| Facebook's Cambridge Analytica mess, YouTube's konspiracies for kids and plenty more in The Daily Crunch for March 19, 2018. 1. Facebook's Cambridge Analytica nightmare First of all, if a company is called 'Cambridge Analytica' you should send anything from them directly to your spam folder. Also, Facebook is doing a lot of spin dancing here, with news that the aforementioned organization managed to get its hands on the information of millions of users without their consent. This was possible not through a hack, but using Facebook's old advertiser tools, which allowed orgs to tap the data of friends of people who interacted with surveys they sent out – not those who had opted in directly, but the people who were connected to those people. Legit use of a loophole or not, it's shady as hell, and everyone involved is culpable. 
2. Should we finally just delete Facebook? Breach or not (it's almost worse that it isn't one, technically) Facebook has earned a lot of enmity lately. John suggests we should get rid of it, since doing so would actually be excising a social "cancer." 3. YouTube is serving up conspiracy videos in its YouTube Kids app Proving once again that if you rely too heavily on user-generated content, the world proves we're all terrible. 4. Upload VR shuts down LA and SF offices Lucas discovered that Upload, the VR startup that caught fire for a sexual harassment lawsuit that did not paint a very pleasant picture of its work culture, has shuttered its LA and SF offices. Upload posted their own 'denial,' though it actually just included clever rewording of said shutdowns painted as alternative business moves. 5. Uber is considering selling AV tech to automakers This is probably the right move for Uber as it looks to generate more revenue and paint a rosier financial picture ahead of a planned IPO on schedule for 2019. Toyota is the first carmaker it's talking to about this, and Toyota could use a boost in the self-driving department. 6. The HTC Vive Pro headset is odd HTC has a new high-powered VR headset, the Vive Pro, which will retail for $799 (without controllers and lighthouses) and provide better resolution and performance. Seems like something dozens of deep-pocketed VR superfans will pick up. 7. Google adds 'Shopping Actions' for retailers Google's now allowing retailers to buy via search results, Assistant, mobile and more with 'Shopping Actions.' It's a shot right across Amazon's bow, as the tech giants increasingly encroach on each other's territories with voice services and more. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment