Friday, March 31, 2017

Snapchat adds more accessible search feature

(Reuters) - Snap Inc said on Friday its Snapchat messaging app would add an option for users to search through photos and videos that users have posted to the public.

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BlackBerry's profit beats expectations, shares surge

(Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings for the sixth straight quarter, as the smartphone pioneer's shift to the higher-margin software business paid off, sending shares soaring more than 15 percent.

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Toshiba likely to miss quarterly earnings deadline for third time: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp will likely miss a third deadline to report its quarterly business results, two sources told Reuters, forcing the Japanese conglomerate to ask for a fresh extension or face a possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

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Waymo-Uber judge says may grant injunction if key witness doesn't testify

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. judge overseeing a blockbuster case over self-driving car technology suggested Uber could face an injunction if a key Uber executive does not testify for fear of exposing himself to criminal prosecution, according to a transcript seen by Reuters.

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Big in Japan? Hope at home for Toshiba's nuclear arm after U.S. debacle

TOKYO (Reuters) - The bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric Co may be a blow to Toshiba Corp's international nuclear ambitions, but the Japanese conglomerate still has a profitable business at home.

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Thursday, March 30, 2017

FCC to vote to reform $45 billion business data market

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican head of the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday proposed easing regulatory requirements in the $45 billion business data services market, a win for companies like AT&T Inc, CenturyLink Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and others.

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Toshiba offered $17.9 billion for chip unit by Silver Lake and Broadcom: Nikkei

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake Partners LP [SILAK.UL] and U.S. chipmaker Broadcom Ltd have offered Toshiba Corp about 2 trillion yen ($17.9 billion) for its chip unit, the Nikkei business daily reported on Friday.

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Verizon looking to launch online TV service: sources

(Reuters) - The No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Communications Inc has been buying streaming rights from television network owners ahead of a nationwide launch of an online TV service, according to people familiar with the matter.

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U.S. judge clears Toshiba's Westinghouse to tap bankruptcy loan

(Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Thursday cleared Westinghouse Electric Co, a unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp , to borrow an initial $350 million to support the company's global operations while it restructures operations.

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Uber settles with Pennsylvania regulator following record fine

(Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc has reached a settlement with Pennsylvania's taxi regulator to end the ride-sharing company's appeal of a record $11.4 million fine for operating illegally.

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Investors bet on a quiet tech revolution in Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - It's not banking or mining shares, but rather technology stocks, that have come up trumps in Europe this year and are poised to end the first quarter as the best-performing sector.

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Blockchain startup Chain teams with Thales to bolster security

NEW YORK(Reuters) - U.S. blockchain startup Chain Inc has teamed with security firm Thales Group to make it easier for large companies that use blockchain technology to safely store their security credentials, the two companies said on Thursday.

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Exclusive: Bullying, bonuses and a red flag that BT missed in Italy - sources

MILAN (Reuters) - Three employees of BT Group's Italian unit warned their Madrid-based supervisor in November 2015 about possible accounting problems at BT Italy, one of the three said, a year before the phone company revealed financial irregularities at the division.

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Toshiba's shareholders approve chip unit split off, paves way for sale

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp's shareholders on Thursday approved a proposal to split off the Japanese company's NAND flash memory unit, paving the way for the sale of most of its prized business.

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Hyundai Motor working on dedicated platform for electric vehicles: executive

YONGIN, South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co is developing its first dedicated architecture for electric vehicles, an executive told Reuters, preparing a major push into the growing segment by offering multiple models with longer driving ranges.

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Waymo self-driving unit sought arbitration over engineer now at Uber

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Waymo self-driving unit sought to arbitrate claims last year against a former employee at the center of its lawsuit against Uber, court records released on Wednesday showed, in what Uber said strengthened its bid to get the case out of court and into arbitration.

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Amazon moving staff at Quidsi parenting products unit after losses

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it was moving staff out of its Quidsi nursery, beauty and pet products subsidiary after the business failed to turn a profit.

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White House says Trump to sign broadband privacy repeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump plans to sign a repeal of Obama-era broadband privacy rules as a bigger fight looms over rules governing the openness of the internet, the White House said on Wednesday.

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Vote to repeal U.S. broadband privacy rules sparks interest in VPNs

(Reuters) - The vote by the U.S. Congress to repeal rules that limit how internet service providers can use customer data has generated renewed interest in an old internet technology: virtual private networks, or VPNs.

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Samsung launches Galaxy S8 and dreams of recovery from Note 7

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone as it battles to regain the market leadership it lost to Apple Inc after the embarrassing withdrawal of the fire-prone Note 7s.

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Turkish court halts activities of Booking.com over breach of competition law: association

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Turkish court halted the activities of online travel agent Booking.com in a court case alleging the website had violated Turkish competition law, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB) said on Wednesday.

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A scramble at Cisco exposes uncomfortable truths about U.S. cyber defense

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange disclosed earlier this month that his anti-secrecy group had obtained CIA tools for hacking into technology products made by U.S. companies, security engineers at Cisco Systems swung into action.

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Bangladesh Bank heist was 'state-sponsored': U.S. official

MANILA (Reuters) - The heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve last year was "state-sponsored," an FBI officer in the Philippines, who has been involved in the investigations, said on Wednesday.

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Tuesday, March 28, 2017

BlackRock cuts fees and jobs; stockpicking goes high-tech

NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc on Tuesday said it would overhaul its actively managed equities business, cutting jobs, dropping fees and relying more on computers to pick stocks in a move that highlights how difficult it has become for humans to beat the market.

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Tesla deal boosts Chinese presence in U.S. auto tech

DETROIT (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings Ltd has bought a 5 percent stake in U.S. electric car maker Tesla Inc for $1.78 billion, the latest investment by a Chinese internet company in the potentially lucrative market for self-driving vehicles and related services.

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Uber discloses workforce diversity numbers

(Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc disclosed workforce diversity numbers for the first time on Tuesday, as the ride hailing services company looks to repair its tarnished image following a series of embarrassing setbacks.

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White House backs repeal of broadband privacy rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday that the Trump administration strongly supports a bill to repeal regulations requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc's Google or Facebook Inc.

