Alphabet Inc.’s venture capital arm GV, formerly Google Ventures, has replaced humans with artificial intelligence when it comes to investment decisions, at least according to a report published Thursday. Axios made the claim, saying that GV uses an algorithm called “The Machine” that effectively permits or prohibits both new and follow-on investments. The Machine, which ...

Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, better known as LabCorp, is the latest victim of ransomware as the company disclosed that it had detected “suspicious activity” on its information technology network over the weekend. The company, claimed by Forbes to be the biggest blood testing firm in the U.S. with dozens of locations, said in an 8-K filing lodged ...

Uber Technologies Inc. drivers are now going to upsell their riders on snacks and other in-car convenience goods after the company signed a deal with Cargo Systems Inc. The contract, which will eventually see Uber drivers flogging snacks, beverages, electronics and beauty products initially in San Francisco and Los Angeles but eventually across the country. “Rideshare ...

Less than two weeks after being spun off as a standalone business, Alphabet Inc.’s internet balloon company Loon LLC has landed its first paying customer: African mobile provider Telkom Kenya. Under the deal Loon, formerly a part Alphabet’s and before that Google LLC’s experimental X division, will deploy a system of balloons to beam high-speed ...

Two separate Congressional committees Wednesday got mixed messages on cryptocurrencies, hearing the full gamut of opinions ranging from banning them to embracing them with reasonable regulation. First up in the morning was a hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture on “Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age,” with a variety of witnesses ...

Everybody hates robocalls. Now there’s a new reason to hate them, after one leading company exposed voter information online via an unprotected Amazon.com Inc. cloud storage instance. The latest entry in the cloud misconfiguration hall of shame comes via Kromtech Security’s Bob Diachenko, who discovered that Virginia-based political campaign and robocalling company RoboCent Inc. had exposed 2,594 ...

New reports are emerging about upcoming consumer devices from Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd. ahead of the expected release of the Galaxy Note 9 in August. In addition to the new Note, the phone giant said to be preparing to launch a smart speaker and a foldable phone early next year. Reports that Samsung was preparing ...

The U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to expedite its appeal against the court ruling that approved AT&T Inc.’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc. as the opportunity to unscramble the merger becomes harder with each passing day. In a filing lodged with Court of Appeals Wednesday, the Justice Department argued that the federal ...

Asset-linked cryptocurrency startup TrustToken Inc. today announced a new $61 million token sale backed by Andreessen Horowitz for its TrueUSD token as it seeks to replace Tether as the “stablecoin” of choice on cryptocurrency exchanges. Founded in 2017, the company is creating a platform for asset-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins that are pegged to another stable ...

Cybersecurity monitoring startup Verodin Inc. Tuesday said it has raised $21 million in new funding to continue development of its Security Instrumentation Platform, increase hiring across all functional areas and expand its global sales reach. The Series B round was led by TenEleven Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, with Capital One Growth Ventures, Citi Ventures ...