European Parliament approves the Copyright Directive, a controversial law that includes Article 11, dubbed the “link tax”, and Article 13, the “upload filter”
New copyright rules that include some payment to publishers—Toughest in world privacy rules—New state laws on terrorist content/hate speech, EU directive coming—Repeated privacy/antitrust enforcement....
Three pioneers of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio, win the $1M Turing Award for their work on neural networks
SAN FRANCISCO — In 2004, Geoffrey Hinton doubled down on his pursuit of a technological idea called a neural network. — It was a way for machines …
Apple says it is “sorry” that a “small number of users” are still experiencing issues with third-generation butterfly keyboards in newer MacBooks
Nop, I havn'tt fogottttn how tto witt. No did my ditto go on vacattion. — You s, tto sha tth pain of using …
Memo: Microsoft's marketing chief Chris Capossela tells employees not to engage in any public-facing April Fool's Day pranks because of “unwanted news cycles”
No Clippy pranks this year — Everyone hates April Fools' Day, and Microsoft is taking a stand against its own corporate pranks.
Google Podcasts is auto-transcribing podcast episodes and using those transcripts as metadata to help listeners search for shows
Google Podcasts is now automatically generating transcripts of episodes and is using them as metadata to help listeners search for shows, even if they don't know the title or when it was published.
Apple iPad Air (2019) review: excellent screen and fast processor but it only supports first-gen Pencil, speakers are on one side, and no Face ID
A good step up from the basic iPad — There sure are a lot of different iPads now. Last week's announcement of a new iPad Air and iPad mini means …
Talk of wearables and fashion has gone quiet since the lead up to Apple Watch's 2014 debut, as many fashion brands now market tech wearables as niche products
When Apple introduced the Apple Watch five years ago, the whole tech industry began to flirt with style. But interest in wearables has cooled.
The EU's Copyright Directive, with its controversial Article 11 and 13 provisions, has the potential to further fracture the open web based on location
How the Copyright Directive reshapes the open web — It's strange to think about now, but until the 1920s, you didn't generally need a passport to travel.
FTC launches a broad inquiry into privacy practices of ISPs, orders seven ISPs including AT&T and Verizon to provide nonpublic info about handling consumer data
The commission wants to know what data your ISP is collecting about you — The Federal Trade Commission today announced …
Uber brings Ride Pass, its $14.99+/month service that locks in a flat fee for UberX and UberPool trips, to 20 more US cities, up from five at its October launch
Popular ride-sharing service Uber has expanded its Ride Pass into 20 more cities, the company has announced …
Sources: Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun is seeking to sell Grindr, the popular gay dating app, after a US govt panel raised concerns about its ownership
(Reuters) - Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is seeking to sell Grindr LLC, the popular gay dating app it has owned since 2016 …
Google announces an Advanced Technology External Advisory Council to consider ethical issues around AI like facial recognition and fairness in machine learning
Last June we announced Google's AI Principles, an ethical charter to guide the responsible development and use of AI in our research and products.
Source: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to meet with General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after Dunford criticized Google's AI work in China
- CEO Pichai set to meet General Dunford on Wednesday in DC — Military chief has criticized big tech for helping China
How a vulnerability disclosure by researchers to Atrient, a vendor of player reward kiosks for casinos, led to competing claims of assault and blackmail
“Ethical hackers” tried to disclose problems to a casino software company—it got messy. — People who find security vulnerabilities commonly run … Tweets: @vickerysec , @vickerysec , and @k8em0 Tweet...
BitTorrent says it is relaunching BitTorrent Live, its defunct Sling TV-like service, as a Snapchat-like social media app for iOS and Android, currently in beta
BitTorrent today announced it is reviving one of its most ambitious services as it looks for ways to expand since being acquired by blockchain startup Tron last year.
Facebook says it will ban white nationalist and white separatist content, pointing users to nonprofits, after initially only banning white supremacist content
After a civil rights backlash, Facebook will now treat white nationalism and separatism the same as white supremacy … Tweets: @micahsingleton , @jason_koebler , @jason_koebler , @josephfcox , @josephf...
Profile of Peter Stern, who has led business operations for Apple's services division, which now includes Apple TV+ and Apple News+, for the past year
Peter Stern joined Apple at a moment when its relationships with entertainment companies and publishers were at a low point.
US Army documents show Palantir, which has struggled to win a major defense contract, has won the bid to build a battlefield intelligence system for soldiers
The Army has chosen Palantir Technologies to deploy a complex battlefield intelligence system for soldiers, according to Army documents …
Apple News+ could accelerate the demise of news outlets by decimating their revenue and disrupting publishers' relationships with readers
At the mercy of a new algorithm — Apple doesn't care about news, it cares about recurring revenue. That's why publishers are crazy to jump into bed with Apple News+. Tweets: @brianstelter , @johnwi...
