Category: iTechnology

Category: iTechnology

Clock ticks on US TikTok ban
01/09/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The United States Supreme Court has fast-tracked oral arguments on a challenge by the Chinese company ByteDance — the owner of TikTok — to a new law that would ban the social media platform on grounds of national security. VOA’s Steve Herman reports. …

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Meta to offer wider range of speech on platforms, CEO says
01/08/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that there would be a wider range of speech on Facebook and other Meta platforms. “We’re going to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” he said. Here are some of the key changes: Gone will be third-party fact-checkers eyeing Facebook posts

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Meta shelves fact-checking program in US, adopts X-like ‘Community Notes’ model 
01/07/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the U.S. and replacing it with a “Community Notes” system similar to that on Elon Musk-owned X, the Facebook parent said on Tuesday.   The Community Notes model will allow users on Meta’s social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and

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Homes talk and tables walk at AI-dominated Consumer Electronics Show
01/07/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

LAS VEGAS — Home appliances that do chores, cars that know your favorite cafe, and robot pets aiming to please are among artificial intelligence-infused offerings at the Consumer Electronics Show opening Tuesday. All these will compete for attention at the annual CES extravaganza in Las Vegas, as vendors behind the scenes seek ways to deal with

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British PM slams ‘lies and misinformation’ in escalating row with Musk
01/07/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticized those, in his words, “spreading lies and misinformation,” after coming under fire from billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump accused Starmer of failing to prosecute past cases of child sexual exploitation. As Henry Ridgwell reports, it’s the latest in a series of

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US cyber watchdog: No signs Treasury breach hit other federal agencies
01/06/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

WASHINGTON — The U.S. cyber watchdog agency CISA said Monday there was “no indication” the recently reported breach at the U.S. Treasury Department had affected any other federal agency.  Late last month the U.S. Treasury reported that an unspecified number of computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides

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TikTok creators in US left in limbo while awaiting decision on potential platform ban
01/06/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Will TikTok in the U.S. be banned this month? That’s the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The fate of the popular app will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over a

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Tesla data helped police after truck explosion; experts have privacy concerns
01/05/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

NEW YORK — Your car is spying on you.  That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive but also shines a spotlight

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Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
01/04/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices. The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a five-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated

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US appeals court blocks Biden administration effort to restore net neutrality rules
01/02/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Washington — A U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules. The decision is a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open internet rules a priority. President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to

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VOA Mandarin: Quantum technology a key battleground in US-China competition 
01/02/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Quantum computing is emerging as a revolutionary technology capable of solving complex problems that traditional computers cannot address. The U.S. leads in quantum innovation, driven by companies like Google and IBM, robust government funding and top-tier research institutions. China, however, has rapidly advanced through massive state-led investments, dominating global quantum patents and establishing specialized research

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VOA Mandarin: What cards does China hold in US-China tech, trade battles?  
01/02/2025 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Beijing has launched a series of retaliatory actions against U.S. technological sanctions, including cutting off supplies of rare earth elements and punishing American companies operating in China. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of additional tariffs on Chinese exports, and analysts believe he will further tighten technological restrictions on China. What other cards might

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US Treasury: Chinese hackers remotely accessed workstations, documents
12/31/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

WASHINGTON — Chinese hackers remotely accessed several U.S. Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software service provider, the agency said Monday.  The department did not provide details on how many workstations had been accessed or what sort of documents the hackers may have obtained, but it said in a letter to lawmakers

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Losing your kids to doom scrolling? Greece is building government app for that
12/31/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

ATHENS, GREECE — Greece announced plans on Monday to enhance parental oversight of mobile devices in 2025 through a government-operated app that will help get digital age verification and browsing controls.  Dimitris Papastergiou, the minister of digital governance, said the Kids Wallet app, due to launch in March, was aimed at safeguarding children under the age

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Venezuela fines TikTok $10 million over viral challenge deaths
12/30/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Caracas, Venezuela — Venezuela’s highest court Monday fined TikTok $10 million in connection with viral challenges that authorities say left three adolescents dead from intoxication by chemical substances. Supreme Tribunal of Justice Judge Tania D’Amelio said that the popular video-sharing app had been negligent in failing to implement “necessary and adequate measures” to stop the spread

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AI technology helps level playing field for students with disabilities
12/29/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.”  The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. “I just assumed I was stupid,” she recalled of her

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Elon Musk vows ‘war’ over H-1B visas in rift with Trump supporters
12/28/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, vowed to go to “war” to defend the H-1B visa program for foreign tech workers late Friday amid a dispute between President-elect Donald Trump’s longtime supporters and his most recently acquired backers from the tech industry.  In a post on social media

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Internet is rife with fake reviews – will AI make it worse?
12/28/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce novel and detailed online reviews with almost no work has put merchants, service providers and consumers in uncharted territory, watchdog groups and researchers say.  Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. They are typically traded

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US proposes cybersecurity rules to limit impact of health data leaks
12/28/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

Health care organizations may be required to bolster their cybersecurity to better prevent sensitive information from being leaked by cyberattacks like the ones that hit Ascension and UnitedHealth, a senior White House official said Friday. Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, told reporters that proposed requirements are necessary

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Trump asks court to delay possible TikTok ban until he can weigh in as president
12/28/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” to the issue. The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike

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NASA spacecraft ‘safe’ after closest-ever approach to sun
12/27/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

NASA said on Friday that its Parker Solar Probe was “safe” and operating normally after successfully completing the closest-ever approach to the sun by any human-made object.  The spacecraft passed 6.1 million kilometers from the solar surface on Tuesday, flying into the sun’s outer atmosphere — called the corona — on a mission to help

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Massive Chinese espionage scheme hit 9th telecom firm, US says
12/27/2024 iNews,iTechnology iMaster

WASHINGTON — A sprawling Chinese espionage campaign hacked a ninth U.S. telecom firm, a top White House official said Friday. The Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. The White House earlier this month said the attack affected at

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