Tech giant Apple is considering backing Hon Hai’s multi-billion dollar bid for Toshiba’s lucrative memory chip business, a report said Saturday. The US firm plans to financially support Taiwan’s Hon Hai, which has reportedly bid some 3 trillion yen ($27.6 billion) in the initial tendering round for the memory chip business, the Mainichi Shimbun said. … Read more
Apple has joined the list of companies with permits to test self-driving cars in California, according to an updated roster released on Friday by state officials. The iPhone maker has disclosed little about its ambitions when it comes to self-driving vehicles, with chief Tim Cook hinting at plans but the company declining to comment for … Read more
San Francisco startup Marble on Wednesday began giving its home town a taste of restaurant orders delivered by robot, confident that appetite for such service will grow around the world. Marble partnered with take-away meal ordering mobile application Yelp Eat24 to put its boxy, wheeled robots to work handling local deliveries for some restaurants in … Read more
Samsung has confirmed that its much-anticipated answer to Apple’s Siri will be delayed. The Bixby voice-powered assistant was unveiled at a special event last month and was meant to debut on the South Korean giant’s new flagship devices. It promised to help users search and categorise photographs and access detailed information using voice commands. But … Read more
China social media users were in an uproar Tuesday over viral footage of a Chinese-American man dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight, decrying perceived racism and calling for a boycott. The videos taken by fellow passengers and posted to Twitter showed the man being forcibly pulled screaming from his seat by three security personnel. … Read more
Google has challenged China’s top Go player to a series of games against its artificial intelligence technology. It said the software would play a best-of-three match against Ke Jie, among other games against humans in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen from 23-27 April. Last year, the Google program recorded a 4-1 victory against one … Read more
French centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has launched his presidential campaign with a plan to tackle terrorism by forcing internet firms to release encrypted messages. Election campaigning officially began on Monday, two weeks ahead of the first round of voting. Opinion polls predict Mr Macron and far-right Marine Le Pen will reach the second round on … Read more
United Airlines found itself in the middle of a social media storm on Monday, after the US carrier forcefully removed a passenger from a flight due to overbooking. The airline said it had asked for volunteers to give up their seats on a Sunday flight bound for Louisville, Kentucky, from Chicago. Police were called after … Read more
It looks like Google is planning to introduce a curved screen on the follow-up to its solid Pixel flagship phone from 2016. That’s based on a report from South Korea’s Electronic Times, which noted that the search giant has offered to invest at least $880 million (about 1 trillion won) in LG Display Co., so … Read more
The number of human interventions in journeys made by driverless cars from Google company Waymo in California more than halved in 2016. There were only 124 “disengagement” incidents last year, where a driver had to take control of a test vehicle on public roads, down from 341 in 2015. The cars drove nearly 636,000 miles … Read more
Jumia, one of Ghana’s no. 1 online retailer has disclosed that Ghana’s mobile subscription continues to grow rapidly. According to Jumia, with a population of 23.35 million people, Ghana has 36.6 million mobile subscriptions. That’s 129% penetration, up from 127.63% in 2015-2016, which is compared to 80% penetration across Africa. This was contained in the … Read more
Uber has said claims it used self-driving technology stolen from Google were “demonstrably false”. Waymo – a company spun out of Google – filed a lawsuit in February claiming former employee Andrew Levandowski had stolen 14,000 documents relating to LiDAR, a core technology used to guide autonomous vehicles. Mr Levandowski went on to co-found Otto, … Read more
MainOne, Ghana’s leading communications solutions provider, has reiterated its commitment to enabling Ghana’s enterprises with premium connectivity, data center and value added services solutions. This position was emphasized at its Business Breakfast Session, focused on Empowering Enterprises and themed, “Driving Business Productivity through Communications Solutions”. At the event, MainOne urged businesses to continually seek improvement … Read more
International rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said it is opening its first Asia office in Taiwan after rejecting Hong Kong over concerns that China poses the “biggest threat” to press freedom. Also known by its French name Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), the Paris-based organisation decided against their original choice of Hong Kong, citing deteriorating freedom … Read more
US regulators granted Silicon Valley biotech firm 23andMe permission to become the first company to market reports showing customers’ health risks based on their genetics. The first reports will be made available this month in the United States, indicating genetic propensities for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Food … Read more
YouTube on Thursday stopped placing ads on channels with fewer than 10,000 views in a move aimed at preventing people from making money off offensive or pirated videos. The move came with YouTube striving to derail an ad boycott started by companies worried their brands might be paired with hateful videos at the service, which … Read more
Facebook has launched its digital assistant named ‘M’ for US users of its Messenger application, ramping up the social network’s efforts in artificial intelligence. For users of the messaging platform, M will pop up and suggest ‘helpful actions’ in the chat window. The move is seen as the first step in a broader launch of … Read more
MainOne, Ghana’s leading communications solutions provider, has reiterated its commitment to enabling Ghana’s enterprises with premium connectivity, data center and value added services solutions. This position was emphasized at its Business Breakfast Session, focused on Empowering Enterprises and themed, “Driving Business Productivity through Communications Solutions”. At the event, MainOne urged businesses to continually seek improvement … Read more
Facebook on Thursday launched its digital assistant named “M” for US users of its Messenger application, ramping up the social network’s efforts in artificial intelligence. For users of the messaging platform, M will pop up and suggest “helpful actions” in the chat window. The move is seen as the first step in a broader launch … Read more
Facebook on Thursday ramped up its fight against “fake news” by adding tips on how to tell when shared stories are bogus. An initiative being launched in the US, France and a dozen other countries added an educational tool in an “awareness display” in news feeds at the leading online social network. “By clicking on … Read more