Category:

Technology

London transport regulator strips Ola’s operating licence over public safety failings

Transport for London (TfL) said in a statement that it refused to grant Ola, a Softbank-backed operator, a new London private hire vehicle (PHV) operator’s licence as it “cannot find it fit and proper to hold one after discovering a number of failures that could have risked public safety.”

TfL’s decision came days after Uber won a legal bid to restore its London operating licence, which was taken away over safety concerns, after a judge ruled that the company was a fit and proper operator despite “historical failings”.

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Headwinds for Google as rivals, customers criticise Fitbit concessions

Alphabet’s Google last week offered to restrict the use of Fitbit data for Google ads and to monitor the process closely.

It also offered to make it easier for rival makers of wearables to connect to the Android platform by offering them access to Android software (API), and said third parties would continue to have access to Fitbit users’ data with their consent.

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Meity to seek Cabinet approval for policy on AI-based programmes

“We look at artificial intelligence not from the viewpoint of driverless cars but from solving problems of people and how we can socially empower them through AI. We will make AI a moment in India,” Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.

National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (NSAI) highlighted the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in boosting India”s annual growth rate by 1.3 percentage points by 2035 and identified priority sectors for the deployment of AI with government”s support. 

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U.S. Treasury warns cyber insurers payments to hackers may violate sanctions

The average ransomware payment jumped by 60% to $178,254 between the first and second quarters, according to Coveware a firm that helps negotiate and facilitate cyber ransom payments.

Sophisticated insurers and financial institutions are already aware of the sanctions concern, said Sumon Dantiki, a King & Spalding LLC lawyer who advises on national security and cyber matters.

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France urges parts review after Airbus A380 engine blowout

France’s BEA agency made the recommendation in a final report into the accident in which an Air France jet carrying more than 500 passengers lost the front section of one of its four engines while flying over Greenland, before landing safely in Canada.

The move follows a perilous investigation involving a 21-month international aerial and ground search across the ice sheet to find a crucial titanium alloy fragment, buried 3 metres below the surface and just a metre away from a hidden crevasse.

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Microsoft says Russia behind most nation-state cyber-attacks

Microsoft Corp. has issued 13,000 alerts about nation-state hacking attempts to its customers in the last two years, with 52% of incidents between July 2019 and June 2020 related to Russian hackers — whose targets have ranged from elections to the Olympics, according to a report published Tuesday. Iran was responsible for a quarter of the alerts while China was responsible for 12%. The remainder of the nation-state activity observed by Microsoft came from North Korea and other countries.

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