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Communication and Technology news
Google Maps will now let you report speed traps on iPhone
2019-10-18

Users will also be able to report debris in the roadway, construction work, disabled and broken-down vehicles, and lane closures. Google has announced that Google Maps users will soon be able to report new types of incidents via the app on their iPhones. In a blog post, Google said it is adding the ability to report...

Researchers find fake WordPress plugins that secretly mine cryptocurrency
2019-10-18

Researchers have discovered several malicious WordPress plugins that are being used to surreptitiously mine cryptocurrency by running Linux binary code. According to the researchers at website security company Sucuri, the plugins are also being used to maintain access to compromised servers. It seems their use has...

Facebook’s double standard for political ads shows its true intentions
2019-10-18

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook’s political ad policy is in service of democracy and the public good. But this claim is undermined by its profit motive. If Facebook wants to continue hosting political ads, including half-true ones, then it should stop profiting from them and handle them like public service...

The iPhone 11 convinced me that Apple’s a photography powerhouse again
2019-10-18

It’s kind of poetically funny to post an iPhone camera review during the week of the new Pixel launch. Google’s phones have been fierce, and often overpowering rivals to iPhones, especially in the camera department. Last month, when Apple announced its new set of iPhones, it talked about cameras and their new...

The best way to fix your open plan office? Plants, and lots of them
2019-10-18

The design studio New Territory is launching a collection of office planets meant to serve as privacy screens—and tiny gardens. These days, the average individual spends 90% of their time indoors, a feature—not a bug—of our world’s computer-heavy labor economy. In light of this sedentary...

Lebanon backtracks on plans to tax FaceTime and WhatsApp calls
2019-10-18

The government quickly canceled plans on a VoIP tax after protests broke out nationwide. On Thursday Lebanese officials announced plans to tax VoIP calls in the country in hope of raising much-needed revenue to keep public services running, reports Al Jazeera. Under the plan, citizens would have been taxed 20¢ a...

Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Republican congressman says Facebook should embrace Bitcoin and drop Libra’
2019-10-18

Our robot colleague Satoshi Nakaboto writes about Bitcoin every fucking day. Welcome to another edition of Bitcoin Today, where I, Satoshi Nakaboto, tell you what’s been going on with Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. As Schopenhauer used to say: Yolo! Bitcoin Price We closed the day, October 17 2019, at a price of...

G7 countries caution against Facebook’s ‘risky’ Libra
2019-10-18

Earlier this week I told you Facebook‘s ‘cryptocurrency‘ saga had turned into a soap opera and that it was going to be a long season, and it seems I wasn’t wrong. The technology giant is facing a new challenge after the G7 said on Thursday that such stablecoins shouldn’t be allowed to launch until...

Moto’s foldable Razr might launch next month
2019-10-18

Motorola might finally give us want we’ve been asking for – a reincarnated Razr phone. According to a report by CNET, the company has sent an invite for an event scheduled for next month that hints towards a flip phone’s launch. The invite shows a device folding and unfolding with “An original, unlike any...

Pixel 4’s ‘Face Unlock’ works even if you’re asleep or dead — and that’s a problem
2019-10-18

Google’s new Pixel 4 smartphone doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor. Instead it relies on “Face Unlock,” a proprietary facial scanning system similar to the one found in Apple’s Face ID. Early reports show a system that works well, perhaps too well, in fact, according to some security experts. To unlock a...

Deleting Yahoo Groups will leave a permanent stain on Yahoo’s legacy
2019-10-17

The once-popular community site is part of internet history. Now Verizon plans to bulldoze much of it. Quick, what was the most important internet company of the 1990s? There are several legitimate contenders, but any list that didn’t have Yahoo at or near the top would be woefully incomplete. In the pre-Google...

Mark Zuckerberg speaks out on political ads, free speech, and China
2019-10-17

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a talk today at Georgetown University, covering his views on free expression. During the speech, he repeated that Facebook stood for free expression, made vague noises towards its improvement, and pointed out that — as far as values go — it’s at least standing against the likes...

