Dan Kedmey

Facebook also launched an interactive privacy settings explainer

Facebook unveiled a drastically simplified privacy policy Thursday that explains in plain English who can see your personal information shared through the social network.

The streamlined policy strips out more than two-thirds of the verbiage from the previous policy, which consumer advocates had previously criticized as unnecessarily long and byzantine. “Our hope is that it won’t take long for people to read through this and really get it,” Facebook’s chief privacy officer told the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook also launched an interactive walkthrough of its privacy settings, called “Privacy Basics,” which guides users through drop down menus with options that can restrict viewing rights or delete posts entirely.

The update marks the company’s latest bid to make its privacy settings more user friendly since the company in 2011 settled Federal Trade Commission accusations that it broke its privacy promises. In September, Facebook launched a “Privacy Checkup” in an attempt to give users a greater measure of control over their data.

A new survey finds many Americans want stronger safeguards for their personal data

More than 90% of Americans feel they have lost control of their personal data, according to a new survey of Internet users that reveals a pervasive sense of unease about who is monitoring and misusing their information.

Pew Research Center surveyors asked 607 Americans which interlopers, in particular, were a cause for concern. Eight out of ten respondents expressed concerns about the government surveilling their online communications and phone calls. An equal percentage shared concerns about businesses and marketers accessing their social media feeds. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of respondents wanted lawmakers to pass tighter regulations against advertisers looking to access people’s personal data.

Still, those polled expressed ambivalence about exchanging their personal information for access to free online services — more than half said they were willing to accept that trade-off.

The survey results come despite recent efforts by social media companies to give users a greater sense of control over privacy settings. Facebook, for example, tightened its default privacy settings in May and launched a “privacy checkup” pop-up window.

Read the full survey at Pew.

The Solo 2 Wireless headphones can stream audio from up to 30 feet away

Beats cut the cord on its hottest selling headphones Wednesday with the launch of its latest product, the Solo2 Wireless, a pair of brightly colored cans that can wirelessly stream music and calls from any device.

“We’re taking the most popular headphone in the world and adding wireless Bluetooth functionality to it,” said Beats President Luke Wood in a statement Wednesday. The headphones can pick up signals from up to 30 feet away, while control buttons embedded on side of the ear cup allow the listener to skip songs, adjust the volume and answer phone calls. The Solo2 Wireless will go on sale at Apple’s online store later this month for $299.99.

The announcement marks the first product launch by Beats since Apple acquired the company for $3 billion, capturing the biggest player in the premium headphone market. However, it’s likely that the Solo2 Wireless was in development before Apple bought the company.

But brick and mortar retailers insist the idea won't go down without a fight

Republican leaders in Congress are renewing their vows to fight a proposal expanding the sales taxes applied to online purchases, dealing a blow to brick and mortar retailers who hoped to get a bill passed during the post-midterm lame duck session.

Currently, states can only apply sales tax to online purchases made by their residents from retailers with a physical presence in the same state. The Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) would reverse that, allowing states to tax online purchases made by their residents regardless of the merchant’s whereabouts. While the idea has sometimes been called the “Amazon Tax,” it’s become less applicable to the giant online retailer because the company is increasingly setting up warehouses in new states to reduce shipping times.

The MFA passed the then-Democrat-controlled Senate last year, but it was never picked up in the Republican-controlled House. With Republicans now firmly in control of both chambers of Congress, the bill looks like it’s headed nowhere fast. House Speaker John Boehner, who’s long been opposed to the MFA, said this week it will be tabled for the remainder of this year’s lame duck congressional session and would face heightened scrutiny in the year ahead, the Hill reports.

“The Speaker has made clear in the past he has significant concerns about the bill,” a Boehner spokesperson said. “And it won’t move forward this year. The Judiciary Committee continues to examine the measure and the broader issue.”

Still, backers of the bill vowed to continue the fight. “Most Americans won’t be taking the next two months off, and neither should Congress,” said Jason Brewer of the Retail Industry Leaders Association in a statement to CNBC News.

Supporters of the Marketplace Fairness Act have attempted to tie it to a similar-sounding but separate bill that extends a longstanding ban on taxing Internet access, a deeply popular moratorium on both sides of the aisle.

