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Selasa, 16 September 2025

All You Need To Know About TikTok, Its Algorithm, and the US-China Deal

By News Real Time September 16, 2025 news, politics, technology, technology trends, tiktok No comments

Gambar terkait All You Need To Know About TikTok, Its Algorithm, And US-China Deal (dari Bing)

A central question in TikTok's potential shutdown saga has been whether the popular social video platform would keep its algorithm - the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed - after it's divested from Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Now, it seems that it can. Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China's Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, told reporters in Madrid on Monday that there was consensus on the authorization of "the use of intellectual property rights such as (TikTok's) algorithm" — a main sticking point in the deal.

The sides also agreed on entrusting a partner with handling U.S. user data and content security, he said. But while China has agreed that a divested TikTok could use its algorithm, it's uncertain how that would work.

Little is known about the actual deal being negotiated, including which companies are involved and whether the United States would have a stake in TikTok. Li Chenggang, China's international trade representative, said both sides have reached "basic framework consensus" to properly address TikTok-related issues in a cooperative manner, reduce investment barriers, and promote related economic and trade cooperation. The two sides now have until December 16 to work out the details, following the latest deadline extension by the Trump administration.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press conference this week after the latest round of trade talks between the world's top two economies concluded in Madrid that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would speak on Friday to possibly finalize the deal. He said the objective of the deal would be to shift to American ownership.

He did not disclose the terms of the deal, saying that it is between two private parties, but added that "the commercial terms have been agreed upon."

Oracle Corp. has been floated as a likely buyer for the platform. Representatives of the company did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Monday and Tuesday.

In Madrid, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the team was "very focused on TikTok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese," but also "completely respects U.S. national security concerns."

The sides also agreed on entrusting a partner with handling U.S. user data and content security, he said.

At arguments in the Supreme Court in January, a lawyer for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. told the justices how difficult it would be to complete a deal that complies with the TikTok law, especially since Chinese law restricts the sale of the proprietary algorithm that has made the social media platform wildly successful.

American officials have previously warned the algorithm that drives what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that is difficult to detect.

TikTok has said that the U.S. never presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its U.S. platform.

The House Select Committee on China says any deal between Beijing and Washington must comply with a law requiring TikTok to be sold off from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the U.S.

"It wouldn't be in compliance if the algorithm is Chinese. There can't be any shared algorithm with ByteDance," said a committee spokesperson.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee's ranking Democrat, said he wants information on the ownership structure.

"Underpinning all of our concerns is the Chinese Communist Party's access to American data," he said. The social media platform needs user data to determine what to show users, and Krishnamoorthi said he would be open to discussions if the app is protected from Beijing's infiltration.

Although he has no clear legal basis to do so, Trump has continued to extend the deadline for TikTok to avoid a ban in the U.S. The latest extension came on Tuesday, a day before the previous deadline was set to expire.

This gives his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.

It is unclear how many times Trump can keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance. While there is no clear legal basis for the extensions, so far, there have been no legal challenges against the administration. Trump has amassed more than 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. He said in January that he has a "warm spot for TikTok."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Tuesday.

For now, TikTok continues to function for its 170 million users in the U.S. Tech giants Apple, Google and Oracle were persuaded to continue to offer and support the app, on the promise that Trump's Justice Department would not use the law to seek potentially steep fines against them.

Americans are even more closely divided on what to do about TikTok than they were two years ago.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren't sure.

According to the report, among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns over users' data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision.

YouTube announces expanded set of tools for creators in latest AI initiative

By News Real Time September 16, 2025 artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning, technology, technology trends No comments

YouTube is introducing a series of AI-powered tools aimed at reducing creators' workloads.

At its annual Made On YouTube event, the video platform introduced a new AI "creative partner" called Ask Studio, which can provide personalized summaries of things like how a video is performing or what commenters are saying.

Our vision is for Ask Studio to become the ultimate creative partner for every Creator — a trusted companion that Creators turn to first," YouTube wrote in an announcement. "It will provide personalized and actionable strategic insights based on knowledge of you as a Creator, your channel, and how YouTube works.

The announcement comes as social media companies continue to aggressively lean into the AI boom, throwing AI agents and in-platform chatbots at users while integrating more AI-powered tools for creators.

Many creators have been experimenting with various AI tools for years, including ones rolled out by YouTube last year , to help them improve their videos.

But the Google-owned video platform came under fire earlier this year from a handful of creators who expressed concerns that YouTube was making subtle changes to their videos using AI without their permission or knowledge. In response, the platform said it would offer creators the ability to opt-out of the platform’s recent enhancements to some Shorts

On Tuesday, YouTube said it plans to offer creators an AI feature that will ideate potential future videos, coming up with a title, description and AI-generated thumbnail for each, along with a possible video hook and narrative outline. The company added that it will pull from past audience behavior to inform creators on specific reasons for its suggestions.

The company is also expanding on existing features such as automatic dubbing and deepfake detection.

In the coming months, YouTube announced, new lip sync technology should make dubbed languages better match creators' mouth movements. The feature is designed to localize YouTube's content across 20 languages, using AI instead of the human translators and voice actors that some creators traditionally relied on.

Meanwhile, YouTube's tool detecting unauthorized uses of creators' likenesses is now in an open beta for members of the YouTube Partner Program. First announced in December, this likeness detection tool is the platform's response to the growing prevalence of nonconsensual AI-generated deepfakes, often of celebrities or influencers promoting products, that have flooded the internet in recent years.

As for live streams on the platform, YouTube says its new AI-powered highlights will automatically find and clip the "most compelling" moments from each stream to turn into Shorts that creators can then share.

Other features announced Tuesday include expanded A/B testing options for newly uploaded videos and the option to add up to five collaborators to one video.

More AI tools are coming to content creation on the platform as well for YouTube Shorts.

Google's Veo 3 video generator, which will allow creators to turn text prompts into video Shorts, has begun its rollout, and the company is now experimenting with an AI video editor that "transforms your raw footage into a compelling first draft." The platform says it will also start testing a new speech-to-song tool that can remix dialogue into "catchy soundtracks."

