Insights

Communication and Technology news
Video: Seoul is spearheading the 5G revolution
2019-10-31

One of the hottest new topics in tech is 5G, the next generation of cellular network technology. When 4G came along, it was a massive breakthrough and gave birth to services like Instagram and Snapchat, which had been completely unthinkable only a couple of years earlier. Now it’s time for the next generation of...

Instagram influencer nabbed in Dubai for running alleged cryptocurrency investment scam
2019-10-31

Aziz ‘Com’ Mirza, a Canadian man living in Dubai, has been arrested by authorities and accused of defrauding investors through a string of get-rich-quick schemes, including real estate-backed cryptocurrency Habibi Coin — once dubbed “the Bitcoin of the Middle East.” According to Gulf News, Mirza, who...

There’s a big problem with Twitter’s bold ban of political ads
2019-10-31

What makes a tweet political? We’ll find out when Twitter starts implementing its new rules in late November. In a surprise move, Twitter says it will stop running political ads. But implementing the new policy could involve some messy trade-offs and unintended consequences.Read Full Story

Facebook, Google, Amazon are ramping up their secretive influence campaigns in DC
2019-10-31

In addition to spending $33 million on lobbying efforts so far this year, the three companies have increased their funding of influential think tanks that help shape federal and state policies. This story was produced by MapLight, a nonprofit organization that reveals the influence of money in politics.Read Full...

The art of writing smart and funny TV for kids that won’t drive parents bonkers
2019-10-31

Some of the best animated series are written by comedians who also work on late night and do stand-up. Here’s how they create sophisticated humor that works for all ages. A few years ago, Jenny Jaffe needed to carve out some time from her job writing for the Disney series Big Hero 6 so she could...

After Twitter bans political ads, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg says they’re ‘not worth the controversy’
2019-10-31

Facebook says its stance is ideological, not based on financial concerns. Facebook has issued its first public comments about political advertising on its platform after Twitter took the surprising step of banning all political ads on its service. In an interview with Bloomberg (via Business Insider), Facebook chief...

Twitter’s political ads ban is bold—and may get complicated
2019-10-31

What makes a tweet political? We’ll find out when Twitter starts implementing its new rules in late November. In a surprise move, Twitter says it will stop running political ads. But implementing the new policy could involve some messy trade-offs and unintended consequences.Read Full Story

Facebook has a new policy on ‘sexual’ emoji (yes, that means the peach)
2019-10-31

The platform is selectively censoring emoji in an effort, it says, to curb requests for “nude imagery, sex or sexual partners, or sex chat conversations.” Facebook and Instagram are now censoring what the companies describe as “contextually specific and commonly sexual emojis or emoji...

Aaron Sorkin’s open letter to Mark Zuckerberg is the best thing he’s written in ages
2019-10-31

If you loved ‘The Social Network,’ Sorkin’s take on Facebook’s origin story, you’ll really love this missive to the CEO. What: An open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from America’s favorite patriotic curmudgeon, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.Read Full Story

Facebook suspends accounts linked to Putin ally for spreading disinformation in Africa
2019-10-31

Facebook, once an innocent tool to share ‘what’s on your mind’ has increasingly been weaponized by governments to spread disinformation and manipulate elections — something hundreds of the tech giants’ employees outlined in an open letter this week that urged the company to rethink its stance on political...

WhatsApp spyware was used to snoop on 2 dozen Indian activists and journalists
2019-10-31

WhatsApp has revealed that at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India were the target of surveillance by threat operators using security firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware. The revelations, reported by news outlet Indian Express, come as the Facebook-owned messaging service filed a...

Facebook is testing end-to-end encryption for secret Messenger calls
2019-10-31

In March, Mark Zuckerberg shared his grand vision of Facebook’s future that included encrypting all messaging services. It seems that the company is slowly working on making that happen. According to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, Facebook is testing encrypting video and audio calls over Messenger in Secret mode....

