Tag Archives: technology

The Washington Post reports: Twitter executives deceived federal regulators and the company’s own board of directors about “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its defenses against hackers, as well as its meager efforts to fight spam, according to an explosive whistleblower complaint from its former security chief. The complaint from former head of security Peiter Zatko, a widely admired hacker known as …

Bloomberg News reports: Apple Inc. is aiming to hold a launch event on Sept. 7 to unveil the iPhone 14 line, according to people with knowledge of the matter, rolling out the latest version of a product that generates more than half its sales. The new iPhones will kick off a busy fall product season, which will also include multiple …

The Associated Press reports: A vulnerability in Twitter’s software that exposed an undetermined number of owners of anonymous accounts to potential identity compromise last year was apparently exploited by a malicious actor, the social media company said Friday. It did not confirm a report that data on 5.4 million users was offered for sale online as a result but said …

Bloomberg News reports: Amazon.com Inc. hasn’t just bought a maker of robot vacuum cleaners. It’s acquired a mapping company. To be more precise: a company that can make maps of your home. The company announced a $1.7 billion deal on Friday for iRobot Corp., the maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner. And yes, Amazon will make money from selling those …

Axios reports: Grindr is partnering with Spectrum Labs, tapping the startup’s AI-based system to help filter postings on the LGBTQ dating service. For years, Grindr has chosen not to implement an AI system for content moderation, not because it didn’t want to augment its keyword-based filtering system, but because it was concerned that the models weren’t sensitive enough to keep …

Gallup reports: The percentage of U.S. adults saying they use their smartphone “too much” has increased markedly in recent years, rising from 39% when Gallup last asked this in 2015 to 58% today. This sentiment was strongly age-contingent in 2015 and remains so now; however, all age groups have become more likely to express this concern. Also, this belief is …

The Verge reports: In a Thursday letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Sen. Ed Markey  — along with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — demanded that the department develop a strategy to require a common charging port across all mobile devices. The letter comes a week after European Union lawmakers reached a deal on new legislation forcing all …

The New York Times reports: Over the course of 10 months, nearly 400 car crashes in the United States involved advanced driver-assistance technologies, the federal government’s top auto-safety regulator disclosed Wednesday, in its first-ever release of large-scale data about these burgeoning systems. In 392 incidents cataloged by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from July 1 of last year through …

People Magazine reports: After first announcing the decision last year, Microsoft will shut down Internet Explorer on Wednesday. The move comes about 27 years after the company first debuted the browser. Starting Wednesday, most people who try to open the application will be directed to Microsoft Edge — the company’s newer browser. Although the browser is nowhere near as popular …

Changing America reports: A fleet of driverless box trucks will soon begin delivering paper goods such as Dixie cups and toilet paper to dozens of Sam’s Club stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a significant stride toward making driverless technology a reality on U.S. roads. Autonomous vehicle startup Gatik on Tuesday announced a commercial partnership with Georgia Pacific, a manufacturer …

Reuters reports: Apple will have to change the connector on iPhones sold in Europe by 2024 after EU countries and lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to a single mobile charging port for mobile phones, tablets and cameras in a world first. The political intervention, which the European Commission said would make life easier for consumers and save them money, came after …

Gothamist reports: It may soon be easier to get your busted iPhone fixed. Under a bill passed by the state legislature, digital electronics manufacturers – such as Apple or Samsung – will be required to make repair instructions and parts available to both consumers and independent technicians. The “right to repair” legislation, which still needs to be signed into law …

Axios reports: Walmart customers in six states will soon be able to have their orders delivered by drone in less than 30 minutes. This will be the first large-scale drone delivery operation in the United States. So far, drone deliveries have been available only in a few small towns, with customers selecting from a short list of items. Walmart’s DroneUp …

New York City’s Fox affiliate reports: The final New York City public pay telephone was being removed on Monday morning. It was on 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The city began removing payphones in 2015 and replacing them with public Wi-Fi hotspots. The city has removed thousands of payphones across all five boroughs in the past several years. In 2014, …

Engadget reports: Apple just marked the end to one of the most important product lines in its history. The company has discontinued the iPod touch, which will only be available in stores “while supplies last.” Not surprisingly, the company maintained that the “spirit of iPod” continues in other products, including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. The move has been …

Bloomberg News reports: Grindr LLC, the dating app that specializes in connections for the LGBTQ+ community, has agreed to go public through a blank-check firm in a deal that values the combined company at $2.1 billion including debt. The predominantly male dating app is merging with Tiga Acquistion Corp., which debuted in November 2020. The special purpose acquisition company isn’t …

Engadget reports: Grindr’s past willingness to share sensitive data may have been more problematic than previously thought. The Wall Street Journal understands precise Grindr user location data was collected from the online ad network MoPub (once owned by Twitter) and put on sale through its partner company UberMedia (now UM) since “at least” 2017. The LGBTQ dating app curbed the …

CNBC reports: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has abandoned his plans to join the board of Twitter, his social network of choice. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced publicly on Sunday that Musk remains the largest shareholder of Twitter, and the company will remain open to his input. Musk informed Twitter on Saturday morning that he would not, in fact, …

The Verge reports: Twitter is experimenting with an “unmentioning” feature that will allow users to remove themselves from conversations. It’s limited to some users and only on the web version for now but looks like a very useful way to clean up your mentions. “We’re experimenting with Unmentioning—a way to help you protect your peace and remove yourself from conversations,” …

Elon Musk will surely take credit for this: It’s a feature that Twitter users have been requesting for so long that it’s become a meme, but now the mythical “edit button” is actually becoming a reality. Twitter has announced that it’s working to allow users to edit their tweets after posting them. The idea is that you’ll be able to …