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Monday, 13 May 2019

GitHub launches Package Registry to easily generate packages from your code

GitHub Package Registry currently supports Docker images and npm, NuGet, Maven, and RubyGem packages.

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Microsoft vs. Google: Why this browser war isn't about privacy

At Microsoft's just-concluded Build developers conference, questions about privacy and trust took center stage. Yet despite multiple opportunities, the company took almost no jabs at its arch-rival Google. Why is Microsoft so hesitant to use privacy as a competitive weapon?

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Turkey fines Facebook for December 2018 API bug

Facebook fined $270,000 for API bug that exposed the non-public photos of 300,000 Turkish users.

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​Survey: Managing the multicloud

Take this quick, multiple choice survey and tell us how your company manages multiple cloud providers.

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Cat vs best and worst robot vacuum cleaners 

If you’ve flirted with the idea of buying a robot vacuum you may also have stepped back from the brink in unfolding horror at the alphabetic soup of branded discs popping into view. Consumer choice sounds like a great idea until you’ve tried to get a handle on the handle-less vacuum space.

Amazon offers an A to Z linklist of “top brands” that’s only a handful of letters short of a full alphabetic set. The horror.

What awaits the unseasoned robot vacuum buyer as they resign themselves to hours of online research to try to inform — or, well, form — a purchase decision is a seeming endless permutation of robot vac reviews and round-ups.

Unfortunately there are just so many brands in play that all these reviews tend to act as fuel, feeding a growing black hole of indecision that sucks away at your precious spare time, demanding you spend more and more of it reading about robots that suck (when you could, let’s be frank, be getting on with the vacuuming task yourself) — only to come up for air each time even less convinced that buying a robot dirtbag is at all a good idea.

Reader, I know, because I fell into this hole. And it was hellish. So in the spirit of trying to prevent anyone else falling prey to convenience-based indecision I am — apologies in advance — adding to the pile of existing literature about robot vacuums with a short comparative account that (hopefully) helps cut through some of the chaff to the dirt-pulling chase.

Here’s the bottom line: Budget robot vacuums that lack navigational smarts are simply not worth your money, or indeed your time.

Yes, that’s despite the fact they are still actually expensive vacuum cleaners.

Basically these models entail overpaying for a vacuum cleaner that’s so poor you’ll still have to do most of the job yourself (i.e. with a non-robotic vacuum cleaner).

It’s the very worst kind of badly applied robotics.

Abandon hope of getting anything worth your money at the bottom end of the heap. I know this because, alas, I tried — opting, finally and foolishly (but, in my defence, at a point of near desperation after sifting so much virtual chaff the whole enterprise seemed to have gained lottery odds of success and I frankly just wanted my spare time back), for a model sold by a well-known local retailer.

It was a budget option but I assumed — or, well, hoped — the retailer had done its homework and picked a better-than-average choice. Or at least something that, y’know, could suck dust.

The brand in question (Rowenta) sat alongside the better known (and a bit more expensive) iRobot on the shop shelf. Surely that must count for something? I imagined wildly. Reader, that logic is a trap.

I can’t comment on the comparative performance of iRobot’s bots, which I have not personally tested, but I do not hesitate to compare a €180 (~$200) Rowenta-branded robot vacuum to a very expensive cat toy.

This robot vacuum was spectacularly successful at entertaining the cat — presumably on account of its dumb disposition, bouncing stupidly off of furniture owing to a total lack of navigational smarts. (Headbutting is a pretty big clue to how stupid a robot it is, as it’s never a stand-in for intelligence even when encountered in human form.)

Even more tantalizingly, from the cat’s point of view, the bot featured two white and whisker-like side brushes that protrude and spin at paw-tempting distance. In short: Pure robotic catnip.

The cat did not stop attacking the bot’s whiskers the whole time it was in operation. That certainly added to the obstacles getting in its way. But the more existential problem was it wasn’t sucking very much at all.

