Intel CEO Resigns, IGTV Launches, Facebook's AI Fight Against Fake News

Instagram debuts their Youtube competitor, IGTV

The long form video platform will allow anyone to upload videos either from the dedicated IGTV app or through the original Instagram app. This means you can use the IGTV service without either alienating an IG-centric audience or being alienated yourself. Everything will be mobile-oriented thus videos will be in portrait mode (vertical). There will be no ads to start, but there may be a revenue-sharing deal with partners. Instagram also announced that it has reached one billion daily users. It has integrated fairly smoothly with other IG features – Videos can be accessed from your profile via a button next to Stories Highlights. you’ll be able to use stickers and filters, as well as share videos via messages. You’ll even be able to share IGTV videos to a Facebook page and, presumably, profiles. Still, this new platform won’t quite have the flexibility of YouTube. [Read More]

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich steps out after probe on a consensual relationship

In a press release on Thursday, Intel announced that its CEO, Brian Krzanich, would be leaving the company after an investigation concluded that he had a past consensual relationship with an employee thus violating the company’s non-fraternization policy for managers which was in place even before the #MeToo movement. It is still unclear with whom he had had that relationship with. Brian, 58, has been Intel’s CEO for the past five years, quit after spending 36 years at the 50-year-old computer chip company.

His abrupt resignation has created a succession crisis, a first in the company’s history. Intel has typically groomed and then promoted one of its own longtime leaders. But the combination of Krzanich’s sudden departure and a number of high-level executive exits in recent years has left the company with a surprisingly slim bench. The bottom line; Intel could end up with its first outside CEO, or at least the return of a former executive rather than the promotion of a current leader. CFO Bob Swan will step in as an interim CEO. [Read More]

Facebook to deploy AI in new measures to combat misinformation

The social media giant will use the tech to automatically identify pages spreading fake news. Facebook uses third-party fact checkers who once they rate a link, image or video as false, Facebook reduces its reach and surfaces the resulting fact check as related content in the News Feed. Tessa Lyons, a product manager in charge of News Feed integrity initiatives said Facebook’s new machine learning technology will help it identify pages that are “likely” to spread financially motivated hoaxes based on past behaviour and other signals. She also said a page that shared hoaxes can earn back its reach if it stops sharing false content. [Read More]

Here’s other tech news you may have missed

Microsoft

Microsoft launched the mobile version of its Bing Visual Search, a Google Lens-like image recognition tool, on iOS and Android. The Visual Search tool(built into the Microsoft Launcher, Bing app and Edge) will pull up relevant pictures, product listings, and text snippets through photos your phone captures. It’s fair to say that in this domain, Microsoft is a bit late to the object recognition game. [Read More]
Microsoft News launched on Android and iOS as a rebranded MSN app and it will also power news on Windows 10, Skype, Xbox, and Outlook.com. The news app will make it easy for you to personalize your news experience, including prioritizing your favourite topics or selecting interests in your news feed on the Microsoft Edge’s start page. The app has been completely redesigned into a modern and beautiful experience tailored to iOS and Android devices. [Read More]

Match swipes right for Hinge

Match Group, which runs dating services including Tinder and OkCupid, says it’s bought a controlling stake(51%) in rival app Hinge, after first investing last year September. As Facebook looks the to enter the industry, Match builds its brands. Mandy Ginsberg, Match’s CEO, said that Hinge fills a gap in the company’s portfolio of dozens of dating brands by appealing to millennial users who learned to date on Tinder, then grew out of it. [Read More]

Facebook News Roundup

Facebook begins letting Group admins test a feature that charges members $4.99 to $29.99 per month for access to exclusive sub-groups.

Facebook will let Group admins charge $5-$30/month for exclusive content. It’s not taking a cut yet…but this could be how it monetizes 1B Groups users https://t.co/6IgOYagpNu

— Josh Constine 📶🔥 (@JoshConstine) June 20, 2018

Autoplaying video ads are coming to Messenger. They’re now in the test mode but this is already a bad idea but expect to see autoplay video ads appear in their inbox right next to messages from friends and family. While you’ll be in control of your ad experience, there’s no opt-out toggle. If static ads are already annoying, you can imagine auto-playing video ads. In this case, Youtube’s ads are annoying but this is expected since it’s a passive platform. Messenger is more intimate and users will now have to seek an alternative chat platform. Twist your fingers and hope this doesn’t happen. [Read More]

