The head of Sony’s entertainment business announced Friday that he is stepping down to devote energy to Snapchat as the startup behind the smartphone messaging app prepares to go public. Michael Lynton will step down from his job running the…
Category: Technology
Scientists closer to solving mystery of Earth’s core
Japanese scientists say that silicon is likely the mystery element in the Earth’s inner core, claiming progress on solving one of the planet’s deepest secrets. Consensus has long been that the centre of the planet is composed of about 85…
Pentagon successfully tests micro-drone swarm
The Pentagon may soon be unleashing a 21st-century version of locusts on its adversaries after officials on Monday said it had successfully tested a swarm of 103 micro-drones. The important step in the development of new autonomous weapon systems was…
SpaceX set to launch again Monday
SpaceX plans to resume flights of its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday, after pinning down the cause of a launchpad explosion that destroyed a satellite in September, a spokesman said. The California-based private space firm is expected to launch 10…
NASA announces two missions to study early solar system
The US space agency NASA on They have been dubbed Lucy and Psyche, and NASA hopes to launch them in 2021 and 2023, respectively. The period NASA wants to learn more about is an era less than 10 million years…
3 mobile apps for agricultural extension service launched
Dhaka-On Wednesday, 4 January 2017 in A.K.M Giasuddin Milky Auditorium (Khamarbari, Dhaka), the Access to Information (a2i) program of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Department of Agricultural Extension under the Ministry of Agriculture jointly organized a program for launching…
Foxconn invests $8 bn in China LCD plant
Taiwan tech-giant Foxconn plans to build an $8.8-billion factory in China, state media said Saturday, amid reports its billionaire boss is cooling off on future US investments. Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, will spend the vast sum on an industrial…
French workers win ‘right to disconnect’
French companies will be required to guarantee a “right to disconnect” to their employees from Sunday as the country seeks to tackle the modern-day scourge of compulsive out-of-hours email checking. From January 1, a new employment law will enter into…
Avatar-style S. Korean manned robot takes first baby steps
A giant South Korean-built manned robot that walks like a human but makes the ground shake under its weight has taken its first baby steps. Designed by a veteran of science fiction blockbusters, the four-metre-tall (13-foot), 1.5 ton Method-2 towers…
Smartphone-obsessed Finns rank tops in screen time
On the crowded morning metro in Helsinki, silence prevails. Everyone is hunched over their smartphone screens, reading the news, checking emails or watching videos. A loud “yeah!” breaks the quiet, along with delighted screech from a toddler whose mother has…
Canada regulator declarers high speed internet an essential survice
Canada’s telecommunications regulator on Wednesday declared access to high-speed internet an essential service that must be available to all, including rural and remote areas of the world’s second-largest nation by land mass. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)…
Huge solar plant beams power, hope to rural Uganda
When power goes out in the rural town of Soroti in eastern Uganda, store manager Hussein Samsudin can only hope it won’t go on so long it spoils his fresh goods. Another shop owner, Richard Otekat, 37, has to pay…
Zuckerberg builds software butler for his home
Mark Zuckerberg’s artificial intelligence-imbued software “butler”—named Jarvis—is now in service, and even plays with his family, the Facebook chief said Monday. Zuckerberg took on the personal project this year, devoting about 100 hours to making a system inspired by the…
Thousands to attend American space legend John Glenn’s memorial
Thousands were expected to gather Saturday in Ohio for a memorial service to pay tribute to American space legend John Glenn, who died last week at the age of 95. The gathering in the home state of the first American…
Apple, Google oppose effort to build ‘Muslim registry’
Apple and Google spokespeople went on the record saying that the two tech behemoths would be opposed to helping build or contributing to any sort of ‘Muslim Registry’. An Apple spokesperson said: “We think people should be treated the same…
China’s selfie app Meitu debuts on Hong Kong exchange
China’s popular selfie app developer Meitu made a muted debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange Thursday after the biggest IPO by a technology company in the city in almost a decade. With 456 million monthly active users, the Xiamen-based…
Google goes all-in on self-driving cars
By Noah Kulwin Google was the first major tech company to get into self-driving vehicles, revealing its initial prototype in the spring of 2014. Now, two and a half years later, the company is ready turn its research into a…
IBM unveils plan to hire 25,000 in US on eve of Trump meeting
US technology giant IBM said Tuesday it would hire 25,000 people in the country over the next four years, a day before President-elect Donald Trump meets with tech industry leaders. About 6,000 of those hirings will occur in 2017, IBM…
Govt working to bolster cyber security: Ranga
Dhaka – State Minister for LGRD and Co-operatives Moshiur Rahman Ranga on Monday said the government is working to prevent cyber crimes and enhance the standard of internet service.
Tarana’s ministry to track file movement through app on mobiles
Dhaka – State Minister for Posts and Communications Tarana Halim on Monday said the Posts and Telecommunications Division has launched a digital ‘file tracking’ system, accessible through a mobile phone app, with the aim of instilling pace, accountability and transparency…
Samsung prevails over Apple in $399 mn patent appeal
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a $399 million patent infringement penalty imposed on Samsung for copying Apple’s iPhone design, in a case watched for its implications for technology innovation. The shorthanded justices ruled 8-0 that Samsung should not…
Spy’ toys face complaints from EU, US watchdogs
EU and US consumer watchdogs announced Tuesday they are filing complaints against a clutch of smart toys that can “spy” on children and their homes, for allegedly breaching privacy and data protection laws. The complaints target smart toys My Friend…
Buzz Aldrin recovering after polar evacuation, can’t go home
Retired US astronaut and the second man to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, was recovering after his medical evacuation from Antarctica but is not yet able to return home, his manager Christina Korp said Sunday. “He still has some…
Human ancestor Lucy spent much of her time in trees: study
Lucy, the ancient ancestor of modern humans, probably spent at least a third of her day nesting in trees, according to new research unveiled Wednesday. Our 3.18 million-year-old relative, whose fossilized partial skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, likely…
VR offers television producers ‘Hollywood in a box’
On a soundstage no bigger than a large bedroom a cameraman takes up various angles to film a helicopter that isn’t there, landing in a field that isn’t there either. Until recently, virtual reality was the preserve of the gaming…
Samsung Electronics eyes separation in reform plan
Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it was considering splitting the company into two as it faces growing pressure to overhaul its governance during a crucial power transfer in top management. The announcement came as the South Korean electronics giant is seeking…
Computer glitch blamed for European Mars lander crash
A tiny lander that crashed on Mars last month flew into the Red Planet at 540 kilometres (335 miles) per hour instead of gently gliding to a stop, after a computer misjudged its altitude, scientists said. Schiaparelli was on a…
Uber launches service in Bangladesh with Grameenphone
Uber, the taxi-hailing smartphone application, has teamed up with mobile phone operator Grameenphone to launch its operation in Dhaka on 22 November. The company said this would provide reliable and affordable journeys at the push of a button while opening…
Walton receives 200 nat’l, int’l awards
Dhaka – The country’s electronics giant Walton has received about two hundreds small and medium range awards at national and international level for its world-class quality, reasonable price, rapid market expansion, secure lion market share, creation of huge employment opportunity…
Russian spaceship delivers three astronauts to space station
Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday, carrying a European, a Russian and an American astronaut for a six-month mission at the orbiting outpost. “Capture confirmed,” said a NASA commentator as the spacecraft docked at the…