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At the same time, AI models that are trained primarily with text to detect hate speech, struggle to identify hateful memes. So, Facebook is throwing a new $100,000 challenge to developers to create models that can recognize hateful images and memes. As a part of the challenge, Facebook said it’ll provide developers with a dataset of 10,000 ‘hateful’ images licensed from Getty Images: In a blog post, the company explained that creating an AI model to detect hateful memes is a multimodal problem....

The social media giant is rolling out Facebook News to select audiences in the US starting today, carving a dedicated home screen tab out of its digital real estate for users to explore their news interests directly within the Facebook app. “Facebook News was built to bring people closer to the stories that affect their lives,” the company said. “We’ll continue to learn, listen and improve News as it rolls out more broadly....

It’s easy to kick Facebook around these days. Heck, it’s almost fashionable. They’re old. They’re possibly evil. They aren’t cool like their hipper, sassier cousin Instagram. But especially if you’re a business or responsible for marketing, you sleep on Facebook at your own peril. Despite the slings and arrows, Facebook is still the social media king, reaching over 60 percent of all internet users. And don’t believe the hype — because 65 percent of Facebook’s users are 35 years old or younger....

You will see “John Doe and others” instead of “John Doe and 15 others” under your post. App researcher Jane Manchun Wong uncovered this test from a beta version of the social network’s app, earlier this month. A Facebook spokesperson said the company is testing this to understand if it improves the site’s user experience: In April, Facebook-owned Instagram commenced a test to hide likes from posts in Canada. Later in July, it extended the program to five more countries: Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand....

With just over a year left until the 2020 U.S. presidential elections, Facebook updated its policies on the spread of misinformation and released a bunch of new tools to better “protect the democratic process” in a post published yesterday. Now, Facebook will clearly label false posts and state-controlled media, and will invest $2 million in media literacy projects to help people understand the information they’re seeing online. Over the next month, content published on Facebook and Instagram that has been rated false or partly false by a third-party fact-checker will be more prominently labeled so people can better decide for themselves what to read, trust, and share....

The firm will link to posts that have been debunked by authorized fact-checkers in the pop-up with more information. That’s a pretty good idea for steering people away from pages that mislead people. But what if someone’s already liked the page? No warning sign for them? Facebook didn’t detail its criterion to determine what constitutes ‘repeatedly’ sharing misinformation. We’ve asked the firm for more details, and we’ll update the story if we hear back....

One example is this video of military jets posted to TikTok, which is historical footage but captioned as live video of the situation in Ukraine. Visuals, because of their persuasive potential and attention-grabbing nature, are an especially potent choice for those seeking to mislead. Where creating, editing or sharing inauthentic visual content isn’t satire or art, it is usually politically or economically motivated. Disinformation campaigns aim to distract, confuse, manipulate and sow division, discord, and uncertainty in the community....

Since about two weeks ago, all AEG KMK968000T microwave ovens in the Benelux have stopped working. Caused by a wrong software update, the kitchen appliances have achieved a state that is usually reserved for tech writers: an identity crisis. All of them think they’re steam ovens – ovens with a steaming function. The microwaves accidentally received a software update that brainwashed them. Not only do their displays show the word ‘steam oven’, they also show a series of functionalities that microwave ovens could only dream of having....

The advertisement breaks in the NFL’s Super Bowl garner almost as much attention as the main event. With around 100 million viewers, Super Bowl ad spots are some of the most lucrative — and expensive — money can buy. [Read: Report: Hummer to be resurrected as an all electric pickup truck] We’ve seen iconic spots from the likes of Apple, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Budweiser, and more over the years. Take note, you won’t find any local double glazing companies advertising here, it’s only big money, multinationals....

And it looks awesome: Ah Battle Royale, the game mode that pits dozens of bloodthirsty maniacs against one another in a fight to the death. It’s become a near-ubiquitous staple of FPS games since Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds brought it to the mainstream and Fortnite made it a world-wide phenomenon. Until now, the closest thing racing fans have had to this kind of action is Rocket League. We don’t have a lot of information to go on as of yet, but the blueprint for The Eliminator – as Playground Games is calling it – was already there in the form of global game events that saw players rushing to complete objectives and enter zones before time ran out....

Recent crackdowns in the European nation have resulted in several arrests amid nationwide investigations. This comes on the heels of reports from mid-2020 indicating authorities were “overwhelmed” by the number of reported incidents. In the country’s efforts to fight child sexual abuse, investigators and child advocacy groups have requested the use of Deepfake generators to produce artificial “kinderpornografie.” This, reportedly, would include imagery created using a database containing actual images of child sexual abuse....

As of June 15, Microsoft ended support for Explorer on several versions of Windows 10 – meaning no more productivity, reliability, or security updates. Explorer will remain a working browser, but won’t be protected as new threats emerge. Twenty-seven years is a long time in computing. Many would say this move was long overdue. Explorer has been long outperformed by its competitors, and years of poor user experiences have made it the butt of many internet jokes....

It’s fast becoming an epidemic, says campaigner Mark Taber, who has flagged 126 adverts for investment scams with both Google and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over the past six weeks alone. Solving the issue might require intervention from the British government, as an exemption in UK law keeps Google at arm’s length of the country’s lead financial watchdog. — Mark Taber (@MarkTaber_FII) February 16, 2020 Neither party have been effective in curbing the fraudulent activity....

It’s still easily available. But it won’t be simple for much longer. Google is making notable changes to Gmail — and not for the better. A month ago, the company outlined plans for its biggest redesign ever, a move that would see the email app turn into an “integrated workspace” with separate tabs for emails, chats, shared files, and meetings. Well, the Big G has now begun rolling out this new experience — and I absolutely hate it....

The search giant first unveiled the app in May 2018 as a test in the Indian city of Mumbai to let you explore your neighborhood with help from local experts. Later in November, it expanded its base to a few more cities in the country. However, it failed to gain traction, likely because it simply didn’t have enough users to deliver an engaging experience. It never even came out of beta....

Google is today releasing an update to Maps that helps it better reflect actual environments. The update will show natural features closer to how they appear on satellite imagery; parks will be green, sandy deserts will be beigeish, snowy mountaintops will be white. In the featured image above, you can see how Iceland’s landscape better reflects its real-world appearance. Likewise, the desert in Sedona, Arizona, actually looks like a desert: And you can better see the greenery and beaches of Croatia’s coast and nearby islands:...

As noted before, the new grid layout supports up to 16 participants at once – previously, it was limited to four. To be clear, this is just the number of people who can be on-screen at once. In terms of total spectators, Meet can support up to 250 people for G Suite Enterprise users. G Suite Basic supports up to 100, while G Suite for Business supports up to 150....

The company said the code repository includes features such as APIs for head tracking, lens distortion rendering, and input handling, for developers to build Android and iOS apps designed for Cardboard VR experiences. Google Cardboard was released five years ago at the company’s developer conference, Google IO. The search giant claims 15 million units of Cardboard VR –made using its Cardboard Manufacturer Kit – were used worldwide. Google said use of Cardboard VR declined over time and it’s no longer actively developing its Software Development Kit (SDK): The Cardboard headset was an affordable way for anyone to experience the VR world....

According to a report by 9to5Google, the Big G is soon shipping an update to the 2018 Nest Hub that’ll replace the current operating system — the Linux-based CastOS — with Fuchsia OS. What difference will it make make in your life as a Nest Hub owner? Nada. The report says that your experience of using the device won’t change, and there’s a possibility you might not notice that the Nest Hub is running a new operating system....

As noted by Google in its announcement post, that will make the Chromecast with Google TV “one of the only streaming devices will all the major video subscriptions.” Apple TV+ was pretty much the only one left. Google specifically mentions the latest Chromecast in its blog post, not Android TV devices in general, so it’s not clear if the app will make its way over to devices like the Nvidia Shield as well....