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Communication and Technology news
Hipstamatic iPhone App to Spawn a Million Terry Richardsons
2018-05-15

Keen iPhone snappers amongst you who hanker after analog pics might be interested in this cute little $1.99 app. The basic Hipstamatic package includes three lenses and a trio of films, all with a standard flash, and enables you to shoot Virgin Suicides-inspired shots and then upload your now beautifully retro...

Twitch lets you filter PUBG streams based on how many players are still alive
2018-05-15

Twitch this week announced a new feature which allows viewers to filter streams in the popular battle royale game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds by the number of players left in the game. No one likes a chicken dinner when it’s cold. Be there for the big moments by watching @PUBG on Twitch with our new custom...

American Airlines says no more snakes on a plane—or goats or ferrets or spiders
2018-05-15

The airline is cracking down on emotional support animals. American Airlines is the latest carrier to crack down on emotional support animals. The company announced changes to its rules for customers who wish to bring pets on flights. Now passengers will have to give at least 48 hours’ notice about their...

Google employees quit over the company’s military AI project
2018-05-15

About a dozen Google employees reportedly left the company over its insistence on developing AI for the US military through a program called Project Maven. Meanwhile 4,000 others signed a petition demanding the company stop. It looks like there’s some internal confusion over whether the company’s “Don’t Be...

Exclusive: Instagram Gives Email-Like Messaging Tools To Businesses
2018-05-15

The Facebook-owned social network is also partnering with platforms like OpenTable and Fandango to let customers make reservations directly. If you spend as much time on Instagram as I do, you may have run into the following problem: You’re scrolling through the app when you discover an amazing bakery in Soho...

Facebook’s latest transparency move is showing you how much objectionable content it removes
2018-05-15

In an 81-page report, Facebook detailed how prevalent community standards violations are across six key content areas. In the latest stop on its post-Cambridge Analytica transparency tour, Facebook today unveiled its first-ever Community Standards Enforcement Report, an 81-page tome that spells out how much...

Google’s AI is learning to navigate like humans
2018-05-15

The company’s DeepMind artificial intelligence subsidiary has developed an AI that has learned how to navigate like a human being, the company announced in a blog post. Specifically, DeepMind’s AI has developed a system of spacial awareness that mimics human’s and other mammal’s grid...

How to try Gmail’s AI-powered Smart Compose feature
2018-05-15

If you’d like a little help writing emails, Google’s got you covered. Its Smart Compose feature for Gmail, which was demoed at the company’s I/O conference earlier this month, is now live, and you can try it now (or soonish). It works by suggesting words and phrases that it can autocomplete for you as you type...

DeepMind’s AI taught itself to navigate like a mammal
2018-05-14

DeepMind created an AI which spontaneously developed the machine learning equivalent of gut-based navigation. The UK-based Google sister-company seems to specialize in creating machine learning experiments designed to determine if AI can inform the field of neurology, and vice versa. DeepMind recently published a...

Google just made its cloud storage more affordable (and confusing)
2018-05-14

Google just slashed the prices off of Drive’s paid cloud storage plans. In the process, it also introduced a new storage product that just makes the whole shindig more confusing. Say hello to Google One. Up until now, Google Drive represented your available storage across your Google account, including Photos,...

Google’s new cloud storage plans could be the start of something way bigger
2018-05-14

Previously known as Google Drive storage, the new service will be called Google One, and will include more than just storage. Google is retooling and rebranding its consumer cloud storage plans. Previously known as Google Drive storage, the new service will be called Google One, and will include more than just...

BlackBerry’s next flagship arrives June 7
2018-05-14

BlackBerry has had a bumpy ride the last few years, but the brand is still alive and kicking thanks to a partnership with Chinese manufacturer TCL. Now its gearing up to launch a new device: BlackBerry sent out invites to a June 7 event, where it will announce the successor to last year’s KEYone. 🔑2⃣ 👀...

