Facebook Brings Another TikTok-Like App Specifically for Creating Raps

Facebook's New Product Experimentation (NPE) team has introduced a new app called BARS can be used to create professional-style raps. The new app competes with TikTok, which has been a known... https://ift.tt/3b109PD

How Anduril and other startups are building military ready, self-piloted drones, away from Silicon Valley, where such projects have become politically untenable (Cade Metz/New York Times)

Cade Metz / New York Times:
How Anduril and other startups are building military ready, self-piloted drones, away from Silicon Valley, where such projects have become politically untenable  —  While much has been made of tech's unwillingness to work with the Pentagon, start-ups are still plumbing the industry's decades-long ties to the military.

Some schools and organizations are abandoning exam monitoring software made by Proctorio amid a barrage of complaints from students over privacy (Todd Feathers/VICE)

Todd Feathers / VICE:
Some schools and organizations are abandoning exam monitoring software made by Proctorio amid a barrage of complaints from students over privacy  —  Proctorio has cashed in on remote learning since the start of the pandemic.  Now, some schools are abandoning the company's controversial software.

Facebook to Pay $650 Million in US Privacy Lawsuit Settlement

Facebook has agreed to pay $650 million to settle a privacy lawsuit in the US over allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. https://ift.tt/3kqy8UG

Britain to Offer Fast-Track Visas to Bolster Fintech Companies After Brexit

Britain has announced a fast-track visa scheme for jobs at fintech firms after a government-backed review warned that financial technology firms will struggle with Brexit and tougher competition for... https://ift.tt/2ZWkaQY

New Social Media Rules Could Threaten Free Expression in India, Say Critics

Critics have come down hard on a set of new rules announced by the government that could force social media and online streaming platforms to remove content it deems objectionable. Tech companies will... https://ift.tt/3aZILe8

In a hearing with US lawmakers, ex-SolarWinds CEO blamed an intern for the "solarwinds123" password leak discovered in 2019 that had exposed a SolarWinds server (CNN)

CNN:
In a hearing with US lawmakers, ex-SolarWinds CEO blamed an intern for the “solarwinds123” password leak discovered in 2019 that had exposed a SolarWinds server  —  FireEye CEO on how the SolarWinds hack was discovered  —  Washington (CNN)Current and former top executives …

Genealogy tracker MyHeritage releases Deep Nostalgia, a Live Photo-like feature for old photos, which uses AI to show subjects prepping for their portrait (Andrew Liszewski/Gizmodo)

Andrew Liszewski / Gizmodo:
Genealogy tracker MyHeritage releases Deep Nostalgia, a Live Photo-like feature for old photos, which uses AI to show subjects prepping for their portrait  —  It's hard to feel connected to someone who's gone through a static photo.  So a company called MyHeritage who provides automatic AI …

Investigation Into Apple's Payment System in Netherlands Nears Decision

Apple is being investigated by Dutch competition authorities for a requirement that developers use its payment system, which charges commissions of between 15 and 30 percent. The year-long... https://ift.tt/3kuXnVC

Public docs show that ICE used private database run by Thomson Reuters with 400M+ names, addresses, and utility service records to pursue immigration violations (Drew Harwell/Washington Post)

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Public docs show that ICE used private database run by Thomson Reuters with 400M+ names, addresses, and utility service records to pursue immigration violations  —  Government agencies increasingly are accessing private information they are not authorized to compile on their own

Bill Gates on why he doesn’t use an iPhone

In an interview on Clubhouse, Gates explained why he prefers to use an Android phone and not the iPhone. “I actually use an Android phone. Because I want to keep track of everything, I’ll often play around with iPhones, but the one I carry around happens to be Android.” https://ift.tt/3pZiIaX

Reliance Jio announces 'New JioPhone 2021' offer: Price, benefits and more

https://ift.tt/3dRxxde

Sources: Biden admin plans to allow a Trump-era rule in March enabling Commerce Dept. to ban tech business transactions with China it feels are security threats (John D. McKinnon/Wall Street Journal)

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Biden admin plans to allow a Trump-era rule in March enabling Commerce Dept. to ban tech business transactions with China it feels are security threats  —  Biden administration plans to let the Trump-era rule on technology purchases and deals take effect, despite U.S. business objections about its scope

Sources: Robinhood is planning to confidentially file for an IPO as soon as next month (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Robinhood is planning to confidentially file for an IPO as soon as next month  —  Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.'s shares, plans to file confidentially for an initial public offering as soon as March, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sources detail Google's troubles with game development as the company couldn't stomach the complicated creative process amid Stadia's poor streaming numbers (Cecilia D'Anastasio/Wired)

Cecilia D'Anastasio / Wired:
Sources detail Google's troubles with game development as the company couldn't stomach the complicated creative process amid Stadia's poor streaming numbers  —  The tech giant hired 150 game developers for Stadia Games and Entertainment, only to lay them all off.  Sources say it never gave the studios a chance.