social-network – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Congo Shuts Down Internet Services ‘Indefinitely’

On Saturday Engadget wrote: Authoritarian leaders are fond of severing communications in a bid to hold on to power, and that tradition sadly isn’t going away. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has ordered telecoms to cut internet and SMS access ahead of planned mass protests against President Joseph Kabila, whose administration has continuously delayed elections to replace him. Telecom minister Emery Okundji told Reuters that it was a response to “violence that is being prepared, ” but people aren’t buying that argument. Officials had already banned demonstrations, and the country has history of cutting communications and blocking social network access in a bid to quash dissent. And today in the wake of deadly protests, Congo announced that the internet shutdown will continue “indefinitely.” The New York Times reports: At least eight people were killed and a dozen altar boys arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday after security forces cracked down on planned church protests against President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to leave office before coming elections… Congolese security forces set up checkpoints across Kinshasa, and the government issued an order to shut down text messaging and internet services indefinitely across the country for what it called “reasons of state security.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Congo Shuts Down Internet Services ‘Indefinitely’

Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Facebook has killed one of its oldest features, the “ticker, ” that let you see at a glance what your friends were doing or sharing. First launched in 2011 , it used to appear to the right of your news feed (on the web app) showing likes, comments and other friend activities. As TechCrunch noticed, Facebook’s help community had been posting about the ticker’s disappearance, when a verified employee chimed in to see that “this feature is no longer available.” Facebook hasn’t explained exactly why it chopped the ticker, though we’ve reached out for comment. The social network is generally ruthless with features that don’t increase user engagement, and by extension, ad revenue. It’s hard to remember now, but Facebook’s feeds used to display posts in chronological order, much like Twitter ( mostly ) still does. The algorithmic feed, launched in 2011 eliminated date-ordered posts, surfacing what it thinks is more relevant information, instead. Facebook-owned Instagram made the same change early last year. The ticker was introduced along with the algorithmic feed, so that you could still monitor your friends’ activities in real time. Though often called the “creeper” feed, it didn’t really do anything that the news feed didn’t before. The algorithmic feed is ostensibly good for users, but like any algorithm, it can be gamed. That has become especially apparent with Facebook over the 18 months, when Russian operators bought ads in an attempt to influence US election results. They correctly surmised that discord increases engagement, and paid for posts that played social factions off against each other. As a result, at least 126 million Americans were exposed to articles that likely influenced election results to some degree. Via: TechCrunch Source: Facebook

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Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Over 28 Million Records Stolen In Breach of Latin American Social Network Taringa

Taringa, also known as “The Latin American Reddit, ” has been compromised in a massive data breach that has resulted in the leaked login credentials of almost all of its over 28 million users. The Hackers News reports: The Hacker News has been informed by LeakBase, a breach notification service, who has obtained a copy of the hacked database containing details on 28, 722, 877 accounts, which includes usernames, email addresses and hashed passwords for Taringa users. The hashed passwords use an ageing algorithm called MD5 — which has been considered outdated even before 2012 — that can easily be cracked, making Taringa users open to hackers. Wanna know how weak is MD5? LeakBase team has already cracked 93.79 percent (nearly 27 Million) of hashed passwords successfully within just a few days. The data breach reportedly occurred last month, and the company then alerted its users via a blog post: “It is likely that the attackers have made the database containing nicks, email addresses and encrypted passwords. No phone numbers and access credentials from other social networks have been compromised as well as addresses of bitcoin wallets from the Taringa program! Creators.” the post (translated) says. “At the moment there is no concrete evidence that the attackers continue to have access to the Taringa code! and our team continues to monitor unusual movements in our infrastructure.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over 28 Million Records Stolen In Breach of Latin American Social Network Taringa

Facebook’s Bad Year Just Got a Lot Worse

While Facebook’s stock has continued to boom throughout 2016, this year has been full of PR nightmares for the world’s most popular social network, which, among other things, has been accused of censorship , grilled by the US Senate and sued by the IRS in recent months. On Thursday, however, that bad press finally became something that could hurt its bottom line when news broke that Facebook juiced a key stat to advertisers, inflating it by “60 to 80 percent” for years. Read more…

