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Kaspersky to move to Switzerland following latest government ban
Things are going from bad to worse for Kaspersky Labs, the Russian anti-virus software developer. The Dutch government says it's planning to phase out the use of the software "as a precautionary measure", and is proactively suggesting other companies do the same.
Senate Democrats plan to force vote on net neutrality May 9th
Democrats in Congress have been against the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules from the beginning. They've had the signatures in favor of restoring the rules since January, along with a companion House bill (with 80 co-sponsors). Senator Edward J. Markey also introduced a formal Congressional Review Act "resolution of disapproval" in February. Now, Markey tweeted that Democrats will force a floor vote restore the rules on May 9th.
Huawei may have a backup OS in case it has to drop Android
It'd be hard to blame Huawei executives if they're feeling very nervous lately. The US has created havoc for ZTE by renewing an export ban over trade violations, potentially depriving it of its Android license and leaving it without a platform. How would Huawei avoid a similar fate? Simple: it would use its own operating system instead. South China Morning Post sources have claimed that Huawei has been developing its own mobile operating system (there are reportedly tablet and PC equivalents) ever since it and ZTE faced an American investigation in 2012. It's considered an investment for "worst-case scenarios," the insiders said.
Facebook explains how it will comply with the EU's GDPR
After a lot of scandal and a great deal of confusion, Facebook has finally made clear what its privacy settings will look like in the wake of Europe's forthcoming GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation). In a news release, the company said that everyone, no matter where they live, will be asked to review information on the way Facebook uses their data. The options will roll out in Europe first, ahead of GDPR implementation on May 25.
Pandora's CEO is doubling down on podcasts
By JP Mangalindan Pandora CEO Roger Lynch wants to offer listeners an easier way to discover new podcasts as the company adds more podcasts to its service and beefs up advertising. Indeed, podcasts will become a more significant aspect in the months and years ahead for Pandora, which has over 75 million monthly active users -- 5.5 million of which use Pandora's paid features and services. The key to growing those users, according to Lynch, who joined the company in September, is offering a more comprehensive catalog of content. "In the car, 80 percent of listening is music, while 20 percent is other stuff," Lynch explains to Yahoo Finance. "As a service, if you don't have that 20 percent, it doesn't mean you capture the 80 percent, because then people will just stay on their FM Radios. But if you can create audio content for people that gets packaged with the music content in a way that doesn't give them a reason to go back to that FM dial, then you capture much more than just the spoken word."
Facebook is stepping up its fight against fake news
In the wake of the 2016 US elections, Facebook began to fight against fake news and divisive content. It hired third-party fact checkers to start vetting content that had been flagged by regular users. The company sponsored a call today with members of the press to address how it continues to protect elections from abuse and exploitation.
Apple Music could overtake Spotify in the US this summer
Spotify's lead in paid music streaming might not be as impregnable as it looks. The Wall Street Journal has obtained industry figures suggesting that Apple Music is growing faster than Spotify in the US, adding 5 percent to its base every month versus 'just' 2 percent for Spotify. If that rate continues, Apple could surpass its rival in the country during the summer. There are other numbers to suggest Apple is catching up, for that matter.
Peugeot embraces electric cars in bid to return to US market
Carmaker Peugeot has announced a raft of ambitious plans that will see it re-enter the US market and offer an all-electric fleet by 2025. Speaking at the Automotive News World Congress, Peugeot chief executive Carlos Tavares said the company plans to use its recent acquisition of GM's European Opel and Vauxhall operations as a springboard for global expansion -- namely into the US, which it left over 20 years ago due to competition from Japan.
New bill seeks to ban Huawei from any US government contracts
Mere days since Huawei lost a deal with AT&T to sell its flagship phones in the US due to security concerns, the Chinese tech company faces a new challenge to its US expansion plans. Congress has just proposed a bill that prohibits any government agency from working with Huawei (and another Chinese tech firm, ZTE). The bill, titled H. R. 4747: "Defending U.S. Government Communications Act," cites several intelligence reports that these telecommunications companies are "subject to state influence."
Huawei's AT&T deal may have failed due to political pressure
Just yesterday, a deal between Huawei and AT&T to sell the Chinese company's flagship phones through the carrier's US stores was reported to have fallen through. According to The Information, the plan was scrapped over political pressure from US lawmakers who saw Huawei as a security threat.
