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Communication and Technology news
Google is reportedly working on “blockchain-related” cloud technology
2018-03-21

Blockchain Kodak, blockchain taxis, blockchain pizza! What’s next? Why Google, of course. According to a report by Bloomberg, Google is working on “blockchain-related” technology for its cloud business. It would theoretically help make customers feel their data is more secure. It could also differentiate Google...

Here’s everything Mark Zuckerberg didn’t say, and probably won’t
2018-03-21

Cambridge Analytica’s improper access to Facebook user data turned into a firestorm for the social media giant this past week. Four days later, CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally responded, publishing a Facebook post in which he made a familiar vow to do “what it takes to protect our community.” He...

Mark Zuckerberg responds to the Cambridge Analytica scandal
2018-03-21

Facebook’s been having a rough week, as news broke recently of a misuse of data it provided to data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. After days of relative silence from his company, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has responded to the scandal. He opens by ‘fessing up to Facebook’s role in the problem, while in...

Facebook basically wants to pay for its own police force
2018-03-21

While Facebook is excoriated this week over its failure to stop Cambridge Analytica from misusing the private data of millions of people, the company’s vast expansion is still going full-speed ahead. One vision Facebook has been slowly executing on is its plan to build an entire Silicon Valley-based...

At A Moment Of Crisis, Facebook Needs Sheryl Sandberg Out Front
2018-03-21

It’s hard to fathom why Facebook’s number two has gone along with a crisis strategy that puts herself (and Mark Zuckerberg) squarely behind the curtain. Over the weekend it was business as usual on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s profile page. On Saturday, she shared two photos from a visit to her...

Killer robots? Cambridge Analytica and Facebook show us the real danger of AI
2018-03-21

We were warned, time and time again, by one expert after another. AI doesn’t play fair, it can’t make moral decisions, and it relies entirely on humans for ethics. When those humans are (allegedly) Alex Nix, Steve Bannon, and Dr. Aleksandr Kogan we’re all in a lot of trouble. Cambridge Analytica (allegedly)...

Instagram now lets you link to hashtags and other profiles in your bio
2018-03-21

Your social media bios are where you introduce yourself to the world, and Instagram gives you a canvas of 150 characters to accomplish this. Until very recently, this was a bit of a gilded cage. Instagram restricted users to mere text, emoji, and hyperlinks, and it wasn’t possible to link to hashtags and other...

Twitter CEO says Bitcoin will be the world’s primary currency by 2028
2018-03-21

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, has said that Bitcoin will become the world’s single currency within the next ten years. “The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin,” Dorsey told The Times. “This would happen probably...

Cryptocurrency startup claims BMW partnership, but BMW disagrees
2018-03-21

Fledgling cryptocurrency startup carVertical made waves after announcing last week that the company had struck a partnership with BMW that would see the two parties build the “first ever connected reports for cars.” But it appears the company might have misrepresented its relationship with the German automobile...

Why I’m Leaving Facebook–And Maybe You Should, Too
2018-03-21

We’re giving up too much (data) and getting too little in return. By now we’ve all heard the cliche: If you’re getting something for free on the internet, and you can’t identify the product that’s being sold, then you are the product. Your attention, your purchasing potential, your...

Messenger makes it easy to let folks into group chat (or keep ’em out)
2018-03-21

Amid all the drama at Facebook, the company is continuing to pump out new features. Today, its Messenger app is introducing additional tools for group chats, which permit up to 250 simultaneous text chatters, or 50 via voice or video. People in a chat can share “joinable links” to invite others into the...

This Is How We Take Power Back From Facebook (And Every Other Monopoly)
2018-03-21

The power of tech giants (and giants in industries from air travel to beer) are starting to have damaging effects on the environment–and our democracy. For all its fabled dynamism, the American economy isn’t particularly dynamic at the moment. The rate of new business creation is at historic lows. Wages...

