The hardest job in tech? Convincing start-ups to move to Sacramento
Before a techie leaves Silicon Valley for another tech hub, Sacramento is swooping in.
Technology
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
-
The thinking behind Snapchat's sports and weather filters
-
U.S. government must stop using Kaspersky Lab antivirus software. Should you switch too?
-
Intel and Waymo expand their self-driving-car collaboration
-
Video streaming pioneer Roku aims to raise up to $252 million with IPO
-
If Google invests in Lyft, what does that mean for Uber?
-
SoFi CEO steps down abruptly, facing allegations of fostering toxic culture
-
California Internet privacy bill could have nationwide sway — if it passes
L.A. TECH
MORE FROM TECHNOLOGY
-
Alphabet, Google's parent company, reportedly in talks to invest $1 billion in Lyft
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is in talks to invest $1 billion in Lyft, according to reports from Bloomberg and Axios, which cite sources with knowledge of the matter. Spokespeople for Alphabet and Lyft declined to confirm the report. The funding could come from either Google itself or CapitalG,...
-
Google faces class-action suit alleging gender pay discrimination
Google faces a new lawsuit accusing it of gender-based pay discrimination. A lawyer representing three female former Google employees is seeking class-action status for the claim. The suit, filed Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court, follows a federal labor investigation that made a preliminary...
-
Start-up Bodega learns an important branding lesson; apologizes after Internet outrage
Start-ups like to frame themselves as plucky upstarts intent on toppling bigger, entrenched rivals. This David-vs.-Goliath narrative has been used by tech firms to vilify corporate giants such as telecoms, banks, razor manufacturers and taxi companies. But on Wednesday, a start-up called Bodega...
-
New iPhones could make augmented reality a mainstream reality
The runaway success of “Pokémon Go” last year taught the world at least two things. One: Lots of people love Pokémon. And two: Creating good augmented reality — the kind that superimposes 3-D objects into the real world and convinces people they’re actually chasing a Pikachu — is really, really...
-
Apple says iPhone X's Face ID can't be easily spoofed. But your face isn't exactly private
Your passcode can be cracked, but your face is yours and yours alone. That’s the thinking behind Apple’s latest iPhone security measure, which is more high-tech and a bit more intimate than anything else on the market. With Face ID, which Apple unveiled Tuesday, owners of the company’s new top-of-the-line...
-
Apple's iPhone 8 and iPhone X: See the specs, new features and prices
-
With iPhone 8 and iPhone X, Apple creates another tier of luxury
Apple today announced two new lines of its flagship device, the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X, creating a tiered system with two phones, each better than earlier models.
-
The new iPhone and its competitors hope to make laptops obsolete
LaNada Peppers uses her Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for nearly everything. As a journalist and communications manager, the 35-year-old relies on her smartphone to take photos, update social media, write stories, book interviews, capture video and send emails. When she needs to type fast, she connects...
-
DreamHost considers fighting order to cough up info on visitors of anti-Tump website
Executives from a Los Angeles-based tech company said they are weighing whether to fight a judge's order to provide prosecutors with email addresses and other information from people who visited an anti-Trump website in the months leading to Inauguration Day. The company, DreamHost, filed a motion...
-
Apple's new iPhone will probably cost more than a MacBook Air
Is a phone worth a mortgage payment? That’s what consumers may be asking themselves when Apple unveils its newest iPhone on Tuesday. The latest iteration of one of America’s most indispensable products is expected to come in at a record price befitting a laptop. Analysts expect the entry-level...
-
South Korean court rejects Qualcomm's antitrust challenge
Qualcomm Inc. has lost its legal bid in South Korea to postpone implementation of changes in the way it licenses cellular patents — moves that were called for last year by that country’s anti-monopoly regulator. The San Diego company confirmed late Monday that the Seoul High Court had denied Qualcomm’s...
-
Your face may become your iPhone password
One of the major new features expected in the next iPhone is a new way to unlock the smartphone: with your face. At first blush, this may not sound like a big deal. Android has had a version of facial recognition in its operating system, called Face Unlock, since 2011. Samsung, Apple's chief smartphone...
-
To understand how dominant tech companies are, see what they lobby for
A firing this week by a Washington think tank has exposed the deep and often hidden influence of tech companies that are driving key governmental decisions affecting people both on and off the Internet. On Wednesday, the New America Foundation — a think tank funded by Google as well as one of its...
-
Dollar Shave Club succeeded with razors, but the rest of the bathroom is a challenge
Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club thinking it could sell more lucrative products than razors and win over consumers abroad. But Act Two, as founder Michael Dubin calls it, isn't going to be easy.
