Reddit has announced new policies to crack down on harassment. It’s not given specific details of the consequences, but it has prompted heated debate among users who believe unrestricted speech should be paramount. The site says it has based its decision on a survey of 15,000 users, as well as changes in the nature of […]
Google has suspended a tool that let users edit a version of Google Maps, following a series of high-profile prank edits. The company says it can’t keep up with the number of manual reviews needed. Map Maker has been running since 2008 and is effectively a separate, wiki-like version of the main map service. The […]
Twitter has announced three changes designed to restrict the effects of abusive messages. It’s clear the company is trying to find a difficult balance between free speech and combating harassment. The first change is about policy rather than process. Until now, Twitter only considered it a violation when people made “direct, specific threats of violence […]
A computer that automatically bought illegal drugs online has been released from custody by Swiss law enforcement officials. The computer ran an automated bot called ‘Random Darknet Shopper’ as part of an art project. The artists behind the project had programmed the bot to search for illicit materials on darknet sites. That’s a loosely defined […]
Dominic Wilcox is a man quite unlike any other. A genius who thinks so far outside the box he can no longer tell you the shape of on. Wilcox invents things that cause people to look at him, and question their own version of reality for a minute. Some people are born with brains that […]
Sort of speaks for itself, for those who did not get the see the lovely blood moon this past weekend, here is a version of it in real time, shot by N.A.S.A. Still pretty dang cool. Did seem like it was in an awful hurry for an eclipse, though. [Via Laughing Squid]
Searching for information online may boost how much you think you know, but it’s just an illusion. That’s the findings of researchers at Yale who’ve published their work through the American Psychological Association. A team led by Matthew Fisher carried out nine experiments, each involving half of participants being asked to search online to research […]
It’s that day of the year again when tech and internet firms prank their customers with April Fools’ Day stories. But this year the issue is confused by a couple of far-fetched stories that happen to be true. Amazon has already had to issue a denial that its new product Dash is a gag. It […]
YouTube is said to be relaunching its livestreaming service with a change in focus from sporting events to video gaming, making it a challenge to the likes of Twitch. The site started live broadcasts in 2010 but, although they still exist, they’ve been heavily downplayed in recent years. Events have largely been either public speeches […]
The FCC’s toughening up of regulation to enforce net neutrality always looked like inviting legal challenges and now the first two lawsuits have been filed. The cases, brought by a broadband industry group and an independent Texan broadband firm, seem very much intended as first strikes, coming before the new rules take effect. Many industry […]