PayPal has entered the cryptocurrency market, announcing that its customers will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and other virtual currencies using their PayPal accounts. Those virtual coins could then be used to buy things from the 26 million sellers which accept PayPal, it said. PayPal plans to roll out buying options in the US over the next few weeks, with the full rollout due early next year. Bitcoin prices rose alongside the news, breaking the $12,000 (£9,170) mark. The other cryptocurrencies to be added first will be Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash (a spin-off from Bitcoin). All could be stored "directly within the PayPal digital wallet", the company said. Penny stocks Cryptocurrencies have remained a niche payment method, partly down to the rapid change in prices they can experience compared with traditional state-backed currencies. That has made them popular among some types of investors. PayPal said it was aiming "to increase consumer understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency". "As part of this offering, PayPal will provide account holders with educational content to help them understand the cryptocurrency ecosystem," it said. But David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and the forthcoming Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money, said PayPal was describing "a crypto day-trading market". "I m at a loss as to who the market is for PayPal as a crypto-exchange," he said. He likened it to playing the stock market, but with Bitcoin - whose volatile and less well-regulated nature was like "gambling on penny stocks". "Have a flutter, drop $10 on it, you ll learn things you wouldn t learn any other way - but you are gambling," he warned. He said there were "a lot of big players who manipulate the price", and ordinary people risked losing their money. "I don t expect much of a market for this beyond existing crypto holders... I m baffled that PayPal would offer this, and it s not clear what they re trying to do here," he said. "There must be someone at PayPal who is very interested in cryptocurrencies," he added. Paying with crypto Other payment firms, such as Square s Cash app and Revolut, have already offered cryptocurrencies for sale. But PayPal has one of the largest merchant networks in the world. When it comes to using the virtual coins, PayPal will convert the cryptocurrency into the relevant national currency, so the company being paid will never receive the virtual coins - just the correct amount of pounds or dollars. PayPal said the system meant there would be "certainty of value and no incremental fees". But using Bitcoin to pay at ordinary merchants is not due to launch until "early 2021". Cryptocurrencies volatile prices - along with their historical use as a less traceable payment method for illegal purposes - have led to numerous calls for them to be regulated. PayPal has been granted permission for its operation from the New York State Department of Financial Services, in the form of a conditional "Bitlicence" - the first such licence granted. To begin with, the service will work with an existing cryptocurrency provider in the US, the Paxos Trust Company. But it is not PayPal s first venture into the area. The firm was once a partner in Facebook s digital currency Libra, but became the first to pull out of the alliance, just a few months after it was announced. The scheme was controversial, attracting attention from financial regulators in several countries. Earlier this year, Facebook was reported to be "rethinking" the idea amid the resistance.

US chipmaker Intel (INTC) is selling part of its memory chip business to SK Hynix for $9 billion in a deal that would make the South Korean company the world s second biggest flash memory chipmaker. SK Hynix will acquire Intel s NAND memory chip business, including associated manufacturing and design patents, as well as the US firm s factory in Dalian, China, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday. Intel s NAND flash memory products are used in devices such as smartphones, tablets and hard drives. The US company will keep Optane, its advanced memory chip technology business. The deal is expected to close in March 2025. Shares in SK Hynix were last down more than 2% in Seoul.The acquisition marks the latest big tie-up in the rapidly consolidating semiconductor industry. Nvidia (NVDA), known mainly for making chips for video game graphics, announced last month that it would acquire UK-based chip designer Arm for $16 billion. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is also reportedly in advanced talks to buy Xilinx (XLNX) in a deal that could be valued at more than $30 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter. Xilinx told CNN Business that it does not comment on "rumors and speculation." AMD did not respond to a request for comment outside of regular working hours. The deal comes after Intel admitted it was struggling to produce in volume the next generation of leading edge chips. The company said in July that production of 7 nanometer chips would be delayed until 2022. Meanwhile rivals Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) (TSMC) and South Korea s Samsung are already successfully producing and selling the chips. Intel is still an industry leader when it comes to chipmaking, and remains the only US company able to compete with TSMC and Samsung when it comes to designing, manufacturing and producing advanced chips. But it costs a lot of money to stay at the cutting edge. US semiconductor firms spent $72 billion on research and development and capital expenses in 2019, compared to $40 billion in 2007, according to a September report from Eurasia Group.For Intel, the deal "will allow us to further prioritize our investments in differentiated technology where we can play a bigger role in the success of our customers and deliver attractive returns to our stockholders," Intel CEO Bob Swan said in a statement. For SK Hynix, acquiring part of Intel s memory chip business will allow the South Korean company to vault from fourth place in the global rankings of NAND flash chip makers to second, just behind rival Samsung. The company currently has an 11.7% market share, compared to Samsung s 31.4%, according to TrendForce. With Intel s business, it would have a consolidated market share of 23.2%.

has taken a controlling stake in one of China s leading supermarket chains as it tries to fend off rival JD.com in the fast growing online grocery industry. Alibaba is spending 28 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.6 billion) to up its stake in Sun Art Retail Group from 36% to 72%, the company said in a statement Monday. The company will then make a general offer to shareholders to buy out the rest of the the retail company. The news sent shares in Sun Art up nearly 20% in Hong Kong. Alibaba s Hong Kong listed shares rose about 1%. Alibaba (BABA) is in a fierce battle with rival JD.com (JD) for China s online food market. During an annual sales blitz in June, JD said online grocery sales doubled over last year s haul.The e-commerce giants are both using a mixture of physical supermarkets and online platforms to win shoppers. Through tie-ups with Wal-mart (WMT) in China and local grocery chain Yonghui, JD has a network of brick-and-mortar stores across the country that double as warehouses and fulfillment centers. Alibaba has a similar operation, using its Freshippo grocery store chain and Sun Art shops to store and deliver online groceries. Upping its stake in Sun Art signals that Alibaba is pushing for the "accelerated digitization" of Chinese consumers post-pandemic, according to Jefferies analyst Thomas Chong. Sun Art operates nearly 500 hypermarkets and supermarkets across China. Alibaba "has been highlighting digitization as the greatest opportunity to change how people live and work," and seeking "opportunities in traditional retail" by solving problems such as scalability and sustainability, Chong wrote in a note on Monday. China s online grocery sector is "set for explosive growth," according to analytics company GlobalData. As China emerged from lockdown restrictions earlier this year, 56% of shoppers were buying food and grocery online more frequently than before, the company said in a report in June. In the United States, about 30% of shoppers were buying food and grocery online more often than before, GlobalData found.

