Digital Information World

Creator Insider is an unofficial YouTube channel that shares insights about recent developments and updates on YouTube from the technical team with the Creator community.

Recently, a Creator Insider video announced several new features that YouTube is adding to its Creator Studio dashboard. There is going to be a new display for Stories analytics in the YouTube mobile app too.

Several months ago, YouTube had come up with some analytics options for the Creator Studio, and now, these new features and tools will further make things easy and efficient for the creators.

The video analytics overview used to look too small for most of the users, so now, YouTube has brought some changes in the layout so that it now resembles the channel analytics format. Aside from the overview layout, a new real-time performance indicator has been added as a section on the right side of the screen. This real-time indicator, as the name suggests, will provide the creators the ability to look at their uploaded videos’ real-time views on full screen. To enable this, a ‘See More’ button has been added to the layout.

YouTube has been trying to help the creators by bringing advanced analytics and data tools in the video analytics display for the past few months. They even added a feature called revenue made per 1,000 views or Revenue per mille (RPM) metric, which lets the creators check out their earnings per 1000 views of their uploaded videos.

Now, with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the overall economic situation has turned quite bad. Advertisers have been cutting out on production costs and that has adversely affected their spending on YouTube. Most YouTubers are now seeing a 30-50% decline in their cost per mille due to this reason. So, these new and advanced analytics tools can really help these creators in learning more about their progress and to create their content around what the viewers and their followers demand from them especially. These tools also help in creating a more transparent environment on the platform.

Creators will now get insights about the reasons for over or underperformance of their videos, and they will also get notifications regarding any changes in the search or external traffic.

Creator Insider video further updated that YouTube is also bringing a new form of Stories analytics on the home-screen of YouTube’s mobile app. This feature will display the total views and subscribers gained from Stories that the creator posted in the past 14 days. This feature will also help the creators to know about their performance and their channel’s progress.

All these features are going to officially roll out in the next few weeks.

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Android phones have developed a reputation for not being quite as secure as you might like them to be. A recent study has revealed that the Qualcomm Snapdragon, a digital processing chip that is used in the vast majority of Android smartphones in the world, is open to around 400 vulnerabilities. This is a shocking number, and it is particularly concerning when you realize that this means that 40% of the smartphones in the world are under constant threat of some kind of cyber attack that would be very difficult to recover from.

This vulnerability in the code of this digital signal processor can lead to problems like spying as well as data theft. Accessing the video and audio input of your phone as well as seeing what you are doing on your device can be quite easy for a malicious actor that somehow manages to exploit this vulnerability in some way, shape or form. A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that hackers are aware of such vulnerabilities and they take advantage of them whenever they can. Sensitive data that is stored on your phone, data such as your bank details and the like, can all be stolen through this vulnerability.

Another thing to note is that this vulnerability could make it possible for malicious hackers to “brick” your phone. This means that a constant denial of service attack would occur, making it impossible for you to access your cell phone network or connect to any wireless internet connection. This would mean that your phone is pretty much worthless, and it is the sort of attack that is quite common when so many vulnerabilities are exposed. It is very important for big tech companies to try to get ahead of this issue before it starts to get out of hand.

Featured Image: Qualcomm

Read next: Microsoft has paid a hefty sum of $13.7 million to the security researchers for reporting bugs in the its products since last year

If there is one thing that can be said about the tech industry over the past five years, it is that TikTok has really shaken things up. The Chinese social media platform has made it so that the whole world is talking about it, and perhaps the biggest indicator of its success has to do with the fact that it has become one of the biggest sources of memes which have lead to a lot of changes in this art form many of which would not have happened without TikTok.

Instagram has been trying to compete with TikTok for quite some time now, and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that it is essentially Facebook’s guinea pig where the social media giant can add new features in order to compete with rising companies such as Snapchat and TikTok whilst keeping its own platform relatively consistent. Instagram Reels is a feature that was launched specifically so that the platform could end up competing with TikTok in some way, shape or form, and this feature has received a mixed to positive reception.

While this feature was initially introduced in only 4 regions, it is now being expanded to 50 more regions including the US. The US launch in August has been a plan from the very start, but the addition of so many new regions is a result of the fact that TikTok’s future is uncertain thanks to the US mandating that the company sell itself off to an American buyer if it wants to continue operating. This has lead to a lot of creators becoming uncertain about their future with the platform, and Facebook and Instagram are sweeping in to make sure that creators from as many regions as possible would be able to switch over to a new platform without compromising their content style.

Twitter has recently announced in a blog post that it is bringing a new update. It is going to provide labels to government officials and state-affiliated media and representatives. As per Twitter, this is a fresh and new perspective to add a way to connect with and directly communicate with the ‘higher-ups’ of any government and the influential representatives belonging to the state-owned and, affiliated media.

Twitter says that this will help to democratize the political conversations and it will also bring more transparency and a sense of accountability to the higher officials and their media representatives. By providing this kind of political reach, Twitter is paving a path for the users to feel that they have some control over various issues going on in the world and that their voice can also reach the higher officials of their governments.

