Thoughts and Ideas

Europe Flunks Twitter on Removing Hate Speech Online

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/technology/twitter-facebook-google-europe-hate-speech.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
June 01, 2017 at 03:00AM

The findings are part of a study by the European Commission as policy makers and tech companies battle over what should be permitted online.

Tech Fix: For $499, a Drone for Beginners:

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/technology/personaltech/dji-spark-drone.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
June 01, 2017 at 01:19AM

DJI’s Spark

State of the Art: How Twitter Is Being Gamed to Feed Misinformation

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/technology/how-twitter-is-being-gamed-to-feed-misinformation.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
June 01, 2017 at 01:05AM

Twitter is far smaller than Facebook, but it may play a more consequential role in the spread of misinformation.

Article: Listen In: Video Ad Fraud—How Common Is It?

Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Listen-In-Video-Ad-FraudHow-Common-It/1015939
May 30, 2017 at 07:01AM

eMarketer analysts Lauren Fisher and Paul Verna sit down to discuss the prevalence of ad fraud associated with digital video, and what the industry is doing to deal with it.

Uber said it lost $700 million in Q1 and it's looking for a public company CFO as its head of finance leaves

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-708-million-q1-loss-looking-for-public-company-cfo-replace-gautam-gupta-2017-5
June 01, 2017 at 02:41AM

Uber's head of finance is leaving the company, putting the ride-hailing startup in the tricky position of trying to recruit two high-level executives as it grapples with multiple scandals and bleeds hundreds of millions of dollars in red ink every quarter.

Uber lost $708 million, excluding stock compensation expenses, in the first three months of the year, an Uber spokesperson told Business Insider. Uber's head of finance, Gautam Gupta, is leaving Uber to join an unspecified startup, Uber said.

Uber said it is launching a search for a CFO with public company experience — a move that could kick off Uber's march to go public.

News of Gupta's departure and Uber's financial results were first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

Developing...

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Hillary Clinton made a stinging joke about Trump's mysterious "covfefe" tweet

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-joke-trump-covfefe-2017-5
June 01, 2017 at 02:37AM

Hillary Clinton

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, California — Even Hillary Clinton had a zinger about "covfefe."

The apparent typo word, embedded in a middle-of-the night tweet by President Trump, was the joke of the day on Wednesday online and across the nation. No less so here at the Code Conference, an annual gathering of the tech industry elite.

During her appearance at the conference, Clinton talked about Russia's alleged attempts to influence last year's election to Trump's benefit. That's when she got in her "covfefe" barb.

"I think it was a hidden message to the Russians," she said.

The audience, largely made up of people who supported her in the election, laughed.

Trump got the ball rolling on "covfefe" last night when he wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "Despite the constant negative press covfefe".

The tweet immediately went viral, and an internet meme was born. Trump himself even poked fun at his apparent typo, writing in a later tweet, "Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy!"

Despite the joke, Clinton was attempting to make some more serious points about the role of social media in the nation's politics. Her loss to Trump was due in part social media platforms becoming "weaponized" and used by the Russians to spread misinformation about her, she said.

She called on Facebook to "prevent fake news from creating a new reality." She called out Twitter, too.

"Twitter has become victimized by deliberate efforts to shape our conversations, to shift it to conspiracies, lies, whatever," she said. "It's the same problem Facebook has."

Clinton said she appreciates that these companies want their services to be open platforms with no censorship. And she said she sympathizes with the people at those companies who are trying to address these issues. But, at least for a while, as a test, she wants them to err on the side of removing reported trouble makers and suspicious news from their platforms.

"I would urge them to hurry up" and solve the problem, she said.

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'I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians': Hillary Clinton quips about Trump's 'covfefe' kerfuffle

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/covfefe-hillary-clinton-comment-trump-recode-2017-5
June 01, 2017 at 01:50AM

Screen Shot 2017 05 31 at 3.08.31 PM

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a jab at President Donald Trump's misspelled tweet that has since sent social-media into a craze.

"I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians," said Clinton at Recode's Code Conference on Wednesday.

On Tuesday evening, a tweet posted to Trump's personal Twitter account read: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe."

The tweet was eventually deleted at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday, but not until it gained a cult-like following on social-media.

Trump eventually issued another tweet, ostensibly addressing those who lost it over the typo: "Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.

Clinton also touched on how she believed "diversions" like the "covfefe" kerfuffle was truncating the attention spans of Americans.

"You got all kinds of stuff happening," Clinton said. "To divert attention. It’s like 'covfefe': trending worldwide. Maybe for a minute you'll forget the latest accusations about them conspiring with Russia, or their trillion-dollar mathematical mistake in their budget, or depriving 23 million people of health care."

"It's the circus, right?," asked Clinton. "They want to influence your reality."