Month: March 2018

German band Joasihno strikes a chord in a unique way as it takes its show on the road. Currently touring in Canada, the two-man band works in concert with a "robotic" element that can play several instruments at the same time. "Actually we call it psychedelic robot orchestra," said Cico Beck, one of the creators of the band. "It’s a combination of acoustic instruments but also very trashy robot instruments," he added. Once hooked up to wires and set up, instruments that include a xylophone, drum and cymbal play on their own. Another contraption, a horizontal, self-revolving wooden stick, stands atop a microphone stand. The stick contains long strings tied on each end with a wooden ping pong-sized-ball attached. As the stick rotates, the balls hit a block on the…

German band Joasihno strikes a chord in a unique way as it takes its show on the road. Currently touring in Canada, the two-man band works in concert with a "robotic" element that can play several instruments at the same time. "Actually we call it psychedelic robot orchestra," said Cico Beck, one of the creators of the band. "It’s a combination of acoustic instruments but also very trashy robot instruments," he added. Once hooked up to wires and set up, instruments that include a xylophone, drum and cymbal play on their own. Another contraption, a horizontal, self-revolving wooden stick, stands atop a microphone stand. The stick contains long strings tied on each end with a wooden ping pong-sized-ball attached. As the stick rotates, the balls hit a block on the…

The annual music festival and tech conference, South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas just ended. The event brings together tech startups and musicians from around the globe to network and showcase their work. The types of music played at the festival are as diverse as the musicians there. One band from Germany called Joasihno performed at the festival. The group  includes two guys and robots as band members. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details. ...

Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic criticized Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, after reports surfaced that another company, Cambridge Analytica, improperly harvested information from 50 million Facebook users. A British lawmaker accused Facebook on Sunday of misleading officials by downplaying the risk of users' data being shared without their consent. Conservative legislator Damian Collins, who heads the British Parliament's media committee, said he would ask Zuckerberg or another Facebook executive to appear before his panel, which is investigating disinformation and "fake news." Collins said Facebook has "consistently understated" the risk of data leaks and gave misleading answers to the committee. "Someone has to take responsibility for this," he said. "It's time for Mark Zuckerberg to stop hiding behind his Facebook page." Collins also accused the head of…

At this week's three-day Energy Innovation Summit, organized annually by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA-e for short, experts, entrepreneurs, investors and government officials shared ideas, research results and experiences about challenges facing the generation, transformation, distribution and storage of all forms of energy. VOA's George Putic gives an overview. ...

Facebook Inc. on Friday said it was suspending political data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, after finding data privacy policies had been violated. Facebook said in a statement that it suspended Cambridge Analytica and its parent group Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) after receiving reports that they did not delete information about Facebook users that had been inappropriately shared. Cambridge Analytica was not immediately available for comment. Facebook did not mention the Trump campaign or any political campaigns in its statement, attributed to company Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal. “We will take legal action if necessary to hold them responsible and accountable for any unlawful behavior,” Facebook said, adding that it was continuing to investigate the claims. Cruz, Trump campaigns Cambridge Analytica worked…

Fingerprints can unlock doors, phones and more, but are consumers ready to pay with them? Visa thinks so. More companies are exploring biometrics, the analysis of unique biological traits to verify identity, but how secure is the technology? Tina Trinh reports from New York ...

A one-page job application filled out by Steve Jobs more than four decades ago that reflected the Apple founder's technology aspirations sold for $174,000 at a U.S. auction, more than three times its presale estimate. An Internet entrepreneur from England was the winning bidder, Boston-based auction house RR Auction said on Friday, but the buyer wished to remain anonymous. The application dated 1973, complete with spelling and punctuation errors, had been expected to fetch about $50,000. The sale price reached on Thursday was $174,757, the auction house said. The form lists his name as "Steven jobs" and address as "reed college," the Portland, Oregon, college he attended briefly. Next to "Phone:" he wrote "none." Under a section titled “Special Abilities,” Jobs wrote “tech or design engineer. digital.—f rom Bay near…

South by Southwest is a pop-up marketplace of ideas. Held in Austin, Texas, it combines music and film festivals with a tech conference. Its nine days of events draw people from around the world, including Africa, as Tigist Geme of VOA's Horn of Africa Service reports. ...

Tossing swimmers and boaters a lifeline when they get into trouble on the water takes on a new meaning when that lifeline is attached to a robot. Faith Lapidus explains. ...

France added more kindling to a growing commercial dispute between Europe and the United States, announcing Wednesday it would sue American tech giants Google and Apple over allegedly abusive business practices. After peanut butter, cranberries and bourbon, Google and Apple are the latest American icons in Europe's crosshairs. Speaking to French radio Wednesday, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire accused the two U.S. companies of unilaterally imposing prices and other terms on French startups. Google and Apple may be powerful, Le Maire said, but they should not be able to treat French startups and developers the way they currently do. France has taken legal action against the companies before. But this latest dispute comes amid a potential trade war, as Washington prepares to slap tariffs against steel and aluminum imports.…

Only one of 118 gender discrimination complaints made by women at Microsoft was found to have merit, according to unsealed court documents. The Seattle Times reports the records made public Monday illustrate the scope of complaints from female employees in technical jobs in the U.S. between 2010 and 2016. And according to the court documents, Microsoft's internal investigations determined only one of those complaints was "founded." The documents were released as part of an ongoing lawsuit by three current or former Microsoft employees alleging gender discrimination. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status for the case, claiming more than 8,600 women collectively lost out on $238 million in pay and 500 promotions because of discrimination in the company's performance review process. Microsoft's case is one of several against giant companies in…

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei says it will continue to invest in the United States despite recent setbacks in its efforts to boost sales there. Xu Qingsong, also known as Jim Xu, Huawei's head of sales and marketing, told reporters in Shenzhen he was "confident" Huawei smartphone sales would triple this year in the U.S. from last year. News reports in January said Huawei appeared to be on the verge of cracking the lucrative American market when it signed a deal with AT&T, but the agreement fell through under U.S. government pressure. In the past, Huawei officials have rejected U.S. security complaints as politically motivated or possibly an attempt by competitors to keep it out of the market. "I don't know why they're so nervous," Xu said Tuesday, referring to the…

YouTube will begin displaying text from Wikipedia articles and other websites alongside some videos in a couple of weeks as the unit of Alphabet Inc's Google attempts to combat hoaxes and conspiracy theories on the service, its chief executive said on Tuesday. Susan Wojcicki, speaking on stage at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, displayed a mock-up of the new feature, which are called information cues. YouTube intends to present an alternative viewpoint to videos questioning science or describing conspiracies about events such as the U.S. moon landing. She said information cues would first roll out to topics for which there are a significant number of YouTube videos. “People can still watch the videos but then they actually have access to additional information, can click off and go…