Tag: tech

Meta reports sales fall, but beats expectations

by Glenn CHAPMAN Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook and Instagram owner Meta on Wednesday reported its first annual sales drop since the company went public in 2012, but the fall was less brutal than expected, sending its share price soaring. The social media giant said sales dropped one percent to $116.6 billion in 2022, while it also announced that the number of daily users on Facebook hit two billion for the […]

TikTok CEO to testify before US Congress in March

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify in March to US lawmakers in Washington where the Chinese social media app faces accusations that it is beholden to the Communist Party in Beijing. TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is Chinese, is fighting for its survival in the United States with rising calls from mainly Republican lawmakers that the company should be outright banned for its links to Beijing. Chew will give testimony before the House Energy […]

Netflix soars to 230 mn subscribers, co-founder steps down

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — US streaming giant Netflix on Thursday said it ended last year with more than 230 million global subscribers, beating analysts’ expectations as hits such as “Wednesday” and “Harry & Meghan” enticed new viewers. “2022 was a tough year, with a bumpy start but a brighter finish,” the company said in a letter announcing bumper fourth quarter earnings. Netflix also announced that co-founder Reed Hastings was standing down as CEO, […]

Microsoft to axe 10,000 jobs as tech gloom deepens

by Alex PIGMAN Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Microsoft on Wednesday said it would lay off 10,000 employees in the coming months as the economic downturn continues to punish US tech giants. The job cuts will affect slightly less than five percent of employees and follow in the wake of similar moves by Facebook-owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter which have announced thousands of layoffs in the once-unassailable tech sector. The cuts were “in […]

Sanctions-hit Huawei says back to ‘business as usual’

  d returned to “business as usual” despite US sanctions as it estimated annual revenues to remain flat for 2022. A leading supplier of telecom gear, smartphones and other advanced equipment, Huawei was hammered during a crackdown by the administration of previous US president Donald Trump over cybersecurity and espionage concerns. His successor Joe Biden has added to that pressure with regulations that threaten Huawei’s access to global semiconductor supply chains. But Huawei’s chairman Eric […]

Hong Kong crypto exchange falls silent, fuelling shutdown fears

Hong Kong, China (AFP) A major Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange has scrubbed some of its social media presence two weeks after it halted withdrawals, fuelling fears the firm may collapse as the sector reels from the implosion of giant FTX. Atom Asset Exchange (AAX) prevented customer withdrawals on November 15, saying its capital position was under “acute pressure” after some investors asked for their money back. This came after the stunning fall of industry leader […]

Google wants AI in one thousand languages

New York, United States | AFP | Google on Wednesday said it wanted to develop artificial intelligence using the world’s one thousand most spoken languages as tech giants compete to dominate the internet’s next battleground. Data is crucial to advances in AI, and Google and its big tech rivals want to tap information to help make products perform better and be more available to the widest possible audience. “Imagine a new internet user in Africa […]

Apple to make iPhone 14 in India in shift away from China

Mumbai, India (AFP) Apple will manufacture its new flagship smartphone in India, the US tech giant said Monday, as it seeks to diversify production away from a dependence on China. The iPhone supply chain is based mainly in China but the country’s zero-Covid policies and tensions with the United States have hurt production, analysts say. “We’re excited to be manufacturing iPhone 14 in India,” Apple said in a brief statement. The California-based firm already makes […]

Starbucks Singapore says customer database breached

Singapore, Singapore (AFP) Starbucks Singapore said Friday its customer database was breached online, with local media reporting that 200,000 people’s information was stolen. The coffee chain — a licensed Starbucks franchise owned by Hong Kong-based Maxim’s Caterers — said in an email to customers that it had “discovered… some unauthorized access” to details such as names, gender, dates of birth, phone numbers and home addresses. “Relevant authorities have been informed and Starbucks Singapore is assisting […]

Indonesia investigating Google over app store payment system

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has launched an anti-trust investigation into Google over the tech firm’s insistence that its payment system be used for purchases from its app store, authorities said Thursday, accusing it of unfair business practices. The US internet giant has been under legal scrutiny in a number of countries over its stipulation that its billing system be used by all buyers on Google Play. Authorities in Jakarta said in a statement […]

Google, Meta face record fines in South Korea over privacy violations

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea has fined Google and Meta more than $71 million collectively for gathering users’ personal information without consent for tailored ads, regulators said Wednesday, the country’s highest-ever data protection fines. Investigations into the two US tech giants found they had been “collecting and analyzing” data on their users, and monitoring their use of websites and applications, the Personal Information Protection Commission said. The data was used to “infer the […]

Google outage reported by tens of thousands of users

  SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Tens of thousands of users reported being unable to access various Google services on Monday night, according to outage monitor Downdetector. “User reports indicate Google Maps is having problems since 9:36 PM EDT (0136 GMT),” Downdetector tweeted. More than 40,000 users, including in New York City and Denver, Colorado, reported disruptions when trying to use Google’s services, particularly the maps and search engine. After around two hours, reports […]