Tech News Today for January 25, 2017
Tech News for Wednesday January 25, 2017
Every year Google releases its Bad Ads report to shed light on its progress in fighting deceptive and tricky ads on its site. In 2016, Google eliminated around 1.7 billion ads that came in direct violation of its policies, more than doubling 2015’s number and shattering 2011’s 130 million. Extra gains were made thanks to new rules such as banning payday loan ads and “trick to click” ads that replicate system warnings to get users to click and download malware. Google also cracked the whip when it comes to deception that leads a user to believe a site contains real news. Read more at forbes.com.
HP is recalling 101,000 laptop batteries over fire concerns. This is in addition to the 41,000 batteries that were recalled last June. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the batteries can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards. The CPSC also says the expanded recall involves lithium-ion batteries containing Panasonic cells that are used in HP notebook computers. Read more at theverge.com.
Facebook is making some changes to the Trending News section in an attempt to help it combat the proliferation of fake news on the platform. First, Facebook says it will not pull in topics based on a single report, hoping that multiple outlets reporting on a story legitimizes the story for others. Also, Facebook will stop personalizing those trending topics for every user, removing the filter bubble tendencies of the section prior to the change. Those trending topics will mirror what everyone else in the country sees going forward. Read more at recode.net.
Amazon is cornering the transportation market in the air, land, and now the sea. The Wall Street Journal reports that the retail giant will now control ocean shipments from Chinese manufacturers to US warehouses. They won't own ships or employ the crews, but they will manage the logistics end of container shipping, a job which they previously outsourced. Read more at wsj.com.
And you thought Snap’s Spectacles were smart glasses. A team out of the University of Utah is working on creating glasses with liquid-based lenses that will allow the wearer to automatically shift their focus based on the proximity of what they are looking at. This would essentially help those who might normally have to put bifocals on to read, and another pair on for farsighted objects. Read more at phys.org.
Megan Morrone and Jason Howell are joined today by Sharon Profis of CNET to talk about our collective obsession with Facebook. Tech News Today streams live weekdays at 4PM Pacific, 7PM Eastern at twit.tv/live. You can subscribe to the show and watch it on-demand at twit.tv/tnt.