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Twitter Tests Tweets That Disappear After 24 Hours

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter is testing a new feature called “fleets” which are tweets that disappear after 24 hours.

According to Twitter, an initial survey of users showed they would be more comfortable “sharing everyday thoughts” if they disappear after 24 hours.

Like tweets, Twitter fleets are based primarily on text, but you also can include videos, GIFs or photos in them. Users’ fleets will appear at the top of their home page and visible to their followers. Other users can reply to a fleet via private direct message or with an emoji.

It sounds like a good idea on the surface, but given that Twitter is a dumpster fire, you can imagine hateful tweets, political lies, etc. all disappearing from the public record. Of course, people can just screenshot them.

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Someone Hacked J.Crew Last Spring and we Only Find Out Today

Andrew Orr ·

According to a notice [PDF] from J.Crew, someone hacked the company last year. For some reason we’re only finding out about it today, a year later.

“The information that would have been accessible in your jcrew.com account includes the last four digits of credit card numbers you have stored in your account, the expiration dates, card types, and billing addresses connected to those cards, and order numbers, shipping confirmation numbers, and shipment status of those orders,” J.Crew’s data breach notification explains.

You know, sometimes when I write about this stuff, like Facebook doing every bad thing under the sun with our data, I stop and think: “Am I just a cynical a**hole?” Then, when yet another idiot company has a data breach, I realize, no I’m just reporting reality. These companies deserve to be named and shamed.

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U.S. Lawmakers Urge UK to Rethink Huawei 5G Involvement

Charlotte Henry ·

Senior U.S Senators have once again urged the British government to not give Huawei any role in the development of the country’s 5G network, Sky News reported. In total, 20 lawmakers from both parties signed the open letter.

In a letter to MPs, the group of US politicians – including both Democrats and Republicans – expressed their “significant concern” with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to hand the Chinese company an infrastructure role. Critics allege Huawei has close links to the Chinese government and its equipment could be used for espionage purposes – something the company has always denied. US President Donald Trump has put trade restrictions on Huawei and previously suggested future intelligence-sharing cooperation with America’s “Five Eyes” allies – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – could be put at risk if the UK worked with the firm.

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Police Chased Criminals Using 'Find My' App

Charlotte Henry ·

We’ve heard a number of stories about how the Apple Watch has alerted people suffering from a heart condition, potentially saving their lives. Now it seems, Apple products are helping fight crime. The Sydney Morning Herald told the story of how the ‘Find My’ app helped police pursue two men, in what ultimately became a fatal police chase.

The victim opened his tracking app, which pinged the iPad, and he began following his stolen Triton. Police called him off before officers tracked the ute and iPad to the Glengala Hotel in Sunshine. The police air wing was called in, but when officers arrived at the scene the ute had been dumped. The iPad, though, began pinging inside the Toyota Kluger. Over the following two hours the men were traced heading to the Sunshine Motor Inn and across the suburb before a brief police pursuit on the Western Ring Road. Police then tracked the Kluger to Tullamarine, Epping, Mernda and Thomastown.