This week, Apple Music’s new Base:Line playlist for indie musicians, Microsoft’s new version of its Edge browser, and Tokyo Dark’s arrival on the PS4. But first, global companies are unwittingly advertising on videos spreading climate misinformation.

Major corporations are advertising on climate misinformation videos

A new report online activist site Avaaz claims that major global corporations are unwittingly advertising on YouTube videos promoting misinformation about climate change.

Avaaz suggests that YouTube’s algorithms are to blame, and that if someone happens to see a video with misinformation, they are more likely to have similar videos recommended to them, something referred to as a “bubble of misinformation”.

The Avaaz team conducted searches on YouTube using the terms “global warming”, “climate change”, and “climate manipulation” and analyzed the results that were provided.

The report includes a number of recommendations to YouTube, including fixing the recommendation algorithm by removing any video with climate misinformation from the list of videos that can be recommended, by ensuring that misinformation content cannot be monetized, and by flagging videos that contain misinformation.

In a statement to the Guardian, YouTube said that advertisers had control over where ads could run and that the company was working to bolster the list of “borderline content” that would not be included in recommendations.

Apple Music and the NBA want you to discover new hip hop artists

Apple Music is supporting emerging hip hop musicians with a new iniative. Base:Line is the result of a partnership with the NBA.

Ebro Darden, Beats 1 DJ and one of Apple Music’s music directors, will be curating the music that appears on the Base:Line playlist, which is available to Apple Music subscribers as well as on NBA digital platforms, where music from the playlist will be streaming.

“NBA players come from the same communities that the music does, that is why the artists and the players feel connected. Many artists wanted to make it to the NBA before their life took a turn,” said Darden in a statement from Apple. “Base:Line is a playlist that gets closer to the community where the artist and the music is beginning.”

One of the significant aspects of the playlist is that music being selected is coming from independent artists. “When you are an indie artist, having your music on the right playlist at the right time is key,” Darden notes on the playlist page. “Base:Line is designed to be that key.”

Microsoft’s new version of Edge browser built on Chromium

In another move that signifies its willingness to play nicely with others, Microsoft’s new browser, Edge, has been redesigned using Google’s Chromium software.

First released in 2015 to replace Internet Explorer, Microsoft has rebuilt Edge with Chromium because the company wants to be everywhere, and the Chromium source code means that you can download and use Edge on virtually all computers, including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS systems.

As with Chrome and Firebox, favourites, settings, and passwords will sync across your devices; they are tied to your Microsoft login.

Where Edge has the edge – sorry – is that it’s got anti-tracking built in, to prevent website from following you around the internet and knowing where you’ve been. This functionality will be coming to Google’s Chrome, but not for a couple of years.

Tokyo Dark blends anime and horror with murder mystery RPG

A new role-playing game has launched on the PS4. Tokyo Dark, which is also available on the Nintendo Switch, is a murder mystery set in Tokyo. You become Detective Ito Ayami, who is investigating the disappearance of her partner.

The game has a distinct anime style, and the mystery that’s been crafted here has shades of sophistication.

This is a low-key RPG, so you don’t need any twitch response or FPS control skill. Instead, in playing the game you’ll be searching environments and choosing dialogue when having conversations with characters. There are a moments where your time to make a decision is limited, which provides just the right amount of quickening.

But the controls on the PS4 version are strange, to say the least. When presented with a number of options to look at something or initiate a conversation, you select the thing you want to do using the right bumper, but then you need to use the left stick to activate your choice before using the X button to finally trigger the action.

If you can be patient until the controls are second nature, there are some interesting things going on in Tokyo Dark. The decisions you make as Detective Ayami impact her sanity, professionalism, investigation, and neurosis, and change the the story you play through, ultimately leading to one of many possible endings.

The supernatural threads that string through the game won’t scare you outright, but they will have your skin crawling.

This week on The Shift with Drex, I talked about Deloitte’s tech predictions for this year, the new standard for smart home tech, how you are being tracked by your smartphone, and the sublime InspiroBot.

