Internal Pentagon memo warns service members against using consumer DNA testing kits from 23andMe and others, citing security risks
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is advising members of the military not to use consumer DNA kits, saying the information collected by private companies could pose …
IoT device vendor Wyze says a server leak exposed data, including email addresses, camera user IDs, and WiFi SSIDs, of ~2.4M customers from Dec. 4 to Dec. 26
Details for 2.4 million users were exposed online for 22 days. — Wyze, a company that sells smart devices like security cameras …
A new study finds that YouTube's late 2019 algorithm actively discourages users from watching radicalizing content, directing them to more mainstream videos
In 2018, Kevin Roose published a piece in the New York Times in which Caleb Cain, a liberal college dropout, described his experience …
In 2010s, Twitter enabled young and marginalized people to be heard, held news organizations accountable, and pushed largely ignored issues into the mainstream
It's impossible to avoid news about how harmful social media can be. The Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ubiquitous Russian bots. Tweets: @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @neil_chilson , @mi...
An overview of the CCPA, set to go into effect Jan. 1, and the confusion surrounding it due to its technical complexity and rushed timeline
A sweeping new law that aims to rewrite the rules of the internet in California is set to go into effect on Jan. 1.
Sources: New Delhi police are now using facial recognition software to screen protesters; police acquired the software in 2018 to search for missing children
and it may lead to harassment in the future Tweets: @internetfreedom : This notice has been spurred on the basis of yesterday's @IndianExpress report by @mazoomdaar. We have discovered more detail on ...
With print books often cheaper than ebooks, whose sales stabilized at ~20% of total book sales, a look at the aftermath of Apple's ebook price fixing lawsuit
Publishing spent the 2010s fighting tooth and nail against ebooks. There were unintended consequences. Tweets: @tedgioia , @mobylives , @tekaldas , @tkingdot , @paulkrugman , @jamesrbuk , @gorskon , ...
UK's Competition and Markets Authority says Amazon failed to address its concerns about the investment in Deliveroo, refers the deal to a full investigation
Jasper Jolly / The Guardian :
A retrospective on Facebook's past decade, during which it grew to 2.45B users to become a major facet of life worldwide and wound up in regulatory crosshairs
Kate Cox / Ars Technica :
China launches two more satellites for BeiDou, its GPS competitor, says it will be fully complete in June, with centimeters-level accuracy by the end of 2020
Shunsuke Tabeta / Nikkei Asian Review :
Since GDPR became law in May 2018, the only substantial privacy-related action against a major tech company happened in the US, where Facebook was fined $5B
The world's toughest privacy law proves toothless in the eyes of many critics. — More than 18 months after the European Union began implementing … Tweets: @politicoryan , @tonyromm , @politicoeurope...
In 2019, nine Israeli startups became unicorns, bringing the total unicorns in the country to 20, and 16 startups completed a financing round of $100M or more
Israel now has 20 unicorns, privately-held tech companies worth more than $1 billion. Only the US, China and UK have more unicorns.
Analysis: 142 startups, including 78 from the US and 22 from China, became unicorns in 2019, down from 158 in 2018; unicorns raised $85.1B vs. $139B in 2018
In 2019, unicorns were far from mythical and Crunchbase followed them every step of the way. This year (as of Dec. 25, 2019) …
Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show featuring a user's avatar and their friends in regularly-scheduled adventures, starting in February
Snapchat's most popular yet under-exploited feature is finally getting the spotlight in 2020. Tweets: @counternotions , @mattlynley , @joshconstine , and @joshconstine Tweets: Kontra / @counternotions...
How a difference between Chinese and English languages helped Baidu make an important advancement in natural language processing
Inspired by a difference between Chinese and English, it shows how AI research benefits from diversity. — MS Tech / Source: Unsplash
Tencent debuts Tencent Meeting, a Zoom-like cloud-based video conferencing service, as it continues its push into enterprise services
Emma Lee / TechNode :
As labels increasingly rely on streaming data to scout talent, they could become less willing to sign artists whose music isn't engineered to maximize profit
The explosion of metrics and algorithms isn't just reflecting what's happening in the music industry. It's transforming it. Tweets: @amirmizroch , @wired , and @artsjournalnews See also Mediagazer Tw...
Profile of Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, including the development of Fortnite, why he chose North Carolina as a base, and his ambitious land conservation efforts
Zachery Eanes / Raleigh News & Observer : Tweets: @newsobserver , @newsycombinator , and @will_doran Tweets: @newsobserver : Tim Sweeney, whose Epic Games created Fortnite, has become one of North Ca...
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
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.