AT&T subscriber losses highlight cord-cutting threat: analysts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc’s third-quarter video losses sent pay-TV industry shares down on Thursday after Wall Street analysts raised concerns about the continued threat of consumers cancelling their cable and satellite television subscriptions. The No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, which o...

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Amazon to hire 120,000 workers in the U.S. for holiday season

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it would hire 120,000 workers in the United States this holiday season, same as last year, as the online behemoth prepares for the holiday shopping frenzy. Shoppers this year will shell out more on gifts during the holidays, according to industry surveys, as ...

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Irish court gives $1 billion Apple data center green light

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple may proceed to build a 850 million euro ($1 billion) data center in Ireland, the High Court ruled on Thursday, bringing relief for the government after a two-year planning delay which it feared could hurt its reputation with investors. Apple in February 2015 announced plans ...

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Apple's $1 billion data center gets Irish High Court green light

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s High Court on Thursday ruled that a 850 million euro ($1 billion) data center planned by Apple in the west of Ireland may proceed, dismissing an environmental challenge made by three people. Apple announced plans to build the data center in 2015, but the project ha...

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Samsung scion fights back as legal appeal begins

SEOUL (Reuters) - The heir to South Korea’s Samsung Group, convicted of bribing the country’s former president, appeared in a packed court on Thursday for the first day of arguments in the appeal of his five-year jail term for corruption. The 49-year-old Jay Y. Lee was convicted by a low...

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Insurers to work with tech firms on risks from drones, driverless cars

LONDON (Reuters) - The World Economic Forum is bringing insurers, tech firms and governments together to find ways to tackle risks from new technology such as drones and driverless cars, it said on Thursday. Tech firms have moved fast to develop new products, but assigning liability - who is respons...

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London regulator will defend decision not to renew Uber's license in court: mayor

LONDON (Reuters) - London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Thursday that the city’s transport regulator will defend its decision in court not to renew Uber’s license to operate in the British capital. Uber has until Friday to submit its appeal and can continue to operate until the appeal process...

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Deutsche Telekom demonstrates first 5G antennas in Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom debuted its first ultra high-speed next generation mobile antennas on Thursday, which Europe’s biggest telecoms provider said showed it was ready for a global launch of the technology by 2020. Telekom said it was the first use of the technology in a real wor...

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Exclusive: Alphabet's Waymo demanded $1 billion in settlement talks with Uber - sources

SAN FRANCISCO(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Waymo sought at least $1 billion in damages and a public apology from Uber Technologies Inc as conditions for settling its high-profile trade secret lawsuit against the ride-services company, sources familiar with the proposal told Reuters. The Waymo sel...

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Samsung scion's defense fights back as legal appeal begins

SEOUL (Reuters) - The heir to South Korea’s Samsung Group appeared in a packed court on Thursday for the first day of arguments in the appeal of his five-year jail term for corruption. The 49-year-old Jay Y. Lee was convicted by a lower court in August of bribing former president Park Geun-hye...

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Facebook pushes ad overhaul before 2018 U.S. election: executive

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc has begun overhauling how it handles political ads on its platform and may put some changes in place before U.S. elections next year, Facebook’s chief technology officer said on Wednesday. U.S. congressional and state elections set for November 2018 pr...

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Joint Strike Fighter plans stolen in Australia cyber attack

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A hacker stole non-classified information about Australia’s Joint Strike Fighter program and other military hardware last year after breaching the network of a defense contractor, the defense industry minister said on Thursday. About 30 gigabytes of data was stolen in the cy...

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Facebook to sell portable headset for virtual reality

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O) is launching a new virtual reality headset that does not require a separate computer to operate, allowing more mobile uses than the company’s existing Oculus Rift product, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday. Zuckerberg, speaking a...

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Google to co-host Wilbur Ross talk with news site Newsmax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O) unit will co-host an event with conservative media firm Newsmax on Thursday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Newsmax Media’s chief executive officer, Christopher Ruddy, said in an email invitation reviewed by Reuters that La...

