Today’s Tech Sightings:
FILE – A picture illustration shows icons of WeChat and Weibo app in Beijing, (Reuters)
Study Shows Chinese Okay With Social Media Being Bad for Health
An overwhelming majority of Chinese social media users – nearly 90 percent – are unperturbed by the negative effects of excessive online use, according to a national study from research group Kantar. Despite loss of sleep and privacy and other negative effects, young Chinese in their 20s are likely to continue using social media, albeit with some modification to bad habits.
Singapore Parent Takes School to Court to Get Kid’s iPhone Back
A Singapore man sued his son’s school after it confiscated the iPhone he was using during school hours, in breach of regulations. The school wanted the iPhone confiscated for three months, but the child’s father demanded its immediate return. The court threw out the complaint, saying returning the iphone would send a wrong signal to students “that they can use their mobile phones during school hours with impunity.”
Wikimedia Foundation’s Donor Money Funds Outgoing Managers’ Nest Eggs
The nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, a global community of volunteers who provide content for the free online Wikipedia encyclopedia, paid outgoing managers up to half a million dollars in severance pay in 2015. The organization’s much-delayed 2015-2016 tax disclosures reveal that Erik Moller, who came up with the failed Wikinews service and the more successful Wikimedia Commons, received $208,306 in severance pay and two years of leave. Writer Andreas Kolbe argues the foundation can afford this luxury, but wonders if this is what donors have in mind when they respond to the appeal to “keep Wikipedia online and growing.”
More:
- Estonia’s Ex-president Wants the Rest of the World to Become Digital Nations
- US Ranks 28th in World in Mobile Internet Speeds
- Rights Institute Demand Donald Trump Unblock Twitter Critics
- Russia Denies Reports of Hacking Qatar’s State News Agency
- Former US Spy Chief Calls for ‘Filtering’ of Social Media
- Facebook Launches Features to Connect US Users to Elected Officials
- Kids Are Using WhatsApp Like Crazy. Here’s What Parents Should Know
- The Chatbot Therapist Will See You Now
- iOS 11 Can Automatically Delete Apps to Save Space
