Friday, 14 February 2020

Editor's Pick: It's Time for a Social Media and Disinformation Reckoning

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Editor's Pick

February 14, 2020

It's Time for a Social Media and Disinformation Reckoning

Can social media be saved? Can democracy be saved? The first question may seem less compelling than the second, but to some very worried observers, they are intimately entwined. Social networking -- on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a host of other online networks -- is the root of all current cultural evils, in the eyes of some critics.

As part of a comprehensive virtual discussion on the state of technology in 2020, we put two central questions to ECT's panel of industry insiders in an effort to tease apart some of these tangled issues. We asked them to identify the biggest problems with social media and to propose some potential solutions.

Televerde's Michelle Cirocco: 'Invest in Disempowered Populations'

Televerde trains and employs women incarcerated in Arizona and Indiana, and it offers many of them employment when they leave prison. Michelle Cirocco, Televerde's chief social responsibility officer, spoke with the E-Commerce Times about the the long-term benefits of Televerde's program.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

3 Ways Agent Experience is Boosting Customer Experience

Discover how you can empower your agents to provide a 5-star experience to every customer. On demand Webinar featuring Lori Bocklund of Strategic Contact and additional resources.

Read more
get.niceincontact.com

Customer Retention Blooms Again

Brightback recently published a report on customer churn and what more than 400 subscription companies say they're doing about it. Its findings are in line with many other sources, and the data deserves an examination.

Latest E-Commerce Trend: The Rise of Shoppable Posts

Core business-to-consumer platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and business-to-business platforms like LinkedIn, are not meeting consumer expectations, but all of them are adopting or currently developing shoppable strategies to make them more competitive with the likes of Amazon.

The Clear and Present Ransomware Danger

Ransomware incidents increased sharply in 2019. Almost as many ransomware threats were detected in the first three months of 2019 as in the whole of 2018, Trend Micro reported. The rise of Ransomware as a Service could explain why losses due to ransomware have been increasing.

Career Advice

Free Best Practices: How to Make Yourself Indispensable

How hard would it be for your employer to find someone that can do what you can do, but for less? The way to counteract that is to do everything possible to show your company how indispensable you really are. Download this article to find out how.

Read more
ecommercetimes.tradepub.com

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You can finally buy the 'Nintendo PlayStation' prototype

Engadget Email Newsletter

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It's Friday, February 14, 2020.

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

If you can outbid Palmer Luckey then maybe you can get one of the rarest items in gaming history: a working “PlayStation” unit with a CD-ROM and SNES controller. As of this writing, the price of the Nintendo PlayStation prototype has reached $360k, and there are about 20 days left. Good luck!

-- Richard

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‘It’s all about the light.’

Researchers find a way to 3D print tiny objects in seconds

Swiss researchers have developed a technique that forms a solid resin structure in one go, rather than segment by segment, as is the case with traditional 3D printing. They do it by illuminating the photosensitive resin from multiple angles, using algorithms to target the laser beams as needed.

Right now, they’re only making small 2cm structures, but they believe it can scale up to 15cm. Because of the way it works, sterile production is possible, and they’re already thinking of using it to make soft objects like mouthguards or hearing aids.

And the Razr’s really bad timing.

Engadget Podcast: Breaking down the Samsung fest and MWC mess

Cherlynn is joined by senior mobile editor Chris Velazco (Devindra is off on vacation, yay!) to talk about all of the new Galaxy phones (Flip Z or S20) and commiserate over no longer going to Barcelona. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Pocket Casts or Stitcher.

Easily Wacom’s most affordable graphics display.

Wacom One review: A great, no-frills drawing tablet for budding artists

A graphics tablet for beginners, the Wacom One takes most of what’s good from its pricier models and shrinks it down. You’ll miss things like touch or shortcut buttons, but at $400...

This sentence search engine is a must-have tool for writers

You can battle the Combine again in just a few weeks.

Valve is releasing 'Half Life: Alyx' on March 23rd

That sequel you’ve been dreaming of, well, we have no idea about Half Life 3 still. But to keep you going, the VR-centered Half Life: Alyx is coming in just over a month. Information is still scarce on the game itself -- hopefully we’ll hear more in the coming weeks.

There's glue. Lots of glue.

Motorola's foldable Razr is unsurprisingly hard to repair

With foldable smartphones far from the norm, a lot of us are understandably wary of making such a sizeable investment in something that's still relatively unpredictable. If it goes wrong, how much of a hassle -- and how much -- will it be to repair? According to iFixit's recent teardown, don’t expect to repair the new Razr at all.

The teardown reveals small gaps between the phone's hinge and display on each side. Similar gaps, iFixit says, to those that contributed to the demise of some of the first Galaxy Folds. But as the team notes, the gap only appears midway through the folding action, so it may be no cause for concern.

There’s a lot of glue involved, and it got the glorious repairability score of… one out of ten.

"There ain't no getting off this (hype) train we on."

Watch the opening to 'Final Fantasy VII Remake' right here

I’m contractually obliged to write about all developments to do with the remake of Final Fantasy VII, because 13-year-old Mat takes control of all motor functions at the mere mention of the RPG. Early today, we got an intro movie that’s the same but different. Watch for yourself.

The first phones other than the Galaxy S20 with LPDDR5 RAM.

Xiaomi's Mi 10 flagships feature 108MP cameras and 30W wireless charging

Xiaomi has unveiled its new flagship devices, the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, which feature the 30W wireless charging capability it debuted with the Mi 9 Pro 5G, last year. The Mi 10 phones are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 platform and feature WiFi 6, along with Bluetooth 5 and NFC connections. They have a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and ambient sensors on both sides.

Both are available for pre-order now, depending on where you live, but the bad news is that we haven’t heard anything yet about Mi Mix Alpha and its wild wraparound screen.

But wait, there's more...

1. Updated sales figures show that Capcom is back on top

2. Yamaha's tiny THR10 II Wireless guitar amp gets everything right but the price

3. Last month was the hottest January on record

4. Justice Department charges Huawei with stealing trade secrets, again

5. Google announces five Stadia games, including 'Panzer Dragoon: Remake'

6. Puerto Rico's government lost $2.6 million to a phishing scam

7. Volkswagen's EV fast chargers can be deployed anywhere there's power

8. Judge grants Amazon's request to put Microsoft's 'Jedi' Pentagon contract on hold

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