Technology

Google-owned YouTube appears to have taken an aim at TikTok as the streaming giant has now started testing a way to record multi-segment videos that run up to a maximum length of 15 seconds. The 15-second video format, made popular by TikTok, is now being increasingly tried by other social media platforms as well. YouTube announced its intention to give …

Facebook said Friday it would ban a “wider category of hateful content” in ads as the embattled social media giant moved to respond to growing protests over its handling of inflammatory posts. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook also would add tags to posts that are “newsworthy” but violate platform rules — following the lead of Twitter, which has used …

Microsoft said on Friday it would close its retail stores and take a related pretax asset impairment charge of $450 million in the current quarter. The Redmond, Washington-based software giant said it would continue to serve customers online, with team members working remotely from corporate facilities. A Microsoft spokeswoman told Reuters all current retail employees would be given an opportunity …

LONDON: A preliminary study of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 has found the disease can damage the brain, causing complications such as stroke, inflammation, psychosis and dementia-like symptoms in some severe cases. The findings are the first detailed look at a range of neurological complications of COVID-19, the researchers said, and underline a need for larger studies to find the mechanisms …

TOKYO: As face coverings become the norm amid the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese startup Donut Robotics has developed an internet-connected “smart mask” that can transmit messages and translate from Japanese into eight other languages. The white plastic “c-mask” fits over standard face masks and connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone and tablet application that can transcribe speech into text messages, make …

LONDON: Google says it will start paying some publishers for their news content, in a move that could pave the way for reduced tensions between the internet search giant and the beleagured news industry. The company said on Thursday that it plans to launch this year a licencing programme to “pay publishers for high-quality content”. The programme will start with …

Google has begun auto-deleting new users’ search data and location history on a rolling 18-month basis, CEO Sundar Pichai announced, as the tech giant moves to tighten privacy settings. The tweak was introduced Wednesday and is the latest attempt by a big online firm to boost public trust after hefty fines were levied against Facebook and Google for privacy violations …

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s biggest wireless network operators have selected Nokia and Ericsson over Huawei Technologies to build the main fifth-generation (5G) networks in the city-state. Singapore has allowed telcos to choose their network vendors provided they meet various requirements, including security. A joint venture between M1 and StarHub awarded one of the city-state’s 5G licences said it had selected Nokia to …

Ceiling fixtures emitting a safe form of ultraviolet light called far-UVC would be very efficient at killing airborne coronaviruses, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University. “A very low exposure to far-UVC light killed well over 99.9% of the exposed virus,” lead researcher Dr. David Brenner told Reuters. The researchers put coronavirus particles into little droplets and floated …

Chinese telecom giant Huawei opened its second global flagship store in Shanghai on Wednesday, part of plans to strengthen its brand in its core Chinese consumer market as it faces headwinds overseas. Hundreds of face mask-wearing customers queued up to enter the 5,000-square-metre store — Huawei’s largest — located on the city’s busiest shopping street and directly across from a …