Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple were noticeably absent from Comparably's annual ranking of the global companies with the best culture after topping the list last year.

The companies each made the top 15 last year Meta at No. 7, Amazon at No. 13, and Apple at No. 14 but were not included in the list of 50 companies for 2022.

It's not the first ranking the tech giants have fallen in this year, either: Meta and Apple both dropped more than 20 spots on Glassdoor's annual ranking of the best places to work in the U.S., from No.11 to No. 47 and No. 31 to No. 56, respectively. Amazon did not make the list for 2021 or 2022.

These companies have had a tumultuous past year, from privacy concerns to underperforming stocks, that would negatively affect the employee experience, Comparably CEO Jason Nazar tells CNBC Make It. "It's not always that the companies are performing poorly, either, but other companies are just outpacing them," he adds.

To be sure, employees lauded Meta, Amazon and Apple for their extensive benefits, professional development opportunities and ability to work on projects with wide-reaching impact but such reviews weren't prevalent enough to boost their culture scores.

Meta's drop is hardly surprising given the public relations crises it has endured for the past year. On Glassdoor, employees expressed concern over unwanted public scrutiny, a lack of action from leadership on platform issues and uncertainty about the company's future.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a statement in October following whistleblower Frances Haugen's testimony in front of a Senate subcommittee about the platform's harmful impact on children and public safety.

"I'm sure many of you have found the recent coverage hard to read because it just doesn't reflect the company we know," Zuckerberg said. "We care deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health."

Reviews from current and former Apple employees on Comparably and Glassdoor also cited minimal work-life balance, erratic schedules and a high-stress, competitive environment.

On Comparably, Apple received a "C" rating for its office culture, and ranked 6th in office culture among its competitors IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Samsung are all ranked higher.

Workers at several Apple stores throughout the U.S. are planning to unionize, the Washington Post reported last month, pointing to stagnant wages and a lack of professional development opportunities.

"We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace," Apple said in a statement to the New York Times, responding to employee complaints about a "toxic" culture that had surfaced in September. "We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved we do not discuss specific employee matters."

Amazon has also faced a barrage of criticism over the last 12 months including for its treatment of warehouse employees during the Covid-19 pandemic and fostering a brutal workplace culture.

Andy Jassy, Amazon's CEO, acknowledged that the company could improve its treatment of employees during the GeekWire Summit in Seattle back in October. "I think if you have a large group of people like we do we have 1.2 million employees it's almost like a small country," he said. "There are lots of things you could do better."

Jassy has had a rough first 8 months on the job: Amazon's stock was the weakest performer among big tech companies last year, CNBC reports, though it is bouncing back after the company announced a 20-for-1 stock split earlier this month.

Apple, Meta and Amazon did not respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Apple's office culture rank compared to its competitors on Comparably's website. An earlier version misstated its position.

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Apple, Meta and Amazon drop off Comparablys 2022 best company cultures list after topping last years rankingheres why - CNBC

Ten years ago, 20 girls from high schools across New York City gave up seven weeks of their summer to gather in a tech company's Flatiron Building conference room and learn the basics of computer programming.

At the time, it didn't necessarily feel like that big of a deal but that experiment became the inaugural summer program of Girls Who Code. Founded in 2012 by Reshma Saujani, the New York-based nonprofit works to close the gender gap in computer science jobs, partially by creating a steady pipeline of female talent with STEM backgrounds.

Girls Who Code has taught computer science skills from basic coding to designing algorithms and websites to roughly 500,000 girls across the world, a number it aims to double over the next decade. More than a third of those participants have gone on to earn computer science-related college degrees, compared to 5% of U.S. women overall, the organization says.

A group photo of the 20 participants in the first-ever Girls Who Code summer program in 2012 in New York City.

Source: Girls Who Code

Girls Who Code has now raised over $100 million in total from some of the world's biggest companies, including Apple, Microsoft and Walmart.Yet, Saujani notes, today's percentage of women tech industry workers about 32% is actually three percentage points lower than in 1984, according to a 2020 joint study from Girls Who Code and Accenture.

"We're not moving the needle fast enough," Saujani, now the chair of Girls Who Code's board of directors, tells CNBC Make It. "The numbers of women in tech are not that different than they were 10 years ago."

That means the organization, on its 10th anniversary, is facing a crossroads: Tech's gender gap may be more than just a talent pipeline problem. And Girls Who Code needs an expanded focus if it wants to make a bigger difference over the next 10 years.

Girls Who Code is the product of a failed political campaign: Saujani is a former corporate lawyer who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid, and ran for a U.S. Congressional seat in New York in 2010. Her bid came up short, but on the campaign trail, she saw something interesting.

Actually, it was more about what she didn't see.

"I would go into [a] computer science classroom, and literally just see, like, lines and lines and lines of boys trying to be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg," she says. "I was just like: Where are the girls?"

Part of the issue, Saujani says, is that girls can get dissuaded from STEM education topics at a young age. Despite being the daughter of two engineers, "I got it in my head [early on] that I wasn't good at it," she says. "I think that's what happens with a lot of girls."

Dr. Tarika Barrett, who took over as Girls Who Code's CEO in April 2021, says another problem is that high-profile tech role models are often male.

"Our data tells us: Before girls are even 10 years old, they've already internalized so many of these cultural touchstones about what a computer scientist looks like," she says. "It resonates with them throughout their entire lives."

Those data points are core to Girls Who Code's mission: Funneling more women into an industry where entry-level employees can land annual salaries over $150,000 at companies like Google and Facebook, Saujani says, could be "this great equalizer, in terms of poverty alleviation ... you could literally have millions of girls march into the middle class."

Step one: Encourage a cultural sea change in STEM education.

Barrett says she's proud of Girls Who Code's various awareness campaigns, from a book series for young readers to a joint 2020 Super Bowl commercial with skincare brand Olay, featuring stars Lily Singh and Busy Phillips as astronauts. Girls Who Code has even made music videos with rappers like Lizzo and Doja Cat.

