Report details Facebook’s bizarre logic on hate speech

Facebook has more than two billion users, and ensuring that the discussion between them remains civil is an understandably difficult task. But, if evidence found by ProPublica is true, the company’s own policy on hate speech may cause unreasonable disparities in how comments are moderated. The report claims that Facebook has built a comment moderation policy that protects “white men from hate speech, but not black children.”

The social network has attempted to build a global ruleset of what does, and what does not, constitute hate speech. But the logic that it uses is likely to provoke outrage in users who feel that the company already fails to do enough to tackle radicalization.

Facebook only deletes hate speech if it is directed against a group that it determines is a “protected category.” pic.twitter.com/0P6qPYh9qD

— Julia Angwin (@JuliaAngwin) June 28, 2017

On one hand, Facebook appears to believe that you cannot, or should not, criticize someone for the things that are out of their control. For instance, a slur made against someone’s race, gender, sexuality and religious affiliation, amongst others, would be marked for deletion. But those factors that are less central to identity — in Facebook’s eyes — are fair game for comment, such as a person’s social class, job, appearance, age or religion.

If that’s a little wooly, it may be easier to explain using a hypothetical situation in which the following statements were made:

• “Let’s hunt and kill radicalized muslims, for the sake of all that is good and righteous.”
• “Let’s hunt and kill all black children, for the sake of all that is good and righteous.”
• “Let’s hunt and kill all white men, for the sake of all that is good and righteous.”

According to ProPublica’s report, the first two statements are considered fair comment because they only target a subsection of a group. Advocating the murder of the members of an entire race or religion would be protected, but a subset — the radicalized muslims, the black children — are not. The third statement, since it is targeting an entire race and gender, would be moderated off the platform.

Facebook’s strange formula allows Rep. Clay Higgins’ call for violence against “radicalized Muslims” because it attacks a subgroup pic.twitter.com/UkJe85Soqh

— Julia Angwin (@JuliaAngwin) June 28, 2017

One document sourced by ProPublica seems to ask moderators which groups “do we protect” from a list of female drivers, black children and white men. The answer is the final group, for the same logic that was outlined above, although it’s likely that many will be horrified that the sentiment was expressed at all.

Facebook’s head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, is quoted in the report, saying that its policies “do not always lead to perfect outcomes.” But Bickert stresses that the company’s rules need to apply to a “global community” with “very different ideas about what is OK to share.”

The report also accuses the company of drafting its comment rules in a way that favors businesses and governments against individual citizens. For instance, documents seen by ProPublica claim to encourage censorship of comments made that encourage resistance of “an internationally recognized state.” Facebook moderators have reportedly deleted posts from activists and journalists in a variety of disputed territories and authoritarian regimes.

Here’s the quiz Facebook has given to its “content reviewers” pic.twitter.com/zv8hS27H0A

— Julia Angwin (@JuliaAngwin) June 28, 2017

Unfortunately for Facebook, this is the latest in a long series of scandals concerning how it deals with offensive and illegal content. Earlier this year, a trove of documents relating to its moderation policies was leaked, revealing that it will not delete violent language unless it presents a “credible” threat. The company also pledged to hire 3,000 extra moderators to help deal with extremist and violent content, although this may still not be enough. Facebook has not yet responded to a request for comment, although we expect an update on this story in the near future.

Source: ProPublica

Pornhub will sync videos with your interactive sex toys

If you own either the Fleshlight Launch or Kiiroo’s Onyx, then you’ll know that both are capable of syncing with a certain group of adult movies. These specially-made interactive videos contain a data layer that lets the hardware jerk and thrust along in time to the on-screen action. Now, Pornhub is getting in on the action by opening up a section of its site that is dedicated to content specifically for interactive sex toys.

From today, you can now find a new Interactive section of Pornhub that offers clips intended for both the Kiiroo Onyx and Fleshlight Launch. The company has promised, however, to widen the gadgets that its clips are compatible with, to include female-friendly devices from OhMiBod, We-Vibe, Lovense and Kiiroo. Pornhub has also pledged to widen the category to include VR videos that can sync with the hardware, making truly immersive teledildonics a possibility.

The content itself is being produced in partnership with Ufeel.tv, a provider of interactive videos for such tech already. In addition, Ufeel will be showing Pornhub how to embed the sync technology in a variety of other videos both from established studios and amateurs. There’s a pledge, too, that the category will launch with hundreds of clips, with at least five new ones being added each and every day.

