Boris Kiknadze, chief executive of Pawwwn, took a deep breath as he looked out to the crowd of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and began his pitch. With just 10 minutes to speak, Kiknadze rapidly described his business idea — Pawwwn, an online payment and management system to make transactions easier …
your ad hereBritish Robot Helps Autistic Children With Social Skills
“This is nice, it tickles me,” Kaspar the social robot tells four-year-old Finn as they play together at an autism school north of London. Kaspar, developed by the University of Hertfordshire, also sings songs, imitates eating, plays the tambourine and combs his hair during their sessions, aimed at helping Finn …
your ad hereTrump Set to Overturn Online Privacy Protections, Stirring Debate
U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to sign legislation overturning privacy protections for Internet users, a move supporters say will level the playing field for providers but critics argue will hurt consumers. The bill eliminates Obama-era regulations that required Internet service providers, or ISPs, to get permission before collecting or …
your ad hereOculus Co-founder Palmer Luckey Leaves Facebook
Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Facebook’s Oculus virtual-reality business, is leaving the company. Facebook didn’t give a reason for Luckey’s departure. His last day is Friday. Luckey, who is 24, is leaving Facebook in the heels of controversies. Earlier this year, a federal jury found that Oculus, Luckey and co-founder …
your ad hereResearch Bridges Spinal Cord Injury, Restores Some Movement
Researchers in a pilot clinical trial have made it possible for a paralyzed man to move his arm. As Bronwyn Benito reports, it is a critical step toward restoring mobility to people with paralysis. …
your ad hereWhite House Defends Plan to Eliminate Obama-era Internet Privacy Rules
The White House on Thursday defended a bill recently passed by Congress to repeal Obama-era internet privacy protections, saying the move was meant to create a fair playing field for telecommunication companies. White House spokesman Sean Spicer, during a Thursday news briefing, reiterated President Donald Trump’s support for the plan …
your ad hereLong Now Foundation Thinks 10,000 Years Ahead
In a cave in a mountain in western Texas, the Long Now Foundation is building a clock – a big clock, 150 meters tall. The clock will tick only once each year, go bong once a century, and once a millennium, it will send out a cuckoo. Its creators plan …
your ad hereTwitter Eases 140-character Limit in Replies
Twitter has found more creative ways to ease its 140-character limit without officially raising it. Now, the company says that when you reply to someone – or to a group – usernames will no longer count toward those 140 characters. This will be especially helpful with group conversations, where …
your ad hereThe Long Now Thinks Very Far Ahead
In the U.S., people often measure “success” as fifteen minutes of fame, or a blockbuster financial quarter. This focus on short term results doesn’t always build the skills needed to solve long-term problems, such as reducing disease outbreaks or maintaining species diversity. Concerns about the nation’s short attention span have …
your ad hereVote to Repeal US Broadband Privacy Rules Sparks Interest in VPNs
The vote by the U.S. Congress to repeal rules that limit how internet service providers can use customer data has generated renewed interest in an old internet technology: virtual private networks, or VPNs. VPNs cloak a customer’s web-surfing history by making an encrypted connection to a private server, which then …
your ad hereAdvanced Trash-to-Fuel Plant Goes Online in Israel
While President Trump’s latest executive order gives renewed life to power plants that burn coal, energy companies continue to seek and find alternative, less expensive and cleaner sources of fuel. One possibility is turning trash into fuel in an environmentally responsible way. VOA’s George Putic reports that authorities in Tel …
your ad hereTackling Global Health Care: Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Imagine a vaccine vial with a temperature-sensitive label that changes colors when exposed to excessive heat. That’s the sort of technology that can make a huge difference for doctors working in challenging conditions, allowing them to determine at-a-glance whether heat-sensitive vaccines are viable. The vaccine vial monitor is one of …
your ad hereSilicon Valley Experts Help International Startups Struggling With Growth
