Month: April 2018

Gmail.com redesign includes self-destructing emails

Dianne Jacobs
Google Meet Gmail

Gmail.com is soon getting its first redesign in seven years, and with that new look comes some new features. There has been new side panels for Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Google Tasks, and now we’re getting word of another new feature: self-destructing emails. TechCrunch has screenshots detailing the feature from the pre-release version of Gmail. In the compose window, there’s a new lock icon called “Confidential Mode.” When clicked, a message pops up saying, “Options to forward, download or copy this email’s contents and attachments will be disabled.” The…

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Russia to block Telegram app over encryption

Dianne Jacobs
Telegram

A court in Moscow has approved a request from the Russian media regulator to block the Telegram messaging app immediately. The media regulator sought to block the app because the firm had refused to hand over encryption keys used to scramble messages. Security officials say they need to monitor potential terrorists. But the company said the way the service was built meant it had no access to customers’ encryption keys. Telegram had missed a deadline of 4 April to hand over the keys. Advertisement Russia’s main security agency, the FSB,…

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Uber expands privacy settlement with FTC

Dianne Jacobs

Uber is expanding the proposed settlement it made with the Federal Trade Commission last August pertaining to data mishandling, privacy and security complaints that date back to 2014 and 2015. In August, Uber agreed to 20 years of privacy audits. That proposed settlement happened prior to Uber’s disclosure of the massive 2016 data breach that affected some 57 million riders and drivers. Now, Uber will be subject to “additional requirements,” according to the FTC. “After misleading consumers about its privacy and security practices, Uber compounded its misconduct by failing to…

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Instagram will soon let users download a copy of their data

Dianne Jacobs
fACEBOOK,INSTAGRAM,MESSANGER

Instagram is building its own data portability tool which will allow users to download a copy of everything they’ve ever shared on the platform, similar to how Facebook’s download your information tool works. The platform confirmed the news to TechCrunch. The tool could help Instagram users monitor how much of their data is on the platform. It will also help Facebook, which owns Instagram, comply with the forthcoming European data privacy rule, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will require all data to be portable. The rule will also require…

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AI software that helps doctors diagnose like specialists is approved by FDA

Dianne Jacobs

For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic device that doesn’t need a specialized doctor to interpret the results. The software program, called IDx-DR, can detect a form of eye disease by looking at photos of the retina. It works like this: A nurse or doctor uploads photos of the patient’s retina taken with a special retinal camera. The IDx-DR software algorithm first indicates whether the image uploaded is high-quality enough to get a result. Then, it analyzes the images to…

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How to Find Out If Your Facebook Data Was Stolen by Cambridge Analytica

Dianne Jacobs

Roughly 87 million people had their Facebook data stolen by the political research firm Cambridge Analytica. And starting today, Facebook will finally notify the people who had their information scooped up. About 70 million are in the US, while the rest are primarily in the UK, Indonesia, and the Philippines. How can you find out if your Facebook information was compromised? A notification will appear at the top of your Facebook newsfeed, along with a new button for changing your privacy settings. Even if your information wasn’t swallowed up by…

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Facebook Reveals New Verification Process for Large Pages

Dianne Jacobs

Facebook released policy prescriptions to combat election meddling in the upcoming U.S. midterms. These prescriptions are its most detailed to date. The new rules will impact businesses running Pages and Instagram accounts. The plan is effective immediately in the U.S., and in the coming months elsewhere. On Friday, the company said that it would require large Pages to verify the identities and locations of the people and businesses managing them, a move largely meant to prevent people outside the U.S. from making fraudulent posts on topics like domestic politics. (It…

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JuuBike: Streamlining the Kenyan Bodaboda Transport Sector

Dianne Jacobs

The Boda Boda Safety Association of Kenya recently launched a new app called JuuBike that will connect riders to customers in what the Association says will streamline the industry and inject discipline. The IBCA caught up with its founder who told us more about it. How can you define the technology sector in Kenya? JuuBike: The technology in Kenya has been improving rapidly and being adopted by very many different sectors eg, communication,Transport, manufacturing and many others. It has the engine that is driving the Kenyan economy as today almost everything is…

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AI ‘poses less risk to jobs than feared’ says OECD

Dianne Jacobs
emotion

Fewer people’s jobs are likely to be destroyed by AI (artificial intelligence) and robots than has been suggested by a much-cited study, an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report says. An influential 2013 forecast by Oxford University said that about 47% of jobs in the US in 2010 and 35% in the UK were at “high risk” of being automated over the following 20 years. But the OECD puts the US figure at about 10% and the UK’s at 12%. Even so, it says many more workers face…

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Snapchat adds 16-person group video calls

Dianne Jacobs

Snapchat has launched a feature that enables up to 16 people to take part in a live chat together, using either video or just their voices. The app’s members can also start tagging each other by username, using the @ symbol in their posts. The changes will roll out over the coming weeks, the firm said. Snapchat came under fire for a recent redesign. A petition calling for the changes to be reversed attracted more than 1.2 million signatures. At the weekend, Snapchat’s first TV advert aired in the US.…

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