Many times, various people from the government voice their thoughts about a state-level issue in tweets, and people following them think that it is authentic news and they not only consider it as an official word, but they also share it and make it viral amongst their peers. Later, when the government officially announces something about that issue, people mistakenly think that the government changed its stance since they had thought that the earlier tweet by someone from the government was already official.

So, to avoid such confusion, Twitter is providing these labels to selective people only. Foreign ministers, institutional entities, official spokespersons, ambassadors, and some other major diplomatic leaders- in short only those people who are considered as the ‘official voice of the state abroad’ will be given these labels by Twitter. The heads of the states will not get any label because their accounts are usually very popular and widely followed. Also, they already get a lot of media attention, so they will not receive labels from Twitter.

For media, Twitter says that it will not label the media organizations that exercise their own editorial independence, regardless of whether they are funded by their government or not. Twitter will only provide labels to the media bodies and organizations whose editorial content is controlled by the state, who are dependent on the financial resources that the government provides, and who may face direct or indirect political pressures with controls over production and distribution of the content.

Currently, Twitter is seeking help from outside experts like the Digital and Human Rights Advisory Group, which is a part of Twitter’s Trust & Safety Council, to identify such state-affiliated and owned media organizations.

These labels will be available for the five countries that are a part of the United Nations Security Council and include China, Russia, France, the US, and the UK. Twitter plans to extend this feature to other countries in the future too.

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On Wednesday, Twitter announced that all iOS users would be able to limit who can reply to their tweets, however, it turns out that the company did not announce it intentionally. The version 8.30 of the Twitter application was rolled out on August 6 of this year, and the release notes on Apple store state that the company tested a new way back in May to chat with exactly who you want. According to the release notes, all users would be able to use this feature and choose who can reply to your Twitter posts.

The company announced back in January of this year that the new feature was coming soon to Twitter’s platform. The company has been testing the new feature since May and pushed an update to the iOS version of Twitter’s smartphone application suggesting that the feature would be more widely rolling out to users. Now, a company’s spokesman told The Verge that the company accidentally pushed incorrect release notes. In fact, the new feature is not more widely rolling out.

The company’s spokesman added that the misunderstanding was because of ‘some accidentally pushed release notes.’ The feature which allows users to limit replies on tweets is not currently made available to all users. Although it is not yet clear that whether the company has expanded the feature in any meaningful fashion with the recent upgrade, it seems that the company is still testing reply limiting feature before the feature is made available to all users.

The new feature can be a nice way to minimize the troll culture on the Twitter application, and if the feature has been implemented, it would enable the followers on the platform to like or retweet a post, however, followers would not be able to reply to posts unless a user allows. Particularly, the feature would be beneficial for public figures on Twitter’s platform such as actors, musicians, journalists, and politicians.

If you have access to this feature, you can use it by tapping the box above the keyboard while composing a post. The box says ‘Everyone can reply,’ and tapping on this box will display you three different options including everyone can reply, only people you follow can reply, and only people you mention can reply. Choose any of these options to restrict replies to your posts. You may also note that choosing an option does not make that option the default for your future posts.

Photo: SOPA / Getty

Read next: Hundreds of Vulnerabilities Found in Vast Majority of Android Smartphones

TikTok video sharing application has a direct link to China, and the US is considerably not in good terms with it. TikTok, with its launch in the US in 2018, has marked itself on top. It has fascinated various people, specifically teens, surmounting Facebook and Instagram, to name some.

In the 2019 report, Facebook's spokesperson has said that they have been competing with TikTok for long because of its demand. They have started working on their application to compete with TikTok. The Instagram owned by Facebook has recently developed and released a new feature of short formatting video known as reels to overhaul TikTok after the news of threat.

In a recent tweet, Donald Trump has announced an implication of the TikTok proscription in the United States. Mark Zuckerberg has expressed his concerns regarding this situation as it can produce long term consequences worldwide.

President of US Donald Trump wants to enforce this Ban because of its ties with China directly through the ByteDance company. ByteDance also has a headquarter in Beijing, China. The US, due to security risks, is avoiding China's direct Contact.

So, Donald Trump wants the US technology company to formulate US functions on the TikTok application otherwise impose a ban. He has further claimed that he will rule over this implication of potential ban if it happens.

Mark Zuckerberg in conversation with its employees explained that he is substantially concerned about this banning as it can cause serious problems all over the world. He further asserts that this threat should be handled with mere consideration with an adequate solution to the problem.

According to the recent report, his employees have tried to acquire information regarding the Facebook company's interest in TikTok operations. However, he has flagged this sensitive information by saying that the knowledge related to dealing is confidential, and business interests are secretive.

Following this update, Microsoft has also shown significant interest in making a deal of TikTok functions. It has assured this interest in buying operations but in the only Newzealand, United States, Canada, and Australia.

