Latest news with #TechRadar
Fast Company
21-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Putin's dream of a state-controlled internet is becoming a reality
Russians seeking an online window to the outside world are finding their options rapidly diminishing as Vladimir Putin's government strips app stores of VPNs. Last week, Roskomnadzor, Russia's internet authority, ordered three major app stores to remove virtual private networks (VPNs) from public availability. Roughly one in four Russians report using VPNs to avoid detection by Russia's pervasive internet monitoring tools—systems designed to suppress dissent within the country. The VPN bans are the latest in a long series of similar crackdowns. According to TechRadar, more than 50 VPNs available elsewhere are inaccessible in the Russian Google Play Store. This is despite Google showing more resistance than many other app store providers to Russia's censorship demands. Still, the trend signals a worrying shift toward sweeping digital restrictions. 'Russia's increasing push to remove VPN apps from major app stores is part of a coordinated strategy to cut citizens off from uncensored information and secure communication tools,' warns Alexey Kozliuk, chair of the VPN Guild, an industry group.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI Is Helping Job Seekers Lie, Flood the Market, and Steal Jobs
The advent of generative AI has fundamentally altered the job application process. Both recruiters and applicants are making heavy use of the tech, making an already soul-sucking and tedious process even worse. And as TechRadar reports, applicants are going to extreme lengths to nail down a job — and stand out in an extremely competitive and crowded job market. According to a recent campaign by insurer Hiscox, more than half of recent job applicants said they had used AI tools to write their resumes. A whopping 37 percent admitted they didn't bother correcting embellishments the AI chatbot made, like exaggerated experience and fabricated interests. 38 percent admitted to outright lying on their CVs. The news highlights a worrying new normal, with applicants using AI to facilitate fabricating a "perfect candidate" to score a job interview. "AI can help many candidates put their best foot forward... but it needs to be used carefully," Hiscox chief underwriting officer Pete Treloar told TechRadar. Meanwhile, it's not just job applicants using generative AI to automate the process. Recruiters have been outsourcing the role of interviewing for jobs to often flawed AI avatars. Earlier this week, Fortune reported how a former software engineer went from earning $150,000 in upstate New York to living out of a trailer after being replaced by AI. Out of the ten interviews he scored after sending out 800 job applications, a handful of them were with AI bots. In short, it's a frustrating process that's unlikely to make applying for jobs any less grueling. Hiscox found that 41 percent of applicants said AI gives some candidates an unfair advantage. 42 percent of respondents said the tech is misleading employers. But now that the cat is out of the bag, it remains to be seen how the future of job applications will adapt to a world teeming with accessible generative AI tools. It's never been easier to lie on your resume — but anybody willing to do so will have to live with the consequences as well. Being caught could not only lead to immediate disqualification, it can damage one's professional reputation, and in a worst-case scenario, result in a lawsuit. Remember: Just because everyone's doing it doesn't mean you won't get busted for it — or worse. More on lying AIs: Law Firms Caught and Punished for Passing Around "Bogus" AI Slop in Court
Forbes
11-05-2025
- Forbes
Samsung's Super-Thin Galaxy S25 Edge Has Piqued My Interest
Samsung's Galaxy S25 Edge will be revealed soon. Credit: Samsung It seems the next frontier for smartphone innovation will be explored in the arena of just how slim a smartphone can be designed, but while also retaining mostly top-of-the-line features. Samsung has confirmed that its upcoming 'engineering marvel' Galaxy S25 Edge will be unveiled at a Virtual Unpacked event on Monday, May 12 at 8 PM ET. Samsung is saying that the Edge will be a certified flagship phone, comparable in value to its excellent Galaxy S25 Ultra, only this machine will allegedly sport a much thinner profile—5.8mm, to be exact. Compare that to the S25 Ultra's 8.2mm thickness and you can draw some stark conclusions regarding just how thin the Edge will probably end up being. What's wild is that the S25 doesn't seem bulky at all to me, so I'm intrigued about how feathery light the Edge will feel in my hands. TechRadar has reported on a leak that has detailed some of the Edge's potential highlights: 'We'd already seen many specs leak, including the details that it'll feature a screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, an ultrasonic under-display fingerprint sensor, a 3,900mAh battery, wireless charging, and have an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.' The limited battery size immediately jumps out, because the S25 Ultra sports a hefty 5,000mAh battery, and such a charging nerf could deter potential early adopters. The reduction in battery power is understandable, though, given the Edge's reduced chassis waistline, so a space compromise had to be made, obviously. Essentially, if you jump on the Edge bandwagon this month, you'll be trading a good chunk of battery life for a slimmer smartphone. The TechRadar article continues: "However, these new images further confirm that its dual rear camera setup will consist of a 200MP and a 12MP ultrawide lens, and add that the main camera sports a 2x "optical quality zoom". We also again see that IP68 rating, "all-day battery", "the most powerful processor optimized for Galaxy" – rumored to be the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset – and while there's a USB-C cable in the box, as with pretty much all Samsung handsets, there's no charger included." More solid specs, no doubt, and the 200MP rear camera in particular sounds great, which additionally puts it somewhat in line with the S25 Ultra and its main camera. The display size is rumored to be a bit smaller than the Ultra, however, coming in at a potential 6.66 inches. The Ultra has a 6.9-inch display, for reference, so you'd be losing a fraction of screen real estate with the Edge. I guess the progression toward extreme smartphone thinness feels rather natural, in a way, because while we have these incredible supercomputers in our pockets, customers are currently craving uncompromising power in a more manageable form factor. There will be compromises, though, with battery life, most notably. The question is: Will you rock a thinner phone that needs more frequent charging? I've got to say, I'm quite fascinated with this unfolding chassis efficiency, and I'll be eager to try out the Edge when it releases very soon. I'll also be tuning into the Virtual Unpacked event with the rest of you on Monday to see exactly what Samsung has in store.
