Microsoft Launches Loop, a New Project Management and Collaboration App

The launch sees Microsoft expand into the project planning market, where it'll compete with the likes of monday.com.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Microsoft has launched Loop, a collaboration and workplace productivity app that is already being touted as a rival to Notion.

Loop, which Microsoft defines as a “transformative co-creation experience”, is available to Microsoft and Azure Active Directory account holders, with an app for smartphones thought to be in the pipeline already.

Whether Loop will be able to compete with Notion – as well as some of the more fully-fledged and well-established project management programs like monday.com – remains unclear at present.

Loop: What You Need to Know

“In our current landscape, we encounter more ambiguity and uncertainty than ever, requiring us to co-create in fast-paced and dynamic environments,” Microsoft explains in a blog post announcing the launch of the new application.

That’s where Loop comes in. Loop, Microsoft says, will help you “organize everything you need for your project into a single workspace and even does the searching for you to kick it off.”

It’s as simple as adding a workspace title and other relevant keywords and Microsoft Loop will recommend what documents, files, and other assets to add to the workspace. The app then organizes all of your resources into an easily-understandable structure.

Key Aspects of Loop

To deal with the evolving needs of a project, Microsoft Loop will let you easily start new pages with pre-made templates, utilizing a simple drag-and-drop interface to make the process as intuitive as possible for users.

You can add checklists, numbered lists, images, tables, and other page components with Loop’s “insert menu”, which can be summoned by typing a “/” as pictured below (image credit: Microsoft). Files can be quickly attached by typing “@”.

Loop screenshot

Moving information from Loop across to different apps seems like a piece of cake too. “Turn any content on a Loop page into a component, then simply copy and paste across M365 apps, including Teams chat, Outlook, Whiteboard, and rolling out for Word for the web” Microsoft explains.

Will Loop Be the Next Big Productivity App?

Loop certainly looks promising as a workplace productivity and project-planning application. Functionally, it looks like you’ll be able to achieve many of the same things as you can using a program like Notion.

Loop’s UI is certainly impressive, leaning into the cozy yet minimalistic look utilized by project management software such as Asana, rather than the more spreadsheet-based interfaces favored by the likes of Smartsheet.

However, it’s unlikely to unseat industry giants like monday.com any time soon.

For one, Loop is currently only available for Microsoft Azure Directory and Microsoft Account users – but then again, if it proves useful, there’s no reason it couldn’t be made generally available to everyone, regardless of whether they have a Microsoft account.

Secondly, an app like ClickUp, Wrike, or monday.com will still be the better option for highly complex project management at present, with intricate task management features and the capacity to handle data-intensive projects being worked on by multiple teams.

You can get started with Loop today by checking out Microsoft’s public preview.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Windows 11 Snipping Tool Exposes Cropped Parts of Images

The vulnerability, also discovered on some Google Pixel phones, has been dubbed "the Acropalypse" by security researchers.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Security researchers have discovered that the Windows 11 snipping tool doesn’t actually delete the parts of the image users choose cut out, allowing anyone in possession of a cropped picture to partially recover the full, uncropped version.

The news broke just hours after it was revealed that Google Pixel phones have had the same, severe vulnerability present for over five years.

While tools like VPNs help users claw back a modicum of privacy in their online lives, stories like this provide a sobering reminder of the importance of discovering and patching vulnerabilities baked into the features and functions of the operating systems we use.

Windows Snipping Tool Exposes Users

This week, security researchers have shown that Windows 11 tools for screenshotting and cropping images retain a lot of the original image data, allowing any recipient of such a photo to regenerate significant portions of the initial image.

Instead of simply deleting or removing the parts of the image a given user has cropped, Windows just leaves the unused data behind – which explains why images cropped with the Window snipping tool often appear to be the same size as uncropped originals.

Vulnerabilities researcher Will Doormann shows how you can confirm this on Twitter:

PNG file signatures always finish with an “IEND” chunk at the end – data appearing after this is ignored by image viewers displaying the image. However, unused data that corresponds to cropped parts of images remains attached, allowing anyone with a Hex editor to recover it.

Cropping with a Google Pixel – and in Google Docs – is Also Risky

Worryingly, this news comes shortly after a similar flaw was revealed in Google Pixel Phones, which has been exploitable for around five years. In theory, any cropped image sent in that time period could be partially reset.

However, Google was made aware of the vulnerability in January 2023, and a patch was rolled out on March 13.

This isn’t the only time that this sort of vulnerability has cropped up in recent months. Last month, whistleblowers were warned that there are multiple ways to uncover the original version of a cropped image within Google Docs.

Even if a user doesn’t have edit permission, pressing copy on the image and then pasting it into another Google Doc will allow anyone to reset the image to its original size.

The Acropalypse: A Dark Day for User Privacy

Now that we know this genre of vulnerability affects multiple cropping tools, it makes you wonder what other image-capturing features also suffer from a similar flaw.

We’d strongly advise against cropping and sending images containing sensitive information in Windows 11 until this issue is fully resolved and Microsoft can conclusively show that the original image data isn’t being transferred along with cropped images in their respective programs.

Aside from this, there’s very little you can do, other than ensure your systems are updated with the latest security patches.

Of course, vulnerabilities like this aren’t the only threat to your privacy you may run into while using your phone or computer – and unlike the issue at hand, there are things you can do to mitigate many of them.

A VPN, for instance, will significantly enhance your privacy while you use the internet – and unlike Windows snipping tool, it won’t actually leak your data. So make sure you’re staying up to date with the latest vulnerabilities and data breaches, while investing in software that will actually protect you.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

80% of US Jobs At Risk Of Being Impacted by AI

Engineers, accountants, writers and analysts are just some of the jobs listed most likely to be affected, new study reveals.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

New research reveals that 80% of jobs in the US will be impacted by AI, with engineers, accountants, writers, journalists and analysts some of the most likely to be affected.

The study from the University of Pennsylvania found that workers who earn up to $80,000 a year in Tech and Finance were the most likely to be exposed.

The news comes as 90% of businesses are turning their attention to AI and company layoffs are at an all-time high – raising the question of whether jobs will be replaced by AI.

Jobs Most Likely To Be Impacted by AI

A new study released by the University of Pennsylvania, revealed the 80% of jobs in the US will be impacted by AI. The study, which uses data from the the US Department of Labor, found that ‘at least 10% of tasks will be affected by GPT language models’, and ‘19% of workers may see at least 50% of their tasks impacted’.

Of those roles affected, “occupations with the highest exposure” include mathematicians, financial analysts,  tax preparers, accountants and engineers, as well as public relations specialists, interpreters and translators, poets, lyricists and creative writers.

The study, which looks at the implications of GPT tools on US workers, found that industries that rely on processing information, programming and writing skills were most likely to be exposed to generative AI, as they generally align best with GPT’s current capabilities.

Will AI Investment Put Your Job At Risk?

It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Even though the potential for tasks to be affected by AI is extensive, it’ll still need to be incorporated into broader systems in order to realize its full potential, and that’s no easy feat.

Companies like Microsoft have been making this easier by releasing new AI-powered Microsoft tools, updating its software, and granting access to its Azure OpenAI service. Google has been doing the same by adding its own generative AI capabilities on Google Workspace.

Still, the study does highlight that ‘predicting the need for human oversight with AI is challenging, especially for tasks where model capabilities equal or surpass human levels’, so the adoption of AI tools in some businesses may be slow. Microsoft isn’t concerned though, as it continues to push more AI powered tools, despite laying off its entire team responsible for ethical use of AI software.

Will My Job Be Replaced By AI?

While some businesses on Wall Street are showing AI resistance, others, like Citigroup are looking for innovative ways to streamline and automate processes by investing in tech – and laying off hundreds of staff in the process. Still, the jury’s out on whether or not your job will be replaced by AI.

