Apple slams Spotify for wanting ‘benefits of a free app without being free’ March 15, 2019 Apple has hit back at Spotify’s EU competition complaint, saying the streaming service wants “all the benefits of a free app without being free”. Earlier this week Spotify filed a complaint with EU competition authorities over the way the tech giant’s App Store works. Read more: Spotify reports Apple to EU commission over antitrust concerns [...]
Facebook blames server problem after 14-hour outage cripples social media sites March 15, 2019 Facebook has blamed a “server configuration change” for the outage that affected its social media platforms for more than 14 hours yesterday. “We've now resolved the issues and our systems are recovering. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s patience,” the company said in a statement. Read more: Facebook restores service after worst [...]
Facebook loses two top technology execs after Zuckerberg adopts privacy shift March 14, 2019 Two senior Facebook technology executives have left the social media giant, days after its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company would be moving towards a “privacy-focused future”. Zuckerberg said in a blog post that chief product officer Chris Cox, one of the firm’s earliest employees, and Whatsapp vice president Chris Daniels had resigned. “As Mark has [...]
Mobile bank N26 targets UK expansion with general manager appointment March 14, 2019 European mobile bank N26 has appointed a new general manager to drive forward UK expansion as it steps up competition against rivals such as Monzo and Revolut. Former Morgan Stanley investment banker Will Sorby has joined the Berlin-based digital bank, which operates in 24 markets across Europe, following its UK launch in October last year. Read [...]
Netflix to set its own age ratings for streaming shows and movies in new partnership with BBFC March 14, 2019 Netflix will be granted powers to set the official age ratings for its film and TV programmes as part of a new partnership with the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The streaming giant will use an automated rating algorithm, alongside a manual tagging system, to apply official UK age ratings to its original films [...]
Pi in the sky: Google Cloud sets new Pi record with 31 trillion digits March 14, 2019 A Google employee has set a new record by calculating the value of the number Pi to more than 31 trillion digits. Emma Haruka Iwao, a developer advocate at the tech firm, beat the previous record of 22 trillion, set in 2016. Read more: IBM's Watson supercomputer launches tie-up with Volkswagen's SEAT The calculation, which [...]
Google removed 2.3bn ‘bad ads’ last year in fight against fake news and fraud March 14, 2019 Google removed 2.3bn ads last year for violating its policies on fraud and misinformation, the company said today. The total number of ads removed, which equates to roughly 75 ads per second, is almost 1bn lower than last year. Read more: Google paid $105m to executives accused of sexual harassment But Google said it had [...]
Facebook hit with US criminal investigation over data-sharing deals March 14, 2019 US prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Facebook over a number of data deals it struck with other major tech firms. A grand jury in New York has ordered two smartphone manufacturers to hand over records, the New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Read more: Facebook to encrypt more messages [...]
The World Wide Web is 30 years old – what will be the future of the internet? March 14, 2019 The World Wide Web turned 30 years old this week: on 12 March 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to the world’s largest physics laboratory, Cern, that outlined a new way to link, share, and manage information over the internet. As the main way that the vast majority of us access the online world, the [...]
Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp emerge from worst outage in tech giant’s history March 14, 2019 Facebook showed signs of recovery this morning after suffering a partial outage that affected users across the world for more than 14 hours. The outage, believed to be the longest in the social media site’s history, began yesterday afternoon and also affected Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp. Read more: Global outages cripple Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram The [...]
