Uber could face higher license fees in London under new proposals

LONDON (Reuters) - Taxi app Uber could face an increase in operator license fees in London under proposed changes by the city's transport authority, the latest in a series of moves by regulators to rein in a firm that has disrupted the traditional taxi industry.

Spotify and Merlin agree multi-year license deal

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Music streaming service Spotify said on Thursday it had struck a multi-year license agreement with Merlin, a digital rights agency for the independent label sector.

Western Digital CFO: Would consider bid with INCJ, DBJ for Toshiba chip unit

TOKYO (Reuters) - Western Digital Corp, the U.S. partner of Toshiba Corp in a semiconductor venture, is in talks with state-backed fund Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) and the Development Bank of Japan and would consider a joint bid with them for the chip business, a senior official said on ...

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China's Bitauto raises $1 billion from internet giants Tencent, Baidu

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Auto portal Bitauto Holdings Ltd has recently raised $1 billion from Tencent Holdings Ltd , Baidu Inc and JD.com Inc as it seeks to be China's largest online car financing platform, its chief told Reuters on Thursday.

China's LeEco plans sale of $420 million Beijing real estate: sources

TAIPEI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech conglomerate LeEco is in talks to sell a prized property asset in the heart of Beijing it acquired in a $420 million deal last year, the latest effort by the electric car-to-smartphone behemoth to raise funds amid a severe cash crunch.

China's numerous green-car startups to dwindle to two to three in five years: Nio chairman

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Of dozens of startup electric car makers in China, only two or three will be around in five years' time, the chief of Nio told Reuters on Thursday, after the automaker unveiled its first production car aimed at taking on Tesla Inc's Model X.

Amazon says it is bringing retail shopfront service to Australia

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Global retail juggernaut Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday it plans to offer its retail shopfront service in Australia, confirming rumors which have circulated for years about its plans to expand into the world's 12th-largest economy.

Honda to launch all-electric battery car in China next year: executive

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Japan's Honda Motor Co will launch an all-electric battery car in China next year as demand for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) expands in the world's largest automobile market, a senior company executive said.

Tesla settles lawsuit with former head of its Autopilot system

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc and the former head of its Autopilot program have settled a lawsuit brought by the electric vehicle maker in January, the parties said on Wednesday, in a deal that prevents the former executive from recruiting Tesla employees for a year.

Facebook gives peek inside unit studying brain-to-text technology

SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc on Wednesday pulled aside the curtain on a secretive unit headed by a former chief of the Pentagon's research arm, disclosing that the social media company is studying ways for people to communicate by thought and touch.

Chipmaker Qualcomm's revenue falls 9.6 percent

(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc , the largest maker of chips used in smartphones, reported 9.6 percent fall in quarterly revenue, hurt by an arbitration decision to pay Canada's BlackBerry Ltd for previously received royalties.

Ebay's revenue rises 3.7 percent

(Reuters) - Ebay Inc reported a 3.7 percent increase in quarterly revenue on Wednesday as more shoppers visited its e-commerce websites and efforts to revamp its platform paid off.

Tracing Spam: Diet Pills from Beltway Bandits

Reading junk spam messages isn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but sometimes fun can be had when you take a moment to check who really sent the email. Here’s the simple story of how a recent spam email advertising celebrity “diet pills” was traced back to a W...

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Tracing Spam: Diet Pills from Beltway Bandits

Reading junk spam messages isn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but sometimes fun can be had when you take a moment to check who really sent the email. Here’s the simple story of how a recent spam email advertising celebrity “diet pills” was traced back to a W...

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Chip equipment stocks surge after strong Lam Research, ASML results

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of semiconductor equipment suppliers surged on Wednesday after quarterly earnings reports from Lam Research and ASML Holding suggested a recent wave of spending by chipmakers was far from over.

Amazon rolls out chatbot tools in race to dominate voice-powered tech

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's chief technology officer is working toward a day when people can control almost any piece of software with their voice.

Bose headphones spy on listeners: lawsuit

(Reuters) - Bose Corp spies on its wireless headphone customers by using an app that tracks the music, podcasts and other audio they listen to, and violates their privacy rights by selling the information without permission, a lawsuit charged.

Britain loses $1.28 billion through VAT fraud and error by Amazon and eBay sellers

FILE PHOTO: Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

Alphabet's Verily unit launches study to track health data

(Reuters) - Verily, Alphabet Inc's life sciences business, said it was launching a four-year study with about 10,000 participants to understand how people transition from being healthy to becoming sick, and to identify additional risk factors for diseases.

Beijing cyber regulators to summon Apple over live streaming: Xinhua

FILE PHOTO: The Apple logo is pictured inside the newly opened Omotesando Apple store at a shopping district in Tokyo June 26, 2014. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo

China's ZTE appoints U.S. head Cheng as new mobile business chief

ZTE's logo on its R&D center is seen in Beijing, China, in this March 22, 2016 file picture. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files

Telecom Egypt to offer 2G and 3G services through Orange Egypt

Telecom Egypt will on Wednesday sign an agreement with Orange Egypt to offer 2G and 3G mobile services through Orange Egypt, one Telecom Egypt source and one source from the telecommunication ministry told Reuters. Telecom Egypt, the state's fixed-line monopoly, was the first company to take up the ...

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Imagination likely to see Apple royalties slashed, then end: UBS

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Apple Inc is likely to pay graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies just one third of its current royalty rate as the smartphone giant wind downs their supply deal over the next two years, UBS estimated on Wednesday.

China's Ant Financial targets brand boost in SEAsia with helloPay deal

BEIJING (Reuters) - Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd , has acquired Singapore-based payment service helloPay Group, part of the Chinese firm's drive to boost its Alipay brand and presence in Southeast Asia.

China EV makers to take on Tesla's Model 3 through price, local manufacture

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - It's not due to arrive in China until next year, but already Chinese-funded, smart, connected plug-in car start-ups are scrambling to launch cars to go head-to-head against Tesla Inc's "mass market" Model 3 sedan.

Ford taking cautious approach to China electric vehicle market

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co is taking a cautious approach to producing electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles for the Chinese market, citing uncertainty about consumer interest and government policy, despite a rush by carmakers to jump into the sector.

India's Paytm in talks with SoftBank to raise $1.2 to $1.5 billion: report

(Reuters) - Electronics payments provider Paytm is in talks with Japan's SoftBank Group to raise $1.2 to $1.5 billion in cash, making the latter one of the largest shareholders in the fintech start-up, Mint newspaper reported on Wednesday citing sources.

China EV start-up Nio to sell mass-production car next year

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle start-up Nio will start selling its first mass-production vehicle next year, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday, as it unveiled its ES8 SUV car at the Shanghai auto show.

Baidu to launch autonomous car technology in July

(Reuters) - Baidu Inc said on Tuesday it would open its self-driving car technology for restricted environment in July this year.

InterContinental Hotel Chain Breach Expands

In December 2016, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that fraud experts at various banks were seeing a pattern suggesting a widespread credit card breach across some 5,000 hotels worldwide owned by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). In February, IHG acknowledged a breach but said it appeared to involv...

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