Google asked the US Federal Aviation Administration for permission to test a drone for monitoring and fighting fires. However, its drone plans, which were published Thursday in the federal register, have since been extinguished. The request came from Alphabet’s Google Research Climate and Energy Group — not the company’s Wing subsidiary, whose drone delivery service …
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Microsoft on Wednesday threw its support behind a proposed Australian law that would compel tech companies to share royalties with news publishers. Google and Facebook have fought the draft regulatory code, which would force them into mediated negotiations with publishers. “The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses,” Microsoft president Brad …
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Microsoft’s Azure Quantum service opened to the public on Monday, bringing the radically different computing technology to the world’s second-biggest cloud computing service. Azure Quantum includes quantum computers made by Honeywell and IonQ. These machines use a design called an ion trap that employs electrically charged atoms as qubits, the fundamental element used by quantum computers to store and process …
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If you own a smart TV and plan to watch the Super Bowl this Sunday, now’s the time to make sure it has the CBS Sports app (or one of the other apps that will be streaming the game). If it doesn’t, or you’re just generally unhappy with the TV’s app selection or user interface, here’s your upgrade path: For …
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John Matze, the CEO and co-founder of social media platform Parler, said in a LinkedIn post Wednesday that he’s been fired by the company’s board. Matze’s termination came just weeks after Parler, which had become a haven for racist and right-wing extremist content, was forced offline for allowing posts about the Capitol Hill insurrection. The storming of the Capitol on …
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Google is giving Android TV an update to make it look more like its new Google TV software, adding three new tabs to its home screen interface. Rolling out from Wednesday, the update will revamp the interface to feature tabs for Home, Discover and Apps. Similar to the layout of Google TV, all three tabs will be located at the …
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IBM unveiled on Wednesday improvements to quantum computing software that it expects will increase performance of its complex machines by a factor of 100, a development that builds on Big Blue’s progress in making the advanced computing hardware. In a road map, the computing giant targeted the release of quantum computing applications over the next two years that will tackle …
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Google is adding new ways to help users find and support Black-owned businesses. Starting last July, US merchants with a verified Google Business Profile could add a Black-owned business attribute to their profile so customers can see that it’s Black-owned when they find that business through Google Search and Maps. This week, Google extended the Black-owned attribute to the site’s Shopping tab, …
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Apple has added support for speech recognition technology into a version of its Safari web browser the company is testing with the release of MacOS 11.3 Big Sur for developers. The speech recognition interface lets websites and web apps listen to spoken words and use the resulting text. Apple released the developer beta version of MacOS 11.3 on Tuesday. The …
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A new Google feature called About This Result is meant to help users make a more informed decision about what they’ve just searched for. Starting Monday, users of the search engine will see a new menu icon that you can tap after you’ve Googled a topic. When you click the menu icon, the About This Result feature will tell you …
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