Facebook Says It’s Not Destroying Academia With An AI Brain Drain
2018-05-14

Late last week, Facebook announced the opening of new AI labs in Pittsburgh and Seattle. But the company says most of its researchers maintain academic affiliations, and help train their successors. Late last week, Facebook announced the opening of new artificial intelligence labs in Seattle and Pittsburgh, bolstering...

Facebook suspends 200 apps in post-Cambridge Analytica clean-up
2018-05-14

As the Cambridge Analytica scandal keeps creeping down on Facebook like a mudslide, the company has been trying to preemptively oust the other skeletons in its closet with app audits. Now it’s announced it may have snagged up to 200 more potentially problematic apps — and it won’t say what they are yet. The...

Golem creator Julian Zawistowski will answer all your questions about: 1) global decentralized supercomputers, 2) blockchain economy, and 3) more
2018-05-14

What do you see as blockchain’s best use case? How does the Golem Project contribute to a more equal global economy? What do you see as the most exciting blockchain projects in development? What would you say to people who believe blockchain systems are untrustworthy? Ask all this and more to Golem’s Julian...

A “serious” flaw has been found in PGP and S/MIME email encryption
2018-05-14

Right now there is no fix for the flaw, but there are steps PGP users can take to mitigate the risks. Researchers have announced that a serious flaw has been found in the technology people rely on to send encrypted emails. The flaw found in PGP/GPG and S/MIME email encryption software potentially lets others view sent...

Here’s how to see if you used one of the 200 suspended Facebook apps
2018-05-14

The company is investigating all apps that had access to large amounts of user information before Facebook reduced data access in 2014. Facebook has announced that in its investigation into other apps that may have misused user data is in “full swing.” The investigation was launched as a result of...

Google employees resign over controversial Pentagon drone AI project
2018-05-14

The employees are resigning due to the ethical concerns they have over Google’s expertise being used in military technology that could lead to the loss of human life. Almost a dozen employees have resigned in protest over the project, reports Gizmodo. The controversial project is known as Project Maven and is...

WATCH: Tim Cook talks data privacy, gun control, Steve Jobs in Duke commencement address
2018-05-14

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who received his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988, returned to the university this weekend to deliver a stirring commencement address to Duke University graduates. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who received his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1988, returned to Durham...

Chatbots deserve more than being a joke
2018-05-12

In April 2017, Facebook launched the Messenger Bot Store. TechCrunch posited “Facebook’s Messenger Bot Store could be the most important launch since the App Store.” Less than nine months later at CES, Facebook announced M was dead. WIRED declared “Facebook’s virtual assistant M is dead. So are chatbots.”...

Leak: The Moto Z3 Play kills the giant bezels... and the headphone jack
2018-05-12

While everyone was busy recovering from Microsoft Build and Google I/O, ever-reliable leaker Evan Blass shared images of the Moto Z3 Play on Twitter yesterday. It gives us our clearest look at the device yet, after an initial blurrycam leak a week ago. It’s still modular, but this time seems to have a glossy back,...

YouTube’s newest feature reminds you to stop watching YouTube
2018-05-11

Google made a big deal about the concept of digital wellbeing at Google I/O this year. Basically, the company wants to help you be less distracted by technology. Now we’re seeing the first signs of this initiative making its mark: YouTube now has reminders to stop watching videos. Yep, that’s right: YouTube can...

Trump was told about Schneiderman’s abuse of women back in 2013
2018-05-11

In a court filing today in the Michael Cohen case, lawyer Peter Gleason wrote to the federal judge to inform him that two women had told him that they had been “sexually victimized” by Schneiderman. Within minutes of a report detailing allegations that New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman had...

Facebook is reportedly thinking about launching its own cryptocurrency
2018-05-11

It appears that social media giant Facebook might be contemplating rolling out its own cryptocurrency, reports suggest. The company is purportedly looking into using cryptocurrency to facilitate payments across its various services, according to a report from Cheddar. The publication further suggests the efforts will...

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