According to the Information, Amazon is considering opening up access to private transcript data from its Alexa devices to third-party developers, raising concerns of privacy for users.
Author: Jack Hadfield
Report: Google Paying Academics Who Write Favorable Papers
According to a report by the Campaign for Accountability, Google has paid researchers that produced papers and projects painting Google in a positive light, including at least one who did not disclose that he had received any funding from them.
Facebook Clamps Down on “Low Quality” Links on Newsfeeds
Facebook is rolling out an update that would throttle links from users who are judged to be posting “vast amounts” of low-quality content onto their profiles and clogging up the news feeds of their friends.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Wife Help Illegals with College Tuition
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have donated millions of dollars via the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative to TheDream.US, a program that will award over 100 college scholarships to illegal immigrants in the Bay Area.
New AI Technology Learns How to Read Minds
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have created a machine learning technology that utilizes brain activation patterns to identify complex thoughts and sentences, which is, in effect, an ability to “mind read.”
Report: Walmart Orders Vendors Not to Use Amazon Web Services
According to multiple tech companies, Walmart is telling vendors that they are not allowed to run any applications for the retail giant using Amazon Web Services, and should instead use alternate solutions, such as Microsoft’s Azure.
Rowan University Guidebook Claims Meritocracy Is a Microaggression
Rowan University has published a guide for their professors instructing them how to “call out” supposed microaggressions in the classroom, with ideas such as meritocracy and wanting to be inclusive highlighted as especially negative.
Netflix Flip-Flops on Net Neutrality
After Netflix CEO Reed Hastings dismissed net neutrality as an issue that was only important to “the Netflix of ten years ago” at a conference two weeks ago, the company’s Twitter account sent out a tweet claiming they would “never outgrow” the cause.
Report: iPhone Assembler Foxconn in Talks to Bring Thousands of Jobs to Wisconsin
Foxconn, a Taiwanese corporation that assembles iPhones in East Asia, is considering building a plant in Wisconsin as part of a $7 billion investment that will create up to 50,000 jobs, according to the Associated Press.
California Man Arrested for Posting Deadpool Movie on Facebook
Trevon Maurice Franklin, from Fresno, California, was arrested on Tuesday by federal agents for posting the entirety of Deadpool on Facebook while it was still being shown in movie theaters.