Entrepreneurs Flock to Las Vegas for Giant Consumer Electronics Show

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Packed inside an SUV and heading to Las Vegas, employees of CaptureProof, a San Francisco startup, are part of a time-honored technology industry tradition — attending the giant consumer electronics show that takes over the Las Vegas strip every January. Starting Monday, more than 180,000 people are expected to attend CES — the show once know as the Consumer Electronics Show — with about one-third of them international visitors. There will be 4,000 exhibitors in every conceivable tech category — gaming, self-driving cars, digital health, digital sports, drones, robots. Outside official CES, many companies set up their own events in hotels throughout Las Vegas. The result is a crush of people and cars, a cacophony of sounds and logos, as everyone tries to get each others' attention.   And that…


New Tech Gadgets Are Following the Sound of Your Voice

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What's the hottest thing in the world of technology these days? Your voice. Some of the most popular gadgets over the holiday season were smart speakers with digital assistants from Amazon and Google . Apple is coming out with its own speaker this year; Microsoft and Samsung have partnered on another. As the annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas this week, manufacturers are expected to unveil even more voice-controlled devices - speakers and beyond - as Amazon and Google make their digital assistants available on a wider array of products. If these prove popular, you'll soon be able to order around much more of your house, including kitchen appliances, washing machines and other devices. CES is expected to draw more than 170,000 people, as some 4,000 exhibitors…


Eritrea Closes Hundreds of Businesses for Bypassing Banks 

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Eritrea has temporarily shut down nearly 450 private businesses, the latest in a series of moves that has sent shockwaves through the economy of the Red Sea nation. The closures were a response to companies hoarding cash and “failing to do business through checks and other banking systems,” according to a Dec. 29 editorial published by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information on the state-run website Shabait.com. Most of the affected businesses operate in the hospitality sector, according to the announcement, and they will remain closed for up to eight months, depending on the severity of the violations. About 58,000 private businesses operate across the country, according to the government; less than 1 percent was affected by the recent closures. Replacing the currency The government has taken other steps in recent years…


Iran’s Working Class on Front Lines of Protests

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The Iranian town of Doroud should be a prosperous place — nestled in a valley at the junction of two rivers in the Zagros Mountains, it’s in an area rich in metals to be mined and stone to be quarried. Last year, a military factory on the outskirts of town unveiled production of an advanced model of tanks. Yet local officials have been pleading for months for the government to rescue its stagnant economy. Unemployment is around 30 percent, far above the official national rate of more than 12 percent. Young people graduate and find no work. The local steel and cement factories stopped production long ago, and their workers haven’t been paid for months. The military factory’s employees are mainly outsiders who live on its grounds, separate from the…


US Economy Ends Year with Modest Job Gains

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The U.S. economy ended 2017 by adding 148,000 new jobs in December. Despite the modest gain, hiring was strong enough to suggest the economic momentum will continue. But while the national unemployment rate remained unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent, analysts say the pace of job growth may be slowing down. Mil Arcega has more. ...


Twitter Says Accounts of World Leaders Have Special Status

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Social media giant Twitter has reiterated its stance that accounts belonging to world leaders have special status, pushing back against calls from some users for the company to ban U.S. President Donald Trump.  In a blog post Friday, Twitter said it would not block the accounts of world leaders even if their statements were “controversial” because of a need to promote discussions about public policy.  ​“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” Twitter said. It said such a move would also not silence a world leader, but it “would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.” “Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play…


Businesses Delay Patch, Fear Fix Will Be Worse Than Chip Flaw

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Chances that a fix to a major microchip security flaw may slow down or crash some computer systems are leading some businesses to hold off installing software patches, fearing the cure may be worse than the original problem. Researchers this week revealed security problems with chips from Intel Corp and many of its rivals, sending businesses, governments and consumers scrambling to understand the extent of the threat and the cost of fixes. Rather than rushing to put on patches, a costly and time-intensive endeavor for major systems, some businesses are testing the fix, leaving their machines vulnerable. "If you start applying patches across your whole fleet without doing proper testing, you could cause systems to crash, essentially putting all of your employees out of work," said Ben Johnson, co-founder of…


