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

Tech Sightings, July 17, 2014

Posted July 17th, 2014 at 2:03 pm (UTC-5)
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Africa’s Inventors Struggle to Protect Patents Hampered by Africa’s long, expensive patent registration process and weak court system, many  inventors are working covertly to protect their ideas from copycats. Some Universities Crack Code in Drawing Women to Computer Science U.S. universities that have seen women making a comeback in the fields of science and technology […]

Tech Sightings, July 16, 2014

Posted July 16th, 2014 at 2:02 pm (UTC-5)
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South Korea to Create 10-year 3D Printing Roadmap South Korea’s government has asked its Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to research the feasibility of a 10-year plan to develop 3D printing into a growth market and transform manufacturing. Hi-Tech System Brings Quick Storm Warnings to […]

Tech Sightings, July 15, 2014

Posted July 15th, 2014 at 2:01 pm (UTC-5)
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Child-Selling Story Underlines Tension as China Opens Up to Video Games This is not the first story coming out of China about a couple selling their child to fund virtual items in free-to-play games. But the subject is touchy in a country that has tended to view video gaming as a cultural intrusion and might […]

Android L Improves Security, Raises New Concerns

Posted July 11th, 2014 at 2:26 pm (UTC-5)
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Google’s Android upgrade, known as Android L, promises to address fragmentation and security issues that have long plagued its ubiquitous operating system while raising new concerns. Currently in developer preview mode, Android L brings speed to any platform it runs on, comes with optimized instructions and a lot of changes that expand Android’s reach to new […]

Tech Sightings, July 10, 2014

Posted July 10th, 2014 at 2:25 pm (UTC-5)
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How a Paralyzed Man Moved His Fingers With His Mind Ian Burkhart, paralyzed from the elbows down since he broke his neck four years ago when diving into deceptively shallow water, was told that he would never use his arms again. But just last month, he moved his right hand just by thinking about it […]

Tech Sightings, July 9, 2014

Posted July 9th, 2014 at 2:24 pm (UTC-5)
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Apple Loses China Patent Case, Separate Suit Against Apple Continues A Beijing court upheld the validity of a patent held by a Chinese company, which is now cleared to pursue an infringement case against Apple. Apple went to court to argue that Zhizhen Internet Technology and China’s State Intellectual Property Office had invalid patents to […]

Tech Sightings, July 8, 2014

Posted July 8th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
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Jack Ma’s Journey to Build Alibaba Was Full of Crazy Alibaba founder Jack Ma, an English teacher, went on to start an e-commerce business that is able to take on global multi-billion-dollar companies.This is the subject of a new movie titled “Crocodile in the Yangtze” that offers a comprehensive look at the journey that lead […]

Despite Controversy, Facebook Still Rules

Posted July 4th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
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Facebook is under fire again, this time for dipping into the News Feed content of up to 700,000 users in an eerie experiment to gauge their emotional states.  The revelation left many users and observers furious and looking for ways to erase Facebook from their lives. And yet the social media behemoth, which launched in […]

Tech Sightings, July 3, 2014

Posted July 3rd, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
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IeSF Removes Male-only Restriction from its e-Sports Tournaments Traditionally a male dominated industry, the International e-Sports Federation removed its ‘male-only’ Hearthstone qualifier for e-sports tournaments. In a statement released yesterday, they announced the creation of two event categories: ‘Open for All’ genders, and events reserved for women. Facebook Experiments Had Few Limits Until recently, Facebook’s […]

Tech Sightings, July 2, 2014

Posted July 2nd, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
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The Line Between Wearable Technology and Prosthetics is Blurring Wearable technology is increasingly augmenting the human senses through hearing, sight and smell aids. But how far will technology go before the lines are blurred? 3-D Printed Fabric Made of Yarn Can Stop a Knife A student at London’s Royal College of Art has developed a […]