Binance and Nigeria Team Up for developing Economic Zone

By

-

September 8, 2022

Nigeria to build Digital City To Develop Blockchain

Binance Holdings Ltd. and the Nigerian government are in discussions to create a digital economic zone that would support blockchain technology adoption among businesses in the West African country.

A Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority will reportedly be created thanks to the agreement between Binance and Talent City in the West African country (NEPZA). According to a tweet from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, the alliance intends to establish a digital center “akin to the Dubai virtual free zone.” These regions are created to offer tax breaks, supportive legislation, and regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.

The preliminary plans were reviewed on Friday in Dubai at a meeting between the managing Director of NEPZA Adesoji Adesugba, Binance executive director Nadeem Ladki, Talent City CEO Luqman Edu, and NEPZA director Sikiru Lawal.

In order to further encourage the use of cryptocurrencies in the West African area, Adesugba noted that the action would be a component of Nigeria’s goal for economic growth.

He stated that in keeping with the mission of the Authority, the direction of the Honorable Minister, and the economic development goal of President Muhammadu Buhari, the partnership wants to break new ground to broaden economic prospects for the population.

The popularity of cryptocurrencies has risen steadily over the past several years in Africa, driven by a deficient financial system, unpredictable government policies, and inflation.

According to a new CoinGecko study, Nigerians are the most fascinated with cryptocurrencies, having searched for the phrases “cryptocurrency” and “purchase crypto” more frequently than the citizens of any of the other 14 nations surveyed.

Also, in a survey released by Chainalysis in September of last year, the crypto markets in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa collectively experienced growth of 1,200 percent, growing to a market worth of $105.6 billion in a year.

In 2021, according to research company Triple-A, more than 13 million people in Nigeria alone held cryptocurrency. This equates to 6.3% of Nigeria’s whole population.

Therefore, blockchain-focused economic zone in Nigeria might assist the region’s growing crypto community go further into the field by providing start-ups and employment.

Meanwhile, the government passed laws for the trading of digital assets this year, and the Nigerian Exchange expects to launch a blockchain-enabled platform the next year to expand trading in the market.

Binance has attempted to extend its activities by partnering with several national governments since its inception. For instance, in December of the previous year, Binance and the Dubai World Trade Center signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a new international virtual asset ecosystem and transform Dubai into a hub for bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related goods and services. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kazakhstani authorities in May 2022 to establish a virtual asset market there. Binance recently signed a similar major agreement with the Korean city of Busan. The exchange will presumably assist Busan in its blockchain development efforts with technology and infrastructure.

The latest Binance collaboration would support Nigeria’s effort to use digital technologies to diversify its oil-dependent economy. The nation, which has a lively young, tech-savvy populace, would profit from a varied economy.

Meta launches ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ showcase to highlight a range of digital artists

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 8, 2022

Meta launches ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ showcase to highlight a range of digital artists

Meta’s latest development on the art front is a new ‘Creators of Tomorrow’ showcase, through which the company will highlight a range of creators from across Europe, The Middle East, and Africa.

Meta said that the Creators of Tomorrow have exciting careers ahead of them. They have been selected because they are breaking out amongst their communities online and showcase a best-in-class approach to video formats, interactive entertainment, and technology – creative qualities that will be integral to the evolution of the metaverse.

Meta says it will work with the chosen creators over the next year to help them expand their audiences and turn their passions into professions across our technologies. Through the Creators of Tomorrow mini-site, you can check out all selected participants and examples of their work.

It is an exciting showcase of different approaches to the latest creative trends, which could help to get one thinking about how one approaches your social platform content.

It also provides exciting perspectives on regional content trends and what creators in different markets are doing online. But arguably, as noted, the primary, the broader focus is the metaverse and how these creators will eventually translate their work into next-level experiences.

Some creators are already working with elements like Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR environment, which enables them to build new, immersive experiences like this. Increasingly, that’s where Meta will be pushing creators to look. Facebook and Instagram are working to incorporate more AI-based content recommendations to showcase emerging talent better, placing it front and center in user feeds.