As we noted in our review of the Launch, however, it will be up to both Ufeel and Pornhub to ensure that there is a wide diversity of content available. Right now, it’s clear that the majority of these videos fit into the vanilla sex or hand job categories, although that shouldn’t be the limit as to what genres are embraced.

Source: Pornhub

Volkswagen’s cars will be ‘talking’ to each other by 2019

Vehicles will be communicating with other as soon as 2019, if Volkswagen’s plans come to fruition. Just one day after announcing its autonomous vehicle AI partnership with NVIDIA, the German car manufacturer says pWLAN (public wireless LAN) technology will be fitted to its cars as standard in just two years.

The technology makes it possible for cars and transport infrastructure within a radius of 500 meters to share information about warnings, traffic and road conditions within milliseconds, giving drivers a head start on risky situations such as black ice, or a car making an emergency stop.

The system will initially be limited to warnings and local information, but as the tech rolls out it’ll be possible to bring more extensive features on board, such as real-time traffic light monitoring and information on emergency service vehicles. So you’ll be able to see how far away an ambulance is, and which direction it’s travelling in, without getting flustered trying to locate it in your mirrors.

The technology uses a frequency band specially intended for road safety, and because this is localized there’s no data storage involved, meaning there’s no need to worry about data costs or network coverage. It complies with the automotive industry standard for this type of tech, so there won’t be any VW cliques – cars fitted with pWLAN can talk to each other regardless of their make.

The Department of Transportation has already made it pretty clear it wants America’s cars to talk to each other sooner rather than later, so you can probably expect similar announcements from other manufacturers soon.

Source: Volkswagen

Pricey electric bicycle wheel gets you to work sweat-free

Yes, I own a bike. But it’s nothing to get excited about. A neighbor put it on the sidewalk with a “free” sign, and bam! I had a bicycle. It’s old and rusty but perfect for neighborhood errands. I normally wouldn’t use it to ride to work, but the $1,000 GeoOrbital wheel could change that. If I could afford it.

If you live in an urban environment, you’ve probably noticed the rise in the number of electric bicycles cruising in the bike lanes. With battery packs strapped to the frame and oversize rear hubs powering daily commutes, the riders show up to work without looking like a sweating mess. But if you’ve already got a bike and are short on space (there’s barely enough room in your studio apartment for that second lamp), the GeoOrbital converts your two-wheeled whip into an electric one without too much hassle.

The electric wheel contains all the necessary technology needed to drag you around town: battery, motor, guide wheels and a throttle you attach to your handlebars. In other words, it’s heavy. Heavier than my actual bike, and if you’re the type of commuter who has to carry his bike up and down stairs to catch mass transit, you’re going to notice that extra poundage.

The company says the whole contraption can be installed in 60 seconds. If you don’t count the time I spent adjusting my brakes, it took less than 45 seconds on the first try. Subsequent installs take less than 30 seconds.

Once you’re ready to roll, the GeoOrbital requires a key to be turned on. The same key is used to unlock the removable battery. It also ships with two keys in case you have a shared bike or you’re prone to losing things.

I weigh over 200 pounds, so I wasn’t sure how well the wheel would perform on the hills of San Francisco. On the flats, it did a great job pulling me along. The GeoOrbital’s top speed of 20 miles per hour was quick enough to keep up with other cyclists without actually pedaling. But I was regularly passed by anyone wearing spandex.

On hills, I actually had to pedal. Yet, it was never enough to work up a sweat. It was more like a leisurely climb. I watched others struggle to get up the same hill and I felt like maybe I was cheating. People ride bikes for a host of reasons and one of them is to be in better shape. I was circumventing that. That lingered in my mind as I passed another person huffing and puffing while trying to get up the incline. Seeing them struggle while I glided by squelched any guilt I had about losing out on a workout.

GeoOrbital says the wheel will do 12 miles before needing a recharge. My large frame and the hills I tackled brought that down to about 10 miles. An impressive feat. But once that battery power disappears, the wheel becomes a huge albatross that turns your ride into an intense leg workout.

Controlling the speed of the bike is where the handlebar-mounted thumb-controlled throttle comes in. If you’ve ever ridden a quad or ATC, you’ll recognize the design. Just depress the gray lever and away you go. It took a few tries to get the throttle in a comfortable position on the handlebars, but even then (like my old ATC), after about 45 minutes I got thumb fatigue. That’ll probably pass if you ride that far every day, but it takes a while and something to consider.

Except for my maiden voyage, the rides were uneventful. During my first time on the bike, the rubber wheel that propels the main wheel unloaded some rubber bits after dragging my large frame up and down San Francisco’s many hills. By the end of the ride, the GeoOrbital was producing a rougher ride and making more racket than usual. I got home, removed the excess rubber from the wheels, charged the bike and didn’t have the same problem on any subsequent rides.

