Facebook, that behemoth of the social media world, announced Thursday that it’s growing its Prineville Data Center yet again, this time with two new two-story buildings totaling 900,000 square feet.
Continue ReadingGoogle is the latest tech company to commit to more office space despite the ongoing pandemic and the rise of remote work. On Thursday, Google said it plans to invest more than $7 billion in offices and data centers in the United States and create at least 10,000 additional full-time jobs this year. “Coming together
Continue ReadingWhen one of my editors recently shared a celebratory picture of his vaccine card on Instagram, I sent him a direct message: “Didn’t you read our story about not posting your record? Scammers are watching!” He argued they’d be hard pressed to dupe him based on anything listed on the card: “What scam are you
Continue ReadingYouTube’s TikTok competitor has come to the United States. On Thursday, the company said it’s expanding the beta program for its short-form video offering, called Shorts, to the United States now and over the next several weeks. Previously, it tested the product only in India. Globally, users have been able to view Shorts, but not
Continue ReadingPinduoduo’s founder stepped down suddenly this week, shaking investors who had watched him take the Chinese e-commerce company from nothing to a potential Alibaba competitor in less than a decade. Colin Huang’s decision to resign as chairman wasn’t a complete surprise. The 41-year-old entrepreneur already quit as CEO last summer, and was expected to eventually
Continue ReadingThe global chip shortage is continuing to pummel global business, with Samsung, Honda and Volkswagen among the latest major companies to warn of sustained disruption. On Wednesday, Samsung co-CEO Koh Dong-jin told investors that the South Korean tech giant was having trouble with its supply chain. The company is scrambling to address the dearth of
Continue ReadingUber is reclassifying its 70,000 drivers in the United Kingdom after the UK Supreme Court upheld a ruling last month that they should be classified as workers and not independent contractors. The company said Tuesday that as “workers” — a classification unique to employment law in the UK that falls short of “employee” — drivers
Continue ReadingMelinda Walsh, a former marketing consultant, gets up to eight robocalls on her cell phone on any given day — not counting the few that come through on her landline. The constant chorus of robocalls — “your account has been compromised” and “your car warranty has expired” — became a backdrop to her life. It’s
Continue ReadingChinese President Xi Jinping called on the country’s regulators this week to step up their crackdown on tech companies and extend scrutiny to all areas of financial activity. Xi stressed the need to regulate “platform” companies to maintain social stability during a meeting of China’s leaders on Monday, according to state-owned Xinhua News Agency. The
Continue ReadingNokia will slash the size of its workforce over the next two years to free up money to invest in its 5G networks business. The Finnish telecommunications group said in a statement on Tuesday that it will cut between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce, over the next 18 to 24 months.
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Elon Musk is not your typical CEO. Now he has a new title to prove it. In a filing with his least favorite regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, on Monday, Tesla disclosed that Musk is adding the title of “Technoking of Tesla.” It also said that Chief Financial Officer Zach Kirkhorn had taken on
Continue ReadingMicrosoft says its workplace communication platform, Teams, and other Microsoft 365 services should be returning to normal after an earlier software update issue caused outages for many users. Microsoft said Monday afternoon that users may be unable to access Microsoft 365, Azure and Dynamics 365 services, including Microsoft Teams, Forms, Exchange Online email and others.
Continue ReadingXiaomi has won at least a temporary reprieve from a US ban on Americans investing in the Chinese smartphone maker. The Trump-era ban was halted Friday by a US federal judge, who ruled that Washington lacked “substantial evidence” to support its claim that Xiaomi is owned or controlled by China’s military. Days before President Joe
Continue ReadingTesla has expanded its “full self-driving” software to roughly 2,000 Tesla owners, but some drivers were revoked access for not paying close enough attention to the road, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “FSD Beta has now been expanded … we’ve also revoked beta where drivers did not pay sufficient attention to the road, Musk
Continue ReadingAs headlines about people bidding eye-watering sums on GIFs of Pop Tart cats, the first-ever tweet, a Kings of Leon album and other NFTs piled up over the last several weeks, the CNN Business team decided the best way to understand the craze would be to buy one ourselves. That was easier said than done.
Continue ReadingExcitement around 5G, and its promise of lightning fast download speeds and huge data capacity, has ratcheted up since the first 5G-enabled iPhone was released last fall. But the actual experience of 5G doesn’t always live up to the hype — not yet, at least. This is partly because there’s been a lack of available
Continue ReadingElizabeth Holmes, the founder of failed biotech company Theranos, is pregnant — a new development that could once again delay the start date of her highly-anticipated criminal fraud trial. Holmes, whose company had purported to have revolutionized blood testing and was once valued at $9 billion, was indicted on federal wire fraud charges in June
Continue ReadingAmazon CEO Jeff Bezos will not be testifying before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday, according Mike Casca, a spokesman for Senator Bernie Sanders, the chair of that committee. The company told the panel Friday that the Amazon founder is unable to attend next week’s hearing on inequality, Casca told CNN. In a statement, the
Continue ReadingGoogle and Microsoft openly sparred on Friday as the latter prepared to testify at a Congressional hearing focusing on Big Tech’s impact on local news. Microsoft targeted Google’s dominance in advertising as it described in congressional testimony how the tech industry has contributed to the erosion of local journalism. “The problems that beset journalism today
Continue ReadingAmazon chief executive Jeff Bezos has been asked to testify before the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday, in a hearing focused on income inequality. The Amazon founder was invited by Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, the senator’s spokesperson, Mike Casca, confirmed to CNN. The hearing will include testimony from Jennifer Bates, an Amazon employee who
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