From tagging photos on Facebook to driving with Google Maps, people should join forces in "data unions" to demand payment for letting online tools collect their data, according to an economist advocating for radical reforms to improve society. Glen Weyl, a principal researcher at the ...
Four-day workweek could be just what Japan needs
In the sitcom "The Office," a bumbling manager spends much of his time distracting the hapless employees of a paper company's local sales branch. Somehow, despite all the antics that seem to interfere with getting anything done, the branch consistently manages to be the ...
Four-day workweek boosted productivity by 40%, Microsoft Japan experiment shows
In a rare corporate experiment to test a four-day work system, Microsoft Corp.’s Japan branch found that their productivity improved by about 40 percent, the company said. The test involved 2,300 regular office workers in August. Amid calls for improving efficiency in the workplace in a ...
Microsoft's Pentagon cloud computing win comes at a cost, legal and internal
Microsoft Corp. scored a major victory in securing a milestone, $10 billion Pentagon contract for cloud computing services. But the contract — unthinkable for Microsoft even a year ago — will likely come at a cost, legal and internal. Amazon.com Inc., the market leader in ...
Pentagon hands Microsoft $10 billion 'war cloud' deal, snubbing Amazon
The Pentagon has awarded Microsoft a $10 billion cloud computing contract, snubbing early front-runner Amazon, whose participation drew criticism from President Donald Trump and its business rivals. Bidding for the huge project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, pitted leading tech titans Microsoft, ...
Microsoft looks to get back in smartphone game with twin-screen Surface Duo
Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled new Surface devices with twin-screens that open like books, including a notepad-sized version that will put it back in the smartphone game next year. Surface Duo was touted as the first device in the lineup to fit into a pants pocket, ...
Workers from Japan's big cities decamp to Matsue in Shimane for teleworking stress test
The city of Matsue in Shimane Prefecture has embarked on an experiment to find out whether teleworking in the regional city helps reduce the stress levels of businesspeople who normally work in major cities. The city hopes the experiment will demonstrate the health-promoting benefits of ...
Bill Gates defends Big Tech, says firms shouldn't be broken up
Bill Gates, who knows a thing or two about antitrust investigations, doesn't think it's a good idea to break up the biggest U.S. tech companies, as some politicians have suggested. The Microsoft Corp. co-founder and former chief executive officer battled the Justice Department for years ...
Facebook and Microsoft launch contest to detect 'deepfake' videos ahead of U.S. election
Facebook Inc. is teaming up with Microsoft Corp., the Partnership on AI coalition and academics from several universities to launch a contest to better detect deepfakes, the company said in a blog post ai.facebook.com/blog/deepfake-detection-challenge on Thursday. The social media giant is putting $10 million into ...
'Sense of urgency' as top tech players seek AI ethical rules
Top players in global tech companies kicked off work Monday to draw up global ethical standards related to data and artificial intelligence, with Microsoft's president voicing a "sense of urgency. Some two dozen high-ranking representatives of the global and Swiss economies, as well as scientists ...
Amazon and Microsoft are putting world at risk with killer AI, study says
Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons. Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies by three criteria: ...
Pentagon's auditor probing disputed JEDI cloud computing contract
The Pentagon's independent auditor is conducting a broad review of the handling of a cloud computing project potentially worth $10 billion, officials said Tuesday. The probe includes an investigation of potential misconduct by current or former Defense Department officials involved in the project, which is ...
