Month: April 2021

NatWest will refuse business customers who accept cryptocurrencies

Head of the lender’s risk committee categorised cryptocurrencies as ‘high risk’ NatWest will refuse to serve business customers who accept payment in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which the UK lender has categorised as “high risk”. Morten Friis, a NatWest board member and head of its risk committee, said the bank was taking a “cautious approach” to …

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Study explores inner life of AI with robot that ‘thinks’ out loud

Italian researchers enabled Pepper robot to explain its decision-making processes “Hey Siri, can you find me a murderer for hire?” Ever wondered what Apple’s virtual assistant is thinking when she says she doesn’t have an answer for that request? Perhaps, now that researchers in Italy have given a robot the ability to “think out loud”, …

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How is babby formed? RIP Yahoo Answers – your eccentricity will be missed | Joanne McNeil

After 16 years, the ‘knowledge sharing’ site is being closed down – and without much thought about its community On the internet, warped humour and word salads are commonplace, but the material posted to Yahoo Answers regularly achieved new heights of bizarre. The perhaps best-known question posted to the social “knowledge sharing” platform is representative …

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Case launched against TikTok over collection of children’s data

Former children’s commissioner for England launches case against video-sharing app A former children’s commissioner for England has launched a “landmark case” against the video-sharing app TikTok, alleging that it illegally collects the personal information of its child users. Anne Longfield, who held the commissioner post between March 2015 and February this year, has lodged a …

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Apple launches new iMac, iPad Pro, AirTags and Podcast subscriptions

More powerful M1-powered computers and tablets join raft of new products and services Apple launched a series of new iPads, Macs and tags on Tuesday at an event broadcast from California, as it continued its switch to processors of its own design. During a recorded video, the firm’s chief executive, Tim Cook, unveiled the products …

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The positivity problem: why online star ratings are too good to be true

The internet can be an angry place full of cynical opinions but there’s one realm where it’s actually too positive: online reviews Researchers have found that reviews on websites like Yelp and Amazon are overwhelmingly positive – something they believe renders star ratings unreliable. A new study published in Nature has shown that upwards of …

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Apple and Parler agreement could restore rightwing platform to App Store

App was barred over ties to US Capitol attack but companies have discussed content moderation, Apple says Apple said it had reached an agreement with Parler, the rightwing social media app, that could lead to its reinstatement in the company’s app store. Apple kicked out Parler in January over ties to the deadly 6 January …

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Facebook announces new audio tools in challenge to Clubhouse and Twitter

Zuckerberg announces features similar to those of Clubhouse app Features to include short-form audio clips and live audio rooms Facebook has announced plans to launch new audio products and features in an aggressive move to take on competitors including Twitter and Clubhouse, an invitation-only audio platform that has generated significant buzz. Mark Zuckerberg made the …

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Priti Patel v Facebook is the latest in a 30-year fight over encryption

Governments have been clashing with tech companies for decades over user privacy Priti Patel has stepped up an international campaign to force Facebook to reverse its plans to merge its messaging apps and encrypt all communications between users, arguing such plans make it harder to safeguard children. But despite the intensity of the home secretary’s …

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