Mar 27
Mar 27
Mar 27
Thanks to its generous discount program Apple was the king of the education market for decades. Some schools even straight up gave their students iPads. However, many institutions are increasingly adopting Chromebooks as their system of choice, which…
Mar 27
Turner’s long-in-the-making live sports service is here… almost. The broadcaster has announced that its Bleacher Report Live service will debut in April in a free preview mode, with “flexible” pricing when you have to start paying in the summer….
Mar 27
There’s a broader conversation taking place now about how companies like Facebook use and protect the treasure trove of data that they have on their users. Amid the #deletefacebook campaign that’s gathering steam, Mozilla has offered a new option that provides more control over Facebook tracking. It has launched a new Firefox extension called “Facebook Container” which will essentially isolate Facebook tracking from the rest of your online activity.
With the extension installed in Firefox, you can continue to use Facebook normally and the social network will work like it always have. It’s not an ad blocker so you’ll continue to see ads as well. However, Facebook Container will make it much difficult for Facebook to use information about your web activity off of the social network to target ads to you.
Facebook has developed sophisticated ad tracking technology which enables the company to see what you’ve been searching for online and then target ads for those products on Facebook. Its network of trackers exists on a wide variety of websites that it invisibly tracks users to collect data that’s then used to target ads.
The Firefox Container extension doesn’t take away from the Facebook experience in any way so you can continue to use it as you always have. It’s available as a free download for Firefox and as you can probably imagine, the extension isn’t available for any other web browser.
Mozilla’s New Firefox Extension Will Isolate Facebook Tracking , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 27
To say that PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a hit would be a massive understatement. The title has set new records on Steam and continues to forge ahead as a darling of the gaming community. However, the title has been dealing with a hacker problem ever since its popularity surged. Many reports have connected the problems to the Chinese region which have led to requests for region locking from the community. The community will now be happy to know that developer PUBG Corp is “considering operating servers so that only those players who reside in that region can connect and play.”
It’s not like the developer hasn’t done much to clamp down on hackers. It has implemented ping-based matchmaking and even introduced new anti-cheat measures but the community remains adamant that region locking is the way to go.
Creator Brendan Greene has confirmed in a new Steam Community update that in a bid to provide an improved gameplay experience while clamping down on network issues and linguistic barriers, the developer is going to conduct a limit test of region locking before it decides whether or not it will implement PUBG region locking for the entire community.
There’s cause for cautious optimism here for the community as the latest update confirms that they have been heard but it remains to be seen whether or not PUBG region locking will become the norm going forward.
PUBG Region Locking Is Now Being Tested , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 27
Facebook’s data privacy scandal has been making the news for the past week or so after it emerged that a company called Cambridge Analytica had harvested profile information of more than 50 million Facebook users. Facebook has already apologized for the entire episode and has promised to do more. However, it’s now having to field tough questions from different quarters and even the FTC has launched an investigation into the matter. After repeated calls to do so, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly decided to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom had also summoned Zuckerberg for a testimony on Facebook’s data practices but the CEO has declined to appear before it, offering to send over Facebook’s chief technology officer and chief product officer instead. The parliamentary committee has communicated an option to allow Zuckerberg to appear before it via video link.
CNN reports that Zuckerberg has decided to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee which has also invited Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before it on April 10th. The report says that Zuckerberg’s decision to appear will put pressure on both CEOs to appear as well.
It’s unclear at this point in time if Pichai and Dorsey will follow suit. A formal announcement from Zuckerberg or Facebook confirming his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee is yet to be issued.
Mark Zuckerberg To Reportedly Testify Before Congress On Data Scandal , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 27
There’s some bad news for those who have been following NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope project. It’s the successor to the Hubble telescope that has been at the center of many a discovery up in space. It’s going to be 100x more powerful than the Hubble. NASA was previously planning to launch the telescope between March and June 2019 but it has confirmed today that the James Webb Space Telescope launch has now been delayed.
NASA sent out a press release today confirming that the James Webb Space Telescope is currently undergoing final integration and test phases which need more time to ensure that the mission will be successful.
An independent assessment of remaining tasks for this highly complex project has revealed that the previous launch window of 2019 cannot be met which is why NASA is delaying the launch to May 2020.
This is an important year for the project as the telescope and science payload element will be joined with the spacecraft element to form the complete observatory. The spacecraft element has a “tennis-court-sized” sunshield that has been designed by Northrop Grumman.
“All the observatory’s flight hardware is now complete, however, the issues brought to light with the spacecraft element are prompting us to take the necessary steps to refocus our efforts on the completion of this ambitious and complex observatory,” said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot.
The agency adds that the telescope and spacecraft components individually meet their requirements but recent findings from the project’s Standing Review Board suggest that more time is required to integrate and test these components together. This will be followed by environmental testing at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California.
James Webb Space Telescope Launch Delayed , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 27
It was first reported last week that light field camera maker Lytro was being acquired by Google. While the internet search giant hasn’t made that announcement yet, Lytro confirmed today in a post on its blog that it’s going to start winding down the company. A significant number of the company’s employees are now said to be joining Google.
Lytro confirmed that starting today it’s not going to take on new productions or provide professional services as it starts to wind down the company. “We’re excited to see what new opportunities the future brings for the Lytro team as we go our separate ways,” it adds.
A source close to the matter confirmed to The Verge that a large number of former Lytro employees are joining Google. However, contrary to the earlier report, Google isn’t going to replace its own light-field photography projects with Lytro’s technology.
The new hires will instead be spread across multiple Google divisions and they won’t continue working on Lytro’s previous projects. Google is said to be acquiring some of Lytro’s assets but doesn’t reportedly plan to integrate them into its own projects.
The previous report had suggested that Google was going to pay between $25 and $40 million for the company but it’s now said to be more of a hiring deal than an outright acquisition. Google hasn’t commented on the matter as yet.
Lytro Shutting Down, Employees Moving To Google , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Mar 27
Santorum disparaged March For Our Lives and suggested teens learn CPR instead of trying to change gun laws.
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