FDA wants Facebook and Twitter to crack down on opioid sales

In a speech given yesterday at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced that the agency would be inviting a number of internet company CEOs to a summit that will host discussions on potential solutions to the tech industry’s role in the US opioid crisis. Gottlieb says that the FDA has found offers to purchase opioids and other drugs on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Google, Yahoo and Bing. He added that in a report from the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, investigators found that “‘it was easy to find fentanyl advertised online,’ pay for it using cryptocurrency or credit cards and have it shipped to anywhere in the United States through international mail.”

Gottlieb said that he and the FDA were concerned about the role social media companies, ISPs and others were playing in the sale of opioids online. “Internet firms simply aren’t taking practical steps to find and remove these illegal opioid listings,” he said. “There’s ample evidence of narcotics being advertised and sold online. I know that internet firms are reluctant to cross a threshold, where they could find themselves taking on a broader policing role. But these are insidious threats being propagated on these web platforms.”

At the proposed summit, a date for which hasn’t been set, the FDA plans to bring together tech executives, academics and advocacy groups, who will discuss current gaps in technology and possible solutions to the problem. The FDA will also ask participating companies to agree to meet again after a year to review their progress. “We need to work together on shared solutions to address the problem of opioids marketing in the online space, and we need internet media companies to be our partners in this effort, taking on more social responsibility for implementing those solutions,” said Gottlieb.

Companies like Twitter and Facebook have responded to government pressure in the past. Gottlieb noted that ISPs and social media companies cracked down on the sale of child pornography “when they’ve been forced to.” And after President Obama pushed Facebook to halt person-to-person gun and ammo sales, the company changed its community standards to effectively ban the practice. Though the company’s enforcement of that policy hasn’t always been very consistent.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: FDA

Microsoft will bring 64-bit app support to ARM-based PCs in May

One of the biggest limitations of the Windows on Snapdragon platform is its inability to run 64-bit apps. Microsoft has said on multiple occasions that it intends to eventually offer that support, but we’ve not heard about a firm timeline until now. The company’s general manager for Windows Erin Chappie told Engadget today that an SDK for ARM64 apps will be announced at the upcoming Build developer’s conference.

With the new SDK, developers would be able to natively recompile their apps to run in 64-bit on ARM-based PCs like the ASUS NovaGo. This opens up app support for the platform, which previously only supported 32-bit apps. The potentially greater app compatibility is welcome, since this was one of the biggest drawbacks of Windows on Snapdragon devices. But whether you’ll get the higher performance that you’d typically expect out of 64-bit apps will depend on the Snapdragon 835 CPU that powers the current generation of the PCs in question.

Connected PCs ship with Windows 10 S, but Microsoft has been offering free upgrades to Windows 10 Pro through 2019, making the OS more familiar and versatile. The ARM 64 SDK will be available for both Store apps and desktop versions (.exes). Ultimately, it’ll be up to developers to decide whether they want to go to the trouble of recompiling their apps for Windows on Snapdragon, but Microsoft at least appears to be making strides in creating as open and useful a platform as possible.

Facebook wanted users’ medical data for a research project

CNBC reports today that Facebook was recently designing a research project that would collect users’ Facebook data and medical information in order to develop insights into how social data could inform treatment development and patient care. The project has since been halted, but the company had approached a number of health organizations including Stanford Medical School and the American College of Cardiology.

The plan was to use anonymized data from both Facebook and healthcare providers and with hashing, match them up. Facebook information about a user like their age, whether they’re married and have kids, what language they speak primarily and how often they engage with friends or family online would be matched to health data, such as age, medical conditions, prescribed medications and how often they visit the doctor. Researchers would then look to see if the added social media information might help improve patient care. For example, finding a patient doesn’t have family or friends nearby might be found to necessitate a nurse checking on that patient at home following a surgery, says CNBC.

“The medical industry has long understood that there are general health benefits to having a close-knit circle of family and friends. But deeper research into this link is needed to help medical professionals develop specific treatment and intervention plans that take social connection into account,” Facebook said in a statement. It added that last month, it decided to temporarily halt the project “so we can focus on other important work, including doing a better job of protecting people’s data and being clearer with them about how that data is used in our products and services.”

