A Bavarian startup is developing a five-seat “flying taxi” after successful test flights over Germany of a smaller version of the electric jet, the company said Thursday. Munich-based Lilium, backed by investors who include Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, said the planned five-seater jet, which will be capable of vertical takeoff …
A Bavarian startup is developing a five-seat “flying taxi” after successful test flights over Germany of a smaller version of the electric jet, the company said Thursday. Munich-based Lilium, backed by investors who include Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, said the planned five-seater jet, which will be capable of vertical takeoff …
A pet can provide comfort and companionship for an elderly person or someone who is disabled. But in the future that pet may be a robotic animal that uses artificial intelligence to interact with humans. The British company that developed the cute android says it would provide emotional support and …
Facebook on Wednesday pulled aside the curtain on a secretive unit headed by a former chief of the Pentagon’s research arm, disclosing that the social media company is studying ways for people to communicate by thought and touch. Facebook launched the research shop, called Building 8, last year to conduct …
Khailee Ng wanted name brand clothes. So, as a suburban teenager in Malaysia, he shoplifted. He could have continued with his criminal life, he said, but took a different route. Ng started to build web pages because it was a better way to make money, he told a crowd at …
Every now and then scientists stumble upon a discovery that opens up new possibilities for research and lead to solutions for existing problems. Researchers at the University of Maryland say a fiery phenomenon called blue whirl could someday help clean up oil spills on water. …
In the science fiction series Star Trek, a doctor can use a handheld device called a “tricorder” to check a person’s vital signs and diagnose illness. What once was imagined is now a reality. The Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE challenged scientists to develop a “tricorder-like” device to improve health care globally. …
Facebook’s annual developer conference F8 kicks off this week in San Jose, California, at a time when the social network giant faces more competition in the United States and around the globe. Developers from Brazil, France, India and Mexico are to gather Tuesday and Wednesday at F8, looking for new …
Traditionally built houses in old Europe are vulnerable to earthquakes, which again was demonstrated last August when a 6.2 magnitude quake devastated an area in central Italy. Italian engineers are researching ways to minimize the damage. VOA’s George Putic reports. …
Hackers released documents and files Friday that cybersecurity experts said indicated the U.S. National Security Agency had accessed the SWIFT interbank messaging system, allowing it to monitor money flows among some Middle Eastern and Latin American banks. The release included computer code that could be adapted by criminals to break …
Apple is joining the fiercely competitive race to design self-driving cars, raising the possibility that a company that has already re-shaped culture with its iPhone may try to transform transportation, too. Ending years of speculation, Apple’s late entry into a crowded field was made official Friday with the disclosure …
The so-called “Mother of All Bombs,” may be the biggest conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal, but it’s not the biggest non-nuclear bomb in the world. That title goes to Russia’s “Father of All Bombs,” which is reportedly four times heavier than the 10,300-kilogram Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the …
CIA Director Mike Pompeo defended the need for secrecy in United States government agencies tasked with keeping the country safe. In a public discussion Thursday, he warned against celebrating individuals who steal U.S. classified documents and make them public, like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. Pompeo said Americans should realize …
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the company plans to unveil an electric semi-truck in September. Musk tweeted the announcement Thursday. He offered no other details about the semi, such as whether it will be equipped with Tesla’s partially self-driving Autopilot mode. Musk also said the company plans to …
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it had received at least a thousand surveillance requests from the U.S. government that sought user content for foreign intelligence purposes during the first half of 2016. The amount, shared in Microsoft’s biannual transparency report, was more than double what the company said it received …
Apple has hired a team of biomedical engineers as part of a secret initiative, initially envisioned by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, to develop sensors to treat diabetes, CNBC reported citing three people familiar with the matter. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. The engineers are expected to work at …
Fast-food chain Burger King said Wednesday that it would start televising a commercial for its signature Whopper sandwich that is designed to activate Google voice-controlled devices. The move raised questions about whether marketing tactics have become too invasive. The 15-second ad starts with a Burger King employee holding up the …
A Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails has alleged ties to Russian agents and access to significant amounts of cash, making him a serious flight risk if freed on bail, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Karim Baratov, 22, was arrested last month and faces extradition to the …
Google said it’s “taken aback” by the government’s claim that it doesn’t compensate women fairly. The company said it conducts “rigorous analyses” that its pay practices are gender-blind and found “no gender pay gap” in 52 major job categories it analyzed last year. Google added that analysts who calculate suggested …
Past cyber attacks on scores of organizations around the world were conducted with top-secret hacking tools that were exposed recently by the Web publisher Wikileaks, the security researcher Symantec Corp said on Monday. That means the attacks were likely conducted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The files posted by …
Terrorist attacks at public places are on the rise and authorities organizing large gatherings are always looking for ways to reinforce security. Increasing the number of security cameras is easy but monitoring the video they send requires a large number of people. Japanese technology giant Hitachi says artificial intelligence could …
Despite ethical and safety concerns, researchers are getting closer to building life from scratch. In fact, scientists are hoping to synthesize a human genome in the next 10 years. Investors are putting huge amounts of money into research that may deliver novel drugs, materials and chemicals. Some of the projects …
The U.S. government on Friday dropped its effort to force Twitter to identify users behind an account critical of President Donald Trump, the social media company said. In response, Twitter said it was dropping a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government that challenged the request to unmask the users. Twitter …
Twitter on Thursday sued to block an order by the U.S. government demanding that it reveal who is behind an account opposed to President Donald Trump’s tough immigration policies. Twitter cited freedom of speech as a basis for not turning over records about the account, @ALT_uscis. The account is claimed …
Pirooz Parvarandeh, a longtime Silicon Valley executive, saw a problem. Although he has lived in the United States for more than 40 years, he knew little about the contributions and accomplishments of Iranian Americans like himself. That lack of knowledge is widespread, he feared, and in his view makes Iranians …
Abuses linked to mining in countries such as Myanmar and Colombia are being overlooked by technology companies focused only on eliminating “conflict minerals” from war-torn parts of Africa in their supply chains, researchers said on Thursday. In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), competition for mineral resources has fueled two decades …