Microsoft develops a ‘virtual commute’ for remote workers
MILLIONS of employees now commute from their bed to a desk at home. After the initial euphoria of skipping smog-filled traffic jams and cramped train compartments, a new reality has dawned in which the work day blends into the rest of life, like a never-ending video conference call. Microsoft Corp. has a solution for this.
Singaporean researchers develop autonomous drone that takes photos
SINGAPORE — As more people shoot pictures and videos from consumer drones, researchers in Singapore have found a way round the frustrating task of framing and...
Sony is planning a whole range of robots after its Aibo pet dog
TOKYO -- The verdict is still out on Sony Corp.’s new pet dog “Aibo,” but that’s not stopping the company from planning a deeper...
‘Jim’ the chatbot helps Singapore bank hire for its wealth business
SINGAPORE’S largest bank is getting help from a chatbot named Jim in its drive to select good candidates for its growing business advising customers on managing their wealth.
Illegal bets, match-fixing, doping: the dark side of electronic sports
LAST AUGUST, police in Australia’s Victoria province arrested six young men competing in the popular online video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The authorities, who had tracked the suspects for six months, said they had deliberately lost at least five tournament matches after illegally betting on their own defeats, in Australia’s first police investigation into esports match-fixing. If convicted, the men face up to 10 years in prison.
Airbnb is close to filing to go public after travel rebound
Airbnb Inc. plans to file paperwork for a stock market listing in the next few weeks paving the way for its shares to start trading as soon as the fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
Clash of consoles: New PlayStation and Xbox enter $150 billion games arena—fight!
TOKYO/CHICAGO/STOCKHOLM — Think Michelangelo vs. Da Vinci. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Batman v Superman. Another epic rivalry is rejoined this week when Sony and Microsoft go head-to-head with the next generation of their blockbuster video-game consoles.
Facebook is relying on robotics to lure researchers of artificial intelligence
FACEBOOK INC. is hiring five well-regarded computer scientists in the US and Europe, adding new facilities to bolster its artificial intelligence research division, and focus on robotics and related-technologies.
Coronavirus pushes shoppers online much faster than expected
KIMARIE SANTIAGO’s small business is the kind of operation US banks and payments companies have been trying to lure online for years. The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic finally made it happen.
Sony cuts PlayStation 5 forecast by 4 million due to chip woes
SONY CORP. has cut its estimated PlayStation 5 production for this fiscal year by 4 million units, down to around 11 million, following production issues with its custom-designed system-on-chip for the new console, according to people familiar with the matter.
Detachable tablet market rebounds
THE worldwide detachable tablet market grew to 6.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017 (4Q17), an increase of 10.3% from the previous...
SoftBank’s Arm to launch new AI chip for small devices
ARM Ltd., (Arm) a semiconductor technology firm owned by SoftBank Group, unveiled a chip technology aimed at putting artificial intelligence (AI) functions on tiny devices such as sensors designed to detect patterns in human speech or other streams of data.