Following the controversial changes made by tech billionaire Elon Musk on the microblogging site Twitter, its former CEO Jack Dorsey has launched Bluesky for those who are missing the old platform.
As the app opens and the option of creating an account is clicked, it says: “This is the company that keeps you online”.
The Bluesky was launched on iOS in February and on Android this month.
Its system is run on a decentralised network providing users more control over how the service is operated, giving more control over data storage and content moderation to users.
Recently Dorsey’s Bluesky gained the attention of people such as Democratic Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Chrissy Teigen, among others.
Find out what this Jack Dorsey’s new platform is.
What is Bluesky?
It is a new social network for microblogging same to Twitter, in which its users post different kinds of updates posts on their timelines. However, in the new app, there are no hashtags or options to message directly to other users.
The Bluesky was created independently of Twitter when Jack Dorsey was its CEO. However, it was funded by the company until it became independent in February last year.
Dorsey introduced his idea in a Tweet back in 2019, saying it also plans to “build an open community around it, inclusive of companies [and] organisations, researchers, civil society leaders.” Still, he warned, “this isn’t going to happen overnight.”
Dorsey said last year: “The biggest issue and my biggest regret is that [Twitter] became a company.”
He later clarified that “if a service was a protocol, it can’t be owned by a state or company.”
Twitter facing exodus?
People are finding alternatives to Twitter who are frustrated by the decisions of its CEO Elon Musk, who acquired it for $44 billion last year.
In the time span of six months, Elon Musk decided to make several controversial changes, such as blue ticks from prominent figures, sparking fears of disinformation and fake news.
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, US. — Reuters/File
Some of the important public figures are opting for Bluesky after Musk’s new direction.
Data.ai reported that Bluesky has been downloaded more than 375,000 times from the Apple App Store and the waitlist continues to be flooded with signup requests.
The number of downloads on Google Play can be seen more than 100,000 times.
It remains to be seen how Bluesky would sustain its presence and won’t be eclipsed as Mastodon — a similar platform gained attention last year.
The early shift toward Bluesky is a positive one, as it gives social media users more choice over where they spend their time, said Mark Bartholomew, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law who writes about online privacy.
“Competition might actually help users find the product features they want, like greater privacy protection, portability, and more significant content moderation,” added Bartholomew.
“Social media platforms have features that users dislike but they still feel like they must accept them to just be in the online space where everyone else is,” he said.
He also noted that People went to Bluesky because Musk forced them to, by “sabotaging his own platform.”
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was visited in Islamabad by a four-person Google delegation led by Mr. Scott Beaumont, President of the APAC area.
Pakistan’s digital economy is about to undergo a revolutionary change, according to the prime minister, who greeted the team. Speaking on the government’s intentions to reach the goal of US$ 25 billion in exports over the next five years, the prime minister revealed that funding will be used for youth training, IT infrastructure upgrades, and regulatory environment enhancements. Pakistan’s economy is being fully digitalised, he remarked. In his attempts, he stressed the need of working together with a tech behemoth like Google.
The Prime Minister praised Google for pioneering projects that have dramatically enhanced the lives of thousands of Pakistanis in recent years, as well as for its involvement in propelling the country’s digital economy closer to reality. Noting with satisfaction that Google has helped Pakistani young land about a million jobs in 2023 alone, the Prime Minister emphasised that this is a testament to both Google’s dedication to upskilling and empowering Pakistan’s youth and Pakistan’s potential in the digital marketplace.
Informing the Prime Minister of its future involvement intentions, Mr. Scott stated that Google has made the decision to support the government’s youth skill-training initiatives and to expand its investment footprint in Pakistan. He went on to say that for a values-driven digital firm like Google, the growing economy and the sizeable youth population are crucial for optimising the economic benefits of technology. He restated that Pakistan’s IT industry will undergo a revolution when five lac Chromebooks are produced there by 2026.
Android users now have the ability to install or update many apps or games at once in the Play Store thanks to a feature introduced by tech giant Google.
Even if Android users downloaded or tried to update several apps or games at once, the prior capability would only process one app at a time.
In the Google Play Store, users can now download or manually update up to three apps or games at once, according to a GSMArena report.
with order to assist Android users with updating or installing multiple apps at once, Google is reportedly already starting to roll out the new feature in a few select locations, including India.
The feature will process three apps at once while sending the fourth to pending when customers install or manually update programs.
When configuring new phones or recovering from a backup, this feature is said to save a tonne of time.
It should be mentioned that Apple has long since permitted customers to download and install up to three iOS apps at once from the App Store.
According to GSMArena, the function is really available on a few cell phones in some regions, even though Google has not formally confirmed when it will appear or whether it will work with any particular handset.
Google started releasing a new AI-powered feature for Android phones a few weeks ago that locks users out of their data to prevent hackers from accessing it.
According to a Forbes story, cellphones running Android 10 or later will soon be able to use the function, which incorporates artificial intelligence.
The anti-theft feature known as “theft detection lock” is currently being rolled out to certain users, according to Mishaal Rahman, who frequently updates his followers on the most recent OS changes on X.
A restricted group of customers who registered for the beta program in Brazil are now receiving theft detection locks, according to Rahman’s post.
Rehman claims that Google Play Services will be used to provide the AI-powered feature to all Android 10 devices.