Toronto finally has a tech conference. Collision was held this week on May 20 to May 23, and it’s already scheduled for June 22 to June 25 next year. Toronto deserves it. But don’t just take my word for it. “If you’d gone five years ago to Collision and said, ‘Would you think about coming […]
Read More
The U.S. government has spent the last year and a half making the case that Huawei is an international security threat — a telecommunications hardware company that could help China’s government surveil communications and seize control of 5G-networked assets. But President Donald Trump suggested yesterday that this “very dangerous” company may not be such a […]
Read More
Huawei’s Ken Hu has called for support from other companies and industries as he drew striking comparisons between the U.S.-led trade ban and the Cold War. Speaking at the Potsdam Conference on National Cybersecurity in Germany, Hu, who serves as the Chinese company’s deputy chair, said its blacklisting “set a dangerous precedent,” one that disrupts […]
Read More
Though the exact circumstances of Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey’s March 2017 departure from Facebook have remained somewhat ambiguous, he’s now talking openly about the reason: He was fired after backing a pro-Trump group, a decision that left him with “hate and rage” towards Facebook. Yet he says he still supports his former company because […]
Read More
Amazon on Wednesday said shareholders rejected proposals to curb and audit its facial recognition service, just as members of Congress indicated there was bipartisan support to one day regulate the technology. In the past year Amazon has found itself at the center of a growing debate over the use of facial recognition by governments, with […]
Read More
It’s too early to quantify just how much the U.S. ban on Huawei will hurt the Chinese telecom giant internationally, but if media reports from China can be taken seriously, the company might be able to make up its losses in its home country — damaging Apple’s shaky iPhone business there in the process. A […]
Read More
Siemens and Alphabet company Chronicle have announced a partnership to protect the energy industry’s critical infrastructure from increasingly sophisticated and malicious industrial cyber threats. The companies unveiled the alliance at Spotlight on Innovation, Siemens’ U.S. technology and innovation conference. Through a unified approach that will leverage Chronicle’s Backstory platform and Siemens’ strength in industrial cybersecurity, […]
Read More
(Reuters) — Qualcomm unlawfully suppressed competition in the market for cellphone chips and used its dominant position to impose excessive licensing fees, a U.S. judge ruled, sending the company’s shares down 13 percent in pre-market trade. “Qualcomm’s licensing practices have strangled competition in the CDMA and the premium LTE modem chip markets for years, and harmed […]
Read More
While the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appears likely to approve the proposed merger of third- and fourth-place wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, the Department of Justice is reportedly still leaning against approval due to unresolved antitrust concerns, Bloomberg reports. As it has potential impacts on both telecommunications and broader consumer competition, the $26.5 billion […]
Read MoreAlibaba founder Jack Ma was greeted at the Viva Technology conference in Paris like a conquering hero. During an hour-long question-and-answer session on stage, however, he made some rather astonishing claims about the reasons China has succeeded in tech while berating Europeans for being obsessed with regulations. “We don’t have the rules and laws,” he […]
Read More
Facebook is partnering with a handful of organizations to combat diseases using real-time maps powered by satellite imagery, computer vision, census data, and Facebook’s own proprietary data. The social networking giant has been working on population mapping for a while already — back in 2016, it revealed that it was applying its computer vision smarts […]
Read More
The Entertainment Software Association, the game industry’s lobbying group and the creator of the big E3 trade show, named Stanley Pierre-Louis as its new president and CEO. We talked with Pierre-Louis about how he stepped into the roll last fall after the departure of longtime CEO Mike Gallagher. It’s a big job, as the ESA represents […]
Read More
Developing cellular modems isn’t easy. At the dawn of the 5G era, only a handful of companies are capable of designing 5G modems, and even ones as large as Intel have struggled with the engineering and financials. Layers of patented innovations combine with conceptual and physical development hurdles to make one course — using someone […]
Read More
(Reuters) — The U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday it is adding Huawei Technologies and 70 affiliates to its so-called “Entity List” – a move that bans the telecom giant from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval. U.S. officials told Reuters the decision would also make it difficult if not […]
Read More
Following a daylong summit of tech companies and government officials, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French president Emmanuel Macron announced a broad but vague agreement to fight online terrorism that seemed most notable for the refusal of the U.S. to formally participate. The accord was dubbed the “Christchurch Call,” in recognition of the […]
Read More
One day after Apple released the final versions of iOS 12.3 and watchOS 5.2.1, the company is ready to give developers their first tastes of iOS 12.4 and watchOS 5.3. These will likely be Apple’s final point releases for each operating system ahead of June’s WWDC 2019 event in San Jose, California. While iOS 12.2 […]
Read More
Nomadic has unveiled its latest mixed reality arcade for its first-person shooter game Arizona Sunshine in Las Vegas in partnership with Area15. The place will host immersive “mixed reality” experiences that combine virtual reality with movie-like set designs. The place will host VR games such as Arizona Sunshine: Contagion Z and Arizona Sunshine: Rampage (both […]
Read More
High prices already led Apple’s iPhone sales to plateau during the typically strong holiday season, and a new round of U.S. tariffs against Chinese-manufactured products are seriously endangering its upcoming revenues, CNBC notes today. At a threatened 25% tariff rate, Apple would need to raise its U.S. prices by roughly 14% to keep margins constant […]
Read More
Nextdoor, the social network aimed at local neighborhoods, has raised $123 million in a round of funding led by Riverwood Capital, with participation from Benchmark, Tiger Global Management, Kleiner Perkins, and an undisclosed “large global asset manager.” This takes Nextdoor’s total money raised to more than $400 million since its inception, and gives it a […]
Read More
Google today announced plans to create the Google Safety Engineering Center in Munich where an expanded team of engineers will oversee creation of privacy features across all of the company’s products. In tandem with that effort, it also will launch the Google.org Impact Challenge on Safety to fund organizations working on digital safety issues. A blog […]
Read More