Apps
Study: Smartphone Apps Help in Depression Treatment
Another new piece of study material has shown its way into our ranks. This time, it proves the effectiveness of smartphone apps to help the treatment against depression. This Australian-led research has confirmed that smartphone apps are an effective treatment option for depression. Which is useful for interventions for the millions of people around the world diagnosed with this condition.
The credit for this effort goes to researchers from Australia’s National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), Harvard Medical School, The University of Manchester, and the Black Dog Institute in Australia. All of them examined the effects of Smartphone apps with depression patients.
The studies involved more than 3400 male and female participants between the ages of 18-59 with a range of mental health symptoms and conditions including major depression, mild to moderate depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and insomnia. This is the first research of its kind, and the results are better than expected.
According to the results provided by the research team. Overall smartphone apps significantly reduced people’s depressive symptoms, suggesting these new digital therapies can be useful for managing the condition. The lead of the project Mr. Joseph Firth comments on the importance of these findings.
“The majority of people in developed countries own smartphones, including younger people who are increasingly affected by depression,” said Mr Firth. “Combined with the rapid technological advances in this area, these devices may ultimately be capable of providing instantly accessible and highly effective treatments for depression, reducing the societal and economic burden of this condition worldwide.”
There are some limitations to this research however. Since the results have applied to patients with Minor-Moderate depression. The benefits for people with major depression have yet to be found in a wider scale.
You can take a look at the full report right here. As for what this means for patients with Depression symptoms, this can be a great development for science in the future. Not only that, but smartphone apps acquire more relevancy than before.
WhatsApp launched dual-account support today. You can switch between accounts in WhatsApp.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature on Facebook and said it would soon be available.
People used to need two phones for two WhatsApp accounts. The company now allows two accounts on one phone. App cloning lets users use multiple WhatsApp instances on Xiaomi and Oppo phones.
“Helpful for switching between accounts – such as your work and personal – now you no longer need to log out each time, carry two phones or worry about messaging from the wrong place,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Users can add accounts under Settings > Add Account. Your second SIM or multi-SIM phone is needed for setup. Account-specific notifications and privacy settings are available, the company said.
WhatsApp discouraged fake apps to prevent fraud.
WhatsApp added Android passkey support this week, enabling access without SMS-based two-factor authentication.
X, formerly Twitter, announced today that it will experiment with charging “new unverified” users $1 per year to interact with posts. The company said this test is live in New Zealand and the Philippines and won’t affect existing users.
Users can post, like, repost, reply, bookmark, and quote for that fee. Free users get a read-only account to view posts and follow accounts.
This “Not A bot” program is not a profit driver, according to the company’s support account, but reason is hard to trust. The Elon Musk-owned company claims this program will reduce spam.
We created this new test to improve our already successful efforts to reduce spam, platform manipulation, and bot activity while balancing platform accessibility with the small fee. It does not generate profits, the company said.
The company said it would share spam-fighting program results on its support page.
Musk announced that X will charge “a small monthly payment” to use its service. The test program pays annually, but ethos is the same.
X (then Twitter) started requiring logins to view posts in June. Days later, the platform allowed logged-out users to view posts.
One year after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition, Simialrweb reports X traffic has dropped. The company has taken drastic measures to cut costs and make money.
In an interview last month, CEO Linda Yaccarino predicted X’s 2024 profitability. The former NBCU executive avoided discussing X’s user fees in the interview.
As of now, X only offers a $8 monthly plan. According to recently discovered code, the company may introduce three premium tiers, one ad-free.
Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of devices and services, says the Pixel 8 Pro will be the first hardware to run Google’s generative AI models.
At an event today, Osterloh said the Pixel 8 Pro’s custom-built Tensor G3 chip, which accelerates AI workloads, can run “distilled” versions of Google’s text- and image-generating models to power image editing and other apps.
Osterloh said, “We’ve worked closely with our research teams across Google to take advantage of their most advanced foundation models and distill them into a version efficient enough to run on our flagship Pixel.”
Google improved Magic Eraser, its photo-editing tool, to remove larger objects and people smudge-free using on-device models. Osterloh claims that this improved Magic Eraser creates new pixels to fill in shot gaps, producing a higher-quality image.
Osterloh says a new on-device model will “intelligently” sharpen and enhance photo details, improving zoom.
On-device processing benefits audio recording. The Pixel 8 Pro’s recording app will soon summarize meeting highlights.
Gboard will use a large language model on the Pixel 8 Pro to power smart replies. Osterloh claims that the upgraded Gboard will provide “higher-quality” reply suggestions and better conversational awareness.
Osterloh said an update in December will add on-device generative AI features except for Magic Eraser, which appears on the Pixel 8 Pro at launch.
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