This article was originally published on newsrealtime

What hurdles lie ahead for any US-China TikTok deal?

By News Real Time September 16, 2025 business, government, laws and regulations, news, technology No comments

(Corrects story to show Andreessen Horowitz is not a current investor in ByteDance in paragraph 13)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (newsrealtime) - Questions and potential hurdles surround a framework agreement announced on Monday between the U.S. and China that would transfer short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership, including whether any deal will comply with a 2024 law.

U.S. and Chinese officials announced the deal in principle in Madrid following trade talks, but did not provide details or answer key questions such as whether China will agree to transfer ownership of the algorithm that makes the app so popular with 170 million Americans.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE ALGORITHM?

During previous negotiations, Chinese authorities expressed strong reluctance to allow the export of TikTok's recommendation algorithm, widely seen as owner ByteDance's most valuable asset and a key driver of the app's global popularity.

In 2020, when the Trump administration first pushed for a sale of TikTok's U.S. business, China updated its export control rules to cover technologies such as recommendation algorithms, effectively giving the government a say over any transfer.

DOES CONGRESS NEED TO APPROVE THE DEAL?

Any agreement could require approval by the Republican-controlled Congress, which passed a law in 2024 requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban in the U.S., due to fears that TikTok's U.S. user data could be accessed by the Chinese government and allow Beijing to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app.

Since that law came into effect, U.S. President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for its enforcement three times.

Some Democratic lawmakers argued that Trump had no legal authority to extend the deadline and suggested that a previous deal under consideration in April would not meet legal requirements.

Attorney General Pam Bondi sent letters to Apple, Google, and other companies in February that provide services or host TikTok, informing them that the Justice Department was relinquishing any claims for potential violations of the law. They were made public in June.

A congressional aide told NewsRealTime on Monday that lawmakers plan to scrutinize the latest deal when it is made public to see if it complies with the law.

WILL CHINA RETAIN ANY OWNERSHIP?

One issue is whether ByteDance will fully divest from TikTok U.S. after the deal.

Trump responded to a question during an Oval Office press conference about whether China will have a stake in TikTok: "We haven't decided that, but it looks to me, and I'm speaking to President Xi on Friday for confirmation."

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton said in April that American investors wanting to buy TikTok must cut all ties with China.

ByteDance's current shareholders include American firms Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR.

If Congress rejects the latest agreement, Trump may have limited recourse. In January, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, did not violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

WHO WILL CONTROL TIKTOK AFTER DIVESTITURE?

Officials expect the final deal to be very similar to what was anticipated under the previous deal outlined in April, which would spin off TikTok's U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based company, majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors. This stalled after China indicated it would withhold its approval following Trump's announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods. The precise structure of the new expected ownership remains unclear.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nia Williams)

OpenAI reveals the biggest-ever study on how people are using ChatGPT - here are 3 things we've learned

By News Real Time September 16, 2025 ai chatbots, artificial intelligence, machine learning, news, technology No comments

OpenAI has just revealed the largest ChatGPT usage survey in history.
According to the findings, 70% of ChatGPT users use it outside of work.
The survey was conducted by OpenAI's Economic Research team and Harvard economist David Deming

Open AI has just revealed the results of its largest ChatGPT usage study to date, and the insights into how people interact with the AI chatbot are fascinating.

Revealing the study on its blog , OpenAI broke down the results into three key takeaways: Who is using ChatGPT, what they are using it for, and how the use of AI is evolving over time.

The study was conducted by OpenAI's Economic Research team and Harvard economist David Deming for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

While Future (the parent company of newsrealtime) has conducted its own research in the past that has provided great insight into the AI usage of the broader population , getting information directly from the creators of the world's most popular AI tool gives an excellent insight.

Here are three things we learned from the world's biggest study into ChatGPT and how people use it.

1. Usage gaps are closing

According to OpenAI, the gender gap among users who fully utilize ChatGPT has dramatically closed over the years. Previous research in January 2024 showed that of the users who had names that could be classified as masculine or feminine, 37% had "typically feminine names."

As of July 2025, however, that figure stands at 52%. Now, I have my doubts about how OpenAI can truly determine the gender of a user interacting with ChatGPT, but considering the massive influx with the same criteria, it's fair to say that there is far less of a gender gap related to AI than ever before.

Elsewhere, OpenAI reports that the adoption rate in the lowest-income countries is four times faster than that of the wealthiest.

2. How people use ChatGPT

According to OpenAI, the main reason people use ChatGPT is to get things done, and "three-quarters of conversations focus on practical guidance, seeking information, and writing."

OpenAI breaks down how people use ChatGPT into three categories: Asking, Doing, and Expressing. The study claims nearly half of all ChatGPT queries are "Asking" – where a user interacts with AI to get advice. 40% of usage is "Doing" such as "drafting text, planning, or programming," and 11% of usage is "Expressing", focused on "personal reflection, exploration, and play."

While this breakdown might not surprise you, I think it's interesting to see that writing is in fact the most common work task people use ChatGPT for. Honestly, that doesn't fill me with much hope, especially considering I spend hours and hours of my day writing without help from AI.

3. Mostly play, less work

This part of the study is the most intriguing, in my opinion. In fact, I'm actually pretty shocked at the results. OpenAI claims 70% of people use ChatGPT in a non-work related fashion, with the study stating "ChatGPT helps improve judgment and productivity."

Without this study, I'd have honestly believed most people use ChatGPT in a work-based environment, specifically for mundane tasks that don't require a lot of brain power. Instead, it looks users are interacting with ChatGPT after the office closes and in their spare time, highlighting just how much AI has managed to infiltrate our daily lives.

You can read the full paper with even more statistics on the NBER website . What result from this survey do you find the most interesting? Let us know in the comments below.

Character.AI no longer allows its chatbots to get romantic with teenagers.
ChatGPT is getting better at knowing when you need real human support - and I think it's about time
Character.AI no longer allows its chatbots to become romantic with teenagers.

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Apple no longer innovates -- it waits. And with AI, anyone playing it safe will get left behind.

By News Real Time Agustus 25, 2025 artificial intelligence, technology, technology companies, technology industry, technology trends No comments

Apple's struggles represent a fundamental misreading of the AI revolution.

