CATEGORIES

STRIPE CONTINUES CASH HAUL, NOW VALUED AT $95 BILLION

The online payment company Stripe continues to attract investors, raising $600 million in funding to reach a whopping company valuation of $95 billion.

SONOMA COUNTY TO USE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AGAINST FIRES

Sonoma County officials say they will add artificial intelligence technology to help fight wildfires with a 24-7 monitor to track fire outbreaks.

PRE-EMBRYOS MADE IN LAB COULD SPUR RESEARCH, ETHICS DEBATES

For the first time, scientists have used human cells to make structures that mimic the earliest stages of development, which they say will pave the way for more research without running afoul of restrictions on using real embryos.

NO CIGAR: INTERSTELLAR OBJECT IS COOKIE-SHAPED PLANET SHARD

Our solar system’s first known interstellar visitor is neither a comet nor asteroid as first suspected and looks nothing like a cigar. A new study says the mystery object is likely a remnant of a Pluto-like world and shaped like a cookie.

GOOGLE ANNOUNCES NORTH CAROLINA CLOUD ENGINEERING HUB

Google announced plans Thursday to create a hub in Durham, North Carolina, for hundreds of engineers working on its Google Cloud products.

ENCRYPTED MESSAGING APP SIGNAL BLOCKED IN CHINA

Encrypted messaging app Signal appears to have been blocked in mainland China, the latest foreign social media service to cease working in a country where the government tightly controls the flow of information.

CHINA SUMMONS TECHNOLOGY FIRMS OVER VOICE SOFTWARE SECURITY

Chinese authorities summoned 11 companies including Alibaba and Tencent for talks regarding the security of voice software, as Beijing steps up scrutiny over the internet sector.

ANXIETY, CONFUSION, TERROR, RELIEF: GIVING BIRTH IN PANDEMIC

Pregnancy, birth and life with a newborn in the middle of a pandemic has brought on high anxiety, ever-shifting hospital protocols and intense isolation for many of the millions of women who have done it around the world.

CALIFORNIA COULD GET $150B FROM FEDERAL VIRUS RELIEF BILL

In January, state lawmakers agreed to use $2.6 billion in prior federal relief funding to pay off up to 80% of some tenant's unpaid rent. Ting said he’d like the state to also help pay off-unpaid commercial rents to prevent small business evictions.

COUPANG, THE AMAZON OF SOUTH KOREA, DEBUTS ON NYSE

The biggest IPO in years is rolling out Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange where Coupang, the South Korean equivalent of Amazon in the U.S., or Alibaba in China, will begin trading under the ticker “CPNG.”

SECURITY CAMERA HACK EXPOSES HOSPITALS, WORKPLACES, SCHOOLS

Hackers aiming to call attention to the dangers of mass surveillance say they were able to peer into hospitals, schools, factories, jails and corporate offices after they broke into the systems of a security-camera startup.

A HOMEBOUND YEAR HAS MEANT RETHINKING OUR ROOMS, BELONGINGS

In normal times, new trends in home design and home decorating bubble up simply because it’s time for something different.

GOP PUSHES BILLS TO ALLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ‘CENSORSHIP' LAWSUITS

Republican state lawmakers are pushing for social media giants to face costly lawsuits for policing content on their websites, taking aim at a federal law that prevents internet companies from being sued for removing posts.

HOMEBOUND CHILDREN DRIVE SURGE IN LEGO SALES

Sales of Lego sets surged last year as more children stayed home during global pandemic lockdowns - and parents bought the colorful plastic brick toys to keep them entertained through days of isolation.

DEPARTMENT SAYS DETECTIVES USED FACIAL RECOGNITION PROGRAM

Virginia Beach police admitted last week that some of their detectives used a controversial facial recognition program during criminal investigations, according to a report.

FIRE AT FRENCH CLOUD COMPUTING FIRM DISRUPTS WEBSITES

Numerous companies and websites in France suffered outages and disruptions to services after a fire swept through a cloud computing provider’s facility.

