Technology category, Page 21
Report: TikTok boosts posts about eating disorders, suicide
TikTok’s algorithms are promoting videos about self-harm and eating disorders to vulnerable teens, according to a report published Wednesday that highlights concerns about social media and its impact on youth mental health. Researchers at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate created TikTok accounts for fictional teen personas in the...
Senate crypto hearing yields big claims, possible regulation
Whether increased regulation would have prevented the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX was fiercely debated at a hearing of the Senate’s banking committee Wednesday. However, new legislation is potentially on the way. Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced at the hearing bipartisan legislation aimed at cracking down on cryptocurrencies being used...
Apple: Most iCloud data can now be end-to-end encrypted
BOSTON — As part of an ongoing privacy push, Apple said Wednesday it will now offer full end-to-encryption for nearly all the data its users store in its global cloud-based storage system. That will make it more difficult for hackers, spies and law enforcement agencies to access sensitive user information....
FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn’t share our values.” Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control...
Space Force opens Pittsburgh hub to boost regional space and tech industries
Nearly four decades after the collapse of the steel industry, the Pittsburgh region has emerged as a growing technology hub in the fields of robotics and life sciences. Those industries are likely to see a boost from the newly created Keystone Space Innovation Center on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The facility...
How Uber and Lyft are transforming U.S. cities
Over the last decade, the meteoric rise of ridesourcing services like Uber and Lyft have transformed the urban landscape, affecting travel patterns, car ownership, and congestion, and more broadly, the economy, the environment, and equity. The ways in which Uber and Lyft are redefining mobility is the focus of a...
Twitter ends enforcement of covid misinformation policy
Twitter will no longer enforce its policy against covid-19 misinformation, raising concerns among public health experts that the change could have serious consequences if it discourages vaccination and other efforts to combat the still-spreading virus. Eagle-eyed users spotted the change Monday night, noting that a one-sentence update had been made...
Competitors chip away at Tesla’s U.S. electric vehicle share
DETROIT — New electric vehicle models from multiple automakers are starting to chip away at Tesla’s dominance of the U.S. EV market, according to national vehicle registration data. But numbers collected by S&P Global Mobility show that Tesla still controlled about 65% of the growing electric vehicle market during the...
U.S. FCC bans sales, import of Chinese tech from Huawei, ZTE
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is banning the sale of communications equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE and restricting the use of some China-made video surveillance systems, citing an “unacceptable risk” to national security. The five-member Federal Communications Commission said Friday it has voted unanimously to adopt new rules...
Musk says he expects to find a new Twitter CEO ‘over time’
NEW YORK — Billionaire Elon Musk, who just took over as the chief executive at Twitter after buying the company, said he does not want to be the CEO of any company. Musk took the witness stand Wednesday in a Delaware court to defend himself in a shareholder lawsuit challenging...
Antitrust battle over iPhone app store goes to appeals court
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is heading into a courtroom faceoff against the company behind the popular Fortnite video game, reviving a high-stakes antitrust battle over whether the digital fortress shielding the iPhone’s app store illegally enriches the world’s most valuable company while stifling competition. Oral arguments Monday before three judges...
Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall sends shockwaves through crypto
NEW YORK — Sam Bankman-Fried received numerous plaudits as he rapidly achieved superstar status as the head of cryptocurrency exchange FTX: the savior of crypto, the newest force in Democratic politics and potentially the world’s first trillionaire. Now the comments about the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried range from bemused to hostile after...
Elon Musk ends remote work at Twitter, warns of troubles aheadVideo
Elon Musk has emailed Twitter employees, most working remotely, ordering them to return to the office immediately for at least 40 hours a week and warning of “difficult times ahead.” A pair of Wednesday night missives seen by The Associated Press marked Musk’s first companywide message to employees who survived...
‘Official’ Twitter tag for some users appears, then vanishes
Now you see a new “official” label on some high-profile Twitter accounts, now you don’t. Twitter began adding gray “official” labels to some high-profile accounts Wednesday to indicate that they are authentic, the latest twist in new owner Elon Musk’s chaotic overhaul of the platform and its verification system. A...
Facebook parent Meta cuts 11,000 jobs, 13% of workforce
Facebook parent Meta is laying off 11,000 people, about 13% of its workforce, as it contends with faltering revenue and broader tech industry woes, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees Wednesday. The job cuts come just a week after widespread layoffs at Twitter under its new owner,...
Crypto exchange Binance to buy rival FTX in apparent bailout
NEW YORK — The cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it plans to buy its rival FTX Trading, in what appears to be a bailout of FTX. The owners of the two exchanges — Samuel Bankman-Fried of FTX and Changpeng Zhao of Binance — announced the deal on Twitter, but did not...
Meta reportedly to start laying off thousands of staff this week
Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to begin layoffs this week that will affect thousands of workers, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The job cuts could come as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said. The company has already told employees to cancel non-essential travel...
Elon Musk threatens to boot Twitter account impersonators
BOSTON — Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another. The platform’s new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names — not their account names — and tweeted as ‘Elon Musk’ in reaction to...
Cesspool or civility? Elon Musk’s Twitter at a crossroads
The discourse was never all that civil on Twitter. The loudest voices have often drowned out softer, more nuanced takes. After all, it’s much easier to rage-tweet at a perceived enemy than to seek common ground, whether the argument is about transgender kids or baseball. In the chaos that has...
Widespread Twitter layoffs begin a week after Musk takeover
Twitter began widespread layoffs Friday as new owner Elon Musk overhauls the company, raising grave concerns about chaos enveloping the platform as a source of reliable information just days ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. The speed and size of the cuts also opened Musk and Twitter to lawsuits. At...
Musk: People banned from Twitter won’t be restored for weeks
NEW YORK — Elon Musk said Wednesday that Twitter will not allow anyone who has been kicked off the site to return until it sets up procedures on how to do that, a process that will take at least a few weeks. That would mean people banned from the site...
Amazon Music expands catalog to 100M songs for members
LOS ANGELES — Amazon Music is gearing up for a massive content expansion: The streaming giant will offer a full catalog of music with more than 100 million songs for members. The streaming service told The Associated Press that members will gain hundreds of millions of songs — a huge...
Elon Musk takes control of Twitter, ousts top executives
Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter and ousted the CEO, chief financial officer and the company’s general counsel, two people familiar with the deal said Thursday night. The people wouldn’t say if all the paperwork for the deal, originally valued at $44 billion, had been signed or if the...
Argo AI, a Pittsburgh driverless car pioneer, goes out of business
One of Pittsburgh’s autonomous vehicle companies announced Wednesday that it is shutting down. It’s unclear how many Pittsburgh workers will be laid off, as some Argo AI employees at the Strip District-based company will be absorbed into two of Argo’s investors: Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG. In addition to...
Report: TikTok bad at culling U.S. election misinformation ads
TikTok’s algorithms are very good at finding videos to keep people glued to their phone screens for hours on end. What they are not so good at, a new report has found, is detecting ads that contain blatant misinformation about U.S. elections. That’s despite TikTok having banned all political advertisements...
