News

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit reaches space on 2nd try

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached space on Sunday, eight months after the first demonstration flight of its air-launched rocket system failed, the company said. A 70-foot-long (21.34-meter-long) LauncherOne rocket was released from beneath the wing of a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft off the coast of Southern California, ignited moments later and soared toward space. The […]

EU regulator: Hackers 'manipulated' stolen vaccine documents

The European Union’s drug regulator said Friday that COVID-19 vaccine documents stolen from its servers by hackers have been not only leaked to the web, but “manipulated.” The European Medicines Agency said that an ongoing investigation showed that hackers obtained emails and documents from November related to the evaluation of experimental coronavirus vaccines. The agency, […]

Deaths, self-immolation draw scrutiny on China tech giants

E-commerce workers who kept China fed during the coronavirus pandemic, making their billionaire bosses even richer, are so unhappy with their pay and treatment that one just set himself on fire in protest. China’s internet industries already were known for long, demanding days. With millions of families confined at home, demand surged and employees delivered […]

Twitter CEO defends Trump ban, warns of dangerous precedent

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his company’s ban of President Donald Trump in a philosophical Twitter thread that is his first public statement on the subject. When Trump incited his followers to storm the U.S. Capitol last week, then continued to tweet potentially ominous messages, Dorsey said the resulting risk to public safety created an […]

US blacklists Xiaomi, CNOOC, Skyrizon, raising heat on China

The U.S. government has blacklisted Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. and China’s third-largest national oil company for alleged military links, heaping pressure on Beijing in President Donald Trump’s last week in office. The Department of Defense added nine companies to its list of Chinese companies with military links, including Xiaomi and state-owned plane manufacturer Commercial […]

Microsoft ousts rivals from CES marquee as show moves online

This week, Microsoft had a big test on its hands — how to help transform the world’s biggest gadget show into an online-only event. The choice of Microsoft to power this year’s CES and create a virtual showcase for its 1,800 exhibitors gave the tech giant a big promotional boost over its best-known cloud computing […]

TikTok tightens privacy features for younger users

A month after federal regulators ordered it to disclose how its practices affect children and teenagers, TikTok is tightening its privacy practices for the under-18 crowd. Starting on Wednesday, the default privacy setting for accounts with users aged 13 to 15 will be private. That means only someone the user approves as a follower can […]

Twitter without Trump tumbles along with other tech shares

Shares of social media and other tech companies slid Monday, hit by fallout from the siege on the U.S. Capitol by supporter of President Donald Trump. Twitter’s stock ended the day down 6.4% after the company on Friday permanently shut down Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, which had 89 million followers. The social network cited concerns the […]

Turkish watchdog probes Facebook, WhatsApp over data sharing

Turkey’s competition watchdog on Monday launched an investigation into Facebook and WhatsApp over the messaging application’s changes to its data-sharing rules. The Competition Board also said in a statement that it has ordered a suspension of WhatsApp’s new data collection rules in Turkey. The move came after the messaging application said it was updating its […]