A look at Estonia's efforts to deploy AI in government services, from farm inspections via satellite image analysis to robot judges for small claims disputes
GOVERNMENT USUALLY ISN'T the place to look for innovation in IT or new technologies like artificial intelligence. But Ott Velsberg might change your mind. Tweets: @nxthompson , @mims , @wired , and @...
Sources: Chinese smartwatch and AI startup Mobvoi, backed by Google, is close to raising $100M at a $1B valuation, ahead of an IPO in China
- Mobvoi is said to seek $100 million in funding round — The startup is said to target an IPO on China's new tech board
Chinese video streaming service iQIYI raises $1.05B from convertible bond sale, the second such bond sale since its March 2018 IPO on Nasdaq
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Video-streaming firm iQIYI, backed by search engine giant Baidu, returned to the capital markets on Wednesday …
Google officially launches AMP for Email on Gmail and says support is coming for other major email providers like Yahoo Mail, Outlook, and mail.ru
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
UPS partners with autonomous drone delivery startup Matternet to deliver medical samples via drones at WakeMed's hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch :
Chinese health care crowdfunding platform Shuidichou raises ~$74M Series B led by Tencent and says it has raised $1.8B+ across 400M campaigns
China-based healthcare crowdfunding platform Shuidichou has raised nearly 500 million yuan ($74 million) in a Series B funding round led …
Uber to acquire Middle East rival Careem in a $3.1B deal with $1.7B in convertible notes and $1.4B in cash
a testament to Dubai's role as a global hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. We look forward to continuing our journey in the region in the years ahead! http://t.uber.com/careem Teddy Schleifer / @...
Apple Arcade has game developers excited, but questions remain, including fears less-heralded developers won't get noticed, and the terms of exclusivity deals
for better or worse Chance Miller / 9to5Mac : Developers cautiously optimistic about the effects of Apple Arcade, report explains Juli Clover / MacRumors : Apple Arcade: What We Know So Far
A look at Robotics at Google, the company's latest robotics program, which brings machine learning to robots simpler than Boston Dynamics' machines
New York Times :
US Census Bureau has asked Google, Facebook, and Twitter for help protecting upcoming 2020 count from disinformation campaigns designed to dissuade participants
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Census Bureau has asked tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter to help it fend off “fake news” …
Hong Kong-based Qupital, which provides a trade financing platform for SMEs, raises $15M Series A led by CreditEase FinTech Investment Fund
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch :
ASUS confirms its software update tool has been targeted by Advanced Persistent Threat attacks, releases tool to identify “small number” of affected devices
Caroline Haskins / Motherboard :
McDonald's is acquiring Dynamic Yield, which uses machine learning to personalize online shopping such as recommending products; source says deal worth $300M+
every industry will be a software-powered industry; either make it, acquire it, or pay for it. http://twitter.com/... Josh Elman / @joshelman : Every company is a tech company(?!?) http://twitter.com/...
Adobe launches Commerce Cloud, a fully managed cloud-based version of the Magento platform integrated with Adobe tools and Amazon marketplace
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
BBC pulls podcasts from Google Podcasts and Assistant, blaming Google for not providing enough audience data and sending podcast user searches to its own app
Chris Welch / The Verge :
EU shuns US calls to ban Huawei, asking member states to share data on 5G cybersecurity risks and produce measures to tackle them by the end of 2019
Foo Yun Chee / Reuters :
Spotify has acquired Parcast, a podcasting studio that focuses on stories about true crime, cults, and unsolved mysteries
Spotify's purchase … Spotify : Spotify to Acquire Parcast, a Premier Podcast Storytelling Studio Charlie Osborne / ZDNet : Spotify acquires crime storyteller studio Parcast Chris Sherman / Marketing L...
Facebook rolls out “Whitehat Settings” to help security researchers analyze network traffic in its Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Android apps
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet :
The NYPD has developed Patternizr, an AI-based system to track crimes and spot patterns using police data, and has been using it since late 2016
J. Brian Charles / Governing :
Airbnb says it's cracking down on hosts who record guests, but four guests who found cameras in their rentals say Airbnb is inconsistent in enforcing its rules
Sidney Fussell / The Atlantic : Tweets: @theatlantic , @mimbsy , @elizabeth_joh , and @andersen Tweets: @theatlantic : When Max Vest found hidden cameras in his Airbnb late at night, he dressed, grab...
Facebook says it is partnering with media orgs in India ahead of elections to flag false stories across multiple languages, limiting them in News Feed by ~80%
Rishabh R. Jain / Associated Press :
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Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements
2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.