New Delhi: Tech giant Google has reportedly sacked hundreds of employees from its platforms and devices division — the team responsible for Android software, Pixel phones, and the Chrome browser.  These layoffs came just months after Google had offered voluntary buyouts to employees in the same unit in January this year. According to a report in The Information, a Google spokesperson confirmed that following the merger of its platforms and devices teams last year, the company has been working to operate more efficiently and with greater agility. “As part of this effort, it has implemented some job cuts in addition to the voluntary exit programme offered earlier,” the report added. “Although the exact number of affected roles has not been disclosed, the move reflects Google’s broader strategy to streamline operations and reduce expenses,” said the company. Like many other tech giants, the company has been reviewing its team structures in response to changing business needs and market conditions. This development comes at a time when several global companies, including Amazon, Intel, and Goldman Sachs, are also cutting jobs amid the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) and global economic uncertainty. According to earlier reports, Amazon is planning to slash around 14,000 managerial positions to save $3 billion annually, while Intel is preparing for a major restructuring after a significant financial loss in 2024. With AI adoption growing rapidly, companies are increasingly shifting focus towards cost optimisation and automation, leading to job reductions across various sectors. An earlier report indicated that Goldman Sachs is also preparing for job cuts, with plans to reduce its workforce by 3-5 per cent following an annual performance review. Bank of America recently eliminated around 150 junior banker positions, though most affected employees have been offered roles outside investment banking. With uncertainty around global economic conditions, more firms may follow suit in the coming months.

New Delhi: Online scams are rising faster than ever with fraudsters constantly coming up with new tricks to trap people. From fake calls to phishing links, the threats are everywhere and now even a simple image can lead to a major loss. In a recent case from jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, a man lost Rs 2 lakh after downloading a photo sent by an unknown number on WhatsApp. How does the new WhatsApp image scam work? Cybercriminals have found a sneaky way to target people by sending infected images through WhatsApp and similar messaging apps. They use a technique called steganography to hide malware inside the image file. Once the victim downloads or opens the image, the malware silently installs itself on their device. It can then steal sensitive data like bank logins, OTPs and passwords—and in some cases even allow scammers to control the device remotely. Some fraudsters even follow up with a phone call to convince the victim to open the image. What happened in the Jabalpur case? In the Jabalpur incident, a man received an image from an unknown number on WhatsApp. Assuming it was harmless, he downloaded it without a second thought. Shortly after, he noticed unusual activity on his banking apps. Before he could react, ₹2 lakh had already been withdrawn from his account. Experts say the image likely carried hidden malware that stole his financial details. Here’s how to protect yourself: – Download apps only from trusted sources like the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. – Avoid clicking on suspicious images or links, especially from unknown numbers. – Review app permissions regularly and remove any that seem unnecessary. – Be cautious of unknown calls or messages, even if they seem friendly or urgent. – Use face ID or fingerprint locks for your banking and payment apps for extra security. – Stay alert – just one wrong click can lead to big financial losses.

