RSS is undead

RSS died. Whether you blame Feedburner, or Google Reader, or Digg Reader last month, or any number of other product failures over the years, the humble protocol has managed to keep on trudging along despite all evidence that it is dead, dead, dead. Now, with Facebook’s scandal over Cambridge Analytica, there is a whole new […]

YouTube may handpick videos for its Kids app

Over the past months, it became increasingly clear that YouTube isn't the friendliest place for kids even with filters on. It doesn't just have a problem with vile videos pretending to be family-friendly content, but also with conspiracy theories pop...

Homeland Security database would track bloggers, social media

Fears about the potential effects of propaganda and fake news remain high, and American officials are determined to keep track of media outlets in a bid to curb these misinformation campaigns. The Department of Homeland Security has put out a call f...

Snapchat brings back chronological Stories feed for some

Snapchat has undone its controversial redesign’s most significant change in an update to some users today. A tab that shows Stories in reverse chronological order, replacing the redesign’s algorithmically sorted feed for many people. We’ve reached out to Snap Inc and haven’t heard back. Showing the most recent Stories first makes them predictable and coherent […]

Global cyberattack targets 200,000 network switches

The past few days haven't been great for the internet's broader security. Iran's Communication and Information Technology Ministry has reported that it was a victim in a global cyberattack that compromised about 200,000 Cisco switches that hadn't ye...

California may soon allow passengers in driverless cars

In early April, California's new rules that allow automakers, tech giants and just about anybody to test fully driverless cars on its roads finally took effect. But before those companies can realize their ride-hailing robot taxi ambitions, they have...

Alexa’s creepy laugh is just the beginning of bigger problems in our IoT future

Did you hear Alexa’s creepy, disembodied, and irrelevant laughter the other day? If not, you can count yourself lucky. As we adopt more devices for our homes and bodies, we open the door to more vulnerabilities and errors. Nobody expects new technology to work perfectly, but the recent system failures like and operating errors — like those of Alexa and Oculus Rift — offer a valuable lesson for consumer and developers about IoT. Basically, it illustrates just how far we are from a functional IoT future. Amazon Alexa’s creepy cackling In case you didn’t catch the story, Amazon Echo devices…

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Can SaaS principles transform political campaigns as we know them?

In life, they say you get what you pay for. That is no less true in politics, which is fueled by campaign donations and lobbying dollars that move policy on every important issue under the sun. The disclosed expenditures of the DC lobbying industry are more than $3 billion per year, while just the presidential […]

Amazon cancels 'Mozart in the Jungle' after four seasons

One of Prime Video's earliest successes is about to fade away: Amazon has canceled Mozart in the Jungle after four seasons. It's not certain what prompted the decision to axe the show, but it wasn't due to a lack of talent when the "sex, drugs and cl...

Recommended Reading: Does Facebook need to be regulated?

How the government could fix Facebook Julia Angwin, The Atlantic There are a number of issues surrounding the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica saga. Perhaps the most prominent one is the question of whether or not the social network needs to be re...

Space Photos of the Week: The Case of the Missing Dark Matter

Galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 doesn't seem to contain any dark matter, and scientists have no idea why.

Amazon Web Services rules the cloud, and here’s how to use all their coolest tools for less than $9 per course

Get firsthand experience in the AWS infrastructure with the Amazon Web Services Certification Training Mega Bundle, available now for only $69 from TNW Deals.

US Sanctions, Spectre Fixes, and More Security News This Week

Russia sanctions, Spectre fixes, and more security news this week.

The World Needs More Funny Fantasy

Most modern fantasy leans toward the "grimdark," 'Game of Thrones' style. Author Craig Shaw Gardner has the antidote.

What Siri can learn from Google Assistant

It's no secret that when it comes to voice assistants, Siri is often cited as one of the worst. Even though Apple introduced it years before Amazon and Google, their digital rivals -- Alexa and Google Assistant -- have since bested Siri in both featu...

Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review: A smaller flagship without compromises

Smaller smartphones have fallen out of fashion. We now primarily use our handsets for browsing the web, gaming and every other form of entertainment, making a larger screen more desirable in many cases. But this means those looking for a smalle...

The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. Welcome to the weekend! Facebook saved some news for a late Friday release, and there's one weird Chrome trick that might save you a fraction of a second. (It's clearing your download history, we're bad at click...

YouTube’s new ad rules will drive creators to Twitch

YouTube has had a bit of a rough time recently. With concerns around inappropriate content and brand safety mounting, the platform has taken a few arguably necessary and cautious steps to protect its users. The latest move is that the platform has pulled the plug on displaying ads on the videos of those with under 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the last year to prevent ‘bad actors’ from misleading and exploiting the system.    But whilst there is incredible pressure for YouTube to ‘clean up,’ and tighten restrictions, there is concern among creators that the new…

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8 Great Weekend Tech Deals: Nintendo, Apple, Tile, Eufy, Vive Pro

This weekend, ramble around a VR world of your choosing or smartify your coffeemaker with these tech deals.

New York’s L Train Shutdown Inspires Bizarre, Beautiful Transit

How a disastrous 15-month shutdown on one of the city's busier subway lines un-bottled its creativity.

Why Winning in Rock-Paper-Scissors Isn’t Everything

What does John Nash’s game theory equilibrium concept look like in Rock-Paper-Scissors?

Yes Chrome is scanning your Windows PC, but it might be a bug

A few days ago Kelly Shortridge, a product manager at SecurityScorecard detected some unexpected behavior on her PC, as a honeypot Canarytoken reported being accessed by Chrome.exe. That's not what you'd expect from a web browser normally, except for...

Avoid this privacy fuck-up when sharing Google Docs

Out of the numerous companies I’ve worked with in the past years, most use Google Docs to submit and collaborate on draft articles and documents. Google’s productivity suite has become the defacto work platform for millions of people and organizations across the world. And with good reason: It’s free, it’s easy to use, and it’s already available to every user who has a Google account (which includes more than one billion active Gmail users). However, one problem I’ve observed is how easily people ignore the privacy concerns surrounding Google Docs when sharing and collaborating on documents. Users and organizations often…

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