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Be more internet savy. Photo: file image

The internet can be a dangerous place and social media websites are no exception.

The SAPS believes every parent should be aware of some important internet and social media safety tips that could protect their children from potential harm.

There are several things you, as a parent, can do to make sure your children can participate safely they are:

Learn about the internet and various social media platforms, because knowledge is power.

Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest internet crazes and social media applications children make use of.

Insist on knowing your childs passwords and learn the common acronyms children use online and in text messages.

Some acronyms include:

GNOC Get naked on camera.

TDTM Talk dirty to me.

NIFOC Naked in front of computer.

PAW Parents are watching.

PIR Parent in room.

POS Parent over shoulder.

CD9/Code 9 Parent/Adult around.

ASL Age, sex, location.

(L)MIRL (Let us) meet in real life.

MOS Mom over shoulder.

P911 Parent emergency.

PRON Porn.

S2R Send to receive (pictures).

FYEO For your eyes only.

Get involved.

Spend time online with your child, whether at home, at the library or at a computer centre in your community.

Your involvement in your childs life, including his or her online life, is the best insurance you can have for your childs safety.

Move your childs computer into a family room or a frequently visited room.

Police advise that your child should rather use a shared family computer as this tends to limit the visiting of potentially dangerous chat rooms and social networking websites, as most teens prefer to view these sites in private.

If you must, limit your childs use of the computer to certain times, such as when you are home or in the room.

Talk to your child about the dangers of the internet.

Let them know that it is possible to meet potential predators online, especially with the use of private chat rooms or social networking websites.

Let them know that if they are harassed, whether it be by someone they know or do not know, they must contact you immediately.

You may, in turn, want to contact the proper authorities.

Consider the use of a parental control tool.

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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor)[emailprotected],Leigh Hodgson (News Editor)[emailprotected]or Busi Vilakazi (Journalist)[emailprotected]

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Police urge parents to learn more about the internet and social media to protect their children - Germiston City News

Social networking tech giant Facebook and GiveIndia have partnered to organise a home-to-home fundraiser concert, I for India.All proceeds from the fundraiser concert will go to the India COVID Response Fund managed by GiveIndia, said Facebook in a press statement. GiveIndia is associated with over 100 NGOs working to provide support. Aside from offline donations, people in many countries will also have an option to donate using the Facebook Fundraisers tool.'; var randomNumber = Math.random(); var isIndia = (window.geoinfo && window.geoinfo.CountryCode === 'IN') && (window.location.href.indexOf('outsideindia') === -1 ); //console.log(isIndia && randomNumber As part of this association, there will be a four-hour long concert that will be streamed globally on Facebook onMay 3 at 7:30pm.I for Indias Fundraiser is already active on Facebook and people can donate on fb.me/IforIndiafundraiser. People will also be able to make a donation via the donate button next to the video while watching the concert.

Manish Chopra, Director and Head of Partnerships, Facebook India, said, We recently launched Facebook Fundraisers, that allow people to leverage the full scale and power of the platform, and their passion, to direct resources to initiatives that can protect and save lives. Were grateful to the entertainment industry for coming together for the I for India Concert, which will benefit NGOs and charities that are right now working to provide food, shelter and healthcare to those who need it the most.

Read more:
Facebook partners GiveIndia to host a live concert on May 3 - Times of India

Google is winding down Shoelace, a hyperlocal social networking app it launched last July to help people find others nearby to join them in activities like sports and attending shows. The company said itll close down Shoelace servers on May 12.

The service was available only in New York City, and was an experiment from Area 120, the companys internal incubator for employees potentially big ideas. Google noted that given the current health crisis, we dont feel that now is the right time to invest further in this project, and that it doesnt plan to reboot Shoelace in the future.

Like most 30-somethings who dont always have an easy time meeting new people, I quite liked the idea behind Shoelace: You could join communities to find like-minded folks in your area, and spot editor-curated activities to participate in.

Understandably, Shoelace is likely not seeing much action right now, owing to the coronavirus crisis. Im sad to learn that Google doesnt intend to resurrect it later on but hey, maybe the tides will turn once were out of the woods with this pandemic, and there will be more interest in a service like this.

With that, another product lands six feet under in the Google cemetery. If you used Shoelace much over the past several months, you can export your data via this page before May 12.

Read next: How the coronavirus led to a rise in online Islamophobic hate speech

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Google is shutting down another social network you've never heard of - The Next Web

ByteDance and Tencent are competing to gain ground from each others turf by testing new features on TikTok, Douyin and WeChat in China.

Closer in that region, Megvii, a Chinese facial recognition company plans to get listed on the Nasdaq-styled STAR Market in Shanghai.

We are also looking at the Googles Pixel Buds, and additions features on Androids Fast Pair technology.

Finally, Apples iPhone production may get delayed due to coronavirus and supply chain disruptions.

Google launches new Pixel Buds

Google unveiled its Pixel Buds last October. On Monday, the company said it is selling the clearly white variant in the US for $179 a pair.

The designers scanned over thousands of ears to create the buds that comfortable sit in the ear.

The stabiliser arc tucks in gently, and with the interchangeable eartip, making Pixel Buds fit firmly and securely, so they stay even when you exercise.

The eartips seal the ear to isolate loud outside noises, and to provide high quality audio. A spacial vent under the buds reduces plugged-ear feeling.

The buds come with adaptive sound sensors to dynamically change volume control based on ambient sound or noise. This helps the user from raising or lowering volume by touching the phone or buds while they are on the move.

Adaptive sound works kind of like auto-brightness on your phone screen, Frank Li, UX Engineer at Google said.

It momentarily adjusts to the world around you to make the experience of using your device a little simpler.

Its low-range Bluetooth setting helps the buds to get connected to the phone even when it isnt by the users side. The buds can pair with Bluetooth 4.0+ laptops, tablets and iOS devices. With a Pixel phone and other Android 6.0 devices, they pair with just a single tap.

With Pixel Buds, you get 5 hours of listening time on a single charge, with up to 24 hours with the wireless charging case; and they are sweat and water resistant.

New features in Androids Fast Pair technology

Pairing Bluetooth devices is a common activity. Sometimes the process can get frustrating as the devices wont sync and connect. That tiny dotted circle keeps going round until the connection is established.

A couple years ago, Android launched its Fast Pair feature to make devices connect fast with a single tap. That made it easy for Android 6.0+ phone users to pair Fast Pair-enabled accessories.

Now, Google has added some new features to help you find your lost accessory, know when to charge wire-less earbuds and personalise Bluetooth device.

With the new update, you can now find your Bluetooth headset connected to your phone by ringing them. In case you are using a pair of earbuds, you can now ring one of the missing buds to find where they are.

And, in the coming months, if you misplace your headset, you can know its last known location with Find My Device app, if you have location history turned on.

Next, for earbuds users, you can now know the charge level in your earbuds when you open the case. Your phone will get a notification about the battery charge on each component.

And lastly, the Fast Pair update will name the accessory with your first name after successfully pairing with Bluetooth.

On Android 10 phones, users can adjust headphone settings and link it to Google Assistant.

Apple to delay iPhone production

Apple is pushing back production of its flagship iPhones by about a month as the COVID-19 pandemic has weakened consumer demand and disrupted manufacturing supply chain across Asia, Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the shift.

The Cupertino-headquartered company plans to launch four new iPhone models this year, according to sources. Some of the new models may come with 5G connectivity, and will have different specifications and price points.

Refreshing its product portfolio with new launches play an important part in revenue generation as iPhone sales account for more than half of Apples top line.

The company usually ramps up production by early summer to start selling new iPhone models in mid-September. This plan helps Apple to build up inventory by around August.

This year, however, the production may slide back even as Apple plans to build new phones in the July-to-September period, according to unnamed sources cited by the Journal.

Chinas facial recognition startup plans to go public

Megvii Technology, a controversial facial recognition firm, is considering to go public on the newly opened STAR Market in Shanghai, Reuters reported.

The timing works well for Megvii as the suspicion US-listed Chinese firms are coming under. The listing will mean longer lock-in period and controls on capital. But, it will help in increasing valuations.

Several tech companies in China have stayed away from local exchanges due to long waiting time for listings, caps on IPO pricing, capital controls and profitability requirements.

STAR Market listing may ease many of these rules, but the companys shareholders are subjected to longer lock in period, up to 36 months post listing, compared to six months in New York. And foreign investors require approvals before they repatriate their money out of China after cashing out. Those approvals are usually slower.

But valuations are attractive as the companies listed on STAR Market trade at over 90 times historical earnings.

TikTok to test social networking feature

Bytedance-owned TikTok is testing with a new social networking feature as it competes against WeChat, South China Morning Post reported.

TikToks feature under testing allows users to video call unknown users and play online games with them.

Douyin, another company owned by Bytedance, introduced its connection feature to enable users to connect with random group of other users for a limited time each day. It also matches users on the platform and lets them video conference while playing casual games.

A ByteDance representative to South China Morning post that the Connection function was only being tested in Douyin. TikTok is not enabling a similar function, the representative said.

ByteDances testing comes as it wants to square off against Tencent in the areas of entertainment, telecomputing and gaming.

Tencent, for its part, said that WeChat was testing a short video feature, in a sign on expanding into ByteDances turf.

Continued here:
Todays cache | TikTok is testing social networking feature, and more - The Hindu

Since the dawn of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, misinformation echoed on social networking sites, leading to the formation of conspiracy theories through the mass media.

According to a new study, conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, misinformation making the rounds on social networking sites are more likely to have originated from conservative media outlets, compared to other forms of news media.

The new Annenberg findings, as published in the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, also led to the assumption that television coverage and print news from mainstream media outlets have been considered to be the most reliable throughout the pandemic.

Conservative media coverage, particularly by notable right-leaning figures, often resulted in the endorsement of conspiracy theories and misinformation on how to prevent the virus, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In the study, conservative media consumption correlated with the belief that SARS-CoV-2 was a bioweapon created by the Chinese government. Exposure to conservative media was also associated with the backlash toward the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for purportedly exaggerating the severity of the outbreak in an effort to shake up the U.S. Presidents time in office, the study affirmed.

In an additional instance of misinformation, the findings noted that the spread of usingvitamin Cas a therapeutic intervention for those infected by the coronavirus correlated with conservative media usage.

Moreover, when the research group probed the use of social networking sites, they found higher instances of misinformation in the majority of platforms, including Twitter and Facebook. Those who held the belief that vitamin C served as a form of treatment, asserted negative views of the CDC, and theorized that the virus was purposefully created, were likely social media consumers.

Broadcast news outlets, like NBC and CBS News, reported more accurate information on the pandemic. The same was evident among mainstream print news, like the New York Times, the team of researchers concluded.

Because both information and misinformation can affect behavior, we all ought be doing our part not only to increase essential knowledge about SARS-CoV-2, but also to interdict the spread of deceptions about its origins, prevention, and effects, said Kathleen Jamieson, the Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, in an online statement.

The new research was funded by the Science of Science Communication Endowment of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Ken Winneg, Ph.D., the Managing Director of Survey Research at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania (APPC), also contributed to the study.

Image courtesy of Unsplash

More:
Conservative media and social networking sites are contributing to the spread of COVID-19 misinformation - Mental Daily