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Communication and Technology news
Angel/Devil: Should I buy Apple Airpods?
2019-02-20

The last quarter of 2018 was a watershed moment for Apple’s Airpods. The wireless earbuds went from being a (sorta) niche bit of hardware, to the must-have product. They’re everywhere. And, as is the case on the internet, so are the memes. This increased attention isn’t just hearsay, check out the Google Trends...

Here’s how to watch Samsung’s Galaxy S10 event live
2019-02-20

Yes, the time is upon us – today Samsung will unveil its new Galaxy range of devices! The event starts at 2PM in New York (EST) and you can livestream the whole thing here. Or, if you’re that way inclined, you can catch it all on Twitter. The event’s taking place at San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic...

There’s a documentary about Ember.js and it’s really good
2019-02-20

Ember.js is a hugely popular JavaScript framework. Used across web, mobile, and desktop, it powers the likes of LinkedIn, Groupon, and even Apple Music. Behind its thousands of lines of code is a deeply human story of innovation and risk-taking, as portrayed by Ember.js: The Documentary. Hang on, I can hear you say. A...

Ariana Grande just hit a Beatles-level music industry milestone
2019-02-20

“Thank u, next” –Ariana Grande to awards, accolades, and industry records Never bet against Ariana Grande. The 25-year old superstar is on a hot streak so fiery that at this point she can not only survive a mid-aughts style incorrect Japanese tattoo incident but own it with humor and aplomb....

6 crazy details from Alphabet’s leaked plans for its first smart city
2019-02-20

Sidewalk Labs wants to rethink cities. We’re finally getting a look at what that will mean in Toronto, where the company is building a prototype neighborhood. Sidewalk Labs is one of the most mysterious initiatives inside Alphabet (and formerly, Google). The company says it “imagines, designs, tests,...

Nest has a secret microphone–Google just forgot to tell us
2019-02-20

Whoops! Some surprises are fun–like when a friend gives you an unexpected gift. Others, not so much. They can even a bit frightening sometimes. We have a good example of the latter kind of surprise, thanks to Google’s most recent Nest integration.Read Full Story

Want a glimpse of Facebook’s soul in 2019? Look at its internal propaganda lab
2019-02-20

The Analog Research Lab has evolved its messaging, from “Be the nerd” to “What matters is what you do next.” Yet it remains a mirror reflection of Facebook’s broken culture. In 2010, when Facebook was riding high with more than 500 million users, two Facebook employees took over...

No, there’s not a new anti-LGBT emoji
2019-02-20

It’s actually a unicode glitch. Many people on Twitter are going crazy because of a new allegedly anti-LGBT emoji. The problem is, it doesn’t actually exist.Read Full Story

Why parallax scrolling needs to die
2019-02-20

It’s an outdated attention-goosing technique that most designers will probably be embarrassed to look back on. Remember about five years ago, when the new hotness in interaction design was to have flashy layers in your website scroll at different speeds, creating a faux-3D effect? The effect was called parallax...

How to decentralize social media, according to Wikipedia’s co-founder
2019-02-20

The problem about social media is that it is centralized. Centralization empowers massive corporations and governments to steal our privacy and restrict our speech and autonomy. What should exist are neutral, technical standards and protocols, like the standards and protocols for blogs, email, and the Web. Blockchain...

This image-authentication startup is combating faux social media accounts, doctored photos, deep fakes, and more
2019-02-20

Truepic’s technology is already used by the U.S. State Department and others. The startup now wants to get social media companies on board. Company Profile 50 Most Innovative Companies Early one morning in April 2017, a series of horrific photos and videos began hitting Facebook and YouTube showing...

The founders of wedding registry Zola have proposed an entirely new way to do ecommerce
2019-02-20

For proposing a better way to do e-commerce Company Profile 50 Most Innovative Companies Shan-Lyn Ma and Nobu Nakaguchi, both Gilt Groupe alumni, had seen firsthand the things that can derail an e-commerce company, such as excessive inventory and a cumbersome returns process. “We kept those in mind when we...

