Here's How To Get A Rainbow Flag Reaction On Facebook

During any normal month, there are five reactions on Facebook: Like, Heart, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry. But in honor of Pride month, Facebook's rolling out a new one: a rainbow.

The social media network announced in a post on Friday, “We believe in building a platform that supports all communities. So we’re celebrating love and diversity this Pride by giving you a special reaction.”

June is traditionally when LGBTQ people across the world celebrate Pride. The rainbow flag takes on a poignant tone this year, though: Gilbert Baker, the activist who created the rainbow flag in 1978 at Harvey Milk's request, died in March 2017. He described himself as “the gay Betsy Ross,” according to his New York Times obituary.

People were excited and planned to make the most of the time they had with the emoji.

According to Facebook, it's available for all of Pride Month.

But not everyone on Facebook has been able to immediately access the rainbow reaction.

And people, especially LGBTQ people, were a bit confused.

Don't stress. Here's how to get start reacting with rainbows on Facebook asap:

1. Log into Facebook.
2. Like the LGBTQ@Facebook page.
3. Voila! You're now able to react to whatever you want with a rainbow!

Rainbows for everyone! Happy Pride.

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Quelle: <a href="Here's How To Get A Rainbow Flag Reaction On Facebook“>BuzzFeed

Trump Will Meet With Tech Leaders To Talk About Emerging Tech Like Drones

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The White House is planning a second gathering of technology leaders later this month, in which President Donald Trump is expected to meet with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from emerging tech firms.

Three sources confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is organizing the event, scheduled for June 22 — three days after Trump is expected to meet with the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz and technology executives in Washington. While that first gathering is said to focus on topics including immigration and modernizing government operations, the second meeting, which is being organized by U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, will address emerging technologies trends including the Internet of Things, commercial drones and the funding of those companies.

While the full agenda for the June 22 meeting has not been set, one person familiar with the event who was not authorized to speak on the record said that there will be breakout discussions at the White House that will discuss the state of certain technologies and the regulations that surround them. Following the conclusions of those discussions, some entrepreneurs and investors are expected to have a roundtable meeting with Trump.

Two of the largest Silicon Valley venture firms, who declined to be named, confirmed they had received invitations from Kratsios, who previously served as chief of staff to Trump-backer and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel. One of those firms said they will be sending someone to attend, while the other declined to comment on their participation.

One source said that there will be little overlap in topics or attendees between the two technology meetings, and that about 30 U.S.-based organizations had been invited to the event on the morning of June 22.

Kratsios, as deputy CTO and as deputy assistant to the president, will oversee the meeting. While most deputy CTOs are expected to report to the CTO, Trump has yet to appoint anyone to the top OSTP position. Former Google executive Megan Smith served as U.S. CTO under President Obama.

With reporting from Will Alden and Caroline O’Donovan.

Quelle: <a href="Trump Will Meet With Tech Leaders To Talk About Emerging Tech Like Drones“>BuzzFeed

Can You Make Real Money On A Dog-Walking App?

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Love dogs? Wag, a Los Angeles-based dog walking startup, matches people like you with dog owners. The service works a lot like Uber, Postmates, or TaskRabbit — when dog owners request a walk on the Wag app, it pairs them with a “Wag walker” nearby. Then the walker shows up, walks the dog, and drops him off safely at home.

A 30-minute stroll costs a pup’s humans $20 ($25 in San Francisco), and an hour costs $30. Wag walkers get paid after every walk, but the company takes a portion of the cut. And because walkers are technically contractors who aren't employed by Wag, they don't get taxed initially and have to pay part of their dog-walking income back to the government at the end of the year.

So after Wag and Uncle Sam take their cuts, how do Wag walkers' earnings compare to what professionals make? We talked to dog walkers to find out.

Wag co-founder and CEO Joshua Viner told BuzzFeed News that “on average, a walker makes around $17.50 per walk.” Private professional walkers, however, can make between $20 and $40 – and, because they don’t need to pay Wag a cut, they keep more of that cash for themselves. Plus, if a professional walker takes on multiple dogs at a time, which they often do, their payment increases with each furry four-legged creature.

Wag only lets you walk one dog at a time (but you can walk additional dogs from the same household for an extra $5 per dog). And while professional dog walkers do have to purchase their own equipment and transportation, Wag replenishes any equipment needed, such as treats and doggie bags, for no additional charge to their walkers.

At a dog park, two professional walkers in California’s Bay Area told us that they can make $30,000 to $80,000 in a year. If a Wag walker was able to do 5 consecutive one-hour walks, 5 days a week, making $17.50 per walk like Wag’s CEO estimated, they would earn about $22,000 annually. A Wag walker would have to take on 5 different dogs in a 5 hour span to make the same amount that some professional dog walkers make in an hour by walking multiple dogs at once – and the Wag walker has to be lucky enough to find dogs within a close radius of each other.

And though you might think anyone could walk dogs for Wag, it’s not the easiest job in the world. You have to have skills. Before you can be an approved walker for Wag, you have to pass an online multiple-choice test that includes questions like, “How can you tell if a dog is nervous to the point of being aggressive?”

Ultimately, Wag is worth it if you are a student or looking for something part time. But if you’re trying to make a living walking dogs, you would probably have to start your own private business.

Quelle: <a href="Can You Make Real Money On A Dog-Walking App?“>BuzzFeed

This Guy Created A Fidget Spinner Bazooka And Destroyed Hella Shit

This is a fidget spinner.

It's a spinning toy that's been marketed as a way to help kids with attention disorders like ADHD focus in school settings. But after the spinners became insanely popular, they've started wreaking havoc in classrooms and disrupting the retail industry nationwide.

Drew Angerer / Getty Images

What else can you do with a fidget spinner besides distract yourself in class/at work?

Enter YouTuber Peter Sripol, who has built a fidget spinner bazooka. He calls it the “Fidget Flinger 9000.” It's a giant slingshot of Sripol's own design that shoots fidget spinners into the air at high rotations per minute using compressed air, basically turning them into shuriken.

Peter's experiment began with many fidget spinners…

Some laser cutting…

And some 3D printing.

He fit all the parts together, and voila! The Fidget Flinger 9000 was born.

Time to destroy things. Like this full can of Pepsi.

And this fruit.

Might as well try an egg, too.

Maybe a fluorescent light?

How about this can of spray paint?

When Sripol inspected the can after hitting it with a fidget spinner, he realized “the spinner didn't go all the way through, so I'm not sure if the bazooka is actually lethal or not. But it's definitely not something you want to be shot with.” (Aka, don't try this at home, kids.)

Honestly, what would a dangerous home experiment be without some ?

Sripol said in the video that he unintentionally caught one of his cameras on fire during this lit experiment.

Some innocent spinners were caught in the blast, too.

Eventually, Sripol “ran out of creative ways to destroy things.”

The young inventor said in the video that he wishes he had designed the Flinger 9000 to shoot heavier steel spinners rather than just plastic ones, which “kind of suck. They just bounce off things.”

“But hey, free idea for anyone for anyone else who's got a [YouTube] channel who wants to do something crazy and stupid,” he says. (Seriously though, you probably shouldn't try this.)

You can watch the full video here:

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BuzzFeed News reached out to Peter Sripol to learn more about how he made the Fidget Flinger 9000; we'll update the post if we hear from him.

Quelle: <a href="This Guy Created A Fidget Spinner Bazooka And Destroyed Hella Shit“>BuzzFeed

Apple CEO Tim Cook To MIT Grads: You Must Have Hacked Trump’s Twitter

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the opening keynote address the 2017 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on June 5, 2017.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Tim Cook couldn’t help himself.

After starting the week by criticizing Donald Trump’s decision-making, the leader of the world’s most valuable company ended it by poking at the president’s Twitter habit during his commencement speech at MIT on Friday.

“I know MIT has a proud tradition of pranks, or as you would call them, ‘hacks,’ Cook joked. “I’ll never figure out how MIT students sent that Mars Rover to Kresge Oval or put a propeller beanie on the Great Dome. Or how you’ve obviously taken over the president’s Twitter account.”

“I can tell college students are behind it because most of the tweets happen at 3 a.m.,” he added, as the crowd laughed.

While it seemed to be light-hearted, Cook’s quip at the president comes at an awkward time. Apple’s CEO has toed the line between deference to the president and standing up for his company’s principles, and while Cook has shown a willingness to work with Trump’s administration, he has also criticized its policies.

“Don't listen to trolls. And for God's sake, don’t become one.”

In January, following the Trump administration’s attempt to ban immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US, Cook wrote an email to employees noting that it was “not a policy we support.” On Monday, following his keynote address at Apple’s developers conference, he told Bloomberg that Trump’s decision to remove the United States from the Paris climate accord was “wrong.” Bloomberg had earlier reported that Cook had called the White House in late May to urge the president to stay in the landmark 2015 climate change pact.

“He didn’t decide what I wanted him to decide,” Cook said. “He decided wrong. It’s not in the best interest of the United States what he decided.”

That statement, as well as Friday’s commencement speech joke, could make for awkward conversation in about a week’s time when Apple’s CEO meets with Trump and other business leaders at the American Technology Council. Cook, along with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and others, are expected to join what is seen as a continuation of a December meeting Trump held with technology leaders before his inauguration.

One source, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told BuzzFeed News that the council will discuss immigration among other topics, though it’s still unclear if there will be conversations on the environment. The agenda is still being set for that meeting, the source said.

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The rest of Cook’s 14-minute commencement address on Friday was largely filled with the typical graduation pomp and platitudes. He gave a short account of how he finally found his purpose in life after coming to work for Apple and then-CEO Steve Jobs, whose 2005 speech at Stanford University in which he urged graduates to “stay hungry, stay foolish” is still referenced today. Cook’s talk took a somewhat darker tone, and while he urged MIT’s students to serve humanity in their next lines of work, he also advised them to tune out a world where there is so much “conspiring to make you cynical.”

“The internet has enabled so much and empowered so many, but it can also be a place where basic rules of decency are suspended and pettiness and negativity thrive,” he said. “Don’t listen to trolls. And for God’s sake, don’t become one. Measure your impact on humanity, not on likes, but on the lives you touch; not in popularity, but in the people you serve.”

Cook ended his address with an anecdote about a shareholder meeting in which an investor asked why Apple was investing so heavily in green initiatives without a clear return on investment.

“We do these things because they’re the right thing to do and protecting the environment is a critical example,” he said.

“When you’re convinced your cause is right, have the courage to take a stand,” Cook added. “If you see a problem or an injustice, recognize that no one will fix it but you.”

Cook’s meeting with Trump at the American Technology Council is scheduled for June 19.

Quelle: <a href="Apple CEO Tim Cook To MIT Grads: You Must Have Hacked Trump’s Twitter“>BuzzFeed

Uber Obtained A Rape Victim's Medical Records. Now It Might Face a Lawsuit

Reuters

The New York-based attorney of an Indian woman who was sexually assaulted by her Uber driver in New Delhi in 2014 is exploring the possibility of taking legal action against the ride-hailing giant after a report published by Recode on Thursday revealed that a top Uber executive obtained and circulated her medical records internally within the company.

“We are investigating and researching all potential avenues to address this situation and expect to have more information next week,” Douglas Wigdor, who represented the woman in a Jane Doe civil lawsuit in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California in 2015 said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “It is incredible in this day and age that one could even fathom that a legitimate rape victim was part of a conspiracy by a rival firm to harm Uber,” Douglas said referring to Uber's biggest rival in India, Ola. “Sadly, these views, coupled with the scrutiny of private medical records, support rape culture, and must end.”

Wigdor declined to answer questions about whether the woman involved in the New Delhi incident had reached out to him or his firm, Wigdor Law LLP following the publication of Recode’s report. But he did confirm that he is still retained by her. Asked whether the woman was considering press charges citing a violation of privacy, Wigdor said that “we are still investigating and researching our options.”

Uber did not respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.

India’s laws around protecting the identities of rape victims are stringent. Section 228(A) of the India Penal Code — the country’s main code that covers all criminal law — says that anyone who “prints or publishes the name or any matter which may make known the identity” of a rape victim can be sentenced to up to two years in federal prison and fined unless they have written authorization from the victim or the police officer in charge of the investigation.

It is not clear whether Uber obtained the victim’s authorization in this case. Uber declined to comment to BuzzFeed News’ question.

“This law was specifically put in place so that no one — including media publications — reveals a rape victim’s identity,” said Trisha Shetty, a New Delhi-based lawyer who is the founder and CEO of SheSays, an organization that works with victims of sexual abuse. “In this case, the law isn’t clear about what happens when a victim’s identity is distributed among the employees of a company, but I think you can interpret that act as revealing the victim’s identity to people who have no business knowing it.”

Indeed, how Alexander obtained the medical records in the first place is yet to be established.

“Only the victim, the prosecution, the investigating police officer, the court, and the engaged counsel would have access to those records in the first place,” Apar Gupta, a prominent Supreme Court lawyer told BuzzFeed News. “There is no way [Uber or Alexander] would have access to those records. In my opinion, it is clearly a case of theft of case property.”

Quelle: <a href="Uber Obtained A Rape Victim's Medical Records. Now It Might Face a Lawsuit“>BuzzFeed