This is under the radar huge. In Messenger, Facebook has a sticky, 1 billion+ user app it hasn't really been monetizing. Chat bots failed. Banner ads… snooze. Video ads to 1 billion+ people? Here's what that means: $$$$$$$$$$ https://t.co/PdurHlA6pd

— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) June 20, 2018

Here are lots of stuff that you didn’t realize Facebook tracks about you including mouse movements on your computer, “app and file names” (and the types of files) on your devices, whether the browser window with Facebook open is “foregrounded or backgrounded,” and time, frequency, and duration of activities. [Read More]
For those of you who can never keep your eyes open in photos and instead blink when a picture is taken, Facebook has an AI solution. The tool uses artificial intelligence to retouch the eyes much like Adobe fills over content using the “content-aware fill tool.” The tool isn’t quite perfect, just yet, though. It’s main struggles come with the colour matching required to blend skin tones in some photos. [Read More]

Facebook says it has “no plans” to listen in on users’ conversations to target them with ads. It doesn’t take a genius to get that this means that Facebook has changed their plans which leads to were they planning to do so? Here’s the full quote Facebook gave to the Slate.

“To be crystal clear on this point: Facebook does not use users’ phone’s microphone or any other method to extract audio to inform ads or to determine what they see in their News Feed.” [Read More]

Google

Google rolled out web interface for Android Messages to enable texting from desktop and says GIF search, Smart Reply, and more features coming by this week. You can try them out by updating your app to the latest version or by downloading Messages

Google’s no-frills Podcasts app is the start of something beautiful. Our very own Kiruti stacked it up against Pocketcasts and his conclusion was that it makes an interesting alternative. Personally, I think it’s going to be my favourite. Google’s Play Music was originally the home of podcasts but the features being developed were music-oriented, so this is a welcome addition and its simplicity will win you over.
With the launch of Instagram’s IGTV(still has doesn’t have monetization model), YouTube announced a $4.99/mo Channel Memberships for eligible channels with 100K+ subscribers, Teespring merchandising, and Premieres to debut pre-recorded videos to keep its creators on their platform. [Read More]
Do you want to know when you’ll die, Google says its AI is better at predicting death than hospitals. Google’s Medical Brain team is now training its AI to predict the death risk among hospital patients — and its early results show it has slightly higher accuracy than a hospital’s own warning system. If Google can both smooth the process of entering data and improve the means by which that data is used, it could cut down on human error in medical care. [Read More]

IBM argues its AI can outdebate a human

To construct its arguments, the computer dips into hundreds of millions of articles from newspapers and academic journals. It’s not able to determine the veracity of what it reads, so it has to trust that its source material is accurate.

https://twitter.com/indeadline/status/1009056297357135875

Twitter

Twitter’s progress is on a rollercoaster and now they’re on the good front with this unlikely comeback. They failed to seel lost users but now they’re growing again. The platform now has 336 million monthly active users from 328 million last year. Their stock is up too, now at 21%. Read Buzzfeed’s Alex commentary here.

Twitter acquired anti-abuse technology provider Smyte. Online harassment has been of particular concern to Twitter in recent months, as the level of online discourse across the web has become increasingly hate-filled and abusive. This is where Smyte’s technology – and its team – could help. Its solutions are capable of stopping all sorts of unwanted online behaviour, including phishing, spam, fake accounts, cyberbullying, hate speech and trolling, the company’s website claims. [Read More]

The business opportunities in media are increasing for companies who can deploy tech for ethical editorial and social purposes. Got to be good news. https://t.co/CQUtZ6Lkk7

— Charlie Beckett (@CharlieBeckett) June 21, 2018

Rebel developers are trying to cure our smartphone addiction — with an app. Also, the World Health Organization has classified “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition.

Calling their movement “digital wellness,” some behavioural scientists and former Silicon Valley developers have begun trying to counterprogram all those news alerts, friend requests and updates crowding our waking hours, and they’re using fire to fight fire — creating apps that try to put users back in control. [Read More]

Huawei says it shipped 6 Million P20 and P20 Pro phones in the first 10 weeks.

This is up 81% compared to the same period for P10, with China up 63% and other markets up 150% thanks to its triple camera feature that focusses on giving smartphone uses a better photography experience. [Read More]

Xiaomi plans to raise up to $6.1B from their Hong Kong IPO.

Xiaomi is launching their IPO this week by selling ~2.18B shares at a price range of ~$2.17-$2.80 per share. They have already secured seven cornerstone investors for the IPO including U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. [Read More]

Parting Shot: This library system’s RFID scanner is a poet and it doesn’t even know it.