Facebook employees are unofficially trying to defeat fake news
Ever since America opted to elect that guy to its highest office, a lot of accusatory fingers have been pointed toward Facebook. After all, the social network has the attention of hundreds of millions of voters and has a reputation for proliferating propaganda. Mark Zuckerberg has refuted the accusation that Facebook’s laissez-faire attitude toward fake news contributed to Trump’s win, but his employees disagree. BuzzFeed has spoken to several sources within the company that say dozens of workers are privately investigating the company’s actions.
Facebook is quick to censor posts if they contain nudity or other sexual content, but has been noticeably slow at dealing with political content. In the run up to the election, another BuzzFeed investigation found that a group of Macedonian teenagers learned how to game Facebook’s newsfeed for money. The result was a slew of pro-Trump content that claimed the Pope had endorsed the candidate, amongst other things. Zuckerberg has often claimed that false content is just “one percent” of the site’s overall material, but one percent — when multiplied across the billions of shares every day — is still a big deal.
Last week, Zuckerberg spoke at a conference where he said that his site influenced the election was “crazy.” One of BuzzFeed’s sources said that the only thing crazy about his statement is that he’d dismiss the problem out of hand. The individual went on to say that “he [Zuckerberg] knows, and those of us at the company know” just how widely fake news had proliferated across the site. The anonymous sources also said that they’d been warned by Facebook chiefs not to talk to the media and risked losing their jobs for doing so.
Facebook’s been something of a leaky ship over the last few days, with many sources telling reporters the site didn’t do enough. Gizmodo reported that the company did develop a tool that would better target and delete fake news from the site. But the platform was shelved when executives found out that it would impact right wing sites far more than other outlets. It’s believed that they were worried about appearing biased in the wake of an earlier scandal where human curators claimed to have been instructed to suppress conservative news. Facebook has denied all of the above, of course.
Facebook’s CEO has also spoken out about preserving “diversity” on his company’s board by supporting Peter Thiel. At that same conference, Zuckerberg also said that the problem with this election wasn’t that his site was awash with fake news, but with engagement. In the words of former Facebook employee Bobby Goodlatte, “bullshit is highly engaging.”
Source: BuzzFeed
‘Minecraft’ game-making tutorial teaches kids how to code
Microsoft knows that Minecraft can get kids into programming, and it’s banking on that strategy again this year. It just teamed up with Code.org to introduce the Minecraft Hour of Code Designer, a tutorial that teaches young newcomers (6 years old and up) how to create a simple game. The Designer uses a drag-and-drop interface to illustrate familiar code concepts, such as object-oriented programming and loops, while letting imaginations run wild in Minecraft’s blocky universe. You can make chickens that drop gold, and otherwise set rules that are as logical or ludicrous as you’d like.
The tutorial is available right now in 10 languages, and it’ll be available in 50 languages by the time Computer Science Education Week kicks off on December 5th. This won’t be the same as picking up a programming language, of course. However, Microsoft and Code.org are betting that this will reveal the importance of code to kids, and start some of them on a path to computer science careers.
Source: Microsoft, Code.org
English rain inspired the Google Daydream game, ‘EarthShape’
When Mike Bithell was a kid, sitting in the backseat of his parents’ car as the cloudy English sky soaked the roads, he would draw lines in the window’s condensation, attempting to “catch” raindrops as they slid down the pane outside.
“I honestly don’t know what the point was, but that little activity would keep kid-Mike occupied for hours,” Bithell remembers. “When I was trying to think of accessible family game mechanics, I remembered that and imagined how much more fun my little game would be if the raindrops reacted to the lines.”
Fast-forward a few decades and Bithell is a successful independent developer building a launch game for Google’s new mobile VR headset, Daydream. His past games include the award-winning platformer Thomas was Alone and Volume, a futuristic Robin Hood-inspired stealth title starring Andy Serkis, the actor who brought Smeagol to life in the Lord of the Rings movies. Volume: Coda just debuted on PlayStation VR — stealth, Serkis and all.
These successes give Bithell the time and means to try something completely new. His Daydream title, EarthShape, is a friendly sci-fi game that takes full advantage of kid-Mike’s fascination with raindrops on window panes. He calls it a point-and-bounce game: Using Daydream’s motion controller, players draw lines to control a ball as it bounces around a dotted grid, dodging obstacles and performing tricky maneuvers to grow plants on more than 30 alien planets.
EarthShape follows the Starseeker, an intrepid astronaut tasked with cultivating life on worlds across the galaxy, and a trusty spaceship that behaves more like an excitable puppy than a giant hunk of metal.
“We have a lot of dog lovers on the team,” Bithell says.
