A federal judge joined critics in questioning Google’s controversial $700 million settlement with all 50 US states over anticompetitive Android app store practices – pointing out it would only provide small cash payouts to consumers and could protect the company from future lawsuits.US District Judge James Donato described the Google deal, which would give as little as $2 per eligible user covered in the suit and also included a set of time-limited changes to its app store practices, as “a bag of not great” ...

Google’s parent company lost more than $70 billion in market value in a single trading day after its “woke” chatbot’s bizarre image debacle stoked renewed fears among investors about its heavily promoted AI tool.Shares of Alphabet sank 4.4% to close at $138.75 in the week’s first day of trading on Monday. The Google’s parent’s stock moved slightly higher in premarket trading on Tuesday. The massive hit came after Google was forced to pause its Gemini chatbot’s image creation tool – which was churning out fa ...

Group 1 - Expedia is cutting approximately 1,500 jobs globally, representing about 9% of its total workforce, as part of its organizational and technological transformation [1] - The restructuring follows a warning from Expedia that revenue is expected to moderate in 2024 due to declining air ticket prices and the resignation of CEO Peter Kern [1] - The company anticipates total pre-tax charges and cash expenditures related to the restructuring to be between $80 million and $100 million [1] Group 2 - The travel industry is adjusting expectations for 2024, indicating a slower growth in demand [1] - Booking Holdings has also forecasted slower growth in bookings for the first quarter and the full year as US travel demand normalizes [1]

An expert panel reviewing Boeing’s safety management processes found a “disconnect” between the planemaker’s senior management and employees on safety culture and raised other concerns.The panel’s report released on Monday was directed by Congress after two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. It criticized Boeing’s safety culture on a number of fronts and found “a lack of awareness of safety-related metrics at all levels of the organization.” It also cited an “inadequate an ...

Google said it plans to relaunch its artificial intelligence image-generation software within the next few weeks after taking it offline in response to an uproar over what critics called “absurdly woke” depictions of historical images. Though the Gemini chatbot remains up and running, Google paused its image AI feature last week after it generated female NHL players, African-American vikings and Founding Fathers, as well as an Asian woman dressed in 1943 military garb when asked for an image of a Nazi-era G ...

Core Viewpoint - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and eight states are suing to block Kroger's $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons, citing concerns over increased grocery prices for consumers [1][2]. Group 1: Legal and Regulatory Concerns - The FTC argues that the merger would eliminate competition between Kroger and Albertsons, leading to higher prices for groceries and essential household items for millions of Americans [1][4]. - The lawsuit is supported by states including Arizona, California, and Illinois, which have raised concerns about access to groceries and pharmacies in rural areas [2][4]. - The Biden administration is actively opposing large mergers that could lead to price hikes across various sectors, including groceries [4]. Group 2: Market Impact and Consumer Concerns - The merger is expected to exacerbate existing grocery price inflation, which has already strained consumer finances [4]. - Kroger has proposed divesting 413 stores and eight distribution centers to gain regulatory approval, but the FTC has deemed this proposal inadequate [5]. - Lawmakers, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have expressed opposition to the merger, highlighting its potential negative impact on consumers and suppliers [7]. Group 3: Kroger's Position - Kroger defends the merger by stating it has consistently reduced prices since 2003 and argues that blocking the deal would strengthen larger non-unionized competitors like Walmart and Amazon [2][4]. - The company claims that the merger would allow it to compete more effectively against these retail giants [2].

AT&T will credit customers a full day of service for the carrier’s more than 10-hour outage on Thursday that affected more than 70,000 users, saying it was the “right thing to do.”“I believe this approach is fully manageable while achieving the 2024 business objectives we have set for ourselves and our stated financial guidance,” CEO John Stankey told employees in a letter.Service was restored late on Thursday on AT&T’s 5G network which covers around 290 million people across the United States.An initial re ...

Google’s already left-leaning news aggregator platform Google News skewed even more off the charts in 2023, according to a recent analysis. Media company AllSides’ latest bias analysis found that 63% of articles that appeared on Google News over two weeks were from left-leaning media outlets — a 2% increase from 2022, when 61% of articles on the aggregator were from liberal outlets. By contrast, the number of right-leaning news sources picked up by Google News in 2023 was 6%, a relative improvement from the ...

Google’s Gemini chatbot is as “woke” as its revisionist history image generator.The search giant’s AI software refused to condemn pedophilia when the chatbot was asked if it is “wrong” for adults to sexually prey on children — declaring that “individuals cannot control who they are attracted to.”The question “is multifaceted and requires a nuanced answer that goes beyond a simple yes or no,” Gemini wrote, according to a screenshot posted by popular X personality Frank McCormick, known as Chalkboard Heresy, ...

Toyota is recalling 280,000 of its pickup truck and SUV models over a safety issue where the transmission may not disengage entirely when in neutral, causing the vehicles to “creep forward.”“Certain parts of the transmission may not immediately disengage when the vehicle is shifted to the neutral position,” the Japanese automaker said in a notice on Wednesday.“This can allow some engine power to continue to be transferred to the wheels and can allow the vehicle to inadvertently creep forward at a low speed ...