Tag: Internet

Wikipedia down in several countries in EU law protest

  MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Wikipedia went down in at least three countries Wednesday in a protest at an upcoming European Parliament vote on a highly disputed law that could make online platforms legally liable for copyrighted material put on the web by users. In Spain, Italy, and Poland, an explanatory protest statement about the upcoming vote came up when the online encyclopedia was consulted. “The directive would threaten online freedom and would impose new filters, […]

Tesla production leader Doug Field exits company

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)–Tesla on Monday confirmed that the head of Model 3 production, who went on leave after chief executive Elon Musk took over his duties, will not be returning. The departure of engineering senior vice president Doug Field came as California-based Tesla appeared to have finally hit a self-imposed goal of cranking out 5,000 Model 3 electric cars in a week. Tesla co-founder Musk fired off a Twitter post over the weekend […]

Facebook bug unblocks unwanted connections for a bit

  SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Monday said it is notifying more than 800,000 users that a software bug temporarily unblocked people at the social network and its Messenger service. The glitch active between May 29 and June 5 has been fixed, according to Facebook, which has been striving to regain trust in the aftermath of a Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal. “We know that the ability to block someone is important,” Facebook […]

California, home of Silicon Valley, ramps up online privacy law

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)–California on Thursday passed a strict new law aimed at protecting people’s privacy online, a move that promised to shift the terrain on which internet firms operate in the wake of recent scandals. The bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown followed in the spirit of a major General Data Protection Regulation that recently took effect in Europe. The legislation cut off an initiative that is heading for the ballot […]

Twitter to confirm new accounts in spam fight

SAN  FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)–Twitter on Tuesday said it will begin asking for email addresses or phone numbers to confirm new accounts as part of a battle against manipulation, particularly by automated bots. Adding a way to check that a real person is behind new accounts was described by Twitter as being among measures to fight abuse, trolls, and hateful content. “This is an important change to defend against people who try to take advantage […]

Facebook to offer interactive game shows on video platform

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook said Tuesday it is offering a series of new formats for its online video platform including interactive game shows, quizzes and polls. The new formats will be available to those creating video content on the social network, which is searching for a niche to compete against rivals ranging from Netflix to Google-owned YouTube. One of the features from Facebook will allow interactivity, which could be used for live […]

Video gaming addictive like crack: WHO

by Marlowe Hood Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Video gaming can be addictive in the same way as cocaine or gambling, the World Health Organization said Monday in a much anticipated update of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). “After consulting with experts across the world, and reviewing evidence in an exhaustive manner, we decided that this condition should be added,” Shekhar Saxena, director of the WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, […]

Snapchat aims to spread reach to other apps

  SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Snapchat messaging service on Thursday set out to spread its reach, and panache, to other smartphone apps with a software kit that promised to share little data about users. Parent company Snap said people will be able to use Snapchat credentials to sign into apps the way they might do using Facebook or Google credentials, while strictly limiting access to personal data or activity tracking. The software kit […]

Ubisoft sees blockbusters shaped by fans and stars

by Glen Chapman Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — French video game giant Ubisoft is teaming up with a firm founded by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt to crowd source material for a forthcoming title, the companies announced Monday on the eve of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Ubisoft has long tapped into feedback from players while designing games, but the latest step will allow some to make content woven into scenes. An invitation to collaborate […]

PHL ranks 12th among world’s top Internet users

(Eagle News) – With an estimated 67 million Filipinos who are active in social media and the internet, the Philippines grabbed the 12th spot worldwide in terms of having the highest number of Internet users, according to the latest Internet World Stats (IWS) report. The report showed that the Philippines went two notches higher from its previous 15th place last year, after it noted that about 63 percent of the overall population (67 million out […]

Microsoft looks past next-gen Xbox to cloud games

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The head of Xbox on Sunday said Microsoft is hard at work on a next-generation console along with a cloud service that would let players stream games to any device. Microsoft is adding five new game studios, one it is creating in Southern California and another four it is buying, Xbox team chief Phil Spencer said. “We are making one of our greatest single year’s investments in teams by […]

Facebook admits privacy settings ‘bug’ affecting 14 million users

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook acknowledged Thursday a software glitch that changed the settings of some 14 million users, potentially making some posts public even if they were intended to be private. The news marked the latest in a series of privacy embarrassments for the world’s biggest social network, which has faced a firestorm over the hijacking of personal data on tens of millions of users and more recently for disclosures on data-sharing […]