When he was growing up in Hyderabad, India, Ravindra Sunku, 52, could see and smell the burning kerosene and wood his neighbors used to cook. It stuck in his memory people he knew might have suffered from lung disease caused from what they inhaled by doing something as simple as …
your ad hereFor West Virginia Town, No Wi-Fi, No Problem
Broadband access in the U.S. is not universal. There has long been a digital divide between urban and rural areas. But in one small town just four hours from Washington, D.C., there’s no Wi-Fi internet service at all. The town of Green Bank, West Virginia, is the site of the …
your ad hereUS Vote to Repeal Broadband Privacy Rules Sparks Interest in VPNs
The vote by the U.S. Congress to repeal rules that limit how internet service providers can use customer data has generated renewed interest in an old internet technology: virtual private networks, or VPNs. VPNs cloak a customer’s web-surfing history by making an encrypted connection to a private server, which then …
your ad hereElon Musk’s Latest Target: Brain-computer Interfaces
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is announcing a new venture called Neuralink focused on linking brains to computers. The company plans to develop brain implants that can treat neural disorders — and that may one day be powerful enough to put humanity on a more even footing with possible future superintelligent …
your ad hereSamsung Plans to Sell Refurbished Galaxy Note 7s
Tech giant Samsung Electronics plans to sell refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the company said late on Monday, signaling the return of the model pulled from markets last year because of fire-prone batteries. Samsung’s Note 7s were permanently scrapped in October after some phones self-combusted, prompting a …
your ad hereNo Wi-Fi, No Internet, No Problem
Broadband access in the United States is not universal, with a longtime digital divide between urban and rural areas. But in one small town just four hours from Washington, D.C., there’s no internet service at all. The town of Green Bank, West Virginia, is the site of the largest fully steerable …
your ad hereFacebook’s Messenger App to Allow Live Location-sharing
Facebook Inc will add a feature to its Messenger app Monday to allow users to share their locations, the company said, ramping up competition with tools offered by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google Maps. The company has found that one of the most used phrases on Messenger as people …
your ad hereUber Resumes Self-Driving Car Program in San Francisco After Crash
Driverless vehicles operated by Uber Technologies Inc. were back on the road in San Francisco on Monday after one of its self-driving cars crashed in Arizona, the ride-hailing company said. Uber’s autonomous vehicles in Arizona and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, remained grounded but were expected to be operating again soon, according to …
your ad hereBritain Wants Social Media Sites Cleared of Jihadist Postings
Islamic State propagandists are seeking to capitalize on last week’s terror attack in London, which left five people dead and 40 injured, by flooding YouTube with hundreds of violent recruitment videos. The online propaganda offensive comes as Britain demands social media companies scrub their sites of jihadist postings. Amber Rudd, …
your ad hereQatar Wealth Fund to Open Office in Silicon Valley
The Qatar Investment Authority, the Gulf Arab state’s acquisitive sovereign wealth fund, is setting up an office in San Francisco to manage its growing portfolio in the United States, the CEO of QIA said in London on Monday. “Soon we will be opening an office in the Silicon Valley in …
your ad hereIn Age of Keyboards, US Kids Learn Cursive Handwriting
These days, the only words most people see are typed. Many young people never learn cursive handwriting, but it is making a comeback. Thousands of school students around the country are learning to write in longhand. At one elementary school in New York City, teachers and students seem excited about …
your ad hereMini-Drone Guided by Smartphone Takes Selfies
One day you may be carrying your own drone everywhere you go. A drone has been developed to take selfies that is so thin it can be put into your pants pocket. The Selfly, as it is called, is attached to a smartphone that fits into the phone’s case. VOA’s …
your ad hereUber Suspends Self-driving Car Program After Arizona Crash
Uber Technologies Inc suspended its pilot program for driverless cars on Saturday (March 25th) after a vehicle equipped with the nascent technology crashed on an Arizona roadway, the ride-hailing company and local police said. The accident, the latest involving a self-driving vehicle operated by one of several companies experimenting with …
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