, following concerns from mental-health experts and industry critics about the Internet and device addiction, and the way technology is designed to keep users coming back for more. In June, for example, Apple Inc introduced “Screen Time”, an activity report that will show how much time users are spending on individual apps and how often they pick up their iPhones. Google announced similar controls in May. 

 “We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring,” the company said. 

As part of this push, Facebook said it convened a summit with online safety experts, researchers and teens in March to talk about technology and how it’s influencing well-being. It plans to tweak its products to further address concerns like a lack of kindness online. 

Meanwhile, the company is grappling with its impact on society in other ways. It disclosed on Tuesday that it identified an ongoing effort to use its platforms to influence the US midterm election, via a network of false-identity accounts and pages. The company says it doesn’t yet know who is behind the coordinated campaign, which follows a similar effort, linked to Russia, ahead of the 2016 US presidential campaign. — Bloomberg

Facebook, Instagram to introduce time-management tools

Facebook, Instagram to introduce time-management tools

Do you worry that you, or your children, spend too much time on social media? Facebook and Instagram on Aug 1 said they want to help you take control.

In a statement, the social media giants – which are both owned by Facebook – announced: "new tools to help people manage their time" spent on the platforms.

Among the tools are a way to limit notifications and a dashboard that allows users to keep track of how much time they have spent on the platforms.

"We want the time people spend on Instagram and Facebook to be intentional, positive and inspiring," the statement said.

"Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them," it added.

Facebook said it was introducing a daily reminder, whereby users are alerted when they reach the time limit they set for themselves to spend on the app.

It is also introducing an option to deactivate notifications on smartphones.

Facebook has in recent months introduced a string of changes to its content, including a major plan earlier this year to update its newsfeed to emphasize posts from friends and family.

That shift had prompted fears it could drive away advertisers if people spent less time on the social network.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had announced the changes in 2017, as his firm sought to respond to accusations that it encouraged addiction to its platform.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg said: "In 2018, we're focused on making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society."

Since the measures were introduced, viral videos have seen a significant drop in reach.

The plan, in turn, saw a 5% drop in time spent on Facebook in the last quarter of 2017. — AFP Relaxnews

Google intending to dispatch its internet searcher in China, bowing to restriction

As indicated by a report at the beginning of today from The Intercept, Google is intending to re-dispatch its web index in China. Returning into the world's most crowded nation, in any case, accompanies a genuine condition: Google will conform to requests from Chinese authorities to blue pencil themes it considers unfortunate.

Task "Dragonfly" has supposedly been underway since spring 2017, and grabbed steam in the wake of a gathering between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and an anonymous Chinese authority toward the end of last year, the report says. It includes the improvement of a Google scan application for Android that is as of now been appealed to the Chinese government and could get endorsement when "the following six to nine months."

There are evidently two inward model applications, codenamed "Maotai" and "Longfei." They will "naturally distinguish and channel sites hindered by the Great Firewall," and as occurs with pilfered content in the west, a disclaimer will be appealed to clients that "a few outcomes may have been evacuated because of statutory necessities."

Maybe considerably more worryingly, the archives seen by The Intercept say that the application will likewise boycott some touchy inquiries altogether so that "no outcomes will appear." The report takes note of that the boycott will apply to all parts of hunt inside the application — from pictures to spell check and proposed looks.

The source that probably gave these records to The Intercept evidently dreaded the point of reference set by Google on the off chance that it dispatches in China, bowing to its strict oversight rules.

"I'm against extensive organizations and governments teaming up in the abuse of their kin, and feel like straightforwardness around what's being done is in people in general intrigue," the source disclosed to The Intercept. They said that they fear "what is done in China will turn into a layout for some different countries."

The Intercept likewise talked with Patrick Poon, a Hong Kong-based scientist with Amnesty International, about the move in strategy, who said it will set a "horrible point of reference." "This has intense ramifications not only for China but rather for every one of us, for flexibility of data and web opportunity," Poon said.

This huge change in Google's way to deal with China comes after right around a time of not working its web crawler there by any stretch of the imagination. Google's work area internet searcher is prohibited by the "Incomparable Firewall", and a large portion of Google's non-seek administrations —, for example, Gmail and Google Drive — have been restricted in China for their whole presence.

WhatsApp starts charging business users

 

WhatsApp is launching new pay-to-use tools for businesses to communicate with their customers.

The move will allow its owner, Facebook, to make money from WhatsApp, which has lacked a revenue stream since dropping subscription fees. Companies will be able to provide information and services, such as delivery dates or boarding passes, to customers via the platform.

In return, the businesses will pay a fee for a confirmed delivery.

The messages are set to cost between 0.5 cents to 9 cents (0.3p to 7p) a message depending on the country the user is based in. They can be automated or provided by human customer assistants.

The price means they will often be more expensive to use than more basic SMS-based texts. In addition, firms can respond to questions and comments for free if they do so quickly, but if they take more than 24 hours to reply, they will face a charge.

Like other messages sent via the platform, correspondence sent via the WhatsApp Business API will be encrypted, meaning the tech firm will not be able to read the contents itself. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that companies would be allowed to store copies of the messages elsewhere in a decrypted state.

Transport company Uber, the online store Wish and travel service Booking.com are among the first companies to adopt the new facilities.

Facebook paid $19bn to buy WhatsApp in 2014 and there has long been speculation about how Facebook intended to make money from it.

The move comes three months after WhatsApp's former boss Jan Koum announced he was quitting the service he had co-founded.