Tag Archives: technology

Wired reports: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban the use of facial recognition by city agencies, a first-of-its-kind measure that has inspired similar efforts elsewhere. San Francisco’s ban covers government agencies, including the city police and county sheriff’s department, but doesn’t affect the technology that unlocks your iPhone or cameras installed by businesses or individuals. It’s …

The Associated Press reports: Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd said on Monday it had agreed to a request by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to sell popular gay dating app Grindr, setting a June 2020 deadline to do so. Kunlun’s decision came after Reuters reported in March that CFIUS, an inter-agency government …

Reuters reports: Facebook’s WhatsApp urged users to upgrade to the latest version of its popular messaging app after reporting that users might be vulnerable to having malicious spyware installed on phones without their knowledge. Earlier, the Financial Times (FT) reported that a vulnerability in WhatsApp allowed attackers to inject spyware on phones by ringing up targets using the app’s phone …

The Associated Press reports: San Francisco is on track to become the first U.S. city to ban the use of facial recognition by police and other city agencies, reflecting a growing backlash against a technology that’s creeping into airports, motor vehicle departments, stores, stadiums and home security cameras. Government agencies around the U.S. have used the technology for more than …

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court opened the door Monday for iPhone users to sue Apple over excessive prices on its exclusive App Store. Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the 5-4 opinion and was joined by the court’s four liberal justices. The other four conservatives dissented. The question before the justices was whether consumers’ beef over prices is with Apple …

The Verge reports: Verizon is seeking a buyer for Tumblr, the blogging platform it acquired along with other Yahoo assets in 2017. The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon has approached other companies in recent weeks that could be potential new homes for Tumblr. The platform hosts 465.4 million blogs and 172 billion posts, according to its about page. The …

CNN reports: Russia is one step closer to creating its own, independent internet—at least legally speaking. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law new measures that would enable the creation of a national network, able to operate separately from the rest of the world, according to documents posted on a government portal on Wednesday. For now, the network remains …

The New York Times reports: Mark Zuckerberg declared last month that he planned to shift Facebook away from being a public town square and to private communications. Now the chief executive is rolling out the first in a series of changes to achieve that. On Tuesday at its annual developer conference, Facebook unveiled a redesign of its mobile app and …

Reuters reports: Spotify on Monday announced that it has surpassed 100 million paid subscribers, becoming the first music streaming company to reach that mark. Spotify said it has 217 million monthly active users and 100 million who are premium subscribers. The global leader in the sector, with double the number of subscribers of nearest rival Apple Music, Spotify has launched …

Wired reports: You’ve seen the ads in your email or online: Celebrities supposedly hawking miracle weight loss cures or galaxy brain supplements. They’re at this point endemic to the web, as deeply ingrained as hashtags and puppies. But even though plenty of people fall for them, no one ever really does anything about it. Of all the security threats online, …

The Verge reports: Samsung has confirmed reports from earlier today that it is postponing the release of its $2,000 Galaxy Fold foldable phone only days before it was originally scheduled to go on sale. “We want our customers to have the best experience possible which is why, after initial feedback, we have decided to delay the release of the category-changing …

CNBC reports: Online shopping led by Amazon hit a new milestone in February. The total market share of “non-store,” or online U.S. retail sales was higher than general sales for the first time in history, according to a report from the Commerce Department this week. Non-store retail sales last month accounted for 11.813 percent of the total, compared with 11.807 …

Fortune reports: Google lost an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. LGBTQ group, over an app tied to the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” to change a gay person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which had previously scored a perfect 100 on the annual Corporate Equality Index, will have its rating withheld until the …

Forbes reports: Drivers in Europe will soon have to get used to anti-speeding devices in their cars, after EU legislators agreed this morning on new legislation requiring them. The agreement came after months of often tense negotiations which pitted safety against freedom, and prompted concerns over “big brother” watching driving behavior. The legislation will require all new vehicles put on …

TechCrunch reports: Apple today unveiled a revamped Apple News app which now includes a premium tier called Apple News+, offering access to over 300 magazines and newspapers for $9.99 per month. At launch, the subscription includes magazine titles like Bon Appétit, People, Vogue, National Geographic Magazine, ELLE, Glamour, and others, along with top publishers like The Wall Street Journal and …

CNET reports: Slick new gadgets are usually the stars of Apple’s splashy events. But on Monday, the company will put the spotlight on subscriptions and services. A star-studded new TV service is expected to headline Apple’s event at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. Apple will likely unveil a news subscription service built into a reimagined Apple News, as …

The Associated Press reports: Facebook left millions of user passwords readable by its employees for years, the company acknowledged Thursday after a security researcher exposed the lapse. By storing passwords in readable plain text, Facebook violated fundamental computer-security practices. Those call for organizations and websites to save passwords in a scrambled form that makes it almost impossible to recover the …

NBC News reports: Twitter has offered the public its first look at a new prototype for the Twitter app, which the company is calling “twttr” in a nod to CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, that includes a variety of changes to how Twitter looks and operates, centered on a new format for conversations and color-coded replies. The prototype …

ZDNet reports: A new mobile app described as the “Yelp for conservatives” is leaking user records and business reviews, according to a French security researcher. According to Baptiste Robert, a French security researcher who goes online under the pseudonym of Elliot Anderson (the name of the main character from the Mr. Robot TV show about hackers), the 63red Safe app …

Reuters reports: Apple Inc on Monday invited media to a March 25 event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, where it is expected to launch a television and video service. Sources previously told Reuters that the company is targeting April for the launch of a streaming television service that will likely include subscription TV service. …