The technical capacity for GPTs to make US workers more efficient, according to the study, is evident, but researchers also point out that it’s important to recognize that other factors can influence productivity as well, including social, economic, and labor regulations.

Tools like project management software already automate business workflows, and 73% of managers agree that flexible work arrangements improve productivity too, however a combination of the two could prove to be a happy marriage.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Companies That Have Ended Fully Remote Work in 2024 and 2023

As hybrid models become the new gold standard, here's a list of companies that have scrapped WFH policies this year.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

As the dust settles from Covid-19, business leaders around the globe have been faced with a very difficult decision — continue with remote work, get employees back to the office, or a hybrid solution.

For many companies, like Amazon and Microsoft, ditching the WFH experiment in favor of in-person collaboration couldn’t have come sooner, with 14% of Fortune 100 companies issuing return-to-office mandates as early as 2021. Yet, as others weigh up the impact of ditching remote working, and face increasing pushback from their staff, mandatory returns have been delayed.

To shine a light on companies that have made recent U-turns on remote work, here’s our regularly updated list of companies that have decided to bid farewell to the practice.

Which Companies Have Ditched Fully Remote Working?

Companies that have ended remote work include:

  • Starbucks
  • General Motors
  • Disney
  • Walmart
  • Dell
  • Amazon
  • Activision Blizzard
  • United Parcel Service
  • Meta
  • Grindr
  • IBM
  • Ubisoft
  • Roblox
  • Infosys
  • Rockstar
  • Nothing
  • PwC

Is your company about to end remote work? Here are 7 telltale signs.

Starbucks

  • January 2023

In January, Starbucks’s CEO, Howard Schultz, demanded all corporate employees to return to the office for at least three days a week, after trying and failing to implement a one-day return last September. According to a memo issued by Schultz, data revealed that staffers weren’t previously adhering to this lax requirement, forcing him to take this change of strategy more seriously.

As part of the CEO’s effort to “rebuild” the companies office culture, this new measure took effect on January 30, with all workers that live within commuting distance from the company’s Seattle HQ now being expected to work from the office Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and a third day of their choice. Employees that report to regional offices are expected to follow similar orders, although their contact days have not been mandated.

General Motors

  • January 2023

Last October the Detroit-based car manufacturer General Motors announced it would be launching a return to work plan for salaried workers, starting from January 30. This was a huge U-turn from the company’s former policy, which allowed them to work remotely up until 2023.

The company is expected its 53,000 salaried workers to return to the office for an average of three days a week. However, GM’s approach isn’t as firm as its contemporaries, with the manufacturer telling its workers that it will listen to their feedback, and incorporate it into the implementation of its plans moving forward.

Disney

  • January 2023

After re-joining the company in November of last year, Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger asked workers to return to the office from Monday through to Thursday this January, as part of an attempt to improve the company’s “creativity”, “culture” as well as the careers of his employees.  Technically though, this wasn’t the first time the company tried to move away from remote working, as the mandate replaced a three-day-a-week policy that had previously been in place since 2021.

Unfortunately for the CEO, this policy change wasn’t welcomed with open arms, with 2,300 Disney employees signing a petition in response which asked Iger to reconsider the policy due to its “unintended consequences” that could cause “long-term hard to the company”. This pushback hasn’t seemed to make much of a difference though, as Disney’s four-day-a-week policy is still in place.

Walmart

  • February 2023

Not one to be outdone, in addition to requiring all of its white-collar workers to return to the workplace two days a week, Walmart has also decided to ask hundreds of employees to relocate cities, as it closes its Austin, Carlsbad, and Portland offices to recover costs.

In what is being described by the company’s CEO, Doug McMillon, as a “location strategy”, the company told Wall Street Journal that some relocated workers will be allowed to become full-time remote workers. However, for the majority of Walmart staffers, failing to move to the cities with remaining hub offices will result in them being ejected from the company.

Dell

  • May 2023/September 2024

Dell employees have had a rough few months. With thousands of layoffs announced back in February, those staff that remain have now been told that they must return to the office.

Reported by The Register, COO Jeff Clarke sent a memo to staff stating that those living within an hour’s commute of the office should be making the journey a minimum of three days a week. This move comes after a previous commitment to a more robust working from home policy, which saw CEO Michael Dell say in 2020 ‘I think if you were skeptical about work from home, you probably aren’t now. And I think we’ve all learned a lot in the last few months here. ‘ At the time the company also pointed out the environmental impact of the move to remote, citing the reduction in greenhouse emissions typically caused by commuting.

In September 2024 it took things a step further and told its Global Sales Team that they are expected to be in the office five days a week.

Amazon

  • May 2023/September 2024

In February, Amazon decided to ditch its WFH policy by asking all workers to return to the office for at least three days a week, starting from May 1. Put simply, workers were not happy. In response to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s, mandate, employees drafted an internal petition to fight the mandate, urging him to consider a new, more flexible, working policy.

In March, the company doubled down on its decision, with an internal Amazon FAQ revealing that the three-day return was still going to be implemented with little flexibility. While Amazon just appears to be moving with current trends in the tech industry, the new policy marks a major change from its pandemic-era policy which let managers decide if and how frequently their teams needed to be in the office.

In September 2024 the company announced it was ditching hybrid altogether, telling staff to return to the office five days a week.

Activision Blizzard

  • April & July 2023

It may be responsible for some of the biggest games on the planet, including World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, but when it comes to remote working, Activision Blizzard isn’t playing games.

Staff in the Activision arm were told that they had to return to the office on the 10th of April, while Blizzard employees have until July before they need to start commuting again. Game producers at Blizzard been vocal on Twitter about the policy leading to a staff exodus.

United Parcel Service

  • June 2023

Another Fortune 500 company, UPS, decided to switch to a hybrid work schedule at the start of this year. The delivery service mandated that all of its white-collar-based employees return to its Atlanta office for at least three days a week. The decision impacted around 3,600 UPS workers, most of whom have worked remotely since the onset of Covid-19.

UPS has aimed to make this experience as pleasant as possible for its staffers by revamping its cafeteria and ensuring senior leadership is available for feedback. What’s more, unlike Disney and Amazon, UPS claims that this decision was based on the will of its workers, with its vice president Chris Bartlett explaining “we listened, looked at the needs of the business, looked at people’s feedback and selected what we thought was the best course of action.”

Meta

  • June 2023

In June 2023, Meta announced a change of policy that would require all office-based workers to return to their respective offices for at least three days a week, effective from September 5.

This came two months after the social media company stopped advertising “remote” or “out of the office” options on job listings, and encouraged workers to embrace a hybrid model.

Meta has been one of the biggest proponents of flexible policies since it first welcomed remote working during Covid-19. However, with the average Meta employee averaging around 2.2 days in the office at the time of the announcement, this switch-up isn’t likely to change weekly routines too drastically.

Grindr

  • August 2023

LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr has given its employees an ultimatum – return to the office or lose your job. According to a form sent out to workers on August 4, employees needed to confirm by August 17 whether they were going to move within 50 miles of Grindr’s office spaces – based in Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco – or sacrifice their job by the end of the month.

These actions come just weeks after Grindr employees attempted to unionize under the Communications Workers of America — a development that Grindr executives have called a “bizarre coincidence”.

IBM

  • September 2023

The computing giant told staffers they had to return to the office three days a week, just a week before the mandate was applied. The company has also appointed ‘Software Executive Focals’ – essentially staff who have been given the role of cajoling others back to the office.

Currently, 1 in 4 IBM employees are working in the office three days a week – IBM wants to get that up to 3 in 4 by next month.

Ubisoft

  • September 2023

On September 11th, games publisher Ubisoft called it’s 4,000 workers based at its Montreal location to return to the office, ending a three year remote work policy. Employees are expected to spend at least two days a week in the office

Still working remotely? Read our guide to the best remote collaboration tools for advice on getting it right.

