Google LLC is pushing ahead with the roll out of its human voicelike Duplex technology despite the moral indignation it received when it was first demonstrated. The technology, for those who missed the first public demonstration at Google’s I/O developer conference in May, delivers next-generation conversational artificial intelligence to voice delivery through a service that can interact in a surprisingly ...

Facebook Inc. has formally disbanded its little-known drone development division, a year after anything was last heard about it. The program, announced back in 2014, was intended by Facebook to bring the internet to the “billions of people across the globe who don’t have access” via solar-powered drones that could remain aloft for 90 days ...

Less than a day after a new report found that the hospitality industry is now a favorite target of hackers, FastBooking SAS, a cloud e-marketing and booking solutions provider for hotels, is the latest company to be compromised. The hack, which took place on June 14, involved the theft of guests’ first and last names, ...

In a backflip worthy of an Olympic medal, Facebook Inc. today rescinded its blanket ban on all things crypto, though various terms and conditions will now apply. Facebook banned all advertising related to cryptocurrencies, including anything to do with bitcoin and initial coin offerings, back in January. The move was pitched as protecting users from “misleading or ...

Facebook Inc.-owned photo-sharing app Instagram is continuing on its merry expansion path, launching a new group video chat feature as new data finds that its users are more obsessed with the service than ever. Users can now hold a video chat for up to four people in Instagram Direct, Instagram’s messaging service. “Video chat gives you ...

Cloud-based drone mapping and analytics platform DroneDeploy today said it has raised $25 million in new funding to expand both its offerings and its ecosystem of platform apps. The Series C round, bringing company’s total funding to $56 million, was led by Invenergy Future Fund with support from AirTree, Scale Venture Partners, Uncork Capital, Emergence Capital and AngelPad. ...

The hospitality industry has become the favorite target of botnets and distributed denial-of-service attacks. That’s the surprising takeaway from a report released today by Akamai Technologies Inc. The Summer State of the Internet Security report, which delved into cyberattack trends for the six-month period from November 2017 through April 2018, reveals the importance of maintaining agility not ...

In a confidence boost to the cryptocurrency market, leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz today launched its first dedicated crypto-focused fund to invest in crypto companies and protocols. The a16z crypto fund, which starts with $300 million in its investment kitty, will be co-led by former U.S. Department of Justice federal prosecutor and Coinbase ...

Facebook Inc.-owned photo-sharing app Instagram continues to go from strength to strength, with one analyst today valuing the service at $100 billion. That’s 100 times more than the social network giant paid for the company in 2012, as Instagram’s user numbers continue to surge and the company has launched a new dedicated video service. The figure ...

Apple Inc. today released the first beta test versions of its main operating systems, iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, giving early adopters their first taste of the software announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference June 4. Leading the headlines is the iOS 12 public beta, with the first release offering a range of new features ...