Today’s Tech Sightings:
FILE – The WhatsApp logo appears on a smartphone in New York. (AP)
Chinese Government Partially Blocks WhatsApp Service
The WhatsApp messaging service ran afoul of Chinese government censors as part of a wider effort to restrict messengers that do not follow the country’s surveillance policies. The government partially blocked messages in China on Monday, with users reporting instances of undelivered messages that contain pictures and audio. Beijing is prepping for its 19th Communist Party Congress this fall, so the crackdown could be related to that event.
Google Is Shaking Up Mobile Search With Smart New Feed
Google is redesigning its mobile search engines to offer users a more “personalized” experience. What this means is Google will be using your previous interactions and location to offer you related local area information whether you ask for it or not. The new feature is dubbed “Google feed.”
Amazon’s Push Into Social May Set It on Collision Course With Facebook
Spark is a new “social shopping” site from Amazon. The app runs a feed that lets users scroll through as they would with an Instagram feed and click on images they like to buy items. Depending on how serious Amazon is about social media at this point, writer Kevin Kelleher argues Spark could set it on a collision course with Facebook.
More:
- FCC Refuses to Release Text of More Than 40,000 Net Neutrality Complaints
- Afghan Team Among Medal Winners at Global Robotics Event
- US Labor Official Warns Google’s Confidentiality Rules Discourage Whistleblowers
- How to Reclaim Your Privacy in Windows 10, Piece by Piece
- Apple’s Patented iPhone Panic Button Might Not Make You Much Safer
- IBM Defends Watson, Cognitive Computing, AI Efforts Amid Analyst Questions
- What You Don’t Know About Bitcoin Can Hurt You
- Woman Fails to Smuggle 102 iPhones Strapped to Body into China
