Google, Microsoft cease six-year truce on legal disputes

The 2015 deal that saw Microsoft and Google agree not to sue each other has not been renewed, potentially because Microsoft appears to have escaped the US government's Big Tech legislation plans.
Read more: https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/06/30/google-microsoft-cease-six-year-truce-on-legal-disputes?source=Snapzu

Netflix, Amazon Must Invest 25% of French Revenues in Local Content, France Government Decrees

Streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon and Disney Plus, will soon have to invest between 20%-25% of their French revenues in French content under a new decree that was just unveiled by the French government following an 18-month process.
Read more: https://variety.com/2021/streaming/global/avms-france-netflix-new-rules-streamers-1235008364/?source=Snapzu

Facebook has become a $1 trillion company

Facebook has joined the ranks of companies valued over a trillion dollars as of today’s market close. The company’s market cap is sitting at $1.008 trillion according to Yahoo Finance, putting it over the mark for the first time in its history.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/28/22554502/facebook-1-trillion-dollar-market-cap-company-business?source=Snapzu

Facebook closes above $1 trillion market cap for the first time

Facebook stock spiked in late-day trading aided by a favorable legal ruling that dismissed an antitrust complaint brought by the FTC.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/28/facebook-hits-trillion-dollar-market-cap-for-first-time.html?source=Snapzu

In EV era, batteries are the new oil

At the very moment the United States is ramping up electric vehicle development manufacturers are running up against the weakest link in the supply chain — a shortage of battery materials. Why it matters: The bottleneck puts the United States at a major disadvantage to China, which controls most of the world's battery minerals mining and processing.
Read more: https://www.axios.com/batteries-new-oil-electric-vehicles-269fbc77-8ef6-4ae4-896b-0e3b0ed47031.html?source=Snapzu

Bank of America Okays the Crypto Approach in Developing Countries

Cryptocurrencies are financial means used outside the field of regular monetary systems. Bitcoin developed to expand the use of digital transactions, enabling a P2P transaction model. Central banks and governments have recognized the growing demand for digital currencies; some countries such as Sweden or China are progressing to become cashless.
Read more: https://dailycoin.com/bank-of-america-okays-the-crypto-approach-in-developing-countries/?source=Snapzu

Lego is finally making its iconic bricks from recycled plastic

Lego is finally on its way to making its iconic toy bricks more sustainable. The toymaker unveiled this week a prototype brick made entirely of recycled plastic — but it's not yet available in stores.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lego-bricks-prototype-recycled-plastic-bottles/?source=Snapzu

Majority of Gen Z Americans hold negative views of capitalism: Poll

Positive views of capitalism declined by double-digits among young Republicans.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/majority-gen-z-americans-hold-negative-views-capitalism-poll-1604334?source=Snapzu

How Assassin’s Creed is bolstering tourism in Ireland, Italy, and beyond

Video games are all about escaping from reality. Now they’re being used to market real-life escapes.
Read more: https://www.fastcompany.com/90648821/how-assassins-creed-is-bolstering-tourism-in-ireland-italy-and-beyond?source=Snapzu

Doximity CEO ignored Silicon Valley wisdom and built a $10 billion health-tech company

Jeff Tangney launched his first health-tech start-up, Epocrates, in the middle of the dot-com bubble. While the company survived the crash and eventually went public, the endgame was a disappointing acquisition for less than $300 million.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/27/doximity-ceo-ignored-silicon-valley-wisdom-built-10-billion-company.html?source=Snapzu

Amazon acquires secure chat app used by government agencies

Amazon’s cloud-computing business has acquired Wickr, an encrypted messaging platform used by government agencies and enterprises, the company announced Friday. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/25/amazon-acquires-wickr-secure-messaging-app-used-by-government-agencies.html?source=Snapzu

This 32-year-old's start-up is helping thousands of Malaysians find work during the pandemic

When coronavirus lockdowns forced businesses to shutter and pushed millions from their jobs earlier this year, Francesca Chia had her work cut out.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/29/this-helping-during-covid.html?source=Snapzu

Spot the robot dog's owner, Boston Dynamics, officially sold to Hyundai

Spot the friendly robot dog has a new owner. Well, the company that makes this computer-controlled pooch does. On Monday, SoftBank announced Hyundai Motor Group officially took a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, which tinkers with robots like Spot. Hyundai and SoftBank first revealed the deal last year, but as of today, Hyundai now owns a controlling stake -- at least 80% of the firm.
Read more: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/spot-robot-dog-boston-dynamics-sold-hyundai/?source=Snapzu

Jobless claims: Another 411,000 Americans filed new unemployment claims last week

The Department of Labor released its weekly report on new jobless claims Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/weekly-jobless-claims-week-ended-june-19-2021-173140590.html?source=Snapzu

'It's been heart-sickening:' A major US hospital chain has sued thousands of patients in the last year

As the coronavirus spiked in Missouri last fall, a wave of cases hit a nursing home in the state’s rural heartland. Robin Bull, a part-time nurse, remembered an ambulance “coming and going constantly” on one especially scary morning, rushing residents to Moberly Regional Medical Center, the local hospital.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/us/hospital-lawsuits-pandemic-invs/index.html?source=Snapzu

For Some Anti-Vaccine Advocates, Misinformation Is Part Of A Business

The coronavirus pandemic has created an opening for vaccine opponents to peddle alternative therapies, unproven cures and website subscriptions.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/12/993615185/for-some-anti-vaccine-advocates-misinformation-is-part-of-a-business?source=Snapzu

Peloton Treadmill Safety Update Requires $40 a Month Subscription

Peloton’s Treadmills cost between $2,500 and $4,000. They’ve also injured 70 people and killed one child. Peloton issued a recall on the treadmills after an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Those who kept the Tread+ got a nasty shock in their inbox recently: After the treadmill downloaded an update Peloton said was designed to make the device safer, users reported they could no longer run on it without paying Peloton a $39.99 per month subscription fee.
Read more: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avnzg/peloton-treadmill-safety-update-requires-dollar40-a-month-subscription?source=Snapzu

Warren Buffett gives away another $4.1 billion, resigns as trustee at Gates Foundation

Warren Buffett said Wednesday he will donate $4.1 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to five foundations, and that he will resign as the trustee at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/23/warren-buffett-gives-away-another-4point1-billion-resigns-as-trustee-at-gates-foundation.html?source=Snapzu

Billionaire defenders say their tax avoidance is perfectly legal. But is it?

A presumption of innocence is never afforded to poor people accused of petty theft. Yet billionaires benefit from it every day when it comes to taxes
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/23/billionaire-tax-avoidance-perfectly-legal?source=Snapzu

You Can Have Billionaires or You Can Have Democracy

The billionaire class isn’t just a group of people who happen to be superrich. It’s a dynastic oligarchy with a single overriding objective: controlling the government to protect its inherited wealth.
Read more: https://jacobinmag.com/2021/06/billionaire-class-superrich-oligarchy-inheritance-wealth-inequality?source=Snapzu

Growing food with air and solar power: More efficient than planting crops

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, the University of Naples Federico II, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences has found that making food from air would be far more efficient than growing crops.
Read more: https://phys.org/news/2021-06-food-air-solar-power-efficient.html?source=Snapzu

Microbes and solar power ‘could produce 10 times more food than plants’

The system would also have very little impact on the environment, in contrast to livestock farming, scientists say
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/21/microbes-and-solar-power-could-produce-10-times-more-food-than-plants?source=Snapzu

Kraft Heinz CEO on the Ketchup Shortage

Shortly before our June 2 interview, Miguel Patricio, the CEO of Kraft Heinz, had asked his head of procurement to see how the cyberattack on JBS, one of the world’s largest meat packers, could affect Kraft’s line of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts. The attack did not impact Oscar Mayer, but like other CEOs in this uncertain economy, Patricio is juggling an extraordinary confluence of challenges: rising raw-material prices, supply-chain shocks and key product outages.
Read more: https://time.com/6072227/miguel-patricio-ceo-kraft-heinz-ketchup-shortage/?source=Snapzu

American Airlines canceling hundreds of flights through mid-July in part due to labor shortages

American Airlines is canceling hundreds of flights through at least mid-July as the company strives to maintain service in the midst of massively increasing travel demand while the coronavirus pandemic continues to recede in the United States, according to a spokesperson from the airline.
Read more: https://us.cnn.com/2021/06/20/business/american-airlines-flights-canceled-labor-shortages/index.html?source=Snapzu

Space agencies are learning how to make food on Mars and the moon

As Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos rocket companies lead a new space race, NASA is working on AI and robotics to farm space plants and feed interplanetary humans.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/20/space-agencies-are-learning-how-to-farm-on-mars-and-the-moon.html?source=Snapzu