ByteDance tech company has also now started probing around in search of a buyer for their operations. They have a deadline of 15 September. Donald Trump has proclaimed that after this date, if the company becomes unable to find a dealer, then he will impose a potential ban on the TikTok video-sharing app worldwide.

Although, this threat is still on air raising the questions whether the Chinese will have any access to the content or not.

Photo: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Read next: TikTok Announces New Policies to Combat Misleading Information on Its Platform, Ban Deepfakes, and Flag Election Disinformation

Near the start of 2020, Google introduced a new feature in Google Docs that created quite a buzz. This new feature was the Smart Compose feature, and the way it worked was that it would help prevent you from making grammatical, spelling or syntax errors in your document. This was essentially a way to incorporate Auto Correct into Google Docs which was something that had been missing for quite some time now, and the fact of the matter is that Google wanted to add this feature but also improve upon it which lead to the rise of Smart Compose.

This feature expanded to other Google properties such as Slides and Sheets, but it was initially only available for users on desktop. With all of that having been said and out of the way, it is important to note that G Suite customers are going to be able to use this feature on Android phones as well after the rollout happens in a few weeks time. This is really going to expand the usability of these apps and help entice more and more users into taking advantage of them with particular emphasis being placed on drawing more users in since new features coming to mobile apps is something that would make G Suite seem like a much better option once all has been said and is now out of the way.

The fact of the matter is that one of the most important functions that Smart Compose fulfills has to do with suggesting relevant phrases based on the context of what you are writing. This can make the writing process a lot faster which can be immensely useful to a wide variety of people that are working in a lot of fields. The addition of this feature to G Suite apps will be a great way to help people make the most of them.

Read next: Google Adds More Quiz Games to Search Results

WABetaInfo has recently reported some new updates regarding the famous social messaging app, WhatsApp. So, the messaging giant app is working on two new features. The first one is a ShareChat video support option that will be made available for the Android beta version v2.20.197.7 and iOS beta version v2.20.81.3.

This latest support functionality will let the users of both Android and iOS beta WhatsApp versions watch ShareChat videos within the app through a floating video just like a YouTube or Facebook video link appears.

ShareChat is an Indian social media application that has been active and very popular amongst the Indian since 2015. It has more than 60 million monthly active users and it supports 15 languages of India. The app allows the users to share private messages, tag each other while enabling them to share jokes, videos, songs, and any other social content with other unknown users as well.

So, this new feature in the beta versions of WhatsApp will make it possible for the users to share and watch videos on ShareChat within WhatsApp. When a user shares a ShareChat video on WhatsApp, a video box will appear in the chat, and once the user clicks on the Play button, the video will start playing in ‘picture-in-picture’ mode within the WhatsApp chat.

It is not known when this feature will eventually roll out, but according to WABetaInfo, once it is officially launched, it will be available for the users within a day of its release.

The second update by WABetaInfo is related to a new wallpaper customization option that WhatsApp is working on these days. Not much detail is known about it, but it is most likely going to allow the users to customize the wallpapers in their individual chats. Once this feature is officially launched, it will allow the users to have fun and play around with their wallpapers in different chats, and that is going to be quite interesting to see.

Apparently, WhatsApp is working really hard for the past couple of months, and there is always a new update ready regarding new and upcoming features and tools that WhatsApp keeps working around.

Only a few days back, there was the news that WhatsApp is bringing the feature of ‘expiring messages’ to its beta version for Android. If enabled, this feature will self-delete messages in chats after a week. This is going to be a crucial optimization from WhatsApp because it will not only be great from the security point of view, it will also not let history build up in chats. There are many other interesting features that WhatsApp is working on these days.

Looks like WhatsApp is busy in experimenting with new features, and that is a great thing for the users.

Read next: Users can search Google for verifying claims in WhatsApp forwarded messages now

One thing that initially separated Facebook from Twitter and made the latter seem like a slightly better option for certain people was the fact that Twitter offered verification for accounts. A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that a lot of celebrities and influencers were making accounts and people might make fake accounts with their names. Hence, social media platforms introduced verification so that anyone with a significant follower count could end up getting verified.

Facebook introduced its own “blue tick” for verification based on Twitter’s model, and over the years the company managed to move far beyond Twitter both as a platform in general along with as a place where influencers would try to reach their followers. While Instagram has become to go to place for such people, Facebook is clearly trying to make its main platform seem like a good influencer spot as well. A new update, as spotted by Matt Navarra and Sumeet Rajpal indicates that more changes may be coming. This update is that you will now be able to see rough follower counts for big influencers whenever they leave a comment.

These comments are essentially being highlighted a little, and the reason behind why this is being done is because it can help influencers and big names to have more of a reach and impact. Their comments will be more easily visible, and people can see what those with big follower counts have to say about various topics as well. This can also be a useful way for influencers to end up getting a lot more followers since they would have more options when it came to connecting with people on the platform. All in all, this is a smart move for Facebook although some might criticize it because of the fact that it is prioritizing the comments of those with followings over those that are just using the platform regularly.