At the end of its first concluded ‘clean’, after it somehow managed to lurch its way back to first bump and finally hump its charging hub, I extracted the bin and had to laugh at the modest sized furball within. I’ve found larger clumps of dust gathering themselves in corners. So: Full marks for cat-based entertainment but as a vacuum cleaner it was horrible.

At this point I did what every sensible customer does when confronted with an abject lemon: Returned it for a full refund. And that, reader, might have been that for me and the cat and robot vacs. Who can be bothered to waste so much money and time for what appeared laughably incremental convenience? Even with a steady supply of cat fur to contend with.

But as luck would have it a Roborock representative emailed to ask if I would like to review their latest top-of-the-range model — which, at €549, does clock in at the opposite end of the price scale; ~3x the pitiful Rowenta. So of course I jumped at the chance to give the category a second spin — to see if a smarter device could impress me and not just tickle the cat’s fancy.

Clearly the price difference here, at the top vs the bottom of the range, is substantial. And yet, if you bought a car that was 3x times cheaper than a Ferrari you’d still expect not just that the wheels stay on but that it can actually get you somewhere, in good time and do so without making you horribly car sick.

Turns out buyers of robot vacuums need to tread far more carefully.

Here comes the bookending top-line conclusion: Robot vacuums are amazing. A modern convenience marvel. But — and it’s a big one — only if you’re willing to shell out serious cash to get a device that actually does the job intended.

Roborock S6: It’s a beast at gobbling your furry friend’s dander

Comparing the Roborock S6 and the Rowenta Smart Force Essential Aqua RR6971WH (to give it its full and equally terrible name) is like comparing a high-end electric car with a wind-up kid’s toy.

Where the latter product was so penny-pinching the company hadn’t even paid to include in the box a user manual that contained actual words — opting, we must assume, to save on translation costs by producing a comic packed with inscrutable graphics and bizarro don’t do diagrams which only served to cement the fast-cooling buyer’s conviction they’d been sold a total lemon — the Roborock’s box contains a well written paper manual that contains words and clearly labeled diagrams. What a luxury!

At the same time there’s not really that much you need to grok to get your head around operating the Roborock. After a first pass to familiarize yourself with its various functions it’s delightfully easy to use. It will even produce periodic vocal updates — such as telling you it’s done cleaning and is going back to base. (Presumably in case you start to worry it’s gone astray under the bed. Or that quiet industry is a front for brewing robotic rebellion against indentured human servitude.)

One button starts a full clean — and this does mean full thanks to on-board laser navigation that allows the bot to map the rooms in real-time. This means you get methodical passes, minimal headbutting and only occasional spots missed. (Another button will do a spot clean if the S6 does miss something or there’s a fresh spill that needs tidying — you just lift the bot to where you want it and hit the appropriate spot.)

There is an app too, if you want to access extra features like being able to tell it to go clean a specific room, schedule cleans or set no-go zones. But, equally delightfully, there’s no absolute need to hook the bot to your wi-fi just to get it to do its primary job. All core features work without the faff of having to connect it to the Internet — nor indeed the worry of who might get access to your room-mapping data. From a privacy point of view this wi-fi-less app-free operation is a major plus.

In a small apartment with hard flooring the only necessary prep is a quick check to clear stuff like charging cables and stray socks off the floor. You can of course park dining chairs on the table to offer the bot a cleaner sweep. Though I found the navigation pretty adept at circling chair legs. Sadly the unit is a little too tall to make it under the sofa.

The S6 includes an integrated mopping function, which works incredibly well on lino-style hard flooring (but won’t be any use if you only have carpets). To mop you fill the water tank attachment; velcro-fix a dampened mop cloth to the bottom; and slide-clip the whole unit under the bot’s rear. Then you hit the go button and it’ll vacuum and mop in the same pass.

In my small apartment the S6 had no trouble doing a full floor clean in under an hour, without needing to return to base to recharge in the middle. (Roborock says the S6 will drive for up to three hours on a single charge.)

