A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday plans to introduce legislation seeking to address vulnerabilities in computing devices embedded in everyday objects — known in the tech industry as the “internet of things” — which experts have long warned poses a threat to global cyber security. The new bill …
When Luxembourg’s new law governing space mining comes into force on Tuesday, the country will already be working to make the science-fiction-sounding mission a reality, the deputy prime minister said. The legislation will make Luxembourg the first country in Europe to offer a legal framework to ensure that private operators …
Securing petrochemical plants and keeping chemicals out of the hands of terrorists were the topics of discussion at a recent Chemical Sector Security Summit in Houston, Texas. Security experts say the countries that are producing chemicals are shifting and that is one of many reasons developed and developing nations need …
Apple, Inc. has confirmed that it is removing some applications providing virtual personal networks, or VPNs, from its China App Store, to comply with new Chinese regulations — a move critics say is capitulating to internet censorship. Apple confirmed the move in an email to National Public Radio on Saturday, …
Silicon Valley is the tech industry’s epicenter, but what is the epicenter of Silicon Valley? It might just be Coupa Café in downtown Palo Alto, Calif. For the tech community, this café is a meeting place of the who’s who of Silicon Valley, where the likes of the late Steve …
There’s a café in the heart of Silicon Valley where the biggest names in tech are known to take their lattes, attracting startup founders who frantically make their pitches to the venture capitalists holding court at the wooden tables. Coupa Café in Palo Alto, California, has a certain electric buzz, …
For Tesla, everything is riding on the Model 3. The electric car company’s newest vehicle was delivered to its first 30 customers, all Tesla employees, Friday evening. Its $35,000 starting price, half the cost of Tesla’s previous models, and range of up to 310 miles (498 km) could bring hundreds …
Hackers attending this weekend’s Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas were invited to break into voting machines and voter databases in a bid to uncover vulnerabilities that could be exploited to sway election results. The 25-year-old conference’s first “hacker voting village” opened on Friday as part of an effort …
A ban on pedestrians looking at mobile phones or texting while crossing the street will take effect in Hawaii’s largest city in late October, as Honolulu becomes the first major U.S. city to pass legislation aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from “distracted walking.” The ban comes as cities around …
The Roomba robotic vacuum has been whizzing across floors for years, but its future may lie more in collecting data than dirt. That data is of the spatial variety: the dimensions of a room as well as distances between sofas, tables, lamps and other home furnishings. To a tech industry …
Cheery Hi-5, a snobbish Poop and a conflicted Meh have starring roles in the animated The Emoji Movie, which imagines a world inside cellphones where emojis rebel against portraying just one emotion all their lives. Yet the dozen or so people who select and release the tiny, ubiquitous characters globally …
The surge in far-flung and destructive cyber attacks is not good for national security, but for an increasing number of hackers and researchers, it is great for job security. The new reality is on display in Las Vegas this week at the annual Black Hat and Def Con security conferences, …
Alphabet’s Google aims to train 10 million people in Africa in online skills over the next five years in an effort to make them more employable, its chief executive said Thursday. The U.S. technology giant also hopes to train 100,000 software developers in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, a company …
Twitter has made it clear that it won’t ban Donald Trump from its service, despite calls for it from critics. It’s a tricky balancing act: The president’s tweets draw attention to the struggling service, but tweets mocking reporters and rivals undercut Twitter’s commitment to make the service a more welcoming …
A construction permit should be granted for a giant telescope planned for a Hawaii mountain summit that some consider sacred, a hearings officer recommended Wednesday. Retired judge Riki May Amano, who is overseeing contested-case hearings for the Thirty Meter Telescope, had been weighing facts in the case since June, after …
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is boosting security measures by requiring any carry-on electronics larger than a cellphone to be screened separately at U.S. airports. Security officers will ask travelers to take all larger devices out of their bags and put them in a bin by themselves, similar to the …
Against a backdrop of cyberattacks that have grown into full-fledged sabotage, Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos is bringing a new message to hackers and security experts at the Black Hat conference. In short: It’s time for hackers once known for relatively harmless mischief to shoulder responsibility for helping detect …
Facebook Inc (FB.O) will provide initial funding for a nonprofit organization that aims to help protect political parties, voting systems and information providers from hackers and propaganda attacks, the world’s largest social network said on Wednesday. The initiative, dubbed Defending Digital Democracy, is led by the former campaign chairs for …
Twitter Inc heads toward its quarterly earnings report on Thursday with a stock that has risen more than 40 percent since April when much of Wall Street was ready to write off the tech company. The company’s share price popped after its most recent earnings report in April, when …
Silicon Valley baron Elon Musk insulted rival billionaire Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, escalating a tech wizard war of words over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators. “His understanding of the subject is limited,” Musk said in a tweet about the Facebook founder whose algorithms and …
A Wisconsin company is offering to microchip its employees, enabling them to open doors, log onto their computers and purchase break room snacks with a simple swipe of the hand. Three Square Market, also known as 32M, says it expects about 50 employees to take advantage of the technology. The …
In spite of an earlier denial, the Chinese government has tightened its grip on the Internet, stepping up efforts against netizens’ access to unsupervised connections, including those via virtual private networks (VPNs) halfway through its 14-month-long crackdown nationwide. VPNs are third-party services that help bypass the so-called Great Firewall, installed …
Animated chatter spills out from a corner of tech giant Google’s Nairobi offices as five Kenyan schoolgirls discuss their upcoming trip to California where they hope to win $15,000 for I-cut, an app to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The five teenagers, aged 15 to 17, are the only Africans …
The popularity of drones keeps growing, both for personal and commercial use. Instead of humans controlling them, researchers are working on ways to teach the unmanned vehicles how to navigate and avoid obstacles. In Switzerland, researchers are training drones to recognize their surroundings and build 3D maps. VOA’s Deborah Block …
A new eye in the sky will soon help scientists monitor environmental changes with frequent, high-resolution pictures of dozens of selected areas of the earth. Faith Lapidus reports. …
Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team returned Saturday to Kabul after its successful trip to Washington for the FIRST Global Robotics Challenge, and several officials representing the presidential palace welcomed the girls home, calling them role models. In the ceremony, Abdullah Abdullah, chief executive of the national unity government, said, “Despite the …