BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Omegle: 'I'm being used as sex-baiting bot' on video chat site
Warning: this story contains disturbing adult themes. Michael was 14 when he first went on to the video chat site Omegle. He'd heard about it at school and was intrigued by its notorious reputation for unpredictable and weird encounters. Within a few hours of being paired at random with strangers, he says he was linked up with an older woman who persuaded him to show her his penis. "I'm n ... Read more
2021-04-14 20:05:39
Estate agent's hi-tech house tour exposes personal data
An estate agent has apologised after a 3D tour of a house for sale in Devon was published with a substantial amount of personal information visible. Financial paperwork in the study could be read by zooming in on the image. It included a shares dividend cheque, an insurance policy document and an invoice for a stairlift. Some family photos had also been left unblurred. Fowlers estate agent said ... Read more
2021-04-13 20:36:35
Users can appeal Facebook's editorial decisions
Facebook's Oversight Board is to begin reviewing content which has been allowed to remain on the platform despite requests to remove it. Previously the board only heard appeals from users about content they felt had been unfairly removed - or referrals which came from Facebook itself. The board has the power to overrule Facebook's original content decisions. Its 20 members include former Danish ... Read more
2021-04-13 20:35:28
Microsoft makes $20bn bet on speech AI firm Nuance
Microsoft Corp plans to buy a tech firm known for helping to develop Apple's Siri speech recognition software in a deal valued at $19.7bn (£13.3bn). The purchase of Nuance Communications is the second largest in Microsoft's history, after its acquisition of networking site LinkedIn in 2016. Microsoft said it would bolster its software and artificial intelligence expertise for healthcare companie ... Read more
2021-04-12 20:03:42
Environment takes centre stage at London games festival
The Now Play This festival was a virtual event this year with a focus on games which looked at the environmental issues the world is facing.
Games included exploring a deserted Venice in the year 2089 and creating and maintaining a lake and the ecosystem around it, Cristina Criddle found out more for BBC Click.
2021-04-11 21:33:00
Elon Musk's Neuralink 'shows monkey playing Pong with mind'
Neuralink, Elon Musk's computer to brain interface firm, has released a video it claims shows a monkey playing the video game Pong with its mind. Its brain signals were sent wirelessly via an implanted device. The hope is that the interface could eventually allow people with neurological conditions to control phones or computers remotely. One expert said the fact no wires were used represented ... Read more
2021-04-09 21:28:05
Clubhouse: Is the audio app really worth $4bn?
Live-audio app Clubhouse is creating plenty of chatter - about itself. Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Kanye West, Demi Lovato and Mark Zuckerberg are among the celebrities to have popped up on the service. And you can find chats about everything from Bitcoin and Buddhism to relationships and R&B music on it. Even so, the idea that this one-year-old app could be worth $4bn (£2.9bn) is startling. ... Read more
2021-04-08 20:24:19
The woman who took on Google and won
Everyone has their breaking point. And when it comes it can be a small thing, an incident that usually wouldn't matter. Shannon Wait's moment was when her Google-issued water bottle broke. The data centre she worked in was hot, so she asked for another one. However, she says the Google subcontractor refused to give her one. That moment sparked a chain reaction that led to an announcement last we ... Read more
2021-04-07 20:44:15
Tool checks phone numbers from Facebook data breach
People can now enter their phone numbers into a website to see if they appeared in a recent Facebook data breach. Details of more than 530 million people were leaked in a database online, largely consisting of mobile numbers. People can use the Have I Been Pwned online tool to check if their numbers or emails were compromised. Facebook says the data is from an “old” breach in 2019 but privacy w ... Read more
2021-04-06 21:19:08
Online porn websites promote 'sexually violent' videos
One in eight porn videos promoted to first-time users of the UK's leading adult sites are labelled with text describing sexually violent acts, according to a study. It analysed titles and descriptions of 131,738 videos on Pornhub, XVideos and XHamster's launch pages. One researcher said the prevalence of descriptions of rape, physical abuse and incest was "shocking". The sites have ch ... Read more
2021-04-05 20:31:34