Technology Archives - Ceylon Independent

A Homegrown Intelligence for a Trilingual Nation

11Feb

By ILanka AdminNo Comments

Business, Technology

A Homegrown Intelligence for a Trilingual Nation

Sri Lanka’s conversation about artificial intelligence has quietly crossed a threshold. The question is no longer whether large language models can answer questions. It is whether they can answer them in Sinhala or Tamil, rooted in local law, aligned with school syllabi, and informed by the way Sri Lankan institutions, markets and public services actually function. What is emerging is the idea of a distinctly national model — not a larger brain, but one educated on Sri Lanka. At the center of this shift is Chat2Find, a technology platform that has spent years assembling the most essential ingredient for such a system: curated, domain-specific knowledge drawn from authoritative local sources. Rather than building a model from the ground up, the platform connects powerful open large langu...

Google Photos will now ship individual prints directly to your door

9Sep

By AdminNo Comments

Technology, The World

Google Photos will now ship individual prints directly to your door

Google Photos now lets you order prints of specific photographs and get them shipped to homes in the US for as little as $0.18 plus shipping, the company has announced. Although it’s previously been possible to print individual photos through Google Photos until now you’ve had to pick them up from a local Walmart, CVS, or Walgreens. Otherwise, getting prints shipped has required paying for Google’s $6.99 a month photo subscription, which sends 10 cardstock photo prints each month. Alongside the new shipping option, Google is also expanding the sizes available. There’s now the option of getting prints in larger 11x14, 12x18, 16x20, and 20x30-inch sizes, in addition to the previously available 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10-inch options. Canvas prints, which were already available with shipping, are also...

Firefly’s Alpha rocket detonated by Space Force during first launch

6Sep

By AdminNo Comments

Technology, The World

Firefly’s Alpha rocket detonated by Space Force during first launch

Small launch company Firefly’s Alpha rocket exploded mid-flight Thursday night, minutes after a clean liftoff during its first attempt to reach space. The rocket was terminated, Space Force officials said, as it began tipping sideways off course just after reaching supersonic speeds. Firefly said it’s working with regulators to investigate the cause of the failure. Alpha, a two-stage rocket standing ten stories tall, lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California at 9:59PM ET on Thursday, aiming to send a payload of tiny private satellites to space at no charge to the owners. The launch was risky — it was Firefly’s first ever mission, so a failure wasn’t a big surprise. Two and a half minutes after liftoff, the rocket fell short of reaching its maximum aerodynamic pressure ...

Reddit bans anti-vaccine subreddit r/NoNewNormal for Covid denial

2Sep

By AdminNo Comments

Official Notices, Technology, The World, Top Story

Reddit bans anti-vaccine subreddit r/NoNewNormal for Covid denial

Reddit has banned anti-vaxxer and anti-mask subreddit r/NoNewNormal and has quarantined 54 other subreddits associated with COVID denial. The subreddit NoNewNormal has been cited by many in the Reddit community as a source of vaccine misinformation, and it was known for “brigading” other subreddit’s discussions by butting in on conversations about COVID or related policies in other communities. NoNewNormal was the source of 80 such brigades in the past month, according to Reddit security, and the behavior continued after the community was warned, leading to its ban. The community had previously been quarantined. For the 54 other subreddits that have been quarantined, Reddit warns potential visitors that medical advice should come from doctors rather than forum members. Courtesy: The Verg...

Microsoft to withhold Windows 11 updates on older CPUs?

29Aug

By AdminNo Comments

Technology, The World, Top Story

Microsoft to withhold Windows 11 updates on older CPUs?

Yesterday, we wrote how Microsoft’s Windows 11 won’t technically leave millions of PCs behind — the company told us it won’t actually block you from installing Windows 11 on a PC with an older CPU, so long as you download and manually install an ISO file all by yourself. But it turns out even that technicality has a technicality. Microsoft is now threatening to withhold Windows Updates from your copy of Windows 11 — potentially even security updates — if you take that route. We’re not sure why the company didn’t mention it in our original briefing, but Microsoft has since told The Verge that unsupported PCs won’t be entitled to receive Windows Updates, and that even security and driver updates may be withheld. CYA OR GENUINE THREAT? It’s quite possible this is just a cover-your-ass me...

