California Wants to Stop Hackers from Controlling IoT Gadgets
Democratic California governor Jerry Brown is making history by signing a bill into law that sets cybersecurity standards for Internet-connected devices. This includes all Internet-connected devices: your smart refrigerator, thermostat, car, computer, and everything in between. His signature would make California the first state to pass a law surrounding cybersecurity of the Internet of Things […]
Trump Says Google Is Rigged – Is It True?
Google handles about 90% of the world’s searches every day, making it the clear-cut leader of search engines. Recently, President Donald Trump took to Twitter, his favorite social media platform, to discuss Google search results about himself. Basically, he asserted that Google was rigged. Many U.S. citizens assumed Trump’s lack of technical skills was the cause […]
California Passes Strongest Net Neutrality Law in the United States of America
A few months ago, we were super excited about California’s net neutrality bill successfully moving through the state’s Senate. A few days ago, we got even better news: the bill passed with approval through the State Assembly. The bill changed a bit between the Senate and Assembly, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation calls the final version […]
Is It Time to Regulate AI-Fueled Facial Recognition?
Facial recognition is blooming; it’s already used in airports and police stations, on China’s streets, and as training data for new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. As AI developers continue applying the technology to facial recognition, it’s becoming readily apparent that the potential for abuse is growing as well. So why isn’t there any regulation in place? […]
Y Combinator’s Bold Basic Income Plan Is off to a Rocky Start
Ideas strictly in the realm of FinTech development aren’t the only ones making waves amongst finance industry insiders and economists. Universal basic income, a program in which citizens of a society receive a predetermined amount of money with no strings attached, has gained its fair share of media attention in recent years. And Y Combinator wants […]
Google Wanted to Change China, but is China Changing Google?
In the early days of Google, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin probably didn’t ever imagine that their main motto, “Don’t be evil,” would be the center of controversy 20 years later. In 2004, the founders told investors at Google’s initial public offering (IPO), “Google is not a conventional company,” and added that they planned to […]
Verizon Throttled Firefighter Data during California Wildfire
Verizon recently throttled the data connection that firefighters were relying on during an emergency fire response effort in Santa Clara, about an hour outside of San Francisco. Anthony Bowden, the Santa Clara County Fire Chief, expressed his disappointment in Verizon in an official statement: “This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to […]
China Is Building AI-Powered Submarines
Who said all the hot artificial intelligence (AI) innovation is being developed in San Francisco and other U.S. tech hubs? China has built AI-powered submarines — and plans to launch them in hotly-contested surrounding seas by 2020. Many Questions, Few Answers Many of the details surrounding these submarines are shrouded in secrecy. Per the South […]
Is Google Still Tracking You After You Opted Out?
Have you opted out of Google’s location tracking? An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has revealed that the tech titan may take this option as more of a preference than a stern command — many of the services it offers don’t stop recording your location, even after you’ve told them to. The Benefit of […]
Blockchain-Based Betting Could Cause Some Big Problems in FinTech
Being a technological frontier, FinTech development already has its fair share of headaches and problems to work through. But a new blockchain-based betting platform that lets people wager on the deaths of celebrities could cause some colossal issues never seen before. Betting on Unfortunate Events Augur is a blockchain platform that lets people bet on […]