If you re unable to get a cell phone signal when you walk your dog around the block, this will really make your blood boil: NASA is putting a 4G network on the moon. To reach its 2028 goal to build a lunar base and eventually sustain a human presence on the moon, NASA awarded $370 million to over a dozen companies to deploy technology on the lunar surface. Those innovations include remote power generation, cryogenic freezing, robotics, safer landing ... and 4G. Because how else will astronauts tweet their moon golf shots and lunar rover selfies? NASA says 4G could provide more reliable, longer-distance communication than the current radio standards in place on the moon. Like on Earth, the 4G network will eventually be upgraded to 5G. Nokia s (NOK) Bell Labs was granted $14.1 million for the project. Bell Labs, formerly operated by AT&T, will partner with spaceflight engineering company Intuitive Machines to build out the 4G-LTE network. John Oliver jokes about CNN parent company AT&T (T) aside, 4G will probably work better on the moon than it does here -- it won t have any trees, buildings or TV signals to interfere with the 4G signal. The moon s cellular network will also be specially designed to withstand the particularities of the lunar surface: extreme temperature, radiation and space s vacuum. It will also stay functional during lunar landings and launches, even though rockets significantly vibrate the moon s surface. Bell Labs said astronauts will use its wireless network for data transmission, controlling of lunar rovers, real-time navigation over lunar geography (think Google Maps for the moon), and streaming of high-definition video. That could give us stuck on Earth a much better shot of astronauts bouncing around on the lunar surface: Buzz Aldrin was a great cameraman, but he didn t have an iPhone. The 4G network on Earth is supported by giant cell towers with enormous power generators and radios. But Bell Labs helped create small cell technology that s more limited in range but uses far less power than traditional cell towers and is significantly easier to pack into a rocket ship. That small cell tech is currently being deployed for 5G networks across the world.

Twitter has recently suspended a slew of fake accounts pretending to be Black supporters of President Donald Trump. Many have tweeted this identical phrase: "YES IM BLACK AND IM VOTING FOR TRUMP." A Twitter spokesperson told CNN the accounts violated rules against platform manipulation and spam, which ban users from tweeting to "artificially amplify or suppress information," among other activities. It s not clear who s creating these accounts or their intended purpose, CNN senior business writer Donie O Sullivan, whose coverage includes technology and politics, told Don Lemon on Tuesday. The number of accounts also was unclear -- CNN reached out to Twitter to confirm the number and is waiting to hear back. But the fake accounts are the latest attempt at misinformation related to the 2020 presidential election -- this time -- in the form of fake Trump supporters. A fake account was using a real man s image One of the suspended accounts belonged to a user named "Gary Ray," who described himself as "probably the best meat eater in the world." The account was slim on personal details. His location was set to Detroit, and he d only joined Twitter in August. His profile photo appeared to be a professionally shot black-and-white portrait. In at least two of his 10 tweets, he proudly claimed that he was a Black man who planned to vote for Trump next month. "YES IM BLACK AND IM VOTING FOR TRUMP," a screenshot of the suspended account reads. "Twitter has suspended 2 of my other accounts for supporting Trump. Can you please give me some retweets and a follow? I follow all back, Love ya" "Gary Ray" isn t real, but the man in his profile picture is. His name is Robert Williams, and he didn t know the account had used his photo until reached by CNN.The image of Williams the "Gary Ray" account used first appeared in The New York Times in August. Williams was profiled in the paper for his wrongful arrest after facial recognition software led Detroit police to accuse him of shoplifting. The Wayne County Prosecutor s Office in Michigan dismissed the case in January, the same month Williams was arrested, due to insufficient evidence. After his image was used in such a way just recently, Williams, a logistics planner from Farmington Hills, Michigan, learned his likeness had been used to show support for Trump. "I was shocked by it," Williams told CNN on Wednesday. "I thought it was a weird attempt to mislead people." The fake accounts followed familiar patterns A few suspended accounts, compiled by O Sullivan and disinformation expert Josh Russell, show that their creators followed similar patterns: They d all joined Twitter recently; their Twitter handles usually included a reference to "MAGA" or "KAG," Trump s newer campaign slogan that stands for "Keep America Great;" and their profile pictures were often stock images of Black men and women. In Williams case, the photo of him from the New York Times piece appears in an image search for "black man." Another fake account whose handle included the hashtag #BlacksForTrump used an image of Terrel Wallace, a musician from Detroit who performs under the name "Tall Black Guy." Wallace told CNN he d deactivated his account shortly before he found that his photo was being used by one of the fake accounts. He said he thinks whoever set up the count "just searched for a random tall black guy" before they found his photo. "I m not even into politics like that," Wallace, who said he doesn t support Trump, told CNN. "I just want to continue doing my music and look after my family. I don t have time for this foolishness." The "Gary Ray" account was suspended this week after it garnered hundreds of likes and nearly 400 followers. Screenshots of the other now-suspended accounts showed they were retweeted dozens of times before Twitter took action. For his part, Williams said he doesn t agree with "Gary Ray s" political views. "I in no way intend to support Donald Trump, in any way," he said. Twitter hasn t confirmed who s behind the accounts Sam Riddell, a cybersecurity analyst who s been tracking the fake accounts since September, said the accounts may have had a "hidden motivation": After they built their follower base, the users behind the accounts would "periodically promote links to pro-Trump t-shirts for sale, urging followers to quickly purchase the merchandise before promptly deleting the promotional tweets." The users would then resume making political comments after deleting the tweets, and thus deleting evidence of "financial motivation," and would change photos and handles to avoid being detected by the platform, Riddell tweeted on Tuesday. "With IO [ information operations, or misinformation campaigns] activity, there is very often more than meets the eye," he wrote. If Twitter can prove the accounts were created through a "state-backed information operation," it will disclose the countries involved through its public archive. Earlier this month, Twitter suspended over 1,500 accounts, including over 100 that were hacked by actors in Iran to amplify "politically sensitive topics" like Black Lives Matter and the killing of George Floyd. Similar tactics were used in the run-up to the 2016 election, when Black Americans were targeted more than any other group by Russian agents, who often created fake Twitter and Facebook accounts purported to belong to Black social justice activists. The Russian operatives goal, according to findings from the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was to get Americans, including Black users, to "deepen their engagement" with the Russian operatives by signing petitions to share their personal information and attending events in an overall attempt to undermine Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton s chances of winning the election.

