CATEGORIES

STARBUCKS SAYS IT SEES BETTER TIMES AHEAD AS STORES REOPEN

Starbucks’ revenue shrank 38% in its most recent quarter but the coffee giant says it’s recovering faster than expected as its stores reopen from coronavirus lockdowns.

HUAWEI OVERTAKES SAMSUNG AS TOP SMARTPHONE SELLER: REPORT

A technology research firm says Huawei has overtaken Samsung to become the world’s biggest smartphone seller, as its home market in China emerged from the coronavirus pandemic better off than other economies.

GARMIN ACKNOWLEDGES CYBERATTACK, DOESN'T MENTION RANSOMWARE

The GPS device maker Garmin Ltd. acknowledged this week being victimized by a cyberattack last week that encrypted some of its systems, knocking its fitness tracking and pilot navigation services offline. It said systems would be fully restored in the next days.

FOR THESE KIDS, NO ADVENTURES TO CHOOSE

On a recent car ride, my sons, Billy and Jimmy, were discussing an interactive “Minecraft” show on Netflix that allowed them to choose the direction of the story. I said it sounded like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, an artifact of my 1980s childhood.

ANOTHER DULL GO-AROUND WITH ‘THE KISSING BOOTH 2'

We all like bad movies when we’re young and sometimes we like good movies for the wrong reasons. I can pretend my 11-year-old self loved “Clueless” when it came out in 1995 for its smart satire of teen movies in a modernized Jane Austen framework. But if I’m being honest, it definitely had more to do with that dreamy Los Angeles high school lifestyle, a burgundy baby doll dress, a fuzzy pink pen and a handsome love interest. It just happens that “Clueless” was also a good movie.

EU, IN FIRST-EVER CYBER SANCTIONS, HITS RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE

The European Union slapped sanctions on six people and three organizations, including Russia’s military intelligence agency, accusing them of responsibility for several cyber-attacks that threatened EU interests.

FACEBOOK'S VOTING LABELS ON CANDIDATE POSTS SOW CONFUSION

Facebook has started adding informational labels to all posts about voting by federal elected officials and candidates in the U.S., as it said it would do. But the move appears to be sowing confusion rather than dispelling it.

JUMBOS RETIRED: BRITISH AIRWAYS BIDS FAREWELL TO BOEING 747S

The “queen of the skies” will no longer don the red, white and blue of the Union Jack after British Airways retired its fleet of Boeing 747s as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

MICROSOFT WEATHERS PANDEMIC, BEATS WALL STREET EXPECTATIONS

Microsoft said the coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for its flagship products, reporting quarterly earnings Wednesday that beat Wall Street expectations.

SLACK FILES ANTICOMPETITIVE COMPLAINT VS. MICROSOFT IN EU

Workplace chatting service Slack has filed a complaint in the European Union against Microsoft, accusing the software company of anti-competitive behavior.

VIRUS SURGE INTERRUPTS HOPES FOR A SWIFT ECONOMIC RECOVERY

The worsening COVID pandemic risks choking off the U.S. economy’s fragile recovery and turn what some investors hoped would be a sprint back to normal into a long hard slog.

DAIMLER LOST $2.2 BILLION IN Q2, SEES SIGNS OF RECOVERY

Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars and Freightliner trucks, lost 1.91 billion euros ($2.21 billion) in the second quarter as the coronavirus outbreak slashed sales of the company’s cars, vans, buses and trucks by about a third.

TESLA PICKS TEXAS SITE FOR SECOND US VEHICLE ASSEMBLY PLANT

Electric car maker Tesla Inc. has picked the Austin, Texas, area as the site for its largest auto assembly plant employing at least 5,000 workers.

AMERICAN, SOUTHWEST ADD TO US AIRLINE INDUSTRY'S 2Q LOSSES

Two major airlines reported huge second-quarter losses Thursday and warned that the recovery in air travel seen in April has stalled as coronavirus cases surge in the U.S.

WHY ARE COINS HARD TO FIND DURING THE PANDEMIC?

Why are coins hard to find during the pandemic?

A WORLD IN ISOLATION, A SURGE OF NEW USERS FOR TWITTER

The global pandemic and U.S. protests are forcing a pullback by advertisers on Twitter, but it’s also led to an unprecedented surge of users.

Tesla 2Q Deliveries Rse Over 1Q Despite Factory Shutdown

Tesla says it delivered more electric vehicles worldwide in the second quarter than it did in the first.

WHITE HOUSE-BACKED CAMPAIGN PUSHES ALTERNATE CAREER PATHS

Presidential adviser Ivanka Trump unveiled a White House-backed national ad campaign highlighting alternative ways to start a career, an initiative targeting students, mid-career workers and the millions of people who are now unemployed because of the coronavirus.

WALMART LATEST RETAILER TO REQUIRE CUSTOMERS TO WEAR MASKS

Walmart will require customers to wear face coverings at all of its namesake and Sam’s Club stores, making it the largest retailer to introduce such a policy that has otherwise proven difficult to enforce without state and federal requirements.

EU COURT CANCELS US DATA-SHARING PACT OVER SNOOPING CONCERNS

The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people’s data.

FACEBOOK'S SOFTWARE KIT TO BLAME FOR POPULAR APPS CRASHING

Last friday’s widespread crashes of popular apps running on the iPhone’s iOS operating system — including Tinder, Spotify and Pinterest — serve as a reminder that Facebook is still tracking you through your phone using sophisticated software, even if you’re not browsing the social network.

LOOK OUT, MARS: HERE WE COME WITH A FLEET OF SPACECRAFT

Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth — big time.

SPACECRAFT SNAPS CLOSEST PICTURES OF SUN, ‘CAMPFIRES' ABOUND

A European and NASA spacecraft has snapped the closest pictures ever taken of the sun, revealing countless little “campfires” flaring everywhere.

EXPERTS SAY TWITTER BREACH TROUBLING, UNDERMINES TRUST

A breach in Twitter’s security that allowed hackers to break into the accounts of leaders and technology moguls is one of the worst attacks in recent years and may shake trust in a platform politicians and CEOs use to communicate with the public, experts said Thursday.

GAMES MAKER UBISOFT SHAKES UP STAFF AMID MISCONDUCT PROBE

French gaming giant Ubisoft is parting ways with its creative director and two other executives and promising zero tolerance for “toxic” staff behavior following an internal investigation of misconduct and media reports of sexual harassment and other workplace abuse.

CHINA BECOMES FIRST ECONOMY TO GROW SINCE VIRUS PANDEMIC

China became the first major economy to grow since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, recording an unexpectedly strong 3.2% expansion in the latest quarter after antivirus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened.

CAN A PREGNANT WOMAN SPREAD THE CORONAVIRUS TO HER FETUS?

Can a pregnant woman spread the coronavirus to her fetus?

Virus Visitors Bans Renew Interest In Nursing Home Cameras

Visitation bans at nursing homes have renewed interest in legislation that would allow families to put remote cameras inside the facilities to help see how loved ones are doing.

California Sues Cisco For Bias Based On Indian Caste System

California regulators have sued Cisco Systems, saying an engineer faced discrimination at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters because he is a Dalit Indian.

A Pinch Where It Hurts: Can Facebook Weather The Ad Boycott?

This week, more than 500 companies officially kicked off an advertising boycott intended to pressure Facebook into taking a stronger stand against hate speech. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to meet with its organizers early next week.