Technology Focus Washington from

Ford, GE to Produce 50,000 Ventilators in 100 Days

March 31, 2020 Focus Washington

Ford Motor Co said on Monday it will produce 50,000 ventilators over the next 100 days at a plant in Michigan in cooperation with General Electric’s healthcare unit, and can then build 30,000 per month […]

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Elon Musk Donates Ventilators in ‘Heroic Effort’

March 24, 2020 Focus Washington

Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and an outspoken skeptic of the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, donated more than 1,000 ventilators to officials in Los Angeles to meet demand as the […]

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Hackers Target WHO as Coronavirus Cyberattacks Spike

March 23, 2020 Focus Washington

Elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier this month, sources told Reuters, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks. WHO Chief Information […]

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Uber Suspends Pooled Rides in U.S., Canada to Limit Coronavirus Spread

March 17, 2020 Focus Washington

Uber Technologies Inc on Tuesday began suspending shared rides on its ride-hailing platform in the United States and Canada to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Reuters reported. The pooled option, which allows riders to […]

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Uber May Suspend Accounts of Drivers Who Test Positive for Coronavirus

March 11, 2020 Focus Washington

Uber notified riders and drivers that it may temporarily suspend the accounts of anyone who has tested positive for the coronavirus or have been exposed to it, the ride-hailing company said on Wednesday, Reuters writes. […]

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U.S. Chip Industry Fears Long-Term Damage From China Trade Fight

March 9, 2020 Focus Washington

The U.S. semiconductor industry is pressing to get out of the firing line between the U.S. and China, warning its position as the global market leader could become a casualty of the trade spat, The […]

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Tesla Autopilot System Found Probably at Fault in 2018 Crash

February 26, 2020 Focus Washington

Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system and a driver who relied too heavily on it are likely to blame for a 2018 crash in California in which the driver died, a federal safety agency said on Tuesday, […]

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SpaceX Launches 60 New Satellites for U.S. Service

February 18, 2020 Focus Washington

SpaceX has launched a further 60 Starlink satellites, bringing the future satellite broadband service satellite count to 300 since the first launch last May, ZDNet reported. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said Starlink needs about […]

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U.S. Looking for Industry Partnership to Counter Huawei

February 14, 2020 Focus Washington

Washington is looking to develop a partnership with the telecoms industry to provide alternatives to China’s Huawei Technologies, a senior White House official said on Friday, Reuters informs. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in […]

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Iranian Hackers Targeted Western Universities

February 14, 2020 Focus Washington

Government-backed Iranian hackers have targeted universities in Europe, the United States, and Australia in recent months, consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers has found, Dutch broadcaster NOS reported on Friday. It is unclear whether the attempts to break into […]

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Facebook Takes Down Iranian Trolls Spreading Pro-Trump Propaganda

February 13, 2020 Focus Washington

In a blog post on Wednesday, Facebook announced it had taken down dozens of Instagram and Facebook accounts that engaged in foreign interference, including separate campaigns from Russia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Iran, The Verge informed. […]

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Tesla Recalls 15,000 Model X SUVs from U.S. Market for Power Steering Issue

February 13, 2020 Focus Washington

Tesla is recalling 15,000 Model X SUVs because of a potential issue that can lead to a loss of power steering assist that could make steering harder and increase the risk of a crash, Reuters […]

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Airbus Unveils ‘Blended Wing Body’ Plane Design After Secret Flight Tests

February 13, 2020 Focus Washington

Airbus on Tuesday unveiled a curvaceous aircraft design that blends wing and body, designed to slash carbon emissions by some 20%, Reuters informed. The European planemaker has been carrying out flight tests of a 3.2-metre-wide (10.5 […]

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Former NASA Chief Gerstenmaier Joins SpaceX

February 12, 2020 Focus Washington

SpaceX has confirmed that NASA’s former chief of human spaceflight, William Gerstenmaier, has joined the company as a consultant as it prepares to launch astronauts for the first time, ArsTechnica reported. This is a consequential […]

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FBI Probes Use of Israeli Firm’s Spyware in Personal and Government Hacks

January 31, 2020 Focus Washington

The FBI is investigating the role of Israeli spyware vendor NSO Group Technologies in possible hacks on American residents and companies as well as suspected intelligence gathering on governments, according to four people familiar with […]