Apple sits in an unprecedented position: It's a company worth more than $3 trillion that's somehow missing the most transformative technological shift since the internet.

While rivals race ahead in artificial intelligence (AI), the iPhone maker is stuck in neutral, watching its market leadership erode with each passing quarter.

A solution might be on the way, but don't hold your breath. Apple is reportedly preparing an AI product blitz That would give a new shine to its device lineup — with robots that include a lifelike version of Siri, a smart speaker with a screen, a new operating system and major home security services.

But is Apple too late?

Skepticism runs deep about Apple's AI makeover after previous efforts with Siri, Apple Intelligence, and Apple Vision Pro largely fizzled. But a determined Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, insists the company "must win in AI" and restore its innovation edge, according to a Bloomberg report. And last week, Bloomberg reported that Apple is considering using Alphabet's Gemini. to create an AI-powered Siri program .

Meanwhile, stock investors are rewarding Apple's rivals — Nvidia Microsoft Alphabet and Meta Platforms — for their aggressive AI investments.

Apple continues to rely on stock buybacks as its primary growth strategy. It's a defensive playbook when the moment demands bold offensive moves.

Apple's struggles represent a fundamental misreading of the AI revolution. While competitors pour resources into large-language models, autonomous systems and AI-powered services, Apple continues to rely on stock buybacks — to the tune of $704 billion over the past decade — as its primary growth strategy. It's a defensive playbook when the moment demands bold offensive moves.

One such move, a pledge by the company to invest $600 billion into U.S. operations over the next four years, promises a boost in manufacturing. But will we ever see it done? Is it a legitimate strategy or one of the empty commitments Apple has been making for some time?

In the meantime, a talent exodus speaks volumes about Apple's internal dysfunction around AI. The company lost its fourth top AI researcher to Meta this year, joining a broader brain drain that should alarm both investors and customers. When your brightest minds are fleeing to competitors, it signals deeper cultural and strategic problems that go beyond any single product cycle.

Every quarter Apple delays meaningful AI investment, the gap widens.

Perhaps most telling is Siri's continued mediocrity. After more than a decade of development, Apple's virtual assistant remains laughably behind OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google Assistant, and other AI alternatives. Getting Siri to "not suck," as one analyst bluntly put it, now seems highly improbable given Apple's track record. This isn't just a product failure, but a symbol of organizational complacency.

Read: Is Apple making the same mistakes BlackBerry did? Here's how it can change course.

The AI revolution differs fundamentally from previous tech cycles. Unlike the mobile transition, where Apple could observe, learn and then leapfrog competitors with superior execution, AI advantages compound rapidly. Companies with early leads in data, talent and infrastructure create moats that become increasingly difficult to bridge. Every quarter Apple delays meaningful AI investment, the gap widens.

Consider the operating leverage dynamics at play. AI is inherently deflationary, benefiting companies that can spread development costs across massive user bases and infrastructure. Nvidia, AMD, Microsoft and Alphabet understand this, which is why they're being rewarded for aggressive capital expenditure. Apple's traditionally conservative approach of waiting to perfect products before launch could prove catastrophic in a field where speed and scale determine winners.

Apple's entire ecosystem assumes the smartphone will remain our primary device, but that assumption is increasingly looking vulnerable.

The smartphone-centric worldview that built Apple's empire may be under threat. Meta's bet on mixed-reality glasses as the next primary computing device isn't far-fetched when viewed through an AI lens. OpenAI is working with iPhone designer Jony Ive on a hardware project of its own.

If ambient intelligence becomes the norm — and users interact with AI through voice, gesture, and environmental sensors — the iPhone's touch screen interface could seem quaint. Apple's entire ecosystem assumes the smartphone will remain our primary device, but that assumption looks increasingly vulnerable.

Some argue that Apple's massive installed base of 2.2 billion users provides enough runway to catch up. This misses the point. Network effects in AI favor platforms that continuously learn from user interactions. Google search processes billions of queries every day, Meta's algorithms analyze social interactions, and Microsoft's Copilot learns from workplace productivity patterns. Apple's devices generate data, but the company lacks the AI infrastructure to derive competitive advantages from it.

The path forward requires dramatic action. Industry observers have called for Apple to acquire Perplexity, the AI search startup A partnership with Google's Gemini makes sense, as does bringing outside AI talent to Apple's management ranks. Any of these moves would be a departure from Apple's traditional playbook — and that's precisely why they're necessary.

Cook's recent acknowledgment that AI is "as big as the internet" ironically highlights the problem. By the time Apple's leadership recognized the internet's importance, competitors had already built dominant positions. The same pattern threatens to repeat with AI.

Apple remains a formidable cash machine with remarkably loyal customers. But loyalty has limits, especially when competitors offer genuinely superior capabilities. The company that revolutionized personal computing, music and mobile phones now risks becoming the next cautionary tale — a once-dominant player that missed the new wave.

The AI transformation is happening faster than previous technological shifts. Apple's tradition of careful observation and delayed but superior execution won't work this time. The question isn't whether Apple will eventually embrace AI. It's whether that embrace will come too late to matter.

Daniel Newman is the CEO of the Futurum Group, which has provided or provided research, analysis, advising and/or consulting to ServiceNow, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon.com, IBM, AMD and other technology companies. Neither he nor the firm has any positions in any of the companies mentioned. Follow him on X @danielnewmanUV .

Also read: Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft share this one thing — and it'll keep the stocks fired up

More: Suze Orman reveals her favorite stock right now and the investing mistake that shaped her strategy

Nvidia wins US approval to resume H20 chip sales in China

By News Real Time Juli 21, 2025 business, nvidia, technology, technology companies, technology industry No comments

Nvidia, the leading producer of artificial intelligence (AI) chips, is at the heart of the geopolitical standoff as semiconductors become increasingly central to the U.S.-China rivalry.

The company's reentry into the Chinese market Last week, reportedly with Washington's blessing, has stirred debate about the strategic consequences for both nations.

For the US, Nvidia's continued presence in China may serve as a strategic lever to maintain its dominance in AI. Experts told CNBC that keeping Chinese companies reliant on US-designed chips and software, especially Nvidia's widely used CUDA platform, helps solidify America's global leadership.

