Technology category, Page 15
Data privacy law seen as needed precursor to AI regulation
While artificial intelligence appears to be a shiny new bauble full of promises and perils, lawmakers in both parties acknowledge that they must first resolve a less trendy but more fundamental problem: data privacy and protection. With dozens of hearings on data privacy held in the past five years, lawmakers...
With the future of AM unclear, a look back at the powerful role radio plays in baseball history
NEW YORK — Growing up in the Boston suburbs, Suzyn Waldman fell madly in love with two things: baseball and Broadway shows. During the 1950s and ’60s, the long arm of AM radio brought both into her home. “I can still hear Ned Martin of the Red Sox reciting poetry...
‘Game of Thrones’ creator and other authors sue ChatGPT-maker OpenAI for copyright infringement
NEW YORK — John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin are among 17 authors suing OpenAI for “systematic theft on a mass scale,” the latest in a wave of legal action by writers concerned that artificial intelligence programs are using their copyrighted works without permission. In papers filed Tuesday...
2 Vegas casinos fell victim to cyberattacks, shattering the image of impenetrable casino security
LAS VEGAS — A persistent error message greeted Dulce Martinez on Monday as she tried to access her casino rewards account to book accommodations for an upcoming business trip. That’s odd, she thought, then toggled over to Facebook to search for clues about the issue on a group for MGM...
TikTok is hit with $368 million fine under Europe’s strict data privacy rules
LONDON — European regulators slapped TikTok with a $368 million fine on Friday for failing to protect children’s privacy, the first time that the popular short video-sharing app has been punished for breaching Europe’s strict data privacy rules. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the lead privacy regulator for Big Tech companies...
What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple’s Lightning cable?
LONDON — Bye, Lightning cable. Hello, USB-C. Apple is ditching its in-house iPhone charging plug and falling in line with the rest of the tech industry by adopting a more widely used connection standard. A big part of the reason is a European Union common charging rule that’s coming soon...
Google’s dominance of internet search faces major challenge in legal showdown with U.S. regulators
The U.S. government is taking aim at what has been an indomitable empire: Google’s ubiquitous search engine that has become the internet’s main gateway. The legal attack will swing into full force Tuesday in a Washington D.C. federal courtroom that will serve as the battleground for the biggest U.S. antitrust...
Carmakers failing privacy test, as owners have little or no control of data they hand over
BOSTON — Cars are getting an “F” in data privacy. Most major manufacturers admit they may be selling your personal information, a new study finds, with half also saying they would share it with the government or law enforcement without a court order. The proliferation of sensors in automobiles —...
CCAC to offer free courses in computer information technology
The Community College of Allegheny County will offer free, for-credit courses in computer information technology starting next week at its Homewood-Brushton Center. The menu of 12- and 14-week, in-person courses have two start dates: next Tuesday and on Sept. 18, officials said Thursday. Costs for tuition, fees and textbooks are...
Early Apple computer that helped launch $3T company sells at auction for $223,000
BOSTON — One of the first personal computers built by Apple and signed by company co-founder Steve Wozniak has sold at auction for more than $223,000. The Apple-1 has been restored to a fully operational state and came with a custom case with a built-in keyboard, according to Boston-based RR...
Jailed Sam Bankman-Fried can’t prepare for trial without vegan diet and adequate meds, lawyers say
NEW YORK — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried can’t adequately prepare for trial in six weeks while in jail without proper access to computers, necessary medications to help him concentrate, and a better diet than bread, water and peanut butter, his lawyers told a magistrate judge Tuesday. The lawyers made their...
For Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads, the real rival is still TikTok — not the former Twitter
Threads, the simple, bare-bones text-based social network created by Facebook owner Meta, burst onto the scene during a particularly bad week for the rival then still known as Twitter. It quickly amassed 100 million signups — a huge feat for a newcomer in the space — and was dubbed as...
The end-call button on your iPhone could move soon. What to know about Apple’s iOS 17 change
NEW YORK — Hanging up that phone call? The location of Apple’s red end-call button is set to slightly move with upcoming iOS 17 updates to the phone app, so be wary of your thumb’s muscle memory. As iPhone users know, the “End” button currently sits prominently away from other...
Elon Musk wants to turn tweets into X’s — but changing language is not quite so simple
SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk may want to send “tweet” back to the birds, but the ubiquitous term for posting on the site he now calls X is here to stay — at least for now. For one, the word is still plastered all over the site formerly known as...
Elon Musk gets new hearing on tweet about Tesla workers’ stock amid UAW union effort
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court Friday said it will reconsider its March ruling that Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened to take away employees’ stock options in a 2018 Twitter post amid an organizing effort by the United Auto Workers union. Three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit...
Netflix’s subscriber growth surges in a sign that crackdown on password sharing is paying off
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper subscription option are paying off. The video streaming service added 5.9 million...
New start-ups to join Lawrenceville’s ‘Robotics Row’
Several more companies are joining the ranks of Pittsburgh’s growing robotics industry. The Robotics Factory, a consortium of start-ups, announced Monday that it will move into the Tech Forge building in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. Six start-up companies will be joining the Robotics Factory’s “Accelerate” program, which provides them with funding...
Musk says Twitter is losing cash because advertising is down and the company is carrying heavy debt
Elon Musk says Twitter is still losing cash because advertising has dropped by half. In a reply to a tweet offering business advice, Musk tweeted Saturday, “We’re still negative cash flow, due to (about a) 50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.” “Need to reach positive cash flow...
Digital divide hurts pocketbooks of Pa. residents, roundtable participants say
The digital divide leads to lost opportunities for people in underserved broadband areas, officials said Thursday as they discussed how to spend $1.16 billion expected from the federal government to help solve the problem. “People have been talking about the digital divide for decades,” said Evan Feinman, director of the...
First Amendment group sues Texas Governor and others over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices
NEW YORK — A First Amendment group sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others on Thursday over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices, arguing the prohibition — which extends to public universities — is unconstitutional and impedes academic freedom. The complaint was filed by The Knight First Amendment Institute...
What is Threads? All your questions about Meta’s new Twitter rival, answeredVideo
NEW YORK — Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is live. The app, billed as the text version of Meta’s photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early...
TikTok, 5 content creators ask federal judge to block Montana from banning appVideo
TikTok Inc. and a group of five content creators who are suing the state of Montana over its first-in-the-nation law to ban the video sharing app are now asking a federal judge to block implementation of the law while the case moves through the courts and before it takes effect...
Judge’s order limits government contact with social media operators, raises disinformation questions
NEW ORLEANS — An order by a federal judge in Louisiana has ignited a high-stakes legal battle over how the government is allowed to interact with social media platforms, raising broad questions about whether — and how — officials can fight what they deem misinformation on health or other matters....
Ransomware criminals are dumping kids’ private files online after school hacks
The confidential documents stolen from schools and dumped online by ransomware gangs are raw, intimate and graphic. They describe student sexual assaults, psychiatric hospitalizations, abusive parents, truancy — even suicide attempts. “Please do something,” begged a student in one leaked file, recalling the trauma of continually bumping into an ex-abuser...
Why social media is being blamed for fueling riots in France
Social media companies are once again under scrutiny, this time in France as the country’s president blames TikTok, Snapchat and other platforms for helping fuel widespread riots over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused social media of playing a “considerable role”...
