Tech

Free Our Feeds wants to build a social media ecosystem ‘resistant to billionaire influence’

Technology advocates and celebrities are backing the launch of Free Our Feeds, a campaign designed to “save social media from billionaire capture.” The project aims to raise $30 million over three years to support the development of a social media ecosystem powered by the AT Protocol, or the decentralized network powering Bluesky. The raised funds will go toward launching a …

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Samsung is adding two new Galaxy Ring sizes

Samsung is making the Galaxy Ring available to more people by adding size 14 and 15 rings to its options starting on January 22nd. With the expansion, which was rumored last month, the company says its ring sizes now run from five to 15, though it caveats that both size and color availability will vary by market. The new sizes …

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Microsoft creates new AI engineering group led by former Meta executive

Microsoft is creating a new engineering group that’s focused on artificial intelligence. Led by former Meta engineering chief Jay Parikh, the new CoreAI – Platform and Tools division will combine Microsoft’s Dev Div and AI platform teams together, alongside some employees on the Office of the CTO team, to focus on building an AI platform and tools for both Microsoft …

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A major data broker hack may have leaked precise location info for millions

Last week, major location data broker Gravy Analytics disclosed a data breach that may have resulted in the theft of precise location data for millions of people, reports TechCrunch. That appears to include data from popular mobile games like Candy Crush, as well as dating apps, pregnancy tracking apps, and more, as 404 Media wrote on Thursday, following up its …

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Why CEO Matt Garman is willing to bet AWS on AI

Today, I’m talking with Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, or AWS. Matt took over as CEO last June — you might recall that we had his predecessor, Adam Selipsky, on the show just over a year ago. That makes this episode terrific Decoder bait, since I love hearing how new CEOs decide what to change and what …

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Adobe’s new AI tool can edit 10,000 images in one click

Adobe is launching new generative AI tools that can automate labor-intensive production tasks like editing large batches of images and translating video presentations. The most notable is “Firefly Bulk Create,” an app that allows users to quickly resize up to 10,000 images or replace all of their backgrounds in a single click instead of tediously editing each picture individually. The …

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Mastodon’s CEO and creator is handing control to a new non-profit organization

Decentralized social network Mastodon has announced plans to transfer its ownership to a new non-profit entity. Ownership of Mastodon will move away from the control of CEO Eugen Rochko, in contrast to the power exerted by other social media CEOs like Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk. “Simply, we are going to transfer ownership of key Mastodon …

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What Mark Zuckerberg is changing Meta for the Trump era

At this point, it’s pretty clear what Donald Trump wants from Mark Zuckerberg. But what does Zuckerberg, who has now gone to Mar-a-Lago twice since the November election, want from the President-elect? That’s the question I’ve been asking sources in and around Meta over the last several days. They all described Meta’s relationship with the outgoing Biden administration as incredibly …

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How to turn off Apple Intelligence on your iPhone

It’s getting increasingly difficult to avoid AI when you open up your phone or laptop — as soon as I started this article in Google Docs, I was immediately offered some AI assistance to write it (which I didn’t take). And with the rollout of Apple Intelligence, that now applies to iPhones, iPads, and Macs, too. But if you aren’t …

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CES sets the stage for robot vacuums to reach new heights

There were a slew of innovations in robot vacuums on the CES show floor this year, from arms and legs to extendable mops, movable towers, and new navigation systems. As the industry races ahead in its quest to find the best way to clean our floors, it can be hard to see the function through all the hype. I spent …

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