Category: Technology

Facebook is pushing back against a media report saying that it provided extensive information about its users and their friends to third parties like phone makers.   The New York Times reported Sunday that Facebook struck data-sharing deals with at least 60 device makers, including Apple and Amazon, raising more concerns about what users give up when they use Facebook.   Facebook says it disagrees with reporting by the paper regarding software it rolled out 10 years ago that helped get Facebook on to devices like iPhones. Ime Archibong, vice president of product partnerships, said in blog post that Facebook has maintained tight control over the technology, known as application programming interfaces, or APIs, and that it is not aware of any abuse by the companies that it teamed with.…

Three astronauts from the International Space Station have safely returned to Earth after completing a five-month mission.  American Scott Tingle, Russian Anton Shkaplerov and Japan's Norishige Kanai touched down at 12:39 UTC Sunday in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, who was the first to be helped out of the Russian Soyuz space capsule, said, "We are a bit tired but happy with what we have accomplished and happy to be back on Earth. We are glad the weather is sunny." The trio will undergo medical tests in the Kazakh city of Karaganda before flying on to Moscow or Houston.  Shkaplerov will return to Moscow with a football he brought back from the space station. He and another cosmonaut were filmed practicing with the ball aboard the ISS. The Russian news agency Tass reported…

An accident, a stroke, or a disease can leave someone paralyzed and unable to walk. That happens to more than 15 million people around the world each year. But new technological advances and physical therapy could help some of them walk again.   Among the most promising is the use of robotic exoskeletons, like one made by Ekso Bionics. It looks a bit like a backpack that straps on the user’s back and around the midsection. Robotic ‘legs’ complete with foot panels extend from either side of the pack and wrap around the patient’s legs. A video game-style controller attaches to the pack with a long cord. “I’m going to be a robot!” Lindsey Stoefen has been doing physical therapy with the exoskeleton for an hour a day, as she…

Every year more than 15 million people worldwide suffer injuries and illnesses that leave them unable to walk according to the World Health Organization. But new technological advances and physical therapy could help some of them walk again. Among the most promising - is the use of robotic exoskeletons. As Erika Celeste reports, scientists at the University of Notre Dame are leading the way with their work on wearable robots that allow patients to regain some or all of their mobility. ...

The government Papua New Guinea is considering blocking Facebook while it investigates how to best to regulate the social networking site. Critics say the move would be authoritarian. Authorities in Papua New Guinea, or PNG, say Facebook has become a magnet for illegal and unsavory activity. The government is considering a temporary ban on the site while it works out the best way to regulate the social media platform. Only about 10 percent of the nearly 7 million people in PNG use Facebook, but some officials have become increasingly agitated by content being posted online.They have asked experts to help in their search for the best way to impose controls on the social media site. PNG Communications Minister, Sam Basil, says illegal use of Facebook must be curbed. "Defamatory publications…

Birds and airplanes share the sky, so inevitably collisions occur. But airport authorities try to limit those encounters because bird strikes cause costly damage to jet engines and can lead to crashes. Some airports employ trained dogs, others use loud noises to frighten birds away. A company in the Netherlands says its robotic predator Robird is much more efficient. VOA's George Putic has more. ...

Google says it will not extend a contract into next year to help the U.S. military analyze drone videos following complaints from company employees. U.S. media reports said Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., told Google employees about the decision Friday. The development was first reported by tech publication Gizmodo. Google employees say the tech giant will continue to work on the Maven Project until the contract ends next March. The military project uses artificial intelligence to increase defense capabilities, including using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze aerial drone imagery. Thousands of Google employees signed a petition urging the company to cancel the contract, arguing that helping the military would violate Google’s motto of “Don’t be evil.” Reuters reports that several hundred Google employees had planned to hold a public rally…

Outside Facebook's annual shareholders meeting Thursday, a lone protester paced on the sidewalk, carrying a U.S. flag and a sign that read "Zuckerberg destroys shareholder value." Above, a small plane pulled a banner that read "You Broke Democracy." Inside, Facebook shareholders offered both praise and criticism of the company's leadership. The social media giant has been in a constant spotlight over how foreign actors used its service to try to influence elections worldwide. It suffered a double blow when it was revealed that 87 million users' information had gone to a political consulting firm without the users' knowledge.  The company continues to face inquiries from federal and state regulators about privacy and user data issues. And Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, recently testified in front of the European Parliament after appearing…

In today's energy-hungry world, scientists are constantly revisiting every renewable resource looking for ways to increase efficiency. One researcher in the Netherlands believes even gravity can be harnessed to produce free electricity on a scale sufficient to power small appliances. VOA's George Putic has more. ...