Which was a smart move. The company announced yesterday that as many as 87 million Facebook users’ data were improperly obtained by political firm Cambridge Analytica, many more than the 50 million affected users initially reported. With so many now wondering whether they should trust Facebook with their data, it would be very hard to get people on board with the company having access to their medical histories, even if they’re anonymized. According to CNBC’s sources, patient consent did not come up in early discussions of the project. Facebook made clear that it has not received any medical data, a point that the American College of Cardiology reiterated.

Source: CNBC

Uber halts some service in Greece following stricter rules

Uber is still very much at odds with some cities over their attitudes toward ridesharing. The company is suspending UberX service in Athens, Greece from April 10th onward in the wake of newly-approved laws that limit how ridesharing companies can operate in the capital. It’s not clear “if and how” Uber can operate under these new rules, the company said, and it doesn’t want to resume service until there’s an “appropriate solution” that everyone can live with. UberTaxi (which uses taxi drivers) will continue to operate.

The new rules require that every trip starts and ends in a fleet partner’s specified headquarters or parking space — the opposite of UberX’s ever-changing start and stop points. The measures also require a registry of all ridesharing platforms and their passengers. Notably, these rules don’t apply to taxis.

We wouldn’t expect a quick resolution. As elsewhere in Europe, ridesharing companies face staunch opposition from some governments and incumbent taxi companies. While Uber and its supporters see ridesharing as disrupting antiquated business models, some officials and taxi companies see it as skirting the rules — it’s not always subject to the same licensing and safety requirements. Uber may be more cooperative with cities under new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (it would frequently ignore or defy laws under Kalanick), but it would still have to orchestrate a major change in legislation to operate its usual services in Athens.

Via: Reuters

Source: Uber Blog

Sears and Delta customers may have had payment data exposed

It’s been a tough week for exposing customer data, from the personal info of 150 million Under Armour users to financial data for 5 million Saks, Lord & Taylor customers. Even Panera left personal information for millions of users unprotected on its site. Add another couple companies to the list: Today, both Sears Holding Corp and Delta Air Lines admitted that some of their customer payment information may have been exposed. But only because the software service provider that was hosting both corporations’ user data suffered a breach themselves.

The tech firm [24]7.ai, which handles customer data for the aforementioned corporations and Kmart, publicly confirmed the breach yesterday. The incident happened on or following September 27th, 2017 and was resolved by October 12th, but Sears was only informed of the breach in mid-March. The company learned that credit card information for under 100,000 of its customers was exposed.

In a statement, Delta assured that while a ‘small subset’ of its customers’ information may have been available to the hackers, their passport, government ID and security data wasn’t compromised. It’s unclear whether that includes payment information, or if any data was accessed — just that it was available to the intruders once [24]7.ai’s systems were breached.

Source: Reuters

Wirecutter’s best deals: Save $40 on a Google Home smart speaker

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.

Google Home

Street price: $130; Deal price: $90

If you’re looking for a smart speaker and like Google’s search ecosystem, this is a good opportunity to save some cash. At $90, it’s a nice drop on the Google Home speaker, bringing it within $10 of the deals we saw during Black Friday and other holiday sales. Usually $130, this is the best opportunity to save on this speaker we’ve seen in a few months.

The Google Home is our pick in our guide to Google Home voice-controlled speakers. Grant Clauser and Brent Butterworth wrote, “Google’s wireless speaker, digital assistant, and smart-home controller looks better than its biggest competition, reliably responds to most voice queries, offers solid multiroom audio, and sounds pretty good.”

Anker PowerPort 6 USB Wall Charger

Street price: $28; Deal price: $22

Forever seeking another USB port to charge your gear? The Anker PowerPort 6 is a nice option, offering an impressive 6 USB ports. Usually just under $30, right now this multiport USB charger is down to $22. Only the black color is available for the deal price at this time.

The Anker PowerPort 6 USB Wall Charger is our more powerful pick in our guide to the best multiport USB wall charger. Nick Guy wrote, “The PowerPort 6 aced our initial six-iPad test, so we replaced the iPad mini 2 with an iPad Air 2 to test the charger with six full-size iPads. The PowerPort 6 successfully provided 2.4 amps of current to each of our two control iPads, even with the four other full-size iPads connected. It’s worth noting that 60 W isn’t enough power to provide a full 2.4 A to each of six ports simultaneously. However, based on our testing, the PowerPort 6 is a great pick for all but the most demanding tablet users—and even then, we haven’t found anything more capable.”

