Saudi lifting ban on Skype, WhatsApp calls, but will censor them

RIYADH (Reuters) - The Saudi government is lifting a ban on calls made through online apps on Thursday but will monitor and censor them, a government spokesman said. All online voice and video call services - such as Microsoft’s Skype, Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger, and Rakuten&rsquo...

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Road to electric car paradise paved with handouts

JUDABERG, Norway (Reuters) - The Norwegian island of Finnoey has the highest density of electric cars in the world. The reason? They are exempt from the $6,000-a-year toll charges for the tunnel to the mainland. There has been a surge in sales of fully electric cars like Teslas (TSLA.O) and Nissan (...

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Saudi is lifting Skype, WhatsApp ban, but will censor calls

RIYADH (Reuters) - The Saudi government is lifting a ban on calls made through online apps on Thursday but will monitor and censor them, a government spokesman said. All online voice and video call services -- like Microsoft’s Skype, Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger, and Rakuten’s...

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China's Baidu launches $1.5 billion autonomous driving fund

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese search engine Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) autonomous driving fund on Thursday as part of a wider plan to speed up its technical development and compete with U.S. rivals. The “Apollo Fund” will invest in 100 autonomous driving...

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Twitter to meet Congressional panel probing 2016 election

(Reuters) - Twitter Inc representatives will meet with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff next week in relation to inquiries into the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a company representative said. The committee, along with other congressional committees and special counsel Rober...

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What is at stake for Uber in U.S. bribery probe?

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. bribery investigation at ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] will likely go on for a year or more and could lead to snowballing legal and compliance costs if lawyers find systemic problems. Uber, which is the subject of a U.S. probe into whether it p...

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Distrustful U.S. allies force spy agency to back down in encryption row

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An international group of cryptography experts has forced the U.S. National Security Agency to back down over two data encryption techniques it wanted set as global industry standards, reflecting deep mistrust among close U.S. allies. In interviews and emails seen by Reuter...

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Google to acquire HTC's Pixel smartphone division in $1.1 billion deal

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google said it would pay $1.1 billion in cash to acquire the division at Taiwan’s HTC Corp (2498.TW) that develops the U.S. firm’s Pixel smartphones, its latest push into hardware manufacturing. Google has sought to beef up its hardware c...

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Equifax Breach: Setting the Record Straight

Bloomberg published a story this week citing three unnamed sources who told the publication that Equifax experienced a breach earlier this year which predated the intrusion that the big-three credit bureau announced on Sept. 7. To be clear, this earlier breach at Equifax is not a new ...

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Equifax Breach: Setting the Record Straight

Bloomberg published a story this week citing three unnamed sources who told the publication that Equifax experienced a breach earlier this year which predated the intrusion that the big-three credit bureau announced on Sept. 7. To be clear, this earlier breach at Equifax is not a new ...

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Google to buy part of HTC's smartphone operations for $1.1 billion

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google will acquire part of Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC’s (2498.TW) smartphone operations for $1.1 billion, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday. Under the deal, Google will acquire a team of people who develop Pixel smartphon...

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Toshiba prepares to formalize chips sale, even as rejected suitor steps up legal action

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Toshiba Corp (6502.T) is expected to formalize the sale of its prized memory chip unit on Thursday to a group led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital, even as jilted suitor and joint venture partner Western Digital (WDC.O) took fresh legal action. The embattled c...

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Google to buy part of HTC's smartphone operations for around $1 billion: source

HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google is set to announce a deal to acquire part of Taiwanese firm HTC Corp’s (2498.TW) smartphone operations for about $1 billion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. The deal will not involve the purchase ...

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Equifax says attacker 'interacted' with server on March 10

(Reuters) - Equifax Inc said on Wednesday that on March 10 an attacker “interacted” with a server at the heart of the massive breach disclosed this month, but there is no evidence that the incident was linked to the breach of 143 million records. The company disclosed the incident after ...

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Hackers used Avast's CCleaner breach to attack technology companies

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The hackers who broke into widely used computer utility software in August also tried to infect machines at Microsoft, Intel and other top technology companies, according to research by Cisco Systems released late on Wednesday. That suggests the breach, disclosed on Monday,...

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Western Digital takes legal step to stop Toshiba memory investment

(Reuters) - Western Digital Corp filed its latest legal action against joint-venture chip partner Toshiba Corp for moving to invest in a new flash memory production line without its help, the U.S. company said on Wednesday. The new arbitration requests, filed in the International Court of Arbitratio...

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Tesla working with AMD to develop chip for self-driving car: CNBC

(Reuters) - Electric carmaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is working with Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) to develop its own artificial intelligence chip for self-driving cars, CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter. AMD spin-off GlobalFoundries Inc Chief Executive Sanjay Jha...

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Facebook to add more human review to ad system: COO Sandberg

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) will add “more human review and oversight” to its ad-buying system, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Wednesday, responding to rising criticism that automated processes have allowed people to buy discriminatory ads. Sandberg sai...

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Apple concedes new watch has connectivity glitch

(Reuters) - Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) on Wednesday conceded its latest smartwatch unveiled a week ago has problems with its most important feature: the ability make phone calls and access data without an iPhone nearby. Several prominent reviewers said Wednesday they could not recommend the device b...

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Apple Watch fails to tick with reviewers due to cellular glitch

(Reuters) - Apple Inc’s latest smartwatch may have packed many impressive features of a smartphone, but occasional mobile connectivity issues and poor battery life held back several reviewers from recommending the device. The Watch Series 3, launched last week alongside iPhone 8 and iPhone X, ...

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