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Yahoo revived email forwarding so you can finally leave
After Yahoo disabled automatic mail forwarding earlier this week, the internet company has flipped the feature back on for all users. The company told Engadget that the move was part of "previously planned maintenance to improve its functionality between a user's various accounts" when it was turned off on Monday. In a blog post announcing the feature had returned, Yahoo apologized for the interruption users experienced over the last few days.
Yahoo email breach could put Verizon deal in jeopardy
After Verizon announced a $4.83 billion deal to acquire former internet giant Yahoo, troubles the former company faced quickly came to light. Now the wireless carrier says that Yahoo's 2014 email breach that affected 500 million users could give it "reasonable basis" to withdraw its bid. Earlier this month, reports surfaced that Verizon was seeking a $1 billion discount on the selling price due to the security ordeal.
Yahoo Mail disabled forwarding, good luck switching now (update)
The Yahoo email hack and government surveillance claims aren't going to go away no matter how much CEO Marissa Mayer wants them to. For users trying to flee the service, the beleaguered internet company is making it rather difficult. That's because since the beginning of the month, the company has disabled email forwarding according to The Associated Press. From the sounds of it, though, it's just for folks who've recently tried the feature, not people who've had it set up prior.
Reuters: Yahoo email scanning done with a Linux kernel module
In the ever evolving saga of Yahoo's email servers and who could peek into them, the latest nugget comes from a Reuters report that the scanning program operated at a deeper level than mail filters for porn or spam. Citing three former employees, it now says the scanning was done via a module attached to the Linux kernel itself. While the more technically-minded wondered why this method would've been employed at all, others like Senator Ron Wyden called for the government to release the FISA order apparently ordering the surveillance.
It's not easy being Yahoo
Remember when Yahoo was great? Yeah, I'm having a hard time, too. Especially in light of the past few weeks, during which the company's house of cards collapsed -- and afterward those cards were set on fire and then pooped on by a passing flock of seagulls who'd had some bad curry.
Silicon Valley bro sues Yahoo for reverse discrimination
This week hasn't been particularly kind to beleaguered internet company Yahoo. CEO Marissa Mayer, former chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt and editor-in-chief of Yahoo News Megan Liberman have been accused of engaging in gender discrimination. According to The Mercury News, a lawsuit has been filed by former editorial director Scott Ard on the grounds that "Mayer encouraged and fostered the use of (an employee performance-rating system) to accommodate management's subjective biases and personal opinions, to the detriment of Yahoo's male employees."
Verizon reportedly looking for a $1 billion discount on Yahoo
Back in July, Verizon (the parent company of Engadget) agreed to acquire (most of) Yahoo for $4.83 billion, and normally, that would be the end of things. However, since then, Yahoo confirmed it suffered a massive security breach in 2014, and reports claim that its security chief quit last year after discovering its participation in bulk US government surveillance of incoming emails. Now, the New York Post cites multiple sources claiming that executive Tim Armstrong is upset about the lack of disclosure and seeking to get out of the deal or cut the price.
NYT: Yahoo reworked its malware scanner for email surveillance
Following a Reuters report that in 2015 Yahoo scanned customer emails for US surveillance, the New York Times has followed up with details from anonymous sources of its own. Although Yahoo responded a day later claiming the initial report was "misleading," the NYT sourced unnamed government officials claiming the company modified a system used to scan all incoming email for malware that stored matching messages and made them available to the FBI.
Yahoo reportedly gave US government access to all users' emails (updated)
According to Reuters, Yahoo provided US intelligence officials access to all of its customers incoming emails last year. The publication's sources claim that the company had to comply with a classified request from the government, which allowed the National Security Agency and FBI to scan "hundreds of millions" of Yahoo Mail accounts.
Yahoo's reworked mobile app is all about sharing news
When you're browsing your Facebook feed (or Flipboard, or Reddit), you probably spend at least some time reading, sharing and commenting on the latest news. What if there was an app dedicated just to that? Yahoo is giving it a shot. It's relaunching its core mobile app as Yahoo Newsroom, which focuses on following news "Vibes" like politics or sports, sharing stories in those threads (from anywhere on the web) and commenting on them. The more Vibes you follow and the more you interact, the more personalized your feed becomes.
