AGENCY HOMING IN ON SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES' DATA COLLECTION

Federal regulators are ordering Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok’s parent and five other social media companies to provide detailed information on how they collect and use consumers’ personal data and how their practices affect children and teens.

WHICH WINTER SPORTS ARE SAFEST TO PLAY DURING COVID-19?

Which winter sports are safest to play during the pandemic?

IN WALL STREET YEARS, 2020 FELT LIKE A DECADE FOR MARKETS

While lockdown life has kept time standing still for nearly everyone through 2020, Wall Street has been locked in at super fast-forward.

THE REAL MATH BEHIND “NET ZERO” CARBON EMISSIONS

More than 100 countries — responsible for about two-thirds of the world’s heat-trapping gases — have announced plans to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” in coming decades to help curb man-made climate change.

RETAILERS URGE SHOPPERS TO BUY EARLY AMID SHIPPING CRUNCH

A number of retailers, including J.C. Penney, Lowe’s and Kohl’s, are telling shoppers they need to place their online orders soon or else pay expedited shipping fees if they want to get their packages delivered in time for the holidays.

DISNEY UNVEILS PLANS TO STREAM A GALAXY OF NEW SERIES, FILMS

The Walt Disney Co.’s streaming plans shifted into hyper speed, as the studio unveiled a galaxy’s worth of new streaming offerings including plans for 10 “Star Wars” series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series that will debut on Disney+.

HOW BAD IS THE HACK THAT TARGETED US AGENCIES?

Governments and major corporations worldwide are scrambling to see if they, too, were victims of a global cyberespionage campaign that penetrated multiple U.S. government agencies and involved a common software product used by thousands of organizations.

JAPAN SPACE AGENCY CONFIRMS ASTEROID SOIL INSIDE CAPSULE

Japan’s space agency said it has confirmed the presence of black soil samples inside a capsule that the spacecraft Hayabusa2 brought back from a distant asteroid last week.

APPLE'S APP STORES OPEN NEW PRIVACY WINDOW FOR CUSTOMERS

Apple has begun spelling out what kinds of personal information is being collected by the digital services displayed in its app stores for iPhones and other products made by the trendsetting company.

CALIFORNIA SUBPOENAS AMAZON OVER WORKER SAFETY IN PANDEMIC

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked this week a judge to order Amazon to comply with subpoenas his office issued nearly four months ago as part of an investigation into how the company is protecting workers from the coronavirus at its facilities.

Capsule With Asteroid Samples Arrives In Japan For Research

Japanese space agency officials were delighted by the return of a small capsule containing asteroid soil samples obtained by their Hayabusa2 spacecraft and were anxiously waiting to look inside after preparations are complete.

Airnbn, Resilient in Pandemic, Goes Forward With IPO

Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now it needs to prove to investors that it sees more growth ahead.

HOW PHONES CAN ALERT YOU TO COVID-19 EXPOSURE

More than 8.1 million people in the U.S. have turned their iPhones and Android devices into pandemic contact-tracing tools, but it hasn’t been of much use when their neighbors, classmates and coworkers aren’t on the same system.

GOOGLE, AMAZON FINED $163 MILLION BY FRENCH PRIVACY WATCHDOG

France’s data privacy watchdog said Thursday it has fined Google 100 millions euros ($121 million) and Amazon 35 million euros ($42 million) for breaching the country’s rules on advertising cookies.

ANOTHER JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP'S TIKTOK BAN; APP STILL IN LIMBO

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s attempts to ban TikTok, the latest legal defeat for the administration as it tries to wrest the popular app from its Chinese owners.

US GOVT, STATES SUE FACEBOOK FOR ‘PREDATORY' CONDUCT

The U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook Wednesday, accusing it of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social network’s Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.

LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE 2020, TAXES WILL BE LIKE NO OTHER YEAR

It’s the time of year to start thinking about taxes — but the upcoming filing season is going to be a bit trickier for many Americans due to rampant unemployment, working from home and general upheaval due to COVID-19.

REORIENTING THE CRIME DRAMA IN ‘I'M YOUR WOMAN'

When it’s at its best, “I’m Your Woman” feels like you’ve slipped through a trap door, revealing a hidden pathway in an old genre apparatus.

FEDS: FRAUDSTER DUPED INVESTORS WITH FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT NASA

The founder of a nanotechnology company was arrested Wednesday on fraud charges after authorities said he accepted over $12 million from investors who were told NASA was helping him develop a breathalyzer to detect cancer and narcotics.

Airbnb Hopes To Raise Up To $2.6B In Mid-December IPO

Airbnb hopes to raise as much as $2.6 billion in its initial public stock offering this month, betting investors will see its home-sharing model as the future of travel.

HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS TO TEXAS

Tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it is moving its global headquarters to the Houston area from California, where the company’s roots go back to the founding of Silicon Valley decades ago.

DISCOVERY'S REALITY-HEAVY STREAMING SERVICE LAUNCHES IN JAN.

Discovery is joining the increasingly crowded streaming fray with its own reality-focused service Discovery Plus that will include shows from the Food Network, HGTV, TLC and its other networks. It launches Jan 4.

WAITING FOR PASSENGERS, AMERICAN PUTS BOEING MAX IN THE AIR

American Airlines is taking its long-grounded Boeing 737 Max jets out of storage, updating key flight-control software, and flying the planes in preparation for the first flights with paying passengers later this month.

SEAN PARKER OK'D TO BUY STAKE IN PETER JACKSON'S VFX STUDIO

New Zealand authorities have approved tech billionaire Sean Parker’s purchase of a onethird stake in film director Peter Jackson’s visual effects studio.

US, ESTONIA PARTNERED TO SEARCH OUT CYBER THREAT FROM RUSSIA

In a modern twist on old-fashioned war games, the U.S. military dispatched cyber fighters to Estonia this fall to help the small Baltic nation search out and block potential cyber threats from Russia.

PHISHING PLOY TARGETS COVID-19 VACCINE DISTRIBUTION EFFORT

IBM security researchers say they have detected a cyber espionage effort using targeted phishing emails to try to collect vital information on the World Health Organization’s initiative for distributing the COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries.

FOXCONN NOT EXPECT TO MEET HIRING GOALS IN NEXT 3 YEARS

Foxconn Technology Group is not expected to receive tax credits in the next three fiscal years, continuing its failure to meet goals for hiring and investing in its Wisconsin manufacturing complex, according to state officials.

DATA IS KING ON WALL STREET; 2 PROVIDERS JOIN IN $44B DEAL

The value that Wall Street places on access to billions of bytes of data, rather than old-school stock picking, became abundantly clear as two of the biggest providers of such information become one in the biggest takeover of the year.

A YEAR IN 60 SECS: TIKTOK LISTS TOP VIDEOS, CREATORS OF 2020

From skateboarding to Fleetwood Mac to learning Cardi B’s rump-shaking choreography, TikTok users got creative in a pandemic year with new songs, dances, and memes in 60 seconds or less.

A Punk Drummer's Life Upendended In 'Sound of Metal'

The film “Sound of Metal” starts with the uncomfortably loud noises of guitar feedback and ends two hours later with absolute silence. The trip through those extremes is a worthy one, if sometimes exasperating.