Technology category, Page 13
First Amendment group sues Texas Governor and others over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices
NEW YORK — A First Amendment group sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott and others on Thursday over the state’s TikTok ban on official devices, arguing the prohibition — which extends to public universities — is unconstitutional and impedes academic freedom. The complaint was filed by The Knight First Amendment Institute...
What is Threads? All your questions about Meta’s new Twitter rival, answered
NEW YORK — Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is live. The app, billed as the text version of Meta’s photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early...
TikTok, 5 content creators ask federal judge to block Montana from banning app
TikTok Inc. and a group of five content creators who are suing the state of Montana over its first-in-the-nation law to ban the video sharing app are now asking a federal judge to block implementation of the law while the case moves through the courts and before it takes effect...
Judge’s order limits government contact with social media operators, raises disinformation questions
NEW ORLEANS — An order by a federal judge in Louisiana has ignited a high-stakes legal battle over how the government is allowed to interact with social media platforms, raising broad questions about whether — and how — officials can fight what they deem misinformation on health or other matters....
Ransomware criminals are dumping kids’ private files online after school hacks
The confidential documents stolen from schools and dumped online by ransomware gangs are raw, intimate and graphic. They describe student sexual assaults, psychiatric hospitalizations, abusive parents, truancy — even suicide attempts. “Please do something,” begged a student in one leaked file, recalling the trauma of continually bumping into an ex-abuser...
Why social media is being blamed for fueling riots in France
Social media companies are once again under scrutiny, this time in France as the country’s president blames TikTok, Snapchat and other platforms for helping fuel widespread riots over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron accused social media of playing a “considerable role”...
Tech billionaires’ cage match? Musk throws down the gauntlet and Zuckerberg accepts challenge
WASHINGTON — Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are ready to fight, offline. In a now-viral back-and-forth seen on Twitter and Instagram this week, the two tech billionaires seemingly agreed to a “cage match” face off. It all started when Musk, who owns Twitter, responded to a tweet about Meta reportedly...
Electric vehicle maker Rivian to join Tesla charging network
DETROIT — Electric vehicle maker Rivian says it will follow General Motors and Ford and join Tesla’s charging network next year. The startup truck, SUV and delivery van maker says Tuesday that like GM and Ford, it will include ports with Tesla’s connector on future Rivian vehicles starting in 2025....
Elizabeth Holmes objects to $250 monthly restitution payments
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors want Elizabeth Holmes to pay $250 each month to victims of her failed blood testing startup after she leaves prison, but her attorneys are pushing back citing “limited financial resources” available to the disgraced founder of Theranos. The U.S. filed a motion last week asking the...
The Beatles are releasing their ‘final’ record. AI helped make it possible
LONDON — Artificial intelligence has been used to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old demo to create “the last Beatles record,” decades after the band broke up, Paul McCartney said Tuesday. McCartney, 80, told the BBC that the technology was used to separate the Beatles’ voices from background sounds...
Your Apple iPhone will stop autocorrecting your ‘ducking’ swear words this fall
Your neighbors have really made you angry. You fire off a text to a friend using some salty language and the friend responds with a laughing emoji. You didn’t mean to tell her that your neighbors are making you “ducking” mad. There are no mallards in your yard. Coming this...
OpenAI CEO suggests international agency like UN’s nuclear watchdog could oversee AI
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates— Artificial intelligence poses an “existential risk” to humanity, a key innovator warned during a visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, suggesting an international agency like the International Atomic Energy Agency oversee the ground-breaking technology. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is on a global tour...
Banks’ growing reliance on chatbots to handle customer service tasks worries consumer watchdog
NEW YORK — Can you trust Erica, or Sandi or Amy to increasingly control parts of your financial life without giving you inaccurate information or sending money to the wrong place? That’s what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking in a report released Tuesday, where the bureau lays out...
Apple unveils sleek, $3,500 ‘Vision Pro’ goggles
CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Monday unveiled a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination. After years of speculation, Apple CEO Tim Cook hailed the...
Is it real or made by AI? Europe wants a label for that as it fights disinformation
LONDON — The European Union is pushing online platforms like Google and Meta to step up the fight against false information by adding labels to text, photos and other content generated by artificial intelligence, a top official said Monday. EU Commission Vice President Vera Jourova said the ability of a...
Apple is expected to unveil a sleek, pricey headset. Is it the device VR has been looking for?
Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world, while also testing the technology trendsetter’s ability to popularize new-fangled devices after others failed to capture the public’s imagination. After years of speculation, the stage is set for the widely anticipated...
Money stored in Venmo, other payment apps could be vulnerable, financial watchdog warns
NEW YORK — Customers of Venmo, PayPal and CashApp should not store their money for the long term with these apps because their funds might not be safe during a crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned on Thursday. The alert comes several weeks after the failure of Silicon Valley...
Jaguar recalls I-Pace electric vehicles due to fire risk in batteries, tells owners to park outside
DETROIT — Jaguar is recalling more than 6,000 I-Pace electric SUVs in the U.S. due to the risk of the high-voltage battery catching fire, and it’s telling owners to park them outdoors. The recall is the latest in a series of electric vehicle battery recalls because of the potential for...
U.S., Europe working on voluntary AI code of conduct as calls grow for regulation
LONDON — The United States and Europe are drawing up a voluntary code of conduct for artificial intelligence, a top European Union official said Wednesday, as the developing technology triggers warnings about the risks it poses to humanity and growing calls for regulation. The voluntary code would bridge the gap...
Artificial intelligence threatens extinction, experts say in new warning
LONDON — Scientists and tech industry leaders issued a new warning Tuesday about the perils that artificial intelligence poses to humankind. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” said the statement posted online. Sam Altman,...
E.U. official says Twitter abandons bloc’s voluntary pact against disinformation
LONDON — Twitter has dropped out of a voluntary European Union agreement to combat online disinformation, a top EU official said Friday. European Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted that Twitter had pulled out of the E.U.’s disinformation “code of practice” that other major social media platforms have pledged to support. But...
Microsoft: State-sponsored Chinese hackers could be laying groundwork for disruption
BOSTON — State-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises, Microsoft said Wednesday. The targets include sites in Guam, where the U.S. has a major military presence,...
Netflix to charge an additional $8 month for viewers living outside U.S. subscribers’ households
Netflix on Tuesday outlined how it intends to crack down on the rampant sharing of account passwords in the U.S., its latest bid to reel in more subscribers to its video streaming service as its growth slows. To combat password sharing, Netflix said it will limit U.S. viewership of its...
Meta fined $1.3 billion, ordered to stop sending European user data to U.S.
LONDON — The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears. The penalty of 1.2 billion euros is the biggest since...
Will dashboard AM radio be saved? Bipartisan bill would require automakers to keep it in new cars
NEW YORK — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing to keep AM radio in the nation’s cars. A bipartisan group in Congress on Wednesday introduced the “AM for Every Vehicle Act.” The bill calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to keep AM radio in new...
