Technology

A BellaBot robot at the Noodle Topia restaurant heads back to the kitchen after a table is cleared on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Madison Heights, Mich. Sales of robot servers have been growing rapidly in recent years, and tens of thousands of robots are now gliding through dining rooms worldwide. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Are robot waiters the future? Some restaurants think so

Gimmick or the future of addressing the industry’s labour shortage?

A BellaBot robot at the Noodle Topia restaurant heads back to the kitchen after a table is cleared on Monday, March 20, 2023, in Madison Heights, Mich. Sales of robot servers have been growing rapidly in recent years, and tens of thousands of robots are now gliding through dining rooms worldwide. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
(Photo source: Twitter)

Bob Lee, Cash App founder and MobileCoin exec, slain at 43

Bob Lee, a technology executive who created Cash App and was currently…

(Photo source: Twitter)
A Waymo driverless taxi stops on a street in San Francisco for several minutes because the back door was not completely shut, while traffic backs up behind it, on Feb. 15, 2023. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, both are on the verge of operating 24-hour services that would transport passengers throughout one of the most densely populated U.S. cities in vehicles that will have no one sitting in the driver’s seat.(AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Robotaxis aim to take San Francisco on ride into the future

San Francisco could become the first U.S. city with two totally driverless services

A Waymo driverless taxi stops on a street in San Francisco for several minutes because the back door was not completely shut, while traffic backs up behind it, on Feb. 15, 2023. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a spinoff from Google, both are on the verge of operating 24-hour services that would transport passengers throughout one of the most densely populated U.S. cities in vehicles that will have no one sitting in the driver’s seat.(AP Photo/Terry Chea)
(Black Press Media Creative)

TikTok fined $15.9M by UK watchdog over misuse of kids’ data

Britain’s privacy watchdog hit TikTok with a multimillion-dollar penalty Tuesday for misusing…

(Black Press Media Creative)
This combination of images show gardening apps, from left, the Seed to Spoon mobile gardening app by Park Seed, from left, the Google Lens app that has image-recognition technology to identify plants, and Apple's AI-powered Visual Look Up feature to identify flowers. (Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon/Google/Apple via AP)

Gardening help in the palm of your hand: 5 apps, phone tips

You’re in your garden and notice a beautiful, new-to-you flower that has…

This combination of images show gardening apps, from left, the Seed to Spoon mobile gardening app by Park Seed, from left, the Google Lens app that has image-recognition technology to identify plants, and Apple's AI-powered Visual Look Up feature to identify flowers. (Park Seed’s From Seed to Spoon/Google/Apple via AP)
Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez prepares to appear before the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on Bill C-11 in the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, is one of several problematic Canadian initiatives tech leaders in the U.S. want President Joe Biden to raise with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Take hard line on Canada’s digital tax, online laws, tech associations urge Biden

Online Streaming Act, Online News Act troubling for American industry coalition

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez prepares to appear before the Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on Bill C-11 in the Senate of Canada Building in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, is one of several problematic Canadian initiatives tech leaders in the U.S. want President Joe Biden to raise with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Harjit Sajjan speaks with a reporter during an interview in Ottawa on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle

Feds spend $26M on growth and innovation of Vancouver-based companies

Funds to assist development of power drills and virtual reality, among other advancements

Harjit Sajjan speaks with a reporter during an interview in Ottawa on Wednesday, November 18, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
Ryker Ulansky (left) and Jake Ulansky (right) make up half of the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)

PHOTOS: Winners of 2023 FIRST LEGO League BC/Yukon Championship heading to USA

A Nanaimo team was the top-ranked group at this year’s competition

Ryker Ulansky (left) and Jake Ulansky (right) make up half of the U-BOTS team that built a water-powered vehicle and won the Core Values Award First Place at the FIRST LEGO League Challenge BC/Yukon Championship on March 11. (Brandon Tucker/The News)
Apps like Checkout51, Caddle, Drop, Eclipsa offer gift cards, points and cash back in exchange for uploading receipts, tracking purchases or completing surveys. Fresh produce and groceries are shown at Summerhill Market in Toronto on Wednesday February 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Cashback, reward apps helping Canadians save, but where is the data going?

Customers submit receipts, track purchases and complete surveys in exchange for deals

Apps like Checkout51, Caddle, Drop, Eclipsa offer gift cards, points and cash back in exchange for uploading receipts, tracking purchases or completing surveys. Fresh produce and groceries are shown at Summerhill Market in Toronto on Wednesday February 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
People carry umbrellas while crossing Robson Street as rain falls in Vancouver, on Thursday, January 6, 2022. Canada’s intelligence service warns that technological innovations adopted by municipalities could be exploited by adversaries such as the Chinese government to harvest sensitive data, target diaspora communities and interfere in elections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

CSIS warns ‘smart city’ technology can open door to attacks, foreign interference

AI platforms for things like traffic lights, energy use, transportation create security risk

