From cashless payments to smartphone apps offering everything from taxis to take-out food – Africa’s digital revolution is gathering pace as average citizens take an active role in public discourse. “You’re seeing a lot of the people changing the way they live their lives,” says Maria Sarungi, founder of the …
Ubiquitous drones and a faster Internet are coming sooner than you might think, and governments are staring into the unknown as they face the prospect of regulating the coming technological revolution in a way that fosters innovation, while at the same time protecting the often conflicting interests of consumers, entrepreneurs …
Federal officials say Russian cyber-operatives targeted voting systems in 21 U.S. states last year and had varying degrees of success in penetrating them. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, that testimony before House and Senate panels Wednesday revealed significant tensions between state election officials and federal agencies whose cooperation is deemed essential …
A rapidly-growing robotics industry in India is helping usher in automation technology in companies. But at a time when the country is struggling to create jobs for millions of young people, the World Bank has warned that automation could put 70 percent of India’s jobs at risk. Anjana Pasricha has …
Cookie sales may take a back seat to fighting identity theft and other computer crime now that Girl Scouts as young as 5 are to be offered the chance to earn their first-ever cyber security badges. Armed with a needle and thread, U.S. Girl Scouts who master the required skills …
Intel said Wednesday it would become a major sponsor of the International Olympic Committee, making the computer chipmaker the latest technology company to put marketing dollars behind the global sporting event. The new deal, which goes until 2024, comes a week after longtime Olympics sponsor McDonald’s Corp bowed out of …
Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had won a $104 million U.S. Air Force contract to develop, produce and field a threat simulator to train combat aircrews to recognize and deal with rapidly evolving threats, such as surface-to-air missiles. Tim Cahill, vice president of air and missile defense systems …
The Red Cross launched a smartphone app Tuesday to help refugees and migrants arriving in Italy access information and services, including medical, psychological and legal support. The digital platform called “Virtual Volunteer” was unveiled on World Refugee Day as new data showed the number of refugees globally reached a record …
Countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be a wellspring of opportunity for the United States because of growth in the region’s digital economy and its young population, researchers say. Those combined forces will “create a much more dynamic [economy] … over the coming decades,” said …
A man who died last year when his semi-autonomous Tesla Model S collided with a truck kept his hands off the steering wheel and apparently did not respond to automated warnings from the car to take the wheel, according to over 500 documents released by the National Transportation Safety Board …
Australia says it will move classified government information from a private data center in Sydney after a Chinese consortium bought a major stake in the company. The move comes despite assurances from the company, Global Switch, that its files are secure. Global Switch owns two secure data facilities in downtown …
A slew of high tech heavyweights, some of whom have criticized President Donald Trump’s policies, huddled at the White House Monday as the administration kicked off its “technology week.” The chief executive officers of companies ranging from Amazon (the world’s largest internet company by revenue) to cloud computing giant VMware, …
Google says it is stepping up its efforts to identify and remove videos related to terrorism and violent extremist content, particularly on its YouTube platform. “While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies,” Google said, “the uncomfortable truth is that we, …
The soaring cathedrals of Europe seem to defy gravity. But 3D architects are taking a page from the ancient masters to form their new creations. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
The soaring cathedrals of Europe seem to defy gravity. But 3-D architects are taking a page from the ancient masters to form their new creations. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Apple has hired two longtime Sony Pictures Television executives to expand the iPhone maker’s push into original television programming, plunging deeper into a field crowded by Hollywood studios and online streaming services. Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, responsible for hit shows such as “Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul” and …
The electronic bleeps and squawks of “Tetris,” “Donkey Kong” and other generation-shaping games that you may never have thought of as musical are increasingly likely to be playing at a philharmonic concert hall near you. From the “ping … ping” of Atari’s 1972 ground-breaking paddle game “Pong,” the sounds, infectious …
Facebook has revealed it is using artificial intelligence in its ongoing fight to prevent terrorist propaganda from being disseminated on its platform. “We want to find terrorist content immediately, before people in our community have seen it,” read the message posted Thursday. “Already, the majority of accounts we remove for …
Typewriter enthusiasts gather at an Albuquerque restaurant to experiment with vintage Smith Coronas. Fans in Boston kneel in a city square and type stories about their lives during a pro-immigration demonstration. A documentary on typewriters featuring Tom Hanks and musician John Mayer is set for release this summer. In the …
Activists behind an app designed to assist doctors document evidence of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo aim to go beyond obtaining justice for rape victims and collect data that could help secure prosecutions for war crimes. Developed by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), MediCapt allows clinicians …
Facebook said Wednesday that it would soon allow its U.S. users to raise and donate money using its “Safety Check” feature, to make it easier for people affected by natural disasters and violent attacks to receive help. “Safety Check,” launched in 2014, allows Facebook users to notify friends that they …
Musicians tend to talk about their instruments in terms of tone and sound as often as the brand. Electric guitarists are no different, and they can expound on the ‘bright’ sound of the Fender or the bass heavy Gibsons. But now there is a 3D-printed electric guitar, and that could …
British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron are joining forces in order to crack down on tech companies, ensuring they step up their efforts to combat terrorism online. Britain and France face similar challenges in fighting homegrown Islamist extremism and share similar scars from deadly attacks that …
Fake news, propaganda and disinformation has always existed. What sets today apart from years gone by is its rapid dissemination and global reach, experts say. Concerns raised by the instant propagation of fake news in the digital age and the harmful impact it has on the credibility and independence of …
Apple Inc. offered a $1 billion bond dedicated to financing clean energy and environmental projects on Tuesday, the first corporate green bond offered since President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement. The offering comes over a year after Apple issued its first green bond of …
Augmented reality is slowly entering everyday life, and Swiss researchers say it can be used to study children’s behavior. A new app for tablet computers helps them study whether playing computer games can lead to something called augmented creativity. VOA’s George Putic reports. …