The Sri Lankan government’s decision to block all social media sites in the wake of Sunday’s deadly attacks is emblematic of just how much US-based technology companies’ failure to rein in misinformation, extremism and incitement to violence has come to outweigh the claimed benefits of social media. Sri Lanka’s government moved to block Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – all owned by Facebook – on Sunday out of concern that “false news reports … spreading through social media” could lead to violence. The services will be suspended until investigations into the blasts that killed more than 200 people are concluded, the government said. Non-Facebook social…
Author: Loknath Das
NEW DELHI: Any “arbitrary” ban on social media platforms and intermediaries could impede foreign direct investment and affect expansion of the digital India initiative, an industry body of Internet and mobile device companies said Saturday. Without naming Chinese video sharing app TikTok, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said its statement was in response to the “recent ban by the MeiTY on the order of a High Court of a social media platform”. The Madras High Court on April 3, 2019, had directed the Centre to ban TikTok, saying it was evident from media reports that pornography and inappropriate content were made available through such…
When Niamh Houston was around four years old, she and her sister received a Game Boy and a copy of Super Mario Land for Christmas. Along with the game and handheld, they also had a tiny speaker that plugged into the Game Boy’s headphone jack, amplifying the sound. For Houston, her earliest memories aren’t of collecting coins in the game or exploring the Mushroom Kingdom. “I remember the music the most,” she says. “It was really raw and beautiful, and unlike anything else that you’d hear.” That little speaker would have a big impact on her. Today, Houston is better known by…
Sanjay Sahu, 46, stays with his homemaker wife, 39, and two children, aged 12 and four, in his own house in Mumbai. He earns Rs 91,667 a month, and combined with a rental income of Rs 15,000, his total income comes to Rs 1.06 lakh. Sahu has invested aggressively in property (Rs 1.9 crore), equity (Rs 19.9 lakh) and debt (Rs 59.5 lakh), resulting in a portfolio worth Rs 2.54 crore. This, after discounting a home loan of Rs 24.5 lakh, for which he is paying an EMI of Rs 38,770. His goals include building an emergency corpus, saving for his children’s education and weddings, buying a…
Since becoming the de facto game streaming platform of the modern generation, Twitch is finally ready to design its own video games, starting with a karaoke title built specifically to take advantage of the Twitch platform. The news, announced this morning on the first day of TwitchCon Europe, marks the Amazon-owned live streaming platform’s first-ever foray into game development. The game is called Twitch Sings and is available for free on Windows at sings.twitch.tv. Twitch started as a lifecasting platform, then shifted to one more oriented to game streaming, but it’s also been a place to find experimental efforts that take advantage of…
Mandip Singh Brar, UT Deputy Commissioner Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 13 While the Labour Department of the UT Administration has started the online registration of shops and has made it mandatory, initial glitches in the software has left traders harassed, who have failed to upload the required documents. As per rules, the traders have to renew the registration every year by April. However, due to the technical glitch in the software, a large number of traders are yet to get their registration renewed. Failure to the get the registration renewed invites a penalty. Traders met Deputy Commissioner…
Disney CEO Bob Iger delivered a scalding rebuke of social media at a dinner at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, where he was honored with its 2019 Humanitarian Award. “Hitler would have loved social media,” Iger said at Wednesday’s event, according to Variety. “It’s the most powerful marketing tool an extremist could ever hope for because by design social media reflects a narrow world view filtering out anything that challenges our beliefs while constantly validating our convictions and amplifying our deepest fears.” Iger’s criticism follows that of regulators and lawmakers around the world. Over the past two days, representatives from tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google have been called…
Carleton Coffrin, a computer scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, developed the Severe Contingency Solver software to help government agencies better plan for power outages caused by extreme events. The software is now available publicly. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory A new, free, open-source software reliably predicts how damage from hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, and other extreme events will restrict power delivery from utility grids. The Severe Contingency Solver for Electric Power Transmission is the only software available—commercially or open-source—that reliably supports analysis of extreme events that cause widespread damage. “The software was designed specifically to address extreme events where…
Jay Tank, 25, is self-employed and earns about Rs 1 lakh a month. He lives with his homemaker wife and parents in their house, in Navsari, Gujarat. Given the early start to financial planning, his portfolio is meagre. It comprises cash of Rs 82,000, and equity in the form of mutual funds worth Rs 1.75 lakh and stocks worth Rs 1.02 lakh. In fact, his net worth is currently in the negative due to a car loan of Rs 9 lakh, for which Tank is paying an EMI of Rs 14,500. His goals include building an emergency corpus, saving for his future…
One day I was scrolling through various cat videos on Instagram and was advertised a game featuring what appeared to be a hot dog personified as a sexy lady. Despite being patently ridiculous, this game is entertaining as heck. Gacha games like Fate Grand Order and Otogi Spirit Agents are a little bit silly. In order to keep coming up with new characters to summon, so as to entice players to keep summoning them and possibly buying premium currency to do so, Grand Order and Otogi Spirit Agents turn to history to fill out their rosters. That’s how you end up with Sexy Anime George Washington. Outstream Video 00:00…