Technology

The Verge reports: The world’s most popular email service is getting a big overhaul today. Google is making official the changes we saw leaked earlier this month, with email snoozing, nudging, and confidential mode making their debut alongside a substantial visual redesign for Gmail on the web. The new Gmail begins a global phased rollout today, which is to say …

Reuters reports: Some major customers of Boeing Co’s popular 737 jets said on Wednesday they were inspecting engines of the type that blew apart mid-air on a fatal Southwest Airlines Co flight on Tuesday. European regulators this month began requiring an inspection by early next year, and a person familiar with the matter said U.S. regulators were near a similar …

Buzzfeed News reports: Sitting before the Stars and Stripes, another flag pinned to his lapel, former President Barack Obama appears to be delivering an important message about fake news — but something seems slightly…off. As the video soon reveals, the man speaking is not the former commander-in-chief, but rather Oscar-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele with a warning for viewers about trusting …

CNBC reports: Mark Zuckerberg is testifying at a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees Tuesday, in the first of two congressional hearings for the Facebook founder and CEO. The company is facing questions following reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the personal data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Zuckerberg is …

The Hill reports: Facebook on Tuesday officially launched a program to reward users for reporting “data abuse” on its platform. The move comes as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to testify before lawmakers on Capitol Hill amid scrutiny over the controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that Facebook says improperly obtained data on potentially 87 million of its users. …

The Guardian reports: A Houston-based company said this week it plans to open the “first luxury hotel in space” by late 2021. Orion Span’s compact Aurora Station – at 35ft-by-14ft its interior will be comparable to that of a Gulfstream jet, the company said – is projected to accommodate four travelers and two crew members for 12-day stays 200 miles …

The Associated Press reports: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is shutting down his Facebook account as the social media giant struggles to cope with the worst privacy crisis in its history. In an email to USA Today, Wozniak says Facebook makes a lot of advertising money from personal details provided by users. He says the “profits are all based on the …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook’s disclosure this week that its search tools were used to collect data on most of its 2.2 billion users could potentially trigger record fines and create new legal vulnerability for not having prevented risks to user data, said three former federal officials. The three former officials, all of whom were at the Federal Trade Commission …

CNBC reports: Facebook has asked several major U.S. hospitals to share anonymized data about their patients, such as illnesses and prescription info, for a proposed research project. Facebook was intending to match it up with user data it had collected, and help the hospitals figure out which patients might need special care or treatment. The proposal never went past the …

The Associated Press reports: Facebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the user data that outsiders can access. Those developments came as congressional officials said CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify next week, while Facebook unveiled a new privacy policy that …

Digital Chew reports: On Wednesday, Facebook announced they will be updating their terms of service to clarify what it does with user’s social media information. The changes to the TOS are in response to major business shakeups to Facebook’s business since the last time the company implemented major changes in 2015. This news comes after the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. However, …

Axios reports: Grindr has stopped sharing users’ HIV status with its third-party vendors, the company’s head of security told Axios. However, much of the concerns with Grindr’s data-sharing practices were a misunderstanding of what was being shared and with whom, says Grindr security chief Bryce Case. Grindr may have been sharing more information than needed, but it insists the most …

Buzzfeed News reports: The gay hookup app Grindr, which has more than 3.6 million daily active users across the world, has been providing its users’ HIV status to two other companies, BuzzFeed News has learned. The two companies — Apptimize and Localytics, which help optimize apps — receive some of the information that Grindr users choose to include in their …

Business Insider reports: Mark Zuckerberg fired back at Tim Cook after the Apple CEO criticized Facebook amid a burgeoning scandal around the company’s data practicies and its role in political campaigns. Cook said that “privacy to us is a human right” and a “civil liberty,” and ultimately, because Facebook is a free service, the users become the products that are …

Via press release: Mayor de Blasio today announced the launch of NYC Secure, a pioneering cybersecurity initiative aimed at protecting New Yorkers online. Using a steadily evolving suite of solutions, NYC Secure will defend New Yorkers from malicious cyber activity on mobile devices, across public Wi-Fi networks, and beyond. The first NYC Secure programs will include a free City-sponsored smartphone …

Space.com reports: The falling Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is tumbling in orbit and may crash back to Earth early Easter Sunday (April 1), experts say. Estimates for the crash of Tiangong-1 range sometime between March 31 and April 1, with a focus of 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on April 1, according to Aerospace Corp., which is tracking the space …

The Washington Post reports: SpaceX has received official permission from the U.S. government to launch a fleet of satellites designed to beam high-speed Internet signals down to earth. The decision marks a major milestone for chief executive Elon Musk as he pursues a dream of putting 12,000 small satellites into low-earth orbit, connecting rural and developing parts of the world …

Gizmodo reports: Facebook has started fact-checking photos and videos, as a part of a larger plan to prevent foreign agents from using the platform to spread propaganda and influence elections. Executives on Thursday explained Facebook’s plans in a blog post and on a conference call with journalists. Some of the plans had already been announced—for instance, verifying election ad buyers …

The Associated Press reports: To get an idea of the data Facebook collects about you, just ask for it. You’ll get a file with every photo and comment you’ve posted, all the ads you’ve clicked on, stuff you’ve liked and searched for and everyone you’ve friended – and unfriended – over the years. But activity isn’t limited to pages or …

USA Today reports: The Federal Federal Trade Commission says it’s officially investigating the potential misuse of the personal information of as many as 50 million Facebook users by Trump-connected data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. The agency’s action comes after it began a probe last week into the social network’s admission that it had suspended Cambridge Analytica, which had worked for …