Search results for "ban"

New York deploys COVID-19 passport app built on blockchain

New York City announced earlier this week the deployment of a new COVID-19 passport built on IBM’s blockchain-based health pass technology, as businesses in the U.S. are starting to request proof of vaccination or negative PCR for entry. The COVID-19 passport app, called Excelsior Pass, is a free and voluntary platform developed in partnership with […]

Microsoft wins $22 billion deal making headsets for US Army

Microsoft won a nearly $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with its augmented reality headsets. Microsoft and the Army separately announced the deal Wednesday. The technology is based on Microsoft’s HoloLens headsets, which were originally intended for the video game and entertainment industries. Pentagon officials have described the futuristic technology — which […]

GOP lawmakers take aim at Arizona renewable energy standards

As states across the U.S. West beef up their renewable energy requirements, a push to do so in Arizona has been met by fierce resistance from the Republican governor and GOP-dominated Legislature, which are looking to strip elected utility regulators of their power to set energy policy in one of the nation’s sunniest states. Utilities […]

EXPLAINER: What's a SPAC, the latest craze on Wall Street?

WeWork will finally go public this year, allowing investors to buy and sell its shares. But not through a traditional IPO. In the two years since the office-sharing company’s failed IPO, a new way to launch a stock on Wall Street has become fashionable: SPACs. Special purpose acquisition companies have been embraced by big institutions […]

Italy: Teen in hijab aims to be 'Afro-influencer' on TikTok

In Milan’s chic Victor Emmanuel II Gallery, a spacious mall that would be jammed with shoppers were it not for the pandemic, a young Black woman wearing a violet hijab and matching lipstick propped up her phone and moved her hips to a tinny-sounding beat coming from the device. Aida Diouf Mbengue, 19, was recording […]

Lawmakers press Big Tech CEOs on speech responsibility

The CEOs of tech giants Facebook, Twitter and Google faced a grilling in Congress Thursday as lawmakers tried to draw them into acknowledging their companies’ roles in fueling the January insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and rising COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. In a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, lawmakers pounded Facebook CEO Mark […]

EXPLAINER: California's net neutrality law springs to life

More than three years ago, Trump-era regulators killed federal net neutrality regulations designed to prevent AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and other major internet providers from exploiting their dominance to favor certain services or apps over others. In response, seven states and Puerto Rico enacted their own net neutrality policies. The most expansive effort of this sort […]

Judge rejects ex-CIA worker's try to dismiss hacking charges

A former CIA employee cannot get espionage charges against him dismissed on the grounds that there weren’t enough Hispanic or Black individuals on the grand jury that indicted him, a judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty issued his ruling in the case against Joshua Schulte, finding that there was nothing illegal about […]