On Thursday, Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, just became the world’s third billionaire to cross the $100 billion mark. Zuckerberg’s net worth is now more than $100 billion for the first time since the social media giant has enjoyed a soaring stock price amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to a report published by Bloomberg, the 36-year-old billionaire joins fellow tech titans Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, both of whom have already crossed the $100 billion mark. Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are reportedly the only individuals in the world worth at least $100 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The net worth of Facebook CEO is mainly derived from his stake in Facebook, and Zuckerberg has a 13% stake in the world’s largest social network - Facebook. The founder of one of the largest tech companies and other executives of online companies have enjoyed a mind-boggling accumulation of wealth during the coronavirus pandemic since people are locked into their houses and spend more time on their devices.

Mark Zuckerberg gained nearly $22 billion during 2020, and Jeff Bezos earned more than $75 billion. The staggering numbers have put the CEOs of tech giants under intense scrutiny. Last month, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai had to testify before Congress to defend allegations that the power and influence of these tech giants are out of control.

Currently, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook have market valuations equivalent to nearly 30% of the United States gross domestic product. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook from his Harvard University dorm room back in the year 2004 which is now the world’s largest social media platform. The 36-year-old billionaire says that he plans to give away 99% of his shares in Facebook over his lifetime.

Facebook stock hit a record high following the rollout of Instagram Reels. Reels allow users to create and share short videos on Facebook-owned Instagram app. The feature integrated into Instagram allows users to create and edit 15-second clips, much like the popular video-sharing platform- TikTok. Reels will be made available to users in over fifty countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, and India. Instagram Reels is touted to replace ByteDance’s TikTok. It is interesting to note that TikTok is reeling under the pressure of bans in some markets such as India and the United States.

Also read: How Easy Is to Make the First Million?

Photo: AP

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TikTok, the famous short-form video app is going through a tough time these days. The Chinese company ByteDance which owns TikTok is receiving a lot of offers and bids from various investors. As per the last news about this, TikTok has been valued for $50 billion!

While ByteDance is receiving various deals and offers, US President Donald Trump has started an anti-TikTok crusade. Last year, TikTok became a target of a class-action lawsuit when it was accused of invading the privacy of users by extracting users’ data that can be misused anywhere by the company.

Now, Donald Trump has decided to ban TikTok and he has given an ultimatum to ByteDance that if it does not sell off TikTok by 15th September 2020, all the US operations and business with TikTok and ByteDance will come to an immediate end. Also, President Trump has recently issued a statement saying that the US government is privy to receive a suitable share when TikTok is sold off!

In this whole fiasco, amongst the many ‘suitors’ of TikTok, Microsoft has also shown its wish to acquire TikTok. Satya Nadella has even discussed this with President Trump, and Trump showed indifference to this alliance. When he was asked as to why he thinks that the US government should receive any ‘cut’ from the deal, he said that it does not matter to him if Microsoft buys it or if any other investor buys it. This implies that as long as the US Treasury gets a fair share from the deal, it does not matter to Trump who buys the company and who does not. It should all be done by 15th September anyway, and that’s that!

Now, interestingly, the ex-CEO and current technical advisor of Microsoft, Bill Gates has shared his opinion about Microsoft acquiring TikTok with the Wired Magazine, and has called the whole deal a ‘poisoned chalice.’ It clearly means that he does not find this deal beneficial for Microsoft and he is not at all enthusiastic about this acquisition.

He pointed out that being in social media is not a simple feat, and there are huge issues related to the encryption and security with which many tech companies struggle with.

Bill Gates has also expressed his confusion about why President Trump is so worked up about this whole issue, why he is adamant to ban TikTok and why is he stooping to ultimatums and weird statements now?

Not only Bill Gates, but many other people are also finding this deal quite nasty. Many critics are saying that Microsoft should focus on its apps like Skype, Teams, LinkedIn and should work on getting a better standing in front of its competitors rather than buying TikTok and begin something useless! The purchase of TikTok at the cost of $50 billion is 3% more of Microsoft’s current market cap of $1.6 trillion. So, Microsoft should think again carefully before proceeding with the deal and acquisition.

Photo: Jack Taylor / Getty Images

Read next: TikTok Was The Most Download Non-Gaming App across the World in July Followed by Facebook

According to Store Intelligence platform, Sensor Tower, TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming application worldwide in July of this year as well as the top non-grossing non-gaming app. The short-video creation app was downloaded over 65.2 million times, a 21.4% year-over-year increase. With over $102.5 million in user spending, nearly 89% of TikTok’s revenue came from China, while 6% was from the US.

9.7% and 8.5% of TikTok’s downloads were from the US and Indonesia, respectively. Facebook was the second-most-downloaded application during the period with over 53.6 million downloads, and the largest number of installs were from India (23.1%) and Indonesia (9.1%). Zoom, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Google Meet, Snack Video, Likee, and Telegram were among the top-most downloaded worldwide apps during July of this year.