Other than that hiccup, the wheel was easy to charge, install and riding it was enjoyable. It’s nice to get to a destination without getting all sweaty. It took my old rusty bike and made it modern and sleek. Well, sleekish — it’s still covered in rust.

Yet, I can’t justify paying $1,000 for a tire. The GeoOrbital doesn’t feel like it’s made for people like myself. A person with a sub-$1,000 bike that wants to get around town without too much fuss. Instead it feels like it’s geared towards the person that spends thousands on their bike and has a closet full of colorful spandex. Maybe during the week they still want to ride their impressively light bike to work without having to take a shower when they arrive. If you’re that person, check out the GeoOrbital. For the rest of us, get back to pedaling.

Uber will now let you request rides for any of your contacts

Uber has now made it possible for you to request a ride from your smartphone, but for someone else in your phone book. To request a ride for somebody else, you need to set the pick up location away from where you happen to be.

• What is Uber and how does it work?

Uber will then realise the ride is for somebody else and automatically ask you if the ride is for a friend or family member. Simply select the person the ride is for from your phone book, set the destination and you’re, or rather they’re, away.

You can invite and add members to business and family profiles, to make it easier to easily select a contact to pay for a ride for them.

Your contact will receive a text message from the Uber driver to let them know the ride is on its way, and your contact can even phone the driver if they need to. Your friend or family member doesn’t need to have a smartphone either, just as long as they have a phone that can receive text messages they’ll be fine.

• Uber plans to demo its fleet of electric flying cabs in 2020

If they do have a smartphone though, a link included in the text message will let your friend or family member track the driver’s route. The new feature is rolling out now to 30 countries worldwide, although the ride-hailing service hasn’t confirmed which countries they are.

20 tech fails that ruined people’s lives

We all rely heavily on technology these days and why not? Most gadgets are enablers that aid us in our daily lives. Where would we be without our smartphones, tablets, TVs, the internet or an electronic back scratcher?

However, overuse of tech can be dangerous. Plenty of people have fallen foul after putting too much trust into their technical doohickeys.

They’ve found that social media, GPS, Photoshop and many other tech-based tools can turn around and bite them on the behind. And there are many cautionary tales out there that we should all take heed of.

So have a glance through our round-up of the best gadgetry gaffs – some funny, some downright shocking – in order to avoid making the same mistakes. Flick through the gallery above and read stories of technology terror. At the very least, it might make you think twice before hitting send on your next tweet.

Remember technology is there to help and/or entertain us, not give us carte blanche to be irresponsible twonks.

READ: 79 of the worst Photoshop errors ever, you won’t believe your eyes

Toshiba’s latest SSD tech squeezes 128GB onto a tinier chip

Toshiba and (we think) its partner WD have just unveiled the next generation of rapidly evolving flash memory technology. Its 96-layer NAND tech will arrive in 2018 in 3-bit, 32GB (256 gigabit) chip sizes. That will allow for SSDs and other flash products with 40 percent more storage than 64-layer NAND (which WD and Toshiba started manufacturing last month), reducing consumer prices. Furthermore, WD says that the tech is capable of 64GB all the way up to one terabit (125GB) per chip using 4-bit-per-cell technology.

To give you an idea how fast things change in flash land, Intel has started selling its SSD 545 line that uses 64-layer 3D NAND priced at $180 for 512GB. Other companies, including Toshiba and WD, will soon launch their own 64-layer models, starting a new downward price spiral. Once 96-layer SSDs come on the market, prices will fall even more.

WD and Toshiba have a partnership that seems to be deteriorating very rapidly, thanks to Toshiba’s contentious upcoming sale of its NAND division. Both companies issued press releases on the new tech, but while WD said that it partnered with Toshiba on the tech, Toshiba didn’t mention WD at all in its own release.

It could be unrelated, but Toshiba just sued Western Digital for $1 billion, saying that it’s holding back a potential sale of its chip division. That situation is very messy, because WD and Toshiba have a partnership that WD says gives it first right of refusal. However, other bidders, including Foxconn (possibly backed by Apple), SK Hynix and Broadcomm, have reportedly offered to pay a lot more for Toshiba than WD. Toshiba, meanwhile, says that a sale to another company would not violate its agreement with WD, according to Bloomberg.

Either way, Toshiba will start sampling its new 96-layer tech later this year, and begin manufacturing in three of its Japanese fab plants starting in 2018.

