Amazon’s Alexa Accidentally Tapes, Shares Family Chat With Contact

All, News, Technology
A Portland, Oregon, family has learned what happens when Amazon.com Inc's popular voice assistant Alexa is lost in translation. Amazon on Thursday described an "unlikely ... string of events" that made Alexa send an audio recording of the family to one of their contacts randomly. The episode underscored how Alexa can misinterpret conversation as a wake-up call and command. A local news outlet, KIRO 7, reported that a woman with Amazon devices across her home received a call two weeks ago from her husband's employee, who said Alexa had recorded the family's conversation about hardwood floors and sent it to him. "I felt invaded," the woman, only identified as Danielle, said in the report. "A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, 'I'm never plugging that device in again, because I…
Read More

Jury: Samsung Owes Apple $539M for Copying iPhone

All, News, Technology
A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhone’s features to lure people into buying its competing products. The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011. Apple contends Samsung wouldn’t have emerged as the world’s leading seller of smartphones if it hadn’t ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Google’s Android software. Patents infringed Previous rulings had determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apple’s patents, but the amount of damages owed has been in legal limbo. Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh reduced that amount to…
Read More

FBI Taps Private Industry to Bring Down Hacker Clearinghouse

All, News, Technology
When a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted a Latvian software developer last week of running an underground clearinghouse for computer hackers, U.S. prosecutors highlighted it as an example of their commitment to combating cybercrime. "This verdict demonstrates our commitment to holding such actors accountable," said acting U.S. Attorney Tracey Doherty-McCormick. "I commend the work of the agents and prosecutors both in the United States and in Latvia, who worked together to bring him to justice." Not mentioned was the role played by Trend Micro, a Japanese cybersecurity firm that collaborated with the FBI to hunt down the developer, Ruslans Bondars, and an accomplice, Jurijs Martisevs, who jointly operated Scan4You, a site that helped hackers test their malware. In a report released after the verdict, Trend Micro offered an inside look…
Read More

Trump Signs Bill Easing Restraints on Small US Banks

All, Business, News
U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law Thursday a measure that eases rules imposed on banks in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. The law relaxes regulations and oversight on banks with assets below $250 billion, leaving a handful of the largest U.S. banks that must still comply with the stringent rules and oversight. Trump said at the signing ceremony the rules and oversight, enacted by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law, were "crushing small banks." Trump lauded the signing as a victory in his administration's efforts to eliminate regulations to promote economic growth. Although Trump signed the bill into law, much of Dodd-Frank remains intact. Trump signed the Republican-led measure that was passed by Congress after receiving the support of some Democrats. Dodd-Frank was…
Read More

Africa in Spotlight at Paris Tech Fair

All, News, Technology
French President Emmanuel Macron says his country will invest $76 million in African startups, saying innovation on the continent is key to meeting challenges ranging from climate change to terrorism. He spoke Thursday at a technology fair in Paris showcasing African talent this year. It is hard to miss the African section of Viva Tech. There are gigantic signs pointing to stands from South Africa, Morocco and Rwanda. And there are lots of African entrepreneurs. Omar Cisse heads a Senegalese startup called InTouch, which has developed an app making it easier to conduct financial transactions by mobile phone. “Globally, you have more than $1 billion per day of transactions on mobile money, and more than 50 percent are done in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. Cisse says the challenges for African startups…
Read More

Buffalo: City With a Magnificent Past Fallen on Hard Times

All, Business, News
Even though the United States is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, about 45 million Americans live below the poverty line. In Buffalo, New York, a once-prosperous city that has fallen on hard-times, one-third of its residents live in poverty. As Olga Loginova reports, the city offers an example of what happens when a once-powerful industrial sector declines and well-paying jobs become scarce. ...
Read More

Deutsche Bank to Slash Thousands of Jobs to Control Costs 

All, Business, News
Germany’s struggling Deutsche Bank is slashing thousands of jobs as it reshapes its stocks trading operation and refocuses its global investment banking business on its European base. The bank said Thursday it would cut its workforce from 97,000 to “well below” 90,000 and that the reductions were underway. It said headcount in the stocks trading business, mostly based in New York and London, would be reduced by about 25 percent. Those cuts will cost the bank about 800 million euros ($935 million) this year. Deutsche Bank has struggled with high costs and troubles with regulators. The bank replaced its CEO in April after three years of annual losses and lagging progress in streamlining its operations. New CEO Christian Sewing has said the bank would refocus on its European and German…
Read More

