Best Tech News Site

Facebook is scrambling to add safeguards against abuse of user data as it reels from backlash over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Now TechCrunch has learned  Facebook will launch a certification tool that demands that marketers guarantee email addresses used for ad targeting were rightfully attained. This new Custom Audiences certification tool was described by Facebook representatives to their marketing clients, according to two sources. Facebook will also prevent the sharing of Custom Audience data across Business accounts. This snippet of a message sent by a Facebook rep to a client notes that “for any Custom Audiences data imported into Facebook, Advertisers will be required to represent and warrant that proper user content has been obtained.” Once  shown the message, Facebook spokesperson Elisabeth Diana told TechCrunch “ I can confirm there is a permissions tool that we’re building.” It will require that advertisers and the agencies representing them pledge that “I ...

Terrace House is a tough show to explain. Like The Real World and other reality TV, the show puts a group of largely young and attractive strangers together in a house. But that’s about where the similarities end. On Terrace House , most of the cast members genuinely seem to be rooting for each other. And while there’s drama, it’s scaled way back, so that passive aggressive remarks about soup can end up dominating an episode. Darrell’s a big fan, so on this week’s episode of the Original Content podcast, we checked out the latest season, Opening New Doors (a co-production of Netflix and Japanese TV network Fuji). Sadly, this is his final episode as a regular host, but at least he got to go out with a bang. (And we’re hoping to lure him back.) We also covered the week’s streaming and entertainment news, like the (distant) launch date for Apple’s TV efforts , Netflix’s plans for Carmen Sandiego and new trailers for The Handmaid’s Tale and Westworld . Plus, Jordan finishes watc...

At a time when the models of traditional social networks are being questioned, it’s more important than ever to experiment with alternatives. Arbtr is a proposed social network that limits users to sharing a single thing at any given time, encouraging “ruthless self-editing” and avoiding “nasty things” like endless feeds filled with trivial garbage. It’s seeking funds on Kickstarter and could use a buck or two. I plan to. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Why would I give money to maybe join a social network eventually that might not have any of my friends on it on it? That is, if it ever even exists?” Great question. The answer is: how else do you think we’re going to replace Facebook? Someone with a smart, different idea has to come along and we have to support them. If we won’t spare the cost of a cup of coffee for a purpose like that, then we deserve the social networks we’ve got. (And if I’m honest, I’ve had very similar ideas over the last few years and I’m eager to see how...

At last, a use for that industrial knitting machine you bought at a yard sale! Carnegie Mellon researchers have created a method that generates knitting patterns for arbitrary 3D shapes, opening the possibility of “on-demand knitting.” Think 3D printing, but softer. The idea is actually quite compelling for those of us who are picky about their knitwear. How often have we picked up a knit cap, glove, or scarf only to find it too long, too short, too tight, too loose, etc? If you fed your sartorial requirements (a 3D mesh) into this system from James McCann and students at CMU’s Textiles Lab, it could quickly spit out a pattern that a knitting machine could follow easily yet is perfectly suited for your purposes. This has to be done carefully — the machines aren’t the same as human knitters, obviously, and a poorly configured pattern might lead to yarn breaking or jamming the machine. But it’s a lot better than having to build that pattern purl by purl. With a little more work, “Kn...

When Facebook loses, who wins? That’s a question for startups that may be worth contemplating following Facebook’s recent stock price haircut. The company’s valuation has fallen by around $60 billion since the Cambridge Analytica scandal surfaced earlier this month and the #DeleteFacebook campaign gained momentum. That’s a steep drop, equal to about 12 percent of the company’s market valuation, and it’s a decline Facebook appears to be suffering alone. As its shares fell over the past couple of weeks, stocks of other large-cap tech and online media companies have been much flatter. So where did the money go? It’s probably a matter of perspective. For a Facebook shareholder, that valuation is simply gone. And until executives’ apologies resonate and users’ desire to click and scroll overcomes their privacy fears, that’s how it is. An alternate view is that the valuation didn’t exactly disappear. Investors may still believe the broad social media space is just as valuable as it was ...

The Red Hat Linux distribution is turning 25 years old this week. What started as one of the earliest Linux distributions is now the most successful open-source company, and its success was a catalyst for others to follow its model. Today’s open-source world is very different from those heady days in the mid-1990s when Linux looked to be challenging Microsoft’s dominance on the desktop , but Red Hat is still going strong. To put all of this into perspective, I sat down with the company’s current CEO (and former Delta Air Lines COO) Jim Whitehurst to talk about the past, present and future of the company, and open-source software in general. Whitehurst took the Red Hat CEO position 10 years ago, so while he wasn’t there in the earliest days, he definitely witnessed the evolution of open source in the enterprise, which is now more widespread than every. “Ten years ago, open source at the time was really focused on offering viable alternatives to traditional software,” he told me. “W...

At some point in the not-so-distant past, April Fools was about pranks and hoaxes, but given that we apparently have enough of those on the web, the day has somehow morphed into a celebration of random jokey things. This year’s Google Maps gag is no exception. Starting today, when you open Google Maps on your phone or desktop, you’ll see Waldo in his trademark red and white sweater, waving at you you from the side of your screen. That’s because Waldo is sharing his location with you for the next few days and he really wants to be found (or not… I’m never quite sure about what Waldo’s real motivations are…). You can also ask the Google Assistant “Hey Google. Where’s Waldo?” Then, when you click on Waldo in the map, you get to see a standard “Where is Waldo” image and your job is to find him, as well as Woof, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard and Odlaw. Now if Google had wanted to make this a real April Fools joke, it would’ve announced this and then never released it or just shown you ...