James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Trump nominates antitrust lawyer Joe Simons to head FTC
President Donald Trump Wednesday has nominated antitrust lawyer Joe Simons as the next head of the Federal Trade Commission, an agency of ever-increasing importance to the technology industry’s giants. Simons has for some time been a prominent antitrust lawyer working in Washington D.C., representing companies such as Microsoft Corp. White House officials also said nominated ...
Magic Leap confirms $502 million Series D round for still-unreleased product
Florida-based augmented reality startup Magic Leap Inc. today announcement it has raised $502 million in a late-stage funding. This confirms reports last month that said the Series E round of $500 million was in the bag, and the round means the company has now raised about $1.9 billion. The new round was led by Temasek ...
US Supreme Court to decide on Microsoft email privacy case
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to take on a landmark case between the federal government and Microsoft Corp. The court will hear an appeal by the Trump administration following a lower court’s ruling that prevented law enforcement from using a traditional search warrant to obtain emails stored on servers in Dublin, Ireland, in a ...
Amazon Studios boss Roy Price suspended after sexual harassment claims
Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, has been put on a leave of absence following allegations that he sexually harassed a producer and also turned a blind eye to an actress’ claim that she had been sexually assaulted by producer Harvey Weinstein. “Roy Price is on leave of absence effective immediately,” Amazon.com Inc. said in a ...
Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg see virtual reality through different eyes
Speaking at an event held at Oxford University Wednesday, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook threw cold water on the future of virtual reality. At almost the same time halfway across the world, Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was extolling the virtues of VR now and into the future. When asked a question from a student about ...
Apple to team with Steven Spielberg to bring back ’80s TV series ‘Amazing Stories’
Apple Inc.’s first major push into creating original programming will be a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1980s TV series, “Amazing Stories.” Earlier this year, it was reported that Apple would invest $1 billion over the next year to create several shows and movies and get a foothold in the streaming business. According to reports, this ...
YouTube bans gun modification videos in wake of Las Vegas shooting
Following the shooting spree in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, YouTube has banned tutorial videos that helped gun enthusiasts to modify their weapon to fire more rapidly. The Google LLC-owned site said it had taken down videos that featured something called a “bump stock,” a $100 attachment to a semiautomatic rifle that can make ...
Facebook’s chief security officer takes to Twitter to defend company over ‘the algorithm’
Facebook Inc. Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos unleashed a series of tweets Saturday defending his employer regarding allegations Facebook hasn’t done enough to combat the spread of fake news. “I am seeing a ton of coverage of our recent issues driven by stereotypes of our employees and attacks against fantasy, strawman tech cos,” wrote Stamos (pictured). ...
Social security numbers as IDs have to go, says White House official
The Social Security number as Americans know it could be coming to an end as the Trump administration mulls a more modern kind of identification following the massive hack of U.S. consumer credit reporting agency Equifax Inc. Speaking on Tuesday at the Washington Post’s Cybersecurity Summit, White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce said that the ...
Facebook says 10M people saw Russian-bought political ads
Facebook Inc. Monday turned over 3,000 ads to Congress related to a Russian misinformation campaign that was intended to sway the hearts and minds of the American public. According to a report in the New York Times, the ads covered a broad spectrum of sensitive issues in the U.S., with the faux-American accounts espousing opinions ...