James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Facebook blocks dozens of Russia-linked accounts ahead of US midterms
On the eve of midterm voting, Facebook Inc. said it blocked 30 accounts and 80 Instagram accounts for what the company said was “inauthentic behavior.” The removal of the accounts came after U.S. law enforcement contacted Facebook on Sunday evening regarding suspicious activity on the platform that agents believed was the work of foreign bad ...
Chrome 71 will block malicious ads by blocking all ads on abusive websites
With the soon-to-be-released Chrome 71, Google LLC today said it will block every ad on a website that consistently shows malicious ads redirecting users to another page or performing some other nefarious action. Such abusive ads are something Chrome users have had to put up, even though Google has tried in past iterations of Chrome to ...
Google employees take to the streets to protest treatment of women
Thousands of Google LLC employees across the world staged a walkout Thursday, some of them clutching placards demanding that the company make some serious changes regarding sexual misconduct and pay equity for women. At its Silicon Valley headquarters in Mountain View, known as the Googleplex, several hundred employees mounted a protest. They were joined by ...
EU will launch an AI lie detector at various borders to spot unwanted travelers
The European Union is about to employ border control guards with a difference: They aren’t human. Soon people passing through the borders of Hungary, Latvia and Greece may be faced with the usual “Do you have anything to declare” question and the judge of the answer will be a lie-detection system powered by artificial intelligence. ...
DoJ indicts Chinese hackers for hacking US and European aerospace companies
The U.S. Department of Justice today charged 10 Chinese spies for hacking aerospace companies in the U.S. and Europe for a number of years. The indictment, dated Oct. 25, states that six hackers, two Chinese intelligence operatives and two insiders were involved in a conspiracy lasting from 2010 to 2015 to steal information related to ...
After torrent of criticism for allowing hate speech, social network Gab goes offline
The social network Gab, used by the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday, is now offline. The site, which has about 800,000 users, prided itself for embracing “free speech and expression.” It has also been criticized for offering a soapbox to disseminators of hate speech. An account belonging to the ...
Google fired 48 people over sexual harassment, some allegedly with golden handshakes
Google LLC said today it has fired 48 people since 2016 over sexual harassment allegations, and that included 13 senior managers at the company. The news followed an expose in the New York Times Thursday, which alleged that the man behind Android, Andy Rubin (pictured), was let go in 2014 over allegations of sexual misconduct. ...
Chinese and Russian spies are listening into Donald Trump’s phone conversations, says US intelligence
President Donald Trump still uses his three iPhones — two official, one personal — on a regular basis to call friends, business partners and acquaintances, despite warnings from U.S. intelligence that Chinese and Russian agents may be privy to the president’s conversations. Trump has been told numerous times that he should use the White House landline, ...
Thalmic Labs introduces custom-made smart glasses for everyday life
Canadian startup Thalmic Labs, now called North, is hoping to do what other companies have failed to do: Get people to start wearing smart glasses. The Amazon.com Inc.-backed startup has said that its glasses, called “Focals,” are as much about style and experience as they are about the technology that drives them. As North co-founder ...
After meditating on his behavior, Linus Torvalds returns to Linux
Linux creator Linus Torvalds has returned after taking a break to think about his sometimes intemperate behavior. In September, Torvalds decided to take a sabbatical following years of criticism regarding his public outbursts and his poor treatment of developers. It’s alleged that at one point he even advocated “physical intimidation and violence.” “I need to change ...