A final ruling on whether to overturn Facebook’s ban on former U.S. president Donald Trump will take a bit longer than anticipated, an independent oversight board said Friday. Critics of the social media company and even strong advocates of unfettered political discourse called on Facebook’s oversight board to endorse the decision to boot Trump from […]
Advocates for children from around the world urged Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday to ditch plans for a version of Instagram geared toward preteens. Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Electronic Privacy Information Center were among nearly 100 groups and individuals from North America, Europe, Africa and Australia to make the plea in […]
South African mobile communications company Vodacom South Africa, with British parent company Vodafone and charity Hestia, has launched a free mobile phone application to support targets of gender-based violence, which has soared during the coronavirus pandemic. The application, “Bright Sky,” provides information for people to identify gender-based violence and get counseling and emergency help. Franco Puglisi reports from Johannesburg. […]
Predicting whether an outbreak is likely to happen is now possible with the COVID-19 Outbreak Detection Tool, a map that shows the coming hotspots for the disease, if accurate data is available. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details. Producer: Elizabeth Lee details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
The international Future City Competition recently announced its 2021 winners in the first ever all-virtual event. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
Plans by the world’s largest contract chipmaker for a record $100 billion capacity expansion will just mildly dent a growing worldwide shortage of semiconductors for gear such as high-speed notebook computers, 5G smartphones and newer vehicles, tech experts believe. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said in an April 1 legal notice to the Taipei stock exchange […]
The Supreme Court sided Monday with Google in an $8 billion copyright dispute with Oracle over the internet company’s creation of the Android operating system used on most smartphones worldwide. To create Android, which was released in 2007, Google wrote millions of lines of new computer code. But it also used 11,330 lines of code […]
Chinese tech giants are expanding in Singapore as they face a crackdown at home and growing pressure in other key markets — but they may struggle to find talent in the city-state. Messaging-and-gaming behemoth Tencent is opening a hub and TikTok owner ByteDance is on a hiring spree after establishing a regional headquarters, while e-commerce giant Alibaba is investing in property and recruiting. The […]
Professional social network LinkedIn is giving nearly all of its 15,900 full-time workers next week off as it seeks to avoid burnout and allow its employees to recharge, the company told AFP Friday. The Microsoft-owned firm said that the “RestUp!” week starting Monday is meant to give employees time for their own well-being. “There is […]
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a lawsuit accusing Facebook Inc. of violating a federal anti-robocall law. The justices, in a 9-0 decision authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, sided with Facebook in its argument that text messages the social media company sent did not violate a 1991 federal law called the Telephone Consumer […]
Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its augmented reality headsets. Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday. The technology is based on Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets, which were originally intended for the video game and entertainment industries. Pentagon officials have described the […]
Four Republican U.S. lawmakers requested on Tuesday that Facebook Inc., Twitter, and Alphabet Inc.’s Google turn over any studies they have done on how their services affect children’s mental health. The request follows a joint hearing last week of two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees at which the companies’ chief executives discussed their content moderation […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX suffered another setback Tuesday when one of its experimental rockets malfunctioned during a test flight at the company’s Texas facility. The incident occurred as the Starship SN11 prototype was attempting to land after what the company called a normal ascent to roughly 12 kilometers in altitude. Heavy fog obscured observers […]
A robot conceived to roll on planets is being used by firefighters in the U.S. to give them “situational awareness” before going into dangerous situations. It’s called Squishy, and Michelle Quinn found out more. Camera: Michelle Quinn Producer: Michelle Quinn details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
After canceling plans for undersea cables connecting the United States with Hong Kong because of U.S. government pressure, Facebook and Google now say they will run similar cables to Singapore and Indonesia. “Named Echo and Bifrost, those will be the first two cables to go through a new diverse route crossing the Java Sea, […]
Facebook hired fact-checkers, Twitter labeled tweets and Google took down videos, but for tech companies, disinformation is the problem that won’t go away. The social media giants face intensifying pressure to curtail disinformation as lawmakers in the US talk about new regulations. Tina Trinh reports. Producer: Matt Dibble details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content […]
Hackers in China used fake Facebook accounts and impostor websites to try to break into the computers and smartphones of Uyghur Muslims, the social network said Wednesday. The company said the sophisticated covert operation targeted Uyghur activists, journalists and dissidents from China’s Xinjiang region, as well as individuals living in Turkey, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Syria, […]
When Joe Biden took office as president, the Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies saw at least a glimmer of hope that the U.S.-led campaign to shut it out of international markets might be eased somewhat. Once a global leader in smartphone sales, Huawei has seen its market share outside China plummet since the Trump administration […]
Press freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is suing Facebook in France, saying the social media platform spreads misinformation. The suit was filed Monday with the Paris public prosecutor. “Reporters Without Borders accuses Facebook of ‘deceptive commercial practices’ on the grounds that the social media company’s promises to provide a ‘safe’ and ‘error-free’ online […]
A new outside report found that Facebook has allowed groups — many tied to QAnon, boogaloo and militia movements — to glorify violence during the 2020 election and in the weeks leading up to the deadly riots on the U.S. Capitol in January. Avaaz, a nonprofit advocacy group that says it seeks to protect democracies […]
Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese automakers scrambled on Monday to assess the production impact of a fire at a Renesas Electronics automotive chip plant that could aggravate a global semiconductor shortage. “We are gathering information and trying to see if this will affect us or not,” a Honda spokesperson said. Other car makers including Toyota and Nissan said they too were assessing the situation. […]
U.S. President Joe Biden announced Friday he plans to nominate former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson to lead the U.S. space agency, NASA. In a statement, the White House says as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term senator from Florida, Nelson, a Democrat, chaired committees on space, science and transportation. They […]
