James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Walmart will now start sending goods to people’s homes by drone in Arkansas
If you live close to Walmart Inc.’s store in Farmington, Arkansas, you may soon receive your first delivery via drone. The retail giant announced today that it has teamed up with DroneUp LLC, a Virginia-based startup that focuses on drone technology. The partnership will mean its drone engineers will ensure the packages arrive at the ...
US states to investigate harm Instagram does to young people
A bipartisan group of U.S. state attorneys general has begun an investigation into Instagram, it was announced today. So far it looks as though nine states are on board. The investigation comes on the back of recent news that Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook Inc., knew that its Instagram app was causing mental harm to ...
Major UK supermarket chain becomes first to use Amazon’s cashierless technology
J Sainsbury PLC, the second-biggest grocery store chain in the U.K., will become the first in the country to open a store using Amazon.com Inc.’s Just Walk Out technology. According to Bloomberg, which first reported the story today, the AI-powered store will open on Nov. 29 in London. On its own website, Sainsbury’s calls the ...
Meta battles its first major lawsuit since changing name from Facebook
Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook Inc., was hit with a lawsuit today over the allegation that the company knew the harms its algorithm caused to the public and yet did nothing about it. The suit comes on the back of a series of exposes pointing to myriad issues at Meta, one of them being that the company was ...
Universal Music is forming a band, made up of very expensive virtual apes
Universal Music Group today said it’s starting a music group made up of four virtual apes that are nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. The band, called Kingship, looks very much like what the musician Damon Albarn came up with in the 1990s as a side project to his band Blur. That project was Gorillaz, although unlike ...
DOJ sues Uber over unfair pricing for people with disabilities
The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it’s suing the ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. for allegedly overcharging disabled people. Uber charged people with disabilities a two-minute waiting time fee when they couldn’t get to the car within two minutes. The lawsuit claims that Uber’s charging people for this violates the Americans with Disabilities ...
Bipartisan bill aimed at curbing use of engagement algorithms in social media feeds
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill today that would force social media giants to offer a variation of their platforms that don’t come with algorithms that shape the content users see. The bill, called the “Filter Bubble Transparency Act,” is aimed at curbing the use of what the lawmakers said are ...
Google will add third-party payment systems to its app store in South Korea
In what’s a first for the company, Google LLC said today it will open up alternative in-app payments in South Korea. The move is not one that Google preferred to make, but South Korea put its foot down and forced the company to adhere to a new law. South Korea might be the first country ...
Meta introduces new creator tools while taking a dig (again) at Apple’s App Store commissions
Meta Platforms Inc. today announced it’s introducing new incentives for its bonus program for creators, while also telling them they will be able to avoid paying Apple Inc.’s 30% commission on in-app purchases. In a blog post, Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, explained that to help creators grow their audience on the platform ...
Following growing concern, Meta will shut down its face recognition system
After a decade of use, Meta Platforms Inc. announced today that it’s shuttering its face recognition system. That means people’s faces will no longer be recognized in photos and videos that appear on the platform, which Meta said will amount to about 1 billion individual facial recognition templates being deleted. The company said the main ...