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Communication and Technology news
Twitter tested its local news stream during the Florida school shooting
2018-02-15

Twitter tested a new livestreaming service which allows users to watch local news coverage of events live — by broadcasting during a terrifying school shooting. During the crisis in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student shot and killed 17 people, Twitter showed users a livestream of news...

Ad-industry vigilantes are turning a whistleblowing Instagram account into a nonprofit
2018-02-15

The ad industry, like most others, is having a #MeToo reckoning. Most of the activity is happening by way of discreet firings, but a vigilante group has emerged to let everyone know exactly who is being pushed out for bad behavior. Diet Madison Avenue is an Instagram account run by a collective of 17 anonymous...

Facebook partners with business and nonprofits to offer help in crisis
2018-02-15

Facebook today announced it would allow certain businesses to post to Community Help, where they may offer aid during a crisis. Hopefully this will make it easier for people to get efficient, organized help. At present, the company is partnering with Direct Relief, Feeding America, Lyft, Chase, the International...

“It cannot look like a costume”: Ruth Carter On Dressing The “Black Panther” Cast
2018-02-15

The Oscar-nominated costume designer explains her mission on Marvel’s latest blockbuster–namely, to make costumes that don’t look like costumes. When Ruth Carter got a call from her agent about meeting with the team at Marvel Studios to discuss a film called Black Panther, she knew this...

Facebook is making it easier for organizations to help out during a crisis
2018-02-15

Facebook’s Community Help page lets people post updates and other important information during crises and at times of need. Up until now, only individual accounts were able to interact with this section. The intent is to make it a hub for communities to come together during hard times. Now Facebook is opening...

Big brands are now using blockchain to fight ad fraud and fake views
2018-02-15

Remember when advertising was simple? That all changed when the industry became a digital one. Now that more and more ads are shown on mobile devices, advertisers cannot be sure if every impression they pay for is shown to the right audience. Moreover, the procedure of real-time bidding and publishing has become more...

Here’s a digital marketing playbook — and it’s yours for under $10
2018-02-15

It’s almost malpractice at this point not to have a well-constructed, finely-tuned social media marketing plan for any business or cause. Thankfully, you’ll have the background to put that plan into motion with the Complete Digital Marketing Course, available right now for just $19 (over 90 percent off) from TNW...

Microsoft’s Panos Panay On Surface Pro’s First Five Years
2018-02-15

The tablet/laptop combo started as a bold gambit to shake up the PC industry—and established a new class of device that turned out to have staying power. Five years ago this month, following a dramatic onstage unveiling the previous June, Microsoft shipped the original Surface Pro. Part iPad rival and part...

Peter Thiel reportedly abandoning tech industry over its views on conservatism
2018-02-15

The billionaire investor is reportedly shifting away from the tech industry because of what he sees as its intolerance to conservative points of view, reports the Wall Street Journal. Sources told the Journal that Thiel is relocating his home and personal investment firms from San Fransisco to Los Angeles and has...

London thinks Uber should offer “women-only” rides
2018-02-15

Amid Uber’s ongoing appeal of losing its license in London, Transport for London (TfL) has issued a new policy statement making suggestions for ways Uber could improve its service, reports Engadget. One such was is to make women-only vehicles available for hire. In the policy statement, TfL says:...

Facebook will launch two smart speakers this year, says DigiTimes
2018-02-15

The social media giant is reportedly getting into the ever-crowded smart speaker market, according to DigiTimes. The site says Facebook will launch two smart speakers in July. The smart speakers will reportedly each have a 15-inch touch screen with the code names Aloha and Fiona. Aloha will reportedly be the high-end...

Facebook will need to re-obtain consent from all European users
2018-02-15

Under the EU’s new ePrivacy law, which comes into effect by 2019, Facebook will need to re-obtain the consent of all its users in Europe to keep and store any data they keep on users, reports Business Insider. The law is significant because it does not simply require Facebook and other companies to obtain...

