Fortnite: A fortnight in my 40s in Battle Royale

BBC News - Technology

Fortnite: A fortnight in my 40s in Battle Royale

A lapsed gamer is challenged to spend a fortnight playing Fortnite to understand its appeal.

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AI to help tackle fake news in Mexican election

The smart software will help media groups debunk fake news and respond to reports of violence.

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TechNewsWorld

EU Watchdog Accuses Facebook, Google of Privacy Shenanigans

Facebook and Google have manipulated users into sharing data using so-called "dark patterns," according to a report from the Norwegian Consumer Council. The practices nudged users toward accepting privacy options that favored the tech companies rather than themselves, the NCC found. Facebook and Google have no intention of providing users with an actual choice, the NCC has claimed, and their use of dark patterns constitutes a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation implemented across Europe last month.

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SteelSeries Arctis Gaming Headset Sale (and 10 Other Tech Deals)

Pick up a SteelSeries Arctis headset for cheap, along with tents, 4K TVs, and more this weekend.

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WPA3 Arrives to Shore Up WiFi Security

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WPA3 Arrives to Shore Up WiFi Security

Network devices with better security will be hitting the market this year, thanks to Wi-Fi Certified WPA3, which the Wi-Fi Alliance launched Tuesday. The announcement paves the way for the proliferation of devices that support the new, more secure protocol for WiFi communication, which is designed to replace the 14-year-old WPA2. The new protocol adds features to simplify WiFi security, enable more robust authentication, and deliver increased cryptographic strength for highly sensitive data markets.

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Sonos Beam Review: Support for Alexa in a Great Soundbar

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Sonos Beam Review: Support for Alexa in a Great Soundbar

The Sonos Beam is a $400 soundbar that comes with full support for Amazon Alexa.

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Researchers Gather for the International Workshop on Emoji Understanding

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Researchers Gather for the International Workshop on Emoji Understanding

Linguists and data scientists see a new way to study language and communication in our little digital ideograms.

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BBC News - Technology

BBC releases computer history archive

Computing 1980s-style is to be shown off in BBC archive intended to inspire new generation of coders.

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TechNewsWorld

Apple May Go All-In With Audio

Apple plans to expand its audio product line next year with new AirPods, HomePods and possibly studio-quality over-the-ear headphones. The new generation of AirPods will feature noise cancellation, be water resistant, and have greater range, according to a report citing people familiar with the developments. "If Apple is making those changes, they're just competitive upgrades," said Paul Erickson, a senior analyst with IHS Markit. "Everybody else is already doing those things for earbuds in the $150 to $200 price range."

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The Best Defense Against Fake News in Social Media

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The Best Defense Against Fake News in Social Media

IBM just showcased Project Debater, and it just won against a top human debater using actual facts. We need the production version of this tool yesterday. Fake news is getting worse. We have always had issues with politicians and con artists trying to convince us down is up and to get us to do things that, were we informed, we'd never do. It won't be long before criminals will be using artificial intelligence tied to information they have bought from a social network to better take our hard-earned cash from us or change our government.

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BBC News - Technology

Wimbledon 2018: AI uses player emotions to edit highlights

Wimbledon and IBM are using artificial intelligence systems to automatically edit the tennis action.

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Fujifilm Instax Square SQ6 Review: Simple Square Shots

Fuji's first square analog instant camera is finally here. Was it worth the wait?

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Westworld game hit by Bethesda legal claim

BBC News - Technology

Westworld game hit by Bethesda legal claim

The Westworld game is a "rip-off" of the Fallout Shelter title, alleges Bethesda in its legal papers

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Voices of millions of UK taxpayers stored by HMRC

Privacy campaigners say 5.1 million Britons have had their voices stored without permission.

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How to Use a Google Clips Camera

Google’s clever new AI-powered camera is designed to grab stellar 7-second snippets of family shenanigans. Here’s how to get started.

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Tomorrow's Cities: Can start-ups solve city issues?

BBC News - Technology

Tomorrow's Cities: Can start-ups solve city issues?

Every city wants to have a striving tech start-up scene but why is it so important?

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Maps reveal hidden truths of the world's cities

A new website lets people delve into data on the world's cities.

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From Mats to Hoodies, 9 Ways to Elevate Your Yoga Practice

Our favorite gear to help you say "namaste."

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Codebreaking Bombe moves to computer museum

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Codebreaking Bombe moves to computer museum

Designed by Alan Turing, the machine helped uncover how German forces had scrambled key messages.

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Indictment of Ex-Fitbit Employees Marks a Bigger Legal Shift

Six current and former Fitbit employees are accused of stealing trade secrets from rival company Jawbone.

