James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Advertiser exodus from YouTube catches fire as Google stands to lose millions
Google Inc. stands to lose millions of dollars as more companies boycott advertising on the site after ads appeared next to content promoting hate speech. The U.K. government pulled all of its ads from YouTube last week because some of them appeared on extremist channels, and now a slew of companies around the world has gotten on ...
Instagram explains why it has started censoring ‘sensitive’ content
Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram said Thursday it will take more precautions to protect people from content that has the potential to upset. The company will now start censoring certain images and videos and leave it up to the viewer if they want to see the content in its original form. Instagram will begin blurring content deemed “sensitive,” ...
Apple acquires WorkFlow app, a popular automation tool for iPhone and iPad
Apple Inc. has acquired WorkFlow, a utility app that Apple called the “most innovative” app of 2015, for an undisclosed sum. The app, which had cost $2.99, was made free in the App Store Wednesday. Released in 2014 by Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer and Nick Frey, WorkFlow soon gained plaudits as the “Swiss Army Knife of ...
Uber’s female board members say the company is cleaning up its act, but will it be enough?
Bad news seems to be following Uber Technologies Inc. around like a stray puppy these days, but on Tuesday Uber’s female board members turned toward the growing angry mob of Uber critics in an attempt to calm things down. In a conference call, Uber board members Arianna Huffington (pictured), Liane Hornsey and Rachel Holt talked ...
Report: Apple making big bet on augmented reality for iPhone and even smart glasses
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook hasn’t been shy about hinting that augmented reality is going to be the next big thing, the omnipresent consumer technology that we can’t and won’t live without. Now, it’s becoming a little clearer how Cook’s vision may manifest itself in Apple products. A report in Bloomberg Monday provides a glimpse of ...
Amid numerous controversies at Uber, disillusioned President Jeff Jones steps down
After serving less than a year as Uber Technologies Inc.’s president, Jeff Jones is quitting, reportedly deciding the ride-hailing giant’s many problems were worse than he realized. The resignation and the reasons for it were first reported by Recode Sunday afternoon, but later Uber confirmed that Jones had decided to step down. According to Recode’s ...
Leaked documents show Uber’s self-driving car fleet is prone to accidents
Despite all the experiments with autonomous vehicles, most experts think it will be quite a few years before they’re common on the street. Recently leaked documents on Uber Technologies Inc.’s tests of self-driving cars starkly reveal a big reason why. The documents, obtained by Recode, state that while being tested in Pennsylvania, Arizona and California, ...
Google’s DeepMind overcomes the tricky problem of forgetfulness in AI
Researchers at Google Inc.’s DeepMind project report that their artificial intelligence has just become a little more human: It now remembers things. One of the hurdles to overcome in the advancement of AI is the fact that you can train it to complete a task, but memorizing what it has done and being able to ...
Musical cyberattacks? How sound waves can mess with a connected device
New research suggests that hackers could potentially use sound waves to meddle with or take control of a connected device. On Tuesday a group of security researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of South Carolina showed how a connected device can be meddled with, or taken control of, using sound waves. That ...
Facebook says it won’t allow user data to be used for police spying – anymore
Facebook Inc. and its Instagram photo sharing app have bowed to pressure from civil rights activists, creating new policies designed to prohibit developers using the platforms for surveillance purposes. This comes after revelations last year that the social media giants were being plundered for data by law enforcement via spying software in order to target ...