Source: Western Digital

You’ll need an Xbox to enjoy Netflix’s Dolby Atmos debut

According to Dolby’s website, Amazon and Vudu are the only streaming services with titles that support Atmos 3D sound technology. Now, Netflix has finally joined the very short list with the launch of Bong Joon Ho’s (Snowpiercer) Cannes Film Festival flick about a cute “superpig” called Okja. Atmos gives filmmakers the power to designate where sounds are coming from in three-dimensional space to make movies as realistic and immersive as possible. It can, for instance, make a plane in the movie sound like it’s really passing overhead or an incoming train sound like it’s zooming in from behind.

While you can only enjoy the feature with Okja right now, Netflix already has a lineup of upcoming releases with Atmos support, starting with anime movie BLAME! to be available on July 28th. Its high-budget live action Death Note (August 25th) remake will also support the feature, as well as Will Smith’s $90 million fantasy action film Bright, which will launch sometime in December. The last movie in the list is action thriller Wheelman, though the service will likely add more for next year.

The bad news? Netflix has pretty stringent requirements for Dolby Atmos streaming. You can only experience what it can offer if you stream Okja on a Microsoft Xbox One or Xbox One S. Further, the console must be connected to an Atmos-enabled home theater system, TV or soundbar. Headphones will also work, so long as you download the Dolby Access app from the Xbox Store. If you have an LG OLED TV, though, you don’t need to spring for an Xbox One if you don’t have it. Netflix says support for LG’s OLEDs is coming “soon,” and since they come with built-in Atmos capabilities, there’s no need to hook them up to a separate sound system.

Source: Netflix (1), (2)

Qualcomm’s new fingerprint sensors work underwater

Hot on the heels of Apple’s plans to reinvent its iPhone’s fingerprint reader, Qualcomm looks set to position itself at the forefront of the fingerprint sensor market. It claims that it will be one of the first, if not the first, companies to produce under-display sensors.

Unveiling its plans at Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the company revealed that its next-gen fingerprint sensors will use ultrasonic technology that can be fitted under displays, glass and metal, and can scan through OLED displays up to 1200um — something we got to see in action for ourselves at Vivo’s booth.

The sensors, expected in the first half of 2018, can even be used underwater, and can detect heart beat and blood flow whether the screen is on or off.

The company’s also announced it plan to improve its entry-level gear with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core chips.

Built on a 14nm process, these chips offer a marked step up from their 435 processor predecessor, including a four-hour battery life extension and a 25 percent increase in graphics performance.

It’s also the first time its 400 tier supports real-time bokeh effect, where you can blur the background of a photo before taking it, which will go nicely with the chip’s support for dual cameras and FHD+ resolution.

Keep an eye on the likes of Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi — this chip will likely appear on their low- to mid-priced phones.

Source: Qualcomm (1), Qualcomm (2)

Tablo easily turns Android TV boxes into standalone DVRs

If you already have a TV antenna and an Android TV box like the NVIDIA Shield, then you’re very close to having everything you need for a DIY Tablo DVR. Instead of picking up one of the company’s boxes that can start at $180, now you can simply add its $70 USB dual-tuner device, install the free Tablo Engine app and start watching TV. At first, tuner buyers will get access to six months of guide data for free. Once the introductory period is over, however, while they can watch live TV and view up to 24 hours of guide data without a subscription, accessing 14 days of the guide and getting a one-click record option will come at a cost. The price is $4 per month, or $40 paid annually.

According to Tablo, its app will work on Android TV devices with its tuner or hardware from Nuvyyo and Hauppage. Plex offers a similar solution at a comparable price, while HDHomeRun’s still in beta software is also an option. With Tablo, owners can record video to internal storage on a device like the Shield, or plug in a hard drive via USB for extra space. This option may not work for everyone, but if you’re within range for antenna TV and want to save a few bucks, it could do the job.

The free Tablo ENGINE app provides the Tablo interface and DVR features including:

• Live TV: Watch, pause and rewind live TV in stunning full HD quality
• Fast Channel Changes: Tune to live TV in seconds from the live TV grid guide
• Recording & Time Shifting: Watch, pause, rewind and fast forward completed and in-progress recordings
• 14-Day Live TV Grid Guide: Browse and set recordings for shows airing over the next 14 days
• Content Discovery & Series Recording: Discover new shows and set one-click series recordings (ALL NEW or ALL episodes) via the Netflix-style program guide
• 5.1 Surround Sound: Enable Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound pass-through for a premium audio experience

Source: Tablo