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Facebook’s Bad Year Just Got a Lot Worse

Facebook updates News Feed to show your friends’ posts first

Over the next few weeks, Facebook is tweaking its News Feed ranking to ensure you see your friends’ and family members’ status updates before anything else. The social network gave its feed algorithm an overhaul back in 2015 to prioritize people in your friends’ lists, but it sounds like that upgrade didn’t quite do the trick. This update is supposed to make sure all the posts by people you know show up and that they’re near the top above updates made by FB Pages. But how does Facebook pick out the person you want to interact with the most? The company has also explained how its upgraded feed works. As you’d expect, your feed will prioritize posts by people whom you’ve chosen to “see first, ” and those whose posts you’re inclined to Like or comment on. “[I]f you tend to like photos from your sister, ” Facebook VP Adam Mosseri said, “we’ll start putting her posts closer to the top of your feed so you won’t miss what she posted while you were away.” On the other hand, it will assume that you’re not as thrilled to hear from people whose posts you hide all the time. Since you probably follow various Pages, as well, such as those owned by businesses, publications or celebrities, the revamped News Feed also ranks their posts based on how informative and entertaining they are. If you liked a lot of stories about a certain celeb in the past, for instance, your News Feed will deem reports about that celeb informative and will make sure you see them in your stream. At the same time, if you’re inclined to like photos and Live videos, then the social network will put those near the top. The company also took the chance to say that it doesn’t “favor specific kinds of sources — or ideas” and that it’s not “picking which issues the world should read about.” Mosseri explained: “Our aim is to deliver the types of stories we’ve gotten feedback that an individual person most wants to see. We do this not only because we believe it’s the right thing but also because it’s good for our business. When people see content they are interested in, they are more likely to spend time on News Feed and enjoy their experience. ” Facebook didn’t detail what compelled it to issue that statement. If you’ll recall, though, the Senate Commerce Committee launched an official investigation in May after the website was accused of routinely suppressing politically conservative news stories. The company denied the allegations that it gamed the Trending Topics section and announced after an internal investigation that it didn’t find evidence of political bias.

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Facebook updates News Feed to show your friends’ posts first

Facebook was the victim of a backdoor hack

Even a tech giant like Facebook isn’t immune to significant security breaches. Devcore’s Orange Tsai recently discovered that someone had installed a backdoor on one of Facebook’s corporate servers (that is, not the social network itself) in a bid to swipe workers’ login details. While it’s not clear how successful the script-based exploit was, Tsai noted that the file transfer app hosted on the server had several vulnerabilities that effectively gave any intruder free rein. The attacker could have checked employee email, for instance, or even connected to Facebook’s virtual private network to get access to the company’s inner workings. Thankfully, this is all past tense. You’re only hearing about this now because Tsai reported the bugs to Facebook (to get a bounty, naturally), and waited until the firm completed its investigation before disclosing the flaws. That backdoor isn’t there anymore, folks. All the same, the incident is bound to humble Facebook a bit — it’s proof that the company is a prime target for hackers, and that it can’t assume it’s always on top of every possible security flaw. Via: Hacker News Source: Devcore

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Facebook was the victim of a backdoor hack

BBC Three is now an online-only channel

For sentimentality’s sake, we hope you indulged in your pre-bed ritual of catching a cheeky episode of American Dad! on BBC Three last night — because as of the early hours of this morning, it ceased to exist as a broadcast channel. For the next few weeks, it’ll be repurposed to promote BBC Three’s new online-only identity before disappearing from your TV’s EPG… forever . The switch has been a long time coming, of course, with the BBC setting the ball rolling almost two years ago as part of continued cost-cutting measures. Despite some opposition from the public, the BBC Trust formally approved the broadcaster’s plan for an online-only BBC Three late last year, and that transition has concluded today . The BBC Trust’s green light wasn’t without fine print, with various conditions set “to ensure younger audiences continue to be well served.” BBC Three became known for its experimental and often hilarious commissions, and the BBC has been keen to comfort loyal viewers with the promise its doctrine won’t die alongside the linear TV channel. As part of BBC Three’s rebirth, it’ll further embrace new media , with its YouTube channel and social network activity becoming more important outlets for content. In addition to BBC Three’s iPlayer presence, a new online portal called The Daily Drop is already live, highlighting content on social media channels and blending in blog posts, news and short-form videos. Joining that site later today is another platform, “The Best Of, ” which will primarily feature long-form content like documentaries, dramas and comedies, such as the new series of Cuckoo that premieres online this evening. Plenty of new commissions have been announced across all these genres already, and while BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanagh admits “we won’t get everything right immediately, ” he’s confident “being online means we can now adapt and iterate quickly.” “We aren’t constrained by duration or form anymore so the shackles are off when it comes to creativity.” Source: BBC

