News

Under Biden, China faces renewed trade pressure

The U.S.-Chinese trade war isn’t going away under President Joe Biden. Biden won’t confront Beijing right away, economists say, because he wants to focus on the coronavirus and the economy. However, Biden looks set to renew pressure over trade and technology grievances that prompted President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on Chinese imports in 2017. […]

Google says Chrome cookie replacement plan making progress

Google says it’s making progress on plans to revamp Chrome user tracking technology aimed at improving privacy even as it faces challenges from regulators and officials. The company gave an update Monday on its work to remove from its Chrome browser so-called third-party cookies, which are used by a website’s advertisers or partners and can […]

Russian hack of US agencies exposed supply chain weaknesses

The elite Russian hackers who gained access to computer systems of federal agencies last year didn’t bother trying to break one by one into the networks of each department. Instead, they got inside by sneaking malicious code into a software update pushed out to thousands of government agencies and private companies. It wasn’t surprising that […]

Google's parent deflates internet-beaming balloon company

Google’s parent company is letting the air out of an internet-beaming balloon company that was providing online access from the stratosphere. The plan to shut down Loon was announced late Thursday, ending what started out nine years ago as one of Google’s secret projects in its so-called “moonshot factory,” a division now called X. Google, […]

Iran, pressured by blackouts and pollution, targets Bitcoin

Iran’s capital and major cities plunged into darkness in recent weeks as rolling outages left millions without electricity for hours. Traffic lights died. Offices went dark. Online classes stopped. With toxic smog blanketing Tehran skies and the country buckling under the pandemic and other mounting crises, social media has been rife with speculation. Soon, fingers […]

Biden names Jessica Rosenworcel as acting FCC chief

Newly sworn-in President Joe Biden named late Thursday longtime Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworel to head the agency. Rosenworcel brings with her over two decades of communications policy work, including a term at the FCC that began in 2012 running to 2021, during which public policy had gone back and forth on such key issues […]

Amazon offers assist with US COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Amazon is offering its colossal operations network and advanced technologies to assist President Joe Biden in his vow to get 100 million COVID-19 vaccinations to Americans in his first 100 days in office. “We are prepared to leverage our operations, information technology, and communications capabilities and expertise to assist your administration’s vaccination efforts,” wrote the […]

Chinese Embassy Twitter account locked for "dehumanization"

Twitter locked the account belonging to the Chinese Embassy in Washington after a tweet stated that Uighur women in Xinjiang have been emancipated and are no longer “baby making machines.” One of the final acts of the Trump administration this week was declaring that China’s policies and actions in regard to Muslims and ethnic minorities […]

Behind those dancing robots, scientists had to bust a move

The man who designed some of the world’s most advanced dynamic robots was on a daunting mission: programming his creations to dance to the beat with a mix of fluid, explosive and expressive motions that are almost human. The results? Almost a year and half of choreography, simulation, programming and upgrades that were capped by […]

European Central Bank faces gloomier picture for economy

The European Central Bank is looking at a darkening picture for the economy as infections and deaths surge. With more than a trillion euros of pandemic stimulus still in the pipeline, President Christine Lagarde is expected to underline Thursday that the bank has the means keep credit affordable and support the hoped-for recovery. Spiking virus […]