AT&T reportedly won't sell Huawei phones after all
Huawei's flagship phone, the Mate 10, was rumored to be coming to the US this February. The Chinese smartphone maker was reportedly in talks with AT&T to sell its phones, but it looks as if the deal has stalled. According to The Wall Street Journal, AT&T has walked away from the deal.
Putin wants to police social media ahead of Russian election
Russia's president Vladimir Putin wants to start monitoring companies on social media during the country's presidential election next year, to assess just how involved they are with domestic politics. Speaking with leaders in Russia's parliament, he said "it should be carefully analysed how they are operating and will be operating during the presidential election", but didn't specify which companies would go under the spotlight, nor whether he was focusing on foreign or local firms.
DHS's facial scanning program may be inaccurate and illegal
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) doesn't have a great track record with its own technology. DHS staff have been locked out of their own networks, first responder apps have been plagued by security issues and the federal employees were able to steal data from the agency. Now a new report calls DHS's pilot facial recognition program into question, too, saying that it makes frequent errors and may even not be legal.
Trump removes climate change from national security strategy
It's no secret that the Trump administration has a sceptical view of all things science-based -- earlier this week it banned the CDC from using that very term -- and now, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, it's taken climate change out of the US national security strategy (NSS) claiming it's not a threat. And in an unprecedented move, Trump broke with normal protocol to launch the new NSS with a speech.
Google urges FEC to adopt more specific rules for political ads
Google, Facebook and Twitter have all found evidence of Russian influence for last year's US presidential election. Google, however, is seeking to separate itself a bit from it's social-media peers in a new document filed with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Thursday, according to a report by Recode. We have since received a copy of the filing from Google and have verified the details.
Comcast's internet service was down in several major US cities (updated)
If you rely on Comcast for your internet service, you probably know that things are down in a big way for the provider. According to the consumer watchdog site DownDetector, there are more than 8,000 reports of outages across the US as of 1:00 PM ET on Monday.
Mercedes-Benz spends $1 billion to make EVs at Alabama plant
Like most auto makers these days, Mercedes-Benz is investing in electric vehicles in a big way. The Daimler-owned company is fast-tracking all of its models to an electric future by 2022. It has also been showing off a slate of EV models, like the Generation EQ concept car, slated for production in 2019, an art deco-inspired, 20-foot-long Cabriolet and an adorably small Smart Vision EQ. It's looking at infrastructure, too, giving money to help support quick-charging tech made by Israeli startup StoreDot. Now Mercedes-Benz' parent company, Daimler AG, has plans to invest an $1billion in an Alabama factory to make sure it can make fully electric vehicles and battery packs here in the US.
US DOT outlines safe transition to self-driving cars
US legislation for self-driving cars first made its way to the House of Representatives this past July. The bipartisan SELF DRIVE Act passed the House vote on September the 6th, and will now need to go through the Senate. Odds are that we'll see autonomous cars on the road sooner rather than later, thanks to this bill and new voluntary guidance The US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The governmental agencies released new guidelines on Tuesday that provide federal guidance for automated driving systems to both individual states and businesses.
Bitcoin grows up and gets its first federally regulated exchange
Bitcoin is set to be given the same financial safeguards as traditional assets. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has granted LedgerX, a cryptocurrency trading platform operator, approval to become the first federally regulated digital currency options exchange and clearinghouse in the US. Despite reaching dizzying new highs this year -- and overtaking the value of gold -- Bitcoin has so far gone unregulated. LedgerX's new role will allow investors to hedge against price swings in digital currencies in the same way that traditional assets are protected.
US and Australia finish a key round of hypersonic missile tests
The US and its allies are determined to be first out of the gate with hypersonic weapons, and they've just taken a big stride forward in that regard... not that they're saying much about it. Both the US and Australia have confirmed that they recently completed a series of mysterious hypersonic missile tests. All the countries will say is that the flights were successful, and that they represented "significant milestones" in testing everything from the design assembly to the control mechanisms. They won't even say which vehicles were used or how quickly they traveled, although past tests have usually relied on Terrier Orion rockets (above) and have reached speeds as high as Mach 8.