-
Tech leaders call on Trump administration to preserve DACA program
Dozens of tech industry leaders have signed a letter expressing concern about reports that President Trump is considering ending a program that protected from deportation more than 750,000 people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The open letter, released Thursday by tech industry...
-
Apple breaks its silence on net neutrality, saying: Don't repeal the rules
Apple Inc. has broken its silence on net neutrality with a filing at the Federal Communications Commission, urging regulators to avoid repealing large swaths of the regulations that are aimed at constraining Internet service providers. The filing calls for "retain[ing] strong, enforceable open...
-
Local scientists invent formula for stretchable batteries
Chemical engineering researcher-turned-entrepreneur Lu Yin isn’t the kind of arresting public speaker who can blow anyone away with his charisma or magnetism. That mattered little on Friday, when Yin, 22, pitched his battery tech company, Ocella, to a panel of judges in the semi-final portion of...
-
Benchmark's lawsuit against ousted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will go to arbitration
It must have been a bittersweet day for Travis Kalanick, the co-founder and former chief executive of Uber. Hours after watching his replacement, incoming CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, address employees for the first time at an all-hands meeting, Kalanick, who was pressured to resign from the company...
-
It's your last chance to weigh in on net neutrality rules
This is the last week to submit comments to federal regulators who want to undo the government's net neutrality rules for Internet service providers in a move that could have sweeping implications for the future of the Web. The push to weaken or eliminate the rules has been met with praise from...
-
Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi accepts job as Uber’s new CEO
Dara Khosrowshahi, the low-profile chief executive of travel booking company Expedia, on Tuesday accepted an offer to be Uber’s next CEO. In an email sent to Uber employees two days after offering him the job, the company’s board of directors confirmed Khosrowshahi’s appointment. “We’re really...
-
Whisper loses high-profile board members as co-founders seek to regain control
Two high-profile board members at the anonymous social media app Whisper have departed in recent months amid an unusual effort by the start-up’s co-founders to take back control of the company. Since becoming a hot attraction on Los Angeles’ start-up scene around 2014, Whisper has struggled to...
-
Uber says it'll stop tracking riders after they're dropped off
Uber will end a controversial policy of tracking some riders for five minutes after their trip ends, the ride-hailing company said Tuesday as it tries to repair its privacy reputation. Uber was criticized by users and privacy advocates when it announced last year that it would collect location...
-
Riot Games and Annenberg Foundation bring classes on making video games to L.A. schools
Games for Change, a program meant to spur interest in science, technology, engineering and math careers, arrives in Los Angeles for the first time.
-
Little name recognition, little baggage: why Uber chose Dara Khosrowshahi as its new CEO
In its search for a new chief executive, Uber’s board of directors could have chosen a leader with national name recognition and decades of experience at the helm of some of the world's best-known companies — someone like Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman or departing General Electric...
-
Who is Uber's pick for CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi?
Dara Khosrowshahi beat out the likes of Hewlett Packard Enterprises CEO Meg Whitman and outgoing GE CEO Jeff Immelt for the top spot at Uber. So who is he?
-
Uber picks up new CEO from Expedia
Uber has chosen Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of travel booking website Expedia, to be its new chief executive, according to a source unauthorized to comment publicly. Khosrowshahi’s reported appointment ends Uber’s hunt to replace the company’s controversial co-founder and former chief...
-
Uber halts Oakland expansion, considers selling building
Uber pumped the brakes on its expansion into Oakland, confirming Thursday evening that it is exploring the sale of a building it bought in the city’s Uptown neighborhood to serve as one of its main offices only two years ago. A sale of the $123.5-million building, which formerly was a Sears department...
-
Apple removes all Iranian apps from its App Store
Apple Inc. has removed all Iranian apps from its App Store, a move the technology giant attributed to U.S. economic sanctions, reports said. The New York Times reported Thursday that popular apps for food delivery, ride-hailing and other services in Iran have been removed in recent weeks. Citing...
-
1 million people pay nothing for cellphone service, so how does FreedomPop make money?
FreedomPop, a Los Angeles start-up, has been copied by T-Mobile, nearly purchased by Sprint and a partner to carriers around the world. What's next?
-
Crowdfunding campaign's goal: Buy Twitter, then ban Trump
Former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson is looking to raise enough money to buy Twitter so President Trump can’t use it. Wilson launched the crowdfunding campaign last week, tweeting: “If @Twitter executives won’t shut down Trump’s violence and hate, then it’s up to us. #BuyTwitter #BanTrump.”...
-
Up from the ashes: Samsung unveils its Note 8 phone
Samsung is trying to move past last year's disastrous Galaxy Note 7 launch with a successor sporting a dual-lens camera, animated messages, expanded note-taking — and lower battery capacity. The South Korean tech giant is no longer trying to squeeze more battery power into each phone. Last year's...