Apple’s privacy changes break the Facebook-Google advertising monopoly in the online search market

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 8, 2022

Apple's privacy changes break the Facebook-Google advertising monopoly

App Tracking Transparency (ATT), Apple’s privacy changes in the App Store, have boosted its ad business, and thereby, the iPhone maker has managed to break the Facebook-Google advertising monopoly in the online search market.

According to InMobi’s Appsumer, a performance insights platform, Apple Search Ads (ASA) joined the duopoly of Google and Meta at the top table of advertiser adoption as it grew adoption by nearly four percentage points (year-on-year) to 94.8%.

Meta’s ad adoption declined three percentage points in the same period to 82.8%. The trend also played out with share-of-wallet as Apple’s search ad business gained 5% points to reach a 15% share, while Meta declined four percentage points, still finishing significantly ahead with a 28% share.

Meta also recovered share-of-wallet while comparing Q4 21 to Q2 22, suggesting that they are starting to recover from initial ATT headwinds. Google remained reasonably steady on both metrics as most of its inventory sits on the Android platform.

The question now is how much Apple can increase its search ad business share-of-wallet, given the fact that inventory is constrained by the volume of searches on the App Store.

Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have admitted that Apple iOS privacy changes will cost the company a whopping $10 billion in 2022. Meta has also accused Apple of favoring Google over app-based platforms like Facebook with its privacy policies. Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, released in April 2021, came with an ATT feature that has affected digital advertising for tech giants.

Tesla’s sales 105.8% more than last year in the US

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 8, 2022

Tesla's sales 105.8% more than last year in the US

According to a report published by TrueCar, electric vehicle maker Tesla’s sales so far in 2022 are an impressive 105.8% above last year in the US.

TrueCar mentioned that in the US, Tesla sold 47,629 cars in August, around 11% more than in July, showing an upward trend month-over-month. Tesla has increased its United States market share year-over-year from 2.1% in 2021 to 4.1% this year. That is almost double, but it is still far behind overall sales leaders like General Motors with 16.4% or Toyota with 14.8% market share.

The report does not differentiate between EVs and other types of vehicles. It is essentially comparing Tesla to other automakers whose bulk of sales is still made up of gas-burning vehicles.

In Australia, Tesla outsold the ever-popular Toyota Camry to become the fourth best selling vehicle in the country in August. Tesla has been manufacturing and selling cars quicker than ever in China, with an awe-inspiring 77,000 Model Y and Model 3 sales combined last month alone.

In Europe, the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 are still the two most popular electric vehicles, and it controls just under 7% of the Old Continent’s plug-in vehicle market share. Its share is set to grow as the Shanghai Gigafactory (which produces cars for Europe) has resumed production after several lockdown-related shutdowns. In contrast, production at Giga Berlin (most of which will be destined for Europe) is ramping up.

Tesla’s Model Y gets five star rating from Euro NCAP

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 8, 2022

Tesla's Model Y gets five star rating from Euro NCAP

Tesla has extended its five-star rating streak in Europe with the Model Y. The electric crossover SUV earned top marks during safety examinations conducted by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), receiving the highest overall score among any vehicle tested under the more stringent test protocol of the company.

The testing measures four areas: its ability to protect children, its ability to protect adults, the protection it provides vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, and its safety assistance features.

The Model Y, manufactured at Tesla’s new gigafactory in Berlin, scored a 97% in Adult Occupant Protection and a 98% in Safety Assist. It scored total points for its lane support and new cabin camera-based driver monitoring system.

The agency also commended Tesla for its camera-only vision system, which it said performs remarkably well in preventing collisions with other cars, pedestrians, and cyclists.

The location of the battery on the vehicle’s floor also gives the Model Y and other Tesla vehicles a lower center of gravity, which improves road stability and decreases the chances of a rollover. Tesla’s other three vehicles, the Model 3, Model S, and Model X, have also earned five-star ratings from Euro NCAP. All four of Tesla’s vehicles have earned five-star ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the most recent going to the Model Y in 2021.
NHTSA grades cars on various crash test metrics, including side crashes (for crashes into both a barrier and a pole), frontal crashes (with subcategories for both the driver and passenger seats), and rollover scenarios, but not pedestrian and cyclist safety and driver-assist technology.