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NASA Astronauts Complete 3rd All Female Spacewalk

January 20, 2020 Focus Washington

At 1:33 p.m. EST, Astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch of NASA successfully finished their third spacewalk together, CBS News reported. During the six-hour and 58-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts successfully completed the battery […]

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Bad Weather Delays SpaceX Simulated Rocket Failure Test

January 18, 2020 Focus Washington

Bad weather forced Elon Musk’s SpaceX to delay until Sunday a test in which it will destroy one of its own rockets in a trial of a crucial emergency abort system on an unmanned astronaut […]

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Russian Hackers Targeted Ukrainian Company Involved in Impeachment Row

January 14, 2020 Focus Washington

Russian military hackers tried to steal emails from the Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, had a seat on the board, a U.S. cybersecurity firm said on […]

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Boeing Employees Ridicule 737 MAX in Internal Messages

January 9, 2020 Focus Washington

Boeing has released hundreds of internal messages that contained harshly critical comments about the development of the 737 MAX, including one that said the plane was “designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by […]

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U.S. Steps Up Pressure on UK ahead of Huawei Decision

January 8, 2020 Focus Washington

The United States is making a final pitch to Britain ahead of a UK decision on whether to upgrade its telecoms network with Huawei equipment, amid threats to cut intelligence-sharing ties, people with knowledge of […]

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Ivanka Trump Draws Applause at Tech Show

January 8, 2020 Focus Washington

Presidential adviser Ivanka Trump on Tuesday touted government-industry collaboration to create jobs, drawing applause at a tech show that contrasted with the criticism she faced beforehand for her lack of tech experience, Reuters informs. The […]

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Tesla Shanghai Reportedly Making 1,000 Cars per Week

January 2, 2020 Focus Washington

Tesla is producing its Model 3 electric vehicles at a rate of 28 per hour at its new Shanghai plant, or more than 1,000 per week given 10 hours on shift each day, according to […]

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NASA New Asteroid Tracking Program with Regular Warnings of Near-Earth Objects

December 30, 2019 Focus Washington

Hundreds of asteroids zip past Earth every year, many of which are potentially-hazardous space rocks as categorized by NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, that computes asteroid and comet orbits and their odds of hitting […]

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States Start to Charge More for Electric Cars

December 30, 2019 Focus Washington

The new year will bring new charges for some owners of electric vehicles, as an increasing number of states seek to plug into fresh revenue sources to offset forgone gas taxes, The Associated Press reported. […]

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Tesla Delivers First China-made Model 3 Sedans

December 30, 2019 Focus Washington

Tesla has started delivering Model 3 electric cars built at its Shanghai factory in just under a year since it began work on the $2 billion plant, a record for global automakers in China, and […]

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Tesla Releases Update for Full Self-Driving and Much More

December 26, 2019 Focus Washington

Electric vehicle maker Tesla has started rolling out holiday updates, including a “full self-driving sneak preview”, teased by CEO Elon Musk last week. The holiday update included long-awaited features, like reading text messages aloud via […]

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SpaceX Aces Final Parachute Test Before Launching Astronauts

December 24, 2019 Focus Washington

SpaceX has successfully conducted its 10th parachute test indicating the safety of the astronauts is their priority. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is closing the year with a tenth consecutive successful parachute test for a crewed mission […]

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Utah Man Uses Cybernetic Implants to Open and Start his Tesla

December 22, 2019 Focus Washington

A man from Utah has implanted chips in his hand that allows him to open and start his Tesla, as well as additional options that all look like from a science fiction movie. Ben Workman […]

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Attorney General Barr Hopes Big Tech Probes Could be Completed in 2020

December 10, 2019 Focus Washington

Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday that he hoped to have Justice Department investigations of the big tech platforms – Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple – completed in 2020, Reuters informs. The four tech […]

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Amazon Lawsuit Blames Trump for Loss of Pentagon Cloud Contract

December 9, 2019 Focus Washington

Amazon on Monday accused President Donald Trump of exerting “improper pressure” and bias that led the Department of Defense to award a lucrative $10 billion cloud contract to rival Microsoft, Reuters informs. In a complaint […]

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