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With new phone due, Samsung dials down on safety message

SEOUL (Reuters) - After the damaging recall of its fire-prone Note 7 smartphone, you could be forgiven for thinking Samsung Electronics Co Ltd would make a song and dance about battery safety in its new flagship phones, due to be launched in the United States on Wednesday.

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Amazon clinches deal to buy Middle East online retailer Souq.com

DUBAI (Reuters) - Amazon.com has agreed to buy Middle East online retailer Souq.com, thwarting a last-minute bid by Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar's Emaar Malls .

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Facebook adds camera features, moving closer to Snapchat

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is giving the camera a central place on its smartphone app for the first time, encouraging users to take more pictures and edit them with digital stickers that show the influence of camera-friendly rival Snapchat.

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AI to become main way banks interact with customers within three years: Accenture

LONDON (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence (AI) will become the primary way banks interact with their customers within the next three years, according to three quarters of bankers surveyed by consultancy Accenture in a new report.

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Uber to end services in Denmark after three years

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Ride-hailing group Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] will withdraw services in Denmark next month due to a taxi law that sets out new requirements for drivers such as mandatory fare meters, the company said on Tuesday.

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Monday, March 27, 2017

Chinese tech giant Tencent signs $4.65 billion loan deal

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has signed a $4.65 billion loan deal, Basis Point reported, amid a flurry of fund-raising by China's internet giants.

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Samsung Electronics says to sell refurbished Galaxy Note 7s

SEOUL (Reuters) - Tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday it plans to sell refurbished versions of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that were pulled from markets due to fire-prone batteries.

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Comcast to expand streaming service amid cord-cutting trend

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp is planning to rebrand and expand a streaming video option for broadband subscribers who do not want to pay for a traditional cable package, sources told Reuters on Monday.

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Facebook's Messenger app to allow live location-sharing

MENLO PARK, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will add a feature to its Messenger app on Monday to allow users to share their locations, the company said, ramping up competition with tools offered by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google Maps.

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Snap shares rise as underwriters start coverage with 'buy'

(Reuters) - Snap Inc , owner of messaging app Snapchat, received top ratings from a number of its IPO underwriters on Monday, sending its shares up more than 3 percent in premarket trading.

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Activist hedge funds press Tangoe to sell itself: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two activist hedge funds are pressing directors of Tangoe Inc. to sell the company, according to people familiar with the matter, citing a weakness in the IT company's business and falling stock price.

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Toshiba wants Westinghouse to file for bankruptcy as early as Tuesday: source

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp wants its U.S nuclear unit to file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors as early as Tuesday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, seeking a quick ringfencing of losses before the Japanese parent's financial year ends.

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Sunday, March 26, 2017

Chinese court rules in favor of Apple in local design patent disputes

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court has ruled in favor of Apple in design patent disputes between the Cupertino, California company and a domestic phone-maker, overturning a ban on selling iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus phones in China, Xinhua news agency reported.

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Saturday, March 25, 2017

Uber suspends self-driving car program after Arizona crash

(Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] suspended its pilot program for driverless cars on Saturday after a vehicle equipped with the nascent technology crashed on an Arizona roadway, the ride-hailing company and local police said.

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Friday, March 24, 2017

Uber tells U.S. court customers must arbitrate disputes

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court in New York on Friday weighed arguments over whether Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] customers gave up their right to sue the company when they registered for its popular taxi hailing service.

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Trump says Charter to invest $25 billion in U.S., hire 20,000 workers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Friday that Charter Communications Inc has committed to investing $25 billion and hiring 20,000 workers over four years.

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YouTube's bid to grab TV dollars imperiled by advertiser revolt

(Reuters) - The decision by a handful of high-profile consumer brands to pull advertising from Google’s YouTube over offensive content could threaten the site’s long-term strategy of stealing ad dollars from television, analysts and ad industry professionals said Thursday.

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Thursday, March 23, 2017

U.S. Senate votes to overturn Obama broadband privacy rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted narrowly to repeal regulations requiring internet service providers to do more to protect customers' privacy than websites like Alphabet Inc's Google or Facebook Inc .

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Twitter explores premium version after 11 years as a free service

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is considering whether to build a premium version of its network aimed at professionals, the company said on Thursday, raising the possibility that it could collect subscription fees from some users for the first time.

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Amazon.com wins $1.5 billion tax dispute over IRS

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Thursday won a more than $1.5 billion tax dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over transactions involving a Luxembourg unit more than a decade ago.

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J&J latest to suspend ads from YouTube over offensive videos

(Reuters) - U.S. healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson became the latest company to suspend all digital advertising on Google's YouTube, over concerns that its ads may have appeared on channels that broadcast offensive videos.

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Accenture's profit slips as costs rise

(Reuters) - Consulting and outsourcing services provider Accenture Plc reported a smaller quarterly profit on Thursday, hurt in part by higher costs.

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China's Chery files trademark complaint against Mercedes over green car brand

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co Ltd [CHERY.UL] has filed a complaint with the country's trademark regulator over Mercedes-Benz's use of the "EQ" name for a line of green-energy vehicles, throwing up a potential road block for the Daimler AG unit in the world's largest electric car market.

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China's ZTE posts fourth-quarter net loss after U.S. sanction case fine

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE Corp on Thursday reported a net loss of 5.22 billion yuan ($760 million) in fourth-quarter profit, as it booked a $892 million charge to settle a U.S. sanctions case.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Verizon, AT&T suspend ads from Google over offensive videos

(Reuters) - U.S. wireless carriers Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc said on Wednesday they have suspended digital advertising on Google's YouTube and other advertising platforms not related to search over concerns that their ads may have run next to extremist videos.

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Exclusive: Westinghouse's clients gear up for bankruptcy fight - sources

(Reuters) - The U.S. utilities that are clients of Toshiba Corp's nuclear power plant construction subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Co LLC, have hired advisers to prepare for its potential bankruptcy, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Canada seeks to end Uber's tax advantage over taxi companies

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The new national budget unveiled Wednesday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government took aim at ride-sharing providers such as Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], looking to end a tax advantage they have over traditional taxi companies.