Contractors who moderate content for Facebook in Dublin have reportedly complained about poor working conditions, which they fear could increase their chances of catching the coronavirus. The moderators, employed by professional services firm Covalen, claimed in online forums that they were not allowed to work from home and could not physically distance at the office with so many co-workers, according to UK newspaper The Sunday Times. Staff also questioned why the office had remained open after two of their coworkers tested positive for the coronavirus, the Sunday Times reported. The employees claim they were originally told that the building would be shut for 72 hours if there was a positive case of Covid-19, but in this instance were only moved to a different floor while deep cleaning was carried out. In a statement to CNN Business, Facebook said that since the pandemic struck it has enabled "an overwhelming majority" of its reviewers to work from home."But considering some of the most sensitive content can t be reviewed from home, we ve begun allowing reviewers back into some of our sites as government guidance has permitted," a spokesperson said, adding that the company prioritizes the health and safety of employees. Covalen told CNN Business that it has "extensive health and safety procedures in place," which include strict physical distancing, staggered shifts to allow for deep cleaning, and the regular cleaning of desks and other surfaces that are touched regularly. If an employee reports Covid-19 symptoms or has been in close contact with an employee who has tested positive "they are informed, isolated onsite, provided with private transport home and advised to contact their GP," the company said in a statement. "We are also providing transfers to and from the office so employees do not need to take public transport." The company added that it had a policy of shutting the office for 72 hours if a Covid case was detected back in March when it was operating at full capacity. "When we reopened [after lockdown was lifted] with significantly reduced capacity, we updated our procedures to reflect that." Facebook s content moderators are responsible for monitoring the site for misinformation and graphic material such as violence, animal abuse and child pornography. This is not the first time that individuals whose jobs require them to view such content on Facebook have spoken out about grim working conditions. Two investigations by The Verge last year found that workers at content moderation sites in the United States were poorly paid, made to labor at filthy workstations and provided little emotional support despite the nature of the work they are doing. A report last week from nonprofit Avaaz found that purveyors of misinformation have successfully evaded Facebook s human and automated content review systems, raising questions about the platform s readiness for a potential wave of misinformation ahead of the US presidential election.

Your Amazon Prime Day packages will look different than the boxes you re used to -- and they ll come with an unexpected surprise. Between now and Halloween, Amazon will ship boxes with a new eco-friendly design that has a large white pumpkin on the side. Customers that draw on the pumpkin and scan the nearby QR code with the phone s camera to see the pumpkin drawing sort of come to life through the magic of augmented reality."The new experience is a low-cost way for customers to celebrate and a fun way to reuse boxes before dropping them in the recycling bin," Amazon said in a statement. Shoppers will need Amazon s AR app to use it and can create a customizable pumpkin, similar to Snapchat s AR filters. Perhaps it s a bit of a gimmick, but Amazon (AMZN) wants to bring attention to its environment-saving initiatives. The company has an 85-person team devoted to improving its packaging to help reduce the environmental impact shipping contributes to.Shopping online uses seven times as much cardboard as picking up items from a store, according to the commodity data analytics company Fastmarkets. E-commerce generated 1.3 million tons of container board in North America in 2018 — a jump up from 1.1 million the year before, Fastmarkets says. "My goal would be zero packaging of any type over the next couple years," Kim Houchens, who leads Amazon s packaging team, told CNN business last year. Other sustainable initiatives include labeling 25,000 Climate Pledge Friendly" products and driving 100,000 electric vehicles in the coming years. PAID CONTENT

Eleven dead dolphins of varying sizes washed up on the Red Sea s Marsa Allam beach, south of Wadi al-Gamal, according to environmentalist sources. The dolphins included seven mature females, one mature male, and three juveniles. The animals had been unable to return to the Red Sea s waters due to receding tides, the sources explained, and had likely stranded due to being pushed into shallower waters in search of food. According to a report by the sources, the dolphins were found in an area where striped coral reefs were growing, extending around five kilometers from the shore in the direction of open water. The environmentalists had been notified of the mass death by Red Sea Police. The carcasses were all buried and a report was filed to the Ministry of Environment. The sources ruled out any human cause behind the incident. The Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association previously reported the discovery of a dead dugong, a rare and endangered marine animal, at the beach on the Red Sea city of Marsa Alam. The animal was three meters long, 90 centimeters wide, and a male. It died after suffering a laceration to its head from a boat propeller.

