CNN: At least 103 Uber drivers have been accused of sexual assault

It’s no secret that Uber has been grappling with numerous sexual assault complaints against its drivers, but the company hasn’t exactly been forthcoming when it comes to the number of cases it’s facing. A CNN investigation has revealed, though, that at least 103 Uber drivers in the US have been accused of and sued over sexual assault and abuse over the past four years. The publication reviewed court documents and police reports from 20 states for the investigation, which has also revealed that at least 31 drivers have been convicted. Their crimes range from forcible touching and false imprisonment to rape.

Most of the victims involved in the 103 cases were inebriated or had a few drinks, at least, which is why CNN put a spotlight on how Uber markets itself as a safe way to go home in its report. The ride-hailing giant aired ads that show women taking an Uber for nights out. It even teamed up with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to launch a designated driver campaign urging women to take an Uber instead of driving under the influence.

While 18 of the 103 cases have already been dropped or dismissed, it didn’t include data on complaints that couldn’t be verified with incident reports. And considering CNN was only able to look into 20 states’ documents, that means Uber is likely dealing with a lot more than 103 cases.

An Uber spokesperson told Engadget that it has recently beefed up its safety approach by introducing an emergency button and a safety feature that lets you designate contacts to share trips with in its app. Uber will also start rerunning driver background checks on an annual basis and will keep an eye out for new criminal cases filed against its drivers.

“These stories are horrific and our hearts go out to the victims. We worked with CNN to understand their findings and determined that Uber did 2.4 billion trips in the U.S. in that same period. But even one incident on our platform is too many which is why safety is Uber’s top priority for 2018 and beyond. We recently strengthened our safety approach with new features including an emergency button, driver screening improvements, and the addition of the former Secretary of Homeland Security to head up Uber’s Safety Advisory Board. This is just a start and we are committed to doing even more.”

Uber isn’t the only ride-hailing firm facing these issues, though: CNN also found 18 cases accusing Lyft drivers of sexual assault over the past four years.

Source: CNN

Facebook’s ‘downvote’ test spreads to more users Down Under

With Facebook’s F8 developer event approaching, word has spread that more users can try its “downvote” button on post comments. While it’s not the fabled “dislike” button that some would like to see, it is a way for users to flag comments Reddit-style on public posts. That may come in handy as it rolls out more video, VR and whatever else’ we’ll hear about during its 1 PM ET keynote. Facebook confirmed to CNET that its test is occurring in New Zealand, but many users in Australia report seeing the buttons too.

Source: CNET, TheNextWeb, The Guardian

What’s on TV: ‘Manhunt,’ ‘Donkey Kong’ and ‘I’m Dying Up Here’

The NBA and NHL playoffs rage on while the MLB season is well underway, but this week our eyes are turned to a new John Woo film and Swedish thriller series coming to Netflix. Manhunt focuses on a prosecutor out to clear his name, which will predictably be achieved through a number of exciting and possibly hilarious action sequences, while The Rain focuses on a pair of siblings surviving in post-apocalypse Scandinavia. For gamers, there’s a remastered version of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze coming to Nintendo Switch, while Dear White People, I’m Dying Up Here and Colony all have season premieres this week. Finally, on Saturday Donald Glover will perform as both host and musical guest on SNL. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).

Blu-ray & Games & Streaming

• Game Night (VOD)
• Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell
• Mamma Mia! (4K)
• Peter Rabbit (4K)
• In the Fade
• Through the Woods (Xbox One)
• Nihilumbra (Switch)
• Deiland (PS4)
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Switch)
• Drive on Moscow (Xbox One, PS4)
• Killing Floor: Incursion (PS VR)
• City of Brass (Xbox One, PS4)
• Super Mega Baseball 2 (Xbox One, PS4)
• Battlezone: Gold Edition (Xbox One, PS4)

Monday

• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8 PM
• Lucifer, Fox, 8 PM
• Supergirl, CW, 8 PM
• WWE Raw, USA, 8 PM
• Kevin Can Wait, CBS, 8 PM
• Man with a Plan, CBS, 8:30 PM
• iZombie, CW, 9 PM
• The Resident, Fox, 9 PM
• The Terror, AMC, 9 PM
• Superior Donuts, CBS, 9 PM
• Elementary (season premiere), CBS, 10 PM
• AMC Visionaries: James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (series premiere), AMC, 10 PM
• For Our Lives: Parkland, Freeform, 10 PM
• The Crossing, ABC, 10 PM
• Good Girls (season finale), NBC, 10 PM
• American Dad, TBS, 10 PM
• Final Space, TBS, 10:30 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Tuesday

