Новости за 10.04.2018

A new bill from Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) would place significant new constraints on data collection by Facebook and other online services. Dubbed the CONSENT Act (short for Customer Online Notification for Stopping Edge-provider Network Transgressions), the bill requires explicit opt-in consent from users to use, share, or sell any personal information, as well as clear notification any time data is collected, shared, or used. The bill would also add new security and breach reporting requirements. Читать дальше...

The first trailer for the Jason Statham giant shark action movie The Meg is out, and... surprise! It turns out it’s a far-future science fiction movie set in a high-tech deep-sea research station that strongly resembles a space station. The tone is grave and serious, like Alien mixed with the better parts of Sphere. There are some shocks, but clearly, this is a tension-packed, grim future-horror movie.

In Zuckerberg’s testimony before a joint session between the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees today, the Facebook CEO was forced to confront whether his company was now effectively a monopoly. Concerns about Facebook’s monopoly status have surfaced over the last year, with growing calls to break up the company. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) first brought up the monopoly issue; later, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AL) noted that regulation “can cement the dominant power,” implying that in this case, Facebook is that dominant power. Читать дальше...

Vehicle license plates haven’t changed much in concept since the car itself was invented more than a century ago, but digital license plates have been talked about more in recent years. Now, drivers in Dubai are set to test them out.

Like most things on the internet, Facebook has always been free to users, supported by targeted advertising. But as concerns have grown over data collection, many users have expressed interest in a paid, ad-free version of Facebook — and Mark Zuckerberg may not be opposed to the idea.

From the show’s viral marketing to our trips to a real-life Westworld town, here’s our coverage of HBO’s show about the slowest robot apocalypse

While scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning, I stumbled upon a video shared by an old high school classmate showing a giant NASA machine that can supposedly produce artificial clouds. The video features former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson talking in front of a large metallic chamber that’s spewing out fluffy white plumes. The video, titled “Artificial Clouds Generation System,” does make it seem like the machine is churning out clouds — but the rocket engines generating the plumes go unmentioned. Читать дальше...

Twitter today pledged to support a proposed Senate bill that would require technology platforms that sell advertising space to disclose the source of and amount of money paid for political ads. Called the Honest Ads Act, the bipartisan bill was first introduced back in October by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). The regulation of online political advertisements is one of the lasting, material effects of Russian interference in the 2016 US election... Читать дальше...

Last year, director Michael Melamedoff and comedian Hari Kondabolu released The Problem with Apu, a documentary about how South Asian people have dealt with seeing most of their American representation on television come from The Simpsons’ yogi and convenience store owner, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Kondabolu discusses his own experience with Apu, who he describes as sounding like “an impression of a white guy making fun of my dad.” He interviews people like Kal Penn and Aziz Ansari, who talk about... Читать дальше...

This week, multiple outlets shared a story that played on people’s worst fears: in Russia, 28-year-old Ekaterina Fedyaeva was accidentally “embalmed alive” during an operation. But what does this mean exactly, and how is it possible?

https://live.theverge.com/mark-zuckerberg-congress-testimony-live-blog/

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AMC has officially greenlit a series order of the horror drama NOS4A2 (pronounced “Nosferatu”), based on Joe Hill’s 2013 novel of the same name. Hill is set to executive produce alongside Jami O’Brien (Fear the Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels). Hill is the author of the horror novel Heart-Shaped Box, the future dystopia The Fireman, and the supernatural drama Horns, which was adapted into a 2014 movie starring Daniel Radcliffe.

The on-again, off-again courtship between telecoms Sprint and T-Mobile is officially back on, with The Wall Street Journal reporting today that the companies have resumed talks of a merger for what is the third time in four years. The companies weren’t able “to find mutually agreeable terms” last fall, when talks ended without an agreement in November. Discussions are at a preliminary phase, the WSJ reports, and so they may still fall apart yet again.

Facebook has started to help users figure out whether or not they’ve been affected by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and detailed in the company’s notification is the fact that Facebook users may have also had their private messages leaked to Cambridge Analytica.

Uber drivers want a lot of things, but most just want to get paid as quickly and easily as possible. With that in mind, Uber announced the latest effort in its never-ending quest to repair its tarnished relations with drivers: a redesigned driver app. The app is noticeably less cluttered with a better method of tracking overall earnings and workarounds that solve for connectivity issues. But it also gives more prominence to features that some consider psychological inducements to influence when, where, and how long drivers work. Читать дальше...

Although 311,127 Australians were affected by the Cambridge Analytica data breach, only 53 of the country’s citizens took the Facebook quiz responsible for improperly obtaining and using personal information, as reported by The Guardian. Similarly, 63,724 people in New Zealand were affected, but only 10 New Zealanders downloaded the quiz.

Last week, T-Mobile Austria customers got some terrible security news as a string of unplanned customer service tweets revealed that the company was storing passwords in plain text, which is a major violation of basic cybersecurity practices. Today, the company finally came clean and pledged to immediately implement password-hashing, a crucial protection in the event of a breach.

Last year, headphone company Urbanears announced its first foray into the world of speakers with the Stammen and Baggen, and now it’s introducing a third smaller, cheaper member to the family: the $199 Urbanears Lotsen.

Instagram added a couple of new features today, and the biggest news is a portrait mode feature called Focus. The app also has a new way of mentioning other users in stories with a sticker.

In the wake of the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook has come under increasing scrutiny for the ways its platform can be misused. That scrutiny intensified greatly last month amid reports that a London-based data mining firm named Cambridge Analytica had improperly obtained user data from as many as 87 million people — and that Facebook had failed to confirm that the company deleted the data as promised.

A fantastic piece of technology that’s only slightly greater than the sum of its parts

Hey there. Today’s Tuesday. Can you believe? Another week, another Tuesday, another Circuit Breaker Live. Today, we’re here for you, emotionally. That’s right. Paul Miller, Nilay Patel, and I will host another Emotional Tech Support during which you can call us, and we’ll try to support you emotionally. I personally have a lot of feelings today, so who knows, maybe we can cry together. Mark Zuckerberg will testify in front of Congress today, too. Maybe you have some feelings about that? Call us at 844-436-6846... Читать дальше...

As Zuckerberg prepares to testify before Congress, Facebook is quietly fighting a crucial privacy measure in the Illinois Statehouse. Starting tomorrow, state legislators will consider a new amendment to the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that could neuter one of the strongest privacy laws in the US, giving Facebook free rein to run facial recognition scans without users’ consent.

Google has announced availability of the Google Home and Home Mini in India today. The smart speakers are exclusive to Flipkart for now, with the regular Google Home priced at ₹9,999 and the Mini selling for ₹4,999. The Mini is available in black or white; the Home only comes in white. Buying either gets you six free months of Google Play Music.

The latest visual illusion to make me question my reality is a blurry swirl of colors that disappear if I stare at them for long enough.