The official Twitter app for Mac got an upgrade. It added Touch Bar shortcuts and now supports integration with an iPad via Sidecar, Cult of Mac reported.

The version 8.5 update makes it so that you can put Twitter for Mac on your iPad when using Sidecar. It also adds some (but not many) Touch Bar shortcuts for those using a MacBook Pro. Touch Bar support is basic for now. You’ll see a compose tweet button, plus a toggle that lets you quickly switch between your most recent and most relevant timelines. There’s a lot of empty space for now. Nevertheless, it’s a good start. Future updates will likely add other useful buttons for things like direct messages, search, lists, and more.

Apple has been granted a patent for a variable internal illumination color system, according to Patently Apple. Such a system could be used in keyboards and other devices.

Apple’s granted patent covers devices, systems and methods that implement variable internal illumination of input devices of electronic equipment. Input devices include keys of computer keyboards, contact areas on a contact pad (trackpad), buttons on instrument control panels, buttons on a computer mouse, and the like. Rather than having a fixed tone (such as a perceived “warmth” or “coolness”, and/or a particular color component such as a hue) or color for the light emitted by the internal illumination, user experience can be improved by using variable internal illumination, i.e., internal illumination that can be varied dynamically during operation of the electronic device.

Facebook banned “deepfakes” on Monday. However, as The Guardian reported, its updated policy left plenty of loopholes for misinformation to get through.

The policy explicitly covers only misinformation produced using AI, meaning “shallow fakes” – videos made using conventional editing tools – though frequently just as misleading, are still allowed on the platform. The new policy, announced on Monday by Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, will result in the removal of misleading video from Facebook and Instagram if it meets two criteria: It has been edited or synthesised … in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say. […] It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.

Reports coming from Korea, picked up MacRumors, indicate that the 2020 iPhone will likely have thinner displays. They could also be more power-efficient too.

This mirrors a recent report from Korean website ETNews, which claimed that so-called iPhone 12 Pro models will adopt a technology that allows touchscreen circuitry to be directly patterned on the OLED panel without the need for a separate layer, resulting in a thinner display and lower production costs. ETNews said a lower-cost 6.1-inch model, presumably the iPhone 12, will stick with a traditional film-based display. It is unclear if thinner displays would translate to thinner iPhones as a whole this year.

Google has faced internal staff protests and criticism in recent times over its approach to human rights both at home and abroad. The firm’s former head of international relations, Ross LaJeunesse, revealed on Thursday his concerns in this area prompted him to quit.

Each time I recommended a Human Rights Program, senior executives came up with an excuse to say no. At first, they said human rights issues were better handled within the product teams, rather than starting a separate program. But the product teams weren’t trained to address human rights as part of their work. When I went back to senior executives to again argue for a program, they then claimed to be worried about increasing the company’s legal liability. We provided the opinion of outside experts who re-confirmed that these fears were unfounded. At this point, a colleague was suddenly re-assigned to lead the policy team discussions for Dragonfly. As someone who had consistently advocated for a human rights-based approach, I was being sidelined from the on-going conversations on whether to launch Dragonfly. I then realized that the company had never intended to incorporate human rights principles into its business and product decisions. Just when Google needed to double down on a commitment to human rights, it decided to instead chase bigger profits and an even higher stock price.