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Tech NewsSocial MediaTwitter Banned Me for Saying the ‘M’ Word: Memphis [Update: I’m Free From Twitter Jail!]
Update: 3/15/2021, 3:40 p.m.: A bug that gave some Twitter users a 12-hour ban for saying the word “Memphis” has been resolved, Twitter says. For realsies this time. “[On Sunday], there was a system issue impacting accounts that Tweeted the word ‘Memphis’. The issue mistakenly requested that account owners delete those Tweets and temporarily limited … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle Celebrates Pi Day With This Cute Calculator Easter Egg
Happy Pi Day, fellow nerds! The yearly celebration of the mathematical constant π or pi, aka the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter (and here I thought I’d never get a chance to use 9th-grade geometry in real life!). It falls on March 14 because pi written out numerically is 3.14… and then … Continued
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Tech NewsSyncing up With Chrome, Microsoft Accelerates Edge’s Release Cycle to Every Four Weeks
Taking a page from Google’s book, Microsoft is speeding up the release schedule for its Edge browser and will issue updates every four weeks instead of six weeks, the company announced Friday. If reading that gave you déjà vu, that might be because Google issued a similar announcement last week in which it stated that it’s … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Mom Allegedly Created Deepfakes to Bully Her Daughter’s Rivals off the Cheerleading Squad
Authorities say a Pennsylvania woman anonymously sent her daughter’s cheerleading coaches deepfake photos and videos of rival teammates naked, drinking, or smoking to get them kicked off the squad, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. She also reportedly sent this manipulated content to the teammates themselves and harassed them with texts urging them to commit suicide, … Continued
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Tech NewsApple: RIP HomePod. Long Live the HomePod Mini
Apple is reportedly discontinuing its original HomePod smart speaker as the company pivots focus to the HomePod mini, its smaller and more affordable baby brother. TechCrunch reported confirmation from Apple on Friday that it’s shelving the HomePod just a few short years after its initial launch. Reviews weren’t kind when Apple’s voice-controlled smart speaker first … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityMicrosoft Investigates Whether Leaked ‘Proof of Concept’ Attack Code Contributed to Exchange Hack
Hackers may have gotten their hands on inside intel that Microsoft shared with its security partners to exploit vulnerabilities in the company’s widely used email and calendaring software Exchange, according to a Friday Wall Street Journal report. Several different hacker groups have descended on the Exchange in a series of branching cyber attacks that compromised … Continued
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Tech NewsYour Dentist or Vet Can Give You the Covid-19 Vaccine Under Biden’s Plan to Expand Vaccine Access
President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he will direct states to make all adults 18 and older eligible for coronavirus vaccinations by May 1. In his first primetime address to the nation, which came on the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic, Biden outlined ambitious measures to … Continued
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Tech NewsUber and Lyft Join Forces to Expose Drivers Accused of Assault
Ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft are teaming up to make sure creeps who have been kicked off their platforms stay off their platforms. The two announced a partnership Thursday along with background screening firm HireRight to create a database on drivers who were deactivated for committing serious offenses, including physical and sexual assault, as part … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle HR: Experiencing Workplace Discrimination? Y’all Need Therapy
It’s no secret that Google has some serious internal issues with systemic racism and sexism, but now it’s surfaced that when employees report incidents of workplace discrimination to HR, they’re often met with this baffling response: Get therapy. That’s according to nearly a dozen current and former Google employees who spoke with NBC News, including … Continued
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Tech NewsChinese and Russian Hackers Reportedly Stole Vaccine Data from European Drug Regulator
Both China and Russia were reportedly behind two cyberattacks last year at the European Medicines Agency that compromised documents related to covid-19 vaccines and treatments. That’s according to sources familiar with the ongoing investigation who spoke with the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant per Reuters. In December, the Amsterdam-based European drug regulator released a statement disclosing a … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsThis Rapid 3D-Printing Method Could Be the Secret to Developing 3D-Printed Organs
We may not have flying cars yet, but 3D-printed organs? That sci-fi fantasy just got one step closer to reality thanks to a rapid 3D-printing method developed by University of Buffalo engineers. Their work was recently included in a study published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials, which you can read here, and is also … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook Is Reportedly Under Investigation for ‘Systemic’ Racial Bias in Its Workplace
Facebook’s hiring practices and promotions are under federal scrutiny following reports of widespread racial bias, according to Reuters. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched a “systemic” investigation into the social media giant, indicating that it suspects internal policies may be contributing to a top-down culture of discrimination. In July, Facebook operations program manager Oscar … Continued
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Tech NewsArtificial IntelligenceThis Site Spits Out AI-Generated Rejection Emails so You Can Copy and Paste Disappointment
Crushing a starry-eyed startup’s hopes and dreams can be a pain, but now you can outsource that emotional labor to a heartless AI instead. Because rejection doesn’t have to hurt…err, not you at least, I mean. That’s the idea behind Unfortunately.io, an online tool that uses artificial intelligence to generate rejection emails. It’s the latest … Continued
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Tech NewsUtah Lawmakers Pass Bill to Require ‘Porn Filters’ on All Tablets and Phones Sold in the State
Pour one out for all the horny folks in Utah, y’all. The state’s legislature has passed its baffling “porn filter” bill, which would mandate a default filter for “material that is harmful to minors” on all tablets and smartphones sold in the state beginning in 2022. House Bill 72—its official title—passed the state Senate this … Continued
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EartherTexas Attorney General Sues Griddy for False Advertising in Wake of Winter Storm Price Hikes
Griddy, the Texas power supplier that’s made headlines recently for customers’ sky-high energy bills in the wake of widespread winter storm outages, has racked up another lawsuit. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the company for “false, misleading, and deceptive advertising and marketing practices” that he claims deceived customers with promises of cheap, “wholesale” … Continued
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Tech NewsFederal and State Regulators Probe Robinhood Over Meme Stock Trading Restrictions
U.S. regulators are investigating Robinhood after it temporarily blocked users from purchasing so-called meme stocks on its stock trading app amid the Reddit-fueled short squeeze earlier this year. Robinhood has received inquiries from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the New York Attorney General’s Office, among … Continued
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EartherEarth ScienceIceberg More Than 20 Times the Size of Manhattan Breaks Off Antarctic Ice Shelf
An iceberg more than 20 times the size of Manhattan split off from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica this week because our planet is totally having a normal one. The ginormous iceberg measures roughly 490 square miles (1,270 square km) and is nearly 500 feet (150 meters) thick, according to the British Antarctic Survey. … Continued
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Tech NewsBots Reportedly Helped Fuel GameStonks Hype on Facebook, Twitter, and Other Platforms
The s0-called GameStonks saga had some help from automated bots hyping up “meme” stocks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, according to an analysis by the cybersecurity firm PiiQ Media reviewed by Reuters. Users on the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets teamed up last month to trigger a massive short squeeze of GameStop stock in a coordinated … Continued
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Tech NewsGreat, Now the PlayStation Network Is Down Too
This has been a rough week for anyone trying to play games online. Sony’s PlayStation Network began experiencing issues Friday afternoon, and the outage seems to have persisted into the weekend based on the PSN status page. The outage comes just one day after the equivalent service for Sony’s competitor Microsoft, Xbox Live, went down … Continued
Alyse Stanley
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