"This relationship is symbiotic, but I do believe China needs US technology more at this moment in time," said Daniel Newman, CEO of Futurum Group, in an interview with CNBC's The China Connection.

For China, Nvidia's return provides a crucial window through which to further develop its domestic semiconductor ecosystem while continuing to build AI capabilities.

Nvidia wins US approval to resume H20 chip sales in China

Earlier this year, the US tightened export restrictions on Nvidia's H20 chip—a downgraded version of its flagship hardware designed to meet earlier compliance requirements. Washington cited concerns about these chips potentially advancing China's military or homegrown AI industry.

The move forced Nvidia to take a $4.5 billion writedown on unsold inventory and warn of revenue impacts running into the billions. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has openly criticized the export restrictions, arguing they could accelerate the country's chip development and undermine America's tech leadership.

"It would be a tremendous loss for us not to participate in China," Huang said, adding that in Nvidia's absence, domestic players like Huawei would step in to fill the gap.

That message seems to have resonated in Washington. Nvidia confirmed last week that it had received U.S. government approval to resume H20 sales to China.

While Nvidia is poised to benefit financially, US officials say the move also serves national interests.

In an interview with CNBC, Howard Lutnick, US Commerce Secretary, said that they want to continue having the Chinese use the American technology stack because they still rely on it.

Nvidia's influence extends beyond hardware. Its CUDA software platform has become a cornerstone for AI developers, forming a sticky ecosystem that competitors find difficult to displace.

Pranay Kotasthane, deputy director at the Takshashila Institution, noted that reintroducing H20 in China gives US firms some breathing room while slowing China's drive for chip independence.

"China is Nvidia's largest market and is home to 50% of AI developers," according to Jensen Huang. "If that market closes, it becomes harder for Nvidia to reinvest in R&D," Kotasthane said.

Nvidia's China comeback risks derailing local AI chip ambitions

Huawei remains China's frontrunner In AI chip development, but its hardware still lags behind Nvidia's top-tier products. Meanwhile, a growing field of Chinese startups is racing to produce viable alternatives.

Nvidia's renewed market access could potentially weaken that momentum. Tejas Dessai, director of research at Global X ETFs, warned that easier access to Nvidia chips could divert capital away from domestic projects and delay the development of Chinese alternatives.

Dessai told CNBC that if Nvidia's chips are made available to Chinese companies, it could weaken the momentum behind domestic chip projects, cut off funding, and delay progress in domestic Chinese hardware.

Experts say Nvidia's lead is not just about performance but usability. Chinese developers continue to prefer Nvidia's ecosystem due to its flexibility and depth.

Paul Triolo, a partner at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group, noted that Chinese model developers still prefer Nvidia hardware because Huawei's software environment remains difficult to use.

Still, China's ambition to reduce reliance on foreign technology remains unchanged. While Nvidia dominates the chips used to train large AI models, Chinese companies may find opportunities in inferencing—the process of running trained AI models, such as chatbots and virtual assistants.

In chips, China's opportunity could come when the focus shifts to inference," said Dessai. "That's when demand for lower-cost, efficient processors could scale, and custom chips from Chinese tech companies could step in.

Nvidia's return to China is more than a business decision—it's a geopolitical calculation. As the AI arms race intensifies, both Washington and Beijing are trying to manage a delicate balance between competition and dependence. Whether this détente holds will depend on how fast China can build a viable Nvidia rival—and how long the US is willing to keep the door open.

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OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Who Is It For?

By News Real Time Juli 15, 2025 mobile phones, mobile technology, smartphones, technology, technology trends No comments

The OnePlus Nord is one of the most popular mid-range smartphone lineups. Recently, the brand debuted the fifth-generation model , appropriately named the OnePlus Nord 5 .

The latest phone in the series gets a complete overhaul. It looks entirely different from the OnePlus Nord 4 and features updated specifications for about the same price.

So if you are in the market for a smartphone under ₹35,000 or €500, should you buy the OnePlus Nord 5? Who is this product aimed at? Let's find out in our review.

Disclosure: OnePlus India sent us a unit of the Nord 5 for review. As usual, the opinions stated here are the author's alone. The brand had no editorial input or early access to this article.

Back to a conventional design

The OnePlus Nord 4 was one of the more uniquely designed smartphones ever released. To date, it is the only 5G phone with a metal unibody construction. It also featured a distinctive glass window, reminiscent of early-generation Google Pixel devices.

The latest Nord 5, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. It adopts a more conventional design, with the cameras now aligned vertically, similar to older Nord models.

The frame is now plastic; however, the front and back are protected by glass. The rear panel of the "Marble Sands" variant looks stunning and adds significant character. In comparison, while the "Dry Ice" and "Phantom Grey" colors are good, they feel more ordinary.

This design change is a clear indication that OnePlus is targeting a wider, more mainstream audience with the Nord 5.

A bit faster, but is it better?

The OnePlus Nord 4 was already a fast device, so it appears the brand decided not to upgrade much in this regard. The Nord 5 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC, which is essentially an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 found in the Nord 4.

However, the display is now larger, brighter, and faster. The Nord 5 features a 6.83-inch 1.5K (2800 x 1272 pixels) OLED screen with a peak brightness of 1400 nits (in auto-brightness mode) and a 144Hz refresh rate. The increased brightness in direct sunlight is a visible differentiator between the two phones.

There's a catch, though. The handset's panel operates at 120Hz for the most part. It can achieve 144Hz in only three games (BGMI, CoD: Mobile, and Free Fire Max) at the time of this review.

OnePlus advertises the device for gaming, highlighting its 7300mm² cooling system. While it performs well in games, there are better options in this price range, such as the Poco F7 and iQOO Neo 10. Both of these smartphones are significantly more powerful, equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip and UFS 4.1 storage.

So, if your priority is purely gaming, the other two phones may offer a better experience. That said, this doesn't make the Nord 5 a bad choice, as it is still a very capable device.

