Amazon Launches TikTok-Style Feed in Push to Accelerate Social Shopping

Ofcom will investigate the world’s biggest tech companies to ensure their dominance in areas such as cloud computing, messaging and smart devices works for the people and businesses of Britain, the communications regulator has said. The cloud services investigation, which will take priority out of the three issues, will look at Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Between them, these “hyperscalers” control more than four-fifths of the UK’s cloud computing market, about half of which is made up by Amazon. Over the coming year, the regulator will begin investigating a wider range of digital services. WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom will come under the lens, with Ofcom looking at how their market power is affecting traditional calling and messaging, and whether the lack of interoperability “raises potential concerns”.

By:  Wall Street Journal December 8, 2022 Amazon AMZN -8.43%decrease; red down pointing triangle.com Inc. is rolling out a TikTok-like feature in its app that will allow customers to buy products from a customized feed of photos and videos. Amazon launched the feature Thursday for select customers and plans to make it available across the U.S. in […]

FTC Sues to Block Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

By:  Wall Street Journal December 8, 2022   The Federal Trade Commission Thursday sued Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.36%decrease; red down pointing triangle to block its planned $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc., ATVI -2.43%decrease; red down pointing triangle taking one of its biggest shots under the Biden administration at halting a merger of technology giants. The lawsuit sets the stage for a court challenge over the deal as […]

TikTok Is Sued by State of Indiana, Accused of Targeting Young Teens With Adult Content

TikTok can track users’ every tap as they visit other sites through iOS app, new research shows

By:  Wall Street Journal December 7, 2022   Indiana filed a pair of lawsuits against TikTok Wednesday, alleging the platform is deceiving consumers about its content and data security, the latest in a growing number of moves by state officials to push back against the platform’s influence on children and its connections to China. The state said its lawsuits […]

Musk’s Neuralink Faces Federal Inquiry After Killing 1,500 Animals in Testing

By:  The Guardian December 6, 2022   Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations.   Neuralink […]

Two Women Sue Apple Over AirTag Stalking

By:  The New York Times December 6, 2022   Two women sued Apple on Monday over the dangers of its AirTag tracking devices in the hands of stalkers, saying the company had failed to heed warnings from advocacy groups and news reports.   The proposed class action lawsuit was filed on Monday in the United […]

AI Bot ChatGPT Stuns Academics With Essay-Writing Skills and Usability

By:  The Guardian December 6, 2022   Professors, programmers and journalists could all be out of a job in just a few years, after the latest chatbot from the Elon Musk-founded OpenAI foundation stunned onlookers with its writing ability, proficiency at complex tasks, and ease of use.   The system, called ChatGPT, is the latest […]

Amazon’s Quest for the ‘Holy Grail’ of Robotics

By:  Wall Street Journal December 3, 2022   For decades, one of the hardest problems for robot developers to crack has been something seemingly mundane: how to replicate the human hand’s ability to pick up stuff. Amazon.com has just come a lot closer to achieving this elusive goal, with a leap in its automation prowess […]

For U.S. Tech, India’s Draft Privacy Bill Has Hidden Risks

By:  Wall Street Journal December 3, 2022 There isn’t much the Indian government and Meta Platforms see eye to eye on. And yet earlier this week, the U.S. social-media giant’s president of global affairs called a reworked draft of the country’s data-protection bill a promising turn of events. The fourth iteration of the long-pending privacy bill, released […]

Social Media Firms Face Big UK Fines if They Fail to Stop Sexist and Racist Content

By:  The Guardian November 28, 2022 Social media platforms that breach pledges to block sexist and racist content face the threat of substantial fines under government changes to the online safety bill announced on Monday.   Under the new approach, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter must also give users the option of […]