Technology

A European technology platform to support smartphone apps that can help trace people at risk of infection by the new coronavirus is gaining support from governments, one of its prime movers said on Friday.

A U.S. judge on Friday put on hold a suit by Amazon.com Inc challenging the Pentagon's decision to award a $10 billion contract to Microsoft Corp .

Netflix Inc has increased the amount of money in its coronavirus emergency relief fund by $50 million, bringing the total for displaced production workers to $150 million, a company spokeswoman said on Friday.

A majority of the five-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to approve an order to allow Ligado Networks' to deploy a low-power nationwide 5G network despite objections from the Defense Department and major U.S. airlines, two government officials told Reuters.

The United States is concerned by the threat of a cyber attack against the Czech Republic's healthcare sector, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, adding that anybody engaged in such activity should "expect consequences."

Amazon's purchase of a stake in Deliveroo has been provisionally cleared by Britain's competition regulator in view of a potentially fatal deterioration in the online food delivery group's finances because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Colombian startup Rappi is piloting deliveries by robots as a safe way of getting food to people forced to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Friday it will waive for the next five months the small fee it charges news publishers to decide which ads to show on their online properties.

Hacking activity against corporations in the United States and other countries more than doubled by some measures last month as digital thieves took advantage of security weakened by pandemic work-from-home policies, researchers said.

The Chinese-backed owners of Imagination Technologies told the British government on Friday the chip designer would remain headquartered in the United Kingdom and they would consult over any board changes.

Private equity firm Canyon Bridge, the Chinese-backed owner of Imagination Technologies, told the British government it was committed to keeping the chip designer headquartered in the UK, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

Activist investors say telecommunications pioneer AT&T Inc will not take their calls for its upcoming annual meeting, reinforcing their concerns that the shift of the gathering to cyberspace due to the COVID-19 pandemic would restrict shareholder input.

Goldman Sachs said on Friday it expects iPhone shipment to drop 36% during the current quarter due to coronavirus-related lockdowns around the world and downgraded Apple Inc stock to "sell".

The coronavirus outbreak in Germany has become manageable again as the number of patients who have recovered has been higher than the number of new infections every day this week, the health minister said on Friday.

France's state-supported "StopCovid" contact-tracing app project is creating friction between government and parliament amid preparations to debate the issue before the app is ready.

Saxony became the first German state to make the wearing of masks compulsory on public transport and in shops, German magazine Focus reported on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said China's role in the global coronavirus pandemic is likely to force countries to rethink their telecommunications infrastructure, including the adoption of China-based Huawei's 5G networks.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and have 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, CEO Cheng Wei said.

Poland's telecoms regulator has dropped a deadline for its first 5G auction due a government clampdown designed to tackle the spread of the corononavirus.

Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing firm which counts SoftBank as an investor, aims to complete 100 million orders a day and 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, its chief executive Cheng Wei said.