In a bid to tackle the spread of misinformation and fake news, WhatsApp recently imposed stricter limits on message forwarding. Messages that have been forwarded more than five times can now only be sent to one chat at a time. According to the company, this measure would help slow the spread of misinformation and “keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.” And it appears to be working. In a statement to TechCrunch, WhatsApp revealed that following the new limit the spread of frequently forwarded messages sent on the platform has dropped by 70 percent around the world.
The measure builds upon existing restrictions — back in 2018 the platform restricted users from forwarding messages to more than five chats at once. As a result, message forwards dropped by 25 percent over two years. In light of the ongoing coronavirus situation, WhatsApp said it had seen a “significant” surge in the amount of forwarding which users reported “can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation,” hence the new limits. Amid the pandemic, and with the US elections not far away, fake news has the potential to cause significant repercussions — WhatsApp’s action shows that just one measure can make a difference.
Everyone’s talking about Valorant, a new first-person shooter from the makers of League of Legends. And I haven’t even played it. The shame.
Everyone’s watching it, too, despite the fact that it’s still in beta — something that creators Riot worked particularly hard to achieve. Its debut broke records on Twitch, and it’s benefitting from more streaming viewers as the coronavirus pandemic keeps more of us in our homes, looking at screens.
Like you are, right now. Now, on to everything that happened over the weekend.
-Mat
Twitch has a problem with non-stop ‘Valorant’ streams
Beta key handouts have led to a lot of Valorant.
Engadget
Riot’s Valorant may be the game of the moment, and everyone wants a beta key to play the thing. That’s led to Twitch streamers running Valorant streams 24/7, as keys drop from the service after you watch for at least two hours. Naturally, no-one can possibly play all that time, so many streams consist of live segments interspersed with reruns and edited highlights. This is artificially skewing viewing stats, making Valorant’s audience seem even larger than it is, and hurts smaller streamers who get pushed down the rankings. Continue reading.
You can use some iPhone 8 parts inside the new iPhone SE
Don’t expect to replace the battery, though.
Engadget
So, the new iPhone SE is an iPhone 8 with a high-tech makeover, but how much hardware does it truly share? According to iFixit, quite a lot. The cameras, display assembly (including the mic and proximity sensor), SIM tray (wow!) and Taptic Engine will all work in the newer model. However, there are a few swaps you’ll have to rule out — and not just obvious ones like the processor. You won’t be able to replace the Touch ID button from another iPhone — you’ll have to visit Apple and authorized repair shops. You’ll also have to forget about replacing the battery. That said, iFixit still sees the second-generation SE as an improvement. Many new iPhones have no compatibility whatsoever with older models. Continue reading.
Australia rolls out COVID-19 tracking app amid privacy concerns
Germany, meanwhile, is switching to a more private option.
Engadget
COVID-19 contact-tracing apps are coming to a smartphone near you — some privacy implications with them. Australia has launched its tracing app, COVIDSafe, despite criticisms of its approach to privacy. The voluntary software is based on Singapore’s TraceTogether and uses a mix of Bluetooth and stored contact data on both the app and servers to let people know if they’ve been in close contact with people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19. The Australian government has promised that its app doesn’t collect locations and only shares data with health officials, and it vows to delete the data once the pandemic is over. (TBA on when that will be, however.)
In Germany, the country has ditched its centralized approach to COVID-19 tracking, based on Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), in favor of a “decentralized architecture.” This seems closer to Apple and Google’s approach (set to arrive mid-May), by only storing contact data on devices themselves. Continue reading.
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Coursera announces free courses for the unemployed
Government agencies can help the displaced return to work.
Coursera is opening access to its online courses to those newly unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service has apparently made 3,800 courses and 400 specializations available for free through government agencies hoping to find jobs for residents. The courses focus on skills that should help people find new jobs and opportunities, like business writing and careers like app development. Some courses include professional certificates from companies like Google, IBM and SAS. You’ll still have to pay for more… esoteric courses.
Organizations have until September 30th to enroll workers, who themselves will have until the end of 2020 to complete their courses. In the US, Arizona, Illinois and Oklahoma will all offer courses, while countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Malaysia, Panama, Ukraine and Uzbekistan have followed suit abroad. Continue reading.
Oh boy. A massive amount of The Last of Us Part II footage appears to have leaked online, showing gameplay, menus and multiple cutscenes that contain crucial narrative moments. The leak’s authenticity hasn’t been confirmed by Sony or Naughty Dog, the developer behind both The Last of Us and the immensely popular Uncharted series. The gorgeous character models and voice work suggest the videos are real, though. The leak reportedly originated on YouTube and has since been removed. Various Reddit threads covering the leak have been taken down, however links to the material remain on popular gaming forums including ResetEra.
The Last of Us was a groundbreaking game that followed Joel and Ellie, two unlikely companions, as they traveled across a post-apocalyptic version of the US overrun by fungus-infected and usually cannibalistic creature. A wonderfully-remastered version was released for PlayStation 4 in 2014 and a TV adaptation was announced with HBO last month. The highly anticipated sequel was confirmed in December 2016 and, following a preview event last September, originally scheduled to come out in February 2020. The release date was shuffled back to May 29th, though, and then delayed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. As Kotaku reported, the studio has been crunching for months to finish the game.
