An Indian man says he briefly owned the Google.com domain name after buying it for $12. He chose not to pursue the apparent bug and the incident wound up with Google making a donation to charity. Sanmay Ved, who happens to be a former Google employee, posted on LinkedIn to explain that he was trying […]
Amazon has launched a specialist artisan goods marketplace titled Handmade. It’s already been seen as a challenge to Etsy in that sector. Rather than launch the site and hope to pick up some sellers, it seems Amazon launched a recruitment drive beforehand, directly approaching Etsy store owners. As a result it’s launching with 5,000 sellers […]
Facebook appears to have ditched the idea of a straight “dislike” button to go alongside the traditional like. Instead it is testing a choice of six emoji to cover a wider range of emotions. The original plan for adding a dislike button was intended to cover situations where users might want a one-click way of […]
Google has unveiled a new system for making web pages load quicker on mobile devices. It seems to be an attempt to prevent people using dedicated apps instead, particularly for news sources. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is a set of open source code that’s a variant on HTML and uses existing technologies. It’s partly designed […]
A 15-year old agreement that makes it easier for thousands of US companies to run websites and online services has been declared invalid by a European Court. The ditching of the Safe Harbor arrangement means US companies wanting to handle the personal data of most European customers will now have to rethink their data protection […]
Facebook is working with a satellite operator to expand Internet access in sub-Saharan Africa. They will use the entire broadband capability on a satellite scheduled to launch before the end of the year. The AMOS-6 satellite (pictured) has two sets of bands. One, covering frequencies known as Ku-bands, will cover Europe and the Middle East. […]
A federal court has ruled that the fifth amendment can cover the passcode on an employee’s phone even if it was given to them by their employer. The case involves two data analysts for Capital One who were accused of insider trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission believed it had the legal right to see […]
Nine major banks are working together to experiment with using the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The idea is more about making financial transaction records more efficient and reliable than creating or using a new currency. The project, which follows consultations of more than a year, is exploring the blockchain technology which underpins cryptocurrencies. […]
Apple says it wants to take its e-book pricing collusion case to the Supreme Court. A ruling there could fundamentally affect the way courts oversee alleged cartels in tech and beyond. With us having covered the case on several occasions, I’ll give just a short summary for anyone who missed it: Printed books are sold […]
Chicago’s attempts to put a nine percent tax on streaming services such as Netflix are to be challenged in court. The suit claims both the tax and the process by which it was introduced are unlawful. The tax, which applies to streaming service subscribers with a Chicago address, was not a new measure in itself. […]