One of the internet’s longest and silliest debates returns, Clearview AI says it suffered a data breach because of course it did, and it turns out Tesla’s Autopilot was one of the “probable causes” of a deadly crash in 2018.
 |
 |
 |
The J.M. Smucker Company, which makes Jif, has teamed up with Giphy to release a special jar of Jif peanut butter that replaces the classic Jif branding on the label with “Gif.” By placing the special edition jar next to a normal jar of Jif, the company says it’s more than just clever advertising, but another attempt to highlight the way each word should be said. While it clearly makes more sense to pronounce Gif with a hard G since GIF stands for “Graphics Interchange Format.” But despite the logic behind that idea – Reddit mostly appears to agree with me – the creator of the GIF, Steve Wilhite, has said that the acronym “GIF” should be pronounced “Jif.” And now I have a headache.
After entering the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, Clearview AI says it suffered a data breach this week. The facial-recognition software maker that sparked privacy concerns recently says the data stolen included its entire list of customers, the number of searches those customers have made and how many accounts each customer had set up. In a statement to CNET, Clearview’s attorney said “Security is Clearview’s top priority. Unfortunately, data breaches are part of life in the 21st century. Our servers were never accessed. We patched the flaw, and continue to work to strengthen our security.”
And lastly, after nearly a two-year investigation, it turns out Tesla’s autopilot driver assistance program was among the “probable causes” of a deadly crash in 2018, according to The National Transportation Safety Board. The Mountain View, California, crash was caused in part by limits of the autopilot’s vision-based processing system. Additionally, Tesla’s mechanism to ensure drivers pay attention while using the system was insufficient. Apple, Tesla and road-safety regulators were all criticized in the report.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing.