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Technology

Debris from China space rocket likely to fall in international waters -Global Times

“All debris can be potential threats to spaceflight safety and the space domain,” the Pentagon said, adding that the 18th Space Control Squadron in California would be offering daily updates on the rocket body’s location from May 4. The White House said the United States was committed to addressing the risks of congestion due to space debris and wants to work with the international community “to promote leadership and responsible space behaviors.”

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Google’s earthquake alerts system to be made available in more countries

The tech giant announced that the earthquake alerts will now be available in two more locations. Android users in Greece and New Zealand will now receive automatic notifications about earthquakes in the regions. Google stated that it chose these countries because they lack early warning system alerts. Users can turn these notifications off if they like.

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Global e-commerce jumps to $26.7 trillion, fuelled by COVID-19

The digital retail economy experienced the most growth in the Republic of Korea, where internet sales increased from around one in five transactions in 2019 to more than one in four last year.

The UK also saw a spike in online transactions over the same period, from 15.8 to 23.3 per cent; so too did China (from 20.7 to 24.9 per cent), the US (11 to 14 per cent), Australia (6.3 to 9.4 per cent), Singapore (5.9 to 11.7 per cent) and Canada (3.6 to 6.2 per cent).
“These statistics show the growing importance of online activities”, said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s director of technology and logistics. “They also point to the need for countries, especially developing ones, to have such information as they rebuild their economies in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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Billions of computers at hacking risk: Indian-origin scientist

However, researchers, led by Ashish Venkat at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, UVA Engineering, discovered that computer processors are open to hackers again.

They found a whole new way for hackers to exploit something called a “micro-op cache,” which speeds up computing by storing simple commands and allowing the processor to fetch them quickly and early in the speculative execution process.

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A City Tailor-Made for Self-Driving Cars? Toyota Is Building One 

E-palettes will run through the city using autonomous vehicle lanes, providing shared transportation, delivering packages and acting as mobile storefronts.

Beyond futuristic mobility options, the city will also feature smart homes that take out trash and restock refrigerators automatically, according to Toyota. The entire ecosystem will also be powered by hydrogen. It’s a big and ambitious bet for the automaker — although no investment figures have been disclosed, costs are likely to run upwards of a billion dollars. To help fund the project,
Toyota said last month it would sell as much as 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion) in “Woven Planet Bonds,” the biggest such issue at the time to be used in part for the new city.

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Blocking Google class action would deny justice, UK court told

The case has been called “ground-breaking” and “hugely significant” by lawyers, who say it will trigger copycat claims if businesses are not fair or transparent when harvesting and using troves of personal data for commercial gain.

Claims against Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and hotels operator Marriott are among those awaiting the Supreme Court judgment.

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China orders fintech firms to stick to the rules as clampdown widens

The companies will have to set up financial holding companies if they meet requirements to do so, as Alibaba’s fintech affiliate Ant Group was recently forced to do, a move that tightens capital requirements.

They should also draft “business rectification” plans to comply with regulations, cut “improper” links between their payment tools and other financial products, break “monopolies” in holding data, and prevent risks in internet mutual aid businesses.

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U.S. Labor Secretary supports classifying gig workers as employees

“We are looking at it but in a lot of cases gig workers should be classified as employees… in some cases they are treated respectfully and in some cases they are not and I think it has to be consistent across the board,” Walsh told Reuters in an interview, expressing his view on the topic for the first time.

“These companies are making profits and revenue and I’m not (going to) begrudge anyone for that because that’s what we are about in America. But we also want to make sure that success trickles down to the worker,” he said.

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