Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Yandex announces a deal to offload its controversial news aggregator and a blog to social network VK in exchange for VK's food and grocery service Delivery Club (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Yandex announces a deal to offload its controversial news aggregator and a blog to social network VK in exchange for VK's food and grocery service Delivery Club  —  Yandex NV, Russia's leading search engine, announced a binding deal to rid itself of its controversial news aggregator …



Whistleblower complaint: Twitter's ex-head of security Peiter Zatko alleges the company misled the FTC over its security plans, did not protect users, and more (Washington Post)

Washington Post:
Whistleblower complaint: Twitter's ex-head of security Peiter Zatko alleges the company misled the FTC over its security plans, did not protect users, and more  —  In an explosive whistleblower complaint obtained by The Washington Post, former Twitter security chief Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko alleges …



A look at "DentureTok" on TikTok, made up of women with dentures, as they fight the stigma and campaign for better dental care access; #dentures has 1B+ views (Jessica Lucas/Input)

Jessica Lucas / Input:
A look at “DentureTok” on TikTok, made up of women with dentures, as they fight the stigma and campaign for better dental care access; #dentures has 1B+ views  —  For as long as Faith Hill can remember, she's had problems with her teeth.  —  She grew up with deteriorating gum disease …



iQoo Z6x to come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 Plus chipset

Chinese smartphone maker iQoo has confirmed that it will launch the Z6 series smartphones on August 25. The leaks and rumours about the smartphone have already been floating on the internet. However, ahead of the official announcement, new details about the smartphone has arrived from the company’s end. https://ift.tt/Zem8PKz

Microsoft aims to "unlock 100,000 opportunities" for people with disabilities with this new partnership

Microsoft has recently collaborated with non-profit organisation EnAble India to empower persons with disabilities (PwDs) by engaging more than 100 organisations. https://ift.tt/P9RVd6s

These are the top concerns for electric scooter buyers

As the government probes multiple fires in electric two-wheelers, only 1% household consumers plan to buy an e-scooter in the next six months amid safety and performance concerns, a new report showed. https://ift.tt/zW7Kk53

Monday, August 22, 2022

Ethereum's Merge will introduce new participants, called builders, who gather transactions to be sent for validation, potentially altering its power structure (Olga Kharif/Bloomberg)

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Ethereum's Merge will introduce new participants, called builders, who gather transactions to be sent for validation, potentially altering its power structure  —  The much-anticipated upgrade of Ethereum will create new participants called builders in the blockchain ecosystem …



How to listen to radio on iPhone for free

Gone are the days when people used to tune in to radio stations on their smartphones. These days with music streaming platforms, radio isn’t something that people use on phones. However, if you want to listen to radio on an iPhone, then there’s a way out. https://ift.tt/AvTU9oH

Police in Delhi, India, who use facial recognition to identify protesters, say they consider 80%+ accuracy a "positive" match, raising concerns among activists (Varsha Bansal/Wired)

Varsha Bansal / Wired:
Police in Delhi, India, who use facial recognition to identify protesters, say they consider 80%+ accuracy a “positive” match, raising concerns among activists  —  Police in India's capital say they only require an 80 percent accuracy rate for matches, raising new alarm bells for civil liberty advocates.



US researchers create novel 10-minute full-charge method for electric vehicles

One solution is to tailor the charging protocol in a way that optimises speed while avoiding damage for the many different types of battery designs currently used in vehicles. https://ift.tt/FlhIC2T

How to enable end-to-end encryption on Facebook Messenger

Nobody, including Facebook, can see or hear what is sent or said during this delivery. Your calls and messages in a conversation are further secured and protected with end-to-end encryption so that only you and the other person can see, hear, or read them. https://ift.tt/sKc5XET

Sunday, August 21, 2022

The demand for AR beauty filters on Instagram remains high, despite evidence of harmful effects on users' mental health and Meta's efforts to ban some filters (Tate Ryan-Mosley/MIT Technology Review)

Tate Ryan-Mosley / MIT Technology Review:
The demand for AR beauty filters on Instagram remains high, despite evidence of harmful effects on users' mental health and Meta's efforts to ban some filters  —  Meta banned filters that “encourage plastic surgery,” but a massive demand for beauty augmentation on social media is complicating matters.



Elon Musk says price of FSD will rise from $12K to $15K in September when Tesla rolls out Beta 10.69.2, which lets drivers test new features on public roads (Lora Kolodny/CNBC)

Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Elon Musk says price of FSD will rise from $12K to $15K in September when Tesla rolls out Beta 10.69.2, which lets drivers test new features on public roads  —  - Tesla plans a 25% price increase for its premium, driver assistance system marketed in the U.S. as the Full Self-Driving, or FSD, option.



NSO Group CEO is stepping down as the company restructures to focus on NATO countries; source: NSO is also cutting 100 posts out of its 750-strong workforce (Reuters)

Reuters:
NSO Group CEO is stepping down as the company restructures to focus on NATO countries; source: NSO is also cutting 100 posts out of its 750-strong workforce  —  Israeli spyware firm NSO Group said on Sunday its Chief Executive Shalev Hulio is stepping down with immediate effect …



A dad who sent Android photos of his baby's groin to a doctor says Google disabled his account and police probed him after Google flagged the photos as CSAM (Kashmir Hill/New York Times)

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A dad who sent Android photos of his baby's groin to a doctor says Google disabled his account and police probed him after Google flagged the photos as CSAM  —  Google has an automated tool to detect abusive images of children.  But the system can get it wrong, and the consequences are serious.



Hands-on with LinkedIn's new games Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens: shamelessly following the NYT's formula, all three take ~10 minutes, and they are very fun (David Pierce/The Verge)

David Pierce / The Verge : Hands-on with LinkedIn's new games Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Queens: shamelessly following the NYT's f...