Yahoo open-sources machine learning porn filter
Yahoo is the latest tech company to open source its computer vision code. The beleaguered outfit's application for it? Filtering porn. Yahoo hopes that its convolutional neural net (CNN) will empower others to better guard innocent eyes, but admits that because of the tech's very nature (and how the definition of "porn" can vary wildly), that the CNN isn't perfect. "This model is a general purpose reference model, which can be used for the preliminary filtering of pornographic images," a post on the Yahoo Engineering Tumblr says. "We do not provide guarantees of accuracy of output, rather, we make this available for developers to explore and enhance as an open source project." The code is available on Github at the moment, and if you need any testing material, well, there isn't exactly a shortage of it on Tumblr. Just ask Indonesia.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 8: He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot
On this week's episode managing editor Dana Wollman, reviews editor Cherlynn Low and senior editor Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to discuss Elon Musk's plans to colonize Mars, racing 3D boats in Red Hook and the over-simplification of "the cyber" at the first presidential debate.
Yahoo reportedly downplayed security for years
That massive Yahoo hack might have been less of a one-off disaster and more a symptom of larger, systemic problems with security at the internet pioneer. New York Times sources claim that Yahoo made security a relatively low priority for years, prioritizing convenience when possible and reacting only after serious incidents (such as bug bounties following an account breach in 2012). Reportedly, the company even skipped out on safeguards that are considered virtually mandatory in many places -- CEO Marissa Mayer rejected a password reset out of concern that it would drive users away from Yahoo Mail.
UK broadband customers also affected by Yahoo hack
Yahoo might not be quite as big in the UK as it is in the US, but that doesn't mean the shockwaves from the company's enormous hack won't be felt on the both sides of the Atlantic. In total, 500 million users were affected by the 2014 breach, which was only confirmed yesterday, and some of those accounts may belong to people who use email services provided by UK broadband and TV providers BT and Sky.
Yahoo confirms over 500 million users affected in 2014 breach
Yahoo has confirmed reports that it was the victim of a major hack in late 2014, which has led to some 500 million user accounts being compromised. The story first broke way back in August when a hacker known as Peace was promising to sell 200 million usernames, passwords, birthdates and email addresses for less than $2,000. At the time, Yahoo had refused to confirm or deny if the attack was legitimate to users, a delay which has given nefarious types almost two months head start on their prey.
'League of Legends' fuels college rivalries with live broadcasts
You no longer have to head to a basketball or football game to see your favorite college sports rivalry play out. Yahoo eSports and Riot Games' uLoL are partnering on a series of five League of Legends live broadcasts that will pit players from major North American schools against each other once a week, starting November 4th at 6PM Eastern. You vote for your favorite rivalries among 12, ranging from Cal/Stanford to Harvard/Yale -- the top 5 go on to in-person competitions that Yahoo will stream online. There will even be viewing parties at each school if you'd rather watch with fellow students. While there's no certainty that these college MOBA match-ups will be as intense as the conventional kind, it's safe to say that there's a lot of pride on the line.
Hulu is ending the free version of its streaming service
Hulu is eliminating the ad-supported free streaming service it has offered over nearly a decade.
Yahoo researchers built a powerful new online abuse detector
A team of researchers at Yahoo Labs have plumbed the depths of their company's massive comment sections to come up with something that might actually be useful for detecting and eventually curbing rampant online abuse. Using a first-of-its-kind data set built from offensive article comments flagged by Yahoo editors, the research team was able to develop an algorithm that, according Technology Review, is the best automated abuse filter built to date.
Yahoo launches its redesigned Messenger app for desktops
Okay, this isn't the biggest news you'll hear from Yahoo this week, but bear with us -- it's important if you still rely on Yahoo for your messaging needs. The internet pioneer has released its long-in-development redesign of Yahoo Messenger for the desktop, giving the software both a much fresher look and a handful of big new features that you don't always see in personal chat clients. You can unsend messages, for example -- good for those overly hasty reactions or correcting mistakes. You can also search for GIF replies (much like you might in Slack), like posts and share numerous photos at once just by dragging them into the conversation.
Verizon is buying struggling giant Yahoo for $4.83 billion
After months of gesturing and negotiations, Yahoo has finally found a buyer: Verizon. The mobile operator, which is also the parent company of AOL and Engadget, confirmed today that it will pay $4.83 billion for Yahoo's web business. All of the company's advertising, content, search and mobile operations will be transferred to Verizon and merged with AOL.
