CATEGORIES

TALK SAFER: APPS TAKE PRIVACY FIGHT TO FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE

As messaging giant WhatsApp prepares to hand over more data to Facebook, users are flocking to rival services in protest, with Signal jumping from 250,000 downloads on the App Store a week to almost 10 million. The move sparks debate over the relationships we hold with the world’s biggest technology companies and a new war on privacy is rearing its head.

MUSIC: CLIMBING THE CHARTS TO BECOME NUMBER ONE

Though Apple Music may still be playing catchup to Spotify in terms of users, new data from the Mechanical Licensing Collective has revealed Apple is the industry leader when it comes to royalties, demonstrating the company’s commitment to paying talent. As Apple continues to expand its services, the future looks bright, with new Music innovations coming their way.

YOU: INTERFACE DEEPER INTEGRATION IS COMING. JUST FOR YOU

According to a new study from WhistleOut, the average consumer spends an eye-watering nine years of their lives looking at their smartphones, and that’s without mentioning the use of computers, televisions, and other devices that increasingly control our lives.

FED TO ACCELERATE WITHDRAWAL OF ECONOMIC AID AS PRICES SURGE

Under Chair Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve is poised this week to execute a sharp turn toward tighter interest-rate policies with inflation accelerating and unemployment falling faster than expected.

EU PLAN FOR SWEEPING UPDATE OF BIG TECH RULES GAINS MOMENTUM

The European Union’s ambitious plan to update its pioneering internet rules gained momentum Tuesday after a key committee passed measures requiring technology companies to better police content and lawmakers prepared to vote on regulations to rein in Big Tech.

EX-NETFLIX EXECUTIVE GETS PRISON FOR ACCEPTING TECH BRIBES

A former Netflix executive was sentenced this week to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for taking bribes and kickbacks from tech companies to approve lucrative contracts with the streaming giant.

YOUTUBE STAR MRBEAST RETHINKS OLD NOTIONS OF PHILANTHROPY

The line of cars started forming at dawn. It was early November in Greenville, North Carolina, and drivers waited in a line that stretched for miles to pick up Thanksgiving turkeys — 10,000 free frozen birds to anyone who asked.

NASA CRAFT ‘TOUCHES' SUN FOR 1ST TIME, DIVES INTO ATMOSPHERE

A NASA spacecraft has officially “touched” the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.

DELTA AIR LINES NO LONGER EXPECTS TO LOSE MONEY IN Q4

Delta Air Lines no longer expects to lose money in the fourth quarter with travel during the holiday season heating up.

A SPIDEY SENSE OVERDOSE IN ‘NO WAY HOME'

Spider-Man movies have come in such flurries over the last two decades that you could almost tell time by them. Who needs the long centuries of the Triassic, Jurassic and the Cretaceous, when, in the span of just one generation you can have the Tobey epoch, the Garfield era and the Tomozoic?

BANKS SLOWLY RECONSIDER OVERDRAFT FEES, AMID PUBLIC PRESSURE

The banking industry appears to have overdone it on overdraft fees.

CAN YOUR PET GET COVID-19?

Yes, pets and other animals can get the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, but health officials say the risk of them spreading it to people is low.

2021 NOTEBOOK: BILLIONAIRES AND THE SPACE RACE

Captain Kirk — aka William Shatner — finally made it into space, part of the new wave of civilian travelers sponsored by names like Bezos, Musk and Branson who are slipping the surly bonds of Earth 10 years after NASA’s shuttle program ended. But there are big differences.

Group: Pandemic Tech Tools Raise Risk Of Everyday Tracking

Tech tools like digital contact tracing apps and artificial intelligence that European governments rolled out to combat COVID-19 failed to play a key role in solving the pandemic and now threaten to make such monitoring widely accepted, a new report shows.

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.

BIDEN ORDER WOULD MAKE US GOVERNMENT CARBON NEUTRAL BY 2050

President Joe Biden signed an executive order to make the federal government carbon-neutral by 2050, aiming for a 65% reduction in planetwarming greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and an all-electric fleet of car and trucks five years later.

CHINA CLEARS BOEING 737 MAX TO FLY AGAIN

China’s aviation regulator cleared the Boeing 737 Max on Thursday to return to flying with technical upgrades more than two years after the plane was grounded worldwide following two fatal crashes.

SHOULD YOU BANK WITH YOUR BROKERAGE?

If you’ve invested with a brokerage firm in recent years, you may have noticed that your brokerage offers a product called a cash management account.

SHOPPERS ARE BACK IN STORE, ONLINE, BUT VIRUS IMPACT LINGERS

Americans are spending freely and going back to store shopping, knocking out some of the momentum in online sales from last year when Americans were making many of their purchases exclusively via the internet.

TESLA OFFICIALLY MOVES HEADQUARTERS FROM CALIFORNIA TO TEXAS

Tesla says it has officially moved its corporate headquarters from Silicon Valley to a large factory under construction outside of Austin, Texas.

UK COMPETITION WATCHDOG ORDERS FACEBOOK TO SELL OFF GIPHY

The United Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog has blocked Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy and ordered the social network to sell off the GIF-sharing platform, saying the deal hurts social media users and advertisers by stifling competition for animated images.

SCIENCE REPORT: US SHOULD MAKE LESS PLASTIC TO SAVE OCEANS

America needs to rethink and reduce the way it generates plastics because so much of the material is littering the oceans and other waters, the National Academy of Sciences says in a new report.

MERCEDES, STELLANTIS TO WORK WITH US FIRM ON NEW BATTERIES

Automakers Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis announced agreements with U.S. company Factorial Energy this week to help develop solid-state battery technology that they hope could make electric cars more attractive to a mass market.

FROM SQUARE TO BLOCK: ANOTHER TECH COMPANY CHANGES ITS NAME

There’s a new Silicon Valley corporate name change on the block.

GM CITES IMPROVED CHIP SUPPLY IN RAISING FINANCIAL GUIDANCE

Citing an improved supply of automotive computer chips, General Motors raised its financial guidance on Wednesday and said it expects to return to a normal production rate by the end of next year.

DATA HACKED FOR 400,000 PLANNED PARENTHOOD LA PATIENTS

The Los Angeles branch of Planned Parenthood was hit by a data breach involving about 400,000 patients, but there is no indication that the information was used “for fraudulent purposes,” the group said.

Under Pressure, Apple Allows Self-repairs to Iphones, Macs

Apple is letting some iPhone users fix their own phones, a sharp turnaround for a company that has long prohibited anyone but company-approved technicians from fiddling with its proprietary parts and software.

African Internet Riches Threatened by Lawsuit and Corruption

Outsiders have long profited from Africa’s riches of gold, diamonds, and even people. Digital resources have proven no different.

LAUNCH OF NEW NASA SPACE TELESCOPE DELAYED AFTER INCIDENT

The European Space Agency says the launch of a new NASA telescope to replace the famed Hubble observatory is being postponed to allow experts to check the device for possible damage following an incident at its spaceport in French Guiana.

IS TRAVEL SAFE DURING THE PANDEMIC THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?

Is travel safe during the pandemic this holiday season?