New Year's Eve Times Square drone grounded due to weather, NYPD says

A rainy New Year’s Eve in New York has some Times Square revelers ponying up to keep dry, while police are scrapping plans to deploy a drone to keep watch over the crowd for the first time.

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Fortnite's Ninja was 2018's most viewed Twitch Channel, hands down

For gamers, 2018 was the year that Tyler "Ninja" Blevins achieved a level of celebrity rarely seen in the industry up to this point. 

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Chinese schools enforce 'smart uniforms' with GPS tracking to surveil students

Ten schools in China have new "intelligent uniforms" that will track students' attendance and whereabouts with embedded computer chips. 

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Breaking up (with Facebook) is hard to do. Here’s how

Every relationship has a breaking point. Even yours with Facebook.

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Computer virus cripples Tribune Publishing, Los Angeles Times

A computer virus hit newspaper printing plants in Los Angeles and at Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country.

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After Facebook apologizes for ban, Franklin Graham says tech giant should have standard based on 'God's word'

Facebook apologized to evangelical leader Franklin Graham for a 24-hour ban last week over a 2016 post about North Carolina's H.B. 2, known as the "bathroom bill," saying that one of its content moderators made a mistake.

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Naughty scammers swiping electronics, filling boxes with sand or other stuffing materials, customers warn

Some Maryland residents who received pricey electronics on Christmas morning found they’d been had when the boxes that were supposed to contain expensive items were instead filled with sand or other stuffing.

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Are rituals still needed in a world mediated through digital devices?

Are rituals still needed in a world mediated through digital devices? Rituals exist in our everyday life, as a way of helping us to make sense of the world.

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Mindfulness apps, souping up old cars and more: Tech Q&A

My car is a classic like me, older than dirt. Can I use my phone hands-free with it somehow?

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In Spite Of Its Efforts, Facebook Is Still The Home Of Hugely Viral Fake News

A BuzzFeed News analysis found that 50 of the biggest fake stories of 2018 generated roughly 22 million total shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook.

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Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Has “Altered Its DNA” As He Reflects On His 2018 Goal To Fix The Company

You might think Facebook had a bad year in 2018. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a year-end post that at least progress was made.

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This Is The Year People Probably Should Have Questioned Their Trust In Amazon

But they didn’t.

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29 Hoaxes We Debunked In 2018

This was the year of Monster Ham, The Gorilla Channel, and a whole lot of anti-immigrant hoaxes.

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Facebook's massive, secret rulebook for policing speech reveals inconsistencies, gaps and biases

Facebook is attempting to tackle misinformation and hate that its platform has enabled with a massive, byzantine and secret document of rules packed with spreadsheets and power point slides that gets updated regularly for its global content moderators. 

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Alabama Dirty Tricksters Invited A New York Times Reporter To Learn About Their Effort To Influence Voters

“It was a little breathtaking to hear this was going on in the States, carried out by Americans,” said New York Times reporter Scott Shane.

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How secure is your messaging app?

Which messaging app would you choose for absolute security? Every developer will profess that they responsibly consider the security and privacy of their users. But with so many different choices, it can be hard to tell which messaging platforms you can trust.

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Elon Musk says 'pedo' insult of Thai cave rescuer is First Amendment-protected speech

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk moved on Wednesday to have a defamation lawsuit against him dismissed, claiming that when he called a Thai-cave rescue volunteer a "pedo" and a "child rapist" those were First Amendment-protected opinions. 

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Instagram Users Share Outrage After Brief Update Rolls Out

Some Instagram users found themselves swiping through their timelines left to right on Thursday, rather than vertically, prompting widespread outrage and the social media company to roll back the update,...
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The Biggest Hacks Of 2018 — And What To Do About Them

The databases at Marriott, Facebook, and more were breached this year. Here’s how to secure your account and protect yourself from identity theft.

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Delivery drones cheer shoppers, annoy neighbors, scare dogs

Robyn McIntyre, who lives on the outskirts of Australia’s capital, was in her family room a few months ago when she thought she heard a “chain saw gone ballistic.”

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Russia tests new hypersonic weapon on Putin's orders

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a test Wednesday of a new hypersonic glide vehicle, declaring that the weapon is impossible to intercept and will ensure Russia's security for decades to come.

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Instagram Has Changed Scrolling To Go Side-To-Side Instead Of Down And People Are In Shambles

Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on?

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People are texting their exes and buying stuff in their sleep

Andrew Watson, 26, was so good at coordinating international business deals that he did it in his sleep.

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‘Tech addicts’ seek solace in 12 steps and rehab

We like to say we’re addicted to our phones or an app or some new show on a streaming video service.

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In 2018, American Tech Companies Acknowledged The Mess They’d Created In India

Silicon Valley at last conceded this year that things in India and other developing markets were far from rosy.

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Facebook tops the list of least-trusted tech companies

Last week, the latest in a long string of Facebook privacy scandals came to light: According to a report in The New York Times, the company skirted its own privacy rules to give more than 150 companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify, special privileges to its users' data.

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Top 2018 Space Stories: InSight on Mars, Asteroid Rendezvous

Space fans had plenty to celebrate in 2018, including the launch of three new NASA missions and the debut of SpaceX’s giant Falcon Heavy rocket. In case you missed any of the action, here are particularly...

Photo Credit: AP, File

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Facebook’s lonely conservative takes on a power position

After more than a year of research and discussion, Facebook Inc. FB -0.71% late this summer shelved a project called “Common Ground” that tried to encourage users with different political beliefs to interact in less-hostile ways. One reason: fears the proposed fix could trigger claims of bias against conservatives, according to people familiar with the decision.

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India Wants Tech Platforms To Break Encryption And Remove Content The Government Thinks Is "Unlawful"

It is not clear whether India will now choose to be a leader in privacy or mass surveillance, sources told BuzzFeed News.

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New iPad Mini 5, 10-Inch iPad for 2019, report says

Apple hasn't updated the iPad mini since 2015, when it first released the fourth-generation model, so it stands to reason the Cupertino tech giant will probably give its smallest tablet a refresh soon.

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2018 in review: Best laptops from Apple, HP and more

Laptops from Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Lenovo led the pack in 2018.   Fox News has compiled a list of some of the best ones offered this year.

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One step to protect your online accounts from hackers and scammers

It was bound to happen: Two-factor authentication (2FA) – that extra step that’s supposed to keep our devices and personal information safe – just no longer cuts it.

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Kansas trying to unload $10M in computer equipment after abandoning costly tech project

The administration of Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer is trying to unload $10 million worth of computer equipment by selling it at a steep discount or donating it.

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Unboxing Videos on Youtube a Hit with Kids During Holidays

Unboxing videos have been on YouTube for years, and their popularity has only continued to grow with time. They’re appealing to almost every demographic on the site, but they have a particular draw for children,...

Photo Credit: LightRocket via Getty Images

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Facebook Suspends 5 for Suspicious Behavior During Election

Facebook says it has suspended five accounts that were being run by multiple people for "for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior" on the platform during the Alabama special election last year.In...

Photo Credit: File – Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

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The GIF as an increasingly important communication tool

The GIF, this little looped video, is often misunderstood as a component of modern communication. It has an important role to play in making modern digital discussion smoother.

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How arrest of Chinese ‘princess’ exposes regime’s world domination plot

Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou’s arrest in Vancouver on Dec. 6 led to immediate blowback.

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