Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter user growth reportedly at an ‘all-time-high’ post Musk takeover

While it feels like Twitter’s new CEO, Elon Musk, is driving users away from the platform, in reality, daily user growth hit an all-time high during Musk’s first week at the platform, according to a company document procured by The Verge.

Global mDAUs (monetizable daily active users) growth at the platform increased to more than 20 percent, while mDAU growth in the U.S. is “growing even more quickly,” states an internal FAQ that was shared with Twitter’s sales team and was obtained by The Verge.

Since the end of Q2, 2022 (post-June), Twitter has reportedly crossed the quarter billion user mark, and has added more than 15 million monetizable daily active users.

“Twitter user numbers have increased significantly around the world since the deal was announced,” wrote Musk while replying to a user. “As Twitter becomes by far the most reliable source of truth, it will be indispensable.”

While users aren’t mass-exiting the platform, and it seems new users are flowing in too, it is the advertisers that are abandoning ship, causing Twitter to sink and reportedly lose $4 million a day.

In Canada, a media and marketing agency that works with the federal government to plan and buy ads, has advised federal departments to “pause activity on Twitter,” citing mass layoffs at the newly taken-over company as the primary reason.

Other major advertisers that have pulled out of Twitter include General Mills, CVS, United Airlines, General Motors, American Express, Coca-Cola, Nintendo and more.

You can read more about Musk and Twitter here.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Tesla Model 3 deemed the ‘greenest’ in NCAP assessment

Green NCAP, an independent initiative that promotes the development of clean, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly cars, has rewarded Tesla’s Model 3 with a 9.8/10 rating in an assessment that gauged its overall emissions and energy consumption.

The Tesla Model 3 received a five-star rating, alongside a 9.8/10 score, while other top performers, including the Renault Megane E-Tech and the NIO eT7, received a 9.6/10 score and a five-star rating.

“Despite its relatively high mass – typical for electric vehicles – Model 3 demonstrates very low energy consumption figures and proves it has been designed with a special focus on efficiency and driving range,” wrote Green NCAP in its report. “The absence of polluting exhaust gas emissions, the high energy efficiency and the relatively low greenhouse gas emissions of European average electricity production grant the Tesla an impressive Weighted Overall Index of 9.8 out of 10 and a well-deserved 5 Green stars.”

This comes soon after the Tesla Model Y earned a 5-star safety rating from the Euro NCAP, achieving “the highest Overall Score among any vehicle tested under Euro NCAP’s newest, most stringent test protocol.”

Read the complete Green NCAP report here.

Source: Green NCAP Via: TeslaNorth

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Mobile Syrup

Anker chargers, portable chargers and cables on sale by up to 25 percent off

Anker has some sweet deals this morning that could be an indication of what to expect for Black Friday. Savings of up to 25 percent off chargers, portable chargers, cables and audio gear are listed below.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Source: Amazon Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Google’s Nest products are currently on sale up to $80 off

Google has discounted its Nest smart home speakers until the end of the year. The products on sale are the Nest Mini, Nest Hub (2nd gen) and the Nest Hub Max. Other Nest products are also on sale, but only until November 10th.

Here are the deals below.

You can check out all of the deals on Google’s website, here.

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Mobile Syrup

Users notice that Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 update GVI3 bricks your device

If you own Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4, you might want to wait before installing the wearable’s latest update. According to SamMobile, the Galaxy Watch 4 update featuring the firmware number ‘R8xxXXU1GVI3’ has bricked some devices, causing them to be unusable.

SamMobile says that after users download the update on their Galaxy Watch 4 or Galaxy Watch 4 Classic and turn the wearable off, it doesn’t turn back on again. This means that once it’s powered down, the update causes the watch to never turn on again.

SamMobile says that the update won’t likely be fixed with another update, as you’d need to keep your smartwatch on long enough to receive the fix, and once it turns off, it’s gone for good.

It’s unclear how widespread this issue is, but there are numerous complaints in the Samsung Community forums in South Korea, and reports on Reddit from users in other countries.

According to BusinessKorea, Samsung has posted an apology on its Samsung Members website. “After a recent Galaxy Watch 4 software update, some watches did not turn on,” it said. “We have stopped updating the software that caused the error, and we will distribute an improved version of the software soon.”

