Category: Biz Tech

A Nintendo video game logo is seen at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles, California, United States, June 17, 2015. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson TOKYO Shares in Japan's Nintendo Co surged on Friday as consumers flocked to try out its new Pokemon GO smartphone game, raising hopes that the company's long-awaited shift into mobile gaming will pay off. Seeking to protect its console business, the Japanese group had for many years resisted introducing mobile games with its best-known characters such as

The logo of Facebook is seen at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2016. Reuters/Eric Gaillard The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is examining Facebook Inc over its transfer of various rights associated with its worldwide business to a holding company in Ireland, according to court papers. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco seeking to enforce IRS summonses served on Facebook and to force the world's largest social network to produce various

A mobile phone shows a Facebook page promoting Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, in this photo illustration taken April 13, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar As the U.S. presidential campaign heats up, Facebook Inc is going out of its way to show its neutrality - an increasingly urgent matter for the social network as evidence of its power continues to emerge. Recent studies have shown the site has extraordinary influence. According to research scheduled to be published in August in the Journal of

SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc on Wednesday offered a rare glimpse into how it ranks and shows content in its News Feed, part of an effort to provide more transparency about its operations as the social network's cultural and political influence continue to grow. The disclosures, though lacking in detail, are notable in part because they come in the wake of a May news report alleging liberal political bias in a Facebook feature called Trending Topics. “News Feed is a system that’s

BERLIN/LAGOS When German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet launched Jumia in 2012 as a would-be African Amazon, it was optimistic that a rapidly expanding middle class would quickly shift from street markets to shopping online. Four years on, falling sales for sites like Jumia and slower growth from Nigeria to Russia and Brazil is casting doubt on Rocket Internet's ambition to become the world's biggest Internet company outside the United States and China. Jumia made a loss of 17 million euros (13.91

The logo of car-sharing service app Uber on a smartphone over a reserved lane for taxis in a street is seen in this photo illustration taken in Madrid on December 10, 2014. Reuters/Sergio Perez/Illustration/Files Ride-hailing giant Uber is integrating online radio station Pandora into its app for drivers for easy listening on trips, the companies announced on Monday. The deal gives Uber a new perk to dangle to drivers and strengthens Pandora’s presence in the key automotive market. The program begins Monday

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 BERLIN German publishers have appealed a Berlin court's rejection of a case in which they accused Google of abusing its market power by refusing to pay them for displaying newspaper articles online, a lawyer for the publishers said on Monday. Germany's biggest newspaper publisher, Axel Springer and 40 other publishers had accused Alphabet

Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. Reuters/Ashikur Rahman/File Photo DHAKA Bangladesh's central bank has ended a contract with U.S. cyber security firm FireEye to investigate February's online theft of $81 million, turning down a proposal to extend the agreement, a senior official said on Monday. More than four months after hackers broke into the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank and transferred money from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,

A screen displays the Instagram logo during a presentation in New York December 12, 2013. Reuters/Lucas Jackson SAN FRANCISCO Instagram now boasts more than 500 million users, more than 80 percent of whom are outside the United States, the company said on Tuesday, in a sign of the photo-sharing app's rapidly growing global reach. The company owned by Facebook Inc (FB.O) had 400 million users last September. It has seen its user base more than double over the past two years. Instagram added

SoftBank Group Corp. President and COO Nikesh Arora attends a conference of start-up businesses in New Delhi, India, January 16, 2016. Reuters/Adnan Abidi/Files TOKYO SoftBank Group Corp said on Tuesday that President Nikesh Arora would resign as of Wednesday's shareholders meeting, less than two years since he joined the Japanese Internet conglomerate. SoftBank said Arora and Chairman and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son had disagreed over when Arora would replace Son as head of the group. (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki) Trending On Reuters International Yoga Day Millions

Protesters from the Anonymous India group of hackers wear Guy Fawkes masks as they protest against laws they say gives the government control over censorship of internet usage in Mumbai, June 9, 2012. Reuters/Vivek Prakash SAN FRANCISCO/ TORONTO At least a dozen countries are considering or have enacted laws restricting online speech, a trend that is alarming policymakers and others who see the internet as a valuable medium for debate and expression. Such curbs are called out as a threat to the

Reuters/Kacper Pempel/files   SAN FRANCISCO Amazon.com Inc is preparing to launch a standalone music streaming subscription service, placing it squarely in competition with rival offerings from Apple Inc and Spotify, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.   The service will be offered at $9.99 per month, in line with major rivals, and it will offer a competitive catalog of songs, the sources said. Amazon (AMZN.O) is finalising licenses with labels for the service, which likely will be launched in late summer

The logo of Intel is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan June 1, 2016. Reuters/Tyrone Siu Apple Inc's next iPhone will use modems chips from Intel Corp, replacing those made by Qualcomm Inc in some versions of the new smartphone, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Intel's modem chips will be in iPhones used on AT&T Inc's U.S. network and some other versions of the smartphone for overseas markets, Bloomberg reported on Friday. (bloom.bg/21cyhtJ) However, iPhones sold in

FILE PHOTO -- A woman looks at her phone as she passes by a Lending Club banner on the facade of the the New York Stock Exchange December 11, 2014. Reuters/Brendan McDermid/File Photo   SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters/IFR) - Many online lenders have failed to detect the “stacking” of multiple loans by borrowers who slip through their automated underwriting systems, lending company executives and investors told Reuters.   The practice is proliferating in the sector - led by LendingClub, OnDeck and Prosper Marketplace - because

CONCORD, Calif Honda Motor Co gave a sneak preview of its self-driving prototypes on Wednesday, saying it was already on its way to offering semi-autonomous safety functions to the mass market. The Japanese automaker has been less vocal about its plans for self-driving cars than larger rivals like Toyota and General Motors, which in recent months have shown off major research and development projects and big-ticket acquisitions. But under the radar, Honda has been building semi-autonomous functionality, including forward-collision warning, lane-

More than 18 months after Apple Pay took the United States by storm, the smartphone giant has made only a small dent in the global payments market, snagged by technical challenges, low consumer take-up and resistance from banks. The service is available in six countries and among a limited range of banks, though in recent weeks Apple has added four banks to its sole Singapore partner American Express; Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in Australia; and Canada's five big banks. Apple

The company logo is shown at the headquarters of Oracle Corporation in Redwood City, California, February 2, 2010. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files Oracle Corp was sued on Wednesday by a former senior finance manager who claimed she was terminated in retaliation for complaining about improper accounting practices in Oracle's cloud services business. Shares of Oracle fell about 2.6 percent to $39.23 in after-hours trading. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the former executive, Svetlana Blackburn, accused upper management of trying to

A Bitcoin (virtual currency) paper wallet with QR codes and a coin are seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris, France, May 27, 2015. Reuters/Benoit Tessier/File Photo LONDON The price of the web-based digital currency bitcoin soared to its highest in almost two years on Tuesday, rising to more than $500 per unit, as worries about a further weakening of the yuan drove increased demand from China. Trading volumes on the Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCC surged

Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell Inc, delivers his keynote speech at the All Things Oracle OpenWorld Summit in San Francisco, California September 25, 2013. Reuters/Jana Asenbrennerova/File Photo WILMINGTON, Del Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners underpriced their 2013 $24.9 billion buyout of Dell Inc by about 22 percent and may have to pay tens of millions to investors who opposed the deal for the computer maker, a Delaware judge ruled on Tuesday. The fair value of Dell's stock at the time

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/Files SHANGHAI 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 Photo NEW 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