Technology

One day after The Wall Street Journal published a blockbuster story about Meta’s own dismal findings about teen girls’ mental health on Instagram, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wondered whether Meta should change how it studies its platforms’ potential harms.“Recent events have made me consider whether we should change our approach to research and analytics around social issues,” Zuckerberg wrote in a September 15th, 2021, email to top executives including then-COO Sheryl Sandberg and head of global affairs Nick Clegg. The day before, the Journal published a story based on documents obtained from a whistleblower later revealed to be Frances Haugen, which showed the company’s own research had found that “Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram ma...

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! For years, we've been told that encryption is the gold standard for digital privacy. If data is encrypted, it is supposed to be locked away from hackers, companies and governments alike. That assumption just took a hit. In a federal investigation tied to alleged COVID-19 unemployment fraud in Guam, a U.S. territory where federal law applies, Microsoft confirmed it provided law enforcement with BitLocker recovery keys. Those keys allowed investigators to unlock encrypted data on multiple laptops.This is one of the clearest public examples to date of Microsoft providing BitLocker recovery keys to authorities as part of a criminal investigation. While the warrant itself may have been lawful, the implications stretch far beyond one investigatio...

If you often travel with your gadgets, a fast, reliable portable battery like Anker’s Laptop Power Bank is a worthwhile purchase. Right now, you can buy the silver model at its all-time low price of $87.99 ($47 off) from Anker via Newegg when you apply promo code ENCF232 at checkout. Alternatively, the black color scheme costs $89.99 from Newegg (with code BGSF33) and directly from Anker (with code VergeYWP0QJDE).The 25,000mAh / 90Wh power bank can charge up to four gadgets at once with its three USB-C ports along with a single USB-A port. It’s powerful, too, delivering up to 165W of power to two devices, or a maximum of 130W when charging up to four. It has a convenient LCD screen that shows power levels and remaining charge, so you don’t have to worry about it running out of power une...

Super Bowl LX is nearly here, with the Seattle Seahawks taking on the New England Patriots. While Bad Bunny will be the star of the halftime show, AI could be the star of the commercial breaks, much like crypto was a few years ago.Super Bowl LX is set to kick off at 6:30PM ET/3:30PM PT on Sunday, February 8th at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Microsoft has a big year ahead for Xbox as it marks its 25-year milestone. After the tough decision to release more Xbox games on rival consoles two years ago, 2026 is a chance to refocus on the platform and celebrate some of Xbox’s biggest franchises. It’s also an opportunity for Microsoft to define its vision for the future of Xbox, after months of confusion from fans and plummeting Xbox hardware sales.Xbox kicked off 2026 with its annual Developer Direct last month, a preview of some of the games it’s publishing this year. Microsoft is lining up its “four horsemen” for 2026: Forza, Halo, Fable, and Gears of War. These franchises have been the driving force behind Microsoft’s own Xbox games over the past 25 years, and I’m told there’s a big effort internally to ensure all four games d...

For years, Alphabet-owned Waymo has tried to set itself apart from other self-driving startups by emphasizing a culture of caution and safety. Now, just ahead of major planned rollouts across the country, it is facing a recurring failure in one of the most sensitive places imaginable: school zones.In December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into Waymo after Austin’s largest school district reported at least 19 incidents where the company’s robotaxis failed to fully stop for school buses during loading and unloading — an illegal violation in all 50 states. Waymo quickly responded by issuing a voluntary software recall and rolling out updates intended to fix the problem.But the patch didn’t work. Since the update, Austin Independent Scho...

The Super refresh to Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs was expected at CES 2026 in January, but it didn’t make an appearance. The Information reports that in December, Nvidia managers decided not to release the new cards as scheduled, choosing to prioritize AI chips instead due to the limited supply of RAM currently available. On top of that, “Nvidia is also slashing production of its current line of gaming chips,” the RTX 50-series, which are already in high demand and consistently sold out at retailers.The priority shift away from gaming GPUs follows record-breaking revenue for Nvidia, driven by its AI chips. Data center revenue made up $51.2 billion out of the total $57 billion Nvidia reported in its Q3 2026 earnings. While gaming revenue was also up 30 percent during that same period, it ...

Kamala Harris’ social media strategy in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election was filled with Gen Z dog whistles: viral branding based on pop music, memes, camo hats that were a double entendre. It was an effective way to get attention and news coverage, as well as a mountain of user generated content online. But for months, the accounts have been dormant — until today.On X, Harris herself announced the rebranding of @KamalaHQ in a video message. The account is now @headquarters_67, “the new Gen-Z led progressive content hub,” as it’s described in a post. Harris describes it as “where you can go online to get basically the latest of what’s going on.”According to Chaotic Era, a politics and media newsletter, the accounts will share progressive news and politics content with a focu...

After a federal judge ruled that Meta was not an illegal monopolist in a blow against the Federal Trade Commission, the agency issued what was in part a typical statement of disappointment. Another part of the statement was anything but: a political attack on the judge himself.“The deck was always stacked against us with Judge [James] Boasberg, who is currently facing articles of impeachment,” FTC spokesperson Joe Simonson said in a statement after Boasberg released his decision in November. Simonson appeared to reference articles filed by a Republican lawmaker after Boasberg issued rulings that were unfavorable to GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration over a 2020 election probe and immigration policies.In late January, the FTC announced it would appeal the Meta ruling. Legal exper...

Martin de la Soudière, à Paris, le 14 septembre 2010. JULIEN FALSIMAGNE/LEEXTRA VIA OPALE.PHOTO Martin de la Soudière, ethnologue au CNRS et enseignant à l’Ecole nationale supérieure de paysage à Versailles, est mort le 2 février à Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis), à l’âge de 81 ans. Auteur d’une quinzaine d’ouvrages, d’une cinquantaine d’articles sur les paysages ruraux, la vie en montagne ou encore les saisons, il incarnait la figure de l’inclassable scientifique poète, fuyant les mondanités académiques. Lire plus tard Né le 20 août 1944 à Port-d’Envaux (Charente-Maritime) dans l’imposante demeure médiévale de la famille, le jeune Martin, élevé à Paris, passe les étés de son enfance et de ...