Reddit is reportedly exploring the addition of TikTok-like video features

Reddit is looking into the possibility of introducing some video features reminiscent of TikTok’s, according to TechCrunch. While the project is still in its very early stages and hasn’t even entered the testing phase yet, TechCrunch says it could include TikTok-like video editing tools that make it easy for you to “react” to another person’s post or to incorporate it into your content.

On TikTok, you can use a feature called Duet to put your video side by side with another user’s to create remixes, parodies and the like. In 2020, the service also introduced Stitch, which lets you integrate scenes from another video into your own. It enabled the quick creation of funny responses to viral videos and even responses that fact check wrong information going around on the platform. Reddit does allow you to post videos on its website, but it doesn’t have features like Duet and Stitch yet.

You probably wouldn’t think of Reddit if you’re made to list social networks with a focus on video. And the goal of this project isn’t to create a TikTok competitor, but rather to provide its users another way to engage in discussions, especially if the original post is also a video. Reddit did purchase TikTok rival Dubsmash back in 2020, but it shut down the service in February this year and incorporated video features from the defunct video-sharing platform. This particular project will also use video technology from Dubsmash. 

A spokesperson told TechCrunch that Reddit is now reaching out to individual communities to see if they’re interested in the new video features. It will only take steps to begin initial testing after they receive (most likely positive) feedback from the communities:

“In line with our work to help people engage in the topics that matter to them through social audio, video, text, memes, and more, we’re in the process of reaching out to a few Reddit communities to see if a new video feature we’re working on is something they find useful and fun. After getting feedback from Redditors, we’ll explore an initial test for this new capability.”

Nebraska U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry Found Guilty In Campaign Probe

A federal jury has convicted U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska of charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign.

Google says it thwarted North Korean cyberattacks in early 2022

Google’s Threat Analysis Group announced on Thursday that it had discovered a pair of North Korean hacking cadres going by the monikers Operation Dream Job and Operation AppleJeus in February that were leveraging a remote code execution exploit in the Chrome web browser. 

The blackhatters reportedly targeted the US news media, IT, crypto and fintech industries, with evidence of their attacks going back as far as January 4th, 2022, though the Threat Analysis Group notes that organizations outside the US could have been targets as well.

“We suspect that these groups work for the same entity with a shared supply chain, hence the use of the same exploit kit, but each operate with a different mission set and deploy different techniques,” the Google team wrote on Thursday. “It is possible that other North Korean government-backed attackers have access to the same exploit kit.”

Operation Dream Job targeted 250 people across 10 companies with fraudulent job offers from the likes of Disney and Oracle sent from accounts spoofed to look like they came from Indeed or ZipRecruiter. Clicking on the link would launch a hidden iframe that would trigger the exploit. 

Operation AppleJeus, on the other hand targeted more than 85 users in the cryptocurrency and fintech industries using the same exploit kit. That effort involved “compromising at least two legitimate fintech company websites and hosting hidden iframes to serve the exploit kit to visitors,” Google’s security researchers found. “In other cases, we observed fake websites — already set up to distribute trojanized cryptocurrency applications — hosting iframes and pointing their visitors to the exploit kit.”

“The kit initially serves some heavily obfuscated javascript used to fingerprint the target system,” the team said. “This script collected all available client information such as the user-agent, resolution, etc. and then sent it back to the exploitation server. If a set of unknown requirements were met, the client would be served a Chrome RCE exploit and some additional javascript. If the RCE was successful, the javascript would request the next stage referenced within the script as ‘SBX,’ a common acronym for Sandbox Escape.”

The Google security group discovered the activity on February 10th and had patched it by February 14th. The company has added all identified websites and domains to its Safe Browsing database as well as notified all of the targeted Gmail and Workspace users about the attempts. 

Mo Brooks Says Trump Is ‘Still’ Demanding Presidential Election Be ‘Rescinded’

The Alabama Republican’s new accusation could spell more legal trouble for the former president.

Meghan Markle's first Spotify podcast series will confront female stereotypes

Meghan Markle hasn’t wasted much time setting expectations for her first Spotify podcast. As The Hollywood Reporternotes, Spotify has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex’s initial series is Archetypes, an exploration of the “labels that try to hold women back.” The teaser indicates Markle will hold “uncensored” discussions with historians and other experts as they explore the origins of stereotypes and define female lives.

Spotify had already announced that Archewell Audio, the production company founded by Markle and Prince Harry, would release their first full podcast series in the summer. Until now, the duo had only released a one-episode holiday special.

The announcement helps wind down a tense chapter for Spotify. The streaming service landed a deal with Harry and Meghan in December 2020, but the two quickly grew concerned about Spotify’s apparent tolerance of COVID-19 misinformation. The couple said they’d raised issues starting in April 2021, and those worries only became more prominent when Neil Young and other creators started pulling or pausing content in protest to Spotify’s apparent comfort with Joe Rogan allowing false medical claims on his show. Harry and Meghan had a change of heart after they met with Spotify to discuss and shape its anti-misinformation strategy.

This doesn’t end the complaints about Spotify’s approach to bogus claims. Even one of its own podcasts, Science VS, fought the service by fact-checking misinformation from other productions. However, it does give Spotify a chance to focus more on promoting exclusives and less on damage control.

U.S. Indictment Details Russian Efforts To Hack Worldwide Energy Sector

The charges, sealed since 2021, make “crystal clear the urgent ongoing need for American businesses to harden their defenses,” the Justice Department said.

