Twitter’s blocking of ‘blasphemous’ content raises questions over its censorship policy
At first glance, Twitter’s international policy on censorship seems reasonable. If the laws of a particular country require content to be locally blocked, then Twitter will adhere to that, deeming it to be a lesser evil than having the social network blocked in its entirety. This is what’s just happened in Pakistan, where five requests from a government office have, for the first time, resulted in “blasphemous” and “unethical” tweets being blocked to Pakistani users — including crude drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. This successfully avoided a repetition of what happened two years ago, when similar content temporarily led Pakistan to deploy a site-wan ban against twitter.com. However, critics say that, in practice, Twitter’s policy isn’t working fairly, because it’s giving too much power to would-be censors who, even within their own countries, don’t actually have any authority to block or delete content.
In the case of Pakistan, the agency sending block requests to Twitter is just a telecoms regulator, whose legal power to get involved in censorship has been refuted by civil rights groups. Similar objections have been raised in Russia and Ukraine, where Russia has requested blocks against Ukrainian and opposition twitter accounts that appear to have been targeted purely for political, rather than legal, reasons. Even the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has generally supported Twitter’s censorship policy since 2012, now accuses the social network of “caving” on the issue of free speech.
Filed under: Internet
Source: New York Times
NASA will use video games to rekindle our love of space travel
The Kerbal Space Program folks teaming with NASA was pretty cool, right? Well, it wasn’t an accident. The US aeronautics outfit is embracing the space-travel sim as a means to get the public interested in leaving our planet once again — much like the televised Apollo launches were for generations prior. Thanks to NASA, the development team has even started a collaboration with educators to create a classroom-focused version of Kerbal, where teachers can assign specific tasks to their students for homework. The development team’s efforts as a whole have been a success, and there’s proof that the player-base is much more than a handful of space-geeks and Lockheed Martin employees too. The team said that in a recent survey a staggering number of their players (some 92 percent) weren’t involved in the space industry at all, and an even higher amount (97 percent) became more interested in science and space as a direct result of playing. Even better, almost as many said they learned something about astrophysics or rocket science after starting the game. See Dad? Video games aren’t melting brains after all.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Via: Reddit
Source: The Guardian
Hailo’s HQ trashed by Uber-hating London black cab drivers
London’s black cabs are in a league of their own, so when Hailo, an app specifically designed for those vehicles, announced that it was becoming a fully-featured Uber rival, things got a little heated. In fact, disgruntled drivers have vandalized the company’s headquarters and are now rapidly departing the service. The platform has been losing ground to its less-choosy rivals, and so decided to admit that if it couldn’t beat Uber, it would probably have to join it. Unfortunately, the threatened cabbies are also planning a (hopefully non-violent) assault upon Uber next month in the hope of pressuring the government to hold the service to the same rules and standards that commercial taxis use.
Filed under: Internet
Source: The Guardian
New York City using Yelp reviews to track outbreaks of food poisoning
Remember when Yelp added hygiene inspection ratings to its restaurant reviews? Now, New York City is using the review service to work out which outlets are responsible for outbreaks of food poisoning. According to a study from the Center of Disease Control, researchers searched for words like “sick,” “diarrhea” and “vomit” in reviews to look for any repeat offenders. Given that people don’t normally report the odd case of “bad shrimp,” these reviews are an easy way for authorities to stage interventions. This time out, for instance, the city was able to shut down three places that exhibited poor hygiene practices like poor sanitization, bare-hand contact with food and, best of all, live mice. Unfortunately, neither Yelp or the City is revealing which businesses were found guilty, so we’d all best get scouring those reviews.
Filed under: Internet
Via: The New York Times
Source: CDC
Insider claims Samsung Galaxy Note 4 release date will be September 3rd
We’ve heard recently that Samsung wants to go in a new direction with their next Galaxy Note device. Whether it ends up being mind-blowingly innovative remains to be seen, however we’re definitely expecting to know sometime at the end of this year. Sure enough, an insider with knowledge of Samsung’s plans has let slip that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 release date is going to be on September 3rd, right in the ballpark of when we were expecting it.
This announcement would come right before IFA 2014 in Berlin, and sounds a lot more like Samsung’s announcements of old; just before large mobile conventions and extremely flashy, quite unlike the comparatively sterile affair that was the Galaxy S5‘s announcement. The insider says that invites for the Samsung Unpacked event to announce the new phablet device would start going out in August.
We’re expecting some exciting things from the Note 4 especially after Samsung has claimed to be looking at a new “form-factor” for the device, and so far the device is rumoured to have a 5.7-inch Quad HD display. Are you excited to see the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Android Geeks via Phone Arena
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Twitter’s working on a way for mobile users to embed promoted videos
Twitter’s been working on numerous ways to marry tweets and video, and it looks like Seth MacFarlane has inspired them to try another. If you type the hashtags #AMillionWays or #AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest into the iOS client, you’ll be able to embed the red-band (adults only, folks) trailer for the movie into your tweet. We’ve tried to replicate the feature on the Android app to no avail, and when Re/code asked Twitter for an official line, all it said was that it was one of its numerous experiments. Perhaps in the future we’ll all be able to embed longer video into our 140-character missives, or maybe this’ll be reserved just for those impoverished movie studios with tickets to sell.
#AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest test https://t.co/iFnJ7oFJdM
– Dan Cooper (@danielwcooper) May 23, 2014
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet
Source: Re/code
AllCast Picks up Twitch.TV Support; AllCast Receiver Goes Old School
Koushik Dutta’s AllCast app and companion app AllCast Receiver have both received some pretty cool updates today that might entice more people to pick them up tonight.
As for AllCast, todays update brings in a number of things. There are the usual amounts of bug fixes for Roku and Apple TV users along with some for fixes for Dropbox. Koush also lists Media Server browsing improvements as well. While those are always great things to see, it is the recent addition of Twitch.TV to the side bar that is sure to make gamers smile from ear to ear.
There is one catch, you need to have the Twitch app installed for it to appear in the site bar. Not really a big deal.
As for the AllCast Receiver app. Todays update takes the app backwards in time. Koush has backported the receiver app all the way back to Honeycomb. Now you can get the receiver app installed on those aging Google TV boxes and give them new purpose again. The update also includes, only for Jelly Bean+ devices, Wireless Headphones and Screen mirroring. I assume he means that you can cast from your primary device to another device but listen through the cast device. If that is the case, that means plenty of husbands will be popping in some ear buds late at night.
If you don’t have the updates installed yet then be sure to hit the Play Store and grab them. If you are clueless as to what either of these apps are, then you should take a closer look and grab them both.
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WSJ: Google will give developers tablets that can see in 3D
Remember Google’s Project Tango, a smartphone with depth-sensing cameras capable of capturing precise 3D images of both objects and people? According to the WSJ’s homies people familiar with the matter, the company is about to produce a limited run of 4,000 tablets carrying the same technology. Given Facebook’s newly-discovered enthusiasm for 3D, it appears as if Google is stepping up its efforts to keep pace with its rival. The WSJ’s sources believe the devices will be handed out to developers who can find a purpose for the tech, and we’re hoping that at least one falls into the hands of an Engadget reader who doesn’t mind giving us a go.
Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: WSJ
Elon Musk blames bribery for Air Force awarding rocket contract to a competitor
Remember that Air Force rocket contract Elon Musk was so peeved about? If you don’t, let’s recap: without accepting other bids, the Air Force awarded an exclusive deal to a company called United Launch Alliance that covers some 36 rocket launches — launches Musk and his company SpaceX believed they were in line to compete for. Tonight in a series of tweets, Musk pointed out an article from The National Legal and Policy Center calling out the Air Force official in charge of the deal, Roger Correll, for taking a job with one of ULA’s suppliers. Musk makes the accusation clear, saying “V likely AF official Correll was told by ULA/Rocketdyne that a rich VP job was his if he gave them a sole source contract. Reason I believe this is likely is that Correll first tried to work at SpaceX, but we turned him down. Our competitor, it seems, did not.”
SpaceX is suing the Air Force over the contract, but it may be able to compete for some of those launches anyway. Air Force Space Command leader General William Shelton told Reuters the Air Force is working to certify SpaceX, and that it could compete for seven or eight launches before the process is completed. Meanwhile, ULA’s CEO is claiming that his company provides the Air Force a better overll value than SpaceX is prepared to.
Air Force official awards $10B+ contract uncompeted & then takes lucrative job w funds recipient http://t.co/SHqFYWd3CR
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2014
V likely AF official Correll was told by ULA/Rocketdyne that a rich VP job was his if he gave them a sole source contract
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2014
Reason I believe this is likely is that Correll first tried to work at SpaceX, but we turned him down. Our competitor, it seems, did not.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2014
Either way, this case certainly deserves close examination by the DoD Inspector General per @SenJohnMcCain‘s request http://t.co/IZ4JO2y3JO
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2014
Filed under: Transportation
Source: National Legal and Policy Center, Elon Musk (Twitter)
Engadget Daily: Samsung’s VR headset, the new Leica T and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours – all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Samsung is making a VR headset for its phones and tablets
According to sources within Samsung, not only is the company working on a virtual reality headset, it expects to announce it this year. Between Samsung’s future headset, Sony’s Project Morpheus and Facebook’s Oculus Rift, this is shaping up to be an exiting year for VR hopefuls.
A week with Leica’s T, the most beautiful mirrorless camera money can buy
What’s it like shooting with the latest camera from Leica? It’s pure bliss! Machined from a solid block of aluminum, this camera is a work of art. However, if you want to join the club, you’ll need to fork over nearly $2,000. Is it worth it? Find out.
Apple to fix iMessage bug that causes ex-iPhone users to lose their texts
Those of you stuck in text message purgatory thanks to a bug with iMessage will soon have a happy resolution. Apple is reportedly working on a fix that will unlink phone numbers from inactive and abandoned accounts. For those who switched from iOS to another platform, this is welcoming news.
‘Gutted’ NSA reform bill passes the House, but sheds supporters
An updated version of the USA Freedom Act passed through the House of Representatives, but lost a number of important provisions that would have strengthened the bill. Both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Google have dropped support for the newly amended bill.
AIVAnet 