Time Inc buys…MySpace?

MySpace still exists . Crazy, right? The once monolithic social network had faded into irrelevancy until it was relaunched with a little help from Justin Timberlake back in 2013. The fresh coat of paint wasn’t enough to reinvigorate the platform, however, and it’s now being sold as part of its parent company Viant to Time Inc. Yep, that’s the same Time Inc that publishes Time, Fortune , Entertainment Weekly and a whole bunch of other magazines. The company described the acquisition as “game changing, ” most likely in reference to Viant’s broader ad-tech business. MySpace does, supposedly, still have a part to play in that offering, but it’s notable the site was barely mentioned in the footnote of today’s press release . Source: Time Inc. (Press Release)

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Time Inc buys…MySpace?

Driverless pods to hit the streets of Greenwich

As you stroll past the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and that place where Thor fought in The Dark World , you’ll soon see driverless pods gliding next to you. That’s the plan, anyway. The GATEway project, which has already been experimenting with a self-driving shuttle around the O2, will soon be taking some unusual vehicles onto south London’s streets. They’ll be repurposed Ultra Pods — electric four-wheelers that already operate at Heathrow Airport. Until now they’ve been locked to tracks, but project organiser TRL wants to upgrade them so they can navigate Greenwich independently. Furthermore, the new trial will be used to record exactly how the public reacts to self-driving vehicles. To help with the project, TRL has recruited a handful of experts. These include Westfield Sportscars , a West Midlands company that builds classic automobiles. TRL says it was will act as an “integrator and manufacturer, ” designing and testing the vehicles to ensure they meet road safety standards. Joining them are Oxbotica , a research-based team that was spun out of Oxford University’s Mobile Robotics Group. In short, they’ll be working on the autonomous bits — the software and hardware that deals with mapping, localisation and perception. Finally there’s Heathrow Enterprises, the company that operates the UK’s busiest airport and has plenty of first-hand experience with the dome-shaped pods. The current batch of Ultra Pods have a top speed of 40kph (roughly 25mph) and can carry up to six passengers at once. They’re not the sleekest or most exciting vehicles to look at, but presumably they get the job done at Heathrow and have shown potential as a fully-fledged mode of public transportation. TRL’s expanded consortium is aiming to start the Greenwich trial this summer, before moving on to additional experiments related to autonomous valet parking and automated deliveries. Source: Oxbotica , TRL

US Customs seize 16,000 counterfeit ‘hoverboards’

The US Customs and Border Protection has prevented 16, 000 counterfeit “hoverboards” from making it to people’s homes. Authorities have seized a warehouse full of the controversial two-wheeled scooters stamped with fake trademark logos and equipped with unauthorized batteries in Chicago. They believe the goods they collected amount to $6 million overall, at least for now. That figure will grow even bigger, since the warehouse is expecting a “massive amount of shipments” to arrive in the next few weeks. These self-balancing scooters became a huge hit last year, so numerous questionable manufacturers took advantage of the craze and released subpar, non-quality controlled versions to stores. They’ve been all over the news in the past few months for spontaneously catching fire and burning people’s houses down. At least one incident took place in Illinois. Due to the hazard inferior-quality hoverboards pose, the scooters had been banned from many airplanes , universities and even from NYC’s trains and buses . Last year, UK authorities also seized 15, 000 units after inspecting shipments at seaports and airports. [Image credit: US Customs/Flickr ] Via: Mashable Source: US Customs and Border Protection

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US Customs seize 16,000 counterfeit ‘hoverboards’