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Google adds audio-only calls to Duo, file sharing to Allo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Google said on Wednesday it would offer an audio-only option on its Duo video calls service to help users communicate using poor-quality connections, and was adding a feature to permit file sharing in group chats on its Allo messaging App.

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EU's Vestager says analyzing Facebook reply to WhatsApp probe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager said on Wednesday she was reviewing Facebook's response to charges the U.S. social network provided misleading information during its bid for messaging service WhatsApp which may result in a hefty fine for the company.

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Snap pops 9 percent after winning second 'buy' recommendation

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Snap Inc jumped 9 percent on Wednesday after the owner of messaging app Snapchat received a second analyst "buy" rating following a red-hot public listing this month and with Wall Street skeptical about its lofty valuation.

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Mobileye deal to fuel investment in late-stage Israeli start-ups

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Intel's $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye has catapulted Israeli hi-tech into the global league, and is likely to stimulate investment in the sector's other late-stage startups, where funds are most needed.

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Google allows users to share their locations in mapping app

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google announced on Wednesday that it will revamp its popular maps app to allow users to share their locations, in order to boost engagement on a product of increasing strategic importance to the search giant.

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LinkedIn tries to hook more users with business news section

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - LinkedIn on Wednesday plans to launch a section on its network dedicated to business news, seeking to draw users onto the service more frequently to read and talk about current events, company officials said.

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Instagram says advertising base tops one million businesses

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Instagram is expected to announce on Wednesday that it has reached more than 1 million monthly active advertisers, as the Facebook Inc-owned photo-sharing app tries to become a center of online commerce.

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China's Tencent fourth-quarter profit rises 47 percent on payment, cloud services

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's biggest social media and online entertainment company, posted a 47 percent rise in quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by strong growth in new revenue streams such as payment and cloud services.

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Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Online advertisers sign up to better standards

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A broad coalition of advertising trade groups, ad buyers and sellers from Western Europe and the United States have urged the industry to stop using annoying online marketing formats that have fuelled the rapid rise of ad-blockers.

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Uber board backs CEO Kalanick, still looking for chief operating officer

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] plans to keep co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive following a series of damaging events at the ride services company, a member of its board said on Tuesday in a rare call with reporters.

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Apple drives further into Facebook, Snap territory with video app

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - With the release of a new video app called Clips, Apple Inc is inching one step closer to fully engaging in the messaging world, where its huge base of iPhone users could help it compete with Snap Inc's Snapchat and Facebook Inc's Messenger.

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Twitter suspended more than 636,000 accounts since 2015 to tackle extremism

(Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it had suspended more than 636,000 accounts since the middle of 2015 as the company steps up efforts to tackle "violent extremism" on its microblogging platform.

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Amazon to expand counterfeit removal program in overture to sellers

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is expanding a program to remove counterfeit goods from its website this spring as part of a broader push to assure brand owners that the online retailer is an ally rather than a threat.

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Google to revamp policies, hire staff after UK ad scandal

LONDON (Reuters) - Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos.

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Reddit rolls out user profiles amid site makeover

(Reuters) - Social media network Reddit announced on Tuesday that it will begin rolling out public profiles for users, the latest in a series of changes aimed at boosting engagement on the hugely popular site.

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Google sister company Jigsaw offers free security tools to election groups

FRANKFURT/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Google and its sister company Jigsaw, are stepping up efforts to help keep elections free of online interference after helping to defend one of two important voter information websites that came under cyber attack during last week's Dutch national election.

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Apple unveils new iPad starting at $329

(Reuters) - Apple Inc unveiled an updated version of its iPad tablet on Tuesday, starting at $329 and available to order from Friday.

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Monday, March 20, 2017

Alibaba buys online ticketing platform Damai

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has fully acquired online ticketing platform Damai.cn, the e-commerce giant said on Tuesday, marking a further push into entertainment by the firm.

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SoftBank invests $300 million in shared-office startup WeWork: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp has invested $300 million in shared-office space company WeWork, the first installment of a multi-billion-dollar bet, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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Adobe, Microsoft team up to share sales and marketing data

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Adobe Systems Inc are joining to make their respective sales and marketing software products more potent competitors to Salesforce.com Inc and Oracle Corp offerings, the two firms said Monday.

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Bitcoin steadies after biggest three-day tumble in over two years

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin regained its footing on Monday, having suffered its heftiest falls since early 2015 between Thursday and Saturday as investors sold the digital currency on worries about its future.

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Uber president Jeff Jones quits, deepening turmoil

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ride services company Uber Technologies Inc has been thrust deeper into turmoil with the departure of company president Jeff Jones, a marketing expert hired to help soften its often abrasive image.

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Snap snaps back after analyst assigns first 'buy' rating

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Snap Inc stock rose on Monday after the Snapchat owner received its first "buy" rating from a Wall Street analyst following a $3.4 billion public listing this month that raised the eyebrows of many on Wall Street.

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Google apologizes to ad clients for YouTube content fiasco

(Reuters) - Google apologized on Monday for allowing ads to appear alongside offensive videos on YouTube as more high-profile firms such as Marks & Spencer and HSBC pulled advertising for British markets from Google sites.

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As part of Asia pivot, Netanyahu pushes Israeli hi-tech in China

JERUSALEM/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy may be 35 times larger than Israel's, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping to use that to advantage during a three-day visit to Beijing as he looks to reorient Israel's economy toward Asia over Europe and the United States.

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Sunday, March 19, 2017

Vodafone to merge India operations with Idea Cellular

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone Group will merge its Indian subsidiary with local rival Idea Cellular within two years, Idea said on Monday, creating a new market leader better able to contest a brutal new price war.

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IBM launches enterprise-ready blockchain service

NEW YORK (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp has launched a service that will allow businesses to build applications on its cloud using blockchain code from the Hyperledger Project, the cross-industry group led by the Linux Foundation.

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South Korea Netmarble Games says IPO to be worth up to $2.35 billion

SEOUL (Reuters) - Netmarble Games Corp, South Korea's largest mobile game company, said on Monday it plans an initial public offering (IPO) worth up to 2.66 trillion won ($2.35 billion) in what could be the country's second-largest listing ever.

