Obama orders world's fastest computer

In this edition of the Worldwide Wrap, President Barack Obama announces a plan to build the world's fastest computer and Facebook reveals details of a solar-powered plane.

President Barack Obama has signed an executive order calling for the US to build the world's fastest computer by 2025.

The supercomputer would be 20 times quicker than the current leading machine, which is in China. It would be capable of making one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second - a figure which is known as one exaflop.
Via: BBC

Facebook has revealed details of a solar-powered plane it hopes will bring high-speed Internet access to remote corners of the world using lasers.

The unmanned aircraft has a huge wingspan similar to a Boeing 737 but it weighs less than a car and the company claims it can remain airborne for months at a time. Named 'Aquila', the drone is part of the company's ambitious internet.org project to deliver high-speed Internet connectivity to hundreds of millions of people in far flung parts of the world.
Via: Sky News

An award-winning photographer has sued Twitter over a copyrighted image that has been shared on the social media site.

Kristen Pierson filed suit in California over an image she took of Dragonforce guitarist Herman Li, which was being hosted and linked to on Twitter without her permission. Legal action began in March 2014, when a DMCA takedown notice over the photo was filed. Twitter has supposedly failed to respond, leading Pierson to escalate to full legal action.
Via: Wired

Uber has denied that its app misleads users, after researchers from the Data & Society thinktank accused the cab hire firm of displaying "phantom cars".

In an article for Vice's Motherboard, the researchers claimed the app shows cars in the passenger's vicinity even when there are none there, citing testimonies from drivers and passengers.

One driver described a scenario where the passenger app's map showed four drivers on the streets immediately by her pick-up location, but the estimated wait time for the closest car was 17 minutes.
Via: Telegraph

Code has been automatically "transplanted" from one piece of software to another for the first time, with researchers claiming the breakthrough could radically change how computer programs are created.

The process, demonstrated by researchers at University College London, has been likened to organ transplantation in humans. Known as MuScalpel, it works by isolating the code of a useful feature in a 'donor' program and transplanting this 'organ' to the right 'vein' in software lacking the feature. Almost all the transplant is automated, with minimal human involvement.
Via: Wired

Pinterest said it has put in place specific diversity goals for 2016, including increasing the hiring rate for full-time engineering roles to 30% women and 8% underrepresented minorities. For non-engineering roles, it aims to hire 12% of workers from underrepresented minorities.

"We think one reason it's been so hard to get numbers to change is that companies haven't stated specific goals," Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp said in a blog post. "Now that companies are regularly reporting their data, it's clear not a lot of progress has been made."
Via: Wall Street Journal