Author: pekandesigns

Facebook is getting guide bots to help tourist bots explore Hell’s Kitchen in a virtual New York City. It’s not just for kicks either, a new research paper published today by FAIR is looking to examine how AI systems can orient themselves and communicate observed data better than humans can. The setup for Facebook’s “Walk […]

Twitter is making a major change aimed at cleaning up the spammy legacy of its platform. This week it will globally purge accounts it has previously locked (i.e. after suspecting them of being spammy) — by removing the accounts from users’ follower metrics. Which in plain language means Twitter users with lots of followers are […]

Uber SVP and Chief People Officer Liane Hornsey has resigned from the transportation company, Reuters reports. Hornsey’s resignation comes after a previously unreported investigation into Hornsey’s alleged systematic dismissals of racial discrimination complaints within Uber. In Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s email to staff, obtained by TechCrunch, he did not provide specific reasons for her departure. […]

Valimail, a company that focuses on preventing fake and fraudulent emails from reaching your inbox, today announced that it is extending its anti-impersonation platform with a couple of new features that will make it even harder for hackers to pretend they are somebody they are not. While Valimail’s original focus was mostly on ensuring that […]

Kairos, the face recognition technology used for brand marketing, has announced the acquisition of EmotionReader. EmotionReader is a Limerick, Ireland-based startup that uses algorithms to analyze facial expressions around video content. The startup allows brands and marketers to measure viewers emotional response to video, analyze viewer response via an analytics dashboard, and make different decisions […]

Timehop is admitting that additional personal information was compromised in a data breach on July 4. The company first acknowledged the breach on Sunday, saying that users’ names, email addresses and phone numbers had been compromised. Today it said it that additional information, including date of birth and gender, was also taken. To understand what […]

After spending the last couple of weeks closing the deal to buy TimeWarner for $85 billion and buying ad firm AppNexus for up to $2 billion, today AT&T announced a key distribution move in its new bid to be a media powerhouse: it’s taking a strategic investment into Magic Leap, the high profile augmented reality […]

Makula Dunbar Contributor Makula Dunbar is a writer with Wirecutter. More posts by this contributor Gear for making outdoor fitness more enjoyable Gadgets and small appliances that will keep you in the kitchen Editor’s note: This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and […]

Newer Sonos devices and “rooms” now appear as AirPlay 2-compatible devices, allowing you to stream audio to them via Apple devices. The solution is a long time coming for Sonos which promised AirPlay 2 support in October. You can stream to Sonos One, Sonos Beam, Playbase, and Play:5 speakers and ask Siri to play music […]