James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
The Alibaba Group reported sales of $25.3 billion for Singles’ Day Nov. 11, a annual celebration of being single but even more of the country’s rampant consumerism. That sum was 40 percent higher than on Singles’ Day in 2016. Although Singles’ Day is …
Amid controversy, Twitter hits the pause button on account verifications
Twitter Inc. today announced it’s putting a hold on the verification process as it attempts to figure out why some dubious accounts were verified. “Verification was meant to authenticate identity & voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or an indicator …
Don’t blame the robot: Truck hits Las Vegas self-driving shuttle bus on first day of service
It wasn’t a good first day at work for the world’s first self-driving shuttle bus, which collided with a vehicle with a human at the wheel within a few hours of starting its shift in Las Vegas. According to reports by Nevada’s …
Facebook wants your nude pictures to tackle revenge porn. Really.
To reduce the instance of revenge porn appearing on its platform, Facebook Inc. has come up with a novel plan: It’s asking people to send in nude pictures of themselves so it can ensure they won’t be posted online. The pilot is …
Apple found a new tax haven in Jersey after Ireland crackdown, according to Paradise Papers
Following scrutiny over Apple Inc.’s tax affairs in Ireland, the company moved some of its operation to Jersey, part of the Channel Islands off the coast of the U.K. This was one of the revelations in the recently released Paradise Papers, detailing how …
YouTube takes steps to become more child-friendly
YouTube announced on Thursday a slew of new features for its safe-viewing YouTube Kids mobile app, following numerous complaints that the app wasn’t safe enough. The updates mean that parents can now customize the channel based on the child’s age, so a …
Tech companies get behind American ‘Dreamers’ once again
Some of the world’s largest tech Wednesday again gave their support to 840,000 “Dreamer” immigrants in the U.S. whose status is under threat. The immigrants, part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, presently stand in no man’s land …
Congress grills tech companies on Russian political disinformation
Tech executives stood in front of Congress on Tuesday for the first of three hearings to discuss the inadvertent role their platforms played in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Although execs from Facebook Inc., Google LLC and Twitter Inc. were all on …
Tech giants reveal Russian disinformation campaign was bigger than first thought
Three tech giants plan to disclose to Congress on Tuesday how Russian content during the 2016 elections was far more pervasive than what had initially been reported. Facebook Inc., for instance, told Congress early in October that about 10 million Americans may …
Three female engineers are suing Uber for gender and race discrimination
Uber Technologies Inc. is being sued by three Latina engineers who claim the company discriminated against them based on their gender and race. A lawsuit was filed on Tuesday at the Superior Court in San Francisco by engineers Ingrid Avendano, Roxana del Toro …