The Sunday Times of Malta’s cartoonist Steve Bonello picked this effort as his favourite cartoon of the year. “The Panama Papers had not been published by that date (March 13), but it was what all of Malta was talking about, with the government pedalling hard to shift the focus on its three years of achievements,” Mr Bonello said in explaining his choice. It is indeed a remarkable […]
In 2016, we saw some phone manufacturers take big risks, trying to push the boundaries of what a smartphone should do, while other companies played it safe. LG and Lenovo each tried to create a modular ecosystem, while Google walked away from the idea altogether. Apple even got on board with water resistance, and then Google jumped into the smartphone war. Take your phone for a swim […]
Acer Aspire C Series all-in-one desktop PC Looking to get a jump on the forthcoming deluge of CES news, Acer has released a new all-in-one PC family that adds a couple of interesting wrinkles to the popular desktop category. With the Aspire C Series, Acer delivers an improved all-in-one (AIO) design while retaining a budget price point. It’s worked to create a sleeker look for its full […]
By Gram Slattery | SANTIAGO SANTIAGO Chile’s government set to work on Monday repairing roads and restoring electricity to southern regions affected by a major earthquake that struck on Christmas Day, frightening thousands but resulting in no fatalities or major damage. The quake, a magnitude 7.6 centered off Chiloe Island northwest of Patagonia, caused thousands in the tourism and salmon farming region to evacuate to higher ground […]
CNET/CBS Interactive Snap, the parent of popular messaging app Snapchat, has acquired Israel-based Cimagine to bolster its artificial intelligence offerings, according to Calcalist. The Cimagine acquisition, reportedly in the $30 million to $40 million range, will start research and development activities in Israel for Snap. Cimagine currently has more than 20 employees and is looking to expand, the report noted. Snap hasn’t confirmed the acquisition. We have […]
Recently, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic statements at the United Nations. Ambassadors have used its forums to accuse Israel of everything from harvesting the organs of slain terrorists to committing a “final solution” against the Palestinian people. In one case, a United Nations under secretary general has made coded comparisons of Israel’s actions to those of the Nazis during the Holocaust (a common anti-Semitic trope). […]
But with few spies in the city, American officials say assessing the enemy is difficult. “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand the situation on the ground in Raqqa,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the air war commander, said in an interview from his headquarters in Qatar. “It’s improving. It’s still not at the level we’d like it to be.” Continue reading the main story […]
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have gotten closer to understanding the process that leads to aging in humans and other vertebrates. According to their results, there are two genes that balance each other in order for cells to function normally. The scientists will continue their work in order to find practical results for their research. Two Genes, One Equilibrium Experiments performed on zebra fish directed researchers toward two […]
Image: Cyanogen Cyanogen late Friday announced all services and nightly builds will be discontinued no later than December 31. The open source project and source code will remain available for personal development. The move, “part of the ongoing consolidation of Cyanogen,” comes after it named a new CEO and laid off a huge portion of its staff. While it once wanted to offer a better version of […]
Ekster’s smart wallet. Photo: Ekster Wallets and their contents – cash, cards, tickets, receipts etc – will eventually be replaced by smartphones that work with electronic payments system. But while those have been available for years in some countries, most men still carry traditional wallets. That being the case, there should be a market for “smart wallets” that connect to smartphones, so you can find your wallet […]
A recent want ad for a job at a professional services companies had this interesting description: Photo: Joe McKendrick “Robotic Process Automation Analyst: Key responsibilities include: work with business teams to simplify and improve operations by analyzing as-is processes and create end-to-end automation solution designs… Work with process owners/SMEs and technology teams to analyse and assess automation feasibility… Document business requirements, processes and work instructions…. Operate as […]
On April 7, 14 large blue letters quietly disappeared from the outer walls of an office building in an exclusive neighborhood in northern San Salvador. One by one, the letters came down from the blue and beige stucco walls, leaving behind faint traces of the name of the law firm that had been working there just days before: M-O-S-S-A-C-K-F-O-N-S-E-C-A. Employees of the El Salvador branch of Mossack […]
