Apps and Software

Dick Costolo knows Twitter has a problem with abuse and trolls and says it's entirely his fault.

That's according to a memo the CEO reportedly sent to employees earlier this week in which he accepts responsibility for the problems and promises changes are on the way

The Verge got ahold of two emails, reportedly sent to Twitter employees by Costolo, in which the CEO says he accepts personal responsibility for the problems.

In the first memo, which reportedly came after an employee questioned on an internal forum whether the social network is doing all it can to prevent trolling and abuse, Twitter's top executive admits he's "ashamed" at how the company has handled these issues and promises to "start kicking these people off right and left." ...

Google banned more than 214,000 advertisers, and removed more than 524 million "bad ads" from its AdWords network in 2014, the company announced in a blog post

"While this represents a tiny fraction of the total ads on our platform — the vast majority of advertisers follow our policies and act responsibly — we continue to remain vigilant to protect users against bad advertising practices," Vikaram Gupta, director of ads engineering at Google, wrote Tuesday in the post

While some of the numbers have improved from 2013 (e.g. in 2014, Google banned 7,000 advertisers for promoting counterfeit goods, down from 14,000 the year before), Google calls this a "constantly evolving fight" in which it has to combat increasingly sophisticated scams. ...

When Kanye West's new Adidas sneaker launches, you will be able to snag a pair of the much-hyped kicks without waiting in line.

That's thanks to the new app Adidas Confirmed, which allows users to reserve a pair of limited edition shoes before they launch

Kanye's long-rumored sneakers will be the first product that will launch through the app, Adidas said. However, the company hasn't revealed when the shoes will be available.

Before the debut of a limited edition shoe, users who have the app — it's available for both iOS and Android — will receive a push notification, alerting them when reservations are open. They then select a size, choose a store nearby and receive a confirmation and pickup window. Once you have a confirmation, the shoes are guaranteed, provided you come during the pickup window. ...