People carry umbrellas while crossing Robson Street as rain falls in Vancouver, on Thursday, January 6, 2022. Canada’s intelligence service warns that technological innovations adopted by municipalities could be exploited by adversaries such as the Chinese government to harvest sensitive data, target diaspora communities and interfere in elections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. After nine days of being locked out of his Twitter work computer, Haraldur Thorleifsson tweeted at owner Elon Musk, Monday, March 6, 2023, to find out whether or not he’d been fired. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Elon Musk apologizes after mocking laid-off Twitter employee

If you’re not told you are fired, are you really fired? At…

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. After nine days of being locked out of his Twitter work computer, Haraldur Thorleifsson tweeted at owner Elon Musk, Monday, March 6, 2023, to find out whether or not he’d been fired. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
A visitor speaks with a PAL Robotic robot during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Best of MWC: Screens that roll, ChatGPT interactive glasses

The father of the cellphone was there. So was Huawei and a…

A visitor speaks with a PAL Robotic robot during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)
A visitor tests a GSMA VR simulator during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Flights and firefighting: Companies push into the metaverse

‘Metaverse has not gone away, but there’s a lot more skepticism about what role it’s going to play’

A visitor tests a GSMA VR simulator during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. After three years of pandemic disruption, MWC, also known as Mobile World Congress, kicked off Monday in Barcelona, Spain, with mobile phone makers showing off new devices and telecom industry executives perusing the latest networking gear and software. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)
FILE - The TikTok logo is seen on a cellphone on Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. TikTok says every account held by a user under the age of 18 will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks amid growing concerns about the app’s security. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)

TikTok sets new default time limits for minors

Families have struggled with limiting the amount of time their children spend on the app

FILE - The TikTok logo is seen on a cellphone on Oct. 14, 2022, in Boston. TikTok says every account held by a user under the age of 18 will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit in the coming weeks amid growing concerns about the app’s security. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
Marty Cooper, the inventor of first commercial mobile phone, during an interview with The Associated Press during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The four-day show kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It’s the world’s biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Father of cellphone sees dark side but also hope in new tech

Martin Cooper describes himself as a dreamer and an optimist

Marty Cooper, the inventor of first commercial mobile phone, during an interview with The Associated Press during the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The four-day show kicks off Monday in a vast Barcelona conference center. It’s the world’s biggest and most influential meeting for the mobile tech industry. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)
The TikTok startup page is displayed on an iPhone in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The House of Commons announced on Tuesday that it’s banning the application from all House-managed devices, effective March 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Liberals, Conservatives, NDP start stepping back from TikTok video app

APP BANNED from all government-issued devices, after similar moves in the U.S and European Union

The TikTok startup page is displayed on an iPhone in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The House of Commons announced on Tuesday that it’s banning the application from all House-managed devices, effective March 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
FILE - The TikTok app logo appears in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. U.S. government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington’s own insecurities and are an abuse of state power, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

China says TikTok ban reflects US insecurities

China says US ‘overstretching the concept of national security and abusing state power’

FILE - The TikTok app logo appears in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. U.S. government bans on Chinese-owned video sharing app TikTok reveal Washington’s own insecurities and are an abuse of state power, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023.(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
FILE - The Google logo displayed at their offices in Granary Square, in London on Nov. 1, 2018. Some members of Parliament want to see Google in the hot seat over the tech company’s move to temporary block news access to some of their Canadian users. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Alastair Grant

MPs want to see Google in the hot seat for blocking news access to some Canadians

Google limiting news access on its search engine to small percentage of its Canadian users

FILE - The Google logo displayed at their offices in Granary Square, in London on Nov. 1, 2018. Some members of Parliament want to see Google in the hot seat over the tech company’s move to temporary block news access to some of their Canadian users. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Alastair Grant
A new online tool aims to give people a chance to take down explicit images and videos of themselves from the internet. THE CANADIAN PRESS

’Take It Down:’ tool developed for teens to remove explicit online images

Advocates say teens may feel more comfortable going to a site than involving law enforcement

A new online tool aims to give people a chance to take down explicit images and videos of themselves from the internet. THE CANADIAN PRESS
This image released by Sony Interactive Entertainment shows a scene from the video game Gran Turismo Sophy. Grand Turismo players have been competing against computer-driven race cars since the franchise launched in the 1990s, but the new AI driver that was unleashed last week on Grand Turismo 7 is smarter and faster because it’s been trained using the latest AI methods. (Sony Interactive Entertainment via AP)

AI learns to outsmart humans in video games – and real life

Study of games being used to advance AI research and train computers

This image released by Sony Interactive Entertainment shows a scene from the video game Gran Turismo Sophy. Grand Turismo players have been competing against computer-driven race cars since the franchise launched in the 1990s, but the new AI driver that was unleashed last week on Grand Turismo 7 is smarter and faster because it’s been trained using the latest AI methods. (Sony Interactive Entertainment via AP)