It’s official: BlackBerry Messenger is no more. The beloved messaging platform was officially shut down on May 31, following an announcement earlier this year. BBM was one of the first messaging apps to use read receipts and typing indicators, but it long held up security as a key selling point. While you may be feeling nostalgic …
Read More »
This story is part of WWDC 2022, CNET’s complete coverage from and about Apple’s annual developers conference. It’s long been suspected Apple’s iTunes — that clunky tool we’ve used for almost two decades to play, download and manage our media — is set to be replaced, or at least relegated to a legacy application for synching data between old iPods and …
Read More »
The map on Facebook displayed blue dots scattered across the world. When users clicked on them, live videos popped up. Timothy Ballisty, a freelance meteorologist, used to scan the live video map during tornadoes, hurricanes and snowstorms, hoping to get a glimpse of what was happening in real time. Then, Ballisty noticed earlier this month that the map had vanished. …
Read More »
Facebook’s long list of scandals has raised concerns, including from shareholders, that CEO Mark Zuckerberg wields too much power over the company. The social network was used to spread fake news during elections, fuel hate speech in Myanmar and livestream killings. Facebook is also expecting to face a record $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission for its alleged …
Read More »
Anti-Trump brothers Ed and Brian Krassenstein were permanently banned from Twitter for operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing bots with those accounts. The Daily Beast first reported the news late Thursday. “The Twitter Rules apply to everyone. Operating multiple fake accounts and purchasing account interactions are strictly prohibited,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Engaging in these behaviors will …
Read More »
Anyone can get into Nigeria’s tech scene, says Chibuzor Obiora. That wasn’t true just a few years ago. A 29-year-old developer, Obiora began coding in 2014 when he was hired by Andela, a Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative-sponsored tech firm that offers Africans paid training in software development. Back then, his colleagues were all men around his age and older. But in the …
Read More »
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, which celebrates its first birthday Saturday, has managed to do a lot as a tyke. The GDPR changed the rules for companies that collect, store or process information on residents of the EU, requiring more openness about what data they have and who they share it with. The law is hailed as the global standard …
Read More »
Facebook plans to release its own cryptocurrency in early 2020, according to a report Friday from the BBC. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly met with Bank of England Governor Mark Carney in April to discuss the cryptocurrency. The social media platform will lay out plans for its coin, internally called GlobalCoin, later this summer and begin tests by the end …
Read More »
Apple has built new browser technology designed to let advertisers figure out when their ads successfully convinced you to buy something — but without tracking you across the internet and harvesting personal details to do so. The plan, called Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution and detailed Wednesday, is now built into Apple’s test browser for developers, Safari Technology Preview 82. …
Read More »
Facebook’s former security chief says Mark Zuckerberg has amassed too much power and should resign as chief executive officer of the social networking giant. “There’s a legit argument that he has too much power,” Alex Stamos said at the Collision Conference in Toronto on Tuesday. “He needs to give up some of that power. If I was him, I would …
Read More »