Pakistan has decided to block social media App TikTok for failing to filter out “immoral” content, three top government officials said on Friday. A formal announcement to this effect will be made in a few hours, the officials said. “We have been asking them repeatedly to put in place an effective mechanism for blocking immoral and indecent content,” one of the top officials directly involved in the decision told Reuters.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to “molecular scissors” that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases. The recipients were announced Wednesday in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “It has not only revolutionised basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to ground-breaking new medical treatments.” Gustafsson said that as a result, any genome can now be edited “to fix genetic damage.” Gusfafsson cautiouned that the “enormous power of this technology means we have to use it with great care” but that it “is equally clear that this is a technology, a method that will provide humankind with great opportunities.” The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million krona (more than $1.1 million), courtesy of a bequest left more than a century ago by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The amount was increased recently to adjust for inflation. “I was very emotional, I have to say,” Charpentier told reporters by phone from Berlin after hearing of the award. On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine to Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. Tuesday’s prize for physics went to Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the United States for their breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes. The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics. ___ Read more stories about Nobel Prizes past and present by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes Image: FILE – This Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015 file combo image shows Emmanuelle Charpentier, left, and Jennifer Doudna, both speaking at the National Academy of Sciences international summit on the safety and ethics of human gene editing, in Washington. The 2020 Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” A panel at the Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm made the announcement Wednesday Oct. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

is celebrating its birthday by letting users switch to older icons of the app, including the classic retro camera logo that it sported when it first became a staple of smartphones worldwide. Designs stretching back to Instagram s early days are included in the feature, which will be available throughout October, as well as updated redesigns of the current logo that incorporate different colors and the Pride flag. A pre-launch logo bearing the title "Code name" is also included. The new feature is well-hidden within the app, but Instagram teased it on its social channels on Tuesday -- sending out a cryptic tweet in emojis that gave users instructions on how the access the logos.If a user of the app goes to the settings menu and scrolls right up to the top, a new screen appears showing a list of different options. When one is selected, the new logo appears on the phone s home screen. The app launched on October 6, 2010, with a short-lived logo that featured a mock-up of a Polaroid camera. It quickly switched to a brown icon that survived for several years, until Facebook bought the product and gave it a modern, purple redesign."Birthdays are a good time to reflect on where we ve been and where we re headed," the tech giant wrote in a blog post on its website Tuesday, adding that the company wants to "say a big thank-you to everyone who uses Instagram around the world." Mark Zuckerberg last year announced plans to integrate Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.The move could cement Facebook s dominance over the messaging market for years to come, and arguably make it harder to break up the company. But the firm is facing antitrust scrutiny in Washington DC, where lawmakers on Tuesday found that it, along with Amazon, Apple and Google, holds "monopoly power" in key business segments and has abused its dominance in the marketplace. Facebook said last month that it is currently testing the ability for Instagram and Messenger users to message or video chat with each other in select markets and will expand it globally in the coming months.

Instagram will begin automatically hiding potentially offensive comments as part of its ongoing attempt to address online bullying. The company said the comments that will be hidden will be similar to those that have been reported by users in the past. Instagram said it s using existing artificial intelligence systems to identify bullying or harassing language in comments. Instagram announced on Tuesday it would be testing the feature. The day also marks the app s tenth birthday. Users will still be able to tap "View Hidden Comments" to see those remarks. Adam Mosseri, who took the helm of Instagram two years ago, has pledged to fight online bullying. Last year, the Facebook-owned company rolled out a tool called "Restrict." It allows you to "restrict" another user, meaning that comments on your posts from that person are only visible to them, and not to other people. It also previously added a feature that lets people know when their comment may be considered offensive before it s posted. The idea is that it gives people the ability to pause and reflect.Instagram said, since introducing comment warnings, it s seen "significant improvement" in people editing or not posting the comment, although it did not elaborate further. On Tuesday, Instagram also said it s adding an additional warning for people who have posted several comments that could be offensive. The notification prompts them to go back to their comment, otherwise they could risk consequences such as their comment being hidden or even their account getting deleted. Twitter has conducted similar tests. Earlier this year, it began prompting users to consider rewriting their reply to a tweet before publishing, if it contained potentially harmful language.

IBM Corp said on Friday the US Commerce Department should adopt new controls to limit the export of facial recognition systems to repressive regimes that can be used to commit human rights violations. The company said in a statement the United States should institute new export limits on “the type of facial recognition system most likely to be used in mass surveillance systems, racial profiling or other human rights violations.”

