Timnit Gebru says she was fired as co-lead of Ethical AI at Google due to an email to colleagues; leaked email details her struggles as a Black leader at Google
“Stop writing your documents because it doesn't make a difference”: Timnit Gebru's final message to her peers
Warner Bros. says it will release every single movie in 2021 simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the US and stream them for one month
For a period of one month in the United States — WarnerMedia is pushing even more aggressively into streaming by releasing every single movie in 2021 simultaneously on HBO Max.
DOJ sues Facebook, accusing it of improperly reserving jobs for H-1B workers by not sufficiently advertising open positions and overlooking US residents
Justice Department lawsuit says social-media company didn't sufficiently advertise open positions, overlooked U.S. residents
Parler's lax moderation policies have helped it become a magnet for porn and escort services, which might complicate its hopes of expanding into advertising
Hashtags like #keepamericasexy proliferate alongside conspiracy theories and conservative politics
Sources: the DOJ is in talks with Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou that would allow her to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in ongoing case
Justice Department is discussing an arrangement that would allow her to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing
Chinese scientists claim quantum supremacy with a system that calculated in mins what a supercomputer would take 2B years, using tech different than Google
Google trumpeted its quantum computer that outperformed a conventional supercomputer. A Chinese group says it's done the same, with different technology.
Twitter says it is turning off threaded replies because they made conversations hard to read, and shuts down its prototype twttr app
It's also shutting down its experimental app, twttr — Twitter has been experimenting with threaded replies for some time as a way to potentially make replies easier to read and follow.
IBM researchers say a sophisticated global phishing campaign is targeting the companies involved in the “cold chain” needed to distribute COVID-19 vaccines
As vaccines await US approval, a sophisticated global phishing campaign has tried to harvest credentials from companies involved in their distribution.
Users can now share in-app purchases and subscriptions via Apple's iCloud Family Sharing, if developers enable the option in their apps
iPhone and iPad users who share apps with their families through Apple's Family Sharing feature can now share subscription apps as well.
In an internal email, Google's head of AI says that Gebru threatened to resign unless she was told which colleagues deemed her draft paper as unpublishable
The DOD has added China's largest chipmaker SMIC to its blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday added China's top chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies …
EU law inhibiting the monitoring of email, messaging, and other services that takes effect Dec. 20 would also restrict scanning for child sexual abuse imagery
Regulators argue that while abuse imagery on the internet is abhorrent, unchecked scanning for it by tech companies could violate privacy rights. Tweets: @gabrieldance , @alexstamos , @missingkids , @...
How Montreal-based Pornhub profits from child and revenge porn, rape, spy cam and other criminal, non-consensual sex videos
Why does Canada allow this company to profit off videos of exploitation and assault? — Pornhub prides itself on being the cheery, winking face of naughty … Tweets: @nickkristof and @nachristakis Twe...
Despite Microsoft's present-day sales power, a wave of product-focused enterprise companies inspired by Slack and its peers will ultimately disrupt the giant
A quick rebuttal on the Slackforce Slacklash — Look, it's late. And everyone is happy enough so there's no pressing need to weigh in here. Tweets: @davidsacks , @gavinsbaker , @caseynewton , @danno...
White House issues another executive order aiming to guide federal development of AI, focusing on nine principles to build public trust in the technology
This time, the order is focused on promoting the use of trustworthy artificial intelligence by the government.
Interview with the mayors of London, Toronto, and Lisbon about their cities adopting new tech like facial recognition, managing public expectations, more
For the mayor of any modern city, an increasingly large part of the job entails managing the public backlash to new technology being deployed in those cities. Tweets: @issielapowsky , @issielapowsky ,...
Daily interactions with right-leaning pages on Facebook fell only 6% in the 20 days post-election vs. 20 days before despite reports of an adjusted algorithm
After the election, the platform had reportedly decided to elevate established news outlets and reduce visibility of right and left-leaning pages. Tweets: @peltzmadeline See also Mediagazer Tweets: Ma...
Revolut launches tools for its business clients to accept payments online, will take a 1.3% cut for UK and EU card transactions and 2.8% in other regions
- Revolut's new acquiring solution lets firms install plug-in checkout software or build their own custom features to take card payments online.