Roblox

  • October 2023

Game platform Roblox followed the lead of other companies by asking their workforce to return to the office for three days a week in October. This represents a huge U-turn in the company’s policy, with Roblox employees previously being able to work “primarily remotely” since May 2022. The crackdown requires workers to come into the San Mateo, California headquarters on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and those who don’t comply will be offered a severance package.

Infosys

  • November 2024

India’s second most prominent software services exporter Infosys flip-flopped its remote policy in November, demanding that some of its workers return to the office with an unusual hybrid work pattern of 10 days in the office each month.  CEO of Infosys Salil Parekh stresses that while in some instances its “better that everyone is working together” the flexible approach is still important, given the company’s current work-from-home infrastructure.

Rockstar

  • February 2024

Rockstar may be best known for its Grand Theft Auto series, but when it comes to remote working, the company isn’t playing games. The gaming behemoth announced in February that it expected workers to return to the office five days a week, as it wraps up production on the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI.

In an internal memo, seen by Bloomberg, Rockstar Head of Publishing Jenn Kolbe cited productivity and security reasons for the demand. Rockstar may be right to be anxious, as leaks of early gameplay footage have already found their way online.

It remains to be seen whether Rockstar will reintroduce its remote work policy once Grand Theft Auto VI is released.

Nothing

  • August 2024

Smartphone manufacturer Nothing delivered some unwelcome news in August, when it told staff that they were expected to return to the office. Unlike some of the other companies in our list, employees were expected to return for a full five days, with hybrid being ditched entirely.

CEO,  Carl Pei, stated that the reason for this decision was due to the fact that the company was only at ‘0.01’ of its potential, and that to accelerate, employees needed to be in-office to collaborate and problem solve with each other.

PwC

  • September 2024

In September, PwC told its UK staff that they will be expected back in the office three days a week, come January 2025. Not only that, but the company will also be monitoring their movements to ensure that they are complying with the mandate.

In a statement about the move, a managing partner at PwC stated that the previous approach to hybrid work was ‘open to interpretation’.

Companies That Rolled Out Return-to-Office Mandates in 2022

While lots of companies have put off asking workers back until this year, the majority of businesses – including 32% of Fortune 100 companies – revoked their WFH policies in 2022.

Notable examples include Apple, which pushed back its three-day return from September 2021 to early 2022 amid widespread backlash from its employees, and Uber, which similarly delayed its hybrid policy until April 2022 in response to the Omicron virus.  Salesforce also started calling some workers back into the office from the 1st day of 2022, and has since demanded those in customer-facing roles to make the commute at least four days a week.

Other companies that retracted their WFH policies include Goldman Sachs, which demanded employees to return to the office for the full five days from March 2022, Capital One, which opened its offices for the first time since the pandemic last September, and Citigroup, which requested that all vaccinated employees return to in-person work from February 2022.

When Elon Musk took over as Twitter CEO last year, the writing was on the wall. A known opponent of remote working, Musk had already demanded Tesla staff return to the office, and sure enough, did the same when he arrived at Twitter (as well as firing over half the company).

In 2021 accounting group KPMG told its employees that it only expected them in the office two days a week. However, by December of the same year, the company instructed staff they must return to the office for at least four days a week, amid concerns around its audit quality.

As the economic climate remains uncertain and major companies continue to feel the crunch, it’s inevitable more business leaders will embrace hybrid models to maximize profitability. Yet, the business landscape remains divided, and thanks to seamless web conferencing tools lots of companies still welcome remote working.

Read our guide to companies that offer remote work to discover which companies are resisting mandatory office returns.


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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Google’s Own Answer to ChatGPT ‘Bard’ Launches Today

As the generative AI race picks up speed, Google rolls out an "experimental" chatbot for select users.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

As Microsoft strengthens its investment into ChatGPT, Google has released its own rival to the AI-driven chatbot, ‘Bard,’ although it’s currently only available to a limited number of users over the age of 18.

Google’s Bard feature has encountered many bumps down the road since being unveiled this February, including making a very public error in its first public demo. However, it does appear to have a major selling point over ChatGPT, however, as the chatbot is able to access up-to-date search information through its handy “Google It” button.

The new AI feature is far from polished, and is being considered “an experiment” by Google staffers, but here’s what we know so far.

Google Opens Early Acess to ChatGPT Rival, Bard

Not one to be left in the dust of competitors like Microsoft, Google has jumped the gun by releasing its version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT to select users.

Just like its forerunner ChatGPT, Bard is a conversational AI chatbot that is powered by a sophisticated language model. The platform can also be used in a similar way, by giving users the opportunity to type into a text box and ask questions on any topic they choose.

However, unlike the original chatbot, Bard uses Google’s own Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA), which prides itself on creating responses that are more human-generated than ChatGPT. Additionally, Bard features a “Google It” button, which utilizes large swathes of live search data and produces three responses for each prompt, allowing users to select the version they prefer.

 

Google Bard new AI chatbot

While Google has been working on this custom technology for some time, Google senior product director Jack Krawczyk tells the BBC that Bard should be seen as “an experiment” and a “launchpad for creativity” rather than a finished product.

“Make no mistake, this is an extremely cautious product launch, about as far away from the former ‘move fast and break things’ bravado of the early days of big tech as it is possible to get.” – Google senior product director, Jack Krawczyk

This cautious sentiment was echoed by Google’s head of research, Zoubin Ghahramani, who told the publication that “like any method, these guardrails will occasionally fail” when referring to the chatbot’s potential responses to offensive prompts.

However, polished or not, the release of Google Bard represents a pretty major step forward for the search giant. But who exactly is it available to?

How Can I Use Google’s Bard?

If you’re interested in testing out Google’s new smart companion before it hits the masses, you need to join a waitlist at bard.google.com. If you’re successful, you’ll receive an email that will notify you of the steps to take next.

Google hasn’t released a timeline for its wider rollout yet, so it’s impossible to say when Bard will be available for the general public. However, the company’s CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that chatbot will be making changes to Google Search soon.

And in the meantime, if you’re still itching to test out generative AI, but aren’t a fan of OpenAI’s solution, check out our guide to ChatGPT’s top alternatives here.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Microsoft Bing’s New ‘DALL-E’ Feature Lets You Create AI Images

Is Microsoft's slick AI image-creation feature enough to give it the edge over Google search?
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Updated on March 23, 2023

As the AI race intensifies, Microsoft Bing has just added another tool to its arsenal — an image creator that runs off an “advanced version” of OpenAI’s DALL-E system, a deep learning model that produces images from prompts.

The new image creator will be integrated into Bing Chat, Microsoft’s version of ChatGPT, and will let users make original, photorealistic images by adding a description, context, and an art style of their choice.

With Google processing 6.9 billion searches daily, compared to Bing’s modest 900 million, Microsoft isn’t expecting to take over the giant’s market dominance any time soon. However, with Google’s Apprentice Bard falling by the wayside, can we expect users to jump ship?

A New AI Photo Generation Feature Is Coming to Microsoft Bing

As Microsoft strengthens its investment in OpenAI technology, its search engine Bing has just launched a feature that let users create images through generative AI.

According to Yusef Mehdi, Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, the new tool is powered by an advanced version of OpenAI’s DALL-E, which is an AI system that creates hyper-realistic images and art from language descriptions.

“Powered by an advanced version of the DALL∙E model from our partners at OpenAI, Bing Image Creator allows you to create an image simple by using your own words to describe the picture you want to see.” – Microsoft blog post

Just like DALL-E, the applications of Bing’s new feature are essentially limitless, and it’s fairly straightforward to use. Users just need to describe the kind of image they want to create on Bing Chat and provide some additional context if necessary.

This new capability will be available to everyone using the new Bing preview and is initially being introduced in the platform’s Creative mode. However, those who don’t have access to Bing Preview are also able to use the feature for text-to-image creation at bing.com/create.

