Andrew McCollum

India to send official whassup to WhatsApp after massive spamstorm

In a weird way, we can blame this on AI being a better bet than blockchain

Security12 May 2023 | 5

Meta wheels out Deloitte to plug the metaverse. Is anyone actually convinced?

Comment All these analysts know is that their gut says... maybe

Personal Tech10 May 2023 | 37

Meta CEO doesn't Zuck at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, apparently

'Silent killer' Mark bags himself top medals in tournament

Offbeat09 May 2023 | 22

Strike three: FTC says Meta still failing to protect user privacy

Deals between Zuckercorp + FTC in 2012 and 2020 are being ignored, so time to get stricter, says commish

Security04 May 2023 | 21

Meta does the 'We found baddies and crushed them' thing again – this time for AI

Who would have thought crims would try using Facebook to fool people?

Security03 May 2023 | 1

International cops urge Meta not to implement secure encryption for all

Why? Well, think of the children, of course

Security21 Apr 2023 | 40

Facebook puts a price on privacy for US users and it's not enough to buy a cup of coffee

Coughs up $725 million to settle class action that covers 244 million users

Personal Tech19 Apr 2023 | 16

Meta virtual reality interrupted by financial reality as thousands lose their jobs

Zuck's 'Year of Efficiency' starts with saving time not learning coworkers' names in case they're booted

Personal Tech19 Apr 2023 | 22

Meta's Zuckerberg paid $27M in 'other' compensation for 2022

The average pay of how many human employees = one humanoid CEO? 91

Offbeat18 Apr 2023 | 27

Of course Facebook will monetize an ad-generating AI

Metaverse was plan A, is this plan B or C, or what?

AI + ML05 Apr 2023 | 9

Ex-politico turned Meta hype man brands Metaverse 'new heart of computing'

Stop sniggering at the back. 'We're going to stick with it', says Nick Clegg. Unlike Disney

Offbeat31 Mar 2023 | 42

EU mandated messaging platform love-in is easier said than done: Cambridge boffins

Digital Market Act interoperability requirement a social challenge as well as a technical one

Security29 Mar 2023 | 56

Ex-Meta security staffer accuses Greece of spying on her phone

Beware of Greeks bearing GIFs

Security21 Mar 2023 | 26

Meta chops another 10,000 employees, closes 5,000 vacancies

The Year of Efficiency may also include sending engineers back into the office

Personal Tech14 Mar 2023 | 60

Meta winds down NFTs but will continue token efforts

'We're looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus' – which increasingly means staving off TikTok

Software14 Mar 2023 | 14

GPT-4 to launch this week, Microsoft Germany's CTO lets slip

In-brief Plus: DuckDuckGo launches its own AI web search chatbot, and more

AI + ML13 Mar 2023 | 17

Meta confirms decentralized Twitter rival in the works

Where there's disaffected twits there's potential revenue, and Facebook parent smells blood – er, profit

Personal Tech11 Mar 2023 | 28

Once AI can create endless viral videos, good luck switching off social media

Column Imagine humans … watching humans …watching TikTok … forever

AI + ML08 Mar 2023 | 57

LLaMA drama as Meta's mega language model leaks

Don't worry... 'The good will outweigh the bad, by at least tenfold. Probably closer to 100x'

AI + ML08 Mar 2023 | 22

'Thousands' at Meta face layoffs this week

Sorry, you're Zucked

Personal Tech07 Mar 2023 | 26

ChatGPT, write a report about database glitches that crashed you today

While we're here, what do you think of Zuck announcing a vague catchup plan to build 'AI personas'?

Spotlight on Databases28 Feb 2023 | 19

Cause for a LLaMA? Meta reckons its smaller text-emitting AI is better than rivals

In brief Plus: Lensa AI app maker sued for wacky app photo collection, Supreme Court debates chatbots

AI + ML25 Feb 2023 | 20

Behold Big Tech's mightiest new innovations: Minecraft Crocs, recycled cubicles

Thank you, Microsoft and Meta, for firing thousands and then sharing your very finest inventions

Offbeat21 Feb 2023 | 17

Meta to add verification to Facebook and Insta under scheme that should avoid Twitter's Musk-stakes

Paid accounts will be more prominent than your shouty relatives and get – wait for it – a support line

Personal Tech20 Feb 2023 | 40

Meta cranks Zuckerberg's personal security budget to $14m while cutting everything else

'Year of efficiency' includes accounting for more threats toward CEO caused by 'year of efficiency'

Offbeat16 Feb 2023 | 33

Meta sees off another logo complaint from blockchain player Dfinity

What would possess a nonprofit to go after Mark Zuckerberg's empire?

