Tag - big-tech

 
 

BIG TECH

Last year the EU designated six companies — including Apple and Google — as "gatekeepers" under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 26, 2024
Why is the EU probing Big Tech under the Digital Markets Act?
Violations could result in fines of as much as 10% of a company's global annual turnover.
The United States has abandoned its long-standing demand for World Trade Organization provisions to protect cross-border data flows.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2024
The U.S. is jeopardizing the open internet
The U.S. has changed its stance at the WTO on cross-border data flows, a move that could seriously harm the open internet that so many benefit from.
Dating back to its time as a marginal player in the personal computer market, Apple's business model has long been based on charging users a premium for technology products where the company dictates nearly all of the details of how the device works and can be used.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 22, 2024
Apple accused of monopolizing smartphone markets in U.S. antitrust lawsuit
The suit seeks to free markets from the iPhone maker's "anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct and restoring competition to lower prices for consumers."
The EU hit Apple with a €1.8 billion fine ($1.9 billion) on Monday for violating the bloc's laws by preventing music streaming services from informing users about subscription options outside of its App Store.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2024
EU fines Apple €1.8 billion over curbs on music streaming services
The European Union found Apple had violated law by preventing music streaming services from telling users about subscription options outside its App Store.
Chris Marchese (center), Director of NetChoice Litigation Center, speaks to the press outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Monday. In a case that could determine the future of social media in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked today to decide whether a pair of state laws that limit content moderation are constitutional.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court torn over legal bid to restrict social media moderation
Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas are being challenged by tech industry trade groups whose members include Meta, Google, TikTok and Snap.
A man claimed Amazon promised "unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming” of entertainment through Prime Video. He alleges the company reneged on the deal and is suing.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2024
Amazon shouldn't be swindling users
The tech giant is being sued for charging subscribers more than advertised: Not what you'd expect from a self-professed customer-obsessed company.
Amazon CEO And Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
Jeff Bezos sells $4 billion of Amazon stock, avoiding $288 million levy
Moving to Florida, after Washington imposed a 7% gains tax, the world’s second-richest person offloaded 24 million shares over just four trading days.
Like for other generative AI services, the algorithm behind Rufus is a closely held secret and Amazon declined to discuss how it operates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024
Who benefits when shoppers use Amazon's new AI tool?
The tool raises several questions, as Amazon has a history of steering customers toward products that most benefit the company.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, attends a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2024
Zuckerberg’s apology isn’t enough to stop children being harmed
META's CEO apologized to the families of children abused via social media, but real regulation is needed for such harm to be avoided in the first place.
A customer tries his Vision Pro at the launch of the product at a store in Los Angeles on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 4, 2024
Vision Pro headset is Apple's next Mac and TV combined
The $3,500 headset, which blends 3D content with a view of the outside world, landed in the company’s physical U.S. stores on Friday.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers his keynote address at the f8 Developers Conference in San Francisco in 2011.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2024
Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20
"Facebook, when it launched, was revolutionary"
Sheryl Sandberg at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, in 2019. Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008 as the No. 2 to co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to oversee the fledgling company’s advertising, partnerships, business development and operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 18, 2024
Meta’s Sheryl Sandberg to leave board after 12 years
Sandberg was key to turning the social network into one of the world’s biggest and most financially successful companies.
While Apple has dominated the holiday quarter in recent years, its surge ahead of Samsung over a full year is unprecedented and suggests Apple is weathering an industrywide slump better than its rivals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2024
Apple passed Samsung as world’s top phone-maker in 2023
Apple's surge ahead of Samsung over a full year is unprecedented and suggests Apple is weathering an industrywide slump better than its rivals.
Masimo's headquarters in Irvine, California. The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled earlier this year that the Apple Watch violates two Masimo patents related to blood-oxygen sensing and imposed an import ban on the Ultra 2 and Series 9 models.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 28, 2023
The email to Tim Cook that set the Apple watch saga in motion
Masimo, based in Irvine, California, is the rare company to wound Apple in a patent dispute.
Apple Watch Ultra 2 devices displayed in Los Angeles. Apple said on Dec. 18 it will stop selling some of its smartwatch models in the United States while it fights a patent battle over technology for detecting blood oxygen levels.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2023
Apple plans rescue for $17 billion watch biz in face of U.S. ban
If the ban holds, Apple is working on a range of legal and technical options.
Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive (right), arrives to testify at an antitrust case against Google in Washington on Oct. 30. A trio of antitrust cases on the docket threaten to reshape Google’s business and sap its profits.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023
Google’s antitrust loss to Epic could preview its legal fate in 2024
The San Francisco case was the first test of how Google might fare in the antitrust gauntlet it faces in the United States — and the company was routed.
Since starting out as a venue for short, silly lip-syncing videos, TikTok has emerged as an incubator for consumer trends, with millions of people trying on clothes and reviewing products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023
TikTok Shop sees early success, taking aim at giant Amazon
In a sign of how seriously Amazon is taking TikTok, the company cut deals with Pinterest, Meta and Snapchat to let users shop without leaving those apps.
Users often do not realize that almost all app notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers, giving the two companies unique insight into the traffic flowing from those apps to their users.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 8, 2023
Smartphone users' push notifications spied on, U.S. senator warns
Users often do not realize that almost all notifications for incoming messages, breaking news and other updates travel over Google and Apple's servers.
Microsoft's artificial intelligence prospects just got a boost from Sam Altman's return to his CEO role at OpenAI.
COMMENTARY
Nov 23, 2023
Altman’s comeback is a strategic triumph for Microsoft
Sam Altman's termination and swift rehiring will shift the dynamics at OpenAI.
People use smartphones on the street in Tokyo in January 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Nov 20, 2023
The NTT Law — a guard against monopoly, or barrier to innovation?
Some say the law regulating the telecom giant stops it from competing against the likes of Google, but others say it contains vital market protections.

Longform

High-end tourism is becoming more about the kinds of experiences that Japan's lesser-known places can provide.
Can Japan lure the jet-set class off the beaten path?