Bing's new image generation feature

The roll-out of this new feature comes just a month after Microsoft launched Bing Chat, an AI-powered assistant that has already facilitated over 100 million conversations. According to the company’s blog post, this DALL-E adjacent feature aims to elevate the chat experience further by making it more visual.

Could Bing’s Enhanced AI Tools Give it the Edge Over Google?

As Microsoft takes leaps and strides forward in the field of generative AI — thanks in no small part to OpenAI’s cutting-edge technology — the same can’t quite be said about Google.

Despite claiming to be an “AI-first” company, Google’s share prices plummeted when their own ChatGPT-like bot Bard failed to answer a simple request in a live demo. Following this embarrassment, and the storm of negative PR it created, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai sent out an internal memo that instructed company employees to dedicate two to four hours to improving the chatbot each week.

On top of adding pressure to its workforce, the search monolith also recently invested $300 million in the AI start-up Anthropic, which was founded by a former employee of OpenAI. This investment falls majorly short of Microsoft’s recent $1 billion partnership with OpenAI, and it shows in Google’s limited chatbot technology.

However, despite Google’s shortcomings, Mark Riedl, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology doesn’t think the search engine has anything to worry about.

“I do not believe the new version of Bing leveraging large language model technology will turn out to be a serious threat to Google’s search business” he tells The Guardian “Google has large language model technology that is at least on par with that from Microsoft and OpenAI.”

With AI technology considered to be the next digital frontier, the race to be the default AI search engine is anyone’s game. Yet, as investments in tech picks up the pace, one thing is certain — we’re going to be seeing a lot more advances in the field moving forwards.


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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

The FDIC Plans to Auction Off Silicon Valley Bank

The bank failed on March 10, and the FDIC couldn't find a buyer for it last week. Now, auctions are the next step.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Silicon Valley Bank is officially gone.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has decided to break up the commercial bank, and will hold two auctions to sell both SVB’s traditional deposits unit and its private bank.

The bank failed on March 10 amid a tightening tech economy, but the FDIC was seeking a buyer for it last week. Now that it hasn’t found one, auctions are the next step.

What Killed SVB?

Until this month, SVB was the 16th largest bank in the US and Silicon Valley’s number-one largest bank, at least by deposits. At the end of 2022, regulators says, SVB held $209 billion in assets plus $175 billion in deposits.

So how did it collapse? Well, the long explanation would take too long, but the short one is that all banks work by getting funds through deposits and giving funds through loans. SVB was a popular bank for startups and venture funding. Across the last few years, startups in general had a lot of liquidity — IPOs, venture capital investments, acquisitions, and other fundraising activities were booming — so they made a lot of deposits.

But then interest rates started to rise sharply, and investors started wanting to have money now rather than in the far future. This made startups, which tend to burn money now in order to possibly make ten times more in a decade or two, look like a bad investment. And since SVB wasn’t making as many bets on credit through loans, it was making more bets on interest rates through securities, and higher interest rates hurt it there, too.

When SVB sold a portfolio of securities to Goldman Sachs at a $1.8 billion loss, it spooked its startups, who then triggered a run on the bank, just like that one scene in It’s a Wonderful Life.

How Are People Responding to SVB Collapse?

High interest rates tend to hurt frothier industries, which is a term that could accurately describe the last decade of technology businesses. Since SVB bet big on startups, it was hurt more than other banks were by the industry’s belt-tightening.

But many are arguing that the bank’s trigger-happy clients are really to blame for the lender’s collapse, since none of them were willing to wait out the crisis and instead made it worse:

Whoever is to blame, the outcome is that the FDIC is essentially stripping the failed bank for funds to go towards paying back investors.

It is now seeking bids for Silicon Valley Private Bank from now until March 22, and will seek bids for the bridge bank (which holds assets and deposits) another few days, until March 24.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Report: Disney Could Cut 4,000 Jobs Next Month

Disney has reportedly directed its managers to plan out budget cuts and put together lists of employees to be laid off.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

The Magic Kingdom might be losing a magic 4,000 jobs, according to a new report that says Disney is considering another round of layoffs for April 2023.

Disney previously slimmed its workforce by 7,000 positions in February, but the entertainment conglomerate doesn’t appear to be impervious to the tech world’s ongoing second rounds of layoffs.

If the new report proves true, Disney is joining Meta and Amazon, both of which have recently announced thousands of jobs soon to be cut, and all of whom have now issued two large rounds of layoffs in recent months.

Disney Aims to Save $5.5 Billion

The report, first covered by Business Insider, won’t clear up everything: We still don’t know if the layoffs will be arriving in batches or all at once, for instance.

But according to Insider, Disney has already directed its managers to plan out budget cuts and put together lists of employees to be laid off. It’s all part of CEO Bob Iger’s plan to eventually reach $5.5 billion in spending cuts — the same longterm goal that the first round of cuts was pushing toward.

In addition to the estimated 4,000 employees that will be trimmed, Disney expects more cuts to come from open roles, the report says.

Disney’s Future Plans

Igor has a sweeping plan to restructure Disney.

The entertainment giant is currently doing a lot of things he doesn’t like: Following his initial February call with investment analysts in which he first announced his plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, Igor has said that Disney charges too much for theme parks, that it doesn’t charge enough for its streaming service, that Marvel makes too many sequels as opposed to original character introductions, and that he might sell Disney’s stake in Hulu.

All these plans to shake up the Disney model help to set these new job cuts apart from the rest of the tech world.

We’ve covered plenty of massive layoffs at the biggest tech companies in the past few months, and most of them tend to stick to opaque buzzwords. Amazon likes calling the economy “uncertain,” while Meta says it’s aiming for “efficiency.” Disney, however, is changing how it operates.

Will that be enough to boost efficiency amid an uncertain economy? Well, it has worked out for the entertainment company in the past.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Amazon Will Lay Off 9,000 More Employees

The cuts impact four divisions of the ecommerce company: Amazon Web Services, advertising, Twitch, and human resources. 
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Amazon is cutting 9,000 jobs, CEO Andy Jassy has announced in a memo.

The new layoffs are in addition to a lengthy round of job cuts that spanned from November of last year to this January and impacted a total of 18,000 people.

It’s yet another deep cut to a rapidly consolidating industry, and just the latest sign that the tech business is no longer booming.

Amazon Reduces Web Services and Ad Divisions

The 9,000 jobs will be lost across four divisions of the sprawling ecommerce company, Jassy says: cloud tech division Amazon Web Services, gaming division Twitch, advertising, and human resources.

Previous cuts have already reduced the company’s more experimental divisions including staffers at the company’s physical retail stores, as well as trimming the general headcount.

Now, however, the cuts are hitting some of Amazon’s core business models. Amazon Web Services generated revenues of about $80 billion in 2022 alone, while the company reported $37.7 billion in advertising services worldwide during the same year.

Amazon Says It Is “Uncertain” About the Future

The reasoning behind the new job cuts is identical to the previous reasons given for the previous cuts. Early in January, he cited the “uncertain economy,” and his new blog post announcing the latest round of cuts this week again notes the “uncertain economy.”

Here’s how he phrases it:

“However, given the uncertain economy in which we reside, and the uncertainty that exists in the near future, we have chosen to be more streamlined in our costs and headcount.”

He also notes that the company didn’t announce the two rounds of cuts at the same time because their analysts were still working on the issue… and he notes that they remain working on it. The apparent implication is that a third round of job cuts may be in the future.

The Tech Industry Layoffs

Tech companies have been on an employee-reduction spree for more than a few months, and the timing behind Amazon’s huge 9,000-job layoff means that it isn’t even the biggest one this month. Just last week, Facebook parent company Meta laid off 10,000 people, adding to the then-unprecedented 11,000 employees it had laid off in November.

