Description: The final winners will be announced live on May 19th at 7 PM PT at Google I/O and will be live streamed. Source: Tech Crunch Date: April 22, 2016 Apple has historically doled out annual awards to those third-party app developers that it believes have created the best apps and games over the past 12… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Social Media
Top 5 social media scams to avoid
Description: Scammers have been worming their way into giant social media networks to trick people into giving over their personal and financial information Source: CNN Money Date: April 22, 2016 1. Fake customer service accounts on Twitter: Online criminals set up fake customer service accounts to phish for bank login and password information and other sensitive… Read more »
Microsoft’s A.I. bot turned from average teen to Jew-hating Trump supporter in 12 hours
Description: Less than a day after Microsoft unleashed Tay, its experimental A.I., to social networks including Twitter and Kik, the chatbot’s already become a racist jerk you wouldn’t ever want to be friends with. Source: Mashable Date: March 24, 2016 Designed by Microsoft Research to better understand how 18- to 24-year-olds speak, Tay has definitely developed… Read more »
Nintendo’s first smartphone app is a social surprise
Description: Nintendo’s first smartphone app — Miitomo — launched Thursday in Japan, and will soon debut in other markets. It’s distinctly social, and at first glance, may seem like a bizarre turn for a company known for games. Source: CNN Money Date: March 17, 2016 The app asks questions of users, such as their favorite TV… Read more »
YouTube has a new tool for blurring moving objects
Description: YouTube has a new tool for blurring moving objects Source: Mashable Date: February 25, 2016 YouTube is expanding upon its face-blurring feature that it first introduced in 2012, allowing YouTubers to easily blur moving objects. After uploading a video, you can access the new feature through the new Custom Blurring tool under Blurring Effects. You… Read more »
You can now like, love, and frown at posts on Facebook
Description: Facebook has introduced ‘reactions’ which allow you to show emotions beyond ‘like’ such as ‘angry,’ ‘sad,’ or ‘love.’ Source: CNN Money Date: February 24, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. What is the point or advantage of adding multiple “reactions” to Facebook? 2. is it possible that this added feature might have a negative impact on… Read more »
Mountain Dew teases the weirdest Super Bowl ad ever
Description: Mountain Dew uncorked a couple of teasers for its first Super Bowl ad in 16 years – and it could be the weirdest Super Bowl ad ever. Source: CNN Money Date: January 28, 2016 Questions for discussion: 1. Do these ads have the potential to become viral? If so, using what platform? 2. Why would… Read more »
Twitter exodus begins as five top executives depart overnight
Description: Shakeup comes as new CEO Jack Dorsey tries to make Twitter exciting again. Source: Ars Technica Date: January 27, 2016 Late on Sunday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed that four of the company’s top executives will be departing. Additionally, the head of Vine—Twitter’s short-form video sharing service—is also leaving the company, to rejoin Google. The… Read more »
Hey Millennials, Your Mom Is About to Follow You on Snapchat
Description: Though Snapchat has mostly been known as a disappearing message app teens love, the show isn’t for them. Gary Vaynerchuk, an early investor in the service, has been watching it for a while, and his bet is that Snapchat is finally aging up. Source: Wired Date: January 14, 2016 It’s part of a mounting body… Read more »
Technology and the Fight Against Terrorism
Description: Preventing terrorist plots is harder than ever, and technology is both the problem and the solution. Source: CNN Money Date: November 24, 2015 Violent extremists like ISIS meet in the open on Facebook or Twitter. Then they take the conversation private, using technology called encryption to encode their messages. It’s called “going dark”, and it’s one… Read more »