Technology

A Forbes report raises questions about how TikTok’s moderation team handles child sexual abuse material — alleging it granted broad, insecure access to illegal photos and videos. Employees of a third-party moderation outfit called Teleperformance, which works with TikTok among other companies, claim it asked them to review a disturbing spreadsheet dubbed DRR or Daily Required Reading on TikTok moderation standards. The spreadsheet allegedly contained content that violated TikTok’s guidelines, including “hundreds of images” of children who were nude or being abused. The employees say hundreds of people at TikTok and Teleperformance could access the content from both inside and outside the office — opening the door to a broader leak. Teleperformance denied to Forbes that it showed employees ...

A Texas jury has ordered Alex Jones to pay around $45.2 million for spreading a false conspiracy theory about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The punitive damages come on top of a $4.1 million verdict from yesterday, potentially marking a major blow to Jones’s Infowars media empire. But the number could be vastly reduced by limits built into the Texas legal code, which caps damages on defamation punishments. The jury handed back its verdict on Friday after hearing testimony about Jones’s finances — something he’s allegedly taken significant steps to obscure. It included an assessment that Jones’ company Free Speech Systems was worth at least $130 million; previous testimony indicated its annual revenue in recent years has been $50 million or above. Jones claimed in court that a ...

Sony’s LinkBuds S are some of the comfiest true wireless earbuds around. A big part of this is owed to their lightweight build of just 4.8 grams per bud, though that light and airy feel normally comes at a hefty price tag of $199.99. However, the LinkBuds S are currently on sale for $148 at Amazon and B&H Photo, while Best Buy also has them discounted to a close $149.99. Those discounts of around $50 are the best we’ve seen yet on these great buds, which offer active noise cancellation and LDAC support. If you’re in the market for earbuds that may offer you a comfier fit for longer listening sessions, you can have your pick of these in black or white at those multiple retailers. (Best Buy also carries an exclusive desert sand color.) Sony LinkBuds S $148 $200 26% off These waterproof e...

Google’s newest update for ChromeOS is rolling out to users this week, and one of its new features is support for switching to a dark theme, as 9to5Google reported. Previously hidden behind developer flags while in testing, it finally made an official debut on ChromeOS 104, following dark mode settings popping up more in other Google products. In a Google blog post mentioning the incoming feature, the company says that the new dark theme would make it easier to “read at night or in low light, and to conserve power,” which switching to a light theme changes the entire UI and wallpaper to make things “bright and airy.” Until now, ChromeOS only included a “Night Light” setting in its software to help you look at your screen in dim light by changing the screen tint. ChromeOS 104 Light and Dark...

Instagram might have halted its controversial redesign, but that doesn’t mean the company plans to stop focusing on full-screen content. During his weekly Ask Me Anything today, CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed that Instagram will begin testing ultra-tall 9:16 photos “in a week or two.” “You can have tall videos, but you cannot have tall photos on Instagram,” Mosseri said. “So we thought maybe we should make sure that we treat both equally.” Currently, Instagram tops out around 4:5 when displaying vertical images that’ve been cropped accordingly. But introducing support for slimmer, taller 9:16 photos will help them fill the entire screen as you scroll through the app’s feed. Instagram’s TikTok-like redesign was criticized by some photographers for the way it forced all photos to awkwardly displ...

Nature may not be fully healed from the pandemic yet, but EVO is live in Las Vegas again so hopefully that means it’s getting better. For the first time since 2019 and after Sony became part-owner in 2021, the Evolution Championship Series — one of, if not the, biggest fighting game tournament in the world — is streaming live from the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Starting today until Sunday August 8th, some of the best fighting game players in the world will compete in nine different games including Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate, The King of Fighters XV, and Tekken 7. EVO 2022 will be streaming on Twitch across seven different channels to ensure you don’t miss any of the nine different tournaments taking place. Most of time will be devoted to each games’ pools stage where entrants ...

