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Tech NewsIs Twitter Even Twitter If You Can’t Make Fun of Ted Cruz to His Face?
Yesterday, Twitter announced that it was testing a new feature that allows users to limit who can and can’t reply to their tweets. While this will make it more difficult for people to harass others on the platform, this feature could prevent constituents from replying to publicly elected officials. A Twitter representative confirmed to Gizmodo … Continued
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Tech NewsStudents Sue the College Board Over Glitches in the Online AP Exam System
In the wake of school closures necessitated by the current covid-19 crisis, the College Board—the organization that oversees Advanced Placement Exams—is being sued by a group of students who claim that it knew of and even acknowledged issues with at-home testing that could disproportionately affect some students and not others. As a result, the students … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsAnyone Need a Copywriter?
Have you been laid off or furloughed? Are you a frontline worker dealing with new stresses or irresponsible management? Is working (or not working) from home starting to take a psychological toll? Submit a story using this Google form or send me an email with the subject line “My Covid Story” and provide as much detail … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook Is Turning to AI to Teach Kids About Stranger Danger
Scams and creepers abound on Facebook Messenger. To combat them, Facebook is now turning to artificial intelligence. A new AI-powered safety feature for Messenger will now help people, particularly kids, identify bad actors and notify them about suspect accounts—all without reading the actual messages themselves. The feature, which was rolled out on Android in March … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsFuturama’s Bender Turned Into a Belligerent Smart Speaker That’s Still More Useful Than Siri
If you’re going to put a smart speaker in your home that disregards your privacy and functions only to rake in profits from you in any way possible, it might as well be a disembodied interactive version of Futurama’sBender instead of Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant. “Bite my shiny metal ask me anything.” Redditor Zen_Kong … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsDell’s New G5 15 SE Laptop Could Give Us a Preview of the Sony PS5’s Power
Four months after AMD announced SmartShift, we’re finally getting a taste of the new technology that will feature in a whole lot of gaming laptops going forward—as well as Sony’s PS5 later this year. Today, Dell launched the G5 15 SE, a new laptop equipped with the brand new Ryzen 4000 series CPU and the … Continued
By Alex Cranz -
Tech NewsGadgetsHow to Decide Which Subscriptions to Pause or Kill During Quarantine
Even if you and your family haven’t been financially affected by the global pandemic we’re living through, no one can deny that these are very uncertain economic times. That means you might want to consider cutting down on your monthly expenditures—and that includes all those music, movie, cloud storage, and software subscriptions that you’ve racked … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsNo, Americans Aren’t Getting Multiple Ballots in the Mail to Commit Voter Fraud
Charlie Kirk, the leader of a right-wing advocacy organization called Turning Point USA and a frequent guest on Fox News, sent out a tweet yesterday with a shocking claim. Kirk posted a photo showing someone in New Mexico who had been sent “multiple ballots multiple times,” and suggested it was evidence of voter fraud. The … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityLawmakers Demand a Vote to Stop FBI Collecting Web Browser History Without a Warrant
Congress is poised to pass legislation that would place several powerful surveillance tools back into the hands of federal law enforcement agencies that have a history of abusing their authority. But bipartisan support is now mounting to increase privacy protections around Americans who’ve been spied on by their government for decades. Remotely from homes and … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsTech PolicySenators Demand FTC, DOJ Scrutinize Potential Merger of Uber and Grubhub
Four U.S. senators are pressuring the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to “closely monitor the negotiations” between Uber and food delivery giant Grubhub Seamless to merge their parasitic services into one market-dominating giant. In a letter to the two agencies dated Wednesday, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Patrick Leahy, Richard Blumenthal, and Cory … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsThe Makers of Disney’s BB-8 Toy Are Now Making Robots for Cops
BB-8, the spherical orange and white robot that makes whirring noises as cute as kitten purrs doesn’t exactly seem cut out for use in a police force or military. It’s a great toy, but not designed for detonating bombs, sniffing drugs, or whatever else those agencies use robots for. But Sphero, an educational STEM toy … Continued
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Tech NewsAT&T Will Finally Abandon Its Bullshit 5G E Branding (Sort of)
AT&T’s use of 5G E to disguise what is really just 4G LTE has been bullshit since the beginning, and after other carriers complained and a lengthy review process by the National Advertising Review Board, AT&T will finally a stop using its misleading branding. Well, sort of. In a press release issued today, following a … Continued
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Tech NewsHBO Max Just Got a Lot More Compelling for Nerds
HBO Max, the super-packed streaming product that launches next week, is doing a pretty good job at positioning itself as a streaming service for nerds—including by ensuring that it’s available across multiple gaming consoles on launch day. The company announced today a series of new distribution agreements—specifically with Altice, Cox, Microsoft, the National Cable Television … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityActing U.S. Spy Chief Questioned Over Warrantless Capture of Americans’ Web Browsing History
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, the sponsor of a recent amendment to stop the FBI from capturing Americans’ search and web browsing histories without a warrant, is now asking the nation’s top spy (acting) to disclose whether his office has accurately reported on such activities, which the law seemingly requires. After the Edward Snowden leaks of … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsTwitter to Reply Guys: Don’t @ Me
It seems like social media companies are finally realizing that no one likes rando trolls blowing up their mentions. Or being ratioed. Or having unwelcome porn bots reply to something you tweeted five years ago. Taking a cue from Instagram’s latest tag and mention controls, Twitter has just started testing its own reply controls. The … Continued
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Tech NewsInternetThe Pandemic-Induced Fire Sale in Hollywood Begins
Well, well, well. Following a report this week that Apple—whose streaming service Apple TV+ isn’t exactly doing big-time numbers right now—is looking to buy up non-Apple series and movies to beef up its catalog, Deadline reported Tuesday that Apple has entered an agreement with Sony Pictures to license Greyhound, the WWII naval ship drama written … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsThe Newest Chrome Update Is About Power, Not Privacy
When we talk about Google, regard for personal privacy is generally the last thing on any of our minds. So when Google announced on its company blog yesterday that the latest Chrome update—Chrome 83—would be jam-packed with new goodies meant to beef up the browser’s privacy and security chops, I was, in a word, skeptical … Continued
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Tech NewsSony’s Leaked ZV-1 Might Be the Perfect Camera for Aspiring YouTubers
Plenty of companies have experimented with vlogging—including cameras like the Nikon Z50, Canon G7X Mark II, and others—but based on what we’ve learned from leaks and teases, Sony might finally put everything together on its upcoming ZV-1. Scheduled to make its official debut May 26, the ZV-1 looks like it will be based on Sony’s … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityThe Mystery of ‘Hacked’ Houseparty Users May Have Been Solved
By the end of March, things were looking good for the group video chat app Houseparty as quarantined young people, perhaps put off by Zoom’s relentless security failures, were looking for a less corporate-seeming platform to keep in touch with friends and family. Vogue gushed that it was “the quarantine app you need to download … Continued
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Tech NewsSiri Whistleblower Goes Public to Protest Lack of Consequences for Apple
Last summer, an anonymous contractor revealed that Apple had contractors listening to private conversations, unknowingly recorded by their devices, as part of a “grading” system to improve Siri. Now, the whistleblower has gone public in a letter sent to European data protection regulators, decrying the lack of action taken against Apple for violating people’s privacy. … Continued