Important announcements
Russia will disconnect from the internet as part of an experiment
Russian authorities are planning an experiment that involves disconnecting all local users from the internet. The purpose of this test is to get feedback and maybe provide modifications to a law proposed back in December 2018. According to the faforementioned law, Russian telecom companies are required to come up with the technical means to re-route all local internet traffic to exchange points that have been previously approved by Roskomnazor, the country’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media.
You can read more here.
All US data from email provider VFEmail was destroyed by an unknown hacker
The attacker deleting nearly two decades’ worth of emails, the company said. VFEmail owner Rick Romero noted that the hack targeted the “entire infrastructure”. It was no indication that the hacker had warned or contacted the site for any sort of ransom or demand before the attack happened, suggesting the point all along was to completely wipe out the webmail service.
More info are available here.
Google, Facebook will be required to compensate publishers and creators under new EU copyright rules
The European Union will rewrite its copyright rules which will force Google and Facebook to share revenue with the creative and media industries and remove copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram. Google, which has lobbied intensively against both features and even suggested that it may eliminate Google News from Europe, said it would study the text before deciding on its next steps.
You can read more here.
Top new products
Samsung Galaxy M30
Samsung Galaxy M30 will have an Infinity-V AMOLED display, a 16MP front-facing camera and a triple camera system on the back. It will come with Exynos 7904 processor and 6GB of RAM.
More info here.
LG Q9 One
The phone has 6.1-inch QHD+ display, a 3,000mAh battery and 4GB of RAM. It comes with a 16 MP camera on the back and an 8MP front camera.
More info here.
Huawei Y6 Pro 2019
The phone has a 6.1 inches HD+ display, 3GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage. It comes with Helio A22 processor and PowerVR Rogue GE8300 GPU.
More info here.
Top interesting info
Facebook could face a multibillion-dollar FTC fine over Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook and officials at the Federal Trade Commission are in discussions negotiating a multibillion-dollar fine. Until now, the largest fine ever imposed by the FTC was a $22.5 million penalty on Google back in 2012 after regulators determined the search giant had tracked users of the Safari web browser.
You can read more here.
Instagram is testing support for Direct messages on the web
Instagram will implement the option for web users to send direct messages, on both desktop and mobile. The news comes after the announcement of Facebook’s plan to unite its messaging services, allowing Instagram users to message Facebook and/or WhatsApp users.
More info can be found here.
Google Maps’ augmented reality navigation is now available for some users
With this new experience, users will have live camera view covering most of the screen with an overlay of animated indicators for directions. The feature will need “more testing” before it’s available to everyone, said Google.
You can read more here.
