Twitter Wants MIT to Make Sense of Your Tweets
Social media giant Twitter is offering MIT $10 million and a five-year commitment to back the creation of the Laboratory for Social Machines. The aim is to access real-time tweets, old and new, and develop technologies that can distinguish patterns across social media and digital content. If successful, the program will identify, discuss and act on pressing societal problems.
Facebook Apologizes for Drag Queen Name Ban
Facebook’s recent crackdown on fake user names has driven the gay and lesbian community away to other services. The social media giant apologized Wednesday for asking drag queens to use their real names or be thrown off the service and said in a statement that it regretted the hardship it inflicted on the LGBT community over this issue.
Dubai Detectives to Get Google Glass to Fight Crime
A new plan to make Dubai’s police force the “smartest in the world” by 2018 will equip law enforcers with Google Glass running facial recognition software. Police and detectives wearing Glass will be able to connect to a database of wanted persons.
Nope! Apple’s Patch Doesn’t Fully Fix the Shellshock Bug Either
It’s worse than the notorious Heartbeat vulnerability. And despite a slew of patches from Red Hat and Apple, the Shellshock bug that affects Linux, Unix and Apple OX operating systems still has not been fixed.
Mobile Malware: Small Numbers, but Growing
According to a recent report from security company McAfee, mobile malware saw a 197 percent increase between 2012-2013. While the number of phones actually hit by malware was small, McAfee said ransomeware that locks targeted phones and holds data for ransom was the biggest tracked malware affecting 20,000-40,000 mobile users in the U.S.
Report: China iPhone 6 Reservations Hit 2 Million in 6 Hours
AppleInsider cites “incomplete statistics” published by Chinese website Sina that show the country’s telecoms and retailers logged two million reservations for Apple’s new iPhone 6 phones in the first six hours.
