News

Closer look by Beijing at group buying and big tech

China is ramping up its scrutiny of the practice of community group buying, summoning some of the nation’s largest tech companies for discussions as part of an anti-monopoly push. Community group buying allows groups of people living in the same town or region to buy groceries and other items in bulk at a discounted rate, […]

Musk: Apple CEO didn't take meeting about buying Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he once considered selling the electric car maker to Apple, but the iPhone maker’s CEO blew off the meeting. In a tweet Tuesday, Musk said he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook “to discuss the possibility of Apple acquiring Tesla (for one-tenth of our current value). He refused to […]

US close on deal with Pfizer for millions more vaccine doses

The U.S. government is close to a deal to acquire tens of millions of additional doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in exchange for helping the pharmaceutical giant gain better access to manufacturing supplies. A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the deal is under discussion and could be finalized […]

Australian regulator delays decision on Google-Fitbit merger

Australia’s competition regulator on Tuesday delayed for three months its decision on Google’s plan to buy fitness gadget maker Fitbit for $2.1 billion despite the European Union giving conditional approval to the deal. The European Union regulators last week approved the deal after Google promised to restrict user data and ensure Android phones work with […]

Report: Social media manipulation affects even US senators

The conversation taking place on the verified social media accounts of two U.S. senators remained vulnerable to manipulation, even amid heightened scrutiny in the run up to the U.S. presidential election, an investigation by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence found. Researchers from the center, a NATO-accredited research group based in Riga, Latvia, paid […]

Hacked networks will need to be burned 'down to the ground'

It’s going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington’s worst cyberespionage failure on record. Experts say there simply are not enough skilled threat-hunting teams to duly identify all the government […]

Florida launches investigation into hacking of its servers

Florida officials acknowledged Friday that state servers appear to have been compromised by overseas hackers who gained entry by imbedding malicious code into networking software from a Texas-based software company, SolarWinds. Two Florida officials who have knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about […]

Google says Australian law on paying for news is unworkable

A Google executive said on Friday that a proposed Australian law to make digital platforms pay for news was unworkable and its proposed arbitration model was biased toward media businesses. Google Australia and New Zealand Managing Director Mel Silva made her first public comments on the details of the proposed legislation since it was introduced […]

Cooper Hewitt acquires two emoji that symbolize inclusion

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has acquired two emoji that have helped broaden diversity for users of the tiny pictures, becoming the third museum to add emoji to their digital collections. The New York museum acquired the “person with headscarf” and “inter-skintone couple” emoji for its burgeoning collection of digital assets. The museum plans […]

German government backs bill requiring 5G security pledge

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet approved a bill Wednesday that would require companies involved in setting up critical infrastructure such as high-speed 5G networks to guarantee that their equipment can’t be used for sabotage, espionage or terrorism. The bill, which now goes to parliament, seeks to address concerns that vendors such as Chinese tech company […]