Many others have joined since: We’ve tracked all the biggest tech layoffs across 2022 and this year, with big names including Salesforce, Twitter, Tesla, Dell, Shopify, Microsoft, Netflix, and others.

Interestingly, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used his own reoccurring phrase in the announcement for Meta’s last round of layoffs, repeating a version of the word “efficiency” about 20 times. CEOs like Zuckerberg and Jassy may not have exhaustive explanations for their company’s actions, but they do have memorable ones.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

FBI: Critical Infrastructure Hit 860 Times by Ransomware in 2022

Despite a decrease in attacks, "ransomware remains a serious threat to the public and to our economy", the FBI says.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

The FBI’s Internet Crime Report reveals that organizations that provide critical infrastructure for the United States were hit 860 times by ransomware attacks throughout 2022.

A myriad of different ransomware gangs are to blame, with some scripts being used over 100 times to attack healthcare, financial services, and telecommunications providers that the United States considers vital to its national economic security.

With ransomware attacks and data breaches only becoming more common, it’s important you equip your business with antivirus software, and train your staff to spot phishing attacks.

Ransomware Gangs Target Critical US Companies

In 2022, there were 870 different complaints made to the Internet Crime Complaint Center relating to 860 ransomware incidents, the Internet Crime Report details.

The FBI expects the real number of ransomware attacks to hit critical infrastructure to be much higher than that figure, however, as not all incidents are reported.

Lockbit ransomware was used 149 times in these attacks, while ALPHV/BlackCat was used 114 times, and Hive ransomware a total of 87 times.

Ragnar Locker ransomware breached at least 52 organizations deemed critical, while Cuba ransomware hit 49 U.S. entities, and BlackByte ransomware featured in three different attacks.

Sectors Targeted the Most by Ransomware

Out of all the industries that provide critical infrastructure, healthcare was hit the hardest by ransomware attacks, with 210 reported throughout 2022, almost a quarter of the total.

157 targeted critical manufacturing, while government facilities were on the receiving end of 115 ransomware attacks. Information technology (107), financial services (88) and commercial facilities (58) were also among the highest target.

Organizations that deal with energy, communications, and transportation were hit a combined 64 times by threat actors.

Protecting Your Company from Ransomware Attacks

There are various steps you can take to better prepare your company – and employees – for ransomware attacks.

Antivirus software, for example, is a must-have, and now many providers offer specific features that are included to prevent ransomware from wreaking havoc.

However, password managers are a crucial too, as these will make your employee’s account credentials much more robust to other kinds of cyber attacks.

Importantly though, training staff so they can spot the warning signs of a suspicious email, and know how to respond in the event of a ransomware attack, is equally as important, as is ensuring all of your software is up to date.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Internal Amazon FAQ Tells of Strict Back to Office Mandate

Amazon's employees are already upset about the company's return-to-work plans, and this will do nothing to quell tensions.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

An internal Amazon staff FAQ session strongly indicates that the company is going to approach enforcing its back-to-office mandate with little flexibility.

Amazon’s decision to require corporate workers to attend their assigned office a minimum of three times a week sparked outrage when it was announced last month, and the responses from the corporate will likely add fuel to the fire.

The return-to-work policy refers to corporate employees only – Amazon has around 300,000 of them on its payroll, many of whom have been dialing in to virtual meetings for the past three years.

Amazon: Return to the Office, and Relocate If Necessary

The internal FAQ, seen by The Business Journals, consisted of 28 questions in total – including one querying whether workers who lived significant distances from their assigned office still need to make their way in after the mandate has started.

In response to the question, Amazon said that it will be “allowing employees extra time until you can relocate back to [their] assigned area or transferring to another team near your location.” Both options have the capacity to cause major disruption to individual employees, who will be anxiously awaiting April 14, which is when they find out precisely where they’ve been assigned.

Many staff members have complained about the date a company Slack channel created by employees who wanted to air their grievances relating to the policy, which they say is way too late to be telling them.

Amazon Managers Told to Bring Teams Back Together

Another response revealed that Amazon wants its managers “to work towards having as many of their team members together in one physical location as possible”.

This effectively makes it part of an Amazon manager’s role to bring teams that have moved apart since the pandemic back together, another signal that there’s going to be little wiggle room for employees who want to circumvent the policy.

What’s more, remote-working exceptions for specific individuals – which used to simply need managerial approval – will now have to be signed off by the board.

Amazon’s Return to Office Policy: Unnecessarily Stringent?

There are aspects of Amazon’s return-to-office mandate that make it seem a little bit like a mandate for mandate’s sake.

For example, employees are expected to report to their assigned offices even if they are the only members of their team reporting to any given location.

This seems excessive when you consider that virtually every employee will have access to video conferencing software and a sufficient internet connection.

Returning to the office can have its benefits, but forcing competent employees who have up until this point performed commendably in their roles (well enough, at least, for the company not to lay them off) into the office won’t improve already souring relationships between managers and the rest of the company.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

OpenAI Release GPT-4: But Is It Better Than ChatGPT 3.5?

GPT-4 is here, and creators OpenAI says it's more creative and intelligent than AI models they've previously produced.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

OpenAI has just released GPT-4, the latest iteration of the artificial intelligence language model that powers ChatGPT.

OpenAI founder Sam Altman has called GPT-4 the company’s “most capable and aligned model yet”.  It can now understand image and text inputs, ace complex exams and even build a website from scratch with only basic instructions.

But how does GPT-4 differ from ChatGPT-3.5 and other AI tools, and is it really that much more intelligent? We take a closer look.

GPT-4: A New Look Lanugage Model

GPT-4 is a newer, more powerful version of GPT-3.5, and can take inputs of up to 20,000 words at once.

Impressively, in a demo that took place on Tuesday, GPT-4 was able to explain was able to build a website based on a basic hand-drawn sketch provided by a human. It also proved capable of answering complex tax-related questions, but “hallucinations” – where the model simply serves a false response to a query because it doesn’t know the answer – admittedly still occur.

The multimodal AI model is not available to the general public just yet, although it’s currently being trialed by a corporation called Be My Eyes, a Danish mobile app that provides support for visually impaired people.

GPT-4 is also available today for ChatGPT Plus users, while some of OpenAI’s commercial partners already have GPT-4-powered features, such as Duolingo’s “Explain my Answer” (pictured below) and “Roleplay” tools now available to paid subscribers of the service.

duolingo Explain my Anser feature

How does ChatGPT-4 Differ to ChatGPT-3.5?

OpenAI says that, all things considered, “GPT-4 is more reliable, creative, and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5.”

According to the artificial intelligence lab, GPT-4 “passed a simulated bar exam with a score around the top 10% of test takers”, whereas GPT-3.5 scored within the bottom 10% of test takers.

GPT-4 is also significantly better at enforcing its own content moderation policy than other OpenAI models, responding to disallowed content requests 82% less frequently than ChatGPT-3.5.

As you can see from the test results below (image credit: OpenAI), GPT-4 outperforms GPT-3.5 in a number of key tests OpenAI run on their language models:

chatgpt 4 test results

Using AI in the Workplace

The launch of GPT-4 will be welcomed by the increasingly large list of businesses already using AI in the workplace, most notably ChatGPT.

Though ChatGPT can’t manage projects or conduct a meeting just yet, new business-related use cases are popping up all the time – and in all sorts of industries.

“I use ChatGPT to generate Excel spreadsheet formulas,” senior SEO executive Amy told Tech.co. “When I’ve tried to find Excel formulas on Google, often, the results are not specific enough to what I’m trying to accomplish.”

“I can ask ChatGPT for specifics and explain exactly what I’m looking for in a more detailed way – I can’t do that with Google” she added.