• John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, Netflix, 3 AM
• Sometimes, Netflix, 3 AM
• Night Train with Wyatt Cenac (S2), Starz.com
• Civilizations, PBS, 8 PM
• Shadowhunters, Freeform, 8 PM
• WWE Smackdown, USA, 8 PM
• The Voice, NBC, 8 PM
• Lethal Weapon, Fox, 8 PM
• The Flash, CW, 8 PM
• NCIS, CBS, 8 PM
• The Middle, ABC, 8:30 PM
• The 100, CW, 9 PM
• First Civilizations, PBS, 9 PM
• LA to Vegas (season finale), Fox, 9 PM
• Black-ish, ABC, 9 PM
• Bull, Fox, 9 PM
• Rise, NBC, 9 PM
• Deadliest Catch, Discovery, 9 PM
• New Girl, Fox, 9:30 PM
• Splitting Up Together, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Legion, FX, 10 PM
• Chicago Med, NBC, 10 PM
• For the People, ABC, 10 PM
• Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. (season finale), USA, 10 PM
• Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10 PM
• The Last O.G., TBS, 10:30 PM
• The Jim Jefferies Show, Comedy Central, 10:30 PM
• The Ice Cream Show, Viceland, 10:30 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Wednesday

• The Handmaid’s Tale, Hulu, 3 AM
• Psychokinesis, Netflix, 3 AM
• Riverdale, CW, 8 PM
• Famous in Love, Freeform, 8 PM
• The Goldbergs, ABC, 8 PM
• Survivor, CBS, 8 PM
• Empire, Fox, 8 PM
• The Blacklist, NBC, 8 PM
• Alex, Inc., ABC, 8:30 PM
• Modern Family, ABC, 9 PM
• The Originals, CW, 9 PM
• The Expanse, Syfy, 9 PM
• Star, Fox, 9 PM
• Seal Team, CBS, 9 PM
• American Housewife, ABC, 9:30 PM
• Being Serena (series premiere), HBO, 10 PM
• Colony (season premiere), USA, 10 PM
• Archer: Danger Island, FXX, 10 PM
• Brockmire, IFC, 10 PM
• The Americans, FX, 10 PM
• Catfish, MTV, 10 PM
• Krypton, Syfy, 10 PM
• Designated Survivor, ABC, 10 PM
• The Ultimate Fighter, FS1, 10 PM
• Code Black, CBS, 10 PM
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, TBS, 10:30 PM
• My House, Viceland, 10:30 PM
• Comedy Knockout (season premiere), TruTV, 11 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Thursday

• Superstore (season finale), NBC, 8 PM
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 8 PM
• Jersey Shore Family Vacation, MTV, 8 PM
• Supernatural, CW, 8 PM
• Siren, Freeform, 8 PM
• The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8 PM
• A.P. Bio (season finale), NBC, 8:30 PM
• Young Sheldon, CBS, 8:30 PM
• Ex on the Beach, MTV, 9 PM
• Station 19, ABC, 9 PM
• Showtime at the Apollo, Fox, 9 PM
• Arrow, CW, 9 PM
• Mom, CBS, 9 PM
• Life in Pieces, CBS, 9:30 PM
• Champions (season finale), NBC, 9:30 PM
• Quantico, ABC, 10 PM
• Chicago Fire, NBC, 10 PM
• S.W.A.T., CBS, 10 PM
• Atlanta, FX, 10 PM
• Black Card Revoked, BET, 10 PM
• Thursday Night Darts, BBC America, 10 PM
• Desus & Mero, Viceland, 11 PM

