The News
No More Copyrighted Music on Twitch Clips
In partnership with Audible Magic, Twitch will begin scanning clips (highlights cut by fans) for copyrighted music the company announced. Any video found to contain such music will be taken down, but streamers won’t be penalised. There’s no way to appeal against automatic clip deletions just yet, but it is likely to come soon.
Microsoft Refuses to Sell Facial Recognition Tech to Cops
Following Amazon and IBM, Microsoft has restricted the sale of its facial recognition tech to police departments in the USA. The company said that it would continue to do so, until federal laws were in place governing the use of such technology. “I do think this is a moment in time that really calls on us to listen more, to learn more, and most importantly, to do more,” president Brad Smith told The Washington Post.
YouTube Creates Fund for ‘Black Creators’
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced that the company has created a $100 million fund to ‘amplify’ black creators. The money will be used to create YouTube Originals by black artists. The first programme from the fund is ‘Bear Witness, Take Action’ that will air on June 13, at 6PM ET. Throughout June, YouTube Spotlight will highlight racial and justice videos as part of the initiative.
Twitter ‘Fleets’ Rolls Out in India
Twitter’s take on ephemeral messaging, called Fleets, has launched in India. The feature is gradually releasing around the world, after an initial launch in Brazil. “India is important for Twitter since it is one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally,” India managing director Manish Maheshwari said. Like Instagram, Fleets will appear above the regular timeline and disappear after 24 hours.
Facebook Debuts Revamped News Section in US
With a focus on local journalism, Facebook has launched its revamped News section in the USA. Users can browse various topics such as ‘science’ and a George Floyd-specific section. The launch is limited to mobile, but should be available on desktop soon. To access News, tap on the Hamburger menu > See More > News. All participating publishers will be paid, the company announced.
Twitter to Bring Back Verification
After being paused in 2017, Twitter is working to bring back its verification system as per reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. The blue badge was used to verify authentic accounts of ‘public interest’. Wong discovered a “request verification” field in Twitter’s settings. The company confirmed Wong’s tweet, but made no further statement.
New Releases
Adobe Photoshop Camera
Adobe’s new Photoshop Camera app will allow users to apply filters in real-time, but only for photos. The app is free on both Android (recent Pixel, Galaxy and OnePlus models only) and iOS. While you can do some basic editing, the app is focused on giving users fun filters to apply to their snaps. The app is part of Adobe’s goal to bring more customers into its ecosystem through fun, simple mobile apps, which is “working well” as per CTO Abhay Parasnis.
Kindle Paperwhite in New Colours
Amazon has launched two new colours for its popular e-book reader. Called ‘Plum’ and ‘Sage’ the new colours are pink and green. This is in addition to the blue and black options that already exist. The new colours are available now from $129.99 (8GB) and $159.99 (32GB) to buy.
Check back next week for more of the latest technology news and keep an eye out for our movie and gaming round-ups.
In the meantime, we have plenty of other tech content for you to read!
