Recommended Reading: 'The Facebook files'

The Facebook files

The Wall Street Journal

If you’ve been following tech news at all this week, you’ve likely read some of WSJ’s reporting already. However, the entire series of articles is worth a look as it shows how much Facebook knows about unequal policy enforcement, how toxic Instagram can be for teen girls, the power of its algorithm, illegal activity and, perhaps most stunningly, how activists drowned out Mark Zuckerberg’s own push for COVID-19 vaccines.

This FDA-approved necklace is designed to prevent brain injuries in athletes

Mark Wilson, Fast Company

Concussions will never be prevented by simply wearing a helmet for contact sports, so doctors and researchers must explore other methods for minimizing lasting effects. With the Q-Collar, a $200 band that is worn around the back of the neck, Q30 hopes to limit brain trauma in athletes by slowing blood flow to the internal jugular vein.

Video games’ sensory revolution: How haptics reinvented the controller

Justin Charity, The Ringer

We’ve come a long way since the Rumble Pack for Nintendo 64. The Ringer explores the role of haptic feedback in gaming through the lens of Sony’s DualSense for PS5, pondering what the future of gaming may hold. 

I Tracked Down The Girls Who Bullied Me As A Kid. Here’s What They Had To Say.

“We can never really know what’s going on in other people’s lives.”

Police Say They’re Ready For Rally Supporting Jan. 6 Rioters

Ford reveals the Mustang Mach-E EV for police testing

Ford has been building cars used by police departments and other law-enforcement agencies around the country for many years. In the past, its Mustang with the 5.0 liter V-8 and the Crown Victoria, among other Ford vehicles, were widely used as police cars. Many police agencies are pushing towards automobiles that get better fuel economy and pollute less. To meet … Continue reading

F-18 jet engines quietened with new nozzle design

Jet aircraft are all loud, but few are as loud as the F-18 fighter jet. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati have created a new engine nozzle designed for F-18 fighter planes. According to the team, the new nozzle reduces the sound created by the jet engine without impacting its performance. Researchers tested their new designs on 1/28th scale jet … Continue reading

Rare Copy Of The Constitution Expected To Fetch Eye-Watering Sum At Auction

The document will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in November with a multi-million dollar estimate.

The NTSB is probing another fatal Tesla crash

Over the years, there have been multiple accidents involving Tesla vehicles that were allegedly operating on Autopilot at the time. Autopilot is Tesla’s semi-autonomous driver assistance tech. To use Autopilot, drivers are supposed to keep their hands on the wheel, but some owners have found ways to defeat that system. Recently police in Coral Gables, Florida, were called to the … Continue reading

India says Google abused Android dominance

Google stifled competition and prevented the development of Android rivals in India, the country’s antitrust regulator has decided in a report seen by Reuters. In 2019, Competition Commission of India opened a probe into whether Google abused Android’s dominance in the market where devices powered by the OS are prevalent. In its report on the probe’s findings, the regulator wrote that Google flexed its “huge financial muscle” to reduce manufacturers’ ability to develop and sell devices running Android forks. 

In addition, the commission said that Google requiring manufacturers to pre-install Android apps is an unfair condition to make in exchange for access to its mobile OS. It violates India’s competition laws, the report reads. The regulator also found Play Store policies to be “one-sided, ambiguous, vague, biased and arbitrary.” In a statement sent to Reuters, Google said it’s looking forward to working with the CCI to “demonstrate how Android has led to more competition and innovation, not less.”

The tech giant reportedly responded to the probe 24 times to defend itself, and other tech companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi also responded to questions from the commission. While CCI still decided that Google illegally stifled competition in the country, the company will have another chance to defend itself before the CCI issues its final decision along with penalties, if any.

Just a few days ago, South Korean regulators also came to the decision that Google used its dominant position in the market to hamper the development of Android rivals. They slapped the tech giant with a $177 million fine. They also banned the company from requiring manufacturing partners to sign anti-fragmentation agreements, which prohibit the creation and installation of alternative versions of the Android OS. 

Netflix’s Jigsaw series will let viewers watch episodes in any order

Netflix has a new thriller series in the pipeline called Jigsaw that will allow viewers to watch the first seven of the eight total episodes in any order they’d like. Though this isn’t the first time a series has been released with a non-linear episodic format, it is a first for Netflix, which has previously experimented with interactive storytelling. Netflix … Continue reading

US Border Patrol seizes thousands of fake vaccine cards and Pfizer stickers

The US Border Patrol has reported seizing thousands of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards and Pfizer inoculation seals, the latest confiscation in what has been at least several thousand counterfeit cards found by customs officers this year. The latest batch arrived at the Port of Cincinnati in multiple shipments. The latest Customs and Border Patrol seizure of counterfeit COVID-19 cards was … Continue reading