"These campaigns aren't just entertainment," Barrett says. "Every time a girl, and especially a Black or brown girl, sees themselves reflected in something like this, it can be game-changing."

The change in perspective is palpable, Saujani says. A decade ago, she often heard from parents who struggled to get their daughters interested in coding, saying: "It's just not cool."

Now, she says, she's "inundated with people like, 'Will you take a picture with me? My daughter is the captain of her robotics team!' We did change [the] culture, and we made coding cool."

Girls Who Code CEO Dr. Tarika Barrett with a group of young coders.

Source: Girls Who Code

The second step, both Saujani and Barrett say, is much harder for Girls Who Code to impact because it revolves around the culture at many U.S. tech companies.

"Half of women leave tech roles by the age of 35, with many of them saying that their workplaces were still inhospitable to women," Barrett says, citing the study from Girls Who Code and Accenture. Harassment often creates toxic work cultures: In 2020, nonprofit Women Who Tech found that more than 40% of female tech employees said they'd been sexually harassed by a superior.

Women now make up just 26% of the workforce in computer science-related jobs with Black and Latinx women making up only about 5%, collectively according to a study from the National Center for Women & Information Technology.

More than half of Girls Who Code alumni come from historically underrepresented racial or socioeconomic groups, the organization says but that focus has yet to result in significant industry change.

"And we still have half of women in tech saying that they lack female role models," Barrett says.

Barrett and Saujani say they're realistic about the limits of their work, and just how much needs to happen before gender equity in the computer science field is a realistic possibility.

Both suggest Girls Who Code could better leverage its partnerships with tech giants like Twitter and Facebook, for example to help make their environments better for female employees.

"Our research also found that more inclusive work cultures could actually increase the number of women in tech by three million," Barrett says. "So much of this is really encouraging companies to look deeply at their own practices."

With that in mind, Barrett says, Girls Who Code has a new goal: Achieve gender parity in new, entry-level tech jobs by 2030. Once you get girls interested in computer science, you need to make sure they can actually go on to land careers in tech as young women, she says.

To that end, Girls Who Code has rolled out a workforce development program aimed at matching its college-aged alumni with potential tech jobs and female tech mentors. Last year, the nonprofit also partnered with the Biden Administration on an initiative to create more career pathways for women in cybersecurity and tech.

The new focus means having "harder conversations" with tech companies, says Barrett. And while there's no "magical" solution, she notes, "it's the kind of self-reflection that leads to shifting away from these white male offices and creating spaces that more accurately reflect the world that we're living in today."

That's much easier said than done, but Barrett says she's undeterred. "We're on track," she says. "[But] there's still such a long way to go."

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After 10 years, Girls Who Code 'made coding cool' but toxic tech culture means 'there's still such a long way to go' - CNBC

Information Technology (IT) giants Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCL Tech will consider paying final dividend for the financial year 2021-22 (FY22) along with declaring the fourth quarter results.

Infosys said its board will meet on 12 April and 13 April to take on record the financial results for the quarter ended March as well as for the full fiscal year. The board will also consider paying final dividend during the meeting.

Meanwhile, TCS' board will meet on 11 April to approve and take on record the audited financial results of the company for Q4 and year ending March. The company will also consider declaring dividend while announcing the results.

HCL Technologies Ltd said its board will meet on 20-21 April to approve the results and also declare an interim dividend for the current financial year (FY23). The company has fixed 29 April as the record date for determining the entitlement of the shareholders for the payment of interim dividend.

Recently, bellwether company Accenture forecast third-quarter revenue above estimates with growing demand for cloud and security-related services as more and more businesses move to a hybrid work model.

New bookings for the second quarter stood at $19.6 billion, lifted by demand for its cloud and security-related services as more businesses transform to hybrid work model.

Revenue for the second quarter stood at $15.05 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $14.65 billion, as per the Refinitiv IBES data.

On Friday, TCS shares closed 0.51% higher at 3,759 apiece on NSE. In the March quarter, the stock is down marginally, close to 2%, as against a drop of 6.09% in the Nifty IT index.

Infosys shares too have been muted in the three months ending March, rising marginally, while Wipro and HCL Tech dropped 16.13% and 11.53% respectively during the same period.

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Q4 results: IT giants TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech to consider paying dividend - Mint

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, pro-Russian propaganda about the war proliferated across the internet.

It may not entirely be the work of the Kremlin, but useful rubes, enthusiastic right-wingers, and people eager to share have led to a maelstrom of misleading videos and claims, despite all the efforts of social media platforms to restrict it.

The ease with which it can seep across the internetdespite the biggest tech giants gathering together to create a digital dragnetreveals that no clampdown can ever fully achieve its intended purpose given the scope, reach, and sheer numbers of users online.

Ukraines online efforts have been met by a public eager to share good news, cast the nation in a positive light, and share tales of the Russian misdeeds, tilting the appearance of who is winning the online information war. Russia, despite an online uphill battle, continues a push that to some extent is successfully portraying its invasion as justified and undermining support for Ukraine.

University of Nevada, Las Vegas researcher Mary Blankenship studies online disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda. Blankenship, who is from Ukraine, said information warfare is a huge aspect of Russias assault on her home country. She described Russias effort as international, intentional, and sophisticated.

Russia has a lot of experience, especially within social media and spreading disinformation, Blankenship told the Daily Dot. That was brought to light starting with the election back in 2016 with how prevalent it is, she added, referring to Russias effort to influence the United States elections.

The Kremlin is using this skill at creating and disseminating propaganda and disinformation online, where a single image or post can go viral and change minds all over the globe.

On March 16, Russia bombed the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre in Mariupol, Ukraine where civilians were sheltering. An estimated 300, among them many women and children, perished. In the immediate aftermath, Russia hastened to blame Ukraine for the bombing. The Russian Ministry of Defense denied responsibility. State-run media outlets TASS and ANNA News claimed that the theater was blown up by Ukrainian neo-Nazis from the Azov Battalion.

Part of the Ukrainian National Guard, the Azov movements roots are in far-right extremism. Members today deny allegations of fascism, nazism and racism, per CNN.

Azov comprises a slim fraction of Ukraines total forces. In spite of its miniscule size, Russia uses the Azov Battalion as a scapegoat for its invasion.

Following the theater bombing, Russian sympathizers, among them many American right-wing figures and media, amplified Russias version of events. Conservative journalist Max Blumenthal claimed that Azov Battalion staged the bombing as a false flag attack to convince the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to intervene in the war.

This false flag claim continues circulating.

Meanwhile, despite tech giants crackdowns, posts supportive of Russia bounce rapidly from platform to platform, at times being slightly altered in an internet version of telephone.

One is a video of a man protesting Canada providing aid to Ukraine. The camera swings around as he approaches the stage at an event in a conference room. Stop escalating the war. Stop sending arms, he shouts. Why didnt you push Kyiv to sign the Minsk accord? No to NATO. Shame on you. Youre going to push us to World War III.

The man holding the camera is Yves Engler, a Canadian author and opponent of NATO. Engler posted the footage of himself interrupting a speech by Canadian Foreign Minister Mlanie Joly on Twitter last week, where it amassed 350,000 views in days.

Engler tweeted that he interrupted the speech to challenge Canadas escalation of violence in Ukraine, weapons deliveries and NATO.

This was just the beginning of the videos journey.

Russian state media picked up the video and twisted the message. Both RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik News covered Englers one-man protest.

RTs coverage of the video claims the west provoked it to invade. Blaming the west and NATO is one of many theories Russia is pushing to justify its preemptive attack on its neighbor.

Englers video and Russias coverage of it was reposted by QAnon conspiracy theorists and far-right figures in the United States, many of whom have taken Russias side in the war, and in other pro-Russia spaces.

Tech companies have restricted and in some areas blocked access to Russia state media like RT and Sputnik News, but their reporting continues flowing from platforms that havent. From there it spreads across the web, polluting the information ecosystem with disinformation and propaganda.

The video is just one of thousands of photos and videos floating around the internet that are part of Russias push to control the online war discourse.

The problem is it completely catapults the discussion of the real issue and transfers it into sideline discussions of what are specific topics or specific facts that are true or not, disinformation researcher Blankenship said. In this scenario it can delay action or completely stop action by political figures or institutions.

In war, even a minor delay or inaction can be the difference of life or death, she added.

Facebook groups, Twitter accounts, Telegram channels, and other spaces onlinesome with tens of thousands of membersare rife with propaganda favoring Russia.

The posts on these platforms repeat false information, such as Russias claim that its bombing of a Ukrainian maternity hospital was actually staged, that it invaded to liberate Ukraine, or that the nationled by a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivorshas descended into neo-Nazism. Russia has insisted that its aim is the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, an argument Ukraine and most of the world rejects. People in these online spaces also accuse Ukraine of committing the very atrocities Russia has been accused of in the war and portray its invasion as a humanitarian mission to rescue a neighbor rather than an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation.

People post photos and videos of Russian soldiers appearing to feed and care for people identified as Ukrainians, of damaged Ukrainian military equipment, and Ukrainians wounded or killed in the warcasting Russia as both triumphant and humanitarian.

Above all, people insist that Russia will and should be the ultimate victor. Even as reports emerge of Russian soldiers dying by the thousands, abandoning military equipment, and retreating, some online insist Russia is winning.

Blankenship said that Russias propaganda campaign has two aims: to motivate and to intimidate.

The photos below of Russian military equipment and soldiers are designed to intimidate. Pro-Kremlin media outlet ANNA News credited the images to a war correspondent for VGTRK, a Russian state television and radio outlet.

The earliest example the Daily Dot found of the above images of the Russian invasion was in the Russian language Military Informant Telegram channel on March 22.

Within hours, the photos appeared on multiple platforms.

When a member of a pro-Russia subreddit where one of the images was posted expressed dismay at the destruction and wondered how Ukraine will recover, the person who posted the photo replied, Itll heal under Russias control. The pictures were also reposted by a Twitter user who describes themselves as an ANNA enthusiast and routinely tweets articles by ANNA News. The admin of a private Facebook group with thousands of members who post images of military equipment from the war reposted the photos and received universally positive reactions.

In these spaces, theres a steady drumbeat of opposition to the widely accepted notion that Ukraine is the victim of an unprovoked assault ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Support for Russia runs rampant in many private Facebook groups where people post admiring photos and videos of Russian military equipment and soldiers. Memes and crude cartoons are also common, as are graphic images of those killed or wounded. Often posts in these spaces have Russian watermarks or logos.

Many, such as the one below of a Russian soldier stepping on a Ukrainian flag with a graffiti swastika crossed out with red paint on a wall nearby, push Russias false claim that Ukraine has been taken over from within by neo-Nazis.

These spaces serve to both spread and sanitize propaganda. Its often unclear whether the content has a Russian source or is possibly being spread by a Russian troll farm, such as the infamous Internet Research Agency (IRA) that meddled in the 2016 election. ProPublica reported earlier this month that the IRA appears to be behind much anti-Ukraine propaganda circulating online. Blankenship said that Russia utilizes automatic and semiautomatic bots in addition to troll farms and that it tends to favor Twitter, Facebook, VK, and Telegram as platforms to disseminate propaganda and disinformation.

She said that Russia ramped up its online efforts as early as February. That month, Blankenship tracked a 141% increase in the number of new Twitter accounts registered from the previous February in Nevada alone.

Youll get newly made accounts and all theyll talk about is try to tweet and retweet a certain hashtag. she said. Two weeks ago there was a hashtag that was trending that says #istandwithputin.

The Daily Dot also found posts by people attempting to identify the location of Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers to mark them for death.

In a video circulated widely on multiple platforms last week, foreigner volunteers for the Ukrainian war effort film from inside an apartment in Ukraine.

British mercenaries in Kyiv! They will soon be found out!! an administrator of a private Facebook group with tens of thousands of subscribers captioned the video.

The Daily Dot found the same video on Telegram and Twitter the same day as the March 22 Facebook post. Commenters wished the men death and worked to identify their location. Wheres [a] hypersonic missile when you need it, wrote one on Telegram. A Twitter user replied to the video, If I can already figure out what building this is, then these guys are toast. Reddit army.

Propaganda always spreads on both sides of any conflict. On the Ukraine side, theres the tale of a mythical Ghost of Kyiv, a Ukrainian pilot that supposedly shot down six Russian jets in a single day in February. Photo and video evidence of the so-called Ghost has been debunked.

Disinformation researchers like Blankenship point out that Ukraine doesnt have a robust propaganda machine like the Kremlin, nor its many years of experience, however.

On the Ukrainian side there is not nearly as much disinformation and propaganda, said Blankenship, who is from Ukraine. When you have tweets about Ukraine most of them are just to stand in solidarity and support for Ukraine.

In recent years, Russias propaganda machine has been described as a firehose of falsehood.

Now Russia has put that machine to work on how its invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine itself is perceived. Last month, the Economist reported it is running at full throttle to control the narrative about Russias invasion of Ukraine. Each post about Ukrainian neo-Nazis or Russian success on the battlefield, or the humanitarian acts of Russian soldiers that filters from Russian media and sympathizers across the web is a symbolic missile with the ability to impact multiple targets across multiple platforms.

Some of the barrages are stopped, but given the voluminous volleys, plenty still detonate.

Read more:

Tech giants built digital dragnets to stop Russian propagandaheres how it still seeps through - The Daily Dot

Russias invasion of Ukraine has been unsettling markets and adding to lingering concerns about persistently rising inflation and global economic growth.

What weve seen over the course of last several weeks is capital markets have looked toward removing some of the worst case scenarios, said Bill Northey, senior investment director at US Bank Wealth Management.

Energy prices have been extremely volatile as the conflict continues, but have been easing over the last few days. Pressure on prices is also being relieved as Chinese authorities lock down Shanghai because of a surge in COVID-19 cases, which could crimp global demand for oil.

US crude oil prices fell 1.6 per cent and Brent crude, the international standard, slid 6.8 per cent. Prices are still up more than 30 per cent globally, but were up more than 50 per cent as of just last week.

Falling oil prices weighed down energy companies, which had some of the biggest losses on Tuesday. Chevron fell 1.2 per cent

More than 85 per cent of the stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 rose. Technology and communication stocks helped power the rally, along with big retail chains, automakers and other companies that rely on consumer spending. Apple rose 1.9 per cent and Netflix added 3.5 per cent. Ford Motor climbed 6.5 per cent and General Motors gained 4.6 per cent.

European markets rose, while Asian markets closed mixed overnight.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, fell to 2.39 per cent from 2.47 per cent late on Tuesday. It briefly dropped below the 2-year Treasurys yield, what Wall Street calls an inversion of the Treasury yield curve. Investors take note of this because prolonged yield inversions have accurately predicted previous US recessions. The 2-year Treasury yield rose to 2.36 per cent.

The brief inversion in the yield curves may just be a blip, given that in the times when theyve preceded a recession, theyve remained inverted for some time and, even then, its taken an average of 18 months before a recession followed, Bell said.

Developments in that part of the yield curve over the next couple of days, next couple of weeks, will be really important to watch, she said.

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Bond yields had been rising as Wall Street prepares for higher interest rates after years of ultra-low interest policies from central banks around the world. The rate hikes are part of a strategy to help temper the impacts of rising inflation.

The Federal Reserve has already announced a 0.25 per cent hike of its key benchmark interest rate and is prepared to continue raising rates.

Wall Street is also reviewing the latest economic updates this week. US consumer confidence bounced back in March, according to a report from business research group The Conference Board.

The Commerce Department will release its February report for personal income and spending on Thursday and the Labor Department will release its employment report for March on Friday.

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ASX set to rise as tech giants drive Wall Street higher - Sydney Morning Herald

Mark Zuckerberg told the world last October that he was rebranding Facebook to Meta as the company pushes toward the metaverse.

Facebook | via Reuters

Facebook parent Meta has lost some of its top artificial intelligence scientists this year as the company continues its pivot toward the metaverse.

At least four prominent members of Meta AI have departed in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter and LinkedIn analysis. Between them, the scientists have published dozens of academic papers in world-renowned journals and made multiple breakthroughs that Meta has used to enhance Facebook and Instagram.

Karl Hermann, an AI entrepreneur who used to work at rival lab DeepMind, told CNBC on Monday the true figure could be more like half a dozen, adding that the company's London AI lab had seen an alarming number of exits. "Meta's London office just collapsed and they lost most of their [top] researchers in the span of six weeks," he said.

Neil Lawrence, professor of machine learning at the University of Cambridge, told CNBC that he wasn't surprised. "Mark's [Zuckerberg] gone all Meta now ... and they never invested properly in anything in London in the first place," he said.

Those who have left the company include Edward Grefenstette, a research scientist that led Meta's efforts on a branch of AI known as reinforcement learning, who departed in February. He declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

Heinrich Kuttler, one of Meta AI's research engineering managers, left in recent weeks to join Inflection AI, a start-up set up by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman. Kuttler joined Meta in Jan. 2019 after spending over two years at DeepMind.

Another recent departure is Ahmad Beirami who left his research scientist position at Meta in January and joined Google in the same role.

And last year, in December, Douwe Kiela left his research scientist role at Meta after spending five years at the company. He's now head of research at AI start-up Hugging Face.

Kuttler, Beirami and Kiela did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

A number of other Meta AI staff have either left or are expected to leave in the coming weeks, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the issue. They added that there's no one reason why people were leaving.

"Some people jump to another big lab because they feel it will advance their career or research agenda better," the source said.

"Others go because comp or hiring potential for their team is better elsewhere," the source added. "Others just want to do a start-up or get involved with a smaller company. For some it might be tied to Meta stock tanking, but I wouldn't say that's necessarily the main reason."

Meta's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, who co-founded the firm's AI lab in 2013 after a dinner at Zuckerberg's house, told CNBC via email that "peoplehave changing interest[s] and move on."

He added: "Ed [Grefenstette] is joining an unnamed start-up. I'm sad he has left. But I understand that people's interests shift. I'm not sure what Heinrich's plans are. There is no underlying common cause that I know about. There has been no detectable migration from FAIR (Facebook AI Research) London nor from the other sites."

It's worth noting that several people from DeepMind and other AI labs have also joined Meta over the last couple of years.

Meta AI Chief Scientist Yann LeCun says people move on.

Getty Images

Fueled by the belief that AI is going to change the world, U.S. tech giants have been investing heavily in the area over the last few years with most of the money going toward hiring top talent from leading colleges like Oxford and Cambridge in the U.K., and MIT, Stanford and NYU in the U.S.

The latest departures at Meta AI come on the heels of several other big exits over the last two years. Rob Fergus, the co-founder of Meta's AI lab, left Meta in 2020 to join DeepMind and build up a DeepMind team in New York.

Elsewhere, Marc'Aurelio Ranzato left his research scientist manager role at Meta AI last August and joined DeepMind.

Beyond Meta's AI lab, there were a number of other major exits across the company in 2021.

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Meta's A.I. exodus: Top talent quits as the lab tries to keep pace with rivals - CNBC

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Things are getting real for augmented-reality glasses startup Nreal. It nabbed $60 million in a Series C extension funding round led by e-comm giant Alibaba.

To the metaverse: Alibaba, meanwhile, has its sights on the metaversea market that could be worth ~$8 trillion in China alone, according to Morgan Stanley. Its an opportunity to captivate new audiences, especially in a country where livestreaming and social commerce already dominate.

Metaverse is the future of social network. All Chinas tech giants have to embrace it to find new ways to engage the youngest generation of internet users, Winston Ma, managing partner and co-founder at Cloudtree Ventures, told CNBC.

And beyond: Nreal hopes to use the cash influx to expand its presence within China, but the startup isnt completely unknown outside of the country. It debuted its Light AR glasses in South Korea in 2020, and ventured into Spain and the US in 2021.JS

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Alibaba leads $60 million funding round in AR-glasses startup, with its sights set on the metaverse - Morning Brew

This weeks 2022 Spring TV Tech Summit provided an opportunity for our industry to discuss the current state of M&E tech as well as take a peek into trends that will shape the future of television. In a series of keynotes and panels, the lively discussions from industry experts covered a range of topics, from NextGen TV to AI, news production and the cloud, and how it is revolutionizing live and remote production.

Del Parks, President of Technology, Sinclair Broadcast GroupThe summit started off with a keynote conversation with Del Parks, President of Technology for Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Parks, a long-time veteran broadcaster, talked about how the company is adapting and diversifying its content offerings and expanding its reach.

Ruminating on how the pandemic of the past two years has impacted Sinclairs operations, Parks said the company was well-prepared.

We were in a pretty good position, and ready to adapt, he said. COVID affected all of our communities and so viewers and customers were experiencing the same constraints and limitations as broadcasters were, so I don't think it was a big surprise when our viewers saw our meteorologists reporting from their homes or our reporters were using Skype or Zoom to interview newsmakers.

I think the overall lesson it taught us is that innovation and adaptability can be embraced with reasonable solutions that can get the job done. And under these circumstances, I think our viewers have accepted it, he added.

Adoption of the cloud for broadcast has been a major trend for a decade but that trend was accelerated due to the demands of ramping up remote production operations over the past two years. Sinclair was an early adopter of the cloud and has expanded its capabilities beyond just storage and distribution, Parks said.

We began with the playout of a kids programming block from the public cloud in 2017, he said. Today we play out all of our diginet feeds from the public cloud and distribute to our affiliates using our LTN IP network. Additionally, in the last year, or so we've built a media content management, storage and distribution system that services our sports and broadcast users across the Sinclair family and that also operates out of the public cloud. Interestingly, enough, the pandemic accelerated the development and implementation of that.

Security is top of mind among broadcasters and Parks talked about the cyber attack that hit Sinclairs media operations last fall. Our IT department and our broadcast engineers, everybody, worked together and we recovered from it pretty well and in the process, strengthened our systems, he said.

Catherine Badalamente, President of Graham Media GroupCatherine Badalamente, the new president of Graham Media Group, and the second keynoter of the day, discussed the evolution of todays TV station groups where broadcast is just one of a range of distribution platforms.

Badalamente, who previously headed up GMGs digital operations, discussed the importance of a robust digital division. We position ourselves as being at the forefront of the digital side, especially in broadcast, she said. We were one of the first groups to actually have OTT apps in the marketplace and weve really leaned heavily into streaming. We have also pushed hard on NextGen TV and have itin all of (six of) our markets.

Badalemente said GMG learned a number of lessons over the past several years, and the experience with the pandemic reminded her of how broadcasters are driven by innovation to adapt and remain relevant to their viewers.

There were a lot of things that were done that frankly, for years, people would have said were impossible. We were forced to create new ways of doing things and it was amazing how the station stepped up, she said, referring to how stations ramped up their remote production capabilities in response to lockdowns.

In terms of being able to create frictionless processes for people to work from home, we were able to look at new ways of delivering our message, new ways of communicating with our audience, said, adding that the silver lining was that there were things done within that first year of COVID that I think would have taken five years if we hadn't had a pandemic.

Badalamente discussed how the decline of local newspapers has further illustrated the importance of local broadcasters in their community.

I think that we are really in a unique position like we've never been before, she said. We take our position in our communities very seriously. Frankly, there's not a lot of competition coming from the newspaper side in our markets, unfortunately. And that means that we have to actually pick up the slack and make sure that we have that level of coverage so we can make sure that we are protecting our communities, making sure that we're being able to serve them the right way.

Eric Hutto, President, DiversifiedThe final keynote of the summit was from Eric Hutto, the new president of Diversified, one of the worlds largest media technology and system integration companies.

Hutto comes to Diversified after serving in executive roles at tech giants such as Unisys, Dell and KPMG and TV Tech Senior Content Producer George Winslow asked him how his experiences prepared him for his new role heading up a large M&E tech and IT firm.

Let's start with just where the world's goingit's all about an experience and creating energy, and providing services, he said. So this particular industry was already bouncing up against IT services. A lot of the ways that IPTV is going to evolve is going to be through cloudand were going to have to have a really high level of security knowledge because it's just getting more complex and sophisticated.

And really the intent of broadcasting is to communicateto get information out and to let people create content and share, he added. So I think when I looked at this industry, it was intriguing to me because services are right in the midst of this conversation.

Hutto also commented on the changing nature of systems integration, going from a hardware-intensive operation to more software-based systems and how Diversified has adapted to this trend by establishing a media workflow group, for example.

One of the things I think that Diversified were already leaning into is workflows, and that's really what business is all about these days, he said. It's not so much about infrastructure and applicationsit's about the workflows, and the things underneath it.

Helping media companies integrate next-gen technologies such as AI, machine learning as well as augmented intelligence are also important trends to watch in M&E tech, Hutto said.

Looking back, you've heard a lot about machine learning and artificial intelligence in the IT space, but over here (in media), it's augmented intelligence, he said. Companies just can't afford to raise all their staff to be able to do all the different things that they have, including traditional broadcasting and IPTV, for instance. So how do you use augmented intelligence to do a lot of things that people were doing so that they don't have to do anymore? I think that involves staff balancing and letting your expertise go to where it is.

In terms of streaming, we all can do it, he added. But that's not why a company like Netflix is successful. It's their engine that allows them to generate content specific to me, that they're the curator of the content that makes them special.

New Life for Live Production ToolsThe panel New Life for Live Production Tools delved into new technologies and workflows that have allowed broadcasters and media enterprises to expand and improve live coverage.

Michael Davies, senior vice president of Fox Sports, discussed how the network created a new look for its NASCAR coverage when it broadcast the The Busch Light Clash At The Coliseum in February.

It was a NASCAR race that was done in the LA Coliseum and that's never been done before. So we had no idea what that would really look like, he said. NASCAR and Fox Sports worked from a rendering of the Coliseum as a race track, which gave the network a much better idea of what the race was going to look like in terms of camera placement, Davies added.

Zero Density, a provider of virtual studio, augmented reality and real-time graphics technologies has worked with Fox Sports on its NASCAR coverage and Onur Glen, territory manager for the company, explained how the use of VR, AR and xR tech is expanding in the media and broadcast space.

Weve worked with The Weather Channels 24/7 virtual weather presentation, MLB on Turner Sports and NEP is a partner as well, Glen said.

Daniel Pisarski, VP of engineering for LiveU, discussed the role that bonded cellular companies have played in helping broadcasters adjust to the realities of keeping operations running smoothly during the pandemic.

A lot has been said about how the pandemic took workflows that users were curious about, but accelerated things and forced the industry to adopt themand part of that definitely is ground-to cloudyou're out there shooting this content and you need to get it back to a centralized control room, he said. And then during the pandemic, a lot of people tried it out. Our customers said we need to get it back to a virtual control room in the cloud and have our team distribute and interact with the cloud from the locations were in, and bonded cellular makes a great fit for that.

Casper Choffat, SVP, Global Product for NEP Group explained how the mobile production giant is adapting new centralized production methods to work with new remote production scenarios.

All of our truck and flypack deployments will eventually have our NEP platform control system, which we are calling TOC, Choffat said. And that control system basically ensures that for the operator or for the clients, the experience inside of the control room remains the same if you step into an OB truck, or if you step into facility, or if you use a flypack, because eventually our vision is that everybody will use that control system when they use NEP capabilities.

The Future of Cloud TechnologiesIn The Future of Cloud Technologies, panelists discussed the vital role of cloud technology in todays broadcast media environment.

Kate Tempelmeyer, media services director for Nebraska Public Media, discussed how the networks early adoption of cloud evolved into a hybrid setup.

We actually started working with Avid a number of years ago, when we virtualized our first stack of servers, she said. And as time went on we morphed into kind of a hybrid solutionliving on premise and being able to edit in the Nexus cloud and it's proven to be a good solution for us.

David Rosen, VP, Cloud Applications and Services for Sony, explained how the role of the cloud in media has changed.

From an application standpoint, we're starting to see a migration away from the overall use of the cloud for distribution purposes, he said. In terms of content creation, getting the content thats actually going to play out is now starting to move into the cloud as well. And I think there have been some pretty cool applications that we've been seeing from a live production standpoint, people actually starting to do switching of certain events. And I think we're going to start to see that begin to encroach upon some of the larger events as people become a bit more aware of what some of their limitations are.

Karl Paulsen, CTO for Diversified, said for facilities transitioning to the cloud, a number of questions need to be asked.

How much of the cloud do you use? Do you use more than one cloud? How do you move from one cloud to another? We've got the opportunities now to do a lot of thinking about where this is going, particularly in facilities that are still maybe a year or more away before the physical construction goes on, he said.

John Footen, managing director, M&E for Deloitte Consulting predicted that the cloud will provide enormous capabilities in enhancing how viewers watch live events.

When we reach a point where all of the cameras in a sporting event are in cloud and all of our customers are in the cloud, all the viewers are all meeting in one placeone bucket of video that is in one place with the most incredible computing power ever brought to bear, in theory and in practice, we can then make different versions of the content for every viewer, he said. We no longer have to have one version of the show. And the future implications of that are quite interesting.

New Services and Tech for NextGen TVDuring the New Services and Tech for NextGen TV, Anne Schelle, managing director for Pearl TV provided a progress report on where the transition to ATSC 3.0 currently stands.

We ended 2021 in a great place with over 40 markets launched, representing over 45% of U.S. households, this is during a two year pandemic, so I give the broadcasters a lot of credit for launching and being able to keep up, even when sometimes they couldn't get into TV stations, she said. The other piece of this is TV manufacturers; they put out over 70 models last year from Samsung, LG and Sony. Sony has incorporated NextGen TV technology in every single one of its modelsthe lowest priced television out there during the holiday season was around $544. The CTA announced that over three and a half million TV sets were sold already. And that's just starting out with those three manufacturers.

Fred Engel, CTO for PBS North Carolina, discussed the networks work on facilitating ATSC 3.0 technology with first responders. The network received a grant from the NAB PILOT Innovation Challenge in 2017 to develop the system, partnering with Capitol Broadcasting Company in Raleigh.

In 2018 we did the first testing where we routed 911 dispatch information over an ATSC 3.0 transmitter and captured it on a computer, he said. In 2019 we launched our ATSC 3.0 lab that includes all the encoding, all the processing gear that you need to have for that. We have a Ch. 20 TV exciter operational, so we can look at all the receiving devices and do a lot of testing on public safety and other efforts that we're working on.

On the audio side, John Schur, president of the Solutions Group for Telos Alliance, discussed the important role of immersive and personalized audio in the ATSC 3.0 environment.

For many years we've helped broadcasters develop their workflows around ATSC 1.0, he said. ATSC 3.0 has so many new and exciting features when it comes to audio, and it's really designed to enhance the listeners experience for both the video and audio. One of those is immersive audiomore channels, more speakers. But to me the exciting thing is that with the new codecs like Dolby AC, they can create a presentation that's rendered for the listeners environment. Theres also dialogue enhancement which is another feature that's built into the codec so the broadcaster doesn't have to do anything special to take advantage of it.

Streamlined Content Delivery to Multiple PlatformsDuring the Streamlined Content Delivery to Multiple Platforms, panelists discussed how media companies are managing the myriad services that come with the explosion in OTT.

Its no surprise to anyone in the two years of COVID that it's really been a game changer in all the aspects of the video chain, said Stphane Cloirec, Vice President, Video Appliance Product Management for Harmonic. We have seen on the user side, the explosion of streaming adoption, but also for all the professional video professional companies that have been forced to work from home. And one main consequence we have seen out of those changes is that cloud adoption as a result has been accelerating at a pace that was never seen before. It has really been a key driver.

Geoff Stedman, CMO for SDVI, discussed the challenge of creating efficiency in a media supply chain.

What I think of efficiency, its this idea of being able to get more done with the same or even fewer resources, he said. We hear a lot about the pressure that companies are under to support the changes that are happening with their business and not necessarily getting more resources in order to deal with that. So this drive to make my operations more efficient is absolutely a big challenge that we hear customers facing. On the other hand, another big challenge is what I call responsiveness or being able to adapt quickly to changes in the business needs.

David Klee, VP Strategic Media Solutions for A&E Networks, noted that unlike its counterparts, it has not launched a plus version of its library.

A&Es focused on delivering content to many of those [plus] platforms to enable them to supplement their libraries, provide additional content and value to their subscribers as they're launching these new platforms, he said. So we have to be very good at multiplatform delivery. With the acronym soup that is today's AVOD, SVOD, FAST, MVPD world, we make sure that we're able to get each of those partners, the media metadata that they need in a timely basis to support not only the ongoing crunch of daily content flows, but also new launches and new deals and new opportunities in the marketplace.

Speed to Air, ENG and the New NewsroomIn the final panel of the day, Speed to Air, ENG and the New Newsroom, panelists showcased the rapid changes taking place in news acquisition and delivery. In addition to the cloud, panelists discussed the changing role of satellites in ENG operations.

I have been talking more about satellites this last week than I have done in the last 10 years, said Jon Landman, VP of sales for Teradek. These new satellites are basically a million dollars to launchnot $100 millionand eventually it will come down to a news organization owning their own satellite network.

Landman added that these low earth satellites will reinvigorate satellites place in the broadcast news landscape.

I think that we have to look at that as the future for connectivity because they're really bringing them down to a cost that organizations will love, he said.

Jeffrey Liebman, Director, Network News Operations for Telemundo-NBC noted that there are still certain challenges that go with incorporating satellites for news coverage.

With K-band we found that it works great if you're in, let's say, Texas or the center of the United States, but it really doesn't work well on the periphery in Mexico, he said. And that becomes my concernif we do launch these low earth orbiting satellites, one of the things that we're always going to be dealing with or grappling with is, are they in the right position in the right place?

Jim Ocon, president of Ocon Solutions & Chairman, OConsortium, summed up the panel discussion with some thoughts about how the technology is secondary to its overall application.

If you look at the products that are out there, and how robotics are now incorporating artificial intelligence and smart resourcing and sim connections, ENG is about technology, but technology is always changing. And so we always have to be looking at where that sun rises and what's going to help our folks in the field. The last year and a half with COVID has just amplified things, but for me the technology isn't the sticking point. It's the application.

Sponsors of the summit include:

The TV Tech Summit is available on demand at tvtechsummit/march.

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It's a Wrap: Highlights from the 2022 Spring TV Tech Summit | TV Tech - TV Technology

The Sun Belt is becoming a hot spot for business relocation, fueling a housing boom in Texas.

HOUSTON From Arizona to Texas to North Carolina, the Sun Belt is becoming a hot spot for business relocation. Companies across America are cutting costs by moving south. And, thats fueling a housing boom in Texas.

Jeff Holzmann is the CEO of IRM Services, an asset management company. He says the move from The New York-New Jersey area to Dallas has saved the company millions in under two years.

