Free Republic

Many German lawmakers were flooded with messages during the recent debate on the UN migration pact, in what appeared to be the work of social media bots, said Ralph Brinkhaus, the head of the parliamentary group of the ruling conservative CDU party. The emails “often had same blocs of texts”, Brinkhaus told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview published on Sunday. “But most of all, this wave of untruths and defamation was unleashed online and on social media,” he added, urging a series of measures to fight disinformation. On social media, a “bot” is a label used for automated programs...

Since 2016, Twitter has offered advertisers the ability to see which emojis users are sending in the app. That data turns out to be a gold mine for advertisers, which look at your emojis to determine your emotional state, then deliver highly targeted ads depending on your current mood.... Twitter noted that advertisers can use the emoji data to show users ads based on their mood, 'target people who tweet food emojis' and 'reach people on their passions.' 'If someone puts a thumbs up or a smiley face, show them this ad,' Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer at 4C Insights,...

Facebook believes as many as 6.8 million users could be affected. The Irish Data Protection Commission, the body that oversees Facebook’s compliance with European regulations, said on Friday that it had launched a “statutory inquiry” into Facebook as a result of multiple breaches the company had informed them about this year. Photos that users started to upload to Facebook but did not post could have been accessed, along with images posted to Facebook Stories, Tomer Bar, an engineering director at Facebook, wrote in a blog post. “We’re sorry this happened,” he added.

Back in the day, I was one of the first people to start using Google as a search engine. I liked it’s clean interface, and simplicity. Of course, over the years, other people also found this to be the preferential search engine. Unfortunately, Google became big, powerful and yes, evil. They siphon up your personal information with zero regard to fourth amendment protections. They sell the information to the highest bidder, and give it away for free if the person is part of a government agency. Unfortunately, people like myself VALUE privacy. And that means that I no longer can...

All your activity are belong to us Updated A feature introduced in the April 2018 Update of Windows 10 may have set off a privacy landmine within the bowels of Redmond as users have discovered that their data was still flowing into the intestines of the Windows giant, even with the thing apparently turned off.In what is likely to be more cock-up than conspiracy, it appears that Microsoft is continuing to collect data on recent user activities even when the user has explicitly said NO, DAMMIT!First noted in an increasingly shouty thread over on Reddit, the issue is related to...

Technology is now evolving at such a rapid pace that annual predictions of trends can seem out-of-date before they even go live as a published blog post or article. As technology evolves, it enables even faster change and progress, causing the acceleration of the rate of change, until eventually it will become exponential. Technology-based careers don’t change at that same speed, but they do evolve, and the savvy IT professional recognizes that his or her role will not stay the same. The IT worker of the 21st century will constantly be learning, out of necessity if not desire. What...

The 49-year-old was on the night shift at a porcelain factory in China when the accident happened A CHINESE factory worker has survived being skewered with TEN metal spikes when a machine malfunctioned. The 49-year-old, named as Mr Zhou, was working on the night shift at a porcelain factory in Hunan province when he was struck by a falling mechanical arm. The accident resulted in him being impaled with foot long, half-inch thick metal rods, the People’s Daily reported. He was first taken to a local hospital before he was transferred to the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University due...

The 49-year-old, named as Mr Zhou, was working on the night shift at a porcelain factory in Hunan province when he was struck by a falling mechanical arm. Six steel rods fixed on a steel plate pierced his right shoulder and chest, and four penetrated elsewhere in his body. The accident resulted in him being impaled with foot long, half-inch thick metal rods, the People’s Daily reported. He was first taken to a local hospital before he was transferred to the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University due to the severity of his injurie

The 1,500-year-old Pumapunku temple in western Bolivia is considered a crowning achievement of Mesoamerican architecture, yet no one knows what the original structure actually looked like. Using historical data, 3D-printed pieces, and architectural software, archaeologist Alexei Vranich from UC Berkeley has created a virtual reconstruction of Pumapunku—an ancient Tiwanaku temple now in ruins. Archaeologists have studied the site for over 150 years, but it wasn’t immediately obvious how all the broken and scattered pieces belonged together. The surprisingly simple approach devised by Vranich is finally providing a glimpse into the structure’s original appearance. Excitingly, the same method could be used...

