Paris, France | AFP | Tech giants love to portray themselves as forces for good and as the United States was gripped by anti-racism protests a number of them publicly disavowed selling controversial facial recognition technology to police forces. Facial recognition has numerous applications that could simplify our lives as we’ve …
Read More »‘Bada… Bing… Bang’? HBO throws out rulebook with streaming launch
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Decades before glossy Netflix and Amazon shows began luring Hollywood A-listers to the small screen, cable network HBO helped invent premium television. Now the home of “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Game of Thrones” is scrambling to catch up with its newfound online …
Read More »A world redrawn: virus a ‘genocide’ threat for Amazon, warns Salgado
Paris, France | AFP | Legendary photographer Sebastiao Salgado has warned of a “genocide” of the Amazon’s indigenous peoples if the Brazilian government does not do more to protect them from the coronavirus. The country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro — who has dismissed the virus as a “little flu” — has …
Read More »British supermarkets threaten Brazil boycott over Amazon land law
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Leading British supermarket chains have warned Brazil they may be forced to boycott its goods if lawmakers in the South American country pass a bill that would “encourage further land grabbing” in the Amazon. In an open letter to Brazilian senators and deputies, the companies …
Read More »Amazon hit from all sides as crisis highlights growing power
San Francisco, United States | AFP | As Amazon becomes an increasingly important lifeline in the pandemic crisis, it is being hit with a wave of criticism from activists, politicians and others who question the tech giant’s growing influence. Amazon has become the most scrutinized company during the health emergency. It …
Read More »As earnings loom, Big Tech to highlight pandemic efforts
Washington, United States | AFP | Big Tech firms set to report quarterly results in the coming days are facing the challenge of spotlighting their roles battling the coronavirus pandemic without seeming as though they are cashing in on upheaval from the health crisis. The normal talk on profits and revenue …
Read More »Amazon workers protest over virus safety
New York, United States | AFP | Amazon warehouse employees and Instacart delivery workers joined protests Monday to press safety demands, highlighting the risks for workers on the front lines of supplying Americans largely sheltering at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 50 to 60 employees joined a walkout …
Read More »Pentagon ‘wishes to reconsider’ awarding JEDI contract to Microsoft
San Francisco, United States | AFP | The US Department of Defense said Thursday it wants to reconsider its decision to award a multi-billion-dollar military cloud computing contract to Microsoft in a bidding process Amazon claims was tainted by politics. A judge last month issued an order at Amazon’s request temporarily …
Read More »Bezos launches $10 bn fund to combat climate change
Washington, United States | AFP | His company is often criticized for its environmental record, but Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world’s richest man, said Monday that he was committing $10 billion to a new fund to tackle climate change. In a post to his 1.4 million followers on …
Read More »Cloud computing: invisible, versatile and highly profitable
San Francisco, United States | AFP | With each passing quarter, Amazon, Microsoft and Google have been setting new records, while cloud computing has become the invisible backbone supporting much of our daily lives. Its potential to become an even bigger part of people’s daily existence is sky-high. – Uses – …
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