Mamadou Wade Diop has been working with drones both in the photography and health sectors for years. But recently, he decided to work with local blacksmiths and construct a drone made entirely in Senegal.Mamadou Wade Diop, who calls himself Dr. Drone on social media, is one of the few people, …

Carmakers unveiled self-driving vehicles and assurances of an eco-friendly future in transportation. Thousands of climate activists blocking the streets in Frankfurt are not buying it. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi looks at the future through a lens of the present. …

The U.S. Treasury on Friday announced sanctions on three North Korean hacking groups it said were involved in the WannaCry ransomware attacks and hacking of international banks and customer accounts.It named the groups as Lazarus Group, Bluenoroff, and Andariel and said they were controlled by the RGB, North Korea’s primary …

House lawmakers investigating the market dominance of Big Tech are asking Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple for a broad range of documents including internal communications.Letters went out to the four companies on Friday from the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee on antitrust, which has been conducting …

Facebook is trying to coax “news deserts” into bloom with the second major expansion of a tool that exposes people to more local news and information. But the social network confesses that it still has a lot to learn.The social media giant said Thursday it is expanding its “Today In” …

U.S. authorities investigating Alphabet Inc.’s Google for anti-competitive behavior have recently begun probing the company’s $116 billion-a-year advertising business. Attorneys general for 50 U.S. states and territories along with the U.S. Department of Justice appear to be acting on accusations from rivals, lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups that the biggest seller of online ads engages in unfair tactics. Google …

Facebook and its partners have asked financial authorities in Switzerland to evaluate their plan to create a new digital currency to be called Libra.Facebook unveiled a proposal in June to create a digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use. The company said it would set up a nonprofit association …

Facebook will no longer allow graphic images of self-harm on its platform as it tightens its policies on suicide content amid growing criticism of how social media companies moderate violent and potentially dangerous content.The social network also said Tuesday that self-injury related content will now become harder to search on …

Apple is expected to unveil three new iPhone models that are so similar to last year’s lineup, they may be upstaged by details about the company’s upcoming video service.The company will show off its latest iPhones Tuesday at a products showcase in Cupertino, California. But the buzz surrounding its best-selling …

Facebook and Instagram on Monday blocked the social media accounts of two Italian neo-fascist groups and some of their activists because they had violated the platforms’ policies against spreading hate, Facebook said.Casapound and Forza Nuova, which espouse extreme right-wing ideologies, have boosted their profile in Italy by leading anti-migrant campaigns …

Fifty U.S. states and territories, led by Texas, announced an investigation into Google’s “potential monopolistic behavior.”   The Monday announcement closely followed one from a separate group of states Friday that disclosed an investigation into Facebook’s market dominance. The two probes widen the antitrust scrutiny of big tech companies beyond …

Smallholder farmers in Ghana are adopting drone technology for crop surveillance in a bid to increase yields and incomes.The new technology is being used as farmers’ cooperatives are slowly abandoning manual labor as they seek higher efficiency.Some, however, think the use of the drones is too costly and may shut …

Security officials these days are anything but shy when they describe the dangers facing the United States in cyberspace.“We’re in the midst, I think we all know, of a global cyber pandemic,” the National Security Agency’s top lawyer warned at a conference last week.And NSA General Counsel Glenn Gerstell did …

People around the world are living longer according to the World Health Organization.  By 2020 there will be more people who are 60 or older than children younger than 5. Many adult children are painfully seeing their parents experience cognitive decline and symptoms of dementia.  What if virtual reality, or …

Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled its latest advanced chipset Friday ahead of the upcoming launch of its latest flagship smartphone, even as uncertainty hangs over whether the device can use Google’s Android.   Huawei’s consumer business CEO, Richard Yu, showed off the Kirin 990 chipset at the IFA consumer electronics …

New York Attorney General Letitia James says a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is investigating Facebook for alleged antitrust issues.The Democrat said Friday the probe will look into whether Facebook’s actions endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices or increased the price of advertising.Facebook had no immediate …

Democratic presidential candidates are flocking to Silicon Valley but this time it’s different. Once candidates wooed wealthy tech executives at Facebook, Google and other mega companies. Some now attack companies over issues such as data privacy, antitrust and worker rights. Michelle Quinn looked at how this election season reflects the …

Technology firms and academics have joined together to launch a “deepfake challenge” to improve tools to detect videos and other media manipulated by artificial intelligence.The initiative announced Thursday includes $10 million from Facebook and aims to curb what is seen as a major threat to the integrity of online information.The …

A number of technology companies including Facebook Inc., Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft Corp. and Twitter Inc. met with representatives of the U.S. government Wednesday to discuss security strategies related to the 2020 U.S. election, Facebook said in a statement.The security teams of the companies met with representatives from the Federal Bureau …

Twitter on Wednesday halted users’ ability to fire off tweets via text messages as it seeks to fix a vulnerability that led to CEO Jack Dorsey’s account being hijacked. Dorsey last week was the target of so-called “SIM swap” fraud, which enables a hacker to trick a mobile carrier into …

Google’s YouTube video service has been fined $170 million to settle charges of illegally collecting and sharing personal information from children.The Federal Trade Commission fined Google $136 million and the company will pay New York state $34 million to settle similar allegations.The settlement is the largest in a case involving …

Online cooking videos are an indispensable tool for at-home chefs, but using a mobile device in the kitchen can get messy. A New York University student has solved the problem by turning the traditional apron into a remote control for devices. Tina Trinh reports. …

From tracing ill-gotten gains back to their source to spotting illegal factories, technology will be key in beating slavery as a fragmenting workplace leaves many more at risk, the United Nations leading expert on slavery said on Tuesday.With an increase in automation and temporary contracts, billions go without rights like …

Facebook said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security would be violating the company’s rules if agents create fake profiles to monitor the social media of foreigners seeking to enter the country.”Law enforcement authorities, like everyone else, are required to use their real names on Facebook and we make …

Facebook said on Tuesday its face recognition technology will now be available to all users with an option to opt out, while deciding to discontinue a related feature called ‘Tag Suggestions.’Face recognition, which was available to some Facebook users since December 2017, notifies an account holder if their profile photo …