Tag Archives: technology

USA Today reports: Segway, which boldly claimed its two-wheeled personal transporter would revolutionize the way people get around, is ending production of its namesake vehicle. The Segway PT, popular with tourists and police officers but perhaps better known for its high-profile crashes, will be retired on July 15, the company said in a statement. The transportation revolution that inventor Dean …

Deadline reports: Wireless provider T-Mobile continued to battle phone outages Monday, which began in the mid-afternoon in several major U.S. markets and continued into the evening. The hardest-hit areas have been on the East Coast, including major cities like New York, Atlanta and Miami, as well as LA and Chicago, according to the tech-issue tracker DownDetector. Calls and some text …

Via press release from the FBI: The FBI advises the public to be cautious when downloading apps on smartphones and tablets, as some could be concealing malicious intent. Cyber actors target banking information using banking trojans, which are malicious programs that disguise themselves as other apps, such as games or tools. When the user launches a legitimate banking app, it …

TechCrunch reports: SpaceX had just conducted yet another static fire test of the Raptor engine in its Starship SN4 prototype launch vehicle on Friday when the test vehicle exploded on the test stand in Boca Chica, Texas. This was the fourth static fire test of this engine on this prototype, so it’s unclear what went wrong vs. other static fire …

Courthouse News reports: University researchers have developed and recorded the fastest internet data speed in the world from a single optical chip, holding the capacity to download 1,000 high-definition movies in a split second, according to new research revealed Friday. In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the world’s internet infrastructure has experienced increased pressure, heightened by the pandemic isolation …

BGR reports: Apple and Google have developed a standard API that authorities can use to create coronavirus contact tracing apps for specific countries or communities. These apps rely on a phone’s Bluetooth connectivity to ping nearby devices and create local records of that handshake. When one of those users reports they have been diagnosed COVID-19 positive, a database will record …

ABC News reports: Some states, predicting challenges around expanding paper ballot access in time for the November general election amid the COVID-19 pandemic, are weighing the use of Internet-based voting platforms. The considerations come as election officials across the country brace for what will likely be a record year of mail-in paper ballot usage amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Delaware, …

Axios reports: Google’s philanthropic arm is doubling its planned coronavirus response donations to a total of $100 million, Google.org head Jacquelline Fuller told Axios. The effort is in addition to coronavirus-related moves by the corporate side and, in some cases, also comes with hands-on technical support from Google employees to help organizations with the technical aspects of their efforts. Google.org …

CNET reports: Google today said it’s making its teleconferencing service, called Google Meet, free to consumers. The move takes aim at Zoom, the rival video chat service that’s become a household name during the stay-at-home era spurred by the novel coronavirus. Previously, Meet was only available to paying customers of G Suite, Google’s line of enterprise apps that includes Gmail, …

Some relatively normal but still virus-related news: Apple announced a new, cheaper iPhone model on Wednesday, marking the first time it has launched a new phone without one of its glitzy in-person events as most of the country remains under shelter in place orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. The new, second-generation iPhone SE carries the same name as the …

The New York Times reports: In one of the most far-ranging attempts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Apple and Google said they were building software into smartphones that would tell people if they were in recent contact with someone who was infected with the virus. The technology giants said they were teaming up to release the tool within …

Reuters reports: Alphabet Inc will donate more than $800 million in funds towards producing medical supplies used to fight COVID-19, and in ad credits to government and health organizations and businesses, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said on Friday. The company is working with Magid Glove and Safety to produce 2 million to 3 million face masks, and will financially …

CBNC reports: iPhone users who are wondering whether they have COVID-19 can now turn to Siri. Apple has updated its voice assistant to provide users with a step-by-step questionnaire if they ask variations of, “Hey Siri, do I have the coronavirus?” The update appears to have been made on Saturday, when users first started noticing it. Siri will ask users …

CNN reports: The European Union is urging Netflix and other streaming platforms to stop showing video in high definition to prevent the internet from breaking under the strain of unprecedented usage due to the coronavirus pandemic. With so many countries on forced lockdowns to fight the spread of the virus, hundreds of millions working from home and even more children …

Business Insider reports: Google is recommending that all of its tens of thousands of North American employees work from home, its latest move to try and protect its employees from the growing coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley-based search giant sent out a memo to its workforce informing that it was now changing its policies to recommend all workers …

The Verge reports: Facebook is opening up about the behind-the-scenes tools it uses to combat fake account creation on its platforms, and the company says it has a new artificial intelligence-powered method known as Deep Entity Classification (DEC) that’s proved especially effective. DEC is a machine learning model that doesn’t just take into account the activity of the suspect account, …

Buzzfeed News reports: On Wednesday, Twitter will begin testing a feature, called “Fleets,” that will allow you to post photos, videos, and text that disappear after a short period of time. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s nothing other than the long-awaited debut of stories on the social platform. When Snapchat invented stories in 2013, people loved the way …

The Daily Beast reports: Russian propagandists have a new trick: Pushing a “news” app that poses as a “free streaming service,” but which is linked directly to the Russian propaganda outlet RT. Of course, the app doesn’t bother to disclose this. Dubbed “Portable.TV,” the new app went live a few months ago, according to its Apple Store history. Billing itself …

The Verge reports: Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled …

Variety reports: WhatsApp now has more than 2 billion users globally, according to Facebook — and the company says it “will not compromise” on the messaging app’s end-to-end encryption, despite warnings from law enforcement officials. WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $19 billion in 2014, uses strong crypto to keep information sent over the service private, “helping protect you from hackers …