CaptainDork spotted CNN’s update about best-selling author Stephen King: “I’m quitting Facebook,” the author said on Twitter Friday. “Not comfortable with the flood of false information that’s allowed in its political advertising, nor am I confident in its ability to protect its users’ privacy….” His Facebook profile has since been deleted. King encouraged his fans to follow him on Twitter. But…
Tag: bots
Facebook Trains An AI To Navigate Without Needing a Map
A team at Facebook AI has created a reinforcement learning algorithm that lets a robot find its way in an unfamiliar environment without using a map. MIT Technology Review reports: Using just a depth-sensing camera, GPS, and compass data, the algorithm gets a robot to its goal 99.9% of the time along a route that is very close to the shortest…
Telnet Passwords Leaked For More Than 500,000 Servers, Routers, and IoT Devices
ZDNet is reporting on a security breach leaking “a massive list of Telnet credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers, and IoT (Internet of Things) ‘smart’ devices.”
The list, which was published on a popular hacking forum, includes each device’s IP address, along with a username and password for the Telnet service, a remote access protocol that can be used to…
How To Beat South Korea’s AI Hiring Bots and Land a Job
As Korean firms start using AI to help hire new employees, students are going to school to learn how to beat the bots. Reuters reports: From his basement office in downtown Gangnam, careers consultant Park Seong-jung is among those in a growing business of offering lessons in handling recruitment screening by computers, not people. Video interviews using facial recognition technology to…
Companies Are Using AI-Generated People To Appear More Diverse
AI startups are selling images of computer-generated faces that look like the real thing, offering companies a chance to create imaginary models and “increase diversity” in their ads without needing human beings. From a report: One firm is offering to sell diverse photos for marketing brochures and has already signed up clients, including a dating app that intends to use the…
‘Grinch Bots’ Are Here To Ruin Your Holiday Shopping
Consumers may think they’re avoiding the crush this holiday season by shopping online, unaware that as they’re trying to get through the digital doors, so too are hordes of bots. And they’re throwing elbows. From a report: Up to 97 percent of all online traffic to retailer login pages this holiday shopping week comes from bots, largely operated by organized gangs…
Facebook Bows to Singapore’s ‘Fake News’ Law, Posts ‘Correction’
An anonymous reader quotes the BBC: Facebook has added a correction notice to a post that Singapore’s government said contained false information. It is the first time Facebook has issued such a notice under the city-state’s controversial “fake news” law. Singapore claimed the post, by fringe news site States Times Review, contained “scurrilous accusations”. The note issued by the social media…
FedEx Warned Not To ‘Invade’ New York City With Sidewalk Robots
“FedEx delivery robots invade New York City streets,” read one newspaper’s headline, describing the six-wheeled “SameDay” bots that the company is testing in four cities. But this week New York City told them they’re not welcome, CNN reports:
The delivery robot, called Roxo, is not actually being tested in New York, but was visiting the city for a special event, a FedEx…
Thousands of Bots Are Retweeting Claims of Voter Fraud In Kentucky
“It’s deeply concerning to see shady coordinated disinformation campaigns trying to undermine our democracy,” says the man who apparently defeated Kentucky’s Republican governor Bevin in a close election last Tuesday. The New York Times reports on what happened in the hours after Twitter user “Overlordkraken1” decided to tweet to his 19 followers that he’d “just shredded a box of Republican mail-in…
Japanese Hotel Chain Sorry That Hackers May Have Watched Guests Through Bedside Robots
Japanese hotel chain HIS Group has apologized for ignoring warnings that its in-room robots were hackable to allow pervs to remotely view video footage from the devices. The Register reports: The Henn na Hotel is staffed by robots: guests can be checked in by humanoid or dinosaur reception bots before proceeding to their room. Facial recognition tech will let customers into…