GPT-3.5 is already helping employees all over the world claw back valuable time and energy, and it looks like GPT-4 will be even better equipped to provide cogent responses to inputs for businesses once it becomes generally available.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Fleet Insurance AI Company Fairmatic Raises $46 Million

Keeping drivers safe is a top-three concern for any fleet. Will AI risk profiles help your business?
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Updated on March 23, 2023

AI-powered fleet software startup Fairmatic has just raised $46 million in a Series B funding round led by Battery Ventures. The company, which using AI to create more accurate risk profiles of business vehicles for insurance purposes, now has total funding of $88 million.

In 2023, rising inflation has boosted insurance rates, and those higher rates are driving fleets to look into cost-cutting measures.

That puts Fairmatic in a great position to grow, since all of its value hinges on powering more accurate insurance decisions with AI tracking tools. If your fleet is safe enough, the argument goes, your insurance rates will drop.

Will Your Fleet Save Money With AI Risk Profiles?

Fairmatic works by tracking drivers with an app that monitors driving “events,” from erratic driving to harsh breaking. It identifies ways to improve, and it submits claims as well, automatically detecting crash incidents and analyzing data.

Keeping drivers safe is a top-three concern for any fleet, Tech.co’s research team has learned, and for good reason: Distracted driving is a big problem. 14% of fatal crashes involve the use of cell phones, and this is nearly as large an issue in the business world as it is for drivers who are off the clock.

But AI isn’t a foolproof way to save money on insurance, even if investors will provide $88 million for it. The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), TechCrunch notes, has found that any AI trained on biased data will replicate any discrimination found in that data.

Staying Safe With a Fleet

Fairmatic isn’t the only fleet software to benefit from AI-powered tools. Fleet management systems, or FMS, offer one-stop-shops for all of a fleet’s driver and vehicle tracking needs. Many of them include AI tools, though these are typically on the providers’ higher-end plans.

Our researchers have noted Lytx as the best FMS for AI safety tools specifically, thanks to its “machine vision” tools which are designed to address distracted driving when it happens, while generating video evidence to go along with any harsh driving events.

One of our top-rated overall FMS solutions, Samsara, also includes an AI-powered “Camera ID” tool, which allows dash cams to speed up dispatching by learning to recognize drivers by their faces. And since Samsara starts at an industry-typical $27 per vehicle per month, it’s an example of how AI’s benefits don’t have to cost a bundle and have benefits that can extend beyond insurance.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

The US Government Threatens to Ban TikTok If It Won’t Be Sold

The new order comes from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which pushed for the same ban under Trump.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

The US government has given TikTok an ultimatum of sorts, according to the social video platform: The Biden administration has said it will potentially ban the platform nationwide if the app’s Chinese owners do not divest their stakes.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a business with 20% of its shares owned by its employees and 20% by its founders. Both of those groups live in China, and the US doesn’t like that.

This most recent news is the most extreme reaction yet, but far from the only one. Just this month, two US senators introduced new legislation aimed at giving the government the power it needs to “ban or prohibit” foreign-owned tech platforms, with TikTok at the top of the list.

This new order comes from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the same government group that pushed for the same ban under the Trump administration.

Will TikTok Be Banned?

China’s foreign ministry as already responded to the news, Reuters reports, saying that the US has not yet given any evidence that TikTok threatens national security.

TikTok has another point to make: According to the platform, even assuming national security is an issue, forcing Bytedance to divest won’t solve the problem. From TikTok’s statement:

“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access”

This doesn’t seem like empty saber-rattling, if the previous government actions are any indicator: The White House recently decreed that government agencies can’t have TikTok on federal devices. At the state level, TikTok has been banned as well. More than 30 states won’t let their employees use TikTok on government-owned devices.

TikTok’s Muddy History With the US

The US’s two-party system often disagrees on big topics, but fear of China’s power on the world stage doesn’t appear to be one of them: The previous Trump administration also took a dim view of TikTok and for the same reasons as the Biden administration.

Across 2020, the CFIUS set multiple deadlines requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance. Trump signed an August 2020 executive order to ban TikTok, which was blocked in court. It hadn’t yet been resolved when Biden recinded the order in June 2021.

Now, Biden is back to mulling over a ban. It’s a lot of back-and-forth and throat-clearing, but there’s no denying that the US is suspicous of the app, no matter who’s in charge of the country.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Microsoft Office’s New ‘Copilot’ AI Tool Can Create PowerPoints

The tool draws on large language models, pairing them with the personal user data available within Office apps.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

PowerPoint, Word, Excel: They’re some of the oldest, most established business apps still in use today. And now they’ll be integrated with one of the buzziest, newest tech revolutions.

Microsoft has just announced a new text AI-powered tool, Copilot, which will be available within the business’s popular Microsoft 365 apps.

The tool will function like a chatbot available to users in a sidebar, and could be used to create new text, crawl through a Word document in order to create new PowerPoint presentations, or help users deploy Excel functionality they might otherwise miss.

What Can Copilot Do?

Microsoft revealed the new tool today in a blog post, positioning the tool as a major revolution in office software.

“It works alongside you, embedded in the apps millions of people use every day: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more. Copilot is a whole new way of working.” – Microsoft executive vice president Jared Spataro.

The tool draws on large language models and pairs them with the personal user data available within Office apps. While the tool is already integrated with Microsoft 365 tools today, the new format (called “Business Chat”) adds a chatbot that more directly engages with a user. The functionality has already been tested out, but it now offers a more hands-on way to convert existing user data — already available in tools like your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings and contacts — into new formats.

According to the announcement, users can give the chatbot natural language prompts: Saying “Tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” for example, can generate a new status update based on that morning’s work.

Microsoft doesn’t have a yet set timeline for a Copilot rollout, or any information on pricing and licensing. But it’s coming, the company says, in “the months ahead” to a wide range of products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Viva, and Power Platform, among others.

Will AI Fully Replace Us? Not Yet.

AI is far from a perfectly trustworthy personal assistant, as machine learning can often generate “hallucinations” — perfectly logical-sounding statements that are actually gibberish when fact-checked. Spataro addressed this concern by highlighting that the AI tool works best for creating a “first draft” that users can then adjust as needed.

“Copilot gives you a first draft to edit and iterate on — saving hours in writing, sourcing, and editing time. Sometimes Copilot will be right, other times usefully wrong — but it will always put you further ahead.”

“Usefully wrong” is a great term to keep in mind when dealing with today’s AI. As potentially revolutionizing as any new technology is, keeping humans in the loop remains a key aspect of quality-control.

At the moment, AI tools (particularly text-based chatbots) are a top tech priority. In fact, Google already announced its own AI tool similar to Microsoft’s Copilot this week, making this a clear-cut innovation battle between two tech titans.

Still, Microsoft’s entrenched position as a leading business software provider puts it in the best position to actually help people with its AI tools. Boosting efficiency means less time spent tackling boring office tasks, and that’s a revolution plenty of people can get behind.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

ChatGPT-Like Features Are Coming to Google Docs and Gmail

Google's new features allow users to streamline drafting documents and emails. But do they trump Microsoft's?
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Updated on March 23, 2023

As ChatGPT continues to make ripples across the business landscape, Google is introducing its own generative AI capabilities to its docs and mail platforms to catch up with developments being made by Microsoft 365.

Among the company’s new suite of tools include a “first draft feature” which allows Google Workspace users to generate a customizable outline on any topic they choose, and an “I’m feeling lucky” option which helps Gmail users switch up the tone of their message.

ChatGPT-like technology is already being deployed by companies like Snapchat and Salesforce, but Google’s new generative AI features are set to make the software more accessible than ever. Here’s everything you need to know about Google Workplace’s new toolkit, including how it weighs up to Microsoft’s ChatGPT-driven solutions.

New AI Features Are Being Rolled Out Across Google Docs and Gmail

Less than two months after Microsoft pledged to invest a further $10 billion into ChatGPT technology, Google is ramping up its upping its stakes in generative AI by introducing a range of smart features to a number of its platforms.