Discussing the top-grossing application worldwide, YouTube was the second-highest grossing non-gaming application for the period with over $76.8 million in gross revenue, a 43.8% increase from July 2019. Nearly 54% of the revenue of YouTube came from the United States, and 12% was from Japan. Tinder, Tencent Video, iQIYI, Disney+, BIGO LIVE, Netflix, Piccoma, and LINE Manga were among the top ten grossing non-gaming applications worldwide for July 2020.

As India recently banned TikTok from Apple App Store as well as Google Play Store on June 29 of this year, Snack Video was able to climb to top non-gaming applications worldwide by downloads for the first time. Snack Video was ranked number 8 in the list followed by Likee, a popular video-sharing application.

It is interesting to note that although many government officials in several countries claim that the app deserves intense scrutiny, the app was still the most downloaded as well as the top-grossing non-gaming application worldwide in July 2020. Since TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, other countries fear that the Chinese government could exploit the sensitive information ByteDance’s TikTok collects from its users. The United States government is weighing a permanent ban on the app due to national security concerns. However, this threat may be defused as Microsoft considers purchasing the operations of TikTok in the US.

The Snack Video application was downloaded nearly 28.8 million times during July of this year. In comparison, the app was downloaded 7.8 million times during June of this year. You may also note that Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform report unique installs only, and Apple Apps and Google pre-installed applications are excluded from the data. Furthermore, the ranking provided by Sensor Tower does not include third-party stores as well as revenue from third-party Android app stores.

Visits to general news sites as well as the usage of social media platforms have skyrocketed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, according to the ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) E-Business Report 2019-2020 indicates that consumer satisfaction in three e-business categories including social media, news and opinion, and search engines and information has weakened.

Managing Director at the American Customer Satisfaction Index, David VanAmburg, stated that the increase in users did not improve customer satisfaction in these three categories. The social media category decreased by 2.8% to an ASCI score of seventy, and the category was placed in the last five among 46 industries. Pinterest and YouTube suffered a 4% drop to a score of 77 and 75, respectively.

This year marks the lowest satisfaction level for Instagram (down 1%, score 71) since ASCI first measured the satisfaction level of Instagram back in 2015. Although Tumblr climbed 3%, it ranked worst in class for website navigation.

The customer satisfaction with news and opinion sites hit a high point last year, however, the category suffered a drop of 3.9% to a score of 74. This decline is widespread, and the data indicates that the overall expectations of readers have decreased significantly in 2020. FOXNews.com was ranked on top among individually measured websites, and the score decreased 4% to 75.

In comparison, NBCNews.com and ABCNews.com both achieved a score of 72, and NYTimes.com suffered the largest decline (8%, score 70). It is worth noting that the CNN.com is the only news website to buck the declining trend of user satisfaction, and moved up 1%. Lastly, HuffPost finishes in last place with an ASCI score of 69.

Discussing customer satisfaction with the last category - search engine and information, it continues to decline. The user satisfaction with search engines and information decreased by 1.3% to a score of 76. Google recorded a 4% drop in 2019, however, it remains at the top with an ASCI score of 79. You may also note that Yahoo! is moving in a positive direction. Unlike the rest of the industry, it climbed 3% to an ASCI score of 72, and Yahoo! is the only search engine that showed a gain in customer satisfaction.

A lot of search and information websites cluster together with an ASCI score of 71, and all these sites display a decline in customer satisfaction. AOL declined 4%, and Microsoft’s Bing as well as MSN dip 1%. Lastly, Answers.com ranked in the last place with a 1% drop to an ASCI score of 70.

TikTok, the famous short-form video-sharing app is in the limelight these days. Especially now that the US government is after it and President Donald Trump has not only suggested imposing a ban on it, he has also given an ultimatum to ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell off TikTok to either Microsoft or any other American-based investor before 15th September 2020. If ByteDance fails to do so, then the US operations of ByteDance will stop immediately.

A while ago, in December 2019, ByteDance was alleged with a class-action lawsuit by the US. It was accused of collecting users’ data and invade their privacy by making them privy to be identified and their data getting misused.

However, there is a fun fact - The user data that TikTok collects is not something new, because other famous American apps do the same, and not only this, tech giants like Facebook have had to face huge scandals because of this issue. So, how can TikTok alone be accused so blatantly for something that its American competitors also do?

Now, with the current issue, Trump has been claiming that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and the data that it collects from the users can become a cause of national security concern. And that is the reinforcing factor why it should be banned from the US at least.

Sadly, these are the same people who are usually least bothered about the data mining that the American apps are so famous for doing, and this also suggests that maybe Trump is using national security as a cover to apply app censorship policy on a foreign app! Maybe, it is some kind of political posturing rather than genuine care for TikTok’s users in the US.

App censorship is nothing new. Many countries block apps in the name of national security, or for techno-nationalism so that the users’ data remains inside and can be used by the companies of that country only, rather than going out and be misused in the other countries. Some countries block foreign apps due to economic reasons too.

