Bank of England opens up payments systems to spur fintech

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England has widened access to Britain's interbank payments system to increase competition from new fintech firms in the financial system, where the "Big Four" high street banks have long dominated. The BoE flagged the plans in May and on Wednesday published a detailed ...

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NBC News to launch twice-daily show on Snapchat

(Reuters) - Comcast Corp's (CMCSA.O) NBC News is launching a twice-per-day news show on Snapchat, the company said on Wednesday, part of its push to attract younger viewers who tend to watch TV on mobile devices. Comcast's NBCUniversal invested $500 million in Snapchat owner Snap Inc (SNAP.N) during...

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Four Apple contractors accuse Qualcomm of antitrust violations

(Reuters) - iPhone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc faces a fresh set of antitrust allegations from a group of four companies that assemble the iPhone and other products on behalf of Apple Inc. Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Wistron Corp, Compal Electronics Inc and Pegatron Corp alleged tha...

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Google redesigns mobile search app with personalized 'feed'

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google on Wednesday announced an overhaul of its search app on mobile phones to include a personalized feed of links about hobbies, travel, sports and other topics, a move that puts the search company into more direct competition with social networks such as Facebook. Googl...

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Toshiba says resumed blocking Western Digital access to chip JV

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp said it resumed blocking access by Western Digital Corp to data at their memory chip joint venture, amid a feud over the Japanese company's planned auction of the chip business. Toshiba is counting on the sale of the chip business to cover billions of dollars in cost o...

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GM joins other carmakers investing in self-driving startup Nauto

(Reuters) - General Motors Co (GM.N) and Japan's Softbank Group Corp (9984.T) are among the latest investors in Nauto, a Silicon Valley startup developing software for self-driving vehicles. Nauto, based in Palo Alto, said on Tuesday it closed a $159 million Series B funding round, led by Softbank a...

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Amazon makes cloud contract more customer-friendly as rivals loom

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has done away with a controversial clause in its cloud computing contracts that prohibited customers from suing the company over patent infringement, according to an updated version of the Amazon Web Services customer agreement released on Thursday. ...

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Silicon Valley mostly quiet in internet surveillance debate in Congress

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc (FB.O), Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and other major technology firms are largely absent from a debate over the renewal of a broad U.S. internet surveillance law, weakening prospects for privacy reforms that would further protect customer da...

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IBM's second-quarter revenue dips 4.7 percent

(Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) reported a 4.7 percent decline in quarterly revenue on Tuesday, hurt largely by weak demand in its technology services business. The company's net income fell to $2.33 billion, or $2.48 per share in the second quarter ended June 30, from $2.50...

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Western Digital CEO meeting Japan officials over Toshiba: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Western Digital Corp's top executive is in Japan to meet government officials, aiming to resolve a dispute with Toshiba Corp over the Japanese company's planned sale of its chip business, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Toshiba is scrambling to sell its flash memo...

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French videogame maker Atari reveals its new console

(Reuters) - French videogame maker Atari SA provided the first details of its "Ataribox", the iconic company's first console in more than two decades. The company said "Ataribox" is inspired by its previous consoles, incorporating a raised back and a front panel that can be either of wood or glass. ...

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Uber-style app 'Careem' goes off beaten track in Palestinian West Bank

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Careem, a Middle Eastern rival to Uber, has become the first ride-hailing firm to operate in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Dubai-based Careem, whose name is a play on the Arabic word for generous or noble, launched in Ramallah in June, aiming to bring digital simpli...

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Cyber startup StackRox raises $14 million in round led by Sequoia

(Reuters) - Cyber-security startup StackRox said on Tuesday it has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Sequoia Capital, providing the three-year old company with funds to use for product development and expansion of its sales team. The Mountain View, California-based company also u...

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Netflix wins international Crown with original shows

(Reuters) - Twenty years after Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix Inc, and a decade after the company introduced video streaming, it hit another milestone - one that is key to its ability to sustain its scorching pace of growth. International subscriber count of 52.03 million at the end of the June qu...

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Britain's cyber security center says has never certified Kaspersky products

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said on Tuesday it had never certified products from Russian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab. "The NCSC certifies products through a range of initiatives, and vendors apply to have their products certified via one of our accredited lab pa...

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Samsung Elec to recover rare metals from recalled Note 7s

SEOUL (Reuters) - Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Tuesday it plans to recover 157 tonnes' worth of rare metals from recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in a bid to minimize the environmental impact of the fire-prone devices. Samsung said in a statement it planned to reuse components suc...

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Toshiba shares surge after Greenlight stake, U.S. court hearing

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp shares jumped on Tuesday after a U.S. hedge fund said it had added a stake and after Western Digital Corp did not gain an immediate injunction to block the $18 billion sale of the Japanese conglomerate's chip unit. Toshiba may be worth as much as 400 yen per share once...

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Netflix's subscriber growth beats on strong original shows

(Reuters) - Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) added more U.S. and international subscribers than expected in the second quarter as new original shows such as "13 Reasons Why" as well as the latest season of hit political drama "House of Cards" helped attract more viewers. The company said on Monday it added 4.14...

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U.S. appeals court upholds nondisclosure rules for surveillance orders

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday upheld nondisclosure rules that allow the FBI to secretly issue surveillance orders for customer data to communications firms, a ruling that dealt a blow to privacy advocates. A unanimous three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of...

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FedEx says cyber attack to hurt its fiscal 2018 results

(Reuters) - Package delivery company FedEx Corp (FDX.N) said its fiscal 2018 results would be hurt in part due to disruption of operations in its TNT Express unit following a cyber attack last month. The Netherlands-based TNT Express is still experiencing widespread service delays following the atta...

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