Social Networking, Internet Lifestyle And Security News
Passionate about net neutrality? Facebook privacy issues freaking you out? Want to know more about the latest security breach? Here we'll cover the headlines that matter in our ever evolving digitally-connected lives and lifestyles around the world.
Mark Zuckerberg's power on the internet continues to grow whether you like it or not. After a year of operation, Zuck's X/Twitter alternative Threads has reached a whopping 175 million monthly active users. The Meta CEO made the announcement this week on, you guessed it, Threads.
This new metric comes as Threads...
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No one likes to lose things, so Facebook's new "Link History" sounds okay at first. It's a new feature rolling out to the Android and iOS mobile apps that promises to keep a list of the links you've recently visited from Facebook. Is this a rare instance of benevolence from Mark Zuckerberg? Nope, Link History might...
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Chrome's Incognito Mode isn't really incognito. Google still tracks users browsing in Incognito Mode, which led to a $5 billion class action lawsuit in 2020. Google has reportedly agreed to settle the case in order to avoid a messy trial, but the exact terms of the deal are not yet available. Chrome users will...
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Google is testing a new feature on YouTube and, stop us if you've heard this one before, it's based on generative AI. Advanced machine learning algorithms and large language models are popping up in numerous products from Google, Microsoft, and almost every other tech company under the sun. This time, Google is...
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The site formerly known as Twitter is headed for a fee-based future. Weeks after owner Elon Musk suggested that X would move to a paid model, the social network has started testing a $1 yearly fee in select markets. The program is being branded in typical Musk fashion as "Not A Bot," but all it really verifies is that...
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The internet can be a dangerous place, and that's before you start integrating bits of third-party code into your browser. Some of those extensions end up being shady or even outright malicious, and that can lead to their removal from centralized repositories like the Chrome Web Store. Google doesn't want people...
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For the last eight years, internet service providers (ISPs) in the US have enjoyed a very liberal definition of "broadband." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is poised to rain on their parade. The commission may update the definition of what constitutes broadband, raising the minimum speed requirement by a...
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Elon Musk has shown off the new branding logo for the upcoming move from Twitter to Musk's self-proclaimed "everything app," X. While Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino praised employees and said the company was "moving at the speed of light" in an internal memo, some security experts worry that the rapid change could also...
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Chronically online billionaire Elon Musk was forced to follow through on his proposed acquisition of Twitter late last year, and the site has changed dramatically in the intervening months. That has a lot of Twitter users searching for alternative social networks, and Meta just released one. The company's Threads app...
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Interpreting Amazon listings is as much art as science, but the e-commerce giant is adding an unmistakable signal you should take into account. Amazon is placing a warning label to products that have a high return rate, giving you a hint there may be something wrong or misleading about it. This could mean less hassle...
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Twitter has made a lot of changes under Elon Musk, many of which have been unpopular with its users. The latest one continues the trend. Starting today, non-paying users can no longer use SMS two-factor authentication. There are other ways to secure your free account, but forcing users to turn off vital security...
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The Biden administration is threatening to ban TikTok in the United States if Chinese owners do not sell stakes. The announcement came just ahead of the UK's ban of the highly popular app from government phones, citing security concerns.
The threat of TikTok being banned in the U.S. is not a new thing. The Trump...
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Google has announced details for the 2023 I/O conference in its usual roundabout way: with a puzzle. Google updated its I/O website with the new puzzle on Tuesday, and mere hours later, it was solved. Google then revealed the May 10th starting date. While many events are loosening their pandemic-era restrictions...
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The US Department of Justice and eight state attorneys general have filed an antitrust case against Google. If you're thinking this has happened before, you'd be right. However, this time the DOJ is going after Google's crown jewel: the ad tech business. According to the complaint, filed in federal court in Virginia...
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TikTok from Chinese megafirm ByteDance has turned short-form video into a social media phenomenon, making Twitter look pretty dumb for canning Vine a few years back. The skyrocketing popularity of TikTok has some security experts and political leaders concerned. As a Chinese company, the Chinese government has access...
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Amazon's logistics operation is coldly efficient, a vital quality when the company ships so many parcels on a daily basis. The venerable barcode might seem like an efficient way to track inventory, but Amazon isn't happy with the inefficiency of picking up and scanning products over and over. That's why it's building an AI-powered system known
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All web browsers look essentially the same these days, but that wasn't always the case. Browsers used to have separate search and address bars until Google set a new standard when it merged them in Chrome. The Chrome address bar, sometimes called the "omnibox," has continued to get smarter over the years, and the...
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One of Elon Musk's first decrees after acquiring Twitter was to restore many controversial accounts that were suspended under the old regime. That included Kanye West, or Ye as he now prefers, who was suspended just before Musk's acquisition for posting antisemitic content. However, it didn't take long for West to...
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Twitter is still chugging along despite its shrinking workforce, and new owner Elon Musk continues to pop up and make promises almost whenever he's summoned. It can be hard to keep track of all the things Musk claims he's going to do, particularly since he started posting his every thought on Twitter. Now, the...
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Just one year ago, Bitcoin's value was in the stratosphere at a whopping $65,000 per coin. A series of market-shifting exchange collapses have now dragged prices down to barely over $15,000, erasing years of gains and threatening further liquidity issues that could cripple still more cryptocurrency firms. The...
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Billionaire Elon Musk has only owned Twitter for a few weeks, but there are already big changes afoot. Musk has been open about his dislike for Twitter's verification setup, which he referred to as a "lords & peasants system." His vision for the blue checkmark is starting to appear on the service, but not in a...
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By most measures, Elon Musk is the richest person in the world, and he's got more liquid assets at his disposal today. Recent regulatory filings show that Musk has sold off millions of Tesla shares worth billions of dollars. He needs those funds due to a questionable decision made earlier this year when he agreed to...
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