San Francisco, United States | AFP | Google set out to disrupt the video game world on Tuesday with a Stadia platform that will let players stream blockbuster titles to any device they wish, as the online giant also unveiled a new controller and its very own studio. The California-based …
Read More »S.Africa medics use 3-D printer for middle ear transplant
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African surgeons have successfully performed the world’s first transplant of middle-ear bones that uses 3-D printed components, a research university said. The technique “may be the answer to conductive hearing loss — a middle ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma …
Read More »A day not to ‘like’ for Facebook after it is hit by outage, criminal probe
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook grappled with challenges on two fronts Wednesday, an hours-long outage and intensified scrutiny from investigators reportedly probing data deals struck by the world’s largest social network. As the outage continued, gripes flooded rival Twitter as well as a comments section on downdetector.com, …
Read More »New app gives throat cancer patients their voice back
Prague, Czech Republic | AFP | Vlastimil Gular’s life took an unwelcome turn a year ago: minor surgery on his vocal cords revealed throat cancer, which led to the loss of his larynx and with it, his voice. But the 51-year-old father of four is still chatting away using his …
Read More »Trump campaign firm pleads guilty in Facebook data case
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A UK consultancy working on Donald Trump’s US election campaign pleaded guilty and was fined by a London court Wednesday over its refusal to release personal data it secretly hoovered off Facebook. The social media giant has admitted that Cambridge Analytica — a political …
Read More »US Congress to see push to regulate Big Tech in 2019
Washington, United States | AFP | The newly installed US Congress is expected to see a fresh effort to develop new regulations for big technology firms, with a focus on tougher enforcement of privacy and data protection. The wave of data scandals that have hit Facebook and other online platforms …
Read More »Apple’s bombshell raises trillion-dollar question
Washington, United States | AFP | Apple’s bombshell news — a sharply weaker revenue outlook and lower iPhone sales — has raised questions over the future of the California giant, which until recently had been seen as the undisputed innovation leader in the tech sector. Apple’s rare admission on Wednesday …
Read More »Apple cuts outlook, sees ‘challenges’ in China, emerging markets
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Apple cut its revenue outlook for the latest quarter Wednesday, citing steeper-than-expected “economic deceleration” in China and emerging markets. The rare revenue warnings from Apple suggested weaker-than-anticipated sales of iPhones and other gadgetry, in part because of trade frictions between Washington and Beijing. …
Read More »Instagram blames ‘bug’ for design change that prompted backlash
Washington, United States | AFP | Instagram said Thursday it accidentally rolled out a design change to a large number of users and quickly ended the test after complaints from users of the Facebook-owned social network. The redesign required users to swipe horizontally instead of the normal vertical scroll to …
Read More »Facebook: backlash threatens world’s biggest platform
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook, the world’s largest social network, faces a growing backlash over privacy and data protection, with revelations this week about sharing data with business partners adding to pressure. Here is a summary of the main issues in the Facebook controversy: What are the latest …
Read More »