The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments.
Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman.
Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.
SoundCloud announced Tuesday that it is expanding its "Premier" feature, which takes a focus on the scores of musicians who use the service to record and promote their work. CEO Kerry Trainor said this feature will allow artists to be directly monetized on the platform, and it will rival any process at other streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music.
Google's Pixel event kicks off on Tuesday in New York City. The company is expected to announce three new phones, with one costing upwards of $1,000. Russell Holly, Senior Editor at Android Central and Ajay Kumar, Mobile Analyst at PCMag, give their predictions for the future of Google's hardware ecosystem.
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The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Google had exposed over 500,000 Google+ users' data and failed to alert authorities. The company ultimately said it would shut down the consumer version of the social network. Douglas MacMillan, the reporter who broke the story for the Journal, said Google's handling of the information is causing a lot of speculation about the tech giant's business practices.
Grocery delivery has a new player in Los Angeles: Milk and Eggs. This service connects consumers with farmers and food producers, and the food is delivered straight from the source, made fresh for every order. Kenneth Wu, CEO and founder of Milk and Eggs, said that unlike Walmart and Amazon, his company is able to completely eliminate the grocery store.
The tech giant made its decision after reports that the data of about a half million users of Google+ had been exposed. The company reportedly chose not to disclose the bug for fear of repercussions. Google said there was no evidence the information was misused.
Acclaimed music producer, DJ, and entrepreneur Steve Aoki is dipping his toe into comic books. At New York Comic Con Aoki debuted 'Neon Future,' his comic debut.
With sites like Priceline, Kayak, and Travelocity helping consumers find cheaper flights in-the-moment, Hopper is going one step further, letting customers know when to wait to buy an airline ticket by predicting when prices will go down. With a new round of funding, Hopper is going all in on artificial intelligence technology, helping consumers find the cheapest flights possible, said Dakota Smith, the company's head of growth and business.
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Facebook has announced Portal and Portal+, two video chat devices for the home that are geared towards video calling. Priced at $199 and $349, they feature A.I. technology that can automatically follow a person as they move throughout a room.