LG 27UD68P-B 27-Inch Monitor

Street price: $470; Deal price: $400

The 27 inch LG 27UD68P-B 4K monitor is down to a new low price of $400 via Amazon from the typical street price we’ve seen of around $470. This is a rare deal on this 4K monitor and the first we’ve posted. This discount has been present a few days now and could signal a downward trend in street price, but we haven’t seen this monitor cheaper to this point.

The LG 27UD68P-B is our top pick in our guide to the best 4K monitor. John Higgins and David Murphy wrote, “The LG 27UD68P-B is the best 4K monitor for most people because of its great color and grayscale measurements, thin bezels, three-way adjustable stand, and easy-to-use menus. It also has FreeSync adaptive sync, which makes it even better for gaming if you have an AMD video card. The LG doesn’t have a USB 3.0 hub and its grayscale tracking and color accuracy aren’t as good as our runner-up pick’s, but its bezels are much thinner, it’s a newer model, and its HDMI 2.0 ports can handle a 60 Hz 4K signal.. At a price comparable with monitors with lower resolutions, this is a great display for anyone ready to make the jump to 4K.”

New Nintendo 2DS XL

Street price: $150; Deal price: $130

At $130, this is a nice $20 drop on this recommended handheld game console. This price drop is specifically for the black/turquoise model listing, but the white/orange is also available via Walmart for the same $130 price. If you’re a fan of Nintendo’s back catalogue, the New 2DS XL is a bargain at this price.

The New Nintendo 2DS XL is our largest game library pick in our guide to the best game consoles. Thorin Klosowski wrote, “The biggest draw of the New 2DS XL is the game library. If you’re a longtime fan of Nintendo consoles, if you want a wide selection of Japanese-style role-playing games to choose from, or if you want to relive some childhood favorites, the New Nintendo 2DS XL is for you. It has a huge list of excellent games you can find cheap, usually between $10 and $20, such as The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and Super Mario 3D Land. The New 2DS XL can also play any of the more than 1,800 titles from the company’s first dual-screen portable console, the Nintendo DS. In addition, you get access to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, which includes downloadable classic games from the NES, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and Game Boy Color. The “New” systems can also play a handful of SNES games.”

Because great deals don’t just happen on Thursday, sign up for our daily deals email and we’ll send you the best deals we find every weekday. Also, deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go here.

Survival game ‘Don’t Starve’ hits Nintendo Switch April 12th

Klei’s Don’t Starve has been a hit ever since it came out for PC in 2013. It’s since appeared on the PS4 (as well as the PS3 and Vita), iOS and Android, and continues to thrill with various DLC (“Reign of Giants”) and spin-offs (Shipwrecked, Don’t Starve Together). You’ll now have a good reason to buy the game yet again as it’s headed to the Nintendo Switch’s eShop on April 12th. The new version will include both “Reign of Giants” and Shipwrecked along with the original game.

To celebrate the release of the popular game on an even more popular console, the Vancouver-based games studio has released a Chester Fetch snapchat filter so you can take the cute little companion monster out with you on the go. While I may forgo the Chester filter (no, I probably won’t), I do know that I will be ready next week to download Don’t Starve to my Switch, even though I have it on most of the other platforms, too. It’s just how I roll; don’t judge.

Source: Klei/YouTube

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Be Deposed in Qualcomm v. Apple Lawsuit on June 27

Apple CEO Tim Cook is set to attend a deposition in the ongoing Apple v. Qualcomm legal battle on June 27, according to Bloomberg.

Cook will be providing testimony as part of Qualcomm’s lawsuit against Apple, which accuses the Cupertino-based company of lying to regulators to cause trouble for Qualcomm, leading to investigations in multiple countries.

The United States Federal Trade Commission in January accused Qualcomm of violating the FTC Act by using anticompetitive tactics and abusing its patent portfolio to remain the dominant supplier of LTE chips for smartphones, and in June, a judge ruled that Qualcomm will face an antitrust lawsuit.

Qualcomm has also faced an antitrust investigation in South Korea, which it accused Apple of interfering in, and it has been fined $1.2 billion by European antitrust regulators for paying Apple to use its LTE chips in iOS devices. In South Korea, Qualcomm was fined 1.03 trillion won, or $902 million.

Qualcomm and Apple have been mired in an ever-escalating legal battle since the beginning of 2017 after Apple levied a $1 billion lawsuit against Qualcomm accusing the company of charging unfair royalties for “technologies they have nothing to do with.”

