Long-time Slashdot reader hankwang writes: The New York Times has an article on how the transmission of Covid-19 by seemingly healthy individuals was discovered in Germany on January 27, but the report was discredited because of a quibble over whether it was really asymptomatic or rather presymptomatic or oligosymptomatic transmission. Oligosymptomatic means that the symptoms are so mild that they are…
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Apple’s App Store Policies Are Bad, But Its Interpretation and Enforcement Are Worse
Earlier this week, Apple told Basecamp, the company that makes the brand new email app called Hey, that it cannot distribute its app on the iPhone unless it makes it possible for users to sign up via Apple’s own prescribed methods — which gives Apple a 30 percent cut. Apple told Basecamp that by avoiding giving an option in its iOS…
Twitter Accused of Obliterating Its Users’ Privacy Choices
The EFF’s staff technologist — also an engineer on Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere, writes:
Twitter greeted its users with a confusing notification this week. “The control you have over what information Twitter shares with its business partners has changed,” it said. The changes will “help Twitter continue operating as a free service,” it assured. But at what cost? Twitter has changed…
How a Corporation Suddenly Faced ‘Flood’ of Lawsuits From Thousands of Gig Workers
Long-time Slashdot reader PalmAndy shared the New York Times profile of two pioneers in “mass arbitration.” One Silicon Valley founder created FairShake, an automated system to help consumers launch hundreds of arbitration cases against corporations like Comcast and AT&T. And then there’s attorney Travis Lenkner (and his firm Keller Lenkner), who says most companies never thought consumers would actually use arbitration….
Mental Health Tips for the COVID-19 Outbreak
Dr. Steve Joordens, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, regularly connects psychology to world events. Below, listen to the conversation or read the transcript, and hear Dr. Steve Joordens’s thoughts on: Tips to manage anxiety and fear around the new coronavirus pandemic How often you should check the news How parents […]
The post Mental Health Tips for…
Facebook Says Political Candidates Can Use Paid Memes
Facebook said Friday that political candidates, campaigns and groups can use paid branded content across its platforms, a clarification prompted by a move from Michael Bloomberg’s campaign to pay top Instagram influencers to post memes on its behalf. Axios reports: Its policy didn’t explicitly state that it was OK for candidates to use branded content posts, but after hearing from various…
Nvidia’s GeForce Now Is Losing All Activision Blizzard Games
Nvidia’s GeForce Now is a cloud gaming service that lets you play games stored on dedicated GeForce graphics-enabled PCs across a wide array of devices. While it lets you play PC games you already own, the game publisher must allow it on the service. “Today, Nvidia is revealing that Activision Blizzard is no longer playing ball, pulling down its catalog of…
Wacom Drawing Tablets Track the Name of Every Application That You Open
Software engineer Robert Heaton writes: Last week I set up my tablet on my new laptop. As part of installing its drivers I was asked to accept Wacom’s privacy policy. Being a mostly-normal person I never usually read privacy policies. Instead I vigorously hammer the “yes” button in an effort to reach the game, machine, or medical advice on the other…
Tuxedo’s New Manjaro Linux Laptops Will Include Massive Customization
Tuxedo Computers “has teamed up with Manjaro to tease not one, not two, but several” Linux laptops, Forbes reports: The Tuxedo Computers InfinityBook Pro 15…can be loaded with up to 64GB of RAM, a 10th-generation Intel Core i7 CPU, and as high as a 2TB Samsung EVO Plus NVMe drive. You can also purchase up to a 5-year warranty, and user-installed…