James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Don’t blame the robot: Truck hits Las Vegas self-driving shuttle bus on first day of service
It wasn’t a good first day at work for the world’s first self-driving shuttle bus, which collided with a vehicle with a human at the wheel within a few hours of starting its shift in Las Vegas. According to reports by Nevada’s KSNV News 3, the robot-driven vehicle made by French startup Navya Technologies SAS ...
Facebook wants your nude pictures to tackle revenge porn. Really.
To reduce the instance of revenge porn appearing on its platform, Facebook Inc. has come up with a novel plan: It’s asking people to send in nude pictures of themselves so it can ensure they won’t be posted online. The pilot is only taking place in Australia at the moment, according to the Australian Broadcasting ...
Apple found a new tax haven in Jersey after Ireland crackdown, according to Paradise Papers
Following scrutiny over Apple Inc.’s tax affairs in Ireland, the company moved some of its operation to Jersey, part of the Channel Islands off the coast of the U.K. This was one of the revelations in the recently released Paradise Papers, detailing how companies as well as scores of wealthy people have managed to avoid paying ...
YouTube takes steps to become more child-friendly
YouTube announced on Thursday a slew of new features for its safe-viewing YouTube Kids mobile app, following numerous complaints that the app wasn’t safe enough. The updates mean that parents can now customize the channel based on the child’s age, so a 5-year-old won’t see as much text as an 8-year-old. YouTube will also use ...
Tech companies get behind American ‘Dreamers’ once again
Some of the world’s largest tech Wednesday again gave their support to 840,000 “Dreamer” immigrants in the U.S. whose status is under threat. The immigrants, part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, presently stand in no man’s land as the Trump administration attempts to end the program. Initiated under former President ...
Congress grills tech companies on Russian political disinformation
Tech executives stood in front of Congress on Tuesday for the first of three hearings to discuss the inadvertent role their platforms played in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Although execs from Facebook Inc., Google LLC and Twitter Inc. were all on the stand, Facebook was the main focus of criticism. Perhaps that was not ...
Tech giants reveal Russian disinformation campaign was bigger than first thought
Three tech giants plan to disclose to Congress on Tuesday how Russian content during the 2016 elections was far more pervasive than what had initially been reported. Facebook Inc., for instance, told Congress early in October that about 10 million Americans may have seen ads bought by Russian-based operations intended to sway opinions on divisive ...
Three female engineers are suing Uber for gender and race discrimination
Uber Technologies Inc. is being sued by three Latina engineers who claim the company discriminated against them based on their gender and race. A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday at the Superior Court in San Francisco by engineers Ingrid Avendano, Roxana del Toro Lopez and Ana Medina. Medina is still working at the company and the ...
Trump administration clears the path for more drone testing
Following through on President Donald Trump’s promise to support the drone industry, the White House said today it’s clearing the path for more testing of the flying devices. The “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program” will allow tech companies to work with states and cities around the U.S. to test their drones in ways that ...
Twitter will now let you know who’s behind political ads and why you’re seeing them
Twitter Inc. has announced a new “transparency center” for political ads in the wake of growing concerns over how social media platforms can be used to spread misinformation. “In the coming weeks, we will launch an industry-leading transparency center that will offer everyone visibility into who is advertising on Twitter, details behind those ads, and ...