Amazon reportedly pressured smart-thermostat maker Ecobee to fork over data from its voice-enabled devices even when customers weren’t actively using them. When Ecobee pushed back, the e-commerce giant threatened to box the company out of high-profile selling events like Prime Day or refuse Alexa certification for future devices, according to a Wall Street Journal report Read more about Amazon Strong-arms Small Businesses to Share User Data[…]

Zachary Horwitz never made it big on the Sunset Strip — there was the uncredited part in Brad Pitt’s “Fury” and a host of roles in low-budget thrillers and horror flicks. But federal charges suggest he had acting talent, duping several financial firms out of hundreds of millions of dollars and enabling him to live Read more about Actor in Hollywood Ponzi Scheme “sold” Netflix exculsives for $690 million[…]

China’s antitrust regulators slapped a record fine on one of the country’s largest technology conglomerates, closing a months-long investigation that began last Christmas Eve and setting the precedent for the government to use anti-monopoly rules to regulate the country’s Big Tech. Alibaba Group Holding, the world’s largest e-commerce company and owner of this newspaper, was Read more about Alibaba antitrust investigation: Beijing slaps e-commerce giant Alibaba with record US$2.8 billion fine in landmark case. US antitrust still going nowhere.[…]

Signal announced on Tuesday that as a part of its latest beta, it’s adding support for a new Signal Payments feature that allows Signal users to send “privacy focused payments as easily as sending or receiving a message.” These payments are only going to be available to Android and iOS Signal users in the UK Read more about Signal Adds a New Privacy-Focused Signal Payments Feature. Some people think this is a sellout.[…]

Before he lost it all—all $20 billion—Bill Hwang was the greatest trader you’d never heard of. Starting in 2013, he parlayed more than $200 million left over from his shuttered hedge fund into a mind-boggling fortune by betting on stocks. Had he folded his hand in early March and cashed in, Hwang, 57, would have Read more about How Bill Hwang of Archegos Capital Lost $20 Billion in Two Days[…]

Finding an extra $10 charge on your groceries is enough to make most people angry, but what if you paid twice for a a $56,000 car? Tesla buyers have been reporting that they’ve been double-charged on cars for recent purchases and have had trouble contacting the company and getting their money back, according to a Read more about Tesla customers say they’ve been double-charged for their cars[…]

Google will reduce the service fee it charges Android developers from 30 per cent to 15 per cent, though only on the first $1m in Google Play revenue. […] Google’s change of heart follows a similarly structured fee abatement by Apple last year and lawsuits filed recently in the US, the UK, and Australia by Read more about Google halves Android app fee to 15% for lower-earning devs > $1m as monopolist hunters close in[…]

After years of aggressively fighting any efforts to force it to recognize its drivers as employees, on Tuesday Uber performed a U-turn on the streets of Britain and recognized all of its drivers as working for the company rather than serving as freelancers. The change is the result of a court ruling last month that Read more about Following Supreme Court ruling, Uber UK recognizes drivers as workers, offers min wage, holiday pay, pension[…]

[…] indie developer Jason Rohrer has added a new wrinkle by creating an NFT auction using artwork he commissioned from other people in 2012—long before NFTs were ever created. NFT is short for “non-fungible token,” a cryptographic token that is, unto itself, one of a kind. NFTs have been tied to images, videos, and even Read more about Game Artists Not Happy That Developer Is Selling Their Nearly Decade-Old Work As NFTs[…]

After getting $500 per month for two years without rules on how to spend it, 125 people in California paid off debt, got full-time jobs and reported lower rates of anxiety and depression, according to a study released Wednesday. The program in the Northern California city of Stockton was the highest-profile experiment in the U.S. Read more about Results of US ‘Universal Basic Income’ Program? Employment Increased[…]

Short sellers lost $664 million on Wednesday as GameStop shares spiked 104% in the final 30 minutes of trading, S3 Partners said.The stock’s 84% intraday gain on Thursday fueled another $1.19 billion in mark-to-market losses. Source: GameStop short-sellers have lost $1.9 billion in just 2 days amid the stock’s latest spike | Markets Insider

Uber drivers in the UK should be classified as workers and entitled to both paid vacation time and the minimum wage, according to a ruling Friday by Britain’s Supreme Court. But Uber’s London office is already disputing the scope and relevance of the ruling for its British drivers, insisting that its own rules have changed Read more about Uber Drivers Entitled to Paid Vacation and Minimum Wage According to UK Supreme Court[…]

I am not a cat I believe in the stock

A judge has ruled that Citibank can’t claw back more than $500m (£360m) it mistakenly paid out after outsourced staff and a senior manager made a nearly billion-dollar (£700m) user-interface blunder.The error occurred on August 11 last year, when Citibank was supposed to wire $7.8m (£5.6m) in interest payments to lenders who are propping up Read more about Citibank accidentally wired $500m back to lenders in user-interface super-gaffe – and judge says it can’t be undone[…]

Keith Gill, known as ‘Roaring Kitty’ on YouTube, allegedly duped retail investors into buying inflated stocks while hiding his sophisticated financial background.Mr Gill has downplayed his impact and rebutted claims he violated any laws.Separately, he will testify on Thursday to Congress about the “Reddit rally”.”The idea that I used social media to promote GameStop stock Read more about ‘Roaring Kitty’ GameStop investor hit with lawsuit by American idiot[…]

The new rules formalise an earlier anti-monopoly draft law released in November and clarify a series of monopolistic practices that regulators plan to crack down on. The guidelines are expected to put new pressure on the country’s leading internet services, including e-commerce sites such as Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall marketplaces or JD.com. They will Read more about China issues new anti-monopoly rules targeting its tech giants[…]

China will set up a new information platform to allow the public to track the emissions of polluting enterprises and help authorities prosecute those that break the rules or try to “evade supervision”, the environment ministry said. A total of 2.36 million companies, industrial facilities and institutions in China are legally obliged to obtain permits Read more about China to launch public platform to track, crack down on polluters[…]

Late on Wednesday, a moderator of the popular Reddit message board WallStreetBets posted several screenshots on the chat app Discord. They showed that other moderators had quietly started talking among themselves about landing a movie deal. “What’s our cut?” one of the moderators had asked in a Discord chat, according to the screenshots. By Thursday Read more about Quest for Hollywood Fame Splits Redditors at Heart of Market Frenzy[…]

Amazon will pay a $61.7 million fine to settle allegations the company had failed to properly pay out tips to its Flex delivery drivers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on Tuesday. The fine stems from a payment change the company implemented in late 2016. At the time, Amazon said Flex drivers, which use their Read more about FTC fines Amazon $61.7 million for withholding tips from Flex drivers[…]

Amazon announced on Tuesday that AWS CEO Andy Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO during the third quarter of this year. Bezos will transition to executive chair of Amazon’s board. In a statement, Bezos said: I’m excited to announce that this Q3 I’ll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy Read more about Jeff Bezos To Step Down as Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy AWS Boss to succeed[…]

Below is from the CNBC website. SLV spiked yesterday and some people will have you believe it’s the Gamestop buying and holding redditors from wallstreetbets that are pushing it. They are not. SLV is being pushed up by Capital Investments, the people the redditors are trying to destroy. Below is a list of stories from Read more about CNBC, others tell you redditors want to pump SLV, others. They don’t. SLV is owned by Citadel, the people redditors hate. It’s only about GME, AMC, BB.[…]