In a letter to Sen. Wyden, ODNI says FBI used Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect website visitor logs without a warrant, but not keywords from searches
before being caught by DOJ. https://twitter.com/... Jameel Jaffer / @jameeljaffer : It's been obvious from the outset that Section 215 would be used in precisely this way. Congress should have narrowe...
Stripe launches Treasury to let its customers offer checking accounts and other business-banking services; Shopify will offer the services from early next year
Hello! Today: A new breed of startups is trying to help other startups manage their finances better. Stripe : Stripe launches Stripe Treasury in major expansion of financial services offering for pla...
Twitter starts applying its Synthetic and Manipulated Media policy in India, as it labels a video tweeted by BJP's head of social media as “manipulated media”
Critics have been asking American tech companies to apply the same standards to the rest of the world as they do to the US. Tweets: @pranavdixit , @evelyndouek , and @pranavdixit Tweets: @pranavdixit ...
Apple opens enrollment for its App Store Small Business Program with a reduced commission of 15%; deadline is Dec. 18 to qualify for a reduced rate on Jan. 1
which you have to tell them about. And any app transfer in or out of an account ends the program. Marco Arment / @marcoarment : App Store Small Business Program is accepting applications now. It's NOT...
YouTube will warn users before they post comments that “may be offensive to others” and adds better content filter systems for creators
Julia Alexander / The Verge :
DoorDash raises its IPO price range to $90 to $95 from $75 to $85 per share, aiming to raise up to $3.1B
Amy Thomson / Bloomberg :
Google will let users with ARCore-compatible Android phones submit Street View imagery, starting in Toronto, NYC, Austin, Nigeria, Indonesia, and Costa Rica
maps can work better where you live — but it still strikes me as weird that Google can benefit from all this free labor. https://blog.google/...
Report: data of 243M Brazilians was exposed for at least six months after the password for a database was left inside source code of a health ministry website
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet :
Digital health startup Everlywell has raised $175M Series D at a $1.3B valuation to expand its virtual care options, after a $25M funding round in February
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch :
S&P Dow Jones Indices says it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, using data from crypto company Lukka on more than 550 of the top traded coins
Anna Irrera / Reuters :
Apple's Screen Recognition, a computer vision system in iOS14 trained on images of apps in use, labels the UI elements on screen for users who are blind
Apple has always gone out of its way to build features for users with disabilities, and VoiceOver on iOS is an invaluable tool for anyone … Tweets: @vick08 , @edapthere , and @sommer Tweets: @vick08 :...
Facebook says it will start removing false claims about coronavirus vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts
Three Democratic lawmakers introduce a bill that would require stablecoin issuers to obtain a banking charter, approval from the Federal Reserve and FDIC, more
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk :
Microsoft launches Azure Purview, a unified data governance service that automates the discovery, cataloging, mapping, and tracking of data, in public preview
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch :
JD Health, the digital health care unit of JD.com, has raised $3.5B in a Hong Kong IPO; the company is expected to start trading on December 8
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC :
Facebook is reorganizing its unit focused on its role in global elections, moving staff into a larger organization called Central Integrity, led by Guy Rosen
Alex Heath / The Information : Tweets: @jamesrbuk and @hhariri Tweets: James Ball / @jamesrbuk : This is a great way to signal to around 190 countries that US elections are the only one Facebook thin...
Sources: Facebook's VR business practices have attracted the attention of the DOJ, which is talking to developers about their interactions with Facebook
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg : Tweets: @cixliv , @billfishkin , @andgokevin , @vertis , @amoration , @kavyapearlman , and @hoofnagle Tweets: Cix / @cixliv : 1/ “Our industry is getting eaten alive by...
Amazon introduces a feature that lets users text Alexa on iOS to ask for things instead of only using their voice, now available in public preview
Thoma Bravo buys Flexera, a Chicago-based IT asset management company, sources say for $2.85B; Thoma Bravo previously bought Flexera in 2008 and sold it in 2011
Ron Miller / TechCrunch : Tweets: @quinnypig Tweets: Corey Quinn / @quinnypig : When you keep indecisively putting something into your Amazon cart and taking it back out again. https://twitter.com/.....
Affirm to acquire Canada-based PayBright, which offers a buy-now, pay-later service for both e-commerce and in-store transactions, for around $340M CAD
Meagan Simpson / BetaKit :
SF-based Shop-Ware, which offers cloud-based management software for independent repair shops, raises $15M Series A led by Insight Partners
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.