Science and technology

Twitter’s new chief Elon Musk is planning to introduce ENCRYPT direct messages feature to ensure users’ privacy. Elon Musk told Twitter employees Monday he wants to add video and voice call features and secure direct-messaging to the social-media platform,  according to a leaked recording of an all-hands meeting obtained by The Verge . End-to-end encryption ensures only the two participants of a chat can read messages, and no one in between – not even the company that owns the service. Musk’s vision for Twitter was displayed in a selection of presentation slides entitled ‘Twitter 2.0’, according to staff. Musk said he wants to make it impossible for hackers to gain access to someone’s DMs on Twitter, even in the most extreme circumstances. ‘It should be the case that I can’t look at anyone’s DMs if somebody has put a gun to my head,’ he said. Read more: MUSK SAYS TWITTER TO HOLD OFF RELAUNCHING BLUE CHECK VERIFICATION That same year, Twitter  disclosed a bug  that...

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said on Monday the social media company is holding off the relaunch of its blue check subscription service, a delay from his initial tentative timeline to bring back the service on the platform. “Holding off relaunch of Blue Verified until there is high confidence of stopping impersonation,” Musk said in a tweet. “Will probably use different color check for organizations than individuals.” The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this month to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers. Twitter had paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service, as fake accounts mushroomed and had said Twitter’s sought-after blue check subscription service will be relaunched on Nov. 29. Read more: Twitter turmoil, staff exodus aggravate secu...

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers have set their sights on winning over European drivers and large corporate customers with more affordable cars that come with top safety ratings and lots of high-tech features. In the last few months, several Chinese EVs have received five-star European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) ratings – an achievement that requires loading vehicles with active and passive safety features that go well beyond legal requirements. More are coming. “All Chinese EV makers want to achieve Euro NCAP five-star ratings in order to be more competitive in the European market,” said Brian Gu, president of Chinese EV maker Xpeng (9868.HK). Gu said Xpeng has spent the last three years building stores and service centres in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden – with some initial sales in Norway – before an official launch next year of its electric P7 sedan and G9 sports-utility vehicle (SUV) in the four countries. Chinese EV makers have recognised that saf...

WASHINGTON: Twitter’s owner Elon Musk has pledged the platform will not become a “hellscape,” but experts fear a staff exodus following mass layoffs may have devastated its ability to combat misinformation, impersonation and data theft. Twitter devolved into what campaigners described as a cesspit of falsehoods and hate speech after recent layoffs cut half the company’s 7,500 staff and fake accounts proliferated following its botched rollout of a paid verification system. Further throwing the influential platform into disarray -– and raising doubt about its very existence -– reports said hundreds of employees chose to depart the company Thursday in defiance of an ultimatum from Musk. “The huge number of layoffs and resignations raises serious questions about content moderation and the security of user data,” Cheyenne Hunt-Majer, from the nonprofit Public Citizen, told AFP. “It is imperative that (US regulators) act with urgency as users could have their sensitive data exploited or...

Donald Trump’s notorious Twitter account was reinstated Saturday after the platform’s new owner Elon Musk ran a poll in which a narrow majority of voters supported the move, days after the former US president announced another White House bid. Trump’s account was banned from the platform early last year for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “The people have spoken. Donald Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted, shortly after the 24-hour Twitter poll on his account ended. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he added, repeating a Latin adage he also posted Friday, meaning “The voice of the people is the voice of God.” Ultimately, more than 15 million people — out of 237 million daily Twitter users — voted on whether to reinstate the controversial profile, with 51.8 percent in favor and 48.2 percent against. Donald Trump, who had more than 88 million users when his accounted was suspended, reveled ...

Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former US President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organized by new owner Elon Musk. Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement. “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted. Trump’s Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers before he was banned on Jan. 8, 2021, began accumulating followers and had nearly 100,000 followers by 10pm ET Saturday. Some users initially reported being unable to follow the reinstated account on Saturday evening. Donald Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day. “I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. He said he would stick wit...

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which recently filed for US bankruptcy court protection, has fired three of its top executives, including co-founder Gary Wang, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing an FTX spokeswoman. The other fired executives were engineering director Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison, who ran FTX’s trading arm Alameda Research, the newspaper said. FTX did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment. The crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy protection last week and former Wall Street trader Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as chief executive after the rival exchange Binance walked away from a proposed acquisition.  read more The U.S. bankruptcy proceedings involve multiple FTX group companies with more than 100,000, and possibly over 1 million, creditors. According to interviews with several people close to Bankman-Fried and company communications not previously reported, the company had been secretly taking risks with customer funds t...