It also did not seem to get confused by relatively dark flooring in my apartment — which some reviews had suggested can cause headaches for robot vacuums by confusing their cliff sensors.

After that first clean I popped the lid to check on the contents of the S6’s transparent lint bin — finding an impressive quantity of dusty fuzz neatly wadded therein. This was really just robot vacuum porn, though; the gleaming floors spoke for themselves on the quality of the clean.

The level of dust gobbled by the S6 vs the Rowenta underlines the quality difference between the bottom and top end of the robot vacuum category.

So where the latter’s plastic carapace immediately became a magnet for all the room dust it had kicked up but spectacularly failed to suck, the S6’s gleaming white shell has stayed remarkably lint-free, acquiring only a minimal smattering of cat hairs over several days of operation — while the floors it’s worked have been left visibly dust- and fur-free. (At least until the cat got to work dirtying them again.)

Higher suction power, better brushes and a higher quality integrated filter appear to make all the difference. The S6 also does a much better cleaning job a lot more quietly. Roborock claims it’s 50% quieter than the prior model (the S5) and touts it as its quietest robot vacuum yet.

It’s not super silent but is quiet enough when cleaning hard floors not to cause a major disturbance if you’re working or watching something in the same room. Though the novelty can certainly be distracting.

Even the look of the S6 exudes robotic smarts — with its raised laser-housing bump resembling a glowing orange cylonic eye-slot.

Although I was surprised, at first glance, by the single, rather feeble looking side brush vs the firm pair the Rowenta had fixed to its undercarriage. But again the S6’s tool is smartly applied — stepping up and down speed depending on what the bot’s tackling. I found it could miss the odd bit of lint or debris such as cat litter but when it did these specs stood out as the exception on an otherwise clean floor.

It’s also true that the cat did stick its paw in again to try attacking the S6’s single spinning brush. But these attacks were fewer and a lot less fervent than vs the Rowenta, as if the bot’s more deliberate navigation commanded greater respect and/or a more considered ambush. So it appears that even to a feline eye the premium S6 looks a lot less like a dumb toy.

Cat plots another ambush while the S6 works the floor

On a practical front, the S6’s lint bin has a capacity of 480ml. Roborock suggests cleaning it out weekly (assuming you’re using the bot every week), as well as washing the integrated dust filter (it supplies a spare in the box so you can switch one out to clean it and have enough time for it to fully dry before rotating it back into use).

If you use the mopping function the supplied reusable mop cloths do need washing afterwards too (Roborock also includes a few disposable alternatives in the box but that seems a pretty wasteful option when it’s easy enough to stick a reusable cloth in with a load of laundry or give it a quick wash yourself). So if you’re chasing a fully automated, robot-powered, end-to-cleaning-chores dream be warned there’s still a little human elbow grease required to keep everything running smoothly.

Still, there’s no doubt a top-of-the-range robot vacuum like the S6 will save you time cleaning.

If you can justify the not inconsiderable cost involved in buying this extra time by shelling out for a premium robot vacuum that’s smart enough to clean effectively all that’s left to figure out is how to spend your time windfall wisely — resisting the temptation to just put your feet up and watch the clever little robot at work.



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Alexa, does the Echo Dot Kids protect children’s privacy?

A coalition of child protection and privacy groups has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) urging it to investigate a kid-focused edition of Amazon’s Echo smart speaker.

The complaint against Amazon Echo Dot Kids, which has been lodged with the FTC by groups including the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy and the Consumer Federation of America, argues that the e-commerce giant is violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) — including by failing to obtain proper consents for the use of kids’ data.

As with its other smart speaker Echo devices, the Echo Dot Kids continually listens for a wake word and then responds to voice commands by recording and processing users’ speech. The difference with this Echo is it’s intended for children to use — which makes it subject to U.S. privacy regulation intended to protect kids from commercial exploitation online.

