Miscellaneous Tech News
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Facebook settles facial recognition dispute
Facebook has settled a long-running legal dispute about the way it scans and tags people's photos.
It will pay $550m (£421m) to a group of users in Illinois, who argued that its facial recognition tool was in violation of the state's privacy laws. The case has been ongoing since 2015, and the settlement was announced in its quarterly earnings. It comes as facial recognition use by the police, and in public spaces, comes under intense scrutiny. The lawsuit against Facebook was given the go-ahead in 2018 when a federal judge ruled it could be heard as a class action (group) case. The appeals court disagreed with Facebook's attempts to stop this, and in January the Supreme Court also declined to review its appeal. -
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Facebook settles facial recognition dispute
Facebook has settled a long-running legal dispute about the way it scans and tags people's photos.
It will pay $550m (£421m) to a group of users in Illinois, who argued that its facial recognition tool was in violation of the state's privacy laws. The case has been ongoing since 2015, and the settlement was announced in its quarterly earnings. It comes as facial recognition use by the police, and in public spaces, comes under intense scrutiny. The lawsuit against Facebook was given the go-ahead in 2018 when a federal judge ruled it could be heard as a class action (group) case. The appeals court disagreed with Facebook's attempts to stop this, and in January the Supreme Court also declined to review its appeal.seems like such a drop in the bucket, especially considering this damned thing dragged on for 4 years.
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WhatsApp to stop working on millions of phones
Messaging service WhatsApp will no longer work on millions of smartphones from 1 February.
Android and iPhone devices which only support outdated operating systems will no longer be able to run the Facebook-owned app. WhatsApp said the move was necessary in order to protect the security of its users. Smartphones using Android 2.3.7 and older, and iPhone iOS 8 or older, are those affected by the update. The operating systems that WhatsApp is dropping support for are legacy operating systems, which are no longer updated or installed on new devices. Most users will simply be able to update their operating systems in order to continue using the messaging service. -
Microsoft Teams is down for us. Hundreds impacted here.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft Teams is down for us. Hundreds impacted here.
OK I was wondering if it was having an issue - I couldn't get logged in.
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@Dashrender said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Microsoft Teams is down for us. Hundreds impacted here.
OK I was wondering if it was having an issue - I couldn't get logged in.
Global issue, @Romo got the notification.
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@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
https://fedoramagazine.org/enable-remote-collaboration-with-tmate-io-on-fedora/
That's... kinda interesting. It's like Zoom or Webex... but for terminals, lol.
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Diversity in gaming: Industry promises to improve
Diversity is a "necessity" if the gaming industry is to continue to grow, says the body that represents people who make games.
Around one in 10 people working in the UK industry are from ethnically diverse backgrounds - slightly higher than the national working average. But women make up less than 30%, the research by Ukie and the University of Sheffield suggests. It means some women have "no-one to look up to", says Kat Welsford. She works in marketing at independent games developer Bossa Studios - and says when it comes to women in games, it's a mixed picture. "At my studio I'm really lucky that we have great gender diversity. "But there are other places I've been to where it's disappointing when you see how few women there are, especially in leadership roles," Kat tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. -
'State actors' may have accessed Twitter contacts
Twitter has warned that hackers acting on behalf of governments may have accessed the phone numbers of some users.
A security researcher discovered a flaw in its contacts upload feature in December that allowed him to access the phone numbers of senior politicians. Around that time, Twitter said it saw a "high volume of requests" to use the feature from Iran, Israel and Malaysia. It declined to say how many users' phone numbers had been exposed. In a statement published on its blog Twitter said: " It is possible that some of these IP addresses may have ties to state-sponsored actors. We are disclosing this out of an abundance of caution and as a matter of principle." -
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2020/02/cinnamon-desktop-fractional-scaling-support
I didn't even realize this wasn't a thing on Cinnamon. . .
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User complained about search not working on windows 10, then this pops up on our screens
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@hobbit666 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
User complained about search not working on windows 10, then this pops up on our screens
yeah my boss was just at me the other day over this.
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@hobbit666 Just ran into this myself. Resolved by disabling this new "feature" in the registry.
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@Danp said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@hobbit666 Just ran into this myself. Resolved by disabling this new "feature" in the registry.
Ug - Yeah I too just found out I'm hit by it.. making a post just for this.
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Windows 10 search bar bug frustrates users
Windows 10 users are reporting that one of the operating system's core features has stopped working.
Dozens posted on social media that Windows Search stopped working for them, as of Wednesday morning. Users say that when they use the desktop search tool it brings up a blank box rather than related results. It is currently unclear how many of the operating system's 800 million users worldwide are affected by the problem. The BBC has asked Microsoft for comment. The tool is one of Windows' most used facilities, and normally makes it easy for users to find files, apps, emails and other content stored on their computer. However, users are now faced with a large grey box. -
Apple patent explores crease-free folding phone
Apple is exploring plans for a foldable version of the iPhone, according to a patent filed in the US.
The design features an innovative hinge mechanism that would prevent creasing issues similar devices have suffered from. Movable flaps would prevent unsightly marks by keeping the device in a semi-curved state when shut. Huawei, Samsung and Lenovo were among those to release foldable devices in 2019, to varying levels of success. "Apple has a long history of assessing technology and only jumping into the market when it feels a particular technology is mature enough or that it can use it in a way that makes a meaningful difference to its products," said analyst Ben Wood. -
Xbox says Nintendo and Sony no longer main rivals
Microsoft no longer sees PlayStation-maker Sony and Nintendo as the biggest competition for its Xbox platform.
Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of gaming, said he now considered Amazon and Google as his top rivals because of their cloud-computing infrastructure. Cloud gaming tackles some common frustrations experienced by players but introduces some issues of its own. But Mr Spencer said his "traditional" rivals Nintendo and Sony were out of step with the future of gaming. "When you talk about Nintendo and Sony, we have a tonne of respect for them, but we see Amazon and Google as the main competitors going forward," he told Protocol, a new technology news website. "That's not to disrespect Nintendo and Sony but the traditional gaming companies are somewhat out of position."
