TOP 5 STOCKS TO WATCHOUT:-
1. #ALIBABA- Technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has facial recognition technology which can specifically pick out members of China's Uighur minority, surveillance industry researcher IPVM said in a report.
The report comes as human rights groups accuse China of forcing over 1 million Muslim Uighurs into labour camps, and call out firms suspected of complicity.
China has repeatedly denied forcing anyone into what it has called vocational training centres, and has also said the region of Xinjiang is under threat from Islamist militants.
Still, sensitivities have prompted caution among Chinese internet firms which often self-censor to avoid running afoul of a government which strictly controls online speech, and which last month published draft rules to police live streaming.
2. #TWITTER-Twitter Inc is reversing changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the U.S. presidential election, the company said.
The microblogging site had in October made it difficult for users to retweet a tweet with misinformation and promoted the use of quote tweets, which included commentary from the user.
It had also imposed curbs including labeling and removal of tweets calling for people to interfere with the election process or implementation of results.
Twitter said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon. "Retweet functionality will be returning to the way it was before," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
3. #UBER-A group of British Uber drivers took their employer to court in the Netherlands on Wednesday in a bid to get access to data the company collects about them.
The drivers say Uber determines the allocation of available rides and their fares based on information about their performance, behaviour and other personal traits it gathers through the app they have to use to do their job.
They demand full access to this information and the working of Uber's algorithms, as they say it ultimately decides how much money they earn and how they could do better.
4. #IBM:- International Business Machines Corp said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna would take over as chairman from Jan. 1, replacing Ginni Rometty, who stepped down as its long-time CEO earlier this year.
Rometty, who was the tech pioneer's first woman CEO, would occasionally be asked to act as an independent contractor after her retirement, IBM said.
Before assuming the role of CEO in April, Krishna was head of IBM's cloud business and has been with the company since 1990.
5. #GOOGLE:-Staff on Google's Ethical AI research team on Wednesday demanded the company sideline a vice president and commit to greater academic freedom, escalating a confrontation with management following this month's termination of scientist Timnit Gebru.
The personnel called on Vice President Megan Kacholia to be removed from the team's management chain after she allegedly excluded Gebru's boss from the decision to fire her, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
Gebru had questioned Google's demand for her to retract a paper describing harms from Google-like technology, and the company answered by saying it accepted her resignation.
The document also demanded an explanation of the dismissal, transparency into reviews of staff papers, and an investigation into how Google handles employee complaints about working conditions, like those Gebru raised while at the company.
1. #ALIBABA- Technology giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has facial recognition technology which can specifically pick out members of China's Uighur minority, surveillance industry researcher IPVM said in a report.
The report comes as human rights groups accuse China of forcing over 1 million Muslim Uighurs into labour camps, and call out firms suspected of complicity.
China has repeatedly denied forcing anyone into what it has called vocational training centres, and has also said the region of Xinjiang is under threat from Islamist militants.
Still, sensitivities have prompted caution among Chinese internet firms which often self-censor to avoid running afoul of a government which strictly controls online speech, and which last month published draft rules to police live streaming.
2. #TWITTER-Twitter Inc is reversing changes made to its retweet function intended to curb the spread of misinformation during the U.S. presidential election, the company said.
The microblogging site had in October made it difficult for users to retweet a tweet with misinformation and promoted the use of quote tweets, which included commentary from the user.
It had also imposed curbs including labeling and removal of tweets calling for people to interfere with the election process or implementation of results.
Twitter said it will no longer prompt quote tweets from the retweet icon. "Retweet functionality will be returning to the way it was before," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
3. #UBER-A group of British Uber drivers took their employer to court in the Netherlands on Wednesday in a bid to get access to data the company collects about them.
The drivers say Uber determines the allocation of available rides and their fares based on information about their performance, behaviour and other personal traits it gathers through the app they have to use to do their job.
They demand full access to this information and the working of Uber's algorithms, as they say it ultimately decides how much money they earn and how they could do better.
4. #IBM:- International Business Machines Corp said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna would take over as chairman from Jan. 1, replacing Ginni Rometty, who stepped down as its long-time CEO earlier this year.
