Files from Jori Negin-Shecter
Apple rolls out its brand new iOS 15, Facebook disputes Wall Street Journal allegations of toxicity, and AI is changing the real estate game.
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It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, September 21, and I’m your host, Samira Balsara.
Apple released the latest version of its mobile operating system on Monday. iOS 15 features significant changes to its predecessors. A few big new features include the expansion of Facetime to allow Windows and Android users to join calls via a link in a similar fashion to Zoom. Additionally, iOS 15 also introduces brand new levels of integration for its Messaging feature and has enhanced object recognition capabilities in photos, including text, via new AI magic. Other highlights include better user security and privacy protections, as well as an upcoming feature that will allow users to watch videos with others over FaceTime.
Facebook has criticized a number of allegations made by the Wall Street Journal following a deep dive by the publication into the company. The allegations particularly stem from a series of articles titled “The Facebook Files,” which overview internal Facebook documents, research, draft presentations, and online employee discussions. Most importantly, the findings of the internal documents show that Facebook has done little to change the host of “flaws” that “cause harm, often in ways only the company fully understands.” Facebook has been under heat in recent weeks after an internal study showed that Instagram caused significant mental health issues for its users, particularly young teenage girls. Facebook has said that the allegations contain “deliberate mischaracterizations” that “confer egregiously false motives to Facebook’s leadership and employees.” Facebook also claims that the research they have found does not demonstrate that the mental health issues are “widespread,” and that many of those issues are not “easy to address.”
Finally, AI appears to be taking over the Real Estate landscape. According to a deep dive by CNBC, companies such as Zillow and Compass are employing AI to help homebuyers find mortgages and homes. The companies credit AI’s ability to more thoroughly and accurately look through all relevant information, including property values, debt levels, and even a homeowner’s personal information, to better provide the resources their customers need. Key players in the field, such as the CEO of an online loan company LoanSnap, explains that despite pervasive fears of AI across all sectors, the introduction of AI to the sphere of homeownership has helped consumers in a meaningful way. Most importantly, according to chief technology officer at Compass Joseph Sirosh, the introduction of AI has taken much of the stress out of buying a home.
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. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Friday at 3 pm. If you have a suggestion or tip, please drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Samira Balsara.