Technology

Ireland’s data privacy regulator on Friday said it had asked Facebook to demonstrate that an LED indicator light on the social media giant’s newly launched smart glasses is “an effective means” to let people know they are being filmed or photographed. Ireland’s Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) is the lead regulator of Facebook under the European Union’s strict data privacy laws …

ISLAMABAD: TikTok has launched an Urdu-language “safety centre” in the country in order to ensure that videos shared through the platform do not overstep the guidelines spelled out by the government. The decision comes in the wake of complaints that some of the videos created by users are too explicit and go beyond the bounds of decency. The telecom regulator …

CAPE CANAVERAL: A billionaire e-commerce executive and three less-wealthy private citizens chosen to join him blasted off from Florida on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX rocket ship and soared into orbit, the first all-civilian crew ever to circle the Earth from space. The quartet of amateur astronauts, led by the American founder and chief executive of financial services firm Shift4 Payments …

Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The capsule carrying the three astronauts was suspended on a parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:35pm local time (05:35 GMT). The crew of the Shenzhou-12 spacecraft were in “good health” after …

ISLAMABAD: The government officially awarded additional spectrum to Ufone during a ceremony on Wednesday. Ufone was the only company to have submitted bids for the additional spectrum auction while Jazz, Telenor and Zong 4G — country’s top three mobile operators — had opted to stay away from the process. Sharing his thoughts on spectrum acquisition, president and group CEO of …

Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp on Wednesday launched a new feature to make it possible to search for businesses within its application for the first time. The test in São Paulo, Brazil, which allows WhatsApp users to find shops and services through a directory in the app, is the latest feature in Facebook’s drive to bolster e-commerce on its services. “This …

US Food and Drug Administration scientists said on Wednesday that booster doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine may not be needed, even though the third shot generates a higher immune response in recipients. The FDA staff members said in a document prepared for outside advisors that it is still unproven that the efficacy of Comirnaty – the COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer developed …

A booster dose of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine reversed a decline in antibody activities against the Delta variant, a study showed, easing some concerns about its longer-term immune response to the highly contagious strain of the virus. The study comes amid concerns about the Chinese vaccine’s efficacy against Delta, which has become the dominant variant globally and is driving a surge …

Apple Inc on Tuesday unveiled a new iPhone 13 and 13 Mini with brighter screens to entice customers into 5G plans, while also announcing updates to its iPads and watches. The iPhone 13 will have a new chip called the A15 Bionic that will power features like automatically detecting when the phone’s camera is pointed at text. Apple said the …

SEOUL: South Korea’s competition watchdog plans to fine Google at least 207.4 billion won ($177 million) for allegedly blocking smartphone makers like Samsung from using other operating systems, in what would be one of the country’s biggest anti-trust penalties ever. Google said it plans to challenge the fine. It has accused South Korean authorities of disregarding how its software policy …