DENVER (AP) — Colorado officials have cleared the language of a proposed ballot measure that would establish the nation’s first legal limits on buying smartphones for children. Backers of the move to forbid the sale of smartphones to children younger than 13 would now need about 300,000 voter signatures for the proposal to make the…
Peyton Manning to Advise Riddell on Product Development
Peyton Manning will be advising helmet manufacturer Riddell on product development. The five-time NFL MVP, who retired after the 2015 season, wore Riddell’s helmets and shoulder pads throughout his career. His insights will be used to help inform the many aspects of helmet design and development for the company. He also will work with the…
Rhode Island Considers Broadband Internet Privacy
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island state legislators are considering protections for broadband privacy. Legislation pending in the state’s General Assembly is designed to protect residents from disclosure of personally identifiable online information by commercial websites or internet service providers. Rep. Evan Shanley, a Warwick Democrat who sponsored the bill, says it’s a response to the repeal…
Jetblue, Delta Will Test Biometric Boarding Passes
Boarding passes could someday become quaint relics for air travelers. JetBlue Airways plans to test facial-recognition check-in for a few flights beginning later this month, and Delta Air Lines plans to let some passengers board with their fingerprints instead of a boarding pass. The once-ubiquitous paper boarding pass is already shunned by many travelers who…
U.S. Sues Oracle, Says It Pays White Men More Than Others
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Oracle, claiming that the technology giant has a “systemic practice” of paying white male workers more than their non-white and female counterparts with the same job titles. The suit also says that the company favors Asian workers in its recruiting and…
Phone Hacking Company Falls Victim to Hackers
Cellebrite, a digital forensics firm known for helping law enforcement crack into locked smartphones, has itself fallen victim to hackers. Technology news website Motherboard said Thursday that it had obtained 900 gigabytes of data related to the Israel-based company. It said the trove of data includes customer information, databases and technical data about the company’s…
Cellphone, WiFi Coverage Goes Live at NYC Subway Stations
Cellphone and Wi-Fi coverage is now being provided for commuters at each of New York City’s many underground subway stations, one year ahead of schedule. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office has announced that service for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless customers will be available across the city’s subway system beginning Monday. Early delivery of the…
The Latest at CES: Companies Up ‘Wow’ Factor to Stand Out
The Latest on the CES gadget show in Las Vegas (all times local): 3:30 p.m. Companies are upping the “wow” factor trying to stand out as the CES gadget show formally opens in Las Vegas. Samsung, one of the largest exhibitors at the show, is offering demonstrations of its boat racing, air show and other…
The Latest at CES: From Drones to AI, Top CES 2017 Trends
The Latest on CES gadget show in Las Vegas (all times local): 5 p.m. Top trends expected to emerge at CES this year include an explosion of voice-controlled interfaces, subtle integration of artificial intelligence into everyday life and increasing digitization in areas like health and wellness. The 50th annual CES this week in Las Vegas…
Pennsylvania to FCC: Keep Broadband Internet Cash in State
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is staking its claim to more than $23 million in federal funding that Verizon turned down to expand high-speed internet service to rural customers in the state. The Federal Communication Commission’s Connect America Fund provides funding to telecommunications providers to build new network infrastructure or upgrade existing broadband networks in regions that…
Virgin Galactic’s New Spaceship Makes First Glide Flight
Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship successfully completed its first free flight with a glide test over the Mojave Desert, the company said. The craft was carried aloft Saturday morning by its mothership, released at an altitude of 50,000 feet and, with pilots Mark Stuck and Dave Mackay in the cockpit, glided for 10 minutes to a…
Photos of the Day: Supermoon Puts on a Show Around the World
The moon is putting on a show for sky gazers worldwide. The phenomenon known as the supermoon occurs because the moon follows an elliptical orbit around the Earth. This week, the moon is coming closer to the Earth than at any time since January 1948. The supermoon appears about 14 percent larger in diameter and…
High-res Commercial Satellite Launches from California Coast
A commercial satellite capable of taking high-resolution images from space was launched Friday from a military base along the California coast. The satellite known as WorldView-4 was lifted into orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. WorldView-4 is the latest in a series of imaging satellites built by Lockheed Martin. It…
