Neowin News Feed for: U.s.

Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot is now available for all U.S. college students for free

Usama Jawad — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 19:16:02 +0000

Microsoft has announced that it will offer Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot bundled to all U.S. college students for free, among other things. Read more...

President Trump unveils action plan to beat China in the AI race

Usama Jawad — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 09:56:01 +0000

U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled his AI Action Plan, which focuses on beating China in the AI race, while also accelerating the growth and adoption of the technology. Read more...

Intel to get up to $3 billion in grants for making chips for the Department of Defence

Karthik Mudaliar — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 08:26:01 +0000

The U.S. government will provide Intel with additional grants of up to $3 billion to create advanced semiconductors for national security purposes. Read more...

U.S. Justice Department appoints first ever AI officer to advance its technical expertise

Anushe Fawaz — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 18:16:01 +0000

The U.S. Department of Justice has appointed its first AI officer Jonathan Mayer to lead efforts to tackle the dangers of AI with regards to law enforcement and advise government officials. Read more...

Huawei launches in-house ERP tool in major win following U.S. bans on vendors like Oracle

Usama Jawad — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 07:36:01 +0000

As a response to the growing tech export bans from the U.S., Huawei has announced the go-live of its in-house ERP system to reduce dependencies on U.S. vendors like Oracle, SAP, and more. Read more...

Microsoft Authenticator now supports U.S. federal agencies thanks to FIPS 140 compliance

Usama Jawad — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 02:42:01 +0000

Microsoft has proudly announced that its Authenticator app for iOS is now FIPS 140-compliant, which means that it officially supports U.S. federal agencies. Android support is coming soon too. Read more...

"Wordle" was the most searched term on Google in 2022

Usama Jawad — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 10:08:01 +0000

Google has published its Year in Search webpage for 2022, showing the top search trends and queries across the globe. The top global search queries include Wordle, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, and more. Read more...

Meta warns about stopping its News sharing in U.S. to protest publisher payment plan

Hemant Saxena — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 08:04:02 +0000

Threatening to stop sharing news in the U.S. to protest a publisher payment plan, Meta Policy Communications Director Andy Stone tweeted Facebook would consider removing news from its platform. Read more...

Nothing hopes to bring competition for Apple as talks with American carriers ongoing

Fiza Ali — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 12:36:01 +0000

Carl Pei's Nothing is in talks with American carriers in hopes of bringing its future smartphone to the U.S. markets where its Ear (stick) has already made its mark, generating a third of its sales. Read more...

White House reveals plans for big tech with focus on privacy, transparency, and youth safety

Usama Jawad — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:42:01 +0000

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has laid out plans for a legislative reform in areas concerning big tech firms. The focus is on transparency of algorithms, privacy, and youth safety. Read more...

U.S. government employees are now barred from writing crypto policies if they are invested

Usama Jawad — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 11:52:01 +0000

The U.S. government has banned employees from participating in public matters related to cryptocurrencies, such as the formulation of laws, if they have invested in cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. Read more...

FBI and MI5 call out China for sponsoring cyber threats

Usama Jawad — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 11:14:01 +0000

The FBI and MI5 have issued a joint statement, sternly calling out China for its interference in other countries through digital means. They have also asked western tech companies to stay vigilant. Read more...

Microsoft is removing non-compete clauses in the U.S. and increasing pay transparency

Usama Jawad — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 06:38:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced four U.S.-centric initiatives to foster a healthy culture at its workplace. These include removing non-compete clauses for almost all employee and increasing pay transparency. Read more...

Messenger gets Split Payments, Vanish Mode, and new audio features

Usama Jawad — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 15:30:01 +0000

Meta has announced a range of new features for Messenger. These include the ability to split payments across different members of a group, new audio capabilities, and a Vanish Mode. Read more...

FBI, NSA, and CIA use ad blockers due to fear of targeted ads

Usama Jawad — Fri, 24 Sep 2021 05:34:01 +0000

A document has revealed that most U.S. intelligence agencies, including FBI, NSA, CIA, and DHS use ad blockers due to fear of targeted ads and malvertising, even though they are not mandated to do so. Read more...

Twitter is now allowing users to report elections and COVID-19 misinformation

Usama Jawad — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:54:02 +0000

Twitter is experimenting with allowing some users to report tweets containing misleading information, with a special focus on misinformation related to COVID-19, vaccines, and elections. Read more...

Microsoft is driving Zero Trust adoption under recent Presidential Executive Order

Usama Jawad — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 16:50:01 +0000

Microsoft has explained how it is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) to drive the adoption of Zero Trust models under a recent Presidential Executive Order. Read more...

Microsoft Azure Government Top Secret has hit general availability

Usama Jawad — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 07:44:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced that Azure Government Top Secret, its cloud offering dealing with modernizing infrastructure and data management tooling for classified U.S. Government operations, has hit GA. Read more...

Homeland Security may hire firms to spot signs of impending terrorism on social media

Usama Jawad — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 06:06:02 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security has revealed that it is considering collaborating with external companies to detect and proactively responding to signs of violence and terrorism on social media. Read more...

U.S. DoD scraps the $10 billion JEDI contract awarded to Microsoft [Update]

Abhay V — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 18:34:01 +0000

The U.S. DoD today announced that it was shelving the controversial JEDI contract awarded to Microsoft, citing industry advances. It will now work with both Microsoft and Amazon on a new project. Read more...