Brits Call for ‘Latte Levy’ to Reduce Cup Waste

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Britain should charge a 25-pence ($0.34) levy on disposable coffee cups to cut down waste and use the money to improve recycling facilities, a committee of lawmakers said Friday. Chains Pret A Manger, Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Greggs alongside U.S. firm Starbucks are among the biggest coffee-sellers in Britain, rapidly expanding in the last 10 years to meet increasing demand. Although some outlets give a discount to customers using their own cup, only 1-2 percent of buyers take up the offer, according to parliament’s environmental audit committee, which said a “latte levy” was needed instead. 2.5 billion cups a year “The UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups every year; enough to circle the planet 5½ times,” said chair of the committee, Mary Creagh. “We’re calling for action…


Apple to Issue Fix for iPhones, Macs at Risk From Chip Flaw

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Apple Inc. will release a patch for the Safari web browser on its iPhones, iPads and Macs within days, it said Thursday, after major chipmakers disclosed flaws that leave nearly every modern computing device vulnerable to hackers. On Wednesday, Alphabet Inc.'s Google and other security researchers disclosed two major chip flaws, one called Meltdown affecting only Intel Corp. chips and one called Spectre affecting nearly all computer chips made in the last decade. The news sparked a sell-off in Intel's stock as investors tried to gauge the costs to the chipmaker. In a statement on its website, Apple said all Mac and iOS devices were affected by both Meltdown and Spectre. But the most recent operating system updates for Mac computers, Apple TVs, iPhones and iPads protect users against the Meltdown attack and do not slow down the devices, it added. Meltdown does…


Investors Skittish, but Marijuana Growers, Sellers to Stay the Course

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Marijuana-related stocks plummeted, cannabis boosters worried about the industry’s future and defiant growers and sellers vowed to keep operating after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions signaled a tougher approach Thursday to federal pot enforcement. The plunging stock prices reversed a weekslong rally driven by optimism for legal recreational sales that started Monday in California. Several marijuana stocks saw double-digit losses in the hours after Sessions’ announcement, including the largest pot-producing company that is publicly traded. Canopy Growth, a Canada-based company with the ticker symbol WEED, lost $3.58 a share, or 10 percent, to close at $32.32 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Shares of garden-supply company Scotts Miracle-Gro also skidded Thursday, following a steady rise last year after it added fertilizer, lights and other products to serve marijuana growers. The company’s…


Intel Shares Fall as Investors Worry About Costs of Chip Flaw

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Intel Corp shares fell nearly 2 percent Thursday as investors worried about the potential financial liability and reputational hit from recently disclosed security flaws in its widely used microprocessors. The largest chipmaker had confirmed Wednesday that flaws reported by researchers could allow hackers to steal sensitive information from computers, phones and other devices. Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and other software makers have issued patches to protect against the vulnerabilities. Intel may be on the hook for costs stemming from lawsuits claiming that the patches would slow computers and effectively force consumers to buy new hardware, and big customers will likely seek compensation from Intel for any software or hardware fixes they make, security experts said. "The potential liability is big for Intel," said Eric Johnson, dean of Vanderbilt University's Owen…


Wall Street’s Love of Tax Cuts Drives Dow to 25,000 Mark

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Wall Street sure loves the tax bill, even if polls show most Americans don't. The Dow Jones industrial average surged past 25,000 Thursday, a strong signal of investor enthusiasm for President Donald Trump's $1.5 trillion tax cut. The milestone comes less than a year after the Dow topped 20,000. "We broke a very, very big barrier," Trump said Thursday at the White House. "Every time you see that number go up on Wall Street it means jobs, it means success, it means 401(k)s that are flourishing." It's easy to see why investors like the tax overhaul: Businesses will benefit from a steep cut in the corporate tax rate. They'll also be able to fully deduct the cost of major purchases from their taxable income, reducing the amount they owe. And…


