Meta says not planning ads on WhatsApp
Meta on Friday disputed a media report that claimed the social giant was exploring bringing ads on the popular messaging app WhatsApp. Financial Times reported that some teams at Meta had evaluated whether to show ads in lists of conversations with contacts on the WhatsApp home screen. In a statement,
Read moreAutoworkers strike begins at Ford, GM, Stellantis plants
The United Autoworkers Union (UAW) will go through with threats to strike against the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — after both sides failed to reach a deal. This is the first time in history that all three automakers have been hit by strikes at once.
Read moreRevel, the car subscription startup from Spain, raises $123M to take its business up a gear
The market for car sales has been on rocky ground in the last several years as consumers, facing tougher economic conditions, get presented with an ever-larger range of alternatives, from ride-hailing apps and multimodal alternatives through to new propositions for private car use. Today, a startup out of Spain called
Read moreCalifornia’s right to repair bill heads to Governor’s desk
California state Assembly has voted in favor of a right to repair legislation that increases consumer ability to fix devices at home. After winding its way through state legislature, the bill is headed to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. Senate Bill 244 isn’t the first right to repair bill passed by
Read moreBose upgrades its QuietComfort line
Seeing as how 700 is the largest number known to humankind, Bose has shifted into Ultra mode for its top of the line QuietComfort wireless headphones. The QuietComfort 700s were received (as high-end Bose headphones tend to be), but it’s been four years since they hit the market, making them
Read moreRivian CEO’s plan to make EVs cheaper starts with their computers
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe provided more details Thursday on the company’s plans to update the hardware in its EVs next year — under a program internally called Peregrine — that he says will result in major cost savings. One of the biggest payoffs? Changing the electronic control unit (ECU) architecture
Read moreGM boosts wage offer as autoworker strike deadline approaches
General Motors said Thursday it boosted its contract offer to a 20% wage hike for U.S. autoworkers, including 10% in the first year, in a move to avoid a strike that is scheduled to begin at 11:59 p.m. if no deal is agreed on. The strike by the United Auto
Read moreFrench battery maker Verkor scores $2.1B to build gigafactory
Another day another monster raise for an EV battery company. This time it’s Verkor, the Renault-backed french battery builder, which said on Thursday that it secured “more than €2 billion” — roughly $2.1 billion USD — to speed up construction of its Dunkirk gigafactory. Verkor produces pouch and cylindrical battery
Read moreCalifornia hits Google for $93M over deceptive location data options
A lawsuit filed against Google by California’s Attorney General over the company’s deceptive and misleading options for managing location data has resulted in a $93 million settlement — and new protections for consumers in the state. As detailed in an incredibly straightforward complaint, Google in several ways appeared to promise
Read moreOracle brings its database infrastructure to Microsoft Azure
Days after Oracle missed Q1 2023 revenue expectations and gave a downbeat rest-of-year outlook, sending its share price to suffer the worst one-day performance in 21 years, the cloud provider announced a team-up with Microsoft to co-locate a portion of its infrastructure in the Azure cloud. The unusual new offering,
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