Founded in 1984, GameStop is one of the oldest cornerstones of video game retail. But in 2020, it s facing big risks as the industry increasingly turns to digital. Sony sent ripples through the industry in late September when it announced a digital version of the PlayStation 5 that has the same performance as the standard one, but would be $100 cheaper and do away with a disc player for playing physical games. It s a departure for the gaming industry that started off with a heavy reliance on hardware and hard copies, and it signals a shift towards digital and the cloud. The move raised alarm bells for GameStop (GME), which relies on physical games for a significant portion of its income. In 2002, its parent company at the time, Barnes and Noble, took GameStop public. Through the years, GameStop has differentiated its business by continuing to sell merchandise, such as Funko Pop toys, giving away a Fortnite in-game item as a gift with purchase and even opening up pre-orders to the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition.But if gamers were to feel compelled by a digital version of the PS5, and switch over, GameStop would face a huge challenge to its business. The company declined to comment on that risk for this story. But in a September 2019 interview, CEO George Sherman told CNN Business: "Gaming as an industry could not be stronger ... it s us that needs to pivot. It s GameStop that needs to make some changes." Analysts were split on whether the gaming retailer is in immediate trouble. But Sony s upcoming launch is the latest signal the retailer needs to adapt. The company reported a $111.3 million loss in the most recent quarter, compared to a loss of $415.3 million in the same period last year. It said it will close 400 to 450 stores globally this year. Stephanie Wissink, managing director of consumer equity research at Jefferies believes that digital consoles won t see mass adoption yet as most gamers across the country will need more bandwidth and external hard drives to hold all those digital games. Wissink predicts that GameStop will benefit from sales of the upcoming Xbox Series X and the standard PS5, and at least be fine for the next three to four years until 5G and cloud gaming grow more popular. For now, the company will be buoyed by game collectors and those interested in trading in physical games for others. Physical copies can be traded, but digital can t. "But then after that, we really need to start talking about some of the threats... the digitization of software, the rise of cloud gaming," said Wissink, "By the time we get out three or four years, GameStop is going to have to reinvent itself in terms of its positions around physical software." A Blockbuster era Subscriptions like the Xbox Game Pass, where gamers can try out multiple games per month for a flat monthly fee, and cloud gaming subscriptions like Google Stadia s $9.99 a month, could all be challenges to GameStop s business model. "We re entering a kind of Blockbuster era," said Carolina Milanesi, a tech analyst at research firm Creative Strategies, "The same thing we ve seen for movies and content for Netflix and the like that ended up killing Blockbuster are now starting to impact gaming." To survive, GameStop may have to evolve. "You could become just a merchandise store that is linked to gaming and could be also selling accessories, as an example," said Milanesi. "You re changing your DNA, you keep the name and you become somebody else, that s possible." Michael Pachter, an analyst at private financial services firm Wedbush, said GameStop survived the pandemic and closing stores, and it will benefit from new console launches "since there will be a reason for consumers to return to stores." The digital PS5 is a first for Sony but not for gaming. Xbox has done it before by launching a digital version of the Xbox One S in 2019, which Pachter said "barely made a ripple." Xbox s Series S will follow the same trend, but it has lower resolution graphics and less storage than the mainstay Xbox Series X. "People who want to trade in games will buy the more expensive PS5 and will continue to buy discs," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at private financial services firm Wedbush. "So long as there is a version with a disc drive, there will still be discs and GameStop will continue to sell them." An unexpected goldmine GameStop does have one enormously valuable asset, said Wissink, the Jefferies analyst. "GameStop is also sitting on a database of 16 million profiles of core gamers that they have a direct connection with. And they can tell you whether those gamers play more than one game," said Wissink. "So that s something that Microsoft (MSFT) doesn t have. Activision (ATVI) doesn t have. EA (EA) doesn t have. Those companies all know their individualized box in the matrix, but they don t have a view of the matrix." It just depends on what GameStop s able to do with that customer data. The company also owns the gaming magazine, Game Informer, and one of its latest shareholders is the co-founder of pet supplies ecommerce store Chewy, Ryan Cohen. The stock price is $9.45, up 78.30% over the past year, reflecting optimism over the upcoming next-gen consoles. "We know one thing about Chewy, that it is built with customer data at the center of everything," said Wissink. That data could be used to push customer loyalty, repeat purchases and subscription services.

Google is tapping out of the super-expensive smartphone race. With its latest line of Pixel devices, announced in an online event Wednesday, Google (GOOGL) appears to be targeting a more cost-conscious user than the premium smartphones from competitors such as Apple and Samsung — many of which cost upwards of $1,000 and some as much as $2,000. The Pixel 5 starts at $699 and the Pixel 4a 5G starts at $499. Meanwhile, the Pixel 4a that launched earlier this year costs $399. Those lower prices do come with some sacrifices. Both Pixel phones have less powerful processors and displays than the top devices from Samsung and Apple, and the Pixel 4a 5G is not waterproof, though the Pixel 5 is. Japan will be the first country to get the Pixel 4a 5G on October 15, with the phone set to launch in eight other countries, including the United States, in November. The Pixel 5 will launch in eight countries on October 15 and in the United States on October 29.Both of Google s new phones support 5G, the next generation of super-fast wireless networks. They are the latest in a growing slate of phones on the market built to connect to 5G, including models from Motorola, Samsung, Huawei, LG and others. Apple is widely expected to launch its own 5G-enabled phone next month. But the relatively low price point of the Pixel devices could provide a more affordable entry point to the 5G ecosystem. A camera with more control before and after you click As it has with past models, Google is leaning heavily on software to help its smartphone cameras compete with the likes of the iPhone and Galaxy devices. Both phones Google launched on Wednesday have the same front and rear camera system that Google described as its "best one yet," featuring a new ultra-wide lens and software that helps take sharper images.Google is combining two of the Pixel s most popular features — Night Sight and Portrait Mode — to let users blur their backgrounds while shooting in darker environments. Another low-light feature called Portrait Light allows users to strategically add light to darker sections of a photo. The new Pixel cameras also have new video features to help shoot more stable footage. Google Assistant, wait on hold for me Instead of listening to many minutes of tedious hold music, Google is introducing a new feature called Hold for Me. Google Assistant will wait on the line for you if a business with a toll-free number puts you on hold, and alert you when you re off hold and a representative comes on the line. Google is addressing another pain point for users: running low on battery. Its new Extreme Battery Saver mode will allow you to pick what essential apps you want to keep on, while everything else gets paused. The company boasts this could increase battery life for up to 48 hours. Both features will come to older generations of Pixel phones soon, too. Google s TV system gets a refresh Google also updated and rebranded some of its smart home devices with new TV and speaker offerings. The company announced a new version of its Chromecast streaming device, with a system called Google TV (similar to its existing Android TV operating system) that integrates several devices into one. Google TV s Watchlist lets you save movies and shows you want to watch, and add titles to the list from your phone or laptop. The new Chromecast has its own remote with dedicated buttons for Netflix and YouTube, and will go on sale in the US for $50 starting Wednesday.The company also unveiled a new smart speaker called Nest Audio, which it says packs a better sound and louder volume than its Google Home predecessors. The speaker ($99) will go on sale October 5 and comes in five colors, including black, white and light blue.