Researchers Training in Hawaii to Simulate Mars Mission
Scientists will mix biology and geology this month inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park as they help NASA get ready for an eventual manned mission to Mars. The researchers will hike around Mauna Ulu to practice collecting rock samples as they would on the Red Planet, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald (http://bit.ly/2fku86J) reported Friday. The purpose is to…
India Launches Phone App to Monitor New Delhi’s Pollution
India’s capital, laboring under the label of being the world’s most polluted city, is trying something new to help clean up its air. A smartphone application that allows residents to report the presence of construction dust or the burning of leaves and garbage in New Delhi’s public parks to authorities was launched Friday. The “Hawa…
SpaceX’s Elon Musk Elaborates on Plan to Colonize Mars
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has given more details about his plan to colonize Mars. Musk answered questions on Reddit on Sunday. The session was a follow up to Musk’s comments at a space conference in Mexico last month during which he unveiled his plan to send up to 1 million people to Mars within the next 40…
Scientists in Europe Downplay Likely Loss of Mars Lander
Scientists at the European Space Agency downplayed the likely loss of its Mars lander, saying Thursday that a wealth of data sent back by the experimental probe would help them prepare for a future mission to the red planet. The Schiaparelli lander was designed mainly to test technology for a European robotic mission to Mars…
Billionaire to Use Winged Rockets for Satellite Launches
Billionaire Paul G. Allen’s Stratolaunch will use Orbital ATK Pegasus XL winged rockets for its airborne satellite launch system. The choice was jointly announced Thursday by Stratolaunch Systems of Mojave, California, and Orbital ATK of Dulles, Virginia. Stratolaunch is building a giant, six-engine jet that will release launch vehicles at high altitude. The twin-fuselage aircraft…
Official: Hackers Who Hit French TV Station Are Still Active
A French official says the hackers who knocked a French television station offline last year are still regularly trying break in to French government computers. Senior French cybersecurity official Guillaume Poupard says sensors deployed at government ministries routinely pick up electronic signatures linked to the group. The revelation adds another dose of intrigue to the…
Iran’s Space Agency ‘Interested’ in Cooperating with NASA
The head of Iran’s space agency said Tuesday his country is interested in cooperating with NASA. Speaking to reporters at the start of World Space Week, Mohsen Bahrami said that “many in the world look at NASA’s programs. We are interested in having cooperation, naturally. When you are in orbit, there is no country and…
WikiLeaks’ Assange Promises Leaks on U.S. Election, Google
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange promised “significant” disclosures on subjects including the U.S. election and Google in the coming weeks as the secret-spilling group marked its 10th anniversary on Tuesday. Assange said WikiLeaks plans to start publishing new material starting this week, but wouldn’t specify the timing and subject. Speaking by video link to an anniversary…
Federal Judge Rejects Suit Over U.S. Control of Internet Group
A federal judge has rejected an attempt by three conservative states to block the U.S. government from ceding oversight of some of the internet’s core systems. U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. in Galveston, Texas, denied Friday a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona. They sought to keep the…
Scientists Bid Farewell to Comet Probe, Eye More Discoveries
Scientists are saying their final farewells to the Rosetta space probe ahead of its planned crash-landing on a comet. The probe was launched in 2004 and took a decade to reach comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it released a lander in November 2014. Both Rosetta and its lander Philae have gathered a wealth of data about 67P…
China, Britain, France Sign Pact for New UK Nuclear Plant
Officials from China, Britain and France have attended a signing ceremony to mark the final approval for the construction of the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station in southwest England. The 18 billion-pound ($23 billion) project will be financed by Chinese nuclear power provider CGN and French energy group EDF. It will be Britain’s first…
The Latest: New Jersey Doesn’t Have Key Rail Safety System
The Latest on the commuter train that crashed into a station in New Jersey (all times local): 11:40 a.m. The New Jersey Transit train that crashed in Hoboken, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others, was not equipped with a technology that is designed to slow speeding trains. U.S. railroads are under government…