News

EXPLAINER: Why are foreign tech firms pulling out of China?

Yahoo Inc. is leaving the China market, suspending its services there as of Monday amid what it says is an “increasingly challenging” business and legal environment. Foreign technology firms have been pulling out or downsizing their operations in mainland China as a strict data privacy law specifying how companies collect and store data takes effect. […]

Australia regulator demands face-scanning firm delete photos

An Australian privacy authority has ordered facial recognition company Clearview AI to stop scanning the faces of Australians and destroy the images and related data it has already collected. It’s the latest challenge for the New York startup that has angered privacy advocates around the world over its practice of “scraping” photos from social media […]

US puts new controls on Israeli spyware company NSO Group

The Biden administration announced Wednesday it is putting new export limits on Israel’s NSO Group, the world’s most infamous hacker-for-hire company, saying its tools have been used to “conduct transnational repression.” The company, whose spyware researchers say has been used around the world to break into the phones of human rights activists, journalists, and even […]

Nofar Energy expands the collaboration with Tesla

Nofar Energy expands further its collaboration with Tesla: the company reported today it had entered a second framework agreement with Tesla on purchasing battery stored power systems with a total capacity of 200 megawatts for $54 million. Under the agreement, Nofar will pay 5% of the consideration on the contract signing date and the balance […]

Autonomous vehicle maker Nuro secures $600M for expansion

Electric vehicle maker Nuro said Tuesday it had secured $600 million in funding from Google, Kroger and others to continue the development of its autonomous delivery vehicle service. The Silicon Valley robotics company has already made thousands of grocery deliveries with Kroger as a part of a 2018 partnership. “Demand for local deliveries is exploding,” […]

Musk says Hertz did not finalize 100,000 Tesla deal, Hertz fires back

Elon Musk announced on Monday that Tesla has not signed a contract with Hertz, despite the rental car firm’s disclosure a week ago of a significant deal with the electric car manufacturer. Tesla shares jumped by 12.6 percent following the announcement of a massive order from Hertz of almost 100,000 vehicles on October 25, granting […]

Yahoo pulls out of China, citing 'challenging' environment

Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it has pulled out of China, citing an increasingly challenging operating environment. The withdrawal was largely symbolic, as many of the company’s services were already blocked by China’s digital censorship. But recent government moves to expand its control over tech companies generally, including its domestic giants, may have tipped the scales […]

ByteDance CFO becomes TikTok CEO, as company reshuffles into 6 units

ByteDance is planning to disjoin its global social media sensation, TikTok, into a solitary business unite, following an executive decision to break down the company into six entities, according to Reuters. Chief executive officer (CEO), Liang Rubo, has initiated plans to refurbish the technology enterprise into various parts, following founder Zhang Yiming’s decision to retire from […]

Barclays CEO steps down over Epstein report by UK regulators

The chief executive of British bank Barclays stepped down Monday following a report by United Kingdom regulators into his past links with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Jes Staley has previously said he “deeply regrets” his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself at a federal jail in New York in August 2019 […]

New Zealand strait crossed for first time by electric plane

As he made history by becoming the first person to fly across New Zealand’s Cook Strait in an electric plane, Gary Freedman thought it only fitting that the first thing he saw when approaching the Wellington coastline was the rotating blade of a wind turbine producing renewable energy. Freedman’s 40-minute solo flight in the small […]