How Mozilla moved fast to block Facebook and other privacy invaders from your web browser
2019-02-20

It’s just one of the things the company is doing to protect your data. Company Profile 50 Most Innovative Companies When Facebook users learned last March that the social media giant had given their sensitive information to political-data firm Cambridge Analytica, Mozilla (parent company of the...

$1.1 billion Airtable is turning admins into app developers
2019-02-20

For encouraging admins to think like developers Company Profile 50 Most Innovative Companies Airtable is a cloud-based workflow system that lets anyone—from intern to CEO—analyze data in a non-scary way. The six-year-old startup’s cult status and $1.1 billion valuation stem from how easily...

Alphabet tops this new list of companies leading in cleantech
2019-02-20

The Carbon Clean200 looks at the largest 200 companies (minus fossil fuel companies) ranked by clean energy revenues. After Donald Trump took office, a U.S. coal plant has shut down roughly every 15 days. Last week, despite Trump’s attempts to keep it open, the Tennessee Valley Authority decided that it...

6 food trends that are blowing up right now, from Zhoug to Spam
2019-02-19

AI-powered food intelligence startup Tastewise lists some of the bigger trends in the $5.75 trillion food industry. What’s next for the $5.75 trillion food industry? Tastewise, an AI-powered food intelligence company and trend tracker, shares some insights on consumers’ ever-morphing tastes. In a new...

Something magical happens if you google Rihanna and your birthday
2019-02-19

Seriously. Do it. Go to Google.com, type in “Rihanna (your DOB),” you’ll get… a picture of Rihanna taken on the anniversary of your birth. To Rihanna fans (me), seeing her in a fabulous and perfect outfit IS magic — because it’s on my personal birthaversary, it makes me feel like the outfit was styled...

“Sweatpants are a sign of defeat”: 22 controversial Karl Lagerfeld quotes
2019-02-19

The famed Chanel designer died today at the age of 85. A few years ago, I was in Paris browsing the books at Colette (yes, I’m a fancy nerd) when I realized the store had both gotten very quiet and very attentive. Karl Lagerfeld was at the counter in his trademark black sunglasses, his white hair slicked back...

How Alphabet’s Jigsaw think tank is fighting radicalization online
2019-02-19

Jigsaw — a unit within Alphabet — is one of the most important projects working towards countering cyber attacks, censorship, and online extremism. Using AI and machine learning, Jigsaw is tackling political challenges with technology, not policy. One of their most recent projects is the security app Intra,...

How Google’s Jigsaw think tank is fighting radicalization online
2019-02-19

Jigsaw — a tech incubator created by Google — is one of the most important projects working towards countering cyber attacks, censorship, and online extremism. Using AI and machine learning, Jigsaw is tackling political challenges with technology, not policy. One of their most recent projects is the security app...

How to design a system for ethical innovation in tech
2019-02-19

Every company should have a new CEO: chief ethics officer. Google was founded over two decades ago, but they released their first public set of ethical technology principles just last year. Facebook launched out of a Harvard dorm in 2004, but they formally launched an ethics program with a public investment last...

Jack Dorsey’s latest idea for kinda-editable tweets sounds like a reasonable compromise
2019-02-19

We’re probably no closer to getting an edit button for tweets than in the past several years (what’s taking so long?), but I’m glad to hear that the company is thinking about it in earnest, as CEO Jack Dorsey revealed. Recode reported that Dorsey recently described a possible implementation that wouldn’t...

2.7 million patient calls to Swedish healthcare hotline left unprotected online
2019-02-18

The audio recordings of 2.7 millions calls made to 1177 Vårdguiden — Sweden’s healthcare hotline — were left exposed to anyone online, according to Swedish tech publication Computer Sweden. The 170,000 hours of incredibly sensitive calls were stored on an open web server without any encryption or...

U.K. says Facebook’s leaders are “digital gangsters”
2019-02-18

A new report has harsh words for the social network. The U.K.’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee has issued a scathing 111-page report on Facebook’s role in spreading disinformation and fake news. The report was the result of an 18-month investigation into the social media giant and...

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