Category: Technology

When it comes to autonomous vehicles, putting them in the relatively open skies may be easier than putting them on crowded roads. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports on how one branch of the military is investigating the use of autonomous helicopters. ...

In this digital age, meals are now shared over the internet. With social media users looking for dishes that are both ready to snap and to eat, restaurateurs across the globe are taking advantage, styling their creations to be camera ready. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more. ...

Vietnam has unveiled a new, 10,000-strong military cyberwarfare unit to counter "wrong" views on the Internet, media reported, amid a widening crackdown on critics of the one-party state. The cyber unit, named Force 47, is already in operation in several sectors, Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Nghia, deputy head of the military's political department, as saying at a conference of the Central Propaganda Department on Monday in the commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City. "In every hour, minute and second we must be ready to fight proactively against the wrong views," the paper quoted the general as saying. Communist-ruled Vietnam has stepped up attempts to tame the internet, calling for closer watch over social networks and for the removal of content that it deems offensive, but there has been little sign of it silencing criticism when the companies providing the…

Saving digital files in commercial memory banks called cloud storage is a cheap and convenient way for long-term storage of documents, photos, music and video. Private users as well as businesses can access them from anywhere and share them with whomever they give the password to. Providers, such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Amazon S3, claim almost absolute security. But computer scientists say the protection should be in the users' hands. VOA's George Putic has more. ...

Silicon Valley has long inspired Chinese business and tech ventures. But now that a Chinese dockless bike share company has landed in the Valley, is the tide turning? VOA's Calla Yu has more. ...

There is an entire industry of add-ons that are designed to keep your cellphone screen from cracking. And yet broken screens are the main reason cellphones fail. But one Japanese researcher may have solved the problem. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports. ...

What’s a bitcoin worth? Lately nobody knows for sure, but after a wild ride Friday, it’s worth a good deal less than it was Thursday. After losses over the last few days, the digital currency fell as much as 30 percent overnight in Asia, and the action became so frenzied that the website Coinbase suspended trading. It later made up much of that ground, and slumped 9.5 percent to $14,042 Friday, according to the tracking site CoinDesk. Experts are warning that bitcoin is a bubble about to burst, but things might get crazier before it does: A lot of people have heard of bitcoin by now, but very few people own it. “Bubbles burst when the last buyers are in,” said Brett Ewing, chief market strategist for First Franklin. “Who…

A reused SpaceX rocket carried 10 satellites into orbit from California on Friday, leaving behind a trail of mystery and wonder as it soared into space. The Falcon 9 booster lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base, carrying the latest batch of satellites for Iridium Communications. The launch in the setting sun created a shining, billowing streak that was widely seen throughout Southern California and as far away as Phoenix. Calls came in to TV stations as far afield as San Diego, more than 200 miles south of the launch site. Cars stopped on freeways in Los Angeles so drivers and passengers could take pictures and video. The Los Angeles Fire Department issued an advisory that the “mysterious light in the sky” was from the rocket launch. Jimmy Golen,…

Over the next month, Christians of all kinds will celebrate the birth of Jesus. The world has been wondering about the reality of his existence, his life, death, and the question of his divinity for thousands of years. But the place considered to be his tomb has been dated to the time he is believed to have walked the earth. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports. ...

IPhone owners from several states sued Apple Inc. for not disclosing sooner that it issued software updates deliberately slowing older-model phones so aging batteries lasted longer, saying Apple's silence led them to wrongly conclude that their only option was to buy newer, pricier iPhones. The allegations were in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Chicago federal court on behalf of five iPhone owners from Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina, all of whom say they never would have bought new iPhones had Apple told them that simply replacing the batteries would have sped up their old ones. The suit alleges Apple violated consumer fraud laws. A similar lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles. Both suits came a day after Apple confirmed what high-tech sleuths outside the company already observed: The…

Indonesia's foremost hard-line Islamist group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), has announced a Christmas Day boycott of Facebook and the Whatsapp instant messaging service, as well as a live protest at Facebook's Indonesia office in the near future. They say Facebook — like other major social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram — has blocked several FPI accounts, and that Facebook allows pro-LGBT and anti-Sharia pages to stay on its site. The group also plans to protest at Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information in the new year. While the boycott is unlikely to make a major impact on Facebook, it underscores that FPI's official accounts are blocked on many major platforms, leading some to speculate the move was at the national government's request. That's unlikely, said Ross Tapsell, who…