A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday dismissed two lawsuits by Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab that sought to overturn bans on the use of the security software maker's products in U.S. government networks. The company said it would seek to appeal the decision, which leaves in place prohibitions included in a funding bill passed by Congress and an order from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The bans were issued last year in response to allegations by U.S. officials that the company’s software could enable Russian espionage and threaten national security. “These actions were the product of unconstitutional agency and legislative processes and unfairly targeted the company without any meaningful fact finding,” Kaspersky said in a statement. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington said Kaspersky had failed to show that Congress…

A Canadian accused of helping Russian intelligence agents break into email accounts as part of a massive 2014 data breach at Yahoo was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. Karim Baratov, who pleaded guilty in November 2017 in San Francisco, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Baratov, a Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan, was arrested in Canada in March 2017 at the request of U.S. prosecutors. He later waived his right to fight a request for his extradition to the United States. Lawyers for Baratov in a court filing had urged a sentence of 45 months in prison, while prosecutors had sought 94 months. "This case is about a young man, younger than most of the defendants in hacking cases throughout this…

The U.S. government on Tuesday released an alert with technical details about a series of cyberattacks it blamed on the North Korean government that stretch back to at least 2009. The warning is the latest from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation about hacks that the United States charges were launched by the North Korean government. A representative with Pyongyang's mission to the United Nations declined comment. North Korea has routinely denied involvement in cyberattacks against other countries. The report was published as U.S. and North Korean negotiators work to resuscitate plans for a possible June 12 summit between leaders of the two nations. The FBI and DHS released a similar report in June 2017, when relations were tense between Washington and Pyongyang due to…

France’s Interior Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to beef up its emergency alert system to the public across social media. The ministry said in a statement that from June during immediate threats of danger, such as a terror attack, the ministry’s alerts will be given priority broadcast on Twitter, Facebook and Google as well as on French public transport and television. The statement said that Twitter will give “special visibility” to the ministry’s alerts with a banner. In a specific agreement, Facebook will also allow the French government to communicate to people directly via the social network’s “safety check” tool, created in 2014.  The ministry said that this is the first time in Europe that Facebook has allowed public authorities to use this tool in this way. This announcement comes…

The Trump administration is trying to give private companies a boost in their efforts to capitalize on space as a business venture. U.S. President Donald Trump Thursday signed a space policy directive aimed at streamlining regulations on commercial use of space. Trump signed the directive just days after Space X launched another rocket from California carrying satellites into orbit. WATCH: Trump space policy The launch and several others planned for June are examples of private industries' growing interests in space for commercial and scientific research. "It's a bit of a renaissance, a bit of a space 2.0. Finally, the commercial sector is starting to come back and do some really interesting things," said Will Marshall, co-founder and chief executive officer of Planet, a leading provider of geospatial data. The company…

Space X recently launched another rocket from California carrying satellites into space - accelerating interest by more businesses and research facilities that now view space as an opportunity. At this year's Milken Institute Global Conference, those in the space business describe why orbiting the Earth is so exciting. VOA's Elizabeth Lee has details from Los Angeles. ...

The FBI warned on Friday that foreign cybercriminals had compromised "hundreds of thousands" of home and small-office router devices around the world which direct traffic on the internet by forwarding data packets between computer networks. In a public service announcement, the FBI has discovered that the foreign cybercriminals used a VPNFilter malware that can collect peoples' information, exploit their devices and block network traffic. The announcement did not provide any details about where the criminals might be based, or what their motivations could be. "The size and scope of the infrastructure by VPNFilter malware is significant," the FBI said, adding that it is capable of rendering people's routers "inoperable." It said the malware is hard to detect, due to encryption and other tactics. The FBI urged people to reboot their…

A Portland, Oregon, family has learned what happens when Amazon.com Inc's popular voice assistant Alexa is lost in translation. Amazon on Thursday described an "unlikely ... string of events" that made Alexa send an audio recording of the family to one of their contacts randomly. The episode underscored how Alexa can misinterpret conversation as a wake-up call and command. A local news outlet, KIRO 7, reported that a woman with Amazon devices across her home received a call two weeks ago from her husband's employee, who said Alexa had recorded the family's conversation about hardwood floors and sent it to him. "I felt invaded," the woman, only identified as Danielle, said in the report. "A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, 'I'm never plugging that device in again, because I…

A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhone’s features to lure people into buying its competing products. The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011. Apple contends Samsung wouldn’t have emerged as the world’s leading seller of smartphones if it hadn’t ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Google’s Android software. Patents infringed Previous rulings had determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apple’s patents, but the amount of damages owed has been in legal limbo. Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh reduced that amount to…

When a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted a Latvian software developer last week of running an underground clearinghouse for computer hackers, U.S. prosecutors highlighted it as an example of their commitment to combating cybercrime. "This verdict demonstrates our commitment to holding such actors accountable," said acting U.S. Attorney Tracey Doherty-McCormick. "I commend the work of the agents and prosecutors both in the United States and in Latvia, who worked together to bring him to justice." Not mentioned was the role played by Trend Micro, a Japanese cybersecurity firm that collaborated with the FBI to hunt down the developer, Ruslans Bondars, and an accomplice, Jurijs Martisevs, who jointly operated Scan4You, a site that helped hackers test their malware. In a report released after the verdict, Trend Micro offered an inside look…