McDonald’s is ditching cheeseburgers in Happy Meals, kinda
2018-02-15

The fast-food chain is getting rid of the iconic Happy Meal staple as part of a drive to appear as a healthier place to eat. By June all advertised Happy Meals will contain 600 calories or less. In order to obtain that calorie goal the entree choice for a Happy Meal will now either be … Continue reading...

Uber CEO: We could be profitable–we just don’t want to be
2018-02-15

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he’s not worried that Uber lost $4.5 billion last year and claimed the company could “turn the knobs” to be profitable if it wanted to–it just doesn’t, reports TechCrunch. Khosrowshahi made the comments at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet...

Facebook’s Messenger Kids is now on Android, but there’s something you should know
2018-02-15

Following its iOS launch last December, Facebook’s Messenger Kids app is now available on Android. It’s like Messenger, except it comes with parent-friendly features like the ability to manage your child’s contact list, a registration process that’s independent of the social network, and persistent messages so...

Here’s how Google Chrome will block ads starting today
2018-02-15

Google has previously outlined its plans to kill annoying ads on web pages in its Chrome browser, and it’s turning the feature on in version 64 of the desktop and mobile app today. Essentially, an industry group called the Coalition for Better Ads – of which Google is a member – has defined standards for what...

Florida school shooter’s Instagram account shows a gun-obsessed, deeply troubled teen
2018-02-15

At least 17 people are dead after a Florida teen opened fire on his former school. The shooter, identified by the Associated Press as 19-year-old Nicolas “Nick” de Jesus Cruz reportedly fired the first shot at around 2:30pm local time, moments before students were dismissed from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High...

Google becomes the latest tech giant to join the ‘let’s rip off Snapchat’ club
2018-02-15

Google this week announced a feature called AMP Stories, a shortform visual medium through which Google could deliver curated news. Within minutes of this announcement, everyone was calling it a copy of Snapchat. I checked out the feature and, yeah, it’s pretty much Snapchat. Specifically, it’s very similar to...

BuzzFeed Food appears to have blatantly plagiarized a funny tweet
2018-02-14

In the world of online content, anything is fair game if it can be monetized. The history of viral content began with people posting funny things, some of them making money of it, and then others cribbing–if not outright stealing–others’ content and also making money off of it (The Fat Jew is...

Report: Facebook releasing its own smart speakers in July
2018-02-14

Facebook is reportedly releasing two smart speakers later this year to compete with the Amazon Echo. The two devices, apparently codenamed “Fiona” and “Aloha,” could be released as early as July. Reports about the speakers first surfaced last year, with Business Insider naming Aloha. Bloomberg later...

Apple’s HomePod bested by Google Home Max, Sonos in blind test
2018-02-14

Apple’s HomePod has, by all measures, been a huge success. In a week of reviews, I’ve yet to stumble on any strong criticism of the device, or any notable shortcomings that can’t be fixed via a future software update. Noted Apple fanboy John Gruber even waxed poetic about the power cord, of all things: The power...

NBC releases 200k deleted tweets from the Russian propaganda machine
2018-02-14

NBC News today made available a database of more than 200,000 tweets from the (allegedly) state-sponsored Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Association (IRA). The accounts responsible for the tweets come from the list Twitter submitted to congress last year as part of the ongoing US investigation into...

Study: Even Apple and Google engineers can’t really afford to live near their offices
2018-02-14

That’s according to the Y Combinator-backed real estate startup Open Listings, which looked at median home sales prices near the headquarters (meaning within a 20-minute commute) of some of the Bay Area’s biggest and best-known tech companies. Using public salary data from Paysa, Open...

Facebook is so desperate for engagement, it's spamming users via their 2FA numbers
2018-02-14

Facebook is feeling lonely these days.  The social media behemoth has seen a decline in traffic in recent weeks along with millions of users leaving its platform, and it appears to be taking rather drastic measures to win them back. Specifically, spamming the hell out of them in a most unfortunate...

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