Tesla’s ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ Is Proving Invaluable to Owners Affected by CA Wildfires – This Week in Tech – 11/11/2018
Tesla’s ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ Is Proving Invaluable to Owners Affected by CA Wildfires
When Elon Musk initially talked about the Model X’s “Bioweapon Defense Mode,” the company’s skeptics dismissed the feature as a simple gimmick. For owners of the company’s electric cars currently affected by the raging wildfires in CA, though, Bioweapon Defense Mode has become a welcome blessing, allowing them and their passengers to breathe clean air despite the worsening air quality outside…
FCC Pushes Carriers to Implement Caller ID Authentication by 2019
Even if you don’t agree with Ajit Pai’s stance on some important issues, you might still want to hear about his latest campaign against robocalls. The FCC chairman has demanded (PDF) the adoption of a robust call authentication system to prevent caller ID spoofing, telling American carriers to implement the technology no later than 2019. Pai has sent letters to the CEOs of 14 voice providers to ask them to conjure up concrete plans to adopt the SHAKEN/STIR framework, which would validate legitimate calls across networks before they reach recipients. That would block spam and scam robocalls from going through, so you don’t have to be wary of answering calls anymore…
#NetNeutrality: Supreme Court Hands Over a Major Victory for Open Internet Advocates
In 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that favored the 2015 net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration Federal Communications Commission. Several internet providers took their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping the court would throw out the ruling…
Facebook Is the Least Trusted Major Tech Company When it Comes to Safeguarding Personal Data, Poll Finds
Facebook is the least trustworthy of all major tech companies when it comes to safeguarding user data, according to a new national poll conducted for Fortune, highlighting the major challenges the company faces following a series of recent privacy blunders…
Microsoft’s President Says We Need to Regulate Facial Recognition Tech Before ‘The Year 2024 Looks Like the Book “1984”’
Facial recognition software is already prevalent in a lot of mainstream technology products. You may even use a few of them, like Facebook photo tagging, Snapchat or Instagram face filters, or the iPhone’s Face ID, which uses facial recognition to unlock the phone…
PayPal Is Canceling Accounts Used by the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes, and Antifa Groups
The move will make it much harder for the groups to raise money online. The decision is the latest act of “de-platforming” by the tech industry, which has been grappling with how to effectively handle users that promote hateful or violent ideologies. The news was first reported by BuzzFeed News’s Blake Montgomery…
Cord Cutting Accelerates as Pay TV Loses 1 Million Customers in Largest-Ever Quarterly Loss
Cord cutting is getting complicated. How do you know which of the major streaming services — Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, not to mention many smaller ones — is best to you? Kim Komando walks you through your options. Kim Komando, special for USA TODAY…