Egypt s Red Sea Marine Park Authority (RSMPA), the governmental agency responsible for managing the marine protectorates within the Red Sea governorate, decided on Tuesday to impose a fine of US$34,000 on the owner of a tourist boat for its damages to the coral reef in the Magawish area of the Red Sea. The boat reportedly ran aground on the reef, causing it substantial harm. Upon receiving a report from security services on the incident, which took place in the north of Hurghada near Magawish Island in the Red Sea, RSMPA rushed to the scene to inspect the damage. A committee of environmental researchers has been formed to prepare a comprehensive assessment of the damage caused by the accident, and to take legal action against the owner. Sources within RSMPA said that the boat is regularly operating cruises in the protected reef area. The Red Sea in Egypt sees a large number of tourists each year, many of which enjoy snorkeling, diving, and boat tours in its crystal-clear waters. Local conservation groups are actively working with local authorities to protect the fragile environment on the sea, while still allowing tourists to experience its beauty. Egypt s coral reefs are found mainly along the coasts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, where more than a thousand different fish species live among 250 kinds of coral. Red Sea reefs are cited as among the richest in the world for overall species diversity. Coral reef degradation has increased dramatically during the last three decades, particularly along the Egyptian Red Sea coast due to man-made disturbances such as global warming and other stressors, according to a study from Benha University. Marine environment experts and diving centers warned of the disappearance of coral reefs in the Red Sea due to launch boats, used for diving trips and maritime activities, tying their iron anchors into live coral reefs, especially in the area between al-Gouna and Hurghada where buoys are not available.

Chinese online media firm Sina Corp. is quitting Wall Street as Chinese tech companies come under heightened scrutiny in the United States. The Beijing-based firm is being taken private by its chairman and chief executive, Charles Chao, in a deal that values the company at $2.6 billion, Sina (SINA) said in a statement on Monday. The offer price of $43.30 per share is a roughly 8% premium to the company s closing price in New York on Friday, and is also sweeter than the initial buyout offer made by New Wave Holdings, Chao s investment company, in July. Sina went public on the Nasdaq in 2000. The company owns Weibo (WB), a popular social media platform in China often compared to Twitter (TWTR).Sina s deal comes as tensions rise between the United States and China. In recent weeks, the two countries have clashed over US threats and restrictions against Chinese tech firms that have ensnared apps like TikTok and WeChat and chipmaker SMIC. On Wall Street, Chinese companies are also facing more scrutiny. Luckin Coffee (LK) was booted off the Nasdaq following the disclosure of massive accounting irregularities. US lawmakers, government agencies and stock exchanges have since taken steps aimed at limiting Beijing s access to America s vast capital markets. In May, the US Senate unanimously passed a bill that would prevent companies that refuse to open their books from listing on Wall Street. The bill s bipartisan co-sponsors said the goal is to "kick deceitful Chinese companies off US exchanges." The bill still needs to pass the US House of Representatives. And in August, the US President s Working Group on Financial Markets released a report recommending increased scrutiny of listed Chinese companies and due diligence requirements for investing in Chinese companies. Fearful of potential regulatory trouble in the United States, as well as wanting to be closer to investors who actually use their products, several marquee Chinese tech firms have in recent months offered secondary listings in Hong Kong and Shanghai — among them e-commerce companies Alibaba (BABA) and JD (JD). Meanwhile, Alibaba s financial affiliate Ant Group chose Shanghai and Hong Kong for its highly anticipated initial public offering, even though Alibaba had a blockbuster IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. "Chinese companies currently listed in the US will continue a stampede to issue secondary shares in Hong Kong and domestic markets, and these markets will also be the main destinations for new listings by Chinese companies," Eurasia analysts wrote in a note last month.

has won the right to continue operating in London, a crucial market for the company.London is one of the world s most important cities for Uber. The US company said recently that 3.5 million Londoners regularly use its app and it claims 45,000 drivers in the capital. Uber shares were up 6% in premarket trading. The court will now hear the views of both parties on what the conditions and the length of the operating license should be. Transport for London, the regulator, said in November 2019 that it had identified "a pattern of failures" that placed Uber passengers at risk. It said thousands of trips involved unauthorized drivers who were able to pass themselves off as other Uber drivers. Uber has faced a lengthy battle in London. The city first refused to renew its license in 2017, citing several concerns including how Uber responded to serious crimes. Uber appealed that decision and was later granted permission to operate for 15 months. The company faces increased competition in London, with ride-sharing rivals including Bolt, Ola, Kapten and ViaVan looking to take a bigger chunk of the market from Uber and the city s traditional black cabs. "Today s decision is a disaster for London," said Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, which represents black cab drivers. "Uber has demonstrated time and time again that it simply can t be trusted to put the safety of Londoners, its drivers and other road users above profit. Sadly, it seems that Uber is too big to regulate effectively, but too big to fail," McNamara said in a statement. Uber said in a statement that "there is nothing more important than the safety of the people" who use its app. "This decision is a recognition of Uber s commitment to safety and we will continue to work constructively with [Transport for London]," said Jamie Heywood, regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe. Transport for London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A UK judge upheld the company s appeal on Monday against a decision by the local transportation regulator in November 2019 to strip Uber of its ride-hailing license over safety concerns. Uber (UBER) "does not have a perfect record but it has been an improving picture," Judge Tanweer Ikram said in his ruling. "I am satisfied that they are doing what a reasonable business in their sector could be expected to do, perhaps even more."

