Facebook lessens the role editors play in its Trending Topics feature

Facebook is tweaking the way its Trending Topics feature is curated. After coming under fire for supposed bias of certain political stories from the US, the social media company has opted to not let their editors write headlines or summaries for the articles that make the list. While editors still vet the list, Facebook will rely heavily on the algorithm that culls the articles, which is based on how often users post or share certain stories. What you’ll be seeing this time is comments from the users and excerpt from the actual article.

Facebook’s post on these changes also shows their reaction regarding the alleged bias the company has: “Earlier this year, we shared more information about Trending in response to questions about alleged political bias in the product. We looked into these claims and found no evidence of systematic bias. Still, making these changes to the product allows our team to make fewer individual decisions about topics. Facebook is a platform for all ideas, and we’re committed to maintaining Trending as a way for people to access a breadth of ideas and commentary about a variety of topics.”

Apple launches Apps et jeux en français on the Canadian App Store

Apple has added 'Apps et jeux en français' to tis Canadian App Store to highlight Canadian-made apps and content with specific curated lists of apps that best represent this genre of Canadian contant. 

Some of the collections featured this week include:

• Apps créées au Québec (Apps Made in Quebec) 
• Préparez la rentrée (Get Ready for School) including apps for teachers and older students (productivity, organization, note taking etc.)
• De nouveaux lieux à explorer (Go Somewhere New): collections of apps  including Explore Western Canada, Explore Eastern Canada, Explore Atlantic Canada, as well as excellent apps to help plan your trips to new places (including Airbnb, Packing Pro, KAYAK, Turo, and more)
• Apps et jeux pour la longue fin de semaine (Apps and Games for the Long Weekend)
• Jeux créés à Montréal (Games Created in Montreal)

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Singapore starts testing autonomous taxis on its roads

A few self-driving Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Renault Zoe are shuttling around a few dozen Singaporeans for free with this new trial run by a company called nuTonomy. The company, which spun off from MIT in 2013 has offices in Massachusetts and Singapore, is testing out its autonomous vehicle technology in a 2.5-square-mile residential area called “One-North” with an end goal of lessening traffic congestion in the city state. The taxis are equipped with six Lidar sets and two cameras to help it keep track of obstacles, lanes, and traffic light changes. There is also an engineer onboard to help make sure everything stays safe.

The company hopes to open the trials to thousands of users in the coming months and launch as early as 2018. What they are testing and gathering now is data related to “software system performance, vehicle routing efficiency, the vehicle booking process, and the overall passenger experience.” A bug has been noted by an Associated Press reporter who noticed that the safety driver had to hit the brakes when a parked vehicle moved suddenly into an oncoming lane.

Source: Engadget

BMW introduces new camera surveillance tech

Perhaps to help keep watch of your car when it’s parked in relatively sketchy places or to help you park the car while you’re outside of it, BMW is developing new camera surveillance technology for its vehicles. The German automaker sent out a photo showing off a user making use of the Remote View 3D from a smartphone. But they didn’t really release other information on it. What it has also given us though is a quick peek at the upcoming BMW 5 Series. This tech makes use of multiple cameras expected to come to the new BMW 5 and possibly more of BMW’s automobiles.

And while we don’t know much about it yet, it might be able to work like the Cadillac CT6’s camera, which makes use of different vehicle sensors to turn the car into a dashcam that’ll be able to record what happens when the vehicle is disturbed.

Source: CNET