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Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch : Social Captain, which helps boost follower counts on Instagram, exposes thousands of Instagram passwords in its web page source code   —  A social media boosting startup, which bills itself as a service to increase increase a user's Instagram followers, has exposed thousands of Instagram account passwords. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2Uc2kI8

Reuters : Sources: FBI has probed Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group for its possible role in hacks of US residents, companies and intel gathering on governments since 2017   —  (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies in possible hacks on American residents … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2Ofm4qt

Calvin Klein is a big-cat favorite. from CNET News https://ift.tt/36Kd9Ua

Maz Kanata never told us the full story, so a Star Wars comic has stepped in to fill the gap. As for how Palpatine survived, don't ask. from CNET News https://ift.tt/37SVivX

New Horizons were never this beautiful. from CNET News https://ift.tt/38U1inY

Two crashes killed 346 people and authorities are blaming Boeing's design, a faulty sensor and airline staff. Plus: Everything you need to know about the plane's other issues. from CNET News https://ift.tt/36vfNOs

Think you’ve found a glaring security hole in Xbox Live? Microsoft is interested. The company announced a new bug bounty program today, focused specifically on its Xbox Live network and services. Depending on how serious the exploit is and how complete your report is, they’re paying up to $20,000. Like most bug bounty programs, Microsoft is looking for pretty specific/serious security flaws here. Found a way to execute unauthorized code on Microsoft’s servers? They’ll pay for that. Keep getting disconnected from Live when you play as a certain legend in Apex? Not quite the kind of bug they’re looking for. Microsoft also specifically rules out a few types of vulnerabilities as out-of-scope, including DDoS attacks, anything that involves phishing Microsoft employees or Xbox customers, or getting servers to cough up basic info like server name or internal IP. You can find the full breakdown here. This is by no means Microsoft’s first foray into bounty programs; they’ve got similar pr...

AppleInsider : The EU Parliament overwhelmingly passes measure pushing for adoption of a common charging standard for mobile devices, which Apple said would stifle innovation   —  The European Parliament in a landslide vote on Thursday called on the EU Commission to adopt rules that would establish … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/36DiTzf

On Thursday, Apple rolled out an updated native Maps app to all iOS users in the United States. The redesign was already pushed out to a few southeastern states late last year, presumably for beta testing. Cupertino says it will implement the changes in Europe “in the coming months.” from TechSpot https://ift.tt/2vEdFGJ

Danielle Abril / Fortune : Survey of 12,043 US adults: 59% distrust Facebook for political and election news, including 62% of Republicans and 59% of Democrats, while 48% distrust Twitter   —  Facebook and Twitter are a long way from instilling confidence after letting misinformation flood their services during recent elections, according to a new survey. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2Um0owP

It was a 9,000-kilometer race over the span of nearly two weeks and Ricky is the first American to ever take the top spot. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2Ot6yYf

Ricky Brabec rode to victory on a Honda CRF450 Rally and had help from a crew of dedicated mechanics. from CNET News https://ift.tt/38XePuX

The Dakar Rally is a brutal and dangerous test of man and machine that no American had previously won, until now. from CNET News https://ift.tt/37HXsOL

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira say they'll pay tribute to the late basketball star in the halftime show. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2u8hjbl

The UN was targeted in an apparent spy operation last year, but top officials kept quiet, according to the AP. from CNET News https://ift.tt/38R8UaN

You'll get the unannounced Samsung phone by March 6. from CNET News https://ift.tt/36Jdpmi

A couple of (expensive) movie ad spots have already arrived online. You can also expect trailers from Black Widow, Fast and Furious 9, and more. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2RHGcDR

Locals are concerned about the role Facebook will play in next week's contest and the general election. from CNET News https://ift.tt/38Sudc3

After almost 17 years of staring into space, NASA has said good night to Spitzer. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2GDDhWi

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat : EA reports Q3 revenues of $1.98B, beating expectations, on growth of its live services to $993M, up 27% YoY; digital net income was $4.13B for 2019, up 15% YoY   —  Electronic Arts reported earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations for the third fiscal quarter ended December 31 … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2uQHKlC

Jennifer Elias / CNBC : Google shows off far-flung A.I. research projects as calls for regulation mount   — Google is working on several long-term artificial intelligence projects it hopes to launch widely someday.  — Projects in advanced stages include real-time language translation and anemia detection. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/317IdMo

