BATTERYFORPC BLOG
Apple hit with record €1.1bn fine in France
France's competition authority has imposed a record €1.1bn (£1bn; $1.2bn) fine on US tech giant Apple for what it sees as anti-competitive practices. It is the biggest fine ever imposed by the French regulator. The firm and two of its wholesalers in France were found to have an unfair agreement to control prices. The investigation began in 2012, following a complaint by eBizcuss, which sells Ap ... Read more
2020-03-16 17:49:36
Coronavirus: US slashes rates and launches huge stimulus programme
The US has cut interest rates to almost zero and launched a $700bn stimulus programme in a bid to protect the economy from the impact of coronavirus. It is part of a co-ordinated action announced on Sunday in the UK, Japan, eurozone, Canada, and Switzerland. Announcing the US move, the Federal Reserve said the "outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countrie ... Read more
2020-03-15 18:31:47
Spain's King Felipe VI renounces father's inheritance
Spain's King Felipe VI has renounced the inheritance of his scandal-hit father Juan Carlos. In a statement, the palace said that Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, would also stop receiving an annual grant of €194,000 (£174,800; $217,100). This comes as the 82-year-old former king is being criticised for his lavish lifestyle. Juan Carlos, who reigned for 39 years, is also facing an investigati ... Read more
2020-03-15 18:31:23
Coronavirus: How to work from home, the right way
Google, Microsoft, Twitter. Hitachi, Apple, Amazon. Chevron, Salesforce, Spotify. From the UK to the US, Japan to South Korea, these are all global companies that have, in the last few days, rolled out mandatory work-from-home policies amid the spread of Covid-19. And it’s realistic to assume that shifting to the ‘home office’ will become the new normal for many of us for a while, given Wednesday ... Read more
2020-03-15 18:30:59
Does being 'TikTok famous' actually make you money?
When I meet up with Jake Sweet (aka Surfaceldn on TikTok), he's buzzing. He's about to be flown out to the MTV Video Music Awards in Spain as a special guest. Dinner will be laid on, he explains, and there will be aftershow parties where he will rub shoulders with music's biggest stars - but best of all, says the 21-year-old, he will hang out with other social media influencers he admires. He go ... Read more
2020-03-14 17:30:52
Minecraft ‘loophole’ library of banned journalism
It started out as a project in an online forum and turned into the best-selling video game of all time, but now Minecraft is being used for something even its creator would not have dreamt of. The iconic game based around placing Lego-like blocks with more than 145 million players each month has been turned into a hub of free speech. A virtual library has been meticulously created to host articl ... Read more
2020-03-14 17:30:25
The tech boss who lost more than a billion
The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to UK technology pioneer Andrew Rickman. How would you feel if you lost more than £1.4bn ($1.81bn) almost overnight? That was the situation faced by Andrew Rickman back at the end of 2000, when the dotcom bubble spectacularly burst, sending shares in his company Bookham Technology plumm ... Read more
2020-03-14 17:29:51
Coronavirus: How hackers are preying on fears of Covid-19
Security experts say a spike in email scams linked to coronavirus is the worst they have seen in years. Cyber-criminals are targeting individuals as well as industries, including aerospace, transport, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and insurance. Phishing emails written in English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Turkish languages have been found. The BBC has tracked five of the campaign ... Read more
2020-03-13 17:47:28
Tech Tent: Controlling coronavirus with apps
It's the first pandemic of the smartphone era - and that means governments have access to new ways of tracking the spread of Covid-19. On this week's Tech Tent, we find out about the apps that are monitoring people with the virus and look at whether they pose a long-term threat to civil liberties. In South Korea, the authorities have created an app that lets them know whether people who should b ... Read more
2020-03-13 17:46:40
Apple's WWDC annual showcase cancelled in favour of online event
Apple's annual showcase, the Worldwide Developers Conference, has been cancelled in favour of an online-only event. "The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format," Apple said in a statement. The June conference is often used to announce new products and software features. Only open to Apple software developers, the $1,600 (£1,280) tickets sell out ev ... Read more
2020-03-13 17:45:55