The game is charming, and it also packs some serious star power. Sue Perkins, former host of The Great British Bake Off and regular participant on Stephen Fry’s QI, narrates EarthShape with phrases like, “Keep it stellar, Starseekers” and, “What a fantastic color combination.”
“Fortunately, I’d worked with Sue’s agent before and Sue was specifically into the game,” Bithell says. “She’s a gamer so it was super fun to record.”
I love this game https://t.co/ioymH7lel2
— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) October 4, 2016
There’s also some big names working on EarthShape behind the scenes. Kellee Santiago, co-founder of Journey studio thatgamecompany, produced the title in her new job at Google Play Games.
“Having Kellee Santiago as a producer has been a specific honor for me,” Bithell says.
Daydream is an $80 mobile VR headset that’s poised to work with a variety of Android phones coming out over the next year or so, starting with the Pixel and Pixel XL. In our Daydream review, we noted that the headset itself was a solid step forward for Google, but the platform was in need of more apps.
As one of Daydream’s launch titles, Bithell has high hopes for EarthShape. In his latest blog post, he lays out his wishes for the game with suitably plant-based terminology: “I hope that optimistic little game continues to find an audience and grows alongside the platform.”
Shazam for Mac leaves the mic on after the app is turned off
Shazam brought its music-searching chops to the Mac over two years ago, but former NSA hacker and Mac security guru Patrick Wardle revealed this week that the app has a big flaw. With the version of the app for Apple desktops, the software continued listening even after it was turned off. That’s right, the microphone on a Mac was still hot even after Shazam performed its duties and users flipped the switch. The company says it isn’t saving anything extra, processing your conversations or storing what it overhears on its servers.
According to Shazam’s vice president of global communications James Pearson, this is a feature and not a bug. If you’ll recall, the always on nature of the app was touted during its announcement, a tool that would continue to run the company’s identification methods in the background if you allowed it to do so. However, even with the software is specifically toggled “off,” the mic is still on and it’s still listening. Shazam only does this inside the Mac app, so if you’re using it elsewhere, other versions don’t work the same way.
“If the mic wasn’t left on, it would take the app longer to both initialize the mic and then start buffering audio,” Person explained to Motherboard. He went on to say that if the microphone wasn’t on, the user experience would suffer, causing users to “miss out” on whatever song they wanted to get more info on.
So, what if a hacker wanted to get their hands on the data that would allow them to listen in from your Mac? Well, Shazam claims that can’t happen. The company’s chief product officer Fabio Santini told CNET that the method the app uses to identify songs uses “fingerprints” or pieces of the audio that are then matched to other “fingerprints” in its database.
“Those points can’t be reverse-engineered to reconstruct original audio,” Santini said.
Never say never, Shazam. In response to this week’s revelation, the company plans to “address” the issue in an upcoming update, but there’s no word on when that might happen. Again, Shazam says that there’s no risk to users with the app’s current configuration. Wardle argues that a piece of malware could be engineered to pull audio from a Mac’s microphone without having to turn it on.
“We could get creative an easily design a piece of malware that steals this recoding without having to initiate a recording itself (which would likely generate an alert),” Wardle explained.
Via: CNET
Source: Motherboard, Objective-See
Engadget presents the Best of CES 2017!
The Consumer Electronics Show is just two months away, which means it’s time once again for us here at Engadget to kick CES planning into high gear. Not only are we excited to get our hands on the latest gadgets and gear at the country’s biggest tech show, but this will also be the fourth year in a row that Engadget is hosting the official Best of CES awards.
Just as in years past, our team of intrepid editors will search out the cream of the crop, nominate our finalists and pick the winners of the show. Oh, and you too will have your voice heard in the People’s Choice award. Want to know more? Well, head on over to our newly launched awards hub or read on further for a list of our award categories. And if you happen to be a company who wants to submit your product for such high honors, we’ve got instructions for that too.
These are the Best of CES award categories for 2017:
- Best Accessibility Tech: Technology that helps those with disabilities achieve healthier and more independent lives
- Best Startup: The startup showing great sophistication and innovation while also demonstrating a clear path to real-world availability.
- Best Digital Health and Fitness Product: A product exhibiting the most innovative use of technology to improve users’ health and well-being. Eligible products include smart scales and activity monitors.
- Best Wearable: The best gadget at the show that can be worn on your person. Examples include smart watches, augmented reality glasses and any wearable item (be it socks or shorts) that have sensors in them.
- Best Automotive Technology: Technology related to the ever-advancing science of getting from here to there. Eligible products include infotainment systems and advances in self-driving technology.
- Best Home Theater Product: This award is all about home entertainment. Eligible products include set top boxes, streaming players, tuners and audio systems, among other things.
- Best (Connected) Home Product: A product that belongs in the connected home. Examples include smart refrigerators, connected thermostats and smart lighting.
