Stevie Bonifield

News Writer

Meta is spending millions to convince people that data centers are cool and you like them

Stevie BonifieldJan 27

Politico reports France’s government will “ban” non-European videoconferencing software like Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet.

According to Politico, a notice will tell state officials to instead use the “secure and sovereign” French-made Visio platform.

David Amiel, Minister Delegate for the Civil Service and State Reform, announces the generalization of “Visio”, a tool developed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), to all State services by 2027. The objective: to put an end to the use of non-European solutions, to guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool.

Amazon shutters all of its physical Go and Fresh stores

Stevie BonifieldJan 27

Dozens of nudify apps found on Google and Apple’s app stores

Stevie BonifieldJan 27

Stevie BonifieldJan 26

Life Electric Vehicles is buying Rad Power Bikes for $13.2 million.

Florida-based Life EV won the auction to buy the struggling e-bike brand last week, as reported by TechCrunch. The sale comes just a month after Rad Power Bikes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing “significant financial challenges” and “the sudden drop in consumer demand” post-Covid in a letter to employees.

Rad Power Bikes reaches deal to sell itself for $13.2M | TechCrunch

[TechCrunch]

Stevie BonifieldJan 26

A new Gemini feature in Google Calendar will help find meeting times that work for everyone.

When creating a new event in Google Calendar, Gemini will now find “suggested times” based on invitees’ calendar availability, similar to a Gmail feature announced in October. The Gemini-powered meeting time suggestions are rolling out now, but currently only available for Google Business, Enterprise, and AI Pro for Education users.

A screenshot of Google Gemini suggesting meeting times in Google Calendar

Image: Google

Google will settle its Assistant spying lawsuit for $68 million

Stevie BonifieldJan 26

OpenAI is working out how much to charge for ChatGPT ads

Stevie BonifieldJan 26

Stevie BonifieldJan 16

TikTok is taking a closer look at European users’ accounts with a new wave of age checks.

TikTok will roll out new age detection technology in Europe that uses profile information, posts, and “behavioral signals” to guess if a user is under 13, then flags suspected accounts for moderators to review, reports Reuters.

Google/YouTube announced similar age-estimating tech last year, amid lawsuits and an expanding push to “age-gate” the internet.