Category: Media & Big Tech

San Francisco Police Chief Releases Statement After Cash App Founder Bob Lee Stabbed to Death

The San Francisco police chief has released a statement following the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee in the city on April 4. Lee, 43, was found by officers in the early hours of Tuesday morning suffering from apparent stab wounds and transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to the San Francisco Police…


Twitter Labels NPR as ‘State-Affiliated Media’ as Elon Musk Says It ‘Seems Accurate’

National Public Radio (NPR) was listed by Twitter as a “US state-affiliated media” on Tuesday, drawing outrage from staffers at the outlet. Twitter owner Elon Musk weighed in on the designation, writing that it “seems accurate” to call NPR “state-affiliated.” He pointed to Twitter’s Help Center, which noted that “state-affiliated media is defined as outlets…


Cash App Founder Stabbed to Death in San Francisco

Bob Lee, the creator of the mobile payment service Cash App and the former chief technology officer of Square, has been stabbed to death in San Francisco. The 43-year-old tech executive was found by officers in the early hours of April 4, after suffering multiple stab wounds. The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) said there had…


Apple Music Trademark Application Blocked by US Appeals Court

Apple Inc. lost a bid to register part of a federal trademark for “Apple Music” on Tuesday after a U.S. appeals court ruled for a jazz musician who challenged the tech giant’s application. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Apple’s argument that it had priority over trumpeter Charlie Bertini’s “Apple Jazz”…


More Dangerous: Humans or AI?

Commentary I was on an Australian TV program last week when the host, a respected and long-serving figure of the conservative media, decided to allow ChatGPT (an AI text generator) to draft the next segment about itself. As he was reading the AI-generated script from the prompter, it sounded perfectly reasonable—albeit hollow and devoid of…


Google Workers in London Stage Walkout Over Job Cuts

LONDON—Hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout at the company’s London offices on Tuesday, following a dispute over layoffs. In January, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced it was laying off 12,000 employees worldwide, equivalent to 6 percent of its global workforce. The move came amid a wave of job cuts across corporate America, particularly in…


Greens Call Tiktok Ban a Publicity Stunt, Opposition Wants Nationwide Ban

The Greens have called the federal government’s decision to ban TikTok on all government devices a publicity stunt to mask the Albanese government’s failings on data privacy across the social media spectrum. Greens party digital rights spokesperson, Senator David Shoebridge, said that banning TikTok is not a serious reform and argued it could just be…


TikTok Fined $15.9 Million in the UK

A British data watchdog imposed a fine of £12.7 million ($15.9 million) on the video-sharing application TikTok on Tuesday over an alleged breach of data protection law. The accusation was, among others, that TikTok processed the data of children under the age of 13 without their parents’ consent. UK data-protection law says that organizations that use…


TikTok Banned on Australian Government Devices

The Australian government has banned the social media app Tiktok from all government devices following a security review by Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil amid ongoing international concern. The ban, which was announced on April 4 by Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, will prohibit any government-issued devices used by politicians and public servants from installing…


Roku to Cut 6 Percent of Workforce as Tech Layoffs Rise Over 60,000 So Far in 2023

Roku, the digital streaming device maker, announced another round of layoffs, as the number of job losses in the tech industry rises over 60,000 in 2023. The company said it would lay off another 200 workers, or 6 percent of its workforce, in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on March 30, a few months after cutting…