The complaint, which can be read in full via the group’s complaint website, argues that Amazon fails to provide adequate information to parents about what personal data will be collected from their children when they use the Echo Dot Kids; how their information will be used; and which third parties it will be shared with — meaning parents do not have enough information to make an informed decision about whether to give consent for their child’s data to be processed.

They also accuse Amazon of providing at best “unclear and confusing” information per its obligation under COPPA to also provide notice to parents to obtain consent for children’s information to be collected by third parties via the online service — such as those providing Alexa “skills” (aka apps the AI can interact with to expand its utility).

A number of other concerns about Amazon’s device are also being raised with the FTC.

Amazon released the Echo Dot Kids a year ago — and, as we noted at the time, it’s essentially a brightly bumpered iteration of the company’s standard Echo Dot hardware.

There are differences in the software, though. In parallel, Amazon updated its Alexa smart assistant — adding parental controls, aka its FreeTime software, to the child-focused smart speaker.

Amazon said the free version of FreeTime that comes bundled with the Echo Dot Kids provides parents with controls to manage their kids’ use of the product, including device time limits; parental controls over skills and services; and the ability to view kids’ activity via a parental dashboard in the app. The software also removes the ability for Alexa to be used to make phone calls outside the home (while keeping an intercom functionality).

A paid premium tier of FreeTime (called FreeTime Unlimited) also bundles additional kid-friendly content, including Audible books, ad-free radio stations from iHeartRadio Family and premium skills and stories from the likes of Disney, National Geographic and Nickelodeon.

At the time it announced the Echo Dot Kids, Amazon said it had tweaked its voice assistant to support kid-focused interactions — saying it had trained the AI to understand children’s questions and speech patterns, and incorporated new answers targeted specifically at kids (such as jokes).

But while the company was ploughing resource into adding a parental control layer to Echo and making Alexa’s speech recognition kid-friendly, the COPPA complaint argues it failed to pay enough attention to the data protection and privacy obligations that apply to products targeted at children — as the Echo Dot Kids clearly is.

Or, to put it another way, Amazon offers parents some controls over how their children can interact with the product — but not enough controls over how Amazon (and others) can interact with their children’s data via the same always-on microphone.

More specifically, the group argues that Amazon is failing to meet its obligation as the operator of a child-directed service to provide notice and obtain consent for third parties operating on the Alexa platform to use children’s data — noting that its Children’s Privacy Disclosure policy states it does not apply to third-party services and skills.

Instead, the complaint says Amazon tells parents they should review the skill’s policies concerning data collection and use. “Our investigation found that only about 15% of kid skills provide a link to a privacy policy. Thus, Amazon’s notice to parents regarding data collection by third parties appears designed to discourage parental engagement and avoid Amazon’s responsibilities under Coppa,” the group writes in a summary of their complaint.

They are also objecting to how Amazon is obtaining parental consent — arguing its system for doing so is inadequate because it’s merely asking that a credit or debit/debit gift card number be inputted.

“It does not verify that the person ‘consenting’ is the child’s parent as required by Coppa,” they argue. “Nor does Amazon verify that the person consenting is even an adult because it allows the use of debit gift cards and does not require a financial transaction for verification.”

Another objection is that Amazon is retaining audio recordings of children’s voices far longer than necessary — keeping them indefinitely unless a parent actively goes in and deletes the recordings, despite COPPA requiring that children’s data be held for no longer than is reasonably necessary.

They found that additional data (such as transcripts of audio recordings) was also still retained even after audio recordings had been deleted. A parent must contact Amazon customer service to explicitly request deletion of their child’s entire profile to remove that data residue — meaning that to delete all recorded kids’ data a parent has to nix their access to parental controls and their kids’ access to content provided via FreeTime — so the complaint argues that Amazon’s process for parents to delete children’s information is “unduly burdensome” too.

Their investigation also found the company’s process for letting parents review children’s information to be similarly arduous, with no ability for parents to search the collected data — meaning they have to listen/read every recording of their child to understand what has been stored.