The race to keep TikTok operating in the United States has turned into a saga of intricate dealmaking and political flattery. It s exactly the kind of scenario that s already par for the course for American companies that want to do business in China (and for those, like Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOGL), that are shut out of the world s second biggest economy). Experts warn that the more Washington s playbook starts to mimic Beijing s, the more at risk the world s internet is of fracturing beyond repair with enormous implications for global business. The deal to save TikTok s US business would see Walmart (WMT) and Oracle (ORCL) take a minority stake in a US-based company called Tiktok Global. While an announcement earlier this month implied that Beijing-based ByteDance would continue to own most of the short-form video app, developments since then have muddied the waters. ByteDance would itself hold zero percent of the new entity, a person familiar with the deal told CNN Business earlier this week. Instead, TikTok Global would be partially owned by ByteDance s international and Chinese investors.The agreement would make Oracle TikTok s "trusted technology partner," and give the California-based tech firm the ability to store the app s American user data and review its source code. Other aspects of the deal have also become heavily politicized. US President Donald Trump said last weekend that he asked the companies involved to "do me a favor" by bankrolling a $5 billion education fund to teach people the "real history of our country." While it doesn t appear that such a fund will ever materialize, Walmart and Oracle have promised that the deal would coincidentally result in US tax payments totaling that exact amount. For American companies that work in China, the broad strokes of this deal might seem familiar. Beijing often forces foreign businesses to form joint ventures with local firms and establish offshoot entities. "I think there is some era of retaliation here, where, Hey, if you re going to do this to our companies — shut us out or force us to localize — then we re going to do it to you as well, " said Dipayan Ghosh, the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School.More similar to China than Europe Trump s threat to ban TikTok if the app is not sold to a US company is founded on the fear that otherwise, American user data risks winding up in the hands of the Chinese government. (Tiktok has denied this as a possibility and says it keeps US data stateside, with a backup in Singapore.) The fight over TikTok has sparked a political firestorm in the United States. But it s not exactly an unusual concern overseas, where governments have long been worried about how much access US tech firms have to information about their citizens. That unease has increased in the years since Edward Snowden, a former contractor who worked with the US National Security Agency, revealed in documents leaked to the news media that the American government tapped into people s data through tech companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Google and Apple (AAPL). The European Union has for years tussled with US companies over concerns about data privacy and surveillance. That was a big part of the reason for passing 2018 s landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which gave consumers much more control over their personal data and forced companies to ensure that the way they collect, process and store data is safe. Europe has continued to strengthen its privacy laws, and this summer struck down an agreement that allowed companies to move data between Europe and the United States over concerns that it did not sufficiently protect Europeans from US surveillance.Now that the United States has been forced to reckon with a foreign company that has broad access to US user data, though, the country is taking an approach that resembles China s far more than it does Europe s. American companies have known for decades that working with China requires a lot of sacrifice. Microsoft, which has a longstanding history in the country, agreed to give the Chinese government access to its source code in 2003 to address national security concerns. The company said at the time that sharing that information was intended to help foreign governments "be confident in the security of the Windows platform." The steps taken by other US firms that have access to Chinese user data bear resemblance to the TikTok proposal in other ways. Apple s iCloud services in mainland China are operated by a Chinese company, for example. The Silicon Valley firm was forced to do so to comply with the country s cybersecurity rules, which require companies to store data on Chinese users domestically. "The US is copying what the Chinese have done," said James Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. "Trump is taking a nationalistic approach." A nationalistic America That way of doing things has consequences, though. Experts have for months been warning that tensions between the United States and China are creating a world where tech firms are viewed more as national actors instead of multinational ones. And as the relationship between the world s two largest economies deteriorates, the fallout risks creating what Eurasia Group once called a "new virtual Berlin Wall." "The US was always about the international system and following the rules," Lewis said. "A more nationalistic America is harder for everyone, not just the Chinese." After all, China s philosophy on technology led the country to create its Great Firewall, a massive censorship mechanism that shuts out content widely available elsewhere on the internet. Beijing closely monitors and manages that system, having realized the potential for the internet to impact the way its populace views the world. When the internet was invented more than 30 years ago and became commercialized in the decades afterward, "we thought of this as a platform over which any person in the world can communicate with anyone else in the world," said Ghosh of the Harvard Kennedy School. He added that closing off the web could sow division worldwide. Washington has increasingly indicated that it is willing to head down that path, though. In August, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the government would seek to restrict the reach of Chinese companies in the United States by banning them from app stores, cloud services and other digital networks."What worries me is that the US is becoming China by trying to block off apps," said Susan Ariel Aaronson, a professor at George Washington University, where she directs a digital trade and data governance hub. "We too are censoring; we too are intervening in the markets for data." Many experts have pointed out that the United States has legitimate concerns when it comes to safeguarding the data of American citizens. Instead of singling out Chinese companies, though, they say the United States should develop universal standards for data collection and use. Ghosh, for example, said a European approach, like a US version of GDPR, may be the right way forward. "What that means is that if you want to do business with American consumers over the internet, you have to be subject to these general baseline privacy restrictions," he said. That may include giving citizens the right to delete data or to be "forgotten," a measure that allows citizens to request that links containing personal information about them be removed from search results. Whatever Washington decides, though, the country s actions are likely to set a powerful precedent. Take India, for example, which has already banned a bunch of Chinese apps during a broader geopolitical tussle. "If we continue to play the game of whack-a-mole with Chinese apps that are perceived as a threat, I don t think that makes us anymore secure," said Samm Sacks, a fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank New America who studies cybersecurity and US-China relations. "I think that what that does is it creates a ripple effect, where other countries around the world will say, This is a blueprint on how to block a powerful technology company under the guise of national security. "

