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Communication and Technology news
This blank Google doc restored our faith in humanity
2018-07-07

Ever heard of Godwin’s Law? It’s an old internet adage asserting that the longer an online discussion continues, the more likely Nazis or Hitler will be brought up. This idea was created by Mike Godwin, the creator of the meme, in the October 1994 issue of Wired. It may have shifted slightly in shape...

Ever dreamed of selling your data for cash? Dream on
2018-07-07

“Personal data is the new oil of the internet and the new currency of the digital world.” Not my words, but words of Ms Kuneva, the European commissioner back in 2009. As much as the bureaucrats are removed from the real life, she was right then and even more right now. Just look at the valuations of the data...

A tale of two Elons: Why this superhero should get banned from Twitter (but won’t)
2018-07-06

Elon Musk‘s Twitter presence has become a meditation on good and evil. On one hand he’s benevolent and accessible — anyone can chat the Tesla CEO up and he’s often willing to offer his aid and influence to help others. But on the other hand he’s a vindictive bully who singles out individuals and publicly...

Sonos files to go public as it amps up its speaker game
2018-07-06

Sonos is preparing for an IPO, filing to go public with the SEC. The company set a placeholder value of $100 million, although that number could change before the IPO. The filing gives us our best look at Sonos sales so far. The company made nearly $1 billion in revenue in the past fiscal year, although it had a net...

Facebook accidentally flagged the Declaration of Independence
2018-07-05

Facebook took down a post containing passages from the Declaration of Independence, saying they were hate speech. It has since apologized — though the algorithm may have been justified in flagging the material. A Texas newspaper called the Liberty County Vindicator decided to celebrate July 4th by posting excerpts...

How Trump’s D.C. hotel works to help swamp the drain
2018-07-05

Amazon Web Services, a government contractor, was among the sponsors of a recent conference at the hotel, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. “Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon,” President Donald J. Trump tweeted on April 2, 2018. It was...

The U.S. Air Force learned to code—and saved the Pentagon millions
2018-07-05

In partnership with Pivotal Labs, a pilot program is out to remake how the Pentagon acquires weapons systems. In October 2016, Eric Schmidt found himself in the Arab Gulf nation of Qatar. Then executive chairman of Alphabet, Inc., Google’s parent company, Schmidt was touring military installations in his role...

India’s cryptocurrency ban has already taken its first toll
2018-07-04

It seems that Indian Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the central bank’s directive against cryptocurrency businesses is taking its toll already. Zebpay is disabling the deposit and withdrawal options for Indian Rupee from its platform, the company announced today. Dear User, Today we are disabling the rupee...

Binance resets API keys en masse amidst fear of Syscoin blockchain glitch [Updated]
2018-07-04

It appears that Syscoin (SYS) cryptocurrency’s blockchain has been compromised. (Update [July 4, 8 AM UTC]: Syscoin has since released a statement claiming the complications did not originate from its network. Read the updates at the bottom for more details.) Syscoin’s blockchain explorer shows that more than one...

Syscoin’s blockchain possibly compromised as 1 SYS trades for 98 BTC on Binance
2018-07-04

It appears that Syscoin (SYS) cryptocurrency’s blockchain has been compromised. Syscoin’s blockchain explorer shows that more than one billion of its coins were transacted in a single block. This is peculiar because the cryptocurrency’s total possible supply is 888 million — significantly less than the amount...

Syscoin’s blockchain compromised as 1 SYS trades for 98 Bitcoin on Binance
2018-07-04

It appears that Syscoin (SYS) cryptocurrency’s blockchain has been compromised. Syscoin’s blockchain explorer shows that more than one billion of its coins were mined in a single block. This is peculiar because the cryptocurrency’s total possible supply is 888 million — significantly less than the mined amount...

Need a cab in one of the world’s most fragile countries? Call Facebook
2018-07-03

How one Bangui entrepreneur traded in a global currency to become a local mobility powerhouse. Getting around Bangui isn’t always easy. The roads in the sunny capital of the Central African Republic are not as congested with traffic jams as other big African cities, but they are still a buzzing beehive of...

Everything AT&T has done in 3 weeks to take on Facebook and Netflix
2018-07-03

AT&T has revealed several new services and big deals in the wake of buying Time Warner. Can the phone company keep operating at internet speed? It took a grueling 18 months for AT&T to acquire Time Warner. But in the few weeks since the deal was announced last month, AT&T has been working at warp speed,...

Here’s what happens when you share bad blockchain blogs in an editable Google Doc
2018-07-03

People have always said I take jokes too far. If there’s a line in the sand marked “too far,” I regularly speed past it like Lewis Hamilton in the Monaco Grand Prix, until it’s just a faint shadow in the rear-view mirror. Take, for example, the unfortunate KFoodRecipes. KFoodRecipes (presumably not his real...

Ad giant IPG bets big on consumer data with $2.3 billion Acxiom deal
2018-07-03

By buying marketing data firm Acxiom, Interpublic Group aims for better data, and less reliance on others like Facebook and Google, to target us with ads. So Interpublic Group (IPG), one of the ad-world’s global conglomerates, is acquiring data-marketing giant Acxiom for $2.3 billion. Why? In a word, data.Read...

Australian university accidentally advertises an “MFA in mansplaining”
2018-07-03

Images of the billboard are currently the top Google result for “mansplaining.” The University of Adelaide’s billboard is getting more attention than intended. The ad, which graces a block in the Australian city of Adelaide, shows five women gathered around a man who appears to be explaining...

Looking back at “Legally Blonde” as a proto-#MeToo manifesto
2018-07-03

Reese Witherspoon’s comedy classic had a salient #MeToo message, 17 years ahead of its time. Last fall, Reese Witherspoon quickly joined the chorus of female celebrities sharing #MeToo stories in the aftermath of Harvey Weinstein’s unmasking.Read Full Story

Facebook is shuttering three of its apps, including Moves
2018-07-03

Moves was originally launched in 2013, and Facebook acquired the app for an undisclosed sum in 2014. It had been lauded for its simple design user interface, as well as its accuracy. The company announced that it is discontinuing three of its mobile applications. The first app on the chopping block is Hello, which...

Definitely don’t use these VPNs to avoid Uganda’s social media tax
2018-07-03

In case you hadn’t heard, Uganda has a social media tax. From the 1st July, citizens of the East African country have had to pay 200 Ugandan Shillings (roughly $0.05) every single day to access social networks, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. As you can imagine, people are really, really, really...

Facebook is shuttering a bunch of its apps you didn’t bother to use
2018-07-03

Facebook announced today that it’s killing off three mobile apps that folks didn’t care much about: Hello, Moves, and tbh. Don’t worry if you didn’t know about these before. Hello was only available in Brazil, Nigeria, and the US and meant to replace your Android dialer. Moves was designed to record your...

Feds expand probe into Facebook over its Cambridge Analytica actions and statements
2018-07-03

The FBI, SEC, and FTC are all said to be looking at how the U.K. company got tens of millions of Facebook users’ information, and what Facebook did in the aftermath. Several federal agencies have begun an investigation into Facebook’s actions surrounding data acquired by Cambridge Analytica, as well as...

Android P Beta 3 is rolling out now
2018-07-03

Android P beta 3 is rolling out today. Don’t expect much in the way on consumer-facing features, as Google finalized all the APIs with Beta 2. Instead, Google says Beta 3 focuses on “the latest bug fixes and optimizations for stability and polish,” which suggests this should be pretty close to what we’ll get...

Facebook reveals it shared user data with dozens of major companies
2018-07-02

Over the weekend, Facebook revealed it had partnerships with 52 organizations with which it shared user data, possibly without users’ consent. Facebook disclosed the partnerships in a 700-page manifesto to Congress’s House Energy and Commerce Committee. Some of the partnerships had already been uncovered, with...

Facebook just bought an AI startup to help it fight fake news
2018-07-02

TechCrunch has reported that Facebook is acquiring London-based startup, Bloomsbury AI, as part of its efforts to fight against fake news on the world’s largest social network. Bloomsbury’s product is an NLP engine that helps machines answer questions on information derived from documents. TechCrunch’s sources...

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