Technology

Bloomberg Alphabet Inc.’s Google is halving the percentage it takes from app developers on sales through its Google Play store, following a similar move by rival Apple Inc. last year. The Mountain View, California-based internet giant said it’s reducing the fees to 15% from 30% for the first $1 million in revenue on sales of apps and in-app-purchases each year. ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s advertising tool used to monetise some of its own apps and services is the target of a new complaint in France. France Digitale, a lobby group representing startups and venture capital firms, filed the complaint, saying that Apple’s own advertising system doesn’t seek a user’s consent for receiving targeted ads. The complaint focuses on an Apple feature ...

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. has detected and blocked a “new family of ransomware” that was being used against servers that still hadn’t patched vulnerabilities after last week’s major security breach. The updates are a temporary measure to defend against attacks, which were already occurring in many places, the company said. The company discovered suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers were exploiting previously unknown ...

Bloomberg Instagram will give a small number of creators in India the option to share their short video clips on Facebook Inc.’s main social network as part of a new test. Facebook is running a trial in India in which users can share Instagram Reels, short video clips with augmented-reality effects, in the news feed of the main blue app. ...

Bloomberg Google is under growing pressure to pay for information that, for two decades, the search provider snipped from the web — and made a mint from — without paying a penny. Australian and French efforts to force Google to compensate news publishers are only the latest examples of a trend spanning the globe. Canada is considering a similar requirement ...

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. revealed additional details about its plans to build a cutting-edge semiconductor facility in the US in a filing with the Texas government, making the disclosure as the Biden administration vows to make the security of the US chip supply a national priority. The South Korean company plans to invest about $17 billion in its Project Silicon ...

Bloomberg India led the world last year in internet shutdowns that affected hundreds of millions of people, as governments cracked down on political rivals and tried to suppress protests. At least 155 internet shutdowns in 2020 disrupted access for people in 29 countries, according to a report from digital rights group Access Now. That included 28 full internet blackouts that ...

Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co. took the wraps off a high-end foldable smartphone to try and stake out a place in the fast-expanding category, revealing that revenue and profit barely grew in 2020 at the height of Trump-era sanctions. China’s largest technology company is trying to keep its shrinking mobile gadgets business alive despite dwindling expectations that Washington will roll back ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is working on a magnetically attached battery pack for the newest iPhones, an accessory that would wirelessly charge the handset and provide the company with another potentially lucrative add-on product. Apple has been developing the attachment for at least a year and it has been scheduled to launch in the months following the release of the iPhone ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is in discussions with multiple suppliers of self-driving car sensors known as lidar, according to people familiar with the matter, a key milestone towards development of its first passenger vehicle. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant is in active talks with a number of potential suppliers for these laser-based sensors that allow a car’s computer to “see” its ...