TECH - Page 38

Scientists have bridged the gap between prosthetics and the human body, allowing users’ nervous and skeletal systems to control their replacement limbs. The breakthrough, which has stood up to years of daily use, has restored around 80% of daily hand and finger movement to a Swedish amputee and may have even relieved the phantom pain she’s experienced since her accident nearly 20 years ago. The team led by Max Ortiz Catalan, a neuromusculoskeletal engineer and head of neural prosthetics research

Apple chief Tim Cook made a surprise visit to China this week, greeting gamers in the southwestern city of Chengdu as his company faces slumping phone sales in its biggest market. In a post late Monday on his account on the Weibo social media platform, Cook said he had visited Apple’s Taikoo Li store in Chengdu and met young players of the “Honour of Kings” game, which is published by Chinese tech giant Tencent and is one of the most

Microsoft’s LinkedIn said on Monday it would lay off 668 employees across its engineering, talent, and finance teams in the second round of job cuts this year for the social media network for professionals amid slowing revenue growth. The company, which employs about 20,000 people worldwide, said the move affected more than 3% of its staff. “Talent changes are a difficult but necessary and regular part of managing our business,” it said in a blog post. LinkedIn, which 950 million

An Australian regulator has fined Elon Musk’s social media platform X $386,500 for failing to cooperate with a probe into anti-child abuse practices. It’s a blow to a company that has struggled to keep advertisers amid complaints it is going soft on moderating content. The e-Safety Commission said X had failed to respond to questions including how long it took to respond to reports of child abuse material on its platform and what steps it takes to detect and remove

The U.S. will take steps to prevent American chipmakers from selling semiconductors to China that circumvent government restrictions, a U.S. official said, as part of the Biden administration’s upcoming actions to block more A.I. chip exports. The new rules, details of which Reuters is reporting for the first time, will be added to sweeping U.S. restrictions on shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China unveiled last October. The updates are expected this week. The new measures could significantly

Elon Musk’s X illegally fired an employee in retaliation for her internet posts challenging its return-to-office policy, the U.S. labor board alleged on Friday in its first-ever formal complaint against the company. The NLRB’s San Francisco office found that X violated federal law when it fired engineer Yao Yue, who criticized management for ordering employees back to work after the Thanksgiving holiday and tweeted to fellow workers, “Don’t resign, let him fire you.” In her tweet and a message on

Meta is increasing enforcement of its policies against violent posts and misinformation amid the Israel-Hamas war as charged images and posts balloon. The Elon Musk-backed company, along with X (formerly Twitter) and other social media platforms, has faced pressure from Europe to remain vigilant on misinformation throughout the conflict in light of European Union law that requires them to monitor and remove illegal content from their sites. Meta said in a blog post-Friday that it’s created a special operations center

If a Lincoln Lawyer coffee mug or a Stranger Things t-shirt isn’t enough to express your fandom, you may soon be able to take your Netflix obsession to the next level. The streaming platform is reportedly set to open brick-and-mortar retail stores called Netflix House, where fans can shop for merchandise, eat themed food, and engage in activities based on their favorite movies and shows. The first two sites are slated to open in 2025 in the US before the

Sony is launching cloud streaming for the PS5 console, a new feature available to PS Plus Premium – the highest-tier – members only. It will let players stream select Game Catalog titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, and more without having to download them or own them. The service will work with the PS5’s internal storage or an external hard drive, and users can play up to three games simultaneously over a home Wi-Fi connection.

Microsoft said on Wednesday the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in September notified the company that it is seeking an additional tax payment of $28.9 billion, plus penalties and interest, for tax years from 2004 to 2013. Microsoft disputes the figure. The Redmond, Washington-based company is involved in a long IRS audit focusing on how companies allocate their profit among different countries and jurisdictions. This is a mechanism that critics say allows corporations to minimize their tax burden. For over