Latest news with #Hiya
Mint
07-05-2025
- Mint
LiveCaller, a privacy-focused Truecaller rival, launches on iOS: What makes it different
A new real-time caller identification app called LiveCaller has officially launched for iPhone users, promising a privacy-focused and cost-free alternative to popular apps like Truecaller and Hiya. Developed by the app leverages Apple's recently introduced Live Caller ID Lookup framework, which became available with the release of iOS 18.2 in December 2024. LiveCaller allows users to instantly identify unknown numbers during incoming calls, displaying caller information directly on the call screen. Notably, the app achieves this without needing access to users' contact lists or requiring account registration—two permissions often requested by other caller ID services. The app is built to integrate seamlessly with iOS's native interface, ensuring users are notified of potential spam, fraud, robocalls, or telemarketing calls without needing to open the app. The real-time lookup system encrypts the caller's number before querying database—claimed to include over four billion phone numbers—with full end-to-end encryption for data privacy. Unlike traditional caller ID services that run continuously in the background or require sensitive permissions, LiveCaller operates entirely within Apple's secure framework. This not only improves performance and battery life but also enhances user privacy—a growing concern for smartphone users worldwide. Currently, the app supports 28 languages and is available for free on the App Store. While its long-term monetisation strategy remains unclear, LiveCaller enters the market at a time when protection from unsolicited and fraudulent calls is becoming increasingly critical. According to government statistics, Indians lost more than ₹ 177 crore to financial scams in 2024, more than double the amount reported the previous year, highlighted Gadgets360.
Forbes
06-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Want To Sell Like Mr. Beast? Brands Must Build A Strong Community
At the first-ever Spotter Showcase, creators weren't pitching content. They were selling loyalty and community. Hosted by YouTubers Colin and Samir, the upfront-style event featured stars like MrBeast, Kinigra Deon, and Jordan Matter making a clear case to CMOs and media buyers: creators aren't just talent. They're channels, production studios, and community builders. As Jordan Matter explained: 'An influencer invites you into their home every week, and you feel like you're part of their family. Once you've built that loyalty, you can sell almost anything.' This kind of connection goes far beyond reach. Creators build parasocial relationships—one-sided but deeply felt connections that make their content one of the most trusted spaces for brand messages. That's why community isn't just friendly to have. It's a competitive advantage brands can't afford to overlook. To fully appreciate its value, you first have to understand what community really means. Community isn't a campaign or a following. It's a group of people connected by shared values and identity. As Sara Wilson, founder of community strategy consultancy SW Projects, explains: 'It reflects some part of who they are, and being part of it helps them feel seen, known, and understood.' Darren Litt started Hiya Health not with a product but with a problem: 'As a parent, I was overwhelmed. Our pediatrician told us to buy five different products: vitamins, probiotics, and powders, and I realized none were built for kids the way I'd want.' So he and co-founder Adam Gillman launched Hiya, a brand offering clean, effective children's health products without sugar, dyes, or unnecessary additives. 'We launched Hiya as a direct-to-consumer company so we could talk to our customers from day one,' Litt said. 'That one-to-one relationship is powerful.' Every team member, including the CEO, responds to customer messages monthly through DMs, emails, or comments. 'You can't lead if you're not listening,' Litt explained. That direct line to their audience has shaped everything from communication to product development. One example: Hiya's Kids Daily Greens + Superfoods powder wasn't on the roadmap. It came directly from conversations with parents frustrated by having to sneak adult powders into their kids' milk. Hiya responded by testing flavors, adjusting ingredients, and launching a product based on community feedback. That same community defended Hiya during a viral misinformation incident that falsely accused the brand of containing heavy metals. Litt didn't rely on a traditional press release—he didn't need to. Hiya's brand advocates stepped in immediately, speaking up across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and comment sections with their personal experiences. 'They weren't just our customers,' Litt said. 'They were our voice. And they were passionate and very effective.' As Sara Wilson puts it: 'When you've built true community, your members respond to threats against the brand as if they were threats against their own identity. Because in many ways, they are.' And that loyalty delivered tangible business results. In December 2024, USANA Health Sciences acquired a 78.8% controlling stake in Hiya for $205 million. Over the prior 12 months, the company served over 200,000 customers and generated $103 million in net sales. Traditional publishing is slow, consolidated, and risk-averse. Success often depends on securing an agent, convincing an editor, and navigating a release cycle built for another era. Enter Bindery. Founded by Matt Kaye and Meghan Harvey, publishing and tech veterans from Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Amazon, and Patreon, Bindery flips the script. It empowers creators from platforms like BookTok to become publishers. Instead of just recommending books, these tastemakers now curate, acquire, and launch them through community-driven imprints. 