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WhatsApp to drop subscription fees, no plans to launch ads

18Jan By reutersNo Comments

News

WhatsApp to drop subscription fees, no plans to launch ads

Mobile messaging service WhatsApp, owned by Facebook Inc, said it will no longer charge annual subscription fees and plans to test tools to allow users to communicate directly with businesses and organizations via the app. WhatsApp, which has 900 million users worldwide and works across different types of phones, said it does not plan to launch third-party advertising to generate revenue. It only charges an annual subscription fee of 99 U.S. cents or the equivalent, which is waived for the first year, and said it would end its subscription fees over the next several weeks. It will test tools that allow users to communicate with businesses and organizations on WhatsApp, rather than through text messages and phone calls. "That could mean communicating with your bank about whether...

Twitter Sued By U.S. Widow for Helping Islamic State

15Jan By reutersNo Comments

USA

Twitter Sued By U.S. Widow for Helping Islamic State

(Reuters)- Twitter is being sued by the widow of an American killed in Jordan, who accuses the social media company of giving a voice to Islamic State, adding to the pressure to crack down on online propaganda linked to terrorism. Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in the Nov. 9 attack on the police training center in Amman, said Twitter knowingly let the militant Islamist group use its network to spread propaganda, raise money and attract recruits. Lawyers specializing in terrorism said Fields faces an uphill battle though the case could lead to more calls for social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook Inc to take down posts associated with terrorist groups. In her complaint filed on Wednesday, Fields said San Francisco-based Twitter had until recently g...

China’s Baidu in talks with Indian e-commerce start-ups for funding

13Jan By reutersNo Comments

BUSINESS, News

China’s Baidu in talks with Indian e-commerce start-ups for funding

Baidu Inc, a Chinese web services company, is in talks to invest in Indian e-commerce start-ups including Zomato, BookMyShow and BigBasket, a spokesman for China's top online search provider said on Wednesday. "The Indian market represents an enormous opportunity for us to connect more people with services, and we plan to put more resources there in the future," the spokesman told Reuters by email. Baidu declined to comment on possible investment amounts or time frames. India's technology start-up market is booming as more and more people shop online, in a country where about 20 percent of a population of 1.3 billion are connected to the Internet. The e-commerce market could grow in terms of the value of goods sold to $220 billion by 2025 from $11 billion in 2015, Bank of America Merr...

13Jan By reutersNo Comments

CHINA

China’s richest man buys Hollywood studio Legendary for $3.5 billion

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has bought U.S. film studio Legendary Entertainment for about $3.5 billion, turning its chairman into a Hollywood movie mogul as China's richest man steps up a drive to diversify his business empire overseas. At a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday, Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin said he plans to package Legendary, behind hits like "Jurassic World", with existing movie production assets in China and sell shares in the merged operation in an initial public offering (IPO). The move makes Wanda the first Chinese firm to own a major Hollywood studio - a sign of the country's growing power in the global movie world, industry watchers said. "Wanda Cinema already has made tremendous development in China, but it isn't enough," said Wang, whose personal ...

11Jan By reutersNo Comments

CHINA, News

Uber drives into China tourism industry

Uber Technologies Inc said on Monday its China unit will get an undisclosed amount of investment from Chinese firm HNA Group as part of a partnership of the U.S. ride-hailing firm with the aviation and shipping conglomerate. The partnership, which marks Uber's ambitions to break into China's huge tourism industry, includes an array of transportation services to and from airports and for HNA flights, as well as online financing for the automotive sector. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in Beijing he envisions a system where customers can seamlessly move from traveling within a city to between and outside cities, built on a global series of partnerships. Uber's partnership with HNA Group comes as it and rival Didi Kuaidi vie to forge ties with influential Chinese companies with long-e...

Apple registers automobile domain names, including “apple.car”

9Jan By reutersNo Comments

Automobile, News

Apple registers automobile domain names, including “apple.car”

Apple Inc has registered domain names related to automobiles, adding to speculation about the company's plans to develop an automobile. The iPhone maker registered the domain names, which include apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto in December, according to domain information provider Who.is. MacRumors had first reported the news on Friday, but said the domain names could be related to Apple's CarPlay, which lets drivers access contacts on their iPhones, make calls or listen to voicemails without taking their hands off the steering wheel. While never openly acknowledging plans to build a car, Apple has been aggressive in recruiting auto experts from companies such as Ford or Mercedes-Benz. Car technology has become a prime area of interest for Silicon Valley companies includin...

White House, Silicon Valley to hold summit on militants’ social media use: Report

8Jan By reutersNo Comments

USA

White House, Silicon Valley to hold summit on militants’ social media use: Report

Senior White House officials and U.S. intelligence and law enforcement figures will meet with Silicon Valley executives on Friday to discuss how to counter the use of social media by militant groups, sources familiar with the meeting said on Thursday. In an escalation of pressure on technology firms to do more to combat online propaganda from groups such as Islamic State, the meeting follows attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, that underscored the role played by social media companies such as Twitter Inc, Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Facebook Inc. Invited participants include White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, presidential counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, National Intelligence Director James Clapper an...

Facebook’s Messenger app passes 800 million users

8Jan By reutersNo Comments

News

Facebook’s Messenger app passes 800 million users

Facebook Inc's Messenger app surpassed 800 million users, the company said on Thursday, making it the fastest-growing app of 2015 according to research firm Nielsen. The means Messenger, which Facebook created as a standalone app in 2014, has more active monthly users than rivals Snapchat and Viber, but still lags the 900 million using WhatsApp, also owned by Facebook. WhatsApp was one of the first apps to let people send and receive free text messages on smartphones, bypassing network charges. Messenger users can also exchange messages, but the app also offers free video calling and some business services. "One of the things we have to work on this year is this perception or mindset that Messenger is only to speak with your Facebook friends," said Messenger head David Marcus in...