Critics Love HomePod's Sound but Rap Its Smarts

Critics have begun weighing in on Apple's HomePod smart speaker, and they're loving the device's sound but don't have much affection for its smarts. The HomePod's sound outclassed top-shelf competitor SonosOne, according to Matthew Panzarino. "The HomePod was the 'best' sounding. It's nuanced and subtle with great separation and clarity across all kinds of music," he wrote. "The One, for instance, had decent mid range but an overly bright high-end with just the out of the box calibration."

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Former Execs Team Up to Fight the Tech Addiction Monster

A group of former Facebook, Google and Mozilla executives have joined forces to establish the Center for Humane Technology, a new organization dedicated to combating the growing problem of addictive behavior among social media users. The new center, along with the children's advocacy group Common Sense, has announced a campaign to help change the social media model. Its goal is to lessen the negative impact of automation and other technologies on the development of children and young adults.

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WiFi Routers Riddled With Holes: Report

Most WiFi router vendors have not patched numerous firmware vulnerabilities discovered more than two years ago, according to a report released Tuesday. OEM firmware built into WiFi routers use open source components that contain numerous known security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, it notes. Insignary conducted comprehensive binary code scans for known security vulnerabilities in WiFi routers. The company conducted scans across a spectrum of the firmware used by the most popular home, SMB and enterprise-class WiFi routers.

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Intel's Smart Peepers Look Smart, Too

Intel has designed a pair of smart glasses that won't make you look like a hopeless geek. Called "Vaunt," the peepers, which are still in the prototype phase, look like ordinary glasses, save for a faint, red glimmer that occasionally appears on the right lens. Information sent to the glasses appear to be displayed on a screen but in reality is beamed to the retina of a wearer's eye. "The prototypes I wore in December also felt virtually indistinguishable from regular glasses," Dieter Bohn wrote in a hands-on review.

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Amazon's Soaring Healthcare Ambition: The Promise and the Problem

Healthcare is a mess in the United States. Consumers pay more and get less than in most other developed countries. Strong comprehensive healthcare is unaffordable for most without substantial help, which is why putting the burden on the government really does not work. If people cannot afford something, individually aggregating it under what amounts to a tax is not really any better -- and given the extra overhead, arguably is worse. What's needed is a way to bring costs down sharply.

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How a company founded by ex-spies uses AI to fight hackers

Cybersecurity firm Darktrace uses artificial intelligence to stop cyber attacks before they even start.

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Skype Comes to Linux in a Snap

Canonical has announced the availability of Skype as a Snap file, the universal Linux app packaging format. The release means that Skype can deliver its communication service to a wider range of Linux users, not just those who run Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution. Skype, a Microsoft product, is an application that lets users make video and voice calls, and send files, video and instant messages. Skype-to-Skype calls are free anywhere in the world. Premium features like voicemail, or calls to landlines and cellphones carry a cost.

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HighGround CEO Andee Harris: Find Your People

"Human capital management is the idea that your humans are your capital, and so you should be investing in them and managing them, making sure that you're giving your talent opportunities to grow, and that they have purpose in their work," said HighGround CEO Andee Harris. "Human resources is more about HR benefits and core HR systems," she noted, while HCM "is more about people systems. ... Human capital management is the idea that your humans are your capital."

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Facebook Is Gobbling Less of Users' Time

The social media industry may have to struggle to rehydrate in light of some surprising and troubling metrics Facebook released on Wednesday. In addition to a pause in user growth, there have been signs that user engagement may have reversed course. The decline may have something to do with Facebook's efforts to recover from accusations that it has provided fertile ground for fake news. CEO Mark Zuckerberg last month promised to steer the company toward refocusing on the user experience.

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Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JP Morgan Aim to Untangle Employee Healthcare Knot

Three corporate giants on Tuesday announced they were banding together to provide healthcare for their 1.1 million employees. The companies -- Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase -- plan to form a company "free from profit-making incentives and constraints" in order to improve employee satisfaction with their healthcare coverage as well as reduce costs. The company initially will focus on technology solutions that provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost.

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