India is an interesting country when it comes to Internet access. On the one hand, India has the second most Internet subscribers in the world. There are over 450 million people online here. On the other hand, we also have the largest number of unconnected people. Only about 35 percent of our population is online, including more than 70 percent of women. Between 70 and 80 percent […]
By Sarah Marsh | SANTIAGO, Cuba SANTIAGO, Cuba Fidel Castro will be laid to rest on Sunday alongside the mausoleum of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti, ensuring that the polarizing nature of Castro’s life will continue in death. Castro and his leftist revolutionaries claimed Marti’s mantle upon overthrowing a U.S.-backed regime in 1959 and later married Marti’s ideals to their brand of Soviet communism, enraging other nationalists, […]
One of CES’ major trends over the last few years has been the connected car — the concept of adding Internet connectivity and networking to our vehicles. Stealing the spotlight this year was Nvidia, which launched the Drive PX 2 — an in-car artificial intelligence system. PX 2 is designed for automakers exploring autonomous driving and includes 360-degree situational awareness, deep learning and the processing power of […]
Google refreshed its Daydream View VR device with two new colors, crimson and snow, expanding the number within the virtual reality headset range to three variants. When the device was unveiled last October, it only had the Slate coloring. New Colors, Same VR Technology The new colored headsets will not come with different or improved hardware specifications. Both variants are similar to the standard version under the […]
Good morning. Here’s our daily summary of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. The rise of “fake news” inspires the press to uncover its many practitioners worldwide, discern its economics and herald the alleged guilt-ridden soul-searching by its greatest enablers, Facebook and Google. But the media dances around another reality with the dexterity […]
By Gavin Jones | ROME ROME Italians vote on Sunday in a referendum on constitutional reform which will decide the political future of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has promised to resign if he loses. Financial markets and Europe’s politicians fear victory for the opposition ‘No’ camp could trigger political instability and renewed turmoil for Italy’s battered banks, pushing the euro zone towards a fresh crisis. Polls […]
Motion capture technology helped researchers at NC State University develop an energy-efficient technique for accurately tracking a user’s physical activity based on data from wearable devices. Credit: Edgar Lobaton Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed an energy-efficient technique for accurately tracking a user’s physical activity based on data from wearable devices. One goal for wearable health technologies is to identify and track physical activity by […]
Every year, Brazilian venture capital firm Monashees takes entrepreneurs from its portfolio companies on an overseas discovery tour. This year, instead of Silicon Valley, the firm headed to the Yangtze Valley, in a clear sign of a new front opening for Chinese investment in Latin America. China is seeking to expand lending and investment in Brazil and elsewhere on the continent, as it shifts from its traditional […]
By Francois Murphy | VIENNA VIENNA Austria will provide a new gauge of the populist wave sweeping Western democracies on Sunday, as the divided country holds a vote that could deliver the first freely-elected far-right head of state in Europe since World War Two. The knife-edge presidential run-off is all the more dramatic for being a re-run of an election held six months ago – before Britain […]
(Image: Liminal) Australian health insurer Medibank has launched an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience for Australian hospitals on Google Daydream View, in collaboration with a group of neuropsychologists at Melbourne-based VR developers Liminal. The “Joy” experience, which was entirely designed in 3D using Google’s Tilt Brush, provides hospital patients with a virtual experience to attempt to relieve loneliness and isolation, particularly for long-stay patients with restricted mobility. […]
Apple logo. Apple has revealed it is investing heavily in autonomous vehicles in a letter asking the government to make it easier to develop self-driving cars. The company is “excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation,” Apple said in a November 22 letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offering Apple’s opinion about draft regulations for the sector. “Apple looks […]
In June, speaking at a former steelworks in western Pennsylvania that now processes scrap aluminium, Donald Trump promised a bright future for US steel if he became president. “It will be American steel that will fortify American’s crumbling bridges. It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring into the sky,” he said. “We are going to put American-produced steel back into the backbone of our […]
