BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Coronavirus contact tracing: My new skill
It could be the most important job of our times. And now, after receiving a 95% pass rate in my final exam, I can proudly say, I am a qualified contact tracer. What is not clear is just how well trained most of the people undertaking this vital task in the UK will be. A contact tracer does the detective work of calling up people known to be infected with a disease and working out where they have ... Read more
2020-05-22 20:55:25
Coronavirus: MPs demand answers on misinformation
Twitter has begun labelling tweets that spread misinformation about Covid-19, including some from Mark Steele, who posts about links between 5G and coronavirus. But tweets from other 5G conspiracy theorists, such as David Icke, remain unchallenged. MPs have asked Google, Twitter and Facebook to return to Parliament to answer their questions about content. Only Facebook's head of global policy M ... Read more
2020-05-21 23:45:58
Grandmother ordered to delete Facebook photos under GDPR
A woman must delete photographs of her grandchildren that she posted on Facebook and Pinterest without their parents' permission, a court in the Netherlands has ruled. It ended up in court after a falling-out between the woman and her daughter. The judge ruled the matter was within the scope of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). One expert said the ruling reflected the "po ... Read more
2020-05-21 23:45:23
Apple and Google release marks 'watershed moment' for contact-tracing apps
Apple and Google have released a software tool that will make it possible for nations to release coronavirus contact-tracing apps that adopt the firms' privacy-centric model. It offers developers access to added Bluetooth functionality to solve a problem existing apps have of iPhones sometimes failing to detect each other. Android and iOS device owners will have to carry out system upgrades. Bu ... Read more
2020-05-20 23:56:57
Man sentenced to death in Singapore via Zoom
A man has been sentenced to death via a Zoom video call in Singapore, as the country remains on lockdown following a spike in Covid-19 cases. Punithan Genasan, 37, received the sentence on Friday for his role in a drug deal that took place in 2011. It marks the city's first case where such a ruling has been done remotely. Human rights groups argued that pursuing the death penalty at a time when ... Read more
2020-05-20 23:56:33
Coronavirus: Apple shoppers required to wear masks
Apple is gradually reopening its US stores, following easing of lockdowns intended to slow the Covid-19 pandemic. But there will be strict rules for customers, including the wearing of a face mask. If customers don't have their own, one will be provided. Visitors will also be asked a set of health questions at the door and have their temperature checked. There will be a reduced number of custom ... Read more
2020-05-19 21:46:04
Coronavirus: Isle of Wight contact-tracing app trial - a mixed verdict so far
It is 10 days since all Isle of Wight residents were invited to test the NHS app at the heart of the government's test, track and trace strategy. So how's it going? Mixed would probably be a fair verdict. The big concern was how many people would download it. Epidemiologists suggest that for the UK as a whole, about 60% of the population needs to install and use the software for it to live up to ... Read more
2020-05-19 21:45:44
Disney's head of streaming to become CEO of TikTok
Disney's head of streaming Kevin Mayer is stepping down to become the boss of social media platform TikTok. He has been named the chief executive officer of TikTok and chief operating officer of ByteDance, the platform's Chinese parent company. TikTok, an app where users post short videos, has seen an explosion of growth since its US launch. But that increased popularity has led to scrutiny by ... Read more
2020-05-18 21:40:08
Europe's supercomputers hijacked by attackers for crypto mining
At least a dozen supercomputers across Europe have shut down after cyber-attacks tried to take control of them. A pan-European supercomputing group says they seem to have tried to use the machines to mine cryptocurrency. "A security exploitation" disabled access to the Archer supercomputer, at the University of Edinburgh, on 11 May. Staff said they were working with the National Cyber ... Read more
2020-05-18 21:39:52
Universities' move online 'must be done the right way'
Harry Ashworth should be in the final term of his first year at Oxford University, studying music. Instead he is stuck at his parents' house in south London hunched over a laptop, listening to lectures via Zoom. He doesn't feel that the sudden and dramatic change in circumstances has affected his learning too much, but he is missing some aspects of university life. "I am in a jazz orchestr ... Read more
2020-05-17 19:17:59