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Communication and Technology news
Uber used Bitcoin to pay $100K hacker ransom in 2017, court docs confirm
2019-11-01

Uber used Bitcoin to pay hackers who held sensitive data for ransom, court documents have confirmed. As a result, two men pleaded guilty to charges of computer hacking and extortion, bringing a lengthy legal saga that embroiled Uber and LinkedIn-owned training site Lynda.com in costly data breaches to a close. To...

It’s official: Google is buying Fitbit for $2.1 billion
2019-11-01

That was fast: Though rumors emerged earlier this week that Google was planning to buy Fitbit, we didn’t think we’d hear an update quite this soon. But it’s official now: Google has entered into a “definitive agreement” to buy Fitbit for approximately $2.1 billion. As we noted in our earlier post, the...

It’s official: Google is buying Fitbit for $2.1 billion
2019-11-01

With Google’s acquisition of Fitbit, the brand’s devices will be better able to compete with the likes of the Apple Watch due to all the R&D cash Google has available to throw at the maker. After rumors swirled earlier this week about a deal, Google and Fitbit have now announced that the search giant...

Pinterest’s Evan Sharp is building a kinder social network
2019-11-01

“In a few years, the idea that emotional outcomes matter in internet services will be so obvious to companies,” says the cofounder. In an era when Facebook and Twitter have often punted their responsibilities when it comes to politics, harassment, privacy, and our very democracy, an unlikely...

How to turn on incognito mode in Google Maps
2019-11-01

Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. By default, Google Maps stores your location history so you can keep track of places you’ve visited. This is helpful when you want to remember that great food joint you stumbled...

It’s ‘impossible to exist’ on Facebook as an NSFW artist
2019-11-01

Last year, Facebook began clamping down on ‘inappropriate content‘ by banning discussion around “sexual preference,” “sexual roles,” “breasts,” and “buttocks” on the site. The tech giant has now quietly updated its policies, under the guise of preventing “sexual solicitation,” and now restricts...

Review: Death Stranding delivers a beautifully convoluted future cult classic
2019-11-01

Death Stranding is easily one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, maybe even of this whole console generation — it was mine, for sure. The PlayStation 4 version comes out next week, on November 8, with a PC release following next summer. Sony provided us with an early review code, I’ve finished it,...

Video: Seoul is spearheading the 5G revolution
2019-10-31

One of the hottest new topics in tech is 5G, the next generation of cellular network technology. When 4G came along, it was a massive breakthrough and gave birth to services like Instagram and Snapchat, which had been completely unthinkable only a couple of years earlier. Now it’s time for the next generation of...

Instagram influencer nabbed in Dubai for running alleged cryptocurrency investment scam
2019-10-31

Aziz ‘Com’ Mirza, a Canadian man living in Dubai, has been arrested by authorities and accused of defrauding investors through a string of get-rich-quick schemes, including real estate-backed cryptocurrency Habibi Coin — once dubbed “the Bitcoin of the Middle East.” According to Gulf News, Mirza, who...

There’s a big problem with Twitter’s bold ban of political ads
2019-10-31

What makes a tweet political? We’ll find out when Twitter starts implementing its new rules in late November. In a surprise move, Twitter says it will stop running political ads. But implementing the new policy could involve some messy trade-offs and unintended consequences.Read Full Story

Facebook, Google, Amazon are ramping up their secretive influence campaigns in DC
2019-10-31

In addition to spending $33 million on lobbying efforts so far this year, the three companies have increased their funding of influential think tanks that help shape federal and state policies. This story was produced by MapLight, a nonprofit organization that reveals the influence of money in politics.Read Full...

The art of writing smart and funny TV for kids that won’t drive parents bonkers
2019-10-31

Some of the best animated series are written by comedians who also work on late night and do stand-up. Here’s how they create sophisticated humor that works for all ages. A few years ago, Jenny Jaffe needed to carve out some time from her job writing for the Disney series Big Hero 6 so she could...

