U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic LLC and SoftBank Group Corp invests $107 million in Brazilian facial recognition startup Acesso Digital

In a statement Brazil’s facial biometrics and digital admission startup Acesso Digital said, Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic LLC are leading a $107.25 million (580 million reais) funding round. Following the investment, both, General Atlantic and SoftBank, will hold a minority stake in Acesso Digital. Founded in 2007, Acesso…

Prices of Huawei phones rising every hour on fears on shortages

Chinese consumers are rushing to purchase Huawei’s smartphone featuring its high-end Kirin chips, fearing that the company’s production of its premium handsets will face punitive curbs by U.S. trade action. According to Huaqiangbei, smartphone vendors in China’s southern city of Shenzhen, are seeing a steady rise in the prices of used and new Huawei phones…

Heightened demand for human augmentation technology: survey results by Opinium Research

According to a research report commissioned by Kaspersky, two thirds of those who were surveyed in leading Western European countries consider technology induced augmentation of human body parts, most of which are related to improving health, will improve their lives. With technological revolutions shaping humanities near future, tech leaders opine it will change every aspect…

Portland’s city council bans govt and corporate use of facial recognition technology

Portland has voted for the first ever ban on facial recognition in the United States in private entities, including restaurants and retail stores, as well as in public places in the city. Portland’s city council voted to ban local government bureaus from acquiring or using facial recognition surveillance technology. Other U.S. cities which have previously…

Australia’s upcoming law will force Facebook and Google to pay for sharing domestic media content

In a statement, U.S. social media giant Facebook Inc said, it would block news publishers and people in Australia from sharing news on its app, including Instagram and Facebook if a proposed bill which forces it pay local media outlets for content, becomes law. In July, the Australian government said it would require tech giants…

Tech firms deploy Bluetooth enabled contact tracing apps to contain spread of coronavirus

Technology companies have begun developing their own contact tracing systems to help prevent and contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreaks in their offices. The development comes in the wake of countries begining to ease lockdown measures and return to the workplace. Juniper Networks Inc plans on equipping its nearly 10,000 employees with work identification…

Samsung Electronics breaks ground for 6th domestic contract chip manufacturing facility

On Thursday, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd stated, it has broken ground for its sixth domestic contract chip production line which will produce logic chips. The development comes in the wake of Samsung’s efforts to reduce its reliance on the volatile memory chip sector. With this move, Samsung will be taking on bigger rival Taiwan Semiconductor…

U.S and Japan to collaborate on economic security including 5G technology

On Saturday, the United States and Japan agreed to start a dialogue on economic security which includes 5G mobile networks as well as the export of civilian technology that also has military use, reported Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper. On Friday, the U.S. administration moved to block the global supply of chips to Chinese 5G equipment giant…