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Experian partners with tech firm to speed up lending

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Credit bureau Experian Plc has teamed up with technology firm Finicity to launch a new product aimed at speeding up the consumer lending process in the United States making it more digital.

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MoneyGram to give Euronet confidential info to firm up bid: sources

(Reuters) - U.S. electronic payments company MoneyGram International Inc will share confidential information with peer Euronet Worldwide Inc , after the latter made a $1 billion acquisition offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

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IBM and Wanda form China cloud computing partnership

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - IBM and a unit of China's Dalian Wanda Group, a property and entertainment conglomerate, agreed on Sunday to team up to provide cloud services to Chinese companies, the U.S. technology provider said.

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G20 to jointly fight bank sector hacking

BADEN-BADEN, Germany (Reuters) - The world's biggest economies will pledge to jointly fight cyber attacks on the global banking system, one of the biggest coordinated efforts yet to protect lenders since an $81 million heist of the Bangladesh central bank's account last year.

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Friday, March 17, 2017

Jack Ma to launch Alibaba's regional distribution hub in Malaysia: sources

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Limited plans to set up a regional distribution hub in Malaysia to cater to its fast-growing business in the region, two sources aware of the discussions said.

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French advertising group Havas denies it wants to pull adverts from Google

PARIS (Reuters) - French advertising group Havas denied on Friday that it would pull advertising from Google platforms, contradicting comments attributed to the head of its British business after Britain raised concerns over government advertising on the U.S. company's YouTube website.

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Porsche invests in tech services to offset possible sales decline

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Porsche will invest hundreds of millions of euros in digital services to generate the revenue needed to offset an expected decline in car sales in the coming years, its finance chief said on Friday.

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UK to question Google after adverts appear alongside extremist videos

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain on Friday will question executives from Google over why adverts marketing the government's services were appearing alongside videos carrying hate speech and extremist content on its YouTube website.

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Japan not considering support for Toshiba, sharing information with U.S.

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government said it was not considering steps to support embattled Toshiba Corp and will share information with Washington on developments involving the firm and its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse.

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Baidu leads investment into green car start-up NextEV

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Baidu Inc said on Friday it had led an investment round into green car start-up NextEV, as the Chinese search engine giant looks for new growth drivers and as competition heats up in the fast-growing electric vehicles market.

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Apple says to add two more R&D centers in China

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Apple will set up two new research and development centers in Shanghai and Suzhou in China, it said in a statement in its Chinese website on Friday.

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South Korea court to reassign Samsung chief bribery case to another judge

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court said on Friday it is reassigning the bribery case of Samsung Group chief Jay Y. Lee to a different judge.

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Thursday, March 16, 2017

U.S. financial firms embrace cloud, 'fat fingers' notwithstanding

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Only two years ago, an outage similar to the one that struck Amazon's cloud services last month would have reinforced U.S. financial firms' view that shifting data and systems onto the public cloud was just too risky.

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Snap shares drop 4 percent, fall below $20 for the first time

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Snap Inc shares tumbled below $20 on Thursday for the first time since the company's $3.4 billion public listing after the Snapchat owner received another "sell" rating from an analyst.

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EU consumer authorities to take on Facebook, Google, Twitter

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European consumer protection authorities will ask social media companies Facebook, Google and Twitter to amend their terms of service within one month or possibly face fines, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

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Car industry players diverge on timescale for self-driving cars

BERLIN (Reuters) - Carmakers and suppliers gave widely differing timelines for the introduction of self-driving vehicles on Thursday, showing the uncertainties surrounding the technology as well as a split between cautious established players and bullish new entrants.

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Uber tells judge it will seek to have Waymo case go to arbitration

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A lawyer for Uber [UBER.UL] told a federal judge on Thursday he intended to file a petition to compel arbitration in the Waymo trade secrets case within two weeks.

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Swatch to launch Swiss smartwatch operating system by 2018

BIEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Swatch Group is developing a Swiss-made operating system as it seeks to offer a smaller, more flexible alternative to the dominant systems which connect items such as smartwatches to the internet, its chief executive said on Thursday.

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U.S. judge rejects Google email scanning settlement

(Reuters) - A federal judge has rejected Google's proposed class-action settlement with non-Gmail users who said it illegally scanned their emails to Gmail users to create targeted advertising.

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U.S. authorities charge Russian spies, hackers in huge Yahoo hack

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday charged two Russian intelligence agents and two hackers with masterminding the 2014 theft of 500 million Yahoo accounts, the first time the U.S. government has criminally charged Russian spies for cyber offences.

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Britain asks regulator to investigate Sky takeover by Murdoch's Fox

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Thursday it would refer Rupert Murdoch's planned takeover of European pay-TV group Sky to regulators to decide if the deal was in the public interest.

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Vietnam urges firms to stop YouTube and Facebook ads

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam on Thursday called on all companies doing business in the country to stop advertising on YouTube, Facebook and other social media until they find a way to halt the publication of "toxic" anti-government information.

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U.S. tech group urges global action against Chinese "mercantilism"

BEIJING (Reuters) - A U.S. technology group said in a report on Thursday that China's mercantilist industrial policies were a risk to the global economy and trading system, and called for international pressure on China to force a policy "reset".

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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Shenzhen-listed shares of China's ZTE surge 10 percent in resumed trade

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shenzhen-listed shares of Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp jumped 10 percent on Thursday, resuming trading after a nine-day halt and catching up with gains in its Hong Kong shares that were sparked by the settlement of a U.S. sanctions case.

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Apple, Google, Facebook skip legal challenge to new travel ban

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc are among more than 60 technology companies that appear to have backed away from the legal fight against U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban, deciding not to put their weight behind a lawsuit seeking to block the second version of his executive order.

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U.S. charges Russian spies, hackers in massive Yahoo hack

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday charged two Russian intelligence agents and two criminal hackers with masterminding the 2014 theft of 500 million Yahoo accounts, marking the first time the U.S. government has criminally charged Russian spies for cyber offenses.

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Uber has until April 7 to respond to Waymo preliminary injunction bid: judge

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday extended the deadline for Uber to respond to a motion filed by Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous car unit, for a preliminary injunction in a high-stakes trade secrets case.