After Twitter bans political ads, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg says they’re ‘not worth the controversy’
2019-10-31

Facebook says its stance is ideological, not based on financial concerns. Facebook has issued its first public comments about political advertising on its platform after Twitter took the surprising step of banning all political ads on its service. In an interview with Bloomberg (via Business Insider), Facebook chief...

Twitter’s political ads ban is bold—and may get complicated
2019-10-31

What makes a tweet political? We’ll find out when Twitter starts implementing its new rules in late November. In a surprise move, Twitter says it will stop running political ads. But implementing the new policy could involve some messy trade-offs and unintended consequences.Read Full Story

Facebook has a new policy on ‘sexual’ emoji (yes, that means the peach)
2019-10-31

The platform is selectively censoring emoji in an effort, it says, to curb requests for “nude imagery, sex or sexual partners, or sex chat conversations.” Facebook and Instagram are now censoring what the companies describe as “contextually specific and commonly sexual emojis or emoji...

Aaron Sorkin’s open letter to Mark Zuckerberg is the best thing he’s written in ages
2019-10-31

If you loved ‘The Social Network,’ Sorkin’s take on Facebook’s origin story, you’ll really love this missive to the CEO. What: An open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from America’s favorite patriotic curmudgeon, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.Read Full Story

Facebook suspends accounts linked to Putin ally for spreading disinformation in Africa
2019-10-31

Facebook, once an innocent tool to share ‘what’s on your mind’ has increasingly been weaponized by governments to spread disinformation and manipulate elections — something hundreds of the tech giants’ employees outlined in an open letter this week that urged the company to rethink its stance on political...

WhatsApp spyware was used to snoop on 2 dozen Indian activists and journalists
2019-10-31

WhatsApp has revealed that at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India were the target of surveillance by threat operators using security firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The revelations, reported by news outlet Indian Express, come as the Facebook-owned messaging service filed a...

Facebook is testing end-to-end encryption for secret Messenger calls
2019-10-31

In March, Mark Zuckerberg shared his grand vision of Facebook’s future that included encrypting all messaging services. It seems that the company is slowly working on making that happen. According to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook is testing encrypting video and audio calls over Messenger in Secret mode....

Jack Dorsey: Twitter will stop all political ads next month
2019-10-30

Twitter is making a big change to how it handles political ads: It’s getting rid of them altogether (with very few exceptions). Today Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced via tweetstorm that the company has “made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally” because Twitter believes “message...

People are hilariously bad at drawing famous logos from memory
2019-10-30

Identity designers try to create memorable images. Turns out, we are terrible at remembering even the best ones. BMW. Puma. Red Bull. Lego. These brands are so ubiquitous, there’s a good chance you see their logos every single week. But would you be able to draw them from memory?Read Full Story

Aural sex: Tingly earhole sound porn is the next step in accessible erotica
2019-10-30

This article was originally published on SEXTECHGUIDE, an independent publication that looks at the intersection between sex and technology in a non-explicit, as close to a ‘safe for work’ way as possible – including app reviews, adult VR info, sextech devices, privacy, security issues, and much more. It was...

Traditional and digital news organizations need to band together to fight ‘fake news’
2019-10-30

Fake news, Facebook News, Brexit, WhatsApp hacks, and the “enemy of the people.” These are just some of the fast-changing stories that journalists across Europe are striving to cover — oftentimes, finding themselves at the center of that story.  Europe’s newsrooms are facing multiple challenges as they adjust...

Why a top VC and a former LinkedIn exec think hobbies are the future of commerce
2019-10-30

Kirsten Green, the VC who bet on Glossier, Away, Bonobos, and Jet.com, is investing in Curated, a platform that connects hobbyists with customers who want to buy products for a new hobby. Kirsten Green, the founder of Forerunner Ventures, knows how to predict retail trends. She’s bet on some of the biggest...

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