Category: Biz Tech

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff gestures during news conference after an event at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil September 2, 2015. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino BRASILIA Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff criticized ride-sharing software Uber on Wednesday for increasing unemployment, adding to a chorus of labour concerns about the world's most valuable venture-backed start-up.Rousseff said local authorities must regulate the service, which has led conventional taxi drivers to stage protests and lobby lawmakers in Brazil's three biggest cities.Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the

People walk in front of the HCL Technologies Ltd office at Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi April 17, 2013. Reuters/Mansi Thapliyal/Files LONDON English Premier League club Manchester United said on Wednesday it had signed a partnership deal with IT firm HCL Technologies to improve its website and app as it gears up to launch a new digital media strategy.The 20-time league winners have struggled on the field since manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 but off it have continued

A worker adjusts the logo at the stand of Huawei at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover March 15, 2015. Reuters/Morris Mac Matzen/FilesBERLIN China's Huawei Technologies unveiled a new smartphone on Wednesday, taking aim at the high end of the market, which is dominated by Apple and Samsung Electronics.The Mate S, launched on the sidelines of Europe's biggest consumer electronics show, IFA, in Berlin, has a 5.5-inch display, a 13 mega pixel rear camera and fingerprint security. Huawei says it is

TORONTO Hundreds of thousands of people signed up for infidelity website Ashley Madison in the last week, parent company Avid Life Media said on Monday, even after hackers leaked data about millions of its clients.The company also struck back at reports that the site had few genuine female users, saying internal data released by hackers had been incorrectly analysed."Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise of Ashley Madison are greatly exaggerated," the company said in a statement. "Despite having our

A new iPad is seen follownig a presentation at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 16, 2014. Reuters/Robert GalbraithApple Inc (AAPL.O) on Monday teamed up with network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) to improve the performance of its iPad and iPhone devices on Cisco's corporate network.Cisco will provide services specially optimised for iOS devices across mobile, cloud, and on premises-based collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx, the companies said in a statement.Apple is expanding its

A woman walks past a logo of Google at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) 2015 in Beijing, China, April 28, 2015. Reuters/Kim Kyung-HoonREUTERS - Google Inc and French drugmaker Sanofi SA said they will partner to develop tools to improve the management and treatment of diabetes.Sanofi will work with Google's life sciences team to collect, analyze and understand information impacting diabetes, which is expected to affect 592 million by 2035, according to the International Diabetes Federation.Sanofi's diabetes product line raked in

Neon tubes are placed in a trash can in Vincennes near Paris May 22, 2009. Reuters/Charles Platiau/Files OSLO Only a third of Europe's electronic waste is properly recycled, with vast numbers of cellphones, computers and televisions illegally traded or dumped, a study led by the United Nations and INTERPOL said on Sunday.Sweden and Norway were close to European targets of collecting and recycling 85 percent of all electrical and electronic waste, at the top of a ranking in which Romania, Spain

A Microsoft logo is seen at a pop-up site for the new Windows 10 operating system at Roosevelt Field in Garden City, New York July 29, 2015. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton NEW YORK Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) avoided a potentially costly setback to its mobile phone business on Friday as the U.S. International Trade Commission declined to block the import of its devices in a longstanding patent dispute.The decision rejected a ruling in April by a U.S. trade judge who found that Microsoft had

TORONTO The chief executive of infidelity website Ashley Madison's parent company Avid Life Media has left, just over a week after hackers leaked data about millions of its clients in a massive cyber assault.Avid Life said on Friday the departure of Noel Biderman was by "mutual agreement" and its existing senior management team would take over until a new CEO is appointed.On Aug. 18, hackers who claimed to be unhappy with its business practices released the Ashley Madison customer

TORONTO The chief executive of infidelity website Ashley Madison's parent company Avid Life Media has left, just over a week after hackers leaked data about millions of its clients in a massive cyber assault.Avid Life said on Friday the departure of Noel Biderman was by "mutual agreement" and its existing senior management team would take over until a new CEO is appointed.On Aug. 18, hackers who claimed to be unhappy with its business practices released the Ashley Madison customer

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 SAN FRANCISCO Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] has hired two top vehicle security researchers, the company said on Friday, high-profile additions that come as the ride-hailing service ramps up its work on technology for self-driving cars.Charlie Miller, who had been working at Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), and Chris Valasek,

An Uber representative registers people on his smartphone during the kick off of a citywide jobs tour in the Queens borough of New York July 21, 2015. Reuters/Shannon Stapleton/Files BRUSSELS Brussels will launch a study in September of the taxi-hailing app Uber, in an effort to settle the legal disputes that have pitched the U.S. start-up against conventional taxis across Europe, three people familiar with the matter said.Since opening in Paris in 2011, San Francisco-based Uber has run into vehement opposition

Autodesk Inc (ADSK.O), the maker of computer-aided design (CAD) software, reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue as its licensing revenue declined because of the company's shift to a cloud-based subscription model.Shares of Autodesk, which also cut its current-year profit forecast for the second time, fell 5.5 percent to $47.24 in after-market trading on Thursday.The company forecast an adjusted profit of 60-72 cents per share for the year ending Jan. 31, well below the average analyst forecast of $1.04.Autodesk, whose rivals include Adobe

A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich April 16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files BRUSSELS Google Inc has rejected EU antitrust charges that it abused its market power, exposing the company to the risk of a hefty fine if it does not alter its business practices.The company's comments came after the European Commission in April accused it of distorting internet search results to favour its shopping service, harming both rivals and consumers."Economic data spanning more than a decade, an

Customers stand beneath an Apple logo at the Apple store in Grand Central station in New York City, July 21, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar/FilesSAN FRANCISCO Apple Inc on Thursday invited journalists to a Sept. 9 event, where it is expected to unveil new iPhones and potentially a new version of its Apple TV set-top box.The email invitation includes a colorful Apple logo with the sentence "Hey Siri, give us a hint," referring to Apple's popular digital voice assistant.The company traditionally announces its

Angry Birds products are displayed during a news conference in Hong Kong July 3, 2012. Reuters/Bobby Yip/Files HELSINKI Finland's Rovio, maker of mobile phone game Angry Birds, forecast its earnings would fall for a third consecutive year and said it planned to slash up to 39 percent of its workforce to try to improve its prospects.Rovio has failed to create new hit games since the 2009 launch of Angry Birds, the top paid mobile app of all time, though it has

Online home-rental marketplace Airbnb Inc said on Tuesday it would begin collecting and remitting tourist taxes from guests on behalf of rental apartments in Paris.Airbnb, whose most popular city is Paris with more than 50,000 listings, said it would collect 0.83 euro ($0.95) per person per night for reservations made in Paris on or after Oct. 1. (bit.ly/1fEaxfZ)The company, which matches people wishing to rent out all or part of their homes to temporary guests, said the tax process would

The Amazon.com, Inc. logo is seen on the side of a delivery truck in Brooklyn, New York October 23, 2014. Reuters/Brendan McDermidSAN FRANCISCO Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Tuesday it will begin delivering wine, beer and spirits to U.S. customers for the first time as part of its speedy delivery service, Prime Now.The online retailer is expanding Prime Now, its one- and two-hour service, to Seattle, where the company is headquartered, and offering alcohol deliveries there.Amazon Prime, the company's $99 per

A photo illustration shows the Ashley Madison app displayed on a smartphone in Toronto, August 20, 2015. Reuters/Mark BlinchInfidelity website Ashley Madison and its parent company have been sued in federal court in California by a man who claims that the companies failed to adequately protect clients' personal and financial information from theft, saying he suffered emotional distress.The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by a man identified as John Doe, seeks class-action status.The lawsuit accuses Ashley Madison

Customers stand beneath an Apple logo at the Apple store in Grand Central station in New York City, July 21, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar DETROIT/SAN FRANCISCO Consumer electronics company Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has hired a senior engineer from electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O), according to a LinkedIn posting, as part of Apple's effort to build a team of experts in automated driving.A LinkedIn profile for Jamie Carlson shows that he has left Tesla and moved to Apple. At least six

FRANKFURT Smartphone apps that help people learn languages for free or nearly free, a few sentences at a time, are piling pressure on established education firms and setting the pace for how to make lessons more engaging.Phone and tablet-based mobile products from newcomers like Germany's Babbel, Britain's Memrise and U.S.-based Duolingo have overtaken names like Berlitz and computer self-learning pioneer Rosetta Stone (RST.N) in terms of audience, if not yet sales or teaching sophistication, market researchers say.Tens of millions

TORONTO Emails sent by the founder of infidelity website AshleyMadison.com appear to have been exposed in a second, larger release of data stolen from its parent company, cyber security experts confirmed on Thursday.The data dump by hackers who have attacked the site appears to include email messages linked to Noel Biderman, founder and chief executive officer of its Toronto-based parent company Avid Life Media.In a message accompanying the release, the hackers said: "Hey Noel, you can admit it's real

Headsets hang in front of a screen displaying a Spotify logo on it, in Zenica February 20, 2014. Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Files EDGARTOWN, Mass. If hearing Barack Obama break into song hasn't satisfied your presidential music needs, you can now listen to his playlists on Spotify.The White House on Friday released two music sets "hand-created" by the president of the United States for daytime and evening listening as part of the launch of a new channel on the popular music-streaming service. And there

