Tag - tech

 
 

TECH

A Post Office sign at a branch in a local convenience store near Ascot, England, on Friday. The Post Office scandal, where some 980 U.K. Post Office workers were wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting, was triggered by faults in a Fujitsu computer system called Horizon that was used by U.K. Post Offices and inaccurately reported shortfalls in their accounts, resulting in private prosecutions of innocent branch managers for theft.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jan 13, 2024
It took a TV show to bring justice in U.K.’s Post Office scandal
After a two-decade struggle, it was a TV drama that finally prompted the government to promise a swift end to the saga in favor of the victims.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 people, including post office managers, were falsely charged with fraud or embezzlement following the discovery of discrepancies between cash balances at counters and accounting records at post offices that introduced Fujitsu's Horizon accounting system.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 12, 2024
Co-CEO of Fujitsu Europe to testify over U.K. Post Office scandal
He will be questioned on what more can be done to deliver "full, fair and fast compensation" for post office managers falsely charged due to the tech firm's faulty software.
Roberta Wilson-Garrett, who has Parkinson's disease, poses with her GyroGlove, made by GyroGear, which uses a gyroscope to help stabilize tremors before this week's Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 8 in Las Vegas.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 12, 2024
High tech glove stymies Parkinson's disease tremors
GyroGear has built the world's most advanced hand stabilizer, with strategic partners that include Taiwanese technology group Foxconn, according to founder Dr. Faii Ong.
A drone soccer match is demonstrated at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
SPORTS
Jan 12, 2024
Buzz, bump, goal! Drone soccer aims high at CES
There was a loud whirring sound at CES in Las Vegas this week. It wasn't a swarm of insects, but instead a demonstration of drone soccer.
British lawmakers are calling for billions of dollars of government contracts with Fujitsu to be reexamined amid public outrage over the scandal, ignited by a hit TV drama aired last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2024
Japan tech firm Fujitsu in firing line over U.K. Post Office scandal
Its faulty software had resulted in hundreds of local post office managers being wrongly convicted for theft and false accounting between 1999 and 2005.
New study questions the trend of scientific breakthroughs and examines the changing landscape of innovation.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2024
Have scientific breakthroughs declined?
From curing disease to reducing global warming, there’s no shortage of hard scientific problems crying out for solutions.
China is the world’s second-largest investor in research and development, having spent $410 billion in this area in 2022, 10% more than the previous year.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2024
China is lowering transaction costs for greater innovation
With projects such as a cooperation zone between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China is championing small- and medium-sized firms as the engine of innovation.
Tsumugi-nen is artificial intelligence talent agency Pictoria's most popular AI Vtuber that has garnered thousands of fans through her content, including streaming for five days straight — something a human can not do.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 5, 2024
Is AI a friend or foe of the Japanese entertainment industry?
While proponents tap the technology's potential, others are worried about the possibility of losing their jobs.
Carbon capture could help mitigate emissions at polluting power plants, but with the technology largely unproven at scale, it also risks extending their lives.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 5, 2024
The world’s next big carbon capture challenge? Figuring out how to use it
Fossil fuel industry's involvement raises fears that the technology might be used to prolong oil and gas extraction, while costs and scalability could limit its utility.
The ASML headquarters and factory in Veldhoven, Netherlands
WORLD / Politics
Jan 2, 2024
U.S. pushed Dutch tech company to block Chinese sales
ASML had licenses to ship three top-of-the-line deep ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese firms until January, when new Dutch restrictions took full effect.
Though ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, it was really in 2023 that we started to get a sense of what large language models could do, including diagnosing complex medical issues.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023
The 10 most intriguing science breakthroughs over the past year
As 2023 has drawn to a close, let’s look back on some of the astounding breakthroughs we’ve seen in the last 12 months.
Visitors strike a giant bell to mark the new year as a Buddhist monk looks on, at Zojoji temple in Tokyo on Jan. 1, 2023.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2023
Ring in the new year on your phone: Apps offer alternate to Japan temple tradition
Smartphone apps are aiming to offer alternative ways to enjoy a noisy New Year's tradition.
A wafer is pictured at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2023
This startup shows it won't be easy to contain China's chip industry
The story of Seida illustrates the challenges the West faces in thwarting Chinese development of advanced microchip technology.
The Dvorak Dreams project leveraged AI to retrieve, synthesize and extend the legacy of an earlier cultural pioneer.
COMMENTARY / The Year Ahead
Dec 28, 2023
The AI question we should be asking
Artists working with AI can map out a path for the technology’s role across society more broadly.
The New York Times headquarters in New York. The New York Times has sued Microsoft and OpenAI for using its content to help develop artificial intelligence services, in a sign of the increasingly fraught relationship between the media and a technology that could upend the news industry.
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2023
NYT sues Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement
While OpenAI has been sued by prominent authors, the suit is the first challenge to its practices by a major media organization.
Masimo's headquarters in Irvine, California. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled earlier this year that the Apple Watch violates two Masimo patents related to blood-oxygen sensing and imposed an import ban on the Ultra 2 and Series 9 models.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 28, 2023
The email to Tim Cook that set the Apple watch saga in motion
Masimo, based in Irvine, California, is the rare company to wound Apple in a patent dispute.
Public scrutiny is key to defending internet privacy amid growing calls by governments for more surveillance.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2023
Time to curb government internet surveillance
Democracies are often leading the internet surveillance charge, inadvertently paving the way for the world’s autocrats.
Researchers have replicated the eye structure of insects like bees that can navigate visually based on the intensity and polarization of sunlight.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 27, 2023
Insect compasses, fire-fighting vines: 2023's nature-inspired tech
Even as human-caused climate change threatens the environment, nature continues to inspire our technological advancement.
A pedestrian walks past a theatre promoting the "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" show in the West End district of London in 2020.
WORLD / Society
Dec 27, 2023
Researchers draw on Harry Potter to magic future AI into our world
The books’ enduring influence, wide range of language and complex wordplay make them particularly valuable for work on generative artificial intelligence.
The U.S. head office of TikTok in Culver City, California
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2023
Whoever designed TikTok Shop should get coal for Christmas
With TikTok Shop's debut holiday season, is sees a mixed bag of success and struggles.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?