News

Founder of Adobe and developer of PDFs dies at age 81

Charles “Chuck” Geschke — the co-founder of the major software company Adobe Inc. who helped develop Portable Document Format technology, or PDFs — died at age 81. Geschke, who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Los Altos, died Friday, the company said. “This is a huge loss for the entire Adobe community […]

Biden tells execs US needs to invest, lead in computer chips

President Joe Biden used a virtual meeting with corporate leaders about a global shortage of semiconductors to push Monday for his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, telling them that the U.S. should be the world’s computer chip leader. “We need to build the infrastructure of today, not repair the one of yesterday,” he told the group […]

Chinese regulator orders Ant Group to conduct major overhaul

Chinese regulators have ordered Ant Group, a financial affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, to become a financial holding company to ease financial oversight amid stepped up scrutiny of technology firms. In a meeting Monday, the central bank and other financial regulators also ordered Ant to cease anti-competitive behavior in its payments business and […]

Alibaba fined $2.8 billion on competition charge in China

Alibaba Group, the world’s biggest e-commerce company, was fined 18.3 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) by Chinese regulators on Saturday for anti-competitive tactics, as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over fast-growing tech industries. Party leaders worry about the dominance of China’s biggest internet companies, which are expanding into finance, health services and other sensitive areas. […]

Fed's Powell: US nears full reopening to 'different economy'

The U.S. economy, boosted by quickening vaccinations and signs of rapid hiring, is headed toward a strong recovery, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday. But he cautioned that not all will immediately benefit. “There are a number of factors that are coming together to support a brighter outlook for the U.S. economy,” Powell said […]

US sanctions Chinese computer makers in widening tech fight

The Biden administration has added seven Chinese supercomputer research labs and manufacturers to a U.S. export blacklist in a spreading conflict with Beijing over technology and security. The measure announced Thursday is the latest sign President Joe Biden is sticking to the tough line taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump, toward Chinese tech industries seen […]

UK Deliveroo riders strike over pay, gig work conditions

Riders for the app-based meal delivery platform Deliveroo held a strike in London Wednesday over pay and working conditions, part of a broader backlash against one of the U.K.’s biggest gig economy companies. Scooter and bicycle delivery riders waving flags and red smoke flares rode through the streets of Central London. Socially distanced protests were […]

Facebook removes accounts tied to Iranian exile group

Facebook said Tuesday it has removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to an Iranian exile group and a troll farm in Albania. The accounts posted content critical of Iran’s government and supportive of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, a dissident group known as MEK. In many cases, the Facebook and Instagram accounts used fake profile names and photos. Facebook […]

High court sides with Google in copyright fight with Oracle

Technology companies sighed with relief Monday after the Supreme Court sided with Google in a copyright dispute with Oracle. The high court said Google did nothing wrong in copying code to develop the Android operating system now used on most smartphones. To create Android, which was released in 2007, Google wrote millions of lines of […]

Twitter slowdown in Russia until mid-May; no block for now

Russian authorities said Monday they would continue to slow down Twitter until mid-May, but wouldn’t block the social media platform for now because it has started to remove banned content faster. The announcement marks somewhat of a reprieve in the recent standoff between the Russian government and the platform, which has played a role in […]