Friday

• Dear White People (S2), Netflix, 3 AM
• Kong: King of Apes (S2), Netflix, 3 AM
• End Game, Netflix, 3 AM
• Busted! I Know Who You Are (series premiere), Netflix, 3 AM
• Manhunt, Netflix, 3 AM
• A Little Help with Carol Burnett (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• Anon, Netflix, 3 AM
• Forgive Us Our Debts, Netflix, 3 AM
• The Rain (S1), Netflix, 3 AM
• The Remix (season finale), Netflix, 3 AM
• Last Flag Flying, Amazon Prime, 3 AM
• My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman: Tina Fey, Netflix, 3 AM
• Vice, HBO, 7:30 PM
• Once Upon A Time, ABC, 8 PM
• Blindspot, NBC, 8 PM
• Macgyver (season finale), CBS, 8 PM
• Dynasty, CW, 8 PM
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC, 9 PM
• Hawaii Five-0, CBS, 9 PM
• Rellik, Cinemax, 10 PM
• Blue Bloods, CBS, 10 PM
• Taskmaster, Comedy Central, 11 & 11:30 PM
• Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas, HBO, 11:30 PM

Saturday

• 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, HBO, 8 PM
• Ransom, CBS, 8 PM
• Saturday Night Life: Donald Glover / Childish Gambino, NBC, 11:30 PM

Sunday

• The Good Fight, CBS All Access, 3 AM
• The Joel McHale Show, Netflix, 3 AM
• Bob’s Burgers, Fox, 7:30 PM
• Sweetbitter (series premiere), Starz, 8 PM
• American Idol ABC, 8 PM
• Killing Eve, BBC America, 8 PM
• Instinct, CBS, 8 PM
• The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth, Showtime, 8 PM
• The Simpsons, Fox, 8 PM
• Vida (series premiere), Starz, 8:30 PM
• Brooklyn Nine-nine, Fox, 8:30 PM
• Westworld, HBO, 9 PM
• Billions, Showtime, 9 PM
• Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9 PM
• Fear the Walking Dead, AMC, 9 PM
• Genius Junior, NBC, 9 PM
• NCIS: LA, CBS, 9 PM
• Unforgotten, PBS, 9 PM
• The Last Man on Earth (season finale), Fox, 9:30 PM
• I’m Dying Up Here (season premiere), Showtime, 10 PM
• Naked & Afraid XL: All-Stars (season premiere), Discovery, 10 PM
• Into the Badlands, AMC, 10 PM
• Silicon Valley, HBO, 10 PM
• Trust, FX, 10 PM
• Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 10 PM
• Deception, ABC, 10 PM
• Timeless, NBC, 10 PM
• United Shades of America, CNN, 10:15 PM
• Barry, HBO, 10:30 PM
• Talking Dead, AMC, 11 PM
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11:15 PM

[All times listed are in ET]

Linksys Aims to Fill Apple’s AirPort Void With Cheaper Dual-Band Velop Mesh Wi-Fi System

Last Thursday, Apple announced the discontinuation of its AirPort lineup of wireless routers, marking the end of an era that at times saw the company push the boundaries of wireless networking. Apple says it will continue selling the existing AirPort products until supplies are gone, which leaves the Velop mesh system from Linksys as the sole Wi-Fi router product sold by Apple.

Linksys debuted its tri-band Velop system last year, and Apple began selling it around the beginning of this year, priced at $350 for a two-pack or $480 for a three-pack. With a mesh Wi-Fi system, multiple nodes work seamlessly together to provide greater coverage than a traditional access point.

The tri-band Velop system is a bit pricey compared to some other options on the market, but it works well, providing strong coverage throughout your home and offering features such as guest networking, parental controls, and device prioritization.

Original tri-band (left) and new dual-band (right) Velop systems from Linksys
While the original Linksys Velop remains a highly rated router option and Apple’s third-party system of choice, the fairly high price can be a barrier to entry, and so users who have so far held back from taking the plunge into mesh Wi-Fi networking may be interested to know that Linksys today is launching its lower-cost dual-band Velop system. I’ve had a brief opportunity to try out the new dual-band system, and while it doesn’t have quite the high-end specs of the original tri-band system, it still appears to be a solid option for many users as long as your house isn’t too large, and it comes with a much lower price tag.

I have Google Fiber with a 100/100 Mbps connection in my 1800 square foot home, but my office is at the farthest point from the fiber jack and my Wi-Fi speeds suffer significantly at that distance. Upon activating my Google Fiber service earlier this year, I quickly found that my AirPort Time Capsule provided a stronger signal than Google’s router, so I initially used the Time Capsule to provide my Wi-Fi but even that offered inconsistent performance in my office, occasionally reaching 90/90 Mbps speeds but frequently managing only in the range of 5–10 Mbps despite typically showing full signal bars.

When I moved from the single AirPort access point to the tri-band Velop, I immediately saw full coverage throughout my home using a three-node system including a node in my office, giving me essentially full speed from anywhere in my home.

Linksys touts the tri-band Velop system as covering up to 6,000 square feet at 2,000 square feet per node, so there was plenty of range to spare in my home. The tri-band system offers one 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi radios, as well as MU-MIMO and beamforming support for maximum throughput of up to a theoretical 2200 Mbps.

Dual-band Velop node
Competitively priced at $129 for a one-pack, $199 for a two-pack, or $299 for a three-pack, the new dual-band Velop system drops one of the 5 GHz radios, reducing theoretical throughput to 1300 Mbps. Range is also slightly less, with each node covering up to 1500 square feet for a maximum of 4500 square feet with the three-pack system. The dual-band Velop nodes also come in slightly smaller than the tri-band models, measuring about two inches shorter and the same 3.1 inches square in the base.

Screenshots from Velop setup process in iOS app
In my brief testing of the new dual-band Velop, I was definitely able to see the reduced coverage, as I did run into a couple of issues during the setup process where I was unable to add additional nodes due to various Wi-Fi connection issues. I eventually did get everything configured with blue status lights indicating solid Wi-Fi signals on all nodes.

Speeds were also not as fast through the dual-band system, as I consistently saw download and upload speeds around 30 Mbps from my office. It definitely appears to be an issue with pushing the range of the dual-band system despite the modest size of my home, as moving my devices closer to the primary node delivers fast speeds in excess of 90 Mbps.

Wi-Fi download and upload speeds on dual-band Velop at farthest reaches of my home
As with the tri-band model, all nodes in the dual-band Velop system are designed to work together to optimize coverage of your floor plan, making the most efficient use of bands and channels based on your usage habits. The network is also self-healing, with nodes able to reconnect to each other and the network if one of the nodes goes offline for some reason.

Linksys iOS app with main dashboard, parental controls, and device prioritization
Each node has a pair of Ethernet ports that automatically configure themselves as one WAN and one LAN on the first node, and two LAN ports on other nodes. If you have a wired network in your home, Velop nodes can be connected via Ethernet for wired backhaul that leaves more of the wireless network available for general data transmission.

Cable management is a bit different on the dual-band model, with the power and Ethernet ports located on the rear of each node. On the tri-band models, the ports are located on the bottom of the nodes with some extra space underneath and a cable management guide to help keep everything neat and tidy.

Ports on bottom of tri-band Velop (left) vs. rear of dual-band system (right)
Velop also works with Amazon Alexa, with skills allowing you to activate Velop’s guest network and read network credentials aloud.

Linksys certainly isn’t the only vendor in the mesh network game, with notable competitors like eero, AmpliFi, Netgear’s Orbi, and Google Wifi all proving popular. But with Linksys proving to be Apple’s partner of choice so far, the Velop systems undoubtedly have some advantages when it comes to visibility for Apple users. Pricing on the new dual-band Velop is also competitive, which will likely attract new potential customers who don’t need everything the tri-band system offers.

The dual-band Linksys Velop launches May 15 with pre-orders going up through Amazon today, and it will be available from a variety of retailers as of the launch date. Apple has not yet committed to selling the new dual-band system, but Linksys tells me discussions about carrying the dual-band Velop are ongoing.

The tri-band Velop system is available from a number of retailers such as Amazon in one-pack ($200), two-pack ($338), and three-pack ($450) options. The tri-band and dual-band Velop nodes are also interchangeable, so if you’ve already got some in the house you can mix and match types.

Note: Linksys provided the Velop systems to MacRumors free of charge for the purposes of this news coverage. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon and Linksys and may earn commissions on purchases made through links in this article.

Tags: Linksys, Velop
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AMD preps 7nm chips in wake of Intel Cannon Lake delays

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

AMD may soon be able to do more than offer credible competition for Intel with its Ryzen hardware. By 2019, it may leapfrog Intel entirely, skipping ahead a die shrink by offering 7nm CPUs and graphics cards while Intel struggles to reach mass-production yields of its long-promised 10nm Cannon Lake CPUs.

Leaked AMD roadmaps made it online earlier in 2018, showing us a planned progression of the company’s Zen architecture through Zen+ chips in 2018 — the Ryzen 2000 series — to Zen 2 in 2019. While Zen+ chips represented a die shrink from 14nm to 12nm, Zen 2 is a much more impactful leap, sidestepping 10nm and skipping straight to 7nm. Now, AMD confirmed it’s on the way to making that a reality.