This week, the big tech companies have agreed to cooperate on a standard for smart home devices, the New York Times investigation into smartphone tracking, and InspiroBot’s attempts to make us feel better in these strange times. But first, a look at the predictions made by Deloitte tech analysts about what’s to come.

Deloitte’s annual tech predictions for 2020

It’s a new year, so time for Deloitte’s annual list of things that may be happening in the worlds of tech and media. The report that details the Canadian impact was co-authored by Duncan Stewart, who head’s up the research for Deloitte Canada’s technology and media department.

Among the ideas:

• More low-Earth orbit satellites by companies looking to provide broadband connections.
• Computer chips that can enable our devices to do the same kind of AI processing that is currently done on remote servers.
• More testing of 5G networks.
• Opportunity for ad-supported video networks as tolerance for advertising shifts.
• More people riding bikes, in part because of safer routes and the advent of electric bikes.
• Sales of smartphone apps and accessories will continue to soar, and by 2023 will be bigger than the market for smartphones themselves.
• Service robots become more popular.
• Podcasting market will increase globally by 30 percent.

Tech companies cooperate on connection standard for smart homes

Project Connected Home over IP is an initiative that wants to make smart homes easier to configure by getting all of the tech players together to talk about compatibility.

Amazon, Apple, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance (which includes IKEA, Samsung, and others) are all part of the working group, and have agreed that IP, or internet protocol, will be the language to be spoken by devices in the future.

All existing smart home products will be supported, but this approach means that future products will work with whatever you may have in your home.

Your location is available and being shared without you even realizing

An article published in the New York Times in mid December revealed that companies are using the location data of smartphones with little to no oversight.

There are three things that compose the rationale for collecting location data:

• People have agreed to share the information
• Data is anonymous
• Data is secure

“None of those claims hold up,” write reporters Stuart Thompson and Charlie Warzel, “based on the file we’ve obtained and our review of company practices.”

The implications are profound. Read the full article to learn how Thompson and Warzel were able to identify specific people and learn incredible things about them just from the way their dots appear on a map.

The piece was part of the Times’ Privacy Project, a “project to explore technology and where it’s taking us.”

Feel better about yourself and the world with these meaningful quotes

“If you are not constantly talking about the irony you might just be a liar.”

These words of wisdom came to me courtesy of InspiroBot. The online project has a bot generating quotes that are designed to mimic those you find splattered all over Facebook and Twitter.

Complete with images that are often entirely incongruous. The quote above, for example, was presented in a faux handwriting script superimposed over an image of a night sky showing the Milky Way.

Here’s another one InspiroBot made for me:

Inspiring, right? The bloody hands are very fitting, I think.

You can get your favourite InspiroBot inspirational meme printed on a t-shirt, poster, or mug!

See some of the best, archived at Reddit.

This week on The Shift with Drex, I talked about concept cars at CES 2020, the implications of California’s new consumer privacy law, 20 iPhone apps for 2020, and the work being done by BuzzFeed journalist Jane Lytvynenko, who is working hard to discredit disinformation in the news and social media.

This week, a bunch of apps to load on your iPhone to start the year, why you’ve been getting all the notices about updated privacy changes, and the amazing work being done by journalist Jane Lytvynenko to identify and call out disinformation on social media. But first, a look at the early announcements coming out of CES 2020.

Concept cars take centre stage at CES 2020

Usually the Consumer Electronics Show is an excuse to talk about TVs, but some of the coolest things on display in the early days of this year’s event are the cars.

Nobody knew that Sony was working on an electric vehicle until the company drove the Vision-S prototype onto the stage at its media event on Monday.

It’s designed with driver assists, a cabin that will respond to what the passengers are doing, and an operating system that can be updated on the fly.

Then there’s the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR, designed in partnership with James Cameron and inspired by Avatar.

The car looks like one of the creatures from Cameron’s Pandora. It has no steering wheel or dashboard and the wheels are designed to move forwards, sideways, or diagonally. It’s an experiment not just of propulsion but of the interface we have with vehicles.