According to a recent blog post by Google, the most notable changes will be coming to its Google Docs and Gmail apps, including Google’s new “first draft” feature that allows users to create customizable drafts on any topic they choose, from “job descriptions” to “pirate-themed birthday parties”. Aside from helping users get started with writing, it can also be used to refine and edit text to streamline the writing process further.

“We’re now making it possible for Workspace users to harness the power of generative AI to create, connect, and collaborate like never before.” – Blog post by Google

Another key development is Google’s new “rewrite” capability. For users struggling to strike the right tone, this feature lets users “formalize”, “elaborate”, “shorten”, and “bulletize” their content to fit their desired purpose. Gmail users can even hit the platform’s “I’m feeling lucky” button to try out a new playful voice, marking a pretty major breakthrough for the app.

 

These features are part of a broader effort Google is taking to invest in generative AI technology, with the tech giant releasing similar features for its Google Meets platform and creating its own AI chatbot Bard just last month.

However, with one of Google’s biggest competitors, Microsoft recently launching a slew of intelligent solutions using ChatGPT’s own technology, how do the company’s smart features compare?

Google’s and Microsoft’s Generative AI Race Intensifies

Microsoft’s ties to OpenAI can be traced back to 2019 when the software firm initially invested $1 billion in the lab. Since then, Microsoft has expanded this partnership further, introducing the natural language technology to a range of ventures from its search engine Bing to its workplace collaboration suite Microsoft 365.

Put simply, this investment is paying off. After launching its new ChatGPT-backed search engine Microsoft saw its daily users surge to 100 million – directly challenging Google’s search hegemony. Microsoft 365 users are benefiting from this smart technology too, with the software provider recently launching a number of advanced features to Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

Despite Google’s new smart Workplace features, the company’s AI offering is still on the back foot, with its own chatbot alternative Bard recently attracting embarrassment after failing to answer a simple question during a live demonstration.

So, as Microsoft doubles down on its commitment to generative AI, and an increasing number of companies streamline practices with tools like ChatGPT, the pressure is on Google to close the gap.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Apple Extends Hiring Freeze and Delays Bonuses To Cut Costs

As other big tech companies make major layoffs, Apple is curbing the trend. But how long can this last?
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Updated on March 23, 2023

As the tech sector continues to weather economic headwinds, Apple has reportedly decided to slow down its hiring efforts and postpone handing out promotions and bonuses to existing staff.

The world’s most valuable company is also reportedly keeping a close eye on travel spending and office attendance, as part of an effort to be more “prudent and thoughtful on spending”.

Unlike Meta, which has just announced 10,000 more job cuts, these actions have been taken to reduce how many workers the company let go. However, as demands for certain Apple products slump, it’s uncertain whether Apple will be able to avoid layoffs further down the line.

Apple Extends Hiring Freeze and Delays Payouts For Existing Staff

Apple has announced a series of cost-cutting measures to remain economically viable, as tech stocks continue to tumble and the industry deals with one of its biggest downturns in years.

According to sources in Bloomberg, one of Apple’s major belt-tightening measures involves extending its hiring freeze, which was first implemented back in 2022. This temporary pause on recruiting will now apply to other areas of the company and will suspend hiring for new roles as well as keep vacancies open when workers choose to leave.

Aside from hiring adjournments, Apple is also postponing handing out gratuity to its existing employees. Specifically, the iPhone manufacturer has decided to push back issuing bonuses and promotions from April to October in most corporate divisions, changing it from a bi-annual to an annual practice.

“We’re being very prudent and thoughtful on spending, and we continue to be very deliberate when it comes to hiring.” – Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO

As part of Apple’s CEO Tim Cooks’ vision to be more prudent and thoughtful when it comes to spending, he’s also requiring the company’s senior vice president to sign off on all travel budgets and is doubling down on the company’s three-day-a-week mandate by scrutinizing office attendance.

But changes aren’t just affecting current and prospective staff members. In January of this year, Tim Cook himself requested a pay cut of 40% this year, reducing his annual total compensation to $49 million.

How Long Can Apple Avoid Making Cuts?

As the tech industry continues to be squeezed by escalating inflation rates and the aftermath of the pandemic boom, major firms – from Google to Amazon – have been forced to axe headcounts to remain buoyant.

Yet, as layoffs in the sector exceed 130,000 so far Apple has been able to curb the trend, in part due to its ability to successfully drive up efficiency and productivity and in part due to its profitable business model, which has allowed it to secure a smartphone market share of 48%.

However, even as Apple’s net worth exceeds an eye-watering $3 trillion, solidifying its position as the world’s most valuable company, it may not be able to avoid layoffs forever.

According to Fortune, despite relatively healthy forecasts, Apple’s revenue declined by 5% over the holiday quarter as demands for Macs and wearable devices wave. As a result, Apple decided was forced to cut a large number of contractors last month, marking its second round of layoffs of temporary staff in less than a year.

By cutting back costs where possible, there’s no debate that Apple is making a noble effort to retain its permanent staff. However, as the company continues to contend with the same roadblocks as the rest of the industry, there’s no guarantee on how long this will last.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Meta Confirms 10,000 New Layoffs

These layoffs add to the 11,000 jobs cut from the social media giant in November of 2022.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

The winter of layoffs continues, as Meta announces another round of layoffs that will see 10,000 jobs cut from the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, 2023 is the “year of efficiency” for Meta. So far, that has meant scrapping ideas and firing employees at a staggering rate, echoing mass layoffs at other major tech companies.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like these cuts are going to stop anytime soon, either, with the tech CEO noting that these kinds of economic turmoil could “continue for many years.”

More Layoffs at Meta Confirmed

According to a blog post from the company, Meta is announcing that it will be cutting more jobs from its workforce. It follows rumors from last week that layoffs were incoming for Meta employees.

“Overall, we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired.” – Mark Zuckerberg

As for what these layoffs will look like for the Meta staff, Zuckerberg explained in detail exactly what everyone should expect from the news.

“Here’s the timeline you should expect: over the next couple of months, org leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our orgs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates.” – Mark Zuckerberg

On top of all that, Zuckerberg noted that Meta would be reducing its recruiting team substantially, considering their necessity is limited given the lack of new positions on the horizon.

Meta’s “Year of Efficiency”

When Meta laid off 11,000 employees in November, Mark Zuckerberg also announced that 2023 would be the “year of efficiency” noting that the company would aim to “flatten” the organization in service of a better company.

Zuckerberg continued with this lexicon, using the word “efficiency” or “efficient” approximately 20 times in his blog post about the layoffs.

“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long-term vision.” – Mark Zuckerberg

The year of efficiency has been a notable departure from just 18 months ago, when the controversial CEO announced that the company would be changing its name to Meta in hopes of ushering in the metaverse, a virtual world where people could interact like the real world.

Now, though, the recession has made this pipe dream that much more unlikely, particularly considering Meta has lost almost $14 billion in the process. Suffice to say, these layoffs and cost cutting measures are likely just the start of some serious restructuring over at Meta.


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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Codename P92: Meta Is Making a “Decentralized” Social Media App

Unsatisfied with Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg is looking to add a further string to his bow.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Tech giant Meta, which already has a portfolio that includes some of the world’s most popular social media platforms, is reportedly working on a new, decentralized social app with the codename “P92”. 

Although the plans are vague at the moment – the project seems to be much closer to the ideation phase than completion – reports suggest that users would be expected to log into the new platform with their Instagram account credentials.  

With decentralized social media platforms like Mastodon already up and running, Facebook’s userbase declining for the first time in its history last year and industry stalwarts like Twitter floundering under chaotic management, it feels like there’s never been a better time to make a move like this.

Meta’s New Platform: What We Know

The news that Meta has started a new project – codename P92 – was first reported by the financial news site MoneyControl this week.  

“We’re exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there’s an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests” a spokesperson told the publication. 

The project is being headed up by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, and will require your existing login credentials for the image-sharing platform when you sign-up.

A source close to the project also told MoneyControl that “the plan as of now is that the MVP (minimum viable product) will definitely allow our users to broadcast posts to people on other servers”, but admitted the company is yet to decide whether to allow users “to follow and view the content of people on other servers.”

ActivityPub: the Future of Social Media?

Meta’s new app is going to make use of ActivityPub, a decentralized social networking protocol that powers Mastodon.

The once-small-scale platform was flooded with new sign-ups after Elon Musk’s chaotic acquisition of Twitter, and now has around 1.8 million active users.

Other websites exploring how they can use the ActivityPub Protocol include Flicker, Tumblr, and Flipboard.

It’s not the only protocol being used for the purpose of decentralization, however. The Matrix protocol, for instance, is utilized by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s new app BlueSky and open source communications platform Rocket.chat. 

Meta: Twitter’s Newest Competitor?

With the tumult at Twitter unlikely to die down any time soon, Meta may see this as an opportunity to capitalize on the desire for a new social media platform with similar functionality. 

It’s likely too risky to try and build this into existing Meta platforms like Instagram and Facebook in its entirety, so a brand-new, text-based content app seems like a logical step. 

With Twitter alternatives like Mastodon still in their infancy and Facebook experiencing a user decline for the first time in the company’s almost 20-year history, the fact this “secret” project has suddenly become public at this time could be pre-meditated.

Regardless of how it got to press, we may look back at this news as one of the first real indications of a quantifiable paradigm shift away from traditional social media apps and towards decentralized social media platforms.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

Google One VPN Scans Dark Web For Data Breaches

The new feature will be available to all Google One subscribers from today, as the tech giant expands its VPN offering.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

Google One is adding a new cyber surveillance feature that will allow users to monitor the dark web to see if their personal details have been included in a data breach.

The new feature, launched this week, will roll out to all Google One subscribers in the US, at no extra cost, as part of Google’s virtual personal network —VPN by Google One.

Google One VPN launched in late 2020, but was restricted to US subscribers on Android, with a minimum of 2TB storage. As of today, the virtual private network will be available to all Google One subscribers – plus five other people on your Google One plan, in 22 countries on Android, iOS, Windows and Mac.

What Is Google One VPN?

Google One VPN, known as ‘VPN by Google One’ is Google’s first virtual private network – a security measure designed to hide a user’s IP address, to prevent websites from collecting their data, tracking their location and monitoring their internet activity.

Before yesterday’s announcement, Google VPN was only available on Google One Premium 2TB plans, at an annual cost of $99.99. As of today, the VPN will be available on all Google One plans with 100GB Basic, from $1.99 per month.

With data breaches on the rise, and the VPN market becoming heavily competitive, Google needed to expand its offering in order to capitalize on the grow in demand. With 90% of businesses concerned about cyber security resilience, dark web surveillance may be the feature Google One users need to feel better protected.

How Does Google One’s VPN Dark Web Report Feature Work?

The Google One VPN dark web report is a new feature  that will allow all eligible users to scan the dark web for personal details to check if their information has been included in a data breach. The feature works by searching for personal details online like social security numbers, name, address, email and phone numbers – and notifying the user if their details have been found.

Online identity fraud due to information stolen through data breaches is an increasing problem that affects millions of people every year. A lot of this stolen info can be found on the dark web, a hard-to-reach part of the internet that requires a specialized browser to access and isn’t indexed by search engines.

According to Google, when users first enable the dark web report, they’ll be required to select and provide the information that they’d like to monitor on their your ‘monitoring profile’. If any information is found on the dark web, the user will be notified and given guidance on how to respond and best protect their information.

In addition to flagging dark web personal information, the report will also show related information that could be found in data breaches. While some users may be wary, Google assures that all information entered into the monitoring profile will be handled according to Google’s privacy policy, giving users the ability to delete or stop monitoring the information on their profile at any time.

Is Google One VPN Worth It?

If you’re a Google One subscriber in the US, the upgraded VPN will be a welcome addition to your toolkit – but as far as VPN’s go, Google One is about as trustworthy as any other VPN on the market. That said, with the VPN now available with plans from $1.99 per month, it will be certainly be one of the cheapest VPNs.

There are plenty of VPN options out there. The safest, according to our research, is NordVPN, but you can see how it compares to other top providers in our guide to the most secure VPNs in 2023 to make your own decision.

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Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.

TikTok’s New Series Feature Makes It Easier to Monetize Content

The app's new paywall feature lets creators set their own price and keep 100% of the profits... for now.
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Updated on March 23, 2023

TikTok recently announced that it will be launching a new “Series” feature that will allow select creators to place exclusive videos behind a paywall for viewers to purchase.

The content can be bought through in-video links or through a creator’s profile, and with TikTokers being able to keep 100% of their earnings (after fees), it’s bound to provide lucrative opportunities to those creating content on the app.

If you’re interested in using TikTok’s new feature, this guide breaks down everything you need to know about Series, including how it works, its benefits, and its eligibility criteria.

TikTok Launches New Series Feature

If you’re currently capitalizing on TikTok’s profit-making potential, you’re in luck — it’s just become easier than ever to make money on the app.

This Tuesday, the short-form video app announced it would be rolling out a new Series feature that allows creators to post collections of up to 80 videos behind a paywall.

Each video is able to run for up to 20 minutes, bypassing the app’s current 10-minute video limit, and making it easier for creators to post a range of in-depth content from longer-form cooking demos to beauty tutorials.

“Developed with our community’s love of sharing authentic stories, expertise and experiences in mind, Series enables eligible creators to post Collections of premium content behind a paywall.” – Recent blog post from TikTok

Creators are able to place their own price on the paywall (as long as it’s somewhere between $0.99 and $189.99) and for a limited time, they will receive 100% of the money earned, after platform and processing fees and subtracted.

Through TikTok’s current Creator Fund, creators are currently only able to make around $0.02 to $0.04 for every 1,000 views they receive on the app. But now, the app’s new premium-style tier makes it possible for businesses and influencers to generate a more stable income from the app.

Who is eligible for TikTok Series?

At the current time, it’s unclear which content creators will be able to take part in TikTok Series. The app announced that applications to join the feature will be rolled out in the following months, so we recommend following TikTok’s newsroom to stay up to date.

New TikTok Series feature

TikTok Also Tries to Tackle Doom Scrolling for Minors

As the competition between major social media platforms heats up, and concerns over data handling privacy mount, Series isn’t the only feature TikTok has released in recent months.

Just last week, the Chinese-based company decided to impose a 60-minute time limit for minors using the platform to assuage concerns over its addictive behavior. The warning represents a major turning point for the app, which has previously been accused of not taking the mental health of its users seriously.

However, since the safeguard is able to be bypassed by teens that want to continue scrolling, it has received backlash from psychologists like Jelena Kecmanovic who told the media outlet NPR the new measure is “not enough.”

TikTok has also recently launched a security measure called “Project Clover” to quell concerns that users and state officials have over its data-sharing practices with China.

But with a user base that’s currently sitting over 1 billion, one thing is for certain. No matter how much hot water TikTok gets into, nothing will stop creators and users from flocking to the app in droves.

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Written by:
Aaron Drapkin is Tech.co's Content Manager. He has been researching and writing about technology, politics, and society in print and online publications since graduating with a Philosophy degree from the University of Bristol six years ago. Aaron's focus areas include VPNs, cybersecurity, AI and project management software. He has been quoted in the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, The Daily Mail, Computer Weekly, Cybernews, Lifewire, HR News and the Silicon Republic speaking on various privacy and cybersecurity issues, and has articles published in Wired, Vice, Metro, ProPrivacy, The Week, and Politics.co.uk covering a wide range of topics.
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