Year: 2021

Year: 2021

Moving Fingers, Rotating Wrists: Advances in Prosthetics Improve US Veterans’ Lives
09/03/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Technological advances in prosthetics have vastly improved the lives of many U.S. veterans and service members over the past 20 years. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. …

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Ireland Fines WhatsApp for Breaching EU Privacy Laws
09/02/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Ireland on Thursday slapped Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service with a record fine for breaching EU data privacy laws after European regulators demanded the penalty be increased.Ireland’s Data Protection Commission was entrusted with the case because Facebook’s European headquarters are situated in the country.”And following this reassessment the DPC has imposed a fine of 225 million

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Some Nigerian-based Experts Warn of China’s Growing Influence in African Technology
09/02/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei says it wants to train up to 3 million African youths to work with cutting-edge digital technology such as artificial intelligence. Already, Nigerian students who took part in a Huawei-sponsored information and communications technology (ICT) competition say the benefits, including possible job placements with the company, are enormous. But experts warn there could be potential

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Facebook Invests in New Partnerships With Argentine Press
09/02/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Social media giant Facebook will invest $1.5 million in Argentine media to train journalists and promote online development, a first in Latin America.The agreement signed last week with almost 150 media outlets will allow 3,000 journalists to be trained, while also helping Facebook develop commercial agreements.It’s part of the Facebook Journalism Project that involves collaboration

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South Korea Bans Google, Apple Payment Monopolies
09/01/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

South Korea’s National Assembly approved legislation on Tuesday that bans app store operators such as Google and Apple from forcing developers to use their in-app payment systems. South Korea is reportedly the first country in the world to pass such a bill, which becomes law when it is signed by the president, whose party has backed

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Spacex Launches Ants, Avocados, Robot to Space Station
08/29/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A SpaceX shipment of ants, avocados and a human-sized robotic arm rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday.The delivery — due to arrive Monday — is the company’s 23rd for NASA in just under a decade.A recycled Falcon rocket blasted into the predawn sky from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. After hoisting the Dragon capsule,

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Apple CEO Brings Home $750 Million Bonus
08/27/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

It pays to be the leader of Apple.The company’s CEO, Tim Cook, was recently given a bonus of $750 million worth of Apple stock, marking his 10th anniversary as CEO.The bonus was revealed Thursday in a regulatory filing.He promptly cashed out the 5 million shares, which were given based on both performance and time with

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Airport Security Goes High-tech as US Nears 20 Years Since 9/11
08/27/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, VOA’s Julie Taboh looks at some of the technology that works to keep U.S. airports and air travel safe.  Lesia Bakalets contributed to this story. …

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Tech Companies Pledge Billions in Cybersecurity Investments
08/26/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Some of the country’s leading technology companies have committed to investing billions of dollars to strengthen cybersecurity defenses and to train skilled workers, the White House announced Wednesday following President Joe Biden’s private meeting with top executives. The Washington gathering was held during a relentless stretch of ransomware attacks that have targeted critical infrastructure and major

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YouTube Says It Has Removed 1 Million ‘Dangerous’ Videos on COVID 
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

YouTube said Wednesday that it had removed more than 1 million videos with “dangerous coronavirus misinformation” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.The statement by the Google-owned video platform came as social media platforms are under fire from political leaders for failing to stem the spread of false and harmful misinformation and disinformation about the virus

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Members of Afghan Robotics Team Reach Mexico
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Five members of an Afghan girls robotics team have arrived in Mexico after evacuating from their home country. The girls landed in Mexico City on Tuesday night and were welcomed at the airport by Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. “We might be very far away of what is happening in Afghanistan, but the human cause, the protection of the

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NASA Postpones Planned ISS Spacewalk
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Officials with the U.S. space agency NASA has postponed a spacewalk scheduled for Tuesday at the International Space Station (ISS).NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide had been prepared to conduct the spacewalk to continue the upgrade to the station’s solar panel array. But officials say Vande Hei has

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Cybersecurity Experts Worried by Chinese Firm’s Control of Smart Devices 
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Smart home thermostats. Smart home security cameras. Smart refrigerators. Smart TVs. Smart pet feeders. Smart breast pumps.From rooftop to basement and the bedrooms in between, much of the technology making consumer products smart comes from a little-known Chinese firm, Tuya Inc. of Hangzhou.Tuya says as of 2020, its services cover more than 1,100 categories, such

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T-Mobile US Says Personal Data of Nearly 50 Million Customers Breached
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The U.S. subsidiary of German telecommunications company T-Mobile said Wednesday that the personal data of more than 40 million former and prospective customers — including names, Social Security numbers and driver’s license information — had been exposed in a data breach.In a statement, the cellphone service said the same data were also compromised for about

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NASA’s Mars Helicopter Completes 12 Flights 
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The U.S. space agency NASA reports the Ingenuity helicopter, the tiny aircraft that landed on Mars with the agency’s Perseverance rover earlier this year, has completed its 12th flight over the red planet. On its Twitter account late Monday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which oversees the Perseverance mission, reported the success of the latest flight

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US Investigating Tesla Autopilot Accidents
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) has opened an investigation into auto manufacturer Tesla’s autopilot system after 11 accidents have been reported since 2018, resulting in 17 injuries and one death.In a report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said investigators found that in each of the accidents, various Tesla models encountered first responder

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Analysts: China Expanding Influence in Africa Via Telecom Network Deals
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Telecommunications networks funded and built by China are taking over Africa’s cyberspace, a dependence that analysts suggest puts Beijing in a position to exert political influence in some of the continent’s countries.Bulelani Jili, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University’s Department of African and African American Studies, told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview that “Huawei is working

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Virtual Museum Highlights Paintings of Vincent Van Gogh
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Known for his extraordinary, eye-catching colorful images, Vincent Van Gogh is one of the world’s most famous 19th-century painters. Now, large-scale copies of his artwork can be viewed through digital technology at two exhibits traveling around the world. VOA’s Deborah Block takes us to one of them in Washington. Camera: Mike Burke      Producer:

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Tiktok Tries to Better Supervise Teens 
08/25/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

TikTok announced on Thursday additional restrictions for teenagers, its audience of choice, to better protect them against dangers related to social networks such as bullying or lack of sleep.”We think it is important to be even more proactive to ensure the safety of adolescents,” said the platform, which has built its success in particular thanks

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Russians Hacked Federal Prosecutors, US Justice Department Says
08/01/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The Russian hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent federal prosecutors’ offices around the country last year, the Justice Department said.The department said 80% of Microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York were breached. All told,

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Era of VHS Might Be Over, but Many Are Not Ready to Let Go
07/31/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The last VHS player was produced five years ago by Funai Electric in Japan. But for many, the era of VHS tapes never ended. Karina Bafradzhian and Angelina Bagdasaryan have the story.Camera: David Gogokhia, Vazgen Varzhabitian. …

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What Are Deep Fakes and Why Are They Dangerous?
07/31/2021 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Fake videos generated by artificial intelligence — also known as deep fakes — are becoming more common and harder to detect. But some deep fakes are being used for a good cause. Karina Bafradzhian has the story. …

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