Upgraded cameras deliver

The OnePlus Nord 5 comes with upgraded main and selfie cameras. The main sensor is a 50MP Sony Lytia LYT-700, while the front-facing unit is a 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN5 with autofocus. Both of these cameras produce noticeably better pictures and videos than those on the Nord 4.

Photos from the main camera are detailed and offer good dynamic range. It performs well even in low light, considering the phone's price. Similarly, the autofocus-enabled selfie camera delivers pleasing results. Both of these cameras are also capable of recording video in 4K at 60fps.

Unfortunately, the 8MP ultrawide unit is less impressive. It is merely average in daylight and struggles in low-light conditions. Video recording on this sensor is also limited to 1080p at 30fps. On a positive note, its autofocus does allow it to capture macro shots.

A notable omission, however, is a dedicated telephoto camera, a feature found on competitors like the Motorola Edge 60 Pro .

The daily experience

The OnePlus Nord 5 is equipped with a 6,800mAh battery. However, its endurance is only slightly better than that of the Nord 4, which has a smaller 5,500mAh battery.

Surprisingly, OnePlus has reduced the charging speed from 100W to 80W on the latest model. This change, combined with the larger single-cell battery, means the Nord 5 takes about an hour to achieve a full charge. In contrast, the Nord 4 accomplishes this in under 30 minutes.

On a more positive note, the dual stereo speakers now distort less at higher volumes. The phone also retains the snappy under-display fingerprint sensor and the handy IR blaster. However, the vibration motor is a noticeable downgrade.

The software experience is excellent. OxygenOS 15 remains one of the best Android skins, which I would personally rank second only to Samsung’s One UI 7. The new AI features, however, deliver mixed results.

Finally, the newly introduced "Plus Key" is a constant annoyance as it is highly prone to accidental clicks. The brand should have retained the classic alert slider.

Verdict: Who should buy it?

In my OnePlus Nord 4 review, I mentioned that the device it made sense for most people in India . I cannot say the same with as much confidence for the OnePlus Nord 5, as the competition has caught up.

The shift to a mainstream design indicates that the brand is targeting a wider, more general audience. Furthermore, in press briefings, OnePlus clearly positioned the Nord 5 as an answer to Samsung's Galaxy A56 rather than to devices from fellow Chinese brands.

In that context, the Nord 5 offers more value than the Galaxy A56 , which is not only more expensive but also lags behind in many aspects. Therefore, the handset remains a strong recommendation for consumers in Europe.

However, in India, the market is flooded with numerous compelling options, as we have discussed. Therefore, the decision comes down to personal preference.

The OnePlus Nord 5 is a good phone with noticeable upgrades over its predecessor. It is a well-rounded product catering to consumers who simply want a reliable, no-fuss smartphone in the sub-₹35,000 price range.

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The post OnePlus Nord 5 Review: Who Is It For? appeared first on newsrealtime .

Trump unveils $90 billion in energy and AI investments for Pennsylvania at summit

By News Real Time Juli 15, 2025 news, news media, politics, technology, technology industry No comments

President Trump and many leaders of the country's largest technology and energy companies announced more than $90 billion in new investments from private companies for Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump, who spoke for about 30 minutes during a roundtable discussion at the Inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University "Leading technology and energy companies" will invest in Pennsylvania to develop a new artificial intelligence economy, capitalizing on Pennsylvania's technology and energy assets, said 20.

"We're back in Pittsburgh to announce the largest package of investments in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Mr. Trump said on Tuesday.

Among the projects will be the construction of data centers to help provide the enormous amounts of energy needed to power AI, and an energy innovation center to train workers in the Pittsburgh region in energy and AI jobs.

The event was hosted by Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, who said the Pittsburgh region is uniquely positioned to marry its technological expertise with its vast energy resources in natural gas and nuclear to create a new AI economy. He said the investments will bring "tens of thousands of jobs" to Pennsylvania.

"Our vision for this event came from the realization about the crucial link between artificial intelligence and energy, but never before have the leaders of all those companies, as well as major investors, come together," McCormick said on Tuesday.

Mr. Trump highlighted Westinghouse, saying the Pennsylvania-based company is set to build 10 nuclear reactors across the country. He also praised his involvement in finalizing a $14 billion partnership between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel , which he said will revitalize the Mon Valley.

Mr. Trump said the investments announced on Tuesday will spawn the development of AI in the region.

"We're building a future where American workers will forge the steel, produce the energy, build the factories and really run a country like, I believe, this country has never been run before. I think we have a true golden age for America," Mr. Trump said. "We've been showing it, and it truly is the hottest country anywhere in the world. I'm honored to be in Pennsylvania, and I'm honored to be in Pittsburgh, and you're going to see some real action here."

The organizers hope the investments mark only the beginning, hopeful of leveraging the summit to ramp up energy production, build more data centers, and spawn new AI companies in the Pittsburgh area — making the region the center of AI in the country.

We have phenomenal technology resources inside of our universities systems," said Bill Demchak, CEO of PNC Financial Services Group, on Tuesday. "We have an abundance of energy, we have Westinghouse in the area. We have labor availability, and we have a huge need as we see the transformation that AI is causing.

The event came after Amazon's announcement in June of a $20 billion investment in data centers across Pennsylvania , the largest economic development project in the state's history.

Major political and industry leaders in Pittsburgh

Several of the president's Cabinet members joined him at the summit.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks were among the Trump administration officials listed as summit participants.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was also present. He is participating in a panel about major investments in Pennsylvania, moderated by Penn State University President Dr. Neeli Bendapudi.

Industry leaders such as Alphabet President and CEO Ruth Porat, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Blackstone President and CEO Jon Gray, Gecko Robotics founder and CEO Jake Loosararian, EQT President and CEO Toby Rice, and Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman were also listed as panel participants.

Police use pepper spray during Trump protest in Pittsburgh

Mr. Trump's visit was not without pushback , as evidenced on CMU's campus, where signs painted with the words "protest the summit" were seen on The Fence .

That sentiment on the CMU Fence was also posted on social media, in the words of activists, "call on students and the Pittsburgh community to stand against fossil fuels, AI for surveillance, and authoritarianism."

The advocates, who lined the streets across parts of the city , said the summit prioritizes corporate interests over sustainability and ethics.

