harrymcc writes: In the late 1990s, lots of people were concerned that the Y2K bug could lead to power outages, financial collapse, riots, and worse when the clock rolled over to January 1, 2000. Hundreds of books about the problem and suggestions on how to respond (quit your job, move to the country, stockpile food) not only capitalized on this fear…
Tag: nbc
More Small Tests Are Happening For Universal Basic Incomes
DevNull127 writes: A video report from NBC News profiles “Springboard to Opportunities,” an advocacy group for affordable housing residents that’s now also testing $1,000-a-month payments (privately-funded) for 20 women in Mississsippi chosen at random. One senior-living aid making $10.31 an hour says the grants represent “a little freedom”. She’s using the money to pay down debt — and to visit the…
AI is digitally pasting products into your favourite films and TV
Major entertainment companies including NBC Universal and 20th Century Fox are digitally inserting ads into movies and TV shows after they are filmed, including in Modern Family Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2223621-ai-is-digitally-pasting-products-into-your-favourite-films-and-tv/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Leaked Documents Show Facebook Leveraged User Data To Fight Rivals and Help Friends
A cache of leaked Facebook documents shows how the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, oversaw plans to consolidate the social network’s power and control competitors by treating its users’ data as a bargaining chip. NBC News reports: This trove comprises approximately 7,000 pages in total, of which about 4,000 are internal Facebook communications such as emails, web chats, notes, presentations and spreadsheets,…
Zuckerberg Doubles Down on Facebook Political Ads Policy After Twitter Ban
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has ardently defended Facebook’s controversial political advertising policy hours after Twitter took a shot at its rival while announcing it will ban all political ads from its platform. From a report: “Although I’ve considered whether we should not carry [political] ads in the past, and I’ll continue to do so, on balance so far I’ve thought we…
‘OK Boomer’ Is the New Retort To Older Generations
Teens are increasingly using the phrase “OK boomer” to fire back at older generations’ criticisms. Slashdot reader ItsJustAPseudonym shares an excerpt from an NBC News article: In recent months, the phrase “OK boomer” has become a common retort in the parts of the internet inhabited by teenage and young adult users. On Instagram, the phrase appears as a hashtag alongside memes…
Huge Child Porn Ring Busted As Authorities Cite Ability To Crack Bitcoin Privacy
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Federal authorities in the U.S. have unsealed charges against the South Korean operator of a child porn ring that’s been billed as the world’s “largest dark web child porn marketplace.” The child porn site, known as Welcome to Video, charged some users in Bitcoin and authorities say they successfully unmasked those Bitcoin transactions…
Fired EPA Scientists To Release Air Pollution Report They Say Agency Unqualified To Issue
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Nearly one year ago, the Trump administration fired a panel of more than two dozen scientific experts who assisted the Environmental Protection Agency in its review of air quality standards for particulate matter. Now, as the EPA prepares its report on those standards later this month, 20 of those scientists are meeting…
Aliens May Have Bugged Co-Orbital Space Rocks To Spy On Earth, Scientist Says
dryriver shared this article from NBC News’ science blog Mach: Picture this: A hundred million years ago, an advanced civilization detects strange signatures of life on a blue-green planet not so far away from their home in the Milky Way. They try sending signals, but whatever’s marching around on that unknown world isn’t responding. So, the curious galactic explorers try something…
Motorola, Known For Cellphones, is Fast Becoming a Major Player in Government Surveillance
Jon Schuppe, reporting for NBC News: The surveillance tools have been installed in schools and public housing, deployed on roads and public transit, and worn by police officers. They’ve been developed by an array of technology firms competing for government business. And many are now owned by a company seeking to grab a bigger piece of a booming market. Motorola, a…