Apple, YouTube Unveil $100 Million Funds to Support Black Causes Amid US Protests

Apple said on Thursday it will increase spending with black-owned suppliers as part of a $100 million racial equity and justice initiative, while Google-owned YouTube said it will spend $100 million... https://ift.tt/3hmvo8D

Mitron App Not Made in Pakistan, Co-Founders Claim

Mitron app makers have attempted to refute the earlier reports calling it as a repackaged version of the TicTic app developed by a Pakistani developer firm Qboxus. https://ift.tt/2YtgKEc

Microsoft bans face-recognition sales to police

Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it would await federal regulation before selling facial recognition technology to police, making it the latest big firm to back away from the business following protests against law enforcement brutality and bias. https://ift.tt/2zoEosQ

Facebook plans 'multi-million dollar' venture fund: Report

On the lines of Microsoft venture fund M12 that is helping B2B software startups in emerging technologies, Facebook is reportedly establishing its own multi-million dollar fund to invest in "leading private companies alongside top venture capital firms and angel investors", The Axios reported on Thursday. https://ift.tt/3cRx4DL

China hits back at US telecom supply chain order at WTO

China accused the United States on Thursday of undermining the global tech industry's supply chains with a renewed executive order barring US companies from using telecoms equipment made by firms deemed to pose a national security risk. https://ift.tt/37lferA

Researchers find sites monetizing health misinformation with Google's AdSense and DoubleClick; Google says the specific sites don't violate its policy (Ruth Reader/Fast Company)

Ruth Reader / Fast Company:
Researchers find sites monetizing health misinformation with Google's AdSense and DoubleClick; Google says the specific sites don't violate its policy  —  Google's programmatic ad tools AdSense and DoubleClick are placing ads on websites that publish health misinformation, according to reports from two independent research groups.

Banking at WhatsApp a win-win partnership

Social media giant to get new users as banks expand their services to digital platform https://ift.tt/3hm8IWk https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

With a law, India plans lasting ban on cryptos

The spur for the draft cabinet note was the March 4 decision of the SC to quash the April 2018 circular from the RBI that prevented banks from providing services in support of cryptocurrencies. https://ift.tt/30ANrSW https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Domestic travel rebounding strongly: Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk

Hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing travel bans, Airbnb has raised $2 billion to tide over the crisis and slashed 25% of its workforce. https://ift.tt/2XSPHmq https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Knoxville shuts down parts of its network after being hit by ransomware

Enlarge / The Knoxville City-County Building, overlooking the Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tennessee. (credit: Brian Stansberry)

The city of Knoxville, Tennessee, shut down large portions of its computer network on Thursday after being hit overnight by a ransomware attack, it was widely reported on Thursday.

The attack was first noticed by members of the Knoxville Fire Department around 4:30am Thursday, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. Shortly after that, Knoxville’s Chief Operations Officer David Brace sent employees an email notifying them of the breach.

“Please be advised that our network has been attacked with ransomware,” he wrote. “Information Systems is currently following recommend[ed] protocols. This includes shutting down servers, our internet connections and PC’s. Please do not log in to the network or use computer applications at this time.”

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OpenZFS removed offensive terminology from its code

Enlarge / Replacements for outdated master/slave terminology tend to be considerably more accurate, as well as less offensive. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

On Wednesday evening, ZFS founding developer Matthew Ahrens submitted what should have been a simple, non-controversial pull request to the OpenZFS project: wherever possible without causing technical issues, the patch removed references to "slaves" and replaced them with "dependents."

This patch in question doesn't change the way the code functions—it simply changes variable names in a way that brings them in conformance with Linux upstream device-mapper terminology, in 48 total lines of code (42 removed and 48 added; with one comment block expanded slightly to be more descriptive).

But this being the Internet, unfortunately, outraged naysayers descended on the pull request, and the comments were quickly closed to non-contributors. I first became aware of this as the moderator of the r/zfs subreddit where the overflow spilled once comments on the PR itself were no longer possible.

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https://arstechnica.com

Twitter says it had shut down more than 170K accounts tied to the Chinese government spreading deceptive narratives favoring China around COVID-19, HK, more (Donie O'Sullivan/CNN)

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Twitter says it had shut down more than 170K accounts tied to the Chinese government spreading deceptive narratives favoring China around COVID-19, HK, more  —  (CNN)Twitter announced Thursday that it had shut down more than 170,000 accounts tied to the Chinese government.

Fintech lenders find comfort in the steady cash flow of humble corner shops

Most fintech lenders are focusing on servicing existing clients and in the process turning off the funding tap for new borrowers. https://ift.tt/2AYBQSH https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

India Inc chalks out new plans for staff amid the pandemic

Companies such as Ola, Droom, Kissflow, Instamojo, Udaan and Flipkart, are putting in place measures that include part-time logins from home as well as offices, work infrastructure at homes and safe transportation. https://ift.tt/3dVttGd https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Dine-in customers at eateries are scarce after lockdown

Customer footfalls are at about 5-8% of the levels seen before the pandemic but are likely to go up in the next few weeks, they said. https://ift.tt/3fdbPxV https://ift.tt/eA8V8J