Google declined Wednesday to confirm reports that it plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in China, where its main search platform was previously blocked, along with its YouTube video platform. “We provide a number of mobile apps in China … [to] help Chinese developers, and have made significant investments in Chinese companies like…
read moreHow long does it take a robotic hand to learn to juggle a cube? About 100 years, give or take. That’s how much virtual computing time it took researchers at OpenAI, the nonprofit artificial intelligence lab funded by Elon Musk and others, to train its disembodied hand. The team paid Google $3,500 to run its…
read moreEfforts to influence U.S. voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections in November appear to be well underway, though private companies and government officials are hesitant to say who, exactly, is behind the recently discovered campaigns. Facebook announced Tuesday it had shut down 32 Facebook and Instagram accounts because they were “involved in coordinated inauthentic…
read moreAs tech giants expand in San Francisco, homelessness and job displacement for locals continues to rise. Deana Mitchell explores one program, created by a formerly homeless man, that’s helping to merge the two worlds for local job seekers. …
read moreSatellites and drones are driving efforts by Indian states to map informal settlements in order to speed up the process of delivering services and land titles, officials said. The eastern state of Odisha aims to give titles to 200,000 households in urban slums and those on the outskirts of cities by the end of the…
read moreAmerica’s dream of space exploration took its first official step 60 years ago Sunday when President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law authorizing the formation of NASA – the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Although humanity had been staring at the stars and wondering since they were living in caves, it took the Cold War to…
read moreThe U.K. government should increase oversight of social media like Facebook and election campaigns to protect democracy in the digital age, a parliamentary committee has recommended in a scathing report on fake news, data misuse and interference by Russia. The interim report by the House of Commons’ media committee, to be released Sunday, said democracy…
read moreA sleek futuristic train that travels through a special tunnel and covers the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes. This was the dream of Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX in 2013. And every year he’s getting closer to making that dream a reality. Late July was marked by the third…
read moreTwitter’s share price fell more than 20 percent Friday after the social media giant reported a drop in active users. Twitter said it had 335 million monthly users in the second quarter of the year, which was down a million from the amount of monthly users in the first quarter of the year, and below…
read moreFacebook said it had deleted hundreds of offensive posts since a law banning online hate speech came into force in Germany at the start of the year that foresees fines of up to 50 million euros ($58 million) for failure to comply. The social network received 1,704 complaints under the law, known in Germany as…
read moreThe Latest on the aftermath of Facebook’s release of user growth and expectations for the company ahead (all times local): 4:50 p.m. The 19 percent loss in Facebook’s stock chopped $119 billion off its market value. It was the company’s worst trading day since going public in 2012, and among the biggest one-day losses of…
read moreSocial media giant Facebook, which has weathered storms about privacy and data protection, is now looking at cooler growth following a years-long breakneck pace. Shares in Facebook plummeted 19 percent to close at $176.26 Thursday, wiping out $100 billion. It was believed to be the worst ever single-day evaporation of market value for any company. The plunge…
read moreGoogle launched a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Nigeria on Thursday, part of its effort to increase its presence in Africa’s most populous nation. The U.S. technology firm, owned by Alphabet Inc, has partnered with Nigerian fiber cable network provider 21st Century to provide its public Wi-Fi service, Google Station, in six places in…
read moreVideo games are so popular that one US company is betting that it can lure players to leave the comforts of gaming at home and travel to local arenas to play for bragging rights and maybe even some cash. Michelle Quinn reports. …
read moreAccess to clean and drinkable water is challenging for residents in Lahore because the tap water in many parts of the Pakistani city is polluted. A team of engineering students is working hard to create an affordable filtration system so every home can have safe water. VOA’s Saman Khan visited their lab and filed this…
read moreThe United States has some incredible natural geological features: towering mesas, tall spires of limestone rock, erupting geysers and gravity-defying stone sculptures. Faith Lapidus reports on efforts to ensure that if and when gravity starts to win, land managers are not taken by surprise. …
read moreWhatsApp has announced changes for its 200 million users in India following the spread of viral messages via the app that resulted in deadly mob attacks. India’s government has threatened to take WhatsApp to court, saying “…the medium used for such propagation cannot evade responsibility and accountability.” The information technology ministry said, “If they remain…
read moreIf there can be driverless cars on the road, why not driverless boats on the water? Faith Lapidus has details of a team building a robotic boat, and what they want it to do. …
read moreHackers targeted the campaigns of at least three candidates running for Congress in the upcoming 2018 U.S. elections, but the attacks were detected and thwarted, a Microsoft executive said Thursday. The attempted attacks tried to use a fake Microsoft domain as a landing page for phishing attacks, said Tom Burt, Microsoft vice president for customer…
read morePresident Donald Trump lashed out Thursday after Brussels hit US tech giant Google with a record fine, and warned he would no longer allow Europe to take “advantage” of the United States. “I told you so! The European Union just slapped a Five Billion Dollar fine on one of our great companies, Google,” Trump tweeted…
read moreFor more than 30 years, doctors have worked to save people’s arms and legs. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports, saving a limb after an accident or infection can take an entire team of specialists at a limb preservation center. …
read moreFacebook says it will begin removing false information from its site that could lead to violence. “There are certain forms of misinformation that have contributed to physical harm” in certain countries, the U.S. social media giant said in a statement Wednesday announcing the policy. The company says it will work with local organizations to identify…
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