28Aug

By AdminNo Comments

Technology, Top Story

Is Social Media really social?

By Ashwini Wijegunaratne “Distracted from reality by distraction.” Social media is an interactive technology, often consisting of apps or websites. It allows its users to share and discuss their ideas on a free public platform along with other online users. According to Brand watch, there are 3.725 billion active social media users and 7.6% have social accounts on numerous apps. There are various aspects of social media, mainly categorized into positives and negatives. Social media has a reputation for being addictive. Teens anywhere for 13-18 years spend at least 9 hours a day on social media. Though just a simple fact, this information proves that our future generation dedicates his/her attention span to software daily. Therefore, we are lacking in an important aspect which is face...

Apple to let App Developers to steer customers to alternate forms of payments

27Aug

By Ayman AmeerNo Comments

Business, Technology, The World, Top Story

Apple to let App Developers to steer customers to alternate forms of payments

Tech giant, Apple Inc. announced on Thursday (26 Aug) that changes to its App Store regulations will allow developers to alert users to alternate forms of payment outside of Apple’s ecosystem, part of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit. Software developers can now divert customers to alternate forms of payments , rather than using the App Store, where Apple charges a commission of up to 30%. The tech giant was sued in 2019 by a group of App developers accusing the company of breaching antitrust laws in how it managed its App Store. A $100 Million dollar fund will be established by the company for small developers. The Small Developer Fund will allow developers whose sales were less than $1 Million a year from June 2015 to April 2021 to collect between $250 and $30,000...

Samsung to remotely brick smart TVs looted from Cato Ridge warehouse

26Aug

By Ayman AmeerNo Comments

Technology, The World, Top Story

Samsung to remotely brick smart TVs looted from Cato Ridge warehouse

On July 11, 2021, the Samsung warehouse in Cato Ridge was looted, as a result of the riots in KwaZulu-Natal, the home province of former President Jacob Zuma, as he started a 15-month stretch behind bars for contempt of court. Samsung announced that it will be remotely bricking smart TVs that were looted from the warehouse. As Samsung televisions ship with a TV Block app, which connects to Samsung servers the minute an internet connection is available. The device reports its serial number and if it matches a list of missing hardware, all television functions are killed off remotely. Samsung's South African operation says service can be restored if valid proof of purchase and a TV license is provided. “In keeping with our values to leverage the power of technology to resolve socie...

What is Pegasus spyware and how does it hack phones?

22Jul

By AdminNo Comments

Main Story, Technology, The World

What is Pegasus spyware and how does it hack phones?

By David Pegg and Sam Cutler NSO Group software can record your calls, copy your messages and secretly film you. It is the name for perhaps the most powerful piece of spyware ever developed – certainly by a private company. Once it has wormed its way onto your phone, without you noticing, it can turn it into a 24-hour surveillance device. It can copy messages you send or receive, harvest your photos and record your calls. It might secretly film you through your phone’s camera, or activate the microphone to record your conversations. It can potentially pinpoint where you are, where you’ve been, and who you’ve met. Pegasus is the hacking software – or spyware – that is developed, marketed and licensed to governments around the world by the Israeli company NSO Group. It has the capabilit...

Major media websites and vast parts of the internet go down

8Jun

By Ayman AmeerNo Comments

Main Story, Technology, The World

Major media websites and vast parts of the internet go down

A huge outage has caused major websites operated by the news outlets including the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Verge, and Bloomberg News have gone down. Separately, popular websites like Amazon, Reddit, and Twitch have also been affected. The outages seem to have begun around 5:30 AM ET according to reports from DownDetector.com and Twitter.