Internet

Video conferencing services have become the bread and butter of work, school, and even social life for the past year and a half. Each of the contenders has its own idiosyncrasies and preferred ways to access their services. Zoom started out as a standalone app but has enabled a version that runs inside a web browser. Google Meet, on the other hand, starts from the opposite direction and has embraced a browser-only experience on desktops. That's changing now with a dedicated desktop app for desktops, but, as it turns out, it's actually a Progressive Web App version of Meet instead.

Continue Reading

Twitter has announced intentions to launch its first algorithmic bias challenge, one that offers cash rewards for individuals who help uncover "potential harms" caused by the company's saliency algorithm. This new competition builds upon the bias identification approach Twitter detailed back in May. The challenge will take place as part of DEF CON AI Village this year.

Continue Reading

There are some people already complaining about what has been dubbed as "Zoom fatigue," but it seems there is really no end in sight for video meetings. In fact, some companies are pushing that old-new communication medium even further, integrating video conferencing software anywhere they see fit. The latest to do so is Amazon, which is announcing support for Zoom on its Fire TV Cube to bring those meetings to an even larger screen if your laptop isn't big enough for that.

Continue Reading

Amazon's Kindles have long been the device of choice by voracious readers, especially those that want to take their books with them anywhere. Of course, the books they hold inside don't come from thin air and have to be downloaded directly to the device or transferred from a computer. The former naturally requires an Internet connection, which almost all Kindles have. Unfortunately, some older models support don't support anything beyond 3G networks, and those will lose their ability to connect to the Internet by the end of the year.

Continue Reading

An analysis of more than 100 million tweets published in the early months of the pandemic reveals the sources of misinformation and disinformation that have since plagued society and driven mistrust in the COVID-19 vaccines. Misguided medical professionals, conspiracy theorists, and fact-checking the wrong people were all cited as contributing factors.

Continue Reading

Twitter has revealed yet another test, this one that makes it very easy to tell when you've done something that has jeopardized your account. Those who are part of this test may see a new banner above their account's feed if they've had their account locked or suspended, as well as what the penalty means and how the user can proceed in light of it.

Continue Reading

Spotify and Giphy, the platform that lets you easily find and share short animated images, have teamed up to combine the two products into one...sort of. The companies are enabling artists to combine their music with GIFs of their performance, but it won't work quite the way it sounds. Rather than a GIF playing music, the images will let users click through straight to the artist's Spotify page.

Continue Reading

It's not just you, it's Steam, PlayStation, Disney, GoDaddy, Amazon, UPS, LastPass, and a whole bunch of other websites that are out-of-commission right this minute. One part of the problem appears to be an issue with the content distribution network (CDN) Akamai. Tracking for the service suggests that they're experiencing an "emerging issue with the Edge DNS service."

Continue Reading

Twitter is now testing upvote and downvote buttons on tweets, though they're only visible to users who access the platform through the company's iOS app at this time. The idea of upvote and downvote buttons are nothing new -- they're a core aspect of Reddit, for example, and many people have asked for them on platforms like Facebook. They're also a potential problem for social media sites.

Continue Reading

A newly published video shows a swarm of mosquitoes form into a literal cyclone of buzzing chaos as they terrorize a remote eastern Russian village. Though dramatic in its visual nature and beyond annoying, the mosquitoes weren't actually a danger to nearby people. Instead, the insects were worked up into a massive mating frenzy spurred, in part, by climate change.

Continue Reading

The next Samsung Unpacked event has a reservation registration page open now for users interested in what's not yet been revealed. Devices most likely headed to this event include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 3, as well as the newest Samsung Galaxy watch. It's a strange time we live in, here in the summer of 2021, where it's pretty standard to register your interest in the possibility that you might want to buy a product that's not yet been officially revealed to the public in its entirety - weird!

Continue Reading

Creators of content working with Tumblr now have their own monetization system in play. The system is called Tumblr Post+, and it'll be appearing with the biggest and most popular Tumblr accounts as soon as this week. Users will be able to set prices for their content, starting at $3.99, with higher tiers at $5.99 and $9.99 per month.

Continue Reading