Month: March 2018

Alphabet’s Google said on Tuesday that it will launch a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots across Mexico, part of the search giant’s effort to improve connectivity in emerging markets and put its products in the hands of more users. Google Station, an ad-supported network of Wi-Fi hotspots in high-traffic locations, is launching in Mexico with 56 hotspots and others planned, the company said. Mexico will be Google Station’s third market following India and Indonesia, and the first in Latin America. Mexico has made great strides in connectivity since a 2013-14 telecom reform intended to loosen the grip of billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil, which has long dominated the market. From 2013 to 2016, the number of people accessing the Internet in Mexico rose by 20 million, according to a report…

Scientists are always on the lookout for affordable and efficient methods for capturing carbon dioxide, responsible for global warming and the rising acidity of seawater. A new procedure, developed at the University of York in Britain, promises to extract large amounts of CO2 from seawater and store it safely, and recycle millions of tons of aluminum waste at the same time. VOA’s George Putic has more. ...

U.N. human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar said Monday that Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech there. Facebook had no immediate comment on the criticism Monday, although in the past the company has said that it was working to remove hate speech in Myanmar and kick off people who shared such content consistently. More than 650,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state into Bangladesh since insurgent attacks sparked a security crackdown last August. Many have provided harrowing testimonies of executions and rapes by Myanmar security forces. The U.N. human rights chief said last week he strongly suspected acts of genocide had taken place. Myanmar's national security adviser demanded "clear evidence." Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, told…

The inventor of the worldwide web, Tim Berners-Lee, called on Monday for powerful internet platforms and social media companies to be regulated to prevent the internet from being "weaponized at scale." The British computer scientist, in an open letter published on the 29th anniversary of the creation of the web, said a "new set of gatekeepers" was now dominant, controlling the spread of ideas and opinions. "The fact that power is concentrated among so few companies has made it possible to weaponize the web at scale," he wrote. "In recent years, we've seen conspiracy theories trend on social media platforms, fake Twitter and Facebook accounts stoke social tensions, external actors interfere in elections and criminals steal troves of personal data." The intervention by the 62-year-old MIT professor comes as some…

What originally started as a music festival in the 1980s has evolved into an event that is much bigger and harder to define. Imagine networking and partying for more than a week. That is what is happening in Austin, Texas. Musicians, film promoters and tech companies from around the world are gathering for the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details from Austin. ...

Space scientists say the satellites and other spacecraft orbiting the Earth, including the International Space Station, are in increasing danger of collision with pieces of junk. Engineers are working hard to solve the problem of removing the trash that threatens functioning satellites worth millions of dollars. VOA’s George Putic reports. ...

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged over $850 million for solar projects in emerging economies, as both India and France called for affordable solar technology for emerging nations at the first conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) held in New Delhi.   The alliance was co-founded by both countries two years ago on the sidelines of the Paris climate summit to boost the use of solar power, countering the impact of climate change.   Dozens of country leaders, including many from Africa, attended the meeting in the Indian capital and emphasized the need for access to solar technology and concessional financing to address massive energy shortages in many of their sun-drenched nations.   Promising more loans and donations for solar projects by 2022, Macron stressed the need to remove obstacles…

A quick and reliable way of detecting carbon monoxide gas in the bloodstream could act as an early warning system for doctors trying to diagnose diseases. Faith Lapidus reports. ...

Technology increasingly relies on rechargeable batteries as a source of energy. Today's batteries are better and last longer, but when their capacity drops under a certain level they have to be replaced. Some experts say that, even with a half of their capacity, batteries can be used for less critical purposes. VOA's George Putic has more. ...

Facebook is getting deeper into the professional sports streaming game, partnering with Major League Baseball to air 25 weekday afternoon games in an exclusive deal. The games will be available to Facebook users in the U.S. on Facebook Watch, the company's video feature announced last August, via the MLB Live show page. Facebook said Friday that recorded broadcasts will also be available globally, excluding select international markets. The package, MLB's first digital-only national broadcast agreement, precludes teams from televising those games on their regional sports networks. The concept is similar to the exclusive package of Sunday night games on ESPN. Facebook, Twitter and Amazon and other tech companies are in a race to acquire sports streaming rights, which can be lucrative and potentially boost user loyalty. The deal comes at…

Researchers in Sweden have embarked on a four-year project whose aim is to understand one of the most complex animal "languages" — the one dolphins use to communicate with each other. VOA's George Putic has details. ...

A Canadian company’s hardware is being used to hack internet users along Turkey’s border with Syria, researchers said Friday, adding that there were signs that Kurdish forces aligned with the United States might have been targeted. The revelation comes as Turkey presses its offensive against the Kurds dug in along the country’s frontier with northwestern Syria, a conflict that threatens to disrupt the American-led effort to extinguish the Islamic State group. The apparent use of Canadian technology to target a U.S. ally was an irony underlined by Ron Deibert, the director of the internet watchdog group Citizen Lab, which published a report on the spying. “These companies are not closely regulated, and that can lead to a lot of unintended consequences, including consequences that harm our foreign policy interests and…

Students around the United States are creating virtual businesses that produce simulated products, which are marketed and sold for virtual money. Mike O'Sullivan reports that hundreds of student entrepreneurs came to Pasadena, California, to promote the virtual companies they have created. ...

A federal judge is expected to hear arguments on Thursday about whether President Donald Trump violated Twitter users' free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution by blocking them from his account. The arguments before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan are part of a lawsuit brought last July by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and several individual Twitter users. Trump and the plaintiffs are seeking summary judgment, asking Buchwald to decide the case in their favor without a trial. Twitter lets users post short snippets of text, called tweets. Other users may respond to those tweets. When one user blocks another, the blocked user cannot respond to the blocker's tweets. The plaintiffs have accused Trump of blocking a number of accounts whose owners criticized, mocked or disagreed with him in replies to his tweets. They argued that Trump's…

Nine teams with members from 25 countries entered the final phase of the $7 million Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition for technologies that could cheaply and efficiently map the floors of the world’s oceans.  Using current technology this feat would take up to 600 years. VOA’s George Putic reports. ...