Legal08 Feb 2023 | 7

FTC backs down over Meta's acquisition of VR biz Within

Meta said it plans to close deal soon

Personal Tech08 Feb 2023 | 2

Latest Windows 11 build shares desktop real estate with, er, Spotify

Third party widgets are on the march in latest Windows Preview, which fixes some Arm64 FAILs too

Software03 Feb 2023 | 27

Meta, which pays for web scraping, sues to stop web scraping

Social ad behemoth insists what it does it okay ... and what others do is not

Personal Tech02 Feb 2023 | 21

Meta trims datacenter build bills by $4 billion with new 'phased' design

Zuck declares 2023 the 'year of efficiency' - code for breaking leases and firing thousands

Off-Prem02 Feb 2023 | 6

Former Facebooker alleges Meta drained users' batteries to test apps

You are the product

Personal Tech30 Jan 2023 | 47

Home Depot sent my email, details of stuff I bought to Meta, customer complains

DIY store didn't get 'valid consent,' says Canada's regulator

Personal Tech27 Jan 2023 | 69

Poor Meta. Technical debt and user training made its exabyte-scale data migration tricky

Welcome to the real world, kids. And for the rest of us, a future at which Meta is gulp! – better at large-scale analytics

Databases27 Jan 2023 | 11

Microsoft’s mixed reality dream meets harsh reality of job cuts

Updated Just so, so much enthusiasm for Second Life 2.0 right now

Personal Tech24 Jan 2023 | 8

Ireland’s privacy watchdog fines WhatsApp €5.5 million

You’ve got 6 months to get into compliance, it tells yak-yak app

Security20 Jan 2023 | 5

Long data privacy notices aren't foolproof, Euro watchdog tells Meta

As Meta reels from €390 million EU fine, the 'personalized ads' case might not be over, Max Schrem’s legal group says

Security13 Jan 2023 | 4

VALL-E AI can mimic a person’s voice from a three-second snippet

Are you really saying what I’m hearing?

Security12 Jan 2023 | 17

Meta develops AI targeting system to show housing ads to wider range of users

Part of a settlement with US Department of Justice after ads discrimination case

AI + ML11 Jan 2023 | 7

US schools sue Meta, Google and friends over 'youth mental health crisis'

Updated Social media as public nuisance? Seattle may be on to something

Personal Tech10 Jan 2023 | 50

Ireland fines Meta $414m for using personal data without asking

Updated Facebook, Insta told to pay up, make changes to data slurping process within 3 months

Security04 Jan 2023 | 25

Back to work, Linux admins: You may have a CVSS 10 kernel bug to address

In brief Also, script kiddies are coming for your gift cards, and Meta's Cambridge Analytica pathetic payout

Security24 Dec 2022 | 23

Paperwork decision scraps Google's $600m Minnesota datacenter project

We don't have the power

Off-Prem22 Dec 2022 | 6

By 2026, total AR/VR goggle sales will trail a single quarter of current tablet shipments

But will be bigger than gaming consoles, so maybe this metaverse thing has legs

Personal Tech22 Dec 2022 | 26

Meta freezes development of $1.5B Alabama datacenter pending redesign

More AI is the answer to all our woes, Meta CTO says

Off-Prem20 Dec 2022 | 5

Latest antitrust problem the EU has with Meta? It's classified

Believes Facebook Marketplace broke EU rules by 'distorting competition' for online ads

Personal Tech19 Dec 2022 | 8

Carmack quits Meta, brands it inefficient and unprepared for competition

Is Zuck's org doomed, or is this a case of a techie struggling with management?

Personal Tech19 Dec 2022 | 22

Meta axes two Danish datacenters amid shift to AI infrastructure

Cancelled bit barns the latest casualties following mass layoffs last month

Off-Prem16 Dec 2022 | 14

Microsoft Teams: A vector for child sexual abuse material with a two-day processing time for complaints

Redmond and Cupertino criticized for slow and weak responses by Australian regulator

Security16 Dec 2022 | 17

Meta, Google, TikTok and friends sue California to block kids privacy law

Free speech? Or 'roving internet censors'

Personal Tech16 Dec 2022 | 14

Using personal info for ads without consent puts Meta in EU's gunsights

Schrems strikes again

Personal Tech08 Dec 2022 | 29

Meta threatens to stop sharing news in USA to protest publisher payment plan

Good luck with that, Zuck – remember how it worked out in Australia?

Legal06 Dec 2022 | 72

Meta fined $275m after data-scraping fiasco leaked 533m Facebook users' profiles

Irish eyes aren't smiling

Personal Tech28 Nov 2022 | 27

Meta scores $200k default win against alleged peddler of Instagram Likes

Manipulating users' feelings on a social media platform? That's our job!

Legal28 Nov 2022 | 3

Quest VR glasses back on sale in Germany – but watchdog has eye on Meta

Goggles unhooked from Facebook login, but officials still watching for antitrust abuse

Personal Tech25 Nov 2022 | 15

Meta links US military to fake social media influence campaigns

Didn't say they were good, though – covert ops apparently got 'little to no engagement' from targets

Research24 Nov 2022 | 20

Meta faces lawsuit to stop 'surveillance advertising'

Case claims collecting personal data breaches UK GDPR, but implications could be wider

Applications23 Nov 2022 | 22