Category: Biz Tech

The application icons of Facebook, Twitter and Google are displayed on an iPhone next to an earphone set in this illustration photo taken in Berlin, June 17, 2013. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Files BRUSSELS - Facebook, Twitter, Google's YouTube and Microsoft on Tuesday agreed to an EU code of conduct to tackle online hate speech within 24 hours in Europe.EU governments have been trying in recent months to get social platforms to crack down on rising online racism following the refugee crisis and terror

 SAN FRANCISCO Billionaire media owner Pierre Omidyar is backing news and entertainment web site Gawker Media in its lawsuit against wrestler Hulk Hogan, adding a new twist to a case pitting technology money against press freedom. Omidyar, owner of The Intercept publisher First Look Media, is asking other media outlets to file legal briefs in support of Gawker, First Look said in a statement on Friday. First Look said its goal was to protect constitutional rights. "The possibility that Gawker may have

A Microsoft logo is seen on an office building in New York City in this July 28, 2015 file photo. Microsoft Corp announced more big cuts to its smartphone business on Wednesday. Reuters/Mike Segar/FilesSHANGHAI Chinese users of Microsoft products are criticising the software company's push to get them to mandatorily upgrade their Windows operating systems, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.Posts critical of Microsoft on microblog site Weibo relating to the Windows 10 upgrade, which Microsoft users must switch

MUMBAI India's biggest conglomerate Tata Group launched an ecommerce venture on Friday, as it seeks to cash in on rising purchasing power in a market dominated by deep-pocketed international retailers and startups backed by global tech investors.The group said it developed its Tata Cliq website over a year and a half at a cost of "several hundred million dollars" to be a marketplace for inhouse and partner companies to sell apparel and electronics.The move is in line with a second

The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo DHAKA Bangladesh police are reviewing a nearly forgotten 2013 cyber heist at the nation’s largest commercial bank for connections to February's $81 million heist at the country's central bank, a senior law enforcement official said on Wednesday.The unsolved theft of $250,000 at Sonali Bank involved fraudulent transfer requests sent over the SWIFT international payments network. It is not widely known outside of Bangladesh, and in

An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson/Files SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc is investigating how to charge electric cars, talking to charging station companies and hiring engineers with expertise in the area, according to people familiar with the matter and a review of LinkedIn profiles.For more than a year, Silicon Valley has been buzzing about Apple's plan to build an electric car. Now the company appears to be laying the groundwork for the

A pedestrian walks past an Apple iPhone 6 advertisement at an electronics store in Mumbai, India, July 24, 2015. Reuters/Shailesh Andrade/File PhotoNEW DELHI India has said Apple Inc must meet a rule obliging foreign retailers to sell at least 30 percent locally-sourced goods if it wishes to open stores in the country, a senior government official told Reuters.Apple is hoping to expand its retail presence in India, one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone markets, at a time when sales in the

The interior of the office of ride-hailing service Uber is seen in this picture in Gurugram, previously known as Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, April 19, 2016. Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee SAN FRANCISCO Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Tuesday it would invest in on-demand ride-hailing company Uber, the latest in a wave of high-profile moves by automakers to embrace their potential upstart rivals as partners, customers and sources of valuable data.Toyota and Uber will create new leasing options in

A GoPro Hero 3+ camera is seen at the Nasdaq Market Site before before GoPro Inc's IPO in New York City, June 26, 2014. Reuters/Mike Segar SAN FRANCISCO Shares of GoPro Inc (GPRO.O) got a lift on Tuesday after the struggling action camera maker said it was partnering with extreme sports sponsor Red Bull in a marketing and promotion deal.Briefly a Wall Street favorite following an initial public offering in 2014, GoPro's shares have fallen 82 percent in the past year

A 3D printed Apple logo is seen in front of a displayed cyber code in this illustration taken February 26, 2016. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which has resisted pressure from U.S. law enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products.Jon Callas, who co-founded several well-respected secure communications companies including PGP Corp, Silent Circle and Blackphone, rejoined Apple in May,

Reuters/Regis Duvignau/Illustration  SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday that it had changed some of the procedures for its "Trending Topics" section after a news report alleging it suppressed conservative news prompted a U.S. Congressional demand for more transparency. The company said an internal probe showed no evidence of political bias in the selection of news stories for Trending Topics, a feature that is separate from the main "news feed" where most Facebook users get their news. But the world's largest social

