In internet-fail news, it looks like streaming service Hulu, gaming service Xbox Live and self-described “front page of the internet” Reddit all experienced outages Wednesday afternoon. Down Detector recorded over 10,000 reports about Microsoft’s Xbox Live being down and another 10,000 reports of Hulu being down. The Xbox Live status page confirms that core services are “limited.” “Our …
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Apple expands repairs to nearly 1,000 Best Buy stores in US
Have a busted iPhone but live closer to a Best Buy than an Apple Store? You now have a new option for properly repairing your phone. On Wednesday Apple announced that it would be expanding its repairs program with Best Buy, bringing certified support to nearly 1,000 Best Buy stores in the US. The repairs are backed by Apple, with …
Read More »Apple’s first 4 iOS apps for Mac are getting an upgrade. News needs it the most
Apple is counting on apps built for the iPad and the iPhone being converted to the Mac as a way to infuse new energy — and a lot of new software — into the granddaddy of its devices. The party started last year at WWDC 2018 when Apple announced a “sneak peek” at four of its own apps that it …
Read More »Facebook, Twitter and Google will testify to Congress on terrorist content
Facebook, Twitter and Google are scheduled to testify before the US House Homeland Security Committee later this month about online terrorist content. The hearing will also look at the spread of misinformation on social media platforms, as reported earlier Wednesday by Bloomberg Law. The hearing follows the March Christchurch mosque shooting, which was livestreamed on social media. At the time, Facebook, Twitter, …
Read More »Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg reiterates that her company needs to be regulated
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg reiterated the social network’s call for regulation on Wednesday, saying the company wanted to be an active partner in developing new rules to govern the internet. The law could be modeled on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Sandberg suggested at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France. The EU law, which is a …
Read More »YouTube faces FTC investigation into its kids practices, report says
YouTube may face fines from a late-stage investigation by the US government into the video giant’s handling of children’s videos, according to a Wednesday report by The Washington Post, which cites unnamed people familiar with the probe. The investigation at the Federal Trade Commission has propelled YouTube to reconsider some of its most fundamental elements, like its influential algorithm that …
Read More »Microsoft, Kano are releasing a PC kids can build with a storybook
Your kid’s next buildable project might very well be a full-blown two-in-one laptop that’s running Windows. Kano and Microsoft are unveiling the Kano PC Wednesday, which is an 11.6-inch touch-enabled tablet that is designed for kids to assemble with the help of a storybook. The Atom-powered computer appears to have a keyboard cover similar to those in the Microsoft Surface …
Read More »Tether directly to an iPad Pro from the new mirrorless Hasselblad X1D II 50C
Three years ago, high-end camera manufacturer Hasselblad launched the first mirrorless medium-format camera, the 50-megapixel X1D-50c. Since then, Fujifilm’s GFX series has come along with aggressive prices that have gotten as low as $4,000 compared to the X1D’s launch price of twice as much. For its follow-up model, the X1D II 50C, Hasselblad fine-tunes the X1D and brings it forth at …
Read More »New bill would make Facebook, Twitter liable for political bias
A new piece of legislation aims to put pressure on tech companies to show that they’re politically neutral. At risk is the tech companies’ immunity over content published on their platforms. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, introduced on Wednesday the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, which would remove tech companies’ automatic immunity, provided in Section 230 of …
Read More »Netflix updates its ‘recommended’ TV list for 2019
Big Netflix watcher and thinking of a new TV? Netflix has some new recommendations for you. After blessing some Sony and LG TVs last year, the streaming media giant has once again selected certain televisions as being “Netflix Recommended” sets. These TVs, the company says, check five of Netflix’s seven boxes for being a great Netflix TV. They can wake …
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