DD
MM
YYYY

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

PAGES

Home Blog Page 4393

Tech Layoffs: Meta Plans Another Round of Job Cuts

0

Facebook parent company Meta is reportedly preparing for another round of job cuts in a downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers.

The jobs cuts at the tech giant are coming after Mark Zuckerberg had earlier assured workers that he isn’t anticipating more layoffs after the company slashed a huge amount of its employees last year in November.

According to reports, the new round of layoffs is said to “disproportionately” impact non-engineering roles and the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg is seemingly deputizing human resources, lawyers, financial experts, and top executives to draw up plans to deflate hierarchy within the company.

The company reported a 2022 fourth quarter (Q4) revenue of $32.17 billion and $116.61 billion, a decrease of 4 percent and 1 percent year-over-year for the fourth quarter and year 2022, respectively.

It would be recalled that in November 2022, the tech giant Meta laid off roughly 11,000 workers, which is 13 percent of the company’s global workforce. At that time, Meta cited overhiring and poor macroeconomic conditions for the layoff.

Meta’s fresh round of layoffs has been predicted to stem from falling revenue as it seeks to mitigate costs while navigating the global economic downturn.

Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors that last year’s layoffs was the beginning year of the company’s focus on efficiency and not the end. He said he would work on flattening the organizational structure as well as removing some layers of middle management.

He also added that the company now plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles without direct reports, flattening the layers of management between the company’s CEO and Interns.

In his words, “We’re working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster, as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive”.

The layoff at Meta isn’t entirely surprising after it was reported last week that the tech giant has delayed finalizing the budgets of the teams at multiple levels, due to a layoff plan lurking around the corner.

Two employees at the company disclosed that there has been a lack of clarity on crucial matters such as team budgets as well as future head counts in recent weeks, adding that certain decisions that would usually take days to be signed off are now taking a month in some cases.

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has however labeled 2023 a “year of efficiency” as the company focuses on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization. Its belt-tightening measures follows the CEO acknowledgment that he overestimated the boom in e-commerce and had to cut jobs as a “last resort.”

However Meta is not the only company that has downsized its workforce. Companies such as Spotify, Amazon, Twitter etc, have all laid a significant part of their workforce, as the tech sector has been embroiled in sweeping layoffs that have so far impacted over 101,000 employees at 340 tech companies in 2023.

NFTs Behave Similarly to High End Property – Raoul Pal

0

Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision and co-founder of the company, thinks that NFTs would behave similarly to “high-end property” in the conventional economy and will outperform ether during boom cycles in the crypto market.

The former executive at JPMorgan offered a rundown of what he felt most bullish about regarding NFTs in a video uploaded to YouTube and published on Feb. 20. The footage lasted one hour and covered critical use cases for the asset class, its underlying technology, and its potential performance compared to ether.

Pal asserts that it has a history of outperforming most of the market and hence believes the same thing will occur in the ETH economy.

In the recent YouTube video, Pal highlights that significant collectibles, such as CryptoPunks and BAYC, have evolved into status symbols in the cryptocurrency community. This is analogous to owning a luxury home, car, or item from a well-known brand that grants access to exclusive clubs, which he called “mini-network states.”

Pal proposed that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may function to hold property in the ETH economy in the coming future.

The hedge fund manager also touched on the applications of NFTs in resolving contracts, saying that blockchain-based ledgers can provide verifiable clarity on what has been agreed upon between people. In contrast, smart contracts can, in essence, do away with the need for unnecessary third parties.

As a result of the fact that such collections have been able to maintain a respectable level of value throughout the lousy market, they might provide more significant upside potential than adverse danger. He also believes there will be a rise in the price of ETH in the future.

In retrospect, the former hedge fund manager stated that in the year 2022, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) first began to attract his attention because he started to understand the power of what they represent and what they can do. This included transferring value using blockchains and automated smart contracts. Since investing in NFTs, Pal said he has placed around ten percent of his ETH holdings in “premium NFTs,” such as CryptoPunks and BAYC.

Flying Eagles squad: 25-man provisional for U20 AFCON

0

Football is one of the most popular sports. It attracts a huge number of fans who travel to different cities and continents to support their favorite. Thanks to the widespread popularity of the sport, soccer matches are held on a regular basis. We are talking about regional tournaments as well as important competitions between countries.

Thanks to the development of the betting industry today, you can not only watch spectacular meetings of soccer players, but also place bets on the outcome of events. But do not rely solely on intuition and luck. You have to gather as much information about each team to make the betting successful. This will allow you to evaluate the performance of the squads and identify the favorite of the upcoming game.

Obviously, there isn’t always the time to gather the data and analyze it. In this case, a specialized service where you can find yesterday football match result and the schedule of upcoming games. You can also find analytical reviews and make certain conclusions about the strength of each squad.

For example, the lineup of the Flying Eagles will be interesting. The preliminary list of players who are included in the Nigerian national team has already been published. They will represent the country at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Team Lineup

The preliminary composition of the Nigerian team for the U20 2023 AFCON consists of 25 sportsmen, who have managed to prove themselves in a positive way. They are young, energetic and hardy, which is important for a successful game.

Ladan Bosso, team manager of the Flying Eagles, approached the selection of players for each position on the field thoroughly. But changes were made to the initial plan. This is due to the fact that foreign professionals have applied to participate in the championship. They include:

  • Michael Ologo, who played successfully at Istanbulspor;
  • Abel Ogwuche with an excellent performance as a central defender for Trelleborgs FF;
  • Beji Muhammed, who has proven himself as a winger for squad Cartagena;
  • Kelechi Success, who stood out as a successful forward in Montana;
  • Ahmed Abdullahi, who proved his superiority in the Gent squad.

