Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Amazon’s Deal of the Day, March 19: Offers on headphones and speakers from Boult Audio
Apple MacBook Air 2020: Cheat sheet
Microsoft Edge Offers Less Privacy Than Chrome, Mozilla, Researchers Found
Bigbasket eyes Milkbasket, DailyNinja
It's crazy fact-checking the Infodemic, fake after fake
Payment aggregators to face stricter norms, sector livid
[Thread] Trackpad support for iPads is not Apple's capitulation, it is a part of a convergent evolution of PC hardware and software from its earliest days (Steven Sinofsky/@stevesi)
[Thread] Trackpad support for iPads is not Apple's capitulation, it is a part of a convergent evolution of PC hardware and software from its earliest days — Apple unveils new iPad Pro with breakthrough LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support in iPadOS https://www.apple.com/... // The “convergence” everyone has been waiting for? A “2 in 1” or a tablet or a toaster-refrigerator? Did Apple capitulate? Some context on evolution of devices... 1/ https://twitter.com/...
Zuckerberg: Facebook is using full-time staff for moderation amid COVID-19 crisis because it can't provide mental health support to contractors working remotely (Casey Newton/The Interface)
Zuckerberg: Facebook is using full-time staff for moderation amid COVID-19 crisis because it can't provide mental health support to contractors working remotely — The COVID-19 pandemic is now surging around the world, and each hour brings more developments than a full day seemed to bring just a few weeks ago.
Nokia 8.2, 5.3, 1.3 Expected to Launch Today: How to Watch Live Stream
Twitter broadly bans any COVID-19 tweets that could help the virus spread
You don’t have to go far to find someone online downplaying the severity of a global pandemic that’s shut down entire economies and ground everyday life to a halt. Knowing that, Twitter will take extra steps to remove tweets that put people at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus as it rapidly sweeps through communities around the globe.
On Wednesday, Twitter updated its safety policy to prohibit tweets that “could place people at a higher risk of transmitting COVID-19.” The new policy bans tweets denying expert guidance on the virus, encouraging “fake or ineffective treatments, preventions and diagnostic techniques” as well as tweets that mislead users by pretending to be from health authorities or experts.
In its blog post, Twitter says that it will “require people to remove Tweets” in these cases and we’ve asked the company for more clarification on what that looks like.
Given the new guidelines Twitter has outlined, the platform is going to have its work cut out for it. Under the ruleset, a tweet that claims “social distancing is not effective” would be subject to removal. Twitter will also require users to delete tweets telling followers to do ineffective or dangerous things like drinking bleach, even if the tweet is “made in jest” because that content can prove harmful when taken out of context.
Twitter has also banned tweets that make calls to action encouraging other users to behave in a way counter to what health authorities recommend, with the example tweet of “coronavirus is a fraud and not real – go out and patronize your local bar!!” Some political figures have faced criticism for similar statements in recent days, including Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) who encouraged Fox Business viewers “to just go out… go to your local pub.”
The rules will also ban tweets in which people play armchair doctor and make claims like “if you have a wet cough, it’s not coronavirus – but a dry cough is.” Users will also not be allowed to make coronavirus claims that single out groups of people based on race or nationality, like discouraging followers to eat at Chinese restaurants. Other race-based claims like John McAfee’s tweet that “Coronavirus cannot attack black people” won’t fly either.
Twitter’s new set of coronavirus-related misinformation rules is as thorough as it will be difficult to enforce. Many, many tweets would appear to fall under the deepened policy designed to prevent health misinformation from spreading on the social network.
To meet the unique challenge posed by the pandemic, Twitter said it has put a “content severity triage system” in place so that the most potentially damaging tweets can be identified and removed, with less emphasis on users flagging the tweets themselves. The company previously announced that it would be relying more heavily on automation and machine learning to act on content that violates platform rules, which Twitter admits may lead to mistakes in some cases.
In an effort to rise to the gravity of the situation, Twitter’s policies lay out an aggressive and fluid approach that we don’t always see from social networks. We’ll be following along to see how the platform experiment goes in the coming days and if Twitter can help stem the flow of potentially lethal misinformation as the world wakes up to the global threat of COVID-19.
FreshDirect says worker who tested positive for COVID-19 not involved in food prep or delivery
Popular online grocer FreshDirect sent an email today notifying consumers that a warehouse worker has tested positive for COVID-19. CEO David McInerney stressed that the worker had not been present in the facility since reporting feeling unwell. Nor were they involved in either the food preparation or delivery aspects of FreshDirect’s service.
The news is unsurprising, as the pandemic spreads across the U.S. As of tonight, more than 8,000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, across all States and D.C. As residents increasingly adhere to stay in place orders, food deliver is becoming an even more essential aspect of daily life.
Last week the company noted on its site that the system was being slammed by consumer demand, writing. “due to high demand, delivery time slots are filling up faster than usual so please plan ahead.”
In his letter, McInerney explains that FreshDirect had a course of action in place for just such an event. “This occurrence triggered the implementation of our COVID-19 response protocol, as well as a deep cleaning of the impacted area, its equipment, and all other appropriate business areas,” the executive writes. “The employee is currently self-isolating and has reported that they are doing fine.”
This is no doubt not the last of these sorts of stories we’ll hear about impacted services. Most stay in place orders continue exceptions for essential services including groceries, meaning they’ll likely continue operations even as many other businesses go on hiatus. Companies are encouraging sick employees to stay away over concern for their health and that of their customers. However, a lack of access to testing, paired with a lack of safety net for many in the gig economy can disincentivize the drive to keep away.
The company confirmed the statement in an email to TechCrunch.
Brace yourself for slower data speeds
Charter Communications is disallowing its 15,000 office-based employees to work from home despite at least one employee testing positive for COVID-19 (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)
Charter Communications is disallowing its 15,000 office-based employees to work from home despite at least one employee testing positive for COVID-19 — Staff at telecommunications giant Charter Communications are still having to work from corporate offices — against the advice …
Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in data center financing decisions (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg : Sources: amid the Iran war, Asian bankers say rising power prices and energy security are becoming a bigger consideration in ...
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The first project we remember working on together was drawing scenes from the picture books that our mom brought with her when she immigrate...
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Sohee Kim / Bloomberg : South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang that exposed ~33.7M accounts; ...