So, online censorship is not a novel idea and has been going around since the early '90s. Different democratic and authoritarian governments have been filtering and blocking undesirable or harmful content over the internet.

Also read: The threat of banning TikTok has not only made Mark Zuckerberg worry but also anxious about the consequent happenings

Another fun fact is that in recent years, it is China that leads that pack of countries that block various apps, including Facebook and Twitter. And the USA always criticized China’s app censorship tactics and policies.

Now, if Trump is trying to do the same, it means that the US app censorship policy is not so different from what China does already! It also means that while Trump should have enforced better transparency policies from all the tech apps about their content moderation standards and their accountability towards their users, he is busy in using various ploy tactics to ban a foreign app. The US government should have created a new standard for privacy for foreign companies that work within the US borders rather than playing with words and ultimatums!

Even though women play a significant role in the tech industry, there remains a clear pay difference between them and their male counterparts, recent research shows.

At an average, a woman earns 80.7 cents for every dollar a man earns at a full-time position. According to data issued by the US Census Bureau, women’s median annual earnings are $9,909 less than men’s.

When considered in the tech sector, women are offered 3% less than men for the same job – at the same company, reports job portal Hired.

In this regard, self-reported salary data from PayScale was analyzed by Small Business Prices who looked at salary info for the top 10 Fortune 100 tech companies. They compared the salaries of both – men and women and concluded that men reportedly earned more than women.

For instance, Facebook has roughly 50,000 employees globally. The average salary at the tech company is $120,000 while for men, the average is reported to be around $129,000. The same salary is $112,000 for the female, indicating one of the largest gender wage gaps.

Similarly, PayPal and Apple offer women employees $12,000 less than men – at an average.

Other leading tech giants such as Microsoft, Oracle, Google Alphabet, Cisco, and eBay have a lower salary package for female workers.

To our surprise, the only company where women excel – or make a higher income than men is Adobe. The American multinational software company has more than 22,000 workers worldwide. The average salary here is reported to be $104,000. But women at the firm are earning a whopping $126,500 while men are averagely offered $105,500 – approximately $21,000 less than female.

Seems like leading tech companies should ‘reconsider’ their business protocols and focus more on equality in all areas of their practices. just this week, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are scheduled to appear before the Congress and defend the allegation that they are not stifling competition.

You may call that iPhone users become blind to other options when they see the charm of the Apple logo on the back of their phones but the truth in the matter is that Apple lately has started to offer some great security and privacy options that people seem to be enjoying a lot.

The major trend of providing users a safe environment started back in iOS 13 when people became more concerned about the privacy breach issues every tech company had to face. Apple turned out to be one of the few that lead the campaign in taking care of customer’s privacy and with every update, they introduce more useful features. However, with iOS 14 coming out this fall, users can now expect something every bigger than before.

In a developer's blog post, Apple has stated that they will now make SMS as one time codes (pretty much like domain bound codes) which can be used for two-factor authentication and eventually extra security. The move was proposed earlier this year by Apple's WebKit team but its implementation will begin with iOS 14.

How Do Domain Bound Codes Work?

You may have seen passcodes arriving via SMS on your phones for two-factor authentication. iPhones make things even more easy with the help of Security Code AutoFill which makes the codes appear in the QuickType bar on its own. Now with iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur, Apple is adding an extra layer of security by letting users associate codes to a particular web domain.

In the blog post related to the update, Apple has further explained that the Autofill will suggest the code “if—and only if—the domain is a match for the website or one of [the] app’s associated domains.”

If you are wondering how that would look in the example then Apple showed that if you receive an SMS message which comes to an end with @example.com #121314, AutoFill will only work to fill that code for you when you interact with example.com, any of its subdomains, or some app that is connected with the domain.

On the other hand, if the SMS message ends with @example.org #121314, AutoFill will not offer the code on example.com and its associations.

Doing so will improve the security to a level that it will become hard for an attacker to trick anyone into entering one-time codes into a phishing site.

Unfortunately, SMS Codes Are Not Ideal For 2FA

While it is definitely a good move by Apple, cybersecurity experts still don't trust the two-factor authentication as they think that SIM swapping or physical access to the phone can help the attackers to beat this level of security and then users' accounts would be compromised.

A good alternative can be a free authenticator app in which users can buy the security key when they feel like it? For now, you can also use Yubico YubiKey for security keys or authenticator apps like Autho to make your iPhones more secure.

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TikTok is a widely used video-consumption platform worldwide. We recently reported that Charli D’Amelio has the most followers on this application than anyone else. However, according to Forbes research, Addison Rae Easterling has earned more money than fame through TikTok.

According to recent research, the foremost TikTok users, Easterling and D’Amelio have earned almost one million dollars yearly in the past years, and by estimating, Easterling receives more than 5 million dollars. Therefore, she has been ranked as the highest-earning TikToker. While on the other hand, Charli D’Amelio is earning approximately 4 million dollars.