Twitter on Friday began a survey of global users about platform rules for world leaders while consulting human rights and academic specialists on its next policy steps. The announcement comes after Twitter joined other social networks banning then-president Donald Trump for his comments seen as inciting the violent attack on the US Capitol in January. […]
Twitter celebrates its 15th anniversary this month (March 21). With 330 million users around the world, the company that once called itself the free speech wing of the free speech party has been forced to contend with abuses of its platform. Tina Trinh reports. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web […]
Twitter celebrates its 15th anniversary this month (March 21). With 330 million users around the world, the company that once called itself the free speech wing of the free speech party has been forced to contend with abuses of its platform. Tina Trinh reports. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web […]
The FBI says it received a record number of complaints from the public last year about cybercrimes, including scams related to the COVID-19 pandemic, costing Americans a staggering $4.2 billion in losses. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 791,790 complaints in 2020, an increase of 69% over 2019 and the largest number since the […]
A growing number of companies are making products with the environment in mind. VOA’s Julie Taboh learned about an item finder made from ocean trash. Producer: Julie Taboh/Adam Greenbaum details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
Facebook has reached an agreement with Australia’s News Corp under a new law that makes social media giants pay domestic news outlets for their content. The terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed in Tuesday’s announcement. The deal comes nearly one month after Australia’s parliament approved a law that would allow a government arbitrator […]
U.S. automaker General Motors Corporation announced Monday it will build certain 2021 light-duty full-size pickup trucks without a fuel management module due to the global semiconductor chip shortage. In an email to the Reuters news agency, GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said the decision will lower the fuel economy slightly in those models effected by the […]
Facebook has scrapped plans to connect California, Taiwan and Hong Kong via a 12,000 kilometer underwater cable, citing tensions between the U.S. and China. The social media giant told the Wall St. Journal, which broke the story, it was halting the project due to political pressure from the U.S. government, which noted potential national security […]
Russia’s Internet regulatory body, Roskomnadzor, announced it had slowed down Twitter’s ability to function in Russia effective Wednesday — part of what authorities said was an initial penalty for the American social media platform’s failure to delete illegal content inside the country. According to a statement posted on Roskomnadzor’s website, 100 percent of mobile devices […]
Russia said Wednesday it was restricting the use of Twitter on the grounds the company has not removed banned content. State communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said if Twitter does not comply with Russian law, there will be further actions against the service, including a complete ban. The agency said Wednesday’s action involved slowing service speeds for all those […]
The nightly internet shutdowns in Myanmar are part of a strategy employed by many governments worldwide in times of crisis. But they come with costs. VOA’s Michelle Quinn reports. details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
The White House on Sunday urged computer network operators to take further steps to gauge whether their systems were targeted amid a hack of Microsoft Corp’s Outlook email program, saying a recent software patch still left serious vulnerabilities. “This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously,” […]
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet at auction, with bidding Saturday reaching $2 million in a sign of the appetite for virtual objects authenticated through blockchain technology. “just setting up my twttr,” Dorsey tweeted on March 21, 2006. On Friday he posted a link to “Valuables @Cent,” an online marketplace for tweets […]
U.S. President Joe Biden’s order to secure semiconductor supply chains for high-tech hardware production offers a commercial boost to Taiwan, one of the world’s biggest providers of chips, and gives Taipei new weight in any free-trade talks, analysts say. Biden signed an executive order Feb. 24 for the United States to start overcoming a chip […]
This week a U.S.-government backed commission of technology experts completed a three-year review of the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, urging the development of a new national technology strategy to stay competitive with China. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) has been studying how artificial intelligence and machine learning can address U.S. national security […]
An international advocacy group’s claim that the Vietnamese government has tapped hackers to target activists shows that the communist Southeast Asian state is widening the use of technology to quash its biggest opponents, experts believe. Ocean Lotus, a shadowy group suspected of working with the Vietnamese government, is “behind a sustained campaign of spyware attacks,” […]
From a smart dog collar that can tell you your pet’s emotional state to toys that automatically move, the pet tech industry is growing, especially during the pandemic when many people staying at home have been adopting dogs and cats. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on the latest tech devices for pets. Camera: Elizabeth Lee, Sam Verma […]
From a smart dog collar that can tell you your pet’s emotional state to toys that automatically move, the pet tech industry is growing, especially during the pandemic when many people staying at home have been adopting dogs and cats. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on the latest tech devices for pets. Camera: Elizabeth Lee, Sam […]
There’s a new player in the social media webspace: it’s called Clubhouse. But unlike other social media platforms this one isn’t open to just anyone. Mariia Prus looked into why the platform got so popular so fast. Camera: Oleksii Osyka details ⇒ BusinessMediaguide.Com portal received this content from this noted web source: VOANews.Com
A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users. U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illinois in 2015. Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users […]
With internet access increasing in many emerging democracies, use of social media is changing the ways that candidates and voters interact. It’s also changing how the non-profit U.S.-based Carter Center assesses elections. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, monitoring online disinformation and threats to prevent political violence is a new front in the center’s democracy initiatives […]
U.S. lawmakers launched an investigation this week into the December 2020 SolarWinds hack that included a breach of many private and U.S. government computer systems. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, tech leaders are telling lawmakers the full scope of the breach is still not known. Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Katherine Gypson […]
U.S. lawmakers launched an investigation this week into the December 2020 SolarWinds hack that included a breach of many private and U.S. government computer systems. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, tech leaders are telling lawmakers the full scope of the breach is still not known. Camera: Adam Greenbaum Produced by: Katherine Gypson […]