Tag - big-tech

 
 

BIG TECH

U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 20, 2024
U.S. accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
Tech companies "harvest an enormous amount of Americans' personal data," says FTC chief Lina Khan.
Google's lucrative ad tech business attracted EU regulatory scrutiny last year following a complaint from the European Publishers Council.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2024
EU publishers snubbed Google's offer to sell part of ad tech biz: sources
The European publishers deemed Google's offer to divest its advertising marketplace AdX as insufficient.
From Malaysia to Brazil, free speech is being pitted against social media regulation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2024
To hold Big Tech accountable, focus on the harms
The Malaysian case underscores the urgent need for effective safeguards against online abuse, while raising concerns about the potential misuse of regulatory power.
The European Court of Justice is set to give a ruling on Irish tax breaks to U.S. company Apple on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 10, 2024
D-Day for Apple and Google as EU court to rule on major cases
The Apple case has been one of several investigations in the previous decade into sweetheart tax arrangements between major companies and several EU countries.
OpenAI, whose ChatGPT is credited with accelerating the frenzy over artificial intelligence since its broad release in late 2022, has said AI should be regulated by the federal government but that the California bill creates an uncertain legal environment, and could cause entrepreneurs and engineers to leave the state.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2024
Big Tech wants AI to be regulated. Why do they oppose a California AI bill?
Many tech giants say the bill threatens to make the state unfavorable to AI development and deployment and puts open-source models at risk.
The departure of the head of Apple's App Store comes as the division is being split into two teams: one overseeing Apple’s own store and another responsible for alternative app distribution.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024
Apple’s App Store head to leave in reorganization amid global scrutiny
Matt Fischer, a vice president who has run the App Store business since 2010, will leave the iPhone maker in October.
Google is appealing an Aug. 5 ruling that it illegally monopolized the markets of online search and search text ads but the presiding judge has ordered the start of plans for the second phase of the case, which will involve the government’s proposals for restoring competition, including a possible breakup request.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024
U.S. considers a rare antitrust move: breaking up Google
If the breakup plan proceeds, the most likely units for divestment are the Android operating system and Chrome web browser.
Google may try to avoid antitrust actions by terminating an agreement which makes its search engine a default on Apple devices.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 7, 2024
Google antitrust ruling may pose $20 billion risk for Apple
A potential remedy for Google to avoid antitrust actions could involve terminating the agreement, which makes its search engine a default on Apple devices.
A Google logo at the company's campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2. Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
Google illegally monopolized search options, judge rules
The judge's decision will "lay the blueprint for other tech cases going forward,” an antitrust professor said.
Donald Trump has called for his supporters to stop using Google, doubling down on his criticisms of large technology companies.
WORLD
Aug 6, 2024
Trump suggests avoiding Google in interview with gamer Adin Ross
Trump called for his supporters to stop using Google, calling the search engine "illegitimate.”
Joining the revolution brought by the era-defining release of ChatGPT requires a supply of cash that only tech behemoths like Microsoft can provide.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 29, 2024
AI startups swap independence for Big Tech's deep pockets
In the past few months promising companies have seen founders and key executives quietly exit the stage to join the world's dominant tech companies.
Starbucks mobile app shows an error message on Friday. A botched software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crashed countless Microsoft Windows computer systems globally.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2024
CrowdStrike meltdown and the price of real security
Catastrophic system failure isn’t part of the equation — until it happens. Which will be occurring with increasing frequency in our deeply interconnected world.
Passengers wait at the international airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on 
Friday after airlines grounded flights due to a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon sensor software, which crashed Microsoft Windows systems. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2024
CrowdStrike’s global outage doesn’t have to be a recurring nightmare
This time the scale is unprecedented. That should spur Microsoft and other IT firms to do more than simply administer a band-aid.
When Microsoft took a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI's board in November, it triggered unease among antitrust watchdogs in the European Union, Britain and the United States over how much control it exerts over the artificial intelligence startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 11, 2024
Microsoft ditches OpenAI board observer seat to avert antitrust scrutiny
The move comes amid concerns among British and U.S. antitrust watchdogs over Microsoft's influence over OpenAI and the latter's independence.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2024
Apple's AI push could reinvigorate iPhone sales as customers look to upgrade
Facing choppy consumer spending and resurgent tech rivals, Apple has looked to AI as a way to invigorate its loyal fan base.
An Nvidia Cop. Quantum-X800 InfiniBand Platform on display in Taipei on June 5. Nvidia was already the world's most valuable semiconductor firm. Now, it's become the first computer-chip company ever to hit $3 trillion in market capitalization.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 10, 2024
Big Tech is driving the S&P rally. Others will have to step up.
Part of the challenge for tech investors is the stocks are already quite expensive.
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2024
Alphabet taps Eli Lilly executive as new CFO replacing Porat
Anat Ashkenazi will replace Ruth Porat who announced last year she planned to step down.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit seeking to break up the social networking giant Meta.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2024
Meta withheld information on Instagram and WhatsApp deals, FTC says
The company formerly known as Facebook bought photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and the messaging app WhatsApp in 2014.
Google says it will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to develop its first data center and Google Cloud region in the country.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 30, 2024
Google to invest $2 billion in data center and cloud services in Malaysia
The government says the investment will advance Malaysia's digital ambitions.
The main targets of a new bill on smartphone software are the app stores provided by Google and Apple, as consumers effectively have only two choices for smartphone operating systems: Apple's iOS or Google’s Android.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 22, 2024
Japan aims to curb Apple and Google's smartphone app duopoly
A new bill would compel dominant platforms to allow third parties to launch their own app markets and to offer more payment options.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan