Pre-saving albums on Spotify can give music labels access to personal user data like emails addresses and playlists, according to a Billboard report. From a report: To pre-save music, which adds a release to a user's library as soon as it comes out, Spotify users click through and approve permissions that give the label far more account access than the streaming giant normally grants them -- enough to track what they listen to, change what artists they follow and potentially even control their music streaming remotely. This lets labels access some of the data that streaming companies usually guard for themselves -- which they want in order to compete with the streaming giants on a more even playing field. But at a time when the policies of online giants like Google and Facebook has made online privacy a contentious issue, music's pre-saving process could begin to spark concern among consumers, and perhaps even regulators. Labels also ask for far more permissions than they need. Spotify users who, for example, tried to pre-save the Little Mix single "Bounce Back" from links shared by the act or its label, Sony Music, were prompted to agree that Spotify could allow Sony to "view your Spotify account data," "view your activity on Spotify" and "take actions in Spotify on your behalf." The exact permissions Sony requests are only visible to those who click through to the corresponding submenus, so users may not fully understand all that they're agreeing to -- or that the changes apply to their account unless they change it on Spotify's website.

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Apple's chief designer Jony Ive is leaving after decades at the iPhone maker to form an independent company -- with Apple as one of its primary clients. Ive was at Apple for more than two decades in which his iconic designs for the Mac, iPod and iPhone turned one of Silicon Valley's faded giants into the world's most valuable company and defined a generation of consumer products. From a report: "Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple's revival cannot be overstated, from 1998's groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park," Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in a statement. "Apple will continue to benefit from Jony's talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built." Ive will be replaced by existing Apple designers. Evans Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will report to Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer, the company said. In an interview with Financial Times, Ive said: "While I will not be an [Apple] employee, I will still be very involved -- I hope for many, many years to come. This just seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change."

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Reader Iwastheone shares a report: There have been some bugs and issues with Microsoft's Windows 10 May Update/1903 feature update since Microsoft kicked off its rollout in late May. But the 1903 complaint I've gotten most often (so far) is from users who want to install the update but can't and don't know why. Microsoft has added a new notification which some users whose devices aren't ready or able to install the update are seeing when they attempt to proactively grab the 1903 release. As originally noted last week by Windows Latest, Microsoft has added a new message to its Windows Update page. Users attempting to install 1903 on machines with out-of-date drivers or other issues are seeing this message: "The Windows 10 May 2019 Update is on its way. We're offering this update to compatible devices, but your device isn't ready for it. Once your device is ready, you'll see the update available on this page. There's nothing you need to do at this time." I confirmed with Microsoft that this notification is part of its 1903 rollout strategy. "The notification started with the latest changes made to improve the quality/transparency of the Windows update process," according to a Microsoft spokesperson. Microsoft officials said in a blog post on May 21 that the company planned to start automatically updating devices running the April 2018 Update and earlier versions of Windows 10 to Windows 10 1903. Last week, via the Windows Update account on Twitter, Microsoft officials communicated that they were building and training machine-learning rollout processes that would enable this to happen.

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Former US secretary of state tells congressional committee Trump's son-in-law made his job more difficult.

LinkedIn this week announced algorithm changes made over the past 12-18 months to favor conversations in its Feed that cater to niche professional interests, as opposed to elevating viral content. From a report: Users may have noticed that their notifications or engagements on LinkedIn have increased lately. LinkedIn has done this in part, because internal research found that participation wasn't even across the platform, and that much of the attention in on LinkedIn was skewed towards the top 1% of power users, according to Tim Jurka, Director of Artificial Intelligence at LinkedIn. Changes include: Elevating content that users are most likely to join in conversation, which typically means people that users interact with directly in the feed through comments and reactions, or people who have shared interests with you based on your profile. Elevating a post from someone closer to a users' interests or network if it needs more engagement, not if it's already going viral. Elevating conversations with things that encourage a response (like opinions commentary alongside content), as well as posts that use mentions and hashtags to bring other people and interests into the conversation and elevating posts from users that respond to commenters. Elevating niche topics of conversation will perform better than broad ones.

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Delegates agree a "compromise" on a key report but some say it's a surrender to fossil fuel producers.

Amnesty International accuses government of intimidating Eritrean activists in exile.

The regional group voted in April to recognise Venezuela's opposition envoy as country's delegate in blow to Maduro.

Hackers working for Western intelligence agencies broke into Russian internet search company Yandex in late 2018 deploying a rare type of malware in an attempt to spy on user accounts, Reuters reported Thursday, citing four people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: The malware, called Regin, is known to be used by the "Five Eyes" intelligence-sharing alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the sources said. Intelligence agencies in those countries declined to comment. Western cyberattacks against Russia are seldom acknowledged or spoken about in public. It could not be determined which of the five countries was behind the attack on Yandex, said sources in Russia and elsewhere, three of whom had direct knowledge of the hack. The breach took place between October and November 2018. Yandex spokesman Ilya Grabovsky acknowledged the incident in a statement to Reuters, but declined to provide further details. "This particular attack was detected at a very early stage by the Yandex security team. It was fully neutralized before any damage was done," he said.

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There seem to be many clear paths that lead to confrontation and none that leads to peace and negotiations.

Constitutional Court upholds President Joko Widodo's win in April's election after claim brought by Prabowo Subianto.

If convicted, the charges could keep ex-Trump campaign chair in prison if the president pardons him for federal crimes.

Two galleries collapsed in an open-pit mine owned by Swiss mining giant Glencore killing artisanal miners.

Firefighters are warning the burning area could get five times as big, as they try to douse the flames.

Blue helmets are still needed to protect civilians in Darfur as Sudan is in post-Bashir chaos, Security Council decides.