Meta is offering some creators thousands of dollars if they go viral on Threads. The payouts are part of a new invitation-only bonus program that rewards creators who use Meta’s newest app.

An Instagram support page offers some details about the bonus program, which Meta hasn’t formally announced. It states that creators can earn money “based on the performance of your Threads posts” or “the number of posts you create.” It appears that specific terms of the bonuses are individualized to each creator. “Details of the bonus program may vary by participant,” the company notes.

The program seems to be a small-scale effort for now — the company refers to it as being in “testing” — but it offers a preview of how Meta may look to ramp up its efforts to use creators to boost engagement on the service. Meta has previously offered bonuses for posting Reels on Facebook and Instagram, but it’s the first time the company has paid for posts on Threads. The Threads bonus program was first reported by Business Insider earlier this month.

Some creators are already being offered thousands of dollars for high-performing posts. According to one screenshot making the rounds on Threads, at least one creator was offered “up to $5,000” for Threads posts or replies with 10,000 views or more. That’s not nearly as high as the $10,000 bonuses Reels creators could once earn on Instagram, but is still quite generous considering posting on Threads requires far less effort than shooting and editing a compelling video.

Meta isn’t the only platform trying to lure creators with promises of potential payouts. X also offers creators direct payments based on their engagement, but that program is a revenue sharing arrangement for users who pay for premium subscriptions.

Engadget

Instagram is introducing a few new changes to its ranking systems to better highlight content from smaller, original creators across the social network. The Meta-owned platform says that historically, creators with large followings and accounts that share reposted content have gotten the most reach on the platform. So now it’s seeking to give all creators an equal footing in terms of reach with a set of new changes that will be implemented over the next few months.

The change comes after months of criticism from creators’ who said their reach has been negatively impacted by the algorithm, leading to Instagram head Adam Mosseri fielding complaints on Threads nearly as often as he promoted new features.

The platform is introducing a ranking change that will give smaller creators more distribution, replacing reposts with original content in recommendations, adding labels to reposted content and removing content aggregators from recommendations.

Instagram says it has been working on a new way to rank recommendations that will show eligible content to a small audience that it thinks will enjoy it. As people engage with the content, the top performing set of Reels will be shown to a slightly wider audience, then the best of these will be shown to an even wider group and so on. Instagram believes this change will give all creators an equal chance of finding audiences.

In addition, if Instagram finds two or more identical pieces of content on Instagram, it will only recommend the original one. This change means that the original content will directly replace the reposted content in the app’s recommendations. The company notes that it won’t replace content if it has been significantly changed. For instance, Instagram won’t replace content that has been edited to become a meme or a parody. Plus, the content will only be replaced in places where Instagram recommends posts, such as the explore page, Reels and in-feed recommendations.

Instagram is also going to start adding labels to reposted content that will link users to the original creator. The label will be visible to followers of the account reposting it. The company says that for now, the original creator or the account reposting the content has the option to remove the label. It’s possible that Instagram might not let creators remove the label in the future.

Another new change will go after meme accounts or pages dedicated to reposting other creators’ content. The company says that in the coming months, accounts that repeatedly post content from other users that they didn’t create or enhance will not be shown in recommendations. Instagram notes that this change won’t affect how it shows people content from aggregator accounts they follow.

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Microsoft reportedly locked down a server last month that exposed passwords, keys, and credentials of Microsoft employees to the open internet, as the company faces mounting pressure to bolster its software security.

According to Techcrunch, three security researchers at SOCRadar — a company specializing in detecting corporate cybersecurity weaknesses — discovered that an Azure-hosted server storing sensitive data linked to Microsoft’s Bing search engine was left open with no password protection, meaning it could be accessed by anyone online. The server contained a variety of security credentials used by Microsoft employees to access internal systems, housed within various scripts, code, and configuration files.

One of the researchers, Can Yoleri, told Techcrunch that hackers could potentially use this exposed data to find and access other areas where Microsoft stores internal data, which “could result in more significant data leaks and possibly compromise the services in use.”

Microsoft was notified about the vulnerability on February 6th, and locked it down by March 5th. It’s unclear if anyone else accessed the exposed server during this time. We have reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Microsoft has faced several cybersecurity mishaps in recent years, and is currently in the process of overhauling its security practices. Earlier this month, a review from the US Cyber Safety Review Board said Microsoft could have prevented a breach in its Exchange Online software that allowed Chinese hackers to access US government email systems in 2023, accusing the tech giant of developing a “corporate culture that deprioritized enterprise security investments and rigorous risk management.” Another incident in 2022 saw sensitive login credentials for Microsoft’s systems being uploaded by its own employees on GitHub.

The Verge

Android’s enhanced Find My Device network is officially here. It’s rolling out starting today, and it uses a crowdsourced network to help Android device owners find their stuff — much like iOS’s Find My network.

With the update, you’ll be able to find your phone even if it’s offline by using help from other Android devices silently relaying your phone’s approximate location. If your lost device is nearby, you can get visual cues in the Find My Device app as you move closer to it. And Google’s Pixel 8 phones get a bonus feature, too: they can be located even if they’re powered off.

Starting in May, the network will also support new Bluetooth tracker tags from Chipolo and Pebblebee so you can use the network to track down your wallet or keys. Compatible tags are also expected from Motorola, Jio, and Eufy later this year. As on iOS, you’ll be able to share access to your tags with multiple users.

Tracking tags are handy, but in the wrong hands, they can be misused. The Find My Device network supports unwanted tracker alerts across Android and iOS, so you’ll get a notification if a tracking tag that isn’t yours is moving with you — even if you’re on an iPhone.

The network also limits the number of times you can get a tracking tag’s location in an added effort to deter stalkers. Dave Kleidermacher, Android’s VP of security and privacy, tells The Verge that this shouldn’t affect how most people use the tags.

Our research found that lost items are typically left behind in stationary spots. For example, you lose your keys at the cafe, and they stay at the table where you had your morning coffee. Meanwhile, a malicious user is often trying to engage in real-time tracking of a person. By applying rate limiting and throttling to reduce how often the location of a device is updated, the network continues to be helpful for finding items, like your lost checked baggage on a trip, while helping mitigate the risk of real-time tracking.

Google is tapping into a wide range of gadgets to help make its network more useful. Headphones from JBL and Sony will also get software updates so they can be located using the network. And if your item is lost at home and you have a Nest hub, you’ll get information about how far away or close it is to the Nest device.

The upgraded Find My Device network supports devices running Android 9 or later. The network is rolling out first to the US and Canada before expanding to Android devices around the world.

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Microsoft is extending a move it’s already taken in the European Union (EU) to unbundle its Teams collaboration app from its Microsoft Office suite for global customers in a bid to avoid further antitrust scrutiny or litigation, both in Europe and abroad.

The company said Monday that the popular workplace collaboration app — with more than 300 million global users as of 2023 — will now be sold separately from its productivity suite worldwide.

“To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

The move was made to address “feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardize their purchasing across geographies,” the spokesperson said.

Though figures vary by country and currency, new commercial customers now will pay in the range of $7.75 to $54.75 per user per month for Office without Teams, while Teams Standalone will cost $5.25 per user per month. When renewing their subscriptions, existing customers may continue with their current bundled plans or switch to plans without Teams. A Microsoft blog post has more information about plans and pricing.

Computerworld

Spotify has added a long-requested Miniplayer to its desktop app, giving you quick playback access while freeing you to focus on other things. The resizable floating window lets you control the audio, including changing tracks, picking playlists and tweaking the volume. The company says the feature has already started rolling out to Premium subscribers.

Once it becomes available in your app, you can launch the Spotify Desktop Miniplayer (its proper name) by clicking on a square on the far lower right side of the app, to the right of the standard playback controls. After clicking that, a floating window appears next to the full application.

The resizable Miniplayer can function in a square aspect ratio, ideal for videos; as a thinner bar, it's minimally intrusive and offers play / pause and skip track controls next to the current track’s info and album art.

The feature potentially voids the need for third-party apps to fill what some users saw as a big oversight from the streaming service. Apple Music has had an equivalent MiniPlayer for macOS and Windows for ages.

Engadget