Technology

CHICAGO: The coronavirus pandemic has exposed a clash among medical experts over disease transmission that stretches back nearly a century – to the very origins of germ theory. The Geneva-based World Health Organization acknowledged this week that the novel coronavirus can spread through tiny droplets floating in the air, a nod to more than 200 experts in aerosol science who …

LUXEMBOURG: YouTube is not obliged to reveal private information on the identity of people posting illegal content on its platform, an EU court ruled on Thursday. In a decision welcomed by the Google-owned video player, only the uploader’s postal address can be communicated, but not their email address, IP address or telephone number. Users of the platform had put two …

BARINGO: Alphabet Inc began offering the world’s first commercial high-speed internet using balloons to villagers in remote regions of Kenya’s Rift Valley on Wednesday. The service is run by Loon, a unit of Google’s parent Alphabet, and Telkom Kenya, the East African nation’s third largest telecoms operator. “Kenya is the first country … to have base stations high up in …

SAN FRANCISCO: Face­b­ook has made a series of decisions that undermined civil rights, including allowing posts from President Donald Trump that violate the values of the leading social network, an independent audit report said on Wednesday. The audit commissioned by Facebook in 2018 found the California giant had taken “important steps forward in building a long-term civil rights accountability structure” …

The world’s largest vaccine-maker GSK has put its vaccine booster technology to work in a potential new COVID-19 shot, to be developed with a Canadian biopharmaceutical company backed by tobacco company Philip Morris. Rather than developing its own vaccine in the global race to combat the pandemic, GSK has instead focused on contributing its adjuvant technology to at least seven …

NEW YORK: Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok announced on Tuesday it would pull out of Hong Kong within days, as global tech giants struggle to figure out how to operate in the city under sweeping new security rules imposed by Beijing. Major US internet companies including Facebook, Micro­soft, Google, Twitter and Zoom have all announced they have suspended the processing …

Samsung Electronics forecast a 23-percent rise in second-quarter operating profit Tuesday, with strong demand for memory chips and displays overcoming the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on smartphone sales. The world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker said in an earnings estimate that it expected operating profit to be 8.1 trillion won ($6.8 billion) for April-June, up from 6.6 trillion …

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing a report that suggested its advice on the novel coronavirus needs updating, after some scientists told the New York Times there was evidence the virus could be spread by tiny particles in the air. The WHO says the COVID-19 disease spreads primarily through small droplets, which are expelled from the nose and …

NEW YORK: Uber Technologies Inc on Monday said it would acquire Postmates Inc for $2.65 billion to expand its food delivery market share and significantly increase the business of supplying everyday goods at a time when the coronavirus has pummeled its core ride-hailing service. The all-stock deal, still subject to regulatory approval, would give Uber a roughly 30 per cent …

Uber has agreed to buy food delivery app Postmates in a multibillion dollar deal, according to Bloomberg.  The San Francisco-based rideshare giant has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic — cutting a quarter of its global workforce in May — and has been looking to boost its growing food delivery service Uber Eats. Bloomberg reported an expected $2.65 billion …