Taylor Hatmaker
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Facebook’s longtime head of policy and comms steps down
A prominent figure that helped shape Facebook public perception over the course of the last decade is on the way out. In a Facebook post today, Elliot Schrage, vice president of communications and pub
Apple confirms that it will seal up law enforcement’s favorite iPhone cracking method
A new version of iOS will block a controversial loophole that law enforcement agencies have leveraged in order to crack into locked iPhones. In an upcoming version of iOS (likely iOS 12), Apple will i
Democrats introduce an election security bill that proposes paper trails and mandatory audits
As primaries ramp up in states across the U.S., concerns about election cybersecurity are mounting too. This week, a group of Democratic senators introduced a bill to mitigate some of the well-establi
Instagram adds shopping tags directly into Stories
Instagram’s shoppable tags are about to pop up in Stories. The company started testing the feature back in 2016 with a limited set of 20 partners. Since then it’s been a hit, expanding bro
Here are 454 pages of Facebook’s written follow-up answers to Congress
Facebook finished its homework. In a pair of newly uploaded letters, the two Senate committees that grilled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in April have published the social media giant’s writ
Twitter’s emoji for Trump’s North Korea nuclear summit is very weird
As U.S. President Trump preps for a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Twitter doesn’t want you to forget to tweet about it under the right hashtag. In a choice that seems to
Palmer Luckey’s defense company Anduril is already leading to arrests at the southern border
Palmer Luckey’s defense project just crawled out of stealth mode. Between a flattering new Wired piece and its first few official tweets, the secretive year-old company known as Anduril is stepp
The damage from Atlanta’s huge cyberattack is even worse than the city first thought
More than two months after a cyberattack hobbled many of its critical municipal systems, the city of Atlanta is still sorting through the wreckage of what is likely the worst cyberattack targeting a U
Synack is the latest cybersecurity company to offer state elections its services for free
The cybersecurity firm Synack will offer its penetration testing services to states for free in an effort to secure election systems for the 2018 midterms. Synack, founded by two former NSA analysts,
Facebook shared data with Chinese telecom Huawei, raising US government security concerns
Concerns around Facebook’s recently revealed data sharing relationship with some device makers just took a turn for the worse. The practice, first revealed over the weekend, is now confirmed to
Ticketfly’s website is offline after a hacker got into its homepage and database
Following what it calls a “cyber incident,” the event ticket distributor Ticketfly took its homepage offline on Thursday morning. The company left this message on its website, which remai
Walmart’s new personal shopping service Jetblack launches in New York
Walmart’s tech incubator is out with its first experiment. The incubator, known as Store No. 8, just launched Jetblack, a concierge-style service for requesting stuff and getting it really quick
The queer dating app Her expands with curated community spaces
After carving out a niche as the first dating app by and for queer women, Her is broadening its mission. Today, the app formerly known as Dattch is launching a Communities feature — kind of like a
Hello Alfred raises $40M to bring hotel-style hospitality to more households
New York-based chore wizard Hello Alfred is about to expand its mission to make life easier, one to-do list at a time. The company commands a small army of thoroughly trained home helpers who take car
Trump’s visa restrictions aimed at Chinese STEM students to start in June
In a policy change set for next month, the Trump administration is moving to shorten visas for Chinese students in fields like tech and engineering. While most visas are issued for the longest possibl
Pokémon Quest hits the Nintendo Switch with two more Pokémon titles on the way
Much like the unique and forking joy of catching an eevee you plan to evolve, Poké trainers have some exciting branching paths ahead of them. In a dedicated press event in Tokyo, the Pokémon Company
Internet titans ask for ‘flexibility’ with new election ad regulations
A trade group representing big tech’s interests in Washington reached out to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday to weigh in on proposed regulation that would affect the disclosure
Canadian Yahoo hacker gets a five-year prison sentence
After pleading guilty in November, the Canadian hacker at least partially to blame for the massive Yahoo hack that exposed up to 3 billion accounts will face five years in prison. According to the Jus
Facebook’s policy on white supremacy plays right into a racist agenda
In an ongoing series over at Motherboard, we’re learning quite a bit about how Facebook polices hate speech and hate organizations on its platform. Historically, the company has been far less th
Twitter will give political candidates a special badge during US midterm elections
Ahead of 2018 U.S. midterm elections, Twitter is taking a visible step to combat the spread of misinformation on its famously chaotic platform. In a blog post this week, the company explained how it w