It has recorded that out of a plethora of Tiktokers these two have the highest followed number on the rising video-sharing app. Easterling has nearly 54 million followers, and approximately 76 million followers are following D'Amelio on this application. These two TikTok stars have started posting their videos in the year 2019, and eventually, they have become famous in a short interval of time throughout the world. Easterling has gained one million followers on the TikTok application shortly and more abruptly.

In an interview with media outlets, Easterling has claimed that she has started traveling this journey after she has uploaded his first video on YouTube. She has stated that his life has completely transformed for him. It is this insight of making the most of other video sharing applications. She has uploaded his videos initially on YouTube and Instagram and has gained remarkable fame.

Another report proclaims that in the early years of 2020, they both have joined TikTok and uploaded their videos, marking themselves as a member of Tiktok Hype House. At that time, the sister of Charli D'Amelio has got the 3rd rank in the research list provided by Forbes. Following this, people have started following Charli D'Amelio, driving him on top of the following list in 2020.

These top trending Tiktokers have also launched some cosmetic products. They both have also collaborated with other brands together in partnership like Hollister and many more. Furthermore, they have also launched Merchandise Collection.

Along with these 2 top trending Tiktokers, Forbes explains, there are 5 other stars that are earning substantially through this application, including, Dixie D’Amelio (3rd), Loren Gray (4th), Josh Richards (5th), Michael Le (6th) and Spencer X (7th). Forbes states that these top trending Tiktokers have significant pre-tax earnings. However, this earning estimation is managed by various moderators to make sure the reliability of the report. Additionally, this estimate earning of these two Tiktokers and others has been calculated in the period of almost one year from June 2019 to June 2020.

Pex is a Los Angeles-based analytics firm and monitors social media platforms across the globe. The firm published a report ‘the state of YouTube’ back in the year 2018 and now it has released an analysis of this report for the year 2019 as an update to this report.

Google-owned YouTube is one of the most popular video platforms in the world and billions of people daily watch videos on the platform. However, Pex discovered in the 2018 study that only 0.64% of all videos on YouTube’s platform generate more than 100,000 views. Interestingly, the number did not cross the 1% in 2019, and the firm found that only 0.77% of videos on YouTube ever reach over 100,000 views.

Furthermore, the analytics firm also discovered that the majority of videos on YouTube generate less than 1,000 views. According to the report published by Pex, 88.4% of YouTube videos generated less than 1,000 views on the platform. You may also note that Pex published this data on the basis of the performance of all YouTube videos publicly available as of Dec 31st of the year 2019.

In the report, the firm also notes that music became more valuable on the platform during 2019. Music videos accounted for 22% of all views on YouTube in 2019, a 2% rise as compared to 2018. It is worth noting that music only makes 5% of all content available on YouTube.

In comparison, the entertainment category accounted for only 10% of views, and Gaming accounted for 37% of views. People & Blogs and Film & Animation accounted for 21% and 5% views, respectively. Lastly, Others accounted for 19% of views on the platform, and Music also accounted for 83% of clips that generated more than 1 billion views on YouTube in 2019.

Entertainment videos only make up 1.5% of those videos that exceed 1 billion views on the platform in 2019, and Gaming manages only 0.5% of such videos. Pex also stated in the report that the majority of new videos are uploaded to the Gaming category. 33% of new videos uploaded on the platform belong to the Gaming category. Justin Koh, a Pex Analyst, wrote in a blog post that the Gaming category is becoming the majority of content on YouTube, and Music and Entertainment account for the majority of views. However, Music and Entertainment are only 15% of the videos on the platform.

Read next: YouTubers Are Turning To Alternative Ways to Earn Money, 80K Channels Earned Revenue on the Platform from Alternative Sources in April

Facebook has now released its Facebook Gaming app on iOS, however, it seems that the company is not happy about it. The social media giant has been trying to get the Facebook Gaming application approved in Apple’s App Store. However, the app has been rejected five times since February of this year, and the company finally got the approval this week, however, Facebook had to remove the mini games feature from the Facebook Gaming application.

The Facebook Gaming application is primarily used to watch streamers play games, but the application also features mini games. Facebook had to remove the mini games feature because of Apple’s restrictive policies. The social media giant is now joining Microsoft in condemning the App Store policies of Apple, and the company is not happy about this compromise.

The Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, told media outlets that the company had to launch the Gaming app without the gameplay functionality to get Apple’s approval on the app. This indicates that iPhone users will have an inferior experience of the Facebook Gaming app as compared to Android users. She also added that the company is focused on building communities for over 380 million individuals who play games on Facebook’s platform every month, whether Apple allows the functionality in a standalone application or not.

The company rolled out the Android version of the Gaming app back in April of this year and was planning to roll out the iOS version at the same time. But, the company was not able to roll out the iOS app since Apple rejected the app several times for violating the policies of Apple’s App Store on third-party apps. According to that guideline, HTML5 games are only allowed if the code distribution is not the primary purpose of the application.

