Jan 19, 2021 4:00 AM PT
DuckDuckGo, the search engine that prioritizes privacy, reached a significant milestone last week, racking up more than 100 million searches in a single day.
According to the search engine s website, it recorded 102,251,307 searches on Jan. 11, an historical high for the 12-year-old company. For the month, it s averaging more than 90 million searches a day, a 73 percent increase over the same period in 2020, when the average was around 52 million searches per day.
While still a paltry number compared to the more than five billion daily searches performed by market leader Google, the milestone is a major one for the search engine that doesn t store any of its users personal information, doesn t archive their search histories, and doesn t track their search activity.
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//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Jan 5, 2021 4:11 AM PT
A new mobile processor announced by Qualcomm Technologies Monday is expected to spawn a wave of economically priced 5G smartphones.
Phones with the Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform will be in the $125 to $250 price range, Qualcomm President Cristiano R. Amon predicted on Twitter in September.
Great question. We expect to see prices ranging from $125 to $250 USD. Lots of phones . In China, 5G price points can already address 60% of the market. With the new Snapdragon 4 in Q121, the transition from 4G to 5G will significantly accelerate globally. The 400 series is designed for phones that go into low-priced markets outside the U.S. China, India, places where price sensitivity is a bigger issue, explained Bob O Donnell, founder and chief analyst with Technalysis Research, a technology market research and consulting firm in Foster City, Calif.
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//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Jan 27, 2021 11:35 AM PT
An online map of surveillance cameras in New York City is in the works.
The map project is part of a larger campaign called Ban the Scan, sponsored by Amnesty International, which is partnering on the initiative with several other tech advocacy, privacy, and civil liberties groups. We need a map so citizens can have a sense where they are being observed by the NYPD as they go about their everyday lives, explained Michael Kleinman, director of Amnesty USA s Silicon Valley Initiative. It also gives the citizens of New York, and more broadly people who are concerned about the issue of facial recognition, a sense of just how pervasive this kind of surveillance is, he told TechNewsWorld.
Dec 2, 2020 9:03 AM PT
Libra, the digital currency announced by Facebook last year, is getting a new name. Libra will now be Diem.
The new name will reenforce the currency project s independence, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Libra Association, which is also changing its name. From now on it will be the Diem Association. What s the best way to get people to think about a product differently? asked Josh Crandall, CEO and co-founder of NetPop Research. Change the name.
He maintained the name change is Facebook s way to create a blank slate for the currency. The Libra rollout was rife with conflicts between partners and positioning statements that roiled the industry, he explained to TechNewsWorld. They had to bury that history however they could and changing the name was the fastest means to an end.
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//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Dec 30, 2020 5:00 AM PT
Final rules governing unmanned aircraft, commonly known as drones, were released Monday by the Federal Aviation Administration, a move expected to open the door for delivery of consumer packages by air.
The rules establish minimum standards for safety so drones can fly over populated areas and at night, under certain conditions.
According to an FAA statement, the rules come at a time when drones represent the fastest-growing segment in the entire transportation sector. Currently there are more than 1.7 million drone registrations and 203,000 FAA-certificated remote pilots, the agency stated. These final rules carefully address safety, security and privacy concerns while advancing opportunities for innovation and utilization of drone technology, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in the statement.