ByteDance owns more than a dozen apps, including popular short video platform TikTok. Hong Kong (CNN Business) TikTok owner ByteDance wants more than just your viral short videos — it wants to help make the devices you watch them on. The Chinese tech firm said it is developing a smartphone after striking a deal with electronics company Smartisan. ByteDance isn’t trying to be the next big smartphone maker. A company spokeswoman said in a statement that the new device will be “a continuation of plans that were in place” before it began working with Smartisan. “The focus is on […] […]
Tag: social
Worried about the Capital One hack? Here’s what to do
Hong Kong (CNN Business)Millions of Capital One customers have been affected by a data breach that the bank says happened in March when a software engineer allegedly exploited a vulnerability to access its systems. Approximately 100 million people in the United States and 6 million more in Canada are affected, the company said, with about 140,000 Social Security numbers, 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers compromised. First off, “get ready to spend some time and energy,” to make sure everything’s in order, said Erica Sandberg, a consumer finance expert based in San Francisco. The […] […]
Capital One hack exposed thousands of Social Security numbers. Why are we still using them as ID?
Bad actors can use Social Security numbers to steal your identity, open bank accounts, apply for a loan or receive medical care under your name. Many of the biggest hacks in recent years, including those targeting Equifax , insurance company Anthem and the US Postal Service , have left Social Security numbers exposed. Because these numbers are so closely tied to our identities, it raises the question: Why are we still using Social Security numbers as ID? In 1936, the Social Security number was introduced to track a worker’s earnings history for benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. […] […]
Facebook gets closer to letting you type with your mind
San Francisco (CNN Business)Elon Musk’s Neuralink isn’t the only company that wants to send your thoughts straight from your brain to a computer. More than two years ago, Facebook revealed it was working on a project for typing words onto a computer right from your brain, without requiring invasive surgery to make it work. The company has been working with several universities on the effort, including the University of California, San Francisco. Facebook helped pay for UCSF researchers to study whether electrodes placed in the brain could help us learn to “decode” speech from brainwaves in real time. As […] […]
Here’s How Much Bots Drive Conversation During News Events
Casey Chin; Getty Images Last week, as thousands of Central American migrants made their way northward through Mexico, walking a treacherous route toward the US border, talk of ” the caravan ,” as it’s become known, took over Twitter. Conservatives, led by President Donald Trump, dominated the conversation, eager to turn the caravan into a voting issue before the midterms. As it turns out, they had some help—from propaganda bots on Twitter. Late last week, about 60 percent of the conversation was driven by likely bots. Over the weekend, even as the conversation about the caravan was overshadowed by […] […]
The CEO’s Social Media Challenge
Like it or not, most CEOs are fighting a losing battle when it comes to social media. They are overwhelmed and bewildered. Many have decided to essentially withdraw and leave it to others to figure out. First the good news: companies are opening their wallets when it comes to social media spending. Budgets are going up faster than almost any other corporate expenditure. In a 2018 survey, US-based chief marketing officers reported that digital marketing expenditures were growing at double-digit rates and predicted that spending on social media alone would capture nearly 25 percent of total marketing budgets by […] […]
A digital revolution is reshaping Democratic campaigns
Two weeks before the 2016 election, Bloomberg’s Joshua Green and Sasha Issenberg published a story about Trump’s brash, self-aggrandizing digital team. Democrats treated the story as evidence of the Trump campaign’s utter cluelessness, until he won. For months after, coverage of the Trump’s tech and digital strategy dominated headlines. Those stories had consequences: Facebook locked down its user data; Cambridge Analytica folded; and a wave of startups, including my own, emerged to help progressives mobilize online. A change is coming to the Democratic Party, and for some campaigns, it’s already here. I’ve seen it firsthand. As part of my […] […]
Google Discover begins to replace the iconic search box on mobile
It’s not broke, but Google is fixing it. As it announced last month , Google is rebranding Google Feed, its news landing page on Android and in the Google app, to be called Google Discover. Throwing minimalism out the window, Google Discover will replace the iconically spartan Google.com homepage on mobile. Discover is rolling out now on Google.com across both iOS and Android devices. For Android users, Discover is already baked into the interface, accessible by swiping right from the home screen. Anyone using the Google app on iOS or Android will also be met with the Discover homepage, […] […]
ULTIMATE GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT
The ins-and-outs of copyright law may seem daunting for an individual or business to weed through, but the truth is that the basics are actually fairly simple. It’s in the modern era of social media, file sharing and convoluted, mile-long online consent forms where things get a bit complicated and there’s some grey area. In order to get you and your business up to date on the important facts and myths of copyright law—what it does, and doesn’t cover – we’ve created this comprehensive guide. Let’s get right into it. Before we get into specifics about what copyright does […] […]
Before Using Birth Control Apps, Consider Your Privacy