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Tesla to raise about $1.15 billion from stock and notes offering

(Reuters) - Tesla Inc said on Wednesday it expects to raise about $1.15 billion from stock and senior notes offering, as the electric car maker accelerates the launch of its new Model 3 electric sedan.

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Nasdaq CEO says tech partnership can help win $100 billion Saudi Aramco IPO

BOCA RATON, Fla. (Reuters) - Nasdaq Inc is touting its technology credentials in its effort to win the listing of Saudi Aramco's upcoming initial public offering, the exchange operator's chief executive said in an interview.

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WhatsApp, Telegram patch flaws in instant messaging applications

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - WhatsApp and Telegram patched flaws in their popular instant messaging applications after security researchers showed that they could seize control of user accounts.

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Twitter accounts hijacked with 'Nazi' hashtags in Turkish

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A diplomatic spat between Turkey, the Netherlands and Germany spread online on Wednesday when a large number of Twitter accounts were hijacked and replaced with anti-Nazi messages in Turkish.

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CEO of Australia's Atlassian says he'll meet seven-day Tesla batteries deadline

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The co-founder of Australian software firm Atlassian Corp Plc said on Tuesday he was close to meeting a self-imposed one-week deadline of getting political and financial support for a plan to use batteries from Tesla Inc to bridge an electricity supply gap in South Australia.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Intel bets on selling Mobileye data, with maps a first test

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - To understand Intel's $15.3 billion proposed acquisition of Israel's Mobileye, imagine the data created and compiled by a self-driving car scanning the road and objects around it as a potential source of revenue.

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Justice Department to announce indictments in massive Yahoo hack: source

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Justice Department officials are expected to announce indictments on Wednesday against suspects in at least one of a series of hacking attacks on Yahoo Inc , according to a source briefed on the matter.

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Toshiba tumbles after bourse puts company under supervision

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp tumbled in early trade on Wednesday after the Tokyo Stock Exchange put its shares under supervision to see if it meets delisting criteria.

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Washington Post software deal a double win for Bezos

(Reuters) - Billionaire Jeff Bezos scored a double win this week as the Washington Post, the newspaper he bought in 2013, signed its biggest contract to date to sell web publishing tools mostly hosted by Amazon.com Inc , the company he founded and runs.

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McDonald's, late to mobile ordering, seeks to avoid pitfalls

CHICAGO (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp this month will begin testing its long-awaited U.S. mobile ordering app with the goal of avoiding the kinds of service hiccups that have haunted digital debuts by companies such as Starbucks Corp.

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SAP pushes to patch risky HANA security flaws before hackers strike

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Europe's top software maker SAP said on Tuesday it had patched vulnerabilities in its latest HANA software that had a potentially high risk of giving hackers control over databases and business applications used to run big multinational firms. While hacks on phones, websites and computers that consumers rely on every day grab headlines, vulnerabilities in big business software are more lucrative to attackers as these tools store data and run transactions which are the li

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Germany plans to fine social media sites over hate speech

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans a new law calling for social networks like Facebook to remove slanderous or threatening online postings quickly or face fines of up to 50 million euros ($53 mln).

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Snapchat 2017 ad revenue forecast trimmed to $770 million: eMarketer

(Reuters) - The 2017 advertising revenue forecast for Snap Inc’s Snapchat has been trimmed by $30 million due to higher than expected revenue sharing with its partners, digital marketing firm eMarketer said in its latest ad spending forecast on Tuesday.

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Germany's Merkel warns against cyber attacks on infrastructure

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday protecting infrastructure from potential cyber attacks was a top priority and the federal government had to work together with localities on that.

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Monday, March 13, 2017

Charles Schwab launches hybrid human-robo financial advice

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brokerage Charles Schwab Corp on Tuesday launched a service that combines its automated investment management technology with human advisors, as financial institutions race to offer digital financial advice.

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Facebook bars developers from using data for surveillance

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc barred software developers on Monday from using the massive social network's data to create surveillance tools, closing off a process that had been exploited by U.S. police departments to track protesters

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Jailed Samsung chief can get plenty of visitors, may still play a corporate role

SEOUL (Reuters) - The head of South Korea's Samsung Group [SAGR.UL], Jay Y. Lee, may be languishing in a jail cell but he is allowed plenty of visitors, which may allow him to play a key role in corporate decisions even if he isn't running the conglomerate like he did before.

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Verizon sought $925 million discount for Yahoo merger, got $350 million

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc sought almost triple the price reduction that it ultimately obtained for Yahoo Inc's core assets following two massive cyber attacks at the internet company, according to a Yahoo filing.

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China may roll back electric car quotas as industry pushes back

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is considering easing proposed quotas aimed at producing more electric vehicles, as Beijing gets pushback from the automotive industry over the scale and pace of the plans.

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Toshiba seeking to extend Tuesday deadline for third-quarter disclosure: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp is seeking to extend its Tuesday deadline for submitting official third-quarter earnings due to disagreements with auditors over issues at its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse, sources familiar with the matter said.

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Innogy in talks with car consortium over charging stations: CEO

ESSEN, Germany (Reuters) - Innogy is in "intense" talks with a group of carmakers, Chief Executive Peter Terium told journalists on Monday, hoping to be selected as a supplier of super-fast charging stations for electric vehicles across Europe.

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Intel to buy Mobileye for $14-$15 billion: Israeli media report

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. chip giant Intel has agreed to buy Israeli technology firm Mobileye for $14-$15 billion, according to TheMarker, an Israeli financial newspaper.

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Toshiba Tec shares rise more than 6 percent on sale report

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares in Toshiba Tec Corp rose more than 6 percent in early Monday trading after a report that Toshiba Corp , the parent, is considering selling shares in the company.

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Millennial love for Snapchat extends to the stock

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For some millennial investors, loyalty to one of their favorite apps matters more than financial details in the case of Snap Inc .

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Japan's decluttering guru Kondo now has an app for tidying up

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The newest tool for internationally acclaimed organizing guru Marie Kondo in her global battle against messy rooms is an app.