I do believe we should be focusing more on renewable energy, green energy. Just kowtowing to oil and gas is not the way to the future," said Zach Zourelias of Plum. "I'm not saying get rid of it entirely. It is important for Pennsylvania, it is important for the country. But we need to be looking to the future, not the past.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said officers used pepper spray on demonstrators outside the event on Tuesday evening.

A spokesperson said police issued dispersal orders to demonstrators blocking the street and confronting attendees leaving the event. The spokesperson said a "number of demonstrators were actively resisting" and pushing and shoving officers. That's when two officers deployed pepper spray, officials said.

The spokesperson told KDKA, 'At no time was there an order or authorization for large scale crowd or riot control agents to be used.'

No arrests are expected.

Can AI Decode Food Labels and Cosmetic Ingredients? Here's What This Platform Offers

By News Real Time Juli 10, 2025 diet and nutrition, food and drink, nutrition, product reviews, technology No comments

If you are part of the alternative milk craze, I have some news to offer you: They often contain gums and oils To make their texture more like cow's milk, and you could end up with a coated tongue that makes your coffee, cereal or oatmeal a little less enjoyable.

I feel like I annoy baristas with the question of whether their milk contains gelling agents, so I set out to find a way to analyze products in my own shopping rotation, to be informed and to choose items for something beyond their brand appeal.

This is how I found Yuka , a mobile app that allows you to scan barcodes across food labels and cosmetic products and receive artificial intelligence evaluations and suggestions in response to its health score (0–100).

What is Yuka, and how does it use AI?

Yuka was founded by French siblings Benoît and François Martin and their friend Julie Chapon, who won a "Food Hackathon" event in 2016, and launched the company in 2017.

Interestingly, Yuka's brand icon is an orange carrot, which represents Yuka's first iteration, a magnetic, carrot-shaped device for the refrigerator. That's since morphed into a mobile app available on iOS and Android , which features a free and premium version of its product starting at $15 per year.

Yuka stands out for its ability to use AI to quickly combine nutrition, additives and organic status. This could potentially help manufacturers re-formulate or improve their products, in addition to customers being able to quickly tell if it's a product suited to them.

Yuka's AI implementation starts with a scoring system across its three key factors, then provides an ingredient analysis -- informed by peer-reviewed studies and updated by a team of researchers and toxicology experts -- and then concludes with recommendations for healthier options. (Gotta love the simplicity of a three-part framework!)

How to use Yuka to scan and analyze items' health impact

Get your phone ready -- you'll need it to download and use Yuka.

First, download Yuka, available for iPhone and Android, and sign in by creating an account with an email address and a new password .
Find some products wherever you're shopping and point your camera to focus on the barcode. This will generate a color-coded score (green or red) out of 100. I tried Yuka with some new zinc sunscreen (poorly rated) and almond milk yogurt (highly rated), which surprised me, as I thought these scores would be reversed due to the gums in my almond milk yogurt.
Tap the product at the bottom of your screen for a breakdown on why a product got its score. This includes details on nutrition, additives, whether it's considered organic and any linked studies for more information. Here you can also explore AI-powered recommended alternatives and save your scan history for quick, future access.

In my case, Yuka gave my almond milk yogurt a high rating because of its nutritional content. The additives that I was particularly concerned about didn't warrant a lower score than 78/100.

As for my $40 mineral sunscreen, it was rated poorly because it contained phenoxyethanol and aluminum stearate — two allergens that may have toxic effects and were labeled as moderate risks. This sunscreen was highly rated on multiple mineral sunscreen-focused listicles (which influenced my purchase) so I was surprised to see it rated 34/100. But, also thankful for the additional information.

If you purchase or upgrade to a premium account, you have the option to use Yuka in offline mode. For more information on this, Yuka has a dedicated Help section on its website with FAQs for free and premium members' specific questions.

Should you use Yuka?

I was pleasantly surprised by Yuka's strong data ethics -- and ethics in general -- across its site and product. Product info comes from other people's uploads and brands' images instead of scraping from other sites, and its Terms & Conditions disallows scraping, bots or bulk data collection.

Additionally, Yuka receives no influence from brands and does not give companies access to change scores or edit recommendations provided. They also cannot pay Yuka to advertise alongside a multi-level responsible funding resource to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Some of the pushback about Yuka is that its scoring system isn't transparent enough. It currently only shows you a nutritional breakdown for food items, though below it there is a scoring method button that showcases a framework that explains how Yuka scores your product.

While I agree there is room for improvement with a filtering system based on individual needs, I didn't have an issue with this as I'd use it primarily with food -- and I know what specific ingredients I'm looking to avoid.

However, Yuka's good/bad rating system can lead to disordered eating, so you should be careful if that is a potential issue for you.

Another pitfall is that some experts also think it is rating system could be improved , along with some of the studies it uses as support for its information.

You must also be mindful that this is an application that uses artificial intelligence (though prompted by humans), which means there's room for error (and improvement). It is important to note that double-checking ingredients yourself is the most efficient way to stay informed about toxins, allergens and what you do or don't want in and on your body.

That said, I respect Yuka's business model and approach to human-centered design and output, which may help combat some of the anxiety that surfaces around digital content.

I think Yuka is a reliable choice for educating yourself on what's going on and into your body, especially with its firm stance against brand advertising.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

ChatGPT often hallucinated about the music app Soundslice, so the founder made the lie come true.

By News Real Time Juli 09, 2025 chatgpt, music, news, software and applications, technology No comments

Earlier this month, Adrian Holovaty, founder of music-teaching platform Soundslice , solved a mystery that had been plaguing him for weeks. Weird images of what were clearly ChatGPT sessions kept being uploaded to the site.

Once he solved it, he realized that ChatGPT had become one of his company's greatest hype men - but it was also lying to people about what his app could do.

Holovaty is best known as one of the creators of the open-source Django project , a popular Python web development framework (although he retired from managing the project in 2014). In 2012, he launched Soundslice, which remains "proudly bootstrapped," he tells TechCrunch. Currently, he is focused on his music career. both as an artist and as a founder.

