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Communication and Technology news
The unusual way police caught the Golden State Killer suspect
2018-04-27

Police reportedly used data from GEDMatch, a genealogy research site where users upload genealogical and genetic information, to help identify the man suspected of being the notorious Golden State Killer. That site, which provides tools for people to conduct their own searches against uploaded data, said in a...

North and South Korea relations: a timeline of how we got here
2018-04-27

North Korea and South Korea have announced plans to end the peninsula’s seven-decade war. The historic summit came in the wake of an unlikely series of events including missile testing; Twitter threats by the U.S. president; a unified display at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang; and finally, a sit-down between...

Here’s How Facebook Can Regain Trust At Its F8 Conference
2018-04-27

Facebook still has many questions to answer in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote is the perfect place to start. Next Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg will take the stage to give his annual opening keynote address at Facebook’s F8 developer conference. In the wake of...

How Google’s Waze crowdsourced traffic data to save lives across Europe
2018-04-27

Google’s Waze crowdsourced navigation service just announced its findings from its year-long partnership with the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) at the organization’s conference in Slovenia. The project started last April and piloted the use of Waze’s user-generated data to improve emergency...

There is no consensus in the cryptocurrency community when it comes to journalistic standards
2018-04-27

  The Ethereum community is furious after Coindesk, a major cryptocurrency publication, published an article on the controversial Ethereum proposal, EIP999. Coindesk reported that the proposal has caused infighting among the Ethereum community and it might lead to a blockchain split soon. This did not go well with...

How Sweetgreen Helped This Corner Store With A Healthy Transformation
2018-04-27

The salad chain offered some of its expertise in branding and supply chains to help a store in a food desert bring healthier options to its customers. The designers and supply chain experts at Sweetgreen, the L.A.-based salad chain, usually spend their time working on the look and operations of their own stores. But...

Microsoft kills its gun emoji
2018-04-27

The software giant has finally followed in the footsteps of Apple, Google, Twitter, and Samsung by replacing its pistol emoji with a green and yellow water gun emoji. The pistol emoji had drawn criticism in the last several years with school shootings happening on a regular basis and social media rife with...

April’s Top Leadership Stories Include Feminist High Heels and EQ
2018-04-27

This month’s top stories look at how to craft an emotionally intelligent presentation, and how women are reinventing the high heel. This month, we learned that recruiters spend more time on other social media platforms than they do on your LinkedIn profile, how some women are reinventing the high heel to allow...

Why running a Medium column will do more for your company than a traditional blog
2018-04-27

Most businesses have their own blog since they want to boost their SEO, build authority and trust, and engage with their consumers. Blogging is no longer just a way to share opinions and ideas or keep cross-country relatives up-to-date; it’s a business and marketing tool that helps companies build their brand and...

Facebook to be more transparent over political advertising in the UK
2018-04-26

As the Cambridge Analytica shitshow thunders forwards, Facebook is doubling down on its damage control efforts. The latest announcement from the ubiquitous social network, as it tries to dig itself out of its current predicament, is actually pretty welcome. For starters, it’s being clearer about what’s a political...

Yes, Flickr Has A Future—As “A Safe Place For Photographers”
2018-04-26

The iconic photo-sharing service’s new management isn’t trying to take on Instagram. It just wants Flickr to make the most of its photos and community. Two of the oldest and biggest photography-oriented internet companies are now one. Last week, SmugMug acquired Flickr from Verizon’s Oath after...

Counter extremism advisor: YouTube is “least receptive” to prioritize safety over growth
2018-04-26

Bloomberg has an interesting long-form article about the horrible year YouTube has had when it comes to cleaning up content–including extremist videos and pornography–on its platform. The entire article is worth a read, but perhaps the best gem is a quote from Hany Farid, senior adviser to the Counter...

Google’s new Tasks app gets the job done, but just barely
2018-04-26

Along with its Gmail design overhaul yesterday, Google relaunched its Tasks app. It’s now available within your Gmail inbox when you activate the new interface, as well as on Android and iOS. Sadly, it’s as barebones as any to-do app I’ve ever used. I’m all for apps that keep things simple and don’t...

Despite all your rage, Wall Street still doesn’t give a fuck
2018-04-26

After a string of bad press and the worst crisis in its 14-year history, Facebook today posted gains of 63 percent in profit, and 49 percent in revenue. Or, to put it another way, Wall Street gives zero fucks about your privacy concerns. For a company neither stalled nor slowed by the #DeleteFacebook movement, rapidly...

YouTube Kids hands the reins to parents rather than fixing its own mess
2018-04-26

YouTube is giving parents greater control over its Kids app, presumably in an attempt to curtail the complaints that it’s not doing enough to keep the app clean. Now parents can get a better handle on what their child watches on the Kids app — which would be great, except for the fact that shouldn’t have been a...

Someone made Soulja Boy’s old website point to a bunch of dragon dongs
2018-04-25

Soulja Boy is promoting dragon-themed sex toys on Twitter, whether he knows it or not. In what’s possibly the best combination of dungeons and dragons since Dungeons and Dragons, a sex toy company called Bad Dragon makes marital aids for lovers of all things dirty and dragon related. It turns out the company’s...

Facebook says platform changes are reducing passive video consumption
2018-04-25

Last quarter, Facebook said it was focusing its platform going forward on more meaningful interactions, changes that would reduce the time users spend on the service. Today, during its first-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said changes that emphasize those kinds of connections have resulted in a decline of...

What scandal? Facebook easily beats earnings estimates with EPS of $1.69
2018-04-25

Facebook may still be mired in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but if all you were looking at is its bottom line, you might never know anything was wrong. Today, Mark Zuckerberg’s company released its first-quarter earnings report, and it handily beat analysts’ estimates, posting revenues of $11.97...

Facebook easily beats analysts’s predictions of $1.35 per share
2018-04-25

Facebook may still be mired in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but if all you were looking at is its bottom line, you might never know anything was wrong. Today, Mark Zuckerberg’s company released its first-quarter earnings report, and it handily beat analysts’s estimates, posting revenues of $11.97...

Facebook earnings: 5 things to watch in first post-Cambridge Analytica report
2018-04-25

This afternoon, Facebook will release its first-quarter earnings. Here are five things we’ll be watching for from the social-networking giant: This is Facebook’s first earnings report since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke last month. It will be interesting to see how the controversy–which...

Google swaps revolver for water gun in its emoji armory
2018-04-25

Today Google became the latest company to replace its gun emoji with a non-lethal alternative — namely, a water pistol. I’ve been an iOS user for as long as I’ve owned a smartphone, but I admit one look at this cute squirt gun had me thinking, “You know, there are perfectly good Android phones that are much...

Jack Dorsey: Twitter doesn’t need to sell your data. It’s already public
2018-04-25

Twitter more than exceeded expectations in its Q1 earnings report on Wednesday morning, clocking another profitable quarter and recording an additional six million monthly active users. In a nod to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal—and, possibly, the pressure he’s already faced since Mark...

Lightning Labs CEO is giving scholarships to female blockchain developers
2018-04-25

Lightning Labs co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Stark has announced a scholarship for female blockchain developers. In a post on Twitter, Stark said that she and Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song have secured several scholarship packages for the upcoming Programming Blockchain seminar, which is scheduled to take place on May...

The Three Smartest Ways To Use LinkedIn Early In Your Career
2018-04-25

Why bother using LinkedIn when you don’t have much job experience to put on your profile page? Here’s why–and how to do it. LinkedIn is a great place to build a network, diversify your knowledge, and find new career opportunities–even when you’re early in your career. Students and...

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