Court says Facebook not to blame for Israeli terror incident

Facebook is currently the defendant in several lawsuits accusing the social network of enabling terrorism and propagation of extremist views. Now, one of those cases has finally reached a resolution, and it has the potential to affect the court’s decision for all the other lawsuits. According to the documents The Verge got its hands on, a federal court in the Eastern District of New York has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to hold Facebook legally responsible for the death of five people killed by Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel back in 2015.

Their families sued the social network last year, claiming that the website “played an essential role in Hamas’ (the terrorist organization) ability to carry out its terrorist activities.” Facebook, they said, made it easier for the perpetrators to “communicate, recruit members, plan and carry out attacks, and strike fear in its enemies.” They asked for $1 billion in damages and for the company to stop providing its services to terrorists.

The court, however, decided that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants Facebook immunity from lawsuits like this. That section states that services like Facebook can’t be held responsible for their users’ actions. The decision reads:

“While the Force Plaintiffs attempt to cast their claims as content-neutral, even the most generous reading of their allegations places them squarely within the coverage of Section 230’s grant of immunity. In their opposition to the present motion, the Force Plaintiffs argue that their claims seek to hold Facebook liable for “provision of services” to Hamas in the form of account access “coupled with Facebook’s refusal to use available resources… to identify and shut down Hamas accounts.”

While superficially content-neutral, this attempt to draw a narrow distinction between policing accounts and policing content must ultimately be rejected. Facebook’s choices as to who may use its platform are inherently bound up in its decisions as to what may be said on its platform, and so liability imposed based on its failure to remove users would equally “derive from [Facebook’s] status or conduct as a ‘publisher or speaker.’”

In a statement sent to The Verge, Facebook said:

“We appreciate the court’s consideration on this matter. Our Community Standards make clear that there is no place on Facebook for groups that engage in terrorist activity or for content that expresses support for such activity, and we take swift action to remove this content when it’s reported to us. We sympathize with the victims and their families.”

Facebook isn’t the only tech titan in the midst of legal battles related to extremist activities on their websites. Late last year, the families of Pulse nightclub shooting victims sued both Facebook and Google for providing “material support” to the gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS. Prior to that, the wife of one of the victims who died during a shooting incident in Jordan sued Twitter for allowing ISIS activity to spread on its website. More recently, the relatives of the San Bernardino shooting victims also filed a lawsuit against Twitter, Facebook and Google for letting terrorist activity flourish on their platforms.

Via: The Verge

Source: United States District Court Eastern District of New York

MIT’s camera drones are smart enough to get the perfect shot

Over the last few years we’ve seen more camera drones than we can count, but getting the best footage out of them will take something extra. While many big budget productions are already using drone cameras, a system developed by MIT and ETH Zurich researchers goes beyond mere Steadicam or even subject-tracking, by allowing the director to define exactly how a shot is framed.

Specifically, it lets operators specify where an object or face should be in the frame, which direction it should face and how large it will appear, while also accounting for obstacles in the environment. That way the drone can calculate an appropriate flight path on its own, weighing the various factors against each other to get the best shot each time. The researchers will present their findings at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation later this month, but for now, directors will have to keep begging Roger Deakins to shoot their next project.

Source: MIT

Zomato hacked: 17 million users hit by data theft

Why it matters to you

If you’re a Zomato user, best you go and change your password now.

Early on Thursday, online restaurant  guide Zomato revealed it’d been hit by hackers, estimating that login details had been stolen from 17 million of its 120 million users.

In a post on its site the India-based company said the “recent” discovery involved the theft of “email addresses and hashed passwords.” It insisted that no payment-related information had been nabbed in the attack as that data is held separately and wasn’t targeted.

However, the company said it would “strongly advise” all of its users to reset their passwords as a precautionary measure, and also to reset it with any other services where the same password is used. For the 17 million users Zomato could positively identify as having been directly affected, the company said it’d forced a password change and was notifying them of the move so they could then reset it themselves.

