Google added fact checking tag

Google yesterday announced it will introduce a fact check tag on Google News in order to display articles that contain factual information next to trending news items. Now it’s time for Facebook to take fact-checking more seriously, too.

Facebook has stepped into the role of being today’s newspaper: that is, it’s a single destination where a large selection of news articles are displayed to those who visit its site. Yes, they appear amidst personal photos, videos, status updates, and ads, but Facebook is still the place where nearly half of American adults get their news.

Facebook has a responsibility to do better, then, when it comes to informing this audience what is actually news: what is fact-checked, reported, vetted, legitimate news, as opposed to a rumor, hoax or conspiracy theory.

It’s not okay that Facebook fired its news editors in an effort to appear impartial, deferring only to its algorithms to inform readers what’s trending on the site. Since then, the site has repeatedly trended fake news stories, according to a Washington Post report released earlier this week.

The news organization tracked every news story that trended across four accounts during the workday from August 31 to September 22, and found that Facebook trended five stories that were either “indisputably fake” or “profoundly inaccurate.” It also regularly featured press releases, blog posts, and links to online stores, like iTunes – in other words, trends that didn’t point to news sites.

Facebook claimed in September that it would roll out technology that would combat fake stories in its Trending topics, but clearly that has not yet come to pass – or the technology isn’t up to the task at hand.

In any event, Facebook needs to do better.

It’s not enough for the company to merely reduce the visibility of obvious hoaxes from its News Feed – not when so much of the content that circulates on the site is posted by people – your friends and family –  right on their profiles, which you visit directly.

Plus, the more the items are shared, the more they have the potential to go viral. And viral news becomes Trending news, which is then presented all Facebook’s users in that region.

This matters. Facebook has trended a story from a tabloid news source that claimed 9/11 was an inside job involving planted bombs. It ran a fake story about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly which falsely claimed she was fired. These aren’t mistakes: they are disinformation.

Facebook has apologized for the above, but declined to comment to The Washington Post regarding its new findings that fake news continues to be featured on the platform.

In addition, not only does Facebook fail at vetting its Trending news links, it also has no way of flagging the links that fill its site.

Outside of Trending, Facebook continues to be filled with inaccurate, poorly-sourced, or outright fake news stories, rumors and hoaxes. Maybe you’re seeing less of them in the News Feed, but there’s nothing to prevent a crazy friend from commenting on your post with a link to a well-known hoax site, as if it’s news. There’s no tag or label. They get to pretend they’re sharing facts.

Meanwhile, there’s no way for your to turn off commenting on your own posts, even when the discussion devolves into something akin to “sexual assault victims are liars” (to reference a recent story.)

Because perish the thought that Facebook would turn of the one mechanism that triggers repeat visits to its site, even if that means it would rather trigger traumatic recollections on the parts of its users instead.

There is a difference between a post that’s based on fact-checked articles, and a post from a website funded by an advocacy group. There’s a difference between Politifact and some guy’s personal blog. Facebook displays them both equally, though: here’s a headline, a photo, some summary text.

Of course, it would be a difficult job for a company that only wants to focus on social networking and selling ads to get into the media business – that’s why Facebook loudly proclaims it’s “not a media company.” 

Except that it is one. It’s serving that role, whether it wants to or not.

Google at least has stepped up to the plate and is trying to find a solution. Now it’s Facebook’s turn.

Facebook may have only unintentionally become a media organization, but it is one. And it’s doing a terrible job.

How The PlayStation VR Stacks Up To The Oculus Rift And HTC Vive

Sony’s PlayStation VR has finally released, bringing virtual reality to gaming consoles. As the cheapest mainstream VR gaming headset currently on the market, it has the potential to bring this first generation of virtual reality gaming to the masses, like the PlayStation 2 before it put early DVD players into people’s homes. Unlike the Wii generation’s motion control experiment, though, the three mainstream VR headsets — the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and the PlayStation VR — seem primed to succeed, at least on some level.

Each of the big three headsets got their start in different, important ways. The most notable origin story, that of the Oculus Rift, began as a successful Kickstarter project that happened to poach the famed John Carmack from id Software. Around two years after being funded, Facebook bought Oculus VR to the tune of $2 billion. Valve’s headset, the Vive, was born from a partnership between two unlikely parties: Valve, a PC game developer and distribution company, and HTC, a mobile device designer and manufacturer. The PlayStation VR is an internal piece of hardware developed by the manufacturer of the the best-selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2, and the best-selling console of the current generation, the PlayStation 4. All three VR headsets have a claim to fame, and enough backing and development and design pedigree to achieve that fame, but what’re the technical differences and similarities between the headsets other than the obvious console-PC divide?

The PlayStation VR has the price locked down, and considering its plug-and-play console nature, is also the easiest and quickest to get up and running. The Vive is the most expensive by a mile, but, considering the amount of early access and fully released VR-compatible games available on Steam, has the largest gaming library at the moment. The Oculus was the first headset of this generation to make waves — and is mostly responsible for this VR trend – but ever since Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook, the headset’s mystique fell by the wayside even though the Vive and Rift are compatible with many of the same games.

