Zach Miners, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Zach Miners

Author Archives: Zach Miners

Facebook brings payments to Messenger app

Users of Facebook’s Messenger app will soon be able to do more than just chat with friends and send them emoticons. They’ll also be able to send money.Facebook is adding a payments feature to its popular Messenger app, letting users link their debit card and send each other payments within the app. The tool is designed to be as easy as sending messages, with a “$” icon that will appear in the app. By tapping it, users can send money to the friend they’re chatting with. Recipients of the money will have to link their debit card to accept the funds.The free feature will be rolling out over the coming months in the U.S. to Messenger on Android, iOS and the desktop. Facebook made no mention of Windows.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Twitter adds tool to report tweets to the police

Twitter has added a tool to help users report abusive content to law enforcement, which could aid in removing the most threatening posts as Twitter ramps up its efforts to combat harassment.The tool has been incorporated into the existing process for flagging abusive content or tweets. After reporting abusive or threatening content to Twitter, users have an option to receive an emailed summary of the report. The report would include the flagged tweet and its URL, the time at which it was sent, and the user name and account URL of the person who posted it.The report, aimed at law enforcement, would also include a link to Twitter’s guidelines on how authorities can request non-public user account information from Twitter. The idea is that after seeing a report, law enforcement might feel compelled to take further action.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

What, me worry? Despite Snowden leaks, Americans’ use of the ‘Net largely unchanged

Don’t worry, be happy. That seems to be the attitude most Americans have toward widespread government snooping on their Internet activities.Numerous leaks illuminating the massive scale of government surveillance programs have not rattled Americans. Relatively few people have made major changes to better secure their online communications and activities, even after the alarming revelations in Edward Snowden’s leaked NSA documents, according to the results of a Pew Research Center survey published Monday.Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA, blew the lid off government monitoring programs starting in mid-2013, leaking documents that reportedly showed how the U.S. government monitored and collected people’s personal data held by Internet and telecom companies.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Twitter bans stolen nude photos and revenge porn

Twitter has amended its policies to ban the posting of intimate photos and videos taken without the person’s permission.“You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent,” the company added to its rules on Wednesday. Twitter otherwise allows pornographic content, but not in people’s profiles, headers or background images.Content that is identified as violating Twitter’s policies will be hidden from public view, and users posting it will have their accounts locked. Users will be required to delete the content in question before they can return to using the site.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple’s app, iTunes, iBooks stores suffer outage

Some of Apple’s major online services for purchasing ebooks, music and apps were down as of Wednesday morning.Service for Apple’s App Store, iBooks Store, iTunes Store, and Mac App Store was lost around 2 a.m. U.S. Pacific time, and remained out as of 10:20 a.m., Apple posted on its system status page. Some users of these services worldwide may not be able to make purchases, downloads, or update apps.Service for Apple’s iCloud Mail and iCloud Account & Sign In was also lost around 2 a.m., but was restored by 6 a.m.It’s not clear what caused the outage. Apple did not immediately respond to comment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google CFO Patrick Pichette to retire

Patrick Pichette, Google’s chief financial officer, is retiring, the company said Tuesday.The exact date of his retirement is not yet known nor is his replacement, though Google expects to have a new CFO within the next six months, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Pichette, who has worked as Google’s finance chief for nearly seven years, informed the company of his decision last week, the filing said.He cited a desire to spend more time with his family as the reason behind his decision, in a Google+ post on Tuesday. Specifically, leaving Google will give him more time to travel with his wife, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google is developing a virtual reality version of Android, report says

Google is reportedly developing a virtual reality version of Android that will compete with software being built by Facebook, Samsung, Microsoft and others.Virtual reality is being eyed as the next big thing, and not just for gaming. Facebook has talked about how VR headsets will let friends communicate as if they’re together in the same room.A team of engineers at Google is building a version of Android for virtual reality applications, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing two people familiar with the project. “Tens of engineers” and other staff are said to be working on the project.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cryptocurrency software bundled with BitTorrent triggers complaints

Some people who use uTorrent, the popular BitTorrent client, are up in arms over the presence of cryptocurrency mining software on their computers which they say was installed without their permission.The mining software, made by the company Epic Scale, started appearing for some people earlier this week after they updated to the latest version of uTorrent, a program made by BitTorrent for downloading files. In forums online, users have likened the software to bloatware, as it taxes their computer processor without their consent. Cryptocurrency mining software is used to release bitcoins and other digital currencies by having computers persistently perform complex mathematical calculations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Cryptocurrency software bundled with BitTorrent triggers complaints

ISIS supporters operated at least 46,000 Twitter accounts, study finds

Supporters of the Islamic extremist group known as ISIS operated at least 46,000 Twitter accounts at the end of last year, a new study says, underscoring the challenge facing social networks as they become powerful tools for propaganda and recruitment.The accounts were in use between September and December, and while not all were active at the same time, the estimate is a conservative one. The actual number could be as high as 70,000, according to the study, which was commissioned by Google Ideas and published by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google’s new car insurance site lets you compare rates