Just as Amazon was basking in the news of a massive earnings win , the tech giant quietly published — as it always does — its latest transparency report, revealing a slight dip in the number of government demands for user data. It’s a rarely seen decline in the number of demands received by a tech company during a year where almost every other tech giant — including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter — all saw an increase in the number of demands they receive. Only Apple reported a decline in the number of demands it received. Amazon said it received 1,841 subpoenas, 440 search warrants and 114 other court orders for user data — such as its Echo and Fire devices — during the six-month period ending 2019. That’s about a 4% decline on the first six months of the year. The company’s cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, also saw a decline in the number of demands for data stored by customers, down by about 10%. Amazon also said it received between 0 and 249 national security reque...

Earlier this week, news broke that Avast was using its free antivirus to harvest and sell users' (supposedly anonymized) browsing data to advertisers through a subsidiary called Jumpshot. The revelations came as a result of a joint investigation from Vice and PCMag, who also found the results of the data... from TechSpot https://ift.tt/2UlFoGv

The Information : Source: Apple has terminated AI startup Xnor.ai's involvement in the Pentagon's Project Maven after its recent acquisition of the startup   —  Big technology companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google have jockeyed to secure lucrative contracts supplying their products and services to the military. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2Gytzof

A jury handed down the decision related to Wi-Fi chips used in iPhones, Macs and other devices. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2uOb9Nl

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac : Fantastical, a popular calendar app for iOS and macOS, switches to a subscription model to unlock new premium features like Calendar Sets and weather forecasts   —  Admit it, you've lost track of how many years it's been since you paid for Fantastical.  The answer could be as long ago as 2013 … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/37BVsaQ

Taylor Soper / GeekWire : Microsoft's Q2 gaming revenue was down 21% YoY to $3.4B, with hardware revenue down 43% YoY and Xbox content and services revenue down 11% YoY to $2.4B   —  Microsoft's Xbox business took a hit in the most recent quarter as the company prepares to debut its new Xbox Series X console this holiday season. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/37Eqte3

Save hundreds of dollars on 65-inch and 75-inch TVs, as well as some of our favorite audio gear, like the Bose QuietComfort 35 II. from CNET News https://ift.tt/2vvLDNs

It looks like Full Self-Driving is still a ways off, but a Tesla battery tech day isn't. from CNET News https://ift.tt/37DD4Ox

At the FAA’s 23rd Annual Commercial Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday, a panel dedicated to the topic of trends in VC around space startups touched on public vs. private funding, the right kinds of space companies that should even be considering venture funding, and, perhaps most notably, the big L: Liquidity. Moderator Tess Hatch, Vice President at Bessemer Venture Partners, addressed the topic in response to an audience question that noted while we’ve heard a lot about how much money will flow into space-related startups from the VC community, we haven’t actually et seen much in the way of liquidity events that prove out the validity of these investments. “In 2008, a company called Skybox was created and a handful of years later Google acquired the company for $500 million,” Hatch said. “Every venture capitalist’s ears perked up and they thought ‘Hey, that’s pretty good ROI in a short amount of time – maybe the space thing is an investable ...

Kaya Yurieff / CNN : Zuckerberg says his goal for Facebook this decade “isn't to be liked but to be understood” and that people need to know where the company stands to trust it   —  New York (CNN Business)Mark Zuckerberg sent a message to the public on Wednesday: Facebook is fine doing things that are unpopular … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2uF0XH3

Microsoft has expanded its forced upgrading of Windows 10 PCs running the 14-month old 1809 with the most recent refresh, 1909. "We are starting the next phase in our controlled approach to automatically initiate a feature update for an increased number of devices running the October 2018 Update (Windows 10, version 1809) Home and Pro editions," Microsoft said on Jan. 21 in its Windows release health dashboard . Microsoft kicked off the forced upgrades last month, when on Dec. 5 it said it would "slowly start the phased process" of upgrading PCs running Windows 10 1809. To read this article in full, please click here from Computerworld https://ift.tt/37OWbpj

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters : Sources: EU is preparing rules on data interoperability and cross-border use to create a single market in data aimed at challenging the dominance of big tech   —  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union wants to create a single market in data aimed at challenging the dominance of tech giants such as Facebook … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/2O87lxe

But what if robots could mimic humans in less obvious ways? That's a question one team of scientists decided to answer with their latest research, which has been published in Science Magazine. from TechSpot https://ift.tt/36IJ9IB