Mapping the Oceans’ Floors by 2030

All, News, Technology
Oceanographers often say we know much more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about nearly 70 percent of our own planet. That is because most of the Earth is covered in water, most of it deeper than 200 meters. There are several initiatives to map the oceans' floors and the latest comes from Japan. VOA's George Putic reports. ...
Read More

Amazon, Starbucks Pledge Money to Repeal Seattle Head Tax

All, Business, News
Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle's newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness. Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot to repeal it.  Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan, Kroger and Albertsons each promised $25,000 to the effort last week, according to a report filed by the campaign. The Washington Food Industry Association pledged $30,000.  Referendum backers will have to gather 17,632 signatures of registered Seattle voters by June 14 to get the measure on the ballot. The so-called head tax will charge businesses making at least $20 million in…
Read More

Starbucks Calls Anti-Bias Training Part of ‘Long-Term Journey’

All, Business, News
Starbucks Corp. on Wednesday revealed details of the employee anti-bias training program that will take place behind closed doors at 8,000 U.S. company-owned cafes on the afternoon of May 29. Starbucks announced plans to shutter stores and corporate offices to train 175,000 employees after the controversial April 12 arrests of two black men, who were detained for hours after the manager of a Philadelphia Starbucks called police because they had not made purchases and refused to leave. The arrests of Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, who were waiting to meet a friend, sparked protests and calls for a boycott of the coffee chain known for its diverse workforce and liberal stances on issues such as gay marriage. Starbucks said the first training on May 29 “will serve as a step…
Read More

Trump Says New ‘Structure’ Needed in China Trade Deal 

All, Business, News
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday “a different structure” is needed in trade negotiations with China, but he did not provide further details on the kind of change he seeks. “Our trade deal with China is moving along nicely,” Trump said in his Twitter post Wednesday morning, “but in the end we will probably have to use a different structure in that this will be too hard to get done and to verify results after completion.” The stock market reacted negatively after Trump cast doubt on trade negotiations with China but ultimately trimmed its losses, ending the day in the positive territory and gained 52.40 points, or 0.21 percent.   Trump said on Tuesday he was neither pleased nor satisfied with how the recent trade talks with China went,…
Read More

Twitter to Add Special Labels to Political Candidates in US

All, News, Technology
Twitter says it's adding special labels to tweets from some U.S. political candidates ahead of this year's midterm elections. Twitter says the move is to provide users with "authentic information" and prevent spoofed and fake accounts from fooling users. The labels will include what office a person is running for and where. The labels will appear on retweets as well as tweets off of Twitter, such as when they are embedded in a news story. Twitter, along with Facebook and other social media companies, has been under heavy scrutiny for allowing their platforms to be misused by malicious actors trying to influence elections around the world. The labels will start to appear next week for candidates for governor and Congress. ...
Read More

France’s Macron Takes on Facebook’s Zuckerberg in Tech Push

All, News, Technology
French President Emmanuel Macron is taking on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other internet giants at a Paris meeting to discuss tax and data protection and how they could use their global influence for the public good. Macron on Wednesday welcomed Zuckerberg and the leaders of dozens of other tech companies, including Microsoft, Uber, and IBM, at a conference named "Tech for Good" meant to address things like workers' rights, data privacy and tech literacy.   The meeting comes as Facebook, Google and other online giants are increasingly seen by the public as predators that abuse personal data, avoid taxes and stifle competition.   "There is no free lunch!" Macron joked to express his expectations of "frank and direct" discussions.   He said tech giants could not just be "free…
Read More

Federal Reserve: US Households, Businesses See Good Times Ahead

All, Business, News
Households are feeling more stable, small businesses are making money and many expect to expand and hire in the coming year, signs of continued optimism in two key parts of the economy, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday in a pair of annual surveys. Among more than 8,000 small businesses and more than 12,000 households covered in separate surveys late last year by the Fed and its 12 regional banks, the message was similar: economic conditions have been getting better and the expectation is for the good times to continue. "We see a decided uptick" in the economic and credit conditions faced by small businesses, said one Fed official involved in the small business survey. "We are seeing improved business confidence and improved business performance," with profitability and access to finance…
Read More

Advocacy Groups Want Facebook ‘Monopoly’ to End

All, News, Technology
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told EU lawmakers Tuesday that the social media network will always be in "an arms race" with those who want to spread fake news, but that the company will be working to stay ahead and protect the network's users. The social media giant has been under scrutiny since April when it became known that the Cambridge Analytica company harvested information on Facebook users to help Donald Trump during his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports. ...
Read More

