Last week, news broke that IT management company SolarWinds had been hacked, possibly by the Russian government, and the US Treasury, Commerce, State, Energy, and Homeland Security departments have been affected — two of which may have had emails stolen as a result of the hack. Other government agencies and many companies are investigating due to SolarWinds’ extensive client list. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that some big tech companies have been infected, too. Cisco, Intel, Nvidia, Belkin, and VMware have all had computers on their networks infected with the malware. There could be far more: SolarWinds had…
Author: Irene Hawkins
Irene Hawkins
Irene grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and now lives in New York as a full-time environmentalist and a part-time journalist. She was previously an editor at local online newspaper, where she wrote about topics including technology, finance and the media industry.
Hi, I’m Jay! I’m subbing in for your usual trailers guide Kim Lyons while she takes a well-deserved holiday break. I’ve really been looking forward to writing this post. Trailers are fun! They’re like bite-sized movies. Unfortunately, there weren’t a ton of trailers to choose from this week. I suppose studios don’t want to launch big trailers for upcoming blockbusters shortly before everyone takes off for the holidays. But there were still a few good ones to watch, including a trailer for a series launching on Netflix later this week. Enjoy. [embedded content] Bridgerton Bridgerton is Shona Rhimes’ upcoming British…
If you read my previous post, you might have noticed a brand-new Twitter label on Trump’s latest wildly misleading tweet: “Election officials have certified Joe Biden as the winner of the U.S. Presidential election.” Yes, Twitter is now calling the election for Joe Biden on Trump’s own tweets. Twitter tells us it’s simply an update to its existing label, designed to “reflect the latest information.” But there’s a staggering difference between this label and Twitter’s previous one, which simply said “Multiple sources called this election differently.” That left room for doubt. Now that the Electoral College has voted, Twitter not…
The New York Times’ Caliphate podcast was a hit — until it wasn’t. The 2018 show, which chronicled the radicalization of a man who joined the Islamic State, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a Peabody, and was widely regarded as a feat of narrative nonfiction storytelling. The Times’ head of film, TV, and audio, Sam Dolnick, described the show as a “cinematic experience” that “absolutely lends itself to TV” and came with “a lot of interest from Hollywood.” Today, however, those days seem far away. The Times appended a lengthy and apologetic editor’s note to the show’s…
Twitter has begun testing its Spaces feature, the voice-based chat rooms it first announced last month. In the thread announcing the test, the company said a very small group of users would be given the ability to create Spaces, but that in theory anyone could join them — though who would be allowed into any given space depends on the user who created it. Twitter outlined last month how the first people to be given access to Spaces would be women and people from other marginalized communities, groups who are more likely than others to be subjected to abuse and…
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has refused to sign a law banning most government use of facial recognition. The Boston Globe reported last week that Baker sent an omnibus police reform bill back to state lawmakers, asking for changes that included striking the facial recognition rules. Massachusetts legislators passed the first major state-level facial recognition ban, following a model set by individual cities like Boston and San Francisco. The bill says public agencies, including police departments, can’t use or acquire biometric surveillance systems. It makes exceptions for running facial recognition searches against a motor vehicles registration database, as long as police…
Taiwan is setting a motion that would prevent mainland China’s streaming platforms from operating on the island. Taiwan is gearing to put a stop to the operations of streaming giants from Mainland China. On Tuesday, a public notice was released by the government, which confirms the ban of two Chinese OTT video services companies. A New Order By next month, an order will not allow Taiwanese companies or people to work with video platforms from mainland China, such as those from iQiyi and Tencent. The National Communications Commission of Taiwan laid out the new directive, per the government notice. Through…
Lucid Motors unveiled their own EV that could run for over 500 miles in one charge. On Tuesday, electric car battery company Lucid Motors had announced its latest luxury vehicle that could run for 517 miles (over 830 kilometers) on one charge. If it passes Environmental Protection Agency regulation, it would be the farthest reach of any other electric vehicle in the market. Even beating Tesla’s own car with the longest range so far. ‘The World’s Longest’ Lucid Air will be the first car offering from the company, with the expected final production version to be revealed globally on September…
Facebook told developers its ad targeting ability on iOS 14 will be impacted. The social media giant Facebook told developers some of the company’s concerns about Apple’s latest mega software update on iOS-powered devices. On August 27, Facebook CFO David Wehner acknowledged the concern. He stated a problem with the iOS 14, Apple’s latest operating system update. It could possibly affect the social media company’s ad targeting ability. Apple’s Business The newest update from Apple, expected to be released this year, could make it more difficult for app developers to target ads to users. The company announced iOS14 in June…
Streamview has released the Streaming Box 8000, a 4K set-top box carrying the Nokia name, for sale in Europe. It looks like Nokia is getting into the TV game, at least in Europe. Reports show that the company has released a Nokia-brand Android TV box for the continent. According to the report, the set-top box is the Streaming Box 8000. Nokia Brand Gadgets The Verge reports that Streamview developed the Streaming Box 8000. Moreover, the company has bought the license to the Nokia brand to sell Smart TVs, set-top boxes, and DAB+ radios in Europe. The company also plans to…