Tag Archives: technology

Business Insider reports: The amount of information about individual users stored online and on their phones is enormous, Cook said in an interview with Vice News Tonight on Tuesday. The tech industry hasn’t done a good job of respecting and protecting that data, he said. “I’m not a pro-regulation kind of person, I believe in the free market deeply,” Cook …

The New York Times reports: Facebook on Friday said an attack on its computer network led to the exposure of information from nearly 50 million of its users. The company discovered the breach earlier this week, finding that attackers had exploited a feature in Facebook’s code that allowed them to take over user accounts. Facebook fixed the vulnerability and notified …

Metro News reports: The world’s first flying car will be available to pre-order next month. A Chinese company called Terrafugia is preparing to unleash a vehicle called the Transition which can turn from an automobile into an aircraft in just a minute. The most striking aspect of the Transition is its folding wings, which extend to allow flight and can …

Wired reports: Twitter on Tuesday announced a new policy addressing “dehumanizing speech,” which will take effect later this year, and for the first time the public will be able to formally provide the company with feedback on the proposed rule. The policy will prohibit “content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material …

The Associated Press reports: The co-founders of Instagram are resigning their positions with the social media company without explanation. Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a statement late Monday that he and Mike Krieger, Instagram’s chief technical officer, plan to leave the company in the next few weeks and take time off “to explore our curiosity and creativity again.” “Mike …

The Verge reports: Apple has announced its next generation of iPhones, and one of them is by far the biggest iPhone yet. The two new models are called the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. They look almost identical to their predecessor, but there are two immediate differences: for one, they’re both available in gold, unlike last year; and more …

Next Gov reports: Some international travelers can leave their boarding passes and passports in their pockets when flying out of Dulles International Airport thanks to a new facial recognition boarding technology that went into operation Thursday. The new veriScan system developed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority—with guidance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection—scans the faces of travelers approaching the …

Pew Research reports: Significant shares of Facebook users have taken steps in the past year to reframe their relationship with the social media platform. 42% of Facebook users have taken a break from the site in the past year. Just over half of Facebook users ages 18 and older (54%) say they have adjusted their privacy settings in the past …

Reuters reports: Mercedes showed on Tuesday how it is “aggressively” gunning for top spot in upscale battery cars market currently dominated by Tesla, as it unveiled the EQC, its first fully electric car, at an event in Stockholm. The event marks the start of the German onslaught against the American upstart and showcased a SUV with a 450 kilometer range, …

Politico reports: The United States and Russia were among a small number of countries that blocked the U.N. from moving toward talks on whether to ban so-called killer robots. During a week of meetings in Geneva, which ended in the early hours of Saturday, a group at the United Nations’ Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) discussed whether to take negotiations …

The Hill reports: Google is rolling out a feature that allows users to hear positive news stories on command, a feature developed in conjunction with a journalism group focusing on combating negative news fatigue. The feature, announced this week in a blog post, will exist on Google Assistant devices and will play a randomly selected positive news story focusing on …

The Associated Press reports: At a time when big-box retailers are trying to offer the same conveniences as their online competitors, the biggest U.S. grocery chain is testing the use of driverless cars to deliver groceries in a Phoenix suburb. Kroger’s pilot program launched Thursday morning with a robotic vehicle parked outside one of its own Fry’s supermarkets in Scottsdale. …

The Verge reports: In the study, published in the open access journal PLOS One, 89 volunteers were recruited to complete a pair of tasks with the help of Nao, a small humanoid robot. The participants were told that the tasks (which involved answering a series of either / or questions, like “Do you prefer pasta or pizza?”; and organizing a …

The New York Times reports: In 1997, Apple was on the ropes. The Silicon Valley pioneer was being decimated by Microsoft and its many partners in the personal-computer market. It had just cut a third of its work force, and it was about 90 days from going broke, Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, later said. On Thursday, Apple became worth …

The New York Times reports: Google was hit with a $5.1 billion fine by European antitrust officials on Wednesday for abusing its power in the smartphone market, in the region’s latest move to rein in the clout of American tech companies. The penalty of 4.34 billion euros was a record, and far larger than the €2.4 billion, or about $2.8 …

Courthouse News reports: Despite its promise to stop scanning emails for advertising purposes, Google let outside developers access and read millions of users’ private emails without consent, an Ohio man claims in a new class action. Lead plaintiff James Coyne, of Ohio, sued the technology giant in federal court Friday night, seeking damages and injunction to stop the Alphabet-owned company …

The New York Times reports: Internet retailers can be required to collect sales taxes in states where they have no physical presence, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. Brick-and-mortar businesses have long complained that they are disadvantaged by having to charge sales taxes while many of their online competitors do not. States have said that they are missing out on …

CNBC reports: Intel’s Brian Krzanich is out as CEO and chairman of the board following an investigation into a “consensual relationship with an Intel employee,” the company announced Thursday. Chief financial officer Robert Swan will step in as interim CEO, effective immediately. “An ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel has confirmed a violation of Intel’s non-fraternization policy, which applies …

The New York Times reports: It’s official. The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules, which had required internet service providers to offer equal access to all web content, took effect on Monday. Under those regulations, broadband service was considered a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the F.C.C. broad power over internet providers. The rules …

Gizmodo reports: Google will not seek another contract for its controversial work providing artificial intelligence to the U.S. Department of Defense for analyzing drone footage after its current contract expires. Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene announced the decision at a meeting with employees Friday morning, three sources told Gizmodo. The current contract expires in 2019 and there will not be …