They further highlight that children’s Echo Dot Kids’ audio recordings can of course include sensitive personal details — such as if a child uses Alexa’s “remember” feature to ask the AI to remember personal data such as their address and contact details or personal health information like a food allergy.

The group’s complaint also flags the risk of other children having their data collected and processed by Amazon without their parents’ consent — such as when a child has a friend or family member visiting on a play date and they end up playing with the Echo together.

Responding to the complaint, Amazon has denied it is in breach of COPPA. In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “FreeTime on Alexa and Echo Dot Kids Edition are compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Customers can find more information on Alexa and overall privacy practices here: https://www.amazon.com/alexa/voice [amazon.com].”

An Amazon spokesperson also told us it only allows kid skills to collect personal information from children outside of FreeTime Unlimited (i.e. the paid tier) — and then only if the skill has a privacy policy and the developer separately obtains verified consent from the parent, adding that most kid skills do not have a privacy policy because they do not collect any personal information.

At the time of writing, the FTC had not responded to a request for comment on the complaint.

In Europe, there has been growing concern over the use of children’s data by online services. A report by England’s children’s commissioner late last year warned kids are being “datafied,” and suggested profiling at such an early age could lead to a data-disadvantaged generation.

Responding to rising concerns the U.K. privacy regulator launched a consultation on a draft Code of Practice for age appropriate design last month, asking for feedback on 16 proposed standards online services must meet to protect children’s privacy — including requiring that product makers put the best interests of the child at the fore, deliver transparent T&Cs, minimize data use and set high privacy defaults.

The U.K. government has also recently published a whitepaper setting out a policy plan to regulate internet content that has a heavy focus on child safety.



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Drone sighting at Germany’s busiest airport grounds flights for about an hour

A drone sighting caused all flights to be suspended at Frankfurt Airport for around an hour this morning. The airport is Germany’s busiest by passenger numbers, serving almost 14.8 million passengers in the first three months of this year.

In a tweet sent after flights had resumed the airport reported that operations were suspended at 07:27, before the suspension was lifted at 08:15, with flights resuming at 08:18.

It added that security authorities were investigating the incident.

A report in local press suggests more than 100 takeoffs and landings were cancelled as a result of the disruption caused by the drone sighting.

It’s the second such incident at the airport after a drone sighting at the end of March also caused flights to be suspended for around half an hour.

Drone sightings near airports have been on the increase for years as drones have landed in the market at increasingly affordable prices, as have reports of drone near misses with aircraft.

The Frankfurt suspension follows far more major disruption caused by repeat drone sightings at the UK’s second largest airport, Gatwick Airport, late last year — which caused a series of flight shutdowns and travel misery for hundreds of thousands of people right before the holiday period.

The UK government came in for trenchant criticism immediately afterwards, with experts saying it had failed to listen and warnings about the risks posed by drone misuse. A planned drone bill has also been long delayed, meaning new legislation to comprehensively regulate drones has slipped.

In response to the Gatwick debacle the UK government quickly pushed through an expansion of existing drone no-fly zones around airports after criticism by aviation experts — beefing up the existing 1km exclusion zone to 5km. It also said police would get new powers to tackle drone misuse.

In Germany an amendment to air traffic regulations entered into force in 2017 that prohibits drones being flown within 1.5km of an airport. Drones are also banned from being flown in controlled airspace.

However with local press reporting rising drone sightings near German airports, with the country’s Air Traffic Control registering 125 last year (31 of which were around Frankfurt), the 1.5km limit looks similarly inadequate.



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Why notification sounds send you emotionally reeling into the past


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Audeze gaming headsets on sale for $60 off this weekend


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Become a cloud architect: Learn AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and more


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Samsung's 4K TV ‘The Frame’ on sale this weekend — save over $1,000


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Best 4K TV deals this weekend: Vizio, TCL, and Samsung's 'The Frame'


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Laptops and tablets on sale this weekend: iPads, Chromebooks, Amazon Fire tablets, and more


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Elon Musk will go to trial for calling British rescue diver a 'pedo guy'


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Beats Solo3 wireless headphones are $75 off on Amazon


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The UK's tax office must destroy 7 million voiceprints. Would that happen in the U.S.?