Samsung One UI 7 Update Features: Samsung finally has rolled out the Android 15-based One UI 7 update for the Galaxy S24 series and the latest foldables, Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 smartphones. The new software update features an updated UI and new AI capabilities. The new update is unveiled alongside the launch of the Galaxy S25 series in February 2025. The company has now shared a detailed update schedule for the South Korean market via the Samsung Members platform, outlining eligible devices and the timeline through June 2025.  The new software update is being rolled out in phases. It will be available for both Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400-powered models. Samsung is expected to complete the rollout of the software updates within the next few weeks.  New camera tricks in One UI 7 for older Samsung phones https://t.co/hFHlePi12h — Samsung One UI Software Updates #OneUI7 #OneUI (@SamSWUpdate) April 8, 2025 One UI 7 Update: Apple-Like AI Features  The new AI features include several smart tools designed to enhance productivity and user experience. Much like Apple, it supports writing tools that can summarize content, check spelling and grammar, and even format lengthy notes into clear bullet points.  The new software update also offers support for call transcripts in 20 languages, including English (India) and Hindi, making communication more accessible.  Adding further, the ‘Audio Eraser’ feature enables users to remove background noise from videos, helping isolate and eliminate unwanted sounds for clearer audio output.  One UI 7 Update Features  The latest update brings a redesigned home screen and an improved user interface for a smoother and more intuitive experience. One of the standout features is the introduction of the “Now Bar” on the lock screen, inspired by Apple’s Dynamic Island.  This new tool allows users to quickly access frequently used apps like Interpreter, Music Player, and Stopwatch without unlocking their device.  Adding further, users can now match the colour of their wallpaper with the notification tray and home screen icons for a more cohesive look. The update also adds the flexibility to completely reshuffle the lock screen layout to suit individual preferences.  One UI 7 Update: Eligible Devices  The eligible models include the Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra, and the upcoming Galaxy S24 FE. The Galaxy S23 series—comprising the S23, S23+, S23 Ultra, and S23 FE—will also receive the update. The foldable devices such as the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6, as well as the current Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, are included in the list.  Adding further, the update will extend to the Galaxy Tab S10 and Tab S9 series, along with the mid-range Galaxy A55, ensuring a broad range of users benefit from the latest enhancements.  How To Download One UI 7 Update? Step 1: Open the Settings app on your Samsung device. Step 2: Scroll down and tap on Software Update. Step 3: Tap Download and Install to check for the latest update. Step 4: If the update is available for your device, follow the on-screen instructions to download and install it. 

New Delhi: As the artificial intelligence (AI) race intensifies, Elon Musk-owned Grok and China’s DeepSeek models have emerged as frontrunners in next-gen AI capabilities — one prioritising accessibility and efficiency, the other pushing the limits of brute-force scale. This contrast comes despite a significant disparity in training resources, according to a recent report by Counterpoint Research. Grok-3 exemplifies uncompromising scale, powered by 200,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs in pursuit of cutting-edge advancements. In contrast, DeepSeek-R1 achieves comparable performance using a fraction of the computational resources, showcasing how architectural innovation and data curation can effectively rival sheer processing power. Since February, DeepSeek has captured global attention by open-sourcing its flagship reasoning model, DeepSeek-R1, which has demonstrated performance on par with some of the world’s leading AI systems. “What sets it apart isn’t just its elite capabilities, but the fact that it was trained using only 2,000 NVIDIA H800 GPUs — a scaled-down, export-compliant alternative to the H100, making its achievement a masterclass in efficiency,” said Wei Sun, principal analyst in AI at Counterpoint. Musk’s xAI has unveiled Grok-3, its most advanced model to date, which slightly outperforms DeepSeek-R1, OpenAI’s GPT-o1 and Google’s Gemini 2. “Unlike DeepSeek-R1, Grok-3 is proprietary and was trained using a staggering 200,000 H100 GPUs on xAI’s supercomputer Colossus, representing a giant leap in computational scale,” said Sun. Grok-3 embodies the brute-force strategy — massive compute scale (representing billions of dollars in GPU costs) driving incremental performance gains. It’s a route only the wealthiest tech giants or governments can realistically pursue. “In contrast, DeepSeek-R1 demonstrates the power of algorithmic ingenuity by leveraging techniques like Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) and reinforcement learning for reasoning, combined with curated and high-quality data, to achieve comparable results with a fraction of the compute,” explained Sun. Grok-3 proves that throwing 100x more GPUs can yield marginal performance gains rapidly. But it also highlights rapidly diminishing returns on investment (ROI), as most real-world users see minimal benefit from incremental improvements. In essence, DeepSeek-R1 is about achieving elite performance with minimal hardware overhead, while Grok-3 is about pushing boundaries by any computational means necessary, said the report. (With IANS Inputs)