Meta signs agreement with Qualcomm to produce custom chipsets for VR devices

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 7, 2022

Meta signs agreement with Qualcomm to produce custom chipsets for VR devices

Meta Platforms signed an agreement to have chip-maker Qualcomm produce custom chipsets for its Quest virtual reality (VR) devices, the companies announced at a consumer electronics conference in Berlin on Friday.

They said that both companies’ engineering and product teams would work together to produce the chips powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platforms. The agreement shows the dependency of Meta until last year on Qualcomm’s technology, even as it tries to develop custom silicon of its own for its virtual, augmented, and mixed reality devices.

Meta is still in the early stages of the metaverse, and this sort of deep technical integration will help VR move towards being a multifunctional computing platform. Meta has been investing heavily in technologies like pass-through goggles and augmented reality glasses as it tries to bring to life Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse, a concept involving an immersive set of digital worlds.

It has relied on Qualcomm’s chips for its VR devices for years, including its latest Quest2 headset. The chipsets produced through the collaboration will not be exclusive to Meta, but will be optimized specifically for Quest’s system specifications, told Meta spokesperson Tyler Yee.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The agreement covers only VR devices, Yee said, and Meta will continue working to develop some of its silicon solutions.

There could be situations where we use off-the-shelf silicon or work with industry partners on customizations while exploring our novel silicon solutions. There could also be scenarios where we use partner and custom solutions in the same product, said Yee.

Instagram Fined €405 million for misusing teens’ data and abusing EU Privacy law

By

Preetipadma K

-

September 7, 2022

Instagram fined €405 million for mishandling Teenagers’ data

After reviewing how Instagram handled the data of teenagers, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta €405 million (about $402 million). Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to appeal the case in the meantime to garner some relief.

The inquiry, which was launched over two years ago, concentrated on two potential GDPR violations by the corporation. The first was when Instagram started enabling users between the ages of 13 and 17 to create business profiles, making their contact details available to the public. Users occasionally switch to business accounts because they get access to greater engagement statistics when they do so. Additionally, it has been reported that Instagram by default, made some underage users’ profiles public.

Instagram said that the investigation and the verdict centered on “old settings” that had been modified more than a year prior. Since then, the social media platform has unveiled new teen-friendly privacy features, including the option to set accounts to private status upon registration.

The penalties, which were finalized last Friday, are the third and highest the DPC has levied on Meta, far surpassing the €225 million ($267 million) fine the business received after the DPC discovered that WhatsApp had not adequately informed EU residents about how it acquired and handled personal data, notably about how it shared that data back with Meta.

The fine is the second-largest imposed under the strict privacy regulations of the European Union, after the €746 million fine that Luxembourg’s regulators imposed on Amazon in the past year.

The decision’s emphasis on youngsters touches a delicate yet often overlooked subject for social media companies – how they handle minors using their services. Legislators in California last week approved a measure requiring social media app developers to take minors’ physical and mental health into account when creating new products, such as Instagram and TikTok. The legislation was based on a U.K. regulation that mandates social media companies develop their products with children’s interests in mind. This year, European lawmakers established new laws concerning minors. Companies are barred from accessing specific data to personalize advertising directed at individuals under the age of 18 under a new regulation called the Digital Services Act.

Ireland is embroiled in a slew of legal fights over Meta’s data-collection practices. One of them is whether Meta has the authority to require users to provide specific types of information to use the service and another concerns whether some of the fundamental components of digital ad auctions comply with EU law. Ireland is responsible for monitoring Meta’s compliance with G.D.P.R, a law passed in 2018 to restrict how businesses could gather and use people’s data. This is because Meta has Ireland as its European headquarters as well as the allegations that the nation has been lenient with data protection laws. In a separate lawsuit, the country has threatened to prohibit Meta from transmitting data from European consumers to the company’s U.S. data centers.

