‘Black Friday’ becoming a shadow of its former self in US New York, United States | AFP | The US holiday shopping season officially opened with a deluge of “Black Friday” promotions but the frenzied crowds of the past have thinned out with the rise of e-commerce. Companies in the …
Read More »HP rejects Xerox takeover offer again
New York, United States | AFP | Computer and printer maker HP on Sunday reiterated its rejection of Xerox’s $33 billion takeover bid, saying the sum “significantly undervalues” the company. A tie-up would unite two firms with storied histories: Xerox was founded in 1906 and became a household name with …
Read More »Showtime for Stadia cloud gaming service
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Google sets out to transform the video game world with its Stadia service crafted to let people access console-quality games as easily as they do email. With the Stadia launch Tuesday, the internet giant is aiming for a piece of a global video game …
Read More »EU governments, Uganda’s Kasaija warn about crypto-currencies
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & AFP | A day after Uganda’s Finance Minister Matia Kasaija warned about the use of crypto-currencies, European governments are asking questions about Libra, forcing Facebook’s partners to reconsider. Mastercard, Visa and other financial partners being enlisted to oversee Facebook-backed cryptocurrency Libra are having second thoughts …
Read More »Google, Facebook, Amazon decry French digital tax as ‘discriminatory’
Washington, United States | AFP | American tech giants Amazon, Facebook and Google joined forces on Monday to decry the French digital tax as retroactive and discriminatory. President Donald Trump is considering retaliating against the tax — approved July 11 — with punitive tariffs on French wine imports, prompting an …
Read More »Dream of augmented humans endures, despite sceptics
Paris, France | AFP | Brain implants, longer lives, genetically modified humans: for the prophets of transhumanism — the scientifically assisted evolution of humans beyond our current limitations — it is just a matter of time. But many scientists insist that some problems are not so easily solved. Sooner or …
Read More »Don’t fall in love on Facebook, jailed Indian warns
Mumbai, India | AFP | An Indian man released last week after being jailed for six years in Pakistan issued advice on Friday not to follow his example and fall in love on Facebook. Hamid Nehal Ansari illegally entered Pakistan from Afghanistan in 2012 to meet a woman he had …
Read More »Pennsylvania lets Uber self-driving cars back on roads
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Authorities in the US state of Pennsylvania have given Uber the green light to resume testing self-driving cars, the ride-sharing giant said Tuesday, after a fatal crash in Arizona prompted a pause. Uber said it had received authorization to put autonomous cars back …
Read More »Apple to build $1 bln campus in Texas
Washington, United States | AFP | Apple announced Thursday it will build a $1 billion campus in Texas as part of a nationwide expansion. The facility will be less than a mile from the tech giant’s existing facility in Austin and initially accommodate 5,000 additional employees, with room to grow …
Read More »Former employee says Facebook failing black people
San Francisco, United States | AFP | A former Facebook employee on Tuesday went public with a memo saying the company is failing to include black people in its workforce and on the social network. Mark Luckie said that he shared the message with all Facebook employees around the world …
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