Technology News (Reuters)

The Czech Republic's cyber-security watchdog warned of possible cyberattacks on hospitals on Thursday as the central European country's health ministry said it had already thwarted some smaller-scale hack attempts.

Google will allow business and education users on Gmail.com to directly take calls on its video conferencing tool Meet starting Thursday, a new feature being offered as the Alphabet Inc unit seeks to capitalize on security and other concerns with rival services.

Apple Inc said on Thursday it would reopen its sole retail store in South Korea on April 18, marking it the first site to return to business after it closed all stores outside Greater China last month due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Nokia declined to comment on Thursday on a media report saying it was working with an investment bank to defend itself from a hostile takeover, news which sent its shares sharply higher.

India said on Thursday videoconferencing software Zoom is "not a safe platform", joining other countries that have expressed concern about the security of an application that has become hugely popular worldwide during the coronavirus lockdown.

Amazon has no clarity yet on when its warehouses in France might reopen, the head of its French business said on Thursday, after the e-commerce giant clashed with unions over the measures taken to limit the risks of coronavirus contagion.

Delivery business DHL is struggling to cope with a flood of parcels from online purchases due to the coronavirus crisis, forcing it to cut back extra collections from retailers in Germany, parent company Deutsche Post said on Thursday.

European Union countries using mobile apps to contain the spread of the coronavirus should ensure such apps comply with the bloc's privacy rules and avoid using personalised location data, the bloc's executive Commission said on Thursday.

Apple Inc's new iPhone SE for the budget-conscious is unlikely to be a major driver of sales in China, with analysts noting it lacks the 5G capability that most new Chinese smartphones in a similar price range offer.

The West needs to do more to stop China buying up strategic technology including companies such as British semiconductor chip designer Imagination Technologies, the former head of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence service said on Thursday.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd is gradually shifting production of chips designed in-house away from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) and towards a mainland Chinese firm in preparation for more U.S. restrictions, sources familiar with the matter said.

The Pentagon's inspector general on Wednesday said it could not determine whether the White House influenced the award of a $10 billion contract to Microsoft Corp over Amazon after several officials said their conversations were privileged "presidential communications."

Smartphone software makers Alphabet's Google and Apple will have to convince the public that any contact tracing technology to track who has been exposed to the new coronavirus will not lead to a violation of their privacy, Senator Richard Blumenthal said on Wednesday.

A federal judge said Tesla Inc and Chief Executive Elon Musk must face a lawsuit claiming they misled shareholders when Musk tweeted that he had secured funding to take his electric car company private in a $72 billion transaction.

American semiconductor firm Xilinx Inc said on Wednesday it had won a deal to supply chips to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for 5G networking equipment.

Alphabet Inc's Google will slow hiring for the rest of the year, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told the company's staff in a memo on Wednesday.

U.S. government officials warned on Wednesday about the threat of North Korean hackers, calling particular attention to banking and other financial services.

Apple Inc on Wednesday released a smaller iPhone priced at $399, cutting the starting price for the company's smartphone line in a move to broaden its appeal to budget-conscious customers as the coronavirus hobbles the global economy.

Lyft Inc on Wednesday said it has launched a new on-demand delivery service to provide essential goods, including groceries, meals and medical supplies, to people in need during the coronavirus crisis.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC), the telecoms industry's biggest annual gathering, will be held in Barcelona until 2024, extending its current contract by one year, the GSMA association that hosts the congress said on Wednesday.