Duncan Riley
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Uber has started sharing traffic data with local authorities
In a decided change of direction for a company that doesn’t usually play nice with local governments, Uber Technologies Inc. has announced its intention to share its traffic data with cities around the world. The program, dubbed “Uber Movement,” will see the ridesharing giant sharing data with local authorities starting in the cities of Manila, ...
Google’s Waymo to start testing self-driving Chrysler minivans this month
Waymo, the company previously known as Google Inc.’s self-driving car division, is finally starting to get serious about bringing its technology to market with the deployment of a test program with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. The two companies are planning to test about 100 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivans later this month, all fitted with Waymo’s own suite ...
Bitcoin price suddenly plunges as Chinese yuan strengthens in value
What China giveth, China taketh away. Thanks to a rise in the value of the Chinese yuan, the price of bitcoin plunged Thursday from recent near-record highs. Bitcoin breached the $1,000 mark on Jan. 1 before hitting a three-year high of $1,139.89 on Wednesday, just short of its all-time record of $1,163. But it dropped a ...
FBI allegedly hacked as agents’ details get published online
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has allegedly been hacked by a group or person with links to the Anonymous cyber collective. CyberZeist claims to have gained access to the Plone content management system used on the FBI.gov site by using a zero-day exploit that is available on the dark web. On gaining access, the hackers ...
Google acquires Limes Audio for improved sound quality in G Suite
Google Inc. has acquired Swedish sound company Limes Audio AB to improve the quality of sound in its G Suite of products. Founded in 2007, Limes Audio offers professional audio signal processing for speech enhancement with technology that it claims makes speakerphones sound better by removing disturbing echoes and noise. The company was founded on academic research ...
Nvidia teams with Audi in promise to deliver fully self-driving car by 2020
When most people think about Nvidia Corp., they likely think of graphics cards, or maybe its newer foray into artificial intelligence. That could soon change as the chip maker this week jumped much deeper than ever before into powering self-driving cars. Nvidia on Wednesday night at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas announced that not ...
BMW and Accenture build augmented reality app to show vehicle options
BMW Group has teamed up with Accenture PLC to develop a new augmented reality app based on Google’s Tango platform to allow customers to see a virtual representation of a customized vehicle. The app, announced Wednesday, allows customers to configure, customize and walk around a BMW i3 and i8 before they purchase it, so they know ...
BMW to conduct trials of self-driving cars powered by Intel and Mobileye
BMW Group will start a trial of self-driving cars that use technology from Mobileye Technologies Ltd. and Intel Corp. later this year, BMW announced at the Consumer Electronics Show Wednesday. The trial, which is scheduled to start in the second half of 2017, will feature a fleet of approximately 40 autonomous 7 Series sedans testing the technology ...
Good news and bad news for 2017 consumer tech sales: up in U.S., down globally
Despite global economic uncertainty, there’s good news for the U.S. technology market in the year ahead, as the Consumer Technology Association projects the consumer tech industry could rise 1.5 percent to a record $292 billion in retail sales in 2017. The bad news? The report predicts global consumer technology sales will decline to $929 million, a 2 percent ...
LG launches Hub Robot, a new twist on smart home assistants
LG Electronics Inc. is the latest company to join the smart home assistant market, launching the cute-looking Hub Robot at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday. Complete with a set of blue eyes, the Hub Robot uses Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa’s voice recognition technology to complete household tasks such as turning on the air conditioner ...