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How Some Venezuelans’ Smartphones Warned of Quake

A man searches for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, some 40 km northeast of Caracas, on June 25, 2026. (AFP)
A man searches for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, some 40 km northeast of Caracas, on June 25, 2026. (AFP)
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How Some Venezuelans’ Smartphones Warned of Quake

A man searches for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, some 40 km northeast of Caracas, on June 25, 2026. (AFP)
A man searches for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed building following twin earthquakes in Caraballeda, La Guaira State, some 40 km northeast of Caracas, on June 25, 2026. (AFP)

Many social media users in Venezuela have reported receiving alerts on Android smartphones moments before Wednesday's quake with almost 600 confirmed dead.

Google's Android and Apple's iOS, both include the option to display government alerts for emergencies like earthquakes.

But the search giant last year also detailed its system that uses the billions of Android smartphones worldwide to detect earthquakes in the first place.

- How it works -

Almost all smartphones contain an accelerometer, a movement sensor used for tasks like flipping the screen when users turn it sideways.

That same sensor "can also detect the ground shaking from an earthquake," Google wrote in a July 2025 blog post.

Accelerometers can spot potential earthquakes' fast-moving initial "P" wave, sending information about the tremor to a Google server.

By rapidly cross-referencing many such reports, the system can "confirm that an earthquake is happening and estimate its location and magnitude," Google said.

"The goal is to warn as many people as possible before the slower, more damaging S-wave of an earthquake reaches them".

Google offers two stages of alerts.

"BeAware" warns of weaker tremors, while for the heaviest quakes, "TakeAction" takes over the screen and plays a loud sound even when the phone is on silent mode.

- How effective is the system? -

Google said last year that its systems had already sent 790 million alerts to individual phones, warning of over 2,000 potentially dangerous earthquakes detected from April 2021.

While that gives many more people than before access to early warning information, there have been hiccups.

Android phones failed to sound warnings ahead of devastating February 2023 earthquakes that killed almost 60,000 people across Türkiye and Syria.

Google said last year that it has since updated its algorithms to avoid a repeat.

The company also apologized in February 2025 for a false alarm sent to some Android users in Brazil.

This week in Venezuela, hundreds of people have posted praise for Google on X, with some including unverified videos of alerts prompting people to leave buildings.

- What about Apple? -

Beyond government warnings, Apple says on its website that users in the US and Taiwan can also receive alerts from other "alert originators" about earthquakes.

The company did not respond to AFP's questions about how that system works by time of publication.

Neither has the iPhone giant enlisted its users' phones for a distributed detection system like Google's.

The hundreds of millions of iPhones around the globe are, however, able to forward alerts they receive to other nearby Apple devices that do not have mobile reception or a WiFi connection -- potentially helping life-saving warnings to get through.

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Technology

Apple Closes in on Nvidia in Race for World's Most Valuable Company

Apple logo (Reuters)
Apple logo (Reuters)
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Apple Closes in on Nvidia in Race for World's Most Valuable Company

Apple logo (Reuters)
Apple logo (Reuters)

Apple is within striking distance of overtaking Nvidia as the world's most valuable company, a milestone that would reshuffle the ranks of tech heavyweights as investors reassess the outlook for AI.

Apple was last valued at $4.90 trillion as its shares rose marginally in premarket trading on Friday, while Nvidia was roughly at the same level, following a 2.4% decline.

If Apple overtakes Nvidia, it would reclaim the top spot for the first time since April last year. The close race shows that investors are broadening their focus beyond the obvious beneficiaries of the AI boom, such as Nvidia, which has been at the helm for nearly a year.

"Apple was seen as a laggard in the AI race because it wasn't spending to develop models, but now sentiment has changed," said Toni Meadows, head of investment at BRI Wealth Management, Reuters reported.

"Apple is less exposed to capex intensity and better positioned to monetize AI via services, ecosystem lock-in, and hardware upgrades. The re-rating reflects confidence in earnings durability rather than speculative AI upside."

For a company that was often seen trailing in the AI race, the narrowing gap with Nvidia reflects Apple's efforts to establish itself more firmly among the sector's leading players, and could shape how CEO Tim Cook's final months at the helm are viewed.

Cook is preparing to cede his role to hardware veteran John Ternus in September.

Last month, the company rolled out a long-delayed overhaul of Siri, betting the upgraded assistant would help close the gap with Big Tech rivals and new-age startups in the crucial AI race.

Some analysts say Apple is sitting on an AI gold mine in the form of the personal data that lives on every iPhone. The data could make Siri's answers more useful and the assistant more capable.

The challenge is that such data is locked away in operating systems in the name of privacy and the company would have to find a way to unlock its value.

Nvidia became the first company in the world to surpass a $5 trillion market valuation in October, a landmark that propelled it into a rarefied territory that was far beyond the reach of its rivals.

Even if Nvidia is superseded by Apple, it would not necessarily signal a lasting change in the companies' relative standing. The chipmaker remains a major beneficiary of AI-related spending, and its graphics processors are powering much of the generative AI frenzy.

Nvidia could also reclaim the top spot if sentiment shifts.

Besides, Apple is in a delicate position itself, having raised prices to offset rising costs -- a strategy that could hurt demand.