Soundslice is an app for teaching music, used by students and teachers. It is known for its video player synchronized with music notations that guide users on how the notes should be played.

It also offers a feature called "sheet music scanner" that allows users to upload an image of paper sheet music and, using AI, will automatically turn that into an interactive sheet, complete with notations.

Holovaty carefully watches this feature's error logs to see what problems occur and where to add improvements, he said.

That's where he started seeing the uploaded ChatGPT sessions.

They were creating a bunch of error logs. Instead of images of sheet music, these were images of words and a box of symbols known as ASCII tablature. That's a basic text-based system used for guitar notations that uses a regular keyboard. (There's no treble key, for instance, on your standard QWERTY keyboard.)

The volume of these ChatGPT session images was not so burdensome that it was costing his company money to store them or crushing his app's bandwidth, Holovaty said. He was baffled, he wrote. in a blog post about the situation.

Our scanning system wasn't intended to support this style of notation. Why, then, were we being bombarded with so many ASCII tab ChatGPT screenshots? I was mystified for weeks - until I messed around with ChatGPT myself.

That's how he saw ChatGPT telling people they could hear this music by opening a Soundslice account and uploading the image of the chat session. Only, they couldn't. Uploading those images wouldn't translate the ASCII tab into audio notes.

He was faced with a new problem. "The main cost was reputational: new Soundslice users were coming in with false expectations. They had been confidently told we would do something that we actually don't," he described to TechCrunch.

He and his team discussed their options: Slap disclaimers all over the site about it — "No, we can't turn a ChatGPT session into hearable music" — or build that feature into the scanner, even though he had never before considered supporting that offbeat musical notation system.

He opted to build the feature.

"My feelings on this are conflicted. I'm happy to add a tool that helps people. But I feel like our hand was forced in a weird way. Should we really be developing features in response to misinformation?" he wrote.

He also wondered if this was the first documented case of a company having to develop a feature because ChatGPT kept repeating, to many people, its hallucination about it.

The fellow programmers on Hacker News had an interesting take about it: Several of them said that it's no different than an over-eager human salesperson promising the world to prospects and then forcing developers to deliver new features.

"I think that's a very fitting and amusing comparison!" Holovaty agreed.

Facial scanning reduces crime at a low cost, Met says

By News Real Time Juli 03, 2025 biometrics, crime, facial recognition, police and law enforcement, technology No comments

Live facial recognition technology (LFR) is helping the Met stay ahead of criminals at a time "where money is tight," according to the force's director of intelligence.

Lindsey Chiswick, the lead for LFR at the Met and nationally, said more than 1,000 wanted criminals had been arrested since January 2024 using the tool, including paedophiles, rapists and violent robbers.

She said it "would be madness" if officers did not keep pace with available technology in order to protect the public.

Privacy campaigners say there's been an "alarming escalation" in police use of LFR, which maps a person's unique facial features and matches them against faces on watch lists.

Since the start of 2024, a total of 1,035 arrests have been made using live facial recognition, including 93 registered sex offenders.

Of those, 773 have been charged or cautioned.

The tool is also being used to check up on people who have court conditions imposed, including sex offenders and stalkers.

The include 73-year-old David Cheneler , a registered sex offender, who was captured on LFR cameras in January in Denmark Hill, south-east London, with a six-year-old girl.

Her mother had no idea about his offending history," says Ms. Chiswick. "Without LFR that day, officers probably wouldn't have seen him with that child, or thought anything was amiss.

Cheneler was jailed for two years for breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which banned him from being alone with young children, and for possessing an offensive weapon.

But some have expressed concerns over the Met's increasing use of LFR, and plans for a pilot scheme in Croydon south London, where fixed cameras will be mounted on street furniture from September, instead of being used by a team in a mobile van.

The Met says the cameras will only be switched on when officers are using LFR in the area.

Green Party London Assembly member Zoe Garbett previously described the pilot as "subjecting us to surveillance without our knowledge."

Interim director of Big Brother Watch, Rebecca Vincent, said it represented "an alarming escalation" and that the technology is "more akin to authoritarian countries such as China".

Ms. Chiswick said while she understood concerns, she believed the Met was taking "really small, careful steps".

She added: "I think criminals are exploiting that technology and I think it would be madness if we didn't keep pace with that and allow criminals to have access to tools which the police didn't."

The world is moving fast; we need to keep up.

We joined police on a recent LFR deployment in Walthamstow, where a mobile van was parked in an area between the Tube station and the market on the high street, a hot spot for theft and robbery.

Officers told me the bespoke watch list, created for each deployment, had been compiled around 5 o'clock that morning and contained 16,000 names of wanted offenders, and would be deleted at the end of the day.

But before I even reached the van, or spotted the sign alerting that live facial recognition cameras were being used, officers had already spotted me.

My face had been scanned and flagged as a potential match to my photo, which the police had previously added to their system so we could demonstrate how it worked.

The officers' handsets bleeped as the two images blinked up on their screens.

In this case, it was a 0.7 match. Anything less than 0.64, they said, is considered unreliable and the captured image is deleted.

"I've got no wish to put technology on the streets of London that is inaccurate or biased," Ms. Chiswick told me.

She said that the threshold had been selected after tests by the National Physical Laboratory.

"All algorithms have some level of bias in them. The key thing for police to understand is how to operate it in order to ensure there is no bias at that level."

The two images of my face were also flagged to the team inside the mobile van.

They showed me their monitors, where the cameras were scanning all the faces in the crowd, before quickly pixelating them.

If it is not a match, officers told me, their biometric data is immediately deleted.

If someone on the list is identified by the system, police officers then take over.

Live facial recognition is meant to work alongside your natural policing skills," explains Supt Sarah Jackson, "so you should be able to approach those people that have been flagged by the cameras, go and talk to them, and determine whether the cameras are correct.

But what happens when the cameras get it wrong? How do those people react?

"That does happen on very few occasions," Supt Jackson acknowledged.

"There's always the possibility to upset people in any walks of life if they're stopped by police. But by and large, people are happy."

Ms Chiswick said that since January this year, there had been 457 arrests and seven false alarms.

During the Walthamstow deployment, police told me eight arrests were made including for drug offences, stalking and driving offences, and that there were no false alerts.