Apple and Apple suppliers have stopped paying licensing fees to Qualcomm in the midst of the lawsuit, and Apple has maintained that Qualcomm’s practice of charging a percentage of an iPhone’s entire value is excessive. Qualcomm, meanwhile, says its technology is “at the heart of every iPhone.”

Following Apple’s lawsuit, Qualcomm filed a countersuit accusing Apple of breaching licensing agreements, making false statements, and encouraging regulatory attacks against Qualcomm in several countries.

Qualcomm has since sought import bans on some iPhones in the United States and export bans against the device in China, with Apple retaliating through further patent infringement lawsuits.

Given the legal dispute between the two companies, rumors have suggested Apple is considering eliminating Qualcomm chips from its future devices, instead relying on Intel and MediaTek.

Tag: Qualcomm
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Quick Takes: Mac Mini Turning 3.5 Years Old, But Unlike Mac Pro, Apple Remains Silent About Future Updates

In addition to our standalone articles covering the latest news and rumors at MacRumors, this Quick Takes column provides a bite-sized recap of other headlines about Apple and its competitors on weekdays.

Thursday, April 5

• Mac mini is three-and-a-half years old: Apple today confirmed that its revamped Mac Pro will be released in 2019. It’s an opportune time for a reminder that the Mac mini hasn’t been refreshed in three-and-a-half years as of April 16. 1,267 days ago as of today, according to our MacRumors Buyer’s Guide. We asked Apple for a comment, but it’s unlikely they’ll break silence.
• Apple predicted to accelerate its capital return program due to corporate tax reform: In a research note to investors, Citigroup analyst Jim Suva estimates that Apple will expand its share repurchase authorization by an additional $100 billion on its May 1 earnings call, versus a $50 billion addition a year ago, as a result of the U.S. corporate tax rate dropping to 21 percent.

  

• FCP Exchange takes place at NAB 2018 in Las Vegas next week: The series of free Final Cut Pro workshops begin Monday, April 9 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time in room S219 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Final Cut Pro version 10.4.1, previewed by Apple today, will be released on the same day with support for a new ProRes RAW format and advanced closed captioning.
• Apple has published an entry titled Introducing the Payment Request API for Apple Pay on its WebKit blog.

For more coverage of Apple, visit our Front Page, Mac Blog, and iOS Blog. Also head to our forums to join in the discussion.

Related Roundup: Mac miniTag: Quick TakesBuyer’s Guide: Mac Mini (Don’t Buy)
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Amazon Key just got a little less creepy and a lot more useful for everyone

Now available to everyone. With 100% less creepiness.

Remember Amazon’s disturbing in-home delivery service that would give random strangers access to your home while you were gone? You might have automatically dismissed it as soon as you saw it last year and rightfully so. Well, that whole “Please, come into my home person I don’t know” part is completely optional, and the other benefits of the service Amazon just announced might actually appeal to you.

Amazon is adding several new services for Amazon Key customers, who now include everyone who wants in and not just Prime members. Those features include keyless entry, the ability to lock and unlock your door from anywhere, and limited guest access. The service can be linked with the Amazon Key App, which allows you as the home owner to create custom keys for entry or unlock the door with a touch. Whether you have maids coming over to clean or your kids just locked themselves out, you’ll be able to grant access without driving home and without leaving a key under that rock that everyone knows has a key in it.

If you are providing an entry code for a service provider, like a maid or repairman, then you can use the app to limit that access. You can view video clips of people entering and leaving, check whether the door is locked or unlocked, and get real-time security notifications. The Cloud Cam’s live stream includes two-way audio and works with any of the other Amazon devices like the Echo Spot and Echo Show. For each guest access you create, you can manage the guest list and assign when and for how long that code will work.

Amazon also announced that the amount of smart locks compatible with Amazon Key has been increased from three models to eight. You’ll have a bigger variety of models to choose from with multiple finishes for each design and new features like touchscreen keyless entry.

Right now you can get the Amazon Key kit for as little as $169.99. That would include the $140 Amazon Cloud Cam, the $150 Kwikset Convert Smart Lock, and access to all the features mentioned above including the optional in-home delivery. The more advanced smart lock you choose the higher the price goes, but Amazon is discounting all the bundles for a limited time so it’s less expensive than it has ever been before.

The in-home delivery service is still only an option for Prime members and only in 37 cities so far, but if you’re eligible you can sign up for Prime here. The rest is available to anyone anywhere in the country that wants it.

Get Started with Amazon Key