YouTube Star Logan Paul Steps Away From Posting After Outcry

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YouTube star Logan Paul has stepped away from posting videos following an outcry when he uploaded images of what appeared to be the body of someone who killed themselves in a Japanese forest. Paul took to Twitter on Wednesday to say he was suspending his video blog "for now" and "taking time to reflect." A petition on Change.org that demands his YouTube channel be deleted had been signed by more than 125,000 people by Thursday morning. Paul created a furor when he posted a video of him in a forest near Mount Fuji showing what seemed to be a body hanging from a tree. The video was viewed some 6 million times before being removed from Paul's YouTube channel, a verified account with more than 15 million subscribers. A storm…


Dow Breaks 25,000 Barrier for First Time

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through the 25,000-threshold for the first time Thursday, and notched another 1,000-point milestone. The index of blue-chip stocks is studded with industrial heavyweights such as Boeing and Caterpillar. Among the biggest gainers were technology companies and banks. Wells Fargo jumped 1.9 percent and Microsoft rose 0.7 percent. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning, "Dow just crashes through 25,000. Congrats! Big cuts in unnecessary regulations continuing."   The Dow increased 118 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,037. The Nasdaq edged up 16 points to 7,081. This latest record came in early trading Thursday — only five weeks after closing above 24,000 points for the first time. Other major indexes also rose to new levels, driven by a strong report on private jobs. The recent…


Australia Plans Legal Cannabis Exports to a Lucrative World Market

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Australia said Thursday it planned to become the fourth country in the world to legalize medicinal marijuana exports in a bid to score a piece of the estimated $55 billion global market. Cannabis cultivation in Australia is still relatively small, as recreational use remains illegal. But the government hopes domestic medicinal use, legalized last year, and exports will rapidly boost production. “Our goal is very clear: to give farmers and producers the best shot at being the world’s No. 1 exporter of medicinal cannabis,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Melbourne. Company shares rise Shares in the more than a dozen Australian cannabis producers listed on the local exchange soared after the announcement. Cann Group ended the day up 35 percent; AusCann Group rose nearly 54 percent; and BOD…


US Auto Sales Decline, Ending Record Streak

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Auto sales in the United States fell by 2 percent in 2017, the first decline in seven years. Ford Motor reported Wednesday that its new vehicle sales fell 1 percent, as did those of General Motors. Fiat Chrysler reported a decline of 8 percent compared with 2016. Volkswagen said its sales in the U.S. rose by 5 percent. But even with the decline, the industry sold 17.2 million cars, making 2017 the fourth-best sales year in U.S. history, after 2000, 2015 and 2016, according to Kelley Blue Book. For the 36th straight year, Ford's F-Series pickup truck remained the top-selling vehicle in the country. Mercedes-Benz was the top selling luxury brand, even with a sales decline of 1 percent. Analysts expect auto sales to fall in 2018 because of higher…


Security Flaws Put Virtually All Phones, Computers at Risk, Researchers Say

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Security researchers on Wednesday disclosed a set of security flaws that they said could let hackers steal sensitive information from nearly every modern computing device containing chips from Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and ARM Holdings. One of the bugs is specific to Intel but another affects laptops, desktop computers, smartphones, tablets and internet servers alike. Intel and ARM insisted that the issue was not a design flaw, but it will require users to download a patch and update their operating system to fix. "Phones, PCs — everything is going to have some impact, but it'll vary from product to product," Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in an interview with CNBC Wednesday afternoon. Researchers with Alphabet Inc.'s Google Project Zero, in conjunction with academic and industry researchers from several countries, discovered two  flaws. The first, called Meltdown, affects Intel chips and lets hackers bypass…


