News

UK antitrust watchdog investigates Microsoft's Nuance deal

British antitrust regulators are opening an investigation into Microsoft’s $16 billion acquisition of speech recognition company Nuance in the latest sign they’re tightening scrutiny of big technology deals. The Competition and Markets Authority said in a brief statement Monday that it’s looking into the purchase because of concerns that it could result in a “substantial […]

Report urges UK government to beef up online safety measure

Proposed British rules aimed at cracking down on harmful online content should be beefed up with tougher measures like making it illegal to send unsolicited graphic images, requiring porn sites to ensure children can’t gain access and moving faster to hold tech executives criminally liable for failing to uphold the regulations, lawmakers said in a […]

Amazon, OSHA promise review after tornado wrecks warehouse

The federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration said Monday it has opened an investigation into the collapse of an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, after it was struck by a tornado on Friday, leaving six people dead and another hospitalized. OSHA inspectors, who have been at the site since Saturday, will look into whether workplace […]

Stocks end higher, closing out best week since February

Technology companies led a rally on Wall Street that powered the S&P 500 to an all-time high and gave the index its best weekly gain since February. The S&P 500 rose 1%, enough to recoup its losses from a day earlier. The benchmark index closed higher four of the last five days, finishing 3.8% higher […]

GM exec: Cruise to start autonomous taxi service next year

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle subsidiary plans to start running a fully autonomous taxi service in San Francisco next year. Doug Parks, GM’s product development and purchasing chief, told analysts Thursday that he has ridden in a Cruise vehicle with no driver and the company is very close to deploying the service. “The technology is […]

U.S. wins appeal in Julian Assange extradition battle

In its bid for Julian Assange extradition, the U.S. government won on Friday an appeal in its year-long battle to involve the WikiLeaks founder in litigation, to face charges of espionage for publicizing confidential documents from the State Department. In January, the UK high court ruled that the founder will not be expedited for the […]

Companies rethink return-to-office plans amid omicron cases

Companies of all sizes are rethinking their plans to send workers back to the office as the new omicron variant adds another layer of uncertainty. Alphabet’s Google and the nation’s second largest automaker Ford Co. are among those once again delaying their return-to-office plans, while other businesses whose employees have already returned are considering adding […]

European activists fight for right to repair electronics

At a table scattered with tools and wires, volunteer repairers sit across from the owners of an assortment of inoperable electronics. The volunteers at a free “repair cafe” in Copenhagen disassemble and diagnose gadgets while the customers watch, each doing their part for the environment – one broken blender, radio or laptop at a time. […]

Major outage at Amazon disrupts businesses across the US

A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at a wide range of U.S. companies for more than five hours, the latest sign of just how concentrated the business of keeping the internet running has become. The incident at Amazon Web Services mostly affected the eastern U.S., but still impacted everything […]

Trump media venture eyed by regulators; names Nunes CEO

Regulators are looking into the deal that would bring Donald Trump’s new social media company to the stock market, one that has attracted both legions of fans of the former president and people looking to make a quick profit. The company partnering with Trump Media & Technology Group acknowledged the inquiries in a filing it […]