Microsoft added its own Digital Health feature to its Android launcher app

Microsoft added its own digital health feature to its Android launcher app, just when Google added a similar feature to its Android Pie. Microsoft’s launcher will let any Android users have the ability to track how long apps are being used for. You can track screen time, app usage, and the number of times you’ve unlocked your phone. This app is supported on Android 4.2 and above, which opens a digital health feature access to all Android users.

The latest update of Microsoft Launcher 5.1 also includes To-Do and Sticky Notes integration, which will help you to synchronize your tasks and notes from these apps. Microsoft is also adding in “Hey Cortana” support to launch the digital assistant from this Android launcher.

Microsoft Launcher 5.1 has a built in Digital Health feature :O pic.twitter.com/J6mj97QS04

— Zac Bowden (@zacbowden) November 21, 2018

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been reportedly updating its Android launcher consistently, helping the software giant embrace Android as the mobile version of Windows. Earlier this year, Microsoft added family-focused features and support for the Windows 10 Timeline feature that allows you to resume apps and sites across all devices. Microsoft Launcher 5.1 is available as a beta version from the Google Play Store and should be out to all users in a few weeks.

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Amazon mistakenly streamed an unreleased episode of Doctor Who

BBC Studios 2018

Amazon mistakenly streamed an unreleased episode of Doctor Who. All Amazon users who opened the stream Doctor Who’s latest episode, “Kerblam!” spending more time watching the episode before taking out. Instead of releasing the right episode, Amazon Prime Video evidently skipped ahead and show “The Witchfinders,” which was set to air this coming Sunday.

This mistake was spotted by io9, who also confirm that the closed captions for “Kerblam!” was mistakenly aired as part of “The Witchfinders”. This is surely a shocking mistake for anyone trying to make sense of why conveyor belts have anything to do with the 17th century.

According to a statement from io9, BBC Studios said it was aware of the error for US Amazon Prime users. io9 said, “We are investigating how this happened and have taken the steps to remove it.” “BBC Studios would like to apologize if anyone’s enjoyment of the series has been spoiled by this mishap,” the company explained further.

Sarcastically, “Kerblam!” is about a not so subtle imitation of Amazon. The company has since corrected the mistake, so everybody can now return to their regularly scheduled work.

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Facebook and Instagram are unavailable for some users in US, Europe and South America

According to third-party site Down Detector’s outage map, Facebook is said to be undergoing an unusual blackout which is making the popular social platform site along with Facebook Messenger and Instagram inaccessible to users across the United States as well as some parts of Europe and South America.

Facebook has officially acknowledged the issue on its social media networks (twitter is your best reliable source due to the outage), and the company’s support dashboard notes that it’s working to fix the issue.

We know some people are having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

— Facebook (@facebook) November 20, 2018

Yesterday’s blackout marks the second major downtime event for Facebook this month, following a shorter outage for about a half-hour on November 12th, which the company commented to USA Today was caused by a “routine test”.

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Google just added a new feature to its Find my device app, now showing indoor layouts of large buildings

Google has just made a new update to its Find My Device app in other to display indoor maps to show you where you might have dropped your phone inside a large building. It's the outcome of a long time of recording the formats of complex spaces like retail chains, shopping centers, and air terminals.

With this new feature, when you lose your phone, you don’t just see that it’s somewhere in the building, you will be able to have a clearer idea of the exact location in the building. Apart from adding large buildings, the new update to the Find My Device app also comes with support for work profiles.

However, Google does not list out a specific building the new feature is made for, so you will have to try your luck. Since GPS is always a little bit off, this might help narrow things down a fair bit. But your phone may still not be where you think it is. In a scenario where your phone was dropped under the seat at the movie theater, you might start running after someone else thinking it was stolen from you. There is a limit to what Find My Device app can do to help with that.

The update is really great since some people will find it more useful and it might not work for some. Though it might not be up to our expectation, but I think Google is taking a step closer to improve users experience with the app.

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Target’s Twitter account with over 2 million followers was hacked and used for Bitcoin scam

Early yesterday morning, target’s twitter account was hacked with over 2 million followers and used for Bitcoin scam that has been trending over the past few months.

The scammers started by creating fake accounts imitating Elon Musk, an act that is against Twitter’s Terms of Service. The accounts would share fraudulent links under Musk’s tweets that asked users to send a little amount of bitcoin in order to receive a larger amount. It’s a complicated method that has been a profitable endeavor, making the hackers over $37,000 in cryptocurrency within a few hours, according to TechCrunch.

According to a statement from Target to The Verge, “The hacking process on the target’s twitter account last for half an hour and one fake post was tweeted during that time referring to a bitcoin scam.” “We are in close contact with Twitter, have deleted the tweet and have locked the account while we investigate further.”

