Technology

Netflix Inc has established a $100 million fund to assist workers on film and television productions that have been shut down due to the global coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Friday.

Kraft Heinz speaks daily with Amazon.com and Walmart Inc , hoping to speed up deliveries as customers worldwide stay home and shop online to protect themselves from the COVID-19 pandemic, Kraft Heinz's CEO said on Friday.

YouTube and Amazon Prime will sacrifice streaming quality in the EU to help avert internet gridlock as tens of millions of Europeans, confined by the coronavirus outbreak, switch to working from home.

The chief executive of telecoms operator Orange called on Friday for a delay to the launch of Walt Disney's streaming services in France to avoid overloading networks amid the country's lockdown following the coronavirus outbreak.

(This March 19 story corrects to say Amazon notified one shopper and not shoppers, adds Amazon statement)

Uber Taxi suspended its operations in Saudi Arabia until further notice due to measures announced by interior ministry, a company statement said on Friday.

YouTube will sacrifice streaming quality in the EU to help avert internet gridlock as tens of millions of Europeans, confined by the coronavirus outbreak, switch to working from home.

Netflix said on Thursday it would reduce its bit rates across all its streams in Europe, in effect cutting traffic on its European networks by 25% to preserve the smooth functioning of the internet during the coronavirus crisis.

Walt Disney Co has delayed the March 29 launch of its Disney+ streaming service in India, where it was gearing up to open another front against global rival Netflix Inc.

Singapore launched a contact-tracing smartphone app to allow authorities to identify those who have been exposed to people infected with coronavirus as part of efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

Italy's Saipem has reached an agreement with Norway's Equinor to develop technology to build floating solar power farms close to the coast, the energy contractor said.

Russia due to coronavirus has postponed a test designed to improve the ability of its domestic internet infrastructure to cope with being cut off from the global network, the Communications Ministry said on Friday, TASS reported.

Many overseas arrivals in the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong are going unmonitored as they begin two weeks of mandatory self-quarantine, with only a third of the 6,000 electronic wristbands issued to them being activated, authorities said on Friday.

Taiwan, which has won global praise for its effective action against the coronavirus, is rolling out a mobile phone-based "electronic fence" that uses location-tracking to ensure people who are quarantined stay in their homes.

Chinese online education platform Yuanfudao, which is backed by tech giant Tencent Holdings , is close to completing a financing round that would value it at around $7.5 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.

Tesla Inc said on Thursday it will suspend production at its San Francisco Bay Area vehicle factory on March 24, ending a standoff with California authorities concerned about the spread of the coronavirus.

Engineer Anthony Levandowski, known for advancing self-driving car technology in the last decade, agreed to plead guilty on Thursday to taking sensitive documents from his former employer Google before joining rival Uber Technologies Inc.

Alphabet Inc's Google is exploring ways to use location information to slow the spread of the coronavirus by, for example, determining the effectiveness of social distancing.

Some Amazon sellers say the online retailer's abrupt decision to stop receiving non-essential inventory in response to the coronavirus pandemic could strangle the sales they need to make payments on their Amazon loans.

Tesla Inc said on Thursday it has decided to temporarily suspend production at its Fremont factory from Tuesday. The factory in New York will also suspend production, it said.