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Wacom vs iPad Pro — which tablet is right for you?


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Best power banks of 2019: The top USB portable chargers for your phone

These USB battery packs from Anker, Mophie, Xiaomi, and others will keep your Android or Apple phone charged while you're on the go.

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iPhone 2019 rumors: A13 chip, reverse-wireless charging, and a third rear camera

Supercharge your PC or Mac's storage with WD's massive 8TB external drive for $125 today

Learn new skills with lifetime access to over 1,000 courses for just $59

How to turn on iCloud Photos when iOS says you can’t

Three features Apple should borrow from Google’s I/O announcements

Anker PowerCore+ 19000 PD review: Fresh design and new features make this battery pack very appealing

A portable battery pack with USB-C that doubles as a USB hub? Go on, we're listening.

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Best mesh Wi-Fi routers: Reviews and buying advice

Few elements of your home’s infrastructure have a bigger impact on your tech life. We recommend mesh Wi-Fi routers for most people, and we’ll help you find just the right one for your needs.

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What Intel’s latest roadmap updates mean for the Mac

TP-Link's excellent, already affordable Kasa security camera is 36% off until midnight

iOS 13, Google I/O’19, create custom vibrating iPhone ringtones, and your hot takes

Powerbeats Pro review: Better than AirPods, but not for everybody

How to find out if your Mac’s software is 32- or 64-bit

Apple TV+ original shows, series, and movies: Jon Favreau's series Prehistoric Planet shows us the last days of the dinosaurs

Naim ups its high-end music-streaming game with the Mu-so 2nd Generation

There’s nothing so-so about Naim Audio’s Mu-so 2nd Generation, now on display at the High End audio show in Munich.

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Save big on Anker's popular chargers and accessories in Woot's today-only blowout sale

B&H is having one of the first big sales for the new Mac mini

Edit text and images in any PDF document for $25 with PDF Reader Pro

What to do if your Mac’s hard drive starts unmounting itself unexpectedly

Why the Mac won’t end up locked down like iOS

Ecovacs Winbot X review: This robot window cleaner is novel, but not entirely practical

It's a capable cleaner, but its expensive and demands a lot of attention.

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Apple should bring back the iPhone SE and model it after Google’s Pixel 3a

Get the ultra-portable 12-inch MacBook for the lowest price we’ve ever seen

Surf the web securely from anywhere in the world for $30 with VPN Unlimited

Send a beautiful flower arrangement on Mother's Day for $20 with Teleflora

Samsung's fast, spacious 512GB Evo Select microSD card gets a gargantuan 50% discount

DriveDx review: Mac utility provides hints and warnings when your drive is about to fail

'Code For Venezuela' Aims To Find Solutions For The Embattled Country

NPR's Michel Martin talks with Jose Montes de Oca, co-organizer of Code for Venezuela, an organization of tech workers who organize "hackathons" to help solve some of the country's problems.



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Facebook defends itself against op-ed calling for its breakup

On Thursday, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for the company to be broken up, saying that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks,” and that he should be held accountable for his company’s mistakes. Now, Facebook has responded an op-ed of its own, saying that its size isn’t the real problem, and that its success as a platform shouldn’t be punished.

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications wrote the piece, and in it, he agrees with Hughs that “companies should be held accountable for their actions,” and that tech companies such as Facebook shouldn’t be the ones handling all of the “important social,...

Continue reading…



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Hands on with Android Auto’s redesign and Assistant’s driver mode

Google debuted a series of updates to its Android Auto software that will land in summer 2019. The new interface is darker and more intuitive to use, and requires less taps. There's also a driving mode coming to Google Assistant.

The post Hands on with Android Auto’s redesign and Assistant’s driver mode appeared first on Digital Trends.