Toyota, meanwhile, is set to begin construction on the Woven City in Japan, a community that will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells and will be a place the company can test its products and technologies.

20 apps for 2020

Just in time for the new year, the App Store – where consumers spent $1.42 billion between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day – has curated a list of twenty apps that they think people should try this year.

1. 1 Second Everyday: With this app you capture one second of video every day. At the end of the year it pulls things together as a 365 second video (366 this year because it’s a Leap Year) of memories. Available free on the App Store.
2. 30 Day Fitness Challenge: Create a personalized, month-long plan for any fitness goal. Available free on the App Store.
3. Yousician: Helps you learn to play just about any instrument. Available free on the App Store.
4. Photo Scanner Plus: Digitize your photo prints easily with this app, which can convert multiple photos in a single screen shot. Available free on the App Store.
5. Day One Journal: An easy to use daily diary. Available free on the App Store.
6. Nike Training Club: Nike gives you access to professional trainers, personal plans, and short workouts you can easily do at home. Available free on the App Store.
7. Calm: Breathing exercises and guided meditations to soothe you. Available free on the App Store.
8. Relax Melodies (made in Canada): Custom soundscapes, soothing bedtime stories and gentle exercises. Available free on the App Store.
9. LinkedIn Learning: Short video tutorials about nearly everything. Available free on the App Store.
10. Plenty of Fish (made in Canada): Help to find that special someone. Available free on the App Store.
11. Ulyss: Help in planning that holiday you need. Available free on the App Store.
12. 1Password (made in Canada): The best password app you can get. Available free on the App Store.
13. Minimalist: A simple to-do list app that helps you prioritize tasks and set reminders. Available free on the App Store.
14. Duolingo: Learn a new language. Available free on the App Store.
15. Seven – 7 Minute Workout: Seven minutes at a time can get you to your fitness goal. Available free on the App Store.
16. Buddy – Easy Budgeting: Take control of your finances. Available free on the App Store.
17. Tayasui Sketches: Sketching on the go. Available free on the App Store.
18. Mealime (made in Canada): Recipes, step-by-step instructions, and an integrated shopping list. Available free on the App Store.
19. Strava: Track and exceed your personal bests. Available free on the App Store.
20. Transit (made in Canada): Get around by bus, train, bike, or ride-share with this one app. Available free on the App Store.

California’s new consumer privacy law is why you’re getting so many emails right now

Two years ago it was the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that resulted in your inbox filling up.

If you’ve been wondering why it seems to be happening again, you can blame California.

The California Consumer Privacy Act was enacted in 2018 but took effect on January 1.

And even though you may not (probably don’t) live in California, all companies and organizations that “buys, receives, or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers, households, or devices” in the state are expected to comply.

The rights granted to California residents are also, therefore, granted to all of us. These include:

• The right to know what information is being collected
• The right to delete personal information
• The right to opt-out of the sale of that information
• The right to non-discrimination when exercising a privacy right

Facebook apparently doesn’t think it is affected, according to the Wall Street Journal, claiming that user data that is collected and shared isn’t “sold”.

I smell a court battle.

BuzzFeed journalist specializes in disinformation

Signal boosting the work of Jane Lytvynenko, who is an expert at detecting and dispelling fake news.

Yesterday, as Iran targeted U.S. troops based in Iraq with missiles, Lytvynenko started tracking Twitter accounts that were spreading false or misleading information, including images of missile launches from years ago that were being passed off as current.

Hi. I’m monitoring for disinformation around the situation in Iran.

If you see something, DM or email me Jane.lytvynenko@buzzfeed.com

— Jane Lytvynenko (@JaneLytv) January 7, 2020

In her thread, she calls out mainstream media sources that were using old images without clarifying context, as well as a host of accounts, many anonymous, that were sharing videos that were not of the attack.

And then some in the U.S. started getting text messages informing them they’d been drafted by the military. The messages are fake.

Lytvynenko and colleague Craig Silverman created an article tracking the disinformation being spread.