Technology

Less than two weeks after California regulators filed a lawsuit alleging years of sexual discrimination and harassment at Activision Blizzard, the president of the company’s Blizzard division is out.J. Allen Brack stepped down Tuesday as leader of the video game studio, maker of the “Warcraft” and “Diablo” games, according to a statement on the company’s website. He will be … [Read more...] about Blizzard president out in wake of discrimination lawsuit and employee walkout

Joan Cuadra’s 100-year-old mother wears a panic button around her neck in case she ever gets into trouble in her Westchester home.Ideally, you push the button on the device and within seconds an operator will be heard from a speaker installed in the house — think OnStar, but for seniors or other people with medical issues.“We decided to test it out,” Cuadra, 70, told me. “So we … [Read more...] about Column: Some companies think customers are OK with lousy service. Think again

Nikola Corp. founder and former chairman Trevor Milton has been charged by prosecutors with making false statements to investors in the electric-vehicle startup. The company’s shares fell the most in almost five months.Milton, who stepped down from the company last year, is in federal custody after voluntarily surrendering. He’s charged with misleading investors from November … [Read more...] about Nikola founder Milton charged with misleading investors

Employees at Activision Blizzard walked off the job Wednesday to protest the company’s response to an explosive lawsuit filed last week alleging pervasive discrimination and harassment against women. The suit, filed against the company by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, largely focuses on the Blizzard division of the company and outlines a workplace … [Read more...] about Activision Blizzard lashed out when accused of sexism. Workers don’t like that response

Semiconductors are the foundation of everything from weapons systems to technologies used daily by consumers and businesses. The current shortage has exposed gaps and vulnerabilities across the global semiconductor supply system.This shortage reflects a variety of factors — including significant pandemic-driven disruptions in both demand and supply and U.S. trade restrictions … [Read more...] about Op-Ed: Why we need a national strategy to prevent computer chip shortages

WASHINGTON — When a brush fire trapped more than 100 hikers and campers last year in the Sierra National Forest, California firefighters needed to know precisely where the blaze was — and they needed to know fast.They turned to a little-known program called FireGuard, which gave them access to video and images captured by a U.S. military drone. The aerial view of the fire’s … [Read more...] about Satellite images of wildfires are saving lives. The Pentagon might let the program expire

Soon after Jeff Bezos returned from the edge of space, the billionaire-turned-astronaut delivered a warning to everyone he’d briefly left behind on Earth.“We live on this beautiful planet,” Amazon.com Inc.’s founder — and, until recently, chief executive — said Tuesday. “When you get up there and you see it, you see how tiny it is and how fragile it is.”“We need to take all … [Read more...] about As Jeff Bezos stresses climate change, Amazon promotes books saying it’s fake

There’s a race on between the tech industry and lawmakers over your medical privacy.Big Tech is moving as fast as it can to embed its increasingly intrusive devices into people’s homes before policymakers can summon the political will to put much-needed consumer protections into place.The latest example of such intrusiveness, as I reported last week, is Amazon receiving federal … [Read more...] about Column: This California bill would protect our medical data from Big Tech (Hi, Amazon!)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced a bill Thursday to make online platforms like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. legally liable for misinformation about health issues such as COVID-19.The proposal comes less than a week after President Biden said that misinformation about the virus and vaccines is “killing people,” as infections surge in parts of the U.S. with low vaccination … [Read more...] about Klobuchar takes aim at online COVID lies with Section 230 bill

Billionaire Jeff Bezos has long talked about his dream of millions of people living and working in space.On Tuesday, Bezos himself joined the ranks of those who have gone to space — for a few minutes, at least.The billionaire Amazon founder embarked on a journey to suborbital space along with three others aboard his company Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket and capsule system. … [Read more...] about Jeff Bezos returns to Earth after trip to suborbital space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard