Technology category, Page 34
What the Apple-Qualcomm-Intel dance means for the future of 5G
The market for a critical component in next-generation smartphones is undergoing a dramatic shift at the dawn of the 5G era. At its center is Qualcomm, the silicon-chip maker whose miniature modems help put the “phone” in iPhone. Now, analysts say, two key developments last week stand to make Qualcomm...
Watch: Pack of Boston Dynamics robot dogs pulls truckVideo
Mush. A pack of robot dogs stood in for real dogs, and a box truck instead of a sled, in a new video released by a U.S. robotics company, showing the robots pulling the truck with apparent ease. The video posted Tuesday shows 10 four-legged, though headless, robot SpotMini pulling...
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp back up after massive outage
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were temporarily down early Sunday. All three social media platforms, including Facebook Messenger, were affected by the outage. Downdetector.com, a site that monitors site outages, shows Facebook had been down since 6:30 a.m. EST in much of the world, with thousands of reported outages concentrated in...
Here’s how to stop Amazon from listening to what you say to Alexa
Don’t want Amazon employees eavesdropping on what you tell Alexa? The AI machine doesn’t magically learn a “Taylor Swift” reference means the musical artist, there is manual processing involved and that means someone at Amazon.com is listening. Officials explained to the Tribune-Review that the device is designed to respond to...
Streaming to subscriptions: Video games enter new frontiers
NEW YORK — The video game industry is entering new frontiers. In the past, you plunked down $60 at GameStop for a copy of Grand Theft Auto or Madden NFL and played it out — after which you could trade it in or let it gather dust. Now, you’ll increasingly...
Women make up 24% of cybersecurity workforce, new study says
The gender problem in cybersecurity just might be getting a little better. Globally, women make up just 11 percent of the workforce; 14 percent in North America, according a 2017 report by the Center for Cyber Safety and Education. Those numbers have been relatively stable since 2013. But a new...
Facebook extends ban on hate speech to ‘white nationalists’
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is extending its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. The company previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists. The social network said Wednesday that it didn’t apply the ban previously to...
Newspapers largely shun Apple’s news subscription service
NEW YORK — Many newspaper publishers — after suffering for a decade from job losses, shrinking ad dollars and circulation declines — are so far shunning Apple’s new “Netflix for news” subscription. For $10 a month, Apple News Plus offers articles from more than 300 magazines, but only three newspapers....
5 reasons why you’ll want Apple’s radical new credit cardVideo
The company that asked you to “Think Different” about computers and phones now wants to change the way you shop. Apple on Monday announced expansions to services such as TV and gaming but one of the biggest game changers may be its upcoming credit card. You can already buy things...
Apple takes on Netflix, will debut streaming TV service this fall
CUPERTINO, California — Apple says its new subscription TV service will be available this fall. But the company isn’t saying yet how much the service will cost or when exactly it will launch. Apple announced the service, Apple TV Plus, at an event Monday in Cupertino, California, where it also...
Facebook to overhaul ad targeting to prevent discrimination
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook will overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing , credit and employment ads as part of a legal settlement. For the social network, that’s one major legal problem down, several to go, including government investigations in the U.S. and Europe over its data and...
Loss of old Myspace artifacts highlights impermanence of the Web
The most surprising thing people may learn about Myspace this week is that it still exists. But the old social network’s accidental purge of 12 years’ worth of its users’ music uploads - that’s an estimated 50 million songs - is probably a close second. The tremendous loss of digital...
Facebook says service hindered by lack of local news
NEW YORK — Facebook’s effort to establish a service that provides its users with local news and information is being hindered by the lack of outlets where the company’s technicians can find original reporting. The service, launched last year, is currently available in some 400 cities in the United States....
Apple Watch may spot heart problem but more research needed
A huge study suggests the Apple Watch can detect a worrisome irregular heartbeat at least sometimes — but experts say more work is needed to tell if using wearable technology to screen for heart problems really helps. More than 419,000 Apple Watch users signed up for the unusual study, making...
Why Wikipedia will go offline for 24 hours in Germany
BERLIN — Online encyclopedia Wikipedia’s German edition will go offline for 24 hours next Thursday as its authors try to rally Europeans against a proposed European Union law that would tighten online copyright regulations. Critics fear that the directive could pose risks to freedom of speech in Europe. If E.U....
Facebook says it is working to resolve outage on its platforms
Facebook says it is aware of outages on its platforms including Facebook, Messenger and Instagram and is working to resolve the issue. The social media company posted to Twitter Wednesday afternoon, “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing the Facebook family of apps. We’re working to resolve...
Facebook users fleeing by the millions, report says
Facebook users are fleeing the platform, with as many as 15 million fewer people on the site in the United States than in 2017, according to a new report. Edison Research found that, while nearly 80 percent of Americans use various forms of social media, fewer and fewer are opting...
At age 30, World Wide Web is ‘not the web we wanted’
GENEVA — At the ripe old age of 30 and with half the globe using it, the World Wide Web is facing growing pains with issues like hate speech, privacy concerns and state-sponsored hacking, its creator says, trumpeting a call to make it better for humanity. Tim Berners-Lee on Tuesday...
Facebook’s vision of future? Looks like Chinese app WeChat
LONDON — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking the social media company in a new direction by focusing on messaging. Chinese tech giant Tencent got there years ago with its app WeChat. Zuckerberg outlined his vision to give people ways to communicate privately, by stitching together Facebook’s various services so...
Mark Zuckerberg says he’ll reorient Facebook toward encryption, privacy
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced sweeping changes to Facebook’s services on Wednesday, saying in a blog post that he would spend the next several years reorienting the company’s apps toward encryption and privacy. The moves — outlined in broad strokes rather than as a set of specific product changes —...
Qualcomm puts value of patents on line in first Apple jury trial
Qualcomm is putting the value of its patent portfolio on the line in a California courtroom in its hometown to try to make Apple pay for using technology the chipmaker credits for the iPhone’s commercial success. It’s the first time a U.S. jury will have a say in the two-year,...
Mars lander starts digging on red planet, hits snags
NASA’s newest Mars lander has started digging into the red planet, but hit a few snags, scientists said Friday. The German drilling instrument on the InSight lander struck what appeared to be a couple of stones. It only managed to burrow between half a foot and about 1 ½ feet,...
YouTube suspends comments on videos of kids to curb pedophiles
SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube said Thursday it will turn off comments on nearly all videos featuring kids — potentially affecting millions of posts on the site — after reports last week that pedophiles were leaving inappropriate comments on innocuous videos of children. The change comes as YouTube grapples with moderating...
‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin celebrated by Google Doodle
Google’s home page Friday featured the original Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, cuddling a croc. The legendary Australian outdoorsman’s 57th birthday would have been Feb. 22, (it was also the date of National Wildlife Day this year) so it was doubly appropriate the search engine pay homage by showing the man...
Ground-breaking electric Chevrolet Volt runs out of juice
DETROIT — As their company was swirling around the financial drain in the early 2000s, General Motors executives came up with an idea to counter its gas-guzzling image and point the way to transportation of the future: an electric car with a gas-engine backup that could travel anywhere. At Detroit’s...
