Technology

WASHINGTON: US authorities announced sanctions on Tuesday on parties associated with Intellexa Consortium, citing their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others. Commercial surveillance tools “increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens,” said Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson. In particular, the Intellexa …

KENNEDY Space CENTER: Three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off on Sunday night from Florida for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10:53pm from the Kennedy Space Center, lighting up the night sky with a long, bright plume of orange flame. Just minutes after the launch, as the …

Jennifer spent her weekend calling California voters, urging them to cast their ballot in Tuesday’s primary election for Democrat Peter Dixon. But unlike her human counterparts, Jennifer is a creation of artificial intelligence (AI), allowing her to make thousands of calls without taking a break or losing her cool. “Hello there. My name is Jennifer and I’m an artificial intelligence …

BRUSSELS: Changes Apple is making to its services in the European Union “make a mockery” of new antitrust rules in the bloc, 34 digital organisations complained to the European Commission this week. They include app makers Epic Games and Spotify. “We are very concerned that Apple’s proposed scheme for compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA)…will not meet the law’s …

ISLAMABAD: While there are serious concerns among users over the continued disruption of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for over a fortnight now, a member of the upper house of parliament has called for a permanent ban on all social media. Meanwhile, there are reports that the authorities are considering a blanket ban on all Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), prompting …

PARIS: Elon Musk has launched a legal case against OpenAI, the AI firm he helped to set up in 2015, accusing its leaders of a “betrayal” of its founding mission. The tycoon, who left OpenAI in 2018, argued in documents filed in a San Francisco court late on Thursday that firm was always intended as a non-profit entity. But he …

Google began removing the apps of 10 companies in India on Friday, including some popular matrimony apps such as Bharat Matrimony, in a dispute over service fee payments, potentially sparking a showdown with startup firms. The dispute centres on efforts by some Indian startups to stop Google from imposing a fee of 11% to 26% on in-app payments, after the …

Bitcoin surged for a fifth day on Wednesday to near $60,000, buoyed by flows into new US spot bitcoin exchange traded products that have driven it up nearly 40% in February, which would mark its largest monthly rally since December 2020. Bitcoin was last up 4.5% at $59,244, its highest since November 2021. Traders have poured into bitcoin ahead of …

In a major development, Google Chrome for Android will soon allow copying and saving frames from videos.  Google Chrome for Desktop/PC (Mac and Windows) allows you to copy a frame from a video to the clipboard or save it on your device, which makes it easier for you to grab frames from videos and use them for various purposes, such …

One-hundred and forty three percent. This is how much Pakistan’s technology exports have grown over the last five years, climbing from just $1 billion in fiscal year 2018 to almost $2.6 billion in 2023, according to data provided by the State Bank of Pakistan. And while Pakistan’s policymakers have been drawing attention to this growing sector, setting big targets and highlighting the …