Microsoft Word is Getting Text Predictions Next Month

Microsoft is planning to add text predictions to Word in March. From a report: The new feature will work similarly to Google Docs’ Smart Compose option, using machine learning to predict what words an author will need to speed up document creation. Microsoft originally announced a beta of text predictions last year, but it’s now on the Microsoft 365 roadmap to…

Parler is Back Online, More Than a Month After Tangle With Amazon Knocked it Offline

Parler is back online following several weeks of darkness after the social media site popular with supporters of former president Donald Trump was knocked offline. From a reportL: Parler effectively fell off the Internet in January when Amazon refused to provide technical cloud computing support to the site after the tech giant determined Parler was not doing enough to moderate and…

Ban on Wireless Modems In Voting Machines Should be Optional, Suggests US Election Agency

The U.S. agency overseeing elections has “quietly weakened a key element of proposed security standards…” reports the Associated Press, “raising concern among voting-integrity experts that many such systems will remain vulnerable to hacking.” The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is poised to approve its first new security standards in 15 years after an arduous process involving multiple technical and elections community bodies…

YouTube Extends Trump’s Suspension For a Second Time

YouTube on Tuesday said it’s again extending its suspension of former President Donald Trump, who’s been banned from posting videos to his channel since Jan. 12. Comments on Trump’s videos will also remain disabled indefinitely. CNET reports: “In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will remain suspended,” a YouTube spokesperson confirmed to CNET….

GitHub Reverses Takedown of Code for Anime Torrent Site Despite Film Group’s DMCA

Inside.com’s developer newsletter spotted this code repository story:
GitHub posted a DMCA notice it received from the Motion Picture Association (MPA) last week asking the platform to take down a repository associated with NYAA.si, a popular torrent site specializing in anime content. The DMCA captured attention as the code doesn’t belong to the MPA. Rather, the MPA argues the code is used…

YouTube Suspends Trump’s Channel For At Least 7 Days

YouTube has taken action against President Donald Trump and barred new videos from being uploaded to his channel for at least seven days, citing violations of its policies and “concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.” NBC News reports: It’s the latest action against Trump after last week’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Twitter and Facebook…

Trump Also Suspended from Snapchat and Twitch, Faces Content Restrictions on Pinterest and…TikTok?

Today MSN published an article listing “Every social media platform Donald Trump is banned from using (so far).” Some excerpts: – Trump was suspended from Snapchat amid the riots on January 6, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill… – On January 7, Twitch, the Amazon-owned video live-streaming platform made popular by gamers, disabled Trump’s account indefinitely… – Though Trump does not…

Elon Musk Urges Followers to Drop Facebook for Signal

What’s the world’s richest man up to? Digital Trends reports: Tech CEO Elon Musk has urged his almost 42 million Twitter followers to use secure messaging app Signal instead of Facebook products. In a series of tweets, Musk shared a meme referencing Facebook’s role in the spread of misinformation leading to the attack on Congress this week and suggested people should…

Twitter Disabled ‘Likes’ and ‘Replies’ on False Trump Tweets. Inadvertently.

Business Insider reports: Twitter on Saturday briefly took new action to stem the spread of President Donald Trump’s false tweets about his loss in the 2020 election. Replies and likes were disabled on several of Trump’s tweets Saturday morning before Twitter the company reversed course hours later, telling Business Insider the change was made “inadvertently….” “We try to prevent a Tweet…