Not all players were on the list. But some of them will represent Nigeria in the African Cup matches. According to the manager, they have reached their full potential and are ready for an uncompromising fight for the first place.

As for the updated lineup, it is listed below. It’s probably not the best for Nigeria. We can only hope that luck will not turn away from the guys at the most crucial moment. The following three goalkeepers are selected for the games:

  • Saheed Akanbi;
  • Nathaniel Nwosu;
  • Chijioke Anigboso.

The defense is represented by players with high performances:

  • Augustine Njoku;
  • Daniel Bamaiyi;
  • Michael Ologo;
  • Benjamin Frederick;
  • Solomon Agbalaka;
  • Abel Ogwuche.

The midfielders are no less interesting. The following players were selected for their role:

  • Mohammed Aminu;
  • Shatima Umar;
  • Musa Usman;
  • Daniel Daga;
  • Caleb Ochedikwu;
  • Onuche Ogbelu;
  • Samson Lawal;
  • Jonathan Nicholas.

You should not ignore the effective attackers as well. Some of them are:

  • Francis Ayuba;
  • Adams Olamilekan;
  • Ahmed Abdullahi;
  • Emmanuel Uchegbu;
  • Beji Muhammed;
  • Jude Sunday;
  • Haliru Sarki;
  • Kelechi Success.

It is not yet clear who will be selected to the main roster and who will go to the bench. It all depends on the decision of the coaching staff. Each team’s coaches will carefully prepare the base lineup to allow it to prove itself in the beginning of the match.

It is possible that some players will not appear on the field. This is not surprising because each meeting of the opponents is different and extraordinary. Everything depends on the determination of the main roster and its performance. Every coach will take a risk and put lesser players on the field if there are no winning goals for a long time. In such cases, the substitute seeks to prove himself to the fullest extent to attract the attention of the coach and no longer sit on the bench. There are often cases where players entered the field in the final minutes and scored the decisive goals in the opponents’ goal. Time will show how the players will behave this time.

The only thing left to do is to watch the qualifying matches, which are scheduled for the following dates:

  • Nigeria – Guinea-Bissau (24.03.2023);
  • Guinea-Bissau – Nigeria (28.03.2023);
  • Sierra Leone – Nigeria (12.06.2023);
  • Nigeria – Sao Tome and Principe (04.09.2023).

Thanks to a long break between games (with the exception of the first two), the national team has time to practice, sharpen their skills and correct their mistakes. The guys are showing good results. Perhaps they will become the best.

Tekedia CollegeBoost Receives Funds for More Scholarships from Dr. Victor Ekpenyong

0

Tekedia Institute is very excited to announce that we have received additional huge donation from  Victor Ekpenyong, PhD., CEO of Kenyon International West Africa Limited, to fund 50 scholarships to enable college students in African universities, polytechnics and colleges of education attend Tekedia CollegeBoost.

We want to thank Dr. Ekpenyong for his generosity. We wish Kenyon more wins across markets and territories.

If you run a non-profit and can support the selection of these scholars, please connect with Eyitayo Adeleke, mMBA who coordinates the Tekedia CollegeBoost enrollment in Tekedia Institute. The call is typically advertised and the NGOs will help to select the scholars.

Every year, Tekedia Institute offers hundreds of scholarships to young scholars; we THANK our donors.

Tech Giant Baidu Reveals Its AI Chatbot ‘Ernie Bot’ Will be Launched Next Month

0

Chinese multinational technology company Baidu has announced plans to roll out its Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot “Ernie Bot” into its search services in March.

The company disclosed that the chatbot is still undergoing internal testing, and once it is completed, it will be made available to the public. In an internal memo, Baidu’s CEO Robin Li disclosed that the Ernie bot will be integrated across all of Baidu’s operations, including its search and cloud services.

In his words, “AI technology has reached a tipping point and all industries will inevitably go through a transformation. Baidu stands as the best example of the long-term growth of China’s AI market and is advancing at the forefront of this new wave. We will embed Ernie bot into Baidu search first and we’ll open it to the public in March”.

He added that AI-generated content will help Baidu accumulate more short videos on the platform over time. And a direct benefit would be increasing video viewership and ad revenue.

During an earnings call, he disclosed that the company is working on a revolutionary version of Baidu search built upon the Ernie bot that incorporates generative AI into its search algorithm as well as content creation, and various interactive features. “Users will soon be able to interact directly with the new generative large language model”, he added

The company’s stock price in New York jumped nearly 7% in pre-market trading Wednesday to more than $150 a share. It reported revenues of 33.1 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) for the quarter that ended in December, about level with the same period of 2021.

It is however interesting to note that Baidu’s AI Chatbot Ernie, which means “Enhanced representation through knowledge Integration” was introduced in 2019. The app has gradually grown to be able to perform tasks including language understanding, language generation, and text-to-image.

Baidu has been a first mover in China on other trends. In late 2021, when the meta verse became a buzzword, the company launched XiRang, which it described as China’s first met averse platform. However, the platform was widely criticized for not offering a high-level immersive experience, but Baidu said it was a work in progress.

Lately, the company has been investing heavily in AI technology, including Cloud services, Chips, and autonomous driving, as it looks to diversify its revenue sources. 

After the successful launch of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT and Google’s AI Chatbot Bard, Baidu and other Chinese tech companies have announced their upcoming release of a ChatGPT-style bot in the coming months.

Recently, with users raving about Open Ai Chatbot ChatGPT, using generative AI has no doubt created a megatrend that will revolutionize many businesses and Baidu is well positioned to capitalize on the AI rave among users.