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UK political parties warned of Russian hacking threat: report

LONDON (Reuters) - A British intelligence agency has told political parties to protect themselves against potential cyber attacks, citing allegations that Russian hackers tried to influence last year's U.S. presidential election.

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Alphabet adds patent claim to Uber intellectual property theft lawsuit

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's self-driving car unit Waymo on Friday added a new patent claim to its intellectual property lawsuit against Uber Technologies Inc and requested a preliminary injunction to stop the ride-sharing service from using what it says is proprietary information, a court filing showed.

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Friday, March 10, 2017

Tech workers find communal living a solution for high rents

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zander Dejah, 25, pays $1,900 a month rent to live in a downtown San Francisco house with at least 40 other people, many of whom sleep in bunk beds.

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EU reassured on U.S. privacy directive: source

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross gave no indication of any plans to change U.S. privacy protections underpinning a pact enabling billions of dollars of data flows during a meeting with the EU digital chief, a source said on Friday.

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Exclusive: Japan to vet bidders in Toshiba chip sale for national security risks - sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Japanese government, fretting over the future of Toshiba Corp's flagship memory chips unit, is prepared to block a sale to bidders it deems a risk to national security, sources said, a stance that gives U.S. suitors a major advantage.

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South African taxis block roads to main airport in Uber protest

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African taxi drivers blocked roads to Johannesburg's airport on Friday, holding up thousands of travelers in the latest protest against ride-hailing app Uber.

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Vodafone pays the price for inertia as rivals pull ahead

LONDON (Reuters) - British mobile operator Vodafone risks being left on the sidelines as rivals converge to break free from just selling ever-cheaper data bundles and become internet companies offering combined services from phones to TV to broadband.

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WikiLeaks offers CIA hacking tools to tech companies: Assange

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Wikileaks will provide technology companies with exclusive access to CIA hacking tools that it possesses so they can patch software flaws, founder Julian Assange said on Thursday, presenting Silicon Valley with a potential dilemma on how to deal with the anti-secrecy group.

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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Uber drivers found guilty of unlawful commercial car hire in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Five Hong Kong Uber drivers were found guilty of illegally using their vehicles for commercial purposes by a local court on Friday, dealing a potential blow to Uber Technologies Inc's operations in the Asian financial hub.

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After Snap IPO, U.S. regulator Stein questions voting rights

WASHINGTON/BOSTON (Reuters) - One of two current members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions on Thursday about Snap Inc and other companies that offer shareholders unequal voting rights, saying the agency should "focus on how some innovations may prove detrimental to investors."

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Airbnb raises $1 billion in latest round of funding

(Reuters) - Online room renting service Airbnb Inc said on Thursday it had raised $1 billion in its latest round of funding, valuing the company at $31 billion.

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China expresses concern at revelations in Wikileaks dump of hacked CIA data

BEIJING (Reuters) - China expressed concern on Thursday over revelations in a trove of data released by Wikileaks purporting to show that the CIA can hack all manner of devices, including those made by Chinese companies.

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Technology is now at root of almost all serious crime: Europol

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - High-tech crimes, such as document fraud, money laundering and online trading in illegal goods, are at the root of almost all serious criminality, Europe's police agency said on Thursday.

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Apple's Siri learns Shanghainese as voice assistants race to cover languages

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - With the broad release of Google Assistant last week, the voice-assistant wars are in full swing, with Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc , Microsoft Corp and now Alphabet Inc's Google all offering electronic assistants to take your commands.

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Samsung Group chief denies all charges as 'trial of the century' begins

SEOUL (Reuters) - The head of South Korea's Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, denies all charges against him, his lawyer said on Thursday, at the start of what the special prosecutor said could be the "trial of the century" amid a political scandal that has rocked the country.

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China's MOFCOM says opposes U.S. sanctions on its firms under U.S. laws

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday it is opposed to the United States sanctioning Chinese firms under its domestic laws, and that it hoped that country would handle ZTE Corp's $892 million settlement case "appropriately".

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Toshiba's Westinghouse brings in bankruptcy lawyers; disclosure deadlines loom

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse Electric Co LLC has hired bankruptcy attorneys, in a sign that owner Toshiba Corp is more seriously weighing a Chapter 11 filing as an option to help it rein in a multibillion dollar financial maelstrom.

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Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Foxconn not favored bidder for Toshiba's chip unit due to China link: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker, is not a favored bidder for Toshiba Corp's memory chip business due to its close ties with China, sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.

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CIA 'mission' on cars shows concern about next-generation vehicles

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - WikiLeaks documents showing the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency considered a "mission" against connected car technology underscores auto industry concern that the science behind the next generation of vehicles could be turned against them.

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Congress may overturn Obama internet privacy rules

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress are moving to repeal regulations adopted by the Obama administration in October that would have subjected internet service providers to stricter scrutiny than websites to protect customers' private data.

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Google touts new cloud computing clients; analysts skeptical

(Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google is making progress in taking on cloud computing leaders Amazon.com Incand Microsoft Corp, executives said on Wednesday, as the search engine company stakes more of its future on the cloud as a new source of growth.

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Foxconn approaches chipmaker SK Hynix for joint Toshiba bid: Nikkei

(Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn , the world's largest contract electronics maker, has approached South Korean chip maker SK Hynix Inc to explore a joint bid for Toshiba Corp's memory chip unit, the Nikkei reported, citing sources.

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Snap perks up after initial rush of short sellers

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Snap Inc rebounded on Wednesday following a steep selloff while an initial rush to short sell the stock appeared to be slowing.

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WikiLeaks says it releases files on CIA cyber spying tools

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks on Tuesday published what it said were thousands of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used over several years, renewing concerns about the security of consumer electronics and embarrassing yet another U.S. intelligence agency.

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Samsung to expand in U.S., shift some manufacturing from Mexico: WSJ

(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is planning to expand its U.S. production facilities, shifting some manufacturing from Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

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U.N. expert urges states to work towards cyber surveillance treaty

GENEVA (Reuters) - The world needs an international treaty to protect people's privacy from unfettered cybersurveillance, which is being pushed by populist politicians preying on fear of terrorism, according to a U.N. report debated on Wednesday.

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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

ZTE set to fall 1 percent in Hong Kong after settling U.S. sanctions case

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of ZTE Corp are set to open 1.2 percent lower in Hong Kong after it agreed to pay $892 million and plead guilty to criminal charges for violating U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran and North Korea.

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Juniper's Gary Clark joins Tesla as chief information officer

(Reuters) - Gary Clark, a former IT chief technology officer at Juniper Networks Inc , joined Tesla Inc in February as its chief information officer, according to Clark's LinkedIn profile.

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Uber looking for chief operating officer

(Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc's [UBER.UL] chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick, said the ride-hailing company was looking for a chief operating officer.

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Google reported by Danish watchdog for unlimited data storage

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A Danish consumer watchdog has reported Alphabet Inc's Google to the Danish Data Protection Agency for potentially breaking privacy laws by not capping the amount of time personal data is stored on Google's servers, the watchdog said in a statement on Tuesday.

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China's ZTE pleads guilty, settles with U.S. over Iran, North Korea sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp will plead guilty and pay $892 million to settle allegations it violated U.S. laws that restrict the sale of American-made technology to Iran and North Korea, the company and U.S. government agencies said on Tuesday.

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Google foe takes Android complaint to regulators

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Open Internet Project, whose members include Axel Springer and Getty Images, on Tuesday accused Alphabet unit Google of imposing anti-competitive curbs on Android smartphone makers, its second complaint against the U.S. tech giant.

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Snap's shares open at lowest since market debut

(Reuters) - Snap Inc's shares fell as much as 10.4 percent on Tuesday, opening at their lowest since a blockbuster market debut last week.

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LinkedIn not willing to comply with Russian data law: watchdog

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's communications watchdog said on Tuesday it had received a letter from LinkedIn Corp., a social networking website it had blocked, in which the company said it was not willing to take steps to comply with a Russian data storage law.

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Thai transport authorities crack down on Uber, Grab drivers, seek ban

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's transport authorities have begun a crackdown on drivers for ride-hailing services Uber and Grab and want the military government to ban them, a transport official said on Tuesday.

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HPE to buy Nimble Storage for $1.09 billion in hybrid IT push

(Reuters) - Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co said it would buy data storage provider Nimble Storage Inc for $1.09 billion in cash, as part of the company's focus on the fast-growing hybrid IT market.

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Lower sales tax only for print not for e-books, EU court rules

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European countries must levy standard rates of sales taxes on digital books and newspapers rather than the reduced levels possible for their printed equivalents due to e-commerce rules, the EU's top court ruled on Tuesday.

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Autos bosses focus on technology, play down PSA-Opel impact

GENEVA (Reuters) - The auto industry is facing seismic changes with the rise of electric vehicles, automated driving and car sharing, and adapting to these will eclipse even big mergers such as PSA's purchase of Opel, executives at the Geneva auto show said.

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Self-driving bus with no back-up driver nears California street

SAN RAMON, Calif. (Reuters) - A pair of $250,000 autonomous buses began driving around an empty San Francisco Bay Area parking lot on Monday, preparing to move onto a local public road in California's first pilot program for a self-driving vehicle without steering wheel or human operator.

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Monday, March 6, 2017

Snap slumps 12 percent, closes at lowest since IPO

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Snap Inc slumped 12 percent on Monday and closed at their lowest level of the three sessions since the Snapchat owner's soaring market debut last week.

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Facebook suspends location-sharing feature after Italian copyright suit

MILAN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Facebook Inc has suspended its location-sharing feature in Italy after a Milan court ruled last year that the social networking giant had violated competition and copyright laws by effectively copying a similar app from a local start-up.

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IT services firm stocks dip after govt suspends fast tech visas

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Technology services company shares dipped on Monday after the Trump administration announced it would temporarily suspend expedited applications for H-1B visas widely used by foreign tech workers.

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Investor group seeks to bar Snap from indexes over voting rights

BOSTON (Reuters) - A group representing large institutional investors has approached stock index providers S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI Inc, looking to bar Snap Inc and any other company that sells investors non-voting shares from their stock benchmarks.

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Volkswagen to unveil self-driving car as part of post-dieselgate shift

GENEVA (Reuters) - Volkswagen will show off a fully self-driving car at the Geneva auto show, as part of the German carmaker's drive to be at the forefront of new technologies in the wake of its diesel emissions scandal.

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South Korea prosecutor paves way for charges against Park if impeachment upheld

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Park Geun-hye colluded with a friend to take bribes from Samsung Group aimed at cementing Samsung Chief Jay Y. Lee's control of the conglomerate, the special prosecutor's office said on Monday, paving the way for Park to be prosecuted if removed from office.

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Turkey's competition board opens investigation into Google

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's Competition Board said on Monday it had opened an investigation to determine whether Google had violated the country's competition law.

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Alphabet lawsuit against Uber cements end of uneasy marriage

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] was raising venture capital in 2013, it was one of the hottest deals around – and no one was more eager to write a check than Bill Maris and David Krane of Google's venture capital arm.

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Sunday, March 5, 2017

Uber used secret tool to evade authorities

(Reuters) - Ride services company Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] for years has used a secret tool to avoid authorities in markets where its service faced resistance by law enforcement or was banned, the company confirmed on Friday.

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Friday, March 3, 2017

Bitcoin hits all-time high as talk of U.S. ETF approval intensifies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Digital currency bitcoin hit a record high on Friday on optimism about the approval of the first U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Uber loses court battle which could cost it London drivers

LONDON (Reuters) - Taxi app Uber [UBER.UL] lost a court battle on Friday to stop a London regulator from imposing strict new English reading and writing standards on private hire drivers, the latest setback for the firm which could mean the loss of thousands of workers.

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Impostor scams surpass ID theft among U.S. consumer complaints: FTC

(Reuters) - More U.S. consumers complained about imposter scams than identity theft for the first time in 2016, as fraudsters relied more on the phone and less on email to find victims, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.

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Fed's Powell warns of digital currency's risks

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Reuters) - A top U.S. Federal Reserve official on Friday raised caution about central banks issuing digital currencies as they are vulnerable to cyber attacks and criminal activities along with privacy issues that still need to be addressed.