French President Emmanuel Macron says his country will invest $76 million in African startups, saying innovation on the continent is key to meeting challenges ranging from climate change to terrorism. He spoke Thursday at a technology fair in Paris showcasing African talent this year. It is hard to miss the African section of Viva Tech. There are gigantic signs pointing to stands from South Africa, Morocco and Rwanda. And there are lots of African entrepreneurs. Omar Cisse heads a Senegalese startup called InTouch, which has developed an app making it easier to conduct financial transactions by mobile phone. “Globally, you have more than $1 billion per day of transactions on mobile money, and more than 50 percent are done in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. Cisse says the challenges for African startups…

Oceanographers often say we know much more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about nearly 70 percent of our own planet. That is because most of the Earth is covered in water, most of it deeper than 200 meters. There are several initiatives to map the oceans' floors and the latest comes from Japan. VOA's George Putic reports. ...

Twitter says it's adding special labels to tweets from some U.S. political candidates ahead of this year's midterm elections. Twitter says the move is to provide users with "authentic information" and prevent spoofed and fake accounts from fooling users. The labels will include what office a person is running for and where. The labels will appear on retweets as well as tweets off of Twitter, such as when they are embedded in a news story. Twitter, along with Facebook and other social media companies, has been under heavy scrutiny for allowing their platforms to be misused by malicious actors trying to influence elections around the world. The labels will start to appear next week for candidates for governor and Congress. ...

French President Emmanuel Macron is taking on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other internet giants at a Paris meeting to discuss tax and data protection and how they could use their global influence for the public good. Macron on Wednesday welcomed Zuckerberg and the leaders of dozens of other tech companies, including Microsoft, Uber, and IBM, at a conference named "Tech for Good" meant to address things like workers' rights, data privacy and tech literacy.   The meeting comes as Facebook, Google and other online giants are increasingly seen by the public as predators that abuse personal data, avoid taxes and stifle competition.   "There is no free lunch!" Macron joked to express his expectations of "frank and direct" discussions.   He said tech giants could not just be "free…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told EU lawmakers Tuesday that the social media network will always be in "an arms race" with those who want to spread fake news, but that the company will be working to stay ahead and protect the network's users. The social media giant has been under scrutiny since April when it became known that the Cambridge Analytica company harvested information on Facebook users to help Donald Trump during his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. ...

U.S. civil liberties groups on Tuesday called on Amazon.com Inc. to stop offering facial recognition services to governments, warning that the software could be used to target immigrants and people of color unfairly. More than 40 groups sent a letter to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos saying technology from the company's cloud computing unit was ripe for abuse. The letter underscores how new tools for identifying and tracking people could be used to empower surveillance states. Amazon has marketed a range of uses for its Rekognition service, unveiled in late 2016. These include detecting offensive content, identifying celebrities and securing public safety. In a blog post last year, Amazon said a new feature let customers "identify people of interest against a collection of millions of faces in near real-time, enabling use cases such as timely and accurate crime prevention." Customers provide…

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized to EU lawmakers on Tuesday, saying the company had not done enough to prevent misuse of the social network and that regulation is “important and inevitable.” Meeting the leaders of the European Parliament, Zuckerberg stressed the importance of Europeans to Facebook and said he was sorry for not doing enough to prevent abuse of the platform. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility. That was a mistake and I am sorry for it,” Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks. In response to questions about whether Facebook ought to be broken up, Zuckerberg said the question was not whether there should be regulation but what kind of regulation there should be. “Some sort of regulation is important and inevitable,” he said. He…

Supervised by young engineers, workers at the start-up company Chakr Innovation in New Delhi cut and weld sheets of metal to make devices that will capture black plumes of smoke from diesel generators and convert it into ink.  In a cabin, young engineers pore over drawings and hunch over computers as they explore more applications of the technology that they hope will aid progress in cleaning up the Indian capital’s toxic air – among the world’s dirtiest.  While the millions of cars that ply Delhi’s streets are usually blamed for the city’s deadly air pollution, another big culprit is the massive diesel generators used by industries and buildings to light up homes and offices during outages when power from the grid switches off – a frequent occurrence in summer. Installed in…

Grocery stores in the U.S. are locked in a fierce battle for customers who often demand the convenience of home deliveries. Automation is increasingly becoming part of the competitive equation. When U.S. mail-order retail giant Amazon shook up the supermarket industry with its purchase of Whole Foods, America's second biggest food retailer, Kroger, responded by partnering with a British online supermarket known for its advanced warehouse technology. VOA’s George Putic reports. ...