Originally priced at $479, the 256GB version of the ninth-generation iPad is currently discounted to $399 at Walmart, the best price yet. While this iPad uses the A13 Bionic CPU instead of the faster M1 found in other models, it still has more than enough power for any app. And its 10.2-inch 2160 x 1620 resolution display looks great. A key selling point may be its 3.5mm audio jack, depending on the person. Rumor has it that Apple’s next entry-level iPad may be getting rid of the headphone jack altogether, though we won’t know that for certain until Apple shows it off. 2021 iPad (Wi-Fi, 256GB) $399 $479 17% off Apple’s latest entry-level iPad represents a slight update, with a new A13 Bionic chip and a 12MP front camera that supports Apple’s Center Stage feature. Even without a beefy ...

Tesla’s Cybertruck, that object of intense fascination and ridicule that may or may not go into production next year, was supposed to start at the extremely attractive price of $39,900. But that was back in 2019 when the Cybertruck was first announced, and as Tesla CEO Elon Musk put it recently, “a lot has changed” since then. Speaking at his company’s annual shareholder meeting, Musk said that the Cybertruck’s specs and price “will be different,” citing inflation and other “various issues” that have cropped up in the three years since the electric truck was first unveiled. “I hate to give a little bit of bad news” “I hate to give a little bit of bad news,” he added, before going on to hype the Cybertruck as “one hell of a product” and a “damn fine machine.” Musk said that the Cybertruck w...

In May, public health officials started to detect cases of monkeypox all over the world, including in places where the disease doesn’t usually spread. In addition to spreading in Central and West Africa, where the disease has historically popped up, outbreaks spread in Europe, the United States, South America, and other parts of the planet. The World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the spread of the disease worldwide, and the Biden administration declared a public health emergency for the United States monkeypox outbreak on Thursday, two months after cases of the disease started appearing in the country. Here’s what you need to know about monkeypox. What is monkeypox? Monkeypox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It’s a similar v...

Meta’s AI research labs have created a new state-of-the-art chatbot and are letting members of the public talk to the system in order to collect feedback on its capabilities. The bot is called BlenderBot 3 and can be accessed on the web. (Though, right now, it seems only residents in the US can do so.) BlenderBot 3 is able to engage in general chitchat, says Meta, but also answer the sort of queries you might ask a digital assistant, “from talking about healthy food recipes to finding child-friendly amenities in the city.” BlenderBot 3 is designed to both shoot the breeze and answer questions like Google The bot is a prototype and built on Meta’s previous work with what are known as large language models or LLMS — powerful but flawed text-generation software of which OpenAI’s GPT-3 is the ...

Starting with macOS X, Apple has included a native screen reader called VoiceOver on its Macs and MacBooks. The feature is designed to help low-vision or blind users navigate their computers — and the internet — more easily. It works by reading aloud text descriptions of everything that appears on the screen, as well as reading any displayed text. The technology also allows users to interact with elements on the screen. While VoiceOver is primarily meant for those with visual impairments, it can be helpful in many different scenarios — for example, if you’re someone who has a learning disability and prefers to listen to text rather than read it. Apple has a whole user guide that gets into the nitty-gritty of how to use VoiceOver with refreshable braille displays and trackpad gestures, as w...

As autonomous vehicle testing ramps up, Argo AI announced the formation of a panel of outside experts to oversee the safe deployment of its technology. The startup, which is backed by Ford and Volkswagen, will “provide feedback on Argo’s safety and security practices and policies, including maintaining a world-class safety culture, scaling safely across multiple cities and countries, and responsibly launching and operating commercial driverless services,” the company said. The announcement comes as public opinion seems to be turning on autonomous vehicles (AVs), with recent surveys suggesting nearly half of Americans think that AVs would be a “bad idea” for society. And it comes as the Biden administration continues to scrutinize crashes involving autonomous vehicles as it weighs new regul...