Technology

Hackers Target German Weapons Manufacturers
Germany, News, Technology

Hackers Target German Weapons Manufacturers

Hackers have been trying to steal data from major German weapon manufacturers in recent months.   The German television channels BR and ARD report based on their own research that it concerns the hacker group Lazarus, which works in the service of North Korea. Two of the affected companies are Rheinmetall and Renk AG. They do not want to confirm the hacking attempts against the German media. They do say that there is a good defence system should hackers gain access to their network and systems. The German Information Technology Security Service (BSI) says Lazarus is trying to obtain important information through cyber espionage. "Germany does not share weapons or information with North Korea, and the North Koreans are trying to get the right knowledge by stealing data. to be able...
Google Broke the Deal With Facebook
News, Technology

Google Broke the Deal With Facebook

Google has gone beyond its scope in a far-reaching collaboration deal with Facebook. Ten American states have come up with that accusation, including Texas.   They took Google to court on Wednesday for alleged abuse of power with its advertising services. As far as the collaboration with Facebook is concerned, this is a deal from 2018, which allows Facebook advertisers to also place advertisements within the Google network. In itself that is not a special deal, Google entered into similar partnerships with other parties. But what the indictment never made publicly known is that Facebook would have received preferential treatment. Google and Facebook contradict the claims. The states have not accused Facebook of misconduct in the complaint. Google has been under more and more fire...
Video Conferencing Company Zoom Revenues Quadrupled Year on Year
Business, News, Technology

Video Conferencing Company Zoom Revenues Quadrupled Year on Year

Video conferencing company Zoom has managed to quadruple its revenues for the second quarter in a row compared to a year earlier.   That it was a good year for Zoom, this must be evident from the quarterly figures of the video conferencing specialist. In the third quarter, the company brought in $ 777.2 million in revenue, four times more than the same period last year. This makes it the second quarter in a row in which Zoom has quadrupled its income. The popularity of the service, which is one of the more intuitive ways to remotely video call each other, exploded early this year when several countries went into lockdown. And despite a series of scandals and privacy concerns, Zoom seems to be maintaining that success too. The company now says it has 433,700 subscribers with more ...
Twitter Inexorably Hands Over Presidential Accounts to Joe Biden
News, Technology

Twitter Inexorably Hands Over Presidential Accounts to Joe Biden

President-elect Joe Biden will have access to all US presidential Twitter accounts following the inauguration on January 20, 2021.   The messaging service has stated that it will hand over the accounts to Biden regardless of whether or not President Donald Trump admits his loss. "Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition within the White House," a Twitter representative said over the weekend. 'Just like during the presidential transition in 2017, this process also takes place in close consultation with various authorities.' Not only will Biden gain access to the official presidential account @POTUS starting January 20, other White House accounts, such as the First Lady's, will also be transferred. Donald Trump has never actively used the presidential account, which ...
Baby Shark New Top-Viewed Video on Youtube
Entertainment, News, Technology

Baby Shark New Top-Viewed Video on Youtube

The video of the South Korean children's song Baby Shark has been the most viewed video on YouTube since Monday with more than 7 billion views.   It takes over that position from the song Despacito. Monday morning Baby Shark from production company Pinkfong passed the hit of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. Pinkfong's original song is in South Korean but based on American songs. The popular version is sung in English. The song started as a children's sensation but is now also known and popular among adults. During the corona crisis, a new variation of the song was released called Wash Your Hands. In it, children are taught to wash their hands properly during the corona crisis. For Despacito, the songs Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran and See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth were ...
Microsoft Had A Secret Theme for Windows XP With Apple Look
News, Technology

Microsoft Had A Secret Theme for Windows XP With Apple Look

With the introduction of Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001, the operating system immediately stood out for its innovative Aqua interface with transparent, water-like elements.   Leaked code now reveals that Microsoft had a similar theme in store for Windows XP to make PCs look more like an Apple computer with Aqua. The theme in question from Microsoft, which ultimately never appeared in the final version of Windows XP, was called Candy, tech site The Verge reports. It looks like two drops - yes - water on Aqua and dates back to 2000 when XP was still in an early development phase. Like Mac OS X 10.0, XP came out in 2001, but Apple had already previewed Aqua a year earlier, during one of Steve Jobs' keynotes. There is a good chance that Microsoft shamelessly started the copier after that perf...
Twitter Apologizes for Racist Algorithm
News, Technology

Twitter Apologizes for Racist Algorithm

An algorithm that has to choose where photos are cut out in a tweet appears to focus mainly on white faces.   Twitter users have found a significant problem with the automatic cropping of photos on the social network: it appears that white faces are much more likely to be the focal point than the faces of people with dark skin. The problem seems to be with an algorithm that automatically determines where the focus of a photo is. When you publish a photo in a tweet, it is automatically cropped to the correct size. You can then click through to see the full photo. Twitter trained a neural network to choose how to do that cutting, with a focus on faces, among other things. But that neural network has failed, as demonstrated by various Twitter users. With several photos featuring bot...
Microsoft Takes Over TikTok VS Within Days
News, Technology

Microsoft Takes Over TikTok VS Within Days

The departure of Kevin Mayer as CEO of the video service TikTok may mean that the US arm of the company will be sold in a few days.   The likely buyers are Microsoft and supermarket chain Walmart, and sources tell US news channel CNBC. According to the insiders, Mayer was not involved in the talks with Microsoft and Walmart. The former CEO wanted to run TikTok as an independent company, not as part of a larger technology group. It probably would be when Microsoft and Walmart acquired TikTok. Walmart would like to reach more customers with the help of the social media platform. There has been a lot of activity around TikTok lately. The app is threatened with a ban in the United States. According to critics, TikTok collects too much data from its users, and it could just fall into ...
Former Security Boss Uber Sued for Hiding Hack
News, Technology

Former Security Boss Uber Sued for Hiding Hack

The former security director of Uber Joseph Sullivan has been charged with halting a taxi app hack in 2016, exposing the personal details of 57 million customers and drivers.   Rather than report the hack to the authorities, Sullivan decided to keep it quiet and buy off the hackers. According to the prosecutor, Sullivan should have gone to market watchdog FTC, which was investigating another hack at Uber from 2014 at the time. Instead, he paid the hackers $ 100,000 in bitcoins. He used a program for this in which Uber rewards reporting vulnerabilities found in its computer code. Sullivan is charged with the hindrance of justice and failure to report a crime. However, according to the former Uber director, the case is misplaced. A spokesman for Sullivan said that at Uber, a large...
Microsoft Adds A New Key to PC Keyboard
News, Technology

Microsoft Adds A New Key to PC Keyboard

Images have surfaced of a new Microsoft keyboard on Twitter. Not so special in itself, were it not for the fact that the keyboard has an entirely new key for quick access to the Windows 10 emoji.   Both Microsoft and Apple are very proud of the ever-expanding collection of emoji in their operating systems. Microsoft now seems to go one step further by making the smiley faces quickly accessible via a special keyboard button. In the photos that have turned up, a button with a square and a heart is visible at the bottom, next to the right Alt key. That icon is not entirely new, as it previously appeared in the most recent Insider Preview build of Windows 10. On Twitter also surfaced an image of the separate numeric keypad that can be linked wirelessly to the keyboard. A user with ...