Toshiba Corp.'s energy systems unit on Friday unveiled a long telescopic pipe carrying a pan-tilt camera designed to gather crucial information about the situation inside the reactor chambers at Japan's tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The device is 13 meters (43 feet) long and designed to give officials a deeper view into the nuclear plant's Unit 2 primary containment vessel, where details on melted fuel damage remain largely unknown. The Fukushima plant had triple meltdowns following the 2011 quake and tsunami. Finding details about the fuel debris is crucial to determining the right method and technology for its removal at each reactor, the most challenging process during the plant's decades-long decommissioning. Toshiba officials said the new device will be sent inside the pedestal, a structure directly below the core, to investigate…

The toys your kids unwrap this Christmas could invite hackers into your home. That Grinch-like warning comes from the FBI, which said earlier this year that toys connected to the internet could be a target for crooks who may listen in on conversations or use them to steal a child's personal information. The bureau did not name any specific toys or brands, but it said any internet-connected toys with microphones, cameras or location tracking might put a child's privacy or safety at risk. That could be a talking doll or a tablet designed for kids. And because some of the toys are being rushed to be made and sold, the FBI said, security safeguards might be overlooked. Security experts say the only way to prevent a hack is to not…

Hackers tried to steal 55 million rubles ($940,000) from Russian state bank Globex using the SWIFT international payments messaging system, the bank said Thursday, the latest in a string of attempted cyberheists that use fraudulent wire-transfer requests. Globex President Valery Ovsyannikov told Reuters that the attempted attack occurred last week, but that "customer funds have not been affected." The bank's disclosure came after SWIFT, whose messaging system is used to transfer trillions of dollars each day, warned late last month that the threat of digital heists was on the rise as hackers use increasingly sophisticated tools and techniques to launch new attacks. SWIFT said in late November that hackers continued to target the SWIFT bank messaging system, though security controls instituted after last year's $81 million heist at Bangladesh's central…

Apple, the American multi-national technology company, has acknowledged it has taken action that slows the performance of its older iPhones. After Primate Labs, which makes an application that measures the speed of iPhone processors, disclosed data Monday that seemingly showed the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 models perform slower as they aged, Apple addressed the claims two days later. Apple said it released software last year that makes those models operate more slowly to countervail problems with their aging lithium ion batteries, which can sometimes cause operational problems or cause phones to unexpectedly shut down. The technology giant said the reason for the updated software was to provide better power management capabilities, which also slows down the phones, to prevent them from shutting down. One solution to a slower, older…

For every person who just loves James Bond, it's the perfect gift. A very nice, stylish pair of shoes, that just happen to be full of high-tech hidden compartments. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports. ...

The European Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that ride-hailing company Uber should be regulated like a taxi service instead of a technology firm, a decision that limits its business operations in Europe. The decision was handed down in response to a complaint from a Barcelona taxi drivers association, which tried to prevent Uber from expanding into the Spanish city. The drivers maintained that Uber drivers should be subject to authorizations and license requirements and accused the company of engaging in unfair competition. The San Francisco-based Uber contends it should be regulated as an information services provider because it is based on a mobile application that links passengers to drivers. The European Union's highest court said services provided by Uber and similar companies are "inherently linked to a transport service" and…

Facebook Inc said on Tuesday it would begin using facial recognition technology to tell people on the social network when others upload photos of them, if they agree to let the company keep a facial template on file. The company said in a statement it was making the feature optional to allow people to protect their privacy, but that it thought some people would want to be notified of pictures they might not otherwise know about. The feature would not immediately be available in Canada and the European Union, Facebook said. Privacy laws are generally stricter in those jurisdictions, though the company said it was hopeful about implementing the feature there in the future. Tech companies are putting in place a variety of functions using facial recognition technology, despite fears…

The United States is publicly blaming North Korea for unleashing a cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies across the globe earlier this year. In an op-ed piece posted on the Wall Street Journal website Monday night, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert said that North Korea was "directly responsible'' for the WannaCry ransomware attack, and that Pyongyang will be held accountable for it. "The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible," Bossert writes. "North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious." Bossert says President Donald Trump's administration will continue to use its "maximum pressure strategy to curb Pyongyang's ability to mount attacks, cyber or otherwise.'' Pyongyang has previously denied being…