Weakening encryption is against US nation interests, says a congressional working group. Image: iStockphoto Any attempt to weaken encryption is against the national interest, a group of US lawmakers has warned. The widespread use of strong encryption has lead to complaints from law enforcement agencies that they are unable to access to communications of criminals – the so-called ‘going dark’ issue. This has lead to calls for […]
A hundred years ago, an arms race between the dominant global superpower the (British Empire) and a rising power (Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany) culminated in the mass slaughter of World War One. The deep mistrust between the United States and the People’s Republic of China has all the potential to spawn a traumatic chapter in international relations. Despite its “pivot” to Asia, the Obama White House was cautious […]
Honda R&D and Waymo are in discussion over self-driving car tech. Honda is in discussion with Google’s autonomous vehicle division Waymo about integrating self-driving technology into Honda vehicles. Honda said the technical collaboration between researchers at its Honda R&D subsidiary and Waymo’s self-driving technology team would allow both companies to learn about the integration of Waymo’s fully self-driving sensors, software and computing platform into Honda vehicles. As […]
Texas’s chief law-enforcement officer is blasting the American Bar Association’s new antidiscrimination conduct code as unconstitutional and unenforceable. Approved this summer, the ABA’s new model rule restricts lawyers from engaging in conduct that they reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, […] (via WSJ)
IDC predicts that 35 percent of leading organizations in logistics, health, utilities, and resources will explore the use of robots to automate operations by 2019. What does the future hold for robotics? It’s hard to say, given the rapid pace of change in the field as well as in associated areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. But one thing seems certain: Robots will play an […]
Yubico announced its plans to support Microsoft’s Windows Hello platform back in September at the Ignite conference, with the goal of bringing strong, hardware-based authentication to Windows 10. Finally, after nearly two months of waiting, the YubiKey for Windows Hello app has landed in the Windows Store. It’s a strong solution for retrofitting the additional protection of Windows Hello on systems that don’t have support for facial […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Most of us can feel unavoidably like Mongo in Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” meaning a self-perception that “Mongo only pawn in game of life.” (YouTube) Yes, we all try to be philosophical but can lapse into merely being dim-witted, like […]
I was really keen to test the Tabcat locator. I have used its predecessor, Loc8tor for several years to successfully find my cats whilst they were out on the prowl. Tabcat is a locator that does not rely on GPS or Bluetooth to find your pet. It uses radio frequency based technology which the brand says will give you a greater range and performance than Bluetooth cat […]
Good morning. A media A-list’s favorite books of 2016 Jake Tapper, the CNN reporter-show host, needed far less time than even a hyperactive wire service rewrite guy to answer a question about his favorite book this year: “‘Moonglow’ by Michael Chabon.” Bam, that didn’t take long. But it’s why amid a Trump- and-terrorism-centric moment, I asked busy and smart journalists to go high when so many others […]
Roy Zipstein | Apple Apple has given app developers more time to turn on App Transport Security (ATS) after originally insisting that software submitted to the App Store utilize the feature by the beginning of 2017. According to a brief note posted on the Apple developer website on Wednesday, ATS, first introduced in iOS 9 and OS X v10.11, will now not become mandatory for apps to […]
The 26-year-old woman is suspected of uploading statements that insulted the ‘azan’ and Islam on Facebook. JOHOR BAHRU: The police detained a woman last night on suspicion of making a statement insulting the call to prayers (azan) and the Islam via Facebook. Johor police chief Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd said the 26-year-old woman was detained at 8pm at a house in Taman Rekamas, Simpang Renggam, near Kluang, […]
(Image: file photo) Earlier this year, we were sent a series of large, encrypted files purportedly belonging to a US police department as a result of a leak at a law firm, which was insecurely synchronizing its backup systems across the internet without a password. Among the files was a series of phone dumps created by the police department with specialist equipment, which was created by Cellebrite, […]
