Smartphone, internet use at record high in US: survey Washington (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - More than three-fourths of American adults now use a smartphone, helping to boost internet adoption to a record level, a survey showed Thursday. The Pew Research Center survey found 77 percent owning a smartphone in late 2016, more than double the level of 2011, when 35 percent said they used such devices. The rise was fueled by a "sharp uptick" in smartphone use by those with low income ... more

Researchers reveal world's most precise metronome Hamburg, Germany (UPI) Jan 12, 2017 - Scientists in Germany have synchronized a system of lasers with record precision. The metronome's laser-microwave network stretches a kilometer wide, or 3,280 feet, and is synched within 950 attoseconds. One attosecond is a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a second, or a quintillionth of a second. One femtosecond is a quadrillionth of a second, or a millionth of one billionth. ... more

U.S. solar groups to speak after Trump inauguration San Diego (UPI) Jan 12, 2017 - The U.S. Energy Department said experts would be on hand at a California summit to discuss solar power, less than two weeks after Donald Trump takes office. Panelists at a California energy summit will be on hand to review solar developments in the United States on Jan. 30, ten days after Trump takes the oath of office as the next president. Awardees of a funding program launched ... more

US hits China with WTO complaint over aluminum Washington (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - In its final days, the Obama administration on Thursday filed a trade complaint against China for using "artificially cheap" loans and raw materials to boost its aluminum industry at the expense of US competitors. The actions were tantamount to providing subsidies that violate World Trade Organization rules, and caused "serious prejudice" to US aluminum companies, the US Trade Representative ... more

Taiwan microchip giant to boost US jobs: company Taipei (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - Microchip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) says it will create more jobs in the United States as the firm posted record profits. Chairman Morris Chang said at the company's earnings conference on Thursday TSMC had already brought "hundreds of thousands of jobs" over the last three decades to the US. "Mr. Trump has said many times that he wants to create jobs in the U ... more

China 2016 auto sales surge at fastest in three years Shanghai (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - Auto sales in China, the world's biggest car market, surged at their fastest in three years in 2016, an industry group showed Thursday, jumping nearly 14 percent after authorities slashed a purchase tax. The world's second-largest economy is crucial to global auto manufacturers, but the market took a hit from slowing economic growth in 2015. However a total of 28.03 million cars were sol ... more

Bitcoin plunges as China investigates exchanges Beijing (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - Bitcoin prices plummeted after China's central bank announced it was investigating exchange platforms trading in the virtual currency. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) said it had dispatched inspection teams to several of the country's major bitcoin trading platforms in Beijing and Shanghai. The move, announced Wednesday, has triggered fears Beijing is mulling a crackdown on the digi ... more

Birds circling trash threaten Beirut flights: minister Beirut (AFP) Jan 11, 2017 - Flights in and out of Lebanon's Beirut airport are at risk because of the large number of birds flying over a nearby garbage dump, the country's transport minister said Wednesday. "Today we face an emergency... we recognise that there is a danger posed to civil aviation movement by the birds," Yusef Fenianos said after a meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri. "The presence of the Costa ... more

Amazon to deliver 100,000 new US jobs Washington (AFP) Jan 12, 2017 - Amazon on Thursday unveiled plans to create 100,000 US jobs over the next 18 months, as President-elect Donald Trump presses the business world to boost activities on American soil. The US tech and retail giant's plan to bring its American workforce to over 280,000 is the latest - and largest - of a string of job-creation announcements as Trump prepares to take office on a promise to boost ... more

Serbia under fire for Russian gas deals Brussels (UPI) Jan 12, 2017 - The Serbian government may have breached European laws as they relate to gas market competition with its deals with Russia, a directorate said. The secretariat for the European Energy Community sent an open letter to Serbia's government that said it failed to comply with treaties in the energy sector. The community said that, in particular, it was concerned that a 2012 agreement between ... more