Technology category, Page 26

After heavy criticism over the way they let misinformation run wild on their platforms in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, social media companies gradually have been adopting stronger policies to stem the spread of misinformation. For the first time, Facebook and Twitter deployed those policies Wednesday against a...

A Facebook page belonging to The Aerobic Center at Lynch Field in Greensburg has been hacked, apparently by a company hawking shirts featuring the rock band Pearl Jam. “We’re trying to get it straightened out,” said center general manager Marianne Anzovino. “I’m furious.” Anzovino’s personal page also was hacked, she...

Waymo is allowing the general public to hitch a ride in its driverless autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, expanding a service it had been quietly offering to a select group of riders for the past year. The service launches to the general public Thursday. The vehicles, which will have no back-up...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook said it’s readied new safeguards for the 2020 U.S. elections that have it better prepared to deal with candidates who prematurely declare victory or contest official results and the possibility of voter intimidation by alleged — and potentially armed — “poll watchers.” In the former case,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court justices discussed restaurant menus, computer keyboards, songs and even the periodic table Wednesday in trying to resolve a copyright dispute between tech giants Google and Oracle. The justices were hearing arguments Wednesday in a dispute that is worth billions and important to the future of...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Facebook is tightening its policy against QAnon, the baseless conspiracy theory that paints President Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebrities and “deep state’ government officials. The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram accounts...

Aurora, a Pittsburgh-based autonomous vehicle company, will be moving into a new headquarters space in the Strip District. They expect to move into the new location at 1600 Smallman Street by the spring, a company spokesperson said. With over 100,000 square feet, the headquarters will house an array of employees,...

The newest sport in Point Park University’s athletic program is similar to soccer, except the ball is giant, the players are replaced with rocket-powered race cars and the action takes place on a computer screen instead of in real life. The university’s new esports team made its debut this week,...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s first new space potty in decades — a $23 million titanium toilet better suited for women — is getting a not-so-dry run at the International Space Station before eventually flying to the moon. It’s packed inside a cargo ship set to blast off late Thursday...

As part of his two-day visit to the Pittsburgh region this week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette participated in a discussion at Carnegie Mellon University, along with U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. The “fireside chat,” moderated by CMU’s Vice President of Research Michael McQuade and livestreamed via Brouillette’s...

The Commerce Department said Friday it will ban Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from U.S. app stores Sunday and will bar the apps from accessing essential internet services in the U.S. — a move that could effectively wreck the operation of both Chinese services for U.S. users. TikTok won’t face the...

Zoom is experiencing partial outages during the first day of school for thousands of students who are relying on the video conferencing technology to connect with educators. The company said Monday that it began receiving reports of disruptions around 9 a.m. Eastern time. It has identified the issue causing the...

SAN FRANCISCO — Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found. The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP...

Pennsylvania plans to launch a coronavirus exposure-notification app in early September in an effort to more quickly break chains of transmission by using the new technology to notify people who may have been exposed, officials said Monday. The state has a $1.9 million contract to deploy and maintain the app...

TikTok and its U.S. employees are planning to take President Donald Trump’s administration to court over his sweeping order to ban the popular video app, according to a lawyer preparing one of the lawsuits. The employees’ legal challenge to Trump’s executive order will be separate from a pending lawsuit from...

BLED, Slovenia — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Slovenia to make the case for high-speed wireless networks that bar Chinese companies like Huawei. On the second leg of a four-nation tour of central and eastern Europe, Pompeo was meeting Slovenian officials in the mountain lake town of...

NEW YORK — Facebook’s Instagram is launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels. The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in...

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has been banned from Twitter for breaking the social media platform’s site’s rules forbidding hate speech. The company said Friday that Duke’s account “has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of the Twitter rules on hateful conduct.” It didn’t specify what exactly Duke...

Computer Reach was recently named the 2020 Champion in Action for Western Pennsylvania in the environmental stewardship category by Citizens Bank, Trib Total Media and Pittsburgh Cares. The nonprofit focuses on eliminating the digital divide by making technology available to people in need while reducing e-waste. As a recipient of...

HONG KONG — A breach in Twitter’s security that allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls is one of the worst attacks in recent years and may shake trust in a platform politicians and CEOs use to communicate with the public, experts said Thursday. The...

Unidentified hackers broke into the Twitter accounts of technology moguls, politicians, celebrities and major companies Wednesday in an apparent Bitcoin scam. The ruse included bogus tweets from former President Barack Obama, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and a number of tech billionaires including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft...

DALLAS — An unopened copy of a vintage Super Mario Bros. video game has been sold for $114,000 in an auction that underscored the enduring popularity of entertainment created decades ago. A bidder who wished to remain anonymous snapped up an early version of the pioneering Super Mario Bros. game...

Amazon has told employees to delete the popular video app TikTok from phones on which they use Amazon email, citing security risks from the China-owned app, according to reports and posts by Twitter users who said they were Amazon employees. The notice said employees must delete the app by Friday...