Smartphones reduce cognitive capacity – Research

New research indicates that our cognitive capacity is reduced whenever our phones are within reach—whether it’s turned on or off. Adrian Ward and coauthors conducted experiments with nearly 800 smartphone users in an attempt to measure, for the first time, how well people can complete tasks when they have their smartphones nearby, even when they’re […]

Germany votes for €50 million social media fines

Social media companies in Germany face fines of up to 50m euros ($57.1; £43.9m) if they fail to remove “obviously illegal” content in time. From October, Facebook, YouTube, and other sites with more than two million users in Germany must take down posts containing hate speech or other criminal material within 24 hours. Content that […]

More than two billion active users now subscribe to Facebook monthly

Facebook now has more than two billion monthly active users, the social network has revealed. The figure, cementing the site’s place as one of the most popular web services in the world, comes just 13 years after the platform was created in the Harvard University dormitory of co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg posted: “As of this […]