Today’s topics include Facebook taking on fake news ahead of the upcoming UK elections; Dell continuing its push toward an open networking portfolio; social media sites once again in the hot seat after being accused of aiding terror groups; and Harman Kardon looking for its new Cortana-powered Invoke to compete with Amazon’s Echo.
Voters in the UK woke up May 8 to a new series of ads and television announcements warning about fake news in preparation for the June 8 elections there. The ads, which were announced on the BBC, ran in national newspapers and included a list of 10 tips for spotting fake news.
Facebook is also taking additional action, including the elimination of fake users on the network. According to statements provided to the press in the UK, Facebook has eliminated “tens of thousands” of fake accounts.
Apparently the idea is that fake accounts can be used to either initiate fake news or to echo it.
Dell EMC is continuing to expand the open networking push that began three years ago with new switches that feature the latest version of the company’s network operating system, as well as new services designed to help enterprises embrace open and software-defined networking environments.
On the opening day of the Dell EMC World 2017 show in Las Vegas on May 8, Dell EMC executives unveiled the S5100-ON series in-rack and S4100-ON series top-of-rack switches, which deliver greater capacity and options than their predecessors.
The new offerings give Dell EMC a much more complete lineup of offerings in its Open Networking portfolio.
Google, Facebook and Twitter are once again being sued for allegedly providing material support to terrorists. The lawsuit is the third one to be filed against the three companies on the same issue in less than a year.
Families of victims of the terror attacks in Orlando, Fla., and Paris filed the first two lawsuits. The plaintiffs this time are the families of three victims of the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif., in which 14 people were killed and nearly two dozen others were injured.
In a 64-page complaint filed last week in a Los Angeles federal court, the plaintiffs accused the three huge cloud-service providers of “knowingly and recklessly” providing material support to the terror group ISIS.
The smart speaker scene is going to get a little more crowded this fall. Audio equipment maker Harman on May 8 officially took the wraps off the Invoke, a new speaker that will join Amazon Echo and Google Home in an increasingly competitive market for voice-activated virtual assistants.
Late last year, Microsoft and Harman, a subsidiary of electronics giant Samsung, offered an early glimpse at the device, revealing little else except that it would be powered by Microsoft Cortana, the company’s answer to Apple Siri, and would accept voice input to play music, set reminders and other tasks.
The companies are now offering a better look at the Invoke along with the technology that makes it tick.