The service, founded in 2008, is a Yelp-like user-reviewed directory of more than 1.2 million popular restaurants, cafes, and bars in more than 10,000 cities across 24 countries, many of which are located in the U.S. The service also offers food deliveries and lets you book tables. Digital Trends included Zomato in its “best apps” listings back in 2013.

Later on Thursday, Zomato updated its post, reminding its users that those who login via services such as Facebook and Google needn’t worry about the breach, as it holds no login information for such users. “We don’t have any passwords for these accounts, therefore, these users are at zero risk,” the company confirmed.

Zomato promised its users that “over the next couple of days and weeks” it’ll be working to “plug any more security gaps that we find in our systems,” while at the same time “further enhancing security measures for all user information stored within our database.”

So just to reiterate, if you’re a Zomato user, for peace of mind go and change your password now, as well as on any other services where you use the same password.

Zomato hacked: 17 million users hit by data theft

Why it matters to you

If you’re a Zomato user, best you go and change your password now.

Early on Thursday, online restaurant  guide Zomato revealed it’d been hit by hackers, estimating that login details had been stolen from 17 million of its 120 million users.

In a post on its site the India-based company said the “recent” discovery involved the theft of “email addresses and hashed passwords.” It insisted that no payment-related information had been nabbed in the attack as that data is held separately and wasn’t targeted.

However, the company said it would “strongly advise” all of its users to reset their passwords as a precautionary measure, and also to reset it with any other services where the same password is used. For the 17 million users Zomato could positively identify as having been directly affected, the company said it’d forced a password change and was notifying them of the move so they could then reset it themselves.

The service, founded in 2008, is a Yelp-like user-reviewed directory of more than 1.2 million popular restaurants, cafes, and bars in more than 10,000 cities across 24 countries, many of which are located in the U.S. The service also offers food deliveries and lets you book tables. Digital Trends included Zomato in its “best apps” listings back in 2013.

Later on Thursday, Zomato updated its post, reminding its users that those who login via services such as Facebook and Google needn’t worry about the breach, as it holds no login information for such users. “We don’t have any passwords for these accounts, therefore, these users are at zero risk,” the company confirmed.

Zomato promised its users that “over the next couple of days and weeks” it’ll be working to “plug any more security gaps that we find in our systems,” while at the same time “further enhancing security measures for all user information stored within our database.”

So just to reiterate, if you’re a Zomato user, for peace of mind go and change your password now, as well as on any other services where you use the same password.

Mercedes-Benz and Vivint want to power your solar home

Tesla has been dominating home energy headlines in recent months, what with the release of its solar roof panels and residential batteries, but Elon Musk’s company isn’t the only one getting into the home energy game. Mercedez-Benz announced on Thursday that it is teaming with solar-energy company Vivint to develop an all-in-one solar/battery setup of its own.

Essentially, Mercedes is marrying its residential battery technology, which is based on the same designs that it uses for its electric and hybrid vehicles, with Vivint’s existing home solar panel business. Each system will employ 2.5 kWh cells that can be daisy-chained into a 20 kWh array, depending on the customer’s energy requirements. For reference, 20 kWh is enough to run most of your home’s major appliances for 20 hours straight.

Mercedes’ batteries are coming to California first. Starting in Q2, California residents will be able to purchase (or finance the purchase of) the cells, though the offer is currently only valid for new Vivint customers.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

Soon you’ll be able to pay friends by saying ‘Ok Google’

Google will make it harder for that friend in your group to make excuses when chipping in for food. The tech titan’s voice assistant will be able send personal payments for you in the coming months, just like its rival Siri can, so long you’re in the US. Simply tell it to “Send John $10 for pizza” or something similar and authenticate the transaction with your fingerprint or password to send cash. Your recipient will then receive an email about your payment. The big G recently tweaked its API to make any card associated with your account available on all its apps and on third-party applications that use Google Payments. That’s why all you need to do to be able send cash through Assistant is to link a debit card to your system.