Google will show regional vaccination-related search trends to U.S. health officials soon

Usama Jawad — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 04:20:01 +0000

Google has announced that it is sharing anonymized user data aggregated at a zip code level with public health officials in the U.S. to aid in vaccine equity and distribution processes. Read more...

The U.S. Army plans to start equipping soldiers with HoloLens in September

Usama Jawad — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 05:54:01 +0000

Microsoft is working with the U.S. Army on its Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). 120,000 headsets with HoloLens tech will be produced with on-field installation starting in September. Read more...

U.S. Department of Justice recovers $2.3 million in Bitcoin paid to ransomware group

Usama Jawad — Tue, 08 Jun 2021 05:06:01 +0000

The U.S. DoJ has announced that it has seized $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin that had been paid to ransomware-as-a-service group DarkSide, which was involved in the Colonial Pipeline attack last month. Read more...

Huawei CEO wants to “lead the world” in software to combat U.S. sanctions

Stergios Georgopoulos — Mon, 24 May 2021 20:54:01 +0000

According to an internal memo, Huawei's founder and CEO wants to shift the company's focus from hardware products to software and services, in an attempt to lessen the impact of U.S. sanctions. Read more...

You can now find COVID-19 vaccination locations in the US using Apple Maps

Usama Jawad — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 06:58:01 +0000

Apple has updated its Maps to show over 20,000 COVID-19 vaccination locations in the US. Healthcare providers not included in the current rollout have the option of registering with Apple as well. Read more...

Huawei is reportedly looking to sell its P and Mate brands

João Carrasqueira — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 11:34:01 +0000

After selling its Honor sub-brand, Huawei is now apparently looking to sell its primary flagship brands, the P and Mate series smartphones. This would save the phones from U.S. restrictions. Read more...

Microsoft confirms it has halted PAC donations

Usama Jawad — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 10:38:01 +0000

Microsoft has publicly announced that it is suspending PAC donations, because 20% of its donations in the past four years went to Congress members who voted against the Electoral College. Read more...

The U.S. government has revoked more Huawei licenses

João Carrasqueira — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 11:14:01 +0000

Huawei is being dealt another blow by the United States government, as reports indicate existing licenses have been revoked, making it harder for te company to source materials for its devices. Read more...

New U.S. executive order bans transactions with eight Chinese apps

João Carrasqueira — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 11:54:01 +0000

The United States government has signed a new executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese apps, The order could be revoked by the President-elect once he takes office, though. Read more...

Microsoft reveals details of requests filed by U.S. government to access customer data

Usama Jawad — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 06:26:01 +0000

Microsoft has disclosed details of three cases where it fought secrecy orders issued by the U.S. government accessing customer data. The orders came from federal courts in Maryland and New York. Read more...

YouTube reveals top trending videos and creators in the U.S. in 2020

Usama Jawad — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 08:36:01 +0000

YouTube has published the list of its trending content and creators in the U.S. in 2020. It includes videos coming from influencers such as MrBeast, Corpse Husband, and John Krasinski. Read more...

Following success in the U.S., Facebook News to launch in the U.K. next month

Usama Jawad — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 06:56:01 +0000

Facebook News will launch in the U.K. in January 2021. The aim of the program is allow publishers to reach a wider audience coupled with a wide variety of advertisement and subscription offers. Read more...

Microsoft on U.S. elections: We must build new bridges to unite people

Usama Jawad — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 20:02:05 +0000

In a blog post, Microsoft President Brad Smith has congratulated the President- and Vice-President-Elect, and emphasized the importance of building bridges to close the divide between people. Read more...

WSJ says China will launch global data security initiative

Paul Hill — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 21:26:01 +0000

China is getting ready to launch its 'Global Initiative on Data Security' on Tuesday and has already spoken to other governments to gauge interests. It has been compared to the U.S.' Clean Network. Read more...

Microsoft will retain the Pentagon's $10 billion JEDI contract, beats Amazon again

Abhay V — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 22:14:01 +0000

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) today reaffirmed that after re-evaluation of revised bids from Microsoft and Amazon, the JEDI contract will continue to be offered to Microsoft. Read more...

TikTok sale faces red tape as China changes export rules

Paul Hill — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 11:30:02 +0000

China has changed the rules on export controls that will impact the sale of TikTok in the United States. It's unclear at this point how it could affect the sale but it could delay the procedure. Read more...

TikTok shocked at Trump's executive order, threatens legal action

Paul Hill — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 13:24:01 +0000

TikTok has responded to the Trump administration's executive order issued against it earlier. The social media company now plans to take legal action against the executive order in U.S. courts. Read more...

U.S. seeks to expand its crackdown on Chinese tech

Paul Hill — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 07:08:02 +0000

The Trump administration has announced plans which will further penalise Chinese tech firms. It's unclear when the plans will come into effect but they are more wide-ranging than previous measures. Read more...

White House advisor says TikTok could operate as a U.S. firm

Paul Hill — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 21:46:01 +0000

White House economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, has stated that TikTok could start operating as an American firm to avoid running into problems with the current U.S. administration with its trade war. Read more...

Siri now provides users with a questionnaire who ask if they have the coronavirus

Usman Khan Lodhi — Sun, 22 Mar 2020 20:26:01 +0000

Apple has updated Siri to provide users with a step-by-step questionnaire who ask if they have the coronavirus. Tech giants are also dedicating resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more...