Articles by David Jones

Google Fiber, the high-speed Internet unit of Alphabet, has agreed to buy Webpass, a San Francisco-based broadband service provider that operates in five major metropolitan areas of the U.S., Webpass announced Wednesday. The deal will allow the combined companies to accelerate the growth of high-speed Internet across the U.S., said Webpass Preside...

Shares of Tesla Motors fell sharply Wednesday after the company, helmed by Elon Musk, made an offer to buy SolarCity for US$2.8 billion Musk is the chairman and top shareholder of the struggling alternative energy provider.

Twitter on Tuesday launched enhanced video services that will allow users to post longer videos -- up to 140 seconds. It also announced a new platform for celebrities and public figures to share their stories Because sports, news, music and other videos increasingly are the type of content that goes viral on Twitter, the company decided to expand c...

Instagram on Tuesday said it had passed a milestone, with its community having grown to more than 500 million members -- more than 300 million of them using the site on a daily basis. The Instagram community has become more global, the Facebook-owned company also said, with more than 80 percent of Instagrammers living outside the United States.

Microsoft has entered a partnership with Kind Financial to create an entity that will obtain government contracts to track seed-to-sale compliance in the legalized marijuana business, Kind announced last week. The new entity, Kind Government Solutions, will provide state, county and local municipalities with tracking information on marijuana sales...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently announced an expansion of the company's investment in India to the tune of US$3 billion -- that was in addition to the $2 billion in investments it announced in 2014. Bezos announced the new investment during the 41st annual U.S.-India Business Council Leadership Summit, which was attended by Indian Prime Minister Na...

Apple finally responded to concerns that were threatening to scuttle its once-promising wearables category. Its introduction of watchOS 3 at this week's WWDC has drawn high praise The Apple Watch represented the company's attempt to marry the ultimate Dick Tracy smart gadget with the genius of the iPhone, but it fell short. Instead of a convenience...

Facebook on Tuesday said it will roll out its suicide prevention tools and resources around the world. Already available in the U.S., the resources are designed to help members who may be thinking about committing suicide or otherwise hurting themselves, as well as family and friends who are concerned about their loved ones' well being.

An appellate court on Tuesday handed a major victory to the Federal Communications Commission by upholding the agency's watershed Open Internet Order, which ensures equal access to the Internet By a 2-1 vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the FCC's right to impose Net neutrality rules that essentiall...

Microsoft on Monday launched a new lineup of Xbox game devices at its E3 conference, including Xbox One S, its smallest and most compact console to date. The company also previewed the highly anticipated Project Scorpio, which it claims will be the most powerful game console ever created. The product rollout is part of an effort to bring top quali...

Microsoft on Monday announced an agreement to buy LinkedIn, the world's largest professional social media network, for US$26.2 billion in cash. The acquisition furthers Microsoft's effort to extend the breadth of its content portfolio and to integrate its offerings into its platform of cloud services The companies jointly announced the deal: Micros...

Former NASA administrator Dan Goldin last week introduced a 10-year-old startup to the public. Backed by US$100 million in private funding, KnuEdge is working to develop breakthrough technologies in voice biometrics and neural computing KnuEdge launched two new products upon its emergence from stealth mode. KnuVerse offers military-grade voice reco...

Amazon last week announced the availability of more than 1,000 different skills for its Alexa voice assistant technology. Third-party developers have created the vast array of new capabilities for the highly popular line of consumer products that use Alexa, which includes the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap and Amazon Fire The announcement comes ...

Apple is planning a major overhaul of its App Store, including the introduction of a new subscription model for developers and the implementation of a paid search ad program, SVP Phil Schiller indicated in interviews with The Verge and The Telegraph ahead of the company's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco next week The move may help ...

Facing growing pressure from labor unions and regulators across the U.S. and key overseas markets, Uber on Monday introduced a series of new apps and benefits for its core group of drivers. The goal is to make their working hours more productive and profitable "Many drivers say they choose Uber because they want to be their own boss, set their own ...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Google's appeal of a lower court ruling in a suit alleging the company used deceptive practices in the sale and placement of advertising through its AdWords program between 2004 and 2008 Google, a unit of Alphabet, sought to overturn the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals September 2015 ruling that t...

Microsoft last week announced it would open its Windows Holographic platform to partner firms looking to develop products for the Hololens ecosystem. Microsoft already is already working with a range of partners -- including Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and others -- to build a hardware ecosystem that can support mixed-reality environments, company offici...

Uber has nailed down a record US$3.5 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund -- the largest-ever investment in a closely held technology firm. The investment is part of a deal that will allow Uber to expand its Middle East operations. Yasir Al Rumayyan, managing director of the fund, will take a seat on Uber's board of dir...

Digital rights and free speech advocates are up in arms over Tuesday's announcement of an agreement between the European Commission and four leading U.S. social media firms -- Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft -- on a Code of Conduct designed to crack down on hate speech. The companies have agreed to adopt a system that allows users to flag...

Microsoft on Tuesday announced plans to sell 1,500 mobile technology patents to China-based Xiaomi, in a deal that will expand both companies' access to new markets Microsoft's office apps will gain a stronger foothold in China, while Xiaomi's smartphones will gain a stronger global presence....