- Best Innovation (Disruptive Tech): The product or service that challenges the status quo with its innovative twist on technology.
- Best Mobile Device: The smartphone or tablet that most impresses with its combination of specifications, design and overall ability.
- Best TV product: The television that is deemed the best in terms of display, design and overall quality, or the product that might most revolutionize your use of that screen.
- Best Gaming Product: The product that best moves forward the broader field of gaming. Example products include game-specific tablets and PCs, video game consoles, controllers and gaming services.
- Best Offbeat Product: The product that turns heads on the International CES show floor without necessarily fitting into any defined product category. This product may not be the best of the best at the show, but it will be one of the most talked-about.
- Best Maker-Friendly Technology: This product is geared toward the DIY/maker community. Examples include 3D printers and Arduino-like processing units.
- Best PC: The best laptop or desktop, judged based on its design and specifications.
- Best Robot or Drone: A drone or robot that is deemed the best of this unique category.
- Best of the Best Award: The device, service or technology in any category that stands clearly above the rest, judged based on its innovation and design quality.
- People’s Choice Award: The product from this year’s show that most captured the hearts and minds of our readers. The winner will be determined by viewers and readers.
Now, if you’re looking to submit something for consideration, check that you meet our eligibility requirements and then enter in all your information in our submission form here. In order to be eligible, your company must have an official presence at CES and the product must fit within one of the award categories above. It does not have to be announced at the show, but it always helps. And of course it can’t be older than a year — use your judgment! Submissions will stay open until 11:59pm PT on the evening of Monday, January 2nd, before press day kicks off on January 3rd. Please include the following required items for a product to be considered:
- Product name
- Company name
- Product description
- Which of the 16 Awards category/categories your nomination should be considered for. Companies can submit their products for more than one category.
- Contact information for both media relations and internal point(s) of contact while at the show. We need to be able to reach someone on-site in the event you’re a finalist or winner!
Whenever possible, companies should submit the following materials as well:
- Photos
- Spec sheet(s)
- Press release(s)
- Release date
- Price
Good luck!
Apple Removed 47,300 Outdated iOS Apps From App Store in October of 2016
Back in September, Apple announced plans to start removing outdated apps from the App Store, promising to eliminate apps that are non-functional, not compatible with recent versions of iOS, or that do not adhere to current review guidelines.
According to data app analytics firm Sensor Tower shared with TechCrunch, Apple has made good on that promise. In October of 2016, the number of apps removed from the App Store increased by 238 percent, with Apple purging a total of 47,300 apps throughout the month.
On an average month, Apple removes approximately 14,000 iOS apps, so October’s much larger purge represents a significant step towards cleaning up the App Store.
Developers with problematic apps were notified starting in September, and Apple gave them 30 days to make changes to prevent their apps from being eliminated from the App Store. Apps that did not see updates were then removed.
Apps across all categories were subject to removal, but many of the 47,000 apps that were culled from the App Store were games. 28 percent of removed apps fell into the Games category, 8.99 were in the Entertainment category, 8.96 were in the Books category, 7 percent were in the Education category, and 6 percent were in the Lifestyle category.
The App Store purge is part of Apple’s effort to improve the App Store. In recent months, Apple has opened up app subscriptions to all product categories, introduced more favorable revenue splits, improved sharing tools, and added ads to App Store search results to give developers new ways to promote their apps.
Tag: App Store
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Apple Reintroduces Butt-Like Peach Emoji in iOS 10.2 Beta 3 Following User Complaints
iOS 10.2, currently being beta tested, introduces new artwork for many existing emoji. Apple has made an effort to add more detail to emoji, for a more realistic, vivid look that works well with the Messages feature in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra that displays larger emoji.
Almost all of the food emojis were redesigned in iOS 10.2, but one redesign received a lot more attention than others – the peach. The iOS peach emoji, in addition to representing the fruit, has long been used as a symbol for a person’s rear end due to its design and angling, which Apple changed in iOS 10.2 beta 1.
The iOS 10.2 beta 1 peach emoji was much rounder and more peach-like, eliminating its resemblance to a butt. The shift was widely noted (and mourned) on the internet, and the attention the redesign received seems to have prompted Apple to change the emoji back to its original look.
As The Next Web points out, the peach emoji has been overhauled again in iOS 10.2 beta 3, and now it once again resembles a derriere. The colors have shifted a bit and there’s more detail included, but it is undeniably – and perhaps more so – butt-like.
It’s an insignificant change, but the reversion of the peach emoji to its original state suggests Apple listens to and takes into account the feedback of its users, even when it comes to small details.
🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑🍑SAVE THE PEACH BUTT
— Aminatou Sow (@aminatou) November 1, 2016
In addition to changing the look of the peach emoji, iOS 10.2 beta 3 also further refined the new TV app, adding “Up Next” functionality and fully eliminating the Videos app in the United States. iOS 10.2 is still in beta testing, but we expect to see a public release in December, which is when Apple has said many of the iOS 10.2 features will debut.
Related Roundup: iOS 10
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Apple Seeds Third Beta of watchOS 3.1.1 to Developers
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming watchOS 3.1.1 update to developers for testing purposes, just over a week after seeding the second watchOS 3.1.1 beta and three weeks after releasing watchOS 3.1, the first update to the watchOS 3 operating system.
watchOS 3.1.1 can be downloaded through the dedicated Apple Watch app on the iPhone by going to General -> Software Update. To install the update, the Apple Watch must have 50 percent battery, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the iPhone. watchOS 3.1.1 requires an iPhone running iOS 10 to install.
As a minor 3.1.x update, watchOS 3.1.1 seems to focus on under-the-hood bug fixes and performance improvements, with no outward-facing changes discovered in the first two watchOS 3.1.1 betas. We’ll update this post should any new features be discovered in the third watchOS 3.1.1 beta.
watchOS 3 completely overhauls the interface on the Apple Watch, introducing a dedicated app dock, instant launch apps, new watch faces, and new complication options. There are new Activity sharing features, a “Breathe” app guides users through deep breathing sessions to cut down on stress, and an SOS feature can automatically call emergency service.
For more details on what’s new in watchOS 3, make sure to check out our watchOS 3 roundup.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Backdoor in some cheap Android phones sent personal data to China
If you’ve used certain kinds of disposable or prepaid Android phone, your device may have been unknowingly transmitting personal data and usage information to a Chinese server, according to a new report released by security contractors at Kryptowire.
As reported by the New York Times, code written by Shanghai Adups Technology Company was preinstalled on some Android phones and used to monitor where users go and record communication data including call logs and text messages.
From the article:
Kryptowire, the security firm that discovered the vulnerability, said the Adups software transmitted the full contents of text messages, contact lists, call logs, location information and other data to a Chinese server. The code comes preinstalled on phones and the surveillance is not disclosed to users, said Tom Karygiannis, a vice president of Kryptowire, which is based in Fairfax, Va. “Even if you wanted to, you wouldn’t have known about it,” he said.
Making things all the more troubling was the fact that this was no bug in the code, but instead an intentional effort by Adups to “help a Chinese phone manufacturer monitor user behavior” via device firmware. This information comes from a document Adups provided to executives from BLU, a U.S-based manufacturer of budget Android devices. According to BLU CEO Samuel Ohev-Zion, the company was unaware of the backdoor, but says that BLU moved quickly to correct it and has been assured by Adups that all information taken from Blue customers has been destroyed:
Mr. Ohev-Zion, the BLU chief executive, said he was confident that the problem had been resolved for his customers. “Today there is no BLU device that is collecting that information,” he said.
Adups writes software code for phones, cars and other IoT devices, boasting on their website that they have 700 million active users across over 200 countries and regions. BLU told the NYT that 120,00 of its phones had been effected. The full scope and scale of this discovery still unclear at this time.
Android Central reached out to BLU for comment, but had not received a response as of press time.
Google’s post-Brexit plans to include £1 billion investment in UK headquarters expansion, new jobs
Google is expanding in the UK, solidifying its presence for years to come.
After initial fears of big companies leaving the UK after its Brexit vote, Google has announced plans to build a new London headquarters and nearly double its workforce there by 2020. The new office in King’s Cross, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, will size up at 650,000 sqft and give Google the room to expand from its current 4,000 employees in London to 7,000. The total expenditure for the expansion is expected to reach £1 billion.
In an interview with BBC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai expanded on Google’s plans for the UK:
We see big opportunities here. This is a big commitment from us – we have some of the best talent in the world in the UK and to be able to build great products from here sets us up well for the long term.
The move to commit to the new UK headquarters comes as a bit of a surprise after many companies slowed investment in the UK after the vote to leave the European Union. Google’s choice to stick with — and expand — its London offices echoes Pichai’s sentiments that the UK’s strengths go well beyond the single Brexit vote. He notes that the combination of the local UK talent with the influx of people from other countries coming to the UK for education have been great for the technology sector in Europe.
When I look at London [I see] a place in which we are able to attract great talent, find great talent in the UK, thanks to a great educational system here, but it has also been a place where people are willing to come from anywhere in the world.
Pichai of course has concerns over potential restrictions on skilled immigration and free movement and how it could have an effect on its business, but said that these considerations were taken into account when Google made the decision to move forward with its London headquarters expansion. With this much money and this many jobs involved, it’s a great vote of confidence in the UK.
AIVAnet 