A new era of internet regulation is about to begin.
Years after Facebook and Google went public, regulators in the United States and abroad are finally taking a closer look at the internet behemoths. And they’re not only looking at the way these companies have come to dominate markets, but also examining the heart of the two firms’ business models. What they decide will have powerful implications for the way we do business on the internet.
Most people associate Facebook with cute family photos and think of Google like a semi-reliable encyclopedia. But these services have only a tangential relationship to the way either company actually makes money. The twin Silicon Valley titans rely on two closely intertwined technologies, customer surveillance and advertising, to maximize shareholder profits. The pair control 63 percent of the U.S. digital advertising market, and in 2016, they secured 99 percent of all digital advertising growth. That profit-making combo is exactly what regulators are focused on in 2018.
Many of the companies’ difficulties stem from the European Union’s tough new stance on privacy. The biggest threat to their business model comes from the General Data Protection Regulation, new data privacy rules set to go in effect in the EU in May. For the most part, Facebook and Google prevent you from using their products if you decline to agree to their entire terms of service. You cannot pick and choose what to agree to and still use their free services.
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Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Congress grilled representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google over their advertising and privacy practices in November 2017. (Pictured from left to right: Colin Stretch, Facebook general counsel, Sean Edgett, Twitter acting general counsel, and Richard Salgado, Google director of law enforcement and information security.)
Passionate activists are using technology to make the world a safer, more equitable place — and a new video series shines a light on their powerful stories.
“Internet Without Borders” is a four-part series from Jigsaw, the tech incubator at Google’s parent company Alphabet, featuring interviews with activists and technologists who use digital tools to defend human rights in their countries.
Jigsaw, whose mission is to look at how technology can make people safer around the world, filmed the videos at the 2016 Oslo Freedom Forum last May. There, the company sought out people who are “courageously fighting for freedom in diverse communities around the world.”
The first two videos of the series launched on Jan. 19, featuring Afghan tech CEO Roya Mahboob and Egyptian activist and actor Omar Sharif Jr.
“I have a vision to bring equal access to education through technology for the women and girls in Afghanistan,” Mahboob says.
At first glance, Microsoft’s choice to introduce both regular and XL-sized Windows 10 phones on Tuesday might look like a desperate attempt to keep up with Apple and Google. But a closer inspection of what these new phones actually can do, however, will tell you that Microsoft is in position to take the lead in next-generation handsets.
The reason: Windows 10 Continuum.
Continuum turns your Windows 10 smartphone into a full-on computer you carry around in your pocket. Plug your handset into the $99 Display Box — a hockey puck-sized hub with USB ports and an HDMI screen output — and all the apps and documents on your phone will scale up to PC-size, ready to be manipulated using a full-sized keyboard and mouse.
The caveats: Continuum will only be coming to Microsoft’s new Lumia phones (set to be released this November), not any current Windows phones. And this trick will only work with Windows 10 “universal apps” (more on those in a bit).
Tech companies are looking for ways to design devices that not only appeal to women but are explicitly for women.
That’s unfortunate.
This summer, Google announced a version of Google Glass embedded in Diane von Furstenberg frames, and is working with Luxottica on more. Rebecca Minkoff and Case-Mate said they might but have not yet released a line of wearables and tech accessories.
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Ringly’s Bluetooth-enabled rings send notifications through vibrations or flashing lights about incoming messages or imminent meetings.
Wearable technology is perhaps the most prolific trend in the tech industry today.
From activity-tracking fitness bands to Google Glass and Oculus Rift, big names are getting involved in the once-niche technology — and they’re getting involved in big ways.
You probably wouldn’t have guessed that the tech behind wearable computing devices finds much of its history in attempting to cheat casinos. Inventors built some of the first wearables in the 1960s and ’70s to count cards and improve a gambler’s odds at the roulette table.
Google’s years-long spat with Beijing just began a new chapter.
The company has begun encrypting searches made by people in China, where Google has long run afoul of regulations designed to keep a tight lid on searches deemed inappropriate.
Google’s encryption of searches in China reportedly will prevent the “Great Firewall of China” from detecting when users search for scandalous terms like “Tiananmen Square” or “Dalai Lama.” China could just out and block Google altogether, but short of doing that, the country likely will have trouble controlling Google searches as it has in the past.
When Comcast announced its planned $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable Thursday, the company cited the emergence of a new competitor as one reason that regulators should approve the deal: Google.
But some are questioning whether Google’s new ultra-fast Internet service, Google Fiber, presents enough of a challenge to justify dramatically increasing Comcast’s market power.
In a blog post, Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen cited Google’s new role as an Internet provider as one reason why Comcast could not become too dominant. “Comcast believes that there can be no justification for denying the company the additional scale that will help it compete more effectively,” Cohen wrote.
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Richard Robert McKeever, a fiber install technician for US Internet Corp., adjusts fiber optic internet cable so it does not become tangled during installation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2013. The US Internet Corp. gigabit residential service is symmetrical with Google Inc. Fiber offering upload speeds of 1 Gbps and 1,024 Mbps for downloads. Photographer: Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Bloomberg via Getty Images
When the cronut craze swept across New York in early spring of last year, the only major inconvenience associated with Dominique Ansel’s novel culinary confection was the pain of waiting in line to get it. For a responsible person living with Type 1 (or Type 2) diabetes, like my good friend Cara, that wait time for a hip baked good would’ve been compounded by a few more irritating factors.
First, there’d be a necessary finger prick test (administered in the open by an always on-hand glucometer) to measure blood sugar levels an hour before eating. Then, a guesstimate would need to be calculated of just how many carbs that precious SoHo sweet contained, followed by an adjustment of insulin delivery levels on a waist-worn pump. And, finally, a follow-up finger prick test would need to be done two hours after eating the cronut to once again establish a necessary insulin base line. That is true inconvenience. That is life with diabetes. And as you might imagine, not all diabetics are this disciplined. But Google wants to change that… with contact lenses.
The New York Times reports tonight that Google has acquired Boston Dynamics, builder of terrifying walking robots DARPA-related projects like WildCat/Cheetah, Atlas, Petman and Big Dog. Andy Rubin has moved over from leading Android to directing Google’s robotics efforts and tweeted a link to the story, commenting that “The future is looking awesome!” While we’re sure it does — if you always thought the T-1000 was just misunderstood — reactions from meatbags are ranging from slightly uneasy to completely freaking out that a company with robots that go anywhere is teaming up with a company that seems to know everything about us.
There’s no word on how much Google spent to snap up the robotics company, but its founder Marc Raibert is quoted by the Times saying “I am excited by Andy and Google’s ability to think very, very big, with the resources to make it happen.” When we interviewed Raibert during Expand earlier this year (included after the break) he specifically highlighted his company’s recent growth and the possibility of building consumer-focused robots in the future.
Google took the consumer electronics world in July by storm with the announcement of the Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player, a digital media dongle available at the unbelievably low price point of $35.
The arrival of the Chromecast was a big surprise for several reasons. I keep on top of all the tech rumor sites every day, and I hadn’t heard so much as a rumor that Google was working on a media dongle, much less one for $35. There’s also Google’s very checkered record when it comes to hardware releases, which included the “Nexus Q,” another media streaming device introduced in the summer of 2012 that was ultimately cancelled before release.
But the Chromecast was something different: A super-cheap streaming solution, controllable from a smartphone or tablet, and a product that was released the day it was announced. In addition, it offered “browser-casting” from the Google Chrome browser on a computer. That, and the low price point, led to the Chromecast’s instant popularity.
In the world, human beings are facing various problems. People who are full of greed, anger, and ignorance are seen to be fighting with each other in words and deeds. As the fighting continues, various problems such as civil wars, wars of aggression, and wars of aggression are occurring. As world peace is being destroyed, humans are facing unbearable problems. Innocent children and women are not getting the rights they deserve and deserve. I can't think of one thing every time. What is it? The United Nations. If we look at the responsibilities and duties of the United Nations, I think it is not suitable for solving the problems that are happening in the world today. In fact, the United Nations and the World Security Council, such an organization must rule the world, must be able to give orders, and must have various ways to obey orders. There must be no organization that can influence more than that organization. There should be experts from each country. They can even dominate the superpowers like the US, China, and Britain. Only then will global peace be achieved quickly. Now, if a country with power develops more militarily, economically, or socially than its own country, then powerful countries will jealously seek out enemies and wage war. Or they will attack with fighter jets. In this, innocent people are losing their lives. No one understands the value of a life. You should think about how to achieve global peace by controlling these. If the US continues to be the permanent president of the UN, world peace will never be achieved. If you think carefully, no one sees that they are working for the common good, but for their own benefit, for the benefit of their own country. The permanent president of the UN and the Security Council has rejected this, As a young Rohingya, I have come to realize that only by electing the president and secretary from among the countries in the world through a secret ballot system and governing the world fairly can we achieve global peace. The United Nations and the Security Council are organizations in which any country must govern, give orders, and make them obey their orders. For example, only when a defendant is tried in court can we hold the leaders of the countries in check and control them, can we achieve global peace smoothly. Otherwise, it will not be easy for powerful countries to use various excuses to end this war every year, every year, for the benefit of themselves and their countries. No country's leaders pay any attention to the words of the United Nations and the Security Council. If we look at it in practice, look at the Rohingya issue. Myanmar is a small country. Even that country has been under siege for 8 years. What action can be taken? Why is the UN and the Security Council Powerless? Without such Power, how can the organization bring about global peace? Everyone should think about it. Whether there is a veto or a strong one, all countries in the world can only achieve global peace if they are subject to the UN and the Security Council. Seek peace in the quiet embrace of nature. Peace is an indispensable need of the human race. It is not as if one person can kill another person, and it is as if one country can attack another country, but instead of trying to build peace, we must try to destroy the peace now, and the world is getting hotter and is on the verge of collapse. I especially appeal to all the world experts to urgently try to bring about peace in all parts of the world. Mr, Noor Muhamed Arkhan Rohingya Youth Myanmar
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Image: Jigsaw / Internet Without Borders
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