Rometty, who was the tech pioneer's first woman CEO, would occasionally be asked to act as an independent contractor after her retirement, IBM said.
Before assuming the role of CEO in April, Krishna was head of IBM's cloud business and has been with the company since 1990.
5. #GOOGLE:-Staff on Google's Ethical AI research team on Wednesday demanded the company sideline a vice president and commit to greater academic freedom, escalating a confrontation with management following this month's termination of scientist Timnit Gebru.
The personnel called on Vice President Megan Kacholia to be removed from the team's management chain after she allegedly excluded Gebru's boss from the decision to fire her, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
Gebru had questioned Google's demand for her to retract a paper describing harms from Google-like technology, and the company answered by saying it accepted her resignation.
The document also demanded an explanation of the dismissal, transparency into reviews of staff papers, and an investigation into how Google handles employee complaints about working conditions, like those Gebru raised while at the company.
5.#Uber:-Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday appealed a $59 million fine by a California regulator in a dispute over whether the company should share detailed information on sexual assault and harassment claims reported on its ride-hailing platform.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) fined Uber in December after the company refused to share the information, including full names and contact information, arguing that doing so would violate victims' rights to privacy.
On Monday, an anti-sexual abuse group also appealed the decision and supported Uber's "transparency and commitment to protecting survivors."
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) fined Uber in December after the company refused to share the information, including full names and contact information, arguing that doing so would violate victims' rights to privacy.
On Monday, an anti-sexual abuse group also appealed the decision and supported Uber's "transparency and commitment to protecting survivors."
3. #APPLE :- Apple Inc has added a security feature across its operating systems to battle hacks into its devices that rely on incoming iMessages, it said on Thursday.
The "BlastDoor" feature processes incoming iMessage traffic and only passes on safe data to the rest of an Apple device's operating system, company officials said in a briefing.
Starting in 2016, a team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats and rival foreign leaders, Reuters reported
Using a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, which relied on a flaw in Apple's iMessage system, they accessed iPhones without requiring the targets to click on anything to establish a connection. A new wave of attacks last year used similar tools to target journalists at Al Jazeera.
While largely invisible to users, BlastDoor is present on iOS 14, the most recent version of Apple's iPhone operating system, and systems for all its other devices, company officials said.
Apple held the briefing around the release of its annual security guide for cybersecurity researchers.
The latest update included new details on how many security features long found in iPhones are being brought over to Apple's Mac computer line, which in November began to integrate custom-designed processor chips after more than a decade of relying on Intel Corp processors.
4.#UBER:- Britain's Supreme Court will rule on Friday in a battle over workers' rights at taxi app Uber that could have ramifications for millions of people in the gig economy.
In a case led by two drivers, a London employment tribunal ruled in 2016 that they were due entitlements such as the minimum wage, paid holidays and rest breaks.
The Silicon Valley-based company appealed the decision all the way to Britain's top court which will provide its verdict from 0945 GMT on Friday.
Uber drivers are currently treated as self-employed, meaning that in law they are only afforded minimal protections.
If the firm loses, it could still take several months for the details to be worked out following a further employment tribunal hearing, depending on the nature of the Supreme Court's decision.
"It would involve them working out exactly how many hours they worked, how much they got paid for those hours and identifying occasions when that meant that they were paid less than the minimum wage," Matt McDonald, a partner who specialises in employment disputes at law firm Shakespeare Martineau.
"As an administrative job for the courts, it's a messy one," he said.
A total of 25 drivers form part of an expanded group who are part of the case. Uber has around 60,000 drivers in Britain, including 45,000 in London, one of its most important markets.
A win, however, would be a major boost to it and several transportation, delivery and courier companies which use a similar business model, including food service firm Deliveroo and taxi rival Addison Lee.
5.#AMAZON:-A group representing Amazon.com Inc , Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others in filing suit on Thursday to challenge Maryland's first-in-the nation new digital advertising tax.
The Chamber, the largest U.S. business group; the Internet Association, which represents dozens of tech companies; the Computer & Communications Industry Association; and NetChoice filed suit in U.S. District Court in Maryland seeking an injunction to block the new tax adopted last week by the state legislature over the veto of Republican Governor Larry Hogan.
The suit calls the law "a punitive assault on digital, but not print, advertising. It is illegal in myriad ways and should be declared unlawful and enjoined."
State lawmakers estimate the tax could raise as much as $250 million a year after it takes effect. Other states are also considering taxing digital advertising.
Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson said in a statement it was "disappointing to see these companies spend millions on high-powered attorneys instead of paying their fair share."
The "BlastDoor" feature processes incoming iMessage traffic and only passes on safe data to the rest of an Apple device's operating system, company officials said in a briefing.
Starting in 2016, a team of former U.S. government intelligence operatives working for the United Arab Emirates hacked into the iPhones of activists, diplomats and rival foreign leaders, Reuters reported
Using a sophisticated spying tool called Karma, which relied on a flaw in Apple's iMessage system, they accessed iPhones without requiring the targets to click on anything to establish a connection. A new wave of attacks last year used similar tools to target journalists at Al Jazeera.
While largely invisible to users, BlastDoor is present on iOS 14, the most recent version of Apple's iPhone operating system, and systems for all its other devices, company officials said.
Apple held the briefing around the release of its annual security guide for cybersecurity researchers.
The latest update included new details on how many security features long found in iPhones are being brought over to Apple's Mac computer line, which in November began to integrate custom-designed processor chips after more than a decade of relying on Intel Corp processors.
4.#UBER:- Britain's Supreme Court will rule on Friday in a battle over workers' rights at taxi app Uber that could have ramifications for millions of people in the gig economy.
In a case led by two drivers, a London employment tribunal ruled in 2016 that they were due entitlements such as the minimum wage, paid holidays and rest breaks.
The Silicon Valley-based company appealed the decision all the way to Britain's top court which will provide its verdict from 0945 GMT on Friday.
Uber drivers are currently treated as self-employed, meaning that in law they are only afforded minimal protections.
If the firm loses, it could still take several months for the details to be worked out following a further employment tribunal hearing, depending on the nature of the Supreme Court's decision.
"It would involve them working out exactly how many hours they worked, how much they got paid for those hours and identifying occasions when that meant that they were paid less than the minimum wage," Matt McDonald, a partner who specialises in employment disputes at law firm Shakespeare Martineau.
"As an administrative job for the courts, it's a messy one," he said.
A total of 25 drivers form part of an expanded group who are part of the case. Uber has around 60,000 drivers in Britain, including 45,000 in London, one of its most important markets.
A win, however, would be a major boost to it and several transportation, delivery and courier companies which use a similar business model, including food service firm Deliveroo and taxi rival Addison Lee.
5.#AMAZON:-A group representing Amazon.com Inc , Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others in filing suit on Thursday to challenge Maryland's first-in-the nation new digital advertising tax.
The Chamber, the largest U.S. business group; the Internet Association, which represents dozens of tech companies; the Computer & Communications Industry Association; and NetChoice filed suit in U.S. District Court in Maryland seeking an injunction to block the new tax adopted last week by the state legislature over the veto of Republican Governor Larry Hogan.
The suit calls the law "a punitive assault on digital, but not print, advertising. It is illegal in myriad ways and should be declared unlawful and enjoined."
State lawmakers estimate the tax could raise as much as $250 million a year after it takes effect. Other states are also considering taxing digital advertising.
Maryland State Senate President Bill Ferguson said in a statement it was "disappointing to see these companies spend millions on high-powered attorneys instead of paying their fair share."
McLellan said that for now, the hacking activity he had seen appeared focused on seeding malicious software and setting the stage for a potentially deeper intrusion rather than aggressively moving into networks right away.
"We haven't seen any follow-on activity yet," he said. "We're going to find a lot of companies affected but a smaller number of companies actually exploited."
Microsoft said targets included infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policy think tanks, and non-governmental groups.
3. #AMAZON :-- IT firm Micro Focus International said on Wednesday it had signed a commercial agreement with Amazon Web Services to help customers migrate their mainframe applications and workloads to the cloud, sending the British company's shares up more than 14%.
