Uber employees sign petition to reinstate ex-CEO Travis Kalanick

Classified documents recently acquired by the US National Security Agency (NSA) show that the Russian government attempted to hack US voting infrastructure and software just days before the November election, a report by The Intercept reveals. The documents, allegedly leaked by federal contractor Reality Winner, detail how Russian military intelligence embarked on a spear-phishing campaign to acquire information from an unnamed voting software company. In one instance, the hackers disguised themselves as Google and attempted to get login credentials. In another, they posed as e-voting vendors and sent MS Word documents that hid malicious code. Just days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied the government's engagement...

The second Botcon Africa conference took place last month in Cape Town, delivering a number of insightful talks from leaders in the field of bots, AI and more. One of the more interesting companies was Botpress, which joins the likes of Chatfuel as being an emerging bot development platform. We interviewed founder Justin Watson, covering comparisons to Wordpress, what's missing from bot development and more. During his talk at the event, Watson touched on a variety of features/functions missing from today's bot systems. "There's probably not enough integration of the graphical elements," Watson told Memeburn, adding that more graphically rich interfaces are...

When the country is given the choice between a semi-naked group of lifesavers and Diana Prince kicking ass and taking names, you'll be glad to know it chooses correctly. This weekend saw Wonder Woman's (review) debut go swimmingly, coming out on top against other newcomer Baywatch, hardly flailing in second place. But which films could barely keep themselves afloat this weekend? (2 to 4 June) King Arthur seems to be made of lead: it sunk four spots from fourth to eighth this week. The blockbuster is considered the first major bomb of the season and has failed to make back Guy Ritchie's budget. Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge sunk...

Today the globe celebrates all things great and beautiful on social media, as World Environment Day begins the week. Google has already published a green-fingered doodle to mark the occasion, and shed some light on its green efforts. Twitter has been awash with the hashtags #withnature and #WorldEnvironmentDay. Reddit however? Well, it's gone one step further. The social news aggregation service has a slew of subreddits dedicated to the beauty of the environment, but /r/TinyAnimalsOnFingers is trending today. And for good reason: it's exactly what you need to get through Monday. "This subreddit is dedicated to creating a menagerie of pictures of tiny...

The last week of trailers brought us a murder mystery, a horror, a car flick, a survival drama, a period piece, a kids film, a documentary and a series of experimental films -- and, honestly, if nothing in here intrigues you, then maybe movies just aren't your thing. Have you considered that? Here's what you need to know about the trailers released in the past seven days. Murder on the Orient Express Usually I'm immediately deterred from any film Johnny Depp is in, but this remake of Murder on the Orient Express also stars Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Gad, Penelope...

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called for stricter internet regulations after seven people were killed in a terrorist attack in London Saturday. In a statement following the attack, May acknowledged that there was no connection between the planning of this attack with the one in Westminster Abbey in March, or Manchester last month. She follows that the UK is facing a "new trend" of copycat terrorists who merely need to watch the news to learn how to plan a successful attack. May looks specifically at the internet for quelling these kinds of copycats. "We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it...

Update, 5 June, 12pm: if you missed last night's concert in Manchester, it's now available in its entirety on Ariana Grande's YouTube channel, embedded below. The full concert's around 210 minutes long, so you might want to take an extra-long lunch break for this one. Original article: Just over two weeks since a suicide bombing after her Manchester concert claimed the lives of 22 people, Floridian singer Ariana Grande will tonight perform a benefit concert at Old Trafford cricket ground. The concert will also be livestreamed to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iHeartRadio. In a statement issued soon after the 22 May incident,...

In April, Burson-Marsteller released a study on how world leaders use Instagram to communicate with their constituents (or subjects, depending on who you ask). But while Instagram is an up-and-coming way to market yourself as a politician, there has always been One Platform to Rule Them All, and that platform is Twitter. It all began 5 March 2007, when Illinois Senator Barack Obama became the first world leader to join the platform in the build-up to his presidential campaign. Since then, 856 leaders have joined the text-based platform to make it the most popular among politicians and popes alike. Thinking we're only one signature away...

Update: Upon request for comment, Uber's representatives sent Memeburn the following statement. We are deeply committed to the safety of all who use the Uber app. Immediately upon hearing of any situation involving a rider or driver, Uber takes the necessary steps to investigate the allegation and is in contact with both the rider and driver to offer support. Uber has an incident response team who are trained to deal with any critical safety issues and works with the relevant stakeholders in order to resolve any incident with a matter of urgency. We are constantly developing new technologies to ensure safety before,...

Welcome to Weekly Round Up, our podcast discussing the latest tech trends, innovation and news from the last few days. This week, Hadlee Simons hosts Andy Walker, Stephen Timm and Julia Breakey. Andy Walker opens the floor by elaborating on viral word "covfefe" -- the result of an unfinished tweet from US President Donald Trump. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before creating a stir on social media. Over on Ventureburn, Stephen tells of a former "beach bum," Grant Vanderwagen, who looks to end Cape Town's water crisis by turning fog into water. Investors have not yet latched on to...

North Korea is stepping up its nuclear weapons programme, testing ballistic missiles as it seeks to develop a reliable long-range launch carrier. But the United States is making progress in the defense department, having successfully shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) this week. The live-fire test saw the USA's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system used to detect and intercept the missile. "During the test, an ICBM-class target was launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The...

Snapchat Spectacles are now available in a select number of European cities, seven months after the wearables launched in the United States. The company first hinted that a move across the Atlantic was an option, suggesting that the glasses would be sold at tourist spots across the US first. And judging by the initial offering of European cities, the company is sticking to that philosophy. Spectacles have landed in Europe! https://t.co/KdmMnzNkYW pic.twitter.com/JpWMU2fxWY — Spectacles (@Spectacles) June 2, 2017 Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris and Venice are the chosen cities, all noted for their high tourist volumes. ‪Snapbot at London Eye, UK 🇬🇧 ‬ A post shared...

Today marks National Doughnut Day in the United States, but the likes of Uber South Africa also see cause for celebration. Across the Atlantic, the UberEATS division is today hosting promotions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, focussing on delivering those sweet treats with holes at their centre to its users. In Johannesburg, the company has partnered with Krispy Kreme. "We’ve teamed up with Krispy Kreme to deliver their most sought after doughnuts. With a tap of your UberEATS app, 12 Krispy Kreme Original Glazed doughnuts could be yours for R12. Enter the code KKEATS to get these delivered free of charge," Uber writes on...

As ambitious as Icarus might've been, even he flew a little too close to the Sun. But in the non-fictional world, NASA is planning to do exactly the same. But, you know, replacing those wax wings with a massive heat shield. The Parker Solar Probe, a multi-billion-dollar unmanned mission to the Sun has been made concrete this week, with a timeline and mission outline. The probe, renamed in honour of astrophysicist Eugene Parker, will travel to the Sun, and try extremely hard to not burst into flames. It will be aided by a fat carbon-composite heat shield that'll allow the craft to...

If you were to visit YouTube, chances are you'll either see film trailers being played out in ads, listed in the “Trending” section, or popping up as recommendations on the homepage. Most of these trailers reveal details from the next slate of movies set for 2017 and 2018, including Cars 3, the rebooted IT, and the eighth instalment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. Even trailers for Avatar 2: Return to Pandora, Spider-Man: Homecoming and other Marvel/DC Comics-related projects like Thor 3: Ragnarok and Justice League have recently been making the rounds. Did we forget to mention Kingsman: The Golden...