India, the world’s second most populated nation, sees more than 20% of the global flood-related fatalities each year as overrun riverbanks sweep tens of thousands of homes with them. Two years ago, Google volunteered to help.
In 2018, t…
He is the most charismatic figure in technology with some amazing achievements to his name, from making electric cars desirable to developing rockets that can return to earth and be reused.
But dare to suggest that anything Elon Musk do…
Microsoft has developed a tool to spot deepfakes - computer-manipulated images in which one person's likeness has been used to replace that of another.
The software analyses photos and videos to give a confidence score about whether the…
Tinder, Grindr and three other dating apps have been banned in Pakistan for disseminating "immoral content".
The government issued notices to Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout and SayHi to remove the dating services.
Extra-marital relati…
Apple has begun letting its iPhones carry out contact-tracing without the need for users to download an official Covid-19 app.
As an alternative, owners are being invited to opt in to a scheme called Exposure Notifications Express (ENE)…
A further 118 Chinese mobile apps have been banned by the Indian government, as tensions between the two countries continue to rise.
Those on the list include several of Tencent's products including the hit video game PUBG Mobile and We…
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has asked suppliers to make at least 75 million 5G iPhones for later this year, along with new Apple Watch models, a new iPad Air and a smaller HomePod, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The company expects shipment…
Adtech giant and self-styled ‘free speech champion’, Facebook, has threatened to pull the plug on the public sharing of news content on Facebook and Instagram in Australia.
The aggressive threat is Facebook’s attempt to lobby against a …
Facebook has offered a little detail on extra steps it’s taking to improve its ability to detect and remove hate speech and election disinformation ahead of Myanmar’s election. A general election is scheduled to take place in the country o…
Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) on Tuesday said it will roll out a global selfie feature to verify its ride-hail customers wear a mask, modeled after a similar feature introduced for drivers in mid-May.
Uber instituted its “No Mask No Ri…
Popular videoconferencing app Zoom has seen its revenues skyrocket as second quarter profits more than doubled due to the coronavirus crisis.
Revenues leaped 355% to $663.5m (£496.3m) for the three months ending 31 July, beating analyst…
Lenovo has announced a new flagship consumer laptop line, the Yoga 9 series. The line includes the convertible Yoga 9i, which comes in both 14- and 15-inch sizes, as well as a 14-inch, non-convertible Yoga Slim 9i (which will be called the…
Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is focusing on its budding cloud business, which still has access to U.S. chips despite sanctions against the company, to secure its survival, the Financial Times newspaper report…
Microsoft is poised to launch its game streaming service, delivering high-end titles direct to phones - and Google already offers an equivalent service.
Cloud gaming promises top-tier graphics and performance without the expensive hardw…
Google has announced Kids Space, a new mode for Android tablets that includes kid-friendly features and content, and parental controls. It’s making its debut on Lenovo’s new Tab M10 HD Gen 2, also unveiled today. Google says it’s coming to…
Tesla cars in the US can now read speed limit signs and detect green lights, following a new software update.
The vehicles' Autopilot system generates a speed limit warning on the dashboard display and sends a notification if the car is…
TikTok's owner has said it will "strictly adhere to" new rules imposed by China over what technologies the country's companies can sell overseas.
The export controls could potentially be used to block the sale of TikTok's US operations.…
Frankly, the most surprising thing about the PuriCare is that more tech companies haven’t launched a similar product in recent months. LG is showing it off as part of the upcoming IFA press conference in Berlin — though the company is opti…
After announcing Chromecast support for Google Meet, Google has now revealed that the company’s consumer video chat app, Duo, will be coming to Android TV in the form of a native app that lets users start video calls from their TV screen. …
Apple’s upcoming operating system iOS 14 (currently in public beta) could have a big impact on publishers who work with Facebook’s ad network — at least, according to Facebook.
The company published a couple of blog posts yesterday outl…
Google is rolling out some small but useful updates to Google Maps focusing on the app’s Saved tab. If you’ve not used it before, this lets you bookmark favorite locations, be they parks or pubs, and sort them by “favorites,” “want to go,”…
Elon Musk called an attempted cyberattack against Tesla “serious,” a comment that confirms the company was the target of a foiled ransomware attempt at its massive factory near Reno, Nevada.
The Justice Department released a complaint T…
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters on Friday it had to be clarified what happened to payments company Wirecard (WDIG.DE) which collapsed amid an accounting scandal.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) will be less costly on Monday as pre-announced stock splits take effect, in theory making them more accessible to retail investors, but as more brokers offer fraction…
Elon Musk is due to demonstrate a working brain-to-machine interface as part of his ambitious plans to give people superhuman powers.
His brain-hacking company, Neuralink, applied to start human trials last year.
