Reuters - Technology Report

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Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Spotify hit with $1.6 billion copyright lawsuit

(Reuters) - Music streaming company Spotify was sued by Wixen Music Publishing Inc last week for allegedly using thousands of songs, including those of Tom Petty, Neil Young and the Doors, without a license and compensation to the music publisher.

Amazon says over 5 billion items shipped in 2017 via Prime

(Reuters) - Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Tuesday it shipped over 5 billion items worldwide via its subscription based Prime service in 2017 while adding more new members than ever before.

Beijing to build $2 billion AI research park: Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.12 billion) artificial intelligence development park in the city's west, the official Xinhua news agency reported, as China pushes ahead to fulfill its ambition to become a world leader in AI by 2025.

China central bank can tell local governments to regulate bitcoin miners' power use: source

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's central bank told a top-level government internet finance group that the monetary authority can tell local governments to regulate the power usage of bitcoin miners to gradually reduce the scale of their production, a source said.

Aptiv, Lyft discuss engagement beyond self-driving ride partnership

(Reuters) - Aptiv Plc and ride-hailing firm Lyft are discussing further engagement beyond showcasing self-driving rides in Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this month, the U.S auto parts supplier said on Tuesday.

Altice drops Starz, directs customers to its online service

(Reuters) - Cable company Altice USA Inc is employing a new negotiating tactic when it comes to reaching agreements with content providers on prices: pointing customers to programmers' own streaming services.

Kenya regulator ditches plan to break up Safaricom: Business Daily

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's telecoms regulator has ditched a proposal to break Safaricom up into separate telecoms and financial services businesses due to its dominant size, Kenya's Business Daily newspaper said on Wednesday.

China's WeChat denies storing user chats

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings' WeChat, China's most popular messenger app, on Tuesday denied storing users' chat histories, after a top businessman was quoted in media reports as saying he believed Tencent was monitoring everyone's account.

LeEco founder defies China return order, stays in U.S. for car fundraising

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The founder of debt-laden tech conglomerate LeEco has defied orders from Chinese regulators to return to the country before the end of 2017, saying he needed to stay in the United States as a fundraising for his electric car business was making progress.

Speculators raised net short bitcoin positions in Dec 26 week: CFTC

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Speculators raised net short position on bitcoin futures traded on Cboe Global Markets last week amid a selloff sparked by experts' warnings of a bubble, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released late Friday.