News

California judge rules Uber, Lyft drivers are employees

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft to treat their California drivers as employees instead of independent contractors, a shift that would guarantee benefits like overtime, sick leave and expense reimbursement for workers who make up much of the freewheeling gig economy. But the ruling from San Francisco […]

Huawei: Smartphone chips running out under US sanctions

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei is running out of processor chips to make smartphones due to U.S. sanctions and will be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive says, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from American pressure. Huawei Technologies Ltd., one of the […]

As Trump digs in, will it be US versus China in tech?

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s bans on two popular Chinese social media apps — TikTok and WeChat — are the latest moves in an escalating U.S.-China rift, and point to a future where technology and innovation are increasingly walled behind political barriers. In China, the Communist Party has long limited what foreign tech […]

Trump bans dealings with Chinese owners of TikTok, WeChat

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping but unspecified ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of consumer apps TikTok and WeChat, although it remains unclear if he has the legal authority to actually ban the apps from the U.S. The twin executive orders issued Thursday — one for each app […]

Facebook, citing virus misinformation, deletes Trump post

Facebook has deleted a post by President Donald Trump for violating its policy against spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. The post in question featured a link to a Fox News video in which Trump says children are “virtually immune” to the virus. Facebook said Wednesday that the “video includes false claims that a group of […]

Google unveils budget Pixel phone as pandemic curbs spending

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google has started selling a long-delayed budget smartphone boasting the same high-quality camera and several other features available in fancier Pixel models that cost hundreds of dollars more. The Pixel 4a unveiled Monday will be available Aug. 20 after months of delay caused by supply problems triggered by the pandemic. […]

Google, ADT partnering on home security products

Google is pairing its Nest smart home technology with ADT and buying a stake in the home security company. Google’s Nest hardware will be integrated at ADT, which does system installations and monitoring. ADT plans to begin offering Google devices to its customers starting this year. Shares of the company, based in Boca Raton, Florida, […]

Microsoft confirms talks seeking to buy US arm of TikTok

NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft confirmed Sunday it is in talks with Chinese company ByteDance to acquire the U.S. arm of its popular video app TikTok and has discussed with President Donald Trump his concerns about security and censorship surrounding such an acquisition. In a statement, Microsoft said Microsoft and ByteDance have provided notice of […]

Florida teen arrested as mastermind of Twitter hack

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida teen was identified Friday as the mastermind of a scheme earlier this month that commandeered Twitter accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls and scammed people around the globe out of more than $100,000 in Bitcoin. Two other men were also charged in the case. Graham Ivan Clark, 17, […]

Trump says he'll act to ban TikTok in US as soon as Saturday

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump said he will take action as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok, a popular Chinese-owned video app that has been a source of national security and censorship concerns. Trump’s comments came after published reports that the administration is planning to order China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok. There were […]