Charlette N’Guessan is the first woman to win the prestigious prize since it was established in 2014, and the first winner from Ghana. The prize was awarded for BACE API, which uses facial recognition to verify identities remotely. N’Guessan and her team decided to go ahead with the project in 2018, after they discovered that … Read more
Hearing loss happens to many of us. The US National Institutes of Health, for example, estimates that one in eight Americans aged 12 years and older has hearing loss in both ears. Twenty-five per cent of adults aged between 65 and 75, and half of those aged 75 and older, experience disabling hearing loss. According … Read more
A University of Oxford paper which explores the hypothetical collapse of Facebook has recommended a new regulatory framework for ‘systemically important technological institutions’, which draws on existing regulation for global financial institutions and public utilities. Facebook going the way of MySpace is unlikely, with the company sailing mostly unharmed through its largest-ever advertiser boycott, increasing … Read more
Engineers who have designed Covid-19 applicable technologies including a high-performance ventilator, a personal respirator for healthcare workers and an environmentally friendly face shield have received awards from the Royal Academy of Engineering. The Academy recently launched a special set of awards for those who have created inventions designed to help with the pandemic. 19 individuals … Read more
According to the Financial Times, software giant Oracle has held preliminary discussions with ByteDance to discuss the potential acquisition of its subsidiary TikTok. Microsoft and Twitter are also involved in discussions. As trade tensions between the US and China escalate, US President Donald Trump is focusing his attacks on Chinese tech companies with a global … Read more
Cornell University computer scientists have developed a tool which can improve the fairness of online search rankings, without sacrificing relevance or usefulness. For much of the world, Google Search is the entrance to the rest of the internet (other search engines are available). With most users clicking the results towards the top of the first page of returned … Read more
First, true wireless earbuds were the high-water mark for new Bluetooth audio gadgets. Now, it’s true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation – the ANC often seen in product names, such as with these ‘London’ buds from hip Swedish audio brand Urbanista. ‘London’ follows previous Urbanista city-linked releases, such as Stockholm, Paris, Athens, Chicago, Boston, … Read more
Apple and Google have announced a new contact-tracing system designed to help public authorities track potential coronavirus transmission between individuals without having to build their own app. Apple and Google have announced a new contact-tracing system designed to help public authorities track potential coronavirus transmission between individuals without having to build their own app. The … Read more
IBM, Microsoft and others have committed $300m to a joint initiative with the US Government to set up 12 research institutes that are looking into AI and quantum information sciences. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that the effort is designed to ensure the US continues to excel at the new technologies amid hot competition … Read more
A new system to assess the structural health of bridges using AI and an array of sensors is being developed by a team at the University of Texas at Arlington. Modern bridges are typically built with weight-in-motion systems including sensors that measure vibrations, strain and deflection. By measuring the bridge’s response to these elements, they … Read more