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Communication and Technology news
4 new features (possibly) headed to Instagram
2018-03-06

Instagram has been adding features at a relentless pace the last couple of years, but it doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon. Recent explorations into the app’s code suggest Instagram is toying with several new features. There’s no timeline on when most of them would arrive, but they’re still worth...

Facebook on BlackBerry lawsuit: “Sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business”
2018-03-06

BlackBerry just filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming the company’s various messaging platforms–which include both Instagram and WhatsApp–infringe on BlackBerry’s Messenger service. In essence, the case alleges that BlackBerry was the first to come to market with a mobile messaging...

Airlines Could Be Leaking Your Private Data
2018-03-06

International airline Emirates was virtually handing over customers’ sensitive information to marketers and hackers, according to a data security engineer. Before you book your tickets to Puerto Rico for spring break, you should consider an illuminating–and frightening–cautionary tale from...

Google Street View now offers the only free ride to Disneyland you’ll ever see
2018-03-06

Google today updated Maps to bring a little magic to its users. In a blog post that Street View Program Manager Deanna Yick clearly had a blast writing, the company announced it’d be adding tours of 11 of the American Disney parks to Google Street View. At the moment, the parks include the Magic Kingdom and...

Google reclaims quantum computer crown with 72 qubit processor
2018-03-06

Google yesterday unveiled the world’s largest quantum computer processor to date. Dubbed Bristlecone, it’s a 72-qubit gate-based superconducting system that blows the previous best, IBM’s 50-qubit processor, out of the water. The race to build the world’s first useful quantum computer is nearing its end. The...

Researchers Discovered Data Leak In Facebook’s Ad Software
2018-03-06

The loophole, since patched, isn’t the first time Facebook has come under criticism for giving troubling amounts of freedom to advertisers. A loophole in Facebook’s advertising targeting mechanism could have let attackers download users’ phone numbers after they visited websites the attackers...

Why Facebook’s logo is blue — a designer’s guide to color and emotion
2018-03-06

We’re able to see different colors because of our retina’s innate ability to differentiate frequencies of light waves. Certain colors or shades evoke different sentiments in people. In this post, I want to give a quick introduction to color theory, ways to combine colors, and tools for designing with color —...

Google Maps now lets you take virtual tours of Disney’s parks
2018-03-06

The search giant has announced that Google Maps Street View now covers 11 Disney Parks. The parks include locations from both Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. Among the included parks are: Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Disney Springs, Mickey and Minnie’s houses, and Disney Hollywood Studios. To...

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen just found a lost WW2 aircraft carrier
2018-03-06

The USS Lexington was scuttled after the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 after it was struck by Japanese bombs and torpedoes. It remained on the bottom of the sea–its location unknown–until this month, when Allen’s company Vulcan found its wreckage two miles down in the Coral Sea, about 500...

Google is selling Zagat to a restaurant review company
2018-03-06

The search giant bought Zagat seven years ago for $151 million. Since then it’s integrated Zagat’s listings and ratings into Google Maps, while letting Zagat’s website and publications be outdone by other restaurant review companies. Now, Google thinks it has gotten all the use out of Zagat it can...

How VIPKid CEO Cindy Mi Made Education A Universal Language
2018-03-06

By connecting Chinese pupils with North American teachers, Beijing-based platform is building cultural bridges, one online English class at a time. Beijing-based VIPKid is giving American teachers an income boost from halfway around the world. Under cofounder and CEO Cindy Mi, the online learning company contracts...

Google Lens now describes landmarks and creates contacts from business cards
2018-03-06

Google Lens is a handy little tool. Announced at Google I/O 2017, Lens is essentially a visual search engine. Take a picture with your phone, and Google will do some clever analysis and provide insights into what you’re looking at. Now, it’s getting even better, and can store information from business cards as...

A cryptocurrency startup suggests Ryan Gosling is their lead graphic designer
2018-03-06

And that startup, called Miroskii, has already raised over $830,000 in their initial coin offering, reports The Next Web. To be fair, Miroskii isn’t claiming Gosling is actually working for them, instead they are using a stock image of him for their lead graphic designer “Kevin Belanger” on the...

Facebook hires Pinterest and BuzzFeed execs to bolster its video content
2018-03-06

The social media giant has hired BuzzFeed Studios former head Matthew Henick to lead Facebook’s global video content strategy and planning, reports Reuters. From Pinterest, Facebook grabbed Mike Bidgoli to lead the Facebook Watch product team. Facebook Watch is the company’s video-on-demand service that...

Could changing VR games reduce gun deaths?
2018-03-06

As calls for gun reform in the U.S. reach another urgent crescendo–and as major retailers announce they will no longer sell guns to anyone under 21–one virtual reality expert has proposed some technological approaches to reducing mass shootings as well. Jeremy Bailenson, a professor at Stanford and...

Facebook suddenly cares about news again
2018-03-05

Facebook’s ever-changing opinion on which content it will boost in its News Feed is, well, changing yet again. After the company announced only a few months ago that it would de-emphasize content from publishers and brands, meaning news organizations would likely see their Facebook traffic significantly...

Facebook asks its users: Is pedophilia okay?
2018-03-05

Facebook got itself in blazing hot water today when a survey surfaced that appeared to ask users if they condone illicit correspondence between an adult male and a minor child. In response, the company said it was a “mistake” but danced around explaining why they asked the question in the first place. The...

Instagram whistleblower account Diet Madison Avenue just shut down
2018-03-05

Diet Madison Avenue, an Instagram account aimed at calling out sexism and discrimination in the ad industry, has shut down. The account’s removal comes just weeks after the collective announced it would move ahead as a nonprofit organization. It’s not clear what prompted the shutdown or whether...

You can take Google’s Machine Learning Crash Course for free now
2018-03-05

Google’s new ‘Machine Learning Crash Course’ is now available and it’s free for everyone. If robots are coming for your job this class will prepare you for your next one. This same course has been taken by more than 18,000 Google engineers, and this is the first time it’s been made available to the general...

Google’s Oscar Night Ads Aim For A More Human Side Of A Tech Future
2018-03-05

Google Assistant and Google Nest are making lives easier, one privacy concern at a time. What: A pair of Oscar night ads from Google Assistant and Google NestRead Full Story

A Facebook survey asks if it’s acceptable to solicit sexual images from teenagers
2018-03-05

All companies make mistakes, of course. But some mistakes are so mystifying, they force us to ask who signed off on them. Today’s case in point: Facebook reportedly gave users a survey this weekend with some very inappropriate questions, including one that asked about the appropriateness of soliciting...

TNW’s Big Spam: Reporting live from the Fox-penis-no-women-allowed network
2018-03-05

We’re baaaaaaaack!  Top trending tech news: 🚗 Uber denied MIT’s claims drivers earn less than minimum wage (TNW) 😮 30% of the web now runs on WordPress (TNW) 😬 Zuckerberg lost $3 billion last week (Bloomberg) What we’re talking about: Fox created a misleading viral video about how “Liberals”...

Here’s Why Twitter’s 2017 Diversity Numbers Don’t Add Up
2018-03-05

A sizable portion of Twitter’s employees were excluded from the company’s latest diversity report, and Twitter wasn’t exactly transparent about it. Something is rotten in the state of Twitter’s diversity report. A year ago, Twitter was 57% white. Now, the tech company claims it is...

Twitter Vows To Do More For Women With #HereWeAre Oscars Ad
2018-03-05

The ad sent an uplifting message of diversity and inclusivity—which prompted lots of cries of hypocrisy. What: A new ad about improving women’s experiences online.Read Full Story

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