A sharp and summarized view on Tech Events and announcements in January 2023.

Hi Readers, Hope you are doing well. This is Mayank and this blog is related to a summarized view of Happenings in January 2023.

There was much mirth online when the US justice department announced the arrest of crypto exchange Bitzlato’s founder last week. In the first few weeks of 2023, watchdogs have done a lot. On January 3, a joint statement by US bank regulators warned the industry of crypto risks creeping into the banking system.

SAP has launched a new enterprise on the Metaverse with the aim of accelerating cloud adoption among Indian firms. The interactive and immersive ‘cloud on wheels’ platform will enable customers to experience the full range of SAP’s offerings and reimagine processes for improved business outcomes.

Google announces massive Android OS changes in India After the loss of a major anti-trust case in the country

The move comes after India’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the country’s anti-trust watchdog that said the company had abused its market position. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined the company $161m, accusing it of “unfair” business practices.
About 97% of smartphones in India are estimated to run on Android. Anti-trust proceedings against the tech giant started in October when CCI asked Google to make several changes to its Android ecosystem. The watchdog said Google was “abusing” the licensing of its Android operating system for a range of smartphones, web searches, browsing, and video hosting services.It accused Google of entering into “one-sided agreements” with smartphone makers to ensure the dominance of its apps.CCI said this was stifling competition and gave Google continuous access to consumer data and lucrative advertising opportunities.It ordered the company to stop such practices.

Twitter for web will now stay on your preferred timeline

Twitter should now be less annoying about pushing its “For You” algorithmic timeline. The company announced that the web version will now remember which timeline you were using last and default to it when you open it again. The feature should also be coming to iOS and Android soon.The update brings back functionality that existed before the tab UI was introduced — there used to be a button that let you choose which version of the timeline you wanted to see. If you’re the type of person who occasionally pops over to For You from Following or vice versa, the new version with the ability to remember which tab you left off on should make that easier. This change probably won’t do much to appease users who would rather just set it and forget it, though.

Apple issues security update for the almost 10-year-old iPhone 5S

While the iPhone 5S is no longer eligible for new iOS versions, Apple is still supplying it with the occasional security update. For a phone that’s almost a decade old, that absolutely rules.
Remember when phones were tinier and came with home buttons on the front? One of Apple’s most iconic phones, the iPhone 5S, is among those phones. Released in September 2013, the phone will turn 10 years old this year. For people who like to hold on to their technology close, specifically, ones that still use iPhone 5S, Apple brought some surprising news this week with a security update for the dinosaur device.

Google to shut down spam backdoor for political campaigns

Google plans to discontinue a pilot programme that let some political campaign emails bypass spam filters in Gmail at the end of this month, the media reported.

In September last year, the tech giant launched the program in response to Republican (a US political committee) accusations that its algorithms disproportionately flag conservative fundraising emails as spam, reports The Verge.”We will keep investing in spam-filtering technologies that protect people from unwanted messages while still allowing senders to reach the inboxes of users who want to see those messages,” Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, was quoted as saying. With this program, candidates, political party committees, and leadership political action committees are exempt from Google’s spam detection systems, said the report.

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