'Cozy Fantasy' is a perfect example. A genre that once barely registered in traditional publishing has exploded on BookTok. One leading voice, Meg Hood, known as 'Meg's Tea Room,' launched her imprint, Cozy Quill, through Bindery. When she revealed the cover for Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife by Deston J. Munden (publishing October 2025), her audience responded immediately, driving preorders and engagement. With thousands of book club members, Meg is helping shape what gets read and recommended—leaving traditional publishers scrambling to keep up. 'Bindery books aren't bought,' said Kaye. 'They're backed.' The results are measurable. House of Frank by Kay Synclaire, a cozy fantasy novel released in October 2024 by creator Jaysen Headley through his Ezeekat Press imprint, sold nearly 20,000 copies. It earned positive trade reviews, coverage in traditional media, distribution into hundreds of bookstores, and multiple award nominations. Sales weren't driven by conventional marketing. They were powered by community momentum and creator demand. Bindery also unlocks new revenue models. Fans subscribe to monthly memberships for perks like early access, voting on publishing decisions, and private community engagement. These examples challenge the assumption that community is just a marketing tactic. It's not. A strong community delivers product R&D, brand protection, built-in distribution, and long-term resilience. Hiya Health builds new products based on what parents are already asking for. Bindery Books publishes stories that communities already love, skipping the guesswork. Spotter Studio supports creators so brands can access trust and loyalty at scale. In each case, the value is tangible, measurable, and scalable. Building a community isn't just a marketing move. It's a strategic play. Like data, its value compounds over time when nurtured and managed well. The most forward-thinking brands will stop asking, 'How do we reach more people?' and start asking, 'How do we matter more to the people already with us?
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: No evidence clip of Vance criticizing Musk is authentic
Claim: An audio clip authentically features U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticizing tech billionaire Elon Musk. Rating: On March 23, 2025, an audio clip circulated online in which U.S. Vice President JD Vance appeared to criticize tech billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump. Social media users posted the clip across YouTube (archived), Facebook (archived), X (archived), Threads (archived), Instagram (archived), Reddit (archived) and Bluesky (archived). According to the posts, Vance said: Everything that he's doing is getting criticized in the media. And he says that he's helping, and he's not. He's making us look bad. He's making me look bad. And I'll tell you this, and he wouldn't like it if I said it, but he's not even an American. He's from South Africa and he's cosplaying as this great American leader in a room that has the portraits of some of the greatest men that ever led this country, and he has the audacity to act like he is an elected official. I am an elected official, I am the important one in this situation, not him. So if he wants to tank the economy and his cars maybe that's what he deserves. However, on March 24, Vance's communications director William Martin said (archived) on X that the audio was "100% fake and most certainly not the Vice President." The origins of the audio were unclear, but several artificial intelligence detectors said the audio was likely not authentic. There were no reports from reputable sources about the audio or who might have recorded it. As such, we have rated this video fake. We reached out to the White House for clarification on Martin's statement. We also reached out to two early TikTok posters, whose videos were widely shared by other social media users, about where they got the audio and await their replies. One of the TikTok profiles that posted an early version of the audio told a commenter who asked how they knew the audio was authentic: " it was AI..I would label as such...I don't Both profiles that posted early versions of the audio have posted other political content with an anti-Trump lean. We passed the audio through Hiya's Deepfake Voice Detector and the University at Buffalo Media Lab's DeepFake-O-Meter. (Deepfake audio is audio generated by AI to sound like a real person, in this case Vance.) According to Hiya, audio samples from the beginning, middle and end of the 55-second clip scored from 32 to 52 of 100 points, with 100 being a 100% authentic voice. The beginning of the clip was "likely" to be fake, according to the the detector scoring 32/100. The detector was uncertain about the other samples. (Screenshots from Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector) DeepFake-O-Meter's seven detectors said the audio was between 70.2% and 100% likely to be AI-generated. Whereas Hiya took a short sample of several seconds, DeepFake-O-Meter analyzed the entire audio clip. (Screenshot from University at Buffalo Media Lab's DeepFake-o-meter) Though all the available evidence points to the recording not being real, it does play on swirling rumors that Vance felt pushed aside by Musk's prominence in the Trump administration. Since Trump's inauguration, Musk has appeared alongside Trump at least once for a news conference. Vance has not. Musk also has met with several foreign leaders alongside the president, a role usually filled by the VP. In a March 14 interview with NBC News, Vance conditionally supported Musk's work with the Department of Government Efficiency. Vance said he was "accepting of mistakes" but "I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes." Allison, Natalie, and Jacqueline Alemany. "In Trump's Crowded White House, JD Vance Finds a Role behind the Scenes." Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2025, @amouthful_of_cherries. "Whoever's Leaking All These Recordings Is Doing the Lord's Work 🙏🙌✨." Instagram, 24 Mar. 2025, @christinatalkstea. "#teawithchristina." TikTok, 23 Mar. 2025, "Leaked Audio of JD Vance in a Jealous Rant…." Bluesky, 24 Mar. 2025, Deepfake Voice Detector. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025. @ejacobson. "This Leaked Audio of JD Vance Shading Elon Musk Is Funny for Two Reasons..." X, 24 Mar. 2025, "Elon Musk's Meetings with Foreign Leaders alongside Trump Alarm Washington Insiders." NBC News, 20 Dec. 2024, Fox 7 Austin. "Elon Musk at the White House: FULL NEWS CONFERENCE." YouTube, 12 Feb. 2025, @josey6529. "#italy #france." TikTok, 23 Mar. 2025, @occupydemocrats. "THIS IS HUGE! Leaked Audio by JD Vance Criticizing #ElonMusk." Threads, 24 Mar. 2025, The Political Insider. "'He Is Making Us Look Bad'." Facebook, 24 Mar. 2025, @TonyMichaelsPodcast. "Leaked Audio of JD Vance on Elon Musk 😳!!!" YouTube, 23 Mar. 2025, UB Media Forensics Lab. "DEEPFAKE-O-METER." DEEPFAKE-O-METER, u/Shenanie-Probs. "Leaked JD Vance Audio on Elon Musk." Reddit, 23 Mar. 2025, "Vance Discusses Elon Musk's 'mistakes' and 'Incremental Progress' on the Economy in NBC News Interview." NBC News, 14 Mar. 2025, @wsmartin218. "This Audio Is 100% Fake and Most Certainly Not the Vice President. ." X, 24 Mar. 2025,
CairoScene
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Hiya to Host Themed ‘Inhiyar' Night in New York March 29th
Hiya to Host Themed 'Inhiyar' Night in New York March 29th At 'Inhiyar', artists from the frontlines of the underground noise resistance movements will explore variations on the concept of 'Breakdown' through poetry, sound, movement and conversations. Hiya Live Sessions, a global research-events platform amplifying the revolutionary feminist voices of the Arab world, is set to host a themed community event, 'Inhiyar' (Breakdown), celebrating radical feminist voices from the SWANA underground scene in New York on March 29th. 'Inhiyar' will bring together artists who are on the frontlines of underground noise resistance movements to explore variations on the concept of 'Breakdown' through poetry, sound, movement, and thought-provoking conversations. Supported by Columbia University's Incite Institute, the event will feature a lineup of female artists, performers, and musicians from across the SWANA region and its diaspora. The featured artists include punk poet-performer, cyborg, and activist Andrea Abi-Karam; Syrian-Palestinian artist, cultural activist, and performer Leyya Mona Tawil, who works with sound, dance, and hybrid transmissions; Moroccan-American experimental artist and creative producer Nora Alami; Palestinian singer-songwriter Israa Shalaby; and Beirut-born journalist, programmer, DJ, and founder of Hiya/Hom, Shirine Saad. Hiya Live Sessions shared a note with SceneNoise on the creative concept behind 'Inhiyar': 'As we stare at mass death, plunder, and erasure of native ecologies and histories, we turn toward the remains scattered under the rubble and their promise of life, love, and resistance. Another cycle of unspeakable violence fuels new waves of the revolutionary movement on the streets and underground—poetic and political—mapping new exit routes and survival networks, both real and imaginary. Artists in distress, facing crushing censorship and relentless struggle, forge DIY communities and intimate spaces, creating new languages to defy the devastating loss of humanity and land. They reinvent ghazals, muashahat, maqamat, queer erotica, sacred cosmologies, futuristic utopias and dystopias, intoxicating Sufi and zar rituals, and the deep legacy of militant art throughout the region, remixing punk, techno, rap, and grime—echoing protests from Tehran to Tunis and Cairo, alchemizing noise and fatal pollution.' The event will take place at Nublu Classic. To RSVP, head to the link in @hiyalivesessions' Instagram bio.
The Independent
15-03-2025
- The Independent
How to protect yourself from scam phone calls and robocalls
Unsolicited robocalls and scam calls are increasing, but there are ways to protect yourself. You can phone settings to silence unknown callers on an iPhone and filter or block calls on Android devices. Register your phone number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or similar "Do Not Call" lists to reduce sales and marketing calls. Consider using third-party apps like Nomorobo, YouMail, or Hiya to identify and block spam calls, often for a subscription fee. You can revoke consent for robocalls from companies you've interacted with and simply hang up on suspicious calls without engaging. Five simple tips to stop scam phone calls and robocalls