The commission, if not dead on arrival, quickly ended up on life support. Mr. Stiglitz and another board member, Mark Pieth, a Swiss anticorruption expert, resigned after only one official meeting because the government, they said, would not promise to make their final report public. Continue reading the main story “You can’t have a committee on transparency and not be transparent,” Mr. Stiglitz said. Photo President Juan […]
It’s becoming an increasingly difficult chore trying to scour the App Store for decent apps given its very saturated library. A plethora of excellent apps intermingle with shovelware, and it’s often a tall order to sort the ones worthy of downloading from the ones that aren’t. A tall order, sure, but not impossible. Here’s a chief list of the best iPhone apps for 2016. Evernote Evernote has struggled […]
By Michael Holden | LONDON LONDON Prime Minister Theresa May’s government launches a challenge on Monday against a court ruling that it requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, a decision that could upset Britain’s Brexit plans. If the Supreme Court, the United Kingdom’s highest judicial body, dismisses the government appeal it could derail May’s timetable for triggering Article 50 of the […]
It is possible to combine the high-energy density of batteries with the high-power output of super capacitors in a single system, thanks to liquid energy storage materials, report scientists. (via WSJ)
Submitted by Robert Parry via Strategic-Culture.org, Under the cover of battling “fake news,” the mainstream U.S. news media and officialdom are taking aim at journalistic skepticism when it is directed at the pronouncements of the U.S. government and its allies. One might have hoped that the alarm about “fake news” would remind major U.S. news outlets, such as The Washington Post and The New York Times, about […]
NEW YORK The United States “absolutely must” complete unfinished work ending the too-big-to-fail bank problem that helped plunge the global economy into recession eight years ago, an influential Federal Reserve policymaker said on Saturday. In remarks that appeared to pre-empt President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to roll back Wall Street regulations, New York Fed President William Dudley said much progress has been made making the financial […]
In London last month, Arabian Business was treated to a behind-the-scenes explanation of how in March Google’s AlphaGo computer programme thrashed the world’s best player at the ancient board game Go. The match represented a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) research being undertaken by Google’s DeepMind since the start-up was acquired for a reported $400m in 2014. Go involves two contestants moving black and white stones on […]
By Daniel Trotta | HAVANA HAVANA Fidel Castro is remembered around the world as a charismatic revolutionary or a ruthless tyrant, but in his neighborhood he was also a friendly old man who used his influence to build a soccer field for kids two weeks before his death. Castro, who led Cuba’s 1959 revolution and for five decades defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died on Nov. […]
ALEPPO, SYRIA: Syrian government forces have recaptured half the former opposition stronghold of east Aleppo, a monitor said, with the UN now facing a “race against time” to aid children forced out by the bloody offensive.President Bashar Assad’s forces have made swift gains since their offensive against Aleppo — once Syria’s commercial powerhouse — began on November 15.Tens of thousands of civilians have streamed out of the […]
By Emma Farge | BANJUL BANJUL Gambians reacted with joy and stunned disbelief on Saturday to the defeat of President Yahya Jammeh, one day after he conceded that he lost an election set to end his 22 years in power. Jammeh’s government is accused of crushing dissent and torturing opponents and he had said he would rule for a “billion years”. As a result, few believed he […]
03 December 2016 Abu Dhabi: The food production sector in the Abu Dhabi has enjoyed continued growth in recent years, due to flourishing internal markets and growing export markets. The Emirate’s ability to produce high-quality, competitive and value-added goods, accompanied by a strong logistics network and its strategic geographic location has seen it emerge as one of the most important regional food production and processing centres. As […]
For the past few months, a number of Microsoft watchers have been predicting and hoping (incorrectly) that Microsoft was ready to roll out a competitor to Amazon’s Echo and Google Home. A discovery by Microsoft sleuth The Walking Cat, a k a @h0x0d, of something called “Home Hub” further fueled this rumor. However, as Walking Cat also discovered, Home Hub wasn’t hardware; it was some kind of […]
