Business news

Consumer & Gadgets

Exploring the hidden costs of free apps

Procrastination, sleep deprivation and reduced focus are part of the price we pay for free mobile apps. This is according to researchers at Linköping University and RISE, who have investigated the costs hidden behind the ...

Business

Legal system fails to protect people from malicious copyright cases at the cost of sexual privacy, study warns

Changes need to be made to the UK legal system to protect people from exploitative litigation designed to prey on vulnerabilities, a new study warns.

Business

US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial

The US Department of Justice said on Tuesday it would demand that Google make profound changes to how it does business and even consider the possibility of a breakup, after the tech juggernaut was found to be running an illegal ...

Business

Canadian urban mobility is woefully lacking, but building a better future is still possible

Canadian cities are falling behind globally when it comes to efficiently moving people. Long commute times, high congestion rates and infrastructure that is vulnerable to climate change are symptoms of a mobility crisis.

Business

Samsung third-quarter forecast misses expectations

Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it expected third-quarter profits to jump almost three-fold, but fell short of market expectations as it struggled to leverage robust demand for chips used in artificial intelligence servers.

Business

US industrial policy may strengthen EV battery supply chain

Vehicle electrification is an important pathway to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The supply chain for electric vehicle battery materials relies heavily on China, a dependency that can leave the US vulnerable to ...

Business

EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China

EU countries gave a definitive green light on Friday to hefty additional tariffs on electric cars made in China, despite strong German opposition and fears it will trigger a trade war with Beijing.

Business

What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has become an AI powerhouse after securing Silicon Valley's largest-ever funding round. The company now faces the challenge of delivering on its promise to become the next Apple or Google.

Business

Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court

Social media platforms such as Meta's Facebook must limit the use of personal data including someone's sexual orientation for targeted advertising, the European Union's top court ruled Friday.

Business

Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition

Ireland's data watchdog said Friday it will probe whether budget airline Ryanair's use of facial recognition to check the identity of customers booking through third-party websites violates EU privacy laws.

Business

The cost of cloud services

There are millions of people around the world who now use remote computer systems to store and even process their files. There are many providers offering cloud services in a highly competitive market. In order to differentiate ...

Business

No slump for pump and dump cryptocurrency gangs

In a sleepy corner of the crypto-economy, the value of an obscure coin called Enzyme was tumbling downwards along with its peers earlier this month—but then something unusual happened on May 15.

Business

Alibaba profit slumps nearly 60% as tech crackdown, Covid bite

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said Thursday its profit fell 59 percent in the last fiscal year, joining other tech firms that reported lacklustre results while grappling with COVID-19 restrictions and a sector crackdown.

Business

Elon Musk revises Twitter financing plan; shares jump

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday revised the financing plan for his proposed $44 billion purchase of Twitter, raising investor hopes that the unpredictable billionaire still intends to pull off a deal roiled by market turbulence ...

Business

Chipmaker Broadcom to buy VMware for $61 bn

Broadcom announced Thursday a $61-billion deal to purchase cloud computing firm VMware in a giant tech transaction that expands the chipmaker's software offerings.

Business

Twitter to pay $150M penalty over privacy of users' data

Twitter will pay a $150 million penalty and put in new safeguards to settle federal regulators' allegations that the social platform failed to protect the privacy of users' data over a six-year span.

Business

Here's why crypto companies are flocking to Texas

Mance Harmon graduated from college in 1993 when the World Wide Web was just getting ripples, so he remembers the frustrations of trying to explain it to his parents. It didn't make sense to them until they got an email account, ...

Business

Google takes yet another run at e-commerce—and Amazon

Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan recently had an issue with his rose bushes. His wife took a photo of the plants on her phone, uploaded the image to Google, identified the culprit and followed a link for a fungicide. Then ...

Business

A return to the office could be bad for computer security

When employees feel they deserve superior technology compared to other employees—and they don't receive unrestricted access to it—they pose a security risk to their companies, according to a new University at Buffalo ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Walmart plans $3.99 drone deliveries in six states by year-end

Walmart Inc. and partner DroneUp LLC plan to expand their drone-delivery hubs to 34 locations in six states by year-end, taking a big step toward scaling up aerial dropoffs for U.S. shoppers even though big regulatory hurdles ...

Business

Twitter shareholders meet amid Elon Musk's takeover drama

Twitter's regularly scheduled shareholder meeting Wednesday didn't include a vote on Tesla billionaire Elon Musk's $44 billion bid for the social platform. That vote will take place at a yet-undetermined date in the future.

Business

To use rather than collect, the second coming of NFTs

NFTs have been called everything from fads to outright scams, but early adopters see a future for them as uniquely useful tools for business, health and the arts that goes beyond mere digital collecting.