Facebook announced Monday that it removed nearly 3 million posts, including videos, ads and other forms of content, from its services during the first half of 2017 following complaints of counterfeiting and copyright and trademark infringement. The worldwide data on intellectual property-related takedowns is a new disclosure for Facebook as part of its biannual “Transparency Report,” Chris Sonderby, a deputy general counsel at the firm, said in a blog post. “We believe that sharing information about (intellectual property) reports we receive from rights holders is an important step toward being more open and clear about how we protect the people and businesses that use our services,” Sonderby wrote. Transparency report The ninth Facebook transparency report also showed that government requests for information about users increased 21 percent worldwide compared with…

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it will bar drone flights over seven major U.S. nuclear sites, including Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The move is the latest in a series of growing restrictions on unmanned aerial vehicles over U.S. sites that have national security implications. The new restrictions begin Dec. 29 and include the Hanford Site in Washington State, Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, Pantex Site in Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Site and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The FAA said it is considering additional requests from other federal security agencies to bar drones. Earlier this year, the FAA banned drone flights over 133 U.S. military facilities. The Pentagon said in August that U.S. military bases could shoot down…

It's all fun and games until a family gets behind the wheel. That's the whole idea behind Volvo's Drive Me project. Automated vehicles are now being test driven by families as part of a multi-stage experiment that's taking place in Norway. VOA's Steve Redisch reports. ...

A boom in production of Apple iPhones is helping lift the economy of Taiwan, an industrial center that still relies on high-tech manufacturing contracts despite increasing competition from offshore. Apple’s phone sales in the third quarter this year grew 5.7 percent over the same period of 2016, ahead of a cross-brand increase of 3 percent to 383 million units, market research firm Gartner says. Orders for older iPhones as well as the iPhone X, which is seen taking off next year, have solidified orders for parts supplied by tech firms in Taiwan, analysts say. Tech specialists say the Silicon Valley icon is looking this year to Taiwanese firms for chip production, camera modules, displays and final assembly. Taiwanese-owned Foxconn Technology often assembles Apple gear at sprawling factories in China, for…

With people coming from around the world to work in Silicon Valley, some struggle with the best ways to care for their aging parents. Increasingly, the solution is an “affinity” retirement community, where older people from places like India and China can live near — but not with — their adult children. These communities break from traditional custom that parents and children live together. “The children are so busy these days, they are all the time working, taking care of their kids, so we do not want to interfere in their lives,” said Asha RaoRane, an Indian national who wanted to move to the U.S. to be near her three daughters who had immigrated to San Francisco. Her daughters started exploring the idea of a traditional senior retirement community, but…

Young people come from around the world to work in Silicon Valley, California. As these workers build a life away from home, many struggle with how to bring their aging parents to their new community. But what happens to foreign parents entering their later years in a new country? VOA's Deana Mitchell visits a unique community in Silicon Valley that caters to retirees from India. ...

With nearly 2 billion users, Facebook's survival depends on people continuing to use its service.  That's why observers were surprised by an unusual company blog post Friday that highlighted some of the potential harm of using the social media service.  Titled Hard Questions: Is Spending Time on Social Media Bad for Us?, the company cited studies that suggested some of the possible downsides of using social media.  In one study, people who passively read about others' lives reported feeling worse about themselves. One possibility is "negative social comparison" when reading about others online, the company said, because "people's posts are often more curated and flattering" than how they are in their real, offline lives.  But there's a potential solution, according to Facebook, which reported $10 billion in revenue — its highest…

U.S. attorneys in Utah prosecuting a multimillion-dollar opioid drug-ring are moving quickly to sell seized bitcoin that’s exploded in value to about $8.5 million since the alleged ringleader’s arrest a year ago. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah cites the digital currency’s volatility in court documents pressing for the sale. The bitcoin cache was worth less than $500,000 when Aaron Shamo was arrested on drug charges, but the value of the digital currency has skyrocketed since then. Bitcoin was created as a digital alternative to the traditional banking system, and is prone to swings in value based on what people believe its worth. For federal prosecutors in Utah, sales of seized assets like cars are routine, but bitcoin is new territory, spokeswoman Melodie Rydalch said Thursday. Shamo is accused of…

The German government says it backs an "open and free internet" following the U.S. decision to repeal net neutrality rules. A spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry said Friday that Germany had "taken note" of the U.S. move but declined to comment directly on it. However, spokeswoman Beate Baron said the German government supports rules introduced across the European Union last year forbidding discriminatory access to the internet. Baron told reporters in Berlin that "an open and free internet is indispensable for the successful development of a digital society that everyone wants to take part in." The Republican-controlled U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday repealed Obama-era rules requiring all web traffic to be treated equally. ...