Eu

From ramping up 5G's rollout to exploiting its data, the European Union is turning to technology to help it bounce back from the coronavirus crisis and compete better in key areas with the United States and China. As part of a 750 billion euro ($825 billion) recovery plan announced on Wednesday, the European Commission said the goal was to achieve technology sovereignty in crucial areas after it emerges from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This has underlined how the 27-country bloc depends on others for key technologies and supplies of crucial materials. "The pandemic and its consequences on our lives and economies have highlighted the importance of digitisation across all areas of EU economy and society," the bloc's executive body said as it announced the plan to help EU countries. The proposal includes more investment in 5G and 6G networks, with the main beneficiaries expected to be health, education, transport, logistics and media, but did not give any figures. … [Read more...] about Tech reboot in store for EU as plans recovery from crisis

But Hans-Olaf Henkel, a former member of the European Parliament and former president of the Leibniz Association, says he’s seen this all before. Though he’s in favor of funding bottom-up, basic research, Henkel argues that since the 1980s, EU research programs have fundamentally been about one thing, “to catch up” in economic competitiveness, first with Japan, then the United States, and now China. “The only thing they do is put money at the expense of taxpayers into gigantic programs,” he says. “When it fails, they put even more money into these programs.” … [Read more...] about European R&D review finds lagging high-tech performance despite major science investment

The hundreds of news stories on the controversy have focused largely on the privacy element, though some have repeated the Mark of the Beast claims without much in the way of explanation. Many Ars readers, encountering the story for the first time, might well have shared some of the privacy concerns expressed by Hernandez, but come up short in understanding the reason for her objection. What is this mark, and why has it been so tied to certain specific forms of technology? Why do RFID tags and bar codes, in particular, arouse such concerns? And did "John the Revelator" really record long-ago prophecies about contactless payment solutions and geolocation? … [Read more...] about 666 chip? Why a Texas student thinks her school ID is the “Mark of the Beast”