Tech Week: Instagram Vs. Twitter And Europe Vs. Google
Instagram beat Twitter on a key metric, but Twitter's co-founder says he doesn't care. And...
If you've been too busy finalizing holiday vacation plans and buying gifts, we're here to catch you up on the tech headlines you may have missed from NPR and beyond.
ICYMI
Rise of Ransomware: This type of virus is getting more and more common, so Aarti Shahani explains Ransomware. Security experts seem to disagree over whether to pay up when hackers install a virus that sneaks into your network and takes your files, holding them for ransom.
Smart Power: This is a hectic time of year and your wee ones could pull off some shenanigans while you're too busy to notice, so Samatha Raphelson introduces us to the Brio, a power outlet that you won't have to kid-proof.
Big Conversation
Sony Fallout: The humiliating hack of Sony continues to trouble the company and its employees, from more scary warnings that indicate the hackers still have access to its servers, to reports of racist emails between executives and Re/Code reporting that Sony is striking back with denial of service attacks, in order to stop people from getting to the illegally obtained data.
Google News Goes Dark In Spain: Google announced it would shut down Google News in Spain, which recently passed laws that require online services like Google to pay for the privilege of showing news snippets from journalism outfits.
Curiosities
Harvard Business Review: Understanding New Power
This has implications across sectors, but it outlines how technology is driving a transformation from 'old power' to 'new power.'
Time: Twitter Co-Founder: 'I Don't Give a S*** If Instagram Has More Users'
Counting active users is the wrong metric, Ev Williams says.
Quartz: The pilots of Instagram: beautiful views from the cockpit, violating rules of the air
They aren't supposed to be taking those images, but boy are their Instagram followers glad they did.
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Missing some content? Check the source: NPR
Arts & Life
The themed party trend is on us again, and holiday garb bedecked with bells, lights and way too...
Looking for a stylish sweater for the holidays? Forget cashmere. Instead, go for the light-up, dancing Santa.
This season, holiday shoppers are demanding the ugliest, gaudiest, tackiest sweaters out there. They need them for ugly sweater parties, ugly sweater fun runs - even an ugly sweater party cruise.
All that demand has had an impact on stores large and small. On the national level, Walmart, Kohls and Target all sell vintage-looking sweaters with all the bells and tinsel you could want.
And at Re-Love It consignment in Purcellville, Va., last year, shop owner Michael Oaks had 120 sweaters that quickly sold. This year, he stockpiled more than a thousand for the Christmas rush.
His customers on a recent day included a Southwest flight attendant shopping for the perfect sweater to wear over her uniform - 'it's gotta be really, really gaudy,' she says - and holiday party-goers who hope to out-tacky their competition.
So far, Oaks has sold 800 sweaters - and he just received an emergency shipment of 200 more.
Share Your Tacky Sweater: #NPRuglysweaters
Do you have the perfect ugly holiday sweater? Can you out-tacky Re-Love It owner Michael Oaks?
Post your photos with the tag #NPRuglysweaters on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, and we'll pull together some of the highlights for a post Sunday night.
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Missing some content? Check the source: NPR
The Two-Way
Thousands are expected to attend the march sparked by anger over the fatal police shootings of...
Thousands of demonstrators were expected for a 'Justice for All' march today in the nation's capital to protest decisions in Missouri and New York not to indict police officers involved in the deaths of two black men.
The Rev, Al Sharpton's National Action Network, the NAACP and the National Urban League were to start at noon at Freedom Plaza and march to the U.S. Capitol, where they will hold a rally featuring the families of several African Americans who were killed in confrontations with police.
Dante Gabovuel, 20, a native of Chicago who is attending Emory University in Atlanta, was among those gathered early for the march.
'My generation has reached either a tipping point or a breaking point,' Gabovuel told NPR's Hansi Lo Wang. 'The violence has become very visible.'
He said now racism is 'bubbling back to the surface where you have basically public lynchings on video with no repercussions.
'We are not going to take this anymore,' he said.
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., the choking death of Eric Garner by police officers in New York and the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in recent months have fueled anger among people who see different police standards for how suspects are treated, according to their race.
The Washingtion Post reports that organizers said buses would be arriving from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, North Carolina, Florida and elsewhere.
'[P]articipants include clergy and labor representatives.
'But some younger activists who have been disenchanted by Sharpton and the traditional black leadership are not planning to attend. Moreover, many of them will be participating in a 'National Day of Resistance' also planned for Saturday.
'Organizers of that protest, not surprisingly, are using more confrontational language that appears to be in stark contrast to the National Action Network's call for legislative action.'
A website for the group organizing the Day of Resistance says:
'What started as an urban revolt of young black people in Ferguson, MO has grown into a national movement for Black lives.
'The entire nation is awakening to the reality of our broken criminal justice system. We cannot stop or slow down now. This Saturday, we're taking it to the next level.'
Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Missing some content? Check the source: NPR
Comments
Post a Comment