BoingBoing.net
Xeni Jardin is a technology-culture journalist. A co-editor of BoingBoing.net, she is a contributor to Wired magazine and NPR's Day to Day. Jardin is a breast cancer survivor.
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Xeni Jardin
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FROM Xeni Jardin
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Are tech companies responsible for the spread of fake Russia-sponsored content? Facebook acknowledged on Monday before Congress that more than 126 million users potentially saw political ads bought by a Kremlin-linked company. Should the government regulate Facebook and Twitter, or should information on the internet roam free?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg on the Hill; Twitter blocks Rose McGowan During her trip to Washington, Sheryl Sandberg said Russian-linked ads would have been allowed on Facebook had they been posted by real people rather than fake accounts. The Russian government used anti-virus software Kaspersky to scan classified documents. After actress Rose McGowan spoke out against Harvey Weinstein on Twitter, her account got suspended.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How fake news spread so easily in the wake of the Vegas shooting On Sunday night, as reports of the mass shooting in Las Vegas came out, so did false information about it. Fake victims, fake suspects, and conspiracy theories flooded YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Google. Some fake news videos and posts were ranked high in search results, alongside legitimate stories.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Is the iPhone X worth $1000? The iPhone X boasts an edge-to-edge display, facial recognition technology, no home button, wireless charging, and a better camera. Should you be swayed by the hype and go for it? We also discuss the story of Instagram taking down a photo of a mom with her son, who has a facial disfigurement.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Does Amazon want to take over the world? Amazon dominates online retail in the U.S., and now it’ll own actual grocery stores, since its purchase of Whole Foods is a go. Amazon has also been opening up brick and mortar bookstores, and designing an algorithm for making apparel. To compete, Google is partnering with Walmart so you can do voice shopping from home.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Tech industry fights white supremacists Before violence broke out in Charlottesville last weekend, Airbnb had decided to deny service to known white supremacists, including Richard Spencer. As events unfolded, Uber banned a white supremacist who allegedly made racist comments to his Uber driver in DC. Facebook and Twitter began policing hate speech on their sites. Several parties tried taking down the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How tech can make your travel less stressful We learn about apps that help with navigating unfamiliar roads, making phone calls overseas, and packing correctly; and what to do to keep your internet connection and data safe while abroad.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Your Roomba is spying on you, should you care? Defcon, one of the world’s largest hacking conventions has kicked off. It includes Voting Village, a place where hackers can carry out attacks on various voting machines to show how vulnerable our elections are. Also, the little vacuum robot Roomba is mapping your house.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why free payment apps like Venmo are really not-so-free The free peer-to-peer payment app Venmo has a social element that other similar apps don’t have. How secure is your personal data and the money you send. How does Venmo make money, anyway? Also, the Dept. of Justice announced today that the black market site AlphaBay has been busted up. Finally, Apple announced new emoji this week.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Newspapers want a better deal from Facebook and Google News outlets need Facebook and Google to get their stories in front of as many eyeballs as possible. But the two tech giants soak up the bulk of online ad revenue. Now a group of newspapers wants to band together to negotiate a better deal. But they’ll need permission from Congress first.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Facebook moderator: Biggest censorship job in history? A massive ransomware attack started in Ukraine on Tuesday and then went global. And ProPublica published a big investigation into Facebook’s secret moderation methods this week, and the results aren’t pretty.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What Uber's downfall means for Lyft Ride-sharing giant Uber is making (mostly negative) headlines every week, and CEO Travis Kalanick just resigned. Is this just what Lyft’s been waiting for: Uber’s implosion? From its start, Lyft presented itself as different from Uber, and it’s been quietly growing.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Uber executive fired after revelations that he shared a rape victim's medical records Uber’s President of Business in the Asia Pacific, Eric Alexander was fired Tuesday after reports surfaced that he had obtained the medical records of a woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India. The company also announced it had recently fired 20 other employees.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Can Waze Carpool fix LA traffic? Navigation app Waze is expanding its carpool feature across California next week. The feature connects drivers with riders heading to the same place so they can ride together and save on gas. However, it’s not intended to be the next Lyft Line or Uber Pool. There’s also a legal fight between Uber and Waymo, in which Waymo says Uber stole its self-driving car secrets.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
After 7 years in prison, what will Chelsea Manning do with her freedom? Chelsea Manning was released from prison Wednesday . She was originally sentenced to 35 years for leaking thousands of military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. But Barack Obama commuted most of her sentence before leaving office. Manning has posted photos on social media to celebrate -- her first steps of freedom, enjoying pizza and wine.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
French President Macron fights back against hackers Russians are suspected of interfering in the recent French election. The campaign of now President-elect Emmanuel Macron was hacked. But Macron’s technology team saw it coming and launched a counteroffensive. Also, LA-based Snapchat has lost more money in the past three month that the company has made, ever.
Recommended
Nocturne
Finding the Void What makes a place home? Is it a place that feels like a refuge? Is it somewhere you sleep really, really well? What if the place that feels like home is a secret apartment in the bowels of a giant mall?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The not-so-glamorous lives of immigrants who trim weed Thousands of young migrants descend on Northern California’s Emerald Triangle every year to trim marijuana plants. They come for an adventure, but the work is difficult, isolated, and sometimes dangerous.
LA Observed
Will charging a deputy satisfy DA's critics? It has not happened in nearly 2 decades. But the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against a law enforcement officer for shooting an unarmed person. The decision, however, has many folks scratching their heads, wondering why other cases with similar circumstances did not garner the same legal response.
Design and Architecture
Cher, fashion icon; Designing RBG’s early career; a Culver City mystery “The Cher Show” is a celebration of the rocky but triumphant life of Cher -- and 600 of her spectacular outfits created by the legendary designer Bob Mackie. Also, a production designer shares the decorating tastes of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And a mid-century concert hall gets restored, and with it a design mystery is solved.