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Best Weekend Tech Deals: Apple Devices, Moto Z3, Robot Vacs, and More

We found some great deals on Moto phones, Apple devices, robot vacs, wireless headphones, and more

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TechNewsWorld

Facebook Shores Up Its Position on Fake News Front

Facebook has announced new tactics to reduce the spread of fake news. Its efforts will include combining technology with human reviewers to identify and remove fake accounts; partnering with fact-checkers; and promoting news literacy. Facebook will expand its fact-checking programs to new countries, scrutinize photos and videos more closely, and increase the impact of fact-checking through new techniques that could include identifying duplicates and using Claim Review. It will monitor repeat offenders more closely and take actions as necessary.

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YouTube fans to fund favourite film-makers

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YouTube fans to fund favourite film-makers

The site will let video-makers charge fans a monthly fee for exclusive content.

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Arizona Uber crash driver was 'watching TV'

The police report suggests the safety operator was streaming The Voice just before a fatal collision.

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Amazon Fire TV Cube Review: Don’t Trade the Remote for Alexa Just Yet

Amazon’s promise for the future of TV doesn't quite come through in the Cube.

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TechNewsWorld

Fire Cubes, Home Theater Beams, and X-ray Cases

Amazon's latest gambit for taking over your living room is the Fire TV Cube. It works in much the same way as the Fire TV stick, but with the added impact this time around of stuffing in a smart speaker with the familiar tones of the Alexa voice assistant. You can use it to play whatever you want to see in up to 4K resolution from various streaming services. All the usual suspects are here, like Netflix and HBO Go, but sadly, there's no native YouTube app, thanks to a tiff between Amazon and Google.

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New Study Group to Focus on Impact of Robo Vehicles

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New Study Group to Focus on Impact of Robo Vehicles

Some logistics and mobility industry heavyweights have formed a group committed to improving the lives and opportunities of working Americans through adoption of autonomous vehicles. Its roster includes the American Trucking Associations, Daimler, FedEx, Ford, Lyft, Toyota Motor North America, Uber and Waymo. "Our autonomous vehicle future will bring many significant benefits for society, but we also must remember that it may change the way many of us work," said PTIO Executive Director Maureen Westphal.

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iOS 12 to Provide Stronger 911 Location Help

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iOS 12 to Provide Stronger 911 Location Help

The next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 12, automatically will share location data for iPhones used to make emergency calls. The system will use an IP-based data pipeline developed by RapidSOS to share location data from iPhones with 911 centers. "Communities rely on 911 centers in an emergency, and we believe they should have the best available technology at their disposal," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "When every moment counts, these tools will help first responders reach our customers when they most need assistance."

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Apple Unveils New Siri Customization Tools at WWDC

The next version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 12, will include a new feature that allows you to customize the way Siri works with applications on phones and tablets. The announcement was one of the highlights at the kickoff of Apple's WWDC on Monday. Called "Siri Shortcuts," the feature lets a user define a phrase that will trigger a set of actions by the apps on a device. For example, you could say, "Game Time" to get a team schedule from TeamSnap, or "Groceries" to fulfill a standing grocery order from a grocery app.

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Google Podcasts Hands On: It's About Time

After years of mostly ignoring the podcast world, Google now makes a dedicated Android app for listening. And it's pretty good!

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BBC News - Technology

Rural residents hang up on mobile banking, regulator finds

Fewer than a quarter of those living in rural areas use a smartphone for banking, regulator finds.

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Amazon Echo comes to Marriott hotels

BBC News - Technology

Amazon Echo comes to Marriott hotels

Marriott says digital assistant Alexa will be installed in some of its US properties.

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Tesla chief Elon Musk accuses worker of sabotage

Tesla chief Elon Musk says an employee carried out "extensive and damaging sabotage".

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TechNewsWorld

Cisco, Dell, and the Race to Make a Better World

To say we live in troubled times would be an understatement. It often feels like the politicians and executives who surround us are interested only in who can tell the biggest whopper while lining their own pockets and leaving their constituents and customers to pay the bills. I recently read that the real reason Jon Stewart stepped down from The Daily Show was that he was incredibly angry all the time, which had an adverse impact not only on his ability to be funny but also on his ability to enjoy life. Much of that is because those of us in media tend to focus excessively on the bad.

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Avoiding Career Death by Twitter

The most popular show on ABC was canceled last week because the star of the show, Roseanne Barr -- known for saying and writing stuff that would get most of us fired -- did exactly what she was known for doing and got fired. ABC now looks like it is run by idiots because, really, who didn't see this coming? The network now has to explain to its licensees why they no longer will be able to get the ad revenue that otherwise would have been coming to them. This outcome is one that could have been prevented relatively easily.

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Gear Latest

Apple Deals: Sale on Watch, iPad, Mac, and More Happening Now

Apple Watch, iPad Pro, Macs, Beats, Nuraphones, and more are on sale this week!

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How to avoid being addicted to gaming

BBC News - Technology

How to avoid being addicted to gaming

Gaming addiction has been listed as a mental health condition for the first time by the World Health Organization.

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Tech Deals: Vizio, 23andMe, iPad Mini, Amazon Devices

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Tech Deals: Vizio, 23andMe, iPad Mini, Amazon Devices

Go shopping for DNA testing kits, fancy robot vacuums, gaming hardware and software, and more this weekend.

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TechNewsWorld

Upcoming iOS Access Restrictions Could Stymie Law Enforcement

Apple plans to equip iOS 12 with USB Restricted Mode, a feature that requires users to unlock their iPhone with their passcode before USB accessories can connect if the phone last was unlocked more than an hour earlier. The company included this feature in the developer versions of iOS 11.4.1 and iOS 12. Apple will release USB Restricted Mode publicly in a future software update, it confirmed this week. USB Restricted Mode should work on iPads the same way as on iPhones because it's a software feature.

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BBC News - Technology

Tomorrow's Cities: Will the bike become an urban must-have?

Urban spaces are congested and polluted, so do we all need to get on our bikes?

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Hits, Misses and Drama at E3 2018

TechNewsWorld

Hits, Misses and Drama at E3 2018

E3 had the usual hits and misses this year, and more drama than most of the games on the screens. With a strong lineup of first-party titles plus better third-party support, Nintendo is the comeback king. However, the battle for hardcore gamer dollars continues to be fought between Microsoft and Sony. With no new hardware news from the companies, this was another year about the games, but for every hit there were apparently a few misses -- and no doubt many of the games shown this year won't be released by the time next year's show kicks off.

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Qualcomm and Huawei: More Partners Than Rivals

Because both Qualcomm and Huawei are technology leaders in the wireless segment and have invested heavily in 5G, they often are pitted against one another in political, financial and even industry discussions. However, the truth is that the two companies complement one another and work together more than they compete against each another. Coming from different ends of the wireless ecosystem, they have been working on 5G from different perspectives -- Qualcomm primarily from the mobile device side, and Huawei from the infrastructure side.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: Why Apple, Google, Microsoft Are Stirring the Software Pot

This week’s podcast is all about the software that points to the future of our how we'll use our gadgets – even if they infuriate us in the interim.

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Best E3 Game Deals: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (2018)

Another E3 has come and gone, but Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo still have great deals available.

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BBC News - Technology

Kaspersky Lab halts European cybercrime work

The security firm halted the work after questions were asked in the European Parliament about its software.

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Snap Kit Will Let Other Apps Use Snapchat's Features, But Not Your Data

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Snap Kit Will Let Other Apps Use Snapchat's Features, But Not Your Data

With the release of its new Snap Kit developer platform, Snap promises it will keep your data safe from prying third-party apps.

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Spider-Man: Why PlayStation is getting an older Peter Parker

BBC News - Technology

Spider-Man: Why PlayStation is getting an older Peter Parker

Makers of the PlayStation blockbuster explain why they wanted a more mature Peter Parker.

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Tetris gets psychedelic virtual reality revamp at E3

Classic game Tetris has been a hit for more than three decades, but it is now headed in a new direction.

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TechNewsWorld

Sony Trains Spotlight on a Few Good Games

Sony gave PlayStation fans a hefty sampling of what's coming to its gaming consoles this year at E3. It gave them a long look at a relatively few offerings. "Sony's E3 event was a break with tradition, an experiment to test the way it could present its first-party output to the media," said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at IHS Technology. "It aimed to underline the depth of Sony's IP, its highly skilled development teams, and its ability to craft engaging and immersive stories and characters."

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HP: Reimagining the Future

I got a view of the future when I visited HP's Innovation Center in Barcelona, Spain, last week. The company has made some aggressive moves to blend its printing and imaging technologies to create products that will redefine our near-term future. HP also showcased capabilities that are something just short of magic. I mean, when you can transform what you can imagine into physical products, what else would you call it? One of Arthur C. Clarke's famous laws is that technology that is advanced enough will appear to be magic.

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Best Amazon Device Deals: Sale on Echos, Kindles, Fires (June 2018)

Save up to 30 percent on Fire HD Tablets, Fire TVs, Kindles, Cloud Cams, and Echo speakers.

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