The US’s greatest danger isn’t China, it’s much closer to home

The rivalry with China is palpable but history teaches us lessons about how it’s easier to blame others than blame ourselves
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/20/the-uss-greatest-danger-isnt-china-its-much-closer-to-home?source=Snapzu

When farmers go vegan: the science behind changing your mind

A farmer recently took his lambs to a sanctuary instead of the slaughter – and these sudden turnarounds are not uncommon
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2019/jan/30/farmers-vegan-science-behind-changing-your-mind?source=Snapzu

60% of millennials earning over $100,000 say they're living paycheck to paycheck

High-earning millennials are feeling broke. Sixty percent of millennials raking in over $100,000 a year say they're living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new survey by PYMNTS and lending company LendingClub which analyzed economic data and census-balanced surveys of over 28,000 Americans.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/high-earning-henry-millennials-six-figure-salaries-feel-broke-2021-6?source=Snapzu

PayPal overhauls U.S. rates as payments rivalry heats up

PayPal Holdings Inc will lift merchant costs for its branded payment products while cutting those for behind-the-scenes processing of some Visa and Mastercard transactions, a bold move in an increasingly competitive digital payments sector.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/paypal-overhauls-us-rates-payments-competition-heats-up-2021-06-18/?source=Snapzu

Blunt force trauma a factor in half of Tassal's autopsied seal deaths, report shows

Tasmanian right-to-information documents have revealed the extent that salmon producers go to protect their harvest against seals, with the use of more than 75,000 seal crackers and almost 4,000 bean bag shots recorded over a three-year period by the industry.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-18/salmon-giant-tassal-behind-seal-deaths-and-injuries/100226774?source=Snapzu

Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo snubbed Coca-Cola. Then their market value sank $4 billion.

By the end of Ronaldo's press conference, Coca-Cola's shares had already started falling.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cristiano-ronaldo-coca-cola-market-value/?source=Snapzu

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella named chairman of the board

The change reflects the success Nadella has had in the past seven years making Microsoft more prominent in technology and business altogether.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/16/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-will-also-become-chairman-of-the-board.html?source=Snapzu

Forget Going Back to the Office—People Are Just Quitting Instead

More U.S. workers are quitting their jobs than at any time in at least two decades, signaling optimism among many professionals while also adding to the struggle companies face trying to keep up with the economic recovery.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/forget-going-back-to-the-officepeople-are-just-quitting-instead-11623576602?source=Snapzu

Samsung enters Europe with Vodafone 5G network deal in Britain

British telecoms group Vodafone (VOD.L) has chosen Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) to supply its 5G network equipment in Britain, the pair said on Monday, a breakthrough for the South Korean company in Europe's telecoms gear market.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/vodafone-opts-samsungs-5g-network-solutions-britain-2021-06-14/?source=Snapzu

Facebook will start putting ads in Oculus Quest apps

It announced ads for the mobile app last month.
Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/16/22535511/facebook-ads-oculus-quest-vr-apps?source=Snapzu

Amazon says it's all social media's fault for letting fake review schemes thrive

Won't someone else save us from our policies and our decision to forego editorial control?
Read more: https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/17/amazon_fake_reviews/?source=Snapzu

Microsoft employees slept in data centers during pandemic lockdown, exec says

Microsoft employees slept in the software company’s data centers during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, an executive said on Wednesday. While many top technology companies directed their employees to work from home after Covid showed up in the U.S. in 2020, some employees were so important that they had to work on site.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/13/microsoft-executive-says-workers-slept-in-data-centers-during-lockdown.html?source=Snapzu

Survey Shows People No Longer Believe Working Hard Will Lead To A Better Life

A growing sense of inequality is undermining trust in both society’s institutions and capitalism, according to a long-running global survey. The 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer – now in its 20th year – has found many people no longer believe working hard will give them a better life.
Read more: https://insidermag.net/survey-shows-people-no-longer-believe-working-hard-will-lead-to-a-better-life/?source=Snapzu

With Ford's electric F-150 pickup, the EV transition shifts into high gear

When President Joe Biden took Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning pickup for a test drive in Dearborn, Michigan, in May 2021, the event was more than a White House photo op. It marked a new phase in an accelerating shift from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles, or EVs.
Read more: https://theconversation.com/with-fords-electric-f-150-pickup-the-ev-transition-shifts-into-high-gear-161731?source=Snapzu