[The Hill]

Bracing for grand jury decision on Michael Brown case

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced a plan Tuesday to maintain law and order on the day a grand jury announces whether it will indict the Ferguson cop who shot and killed an unarmed teenager.

“Violence will not be tolerated,” Nixon said in a news conference at Missouri Highway Patrol’s headquarters. More than 1,000 officers had over the past two months received specialized training in crowd control, he said, which placed an “emphasis” on the constitutional rights of demonstrators.

While Nixon insisted he would again call for back up from the National Guard if demonstrations grew unruly, he also struck a conciliatory note, saying that law enforcement had forged contacts with community churches, schools and businesses. He added that protest leaders would help officers identify demonstrators engaged in unlawful conduct and “arrest those individuals in order to protect public safety.” Still, St. Louis County police said have prepared for violent protests with around $100,000 of riot gear.

The grand jury is still deliberating the case. St. Louis prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch said on Monday that’s unlikely to reach a decision until mid- to late-November, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

Read next: St. Louis Police Deny Ferguson No-Fly Zone Was to Keep Media Out

Funding shortages have forced relief workers to triage shipments to children and refugees in wintry climates

More than 13 million people have fled from conflict zones in Iraq and Syria in an ongoing humanitarian crisis that the United Nations’ refugee agency says could push relief efforts to a breaking point.

The updated tallies include 7.2 million displaced persons within Syria, nearly half of whom have fled to neighboring countries, as well as 1.9 million displaced persons in Iraq.

While the agency has spent $154 million on winter supplies, representatives report that inventories are running dangerously low. Without an additional $58.5 million in donations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would be forced to ration basic supplies, including blankets and warm clothing, according to a press release.

“UNHCR is having to make some very tough choices over who to prioritize,” said the agency’s chief spokesperson Melissa Fleming. Shipments would be targeted to young children and refugees in cold, high altitude climates. “For those we’re unable to prioritize, the conditions could nonetheless be very tough,” she said.

A carefully arranged merger of two political dynasties went terribly awry

George W. Bush went on a disastrous first date with the daughter of President Richard Nixon in the late 1960s, according to new details divulged by the former president in a memoir about his father.

George H W Bush—then a Texas congressman—arranged for his 22-year-old son, who was then a pilot in the National Guard, to meet Tricia Nixon at a gala in honor of the Apollo 8 spaceflight crew. It all went downhill from there, the Telegraph reports.

“During dinner, I reached for some butter, knocked over a glass, and watched in horror as the stain of red wine crept across the table,” Bush writes. “Then I fired up a cigarette, prompting a polite suggestion from Tricia that I not smoke.”

The date came to an abrupt end, Bush writes, when Nixon asked to be taken back to the White House “immediately after dinner,” a drive he remembered with a twinge of embarrassment more than thirty years later, when he returned to the White House as the nation’s 43rd president.

[Telegraph]

Nation had requested postponement over Ebola fears

The Confederation of African Football confirmed Tuesday that the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament would not be held in Morocco, which refused to do so over Ebola fears, and that Morocco’s team would be disqualified.

Morocco had asked the confederation to consider postponing the game until health workers had managed to contain the spread of the virus across West Africa, which the World Health Organization reports has killed some 5,000 people so far. The request was denied, the BBC reports, which gave Morocco until Saturday to reconsider.

The confederation also announced that Morocco’s squad would be automatically barred from the games and that its executive committee had already been convened in Cairo to consider alternative sites for the games, scheduled to begin on Jan. 17 and end on Feb. 8.

Hopes for an ATT LTE-based airborne network are officially grounded

AT&T has nixed an ambitious plan to roll out wireless Internet on board commercial flights, choosing instead to refocus its investments on international markets and video services, the carrier said Monday.

The move comes as AT&T is in the process of buying Mexican operator Iusacell for $1.7 billion and satellite broadcasting service DirecTV for $48.5 billion. Those deals are subject to Mexican and American regulators, respectively.

“After a thorough review of our investment portfolio, the company decided to no longer pursue entry into the in-flight connectivity industry,” an AT&T spokesman said in a statement to Reuters.

AT&T unveiled its plan to offer 4G LTE-based connections in April, putting it in direct competition with existing in-flight service provider Gogo Inc. Shares on Gogo Inc. climbed 10% on news of AT&T’s decision to bow out of the market.

[Reuters]