Andrew McCollum

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

Meta's Cicero chatbot can probably beat you at Diplomacy

AI agent proves better than most people in classic game of trust and betrayal

AI + ML23 Nov 2022 | 13

Unlucky for some: Meta chops 13% of global workforce

Zuck admits biz recruited too hard during pandemic and decline in advertising forced his hand

Personal Tech09 Nov 2022 | 87

Twitter layoffs were bad but Meta's mass ejections could take the cake

Just in time for the holidays, a bunch of firing talk to worry Facebook crew

Personal Tech07 Nov 2022 | 34

A next-gen AI protein folder that could help science? Meta's good for something

Faster than the others, 600m structures now in a public DB

AI + ML02 Nov 2022 | 11

Meta thirsts for desert conditions in datacenter water quest

Finally testing out the honesty of that one engineer who always says: 'It's not the heat, it's the humidity'

On-Prem31 Oct 2022 | 13

Open source's totally non-secret weapon big tech dares not use: Staying relevant

Opinion Detachment from users' lived reality is how corporates shoot themselves in the foot

Software31 Oct 2022 | 79

Meta fined record-breaking $24.6m for deliberately ignoring political ad law

Pocket change for troubled Facebook giant, plus more US election news

Personal Tech28 Oct 2022 | 30

Macs still growing as Apple sidesteps dark clouds over big tech

Ducks Zuck's bad luck as fanbois chuck bucks at M2 SoC... but CFO warns it's unlikely to last

Personal Tech28 Oct 2022 | 3

It's 2023, let's check in with the metaverse... Nope, still doesn't exist

You might catch a whiff of it in Slack or Teams next year, but otherwise normal human life goes on

Personal Tech27 Oct 2022 | 71

Meta wants to sweat its servers for longer – at a cost of $60b

Even as the ad market chills and share price slumps

Systems27 Oct 2022 | 14

Meta met a programming language it likes better than Java

Goggles giant on how it gave its Android apps a Kotlin makeover

Software25 Oct 2022 | 16

What's up with WhatsApp? Messaging platform suffers outage in the UK

Updated Massive spike in user reports on DownDetector, no word on cause

Off-Prem25 Oct 2022 | 28

Shareholders slam Zuckerberg's 'terrifying' $100b+ Metaverse experiment

Start with dumping a fifth of staff, capping that VR capex, firm urges

Personal Tech24 Oct 2022 | 35

Most Metaverse business projects will be dead by 2025

Canalys Channels Forum McKinsey forecasts market value of $5 trillion by 2030, Citi says up to $13 trillion, but Canalys doesn't agree

Personal Tech24 Oct 2022 | 75

Oops, web trackers may have leaked 3 million patients' info

Scream with us: Aaaaaa-AAH

CSO20 Oct 2022 | 35

Meta gives up fight to get $400m Giphy buy approved

Facebook to dump GIF super-gallery after just enough pestering from UK

Personal Tech18 Oct 2022 | 14

Meta mad as hell over allegations it let Indian politicians block content

Local outlet claims to have insider docs that prove takedown powers. Meta says they're fake. And around and around they go

Legal17 Oct 2022 | 8

The Metaverse is the internet no one wants

Comment Meta's push to put computing into a headset will end in tears

Personal Tech14 Oct 2022 | 92

Microsoft and Meta promise facehugger PCs piping cloud desktops into VR headsets

Poll Who exactly asked for this? Can you explain how it works? Or why?

Personal Tech12 Oct 2022 | 39

Don't mind Facebook, just putting its own browser in its Android app

Analysis Totally not for data collection

Software04 Oct 2022 | 45

Tencent has its Meta moment as CEO Pony Ma outlines 'immersive convergence'

Video confs to add multi-sensory interaction and by 2040 maybe even brain/machine interfaces

Software29 Sep 2022 | 5

Meta busts first Chinese campaign prodding US midterms

Russian cybercriminals were also caught targeting Europe with anti-Ukraine messages

Cyber-crime27 Sep 2022 | 8

Meta told to pay $175m to walkie-talkie techies for infringing IP

Facebook and Instagram Live use same programming described in Voxer patents, says jury

Legal22 Sep 2022 | 22

Meta, Google learn the art of the quiet layoff

You're not being fired, we're just unable to facilitate your sustained employment

Bootnotes21 Sep 2022 | 87

Meta, Twitter, Apple, Google urged to up encryption game in post-Roe America

Tech giants 'throwing their users to the wolves'

Security20 Sep 2022 | 14

Anti-Metaverse package 'explosion' at college VR lab probed by investigators

Blast, manifesto railing against Zuck and AI may be an artifical reality

Bootnotes14 Sep 2022 | 21

Google and Meta fined over $70m for privacy violations in Korea

Both search giant and Facebook parent claim they play by the rules, will challenge decision

Security14 Sep 2022 | 4

Meta's next-gen Oculus headset kit left in a hotel room

Video Nothing to see here, unless it's Second Life Version 2 you're after

Personal Tech12 Sep 2022 | 17

Meta disbands Responsible Innovation team, spreads it out over Facebook and co

Still unclear: Were members just screaming into a void for the past few years?

Security09 Sep 2022 | 20

Meta found guilty of flouting Washington political ad laws – again

Hundreds of 'intentional' violations could cost Zuck and Co $30k each

Personal Tech06 Sep 2022 | 8

Instagram fined in Ireland for violating children's privacy

Meta set to the appeal the data protection authority's near $400m penalty

Personal Tech06 Sep 2022 | 7

Meta hedges bets on metaverse silicon with Qualcomm VR deal

More silicon sales for us says Qualcomm

Personal Tech02 Sep 2022 | 5

Meta picks India for WhatsApp's first e-commerce service

Indian residents will be able to buy their groceries through the chat app – for as long as the government is happy with the idea

Personal Tech30 Aug 2022 | 7