Binary Knowledge

MENLO PARK, Calif. — In a glass conference room at its California headquarters, Facebook is taking on the bonfires of hate and misinformation it has helped fuel across the world, one post at a time. The social network has drawn criticism for undermining democracy and for provoking bloodshed in societies small and large. But for Facebook, it’s also a business problem. Sign Up For the Morning Briefing Newsletter The company, which makes about $5 billion in profit per quarter, has to show that it is serious about removing dangerous content. It must also continue to attract more users from more countries and try to keep them on the site longer. How can Facebook monitor billions of posts per day in over 100 languages, all without disturbing the endless expansion that is core to its business? The company’s solution: a network of workers using a maze of PowerPoint slides spelling out what’s forbidden. Every other Tuesday morning, several dozen Facebook employees gather over breakf...

The eyesight of Japan's students is deteriorating and the country's government thinks smartphones are to blame. A recent survey conducted by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology found that the number of students with vision below the standard 1.0 score (equivalent to 20/20 vision) is at an all-time high of 25.3 percent. Worse still, just over 67 percent of high school students and more than 34 percent of elementary students didn't meet the bar. The government is attributing the trend to "increased time spent staring at [smartphone] screens...and mobile games." Smartphone gaming is huge in Japan: the country is the world's third largest gaming market, according to market researcher Newzoo, and a large chunk of those gamers play mobile games (41 percent of men and 32 percent of women). Still, it's important to note that an increase in screen time isn't proven to ruin your eyesight -- though experts warn that e...

Get used to people in your house saying "What?" a lot. If you just got a new smart speaker from Amazon or Google, you'll be barking commands out loud, and people around you may wonder what's going on. You'll be engaging in the next step of computing, voice style, using Google or Amazon speakers (or perhaps Siri in Apple's HomePod or Microsoft's Cortana in Invoke from Harman Kardon) to ask for a specific music selection or playlist, the weather, latest news or podcast, the answer to a math problem or how to spell a word. The smart speaker market is dominated by Amazon and Google, so we'll focus here on those two. They were among the most heavily marketed during the holidays, with massive discounts for the entry-level Echo Dot and Google Home Mini at under $25, so we expect them to be under many trees. So now what? Start by getting ready to download an app for setup and learning some basic, useful commands. Setup: The process for both Google Hom...

It's almost been a year since Apple first announced its iPhone battery replacement program. The program provides a discount for iPhone users to get their battery replaced, regardless of whether or not it passes Apple's battery tests. The last day to get your iPhone's battery replaced for the discounted fee of $29 is Dec. 31, 2018. After that, the replacement charge will go up to $49 for eligible models except for the iPhone X, which will cost $69. Also: Two Simple Tricks To Make Your Iphone Battery Last All Day To be clear, here are the iPhone models that are eligible for the $29 out of warranty replacement: iPhone SE iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus iPhone 6s iPhone 6s Plus iPhone 7 iPhone 7 Plus iPhone 8 iPhone 8 Plus iPhone X Apple's most recent iPhone models -- the XS , XS Max , and XR -- are not eligible, with a new battery currently priced at $69. You can view your battery's current health to see if iOS suggests getting the battery replaced, or it i...

Trump's visit to iraq as brought to you by Microsoft News A day after President Trump’s surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red “Make America Great Again” hats for the troops.  The president’s behavior — out of step with that of his predecessors — highlighted the struggle Pentagon leaders face in navigating an avowedly apolitical military through a hyperpartisan era in U.S. politics, particularly under a commander in chief unafraid of breaking with established norms.  The struggle is likely to intensify with the beginning of the 2020 presidential campaign and  the departure of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis  , who sought to prevent the military from becoming a pawn in the nation’s tribal politics, at times unsuccessfully, before his resignation last week.  Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: To...

Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street,  and  Friday the 13th  are all horror classics—and, if  Jordan Peele  has his way,  Us  will soon join them. The first trailer for Peele’s  follow-up to  Get Out  is here , and with this film, the writer-director had some lofty goals. “It’s a horror film [and] I dedicated a lot of myself to create a new horror mythology, a new monster,” Peele said in Los Angeles last week. “I think that monsters and stories about monsters are one of our best ways of getting at deeper truths and facing our fears as a society.” So what’s Peele’s monster? Here’s the trailer, which Peele calls his “eerie, creepy-ass gift” to us all this Christmas. When the lights came up after a screening of the trailer last week, Peele ran to the front of the theater, mimed a mic drop, then ran away. Which is appropriate for that powerhouse trailer. “[It was] very important for me to have a black family at the c...

The atmosphere of the Federal Girls College Edo State , was filled with joy a nd laughter as the Tee nagers of RCCG EDO PROVINCE 5 brought aboard a three(3) day camp out program Themed: Domi nio n Ge neratio n. below are some images take n by Hack A ngel.   H'ck Angel and Precious at the Red Carpet A nd the joy did  not e nd there eve n as the  new logo was lau nched

President Trump threatened Thursday to veto a stopgap spending bill unless it includes billions of dollars to build a wall along the border with Mexico, sending large parts of the federal government lurching toward a shutdown starting Saturday.  His comments came after an emergency meeting with House Republican leaders, where Trump revealed he would reject a measure passed in the Senate the night before. That measure would fund many government agencies through Feb. 8, but it would not include any new money for Trump’s border wall.  “I’ve made my position very clear. Any measure that funds the government must include border security,” Trump said in an event at the White House. He added, “Walls work, whether we like it or not. They work better than anything.”  Subscribe to the Post Most newsletter: Today’s most popular stories on The Washington Post Trump’s comments on Thursday completely overturned the plan GOP leaders were patching together earlier in the day. ...