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  • Netflix May Be Moving Into Gaming

    Netflix May Be Moving Into Gaming

    One of the biggest streaming platforms may be making a move into gaming, as Netflix looks for an executive to lead the effort.

    Netflix is one of the most successful streaming platforms, with more than 207 million subscribers. As the company continues to look for ways to stay competitive, gaming is a logical area for possible expansion.

    According to a report by The Information, Netflix is currently looking for an executive that could head up its gaming initiative. The company is looking to possibly create a service similar to Apple Arcade, a service that will not be ad-supported.

    The company all but confirmed its plans in a comment to GameSpot:

    “Our members value the variety and quality of our content. It’s why we’ve continually expanded our offering–from series to documentaries, film, local language originals and reality TV,” Netflix told GameSpot. “Members also enjoy engaging more directly with stories they love–through interactive shows like Bandersnatch and You v. Wild, or games based on Stranger Things, La Casa de Papel and To All the Boys. So we’re excited to do more with interactive entertainment.”

    Should Netflix’s plans prove successful, it would open an entirely new opportunity for the company, ensuring growth for years to come.

  • Twitter Pulls Its Auto Cropping Algorithm Amid Bias Issues

    Twitter Pulls Its Auto Cropping Algorithm Amid Bias Issues

    Twitter has announced it is pulling its algorithm responsible for automatically cropping images amid bias issues.

    Twitter began hearing feedback in October 2020 that there were issues with how the algorithm was functioning, that it was not treating everyone equitably. The company investigated and did find issues with it.

    Testing showed there was an 8% difference from demographic parity favoring women. Likewise, there was a 4% difference in favor of white people instead of black. Similarly, there was a 7% difference in favor of white women instead of black, and a 2% difference in favor of white men instead of black.

    One area where the algorithm did not appear biased was in the realm of the “male gaze.”

    We also tested for the “male gaze” by randomly selecting 100 male- and female-presenting images that had more than one area in the image identified by the algorithm as salient and observing how our model chose to crop the image. We didn’t find evidence of objectification bias — in other words, our algorithm did not crop images of men or women on areas other than their faces at a significant rate

    Ultimately, however, the biases were enough to make Twitter reevaluate use of the algorithm.

    We considered the tradeoffs between the speed and consistency of automated cropping with the potential risks we saw in this research. One of our conclusions is that not everything on Twitter is a good candidate for an algorithm, and in this case, how to crop an image is a decision best made by people.

  • TikTok Tackling Cyberbullying With Mass Comment Deletion

    TikTok Tackling Cyberbullying With Mass Comment Deletion

    TikTok is taking steps to combat cyberbullying by giving users the ability to mass-delete comments.

    TikTok has quickly skyrocketed in popularity with users around the world, quickly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms. Unfortunately, as with all social media, cyberbullying can be a major problem. TikTok has been working to combat bullying, giving users the tools they need to fight back.

    The most recent feature being rolled out is the ability to mass-delete comments and block accounts. The feature is particularly useful given the current social media climate, where large numbers of individuals can quickly gang up on a single user, overwhelming their account with negative comments.

    To manage interactions on a video, people can long-press on a comment or tap the pencil icon in the upper left corner to open a window of options. From there, people can now select up to 100 comments or accounts rather than having to go one by one, making it more seamless to delete or report multiple comments or block users in bulk.

    TikTok says the feature is rolling out in select markets, with global rollout happening over the next several weeks.

  • CEO of TikTok’s Parent Company Stepping Down

    CEO of TikTok’s Parent Company Stepping Down

    The founder of TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, is stepping down as CEO amid some of its biggest challenges.

    TikTok drew the ire of the Trump administration over privacy and security concerns. The company has had a number of major missteps, including being accused of sending data to China, violating child privacy and running afoul of EU privacy laws. The Trump administration approved a ban against the platform in an effort to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company. Oracle and Walmart eventually emerged as the winning candidates.

    Ultimately, the ban and forced sale was tied up in court. The change in administrations added to the chaos, with the Biden administration wanting to evaluate whether a ban was warranted.

    With the platform’s future still in question, ABC News is reporting that founder Zhang Yiming is stepping down, to be replaced by Liang Rubo, another co-founder. Zhang said the change would allow “enable me to have greater impact on longer-term initiatives,” although he did not detail what those initiates may be.

  • Google Will Open First Store in NYC

    Google Will Open First Store in NYC

    Taking a page from Apple and Microsoft, Google plans to open its first store in NYC.

    Apple’s retail stores have been a big part of the company’s success, becoming some of the most valuable stores in retail, per square foot. Although never achieving the same success, Microsoft’s stores were a familiar site in many shopping malls around the country before the company closed the vast majority of them.

    Google hopes to strike gold with its own retail store strategy, the first of which will be opened in NYC, in Chelsea. Google’s description of its store sounds very similar to an Apple Store.

    The company made the announce on its official blog.

    At the Google Store, customers will be able to browse and buy an extensive selection of products made by Google, ranging from Pixel phones to Nest products, Fitbit devices to Pixelbooks and more. Or they can shop online at GoogleStore.com and pick up their orders in store. Throughout the store, visitors will be able to experience how our products and services work together in a variety of immersive ways, which we’re excited to share more about when the doors open.

    We’ll have experts on hand to help visitors get the most out of their device, such as troubleshooting an issue, fixing a cracked Pixel screen or helping with installations. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a longtime Pixel user, are curious about our Nest displays or want to participate in one of the how-to workshops we’ll offer throughout the year — our team will be able to provide you with help that’s specific and personalized to your needs. 

    Should the Chelsea location prove successful, it’s a safe bet the company will likely expand its retail footprint. In the meantime, the Chelsea location will be open summer 2021.