Former Tandy CEO and PC innovator John Roach dead at 83

John Roach — the former chief of RadioShack parent company Tandy who later became one of the lead proponents of the personal computer — has died at 83, reportedThe New York Times. The Fort Worth native died in the city where he was raised, and no cause of death was given by his wife. As an employee of Tandy in the 70s, Roach convinced RadioShack executives to sell the TRS-80, a desktop microcomputer that retailed for just under $600, in its stores nationwide. This was at a time when few complete, pre-assembled computers were on the market. The TRS-80 first hit RadioShack stores in 1977, and by 1981 became the largest-selling computer of all time, beating out Apple’s early offerings.

“It is obvious that the microcomputer is at the center of a communications and information revolution. I believe that within 20 years most Americans will be computer users and will benefit from the attendant mental advantage,” Roach toldCreative Computing in 1984.

Roach was born on November 22, 1938 in Stamford, Texas. He started his career at Tandy Corporation as a data processing manager in 1967. Once a top-seller of CB radios through its RadioShack stores, the Tandy Corporation was then in a sales slump due to a decline in demand. The TRS-80, which sold exclusively at RadioShack stores, helped revive the company. By the time Roach became chief operating officer of Tandy in 1980, the company had close to 40 percent of the personal computer market.

The very first TRS-80 came equipped with a Zilog 80 processor, 4 KB DRAM, 64-character per line video monitor and Level I BASIC language interpreter. Its keyboard could only type uppercase letters. But the units sold like wildfire, and became a favorite among computer hobbyists and business professionals. By the early ‘90s, the TRS-80’s market share took a nosedive, overtaken by offerings from Apple and IBM. Roach retired as chief executive of Tandy in 1998.

“I was saddened to hear of John’s passing. John’s vision and his ability to get early computers, like the TRS-80, into people’s hands through RadioShack made him one of the true pioneers of this industry,” Bill Gates said in a statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “He helped create a market that so many people and companies benefited from as the personal computing industry took shape.”

Future iPhones Will Be Made From Carbon-Free Aluminum

Apple has long touted its commitment to going green, not just in their day-to-day operations, but also the way they build their products and how they design their packaging. Now the company has announced their plans for future iPhones which could be built using the world’s first carbon-free aluminum.

The problem with a lot of green initiatives is that most of them exist as proof-of-concept, so there is always a question of whether or not they can be scaled up commercially. In this case, it can as Apple will be purchasing the material from ELYSIS whose smelting process actually produces oxygen as a result instead of greenhouse gases.

According to Vincent Christ, ELYSIS’s CEO, “This is the first time aluminum has been produced at this commercial purity, without any greenhouse gas emission and at industrial scale. The sale to Apple confirms the market’s interest in aluminum produced using our breakthrough ELYSIS carbon-free smelting technology. Today’s announcement proves that ELYSIS, a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto, was able to turn an idea into reality.”

To date, the majority of Apple’s products include the use of 100% recycled aluminum, devices like the iPad, MacBook laptops, and Apple Watch, just to name a few. According to Apple’s press release, the company is expected to use this material in the iPhone SE which was announced earlier this month.

Future iPhones Will Be Made From Carbon-Free Aluminum

, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

We Finally Have A Release Date For The OnePlus 10 Pro In The US

Earlier this year, OnePlus announced the OnePlus 10 Pro but at the time of announcement, the handset was only available in China. However, the company later announced that the phone will be launching in the US in March. Now it looks like we know when exactly in March it will be available.

According to the latest announcement by OnePlus, the OnePlus 10 Pro will be available in the US on the 31st of March, alongside other regions like Europe and India. It was also announced that those who pre-order the handset on the 31st of March will also be getting a free pair of OnePlus Buds as a gift.

As a quick recap for those who missed the original announcement of the handset, the upcoming OnePlus 10 Pro will come with a 6.7-inch 120Hz Fluid AMOLED display with LTPO technology which will allow for a dynamic refresh rate, meaning it can change according to what’s on the screen to be more energy efficient.

Under the hood, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset will be powering the phone, along with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 5,000mAh battery with 80W fast charging. On the back, the phone will also feature a trio of cameras designed in collaboration with Hasselblad, which includes a 48MP main wide-angle sensor, an 8MP telephoto lens, and a 50MP ultrawide.

We Finally Have A Release Date For The OnePlus 10 Pro In The US

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Instagram’s Chronological Feed Is Back As An Option For Users

When Instagram first launched, your feed would basically show posts based on when it was uploaded, with the latest post being at the top and older posts further down. Instagram later changed this where they started to display posts based on an algorithm of what they think you might like.

This is largely based on how you interact with those accounts, so if there is an account you like or comment more on, then those posts will be at the top, and so on. However, if you miss the good old chronological feed, Instagram has announced that it will be returning in the form of “Favorites”.

Basically this list of “Favorites” is a curated list where you can add accounts you are more interested in to the list. According to Instagram, posts in your Favorites feed will be chronological, meaning you see accounts that you might be more interested in, like maybe friends or family.

If you want to go back to your regular feed, you can select the “Following” section which will take you back to the original feed based on Instagram’s algorithm. The update should already be rolling out to Instagram users, so check it out if this is something you’ve been waiting for.

Instagram’s Chronological Feed Is Back As An Option For Users

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