Technology
10 things in tech you need to know today, November 28
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this
Wednesday.
- Mark Zuckerberg was humiliated
by international lawmakers on Tuesday for failing to give
evidence on Facebook scandals. Zuckerberg declined
repeated requests to answer the questions of the self-described
International Grand Committee. As a result, the committee
decided to leave an empty chair for the Facebook CEO. - A cache of secret Facebook
documents are said to reveal that it was warned about a
potentially huge data issue involving Russia back in
2014. That’s according to a UK lawmaker who
reviewed the sealed Facebook papers. The firm later said
it investigated the issue and “found no evidence of specific
Russian activity.” - A former Facebook employee
posted a 2,500-word memo about racial discrimination at the
company. In a goodbye note to colleagues he
subsequently shared publicly, Mark S. Luckie wrote: “Facebook
has a black people problem.” - Google CEO Sundar Pichai
has agreed to testify in front of US Congress in December,
according to The Washington Post. Pichai will be
grilled on a string of issues, including plans to launch a
censored search engine in China and sexual misconduct at the
company. - YouTube just gave a big
clue that its $12-a-month Premium service is headed for
extinction after only eight months. Starting in
2019, new original content on YouTube will be available for
free with advertisements, rather than being available
exclusively through the company’s subscription service, YouTube
Premium. - Google employees are
petitioning management to shut down work on a controversial
censored search engine for China. The petition was
signed by 11 Google engineers, with a note that said more
signatures would be coming. - Uber was fined nearly
$1.2 million over the giant 2016 data hack. Two
fines were imposed by Britain’s Information Commissioner’s
Office and the Dutch Data Protection Authority after the breach
impacted 50 million riders and seven million drivers. - Amazon says Black Friday
and Cyber Monday 2018 were the biggest shopping days in its
history. Amazon said it sold “millions” more
products from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday than it did during
the same 2017 holiday period. - A Facebook glitch has been
causing messages from users’ pasts to resurface — and people
are calling it a ‘cringe-fest.‘ A glitch caused by
software updates caused the messages to show up as if they were
new, Facebook said in a statement. For some, it resurfaced
unwelcome memories. - There’s a 23-year-old coder who
uncovers hidden app features that tech giants like Facebook
want to keep secret. Jane Manchun Wong is a star
in the world of reverse-app engineering. She was the first to
discover Facebook was testing an “unsend” message feature.
Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech
each morning. Just search for “Business Insider” in your Alexa’s
flash briefing settings.
Continue Reading
-
Entertainment6 days ago
What’s on the far side of the moon? Not darkness.
-
Business7 days ago
How Rubrik’s IPO paid off big for Greylock VC Asheem Chandna
-
Business6 days ago
TikTok faces a ban in the US, Tesla profits drop and healthcare data leaks
-
Business5 days ago
London’s first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to the city’s startups
-
Business7 days ago
Photo-sharing community EyeEm will license users’ photos to train AI if they don’t delete them
-
Entertainment6 days ago
How to watch ‘The Idea of You’: Release date, streaming deals
-
Entertainment5 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg has found a new sense of style. Why?
-
Business5 days ago
Humanoid robots are learning to fall well