San Francisco, United States | AFP | Google’s parent company Alphabet on Thursday announced that Eric Schmidt will step down as chairman, remaining on the board but shifting into a role as a technical advisor. “In recent years, I’ve been spending a lot of my time on science and technology issues, …
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San Francisco, United States | AFP | Apple on Thursday confirmed what some conspiracy theorists suspected, that it intentionally slows performance of older iPhones as batteries weaken from age. The admission played into concerns that Apple was stealthily nudging iPhone users to upgrade to newer models by letting them think it …
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New York, United States | AFP | Facebook announced a licensing deal Thursday with Universal Music Group, its first with a major label, as the social media giant promised more personalized, interactive music features for its two billion users. The move marks a new foray into music by Facebook, which despite …
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Paris, France | AFP | France’s data protection agency on Monday told messaging app WhatsApp it needs to obtain users’ permission to transfer some information to its parent company Facebook and gave it a month to comply. “Should WhatsApp fail to comply with the formal notice within the specified timescale” the …
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San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook on Thursday moved to bolster its appeal and money-making potential as an online platform for viewing video similar to YouTube. The leading social network will next year test showing short ads before videos on a new ‘Watch’ section devoted to just that …
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Paris, France | AFP | Nine European press agencies, including AFP, called Wednesday on internet giants to be forced to pay copyright for using news content on which they make vast profits. The call comes as the EU is debating a directive to make Facebook, Google, Twitter and other major …
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London, United Kingdom | AFP | Social media titan Facebook will open a new office in London on Monday that is set to be its biggest engineering hub outside America, the company has announced. The investment in the office, near Oxford Street in the heart of the city’s West End district, …
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Chicago, United States | AFP | A twitter post in late October from Kansas policeman Ben Gardner featured a large cow curled up on top of a BMW sedan’s hood. The message from the spokesman for the Midwestern US state’s highway patrol department was that animals seek warm cars during …
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San Francisco, United States | AFP | Two US states said Wednesday they are investigating Uber’s cover-up of a hack at the ride-sharing giant that compromised the personal information of 57 million users and drivers. Uber purportedly paid data thieves $100,000 to destroy the swiped information — and remained quiet …
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Governments issue orders to cut off Internet but telecoms reserve ability to hit the `kill switch’ COMMENT | KIZITO BYENKYA & ALEX HUMPHREY | Much to the dismay of the government in Addis Ababa, “Zone 9” has become a household name in Ethiopia. Since 2012, this small group of journalists-turned-online activists …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price