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UK government likely to refer Fox's Sky deal to regulator

LONDON (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's planned takeover of European pay-TV group Sky is likely to be investigated to see whether it is in the public interest, the British government warned on Friday.

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NBCUniversal invested $500 million in Snap Inc as part of IPO

(Reuters) - Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal said on Friday it had invested $500 million in Snap Inc as it continues to spend heavily on digital media companies.

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Murdoch's Fox seeks EU okay for $14.4 billion Sky takeover bid

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox has asked EU antitrust regulators to approve its $14.4 billion takeover bid for European pay-TV company Sky, a filing on the European Commission showed on Friday.

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India's Paytm E-Commerce raises $200 million from Alibaba, SAIF Partners

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd has raised $200 million from China's Alibaba Group Holding and venture capital fund SAIF Partners to expand its online retail business in a market dominated by homegrown Flipkart and U.S. tech giant Amazon.

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Thursday, March 2, 2017

Samsung chief's 'trial of the century' to start next week

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee will go on trial for bribery and embezzlement on Thursday, a court said, amid a corruption scandal that has rocked South Korea and led to the impeachment of the president.

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Snap HQ spoils community, Venice Beach protesters say

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As shares of California-based Snap Inc began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, two dozen residents of the company's adopted home of Venice Beach protested outside its offices, accusing the growing tech company of spoiling their seaside community.

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Spotify says it reaches 50 million paid subscribers

(Reuters) - Spotify said on Thursday it has reached 50 million paid subscribers, growing 25 percent in less than six months and extending the Swedish music streaming service's lead over its closest rival, Apple Music.

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Uber says to seek permit to restart self-driving pilot in California

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc said on Thursday it plans to comply with California regulations and seek permits to put its self-driving cars back on the state's roads, an about-face following the company's legal spat with state officials in December.

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Investors see Snap's IPO as 'too big to fail'

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Institutional investors anxious not to be left out of this year's marquee initial public offering helped Snap Inc pull off the biggest U.S.-listed technology share sale this week since Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba Group Holding Inc smashed records in 2014.

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Amazon blames human error for cloud-service disruption

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc blamed human error for the disruption in its cloud services that resulted in widespread glitches for its clients from news sites to government services on Tuesday.

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Exclusive: Japan's Toshiba prepares Landis+Gyr sale to raise cash - sources

FRANKFURT/BERLIN/ZURICH (Reuters) - Japanese group Toshiba Corp is preparing a potential $2 billion divestment of smart meter group Landis+Gyr, hoping to rake in capital after a major writedown on its U.S. nuclear unit last month, three people familiar with the matter said.

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Exclusive: China's ZTE expected to plead guilty over Iran sales - source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp is nearing an agreement to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges and pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties over allegations it violated U.S. laws that restrict sale of U.S. technology to Iran, a person familiar with the matter said.

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Companies back transgender rights in Supreme Court fight

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A coalition of 53 companies on Thursday backed transgender rights at the U.S. Supreme Court, signing on to a brief supporting a Virginia student who is fighting to use the school bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity.

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Snap's sought-after shares set for market debut after $3.4 billion IPO

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Snap Inc's in-demand shares are set to start trading in New York on Thursday after the owner of the popular Snapchat messaging app raised $3.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday, above its price expectations.

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Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Musk says Tesla to run contest for homemade commercials

(Reuters) - Elon Musk, an active Twitter user, has been Tesla's mouthpiece to the public, informing them about the electric car maker's upcoming products and plans.

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Uber rival Lyft looking to raise $500 million fresh funds: source

(Reuters) - Uber competitor Lyft is pitching investors on a new funding round and hopes to net at least $500 million, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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Yahoo says about 32 million accounts accessed using 'forged cookies'

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc , which disclosed two massive data breaches last year, said on Wednesday that about 32 million user accounts were accessed by intruders in the last two years using forged cookies.

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Exclusive: SEC advisory committee to question Snap's transparency for investors

BOSTON (Reuters) - An investor committee that advises the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will next week review if Snap Inc's decision to deny shareholders voting rights might also reduce the social media company's public disclosures on executive pay and other governance matters, the head of that committee told Reuters on Wednesday.

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Facebook's Oculus trims price of virtual reality set by $200

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's virtual reality unit Oculus has cut $200 from the all-in price of its flagship hardware set, in a bid to expand the system's base of video game players, the company said on Wednesday.

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Twitter turns to algorithms to clamp down on abusive content

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twitter Inc on Wednesday launched a wider effort to use algorithms to identify accounts as potentially engaging in abusive behavior, a departure from its practice of relying on users to report accounts that should be reviewed for possible violation of its rules.

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U.S. appeals court tosses patent verdict against Apple

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court has thrown out a jury verdict that had originally required Apple Inc to pay $533 million to Smartflash LLC, a technology developer and licenser that claimed Apple's iTunes software infringed its data storage patents.

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McDonald's turns to technology, value to win back lost customers

CHICAGO (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp later this year will give U.S. customers the opportunity to order and pay via their cell phones as it fights to win back customers lost to other fast-food rivals.

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Snap to price long-awaited IPO on Wednesday amid signs of brisk demand

(Reuters) - Snap Inc, owner of popular messaging app Snapchat, will price its initial public offering after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday in the most eagerly awaited technology IPO since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba went public in 2014.

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Facebook turns to artificial intelligence to tackle suicides

(Reuters) - Facebook plans to use artificial intelligence and update its tools and services to help prevent suicides among its users.

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Toshiba asks law firm to advise on potential Westinghouse bankruptcy cost: sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp has asked a Japanese law firm to help estimate the potential financial impact if it decides its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse should file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

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Exclusive: Sinclair approaches Tribune Media about possible deal - sources

(Reuters) - Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc has approached rival U.S. broadcaster Tribune Media Co to discuss a potential combination, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, a deal that would hinge on existing regulations being relaxed.

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Taiwan's Foxconn 'definitely bidding' for Toshiba chip business

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn , the world's largest contract electronics maker, is "definitely bidding" for the chip business of Japan's Toshiba Corp and is "very confident" it can buy into it, company founder Terry Gou said on Wednesday.

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