Official: Trump Administration to Publish Proposed Rule Changes for Gun Exports

All, Business, News
The Trump administration is preparing to publish on Thursday long-delayed proposed rule changes for the export of U.S. firearms, a State Department official said on Tuesday. The rule changes would move the oversight of commercial firearm exports from the U.S. Department of State to the Department of Commerce. The action is part of a broader Trump administration overhaul of weapons export policy that was announced in April. Domestic gun sales drop Timing for the formal publication of the rule change and the opening of the public comment period was unveiled by Mike Miller the acting secretary for the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, the State Department's body that currently oversees the bulk of commercial firearms transfers and other foreign military sales. He was speaking at the Forum on the Arms…
Read More

Amazon Is Warned About Government Use of Facial Recognition

All, News, Technology
U.S. civil liberties groups on Tuesday called on Amazon.com Inc. to stop offering facial recognition services to governments, warning that the software could be used to target immigrants and people of color unfairly. More than 40 groups sent a letter to Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos saying technology from the company's cloud computing unit was ripe for abuse. The letter underscores how new tools for identifying and tracking people could be used to empower surveillance states. Amazon has marketed a range of uses for its Rekognition service, unveiled in late 2016. These include detecting offensive content, identifying celebrities and securing public safety. In a blog post last year, Amazon said a new feature let customers "identify people of interest against a collection of millions of faces in near real-time, enabling use cases such as timely and accurate crime prevention." Customers provide…
Read More

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Apologizes to EU Lawmakers

All, News, Technology
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized to EU lawmakers on Tuesday, saying the company had not done enough to prevent misuse of the social network and that regulation is “important and inevitable.” Meeting the leaders of the European Parliament, Zuckerberg stressed the importance of Europeans to Facebook and said he was sorry for not doing enough to prevent abuse of the platform. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility. That was a mistake and I am sorry for it,” Zuckerberg said in his opening remarks. In response to questions about whether Facebook ought to be broken up, Zuckerberg said the question was not whether there should be regulation but what kind of regulation there should be. “Some sort of regulation is important and inevitable,” he said. He…
Read More

US, China Near Rescue Deal for Chinese Telecom Firm ZTE

All, Business, News
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday "there is no deal" yet to lift the seven-year ban on the sale of American-made components to the giant Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, but that there might be a settlement as part of ongoing trade talks between the world's two biggest economies. Trump told reporters at the White House that he could envision a $1.3 billion fine against ZTE for violating the U.S. ban on trading with Iran and North Korea, the replacement of ZTE's management and board of directors and imposition of "very, very strict security" to prevent the theft of U.S. intellectual and national security secrets. "We caught them doing bad things," he said. Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping asked him to look into the fate of ZTE after the firm…
Read More

Mexican Truckers Travel in Fear as Highway Robberies Bleed Economy

All, Business, News
Glancing constantly at his rear view mirror, truck driver "El Flaco" journeys the highways of Mexico haunted by the memory of when he was kidnapped with his security detail by bandits disguised as police officers two years ago. Back then, El Flaco, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, was beaten, blindfolded and taken to a house near Mexico City where his captors threatened to kill him. Three days later he managed to escape and flee. Today he travels with a machete and a satellite tracking device in his cab that can pinpoint him in emergencies. Truckers covering Mexico's vast territory often move in convoys to reduce the risk of robberies, which in 2017 almost doubled to nearly 3,000. Some drive with armed escorts traveling alongside them.…
Read More

Indian Innovators Convert Diesel Exhaust Into Ink To Battle Air Pollution

All, News, Technology
Supervised by young engineers, workers at the start-up company Chakr Innovation in New Delhi cut and weld sheets of metal to make devices that will capture black plumes of smoke from diesel generators and convert it into ink.  In a cabin, young engineers pore over drawings and hunch over computers as they explore more applications of the technology that they hope will aid progress in cleaning up the Indian capital’s toxic air – among the world’s dirtiest.  While the millions of cars that ply Delhi’s streets are usually blamed for the city’s deadly air pollution, another big culprit is the massive diesel generators used by industries and buildings to light up homes and offices during outages when power from the grid switches off – a frequent occurrence in summer. Installed in…
Read More