MANILA More than three months have passed since $81 million was stolen in a brazen cyber-heist from Bangladesh's central bank and sent to Manila – yet authorities in the Philippines appear no closer to nabbing those who laundered most of the money through a bank and casinos here.Nobody has been arrested, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) - the nation’s equivalent of the FBI - has not been allowed to get fully involved in the probe, and a Philippines

Entertainer Kanye West arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala (Met Gala) to celebrate the opening of ''Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology'' in the Manhattan borough of New York, May 2, 2016. Reuters/Lucas Jackson/Files Kanye West is being sued by a prominent Hungarian rock singer and composer, who accused the hip-hop star of sampling one of his best-known compositions without permission for the 2013 song "New Slaves."In a complaint filed late Friday in U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO When Google introduced its Google Glass smart glasses four years ago, it turned to Glass-sporting sky divers buzzing a San Francisco convention center, Glass-adorned models at a glitzy fashion show and a Twitter campaign to notify early "Glass Explorers" of their luck in snagging a pair.This year, when Microsoft showed off an early edition of its HoloLens augmented-reality goggles, it took the opposite approach: targeting the software developers it needs to make the device useful. No stunts.

Reuters journalist Paul Ingrassia sits in the drivers seat of a Tesla S-Type in Autopilot mode in San Francisco, California, U.S., April 7, 2016. Reuters/Alexandria Sage/Files DETROIT U.S. consumers still resist the notion of self-driving cars, according to a University of Michigan study released on Monday, the latest sign that investors and automakers may be rushing into a business where demand is limited at best.General Motors Co's recent acquisition of Silicon Valley startup Cruise Automation for a reported $1 billion has

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI Apple Inc chief Tim Cook met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, concluding a four-day trip to India that could set the stage for Apple's expansion plans in one of the world's fastest growing smartphone markets.Modi and Cook met for an hour in central Delhi and discussed Apple's plans for its India business, including the possibility of manufacturing and retailing in the country.Apple is looking to expand its retail presence in India and is pursuing a license

The logo of Dow Jones Industrial Average stock market index listed company Microsoft (MSFT) is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson/Files SAN FRANCISCO With the world growing more concerned about attacks by militant groups on civilians, Microsoft Corp on Friday outlined new policies to crack down what it called "terrorist content" on some of its consumer services.In a blog post, the company said it would ban what it called "terrorist content" on some services such

The BACtrack Skyn wearable alcohol biosensor is seen in an undated handout artist's rendering courtesy of BACtrack. BACtrack/Handout via Reuters SAN FRANCISCO A San Francisco-based company has won a U.S. government-sponsored competition with an alcohol monitoring devices that can be worn on the wrist, the latest milestone in the development of wearable technologies that monitor and diagnose medical conditions.BACtrack, a privately held medical device maker, took the $200,000 top prize in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Wearable Biosensor Challenge

The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo LONDON/CHICAGO Shortly after 7 p.m. on January 12, 2015, a message from a secure computer terminal at Banco del Austro (BDA) in Ecuador instructed San Francisco-based Wells Fargo to transfer money to bank accounts in Hong Kong.Wells Fargo complied. Over 10 days, Wells approved a total of at least 12 transfers of BDA funds requested over the secure SWIFT system.The SWIFT network - which allows

Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji/FilesSEOUL Samsung Electronics said it had struck a deal with a Alibaba Group Holding for owners of its phones to be able to more easily make payments with Alipay accounts - a move it hopes will boost sales in the world's biggest smartphone market.Users of Samsung Pay will also have the option of paying with their Alipay accounts without having separately access the Alipay application. Alipay, which is operated by Alibaba unit Ant Financial Services Group, has 450 million

Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. Reuters/Mike Segar/File Photo BRUSSELS - EU state aid regulators aim to rule on Amazon's tax deal with Luxembourg by July, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, and it may order the country's tax authorities to recover about 400 million euros ($448 million) in back taxes.The European Commission's decision will come after a near-two year investigation into whether a Luxembourg 2003

A security guard keeps watch as he walks past a logo of Google at an exhibition stage during the 4th China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair 2016 in Shanghai, China, April 21, 2016. Reuters/Aly Song WASHINGTON Google has no plans to expand its partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to create a self-driving car, the program chief at the Alphabet Inc unit said on Thursday, affirming that the technology company was still in talks with other potential partners.Earlier this month, Google and

Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma attends the opening ceremony of the second annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen town of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China, December 16, 2015. Reuters/Aly Song/Files SHANGHAI Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's chief Jack Ma has cancelled a speech at an anti-counterfeiting conference in the United States after the trade group behind it suspended the e-commerce giant's recently gained membership.Alibaba has been dogged for years by accusations that its online shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters and critics say

The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File PhotoMajor U.S. banks are scrutinizing security of the SWIFT messaging network following cyber attacks in Bangladesh and Vietnam involving fraudulent transfer requests, according to media reports on Tuesday.JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) has limited SWIFT access to some employees amid questions about the breaches at two Asian banks, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The actions are not tied to a specific

Reuters/Jim Urquhart/Files SAN FRANCISCO Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that a dangerous financial bubble has formed in the technology industry - and Silicon Valley responded with a collective eye roll. In a Reuters interview, the New York billionaire said technology start-ups that had never earned a profit were able to sell shares at very high prices, likening the situation to the overheated stock market in 2007. "I'm talking about companies that have never made any money, that have a bad

Reuters/Dado Ruvic Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) users will soon have more flexibility in writing tweets because the company plans to stop including photos and links as part of its 140-character limit, according to a Bloomberg report. The social media platform has faced stagnant user growth. Months earlier, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said the company would simplify its product in an effort to attract new users. "We think there's a lot of opportunity in our product to fix some broken windows that we know

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) revealed a more than $1 billion stake in Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in a rare foray into the technology sector, which Buffett has largely shunned apart from a poorly performing investment in IBM (IBM.N).Shares of Apple rose 3.7 percent on the news, closing up $3.36 at $93.88. Berkshire made its investment in the first quarter, before the iPhone maker in April reported its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years.The investment was announced amid

People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with a Google logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Files SAN FRANCISCO Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) did not acquire Sun Microsystems in 2009 in order to launch a copyright lawsuit against Google, but rather to protect its products that relied on Sun's software, Oracle co-Chief Executive Safra Catz told jurors on Monday.In a trial at San Francisco federal court, Oracle (ORCL.N) claims

Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016.Reuters/Ashikur Rahman/Files DHAKA A Bangladesh government-appointed panel investigating the theft of $81 million from the country's central bank has found that SWIFT, the international banking payments network, committed a number of mistakes in connecting up a local network, the panel head said on Sunday. "We have shown that SWIFT made a number of errors that made it easy for the hackers," Mohammed Farashuddin, a former governor of

A security guard keeps watch as he walks past a logo of Google at an exhibition stage during the 4th China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair 2016 in Shanghai, China, April 21, 2016.Reuters/Aly Song LONDON Google faces a record antitrust fine of around 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from the European Commission in the coming weeks, British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph said. The European Union has accused Google of promoting its shopping service in Internet searches at the expense of rival services in

 PARIS Three French anti-racism associations said on Sunday they would file legal complaints against social networks Facebook (FB.O), Twitter (TWTR.N) and Google's Youtube (GOOGL.O) for failing to remove "hateful" content posted on their platforms. French law requires websites to take down racist, homophobic or anti-semitic material and tell authorities about it. But French Jewish students union UEJF and anti-racism and anti-homophobia campaigners SOS Racisme and SOS Homophobie said the three firms had removed only a fraction of 586 examples of hateful content

Reuters/Denis Balibouse/File photo SAN FRANCISCO Warren Buffett struck media gold with a 2012 investment in debt-laden Media General Inc. Now the famed investor may try to reprise that success by supporting a bid for Yahoo Inc's Internet assets. The Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman is backing a consortium that includes Quicken Loans Inc founder Dan Gilbert, that is seeking to buy Yahoo's online portfolio, Reuters reported on Friday. The consortium is in the second round of bidding in the auction for Yahoo's assets, people

The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. Reuters/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo After an $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said there was no problem with its procedures for approving fund transfers, according to a letter released on Friday by a U.S. lawmaker who had questioned those methods.U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney had called for a probe of the fund transfers triggered by the February cyber attack on

SAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) $1 billion investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing intensifies a race to acquire technology, talent and market access in a rapidly evolving global personal transportation market.Apple's investment comes as auto and technology industry executives and investors are placing bets that self-driving car systems, electric vehicles and ride sharing will eventually converge to allow companies to sell rides in self-driving vehicles, generating revenue day and night.For Apple, Chief Executive Tim Cook said to Reuters