All of the celebrities' blue ticks have vanished from Twitter! Is this Elon Musk's latest prank?

In light of Elon Musk's '4/20' deadline on Friday, Twitter has erased all legacy 'Blue Ticks' for individual accounts. If a person has a legacy verified account on Twitter with a blue tick, he or she will lose it or will have to pay to keep the blue tick. Only accounts enrolled to Twitter Blue will retain their blue checkmarks.

This means that if you have a legacy verified account with a blue checkmark on Twitter, you will now have to pay to keep it. Only accounts enrolled to Twitter Blue will retain their blue checkmarks.

Twitter Blue is priced differently depending on your location and how you sign up. In the United States, iOS or Android users pay $11 per month or $114.99 per year, while web users pay $8 per month or $84 per year. Twitter Blue costs 900 rupees per month for iOS, 650 rupees per month for web, and 9400 rupees per year for iOS. Monthly cost for Android users is 900, while annual pricing is 9,400.

Twitter Verified account has issued an update saying, "To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here."

Twitter states that, “Verified Organizations is a new way for organizations and their affiliates to distinguish themselves on Twitter. Rather than relying on Twitter to be the sole arbiter of truth for which accounts should be verified, vetted organizations that sign up for Verified Organizations are in full control of vetting and verifying accounts they’re affiliated with. Accounts affiliated with the organization will receive an affiliate badge on their profile with the organization’s logo, and will be featured on the organization’s Twitter profile, indicating their affiliation. All organizations are vetted before they can join Verified Organizations."

Musk is making the switch to paid verification in order to generate much-needed revenue for Twitter. The social media platform has also launched a program for businesses and organizations to charge $1,000 per month for verification badges (gold for brands, companies and nonprofits; grey for governments).

The microblogging site first introduced verified accounts in 2009 to help users identify that celebrities, politicians, companies and brands, news organizations, and other accounts of public interest were genuine and not impostors or parody accounts. The company didn't previously charge for verification.

Recently, Musk had said that running the social media network has been "quite a rollercoaster" and acknowledged "many mistakes" along the way, six months after he bought the company for $44 billion. In a live interview with the BBC after agreeing to a last-minute invitation for the "spontaneity" of it, Musk appeared to tacitly acknowledge that one of those errors was the decision to label the broadcaster's account "government-funded media". He said he would change the designation on the BBC's Twitter handle after the broadcaster objected. "We want it as truthful and accurate as possible -- we're adjusting the label to 'publicly funded'," Musk said.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #lifestyle #twitter #ElonMusk

IPL 2023: Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the DC vs. KKR match at Arun Jaitley Stadium

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, was observed as one of the high-profile spectators at the famed Arun Jaitley Stadium during the Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) IPL match on Thursday, just hours after the business opened India's second Apple store in Delhi's Saket.

Pritish Bagdi

Several images have gone viral showing Tim Cook standing in the grandstand, cheering on the teams alongside Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and her spouse Anand Ahuja. Rajeev Shukla, the Congress leader, can also be seen in the photos.

Tim Cook is currently in India, where two Apple stores will open. The first retail location opened in Mumbai on Tuesday, and the second in Delhi on Thursday. The iPhone manufacturer has expressed interest in development plans, including manufacturing the latest devices, because Apple sees India as a long-term market. Apple employs approximately 1 lakh people in India at the moment. According to sources, this figure is anticipated to rise to 2 lakh in the next years.

On Wednesday, Cook also visited with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Cook expressed optimism about long-term collaboration with India.

Cook last visited India in 2016, when the tech giant was only starting to expand its operations there.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #lifestyle #Apple #TimCook #IPL2023

CWG under India’s G20 Presidency to organise the second webinar for a Sustainable Future

On 13th April, as a part of the series of Global Thematic Webinars being organised by The Culture Working Group (CWG) under India’s G20 Presidency and facilitated by UNESCO (Paris), as the knowledge partner, the second webinar on the topic “Harnessing Living Heritage for a Sustainable Future”, is scheduled for 13 April 2023, from 12.30 pm to 8.30 pm (IST).

The webinar will reflect on the importance of living heritage and on its role towards sustainability, bringing together experts from 29 countries including G20 members and guest nations, as well as several international organizations.

The objective of this webinar is to foster an inclusive dialogue and facilitate an in-depth discussion from an expert driven perspective on harnessing living heritage for a sustainable future. It seeks to promote knowledge sharing; capitalize on the best practices and experiences; identify gaps, needs, and opportunities in harnessing living heritage practices. The webinar will also inform the reflection of the G20 membership in formulating tangible and action-oriented outcomes.

It will have three speaking segments and experts will be distributed across these segments based on their respective time zones. The webinar will be moderated successively by representatives from Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with expertise on the topic. It will be live streamed on the YouTube channel of UNESCO (Paris).

Living heritage is an embodiment of social practices, traditions, and knowledge passed down through generations that reflect a community's history, identity, and values. It serves as social capital for communities, providing a sense of shared identity, fostering social cohesion, and promoting cultural continuity across generations. Many of these practices prioritize the use and reuse of natural resources, contributing to waste reduction and maintenance of a balance between social, economic, and environmental factors, thus contributing to sustainability. However, these traditional practices face the threat of misuse and of cultural appropriation of elements, design or knowledge of indigenous communities by transnational companies. Further, owing to limited research in the area, as well as due to the absence of community groups' participation, the significance of these practices and knowledge systems has not been fully acknowledged.

The following global thematic webinars on priority three and four are scheduled for 19th and 20th April respectively.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #event #IndianHeritage #lifestyle #G20 #event2023 #CWG #UNESCO