Here are the members of the Fast Company Impact Council
2019-10-17

Fast Company assembled a diverse group of entrepreneurs, technologists, corporate chieftains, and designers for its inaugural business council. Mercedes Abramo President and CEO, Cartier North AmericaRead Full Story

6 of the 2020 Democrats now list their pronouns in their Twitter bios
2019-10-17

“The identities and silos of the past are over. We need to check with each other more.” When it comes to pronouns, norms are changing fast. Yesterday was International Pronouns Day, a new holiday that debuted only last year. According to organizers, it has American roots, but last year, some 25...

The comments on Mark Zuckerberg’s free-speech address sure look censored
2019-10-17

Almost every single one includes the words “thank you.” As Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech on free speech today, there was something funky happening in the comments on his Facebook Live broadcast.Read Full Story

PSA: The Pixel 4 comes with neither earbuds nor dongle
2019-10-17

When Google revealed the Pixel 4 would start $799, I was surprised the company hadn’t raised prices over the previous year. But now we know it’s cutting corners in at least one way: the Pixel 4 doesn’t come with earbuds or a wired headphone dongle. The company is sending a clear message: Go wireless. This is a...

RIP Clips: Palm-sized AI-powered camera joins the Google graveyard
2019-10-17

Google purged Clips, those tiny little cameras that could fit in your palm and which would take pics of you autonomously, from its store, meaning they join the graveyard of products quietly killed off by the company. The company revealed Clips two years ago. The conceit behind them is that you’d put them in...

Andrew Yang vaults to the front of the 2020 pack with a surprisingly big haul from Big Tech
2019-10-17

After a slow start, the tech entrepreneur turned presidential candidate is neck and neck with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in raising money from employees at Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Maybe the besieged residents of Silicon Valley have finally found their savior. Under attack on all...

You can’t use Western digital marketing tactics for emerging markets — so adapt
2019-10-17

For digital marketers targeting urban audiences within emerging markets — such as India, Indonesia, and Pakistan — it’s imperative that your marketing strategy employs a dynamic approach in identifying and assigning potential customers on either side of two broad market segments: the haves and have-nots. While...

US Fed Reserve: Facebook’s ‘cryptocurrency’ dream faces core legal, regulatory challenges
2019-10-17

The US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said yesterday that Facebook must overcome a “core of legal and regulatory challenges” before facilitating payments with its ‘cryptocurrency’ Libra. Brainard went on to note that life could become more complicated for central banks overseeing monetary policy if an...

How to watch Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘free expressions’ speech
2019-10-17

Buckle up for some snarky headlines later this night – Mark Zuckerberg is going to stream a speech about his views on free speech and expression. It’s scheduled to take place at 10 am PT/1 pm ET / 10.30 pm IST/ 6.00 pm CET, and you can stream it right from Zuck’s page. In a Facebook post last night, the...

The Pixel 4’s Live Captions can transcribe any audio to text (others too, soon)
2019-10-16

One of the coolest new Android features Google announced at I/O this year was the ability to perform real-time captioning on your smartphone. No, not just live captions for video, but rather for any audio that might pass through your phone’s speakers. We now know that feature will be available at launch with the...

Lululemon’s shapeshifting puffer transforms into 26 different coats
2019-10-16

The brand’s collaboration with designer Roskanda Ilinčić has a high fashion price tag to match: $1,000. To refer to Lululemon’s newest garment, made in collaboration with London-based designer Roskanda Ilinčić, as a “coat” doesn’t do it justice:...

I was on the verge of burnout. Here’s what happened when I took almost a month off
2019-10-16

Designer Autumn Adeigbo was watching her dreams come true but simultaneously felt exhausted and had a hard time staying positive. Then she forced herself to take time off. This past year was a major year of growth for me and my company. In 2019, I raised more investment capital and launched our collection on Rent the...

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