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- God Of War PS4 Reviews Roundup
- Mark Zuckerberg Refuses to Admit How Facebook Works: Gadfly
- 5 ways this iOS 12 concept would make the iPhone X better
| God Of War PS4 Reviews Roundup Posted: 12 Apr 2018 07:32 AM PDT |
| Mark Zuckerberg Refuses to Admit How Facebook Works: Gadfly Posted: 12 Apr 2018 07:19 AM PDT The most troubling takeaway from two days of congressional hearings on Facebook Inc. was this: Mark Zuckerberg didn't want to explain how the social network operates. The Facebook CEO ducked questions from lawmakers about what types of information the company collects and how it uses the data for advertising purposes. Zuckerberg found it hard to plainly acknowledge that Facebook tracks users from device to device, collects information on websites people visit and apps they use, gathers information on people's physical locations, collects phone call logs from Android smartphones and pulls in some online activity from people who don't even have Facebook accounts. Zuckerberg declined to acknowledge that Facebook's ad system and products are informed by all of this information gathering on and off the social network. If Facebook were a true bargain with users -- they get a useful, free service in exchange for seeing advertising based on their interests and activity -- then Zuckerberg should be comfortable explaining how it all works. Instead, given the option to articulate Facebook's relationship with users (and non-users), he dodged. A lot. He said he couldn't answer queries from Senator Roy Blunt, who asked on Tuesday whether Facebook tracks users across their computing devices or tracks offline activity. The answer to both is yes. During the House committee hearing on Wednesday, Zuckerberg claimed not to know what "shadow profiles" are, even though this term has been used for years to describe Facebook's collection of data about people who don't use its services by harvesting the inboxes and smartphone contacts of active Facebook users. (Zuckerberg reluctantly acknowledged that Facebook gathers information on people who aren't signed up for Facebook for what he said were "security purposes.") Zuckerberg had to correct the record on Wednesday after he initially said -- incorrectly -- that Facebook's feature to download a user's entire data dossier has all the information Facebook has collected, including web browser history. Representative Joe Kennedy pressed Zuckerberg on whether people truly understand that Facebook targets ads based on a whole host of data and inferences its computer systems make about users' interests, not just the information they directly post on Facebook profiles or pages they "like." Zuckerberg didn't answer directly. Zuckerberg also repeatedly and recklessly sought to conflate the ability of Facebook users to control who sees the information they post on Facebook and their relative inability to control what data Facebook collects about them. Zuckerberg was comparing apples to privacy-compromised oranges. Yes, it's true that every time users write a fresh Facebook post or upload a new video, they are given the option to let everyone on Facebook see that information, or just Facebook friends or some other group. That's a handy way to control what information people can see, although it's far from foolproof. But Facebook users absolutely do not have this level of control over the digital dossiers that Facebook collects about their activity on Facebook and beyond, nor do they have granular control over how advertisers can harness that information. (It is possible to turn off some Facebook data collection, but good luck figuring out how.) At times, including in questioning by Representative Greg Walden on Wednesday, Zuckerberg answered direct questions about Facebook's data harvesting by talking about Facebook's features for choosing who can see a photo or post on Facebook. This was surely deliberate, and misleading. "I do think that we can do a better job of explaining how advertising works," Zuckerberg said as he finished his response, but he did not explain that Facebook's ad system works by harnessing all the pieces of information from social network users. Most people do not understand the scope of Facebook's data collection. Lawmakers tried more than once to get Zuckerberg to say this, but he never did. Here's a piece of evidence lawmakers could have showed the CEO: In a survey conducted recently by Digital Content Next, a trade group of news organizations that is frequently critical of Facebook, a majority of respondents said they didn't expect the social network to track use of non-Facebook apps to target ads, collect their physical location when they're not using Facebook or harvest information from non-Facebook websites that people visit. Spoiler alert: Facebook does all of those things. It's not people's fault if they don't know how Facebook works. If Zuckerberg and Facebook were comfortable with the data-based bedrock of their business, he should be able and willing to explain all the ways Facebook collects data on everyone and how it uses it. It felt as though the company made a calculated decision to deflect rather than talk openly about the scope of Facebook data collection and its data-based ad system. And to me, that was a sign that Facebook is embarrassed about what it does for a living. A version of this column originally appeared in Bloomberg's Fully Charged technology newsletter. You can sign up here. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners. Shira Ovide is a Bloomberg Gadfly columnist covering technology. She previously was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. To contact the author of this story: Shira Ovide in New York at sovide@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Niemi at dniemi1@bloomberg.net. ©2018 Bloomberg L.P. |