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Google announced an iPhone, a Gear VR, an Echo, and an Eero

At today's Pixel event, Google hit a lot of pre-existing categories and features with its own Google-branded hardware. And to clarify once more, because I don't want to be misunderstood: I'm not saying this is bad or dumb or unethical or boring, I'm just saying it's kind of obvious where the "inspiration" came from.

1. Google made an iPhone

More specifically, Google made an iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus with the iPhone 7’s spec upgrades. The Pixel and Pixel XL are 5-inch and 5.5-inch, respectively. They're phones. They have visible antenna lines and brushed aluminum backs. They have headphone jacks. They aren't waterproof. You could probably call your loved ones on them!

Obviously, when you're talking about slabs of glass, it's easy to say that they all look the same. Subjectively, I’d say there’s something sort of iPhone-ish to these two phones that I don’t see in, say, recent Nexus devices, or even the HTC 10. Maybe I'm just crazy. But aesthetics aside, Google was very clear that software / hardware integration is what’s key about Pixel. And software / hardware integration is Apple’s whole bit.

2. Google made a Gear VR

It's become a bit of a high risk hobby in the Android world to ship your own VR headset with your latest flagship phone, but Samsung did it first and best by partnering with Oculus and shipping Gear VR in time crazy holiday sales last year. Google's launching Daydream View, the "Gear VR" in this equation, and also making the Daydream software and store, the "Oculus" in this equation.

Daydream actually stands out from the competition for two reason: it will work with phones from any manufacturer that matches Google's spec (currently only the Pixel and Pixel XL are announced), and it comes with a really cool controller that mimics some of what you can do with a Vive or PlayStation VR controller.

Oh, actually, three reasons: it looks like a really comfortable sweatshirt for your head.

3. Google made an Echo

This is near the top of my "shameless" chart, mostly because Amazon's Echo speaker currently occupies a category of one. Echo is a voice-controlled speaker, and it's turned into an unlikely hit for a myriad of reason. Amazon's Alexa, the voice and brains of Echo, is a virtual assistant people don't hate. It's surprisingly nice to ask it to play music for you, or to set an alarm. The third party "skills" have breathed new life into the internet of things. Who would've thought a few years ago that the best way to turn your Philips Hue light bulbs on and off would be a talking cylinder?

Google's new Google Home speaker is a slightly squashed Echo clone. It's $50 cheaper, and has Google Assistant for a brain. It plays YouTube Music. It comes with a YouTube Red subscription. Google's search prowess could make all the difference here, but conceptually and spiritually Google Home is an Echo.

4. Google made an Eero

"I haven't heard of it so it doesn't count" won't work in a court of law, and it won't work here. Eero has a much lower profile than the rest of these products, but it's still a great idea whose time has come: mesh networking for consumers. Instead of relying on a single great Wi-Fi router, as Google has attempted with its OnHub partnerships, Eero spreads the load, and the coverage, over a number of Wi-Fi routers and simplifies the placement and setup of these routers through an app.

Great idea, right? Google thought so.

Google Wifi is basically an Eero, only for cheaper. It's $129 for a single Google Wifi, or $299 for a three pack. Eero is $199 for one and $499 for three. The big standout difference to my eyes is Google Wifi is a bit taller and more cylindrical than Eero, so I guess that's something. This is my number one shameless move, just because Amazon is a big boy and can take care of itself, Eero is a small upstart that will likely be entirely eclipsed by Google Wifi.

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Google May Face Fine In EU Over Anti-Competitive Android Practices: Report

The European Union’s antitrust regulators have warned Google over practices involving its Android mobile operating software, Reuters reported over the weekend, citing a 150-page EU document sent to complainants last week.

In their “statement of objections” sent to Google in April, the bloc’s regulators reportedly accused Google of paying phone makers to preinstall Google search exclusively on their devices. The regulators, who also argued that Google cannot “punish or threaten” smartphone makers for not pre-installing its apps, plan to order the company to cease its practices.

According to the document seen by Reuters, the anti-competitive practices, which began in 2011, are still ongoing, and the company may even face a hefty fine

“The Commission intends to set the fine at a level which will be sufficient to ensure deterrence,” the document reportedly said.

This is not the first time Google has run afoul of antitrust laws in the EU. In April, the bloc’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager accused the U.S. tech giant of abusing its dominant position in the market by forcing cellphone manufacturers to install its apps in return for access to Google Play Store. Then, in July, the European Commission filed an antitrust charge against the company for using its Adsense advertizing business to restrict some websites from displaying ads from Google’s competitors.

“We believe that our innovations and product improvements have increased choice for European consumers and promote competition,” Google said at the time. “We’ll examine the commission’s renewed cases and provide a detailed response in the coming weeks.”

Alphabet — Google’s parent company — was initially given 10 weeks to respond to the charges leveled against it in July, but the deadline has since been extended to October 13, according to a report by theAgence France-Presse..

Microsoft combines Cortana and Bing with Microsoft Research to accelerate new features

On Thursday, Microsoft took the unusual step of combining its Bing and Cortana product teams with Microsoft Research, in a bid to accelerate innovation for both the search engine and the digital assistant.