-
Depressed but can't see a therapist? This chatbot could help
Could a chatbot help those who can't access traditional mental healthcare?
-
Google's newest Android operating system gets its official name: Oreo
At the height of the day’s solar eclipse in New York, Google finally revealed the name of its latest Android operating system — in honor of another dark disc: the Oreo. The company turned the beloved cookie into a superhero based on the familiar Android robot logo. Google traditionally names its...
-
Elon Musk and AI experts urge U.N. to ban artificial intelligence in weapons
Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has joined dozens of CEOs of artificial intelligence companies in signing an open letter urging the United Nations to ban the use of AI in weapons before the technology gets out of hand. The letter was published Monday — the same day the U.N.’s Group of...
-
Uber's Travis Kalanick punches back against the Benchmark lawsuit targeting him
Uber’s co-founder and former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, has struck back at venture capital firm Benchmark. In seeking to dismiss a fraud lawsuit Benchmark filed against him, he called the suit a “smear campaign” and characterized the firm’s partners as ruthless opportunists who staged an...
-
Personal data of 1.8 million Chicago voters accidentally exposed by vendor
Data on 1.8 million Chicago voters, including addresses, phone numbers and partial Social Security numbers, were left exposed on a downloadable cloud-storage site operated by an Omaha election-services company until a cybersecurity researcher discovered it, the company said Thursday. The data appeared...
-
Cyberattack cost Maersk as much as $300 million and disrupted operations for 2 weeks
A June cyberattack that snarled shipping terminal operations worldwide — and briefly shut down the Port of Los Angeles’ largest cargo terminal — has cost the Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk $200 million to $300 million, the company said this week. The unprecedented attack forced workers...
-
Cutting off white supremacists: Apple Pay, Cloudflare and PayPal join the trend
Apple, Cloudflare and PayPal have joined the parade of companies cutting off services to white nationalists after an anti-racist counter-protester was killed and others were injured in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend. In statements circulated among employees and published online, the companies...
-
Snap executives sell $9 million worth of stock at first opportunity
Three of Snap Inc.’s top executives sold their first batch of company shares, picking up an estimated $9.3 million, according to federal disclosures. Employees at the Snapchat maker became free Monday to sell shares awarded through options or other compensation plans. Restrictions in place after...
-
Neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer accused of defamation by radio host, as it's 'completely banned from the Internet'
A Muslim American radio host is accusing the operator of a notorious neo-Nazi website of defaming him by falsely labeling him the “mastermind” of a deadly concert bombing in England, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. SiriusXM Radio host Dean Obeidallah sued the Daily Stormer's publisher,...
-
Corporate America voices its strongest repudiation yet of Trump as councils disband
America’s top business executives may have bristled over President Trump's ban on refugees, his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and his decision to bar transgender Americans from the military. But it wasn’t until the embattled president all but defended white supremacists in the aftermath...
-
What the 15 top executives who quit Trump's business councils said about why they left
The executive defections accelerated after what many saw as Trump's defense of white supremacists on Tuesday. Then he shut the councils down.
-
Obama tweeted a response to the Charlottesville violence. It's now the most 'liked' in Twitter history
Barack Obama just made Twitter history. The former president tweeted a Nelson Mandela quote on the day of violent chaos in Charlottesville. He included a photo taken of him in 2011 on a visit to his daughter Sasha’s school in Bethesda, Md. With more than 2.8 million likes already, it’s the most...
-
Uber settles with FTC over 'God View' and some other privacy issues
Uber has agreed to settle accusations by America’s top consumer protection agency that the ride-hailing company failed to protect consumers’ sensitive data, a misstep that allowed employees to access rider and driver information and led to a data breach in 2014 that exposed thousands of drivers’...
-
Justice Department wants data on anti-Trump protesters. An L.A. tech firm is resisting
A Los Angeles tech company is resisting a federal demand for more than 1.3 million IP addresses to identify who visited a website set up to coordinate protests on President Trump’s Inauguration Day — a request whose breadth the company says violates the Constitution. "What we have is a sweeping...
-
Los Angeles plans to launch a cybersecurity threat-sharing group with city businesses
Cyber Lab L.A., organized as a nonprofit, plans to share information about online threats between the public and private sectors.
-
Google and GoDaddy boot neo-Nazi website that mocked the woman slain in Charlottesville
A leading neo-Nazi website continued to be accessible Monday despite efforts by website registration companies Google and GoDaddy to oust it after it mocked the woman killed in a deadly attack at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. Google said Monday that it was canceling the domain name registration...