Google has also introduced a new way to get offers from your favorite stores. Android Pay will soon show you offers from merchants whose loyalty cards are linked to your account whenever you walk into their shops. One of the first participating companies is Panera Bread, which plans to roll out the capability all over the country. In addiiton, whenever you apply for a loyalty card using your phone number, you’ll get a notification that’ll make it easier to link it to Android Pay for future visits.

Folks in Brazil, Canada, Russia, Spain and Taiwan might be able to enjoy some of these non-US-exclusive features, as well, since Google plans to deploy Android Pay in those countries. Finally, Mountain View promises a streamlined mobile checkout experience for PayPal users, so keep an eye out if you’d rather pay for purchases using your PayPal funds.

For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2017, follow along here.

Source: Google

Watch an AI teach itself to drive in ‘GTA V’ on Twitch

While automakers are still negotiating with local and state governments to let autonomous cars test drive on open streets, one programmer has found a more accessible proving ground to teach AI how to be a motorist: Grand Theft Auto V. It’s not the first time folks have used the game to train their self-driving vehicles — but you can watch this one learn in real-time on Twitch. One warning: If you’re expecting a graceful, law-abiding AI driver…don’t.

Programmer Harrison ‘Sentdex’ Kinsley created the AI (or “convolutional neural network”), named it Charles, and set it loose in the game to teach itself through deep learning. While that sounds advanced, so far Charles hasn’t quite mastered avoiding collisions with cars, dividers, signs and people. If this AI hit the road today, it would have some real-life police after it quickly — so long as it didn’t hurl itself into the water first (a frequent fate on the livestream).

As Kinsley describes in the Twitch description, Charles “learns and takes all actions based on single frames at a time, and bases his decisions on just pixel data. Charles only sees exactly what you see.” In other words, what a self-driving car would “see” if it just relied on cameras on real roads. What the AI can’t do yet is remember: Kinsley didn’t program in memory, forcing it to make split-second decisions one frame at a time, like so.

If you want to get into the nitty gritty, Kinsley documented his multi-part process building Charles in Python. Whether this AI becomes a better driver and validates educating neural networks through simulation, at least we can chuckle that even machines have trouble driving these games.

Via: Rock Paper Shotgun, Prosthetic Knowledge

Source: Twitch

2017 Google Play Award winners excel in design, functionality, delightfulness

Why it matters to you

Google’s second annual Play Awards competition has drawn to a close, and the winners represent a diverse range of apps and developers.

Last year, Google hosted its inaugural Google Play Awards at Google I/O, its annual developer conference in Mountain View, California, during which it crowned the year’s best Play Store games and apps. And this year, it announced the winners of the second annual competition at an gala on Thursday evening.

The competition was fierce. The contenders were broken out over 12 categories, and had to adhere to a set of criteria for consideration. All had to have high user ratings, pass Google’s bars for technical performance, and have received an update or been launched since April of last year.

Memrise took home the Best App category, thanks to a “beautiful design,” “intuitive [interface]” and “high user appeal.” The judging panel was especially impressed by its creativity — users are tasked with “duping enemy agents” in a “distant Universe” by demonstrating mastery of languages including French, Spanish, German, English, Chinese, Japanese, and more.

The Best Game award went to Transformers: Forged to Fight by Kabam, which won Google’s judges over with “strong mechanics,” “stellar graphics,” “strong engagement,” and “retention tactics.”

In the Standout Indie category, Mushroom 11 took the crown for “artistic design,” “gameplay mechanics,” and “overall polish.” A combination of intuitive touch controls, challenging puzzles, eerily beautiful visuals, and ethereal electronica music by The Future Sound of London sealed the deal.

The Standout Startup category went to Hooked by Telepathic, which “offers a unique experience” while “achieving strong organic install growth.” The Google team was impressed by the app’s innovative method of storytelling — spooky thrillers unfold message by message over a series of texts.

Runtastic got the Best Android Wear Experience award — Google praised its “great design,” ability to “delight,” and “functionality.” The judging panel lavished special praise on its robust activity tracking, audio coach, leaderboard features, built-in music player, and integration with Google’s Fit platform.

The Best VR Experience award went to Virtual Virtual Reality by Tender Claws, which Google’s judges called “highly immersive.” The inventive title, which runs on Google’s Daydream VR platform, tasks players with tasks like jumping between realities and “vacuuming up” worlds.

WOORLD by Funomena won the Best AR Experience. Its “creative” and “imaginative” technology, pioneered with the help of Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi, was one of the most effective uses of Googles’s depth-sensing, spatial-tracking Tango technology in Google Play, the judging panel said.

Red Bull TV won the best TV Experience for its “large-screen format” and “intuitive experience.” Google noted that the it adhered closely to Android’s style guideline, and made especially good use of Android TV’s built-in search functions.

The competition’s other winners included ShareTheMeal by the United Nations, which won Best Social Impact for affecting “meaningful” social change for “people around the world”; IFTTT, which took home the Best Accessibility Experience award for “[serving] people with disabilities” and “special needs”; Animal Jam by WildWorks, which won Best App for Kids for encouraging “creativity,” “exploration,” and “education”; and Blizzard’s Hearthstone trading card game, which won the Best Multiplayer Award.

The Google Play store is a big deal — it’s the primary way the more than 2 billion Android users around the world find and update apps and games. It’s estimated to generate more than $3.3 billion in revenue annually, and Google said that over the past year alone, more than 85 billion apps and gamest were downloaded on Google Play.

Duolingo releases a Japanese language course for iOS

The days of teaching yourself Japanese exclusively through Crunchyroll shows are coming to an end. Online language learning company Duolingo announced on Wednesday that it has released a Japanese language course for its iOS app with an Android version dropping soon.

This won’t be some dumbed-down anglicized lesson plan either. Rather than using romaji, which are Japanese words spelled out with Roman letters (ie, “kawaii” or “Hi de koroshimasu”), this language course will teach you to understand 100 Kanji and all the Hiragana characters.

And unlike some of Duolingo’s other language courses, whose exercises sometimes more closely resembled MadLibs entries than anything you’d ever expect to hear someone actually say, the Japanese course features a strong focus on real-world interactions like ordering food and asking directions.

The iOS version is available now though there is no word yet on when exactly the Android version will be released. Either way, you’ve got precious little time to study before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics roll around.

Kickstarter gives startups the tools to help prevent hardware flops

Turning a product idea into a real, finished piece of hardware takes a great deal of hard work — just ask the folks behind the Zano mini-drone. A few years ago, an independent study even found that nine percent of crowdfunding projects never even deliver. Now, Kickstarter is finally doing something about the problem with a new program called Hardware Studio that aims to coach new inventors and would-be entrepreneurs through the ins and outs of building a working product they can bring to market.

The Hardware Studio is a partnership between project management consultants Dragon Innovation (which helped shepherd projects like Pebble and MakerBot) and supply chain company Avnet. Together the three companies will lend their expertise on crowdfunding, prototyping, scaling, manufacturing and more. There are parts to the Hardware Studio: The first is a free toolkit with webinars, tools, tutorials and community resources that anyone can access. The second is a more hands-on, application-based Hardware Studio Connection that gives creators direct access to the experts at Dragon and Avnet, as well as discounted pricing and additional support.

Kickstarter is actually has a little bit of catching up to do in this area. Last year, competing crowdfunding site Indiegogo cut a deal with Arrow Electronics to give creators preferred pricing as well as design, manufacturing and supply chain consulting. Earlier this year, Indiegogo and IBM also announced creators on its platform could make use of Watson’s IoT platform.

The Kickstarter Hardware Studio official launches in September, but eager creators can sign up to be notified once its live.

Source: Kickstarter Hardware Studio