Technology

José Delbo’s days of drawing superheroes for Marvel and DC Comics ended decades ago, and when COVID-19 shut down comic conventions last year, the 87-year-old got cut off from the fans who bought his artwork too. Like many older Americans, he seemed isolated and lonely in his Miami apartment, his family says, as he sheltered from the pandemic. Then his grandson introduced him … [Read more...] about Who gets to make millions selling NFTs? The intellectual property fight we knew was coming

Shirley Ruge has long been fascinated with exploring her family tree. At one time, that meant many hours spent combing through records at courthouses and libraries.For the last 20 years or so, the Indian Wells resident has focused her research on Ancestry (a.k.a. Ancestry.com), one of the leading sites for genealogical sleuthing and DNA analysis. The company says it has 18 … [Read more...] about Column: Why spend billions for Ancestry’s DNA data if you don’t plan to use it?

Each time I played through the interactive narrative of “Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’” I was struck by how the game tensely toed the line between optimism for the future — infused with adoration of our loved ones — and just plain exhaustion at everything, a nagging emotion that can simmer below our daily interactions. It’s present in our dearest relationships. It’s there in casual … [Read more...] about A video game celebrates Ramadan through food and explores personal boundaries

How many data breaches will it take before our leaders accept the need for a national privacy law?More than half a billion Facebook users, including 32 million in the United States, found out over the weekend that their personal information was accessed by hackers.Names, birth dates, locations, phone numbers, email addresses and other information were posted on a website used … [Read more...] about Column: Facebook and Health Net hacks drive home the need for a national privacy law

You’re scrolling through your Gmail inbox and see an email with a strange subject line: A string of numbers followed by “Notification from Google.” It may seem like a phishing scam or an update to Gmail’s terms of service. But it could be the only chance you’ll have to stop Google from sharing your personal information with authorities.Tech companies, which have treasure troves … [Read more...] about This is what happens when ICE asks Google for your user information

Having survived an initial court challenge, California’s net neutrality law is having its first tangible effects on consumers and their internet service providers. But those consumers may not be so pleased with the results.AT&T informed its nationwide cellphone customers on Wednesday that it was ending a program that allowed websites and services to buy their way around … [Read more...] about California’s net neutrality law just cost AT&T wireless customers a free streaming perk. That’s a good thing

The Founding Fathers believed your right to a jury trial is so important, they enshrined it in Article III of the Constitution. In 1791, “the right to a speedy and public trial” was reinforced by passage of the 6th Amendment.These rights pertain to criminal trials rather than civil matters, but the framers’ philosophical embrace of everyone’s right to a day in court is … [Read more...] about Column: AT&T’s new arbitration clause isn’t doing you any favors

Before there was Beeple, there was William Shatner.Last July, the “Star Trek” actor, singer and “TekWar” author created a series of trading cards featuring images from his career — a telegram from a producer, a photo from his first modeling shoot, an X-ray of his teeth — and listed them as unique digital tokens for sale online — so-called NFTs.Within nine minutes, the entire … [Read more...] about $69 million for digital art? The NFT craze, explained

Clearview AI has amassed a database of more than 3 billion photos of individuals by scraping sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and Venmo. It’s bigger than any other known facial-recognition database in the U.S., including the FBI’s. The New York company uses algorithms to map the pictures it stockpiles, determining, for example, the distance between an individual’s eyes to … [Read more...] about Clearview AI uses your online photos to instantly ID you. That’s a problem, lawsuit says

Doctors take a microscopic craft loaded with cancer-killing chemicals, inject it into the human body, and drive it to a malignant tumor to deliver its payload before making a quick exit.For most of the 55 years since “Fantastic Voyage” shrank Raquel Welch and company down to the size of a cell to zap a blood clot out of a scientist’s brain, that scenario has been pure science … [Read more...] about This L.A. start-up is building tiny injectable robots to attack tumors