But Friday's demonst…
Canon and Google today announced a new software integration that enables automatic Google Photos backup of pictures taken with select Canon cameras — a full list is available here, but it’s most of their recent interchangeable lens cameras…
Twitter wants to make it easier to see the conversations taking place around a tweet. This May, the company rolled out a change to its user interface that allowed users who clicked on the “Retweets” metric beneath a tweet to view both thos…
Spotify explores virtual concerts, Twitter tests a “quotes” count and Google’s Nest Hub becomes more hotel-friendly. This is your Daily Crunch for August 26, 2020.
The big story: Spotify is testing virtual events
We can’t have real-w…
Dutch social enterprise, Fairphone, has moved a little closer to the sustainability dream of a circular economy by announcing the launch of a modular upgrade for its flagship smartphone.
The backwards compatible hardware units mean user…
Epic Games launched the new season of hit video game “Fortnite” on Thursday, pitting Marvel super heroes against Fantastic Four-villain Galactus in the first update to exclude iPhone and iPad users due to a legal fight with Apple Inc (AAPL…
YouTube removed more videos than ever during the lockdown period, the company says.
The second quarter of the year saw more than 11 million videos taken down, up from six million at the start of the year.
YouTube said that it had opted f…
Google today will begin rolling out several updates to its Chrome web browser, with the goal of increasing user productivity and making the browsing experience faster. Specifically, Google is making Chrome’s tabs and its newer tab groups e…
New York-based startup Muze is rethinking mobile messaging. While today’s messaging apps have expanded over the years to include support for sharing photos and videos, voice messages, reactions and more, Muze has fully redesigned the tradi…
The once-pioneering BlackBerry is pretty much out of the smartphone manufacturing game, but the Canadian company has been busy transitioning to providing software for connected devices, including smart cars. Now it has brought that section…
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group of more than 2,000 online sellers has filed an antitrust case against Amazon in India, alleging the U.S. company favours some retailers whose online discounts drive independent vendors out of business, a legal…
Messenger Rooms, Facebook’s social Zoom competitor, is today rolling out new features aimed at making Rooms easier to both create and discover as well as those for further personalizing your Rooms experience. The changes follow Messenger’s…
With the usual caveats about leaked specs, the latest seems to confirm what’s already out there.
New leaked images may have the first look at the Google Pixel 5 and the Pixel 4A 5G. The image showing what could be the Pixel 5 in black a…
On Friday, the internet erupted in a small way to learn that Apple had successfully forced WordPress to monetize its free app — forcing it to sell premium plans and custom domain names seemingly just so that Apple could get its traditional…
Twitter flagged one of President Donald Trump’s tweets on Monday, placing it behind a notice that warns users it violates the platform’s rules against dissuading people from voting.
In the tweet, posted on Monday, Trump claimed mail dro…
Chinese video app TikTok is set to launch legal action to challenge a ban imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump's executive order prohibits transactions with TikTok's owner ByteDance from mid-September.
Officials in Washingt…
Microsoft has thrown its weight behind Epic Games in a continuing legal battle with Apple.
Apple pulled hugely popular game Fortnite from its App Store after Epic deliberately broke its rules in protest at Apple's policies.
In an esc…
Aditya Kalra, Nigam Prusty
4 Min Read
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) is a non-partisan platform which denounces hate and bigotry, the company’s India head said on Friday, amid a controversy over how the U.S. social media gia…
As many schools enter the new academic year with continued remote learning, there will be parents wondering how they can best equip their kids for success at home. There’s the laptop situation to figure out, of course, but headphones are a…
Uber and Lyft may not be pausing operations in California after all, Google releases new emergency alert tools and Airbnb bans all parties. This is your Daily Crunch for August 20, 2020.
The big story: Uber and Lyft win legal victory
…
Google is making a change in Android 11 that will force apps that want to take photos or video to use the phone’s built-in camera app — even if you’ve made a different camera app, like OpenCamera, your default choice for photos.
“[W]e b…
For the past two days, photographers have been posting in a panic across Twitter, Reddit, and the Photoshop feedback forums. They’d downloaded Adobe’s latest update for Lightroom’s iOS app, and suddenly their photos and presets were gone. …
Facebook’s “classic” experience, the interface with the iconic blue navigation bar at the top, is disappearing for good in September. Engadget reports that a Facebook support page has been updated saying everyone will soon have the new des…
The technological decoupling between the U.S. and China has been a boon to Chinese firms from chipmakers for smartphones and electric vehicles through to software that are the backbones of millions of businesses’ daily operations.
Chine…
Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Friday pushed for legislation that makes it easier for users to transfer photos and videos to a rival tech platform, in comments it sent to the Federal Trade Commission ahead of a hearing on the topic on Sept. 22.
…
Apple CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto both seem pretty useful for drivers — simply plug in your phone to charge, and it’ll link up with your car’s bigger touchscreen to give you directions to your doctor’s appointment, play music from yo…