| 5 ways this iOS 12 concept would make the iPhone X better Posted: 12 Apr 2018 07:12 AM PDT Apple's iPhone X is not only the most impressive iPhone Apple has ever made, it's also the most controversial. It's a completely reimagining of the iPhone, and much of what users have grown accustomed to over the years has changed. Of course, it goes without saying that many people don't like change, especially with regards to a device that is such an integral part of our lives. The iPhone X is Apple's first iPhone that doesn't have a home button, which means users have to learn new navigation gestures. Most people seem to like them, but there are also people who do not — and that's the least controversial of the major changes in Apple's iPhone X. The infamous "notch" at the top of the phone's display continues to be a point of content, and the wounds left by the removal of Apple's beloved Touch ID fingerprint scanner are nowhere close to healing. On top of everything else, iOS 11 is the buggiest software release Apple has issued in many, many years. While nothing can change the gestures, the lack of a home button, the notch, or the fact that Touch ID has been removed from the iPhone X, many Apple fans are looking to iOS 12 to at least fix some of the problems they have with Apple's tenth-anniversary iPhone. YouTube channel ConceptsiPhone teamed up with graphic designer Amir Estefad to create a video showcasing one of the best iOS 12 concepts we've seen so far. This particular YouTube channel has gone off on the rails a bit lately, posting videos of some bizarre and downright laughable concepts, like an iPhone that can become completely invisible (mmmkay). This time around, the iOS 12 concept showcased in the new video is rooted entirely in reality, with new features that are all not only plausible, but also might seriously improve the user experience on Apple's iPhone X and all other iPhone models. Here are five things we would love to see become a reality in iOS 12, which Apple will unveil during its WWDC 2018 keynote event on June 4th. Grouped notificationsApple's notification system in iOS continues to be a major pain point among many, many iPhone users. We've discussed it a million times before here on the site, so we're not going to dive back into all the ways it's annoying. Suffice it to say the notification system in iOS needs a lot of work. In this new video showcasing Amir Estefad's concept, one of the most common iOS notification pain points is addressed right off the bat. Apple's iPhones display notifications in chronological order, as all users undoubtedly know. So when you wake up in the morning, for example, you pick up your phone to find a mile-long list of individual notifications that couldn't be more annoying to scroll through. Estefad has fixed the problem, in part, by creating notification groups. This way instead of having notifications from each app spread throughout the list, each individual app's notifications are displayed in a group, one on top of the other. A simple 3D Touch would then expand any app's notifications. Improved widgetsApple's widget implementation in iOS is somewhat useful, but Estefad has a way to improve it in iOS 12. In addition to a single page where multiple app widgets can reside, as is the case now, this iOS 12 concept allows app developers to create widgets that are displayed when the user 3D Touches an app icon. So instead of just an action menu that almost no one uses or even remembers is available, a 3D Touch on an app icon would give users access to key info and features without having to actually open an app. Pro camera mode
Apple's iOS Camera app is pretty great, but this iOS 12 concept envisions a more robust and capable camera for Apple's iPhones. Our favorite change is the new UI seen above, where on-screen sliders can are available to adjust multiple settings, not just exposure. Dark ModeThis one needs no introduction. iPhone users have been clamoring for a dark mode in iOS for years. The difference with iOS 12 is that a dark mode would finally make a lot of sense. Beyond being easier on the eyes at night, a dark mode on devices with OLED displays like the iPhone X would save battery life. New pull-down menu for appsFor a long period of time, iOS was all about uniformity. As the years passed with more and more new features being added, things have gotten far less organized. App settings is one area where there is no continuity in iOS. Some settings are accessible within each app itself, though there are a million different places where one might find the settings menu. Then there's a section in iOS's main Settings app where additional settings are located for third-party apps. Ugh. In this iOS 12 concept, there's a great hidden pull-down menu that creates a single, uniform location for key features and a shortcut to app settings. Adding a nifty additional piece to the puzzle is a great feature at the top of that pull-down menu: a way to secure each app behind Touch ID (or Face ID on the iPhone X) at the system level. Many apps include Touch ID and Face ID implementation, but why leave it up to developers? Check out the full iOS 12 concept video below. |
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