How things change Well, it's official. For years, at El Reg offices we have commented on how Facebook is the new Microsoft – and not in a good way.Time passes and so while most people can remember that the Zuckerberg-front ad machine was once a beacon of all that was great and wonderful about social media, few recall that Microsoft wasn't always the dull but worthy corporate software company. It was once a hulking, malevolent bully-monopolist that dared the US government to take it on.Well, on a conference stage in Silicon Valley this morning, the Facebook-as-Microsoft transformation became accepted reality....

Update: After pausing the rollout of the update and extensively testing the software to make sure most issues have been fixed, Microsoft has now made the Windows 10 October 2018 Update once again available to download. We will keep updating this guide with any new issues we find. Some people have reported that they have encountered Windows 10 October 2018 Update problems since downloading and installing it. If you’re running into Windows 10 October 2018 Update problems, we have you covered and have gathered up all the Windows 10 October Update problems and fixes right here in this convenient guide....

When it comes to sheer military might, it is safe to say the United States Military is among the strongest armed forces in the world. It surpasses every other major superpower when it comes to military funding, technology, and power projection. However, unbeknownst to most people, there is a silent arms race happening right now for a technology that has the potential to change the status quo of military supremacy. That technology is artificial intelligence (A.I.). A.I., also known as machine learning, is the use of computer systems developed to perform tasks where human intelligence is normally necessary. Modern A.I....

Yesterday I finished up my obamacare enrollment. I know, I could auto-renew but year after year I keep thinking "It's gotta get better than this." No such luck. But I discovered yet another thing about our fascist medicine healthcare program that I find disturbing. Monday is cleanup day for my Windows machine so first thing I ran a full anti-virus scan and a CCleaner scan for tracking cookies. As usual CCleaner found and removed about 40 tracking cookies and found no registry issues. Then I moved on to the healthcare.gov renewal task. This was simplified by the fact that we...

With Windows 10 (and probably many other OS's) when you delete a file, be it email or others, it is not really deleted but is recoverable. I have a large bunch of "deleted" emails and quite a few personal records that I want to permanently remove from the hard drive. I am looking for suggestions on "shredder" programs (or are they all, "Apps" now?)

Who gives a twit about twitter anymore anyhow? Conservative pundits are starting to gather at a new platform called Parler News. Wanna give it a whirl???

Scott Krulcik was found unconscious on the sixth floor of the company's offices in Chelsea at about 9 p.m. Friday. He was pronounced dead by Emergency Medical Service workers. Police say there were no signs of trauma and the death does not appear to be suspicious. The city medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death. Krulcik's Linkedin page says he began working at Google in August after serving as an intern in the summer of 2017

The Swiss had/have some genius mechanical engineers and craftsmen. Swiss-made watches are still among the best today. A 240-year-old doll; you have never seen anything like this before. Truly Amazing... Watch the doll's eyes as he writes with a pen on the paper. Yes, it is 240 years old. This video will fascinate just about all the engineers, artists, clockmakers, doll makers, computer programmers, want-to-be inventors, or basically anyone out there that likes to tinker. This is far more than tinkering. When you view this, think computers. Enjoy. It is truly amazing and remember, this was built in the 1770s.

Need help to circulate this meme on twitter and FB. Thanks. I don't have accounts there.

Google said Thursday it was tweaking its translation application with the goal of reducing gender bias. The move comes amid criticism that Google Translate often defaulted to masculine names when it converted text to another language. […] Up to now, the translate program provided only one translation for a query, often choosing the masculine word for terms like “doctor,” and the feminine word for “nurse,” for example. “Now you’ll get both a feminine and masculine translation for a single word — like ‘surgeon’ — when translating from English into French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish,” [product manager James Kuczmarski] said. …

Watch the official announcement trailer for The Outer Worlds, a new single-player first-person sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division.