The investigation — a joint effort by ProPublica, BuzzFeed, and Columbia Journalism Investigations — (CJI) popular free dating apps owned by Match Group do not have clear policies or screening practices that would prevent accused or convicted sex offenders from using the products. These apps include Tinder, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fish. Match Group does require background checks for its premium services, like Match.com, but doesn’t offer anything similar for the free apps....

The system analyzed the 100-word text descriptions of every show staged at the festival from 2011 to 2019 — a total of more than two million words. ImprovBot uses this data to generate ideas for new comedies, plays, musicals, and cabaret. The blurbs will then be handed to the Improverts — the Fringe’s longest-running improvised comedy troupe – who will stage their own takes on the shows over Twitter. [Read: How an AI graphic designer convinced clients it was human] “The aim of ImprovBot is to explore the junction of human creativity and comedy, and to see how this is affected when an Artificial Intelligence enters into the mix,” said Melissa Terras, Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at the University of Edinburgh....

Vestager told the Financial Times earlier this year that EU officials were doing “very preliminary” work on Google’s job searches as “some of those businesses that depend on the large platform, they feel that they are being unfairly treated . . . [the complaints] they just keep coming in.” It’s not yet known whether the new letter will push Vestager into launching a full investigation, but given her track record, it wouldn’t be surprising....

Compared to other marketing topics, ASO tends to be specifically powerful when you look for high efficiency and low dependence on the marketing budget. Its emphasis on organic app growth activities (no expensive paid campaigns like advertising involved) promises just that. Furthermore, its operations revolve around natural app discovery. This means influences of external factors on user install decisions are minimal. As a result, you’ll acquire higher-quality users whose decisions are their own, and thus they’re easier to retain and monetize....

With many of us working remotely, the lines between personal and professional are becoming increasingly blurry. [Read: How to manage anxiety if you’re working from home due to coronavirus] The uncertainty about what will happen and the constant news cycle of mounting deaths and confirmed COVID-19 cases can easily lead to anxiety, which in turn, can wreak havoc with our sleep cycle. Nobody wants a cranky boss, or a tired employee, right?...

But I’m hoping for more radical changes the next decade. Here’s some of what I expect – or at least hope – to see in the decade to come. All-day battery life on high-performance laptops Manufacturers have promised “all-day” battery life on their laptops as far back as I can remember, but I am still pretty much never comfortable leaving home without my charger if I want to get serious work done....

The rollout of the wireless service has been partially postponed due to fears that it poses a threat to aircraft safety. International airlines including Emirates, British Airways, and Air India canceled flights to the US on Wednesday over concerns about interference from 5G towers. Telecoms giants Verizon and AT&T have agreed to restrict the rollout near key airports, but this hasn’t allayed the anger of the aviation industry. In scientific terms, carriers, airlines, pilots, and passengers are really fucking pissed off....

You are going to give yourself immortal life. No–you are going to create a new, better version of yourself that’s immortal–a living replica of you made of metal that will act and say the things you would, if you were still alive. If that Soylent hadn’t done you in. This should be possible. You saw a Black Mirror episode on it, and Microsoft filed a patent on the same concept this year....

Ford previewed the upcoming electric version of its best-selling Transit van, putting down a marker for the company in the exploding commercial EV market. The 2022 Ford E-Transit, due to arrive in late 2021, will start at about $46,000 and offer 126 miles of range in its most efficient version. It rear-wheel drive electric motor will deliver 266 horsepower (198 kilowatts) and 317 lb.-ft. of torque, power comparable to the current gas and diesel versions....

The vulnerability, discovered by Israel-based security agency Checkpoint securities suggests all profiles on the platform were under threat. A blog post by Checkpoint security researchers noted that by using the exploit bad actors could: Get hold of TikTok accounts and manipulate their content Delete videos Upload unauthorized videos Make private “hidden” videos public Reveal personal information saved on the account such as private email addresses Luke Deshotels from TikTok security team specified no user data has been compromised: Researchers said TikTok’s platform had multiple vulnerabilities such as SMS link spoofing, open redirection, and cross-site scripting (XSS) that could be combined to take over an account....

Hola pandemic pals! I’ve been on sabbatical for the past month, did I miss anything? Haha, but that’s not really a joke. After stepping back from news and social media during my retreat, I’m here to tell you that not much has changed in the past 30 days. Sure, Joe Biden was elected President. And that’s certainly worth celebrating, but COVID-19 doesn’t really care that the current US leader is a lame duck....

One way to expedite the search that’s yielded promising results is using AI to find existing drugs that could be repurposed to combat the disorder. Harvard researchers recently used the approach to identify 80 candidate medications that merit further investigation. They discovered the contenders through a framework they call DRIAD (Drug Repurposing In Alzheimer’s Disease). [Read: How do you build a pet-friendly gadget? We asked experts and animal owners] DRIAD works by quantifying potential associations between stages of the disease and molecular mechanisms that are encoded in lists of genes....

What is intelligence? Is it the capacity to solve complicated mathematical problems at very fast speeds? The power to beat world champions in chess and go? The ability to detect thousands of different objects in images? Predict the next word in a sentence? Those are all manifestations of intelligence. And thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, we have been able to replicate them in computers, to different degrees of success....

I’ve been out for exactly two weeks and, let me tell you, I’m exhausted. Before June, I was a technology journalist. Now I’m a queer journo. It’s not an official distinction. I’m not getting paid for it, but I sure am being taxed. My time is taxed when I’m forced to choose between using my voice to advance the struggle for queer equality or focusing on personal endeavors like my career and family....

In September, Facebook announced the DeepFake Detection challenge program in partnership with Microsoft and academic institutions such as Cornell Tech, MIT, and the University of Oxford. The initiative partners pledged $10 million and released a dataset of 5,000 videos to help folks create detection tools. DFDC will release the full dataset in December. It’s good to see companies finally waking up to the challenge of Deepfake. Last month, Google released a trove of deepfake videos to help researchers develop new methods to weed out fake content....

According to the World Bank, that’s about how much queerphobia could be costing the Brits. In Italy, that figure would be closer to 36 billion and in Russia and Spain it’d be a bit lower due to their smaller GDPs. The equation is simple: unless you live in a country that ranks highly on LGBTQ rights (such as Malta, Denmark, and Belgium) take your nation’s gross domestic product and throw away about 1....

But iOS 14.5 also introduced support for the new Apple AirTag, which risks doing the opposite. For the uninitiated, an AirTag is a small device (similar to a Tile) that can be attached to personal items such as keys, wallets or luggage. The tag periodically sends messages that can be used to track its location, letting you find any lost or missing items with the help of an app. While clearly useful, AirTags can also potentially be misused....

As you might be aware, several tech companies are trying to get their cloud gaming services off the ground. The conceit is that you’ll be able to play your games anywhere, on any of your devices rather than being bound to one console. Even if you’re not wholly sold on the idea, you gotta admit it’d be pretty interesting to try and play the new Gears of War or maybe Destiny 2 on your phone or smart TV....

As developer Steve Troughton-Smith pointed out on Twitter, if this option is enabled by the app developer, you can purchase an app on iOS and use it on Mac, and vice versa. He also noted that this feature inclusion was unexpected, and was rumored for a release in a couple of years. — Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) February 5, 2020 What’s more, in-app purchases are also shared across the platform now....

Every now and again I’m right about something, and that gives me great joy. Sometimes though, I’m not correct, and that’s fine too. We can’t know everything and always make the right decisions. I’ve long ago come to terms with the fact I know a lot less about a lot of stuff than a lot of people. Fortunately, I also know a little more about some things than a lot of people, so it’s all good....