BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Twitter agrees to Nigeria's demands to end seven-month ban
Twitter has agreed to register in Nigeria and pay local taxes to end a seven-month ban, the BBC understands. This will come as a big surprise to many Nigerians, who had assumed that the Nigerian government had backed down following months of negotiations, says the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo in Abuja. Nigeria suspended the social media firm last June after it deleted a tweet by President Muhammadu Buhar ... Read more
2022-01-13 18:45:58
Apple removes Wordle clones from App Store
Multiple copycat versions of the hugely popular word game Wordle have been removed from the App Store, Apple has confirmed to BBC News. BBC News found several similar-looking games still available, however. A different game with the same name has been on the store for five years. On Google Play, the equivalent for Android phones, there were two games called Wordle but neither was similar. The n ... Read more
2022-01-13 18:45:35
Largest darknet stolen credit card site closes
The administrators of the largest illegal marketplace on the darknet for stolen credit cards are retiring after making an estimated $358m (£260m). The anonymous owners of UniCC thanked the criminal fraternity for their business, citing age and health for the closure. Many other illegal darknet marketplaces have also shut down voluntarily over the winter for unknown reasons. Police say the trend ... Read more
2022-01-13 18:45:06
Meta monopoly case from FTC given go-ahead
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been given the go-ahead to take Facebook to court over anti-trust rules. The competition and consumer regulator is trying to make Facebook - now called Meta - sell off Instagram and WhatsApp. A previous version of the same action failed last year because of a lack of detail. The FTC has since revised the case and a federal judge has said the claim is no ... Read more
2022-01-12 20:40:36
A year on, has Trump benefited from a Twitter ban?
In 2016, fresh from his stunning presidential victory, Donald Trump sat down to be interviewed on the prestigious US news show 60 Minutes. He was asked about his use of social media. "I'm going to be very restrained, if I use it at all," he said. That didn't quite work out. He used it continuously, racking up more than 20,000 tweets during his presidency. Mr Trump's strategy was to d ... Read more
2022-01-12 20:40:03
Fact-checkers label YouTube a 'major conduit of online disinformation'
Fact-checking organisations around the world say that YouTube is not doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation on the platform. Some 80 groups have signed a joint letter to the Google-owned platform's chief executive Susan Wojcicki. The letter says it is "one of the major conduits of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide". The organisations want YouTube to take ... Read more
2022-01-12 20:39:36
People devote third of waking time to mobile apps
People are spending an average of 4.8 hours a day on their mobile phones, according to app monitoring firm App Annie. In 2020, UK regulator Ofcom found similar amounts of time spent, although its research included watching TV. App Annie's report indicates that apps were downloaded 230 billion times in 2021, while $170bn (£125bn) was spent. TikTok was the most downloaded app worldwide, with user ... Read more
2022-01-12 20:39:12
Moxie Marlinspike leaves encrypted-messaging app Signal
Moxie Marlinspike, the co-founder and chief executive of encrypted-messaging app Signal, has resigned. He blogged it was a "good time to replace myself as CEO" after working on Signal for over a decade. Signal recently enabled crypto-currency payments within the app, which has concerned some users. Mr Marlinspike remains a board member of the Signal Foundation, while the board's execu ... Read more
2022-01-11 19:19:44
Pokémon Go: Police fired for chasing Snorlax instead of robbers
Two Los Angeles police officers were fired for chasing Pokémon rather than fleeing robbers, court documents show. The pair were parked nearby when a radio call came in for officers to respond to a shop robbery. But a review of their in-car camera footage showed they had been playing Pokémon Go and chose to pursue a nearby Snorlax - a relatively rare catch - instead of providing back-up. The pai ... Read more
2022-01-11 19:19:24
Virgin Mobile and O2 users will not face EU roaming charges
Virgin Mobile and O2 phone users will not face roaming charges following announcements by other networks to reintroduce extra fees after Brexit. It means customers travelling to Europe will be able to use their mobile data and make calls and texts on the same deal as they have in the UK. Vodafone, EE and Three are set to reintroduce roaming fees this year for customers travelling to Europe. Con ... Read more
2022-01-11 19:18:55