As part of the collaboration, Micro Focus has issued warrants to Amazon.com Inc to subscribe for up to 15.9 million ordinary shares in the company at 446.6 pence per share.
4.#UBER :The robotics unit of Postmates, a delivery startup that ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) acquired last year, has spun off into a new company called Serve Robotics, the company said on Tuesday.
Serve said in a press release that it closed its first round of funding, led by venture capital firm Neo, and aided by Uber, Long Journey ventures, Postmates' co-founders Bastian Lehmann and Sean Plaice as well as other investors.
"While self-driving cars remove the driver, robotic delivery eliminates the car itself and makes deliveries sustainable and accessible to all," said Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics.
The unit, Postmates X, introduced its semi-autonomous bot, Serve, in 2018 to aid faster deliveries. It currently operates commercially in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and has been popular during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable the touch-less delivery of goods.
Some details of the deal were published by technology news website TechCrunch in January.
Uber bought Postmates in July 2020 in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal, with a view to expand its food delivery market share when the pandemic hit its core ride-sharing business.
5.#INTEL- Chipmaker Intel Corp must pay a technology rival $2.18 billion after a federal jury decided that Intel infringed on its patent, a federal court ruled on Tuesday.
Intel infringed two patents related to chip-making owned by VLSI Technology LLC the jury ruled.
In a statement, Michael Stolarski, chief executive of VLSI Technology, said the firm was "pleased that the jury recognized the value of the innovations as reflected in the patents and are extremely happy with the jury verdict.”
The jury found $1.5 billion for all damages caused to VLSI on infringement of the first patent and $675 million for the infringement of the other.
"Intel strongly disagrees with today's jury verdict. We intend to appeal and are confident that we will prevail," the Santa Clara, California-based company said.
Intel's shares closed down 2.6% at $61.24.
"We haven't seen any follow-on activity yet," he said. "We're going to find a lot of companies affected but a smaller number of companies actually exploited."
Microsoft said targets included infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policy think tanks, and non-governmental groups.
3. #AMAZON :-- IT firm Micro Focus International said on Wednesday it had signed a commercial agreement with Amazon Web Services to help customers migrate their mainframe applications and workloads to the cloud, sending the British company's shares up more than 14%.
As part of the collaboration, Micro Focus has issued warrants to Amazon.com Inc to subscribe for up to 15.9 million ordinary shares in the company at 446.6 pence per share.
4.#UBER :The robotics unit of Postmates, a delivery startup that ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) acquired last year, has spun off into a new company called Serve Robotics, the company said on Tuesday.
Serve said in a press release that it closed its first round of funding, led by venture capital firm Neo, and aided by Uber, Long Journey ventures, Postmates' co-founders Bastian Lehmann and Sean Plaice as well as other investors.
"While self-driving cars remove the driver, robotic delivery eliminates the car itself and makes deliveries sustainable and accessible to all," said Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics.
The unit, Postmates X, introduced its semi-autonomous bot, Serve, in 2018 to aid faster deliveries. It currently operates commercially in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and has been popular during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable the touch-less delivery of goods.
Some details of the deal were published by technology news website TechCrunch in January.
Uber bought Postmates in July 2020 in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal, with a view to expand its food delivery market share when the pandemic hit its core ride-sharing business.
5.#INTEL- Chipmaker Intel Corp must pay a technology rival $2.18 billion after a federal jury decided that Intel infringed on its patent, a federal court ruled on Tuesday.
Intel infringed two patents related to chip-making owned by VLSI Technology LLC the jury ruled.
In a statement, Michael Stolarski, chief executive of VLSI Technology, said the firm was "pleased that the jury recognized the value of the innovations as reflected in the patents and are extremely happy with the jury verdict.”
The jury found $1.5 billion for all damages caused to VLSI on infringement of the first patent and $675 million for the infringement of the other.
"Intel strongly disagrees with today's jury verdict. We intend to appeal and are confident that we will prevail," the Santa Clara, California-based company said.
Intel's shares closed down 2.6% at $61.24.