Twitter revived up its efforts in July to stop these scams by automatically locking any unverified accounts that changed their display names to “Elon Musk.” This caused the scammers to turn their goal to hacking in other to avoid their accounts locked. They were able to impersonate Elon Musk by hacking verified accounts with no fear of being locked out, and the scam is even more trusted with the little blue checkmark next to the familiar name.

And now @Target.

This isn't just Target's problem. This is @Twitter's problem. They clearly haven't got a handle on these cryptocurrency scams.

As previously discussed here: https://t.co/0l44PVFPI9 pic.twitter.com/81i6GIv3qs

— Graham Cluley (@gcluley) November 13, 2018

According to Target, the account was briefly hacked, and in that time, scammers were able to come up with a tweet and the link that then approved as an advert by Twitter. With the help of the screenshot to prove that the tweet was promoted, it shows that the scammer was able to make it past the Twitter team that managed ads. However, Twitter has not responded to a request for comment.

Although, Target is the only latest example of this scam, or maybe the one with the largest followers. Other influential users like Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ), also had their accounts hacked for use in this scam. Pallone’s campaign account was altered just a day before the 2018 midterm elections. His account did not sponsor any ads, but others like Capgemini Australia, Pathe Films, and Pantheon Books had ads for this scam approved as well.

Frank Pallone is the ranking member of the house energy and commerce committee, the jurisdiction of which includes oversight of telecommunications and the internet https://t.co/WgIw5lSLn2

— rat king (@MikeIsaac) November 5, 2018

This scam could be simply dealt with by requiring all verified users to secure their accounts with the two-factor authentication, but Twitter is yet to ask any users to do so as of right now. It’s likely that these hacks will continue if Twitter did not take any action, and many more people will be scammed into handing over their cryptocurrency to this scammer.

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Facebook partner with French regulators to monitor their content moderation processes

French President Emmanuel Macron earlier yesterday announced that regulators from France will now be allowed to study Facebook and its attempts to moderate hate speech on its platform, which will give French officials legitimate access into how the company deals with offensive content.

French regulators will have access in 2019 to Facebook’s content policies and how Facebook removes posts that may discriminate against or focus on a majority set of people or others based on gender, or religion.t

According to a statement from Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications Nick Clegg yesterday, “It is in that context significant and welcome that the French government and Facebook are going to announce a new initiative.” “That model of co-regulation of the public tech sector is absolutely key.”

Facebook has made many new hires in 2017 to impose moderation rules more consistent with the existing internal rules that disallow hateful speech on their platforms. With Facebook’s investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, it will help the company to remove offensive content before publishing it. These are processes that the French regulators would be looking into.

This will be the second attempt for the French president Macron in regulating online speech. He makes his first attempt earlier this year when he announced that he would introduce a draft law that would ban fake news online. If this law is passed, it will allow France’s political parties to bring up complaints online, and gives the judges the ability to call for the posts to be taken down. Other European countries have also make a similar draft law. Germany launched its own law earlier this year to tackle disinformation.

However, The United States is having a more difficult time in implementing the regulation over content moderation than its European counterparts. Their First Amendment generally protests hate speech. Lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) have been outspoken about platforms taking down what he would call conservation leaning content, and claiming that the platforms are biased against Republican speech.

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Facebook ends the forced arbitration for sexual harassment complaints

Following a similar incident at Google yesterday, Facebook has also stopped to force employees to settle sexual harassment claims in private arbitration. According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook reportedly made the announcement to employees internally today, and vice president of people Lori Goler told the Journal that it wants to “be part of taking the next step” at “a pivotal moment” in the tech industry.

Facebook also announced an updated policy on dating within the staffs, requiring executives to disclose any romantic relationship with another staff, even if they aren’t overseeing that staff’s work.

Few top tech companies including Uber, Microsoft, and Lyft have dropped forced arbitration clauses from sexual harassment claims. However, Google’s change was particularly exposed because it was made after an estimated 20 percent of employees participated in a mass walkout protest last week. Arbitration was actually one of the protester’s demands, and their negotiations with Google still in process.

According to Lori Goler’s statement with the Journals, she said sexual harassment has been discussed widely within Facebook, but she apparently didn’t discuss any more sweeping changes to company. Facebook published its complete internal harassment policy late 2017, during the first months of the MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment. But Facebook defended its forced arbitration policy earlier this year, calling the process ‘’official and appropriate.”

Anthony Harrison, corporate media relations director confirmed in a statement that Facebook was making arbitration optional. “We are publishing our updated Workplace Relationships policy today and amending our arbitration agreements to make arbitration a choice rather than a requirement in sexual harassment claims,” he told The Verge. “Sexual harassment is something that we take very seriously, and there is no place for it at Facebook.”

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