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Taiwan fines Qualcomm $774 million for antitrust violations

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) faces an antitrust fine in Taiwan, the latest in a years-long streak of regulatory setbacks to its business model that comes as it also fights U.S. regulators and iPhone maker Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in court over many of the same legal issues. The Taiwan Fair ...

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Taiwan fines Qualcomm $774 million for anti-trust violations

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission said on Wednesday it would fine U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc T$23.4 billion ($774.14 million) for anti-trust violations of its chip technology.

Facebook to launch new virtual reality headset, 'Oculus Go'

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to release a new virtual reality headset that does not require a separate computer to operate, allowing for more mobile uses than the company's existing Oculus Rift product, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday.

Helios and Matheson reaps benefits of MoviePass frenzy

(Reuters) - Bets on the future of an investment in a Netflix-style movie subscription business sent shares in previously little-known IT firm Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc soaring again on Wednesday.

British MP asks why Equifax delayed notifying UK data hack victims

LONDON (Reuters) - The powerful chair of Britain's parliamentary treasury committee demanded on Wednesday that U.S. credit reporting agency Equifax explain why it has taken more than a month to notify UK users of a massive data breach affecting up to 15.2 million citizens.

Facebook and Instagram down for some users

(Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) and Instagram users in some parts of the United States, Europe and Canada were unable to access their accounts on Wednesday as the social networking website faced technical issues. “We’re aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing Facebook a...

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Microsoft, Apple among companies urging U.S. Supreme Court to weigh gay workers' rights

(Reuters) - Dozens of companies including Alphabet Inc’s Google, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Viacom Inc have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether a law banning sex discrimination in the workplace provides protections to gay employees. A group of 76 companies submitted a brief to ...

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California unveils revised rules on self-driving testing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - California regulators on Wednesday unveiled revised rules on self-driving car testing after automakers and technology companies raised concerns. The revised state regulations will allow testing of autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the steering wheel and public use of...

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VW to develop electric trucks in $1.7 billion technology drive

HAMBURG (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) will invest 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in new technologies including electric trucks and buses by 2022, VW’s trucks chief Andreas Renschler said. The money will go toward electric drives, autonomous vehicles and cloud-based systems, he said o...

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Taiwan Fair Trade Commission fines Qualcomm more than $700 million

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission said on Wednesday it will fine U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) T$23.4 billion ($774.14 million) for anti-trust violations of its chip technology. The Commission said in a Chinese-language statement that Qualcomm had a monopoly over the CDMA...

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Russian authorities agree to regulate crypto-currency market

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities have agreed to regulate the crypto-currency market, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday, cited by TASS news agency. The minister’s comment comes the day after President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue with Siluanov, Central Bank Governor ...

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Toshiba's accounting in focus as ISS, Tokyo bourse offer contrasting views

TOKYO (Reuters) - Proxy advisory firm ISS said on Wednesday it has recommended on that Toshiba Corp’s shareholders do not approve its earnings statements for the past financial year - the same day that the Tokyo bourse said it was taking the conglomerate off a special watch list. The two devel...

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Russian cybercrime suspect in Greek court for second extradition request

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Russian wanted by the United States for allegedly laundering billions of dollars in bitcoin appeared in a Greek court on Wednesday for a hearing to consider his extradition to Moscow on different charges. Judges ruled last week that Alexander Vinnik, the suspected mastermind of ...

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Exclusive: Despite sanctions, Russian organizations acquire Microsoft software

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Software produced by Microsoft Corp has been acquired by state organizations and firms in Russia and Crimea despite sanctions barring U.S-based companies from doing business with them, official documents show. The acquisitions, registered on the Russian state procurement database,...

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Alibaba launches $15 billion overseas R&D drive

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s top e-commerce firm, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd [BABA.N], is launching a $15 billion drive to build overseas research hubs as the deep-pocketed firm looks to compete with global leaders in e-commerce, logistics and cloud technology. The Alibaba ‘Damo’ aca...

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Toshiba shares to be removed from special watch list: Nikkei

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Toshiba Corp are to be removed from a special Tokyo Stock Exchange watch list, the Nikkei reported on Wednesday. Toshiba has been on the “securities on alert” list since its 2015 accounting scandal. Reporting by Chris Gallagher