Additionally, for anyone who has had this issue, Samsung Electronics is offering free repair services.

Via: SamMobile, Business Korea

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Mobile Syrup

Netflix partners with Vancouver’s The Coalition on Gears of War movie, series

Netflix has announced that it is working with Xbox on at least two adaptations of the Gears of War series.

In a social media post, the company revealed it’s teamed up with Xbox-owned The Coalition, the Vancouver-based developer of Gears, to produce a live-action movie and adult animated series. Additionally, the streamer says there’s the potential for more stories following those two adaptations.

It’s unclear whether the movie and/or series will directly adapt the games or take more of a shared universe approach à la Netflix’s own Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane, spin-offs of Cyberpunk 2077 and League of Legends, respectively. It also remains to be seen who else will be involved with the Gears of War projects beyond The Coalition. Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista has long expressed interest in playing series hero Marcus Fenix, and Xbox eventually even let him take on the role via a skin in Gears 5.

The announcement comes in celebration of the 16th anniversary of the third-person shooter series’ original game, which was developed by Epic Games and released on the Xbox 360. Since then, the acclaimed series has gone on to sell over 40 million copies. The most recent full Gears of War game was 2019’s Gears 5, although a Hivebusters expansion pack was released the following year, as was the turn-based strategy title Gears Tactics. 

In any event, it’s been a long time coming for a Gears of War movie, which has been said to be development at various companies going back as far as 2007.

Image credit: Xbox

Source: Netflix

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Mobile Syrup

Federal government to pause advertising on Twitter indefinitely

OTTAWA, CANADA – NOVEMBER 10, 2018: Canada Wordmark, the official logo of the Canadian government, on an administrative building next to a Canadian flag waiving

Mass layoffs at Twitter aren’t just losing the company private advertisers, but also large-scale Federal ones.

According to the CBC, a media and marketing agency that works with the federal government to plan and buy ads, has advised federal departments to “pause activity on Twitter,” citing mass layoffs at the newly taken over company as the primary reason.

The government’s media and marketing agency is Quebec City-based Cosette, and according to the CBC, the agency asked the government to “pause activity [on Twitter] immediately and monitor the situation over the weekend due to unknown continuity plans for moderation and a heightened risk of brand safety.”

According to Cosette, large-scale layoffs at the company increased concerns about the platform’s ability to moderate content and achieve brand safety.

However, Twitter’s head of safety and Integrity, Yoel Roth, said that the reduction in Twitter’s workforce affected only about 15 percent of the company’s trust and safety organization, compared to a general 50 percent company-wide cut. “More than 80 percent of our incoming content moderation volume was completely unaffected by this access change,” said Roth. “The daily volume of moderation actions we take stayed steady through this period.”

It’s worth noting that hate speech on the platform, including racist and derogatory slurs, soared in the initial days of the Musk acquisition, though that appears to have settled down for now.

Cossette is also reportedly wary about the upcoming U.S. midterm election, and how it might result in “a lot of focus on the platform for abuse.”

According to the CBC, the federal government spent over $3 million on Twitter ads through Cossette from 2020 to 2021.

Other companies that have paused advertising on Twitter include General Motors, Pfizer, Volkswagen, General Mills, Mondelez International, Nintendo and more.

The latest news on Twitter and Musk can be found here.

Source: CBC

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Mobile Syrup

Grocery store chain Sobeys potentially hit with major cybersecurity attack

Canadian grocery retailer Sobeys may have been hit with a substantial cybersecurity attack.

The cybersecurity incident resulted in computers and other systems at Canada’s second-largest grocery store chain becoming inoperable. According to blogTO, which spoke to an anonymous Sobeys employee, the company was “hit with a ransomware attack,” and all of its ” “computers were down with a message on screen demanding payment or else files were going to be uploaded online.”

The employee goes on to say that the grocery store’s smart cats and self-checkouts are also down, according to blogTO. Empire, which owns Sobeys, Lawtons, IGA, Safeway, Farm Boy, Foodland and FreshCo, confirmed that an IT problem is preventing some of its pharmacies from filling prescriptions. The company has not commented on if it also suffered from a ransomware attack. It’s also unclear if customer information was leaked through the potential hack.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Sobeys and will update this story with a statement and more information as it becomes available.

