Associated Press

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Facebook tech chief Mike Schroepfer to step down

Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer is stepping down from the social media company, taking on a part-time role while longtime executive Andrew Bosworth will replace him next year. Schroepfer, known as “Schrep,” has been at Facebook for 13 years and is a close friend of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He called his decision difficult “because […]

Former US defense secretary testifies in Holmes fraud trial

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified Wednesday in the trial of fallen tech star Elizabeth Holmes, saying the entrepreneur misled him into believing she was on the verge of rolling out a blood-testing breakthrough that he hoped would help save lives of troops in battle. Mattis’ appearance came during the sixth day of […]

White House blacklists Russian ransomware payment 'enabler'

The Biden administration sought Tuesday to choke the finances of criminal ransomware gangs, announcing sanctions against a Russia-based virtual currency brokerage that officials say helped at least eight ransomware gangs launder virtual currency. The Treasury Department sanctions are aimed at kneecapping the economic infrastructure of a ransomware threat that has surged over the last year, […]

Google to spend $2.1 billion on Manhattan campus acquisition

Google is planning to buy New York City’s St. John’s Terminal for $2.1 billion, making it the anchor of its Hudson Square campus. The announcement Tuesday arrives with the city buffeted by the pandemic and most offices still largely unpopulated. While CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post late last month that Google is […]

US govt to probe Zoom's $14.7B Five9 deal for natsec risks

A U.S. government committee that reviews foreign investment in telecom is probing videoconferencing company Zoom’s $14.7 billion deal for cloud call center company Five9. In an August filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the Justice Department, which chairs the committee, said it would review the deal “to determine whether this application poses a risk to […]

Indonesia says no evidence of alleged Chinese intel hack

Indonesian authorities have found no evidence that the country’s main intelligence service’s computers were compromised, after a U.S.-based private cybersecurity company alerted them of a suspected breach of its internal networks by a Chinese hacking group, an official said. The Insikt Group, the threat research division of Massachusetts-based Recorded Future, said it discovered the hack […]

Parents in China laud rule limiting video game time for kids

Li Zhanguo’s two children, ages 4 and 8, don’t have their own smartphones, but like millions of other Chinese children, they are no strangers to online gaming. “If my children get their hands on our mobile phones or an iPad, and if we don’t closely monitor their screen time, they can play online games for […]

Twitter to pay $809.5 million to settle shareholder lawsuit

Twitter said Monday it will pay $809.5 million to settle a consolidated class action lawsuit alleging that the company misled investors about how much its user base was growing and how much users interacted with its platform. The San Francisco company said the proposed settlement, which must still be signed off by a judge, resolves […]

HP, Procter & Gamble join companies pledge to cut emissions

Computer-maker HP, consumer goods business Procter & Gamble and coffee capsule company Nespresso have joined a corporate pledge to sharply cut their greenhouse gas emissions over nearly two decades. The Climate Pledge, a grouping of companies and organizations spearheaded by Amazon, said Monday that it has signed up 86 new members for its voluntary measures. […]

British computing inventor Clive Sinclair dies at 81

Clive Sinclair, the British inventor and entrepreneur who arguably did more than anyone else to inspire a whole generation of children into a life-long passion for computers and gaming, has died. He was 81. Sinclair, who rose to prominence in the early 1980s with a series of affordable home computers that offered millions their first […]