APPLE TV+ TO PRODUCE MASTERS OF THE AIR, THE SECOND BAND OF BROTHERS SEQUEL

As far as the cast is concerned, we only have two names as of March 2020. One is Austin Butler, who is going to play Major Gale Cleven, and the other is Callum Turner, who is going to play Major John Egan. As for Austin Butler, he has appeared in numerous American shows as a guest actor and has recently done work on Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, where he played the role of Tex.

TEXAS AG SAYS PROBE TO CONTINUE DESPITE TWITTER LAWSUIT

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that a lawsuit by Twitter won’t deter his office from investigating the content moderation practices of the social media giant and four other major technology companies.

Grammy Awards Shift To March Due To Pandemic Conditions

The 2021 Grammy Awards will no longer take place this month in Los Angeles and will broadcast in March due to a recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths.

BIDEN FACES STEEP CHALLENGES TO REACH RENEWABLE ENERGY GOALS

President Joe Biden wants to change the way the U.S. uses energy by expanding renewables, but he will need to navigate a host of challenges — including the coronavirus pandemic and restoring hundreds of thousands of lost jobs — to get it done.

WILL PARAMOUNT+ BE A MOUNTAIN OR A MOLEHILL IN STREAMING?

Paramount+ debuts Thursday as the latest — and last — streaming option from a major media company, this time from ViacomCBS. It’s betting that consumers are willing to add yet another paid streaming service in an increasingly crowded field.

COUNTRIES URGE DRUG COMPANIES TO SHARE VACCINE KNOW-HOW

In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is operating at just a quarter of its capacity.

GOOGLE ENDS SALE OF ADS USING INDIVIDUAL WEB TRACKING DATA

Google says it won’t develop new ways to follow individual users across the internet after it phases out existing ad-tracking technology from its Chrome browser, a change that could shake up the online advertising industry.

US JOBLESS CLAIMS TICK UP TO 745,000 AS LAYOFFS REMAIN HIGH

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits edged higher last week to 745,000, a sign that many employers continue to cut jobs despite a drop in confirmed viral infections and evidence that the overall economy is improving.

IN ‘THE FATHER,' THE DISORIENTATION OF DEMENTIA

In Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Anthony, 80, in the grip of dementia, is a captain ready to go down with the ship. Overhearing his daughter and son-in-law contemplating a nursing home, he curses them as “rats” abandoning him. Pacing his London apartment in a bathrobe, he mounts a noble resistance.

STEPHEN KING AND J.J. ABRAMS WORK ON LISEY'S STORY FOR APPLE TV+

When you combine the creative genius of probably the best horror writer of the modern area and one of the best and most respected producers of our era, you are probably going to get a product that is going to be a masterpiece in its own right.

MICROSOFT: CHINA-BASED HACKERS FOUND BUG TO TARGET US FIRMS

China-based government hackers have exploited a bug in Microsoft’s email server software to target U.S. organizations, the company said this week.

BILLIE EILISH, UNFILTERED, IN NEW DOCUMENTARY

If you’re coming to “ Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry ” hoping for a primer on the music sensation, you’ve come to the wrong place. Filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s two hour and 20-minute documentary about the “Ocean Eyes” singer and songwriter is not biography or reportage. It’s a verite-style plunge into her life, her home, her concerts, her process, her Tourette’s, her brother’s bedroom where they famously write all their songs and even her diary in the year in which she became a star.

AMAZON OPENS FIRST UK CHECKOUT-FREE GROCERY STORE IN LONDON

Amazon has opened a cashier-free supermarket in London, its first bricks and mortar expansion outside the U.S. as the company bets on strong demand for its contactless shops.

USPS SELECTS OSHKOSH DEFENSE TO BUILD GREENER MAIL TRUCK

The United States Post Office said that it has chosen Oshkosh Defense to build its next-generation mail-delivery vehicle, part of an effort to make the USPS more environmentally friendly by switching a portion of its huge fleet to electric vehicles.