US Congress has no plan to ban cryptocurrency, says Congressman

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 7, 2022

US congress has no plan to ban cryptocurrency

US Congressman Brad Sherman said cryptocurrency has too much money and power and can not be banned. Sherman has further criticized cryptocurrencies and believed that crypto poses a technological threat to US national security. Sherman said he does not think cryptocurrency will get a ban soon.

He further added that Congress did not ban it at the beginning because they did not realize it was necessary, and they did not ban it now because there is too much money and power behind it. He views the cryptocurrency market as a systemic threat to the dollar’s dominance, the American economy, and national security. Additionally, Sherman is primarily concerned with techniques such as Tornado Cash, he said.

Although Congress is currently divided on whether cryptocurrency is beneficial or destructive, almost all its members are concerned about safeguarding investors, mainly through regulation and legislation.

Congressman Tom Emmer voiced displeasure over the sanctions when the US Treasury outlawed Tornado Cash. He questioned what aspect of blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies was subject to penalties and requested clarification from the Treasury on the extent of those sanctions.

On the other hand, Congress has given cryptocurrency more attention this year than ever before. Congress reached a record amount of bills on cryptocurrency by presenting 80 proposals between January 2022 and March 2022. The legislation focuses on six key areas, including Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and crypto clarification over the regulatory status of digital sanctions, ransomware, assets, and the effects of Russia or China’s usage of cryptocurrencies.

Meta helps universities to get their own virtual reality campuses, invests $150 million

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 7, 2022

Meta helps universities to get their own virtual reality campuses

Meta is helping universities get their virtual reality campuses online. The company will open ten virtual campuses as part of its Immersive Learning project. The project aims to take education to virtual reality environments. In partnership with an Iowa-based virtual reality education startup, Victoryxr, Meta will invest $150 million in this initiative.

Meta is executing this idea by helping ten universities to launch their metaverse-based campuses. One of them is an online university, the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). More than 45,000 students will now meet in the metaverse online to convene and share their experiences.

The university will offer five courses through the metaverse campus as part of this plan. These courses will come at no additional cost compared to non-immersive courses. The university, however, is limited by the number of headsets required for the courses it can loan students.

Other universities will also be part of this project, including New Mexico State University, South Dakota State University, the University of Kansas School of Nursing, Southwestern Oregon Community College, California State University, Florida A&M University, West Virginia University, Dominguez Hills, and Alabama A&M University.

Meta is donating its Meta Quest headsets to these institutions for students. One of the main objectives of Meta’s Immersive Learning project is to increase students’ access to these technologies by partnering with universities and organizations.

Part of Meta’s $150 million investment is to deliver headsets in partnership with Victoryxr, the company that is designing the metaverse campuses. Meta has also helped universities pay for the design and construction of these spaces, which can cost $50k for a five to seven-building campus.

Apple cars more popular than Tesla even before production, says survey

By

Sahil Pawar

-

September 7, 2022

Apple cars more popular than Tesla even before production

Apple cars are already a more popular alternative than Tesla, even though the iPhone manufacturer never confirmed plans to produce one.

A survey of 200,000 new vehicle owners by Strategic Vision placed Apple third on a list for brand consideration, with 26% saying they love the Apple brand and would buy a car if it made one. The company was ranked behind Toyota and Honda and ahead of Tesla, Lexus, and BMW in a survey of more than 45 brands.

According to the survey, almost half of Tesla owners would consider buying an Apple car in the future. Apple also had the highest quality impression of 24% compared to 15% for Toyota and 11% for Tesla. But 34% said they didn’t know enough about the car to make a judgment given the lack of information.

Strategic Vision’s Alexander Edwards said that what Apple ultimately presents in terms of styling, powertrain, product, and other vital features will determine the level of interest generated among car shoppers. However, he added that their brand awareness and reputation provide a formidable platform that automotive manufacturers should brace themselves for.

Apple has not made any announcement about producing a car but has long hinted about building one under the codename ‘Project Titan.’ CEO Tim Cook first mooted the idea in 2017 that it was shelving plans to focus on driving technology for other car makers.