Media

The M.I.T. Media Lab, an unconventional research center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been under scrutiny since August, when its financial ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became public. Now researchers who worked at the lab say that one of its high-profile scientific projects was promoted with misleading claims. At the center of the project — the Open Agricultural Initiative, called OpenAg for short — is the development of a device known as a personal food computer, a high-tech, climate-controlled mini greenhouse meant to allow crops to thrive in thin air, without soil or sunlight. The project is led by Caleb Harper, an architect listed as a principal research scientist on the Media Lab website. Advisers for OpenAg have included Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of the Media Lab, and Joichi Ito, who was the lab’s director from 2011 until this month, when he resigned under pressure after the disclosure of his efforts to conceal … [Read more...] about M.I.T. Media Lab, Already Rattled by the Epstein Scandal, Has a New Worry

SAN FRANCISCO — For years, people who use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have chased Likes as a status symbol. More Likes on a social media post meant it was popular, engaging and worthwhile. To gain Likes, people were sometimes motivated to post messages and videos that they had calibrated to go viral. That helped lead to a proliferation of violent, radical or otherwise extremist content on social media that set tongues wagging. Now Facebook is moving to limit the importance of Likes and other metrics. On Thursday, the social network said it was starting a test in Australia, where people’s Likes, video view counts and other measurements of posts would become private to other users. It is the first time the company has announced plans to hide the numbers on its platform. Facebook said it had not decided whether to roll out the experiment beyond Australia. “We will gather feedback to understand whether this change will improve people’s experiences,” said … [Read more...] about Facebook Tests Hiding ‘Likes’ on Social Media Posts

“I don’t want to be rude,” Mr. Mason replied. “I just wanted you to have a chance to answer the question that I asked you.” Again, Mr. Trump deflected — this time with a verbal fusillade against journalists. “I’ve answered everything,” the president said. (He hadn’t.) “It’s a whole hoax, and you know who’s playing into the hoax? People like you and the fake news media that we have in this country — and, I say in many cases, the corrupt media, because you’re corrupt. Much of the media in this country is not just fake, it’s corrupt.” Mr. Mason seems to have a knack for standing out at Finland-related events: Last year, he drew attention for a series of tough questions to Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during their summit in Helsinki. His calm on Wednesday won praise from fellow journalists. “Jeff Mason is a total pro,” a Washington Post reporter, Michael … [Read more...] about Reporter’s Question, Repeated, Launches Trump on Latest Media Attack

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Vivian Yee and Hwaida Saad, who report on the Middle East and are based in Beirut, Lebanon, discussed the tech they’re using. Vivian, you were previously a New York metro reporter and a national immigration reporter. How has your use of tech changed in covering the Middle East? Vivian: Living in Beirut, I’m lucky I can still get access to most of the same tech products I used back in the United States. The internet isn’t censored the way it is for some of our colleagues in other parts of the world, for instance, although the quality of my internet connection in Lebanon leaves something (O.K., a lot!) to be desired. But I cover a region where many governments control the internet and monitor communications to a degree that would be unimaginable to anyone living in the United States. In Egypt, for instance, certain websites considered independent or critical of the … [Read more...] about When Social Media Becomes a Wartime Necessity

James Murdoch, the former chief executive of 21st Century Fox, has taken a small stake in Vice Media, the irreverent media brand focused on millennials and entertainment. Mr. Murdoch, who already sits on Vice’s board, made the investment as part of Vice’s recent acquisition of Refinery29, a women’s lifestyle publisher, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the deal is meant to be private. The investment, which was first reported by The Financial Times, is through Mr. Murdoch’s holding company, Lupa Systems. He formed Lupa after leaving 21st Century Fox, the media giant founded by his father, Rupert Murdoch. Last year, the family sold off the majority of Fox’s assets to the Walt Disney Company for more than $70 billion. The younger Murdoch, who personally netted about $2 billion from that sale, has invested in a diverse group of media businesses that looks very different from the one his father founded. He is also … [Read more...] about James Murdoch Buys a Stake in Vice Media