TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft stunned the gaming industry when it announced this week it would buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal that would immediately make it a larger video-game company than Nintendo.

A new report shows that an app that's expected to be widely used by athletes and others attending next month’s Winter Games in Beijing has glaring security problems that could expose sensitive data to interception.

Ford and security company ADT have formed a joint venture that will help businesses protect vehicles and expensive equipment they carry from theft.

Poland’s chief auditor says he plans to audit the state’s supervision of the secret services following revelations of illegal surveillance of government critics with powerful spyware.

Israeli lawmakers are calling for a parliamentary inquiry into the police’s alleged use of sophisticated spyware on protesters and other citizens.

The airline industry is raising the stakes in a showdown with AT&T and Verizon over plans to launch new 5G wireless service this week, warning that thousands of flights could be grounded or delayed if the rollout takes place near major airports.

Microsoft is paying nearly $70 billion for Activision Blizzard, the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty.

AT&T and Verizon say they will delay some new 5G wireless service after the airline industry raised alarms about potential interference with important systems on planes.

A tiny Wyoming town faces transformation when a company started by Bill Gates builds a new type of nuclear power plant there.

A Polish Senate commission has opened an investigation into the use of powerful spyware against government critics.

Amazon’s British website has backed away from plans to stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom.

Ukraine says Russia was behind a cyberattack that defaced government websites and it alleged that Russia is engaged in a “hybrid war” against the country.

Tesla is turning to Mozambique for a key component in its electric car batteries in what analysts believe is a first-of-its-kind deal designed to reduce its dependence on China for graphite.

Microsoft says dozens of computer systems at an unspecified number of Ukrainian government agencies have been infected with destructive malware disguised as ransomware.

Environmental protesters are once again demanding the cancelation of plans for lithium mining in western Serbia.

Philanthropy, federal relief funding and other community driven efforts to close the digital divide in a year of remote schooling have helped significantly to bring more children online.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row.

The Federal Aviation Administration is telling pilots to take extra precautions when landing on slick runways near impending 5G wireless service.

Netflix is raising prices for customers in the U.S. and Canada.

Newly unredacted documents from a state-led antitrust lawsuit against Google accuse the search giant of colluding with rival Facebook to manipulate online advertising sales.

Thieves have been raiding cargo containers aboard trains nearing downtown Los Angeles for months, leaving the tracks blanketed with discarded packages.

Microsoft says it is opening an inquiry into how it responds to workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoenas to Twitter, Meta, Reddit and YouTube, demanding documents after lawmakers said the companies’ initial responses were inadequate.

Around 75,000 New Mexico schoolchildren are missing school Friday for the second day after a cyber attack hit the state's largest school district on Wednesday.

More than 80 fact checking organizations are calling on YouTube to address what they say is rampant misinformation on the platform.

The Nigerian government has lifted its ban on Twitter in the West African country, seven months after the country’s more than 200 million people were shut out of the social media network.

The Biden administration says it will hold its first offshore wind auction next month.

European Parliament lawmakers have called for a committee to investigate rights abuses by European Union governments using powerful spyware produced by Israel’s NSO Group.

A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission's revised antitrust suit against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, can proceed, shutting down the social media company's request for a dismissal.

If your children have access to technology and social media, it’s important to provide them with tools to proactively keep them safe online.

French President Emmanuel Macron says people spreading fake news online should be held accountable and possibly brought to justice.

A federal labor board said that Amazon workers in a facility in Bessemer, Alabama will vote by mail next month in a re-run election to decide whether or not to unionize.

The World Economic Forum says cyberthreats and the growing space race are emerging risks to the global economy, on top of existing challenges posed by climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

A Polish opposition senator whose phone was hacked with advanced spyware has filed a civil suit against Poland’s ruling party leader.

Take-Two Interactive, maker of Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, is buying Zynga, maker of FarmVille and Words With Friends, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $12.7 billion.

Attendance at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas fell more than 70% compared to its previous in-person event two years ago, its organizer said Saturday.

NASA's new space telescope has opened its gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror, the largest and most sensitive ever launched.

Attendance at this week’s CES gadget show in Las Vegas fell more than 75% compared to its previous in-person event two years ago, according to the event’s organizer.

The leader of Poland’s ruling conservative party has acknowledged that the country bought advanced spyware from the Israeli surveillance software maker NSO Group.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has returned from space with hopes of new celestial investments.

The New York Times Co. is buying sports news site The Athletic for $550 million.

Amnesty International says it has independently confirmed that an Israeli company's powerful spyware was used to hack a Polish senator when he was running the opposition’s 2019 parliamentary election campaign.

French regulators have fined Google and Facebook a total of more than 200 million euros for not making it as easy for users to opt out of online tracking as it is for them to accept it.

China has recommitted itself to completing its orbiting space station by the end of the year and says it is planning more than 40 launches for 2022, putting it roughly level with the United States.

Thousands of people have gathered in Las Vegas for a tech conference that’s been scaled back because of COVID-19 precautions.

Treasure hunters who believe they found a huge cache of fabled Civil War-era gold in Pennsylvania are now on the prowl for something as elusive as the buried booty itself: government records of the FBI’s excavation.

Chrysler says it plans for its vehicle lineup to go all electric by 2028.

Germany’s antitrust watchdog has paved the way for extra scrutiny of Google by designating it a company of “paramount significance.”.

A jury has ended the suspense surrounding the fraud trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes by finding her guilty on four of the 11 charges facing her, but some issues in the legal drama remain unresolved.

The fraud conviction of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes could do more than just send a once-celebrated billionaire to prison for years.

Stephanie Hinds, a U.S. attorney, said in a statement on Jan. 3 that the guilty verdicts reflected Holmes’ "culpability in this large scale investor fraud."

On Wednesday's show: The city considers new technology that identifies where and when shots are fired and alerts police. Can it fill the void of additional law enforcement personnel the city can’t afford?

Tidal power generators that look like aircraft are being tested in the sea off the Faroe Islands.

Help Desk reporter Heather Kelly looks at what might cause holiday shopping headaches and how to avoid them.

The Washington Post's Tatum Hunter shows how tools thieves used to hide from the law can help you protect your privacy, money and data from being stolen.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off, carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 10.

Four astronauts splashed down safely in the Gulf of Mexico on Nov. 8, completing a six-month mission on the International Space Station.

The new technology is part of a partnership with the TSA to cut wait times at security checkpoints.

Inexpensive Bluetooth trackers like AirTags and Tile give us the perilous power to find and confront our thieves.

Senators say new social media laws could be on the way - sooner than later | Accountable

An independent U_N_ investigator is warning that despite the Nobel Peace Prize to courageous Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, “gender equality in freedom of expression remains a distant goal.”

Tech reporter Heather Kelly shares a quick tip to make your Google experience more private for The Washington Post's Help Desk.

Tech reporter Chris Velazco shares tips on what to do with your old phones and gadgets for The Washington Post's Help Desk.

There’s no telling what you might find — or how you’ll find it — when the search engine is off.

To find the best payment apps to go cashless, tech reporter Tatum Hunter compares usability and major features for The Washington Post's Help Desk.

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 flight splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 18, completing the first all-civilian mission to orbit the Earth.

On Sept. 14, the Apple showed off a new smartwatch with a tougher, larger screen and new software for typing messages.

Watch the highlights of Apple's Sept 14 fall product reveal.

First Solar is one of few U.S. solar-panel manufacturers in an industry dominated by Chinese factories.

Relativity Space is building rockets using an autonomous, 3D manufacturing robot called "Stargate."

It said it had listened to feedback from privacy campaigners and others and would reassess.

The technology could be in all new cars that are manufactured in the next few years.

Too many countries fail to record deaths and their causes accurately. This makes tracking the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases harder than it needs to be.

The social-media platform said its technology had been erroneously identifying the comments as benign.

Technology is helping scientists expose the pollution of smaller, less known oil spills and those responsible for them.

The U.S., Russia and China say a ban on AI weapons is unnecessary. But growing number of activists and international allies are pushing for restrictions.

The technology lets experts predict which areas might burn the worst during wildfire season.

Activists see their fight as a patriotic struggle against government overreach, authoritarianism, and even a battle for their civil rights to refuse vaccines.

Around the world, animal conservation has evolved so it's not just humans monitoring wildlife.

The Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binocular, or ENVG-B, combines low light and thermal images with an augmented reality overlay.

The Enhanced Nightvision Goggles Binocular or ENVG-B combine low light and thermal images with an augmented reality overlay.

The board will decide if former president Donald Trump is allowed on Facebook, a test case of social media companies' power to moderate inflammatory speech.

The walls of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre are etched with thousands of small crosses, but who made them remains an open question. Archaeologist Amit Re'em analyzed thousands of etchings with new digital technology to try to solve the mystery. Ian Lee reports.

United Airlines is turning to technology that aims to capture carbon dioxide from the air and store it underground to help offset its carbon emissions completely by 2050, a change from offset programs the airline industry and others have traditionally leaned on to reduce their footprints. The company is developing a carbon capture plant in the Permian Basin in Texas. While the coronavirus pandemic has decimated air travel around the world, airlines usually generate around 2% of global carbon emissions. Carriers have used biofuels and carbon offsets, which are purchased in exchange for conserving forests and other projects. "The only way we can truly make a dent in the levels of atmospheric carbon is through direct air capture and sequestration."

CBSN Originals presents "Reverb | A City Under Surveillance" The Detroit Police Department is using facial recognition technology and a network of surveillance cameras to combat the city’s high crime rates. But critics say the technology has racial bias built into it and has even landed innocent people behind bars. In this documentary, CBSN Originals explores the debate over high-tech policing that promises to make our communities safer yet at the same time threatens our civil liberties.

They came in just ahead of that time, said Hus daughter Leah, who also works at the restaurant, the Royal Palace. Their duties will include greeting customers, serving drinks and dishes and returning used glasses and crockery. We will use them to make sure the 1.5 meters (5 feet) we need during the corona crisis sticks, Leah Hu said. We want to give them a normal name," said Leah Hu. They help us with the work we do, said Leah Hu.

French Digital Affairs junior minister Cedric O demonstrates how to use the French app StopCovid meant to trace the virus' future spread on during an interview with the Associated Press in Paris, Friday, May 29, 2020. . France is the first major democracy to roll out such an app, and many people fear it invades their privacy. It will make France the first major world democracy to roll out such a tracing app. O said the app has been tested for two weeks and the government is confident that the data are protected. The French app uses low-energy Bluetooth signals on mobile phones to trace individuals that people infected with the virus come into close contact with.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, May 27, 2020, after traveling to Florida. !Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Trump would sign an executive order relating to social media companies but provided no further details. Trump and his campaign had lashed out at the company Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots fraudulent and predicted that mail boxes will be robbed, among other things. Trump and his allies have long accused the tech giants in liberal-leaning Silicon Valley of targeting conservatives on social media by fact-checking them or removing their posts. The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny.

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)CVS Health will try delivering prescriptions with self-driving vehicles in a test that begins next month. Customers will have to confirm their identity in order to unlock their delivery after the vehicle arrives. Nuro has previously started partnerships to test the delivery of pizzas for Dominos or groceries for Kroger, also in the Houston area. Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS Health Corp. said that for the Houston test, customers can chose the Nuro delivery option when they fill their prescriptions online. Earlier this year, federal regulators gave Nuro temporary approval to run autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads for the first time without human occupants.

This photo shows a sign at the headquarters for Washington state's Employment Security Department Tuesday, May 26, 2020, at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Washington state's rush to get unemployment benefits to residents who lost jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak left it vulnerable to criminals who made off with hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)OLYMPIA, Wash. Washington has recovered $300 million paid to criminals who used stolen personal information to file fraudulent unemployment benefit claims amid the COVID-19 crisis, state officials said Thursday. This is a national attack by sophisticated criminals and isnt just happening to Washington state, LeVine said. Nearly 1.5 million claims for benefits with some of that number reflecting people who filed multiple claims were filed for the week of May 17-23, and more than $494.5 million was paid last week to 424,995 individual claims. Washingtons stay-at-home order has been in place since March 23 and the states unemployment rate jumped to a record 15.4% last month.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters during an event on protecting seniors with diabetes in the Rose Garden White House, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering on Wednesday after Twitter added fact checks to two of his tweets. Trump, the historically prolific tweeter of political barbs and blasts, claimed on Twitter early Wednesday that tech giants silence conservative voices." Trump and his campaign had lashed out Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots fraudulent and predicted that mail boxes will be robbed, among other things. The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny.

PARIS French lawmakers were set to vote Wednesday on whether to endorse a contact-tracing app designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus amid sharp debate over privacy concerns. If approved, France's StopCovid app will be made available to users on a voluntary basis starting Monday. French privacy watchdog CNIL backed the app this week, stating the technology wont lead to creating a list of infected people but only a list of contacts using pseudonymous data. The government says the app doesn't involve location tracking and it guaranteed the privacy of users, but rights advocacy groups have raised concerns over the issue. The French government refused to use the technology for pandemic apps released last week by Google and Apple, saying it lacked sufficient data privacy guarantees.

QUESTION: Twitter has resisted taking action on Trump's tweets for years, despite the president's history of spreading misinformation and abuse on the platform. Twitter began flagging tweets that spread disputed or misleading claims about the virus with get the facts links to more information, including news stories and fact checks. Those tweets met specific Twitter criteria for misinformation on certain topics, including the coronavirus, how to vote in elections and the census. QUESTION: How does Twitter decide which tweets get flagged with the warnings? ANSWER: Trump's tweets got flagged after someone reported them.

(Richard Termine/Sesame Workshop via AP)Is a pandemic the perfect time to launch a new and relatively expensive streaming service? The phone company is investing billions in HBO Max, its first big entertainment venture since it spent $85 billion for Time Warner in 2018. HBO Max costs $15, same as the HBO Now streaming service it's supposed to replace, with discounts after the launch limited to some AT&T customers. Disney launched Disney Plus and the sports-focused ESPN Plus and took control of Hulu from an industry joint venture. It's easy to prompt HBO Now users to switch to Max if they signed up directly through HBO, and many big cable companies have agreed to promote HBO Max to their existing HBO customers.

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering after Twitter moved a day earlier to add fact checks to two of his tweets. Trump and his campaign angrily lashed out Tuesday after Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots fraudulent and predicted that mail boxes will be robbed, among other things. Trump did not explain his threat Wednesday, and the call to expand regulation appeared to fly in the face of long-held conservative principles on deregulation. The protections have been credited with allowing the unfettered growth of the internet for more than two decades, but now some Trump allies are advocating that social media companies face more scrutiny. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives, to censor people critical of China.

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)SEATTLE The first word Seattle political consultant Dayna Lurie had that someone filed for unemployment benefits in her name was when her boss called. We got an unemployment form from the state of Washington saying you don't work here anymore.It turned out that, like thousands of Washington state residents, Lurie's identity was used by criminals seeking to capitalize on a flood of legitimate unemployment claims by sneaking in fraudulent ones. By late last week, attacks had been detected in at least nine states, most recently Ohio and Hawaii, he said. She said the state began paying her unemployment benefits, but halted the payments May 15 and required more verification. Fraud prevention efforts have been a singular focus for the Department of Labor and the states, he said.

A Virgin Orbit Boeing 747-400 aircraft named Cosmic Girl takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles Monday, May 25, 2020. Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit failed Monday in its first test launch of a new rocket carried aloft by the Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. (AP Photo/Matt Hartman)LOS ANGELES Virgin Orbit engineers were analyzing data Tuesday to find out what caused the maiden flight of its air-launched satellite booster to fail. Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, is among several new companies developing rockets specifically for launching small satellites. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart said in a statement there was a treasure trove of data from flight instruments.

Millions of people have helped online retail sales surge as consumer spending fell off rapidly when businesses shut down. She's among millions who have helped online retail sales surge as consumer spending fell off rapidly when businesses shut down. In the U.S., retail sales tumbled by a record 16.4% from March to April as business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus kept shoppers away, threatened stores and weighed down a tanking economy. Measured year over year, online sales surged 21.6%. It's panic on lots of levels, said Wendy Liebmann, CEO of WSL Strategic Retail, a global consulting firm specializing in retail strategy and shopper insights.

In this photo released by Nucleus Network/ABC, clinical trial participants are given a coronavirus vaccine in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, May 26, 2020, with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year. Novavax will inject 131 volunteers in the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the vaccine and looking for signs of its effectiveness. (Patrick Rocca/Nucleus Network/ABC via AP)CANBERRA A U.S. biotechnology company began injecting a coronavirus vaccine candidate into people in Australia on Tuesday with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year. Novavax used genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in giant vats of insect cells in a laboratory. The way we make a vaccine is we never touch the virus, Novavax told The Associated Press last month.

They confirmed their names and told the judge how they were connecting to the court: on laptops, tablets and iPhones. The coronavirus pandemic has crippled courts nationwide, putting many cases on indefinite hold and leaving judges trying to manage some hearings via videoconferencing. According to the National Center for State Courts, which has tracked court functions during the pandemic, its the first remote jury trial ever in the United States. It would just be too difficult, too many constitutional hurdles to clear for a defendant to be brought to a virtual trial, said Randy Gioia of Massachusetts public defender agency. And Miskel suggested courts might blend in-person and online doing trials over video but bringing jurors into to court to deliberate.