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, […]
Filtering Cuba’s Text Messages; Free Smartphones for India’s Voters
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 […]
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 […]
WhatsApp Turns Its Back on Privacy; Happy 25th Birthday, Linux
Today’s Tech Sightings: WhatsApp Is Going to Share Your Phone Number With Facebook So much for WhatsApp’s promise to protect the privacy of its one billion users! The global messaging service today announced users have a limited time to opt-out of sharing their information with Facebook. WhatsApp claims Facebook won’t post the telephone numbers online […]
Drones for Refugees; Tim Cook’s Apple, 5 Years Later
Today’s Tech Sightings: How a Former Refugee Uses Drones to Help Others Survive Dangerous Sea Crossings “Drones for Refugees” is a project designed to help rescue workers move swiftly to locate and rescue refugees making the treacherous crossing of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas to a better life. The project was founded by drone expert […]
Best Mobile Connectivity Is in Korea; Web Tracking Is on the Rise
Today’s Tech Sightings: OpenSignal: Koreans Enjoy Best Mobile Internet, Dutch Spend Most Time on Wi-Fi A new report from wireless signal mapping company OpenSignal places South Korea at the top of the list of countries enjoying 3G mobile connectivity 93 percent of the time, followed by Japan and Israel. The U.S. took 17th place with […]
Dealing With Augmented Reality Cities; Facebook Under Fire Over Ads
Today’s Tech Sightings: Games Will Reshape Cities As the Pokemon GO craze continues unabated, many countries are restricting and zoning urban areas to prevent players from meandering into government sites and other sensitive areas to hunt Pokemon characters. Writer Geoff Manaugh argues that once this game is forgotten, new augmented reality games that place a […]
Robot Surgeons Are Coming; Pokemon GO’s Security Risks
Today’s Tech Sightings: New Crop of Robots to Vie for Space in the Operating Room One in three surgeries in the United States are likely to be performed by robotics systems within the next five years, which is more than double the current levels. The approach will have surgeons sitting at computer consoles to guide […]