CATEGORIES

FACEBOOK PARENT META POSTS FIRST REVENUE DECLINE IN HISTORY

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, posted its first revenue decline in history Thursday, dragged down by a drop in ad spending as the economy falters — and as competition from rival TikTok intensifies.

FTC ACTS TO BLOCK META FROM BUYING VR COMPANY, FITNESS APP

Federal regulators took legal action to block Facebook parent Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg from acquiring virtual reality company Within Unlimited and its fitness app Supernatural, asserting the deal would hurt competition and violate antitrust laws.

CHINA’S DIDI GLOBAL FINED $1.2 BILLION FOR DATA VIOLATIONS

China’s internet watchdog on Thursday fined ride-hailing firm Didi Global more than 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) following an investigation into the company’s cybersecurity practices.

NASA AIMING FOR LATE AUGUST TEST FLIGHT OF GIANT MOON ROCKET

On the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, NASA announced it’s shooting for a late August launch of its giant, new moon rocket.

RESEARCHERS: CHINESE-MADE GPS TRACKER HIGHLY VULNERABLE

A popular Chinese-made automotive GPS tracker used in 169 countries has severe software vulnerabilities, posing a potential danger to highway safety, national security and supply chains, cybersecurity researchers have found.

STUDY: STUDENT GAINS LAST YEAR NARROWED COVID LEARNING GAP

Despite a year of disruptions, students largely made academic gains this past year that paralleled their growth pre-pandemic and outpaced the previous school year, according to new research released from NWEA, a nonprofit research group that administers standardized tests.

VIRGIN GALACTIC PICKS MESA AS SITE FOR SPACEPLANES ASSEMBLY

Virgin Galactic announced that it has selected the Phoenix suburb of Mesa as the site where it will assemble its next class of rocket ships.

DEAL FOR $5.5B HYUNDAI PLANT IN GEORGIA NEARS FINAL APPROVAL

The local economic development agency that worked with Georgia officials in recruiting Hyundai Motor Group to build a $5.5 billion electric car plant near Savannah approved its portions of the deal Tuesday, though details of tax breaks and other incentives have yet to be disclosed.

ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES FLOOD HAVANA AMID DIESEL SHORTAGES

The young people come and go on their electric motorcycles at this highway outside Cuba’s capital where they perform stunts and talk about their two-wheelers, which would be largely silent if it weren’t for the music blasting from speakers.

BAIDU UNVEILS LATEST AUTONOMOUS ELECTRIC VEHICLE: APOLLO RT6

Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm, unveiled its latest electric autonomous driving vehicle on Thursday.

AMAZON TO BUY PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER ONE MEDICAL FOR $3.9B

Amazon announced Thursday it will acquire the primary care organization One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9 billion, marking another expansion for the retailer into health care services.

TESLA 20 PROFIT FALLS FROM 1Q, BUT IS STRONGER THAN EXPECTED

Tesla's second-quarter profit fell 32% from record levels in the first quarter as supply chain issues and pandemic lockdowns in China slowed production of its electric vehicles.

HOW TO AFFORD BIG-TICKET ITEMS FOR THE YEAR

When Brandy Baxter needed to replace her home’s entire heating and air conditioning system several years ago, she asked contractors if they offered deals at certain times of the year.

EUROPE AS A BUDGET-FRIENDLY TRAVEL OPTION? IT’S TRUE IN 2022

Flying to Europe this year might sound as absurd as opting for premium gasoline. With prices this high, is it really the right time to splurge?

UN PROJECTS WORLD POPULATION WILL REACH 8 BILLION ON NOV. 15

The United Nations estimated that the world’s population will reach 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the world’s most populous nation next year.

FEDERAL UTILITY SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR BI CARBON-FREE PUSH

The nation’s largest public utility is seeking proposals for what would be one of the biggest recent swings at adding carbon-free electricity in the U.S., laying out a mix-and-match of possibilities this week that range from solar to nuclear.

RUSSIA FINES APPLE FOR VIOLATING DATA STORAGE LAW

A Moscow court this week fined Apple 2 million rubles (about $34,000) for refusing to store the personal data of Russian users on servers in Russia, part of government efforts to control online activity.

4 MONEY MOVES TO MAKE BEFORE BABY ARRIVES

The arrival of a new baby is all-consuming. In the early weeks, your waking hours are a cycle of feedings, diaper changes and Googling “Is it normal for a baby to (fill in the blank).”

‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’ IS PURE BONKERS FILMMAKING

REVIEW - THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER

IN UKRAINE WAR, A RACE TO ACQUIRE SMARTER, DEADLIER DRONES

Drone camera footage defines much of the public’s view of the war in Ukraine: grenades quietly dropped on unwitting soldiers, eerie flights over silent, bombed-out cities, armor and outposts exploding in fireballs.

TWITTER: ATTRITION UP A BIT, COMPANYWIDE LAYOFFS NOT PLANNED

Twitter is telling its employees that it’s not planning any companywide layoffs, but there could be some restructuring and organization changes as it heads into a legal battle over the potential sale to Elon Musk.

AMAZON OFFERS CONCESSIONS TO HEAD OFF EU ANTITRUST CASES

Amazon, seeking to resolve two European Union antitrust investigations, has promised to treat third-party merchants on its website fairly, the bloc’s competition watchdog said Thursday.

NETFLIX TO RELY ON MICROSOFT FOR ITS AD-BACKED VIDEO SERVICE

Netflix has picked Microsoft to help deliver the commercials in a cheaper version of its video streaming service expected to launch later this year with a pledge to minimize the intrusions into personal privacy that often accompany digital ads.

PANASONIC SELECTS KANSAS FOR VEHICLE BATTERY MEGA-FACTORY

Japan’s Panasonic Corp. selected Kansas as the location for a multibillion-dollar mega-factory to produce electric vehicle batteries for Tesla and other carmakers, lured by the largest package of taxpayer-funded incentives that the state has offered a private business.

Dusty Demise for Nasa Mars Lander in July; Power Dwindling

A NASA spacecraft on Mars is headed for a dusty demise.

WITH US DOLLAR NEARLY EQUAL TO EURO, IMPACT IS BEING FELT

The U.S. dollar has been surging so much that it’s nearly equal in value to the euro for the first time in 20 years. That trend, though, threatens to hurt American companies because their goods become more expensive for foreign buyers. If U.S. exports were to weaken as a result, so, too, would the already-slowing U.S. economy.

RULING COULD DAMPEN GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TO REIN IN BIG TECH

The Supreme Court’s latest climate change ruling could dampen efforts by federal agencies to rein in the tech industry, which went largely unregulated for decades as the government tried to catch up to changes wrought by the internet.

TWITTER SAYS IT REMOVES 1 MILLION SPAM ACCOUNTS A DAY

Twitter said it removes 1 million spam accounts each day in a call with executives Thursday during a briefing that aimed to shed more light on the company’s fake and bot accounts as it tussles with Elon Musk over “spam bots.”

UTILITIES: GRID WORK NEEDED TO MEET ELECTRIC VEHICLE DEMAND

Record-high gas prices have stoked interest in electric vehicles. But Black Hills power providers say improvements are need in the electric grid to keep pace with anticipated sales.

VIRGIN GALACTIC TAPS BOEING SUBSIDIARY TO BUILD MOTHERSHIPS

Virgin Galactic announced that it is partnering with a Boeing subsidiary to manufacture the next generation of the twin-fuselage aircraft used to carry aloft the space tourism company’s rocket ship.