Technology

Bloomberg Sennheiser’s HD 25 headphone was not originally designed for DJs. Though today it’s considered an essential piece of equipment behind the decks—worn by the likes of Calvin Harris, Luciano, Richie Hawtin, Martin Solveig, and scores of other boldface names—they were first designed in 1988 for broadcast booths and recording engineers. In 1989, the German audio company started supplying the ...

Bloomberg In the wake of the historic global economic shutdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments are unleashing trillions of dollars in a bid to create jobs and spur economic recovery. The scale of this stimulus is unprecedented, in some cases amounting to more than 10% of countries’ gross domestic product. At the same time, an overwhelming number of ...

Bloomberg Zoom Video Communications Inc. soared to a record with a rally in the last hour of trading helping the company close with a market value above $50 billion for the first time. The maker of video conferencing software rose 9.7% to $179.48, giving it a market value of $50.6 billion, bigger than tractor maker Deere & Co. and pharmaceutical ...

Bloomberg As Japan’s second female astronaut to fly up in the Space Shuttle Discovery, Naoko Yamazaki didn’t expect to spend a quarter of her time dusting, feeding mice and doing other menial jobs. It can cost more than $430 million a year to keep an astronaut in orbit, according to three-year-old startup called Gitai Inc. It’s only possible to keep ...

Bloomberg Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp are in firing line as Europe’s leading privacy watchdog for US tech giants edges closer to delivering its first major sanctions under the region’s tough data-protection rules. The Irish Data Protection Commission said on May 22 that it finalized a draft decision linked to a data breach at Twitter and has asked its ...

Bloomberg In recent months, Audible, the audiobook service owned by Amazon.com Inc., has been meeting with talent agencies and producers to discuss acquiring potential new podcast projects—or, in the terminology that Audible prefers, “Audible Originals.” Audible is offering anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars per show, more than every competitor except Spotify Technology SA. ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. plans to hire more remote workers in areas where the company doesn’t have an office, and let some current employees work from home permanently if they’d like to. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the firm plans to “aggressively open up remote hiring” starting immediately with the US, particularly for engineering talent. Based on internal employee surveys, ...

Bloomberg With much of the US and Europe in lockdown, video-game use has exploded. It’s become a way for millions of quarantined people to pass the time and stay connected to others without spreading coronavirus — and health officials have applauded the idea. But for some percentage of users, the binge comes with a dark side: internet and gaming addiction. ...

Bloomberg Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to spend $12 billion building a chip plant in Arizona, a decision designed to allay US national security concerns and shift more high-tech manufacturing to America. TSMC said it will start construction of its next major fabrication facility in 2021, to be completed by 2024. While the investment falls short of its previous expenditure ...

Bloomberg Voodoo SAS’s backers are exploring the sale of a stake in the French mobile game developer, people with knowledge of the matter said. Shareholders of Voodoo are working with an adviser as they consider selling part or all of their holdings in the company, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. ...