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  Amazon  said Wednesday that it plans to give more than 500,000 of its workers a raise as it seeks to attract new workers. The online shopping giant, which already pays new hires at least USD15 an hour, said it will start increasing pay between 50 cents an hour to USD3 an hour starting next month. Those getting raises include warehouse workers, who pack and ship orders, as well as those who work in Amazon's package sorting centers and other facilities. Amazon  said the pay raise is part of its push to hire more workers. The company has needed more people to get orders to shoppers during the pandemic as Americans increasingly shop online. It hired 500,000 people in 2020 alone, bringing its total workforce to nearly 1.3 million people worldwide. The pay announcement also comes after a failed union push at a Alabama warehouse, which put a national spotlight on working conditions at  Amazon. Pro-union workers and organisers in Alabama said they wanted better...

  End-user spending on public  cloud  services in India is expected to touch USD 4.4 billion in 2021, an increase of 31.4 per cent over the previous year, according to research firm  Gartner. This is expected to grow further to USD 5.62 billion in 2022,  Gartner  said in a statement. The continued trend of increased remote workers in 2021, will lead to an increase in spending on desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). These segments are forecast to grow 47.7 per cent (to USD 73 million) and 52.2 per cent (to USD 1.44 billion), respectively. Indian chief information officers (CIOs) saw the benefits of  cloud  during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020,  Gartner  research vice president Sid Nag said. "To build business resilience and minimize the impact of continued disruptions, investing in  cloud  is unavoidable. India has experienced consistent double-digit growth in cloud spending over...

  Twitter  now has 199 million average monetisable daily active users (mDAU), a 20 per cent growth (year-on-year), driven by ongoing product improvements and global conversation around the pandemic. The micro-blogging platform reported $1.04 billion in revenue for the Q1 2021, up 28 per cent (on-year), and a net income of $68 million. The advertising revenue reached $899 million, an increase of 32 per cent. "People turn to  Twitter  to see and talk about what's happening, and we are helping them find their interests more quickly while making it easier to follow and participate in conversations,"  Twitter  CEO Jack Dorsey said in a statement late on Thursday. Total ad engagements increased 11 per cent year-over-year while cost per engagement (CPE) increased 19 per cent year-over-year. While US revenue reached $556 million, international revenue totalled $480 million, an increase of 41 per cent. "Advertisers continue to benefit from updated ad forma...

  Google  Lens can now automatically translate texts in screenshots for devices running Android 11 or above. According to 9To5Google, users can now take a screenshot of a foreign language and let  Google  Lens do the translation without any intermediate step. The exciting new feature is available on the  Google  Lens Screenshot UI for devices running Android 11+. The translate button will become visible on the screenshot and a click on it will detect and translate the required text quickly. Google continues to release innovations that are bound to help it maintain its edge among its competitors, GizmoChina reported on Tuesday. In addition to translating the text, users can also copy the text on the screenshot, which can then be downloaded for offline access or shared on the  Google Translate  app or social networks like Twitter or Instagram. Users can also download the current language for offline access and can also swiftly send the s...

  Aiming to boost its laptop users,  Samsung  Electronics on Wednesday unveiled two new laptops, Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360, under its Galaxy Book Pro series, which is designed around the needs and routines of modern mobile-first users. Both the laptops under the Galaxy Book Pro series will be available in two variants -- 13-inch and 15-inch -- and are Samsung's first-ever Windows PCs with Super AMOLED displays. "The new Galaxy Book Pro series offers true mobile computing for the connected world, enabling ultra-light, yet mighty portability, boundless connectivity and a window into your wider Galaxy ecosystem," TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business,  Samsung  Electronics, said in a statement. The Galaxy Book Pro Series is powered by next-generation hardware, including an 11th Gen Intel Core processor and Intel Iris Xe graphics. The Galaxy Book Pro series is verified to the Intel Evo platform, signifying an industry-lea...

  YouTube  Shorts which is a TikTok-like short form video app continues to gain popularity with over 6.5 billion daily views as of March, up from 3.5 billion at the end of 2020, the company has announced. YouTube  had rolled out Shorts app feature in India in September last year. Shorts is a new short-form video experience right on  YouTube  for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones. The company later rolled out the video streaming service on its platform in the US in Beta. With over 2 billion monthly logged in users and over 1 billion hours of video watched every day, Google-owned YouTube is offering advertisers efficient reach to large audiences which are incremental to those found on TV. "With respect to YouTube, people continue to find all types of informational content, from educational videos to podcasts," Alphabet and Google CEI said during the company's earnings call on Tuesday. Acco...

  Driven by online work and learning amid the ongoing pandemic,  Microsoft  Teams now have 145 million daily active users globally, almost double the number a year ago, CEO Satya Nadella informed. The number of organisations with more than 1,000 users integrating their third party and line of business applications with Teams has increased nearly three times year-over-year. "In markets where employees have returned to the workplace including Australia, China, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan, we have seen usage continue to grow," Nadella said during the company's earnings call late on Tuesday. The company has added more than 300 features in Teams over the past year, including more than 100 new capabilities so far in 2021. New inclusive meeting experience for hybrid work including custom gallery views enable anyone to be seen, heard and participate whether they are at home, in a meeting room, at an office or on a factory floor. "Customers like GM and Sanof...

