Day: November 12, 2019

Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The rise of the internet and the advent of social media have fundamentally changed the information ecosystem, giving the public direct access to more information than ever before. But it’s often nearly impossible to distinguish between accurate information and low-quality or false content. This means that disinformation — false or intentionally misleading information that aims Read more about Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools[…]

Facebook bug shows camera activated in background during app use – the bug being that you could see the camera being activated

Posted on by Robin Edgar

When you’re scrolling through Facebook’s app, the social network could be watching you back, concerned users have found. Multiple people have found and reported that their iPhone cameras were turned on in the background while they were looking at their feed. The issue came to light through several posts on Twitter. Users noted that their Read more about Facebook bug shows camera activated in background during app use – the bug being that you could see the camera being activated[…]

Facebook has to stop fake ads of celebrity endorsement of Cryptocurrencies in NL

Posted on by Robin Edgar

John de Mol has successfully sued FB and forced them to remove fake ads in which it seems he endorses bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies (he doesn’t).  They will not be allowed in the future either and FB  must give him the details of the parties who placed the adverts on FB. FB is liable for Read more about Facebook has to stop fake ads of celebrity endorsement of Cryptocurrencies in NL[…]

The EU Has Approved an Ebola Vaccine

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The first human vaccine against the often-fatal viral disease Ebola is now an official reality. On Monday, the European Union approved a vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck, called Ervebo. The stage for Ervebo’s approval was set this October, when a committee assembled by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended a conditional marketing authorization Read more about The EU Has Approved an Ebola Vaccine[…]

Your Apple Mac Makes Plain-Text Copies of Your Encrypted Emails. Here’s how to stop it.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

IT guru Bob Gendler took to Medium last week to share a startling discovery about Apple Mail. If you have the application configured to send and receive encrypted email—messages that should be unreadable for anyone without the right decryption keys—Apple’s digital assistant goes ahead and stores your emails in plain text on your Mac’s drive. Read more about Your Apple Mac Makes Plain-Text Copies of Your Encrypted Emails. Here’s how to stop it.[…]

Study of over 11,000 online stores finds ‘dark patterns’ on 1,254 sites

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A large-scale academic study that analyzed more than 53,000 product pages on more than 11,000 online stores found widespread use of user interface “dark patterns”– practices meant to mislead customers into making purchases based on false or misleading information. The study — presented last week at the ACM CSCW 2019 conference — found 1,818 instances Read more about Study of over 11,000 online stores finds ‘dark patterns’ on 1,254 sites[…]

Lithium Sulfur Battery Project Aims To Double The Range Of Electric Airplanes – good to see another new type of battery apparently maturing, but is it as green as alu-air?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Today’s Tesla Model 3’s lithium-ion battery pack has an estimated 168 Wh/kg. And important as this energy-per-weight ratio is for electric cars, it’s more important still for electric aircraft. Now comes Oxis Energy, of Abingdon, UK, with a battery based on lithium-sulfur chemistry that it says can greatly increase the ratio, and do so in a Read more about Lithium Sulfur Battery Project Aims To Double The Range Of Electric Airplanes – good to see another new type of battery apparently maturing, but is it as green as alu-air?[…]

Google Reportedly Amassed Private Health Data on Millions of People Without Their Knowledge – a repeat of October 2019 and 2017 in the UK

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the tech giant partnered with Ascension, a non-profit and Catholic health systems company, on the program code-named “Project Nightingale.” According to the Journal, Google began its initiative with Ascension last year, and it involves everything from diagnoses, lab results, birth dates, patient names, and other personal health data—all Read more about Google Reportedly Amassed Private Health Data on Millions of People Without Their Knowledge – a repeat of October 2019 and 2017 in the UK[…]