Tag Archives: Facebook

A judge has approved what he called one of the largest-ever settlements of a privacy lawsuit, giving a thumbs-up Friday to Facebook paying $650 million to users who alleged the company created and stored scans of their faces without permission. The class-action suit, filed in Illinois in 2015, involved Facebook’s use of facial recognition technology …

I really wish I hadn’t broken my collarbone. But one silver lining from the experience has been learning how well technology lets me live my life with one arm immobilized in a sling. Far and away, the best feature has been speech-to-text tools that let me type without a keyboard. Honorable mentions go to swipe keyboards on phones, biometric authentication …

A new app from Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team lets you perform a rap over a studio-recorded beat. Called Bars, the app lets you share videos of your raps with your followers, post to another social media account, or just save to your phone. Bars launched Friday and currently has a waiting list for its beta trial. The new app, …

Facebook is expected to launch its first pair of smart glasses this year, but there’s one issue company employees are still discussing: whether to add facial recognition technology to the product. BuzzFeed News, citing remarks from an internal meeting, reported on Thursday that Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, who oversees the company’s augmented and virtual reality efforts, told employees that the company …

It’s easy to get sucked into videos from The Dodo, even when you’re not doom-scrolling about local COVID-19 case numbers. Maybe it starts with a clip about an emaciated stray dog who’s been rescued and is lovingly nursed back to health. Or maybe it’s the story of a dog and cat who defy convention and become cuddling best friends. In …

Australia on Wednesday passed a new media law that had generated noisy pushback from internet giants Google and Facebook, which didn’t want to be forced to pay publishers for news content. After a last-minute round of Senate amendments were added to the bill on Tuesday, the bill was sent back and quickly passed to the lower house on Wednesday. Under …

Last year, Facebook issued a stark warning to the Australian government over a proposed law that would require the social-media giant to pay publishers: Pass it and we’ll restrict news Down Under.  “Assuming this draft code becomes law, we will reluctantly stop allowing publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram,” Will Easton, …

Facebook is testing new tools aimed at curbing searches for photos and videos that contain child sexual abuse and at preventing the sharing of such content. “Using our apps to harm children is abhorrent and unacceptable,” Antigone Davis, who oversees Facebook’s global safety efforts, said in a blog post Tuesday.  The move comes as the social network faces more pressure …

Facebook is expanding its AI doctoral program to the UK as part of a four-year research partnership with University College London, the company announced Tuesday. Students of the program will spend time at both UCL and Facebook as they pursue projects that can contribute to the company’s efforts to publish open-source research. Facebook’s efforts in the world of artificial intelligence …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve got a pretty good internet connection. Fast, dependable, constant. Consider yourself fortunate — there are millions of people who don’t. And in a world where so much of work, school, health care, shopping and entertainment take …