Maple Leaf Foods also announced Sunday night that it experienced a “cybersecurity incident” that resulted in a system outage at the company. It’s unclear if the two incidents are connected.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: blogTO, Maple Leaf Foods Via: CBC

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Mobile Syrup

Day one of Rogers-Shaw hearing focuses on Freedom Mobile and competition concerns

Monday marked day one of the long-anticipated hearing between Rogers, Shaw and the Competition Bureau, with the parties arguing what the sale of Freedom Mobile would mean for Canadians.

The Competition Bureau said plans to give up Freedom Mobile would not address anti-competitive issues as Rogers will inherit assets that will impact how Freedom Mobile functions.

“The divestiture will not replace the vigorous, disruptive and growing competitive presence offered by Shaw in the market,” John Tyhurst, a lawyer representing the Competition Bureau, said in his opening statement.

Tyhurst said the Competition Bureau has accepted the proposed acquisition will remove concerns of lessening competition in Ontario, but that still won’t be the case in Alberta and B.C.

Under the current contract, Rogers will acquire 450,000 Shaw Mobile customers who bundle wireless services with cable and internet services. Tyhurst argued Rogers would attain cable and Wi-Fi infrastructure, the mentioned customers, and personnel that support Freedom, impacting how well Vidéotron will be able to compete.

Kent Thomson, a lawyer representing Shaw, said if the transaction for Freedom Mobile to be acquired by Vidéotron is blocked, Canadians will be at a loss.

“If this transaction moves forward, it will not change the number of wireless service providers in Ontario, Alberta or British Columbia. All that will happen is Vidéotron will step into the shoes of Freedom. In doing so, it will be able to compete more effectively and aggressively.”

Thomson argued the proposed transaction wouldn’t shrink competition, “significantly” change market shares, or alter concentration levels. He said Freedom’s market share in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C is below 15 percent.

Vidéotron has no presence in Alberta and B.C. and a “very modest presence” in Ontario, Thomson said. While Rogers will acquire customers from Shaw Mobile in Alberta and B.C, its market share will only increase by five percent if the transaction to sell Freedom is approved.

Jonathan Lisus, a lawyer representing Rogers, took a similar tone. He said the Competition Bureau is making it seem like Vidéotron is a “vulnerable dependent.” Lisus argues that Freedom “will be a much stronger competitor [under Vidéotron] than it was with Shaw.”

The parties presented their arguments to Chief Justice Paul Crampton. During Lisus’ opening statements, Crampton received multiple emails from people saying he should reject Rogers’ takeover of Shaw.

“My email account is getting bombarded by a very, very large number of emails, all with slightly different subject lines along the lines of ‘no to Rogers Shaw,’” Crampton said. “Whoever is organizing these needs to stop. It’s highly improper. I’m not going to open those emails.”

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Mobile Syrup

Fitbit users report inaccurate sleep tracking following time change

Several people with Fitbit smartwatches and trackers reported getting inaccurate sleep-tracking results over the weekend due to Daylight Savings Time.

As spotted by PiunikaWeb (via 9to5Google), users have taken to both Fitbit’s forums and Reddit posts to complain about issues with Fitbit sleep tracking. In most cases, the time in sleep reports within the Fitbit app are wrong, typically off by about an hour or so.

Although most of the reports appear to be U.S. based, I was able to confirm similar behaviour with the Fitbit-powered sleep tracking on my Pixel Watch. For example, the Fitbit app lists my bedtime as 12:18am despite my going to be around 11pm on Saturday. It also lists a 6:41am wakeup, but I know I got up at 7:40am.

Some users noted in response to complaints that this happens every year with the Daylight Savings Time switch, while Fitbit confirmed it was aware of the problem on Twitter, writing that it “usually resolves itself when your Fitbit resets next midnight.”

You’d think by now Fitbit might have figured out the problem, but maybe they’re holding out hope we’ll finally ditch Daylight Savings Time.

The good news for anyone with a Fitbit is that the issue should be resolved now, and sleep-tracking stats should be accurate going forward. At least, it should be until the next change to Daylight Savings Time.

Source: Fitbit, (2), Reddit, (2) Via: PiunikaWeb, 9to5Google