Today’s Tech Sightings: Report: China’s WeChat Censors Users Abroad A new report from Toronto’s Citizen Lab says China’s top messaging app WeChat censors or blocks key words and sensitive terms in messages sent from overseas to mainland China. The block affects group chats of three or more users and messages containing terms not sanctioned by […]
Wechat’s Censorship Game; FireEye: Russia Weaponized Social Media
Pakistan Gets Offline Viewing for YouTube; China’s Wild Web of Hackers
Today’s Tech Sightings: YouTube Rolls Out Offline Video Saving Feature in Pakistan The time that Pakistanis spend watching YouTube videos has more than doubled in the past eight months, according to Google, particularly since January, when the government lifted a ban on the service. Now, Google is adding a new feature that will allow Pakistani […]
Nigerian Girls to Get Tech Training; Indian Students Take on WhatsApp
Today’s Tech Sightings: Youth for Technology Foundation to Train 6,000 Nigerian Girls in Technology The Youth for Technology Foundation announced it will train 6,000 Nigerian girls unable to attend school or risk the dangers of human trafficking to use 3-D printing. The training, which was made public during the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting and […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]