Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

All posts by Aida Akl

Zuckerberg Defends Internet Project; 2016 Cybersecurity Threats

Posted October 28th, 2015 at 12:00 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: Facebook CEO Defends Effort to Expand Internet Access During his second visit to India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg said his company’s effort to bring free Internet access to the developing world could help alleviate poverty in India. Zuckerberg’s program to provide basic Internet access on Android devices is now available in 24 […]

Harassment Scrubs SXSW Panels; the Texting Generation

Posted October 27th, 2015 at 12:30 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: SXSW Cancels Panels on Gaming Harassment, Citing Threats After receiving threats of violence, the South By Southwest Festival Monday canceled two panel discussions focusing on video games and harassment in the gaming community. The festival, scheduled for March 2016, was set to feature panelists who have been publicly vocal about the #Gamergate controversy, […]

Online Harassment; Apps for the Blind; Bitcoin; iOS 9.1

Posted October 22nd, 2015 at 12:02 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: Experts Address How Silicon Valley Can Solve Online Harassment Despite all the wonders of the Internet, it remains a playground for abusers looking to silence minority voices. Wired talks to six experts about what Silicon Valley can do to help put an end to online harassment. How One Woman is Using Instagram […]

#BlackLivesMatter; Palmyra; Twitter Polls; Back to October 21, 2015

Posted October 21st, 2015 at 12:01 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: How #BlackLivesMatter Uses Social Media to Fight the Power #BlackLivesMatter is a Twitter hashtag created in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed young African American Trayvon Martin in Florida. The hashtag has since become a rallying cry for millions of people looking for change. Jailed […]

Snapchat & Teens; Your AI Muse; Apple; Online Reviews

Posted October 20th, 2015 at 12:00 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: I’m 15 and Snapchat Makes Me Feel Awful About Myself Writer Ruby Karp argues that Snapchat’s latest update encourages FOMO or fear of missing out among teenagers. She says teens are obsessed with the Snapchat stories feature, which lets them “boast” about who they are with, what they’re doing — and “what […]

Laser-Beaming the Internet of the Future

Posted October 15th, 2015 at 4:20 pm (UTC-5)
3 comments

Several tech companies are looking at laser or a combination of radio and laser technologies to take Internet connectivity the next level. Spearheading the effort are Google and Facebook. Google, which is deploying helium balloons in the stratosphere to provide Internet connectivity in remote areas as part of Project Loon, wants to use radio or […]

E-Learning; Women in Tech; Cloud Culture; Kiss Your Piggy Bank Goodbye

Posted October 15th, 2015 at 12:30 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: The Coming Trends in Online Education Online learning has benefited from new and improved tech tools during the past six years. However, these improvements have not produced better learning outcomes, claims writer William Fenton. He argues that priorities need to change as online learning shifts towards “blended initiatives with residential universities.” More […]

Connecting the World; Flash Malware; Apple; Twitter

Posted October 14th, 2015 at 12:20 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: Ericsson CEO Explains How He’s Going to Connect the World to the Internet In an interview with Re/Code, Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg spoke about what is needed to connect the world to the Internet as hardware prices drop and mobile phones become more accessible. 4.2 Billion People Are Still Offline The world […]

Margaret Hamilton; Apple News; Google Drones; Pepsi Smartphone?

Posted October 13th, 2015 at 12:00 pm (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

Today’s Tech Sightings: Her Code Got Humans on the Moon — and Invented Software You might never have heard of Margaret Hamilton. In the 1960s, she landed a job as a programmer at MIT. But when the Apollo space program came along, she led an engineering feat that would land a man on the moon […]

Study: Women’s Tweets on Tech Less Popular Than Men’s

Posted October 9th, 2015 at 4:38 pm (UTC-5)
2 comments

A recent study of men’s and women’s tweet patterns and engagement levels reveals a topical bias that renders men’s tweets, particularly on tech issues, more popular than women’s. The study was done by Kieran Snyder, co-founder and CEO of Textio, a machine-learning company that looks for bias patterns in business documents and hiring practices and […]