Technology category, Page 23
Amazon handed Ring footage to police without user consent
Amazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, a revelation that’s bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the country. The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was...
Twitter says it removes 1 million spam accounts a day
Twitter said it removes 1 million spam accounts each day in a call with executives Thursday during a briefing that aimed to shed more light on the company’s fake and bot accounts as it tussles with Elon Musk over “spam bots.” The Tesla CEO, who has offered to buy Twitter...
Apple to add ‘lockdown’ safeguard on iPhones, iPads, Macs
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple said it will roll out a “lockdown” option for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers intended to protect against spyware unleashed by state-sponsored hackers — although enabling that protection will also make these devices less useful. The safeguard announced Wednesday is a tacit acknowledgement that not even...
2 Seattle startups racing to transform next-gen space travel
The phrase “nuclear energy” conjures images of large steaming towers or Tony Stark’s arc reactor from the iconic “Iron Man” movies. But two Seattle-based startups are designing nuclear technologies small enough to pick up and carry that, thanks in part to buy-in from the Defense Department, they hope will fuel...
iPhone turns 15: How Apple forever changed the way we communicateVideo
It was January 2007 when Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs walked onto a stage at the MacWorld convention and introduced the world to a new kind of phone. It was called an iPhone, and it became available to the public June 29, 2007. Little did anyone know it would...
Company buying Trump’s social media app faces subpoenas
NEW YORK — The company planning to buy Donald Trump’s new social media business has disclosed a federal grand jury investigation that it says could impede or even prevent its acquisition of the Truth Social app. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. dropped 10% in morning trading Monday as the...
After Roe, Dems seek probe of tech’s use of personal data
WASHINGTON — With the Supreme Court ending the constitutional protections for abortion, four Democratic lawmakers are asking federal regulators to investigate Apple and Google for allegedly deceiving millions of mobile phone users by enabling the collection and sale of their personal data to third parties. The decision Friday by the...
Bitcoin drops below $20,000 as crypto selloff quickens
LONDON — The price of bitcoin fell below $20,000 on Saturday for the first time since late 2020, in a fresh sign that the selloff in cryptocurrencies is deepening. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, fell below the psychologically important threshold, dropping by as much as 9% to less than $19,000...
So long, Internet Explorer. The browser retires today
SAN FRANCISCO — Internet Explorer is finally headed out to pasture. As of Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support the once-dominant browser that legions of web surfers loved to hate — and a few still claim to adore. The 27-year-old application now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots...
Musk wars with Twitter over his buyout deal – on Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised that taking over Twitter would enable him to rid the social media platform of its annoying “spam bots.” Now he’s arguing — without presenting any evidence — that there might be just too many of those automated accounts for the $44 billion deal to move...
Livestreamed carnage: Tech’s hard lessons from mass killings
These days, mass shooters like the one now held in the Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket attack don’t stop with planning out their brutal attacks. They also create marketing plans while arranging to livestream their massacres on social platforms in hopes of fomenting more violence. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and now the...
Elon Musk says Twitter deal at lower price is ‘not out of the question’
Elon Musk stoked speculation that he could seek to renegotiate his takeover of Twitter Inc., saying a viable deal at a lower price wouldn’t be “out of the question.” Twitter shares fell 8.2% at the close of trading in New York. The stock has been dropping on speculation that Musk...
Musk puts Twitter buy on hold, casting doubt on $44B deal
DETROIT — Elon Musk said Friday that his plan to buy Twitter is “temporarily on hold,” raising fresh doubts about whether he’ll proceed with the $44 billion acquisition. Musk tweeted that he wanted to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform. Musk has been...
Google gets more multilingual, but will it get the nuance?
LIMA, Peru — About 10 million people speak Quechua, but trying to automatically translate emails and text messages into the most widely spoken Indigenous language family in the Americas was long all but impossible. That changed on Wednesday, when Google added Quechua and a variety of other languages to its...
Bitcoin’s unraveling tops 50% from peak with drop below $32,000
Bitcoin extended its losses, dropping below $32,000 for the first time since July 2021, putting its decline from a November record high to more than 50% amid a global flight from riskier investments. The world’s largest digital token fell as much as 7% on Monday and traded at around $31,924...
Face-scanner Clearview agrees to limits in court settlement
CHICAGO — Facial recognition startup Clearview AI has agreed to restrict the use of its massive collection of face images to settle allegations that it collected people’s photos without their consent. The company in a legal filing Monday agreed to permanently stop selling access to its face database to private...
CMU researchers create system enabling virtual kiss, sip of water
Is there a lovesick person among us who hasn’t imagined kissing someone they’re pining for? Or how about a thirsty individual imagining a cool sip of water? While not necessarily a good substitute for the real thing, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have figured out a way to exploit sensitivity...
Pittsburgh area experts have mixed reactions to Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase
It was Remington shaver spokesman Victor Kiam who famously said, “I like it so much, I bought the company.” For Elon Musk, the opposite is true. The world’s richest man, according to Forbes Magazine, Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion on Monday and then said he...
Will Musk’s hands-off ideal for Twitter have broad appeal?
Coming up with $44 billion to buy Twitter was the easy part for Elon Musk. Next comes the real challenge for the world’s richest person: fulfilling his promise to make Twitter “better than ever” as a lightly regulated haven for free speech. His vision for improving the 16-year-old company leans...
Amazon union could face tough road ahead after victory
NEW YORK — In the aftermath of their hard-won labor victory, Amazon workers in the New York City borough of Staten Island popped Champagne, cheered their victory and danced in celebration. But their jovial attitude will be tested by a company that seems likely to drag its feet to the...
Pittsburgh’s Girls of Steel competing at World Championship for robotics
They are Rosie the Riveters 2022 edition. A strong woman from the 1940s, Rosie was a pioneer who represented females in non-traditional jobs. She is the inspiration for the group Girls of Steel Robotics. They wear red bandanas with white polka dots — a recognizable pattern from classic photos of...
The Edsel, Quibi and CNN+? New addition to business failures
NEW YORK — The Edsel. Quibi. New Coke. The Segway. DeLorean sports cars. The pantheon of colossal business failures has a new member in the CNN+ streaming service. The news network’s subscription offering hadn’t even been operating for a month before Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that it would...
Netflix aims to curtail password sharing, considers ads
SAN FRANCISCO — An unexpectedly sharp drop in subscribers has Netflix considering changes it has long resisted: Minimizing password sharing and creating a low-cost subscription supported by advertising. Looming changes announced late Tuesday are designed to help Netflix regain momentum lost over the past year. Pandemic-driven lockdowns that drove binge-watching...
Netflix shares drop 26% after it loses 200K subscribers
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix suffered its first subscriber loss in more than a decade, causing its shares to plunge 25% in extended trading amid concerns that the pioneering streaming service may have already seen its best days. The company’s customer base fell by 200,000 subscribers during the January-March period, according...
Latest apps promise fast service but can they deliver?
NEW YORK — When Mahlet Berhanemeskel gets back to her New York City home from her 90-minute commute, she doesn’t feel like cooking. So instead she orders food like BLTs, Cheez-Its and cookies from an app called Gorillas. It’s affordable and takes 10 minutes. “It’s instant gratification,” she said. Gorillas...