"I don't see any meaningful distinction should Nvidia lose its crown. It's likely to be a significant participant in whatever happens going forward," said Benjamin Hall, vice president, alpha research at Segal Marco Advisors.

However, the AI enthusiasm has spread to other corners of the semiconductor industry. The bigger winners this year have been memory chipmakers such as Micron, which crossed $1 trillion in market value in May as investors embraced the significance of memory chips in AI infrastructure.

South Korea's SK Hynix also listed on the Nasdaq earlier this month, adding another player to the race for investor attention.

"The new entrants to the market could spread out the focus away from the pure Magnificent Seven names into a wider number of names," Hall said.

The eye-watering chips rally ran into turbulence in July as investors reassessed the sustainability of the artificial intelligence trade, knocking the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index down almost 19% from its all-time highs.

Despite the steep fall, the index has performed better than Nvidia so far this year.

Technology

South Korea-US Team Unveils Robotic Technology That Dresses the Wearer

Hwang Jae Yun, a graduate student of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), demonstrates wearing a self-dressing robot at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Hwang Jae Yun, a graduate student of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), demonstrates wearing a self-dressing robot at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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South Korea-US Team Unveils Robotic Technology That Dresses the Wearer

Hwang Jae Yun, a graduate student of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), demonstrates wearing a self-dressing robot at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Hwang Jae Yun, a graduate student of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), demonstrates wearing a self-dressing robot at KAIST in Daejeon, South Korea, July 14, 2026. (Reuters)

A team of South Korean and US researchers has unveiled a robotic technology that allows a person to suit up without using their hands or aid from others, with potential for applications in chip cleanrooms and emergency services.

The technology developed by researchers at South Korea's KAIST and Stanford University uses soft and flexible "vines" powered by air pressure embedded in clothing. When pressurized, the vines glide the fabric up close to the wearer's body like an ivy plant climbing on a structure, even if the person does not remain standing ‌still.

"When I was ‌riding a bicycle, it started to ‌rain ... ⁠and I thought it ⁠would be helpful if a raincoat could be put on automatically (as I ride)," said KAIST postdoctoral researcher Kim Nam Gyun, the lead author of a paper on the technology.

"The vine robot stays close to the person and dresses them by turning the clothing inside out as it moves, allowing it to climb stably along ⁠the shape of the body,” Kim said, adding ‌it takes about 10 seconds to ‌put on a full suit.

A key to the technology's potential is ‌it does not require the wearer to stand motionless and ‌it works without a complex control algorithm, the researchers said.

Inspired by climbing ivy, the robot advances by growing at its tip rather than shifting its whole body, enabling stable movement along curved surfaces, said Ryu Jee-Hwan, ‌a professor of civil and environmental engineering at KAIST.

“It can pass through narrow gaps, grow while ⁠adapting to ⁠the shape of its surrounding environment, and move regardless of whether the surface is slippery, sticky, or sloped,” he said.

Beyond immediate applications for helping the elderly and disabled, the team sees potential for use where the user needs to suit up and off quickly and without using the hands, including in semiconductor cleanrooms and by emergency workers requiring personal protective equipment.

Ryu said given the explosive growth of AI, there was usually much attention on the software powering systems, but the team's self-dressing robot was an example of how mechanical engineering could complement software.

The study was published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, a peer-reviewed journal.

Technology

China's Xi Calls for Step Up of Global Effort in AI, as US Curbs Squeeze China’s Tech Access

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
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China's Xi Calls for Step Up of Global Effort in AI, as US Curbs Squeeze China’s Tech Access

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. (Reuters)

Development and governance of artificial intelligence should be a global effort, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday, while reiterating China’s objections to what he called the “overstretching” of national security concerns.

Speaking at a conference in Shanghai, Xi said AI should not be dominated by any single nation.

American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the world's most advanced technologies, spurring China's efforts to build its own know-how and intensifying the tech race between the world’s two biggest economies.

“The development of artificial intelligence should not be a solo performance by any single country but rather a symphony of global cooperation,” Xi said at China's annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Others attending included the leaders of Kazakhstan, Cambodia and Thailand and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We should together oppose the practice of overstretching the concept of national security in the field of artificial intelligence, and of placing one’s own security above that of other countries,” he said, repeating a longstanding Chinese complaint.

Over the next five years, he said China will provide 5,000 training opportunities on artificial intelligence to developing countries.

China will expand AI cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS countries, Xi said.

He promised to provide access for 30 countries to a Chinese-developed AI meteorological system that provides early warning systems.

A day earlier, 29 countries including Pakistan, Russia and Kazakhstan signed an agreement with China to establish a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. State media described it as an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Shanghai promoting global AI governance.

More than 1,100 companies and 1,400 guests are participating in the annual AI conference this year, state media said.

During the conference, tech giant Huawei will be showcasing its powerful AI computing system, the Atlas 950 SuperPoD,.

Some technology analysts now believe China has become an innovator in AI and is no longer just catching up with the US. China’s five-year plan until 2030 has prioritized progress in frontiers of science and technology including AI.

China’s open-source AI models, like DeepSeek, have been seen as appealing and often times more affordable alternatives globally to US AI models, which are largely closed-source, and especially across the developing world.