The move was part of a broader reorganization that saw Microsoft split its Applications and Services Group, which also included Microsoft’s Office applications, into two separate organizations. Office applications will form their own group.

Though Microsoft has asked researchers to work on projects that could eventually be commercialized, combining teams that work on active products, such as Cortana and Bing, with the future-facing teams that comprise Microsoft Research, is in fact unique within Microsoft. Together, Bing and Cortana, plus Microsoft’s Information Platform and Ambient Computing and Robotics teams, will form the Microsoft AI and Research Group. All told, the group will include more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers, Microsoft said.

The newly-formed AI and Research Group will be led by Harry Shum, who's previously led Microsoft Research and Bing’s engineering team.

Why this matters: For over a year, Microsoft has been injecting intelligence into as many products as possible. Cortana can remind you when to leave for an upcoming appointment, based on your calendar and the current traffic conditions. Business intelligence products like PowerBI now take center stage among Microsoft’s enterprise products. Skype Translate, which Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has described as “magic,” uses speech recognition and machine learning to translate spoken conversations in real time. Placing the Bing and Cortana teams within Microsoft’s research group probably means that Microsoft hopes to push out feature improvements to both products at a faster rate. 

Democratizing AI

At the company’s Ignite conference this week, Nadella talked about Microsoft’s goals to bring intelligence to the masses, in much the same way that it has done for data.

“At Microsoft, we are focused on empowering both people and organizations, by democratizing access to intelligence to help solve our most pressing challenges,” Nadella said in a statement. “To do this, we are infusing AI into everything we deliver across our computing platforms and experiences.”

Microsoft’s reorganization was spurred in part by the decision by Qi Lu, who led the former Applications and Services Group, to leave the company following a bicycle accident, according to Geekwire. What remains of the Applications and Services Group will be renamed the Office Product Group, led by Microsoft executive Rajesh Jha, the site reported.  

Placing Cortana and Bing within a research organization means that both of those groups will directly benefit from the proximity to researchers. Cortana is in a tight race with Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant—and the latter has moved ahead, in my estimation. However, Microsoft does not intend to slow the addition of intelligent features to other products like Office or Azure, according to a company representative.

Shum said as much in a blog post announcing the change. “I’ve worked on both research and product teams, and I see incredible potential for this new group,” Shum wrote. “Today, AI is shifting the computer science research supply chain and blurring lines between research and product. End-to-end innovation in AI will not come from isolated research labs alone, but from the combination of at-scale production workloads together with deep technology advancements in algorithms, systems and experiences.”

Google iOS update lets you get ultra-sneaky with search

Google users won't have to worry about who's peeking through their history anymore on iOS devices.

The search engine giant released several updates for its iOS app on Tuesday. One fixes bugs so that the app is twice as reliable, Google said. Another allows in-search YouTube videos.

And then there's the new incognito mode.

Incognito mode, first introduced in Google Chrome, allows users to browse in private without their viewing history, downloads, cookies, accounts and passwords being saved. One use is looking at questionable content. Incognito mode also can help users shop for surprise gifts and avoid paywall limits, and serve as a browser that's already logged out of all accounts.

The secret browsing feature is common across browsers, but hasn't been prominent for search apps.

As an additional security measure -- if you really don't want people knowing what

you're looking up -- Google's incognito mode for its app can be enabled with Touch ID, ensuring that only your fingerprints can allow access to your secret sessions.

Along with adding secret searches to its iOS app, Google has integrated YouTube video playback from within the app, instead of opening a separate app to watch clips.

"Skip the extra step before you break into dance to your favorite music video or before you learn a thing or two in the latest how-to," Google wrote on its blog.

The updates for iOS come a week before Google's Oct. 4 media event, where the tech giant is expected to reveal a new phone, Google Home, a digital voice assistant and an update to its Chrome cast, a digital media player.

A source familiar with the update said the changes were not a preview of what's to come for Google's new phones.

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Google opens Daydream VR platform to developers

From its debut at Google I/O, Daydream seemed like a much more ambitious smartphone-based VR software platform than the earlier Cardboard system. The countdown clock for the former's public release began after a Bloomberg article back in August hinted at its imminent launch. While we're still waiting for the first Daydream phones to come out in fall, Google's VR SDK version 1.0 supporting it has officially left beta and is available to download on their developer site.

If you want to get your app out on launch day, you'll want to apply for the Daydream Access Program: It seems Google is carefully controlling what will be available when the platform goes live. The VR SDK supports both the Cardboard API and the more complex Daydream one, which includes the platform's proprietary controller. Google partnered with Unity and Unreal to get native integration, with all the binaries and plugins available through their developer blog post.

But how, you ask, will prospective programmers be able to tinker with their apps before "Daydream-ready" phones are released in the next few months? The only one approved to handle the SDK is the Nexus 6P, but it's not a perfect fix. Expect the device to run very hot and "thermally throttle CPU and GPU performance after a short period of use, depending on workload," according to Google's developer kit setup.

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