False information on the internet is hiding the truth about onions

Mar 14, 2017
Tom Scocca wants to fight "the darkness of falsehood." He's starting with onions.







Google changed the search results on how long it takes to caramelize onions after Tom Scocca's recent blog post.
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Uber has had a really bad week

Feb 24, 2017
The news early in the week was that Uber had hired former Attorney General Eric Holder to look into explosive allegations of sexual harassment by a former engineer at the company. On top of that, Uber is now being sued by Alphabet, the parent company of Google as well as the autonomous driving company Waymo. […]

How hackers are using AI to fight fake news

Jan 3, 2017
Marketplace's Lizzie O'Leary talks to Wired Senior Staff Writer Cade Metz about how technologists are combining artificial intelligence with human fact checkers to take down fake news.
A screenshot of Facebook's process for flagging a fake news post.
Donna Tam/Marketplace

How Google is making its A.I. smarter

Dec 22, 2016
Artificial intelligence is improving Google Translate and there might be more to come.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 04: Pichai Sundararajan, known as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Inc. speaks during an event to introduce Google Pixel phone and other Google products on October 4, 2016. 
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Google creates 'Waymo', an independent self-driving car company

Dec 13, 2016
Google’s plan to take over the world takes another step forward. The company has turned its self-driving car project from a research operation to a full-fledged business division, according to the latest from Reuters. The new venture is called Waymo — which stands for “a new way forward in mobility”. The move seems to suggest […]
This picture taken on June 30, 2016 shows the Google's self driving car project on the Google stand at the Viva technology event in Paris. 

 
ERIC PIERMONT/AFP/Getty Images

Wanted: tech exec for “conservative outreach”

Dec 6, 2016
Google and other tech companies are looking at how to lobby a Trump Administration.
A self-driving car traverses a parking lot at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California on January 8, 2016. 

 
NOAH BERGER/AFP/Getty Images

Let’s do the numbers: the business of fake news

Nov 22, 2016
There’s talk of made-up news moving the needle during the election and beyond. So how profitable is it?
Social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter have been scrutinized for promoting fake news on their sites. 
PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Google and Facebook: headed for a truth war?

Nov 15, 2016
The companies face down the fake news problem by starting with the money.
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Google, Facebook strengthen rules against fake news

Nov 15, 2016
Google will start by cutting off its ad-selling software to sites promoting false information.
Facebook has clarified its policy that websites that spread false news can't use its ad-selling network. Above, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg gives a speech in Barcelona, Spain.
David Ramos/Getty Images

Google Chrome is going to crack the whip on unprotected websites

Nov 4, 2016
The Google Chrome security team is getting tough on websites that are not encrypted. Those are the ones without the HTTPS at the beginning of its URL. Anyone looking at what you’re doing online on that site can capture all of your information, including important user names and passwords. Most of the pages desktop users […]
Google says it will start marking unsecure websites in January.
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