Technology
10 things in tech you need to know today, November 1
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this
Thursday.
Business Insider ran 2 fake ads pretending to be Cambridge
Analytica — and Facebook failed to catch that they were
frauds. Facebook’s new political ad transparency
tools allowed Business Insider to run adverts as being “paid
for” by Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy that
dragged Facebook into a major data scandal this year.
Sundar Pichai emailed Google staff saying he was ‘deeply sorry’
for the firm’s record on sexual misconduct. The
email came after news emerged that Google employees were
planning a walkout to protest the company’s handling of the
sexual-misconduct allegations.
Twitter is testing a toggle to let users easily switch between
a chronological and an algorithmic timeline. Only
a small number of iOS users can test the feature at the moment.
Apple offered to buy augmented-reality startup Leap Motion
multiple times, but people familiar with the matter told
Business Insider that negotiations fell through.
Insiders said the figure discussed was between $30 million and
$50 million, a fraction of the company’s Series B valuation of
$306 million.
Group video calls on FaceTime are finally here, but you may be
left out if you have an older Apple device.
FaceTime can now support video chats for up to 32 participants,
thanks to the iOS 12.1 update that was released earlier this
week.
Online scammers are bombarding young ‘Fortnite’ players with
fake offers for free v-bucks, the game’s digital
currency. More than 4,700 websites are
fraudulently offering free v-bucks as a front for phishing and
information collection.
Elon Musk said Tesla vehicles will be able to find open parking
spots without driver assistance by next year.
While the AutoPark feature identifies possible parking spots
for drivers to choose, Musk suggested that it will eventually
be able to both find and choose a parking spot without driver
assistance.
Lime recalled thousands of scooters after reports of some
catching fire. Lime has recalled 2,000 electric
scooters in three US cities, it said Wednesday.
Netflix is turning one of the world’s most popular games into a
TV show — and we just got a first look at its main
character. “The Witcher” is coming to Netflix in
2019, with Henry Cavill playing the main character Geralt of
Rivia.
Waymo has become the first company that’s allowed to test
autonomous cars without a backup driver in
California. Waymo received a permit from
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Tuesday to
test autonomous vehicles without human backup drivers on public
roads, the DMV said in a statement.
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