iPhone 16 Security Issue: Beware, iPhone 16 Users! Apple users are facing serious security issues that have even prompted an alert from the Indian government in April 2025. However, the Cupertino-based tech giant has released new updates for a slew of devices. It is important to note that the iPhone 16 models and older devices are updated to the latest critical software version to stay protected from potential hacking and malicious threats.  To recall, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) flagged the issue in a high-severity alert issued on April 4, 2025. This warning isn’t limited to iPhones — it also affects iPads, Apple Watches, and Mac devices. If you’re an Apple user, here’s everything you need to know about the vulnerability, which devices are affected, and how you can keep your Apple gadgets safe.  iPhone 16 Security Issue  “Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Apple products due to Type confusion error, use-after-free error, Out-of-bounds read, Out-of-bounds write issue, Improper Parsing of files, Issue in input validation, Buffer overflow, Path handling flaws,” as per the CERT-In explained in its notice.  What Devices Are At Risk?  This security scare impacts a wide range of Apple devices and software versions including the iPhone 16 series. According to the advisory, several operating systems and applications are vulnerable if not updated. Affected versions include iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 18.4, along with older iterations like iOS 16.7.11 and 15.8.4, and iPadOS 17.7.6 and 15.8.4. On the desktop front, macOS Sequoia versions before 15.4, macOS Sonoma before 14.7.5, and macOS Ventura before 13.7.5 are also at risk.  Adding further, Apple Safari versions prior to 18.4, Apple Xcode before 16.3, tvOS versions before 18.4, and visionOS versions before 2.4 are included in the list of potentially vulnerable software. Users running any of these versions are strongly advised to install the latest updates to safeguard their devices.  How To Protect Your Apple Devices From Malicious Attacks  Step 1: Unlock your Apple device and tap on the Settings app.  Step 2: Scroll down and select the General option from the list.  Step 3: Tap on Software Update to check for available updates.  Step 4: If an update is available, tap Download and Install, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the update.

Meta AI Llama 4: Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has announced Llama 4, its newest collection of AI models that now power the Meta AI assistant on the web and in WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. The AI models to compete against Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.   The company introduced the first two models from its multimodal Llama 4 suite:  Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. Both the Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverics models are now available for download on the Meta website and Hugging Face. The new models draw inspiration from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, adopting a machine learning approach known as Mixture of Experts. This technique lets different parts of the model specialize in specific tasks, leading to improved performance and greater efficiency.  Today is the start of a new era of natively multimodal AI innovation. Today, we’re introducing the first Llama 4 models: Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick — our most advanced models yet and the best in their class for multimodality. Llama 4 Scout • 17B-active-parameter model… pic.twitter.com/Z8P3h0MA1P — AI at Meta (@AIatMeta) April 5, 2025 The Llama 4 Scout is the lighter, more compact model, powerful enough to run on a single Nvidia H100 GPU. It is designed for efficiency without sacrificing performance. In contrast, Llama 4 Maverick is the heavy hitter—more comparable to advanced models like GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 Flash. Meta has trained its Llama 4 models to be natively multimodal by pre-training them on vast amounts of unlabeled text, image, and video data. In simple terms, this means the models can understand and respond to both images and text seamlessly. Hence, they are built to handle conversations that involve more than just words.  On the other hand, the Meta is still training Llama 4 Behemoth, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg proudly calls “the highest performing base model in the world.” Internally, Meta refers to it as one of the smartest large language models (LLMs) ever created.  According to a company, the Llama 4 Maverick model is “the workhorse” of the two and excels at image and text understanding for “general assistant and chat use cases”.    Llama 4 Scout comes with 17 billion active parameters, supported by 16 experts, bringing the total parameter count to 109 billion. Llama 4 Maverick also features 17 billion active parameters but taps into a much larger pool of 128 experts, giving it a boost in performance and versatility. However, the multimodal features of Meta AI are currently limited to English users in the US, meaning no Ghibli style image generation with Meta AI just yet.