All posts tagged: Mobile Applications

Elon Musk Says X Outages Were Caused by a Cyberattack From Ukraine

Elon Musk Says X Outages Were Caused by a Cyberattack From Ukraine

Published by skeptic

Elon Musk is facing questions about how much attention he is paying to his businesses as he advises President Trump on the direction of the federal government. The questions have mounted as Mr. Musk’s business empire — which includes the electric car maker Tesla, the social media site X and the rocket maker SpaceX — has run into challenges. On Monday, users of X reported widespread outages. The same day, Tesla’s stock fell more than 15 percent amid concerns that include declining electric vehicle sales and politically driven protests against the manufacturer. And last week, a SpaceX rocket exploded in Florida during launch, showering some places with debris. Mr. Musk on Monday quickly blamed the X issues on a cyberattack stemming from Ukraine, without providing evidence. He posted on X that Democratic donors were responsible for seeding protests against Tesla, again without evidence. In response to the SpaceX explosion, he said on X: “Rockets are hard.” Questions about Mr. Musk’s continuing oversight of his companies are coming to a head as he spends more time …

Discord in Early Talks With Bankers for Potential I.P.O.

Discord in Early Talks With Bankers for Potential I.P.O.

Published by skeptic

Discord, the social chat app popular with the video game community, has met with investment bankers in recent weeks to discuss preparations for an initial public offering as soon as this year, two people familiar with the talks said. An I.P.O. of a well-known technology company could provide a much-needed jolt for private companies weighing public listings. Market volatility caused by an uncertain economy, along with strong valuations for privately held companies, has led to a slow start for the I.P.O. market this year. Discord was last valued by private investors in 2021 at roughly $15 billion. The people, who requested anonymity because the conversations are confidential, cautioned that the talks were still exploratory and that I.P.O. plans remained subject to change. A spokesperson for Discord said on Wednesday: “We understand there is a lot of interest around Discord’s future plans, but we do not comment on rumors or speculation. Our focus remains on delivering the best possible experience for our users and building a strong, sustainable business.” Other companies are preparing to go public …

TikTok Ban and Trump Executive Order Lead to Tech Company Dilemma

TikTok Ban and Trump Executive Order Lead to Tech Company Dilemma

Published by skeptic

For more than six years, Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud computing company, provided technical support to deliver TikTok videos to tens of millions of Americans. But over the weekend, Amazon faced a dilemma. A new law was taking effect banning TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, in the United States. Tech companies were barred from distributing and updating it or they would face financial penalties. At the same time, President-elect Donald J. Trump was telling tech companies he planned to pause enforcement of the law with an executive order. Just hours before the ban took effect, Amazon appeared to comply with the law, according to a New York Times review of the way TikTok’s web traffic is handled. Instead, Akamai Technologies, a Massachusetts-based company that was already helping to deliver TikTok videos to phones, took over more of the technical support. The change, which was picked up by digital forensics conducted by The Times, was one of the small behind-the scenes-maneuvers that showed how tech companies have diverged in their approach to …

TikTok Ban Takes Effect and App Goes Dark in the U.S.

TikTok Ban Takes Effect and App Goes Dark in the U.S.

Published by skeptic

“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” the message read. Hours before a federal law banning TikTok from the United States took effect on Sunday, the Chinese-owned social media app went dark, and U.S. users could no longer access videos on the platform. Instead, the app greeted them with a message that said “a law banning TikTok has been enacted.” “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution,” the message said. “Please stay tuned!” In addition, TikTok’s sister app, Lemon8, stopped working and showed U.S. users a message saying that it “isn’t available right now.” Both TikTok and Lemon8 are owned by ByteDance, a Chinese internet giant. CapCut, a popular video-editing app from ByteDance, was also unavailable. Apple said it had removed TikTok and other ByteDance apps, including Lemon8, from its app store, and users said that Google’s U.S. app store had also removed TikTok. Searching for the apps on Apple’s app store on Sunday yielded a new message: “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available …

Texas Sues Allstate Over Its Collection of Driver Data

Texas Sues Allstate Over Its Collection of Driver Data

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The State of Texas sued Allstate on Monday, accusing the insurer of illegally tracking drivers by way of their phones through a subsidiary called Arity that claimed to have the “world’s largest driving behavior database.” “Allstate and Arity paid mobile apps millions of dollars to install Allstate’s tracking software,” Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, said in a statement. “The personal data of millions of Americans was sold to insurance companies without their knowledge or consent in violation of the law. Texans deserve better and we will hold all these companies accountable.” In a statement, Allstate denied that the company had done anything illegal. “Arity helps consumers get the most accurate auto insurance price after they consent in a simple and transparent way that fully complies with all laws and regulations,” the company said. The New York Times reported last year that information about people’s driving behavior was being collected via smartphone apps, such as Life360 and GasBuddy, and sold to Arity, an analytics company founded by Allstate. Arity was able to analyze the data …

Watch Duty, a Wildfire-Tracking App, Provides a Lifeline in Los Angeles

Watch Duty, a Wildfire-Tracking App, Provides a Lifeline in Los Angeles

Published by skeptic

Paulette Lifton woke up on her 67th birthday on Tuesday morning in a panic to smoke pluming in the distance of her home in the Granada Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The first person she called was her sister Annette. “What’s going on?” Ms. Lifton asked. “You have to download the Watch Duty app,” her sister responded. Ms. Lifton did just that, tracking the spread of the fire through the app’s map and updates as she packed her car with her most prized possessions — her favorite sequin jacket; her dogs, King Charles spaniels, Elle and Sansa; and the two Emmys she won as a television and movie sound editor. For Ms. Lifton and thousands of other Los Angeles residents, Watch Duty has become a lifeline in tracking the multiple wildfires blazing around the city. In a county of nearly 10 million people, the news of the app has spread by word of mouth and in online community groups. The app has sometimes provided faster and more reliable updates than the city’s buggy mobile notification …

TikTok Case Before Supreme Court Pits National Security Against Free Speech

TikTok Case Before Supreme Court Pits National Security Against Free Speech

Published by skeptic

When the Supreme Court hears arguments on Friday over whether protecting national security requires TikTok to be sold or closed, the justices will be working in the shadow of three First Amendment precedents, all influenced by the climate of their times and by how much the justices trusted the government. During the Cold War and in the Vietnam era, the court refused to credit the government’s assertions that national security required limiting what newspapers could publish and what Americans could read. More recently, though, the court deferred to Congress’s judgment that combating terrorism justified making some kinds of speech a crime. The court will most likely act quickly, as TikTok faces a Jan. 19 deadline under a law enacted in April by bipartisan majorities. The law’s sponsors said the app’s parent company, ByteDance, is controlled by China and could use it to harvest Americans’ private data and to spread covert disinformation. The court’s decision will determine the fate of a powerful and pervasive cultural phenomenon that uses a sophisticated algorithm to feed a personalized array …