  Samsung  Electronics has expanded its presence in the  Indian smartphone market  in the first quarter of the year on the back of multiple new handsets, a report showed Tuesday, as the South Korean tech giant aims to fend off challenges from Chinese players. Samsung  represented 20 per cent of the smartphone shipments in India in the first quarter, up from 16 per cent a year earlier, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. Among the top five brands,  Samsung  posted the highest on-year growth in smartphone shipments in the first quarter. "Samsung remains the second-largest brand for India's smartphone shipments with 52 percent on-year growth driven by its focus on the budget segment with the new M02 series and multiple other launches," the market researcher said. "It refreshed its A-series with the A32, A52 and A72, and the M-series with the M12. It also launched its latest flagship Galaxy S21 series earlier than its normal launc...

  (Corrects company identifier to AAPL.O) By Alexander Marrow MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said it had fined  Apple  $12 million for alleged abuse of its dominance in the mobile applications market, in the latest dispute between Moscow and a Western technology firm. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Tuesday that U.S. tech giant Apple's distribution of apps through its iOS operating system gave its own products a competitive advantage. Apple  said it "respectfully disagreed" with the FAS ruling and that it would appeal it. Western tech companies have come under increasing pressure in Russia in recent months, with social network Twitter punitively slowed down over a failure to delete content which Moscow says is illegal. Facebook, TikTok and Alphabet's Google have also come under fire. The FAS said in a statement it had imposed a turnover fine on  Apple  of 906.3 million roubles ($12.1 million) for the alleged violation of Russian anti...

  Apple's custom next-generation Mac processor has entered the mass production stage this month, media reports said. Tentatively dubbed the "M2" after Apple's M1 chip, the processors take at least three months to produce, according to sources. The next generation of Mac processors designed by  Apple  entered mass production this month, sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia, bringing the US tech giant one step closer to its goal of replacing Intel-designed central processing units with its own, MacRumors, Nikkei Asia reported. Shipments of the new chipset could begin as early as July for use in MacBooks that are scheduled to go on sale in the second half of this year, sources said. Produced by  Apple  supplier TSMC, Apple's custom aCEM1aCE silicon made its debut late last year with the introduction of the Mac mini, MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, bringing considerable performance improvements and battery efficiency over the Intel chips it...

  Continuing its dream run in India,  Apple  shipped over a million iPhones in the country in the otherwise dull first quarter of 2021, growing close to an impressive 90 per cent (on-year) during the three-month period. As per early estimates from market intelligence firm CyberMedia Research (CMR),  iPhone  11 and XR accounted for 67 per cent of Apple's shipments during the January-March period. On the back of increased domestic assembly,  Apple  iPhone  11 shipments increased 176 per cent (on-year) in the first quarter. " Apple  has had yet another exceptional quarter in India, shipping over a million iPhones for the first time in, what is traditionally, a lull quarter," Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, told IANS. Apple  iPhone  shipments gained in strength on the back of the enduring brand equity that Apple enjoys in the country and also, in part, "driven by evolving consumer understanding about tech not ...

 

  Facebook  has said it will start testing ads on Instagram Reels, a short video offering, in India and other markets as it looks to help brands better engage with relevant audiences. In July last year, Instagram had unveiled its new format 'Reels' in India that allows users to create and share short videos. Reels and other short video platforms have seen strong growth userbase and time spent after the Indian government banned a number of apps with Chinese linkages, including popular short video TikTok. The monetisation efforts by  Facebook  would help the company tap into that opportunity. In a blogpost on Thursday,  Facebook  said people are discovering and watching video in diverse formats across its family of apps, each offering distinct viewer and ad experiences. "Today, we're announcing new topic targeting options within Facebook In-Stream video, testing of Instagram Reels Ads and other ad experiences in Facebook Stories to help increase oppor...

  American multinational technology conglomerate  Microsoft  will be releasing a preview version of its upcoming Office 2021 for the Mac and Office LTSC this week. According to The Verge, while Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) will be designed for commercial customers, both versions will be perpetual versions of Office that won't rely on subscriptions or the cloud. Microsoft  had announced its plans for Office 2021 back in February, and a Windows version as well, which won't be available in preview, but will be released later this year. Office 2021 for Mac will support both Apple Silicon and Intel-based Macs and will require at least 4GB of RAM and 10GB of storage space. It's designed to be a static release of Office, but during the preview, there will be monthly updates that could include new features. Once Office 2021 for Mac is final and released, no new features will be added. Its current improvements include: - Line Focus, this feature removes...

  Audio streaming application  Spotify  is soon going to launch its  podcast  subscription service. The platform would be competing with Apple's newly announced  podcast  subscription service but it will not charge a fee or take a membership cut like its rival. As per Variety, the company will be letting content creators keep 100 per cent of the subscription fees. As per sources,  Spotify  will not take a cut of  podcast  subscription revenue. By contrast, Apple will keep up to 30 per cent of podcast subscription fees under its program, which is launching next month. Most creator platforms, including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Patreon, also take a cut of subscription fees and/or fan payments. Currently,  Spotify  doesn't allow customers to pay for subscriptions through Apple in-app purchases -- and Spotify has been a very vocal critic of Apple's App Store policies, which has included lodging a formal complaint wit...

  When Megan Thee Stallion took off her bright orange mask and walked onstage to accept her Grammy on March 14, she fought back tears and thanked God, her mother, and her managers for helping her become the first female rapper to win the award for best new artist in two decades. But the rapper, whose real name is Megan Pete, made no mention of another entity that helped turn her song Savage into a No. 1 hit: the mobile app  TikTok. TikTok, a social network where people post short videos, often set to music, has become this generation's hit machine. Like many  TikTok  sensations, Savage appeared to bubble up spontaneously from the enthusiasm of its users, who choreographed their own dances for the song, introducing it to other fans who watched those videos tens of millions of times. That mysterious formula for success on  TikTok  has turned the app into the most important new  social media  platform in years-which in turn thrust it into the cente...