Tag Archives: technology

The New York Times today unmasked celebrities and media figures who seek to inflate their importance by purchasing fake Twitter followers. An excerpt: All these accounts belong to customers of an obscure American company named Devumi that has collected millions of dollars in a shadowy global marketplace for social media fraud. Devumi sells Twitter followers and retweets to celebrities, businesses …

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge dismissed a 14-count lawsuit against Grindr on Thursday, finding that that the hook-up app for gay men is not liable for the malicious harassment wrought by an ex-boyfriend’s fake profile. U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni dismissed with prejudice all claims but one for copyright infringement, which she dismissed without prejudice. Matthew Herrick blamed Grinder …

Variety reports: Rupert Murdoch weighed in on Facebook’s attempts to improve the accuracy of the news its delivers across its global platform — and suggested that what would really work is for the internet giant to follow the model of the pay-TV industry. “If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar …

USA Today reports: After a year of testing with its own employees, Amazon opens its store that lets you browse, grab and walk out — skipping the checkout line, but not the bill — to the public Monday. The convenience store and its proprietary technology, made up of hundreds of cameras and sensors and requiring a new Amazon app, dangled …

The New York Times reports: Amazon said on Thursday that it had whittled the list of possible homes for its second headquarters down to 20, including centers of technology like Boston as well as some surprise locations like Columbus, Ohio. The company, based in Seattle, selected the finalists out of a pile of more than 238 applications submitted by local …

Ars Technica reports: In a discovery that underscores the growing arms race among competing malware developers, researchers have uncovered a new Android spying platform that includes location-based audio recording and other features that have never been seen in the wild before. According to a report published Tuesday by antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab, “Skygofree” is most likely an offensive security product …

Agence France-Presse reports: Regulators will “carefully and responsibly” review General Motors’ request to test an autonomous car without a steering wheel, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Sunday. “It is now coming to the stage with the rapid advancement of self-driving technology that this request is now a reality,” Chao said on the sidelines of the Detroit Auto Show. “So …

The Associated Press reports: Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is skipping the CES gadget show because of death threats, according to reports. Pai has scrapped popular net-neutrality rules that had barred broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon from interfering with internet traffic. The policy’s supporters have reacted strongly. Pai and his staff have called out racist tweets and …

Politico reports: States rushing to guard their 2018 elections against hackers may be on a waiting list for up to nine months for the Department of Homeland Security’s most exhaustive security screening, according to government officials familiar with the situation. That means some states might not get the service until weeks before the November midterms and may remain unaware of …

The New York Times reports: MoviePass said this month that it had signed up more than one million subscribers in just four months. It took Netflix more than three years to reach that level when it started selling low-priced subscriptions for DVD rentals in 1999. Spotify was relatively quick, at five months in 2011. It took Hulu 10 months to …

Reuters reports: Apple Inc defrauded iPhone users by slowing devices without warning to compensate for poor battery performance, according to eight lawsuits filed in various federal courts in the week since the company opened up about the year-old software change. The tweak may have led iPhone owners to misguided attempts to resolve issues over the last year, the lawsuits contend. …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won’t be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry. Although movie ticket sales …

PBS NewsHour reports: Ride-hailing service Uber suffered a new blow Wednesday as the European Union’s top court ruled that it should be regulated like a taxi company and not a technology service, a decision that crimps its activities around Europe and could weigh on other app-based companies, too. Uber, which is wrapping up a particularly punishing year, sought to play …

TechCrunch reports: Facebook wants to make sure you know about and control the photos of you people upload, even if they don’t tag you. So today, Facebook launched a new facial recognition feature called Photo Review that will alert you when your face shows up in newly posted photos so you can tag yourself, leave it be, ask the uploader …

Engadget reports: This is a bit ironic. When FCC chairman and former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai uploaded a video this week detailing all the things we’ll still be able to do after he killed net neutrality, he apparently forgot one key step: asking permission. You see, part of the smarmy and glib clip the FCC produced with The Daily Caller …

The Daily Beast reports: “The Federal Communications Commission did something absolutely despicable today: They voted to put an end to net neutrality,” announced Jimmy Kimmel. The late-night host dedicated a portion of his Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue Thursday night to the net neutrality vote, which ruled 3-2 (three Republicans for, two Democrats very much against) in favor of dismantling the …

The Washington Examiner reports: Sen. Ted Cruz sought to burn so-called “snowflakes” Thursday, mocking the Internet outrage over the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to repeal the so-called “net neutrality” regulations of the Obama era. Using a slang label for people who take offense easily to a lack of political correctness, the Texas Republican indicated that the backlash to Thursday’s decision …

The New York Times reports: The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to dismantle landmark rules regulating the businesses that connect consumers to the internet, granting broadband companies power to potentially reshape Americans’ online experiences. The agency scrapped so-called net neutrality regulations that prohibited broadband providers from blocking websites or charging for higher-quality service or certain content. The federal government …

The Guardian reports: Apple has bought Shazam, a London-based app that allows smartphone users to identify music, for a reported $400m (£300m). The US company, which revolutionised music with the introduction of the the iPod and iPhone, said Shazam was a natural fit for its Apple Music streaming service. “Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion …

Reuters reports: A rare public spat in the technology industry escalated on Tuesday when Google said it would block its video streaming application YouTube from two Amazon.com Inc devices and criticized the online retailer for not selling Google hardware. The feud is the latest in Silicon Valley to put customers in the crossfire of major competitors. Amazon and Google, which …