"I would say that on a per-foot basis, per employee we pay about 60% down here in Dallas where I am today compared to what we would pay in New Jersey, and its even less if we were comparing to our New York City/Manhattan offices," Holzmann said.

Businesses are relocating to The Sun Belt. One CEO says relocating from the New York/New Jersey area to Dallas has saved his company millions. (RREAF Holdings / Fox News)

He added that the Sun Belt region is different than it was 30-40 years ago. "Its a fantastic place to be. The prices are affordable, the talent is around and is seeking an opportunity.".

The Texas population increased by over 300,000 people last year, and part of that increase is due to all the businesses relocating to the Lone Star state.

RATE AT WHICH PEOPLE STOPPED MOVING TO CALIFORNIA SURPRISES RESEARCHERS

He said the COVID-19 pandemic also played a factor in this business relocation. "The comeback to work was so much quicker down in Dallas and down South," Holzmann said.

Employees like Barbara Kogler, who also relocated from the north, said the move was a win.

"Its a little bit cheaper here, and Im making better money," Kogler said.

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Tesla, Apple and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are a few of the tech giants also making their way South.

Kip Sowden is the CEO of RREAF Holdings Real Estate Development. He says he's trying to keep up with this business migration. It's helping make Texas one of the fastest-growing states in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And the growth is driving a boom in the Texas housing market.

Tesla, Apple and Hewlett Packard Enterprise are a few of the tech giants also making their way south.

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"Were seeing great migration, and as a result of that, we see demand far exceeding supply. But, because of the demand and the growth that were seeing, in Texas and the Southeast in general, itll more than offset those inflationary pressures," Sowden says.

Samsung is another major company moving part of its operation to Texas. This move alone will open around 2,000 jobs in the Austin area, another major hotspot for real estate developers trying to keep up with the growing housing demand in Texas.

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Companies relocating to Sun Belt area on massive scale - Fox Business

Update 1 April: Culture Secretary Nadine Dorrieshas confirmed Michael Grade will be the next Ofcom chair following his appearance in front of MPs on Thursday.

His tenure will run between 1 May 2022 and 30 April 2026 and he will earn 142,500 for the three-day-a-week role.

MPs on the DCMS Committee said they were impressed by Michael Grades appearance in front of them, saying he clearly has the character and gravitas for the role.

They said he brought a lot of experience from the media and broadcast world and approved of his promise to keep his opinions at the door at stay out of conversations around the BBC licence fee and Channel 4 privatisation.

But they said he would need support around online issues after he admitted he does not use social media. They acknowledged that it would be difficult to find a candidate with experience and knowledge of Ofcoms entire remit.

Committee chair Julian Knight said: He will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge of the broadcasting sector to the job, but when talking about social media he seemed to be on more shaky ground.

While he recognises the importance of Ofcoms soon-to-be enhanced role in tackling harmful content online, he may need support and advice to make sure hes up to speed on how the regulator best keeps people safe in the ever-changing online world.

Original story 31 March: The newly announced Ofcom chair has vowed to leave his opinions at the door after sharing strong views on woke warriors, Channel 4 privatisation and the BBC licence fee.

Michael Grade, a Conservative peer and the Governments newly announced preferred candidate to lead the broadcast regulator, also told MPs on the DCMS Committee that he does not use social media, despite being in line to lead the organisation tasked with regulating the tech platforms.

A nearly 50-year veteran of the media industry, 79-year-old Grade has previously accused Ofcom staff of being woke warriors, expressed support for controversial anti-lockdown campaigner Laurence Fox, suggested that Channel 4 should be privatised and that the BBC licence fee was regressive.

Asked by committee members whether those opinions would influence his tenure as Ofcom chair, Grade said: Ofcoms enviable reputation as a regulator is based on their processes, their adjudications are based on evidence and research, and therefore you leave your opinions at the door when you arrive at Ofcom.

He added: I have strong opinions sometimes One single persons opinion in Ofcom, whether its my opinion or other members of the board, will contribute to the debate, but one voice is not powerful in Ofcom nor should it ever be, certainly not the chairmans voice.

Grade also repeatedly said that his opinions are irrelevant

Grade, a former chief executive of Channel 4, has backed the proposed privatisation of the broadcaster. He said on Thursday: As far as Channel 4 is concerned, that is my opinion. I fought privatisation twice as chief executive of Channel 4 once with Mrs Thatcher and once with John Major.

I would say that the world has changed. There were only four channels in those days and BSB and Sky were broke, so it was a very different world.

He added: I thought it was important to point out the importance of scale in the current media environment. Its very difficult to survive if youre very small and youre not allowed to own content.

Asked whether he used any social media himself, Grade said that he did not use Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok or Twitter, but does use Whatsapp to communicate with family members.

He said: I wouldnt say I have no experience. I have three kids. I have a 23-year-old student son who is never off his screen I do understand the dynamics.

Grade said Ofcom had to improve its diversity, particularly on the executive board.

He said: Its clear to me that theres a problem at the main board level, a distinct lack of diversity. And whilst appointments are not in the gift of Ofcom I will be pushing very hard that there is a seriously diverse list of candidates from which to choose.

The Governments previous preferred candidate for Ofcom chair was reportedly former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre but he withdrew from consideration last year, blaming the toxic hatred of Brexit that is so palpable among the people who really run this country for his decision.

Grade revealed that he made the decision to apply for the role after the process was reopened due to his interest in the Online Safety Bill and ensuring Ofcom is ready to provide effective regulation of the tech giants. He said he had not been asked to apply by the Government.

It hadnt occurred to me to apply until I started to think hard about the Online Safety Bill which seemed to me to be a seriously important piece of business and I thought why not? Ill have a go, Grade said.

On taking on tech giants, he added: I think the laws of nature suggest they will resist regulation. Theyre used to having their own way, it is a wild west in a sense The time has come for effective regulation. And I think Britain is at the forefront of this.

During his career, Grade has been chief executive of Channel 4, chairman of the BBC and executive chairman of ITV.

Picture: Parliamentlive.tv

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