Year: 2023

Year: 2023

Microsoft Reports Outage for Teams, Outlook, Other Services
01/25/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Microsoft said it’s seeing some improvement to problems with its online services including the Teams messaging platform and Outlook email system after users around the world reported outages Wednesday.  In a status update, the tech company reported “service degradation” for a number of its Microsoft 365 services.  Thousands of users reported problems with Teams, Outlook,

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ChatGPT Bot Passes US Law School Exam
01/25/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A chatbot powered by reams of data from the internet has passed exams at a U.S. law school after writing essays on topics ranging from constitutional law to taxation and torts. ChatGPT from OpenAI, a U.S. company that this week got a massive injection of cash from Microsoft, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate streams

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US, 8 States Sue Google on Digital Ad Business Dominance
01/24/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Alphabet’s GOOGL.O Google on Tuesday over allegations that the company abused its dominance of the digital advertising business, according to a court document. “Google has used anticompetitive, exclusionary, and unlawful means to eliminate or severely diminish any threat to its dominance over digital advertising technologies,” the government

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AI Tools Can Create New Images, But Who Is the Real Artist?
01/21/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Countless artists have taken inspiration from “The Starry Night” since Vincent Van Gogh painted the swirling scene in 1889. Now artificial intelligence systems are doing the same, training themselves on a vast collection of digitized artworks to produce new images you can conjure in seconds from a smartphone app. The images generated by tools such

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Google Parent Company To Lay Off 12,000 Workers Globally
01/20/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Alphabet Inc., the parent company of tech giant Google, announced Friday it is laying off 12,000 workers across the entire company — cuts reflecting six percent of the company’s total workforce. In an email to employees Friday, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said the company saw dramatic growth over the past two years and hired

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FBI Chief Says He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ by China’s AI Program
01/19/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday that he was “deeply concerned” about the Chinese government’s artificial intelligence program, asserting that it was “not constrained by the rule of law.” Speaking during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wray said Beijing’s AI ambitions were “built on top of massive troves of

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Tech Layoffs Mount as Microsoft, Amazon Shed Staff
01/19/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Software giant Microsoft on Wednesday became the latest major company in the tech sector to announce significant job cuts when it reported it would lay off 10,000 employees, or about 5% of its workforce. Microsoft’s job cuts come just as e-commerce leader Amazon begins a fresh round of 18,000 layoffs, extending a wave of other

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SpaceX’s Starlink Becomes Crucial Tool in Ukrainian War Effort
01/17/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the military and private citizens started using Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink, which eventually became key to Ukraine’s resistance. From Kyiv, Myroslava Gongadze tells the story of one Ukrainian engineer who volunteers to support the technology and the soldiers who use it. …

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Biden Urges Netherlands to Back Restrictions on Exporting Chip Tech to China
01/17/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

President Joe Biden hosted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday at the White House, where he urged the Netherlands to support new U.S. restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China, a key part of Washington’s strategy in its rivalry against Beijing. During a brief appearance in front of reporters before their meeting, Biden said

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Israel’s Cognyte Won Tender to Sell Spyware to Myanmar Before Coup, Documents Show
01/15/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Israel’s Cognyte Software Ltd won a tender to sell intercept spyware to a Myanmar state-backed telecommunications firm a month before the Asian nation’s February 2021 military coup, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The deal was made even though Israel has claimed it stopped defense technology transfers to Myanmar following a 2017 ruling by Israel’s

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Fight Over Big Tech Looms in US Supreme Court
01/14/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case that asks whether tech firms can be held liable for damages related to algorithmically generated content recommendations has the ability to “upend the internet,” according to a brief filed by Google this week. The case, Gonzalez v. Google LLC, is a long-awaited opportunity for the high court to weigh

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Report: Iran May Be Using Facial Recognition Technology to Police Hijab Law
01/13/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A recently published report in a U.S.-based magazine says Iran is likely using facial recognition technology to monitor women’s compliance with the country’s hijab law. While there are other ways people can be identified, Wired magazine says Iran’s apparent use of facial recognition technology against women is “perhaps the first known instance of a government

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Journalists Say Elon Musk Needs to Reinstitute Monitoring of Twitter
01/12/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Concerns linger over Twitter’s stance on free expression and safety since Elon Musk took over the platform in a $44 billion deal. Since taking ownership in late October, Musk has instituted changes including dissolving an oversight review channel, laying off a large portion of the team focused on combating misinformation, and suspending the accounts of

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GM, Ford, Google Partner to Promote ‘Virtual’ Power Plants
01/10/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Companies including GM, Ford, Google and solar energy producers said on Tuesday they would work together to establish standards for scaling up the use of virtual power plants (VPPs), systems for easing loads on electricity grids when supply is short. Energy transition nonprofit RMI will host the initiative, the Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3), which

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Virgin Orbit Rocket Carrying Satellites Fails to Reach Orbit
01/10/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

A mission to launch the first satellites into orbit from Western Europe suffered an “anomaly” Tuesday, Virgin Orbit said.   The U.S.-based company attempted its first international launch on Monday, using a modified jumbo jet to carry one of its rockets from Cornwall in southwestern England to the Atlantic Ocean where the rocket was released. The

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Seattle Schools Sue Tech Giants Over Social Media Harm
01/09/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The public school district in Seattle has filed a novel lawsuit against the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, seeking to hold them accountable for the mental health crisis among youth. Seattle Public Schools filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court. The 91-page complaint says the social media companies have created

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CES 2023: Smelling, Touching Take Center Stage in Metaverse 
01/08/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Is the metaverse closer than we think? It depends on whom you ask at CES, where companies are showing off innovations that could immerse us deeper into virtual reality, otherwise known as VR. The metaverse — essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play — was a key theme

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Ukrainian Startups Bring Tech Innovation to CES 2023
01/08/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The past year has been difficult for startups everywhere, but running a company in Ukraine during the Russian invasion comes with a whole different set of challenges. Clinical psychologist Ivan Osadchyy brought his medical device, called Knopka, to this year’s consumer technology show known as CES in Las Vegas in hopes of getting it into

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CES Show Products Making Life More Accessible
01/06/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Major tech companies are appealing to consumers’ evolving lifestyles, tastes and personal values with connected devices that touch on nearly every aspect of daily life. From the CES 2023 consumer technology show in Las Vegas, VOA’s Tina Trinh has the story. Video editor: Matt Dibble …

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The World’s Largest Tech Show Kicks Off
01/05/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Tens of thousands of tech innovators and their fans are flocking to Las Vegas this week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Deana Mitchell has spotted some up-and-coming tech trends. …

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Amazon CEO Says Layoff to Exceed 18,000 Jobs
01/05/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Amazon.com layoffs will now stretch to more than 18,000 jobs as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note on Wednesday. The layoff decisions, which Amazon will communicate starting January 18, will largely impact the company’s e-commerce and human-resources organizations, he said. The cuts amount

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Ukraine’s Sumy Finds Alternative Energy Sources
01/05/2023 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

With Russian rockets targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and electrical grid, scientists in the northern city of Sumy, some 330 kilometers east of Kyiv, are hoping to start mass producing solar technology that could help keep the lights on. Olena Adamenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera and video editing by Mykhailo Zaika. …

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