It's not just campaigners who are concerned about potential misidentification .

Local resident Christina Adejumo approached me to ask why she had just seen a man being handcuffed in the middle of the market.

When I explained that he had been picked up by the live facial recognition cameras, she told me she thought they were a good idea, but questioned their accuracy.

It can be said, 'sorry, it's not you,' but the embarrassment of what happened that day cannot be taken away from him.

Ann Marie Campbell said: "I think it's a good idea because of public safety." She also hoped it would help tackle pickpocketing.

"This is very good to prevent crimes," Ansar Qureshi agreed.

Is he concerned about privacy? "I don't mind, because I don't have anything to hide," he told me.

But Caroline Lynch said she was "disgusted" by the technology. "I don't feel safer, no. It's just more and more 'Big Brother'."

She insisted she'd prefer the money to be spent on safety measures, including deploying more police officers on the streets.

I can get on the Tube at 12 o'clock at night and there's absolutely no one there to protect us.

Earlier this year, the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned that the force is "a shrinking organization and faces losing around 1,700 officers, PCSOs and staff by the end of the year without more money from government.

We're in an environment where money is tight," Ms. Chiswick said. "We're having to make some difficult choices, and we know that technology and data can help us be more precise.

But Rebecca Vincent, Interim Director of Big Brother Watch, said there was a lack of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of LFR.

It's a massive privacy violation for people going about their daily life.

"There is no primary legislation governing this invasive technology. It means that police are being left to write their own rules."

She said it was unclear whether in future officers might be given access to other data, such as driving licences or passports.

Ms Chiswick said human rights and data protection laws, as well as guidance from the College of Policing, helped police to understand how the technology should be used.

She said the watchlist was always intelligence-led and included only those who were wanted by police or the courts, or who were subject to court-imposed conditions.

She told me that she believed there was "provision" for LFR to be used to search for vulnerable missing children, which might be considered less invasive to their privacy than making a public appeal, but that this had not yet been done.

Deputy Commissioner of Regulatory Policy at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Emily Keaney, said these cameras can help prevent and detect crime, but added that "their use must be necessary, proportionate, and meet expectations of fairness and accuracy."

She said they were working with the Met to review the safeguards in place and would be "closely monitoring" its use.

She added: "LFR is an evolving technology and, as our 2025 AI and biometrics strategy sets out, this is a strategic priority for the ICO."

In 2019, we published guidance for police forces to support responsible governance and use of facial recognition technology.

"We'll continue to advise government on any proposed changes to the law, ensuring any future use of facial recognition technology remains proportionate and publicly trusted."

The Home Office said facial recognition was "a crucial tool to keep the public safe that can identify offenders more quickly and accurately, with many serious criminals already brought to justice through its use".

It added: "All police forces using this technology are required to comply with existing legislation on how and where it is used."

We will set out our plans for the future use of facial recognition technology in the coming months, including the legal framework and safeguards that will ensure it is used properly.

Ban live face scanning, say MPs and campaigners
Met to continue facial recognition despite concerns
I was misidentified as a shoplifter by facial recognition technology

International pressure and growing distrust

Hikvision, one of the world's largest manufacturers of surveillance cameras, has been operating in Canada since 2014.

However, its extensive global influence and connections to state-backed projects in China have long raised concerns among Western nations.

Although the government has not made public the specific reasons behind its decision, it has stated that intelligence and security assessments played a central role.

This silence is likely to fuel speculation, much like in previous crackdowns on Huawei, where classified intelligence was used to justify broad commercial restrictions.

The comparison to Huawei is not unwarranted. Hikvision now finds itself under the same kind of scrutiny that led to Huawei's ejection from 5G infrastructure projects across the Five Eyes nations.

The US, UK, and Australia have all already taken measures against Hikvision, particularly over claims its cameras have been used to surveil Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region, allegations that Beijing denies.

The FBI has also warned about malware targeting webcams , and the Western world often believes that Chinese IoT is arguably more dangerous than TikTok , which is considered spyware.

Unsurprisingly, Hikvision "strongly disagrees" with Canada's decision, stating, "We believe it lacks a factual basis, procedural fairness, and transparency." The company claims the move appears "to be driven by the parent company's country of origin."

With geopolitical tensions continuing to define much of the West's approach to Chinese companies, decisions like Canada's risk being seen less as technology-based judgments and more as political posturing.

Hikvision claimed it cooperated fully with authorities and submitted all requested documents, but this did not alter the outcome.

It's unclear how many public buildings in Canada still use Hikvision devices, but Joly has committed to reviewing and phasing out any remaining equipment.

"I strongly urge Canadians to take note of this decision and make their own decisions accordingly," she warned.

Canadian government seems to be focusing on surveillance risks, which raises questions about the trustworthiness of smart devices, such as the webcams or parental control solutions.

As more homes and workplaces adopt smart cameras and monitoring tools, the line between convenience and intrusion becomes thinner.

If bans become more commonplace, vendors may need to prove more than just feature strength to remain competitive.

Whether you're selecting a home monitoring system or seeking the best antivirus software, the politics of hardware and software are becoming harder to ignore.

Via Economic Times

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Is the world's largest CCTV surveillance camera vendor going to be the next Huawei? Canada bans Hikvision amidst security fears

By News Real Time Juli 02, 2025 business, information security, politics, surveillance, technology No comments

Geopolitics, not just technology, is quietly rewriting who can sell cameras in Western markets
Hikvision says it's unfair, but the shutdown shows trust is no longer automatically given to Chinese companies.
Company denies wrongdoing, but surveillance fears are now enough to end entire business operations

Canada has ordered Chinese surveillance giant Hikvision to cease its operations in the country, citing national security concerns.

The ban follows a formal review conducted under the Investment Canada Act and marks a move against foreign technology firms.

"The government has determined that Hikvision Canada Inc.’s continued operations in Canada would be injurious to Canada’s national security," said Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.

International pressure and growing distrust

Hikvision, one of the world's largest manufacturers of surveillance cameras, has been operating in Canada since 2014.

However, its extensive global influence and connections to state-backed projects in China have long raised concerns among Western countries.