  • Robinhood ‘Democratizing IPOs,’ Helping Users Get a Piece of the Action

    Robinhood ‘Democratizing IPOs,’ Helping Users Get a Piece of the Action

    Robinhood is looking to shakeup the IPO market by helping the average user buy shares of companies at IPO prices.

    IPOs are often where the biggest portion of wealth is made for many investors. Unfortunately, many IPOs are dominated by major investors and institutions, with the average person left out in the cold.

    Robinhood wants to change that with a new product that will put IPOs within the reach of anyone.

    Today, we’re starting to roll out IPO Access, a new product that will give you the opportunity to buy shares of companies at their IPO price, before trading on public exchanges. With IPO Access, you can now participate in upcoming IPOs with no account minimums.

    The company says IPO Access will be rolling out gradually over the next few weeks. In the meantime, customers wanting to learn more can check out the Help Center.

  • Twitter Relaunches Verification

    Twitter Relaunches Verification

    Twitter has announced it is relaunching its verification process, opening the door for anyone to apply.

    The coveted blue check mark next to a name indicates an account that has been verified, and it carries a level of trust and authority with it. Unfortunately, the company was less than clear in times past about who could or could not become verified. There were also many instances of the process being abused, with individuals being given verification without good reason.


    Twitter is now relaunching the verification process with clearer rules and an invitation for anyone to apply.

    “Over the past several months, we’ve been working to bring clarity to the verification eligibility criteria and launched a new policy shaped by public feedback,” according to the company’s blog. “We also started enforcing that policy by automatically removing the verified badge from accounts that no longer meet the updated criteria for verification, such as those that are inactive or incomplete. We’re grateful for all who participated in our public feedback period and shared ideas for how we can improve verification on Twitter.”

    While anyone can apply, they must fit within six categories to be approved: government; companies, brand and organizations; news organizations and journalists; entertainment; sports and gaming; and activists, organizers and influential individuals.

    The company says the verification application will start showing up in the Account Settings tab over the next few weeks.

  • Mac Viruses and Malware Have Reached ‘Unacceptable’ Levels

    Mac Viruses and Malware Have Reached ‘Unacceptable’ Levels

    Mac viruses and malware have reached an ‘unacceptable’ level, according to testimony from Apple senior VP Craig Federighi.

    Many interesting details have emerged in the Epic vs Apple court case over the future of the latter’s App Store ecosystem. One of the most fascinating, however, is just how much the Mac is already being impacted by security threats.

    Not that long ago, the Mac had the reputation of not being affected by malware or viruses. This was due to two factors: the platform’s UNIX underpinnings and security through obscurity. Because the Mac held such a low percentage of the market, it simply wasn’t worth it for hackers to invest a lot of resources to make Mac-specific malware.

    According to Federighi, that appears to have changed in a big way. When Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers asked why the Mac could allow app installs from multiple sources, but not iOS, Federighi drew a stark contrast between the level of security and protections the two platforms offer.

    “It is regularly exploited on the Mac,” Federighi explained. “iOS has established a dramatically higher bar for customer protection. The Mac is not meeting that bar today.”

    Federighi emphasized the disparity between the number of Mac users and iOS users, and the value of their respective ecosystems, making the point that things would be far worse for iOS users if it took the same approach as the Mac.

    “And that’s despite the fact that Mac users inherently download less software and are subject to a way less economically motivated attacker base,” Federighi continued. “If you took Mac security techniques and applied them to the iOS ecosystem, with all those devices, all that value, it would get run over to a degree dramatically worse than is already happening on the Mac.”

    All of this led to the admission regarding Apple’s view of the current state of Mac malware.

    “And as I say, today, we have a level of malware on the Mac that we don’t find acceptable and is much worse than iOS,” Federighi said. “Put that same situation in place for iOS and it would be a very bad situation for our customers.”

    Federighi’s explanation is at the heart of the case Apple is making, that keeping apps operating within its ecosystem help it provide the security and protection that people are paying for when they buy an iPhone or iPad. In contrast, individuals who don’t want that protection can buy Android.

  • India Stepping Up Pressure on WhatsApp Over Privacy Changes

    India Stepping Up Pressure on WhatsApp Over Privacy Changes

    India is ramping up its pressure on WhatsApp, wanting the company to abandon its recent privacy changes.

    Facebook unleashed a firestorm of controversy when it announced it would start sharing WhatsApp user data with other Facebook-owned companies. In addition to losing subscribers to other, more privacy-conscious apps, multiple countries have started pushing back.

    Germany was the first to outright ban the changes, with Hamburg’s data protection commissioner securing a three-month emergency order to stop the new changes from going into effect in Germany.

    India had likewise expressed concerns over WhatsApp’s changes, but now the country is stepping up the pressure. According to TechCrunch, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has written a letter to WhatsApp, and given the company seven days to respond.

    “In fulfilment of its sovereign responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Indian citizens, the government of India will consider various options available to it under laws in India,” the letter reads.

    “It is not just problematic, but also irresponsible, for WhatsApp to leverage this position to impose unfair terms and conditions on Indian users, particularly those that discriminate against Indian users vis-à-vis users in Europe.”


    It remains to be seen how WhatsApp and Facebook will respond.

  • Details Emerge About Twitter’s Upcoming Subscription Service

    Details Emerge About Twitter’s Upcoming Subscription Service

    Details have emerged about Twitter’s upcoming subscription service, including Undo Tweets and Bookmark Collections.

    Jane Manchun Wong is a well-respected tipster with a knack for uncovering tech companies’ new features before they’re announced. She has weighed in on Twitter’s upcoming subscription service, which the company bought Scroll to serve as the basis of.

    According to Wong, the subscription service will be named “Twitter Blue” and will cost $2.99 a month. The service will also bring some of the most requested features, including Undo Tweets and Bookmark Collections.