1. Critics Blame Facebook for Trump Win
Mark Zuckerberg is taking a hit, as critics are blaming Facebook for Trump’s win in the election. People are saying Facebook’s hoax stories are to blame because they fed lies to the public and provided misleading information. Zuckerberg retaliated saying, “Of all the content on Facebook, more than 99% of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes. The hoaxes that do exist are not limited to one partisan view, or even to politics.”
So he’s pretty much saying these few hoaxes couldn’t have possibly turned the outcome of the election around. Additionally, Zuckerberg added that combating these stories are more difficult than one may realize, because some stories may have the general idea, but word it wrong or leave out important details. However, individuals are still saying “not good enough.” Hard crowd.
(Source: Mashable)
2. Google Adds New Features to Compete with Competitors
Does anyone use Google Play Music? Nowadays, music seems to center around Spotify, but Google is revamping its app and adding some cool features. Imagine going to a gym and a workout playlist pops up or taking a trip to Japan and local cultured songs cruise through. Google Play Music uses items like location, weather, and daily activities to “serve up a smorgasbord of playlists to match your mood and moment.” If you don’t currently use the app, you’ll have to try it for a bit so it can catch up on your mood and daily life habits. But once it gets into your rhythm, it should be quick to play songs you’re “feeling” at the moment. However, you can opt-out of the tracking feature if it seems a little creepy knowing Google is stalking you. Otherwise, it sounds like a neat feature.
(Source: The Verge)
3. School Helps Students Land Jobs at Big-Name Tech Companies
Holberton School in San Francisco is a two-year alternative course for programmers. The school is for anyone headed towards a tech career that shuns lecture style classrooms without real-world experience. “[It’s] split into three parts: Nine months of training on software engineering fundamentals, a six-month internship and nine more months focused on specialization.” Set up like a real startup environment, the school even offers mentors such as senior software engineer at LinkedIn, Neha Jain.
Companies like Apple and LinkedIn usually shy away from hiring graduates, because they lack the essential real-life workplace skills needed for the job. This is where Holberton School comes in, minimizing this gap so the U.S. can stay competitive in tech, hiring locally instead of reaching for talent abroad. When the school first launched, students didn’t have to pay tuition, but now newer students entering the program have the option of being charged 17% of their salary when landing a job to pay back the school. Sylvain Kalache, the co-founder of Holberton, claims they don’t factor in “age, race, gender, past professional experience or school experience” in the selection process
(Source: CNN)
