Technology News (Reuters)

Microsoft Corp on Wednesday asked many of its employees in the Seattle region near its headquarters and the San Francisco Bay Area to work from home if possible until March 25, responding to a coronavirus outbreak near its headquarters in Washington state.

Members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday took another step to try to prod Britain to reverse its decision to allow China's Huawei Technologies Co to build portions of the UK's next generation 5G networks.

Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it was testing in Brazil a new type of tweet that disappears after 24 hours, similar to the stories feature popular on Snapchat and Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram.

Amazon.com Inc should stop third-party sellers from price gouging for items like Purell hand sanitizer as people seek to protect themselves from the coronavirus, U.S. Senator Edward Markey said in a letter to the online retailer on Wednesday.

The former head of Uber Technologies Inc's self-driving technology unit must pay $179 million to Google to end a legal battle over his split from the Alphabet Inc unit, according to a court order on Wednesday.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley on Wednesday said he will introduce legislation banning federal employees from using social media app TikTok on their devices and accused the company of sharing data with the Chinese government.

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty in a New York federal court to new charges in a 2018 case against the company.

General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said Wednesday the Detroit automaker will invest $20 billion by 2025 in electric and automated vehicles as it races to catch up with Elon Musk's Tesla Inc as vehicles go electric.

Uber Technologies Inc's self-driving unit is open to using technology from competitors in the industry, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

General Motors Co's self-driving unit Cruise said its test vehicles experienced a rapid rate of improvement in the second half of 2019, enabling it to edge past Alphabet Inc's Waymo in data reported to California's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Uber Technologies Inc's ride-hailing business will take a small hit due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday, while its food delivery business will likely benefit from the epidemic.

A Singaporean beat a Chinese candidate in the race to lead the world patent office, heading off Beijing's bid for a fifth U.N. leadership role, much to the satisfaction of the United States.

General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Wednesday the automaker's North American vehicle production should be secure from parts shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak "quite far into this month."

U.S. automaker General Motors Co on Wednesday launched Ultium, a battery with higher capacity and fast charging capabilities, to power its upcoming line of electric vehicles.

Huawei will build a factory in France regardless of the government's decision on whether to use its equipment in a new 5G network, an executive at the Chinese telecoms giant said.

Finland's Nokia Oyj has entered into partnership with Marvell Technology, the companies said on Wednesday, as Nokia seeks to accelerate its so-far sluggish shift to 5G.

Skyworks Solutions Inc , which supplies radio chips to Apple Inc's iPhones, cut its quarterly results forecasts on Wednesday, saying the coronavirus had disrupted distribution while stressing its largely Asia-based production facilities had been little affected.

A Singaporean candidate is ahead of a Chinese lawyer in a race to head the world patent office as Beijing seeks its fifth U.N. leadership role in a move critics say would give it an unprecedented level of influence over new technologies.

Private equity investor Permira took advantage of strength in the shares of TeamViewer, in part driven by an increase in working at home due to the coronavirus epidemic, to sell an 11% stake worth 700 million euros ($781 million).

India's Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed banks to handle cryptocurrency transactions from exchanges and traders, overturning a central bank ban that dealt the thriving industry a major blow.