Google has launched a new auto insurance site in the U.S. designed to simplify for consumers the process of shopping for policies.Google Compare Auto Insurance, launched Thursday, is a free site that prompts users to enter the typical sorts of questions for getting an auto quote, like information about the car, the person’s driving history and location. Do that, and then Google spits back a bunch of quotes and coverage details from different providers. From there, Google can link users with the provider of their choice by phone or website, to complete a purchase.People can also access the service through a regular Google search for “car insurance.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Five things we learned about Etsy from its IPO filing

Etsy, the online marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods and crafts, disclosed some interesting tidbits about the company’s business when it filed to go public Wednesday.Did you know that 86 percent of Etsy’s U.S. sellers at the end of last year were women? Or that three-quarters of its sellers consider their online store a business rather than a hobby?Etsy is hoping to raise US$100 million from the offering to help expand its business. Here are five other things we learned from combing through its S-1 filing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook wants to get better at detecting fake profiles

Facebook is taking steps to improve how it detects fake profiles, particularly those created by people claiming to be someone else.Fake profiles are a real challenge for Facebook, especially in developing markets. For example, in India there is a significant problem with men creating profiles that impersonate real women, a violation of Facebook’s rules. This makes some women afraid of creating profiles.It’s part of a larger problem in India, where more men are on the Internet than women in comparison to other parts of the world, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday.Facebook, Zuckerberg said, is tackling this problem and trying to become faster at flagging fake profiles, in part by getting better feedback from its users.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Uber buys deCarta to improve mapping and arrival estimates

Uber is acquiring deCarta, a mapping and location company that could help Uber to develop new types of services and also ensure its drivers show up on time.DeCarta, headquartered in San Jose, California, holds a variety of data pertaining to mapping, local search and turn-by-turn navigation. Location services in cars from GM and Ford have been powered by deCarta’s technology, as well as devices from Samsung and Blackberry.Now, Uber is buying the company for an undisclosed sum. It will allow Uber to improve services like UberPool and also give its users more accurate estimated times of arrival.UberPool lets several people share the same ride, with multiple pick up and drop off points, so it involves more complex routing data than a regular Uber ride. But regular rides could benefit too, if deCarta’s technology can help Uber drivers know exactly where they’re supposed to pick you up.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Twitter CFO floats idea of newspaper-like ‘daily edition’

Here’s an idea for the next version of Twitter that might crystallize the service’s value: The Twitter Daily Favorite.Okay, perhaps that won’t be the exact title. But a newspaper-themed form of Twitter that curates an assortment of newsy tweets to provide a summary of the goings-on could come as a future feature or as a separate app.People already check Twitter to see what’s happening. But news junkies who follow lots of accounts may have dozens if not hundreds of tweets to comb through every morning. Twitter thinks it can address this, partly by better organizing the content posted to its site and presenting it in new ways.“We’ve only scratched the surface here,” Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer, said regarding how Twitter might evolve its service. A “Twitter Daily Edition” might be one such service that packages select tweets in a new way, he said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tinder grants do-overs, transatlantic swiping with paid version

Tinder, the popular dating app, wants to offer a second chance at love for users who may passed on a potential mate.For a price, users can now undo their most recent left-swipe on someone’s profile, which signals disinterest. Another new feature, called Passport, lets users search for people in other locations beyond their pre-selected geographic radius.Tinder said these are its two most requested features. They’re available in a new paid version of the app called Tinder Plus.Pricing details were not disclosed at the time of launch on Monday, though the cost of upgrading in San Francisco is US$19.99 per month. A report in TechCrunch cited a monthly fee of US$9.99, but it appears the price might vary from market to market. Tinder, based in Los Angeles, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Personal data on 50,000 Uber drivers exposed in breach

The names and license plate numbers of about 50,000 Uber drivers were compromised in a security breach last year, the company revealed Friday.Uber discovered a possible breach of its systems in September, and a subsequent investigation revealed an unauthorized third party had accessed one of its databases four months earlier, the company said.The files accessed held the names and license plate numbers of about 50,000 current and former drivers, which Uber described as a “small percentage” of the total. About 21,000 of the affected drivers are in California. The company has several hundred thousand drivers altogether.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Personal data on 50,000 Uber drivers exposed in breach

Twitter adds more reporting tools to curb abuse and improve safety

Twitter has added new reporting tools to help it fight abuse and protect users on its site.The company took some steps in this direction late last year, when it made it easier to report harassment in tweets. Now it’s making it easier to report other behaviors including impersonation, self-harm and the sharing of private or confidential information. The changes will begin rolling out Thursday and should reach all users in the coming weeks.As a result of the changes it made already, Twitter now reviews five times as many user reports as it did previously, the company said, and it has tripled the number of people who handle such reports at the company. It has also reduced its response time to a fraction of what it once was, the company says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Zuckerberg to hold public Facebook Q&A in Barcelona

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is likely to reveal more of the company’s plans to bring underserved parts of the world online when he holds Facebook’s fourth public Q&A next Wednesday in Barcelona.The event will be held 6 p.m. Barcelona time (that’s 9 a.m. Pacific time in the U.S.), during the Mobile World Congress tech trade show in the same city. Zuckerberg is set to share updates about Facebook’s Internet.org project for connecting more of the world during an appearance at the show on Monday. He may expand on those comments in Wednesday’s Q&A.In addition to fielding questions from a live audience, Zuckerberg will answer some of the most popular questions posted online. Questions can be submitted online in the lead-up to the event, which will be streamed live.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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