AMD told investors during a recent earnings call — per Engadget — that it had begun to sample Zen 2 processors in preparation for their 2019 debut. AMD is also planning to update its graphics chips with the same die-shrunk hardware and stated on that same call that it was also testing Radeon graphics cards using 7nm, Vega hardware — though they were categorized as machine learning GPUs.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the fabricator tipped to lead the production of AMD’s next-generation CPUs and graphics chips at the new 7nm die size, though this did come as a surprise when first realized, as AMD typically uses GlobalFoundries, which it divested itself from in 2009. TSMC typically manufacturers Intel CPUs, too, so we will need to keep an ear out for how AMD yields are progressing for the new generation in the lead up to its release since Intel has famously had so many issues with the production of its 10nm hardware.

Questions still remain about its plans for new graphical hardware. AMD continues to face supply and pricing issues of its popular graphics cards and Nvidia’s upcoming Volta generation could put even more pressure on AMD to respond. Graphics cards for machine learning make a lot of sense considering the increased importance that industry has to AMD’s bottom line, but gamers will certainly be wondering when it will return its focus its users who have been important to it over the years.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Yield problems still plague Intel 10nm chips, delaying production to 2019
• AMD leaks Ryzen 2000-series expansion with mobile and Threadripper CPUs
• AMD’s leaked road map shows plans for Ryzen, Threadripper processors until 2020
• AMD vs. Intel: How does tech’s oldest rivalry look in 2018?
• Apple is reportedly planning to abandon Intel hardware by 2020

AMD leaks Ryzen 2000-series expansion with mobile and Threadripper CPUs

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

An update of AMD’s product portfolio has given us a much greater insight into the broader range of Ryzen 2000-series processors that AMD has in the works, including top-of-the-line Threadripper chips. They will flesh out the Zen+ refresh that has seen AMD improve its already popular Ryzen CPUs with a die shrink and a few hundred megahertz of additional clock speed across the range.

AMD has released a number of new processors in 2018, including the intriguing, though somewhat hard to recommend, 2200 G and 2400G accelerated processing units (APUs), and a refresh of its premium desktop chips, 2600, 2600X, 2700, and 2700X. Those chips launched with boosted clock speeds and more aggressive price tags than their predecessors, and offer a modest boost in performance over the first Ryzen CPUs.

AMD’s product portfolio shows that there are still plenty more Ryzen 2000-series CPUs to come, though. Videocardz found confirmation of Ryzen 3 2100, 2300X, and 2500X chips at the entry level. They will all be quad-core chips and will largely be aimed at entry level builds, though the 2500X may be recommended for gamers on a budget, as it will be the only Ryzen 5 quad-core chip.

In the mobile space, AMD will be adding the Ryzen 3 2000U, Ryzen 5 2600U, and Ryzen 7 2800U. These will expand upon existing offerings that include the 2200U, 2300U, 2500U, and 2700U.

For hardware enthusiasts though, the most exciting reveal in the AMD product portfolio is detailed on the new Threadripper CPUs. These will represent the most powerful Zen+ chips and though overkill for most users, will be the most impressive of their generation. Expected to offer the same clock-speed boost of other Ryzen 2000-series chips, the Ryzen 2900X, 2920X, and 2950X, will effectively replace their counterparts from the first generation.

Although the original AMD listing page appears to have been hidden from public view at the time of writing, it only revealed product names and numbers. That doesn’t tell us much beyond their existence, though we would expect to learn more about them in the coming weeks. They will all certainly debut this year, with AMD planning to launch its Zen 2 range of 7nm CPUs at some point in 2019.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Online listings show AMD will release second-gen Ryzen CPUs on April 19
• AMD’s leaked road map shows plans for Ryzen, Threadripper processors until 2020
• The best AMD CPUs on any budget
• AMD’s second-generation Ryzen desktop CPUs hit the market starting at $199
• AMD vs. Intel: How does tech’s oldest rivalry look in 2018?

Miner One takes Bitcoin mining to new heights with space mission

Peter Verreussel / 123rf

How confident are you in your Bitcoin investment? One company is so bullish on the cryptocurrency market that it sent its bitcoin mining equipment where no mining rig has gone before. In an effort to show its confidence in Bitcoin’s performance in 2018, Miner One sent its rig to space to mine cryptocurrency for a few hours.

