Year: 2023

Year: 2023

Google Tests Blocking News Content for Some Canadians
02/24/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Google is blocking some Canadian users from viewing news content in what the company said is a test run of a potential response to a Canadian government’s online news bill. Bill C-18, the Online News Act, would require digital giants such as Google and Meta, which owns Facebook, to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian

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Redesigned Computers Could Reduce E-Waste
02/23/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

People generate more than 50 million tons of electronic waste every year, including copiers, televisions, and computers. Laptops are part of the problem, but engineers at Dell Technologies are working on a new approach to help keep them out of landfills. Tina Trinh reports. Camera: Deana Mitchell …

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UNESCO Conference Tackles Disinformation, Hate Speech 
02/22/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Participants at a global U.N. conference in France’s capital on Wednesday urged the international community to find better safeguards against online disinformation and hate speech. Hundreds of officials, tech firm representatives, academics and members of civil society were invited to the two-day meeting hosted by the United Nation’s cultural fund to brainstorm how to best

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Supreme Court Weighs Google’s Liability in IS Terror Case
02/21/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The Supreme Court is taking up its first case about a federal law that is credited with helping create the modern internet by shielding Google, Twitter, Facebook and other companies from lawsuits over content posted on their sites by others.  The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday about whether the family of an American college student

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ISS Crew to Remain on Orbital Outpost for an Extra Six Months  
02/21/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut will remain aboard the International Space Station for an extra six months because of damage to their Russian spacecraft. Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Frank Rubio were set to end their six-month stay aboard the ISS in late March, but the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Tuesday the

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Artificial Intelligence Creates Voices for Films, Ads
02/20/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A growing number of startups are using artificial intelligence to replicate human voices. A company is creating synthetic voices for organizations to use for advertising, marketing and training. Phil Dierking reports. Videographer and video editor: Philip Dierking …

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Amid ChatGPT Outcry, Some Teachers Are Inviting AI to Class
02/19/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Under the fluorescent lights of a fifth grade classroom in Lexington, Kentucky, Donnie Piercey instructed his 23 students to try and outwit the “robot” that was churning out writing assignments. The robot was the new artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, which can generate everything from essays and haikus to term papers within seconds. The technology has

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Angry Bing Chatbot Just Mimicking Humans, Experts Say
02/19/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

When Microsoft’s nascent Bing chatbot turns testy or even threatening, it’s likely because it essentially mimics what it learned from online conversations, analysts and academics said. Tales of disturbing exchanges with the artificial intelligence chatbot, including it issuing threats and speaking of desires to steal nuclear code, create a deadly virus, or to be alive,

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Spy Balloon Lifts Veil on China’s ‘Near Space’ Military Program
02/19/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The little-noticed program that led to a Chinese spy balloon drifting across the United States this month has been discussed in China’s state-controlled media for more than a decade in articles extolling its potential military applications. The reports, dating back to at least 2011, focus on how best to exploit what is known as “near

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Tesla Recalls ‘Full Self-Driving’ to Fix Unsafe Actions
02/17/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

U.S. safety regulators have pressured Tesla into recalling nearly 363,000 vehicles with its “Full Self-Driving” system because it misbehaves around intersections and doesn’t always follow speed limits. The recall, part of a larger investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Tesla’s automated driving systems, is the most serious action taken yet against the

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US ‘Disruptive Technology’ Strike Force to Target National Security Threats
02/16/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A top U.S. law enforcement official on Thursday unveiled a new “disruptive technology strike force” tasked with safeguarding American technology from foreign adversaries and other national security threats. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, the No. 2 U.S. Justice Department official, made the announcement at a speech in London at Chatham House. The initiative, Monaco said,

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Some Dogs and Cats Use Words to Express Their Needs and Wants
02/16/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Imagine if your dog or cat could use words to let you know when they’re angry, lonely or in pain. Well now they can, thanks to an innovative communication tool that’s helping them express themselves more effectively. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. Camera: Adam Greenbaum            Produced by: Julie Taboh, Adam Greenbaum   …

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Report Says US Justice Department Escalates Apple Probe
02/15/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The United States Justice Department has in recent months escalated its antitrust probe on Apple Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter.   Reuters had previously reported the Justice Department opened an antitrust probe into Apple in 2019.  The Wall Street Journal report said more litigators have now been

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Elon Musk Hopes to Have Twitter CEO Toward the End of Year 
02/15/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter “probably toward the end of this year.” Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him. “I think I need to stabilize the organization

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11 States Consider ‘Right to Repair’ for Farming Equipment
02/15/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

On Colorado’s northeastern plains, where the pencil-straight horizon divides golden fields and blue sky, a farmer named Danny Wood scrambles to plant and harvest proso millet, dryland corn and winter wheat in short, seasonal windows. That is until his high-tech Steiger 370 tractor conks out.  The tractor’s manufacturer doesn’t allow Wood to make certain fixes

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China-Owned Parent Company of TikTok Among Top Spenders on Internet Lobbying
02/14/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media platform TikTok, has dramatically upped its U.S. lobbying effort since 2020 as U.S.-China relations continue to sour and is now the fourth-largest Internet company in spending on federal lobbying as of last year, according to newly released data. Publicly available information collected by OpenSecrets, a Washington nonprofit

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Google to Expand Misinformation ‘Prebunking’ in Europe
02/13/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

After seeing promising results in Eastern Europe, Google will initiate a new campaign in Germany that aims to make people more resilient to the corrosive effects of online misinformation. The tech giant plans to release a series of short videos highlighting the techniques common to many misleading claims. The videos will appear as advertisements on

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Russian Spacecraft Loses Pressure; Space Station Crew Safe
02/12/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

An uncrewed Russian supply ship docked at the International Space Station has lost cabin pressure, the Russian space corporation reported Saturday, saying the incident doesn’t pose any danger to the station’s crew. Roscosmos said the hatch between the station and the Progress MS-21 had been locked so the loss of pressure didn’t affect the orbiting

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Several US Universities to Experiment With Micro Nuclear Power 
02/09/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

If your image of nuclear power is giant, cylindrical concrete cooling towers pouring out steam on a site that takes up hundreds of acres of land, soon there will be an alternative: tiny nuclear reactors that produce only one-hundredth the electricity and can even be delivered on a truck. Small but meaningful amounts of electricity

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Australian Defense Department to Remove Chinese-Made Cameras
02/09/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Australia’s Defense Department will remove surveillance cameras made by Chinese Communist Party-linked companies from its buildings, the government said Thursday after the U.S. and Britain made similar moves. The Australian newspaper reported Thursday that at least 913 cameras, intercoms, electronic entry systems and video recorders developed and manufactured by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua are

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US Students’ ‘Big Idea’ Could Help NASA Explore the Moon
02/09/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Last November, Northeastern University student Andre Neto Caetano watched the live, late-night launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a cellphone placed on top of a piano in the lobby of the hotel where he was staying in California. “I had, not a flashback, but a flash-forward of seeing maybe

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Australia to Review Chinese-Made Cameras in Defense Offices
02/09/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The Australian government will examine surveillance technology used in offices of the defense department, Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday, amid reports the Chinese-made cameras installed there raised security risks. The move comes after Britain in November asked its departments to stop installing Chinese-linked surveillance cameras at sensitive buildings. Some U.S. states have banned vendors

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