Robots Taking Over Grocery Warehouses

All, News, Technology
Grocery stores in the U.S. are locked in a fierce battle for customers who often demand the convenience of home deliveries. Automation is increasingly becoming part of the competitive equation. When U.S. mail-order retail giant Amazon shook up the supermarket industry with its purchase of Whole Foods, America's second biggest food retailer, Kroger, responded by partnering with a British online supermarket known for its advanced warehouse technology. VOA’s George Putic reports. ...
Read More

Man Dies After Tesla Crashes into San Francisco-Area Pond

All, News, Technology
A man was killed when the Tesla automobile he was driving veered off a road, crashed through a fence and plunged into a pond, authorities said Monday. California Highway Patrol spokesman Daniel Jacowitz said rescuers pulled the Tesla Model S from the pond early Monday and found the man's body inside. The driver was identified as Keith Leung, 34, of Danville, California, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's office. Kelly said it was too soon to know if the vehicle's semi-autonomous Autopilot mode was engaged when the crash occurred or whether the driver may have been speeding or intoxicated. Photographs of the car show that its backend was destroyed, its hood crumpled and windows shattered. The crash occurred near the cities of San Ramon and Danville…
Read More

Trump Claims New Accord with China on Trade Negotiations

All, Business, News
U.S. President Donald Trump says American farmers will be big beneficiaries of more trade with China. "Under our potential deal with China, they will purchase from our Great American Farmers practically as much as our Farmers can produce," Trump said Monday on Twitter. In another comment, he said China "has agreed to buy massive amounts of ADDITIONAL Farm/Agricultural Products - would be one of the best things to happen to our farmers in many years!" The U.S. leader said one result of talks with China last week in Washington is barriers to U.S.-Chinese trade and tariffs on each country's exports will "come down for (the) first time." President Trump's tweets come a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the two nations have agreed to back away from imposing…
Read More

From Airlines to Pizza Parlors, EU Businesses Adopt Data Law

All, News, Technology
Lisa Meyer's hair salon is a cozy place where her mother serves homemade macaroons, children climb on chairs and customers chat above the whirr of hairdryers. Most of the time Meyer is focused on hairstyles, color trends and keeping up with appointments. But now she's worried about how the European Union's new data protection law will affect her business as she contacts customers to seek permission to store their details. Even though she supports the law, Meyer fears it may cut her mailing list by 90 percent as people choose to withhold their data or simply overlook her emails.   "It will be difficult to market upcoming events," she said at her shop, Lisa Hauck Hair & Beauty in London.   Businesses from pizza parlors to airlines across the EU's…
Read More

EU Parliament to Broadcast Zuckerberg Hearing

All, News, Technology
A European Parliament meeting on Tuesday with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be broadcast live, parliamentary officials and the company said on Monday after controversy over plans for a closed-door hearing. Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who was criticized by legislators and some senior EU officials over arrangements for the discussion on public privacy concerns, tweeted that it was "great news" that Zuckerberg had agreed to a live web stream. A Facebook spokeswoman said: "We’re looking forward to the meeting and happy for it to be live streamed." Zuckerberg, who founded the U.S. social media giant, will be in Europe to defend the company after scandal over its sale of personal data to a British political consultancy which worked on U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign, among others. He will meet…
Read More

China Puts its Own Spin on Agreement to Reduce Trade Deficit

All, Business, News
China's state media are playing up what it says is a trade war truce and de-escalation in tensions after negotiators from Washington and Beijing agreed to hold off on tariffs and “substantially reduce” the U.S. trade deficit. However, economists and business leaders argue that there is more to managing the relationship than balancing imports and exports. State media in China are focusing heavily on the argument that Beijing did not give any ground and adopting their own take on the deficit question — focusing instead the country’s pledge to boost imports from the United States. An editorial in the China Daily entitled “Sino-US agreement benefits both countries and the world” said that: “For China, ‘significantly increasing' imports of U.S. goods and services, such as agricultural and energy products, will help meet its…
Read More

Xinhau: China Launches Satellite to Explore Dark Side of Moon

All, News, Technology
China launched a relay satellite early on Monday designed to establish a communication link between earth and a planned lunar probe that will explore the dark side of the moon, the official Xinhua news agency said. Citing the China National Space Administration, Xinhua said the satellite was launched at 5:28 a.m. (2128 GMT Sunday) on a Long March-4C rocket from the Xichang launch center in the southwest of the country. "The launch is a key step for China to realize its goal of being the first country to send a probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the moon," Xinhua quoted Zhang Lihua, manager of the relay satellite project, as saying. It said the satellite, known as Queqiao, or Magpie Bridge, will settle in an orbit about…
Read More