Latest Tech Headlines
All the headlines from our Tech Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Student Sues Apple for $1 Billion, Blames Face-Recognition Tech for False Arrest
Apr 23 2019 // Apple is being sued for $1 billion in damages by an 18-year-old college student who blames the company’s facial recognition software for his false arrest and for wrongly tying him to thefts at Apple stores in several...
Fight Against Floods Enlists Supercomputers, Drones, Sonar
Apr 22 2019 // An arsenal of new technology is being put to the test fighting floods this year as rivers inundate towns and farm fields across the central United States. Drones, supercomputers and sonar that scans deep under water are...
Hanover Offers Agents Small Business Platform Using CoverWallet Technology
Apr 17 2019 // The Hanover Insurance Group is debuting a digital platform to help independent agents acquire new small business customers including freelancers, contractors and other self-employed professionals. Calleed Insurago, the...
Americans Still Don’t Trust Autonomous Vehicles, Reuters Poll Shows
Apr 15 2019 // Half of U.S. adults think automated vehicles are more dangerous than traditional vehicles operated by people, while nearly two-thirds said they would not buy a fully autonomous vehicle, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos...
Young Agents Survey: What Young Agents Want
Apr 15 2019 // Young agents don’t always feel supported by their elder peers. They say training is sometimes lacking for newbies in the agency world. They don’t see enough diversity in leadership. And they continue to say...
Insurers Are Curious, Cautious When It Comes to Chatbots for Claims
Apr 15 2019 // The insurance industry is slowly recognizing the potential of chatbots to free up resources and improve customer service, even as it recognizes the potential of the technology to sour relationships with customers,...
Why Europe Should Not Force Talking Cars to Speak Same Language Now: Viewpoint
Apr 12 2019 // If you’ve bought a new car lately, chances are it has some basic communication skills. One day, cities and highways could be full of self-driving vehicles, all talking directly with each other to coordinate traffic...
How Real Are ‘Ethical Artificial Intelligence’ Efforts by Tech Giants?
Apr 11 2019 // The biggest tech companies want the public to know that they’re taking special care to ensure that their use of artificial intelligence to sift through mountains of data, analyze faces or build virtual assistants...
Insurtech Lemonade Raises $300 Million; SoftBank, Allianz, Alphabet Among Investors
Apr 11 2019 // Lemonade, the insurance company built around artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, announced the signing of a $300 million Series D funding round led by SoftBank Group with participation from Allianz, General...
Ant Financial Aims to Disrupt Health Insurance with New Chinese Health ‘Collective’
Apr 11 2019 // Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial has done more than perhaps any company to disrupt China’s gargantuan banking and asset-management industries. Now it’s trying to re-imagine health...
What’s In Store for Insurance Industry As It Enters Post-Digital Era?
Apr 10 2019 // The insurance industry is entering a new “post-digital” era where success is based on an organization’s ability to master artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies. The post-digital era...
Michigan InsurTech Accelerator Welcomes 3 New International Startups
Apr 9 2019 // Lansing, Michigan-based PROTO InsurTech, a business accelerator and equity investment fund led by Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), said three new international high-tech startups have begun operating in...
UK Joins Global Backlash Against Tech Firms that Fail to Control Harmful Content
Apr 9 2019 // The U.K. joined a growing global backlash against technology companies such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., proposing fines and bans if social-media platforms fail to curb illegal activity. The government outlined plans...
MIT Researcher Exposing Bias in Facial Recognition Tech Triggers Amazon’s Wrath
Apr 8 2019 // Facial recognition technology was already seeping into everyday life — from photos on Facebook to police scans of mugshots — when Joy Buolamwini noticed a serious glitch: Some of the software couldn’t detect...
Woman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Rhode Island Tech Company of $500K
Apr 4 2019 // A Massachusetts woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding a Rhode Island technology company out of more than $550,000 in reimbursements for business expenses. Jill Martinho entered her plea to wire fraud and willfully making...
Tech Firms Face Fines and Jail for Failure to Remove Violent Content in Australia
Apr 4 2019 // Australia will fine social media and web hosting companies up to 10 percent of their annual global turnover and imprison executives for up to three years if violent content is not removed “expeditiously” under...
How Insurtech Will Revolutionize Inland Marine by Cutting Costs
Apr 4 2019 // Insurtech advances will soon drive down unacceptably high expense ratios in the inland marine sector, making it possible to insure even hard-to-place, small or one-off inland marine risks at the best possible...
IA Capital Group Raises $150 Million for Insurtech Investing
Apr 4 2019 // IA Capital Group, an insurtech-focused venture capital firm, said it has raised $150 million across three funds. The three funds are Inter-Atlantic Stonybrook Insurtech Ventures, focusing on property/casualty insurtech;...
UK Financial Services Business Flows to EU to Avert Possible Brexit Disruption: Report
Apr 3 2019 // Financial firms in Britain continue to shift business to new European Union hubs and won’t stop unless Brexit is canceled, a think tank told British lawmakers on Wednesday. William Wright, head of New Financial, said...
EU Financial Services Chief Warns of Market Disruption from No-Deal Brexit
Apr 2 2019 // A no-deal Brexit would cause disruption and might also have an impact on liquidity in financial markets, the European Union commissioner in charge of financial services said on Tuesday in a stark reminder of the risks...