The mining mission began this morning, April 30, when the Miner One team used a balloon to send a carbon fiber capsule equipped with an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a Raspberry Pi 3, battery, satellite phone, GoPro Hero 5, and a metal souvenir coin for a competition winner, to the height of more than 35,000 meters, or roughly 100,000 feet.

A helium-filled balloon was used to lift the Space Minor One capsule to this great height. When the capsule passed through the troposphere — roughly 3.7 to 6.2 miles above earth — the ASIC activated and the satellite phone was used to communicate with the internet. The balloon continued to grow — reaching over 10 meters in diameters at its largest — as it ascended to the stratosphere due to falling air pressure.

The mission lasted approximately two hours. At the end of its journey, the balloon exploded, Space Miner One parachuted back to earth, and the capsule landed in a field in Lithuania, where it was retrieved thanks to GPS tracking. Videos of the mission were posted to Miner One’s Facebook page.

“In the middle of what feels like a slump, Miner One wants to remind people that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general is really about the future and the revolutionary technology at its heart: so-called blockchain technology,” the company wrote in a blog post that was published on Medium. Miner One CEO Pranas Slusnys called Bitcoin the world’s most popular and proven application of blockchain technology.

Miner One isn’t the only one optimistic about Bitcoin. The company surveyed more than 1,500 community members and found that 31 percent of respondents believed that Bitcoin’s price will exceed $15,000 this year. In fact, only 7.5 percent of those surveyed think that Bitcoin won’t go above $10,000 this year.

The mission into space was used to attract publicity for Miner One’s initial coin offering, or ICO, in which it is expected to raise $10 million to build a cryptocurrency mining center. The facility would be located in Northern Sweden  — and not in space, unfortunately — because of the country’s low electricity costs and cool climate, which can offset heat generation. Miner One said that it will share the benefits with the company’s MIO Token Holders.

“Short-term ups and downs notwithstanding, these networks will need efficient support centers like the kind Miner One is building,” the company said.

Editors’ Recommendations

• One way to cool your massive bitcoin mining rig? Submerge it in oil
• What is an ASIC miner?
• Best Bitcoin miners
• What is Bitcoin mining?
• Fed up with GPU prices? Crypto-rig builder says gamers must suck it up and mine

F8 is Facebook’s first event since Zuckerberg faced Congress, watch it here

Facebook’s F8 developer conference is right around the corner, poised to deliver yet another sneak peek into the future of the social media giant. Here’s how you can watch the two-day event’s keynote speeches, presentations, and sessions.

First up, you’ll be able to watch the event right from our Twitch channel, embedded below. Just tune in starting at 10 a.m. on May 1, 2018, to check out the first — and likely biggest — keynote speech at Facebook F8.

If you’re more interested in checking out specific sessions or keynotes, your next best option will be to head over to the Facebook F8 site, to pick and choose which events you want to watch. You’ll also be able to take a look at the whole schedule while you’re there.

“This year’s event is our biggest yet, with more than 50 sessions, interactive experiences, the opportunity to meet Facebook product experts, and the chance to interact with our global developer community,” Facebook says.

Last year, we saw quite a few announcements that ended up setting the tone for Facebook’s various enterprises throughout the year. Most notably, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage to show off Facebook’s latest social applications for its Oculus Rift platform.

Another thing you might want to keep an eye out for is how Facebook addresses the elephant in the room: The privacy concerns raised as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. After getting grilled by Congress, Mark Zuckerberg’s response going forward is going to be newsworthy no matter what he says.

“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” Zuckerberg said during his congressional testimony. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”

It remains to be seen if he’ll address the privacy concerns on the main stage, explaining what Facebook is doing to make its users safer to win back their trust. Or he may just sidestep the issue entirely, focusing most of the event on developer applications. Either way, the scandal and Facebook’s ongoing privacy woes will be important components of the security-focused announcements at the event.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Facebook faces Senate, potential government regulation — and big changes
• Facebook’s F8 starts Tuesday. What do you want to hear about?
• Watch Mark Zuckerberg’s second day of congressional grilling here
• Facebook rolls out stricter rules regarding email-targeted advertisements
• Facebook was always too busy selling ads to care about your personal data

How to get Microsoft’s April 2018 Update today and experience the new Timeline

Microsoft’s latest update for Windows 10 is now available for everyone to download. Even if you’re not a Windows Insider, you can get the Windows 10 April 2018 Update ahead of Microsoft’s global rollout on May 8.