The Star
09-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Not so fast! AI isn't saving companies much time or money, study says
Not for the first time, AI evangelists' lofty claims are running up against workplace realities. There's no shortage of companies making bold promises when it comes to their tech: Google thinks it could save your workers 122 hours of tedious work per year, and save your company lots of money. A new startup called Mechanize is aiming at replacing everyone's jobs – with who knows what impact on the economy. But new research from the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics says AI tools from market leaders like Google and OpenAI have yet to actually deliver on any of these big promises, let alone displace people from their jobs. Though AI is developing really speedily as newer, more sophisticated tools keep being released, and the study data had a cutoff point in late 2024, the results are still worth considering before you push your team to start using AI tools on a regular basis. The research paper, news site TechRadar reports, shows that for companies that have adopted AI, the statistics suggest that AI tools aren't offering many significant benefits. Users reported average time savings of just 2.8%, for example. That equates to about one hour a week, based on a 40-hour work week, far below Google's promised 120-plus hours of savings. Meanwhile, in some cases, the research showed that AI tools actually added to people's duties and responsibilities, effectively boosting their workloads. The data also show that when companies push their workers toward using AI, offering support and training, it will boost AI adoption – which you may think would boost savings. The research team, which questioned 25,000 people in Denmark , found this trick boosted AI adoption from 47% without support and training to 83% with support. AI adoption also appeared pretty widespread across different types of employers, with 'most' encouraging their use, and with some 30% of workers having received training. But combined with the time savings data, the data show that using AI to save workers time, by, for example, taking over mundane office tasks, only led to higher earnings 3% to 7% of the time. The researchers also noted that while AI chatbots do actually save time across diverse occupations for between 64% and 90% of users, the impact on the final quality of work and worker job satisfaction varied widely. Meanwhile, only 8.4% of AI users said they saw new jobs being created by AI technology such as 'teachers monitoring AI-assisted cheating' or 'workers editing AI outputs and crafting better prompts,' (which is a new skill called prompt engineering) TechRadar noted. In their summary, researchers noted that workers reported 'no evidence that firms with greater chatbot adoption have fared differently in total employment or wage bills.' And even a direct question – 'Have AI chatbots affected your labour earnings?' – confirms that 'workers perceive no earnings impact as of November 2024.' The research challenges 'narratives of imminent labor market transformations due to Generative AI,' the writers noted. 'While adoption has been rapid, with firms now heavily invested in unlocking the technological potential, the economic impacts remain small.' Why should you care about this? There are a number of reasons this survey could be taken as not representative: starting with the fact it looked at workers in Denmark , who may have a dramatically different work culture than US companies and staff. But the data comes from an unusually large number of participants which makes these statistics numerically significant. The research also provides an important talking point for company leaders interested in adopting AI to save costs or reap the benefits of higher employee efficiency because it challenges the overwhelmingly positive narrative being pushed by AI makers like Google or OpenAI. It's also a message you can present to any staff members who say they're worried that AI will be used to replace their jobs – which could be as many as one in two workers in the US , recent data show. – Inc./Tribune News Service
Jordan News
07-05-2025
- Jordan News
Apple's Thinnest iPhone Yet: Shocking Leaks About iPhone 17 Air - Jordan News
Amid mounting speculation about the upcoming iPhone 17 Air, new leaks have revealed striking features of this ultra-thin device. Expected to replace the iPhone 16 Plus, the new model may also mark the return of an accessory Apple discontinued years ago. اضافة اعلان According to TechRadar, Apple is preparing to launch an optional smart battery case alongside the release of the new iPhone. This move is seen as a way to compensate for the device's likely short battery life, due to its ultra-slim design. This could signal the return of Apple's Smart Battery Case, originally discontinued with the introduction of MagSafe and wireless charging on the iPhone 12. The accessory may now play a key role in Apple's support strategy for this thin model. Controversial Features The battery isn't the only point of contention. Leaks suggest the device will lack a physical SIM card slot, relying entirely on eSIM technology. This could pose regulatory challenges in markets that still rely on traditional SIM cards—China being a primary example. Reports also claim that the iPhone 17 Air will feature only a single speaker, which may impact audio quality—a rumor that has previously circulated widely. A Pivotal Year for Apple The year 2025 looks promising for Apple's product lineup, having already seen the release of the iPhone 16e, with the iPhone 17 Air expected to follow. The new device isn't directly connected to any existing iPhone line, representing a fresh direction. Reports also suggest that starting in 2026, Apple may adopt a staggered release strategy for the iPhone 18 series, extending launches through to 2027.
