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We’re still doing this, huh? It’s that time again. Each year’s end brings list after list of the worst data security sins and a ranking of password no-nos, and it appears that many of us have learned nothing from the security shortcomings of our past. According to a list of the 200 worst passwords of…
The Los Angeles Police Department issued a moratorium on the use of commercial facial recognition software on Tuesday, effectively ending a trial with dystopian software manufacturer Clearview AI that the department had long sought to downplay. The decision reportedly comes after Buzzfeed News probed the LAPD’s use of the software, which officials had in the…
President Trump has fired the nation’s top election security official, Christopher Krebs, head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Trump announced his decision Tuesday night via Twitter. Krebs, a Trump appointee and former senior counselor at DHS, is widely regarded for his knack of avoiding partisan politics, which is…
Apparently drunk with power after slapping ‘misleading information’ labels on several of President Donald Trump’s tweets, Twitter is now reportedly “exploring” the option of adding a ‘dislike’ button. During a Tuesday Twitter exchange with cybersecurity expert Jackie Singh, Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s product lead, said that while adding some sort of downvoting capability isn’t among the…
Stock trading app Robinhood is seeking financial advisers to help it go public as soon as the spring of 2021, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Robinhood is a trading app that makes it simple to play the markets. It’s reportedly surging in usership, thanks in part to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has dramatically stripped opportunities…
Police in central England are asking for help catching thieves who made off with an estimated $6.6 million in Apple gadgets last Tuesday night. Between 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time on Nov. 10, thieves hijacked a truck carrying some 48 pallets of Apple products, including iPads, AirPods, and Apple Watches, police said. The…
The latest Firefox update is finally here, and comes packaged with a new feature that tries to make browsing a bit less scary. “What might that be?” you’d be right to ask: an option to flip on what’s called “HTTPS-only mode.” In this state, Firefox will try to establish an HTTPS connection with every website,…
Thank the gods for Lindsey Graham’s alleged spineless criminality. Without the presence of the senator from South Carolina, today’s Big Tech hearing on censorship and election interference on social media might’ve been completely off-topic. Back in October, Americans were staring down the horror of Election Day and Senator Graham was filled with righteous indignation over…
Plenty of big-name tech giants have tried their hand at augmented reality headsets or smart glasses. Most have failed. That’s not stopping Oppo, however, which announced at its Oppo Inno Day conference today that it plans to release its own pair of smart glasses next year. The glasses certainly look futuristic, or kind of like…
Great news for chickens: It’s now easier than ever to pretend you never posted that cringe to Twitter, which is rolling out a new, Instagram Stories-like type of post that auto-deletes after 24 hours. These are called Fleets, which is slightly confusing until you realize it’s a bad pun. Fleets has already been tested in…
While Microsoft has declared the release of the Xbox Series X and S as its biggest console launch ever, one thing that could seriously sales of Microsoft’s next-gen system over the new few months is limited supply, which based on some recent info, could continue until April of next year. The latest on the Xbox…
Even if you haven’t been on TikTok, you probably know that the app is full of teens, and teens, in general, don’t always have the best judgement. In light of that, the platform unveiled a bevvy of new parental controls today geared towards keeping the millions of teens on the platform safe from the creeps,…
It’s barely been three months since Huami launched the Zepp E smartwatch, and yet it’s already got its second Zepp smartwatch ready to go. This time, we’ve got the Zepp Z, a more classic looking watch that adds Amazon Alexa compatibility. In terms of specs and features, there’s not that much of a difference between…
While it’s hard to say that Wear OS is innovating the wearables field, in the past year it’s done quite a bit of catching up. Today, Google’s announcing a few new updates to the Google Fit and Wear OS that should help close the gap between it and other smartwatch platforms. For starters, both Google…
In addition to presiding over our food, the supply chain, and acting as a rent-seeking middleman for retail while quietly picking off the competition, Amazon will now oversee drugs. Today, the behemoth launched Amazon Pharmacy, which is certain to leave more small business owners out in the cold. Amazon Pharmacy expands on PillPack, a monthly…
Federal agents arrested Matthew Piercey near Redding, California, on Monday over an alleged $35 million Ponzi scheme, but Piercey didn’t surrender quietly. The suspect reportedly fled FBI agents in a truck before jumping out, getting something out of his vehicle, and hiding in the freezing water of Lake Shasta for 25 minutes. How did he…
The U.S. Navy destroyed a mock intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean early Tuesday morning in a successful test of America’s experimental missile defense system, according to press releases from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and defense contractor Raytheon. The new test was notable for destroying a target missile while it was outside Earth’s…
Facebook’s attempt to slow the spread of President Trump’s misinformation and outright lies by affixing warning labels to the content has done little to stop the posts from going viral—and the platform is apparently well aware. According to internal conversations reviewed by Buzzfeed News, data scientists in the employ of Facebook freely admit that the…
After months of speculation, car manufacturing startup Tesla will become the newest addition to the S&P Dow Jones Indices on December 21, the index announced on Monday. The value of Tesla’s shares jumped more than 10% in the after-hours session on Monday in response to the news . The brainchild of billionaire Space Karen Elon…
Brace yourself for another hit to your monthly subscription budget. Hulu with Live TV, the very good live TV alternative that bundles live and linear programming with Hulu’s on-demand library, is getting yet another price hike. Per a notice that appeared on Hulu’s price guide support page, the company next month will raise the base…