Hotlittlepotato Score one for the quantified self-surveillance movement. Last week, the US Food and Drug Agency approved the first-ever, over-the-counter digital contraceptive—a polished and almost preternaturally upbeat mobile app called Natural Cycles . Basal body temperature readings and monthly menstruation data feed into an algorithm that tells users whether or not they should be having unprotected sex. Like most forms of birth control, it’s not foolproof ; the app has been dogged by reports of unwanted pregnancies that prompted two ongoing investigations by European authorities into its Swedish maker’s marketing claims. But that hasn’t hurt Natural Cycles’ popularity. The […] […]
The “neuropolitics” consultants who hack voters’ brains
Maria Pocovi slides her laptop over to me with the webcam switched on. My face stares back at me, overlaid with a grid of white lines that map the contours of my expression. Next to it is a shaded window that tracks six “core emotions”: happiness, surprise, disgust, fear, anger, and sadness. Each time my expression shifts, a measurement bar next to each emotion fluctuates, as if my feelings were an audio signal. After a few seconds, a bold green word flashes in the window: ANXIETY. When I look back at Pocovi, I get the sense she knows exactly […] […]
EU to fine social media platforms that take more than 1 hour to remove extremist content
The European Union is reportedly planning to impose stricter regulations on social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube , and Twitter over the removal of online terrorist propaganda. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that according to new draft regulations to be published next month, the EU plans to impose fines on companies if terrorist content is not deleted within an hour of posting, abandoning its earlier approach of getting internet platforms to remove such content voluntarily. The upcoming legislation builds on guidelines first prescribed by the EU in March for removal of radicalizing online content within one hour. Following […] […]
Schools Are Mining Students’ Social Media Posts for Signs of Trouble
Aron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post/Getty Images Aaah, the traditions of a new school year. New teachers, new backpacks, new crushes—and algorithms trawling students’ social media posts. Blake Prewitt, superintendent of Lakeview school district in Battle Creek, Michigan, says he typically wakes up each morning to twenty new emails from a social media monitoring system the district activated earlier this year. It uses keywords and machine learning algorithms to flag public posts on Twitter and other networks that contain language or images that may suggest conflict or violence, and tag or mention district schools or communities. In recent months the alert […] […]
Technofobie of dreigende dystopie?
In China worden grote stappen gezet richting een maatschappij waarin burgers continu worden gevolgd, gemonitord en beoordeeld. Een sociale score moet ervoor zorgen dat men netjes wacht op het stoplicht, vaak op bezoek gaat bij familie en op tijd op het werk verschijnt. Overtredingen leveren strafpunten op en daarmee een lagere score waarmee je minder recht hebt op een goede baan of een appartement. Het is nu nog optioneel, maar in 2020 ontkomt de Chinese burger er niet meer aan. De Volkskrant schrijft in een artikel over de Chinese technologie dat wij, in het westen, nog ‘huiverig’ zijn qua […] […]
How to Protect Yourself Against a SIM Swap Attack
Casey Chin A spate of hacked Instagram accounts. A $220 million lawsuit against AT&T. A bustling underground crime ring . They all have roots in an old problem that has lately found new urgency: SIM card swaps , a scam in which hackers steal your mobile identity—and use it to upend your life . At its most basic level, a SIM swap is when someone convinces your carrier to switch your phone number over to a SIM card they own. They’re not doing it for prank call cover, or to rack up long-distance charges. By diverting your incoming messages, […] […]
Eng: Facebook volgt je op nóg veel meer manieren dan je denkt
Dat we op de voet gevolgd worden door Facebook is inmiddels alom bekend, maar nu dat de social media-gigant antwoord heeft gegeven op vragen die in het Amerikaanse congres zijn gesteld blijkt dat het allemaal nog veel verder gaat dan we allemaal dachten. Dit zijn een aantal van de manieren waarop Mark Zuckerberg & Co. ons volgen op het internet, allemaal gehaald uit het document van 222 pagina’s dat is doorgestuurd naar het Congres. Een gedeelte van deze tracking-methodes kenden we al, maar als je het allemaal achter elkaar zet zul je zien dat er heel weinig geheim blijft […] […]
WhatsApp Group Video Call and Instagram Video Chat Are Coming Soon
Facebook announced a whole lot of new features at its 2018 Facebook F8 developers conference, including Dating on Facebook, letting users clear their web browsing history, real-time language translation within Messenger, and many more. Besides announcing exciting features for its social media platform, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also gave us a quick look at the features Facebook introduced for companies that it owns, like WhatsApp and Instagram. During Facebook’s F8 conference on Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced a long-awaited feature for WhatsApp— Group Video Calling . AdChoices Dating Whatsapp Videochat Instagram Spy Whatsapp Yes, you heard that right. WhatsApp would soon […] […]
Oprichter WhatsApp vertrekt bij Facebook vanwege huidige koers
Jan Koum is een naam die je misschien niet kent, maar de miljardair is de CEO en mede-oprichter van WhatsApp . Hij is bij de overname van het bedrijf in 2014 opgenomen in de raad van comissarissen van Facebook, maar volgens de Washington Post is hij alleszins van plan […] .
Data Protection Standards Need to Be Global
Broadly, customers around the world should be in charge of the information companies have about them, and companies need to be liable if they misuse it. Whether it is Cambridge Analytica gaining access to private information on up to 87 million Facebook users, or the large-scale data breaches at […] .
This test will tell you how likely you are to fall for fraud
Researchers have devised a test that gauges a person’s susceptibility to falling for online scams and other types of internet crime. The freely available questionnaire – called “ Susceptibility to Persuasion – II ” (StP-II) and developed by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Helsinki – asks the […] .