10 things in tech you need to know today

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June 30, 2016

Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know this Thursday.

1. Facebook made a huge U-turn and says it doesn't use location data to suggest friends after all. The social media platform says it is a case of crossed wires.

2. Google wants permission to track you more so that it can show you better ads. Over the next few weeks, all Google users will see a notification popping up in their Gmail or Chrome asking if they want to opt into a new type of "ads personalization."

3. A massive terrorist and "heightened-risk individual" database containing more than 2.2 million records has leaked online, a security researcher claims. Chris Vickery said he was able to access a mid-2o14 version of the World-Check database, which is used by hundreds of governments and spy agencies.

4. Sony wants people to form emotional bonds with robots. The Japanese firm says that it's going to combine hardware and software to build devices that people can relate to, rather than faceless robots.

5. JP Morgan is expected to launch a residency program for fintech startups this week. The investment bank will house the startups for six months in its offices around the world.

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6. People are upset over Mark Zuckerberg building a wall around his 700 acres of Hawaiian land. The property is on the picturesque island of Kauai.

7. Amazon is building three 100-foot tall glass domes filled with endangered species at its new HQ. The domes are scheduled for completion in 2018.

8. A 19-year-old created a free robot lawyer that has beaten 160,000 parking tickets. British programmer Joshua Browder launched the beta version of the bot in London in September.

9. Two Romanians have launched a DIY immigration campaign to tempt British entrepreneurs who are unhappy with the EU referendum result to relocate to Transylvania. Their company is called "Transylvania Beyond."

10. Google will begin using the fastest undersea cable ever built on Thursday. The company teamed up with five Asian telecom companies to fund the $300 million underwater cable network connecting the US and Japan.