Today’s Tech Sightings: Eagles Take on Dutch Drones After months of training and trials, Dutch police now believe the birds they have trained can tackle and take down illegally-operated drones. This is the first project of its kind, and Dutch police are now buying their own eagle chicks to breed and train to deal with […]
All posts by Aida Akl
Dutch Drones Meet Their Match; Black Interns Take on Silicon Valley
Tweet Changes Coming; Facebook Sued Over Teen’s Naked Images
Today’s Tech Sightings: Twitter’s Iconic140-character Limit Is About to Change Come September 19, Twitter will change the way tweets work. While the actual 140-character count will remain the same, Twitter will take out of the count quotes and various media attachments to give users more flexibility and room for their tweets. Facebook Prosecuted Over ‘Naked […]
US Nonprofit Tackles Big Problems With Data Science
A California-based nonprofit is leveraging big data in the U.S. and Europe to zero-in on unemployment challenges and healthcare gaps. Using data science, the group hopes to create a global database to help developing countries as well. A global database that identifies underserved and high-risk populations could allow governments, caregivers and social services to focus […]
Goodbye, iPhone Headphone Jack; Ireland Backs Apple Against EU Fine
Today’s Tech Sightings: Eulogy for the iPhone Headphone Jack Twitter burst into a flurry of activity Wednesday when Apple declared the death of the iPhone headphone jack at its iPhone 7 event in San Francisco. The tech giant replaced the jack with wireless earbuds, outfitted with their own communications chip. Apple described the move to […]
Apple’s Changing World; Facebook News Feed Turns 10
Today’s Tech Sightings: Today’s iPhone Event a Test of Trust for Apple Apart from some updates and perhaps a couple of new devices, Apple’s big event Wednesday puts the tech giant face-to-face with new challenges amid declining iPhone and iWatch sales. Apple also faces criticism on its lack of innovation as iPhones maintain the same […]
Filtering Cuba’s Text Messages; Free Smartphones for India’s Voters
Today’s Tech Sightings: Cuba Has Been Filtering Texts Containing Political Dissent Internet connectivity has been a difficult transition for Cuba’s Communist government, which apparently is filtering out and blocking democracy and human rights key words from mobile phone text messages, according to an investigative report. The report, by blogger Yoani Sanchez and journalist Reinaldo Escobar, […]
Tech Volunteers Build Internet Lifeline for Amatrice’s Survivors
Internet connectivity has become a way of life, so much so that its loss has deprived many survivors of the August 24 earthquake in Amatrice, Italy of their lifeline to the world. But a team of IT volunteers is on the ground to help fill the gap. The Internet has become “so ubiquitous” that, for […]
Apple CEO Slams EU; Tech Firms Forge Artificial Intelligence Ethics
Today’s Tech Sightings: Apple’s Tim Cook: EU Ruling on Apple’s Irish Tax ‘Total Political Crap’ Apple CEO Tim Cook described the European Union’s demand that his company pay nearly $14.5 billion in back taxes as “total political crap.” The EU had said Apple was getting illegal state aid in Ireland, whose government is divided on […]
India to Probe WhatsApp Privacy; DeepMind, UK Join to Fight Cancer
Today’s Tech Sightings: WhatsApp in Hot Water in India Over Privacy Policy Changes Messaging service WhatsApp’s about-face on privacy has raised eyebrows in the U.S., Europe, and now in India. New Delhi’s High Court has asked the government and telecom regulators to look into WhatsApp data-sharing after some users complained about changes in its privacy […]
Apple to EU: It’s Jobs or Taxes; Sri Lankan Teen Hacker Gets Fine, Jail
Today’s Tech Sightings: Apple: You Can Have Taxes or You Can Have Jobs, but You Can’t Have Both That sentiment sums up Apple’s official response to the EU’s decision that the company received illegal state aid and should pay Ireland nearly $13 billion in back taxes. But the situation is complicated due to an understanding […]