To get the update, you’ll need to:

Head over to your Windows 10 Settings app — you can type “settings” into the Cortana search bar in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.
Click on Update & Security.
Navigate to the Windows Update option on the left column.
Choose Check for Updates to find all the updates or patches available to your system.

If you’re using a corporate computer that’s managed by an IT administrator, you’ll need to check with your organization for their plans and timeline. Microsoft will be utilizing machine learning to ensure that the update process is smooth for all users.

“For the April 2018 Update rollout, we will expand our use of [machine learning] to identify the devices ready to update, incorporating things like additional compatibility data,” Microsoft said of the update strategy in a detailed blog post. “This will allow us to deliver updates to devices as fast as possible while providing even better customer experiences.” This staged strategy allows Microsoft to detect and correct any problems with the update process before the May 8 deployment.

The April 2018 Update contains plenty of new features, along with security patches and updated controls for privacy settings, Microsoft said. The most notable addition to Windows 10 is Timeline, which allows you to scroll back in time to see what you were working on across your Android, iOS, and Windows 10 devices.

“Timeline lets you go back in time to past activities you’ve worked on across your devices, so you can jump back into them like you never left,” Microsoft noted. “So, if you’re looking for a specific document, image, or video you worked on yesterday or a week ago, Timeline makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for.”

Cortana also learned some new skills and will better manage your smart home. There are also changes and features added to Windows Ink, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Photos, Windows Hello, Windows Mixed Reality, and more. You can view the full list of new features on Microsoft’s blog.

Windows 10 also displays your privacy settings differently now, depending on the country where your device is located, so not everyone will see the same setup. If you need to view your privacy preferences, however, you can do that by navigating to the privacy option under the Settings app.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The dull Windows 10 April 2018 Update is everything a patch should be
• A recent leak says Windows 10’s next update has been pushed back to May 8
• We may see the Spring Creators Update arriving soon to Windows 10
• New Windows 10 update focuses on work Focus, Timeline features
• Windows 10 April 2018 Update lands next week packing Timeline, Cortana updates

Comcast looks to protect cable business with new deal on faster internet speeds

Comcast is going on the offensive against cord cutters. The company announced a deal last week for customers in Houston, Oregon, and Southwest Washington state that automatically increases internet speeds for some customers. The catch is that you have to subscribe to a package that includes cable television service and internet, so cord cutters won’t qualify.

If you’re a qualifying Comcast customer, your internet download speeds will double without requiring any action on your part. For example, customers on 60Mpbs download speeds saw an increase to 150Mbps after the speed boost kicked in. Those on the 150Mbps plan saw their speeds jump to 250Mbps, and customers on the 250Mbps plan got a jump to 400Mbps or 1Gbps.

Comcast’s latest move could be seen as an effort to thwart cord cutters. While alternatives like Sling, DirecTV Now, YouTube TV, and PlayStation Vue can replace cable TV, you’ll still need an internet connection to stream your favorite programming on those services. Comcast is likely hoping that the faster internet speeds it offers as a bonus to its pay-TV customers will help it reduce churn in its cable business.

In its latest earnings report, Comcast reported that it had lost 96,000 residential customers, leading to a 0.8 percent decline in video revenue. The company lost a total of 151,000 video subscribers in 2017.

Comcast has also leveraged its internet business to help its pay-TV business fight off encroachment from streaming services, like Netflix and Hulu, in the past. Comcast’s use of data caps could be seen as a way to convert heavy streamers into a cable package. “Heavy TV watchers binging on Netflix or Amazon video may repeatedly go over the 1TB monthly data cap, leaving them with a choice of paying overage fees, reducing online video watching, or subscribing to a non-streaming TV service,” Ars Technica reports.

Rival AT&T, which operates the competing U-verse TV, charges customers overage fees on internet-only plans who exceed their data caps. Comcast, instead, allows customers to pay a $50 premium per month to remove the 1TB data cap and get unlimited data.

Like Comcast, AT&T has seen a drop in its pay-TV numbers. The company’s DirecTV satellite business shed 554,000 customers last year, but that loss was offset by the gain in 888,000 streaming-only customers on the DirecTV Now division.

Yet, despite an increased threat from streaming services, Comcast had announced a partnership with Netflix that makes it easier for its customers to consume Netflix content.

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