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have agreed to allow outsiders to audit how they handle harmful content such as hate speech following boycotts of their platforms by major advertisers. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced a deal on Wednesday that will see the platforms adopt common definitions and reporting standards for harmful content. The agreement, which has taken more than a year to negotiate, requires social media platforms to undergo an independent audit of how they are categorizing, reporting and eliminating harmful content to ensure it doesn t appear next to advertisements. The goal is to conduct these reviews by the end of the year, or have a plan in place to implement them. The platforms will also be required to develop systems that give advertisers more control over the type of content that their brands appear alongside. "As funders of the online ecosystem, advertisers have a critical role to play in driving positive change and we are pleased to have reached agreement with the platforms on an action plan and timeline," WFA CEO Stephan Loerke said in a statement.Advertisers have complained for years about their ads showing up alongside racist or violent content on social media. Google s (GOOGL)YouTube faced a big walkout by advertisers last year. But concern increased following the killing of George Floyd, and in July, dozens of the world s biggest companies joined a month-long boycott of Facebook (FB) over what campaign organizers described as its repeated failures to address hate speech and misinformation. The deal announced Wednesday was negotiated through the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which the WFA launched last year as a way to lobby social media platforms to do more to tackle the spread of hate and misinformation online. It covers 11 broad topics, ranging from explicit sexual content and crime to drug use, piracy, arms and ammunition and "sensitive social issues." A brand safety "floor" is established for each area, which details when the content would be unsuitable for adjacent advertising, such as the excessive use of profane language. The areas are then graded according to risk, which could in some cases allow for advertising to appear such as when it relates to news articles or educational material on the topic. Unilever (UL) and Mars, which joined the boycott of Facebook, said that the agreement marks significant progress towards making social media safer, but will depend on the actions taken by platforms to uphold their end of the bargain. "This is not a declaration of victory," global responsible marketing officer at Mars, Jacqui Stephenson said in a statement. "There is much work to be done and we rely on all of our platform partners to follow through on their commitments with the pace and urgency these issues demand." "While change doesn t happen overnight, today marks an important step in the right direction," added Luis Di Como, Unilever s executive vice president for global media.Facebook s vice president for global marketing solutions, Carolyn Everson, on Wednesday described the agreement with advertisers as an "uncommon collaboration" that gives the industry a "unified language to move forward on the fight against hate online." While the boycott of Facebook in July did little to dent its revenue, which is derived mostly from millions of small businesses, it did undermine the company s reputation and force it to address the issue. A spokesperson for Unilever, whose brands include Ben & Jerry s and Dove, said that its previous decision to pull US advertising from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (TWTR) would remain in place until the end of the year. The news comes a week after celebrities including Kim Kardashian West, Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio boycotted Instagram for a day to protest parent company Facebook s handling of hate and misinformation. The action was led by the same civil rights groups that pushed for the July boycott. One of the groups, the Anti-Defamation League, said that Wednesday s announcement is an "early step" but shows what can be achieved through collective action like the advertising freeze. "These commitments must be followed in a timely and comprehensive manner, to ensure they are not the kind of empty promises that we have seen too often from Facebook," the organization s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

Huawei says it is in survival mode as continuous "attacks" from the United States threaten to choke off the Chinese company s access to key technology. "Huawei is in a difficult situation these days. Nonstop aggression from the US government has put us under significant pressure," the company s rotating chief executive Guo Ping said at a conference on Wednesday. "Right now, survival is the goal," he said. Washington has ramped up pressure on Huawei, issuing fresh sanctions in May and August that further restrict the company s access to the leading edge computer chips it needs to manufacture smartphones, 5G networking gear and other products.Semiconductor companies that use American software and technology to design and manufacture chips can no longer sell to Huawei without first obtaining a license from the US Commerce Department. US regulators say Huawei poses a national security risk, alleging that the Chinese government could use Huawei equipment to spy. The company has repeatedly denied those allegations. Analysts have called the latest US sanctions a "lethal blow" and a "death sentence" for the company. "The United States has been continuously attacking us and [the latest restriction] has posed great challenges to our operations," Guo told reporters. Several analysts estimate that Huawei has stockpiled enough semiconductors to last the company through at least the end of the year. But when asked how long supplies will last at a press conference on Wednesday, Guo said "we re still evaluating more details." He added that Huawei buys hundreds of millions of chipsets for its smartphone business every year, and that the company received its last shipment of chips in mid-September, when the US restrictions announced in May went into effect.Major chipmakers such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and SK Hynix applied for licenses to sell to Huawei, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. China s biggest chipmaker, SMIC, said in a statement that it has also "submitted license applications covering several Huawei products," without going into detail. Some companies have gotten the green light, including Intel (INTC). A spokesman for the US company confirmed that it had received a license from US authorities to continue supplying Huawei, but did not specify what products it could sell. Intel has in the past supplied processors for Huawei laptops. AMD (AMD) may also have obtained licenses to sell to Huawei. Forrest Norrod, senior vice president of AMD, said at a conference last week that "based on the licenses that we ve been able to secure, we don t expect to see a significant impact on our business at this time" because of recent US-China trade tensions. Norrod did not specifically mention Huawei, but Jefferies analyst Edison Lee has pointed out that the California-based chip company supplies Huawei with computer processing units for laptops. AMD obtaining a license "is logical to us, since Huawei s ability to produce notebook computers should not create a national security risk to the United States," Lee wrote in a note on Sunday. Huawei s telecommunications gear is another matter. The Trump administration has been urging countries around the world to ban Huawei equipment from their 5G telecom networks. Several key countries for months resisted cutting off Huawei entirely. But that changed after US restrictions announced in May, barring chip companies from manufacturing chips designed by Huawei affiliate HiSilicon. The United Kingdom in July banned Huawei from its 5G network, reversing a January decision to allow it a limited role in the build out. UK officials cited uncertainty surrounding Huawei s supply chain as the reason for the rapid about-face. Since then, things have only gotten worse for Huawei. The company is facing the likelihood of "a near-total cutoff of semiconductors ... dealing a lethal blow to China s most important global technology company," Paul Triolo, head of geo technology at Eurasia Group, wrote in a research note last month.The US restrictions issued in August are intended to expand the number of chip companies required to apply for licenses to supply to Huawei, "with a presumption of denial," he wrote. SK Hynix s application has already been rejected, according to a Reuters report citing a person familiar with the situation. SK Hynix declined to comment. Huawei indicated on Wednesday that Qualcomm is still awaiting a decision. "Qualcomm has always been an important partner of Huawei," Guo told reporters. "If they get the license, we re willing to procure from them and use their chipsets in our smartphones." Qualcomm and AMD did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular working hours. TSMC (TSM), the world s largest contract chip manufacturer, confirmed in July that it would end its relationship with Huawei this month in order to comply with the US regulations.