Google’s transition into the era of artificial intelligence continued to pay off for its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., which on Wednesday announced another quarter of stellar growth that helped to more than double its already lofty market value during the past year. Alphabet earned $62.6 billion, or $5.11 per share, during the January-March period, an 81% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 22% from last year to $109.9 billion. Both numbers easily surpassed the analyst projections that steer investors. Alphabet’s stock price rose more than 6% in extended trading after the numbers came out, setting up the shares to hit…
Author: Staff Writer
Passengers flying with low battery on their phones might be out of luck—at least if they are flying American Airlines. The country’s largest airline is implementing a new policy that will restrict how many portable chargers passengers may bring to the aircraft, citing potential safety concerns from lithium batteries. “We know our customers rely on portable chargers to keep devices powered throughout their journey,” the carrier told CBS. “To support safety on board while ensuring our customers continue to have the ability to charge when on the go, American is requiring customers to keep these devices easily accessible during flight.”…
ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: • NIKKEI 225 closed • Shanghai increased 28.877 points or 0.71% to 4,107.514 • Hang Seng increased 432.06 points or 1.68% to 26,111.84 • ASX 200 decreased 23.70 points or -0.27% to 8,687.00 • SENSEX increased 609.45 points or 0.79% to 77,496.36 • Nifty50 increased 181.95 points or 0.76% to 24,177.65 The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today: • AUDUSD decreased 0.00678 or -0.94% to 0.71134 • NZDUSD decreased 0.00587 or -1.00% to 0.58253 • USDJPY increased 0.737 or 0.46% to 160.358 • USDCNY increased 0.00828…
Uber Technologies is doing everything it can to save its customers’ time, but for CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, the company’s sixth annual GO-GET event in New York City was something of a trip through time. On Wednesday, Khosrowshahi and other members of Uber’s leadership unveiled a slew of new features, and also announced Hotels on Uber, a new hotel-booking feature, working in concert with Expedia, a company for which Khosrowshahi previously served as CEO. The feature allows users to book hotel rooms directly in the Uber app, similar to how they’d hail a ride or order food through Uber Eats. Khosrowshahi…
Many commentators have called March’s California jury verdict, finding Meta and Google liable for designing addictive platforms that harm children, social media’s “big tobacco moment.” The comparison is apt, but not quite in the way most people mean it. The tobacco litigation story is usually told triumphantly, with a malicious industry that was held accountable, victims that were vindicated, and a dangerous product that is now regulated. What that story leaves out is directly relevant to what happens next with social media. The tobacco litigation succeeded not because cigarettes were addictive, but because the industry had committed fraud. For decades,…
California-based Ghirardelli Chocolate Company has voluntarily recalled 13 of its powdered beverage mixes over concerns of potential Salmonella contamination. The storied confectionery says it issued the recall after dairy producer California Dairies recalled its milk powder, which is used in the affected powdered beverage mixes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a recall notice on Tuesday, April 28. To date, no illnesses have been reported. What products are included in the recall? The recall covers a limited selection of powdered beverage mixes packaged for food service and institutional customers. However, Ghirardelli cautions that some of the recalled products may…
Australia has proposed taxing digital giants Meta, Google and TikTok on a part of their revenue to pay for news reporters.The government released draft legislation Tuesday it intends to introduce to Parliament by July 2 that would create a financial incentive for the social media companies to strike deals with news organizations to pay for journalism.The platforms’ criticisms included that the proposal was a “digital services tax” that misunderstood the evolving advertising industry and would fail to deliver a sustainable news sector.Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a monetary value needed to be attached to journalists’ work.“It shouldn’t just be…
Whatever you think about the charitable gifts of MacKenzie Scott, no one would describe them as small. The novelist and philanthropist gave away $7 billion in 2025. That’s more than her ex-husband Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has given away in his entire lifetime. But when Scott penned her end-of-year essay reflecting on her efforts, she wasn’t focused on eye-popping numbers or dramatic gestures. Instead, she wanted to spotlight the impact of small, everyday acts of kindness. America the generous “It’s easy to focus on the methods of civic participation that make news, and hard to imagine the importance of the things we do each day with our…
Talks between Iran and the United States on ending the war seemed stalled Wednesday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump earlier claiming Iran had informed his administration that it was in a “State of Collapse.” In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump criticized Iran’s handling of nuclear negotiations, saying it has failed to move toward a deal. “Iran can’t get their act together. They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!” he wrote. Meanwhile, Pakistan said its weekly oil import bill has surged by about 167% due to soaring global energy prices. Prime…
This article is republished with permission from Laser Wars, a newsletter about military laser weapons and other futuristic defense technology. The cruise missile-killing high-energy laser weapon the U.S. Defense Department envisions as part of its ‘Golden Dome for America’ domestic missile defense shield is beginning to take shape. The new Joint Laser Weapon System (JLWS)—a collaboration between the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy whose existence was first reported in June 2025—will initially consist of a containerized 150 kilowatt system with potential to scale to at least 300 kw to defeat incoming cruise missile threats, according to the Navy’s fiscal year 2027 budget request. The system…