Technology category, Page 6
Carnegie Mellon study exposes gaps in AI’s self-awareness
For the average person, artificial intelligence chatbots are a quick and easy way to find a trivia fact, homemade cookie recipe or even sample emails to send to your boss. But as this technology becomes widespread — infiltrating jobs and government offices — people do not realize the faults in...
Hijacked satellites and orbiting space weapons: In the 21st century, space is the new battlefield
WASHINGTON — As Russia held its Victory Day parade this year, hackers backing the Kremlin hijacked an orbiting satellite that provides television service to Ukraine. Instead of normal programing, Ukrainian viewers saw parade footage beamed in from Moscow: waves of tanks, soldiers and weaponry. The message was meant to intimidate,...
Supreme Court allows Mississippi to require age verification on social media such as Facebook and X
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children, an issue of growing national concern. The justices rejected an emergency appeal from a tech industry group representing major platforms like Facebook, X...
Amazon expands its perishable delivery service, putting pressure on traditional grocers
NEW YORK — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can now order their blueberries and milk at the same time as basic items like batteries and T-shirts and get them within hours. The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and...
Ford to invest nearly $2 billion in Kentucky assembly plant to produce electric vehicles
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ford Motor Co. will invest nearly $2 billion retooling a Kentucky factory to produce electric vehicles that it says will be more affordable, more profitable to build, and will outcompete rival models. The automaker’s top executive unveiled the new EV strategy Monday at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant...
Instagram rolls out map feature, sparking privacy concerns
Is Instagram the new Snapchat? It seems that way, as a map feature similar to Snap Map was just launched — eliciting mixed reactions from users. instagram showing y’all location oh that’s not pic.twitter.com/Qx9n5dn7zs— kaydenciaga⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ (@i30clip) August 6, 2025 On Wednesday, Meta rolled out several new features on the social...
Apple moves down Walnut Street in Shadyside
This weekend, a new Apple store is opening on Shadyside’s Walnut Street — just one block away from its current location at 5508 Walnut St. The new location is at 5436 Walnut St., the former site of the Gap store. The storefront is now dark brown brick, a contrast to...
Carnegie Mellon students invent AI pet that merges virtual reality with the physical world
When Carnegie Mellon University graduate student Brian He proposed developing a fully virtual pet, the idea was rejected for lacking innovation. Despite the setback, the Physical Presence Pet team took the idea a step further and roughly 14 weeks later, He and five other Entertainment Technology Center students had created...
WhatsApp takes down 6.8 million accounts linked to criminal scam centers, Meta says
WhatsApp has taken down 6.8 million accounts that were “linked to criminal scam centers” targeting people online around that world, its parent company Meta said this week. The account deletions, which Meta said took place over the first six months of the year, arrive as part of wider company efforts...
Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous
TALLINN, Estonia — YouTube videos that won’t load. A visit to a popular independent media website that produces only a blank page. Cellphone internet connections that are down for hours or days. Going online in Russia can be frustrating, complicated and even dangerous. It’s not a network glitch but a...
Britain hopes a crackdown on people-smugglers’ social media ads will help curb Channel crossings
LONDON — Britain says people who advertise fake passports or people-smuggling services on social medial could face up to five years in prison, in the government’s latest effort to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats. The government said Sunday that anyone convicted of creating online materials...
China summons Nvidia over ‘backdoor safety risks’ in H20 chips
WASHINGTON — China’s cyberspace regulators on Thursday summoned Nvidia over security concerns that its H20 chips can be tracked and turned off remotely, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website. In the meeting, Chinese regulators demanded that the U.S. chip company provide explanations on “backdoor safety risks” of...
Vatican strikes a solar deal that aims to make it the world’s 1st carbon-neutral state
ROME — Italy agreed Thursday to a Vatican plan to turn a 1,000-acre field north of Rome, once the source of controversy between the two, into a vast solar farm that will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of Vatican City and turn it into the world’s first carbon-neutral...
Radar satellite launched by India and NASA will track even the smallest changes to Earth’s land and ice
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA and India paired up to launch an Earth-mapping satellite on Wednesday capable of tracking even the slightest shifts in land and ice. The $1.3 billion mission will help forecasters and first responders stay one step ahead of floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions and other disasters, according...
Pittsburgh ‘uniquely positioned’ to lead in physical AI, organizers of upcoming summit say
Pittsburgh will again find itself in the AI economy spotlight in September when it hosts the two-day AI Horizons summit in the East End’s Bakery Square. The summit, in its second year, will focus this year on physical AI — in which artificial intelligence is integrated into physical systems like...
Union Pacific and Norfolk seek 1st transcontinental railroad through merger
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is seeking to buy Norfolk Southern in a $85 billion deal that would create the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S, and potentially trigger a final wave of rail mergers across the country. The proposed merger, announced Tuesday, would marry Union Pacific’s rail network in...
Tea app takes messaging system offline after 2nd security issue reported
Tea, a dating discussion app that recently suffered a high-profile cybersecurity breach, announced late Monday that some direct messages were also accessed in the incident. The app — designed to let women safely discuss men they date — rocketed to the top of the U.S. Apple App Store last week...
The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they’d encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were...
New mobile app could help save honeybee hives, protect $20 billion in agriculture
Honeybee colonies in the United States are projected to decline by up to 70% this year, entomologists say. And that could spell economic disaster. According to the American Beekeeping Federation, honeybees contribute about $20 billion to the value of crop production in the country. But master beekeeper Joe Zgurzynski of...
Canvas to feature AI technology for educational interactions
AI technology will soon be brought into the classroom through a new integration with the Canvas learning platform. Canvas is the main online platform used by numerous universities like the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University, as well as K-12 school districts. Instructure, the maker of Canvas, and OpenAI...
Pittsburgh City Council approves Bakery Square expansion
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved legislation that paves the way for a massive expansion of the Bakery Square development in the city’s East End. Council members unanimously supported a measure to expand the special zoning district to allow Bakery Square to grow, nearly a year after the proposal received...
Vermont engineer revives pay phones for free calls in areas with poor cell service
TUNBRIDGE, Vt. — An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn’t until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. “I realized, wow, there’s...
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected to testify in $8 billion Facebook privacy lawsuit
An $8 billion class action investors’ lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and company leaders — current and former — begins Wednesday, with claims stemming from the 2018 privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm. Investors allege in their lawsuit that Meta did not fully disclose the risks...
A look inside a lab making the advanced fuel to power growing U.S. nuclear energy ambitions
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Near signs that warn of radioactive risk at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a half-dozen workers from the nuclear power company X-energy are making what appear to be gray billiard balls. Inside, they’re packed with thousands of tiny black spheres that each contain a speck of uranium...
Here are the blockbuster deals unveiled at the Pa. Energy and Innovation Summit
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick said Tuesday during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh that companies are planning to invest more than $90 billion in data centers, energy and power infrastructure, and workforce and AI training projects across Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the companies plan to invest at least $1...