Apple and Google are forcing a rethink in advertising, ad guru Maurice Levy says

Digital privacy moves from Apple and Google are forcing the advertising industry to reconsider the way it works, Publicis Groupe’s Maurice Levy told CNBC. The chairman of the world’s third-biggest advertising company said changes to Apple’s iOS smartphone software and Google’s Chrome web browser meant advertisers were having to “revisit the whole way we are working.”
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/apple-google-force-rethink-in-advertising-industry-maurice-levy.html?source=Snapzu

Hypocrisy: Rupert Murdoch Has Always Hated Antitrust; But Now He Wants It Used Against Internet Companies Who Out Innovated Him

It's no secret that Rupert Murdoch is an extreme hypocrite. He spent decades railing against any kind of regulatory powers to hold back companies, but as soon as his own attempts to build an internet empire flopped dramatically, he's come...
Read more: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210611/14450146976/hypocrisy-rupert-murdoch-has-always-hated-antitrust-now-he-wants-it-used-against-internet-companies-who-out-innovated-him.shtml?source=Snapzu

4 million people quit their jobs in April, sparked by confidence they can find better work

The tight labor market is giving workers renewed confidence in their ability to find a better job, and they’re quitting at record rates. Some 4 million people quit their jobs in April, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary released this week, with the largest exits happening in retail trade; professional and business services; and transportation, warehousing and utilities. Workers most likely to quit live in the South, Midwest and West regions.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/09/4-million-people-quit-their-jobs-in-april-to-find-better-work.html?source=Snapzu

An Apple Detective Rediscovered 7 Kinds Of Apples Thought To Be Extinct

There are well-known types of detectives: narcotics, homicide, cyber. Add "rare apple," thanks to a Washington state retiree who recently rediscovered seven kinds, including the Almota and the Eper.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/11/1005418986/several-types-of-apples-thought-to-be-extinct-have-been-rediscovered?source=Snapzu

Fake Reviews and Inflated Ratings Are Still a Problem for Amazon

A charging brick recently caught my eye on Amazon . It was a RAVPower-branded two-port fast charger, and it had five stars with over 9,800 ratings. The score seemed suspect but Amazon itself was the seller, so I added it to my cart anyway.
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-reviews-and-inflated-ratings-are-still-a-problem-for-amazon-11623587313?source=Snapzu

How a worldwide subscription scam network was traced back to Montreal

A Montreal-based marketing firm is at the heart of a scheme involving a massive network of streaming websites that has scammed thousands of internet users out small amounts totalling hundreds of millions of dollars with promises of free unlimited access to premium content that they do not offer, a Radio-Canada investigation has found.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/subscription-scam-network-1.6061244?source=Snapzu

Amazon, eBay fight legislation that would unmask third-party sellers

Federal and state bills come as e-commerce gains ground.
Read more: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/06/amazon-ebay-fight-legislation-that-would-unmask-third-party-sellers/?source=Snapzu

Intel in talks to acquire RISC-V firm SiFive for $2 billion

Chip giant Intel has reportedly offered $2 billion to acquire SiFive, a chip startup founded in 2015 by researchers out of UC Berkeley, that designs computing cores using the RISC-V platform, which is often touted as an open source architecture.
Read more: https://www.techradar.com/nz/news/intel-in-talks-to-acquire-risc-v-firm-sifive-for-dollar2-billion?source=Snapzu

No Evil Foods, a vegan food company, laid off all its production employees after giving them an ultimatum last year about working through the pandemic

The firm lost 13% of its workforce after the ultimatum. Those who stayed through the pandemic still ended up losing their jobs in the recent layoff.
Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/no-evil-foods-lays-off-employees-covid-19-response-backlash-2021-6?source=Snapzu

The Electrification of Everything: What You Need to Know

If you’ve lost power anytime recently, you’ve come face to face with one of the fundamental truths about energy today: There are a lot of things we once could do without electricity that now require it. You’ve also come face to face with one of the hottest, and most poorly understood, buzz phrases in energy—the “electrification of everything.”
Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/electrification-of-everything-11620843173?source=Snapzu

Oatly sues UK oat milk maker over trademark

Oatly, the plant milk maker backed by Oprah Winfrey, is in a court battle with a Cambridgeshire farm over alleged trademark infringement. Lawyers for Oatly sought a High Court injunction on Thursday to stop Glebe Farm Foods selling its PureOaty brand. Oatly said it contacted the PureOaty makers in early 2020 saying "their branding infringed our trademark".
Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57425162?source=Snapzu