An employee works near screens in the virus lab at the headquarters of Russian cyber security company Kaspersky Labs in Moscow July 29, 2013. RUSSIA-CYBERCRIME/ Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin/Files SAN FRANCISCO Beginning more than a decade ago, one of the largest security companies in the world, Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, tried to damage rivals in the marketplace by tricking their antivirus software programs into classifying benign files as malicious, according to two former employees.They said the secret campaign targeted Microsoft Corp, AVG Technologies NV,

Customers enter the Apple store on 5th Avenue beneath an Apple logo in the Manhattan borough of New York City, July 21, 2015. Reuters/Mike SegarApple Inc (AAPL.O) will delay its live TV service to at least next year, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the iPhone maker's plans.The company had planned to introduce the service, which is delivered over the Internet, this year.Discussions with broadcasters such as CBS Corp (CBS.N) and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) to licence programming are progressing

NEW YORK/SEOUL Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) unveiled a new Galaxy Note phablet and a larger version of its curved-screen S6 edge smartphone on Thursday, marking a fresh bid by the South Korean company to revive momentum in its handset business.Samsung is the world's top smartphone maker but its market share fell in the second quarter when the company released its critically acclaimed S6 models, squeezed by Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) upscale iPhones and cheaper offerings from Chinese rivals such

Mascots dressed as characters from the mobile video game ''Candy Crush Saga'' pose outside the New York Stock Exchange March 26, 2014. Reuters/Brendan McDermidKing Digital Entertainment Plc (KING.N), the creator of Candy Crush Saga, reported a 28 percent drop in quarterly profit as monthly unique users fell slightly and a strong dollar dented sales from outside the United States.The company's shares slipped 8.2 percent in extended trading on Thursday.King Digital, which makes games for social media websites and mobile devices, has

A neon Google logo is seen as employees work at the new Google office in Toronto, November 13, 2012. Reuters/Mark Blinch/Files Ben Crawford was asleep 12,000 km (7,500 miles) from Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) Mountain View, California headquarters this week when the Internet giant unveiled its new face.Crawford, chief executive of London-based CentralNIC Group Plc (CNIC.L), woke up in Sydney to learn that the domain powered by his company - .xyz - would host the website of Google's new company, Alphabet Inc.Google

A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/FilesGoogle Inc's overhaul of its operating structure is an acknowledgement of the lack of transparency surrounding its disparate businesses and projects, analysts said, but it remains to be seen how much more the company will actually disclose.Analysts and investors have long sought more granular detail on Google's capital spending and cash flow, as well the financial performance of YouTube and the Android operating system.Google said on Monday

Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President for Products, delivers his keynote address during the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco, California May 28, 2015. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files SAN FRANCISCO A low-key style and an unusually firm handle on diplomacy propelled new Google chief executive Sundar Pichai to the top of the search engine giant, former colleagues said, cementing his successes such as creating the Chrome browser.As part of a major overhaul of its operating structure, Google said on Monday it was creating

SAN FRANCISCO Google Inc (GOOGL.O) announced a surprise overhaul of its operating structure on Monday, creating a holding company called Alphabet to pool its many subsidiaries and separate the core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars.The move appeared to be an attempt by the search engine giant to focus on its more creative and ambitious projects, while investors cheered the potential for more financial disclosures of its disparate business segments."It suggests that in all likelihood, Google

SEATTLE Teams of video gamers playing characters ranging from wizards to monsters exchanged virtual punches, fireballs and lightning strikes over the past six days, battling at the main event of the Dota 2 International 2015 tournament in Seattle.And by the end of Saturday's finals, five players, including a 16-year-old, became more than a million dollars richer.Now in its fifth year and playing to a sold-out crowd in the 17,000-seat Key Arena, the International has grown every year in size,

Terry Gou, founder and chairman of Taiwan's Foxconn Technology, gestures during a news conference in New Delhi, India, August 4, 2015. Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee MUMBAI Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a key supplier to Apple Inc (AAPL.O), on Saturday signed a pact with Maharashtra to invest $5 billion over five years on a new electronics manufacturing facility.The announcement was made by Foxconn founder Terry Gou and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after the signing of an accord in

Twitter Inc's (TWTR.N) board is weighing a shakeup that could involve the exit of former Chief Executive Dick Costolo, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The changes may be announced when the company names a permanent CEO, Bloomberg said.The change is intended to make the board more diverse. The board may expanded or shuffled to represent directors from diverse backgrounds, such as minorities and those with experience in adjacent industries, including advertising and e-commerce, the people familiar with the