Insights

Communication and Technology news
How the earbud advertising of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft gets in your head
2019-10-16

Each brand takes a different approach, but all revolve around the growing value of your ears. Aside from our phones, earphones are the next best way for any company to connect with us. They’re always with us, and in the AirPods era of “smarter” earbuds, they can hear everything we do, know where...

Facebook’s Libra ‘cryptocurrency’ is turning into a soap opera — and it’s gonna be a long season
2019-10-16

Facebook’s controversial ‘cryptocurrency’ project is turning into a bit of a soap opera, starring the tech giant and regulators as the main characters. Just yesterday, Germany’s finance minister Olaf Scholz said the departure of several high-profile partners from the project was a good sign, but...

Google’s Daydream VR project is no longer a reality
2019-10-16

Google’s senior VP of hardware, Rick Osterloh, talked about sustainability on the stage last night at the Pixel event. While it’s nice to see the company talking about making their products green, it seems to be finding it hard to ‘sustain’ projects they start. In its latest product killing, the search giant...

China’s Tencent will seamlessly embed video ads directly into movies
2019-10-16

It’s quite common to see ads that interrupt your videos mid-stream on the web. However, Chinese tech giant Tencent is trying something different – embedding the ad into an object right within the video you’re watching. For instance, if an actor is holding a cup of coffee, you’ll see an ad on the cup. Check...

Instagram now lets you control which apps can access your account data
2019-10-16

Close on the heels of making it easy for users to spot phishing scams, Instagram is tightening its grip over third-party access to user data. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing social network is now adding a new feature that allows individuals to “manage all of the third-party services they connect to their Instagram...

Pixel 4 hands-on: I almost wish I didn’t like it this much
2019-10-16

I’ll be honest: I wasn’t expecting to like the Pixel 4 all that much. So much of it had leaked that there were few surprises left, and on paper, the hardware lags behind some of its immediate competition. Even significantly cheaper phones like the OnePlus 7T have a clear advantage when it comes to specs per...

San Francisco is radically redesigning a major street to get rid of cars
2019-10-15

The city just approved a plan to redesign Market Street, making it safer for pedestrians, adding protected bike lanes, and eliminating private vehicles to help speed up buses and lower the injury count on the street. San Francisco’s Market Street, which leads from the city’s iconic Ferry Building through...

Google Stadia set to launch on Nov 19 — but not for everyone
2019-10-15

Google today revealed the official launch date of its Stadia streaming service — at least, the date when those who’ve paid the Chromecast Ultra toll will get it. No word yet for the rest of us. The mention of Stadia was cleverly slipped in at the beginning of the event, and then quickly eclipsed by bigger news...

An overview of Facebook’s ‘cryptocurrency’ supporters — who’s in and who’s out
2019-10-15

Facebook sent the world into a frenzy when it announced its intention to enter the payments space with the launch of its controversial ‘cryptocurrency‘ Libra earlier this year. Initially, Facebook said it had garnered support from 28 companies, including some of the world’s top financial and technology giants....

Google’s new Pixel Buds cost $179, have adaptive sound, and arrive next... spring
2019-10-15

At its hardware event in New York City today, Google seemed a bit too excited about its upcoming earphones, the Pixel Buds. Sure, they’re smaller, and they’ll likely be better than the previous version – but they aren’t expected until next spring. The $179 earphones were merely previewed on screen at the...

Silicon Valley’s biggest investors want your kids to play with these low-tech toys
2019-10-15

Toy startup Lovevery just landed $20 million from investors like Google Ventures and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The $28 billion toy industry is buzzing with high-tech battery-operated gadgets for kids. And yet, Silicon Valley investors, including Google Ventures and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (founded by...

Vodafone repledges Libra support, but wants it independent of Facebook
2019-10-09

Vodafone wants Libra to appoint an independent chief executive so that it becomes fully separate from Facebook. The telecoms giant, which yesterday reiterated its support for the struggling ‘cryptocurrency’ project, stated that independent leadership was crucial to guarantee Libra’s success. “It needs a chief...

Twitter admits it used info shared for security to target ads
2019-10-09

If you provided an email address or phone number to Twitter for two-factor authentication, Twitter may . Twitter said on Tuesday that it inadvertently helped advertisers target ads using personal data users provided for account security.Read Full Story

Twitter says it used your 2FA info to advertise by accident
2019-10-09

Twitter today revealed it may have misappropriated its users private info by giving it to advertisers. The information in question? Your email address or phone number — whichever you used for two-factor authentication or security purposes. The error apparently stemmed from Twitter’s Tailored Audiences advertising...

NBA stands to lose billions as China lashes out over tweet supporting Hong Kong
2019-10-08

The NBA boasts some 600 million fans in China and rakes in billions of dollars from lucrative TV and merchandising contracts with the PRC. But that could all change because of a single tweet. Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, took to Twitter last week in support of the people of Hong Kong. While...

9 things I learned from viewing Trump’s newest Facebook ads
2019-10-08

The ads can teach a lot about how Trump and the GOP intend to fire up the base, own the libs, and attack Democrats in 2020. You can learn a lot about the current state of the Trump campaign by reviewing the ads it’s currently running on Facebook. The ads are easily searchable in the Facebook ad archive. Taken...

What on earth is Kim Kardashian West doing at a tech conference in Armenia?
2019-10-08

You might know Kim Kardashian West from her Instagram profile, which counts 148 million followers – higher than Beyoncé. Or her incredibly long-running reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which is now in its 17th season. Or her lines of beauty, fragrance, and shapewear products. Or her 2002 sextape,...

Here’s how to enable dark mode on Instagram
2019-10-08

The much-longed for feature is finally here. One of the most frequently requested features of Instagram over the years has been dark mode–and now, it’s finally here. Instagram quietly rolled out the feature on both iOS and Android last night.Read Full Story

Satoshi Nakaboto: ‘Bitcoin volume hits all-time high in Hong Kong’
2019-10-08

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 Baudriallard used to say: Let’s get this bread! Bitcoin Price We closed the day, October 7 2019,...

Google wants Android phone makers to use the same USB-C standard for fast charging
2019-10-08

Fast charging is quite an important feature in Android devices. Phone makers are constantly trying to outdo each other with charging methods that can juice up your phones faster. While these techniques introduce faster charging, it might also mean you’ll have to stick to that particular phone maker’s proprietary...

This kit of parts is designed to build cheaper, faster affordable housing on small urban lots
2019-10-08

Plant Prefab’s Nest LivingHome toolkit includes multiple options for designs that can be built on unused lots throughout a city. Affordable housing is often incredibly expensive to build. (In 2018, the average cost of a single unit in an affordable apartment building in San Francisco was $750,000). The new Nest...

Instagram is ditching the ‘Follow’ tab, giving users a little more privacy
2019-10-08

Sorry, stalkers. Your favorite IG tool is going away. For years Instagram has shown users two different feeds when they tab on the heart icon found at the bottom of the app. This heart icon takes the user to the Activity feed, which shows the user all of their own activity, including likes and comments, under the...

Instagram now supports dark mode on iOS 13 — here’s how to enable it
2019-10-08

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. Instagram has joined the dark side. Well, not really, sort of. The Facebook-owned social media platform has updated its app for iOS 13 with support for dark mode. The setting is an...

Instagram’s new feature can help spot phishing scams — here’s how
2019-10-08

Instagram is rolling out a new security feature that makes it easy to spot phishing mails that make it seem like they come from the social network. The feature — dubbed “Emails from Instagram” — is accessible via the app settings, and allows you to check all the legitimate emails Instagram has sent over the...

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