Jack Dorsey: Twitter will stop all political ads next month
2019-10-30

Twitter is making a big change to how it handles political ads: It’s getting rid of them altogether (with very few exceptions). Today Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced via tweetstorm that the company has “made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally” because Twitter believes “message...

People are hilariously bad at drawing famous logos from memory
2019-10-30

Identity designers try to create memorable images. Turns out, we are terrible at remembering even the best ones. BMW. Puma. Red Bull. Lego. These brands are so ubiquitous, there’s a good chance you see their logos every single week. But would you be able to draw them from memory?Read Full Story

Aural sex: Tingly earhole sound porn is the next step in accessible erotica
2019-10-30

This article was originally published on SEXTECHGUIDE, an independent publication that looks at the intersection between sex and technology in a non-explicit, as close to a ‘safe for work’ way as possible – including app reviews, adult VR info, sextech devices, privacy, security issues, and much more. It was...

Traditional and digital news organizations need to band together to fight ‘fake news’
2019-10-30

Fake news, Facebook News, Brexit, WhatsApp hacks, and the “enemy of the people.” These are just some of the fast-changing stories that journalists across Europe are striving to cover — oftentimes, finding themselves at the center of that story.  Europe’s newsrooms are facing multiple challenges as they adjust...

Why a top VC and a former LinkedIn exec think hobbies are the future of commerce
2019-10-30

Kirsten Green, the VC who bet on Glossier, Away, Bonobos, and Jet.com, is investing in Curated, a platform that connects hobbyists with customers who want to buy products for a new hobby. Kirsten Green, the founder of Forerunner Ventures, knows how to predict retail trends. She’s bet on some of the biggest...

Exclusive: I left Google because of pregnancy discrimination
2019-10-30

Chelsey Glasson, who recently filed a complaint with the EEOC, talked to Fast Company about her experience at Google during her second pregnancy. Over the summer, an anonymous memo by a Google employee on maternity leave made the rounds on an internal message board. In the post, which was eventually leaked to...

The 6 most innovative winter coats of 2019
2019-10-30

A slew of new coats promise to keep you warm with unique fabrics and technology. These six delivered. Outerwear designers are tasked with creating coats that live up to the elements—a job that is only getting harder as extreme weather conditions become more frequent and winters get worse in many parts of the...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey backs cryptocurrency startup after turning down Facebook’s Libra
2019-10-30

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who recently said his company would never get involved with Facebook‘s Libra, has backed a cryptocurrency startup. Dorsey, a longtime Bitcoin advocate, participated in CoinList’s $10 million funding round, alongside several other investors. CoinList, which helps startups raise...

45,000 Android devices infected by new unremovable xHelper malware
2019-10-30

A new kind of Android malware capable of reinstalling itself even after being manually removed has reportedly infected more than 45,000 Android devices over the last six months. The latest findings — disclosed by cybersecurity firm Symantec — come after a similar disclosure by MalwareBytes, which first spotted...

WhatsApp sues Israeli security firm for injecting malware into targets’ phones through its app
2019-10-30

WhatsApp just sued Israel-based security company, the NSO Group, in a US federal court for allegedly injecting malware into over 1,400 targets’ phones through the messaging service. The Facebook-owned company accused the NSO Group of installing malware into phones for surveillance. The court filing says the...

Facebook wants to get into healthcare. What could possibly go wrong?
2019-10-29

Facebook wants to remind you to see a doctor. It’s working on a suite of “Preventative Health” features designed to help people keep track of their personal maintenance. Is it just me or does this company seem like a bad choice for that role? Facebook today announced it’s working with major health...

Now that Google won’t index Flash pages, here’s what website owners need to know
2019-10-29

Google has announced its search engine will no longer index Flash, the once hugely popular web content format. In the early 2000s, Flash was everywhere on the web. The browser plug-in technology made it easy for web developers to build everything from animated movies to restaurant menus that would look the same from...

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