Blackberry Surges on Deal With Baidu for Self-driving Cars

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BlackBerry Ltd and Chinese internet search firm Baidu Inc on Wednesday signed a deal to jointly develop self-driving vehicle technology, sending BlackBerry's Toronto-listed shares up 13 percent to a four-year high. The deal follows similar agreements with firms including Qualcomm Inc, Denso and Aptiv Plc to develop autonomous-driving technology with BlackBerry's QNX software, which are expected to start generating revenue in 2019. Investors and analysts are closely watching what comes of those agreements amid expectations that QNX could become a key technology in the burgeoning self-driving vehicle industry, serving as the operating system for computer chips used to run self-driving vehicles. QNX will be the operating system for Apollo, a platform for self-driving vehicles that Baidu announced in April and has billed as the "Android" of the autonomous driving industry.…


One Difference Between 2009 vs 2018 Iran Protests? 48 Million Smartphones

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In 2009, the world watched as Iranians marching in the streets turned to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to organize and share information. The technology-assisted protests were dubbed the first “Twitter revolution." Flash forward to 2018 and technology again is playing a role in demonstrations sweeping cities across Iran. But much has changed in the intervening years when it comes to the communication tools used by Iranian citizens for organizing and publicizing protests. Here are some of the main changes: 1. The rise of smartphones has brought more Iranians on to the internet In 2009, fewer than 15 percent of Iranians had internet access, according to the World Bank. While Twitter was used to get news of the protests out to the world, it is unclear how much…


Spotify Hit With New Copyright Lawsuit in US

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A music publisher is seeking at least $1.6 billion from Spotify for alleged copyright violations, the latest lawsuit to hit the fast-growing streaming company. Wixen Music Publishing Inc., which holds rights to songs of major artists including Neil Young, the Doors, Tom Petty and Santana, charged in a lawsuit that Spotify failed to seek licenses for significant parts of its 30 million-song catalog. "While Spotify has become a multibillion-dollar company, songwriters and their publishers, such as Wixen, have not been able to fairly and rightfully share in Spotify's success, as Spotify has in many cases used their music without a license and without compensation," said the lawsuit filed last week in a federal court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit said that Spotify initially tried to work with record labels but, "in a race…


Brazil Closes Out 2017 with Record Trade Surplus

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Brazil's road to economic recovery has passed another milestone with official data showing Tuesday that the country finished 2017 with a record trade surplus 40.5 percent higher than in the previous year. The $67 billion surplus was in line with market projections and within the $65 billion to $70 billion range forecast by the government. Brazil's economy is projected to grow 2 percent this year, according to an annual report by the United Nations-backed Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) released last month. That is unspectacular but solid — and far better than the 0.2 percent expected for 2017, or the two years of its worst-ever recession preceding that. The government's own projections are slightly more optimistic: 3 percent in 2018 and 1.1 percent in 2017. Economy…


US Coal Mining Deaths Surge in 2017 After Hitting Record Low

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Coal mining deaths surged in the U.S. in 2017, one year after they hit a record low. The nation's coal mines recorded 15 deaths last year, including eight in West Virginia. Kentucky had two deaths, and there were one each in Alabama, Colorado, Montana, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. In 2016 there were eight U.S. coal mine deaths. West Virginia has led the nation in coal mining deaths in six of the past eight years. That includes 2010, when 29 miners were killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in southern West Virginia. In September, President Donald Trump appointed retired coal company executive David Zatezalo as the new chief of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Most of the deaths this year occurred before his appointment. The Wheeling resident…


China’s WeChat Denies Storing User Chats

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Tencent Holdings' WeChat, China's most popular messenger app, on Tuesday denied storing users' chat histories, after a top businessman was quoted in media reports as saying he believed Tencent was monitoring everyone's account. "WeChat does not store any users' chat history. That is only stored in users' mobiles, computers and other terminals," WeChat said in a post on the social media platform. "WeChat will not use any content from user chats for big data analysis. Because of WeChat's technical model that does not store or analyze user chats, the rumor that 'we are watching your WeChat everyday' is pure misunderstanding." Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings, owner of the Volvo car brand, was quoted in Chinese media on Monday as saying Tencent Chairman Ma Huateng "must be watching all our…