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Boeing shows off Starliner test ahead of launch this summer

Ahead of its planned debut launch in August, Boeing has shared a video of its CST-100 Starliner capsule undergoing a recent parachute test in which it was dropped from a high-altitude balloon.

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Pixel 3, Pixel 3a slowdowns reportedly caused by Google’s Digital Wellbeing

Some Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a owners have reportedly solved the slowdown issues on their devices by deactivating Google's Digital Wellbeing. However, it remains unconfirmed if the feature is indeed negatively affecting the smartphones.

The post Pixel 3, Pixel 3a slowdowns reportedly caused by Google’s Digital Wellbeing appeared first on Digital Trends.



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The best shows on Amazon Prime right now (May 2019)

There's more to Amazon Prime than free two-day shipping, including access to a number of phenomenal shows at no extra cost. To make the sifting easier, here are our favorite shows currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Best new shows and movies to stream: Burning, Border, Tuca and Bertie, and more

Need something to watch this weekend? Check out our list of the best new shows and movies to stream right now. On the list this week: Brilliant Korean drama Burning, Tuca and Bertie season 1, and more.

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The best movies on Amazon Prime Video right now (May 2019)

Amazon Prime Video provides subscribers with access to a host of fantastic films, but sorting through the catalog can be a major undertaking. Luckily, we've done the work for you. Here are the best movies on Amazon Prime Video right now.

The post The best movies on Amazon Prime Video right now (May 2019) appeared first on Digital Trends.



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Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen gave his wife a Polaris Slingshot for Mother’s Day

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen surprised his wife Gianni with a Polaris Slingshot SLR 3-wheeler for Mother's Day. After the birth of their second son Jansen wanted to give her a gift they could both enjoy.

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Monster Hunter World: Iceborne to add new area to explore, more monsters to hunt

Capcom will launch Monster Hunter World: Iceborne in September for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game's first official expansion will add a new area to explore, new monsters to hunt, and new combat options to try.

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Amazon Alexa now works with more than 60,000 smart home devices

Amazon recently announced that its wildly popular voice assistant is now compatible with more than 60,000 products from more than 7,400 brands. That level of compatibility dwarfs many of Alexa's biggest competitors.

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Tinder Lite will soon launch to bring the dating game into emerging markets

Tinder Lite, a lightweight version of the dating app, will soon launch in emerging markets where access to data may be limited. The app will look to bring more people into the dating game, as Tinder looks to maintain its growth.

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Remember the summer of ’69? NASA wants to hear your memories of the moon landing

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and to celebrate, NASA is launching an audio project called Apollo Stories which invites the public to submit their memories about the time of the landing.

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Game of Thrones: Plotlines from the books that played out differently (or not at all) in the series

It isn't easy to adapt a massive saga for the screen. Here are some of the plot points from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels never happened in Game of Thrones or played out differently on the screen.

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Range Rover Astronaut Edition lifts off solely for Virgin Galactic customers

Range Rover's Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) group announced the Range Rover Astronaut Edition. The only customers who can buy the Astronaut Edition are the 600 people who reserved a space flight with Virgin Galactic, for $250,000 each.

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Respawn will serve temporary bans to piggy-backing Apex Legends players

Respawn identified piggy-backing players as those who do not participate in matches but stick around to earn experience points. The developer will serve temporary bans to those who exhibit such behavior in the future.

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The earliest galaxies shone brightly in the young universe

Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have shown that the earliest galaxies in the universe were brighter than previously thought, shedding light onto the way that the universe evolved.

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Android Q: How to use dark mode

Google introduce a dark theme option in Android 9 Pie, but in Android 10 Q it's pushing further towards a proper dark mode. We'll show you how to activate dark mode on your Android device and give you a sneak peek of what's coming.

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The best indie games on Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch's portability makes indies feel at home on the platform. Luckily, there are plenty of great titles to choose from. Here are our picks for the best Nintendo Switch indie games.