The Library of Congress, on the other hand, offers nearly limitless royalty-free samples. Citizen DJ allows you to draw samples from six collections (including the Free Music Archive and Variety Stage Sound Recordings and Motion Pictures), and remix them into beats using patterns like ‘60s funk, ‘70s soul, and ‘80s/’90s hip hop. Once you find a clip, you can remix it using the simple browser-based DJ app.
The app lets you shuffle the samples and drum kicks from a variety of drum machines. I found the controls to be a bit rudimentary, but the project is still in a test site phase through May 15th with just a subset of available sounds. The Library will keep keep an eye on how it’s used during the beta and collect feedback to improve the app. (My suggestion: allow users to search by title or theme and not just mosaic, and make the sample snippets a bit longer.)
In the meantime, it’s a lot of fun to check out all the materials and use the app. “I believe if there was a simple way to discover, access, and use public domain audio and video material for music making, a new generation of hip hop artists and producers can maximize their creativity, invent new sounds, and connect listeners to materials, cultures, and sonic history that might otherwise be hidden from public ears,” said Foo.
Have you ever wanted to study the Moon’s surface in exacting detail? Now’s your chance. The USGS (with help from NASA and the Lunar Planetary Institute) has released the first complete geologic map of the Moon, providing a truly comprehensive look at our nearest cosmic neighbor. The 1:5,000,000 scale map is color-coded to help you quickly identify geological features, including multiple crater types, plains and other features.
The team created the map using a mix of Apollo-era maps and data from recent satellite missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Japan’s SELENE. Scientists redrew the historical maps to help them line up with the present-day sets while preserving valuable notes. They also established consistent descriptions of features to prevent the confusion that could happen with past maps.
Intruders would still need to download and run the necessary code before launching a symlink race, so this is more of a tool to facilitate an existing breach than start it. Researchers also noted that most of the vendors (including AVG, F-Secure, McAfee and Symantec) have fixed the bugs, some of them quietly.
This still leaves a few (currently unnamed) antivirus clients vulnerable, though. Rack911 also warned that taking advantage of the bugs was “trivial.” This could reduce the effectiveness of antivirus software and make malware that much more effective for attackers who know the bugs exist. You’ll want to update your security software, then, even if it’s just to reduce the potential damage should someone compromise your system.
While the phone tracking hasn’t been detailed in earnest, it’s believed to involve anti-terrorism tech from the Shin Bet domestic security agency. The tracking was used to enforce quarantines, flagging infected people who left home.
The government isn’t happy with the decision. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz claimed the technology made a “critical contribution” to limiting the pandemic and helping businesses reopen. Israel partly lifted lockdown measures on April 26th.
The government won’t have much choice, though, and its approach has been more invasive than most. Other countries have begun rolling out some form of COVID-19 tracking, but usually through contact tracing apps that require consent. It’s another matter to snoop on the whereabouts of infected people without asking or having an established legal framework. The case may serve as a warning to other countries thinking of using similarly aggressive tactics to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
Huawei flatly denies being under control of the Chinese government, but there’s little doubt that China is eager to defend its technological superstar — at least, with a little prodding. The New York Times has learned that Chinese police arrested five former Huawei employees in December 2018 over WeChat discussions of claims the company violated sanctions against Iran. They didn’t offer tangible evidence of violations (beyond one saying he could “prove” Huawei sold to Iran), but the mere hint of evidence and discussions with foreign journalists was apparently enough to spark the arrests.
The arrest of one ex-employee, Li Hongyuan, sparked outrage among Chinese residents concerned that he’d been fired solely for demanding back pay. However, Huawei later said that the arrest wasn’t due to a labor disagreement and that it was only reporting illegal activity. The new claims suggest Huawei was not only monitoring the former workers’ chat (reportedly a common practice), but that it was willing to take advantage of authorities’ protectiveness to silence critics.
Coursera is opening access to its online education in a bid to help those newly unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gizmodonotes the service has made 3,800 courses and 400 specializations available for free through government agencies hoping to find jobs for residents. The courses teach top-level skills like business writing and job paths like app development, and you’ll find professional certificates from companies like Google, IBM and SAS.
Organizations have until September 30th to enroll workers, who themselves will have until the end of 2020 to complete their courses. Arizona, Illinois and Oklahoma will be the first states to offer courses in the US, while countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Malaysia, Panama, Ukraine and Uzbekistan have followed suit abroad. In addition to expanding the number of states and countries, Coursera is also looking at offering courses through non-governmental organizations on a “case-by-case basis.”
Germany, meanwhile, is going in the opposite direction. The country has ditched its centralized approach to COVID-19 tracking, based on Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT), in favor of a “decentralized architecture” that only stores contact data on devices. this more closely resembles the approach Apple and Google will take when their beta tracing tools arrive in the next few days. It’s not clear when Germany’s app will be ready.
Contact tracing apps like COVIDSafe could prove vital to ending lockdowns by making it easier to track the spread (and hopefully, decline) of the virus as public life resumes. Rather than shutting down most of society, officials could limit closures and stay-home orders to specific businesses and people. The challenge is getting enough adoption for the apps to be effective. Australia, for instance, wants at least 40 percent of the population to enlist. That’s a massive amount for any app, and privacy reassurances might be crucial for reaching that target.