Also read: Mark Zuckerberg Becomes the Third Centibillionaire of the World after Facebook Stock Hits Record High Following the Roll Out Of Instagram Reels

Apple claims that the primary purpose of the Facebook Gaming application is to play video games, however, Facebook shared usage data from the Android app that indicates that 95% of the activity of users is watching streamers play video games. But Apple ignored Facebook’s appeals, and Facebook had to launch the app without the mini games features.

Apple has been facing criticism from competitors as well as the gaming industry to loosen the Apple Store restrictive policies. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook was accused of harming competition in Apple App Store in an antitrust hearing before the US House Judiciary. Microsoft also announced on Thursday that Apple was blocking the company’s efforts to bring Microsoft xCloud service to iOS users.

Around the world, the workforce is evolving at a brisk pace. Companies have started going remote with their employees, freelancers and interns. Also, in lieu of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, more people are opting to work from their homes. Remote working has allowed us all to regain control of time, however, working from home has its unique sets of challenges too. When an office-like environment is absent around you, it’s common for anyone to get distracted. Moreover, working at strange hours in your pyjamas and that too without much human interaction can take a toll on mental health. People also feel left-out because of the same.

There is no denying that remote working is freeing. You can decide your own work time, it’s more convenient for you and your family, but working from home is challenging at the same time. Since you’re in charge of your work life, it becomes your onus to plan your day, stay motivated & organized while accomplishing office-bound challenges. Communication is one big challenge in a remote work environment. Unlike traditional offices, there’s next to no face to face interactions when you work from home. Therefore, at times, people tend to miss out on details and crucial pieces of information. In this article, we will talk about seven amazing tips for effective remote work.

1. Designate a space:

One of the first steps for ensuring effective remote work is to dedicate a home workspace. A quiet room with no distractions can make you feel like ‘you’re at work’. If available, a separate room can be highly effective since it keeps kids, family, friends and pets out. Having a separate workspace far away from the kitchen, laundry or dining room keeps you concentrated and minimizes distractions. Always remember that the place you choose for your work is incredibly important as it will help your home and office coexist together. Also, while choosing a space, try to reduce visual clutter as much as possible and go for the corner with ample natural light. Sitting next to a window can make you feel connected to the world.

2. Plan your communication:

When you communicate effectively, you understand problems better & provide faster solutions. Communication helps you maintain a better professional image while you’re working from home. You can nurture strong business relationships. Communication while remote working is a two-way concept. You and your teams should be at the same level of communication so that better decision making, task execution and productivity can be achieved. Your virtual meetings should be crisp and to the point as well since you’re not physically present in front of your audience. Technology PowerPoint templates can help you create quick and engaging presentations for your virtual meetings. Ready to use templates ensure effective communication backed by intuitive design and content.

3. Break up the day:

When you’re working from the comfort of your home, you’d need to be strict with yourself. You should set the start & end of your working day and adhere religiously to those timings. The goal is to maximize the time you’ve in between. Starting early can be a good initiation point. Often comes a time when your work life and personal life amalgamate when you work from home. Setting strict work time parameters and following the same can help you draw lines. This boosts your mental health in unimaginable ways.

4. Create a task list:

Creating a daily task list can help you stay focussed throughout your working day and monitor your productivity in the end. You can use a bullet journal for daily planning. A bullet journal will help you streamline your daily tasks and reach both personal and professional goals. You can log your daily tasks, notes, events, requirements and more into your bullet journal. You should define priority for your tasks and execute them in that order. At the end of the day, when you look back, you’d realize how productive you were. This will help you manage pending tasks effectively and set new tasks for subsequent days.

5. Keep a check on interactions:

It can be said that you’re surrounded by a plethora of distractions while working from home. You should avoid interactions with family or friends in your decided work timeframe. However, it doesn’t mean you should ignore them completely. It just means, working from home shouldn’t be a group activity. The goal is to stay focussed and achieve as much productivity as you can. Casual conversations can distract you and might put you in a lazy state of mind. Since you’ll be having a number of meetings throughout your workday, you should make sure that no hindrance is there. Often comes a time when noises are beyond your control, in that scenario, you should take the initiative and mute yourself.

6. Stay in the loop:

People working in remote teams might feel left out at times. One of the best things about working from an office is socialization. Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t collaborate and socialise with your office mates. You should check in with your coworkers' couple of times a week and stay in the office social loop. It’s important to keep up on the professional as well as personal level. Through this, you can combat any signs of loneliness and keep yourself active and engaged.

7. Reward yourself:

It is imperative to celebrate your hard work and reinforce positivity. Self-rewarding makes you feel good, happy and makes you want to do more of it. You shouldn’t hesitate to pat your back or make yourself a fresh cup of coffee post work. When you reward and provide yourself positive feedback for your efforts, your brain releases dopamine which controls your mood. The habit keeps you strong and motivated in your work routine and pushes you to do better, every day. Rewarding self is a near-perfect system to stay committed to professional and personal goals.

Read next: Remote Workers and Email Mistakes - A Correlation!

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