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Panasonic Lumix S1 vs. Canon EOS R: A full-frame mirrorless matchup

The Canon EOS R and Panasonic Lumix S1 both represent their company's first attempts at full-frame mirrorless cameras, and each manufacturer brought different competencies to the table. Here's how to two high-end camera compare.

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The best cheap gaming PCs

If you're looking for the best cheap gaming PCs you can buy, you have plenty of options. Our list of affordable gaming rigs includes the latest hardware from AMD and Nvidia, plus full support for VR headsets.

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Gold on Earth could be result of neutron star collision 4.6 billion years ago

Scientists believe the nearby collision of two neutron stars 4.6 billion years ago could have been the source of some of Earth's heaviest elements, including gold and platinum.

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Tiny drone uses A.I. to learn from nature’s best pilot, the hummingbird

One of nature's mist skilled and maneuverable fliers is the hummingbird. Now scientists have used machine learning algorithms to study the way these birds fly in order to replicate their abilities in drones.

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Mars has its own water cycle, explaining why it lost its water over time

Billions of years ago, Mars used to have water on its surface. But over time, this water was lost. Now scientists have created a simulation of how water vapor moves through the atmosphere and which could explain why Mars lost its water.

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Microalgae could be key to efficient life support system in space

Current life support systems used in space use chemical reactions to create water and oxygen and recycle carbon dioxide. But a new system could use algae to produce oxygen, water, and even food.

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Tetris 99 Big Block DLC adds offline mode against 98 bots for $10

The Big Block DLC for Tetris 99 is now available at the Nintendo eShop for $10. The add-on includes CPU Battle mode, which allows players to go up against 98 bots, and Marathon mode, which is the traditional version of the puzzler.

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Apple said to be replacing coral, blue with green, lavender for 2019 iPhone XR

Apple is reportedly replacing the color options of coral and blue with green and lavender for the 2019 iPhone XR. However, further details such as the specific shade of green that will be offered remain unclear.

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The best MacBook for 2019

Apple's lineup of MacBooks has started to swell, leaving fans a bit confused about which laptop they should buy. Depending on what you're looking for, we'll point you in the right direction.

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The best music apps for iOS and Android

We rummaged through the iOS and Android app stores to find the finest mobile music-creation and music-consumption apps in existence. No matter if you're on Android or iOS, here are the best music apps.

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The best Nintendo Switch exclusives

Who doesn't love a good Nintendo game? If you're looking for great first-party titles for your Nintendo Switch, take a look at our list of the very best exclusives available right now.

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Awesome Tech You Can’t Buy Yet: Wake-up lights and countertop clothes dryers

Check out our roundup of the best new crowdfunding projects and product announcements that hit the web this week. You may not be able to buy this stuff yet, but it's fun to gawk!

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Get Giant Plugs Out of the Way With a 10-Pack of Mini Extension Cords

Giant plugs that cover up half the outlets on your power strip should be outlawed, but until that day arrives, these short extension cords will have to do. $28 gets you a pack of 10, which should be enough for even the most advanced home theater setups.

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Ancient Psychedelics, Robocall Scams, and Space Bezos: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week

This was one heck of a week in the tech and science world. Ridesharing giant Uber finally launched its long-awaited IPO, which was a major flop, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes asked the Federal Trade Commission to break up the company, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tried his damnedest to convince humanity to colonize the…

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Sophie Turner Has Some Insight on That Game of Thrones Coffee Cup Goof

Look, maybe Dany just likes lattes, yeah?

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Kamala Harris Says 'We Have to Seriously Take a Look At' Breaking Up Facebook

California Senator Kamala Harris, one of the (innumerable) Democrats eyeing the White House in a 2020 presidential bid, has joined Massachusetts senator and fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren in calling for antitrust authorities to look at a possible breakup of Facebook.

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Sunday's Best Deals: Kingdom Hearts, Mother's Day Books, iPads, and More

Kindle downloads for Mother’s Day, handy 1' extension cords, and a TriggerPoint foam roller lead off Sunday’s best deals from around the web.

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