A Brief History Of Mark Zuckerberg Apologizing (Or Not Apologizing) For Stuff
2018-03-21

From college days forward, Facebook’s CEO has plenty of experience dealing with unhappy people. Will it help him dig out of the Cambridge Analytica mess? Mark Zuckerberg has yet to speak publicly about last week’s news that a researcher turned 270,000 responses to a Facebook quiz into profiles of 50...

These are the top 50 companies where Americans want to work now
2018-03-21

Amazon tops the list of the 50 most in-demand places to work according to LinkedIn’s ranking of data generated by its 546-plus million members around the world. The top 10 are: Amazon Alphabet (Google) Facebook Salesforce Tesla Apple Comcast Walt Disney Company Oracle Netflix You can see the full list here. The...

Zuckerberg to address Cambridge Analytica crisis in next 24 hours
2018-03-21

Well, it looks like the public will get a chance to hear from Zuck before his employees do. The Facebook CEO is said to have plans to make his first comments on the scandal that has gripped his company (and the news cycle) since last week, reports Axios. The site says they’ve been told by … Continue...

Google is reportedly buying camera maker Lytro for up to $40 million
2018-03-21

The company’s first product was the revolutionary “light field” technology camera that allowed people to refocus shots after they were taken. Since then, Lytro has pivoted to cameras that capture VR. In that time, Lytro has acquired a wealth of patents linked to cutting-edge camera technology,...

Cambridge Analytica’s CEO reportedly used the N-word to describe potential clients
2018-03-21

Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica’s disgraced CEO, was suspended on Tuesday after the scandal involving his company and Facebook showed no sign of abating. Now things are set to look even worse for him after an internal Cambridge Analytica email surfaced in which Nix allegedly referred to two potential clients...

AI And Open Data Show Just How Often Cars Block Bus And Bike Lanes
2018-03-21

Using publicly available camera footage and a machine-learning algorithm, we can now say that the lanes are blocked almost always. Alex Bell, a cyclist, programmer, and lifelong New Yorker, is fed up with vehicles drifting into lanes that are not meant for them. His frustration began with UPS trucks: So frequently...

WhatsApp cofounder says it’s time to #deletefacebook
2018-03-21

Brian Acton, who cofounded WhatsApp along with Jan Koum before selling it to Facebook in 2014 for an initial $16 billion (Facebook ultimately paid around $22 billion), has taken to Twitter to tell everyone it’s time to delete Facebook. It is time. #deletefacebook — Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20,...

Mark Zuckerberg will address Cambridge Analytica with Facebook employees on Friday
2018-03-21

Since the scandal broke, one thing has been consistent: the absence of any comment from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. His silence about the Cambridge Analytica scandal has lead to hashtags asking #WheresZuck and memes of the same theme. But it’s not just the public wondering why Zuck has remained silent....

Alphabet’s Outline lets you run your own self-hosted VPN for free
2018-03-21

Jigsaw, an incubator that’s part of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has launched Outline, an open-source virtual private network (VPN) that you can host on your own server at no charge. As an initiative from the human-rights-focused Jigsaw, Outline is being billed as a tool to help journalists securely connect...

Facebook is tainted – can we build a better one?
2018-03-21

In the face of the Cambridge Analytica exposé that saw Facebook expose 50 million users’ information to a data mining company, as well as other recent fiascos with the social network like Russia influencing voters in the US and the spread of fake news, it’s becoming clear that Mark Zuckerberg’s creation has...

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: Here’s what you need to know
2018-03-21

Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) and its data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica have both been suspended from Facebook after each “gained access to information” without the consent of certain individuals. And if the latter name sounds familiar, it should; but we’ll get to that in a moment. The story...

Facebook isn’t a company. It’s a country that needs to be sanctioned
2018-03-21

It’s hard to imagine Mark Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg wearing a black eyepatch and stroking a cat while overseeing the covert operation to overthrow America’s government. The people at Facebook, for all their flaws, don’t seem like the villains in a James Bond movie. And, for what it’s worth, they may very...

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