CMA says tech company has ‘abused its dominant position’ to the detriment of
publishers and advertisers
* Business live – latest updates
The UK competition watchdog has accused Google of anti-competitive behaviour in
the market for buying and selling ads on websites, in a move that follows
similar investigations in the US and the EU.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had found that Google has
“abused its dominant position” in online advertising to the detriment of
thousands of UK publishers and advertisers.
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Tag - Business
Experts are issuing stern warnings about business support for Trump – it could
backfire badly and endanger democracy
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, a growing number of billionaires, tech
titans and venture capitalists are backing Donald Trump’s campaign for
president, among them Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of Blackstone, the world’s
largest private-equity fund, Steve Wynn, the casino tycoon, Bill Ackman, the
hedge fund manager, and Marc Andreessen, a leading venture capitalist.
But many business school professors and historians are issuing stern warnings
about this business support for Trump, saying that backing him could backfire
badly for business and endanger America’s democracy. These professors caution
that corporate America – along with everyone else – should be hugely concerned
about a candidate who has talked of being a dictator on day one, terminating the
constitution, and weaponizing the justice department to exact revenge against
his critics.
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Shoppers can use technology to advise them on outfit choices based on their body
shape and style preferences
Marks & Spencer is using artificial intelligence to advise shoppers on their
outfit choices based on their body shape and style preferences, as part of
efforts to increase online sales.
The 130-year-old retailer is using the technology to personalise consumers’
online experience, and suggest items to buy.
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Increase will lift minimum rates by 9.8% and comes after online retailer
defeated GMB union bid for bargaining rights on pay
Amazon has announced a pay rise worth nearly 10% for tens of thousands of UK
employees, after defeating an attempt by the GMB trade union for bargaining
rights over pay and conditions.
The online retailer said the increase would lift minimum pay rates by 9.8% to
between £13.50 and £14.50 an hour, depending on location. Staff with at least
three years’ service will receive a minimum of between £13.75 and £14.75 an
hour.
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Fall overnight comes after it shrinks by $279bn on Tuesday in biggest one-day
drop in value by US company
* Business live – latest news
Shares in the AI chip designer Nvidia have continued to slide overnight after a
report said US authorities were ramping up an investigation into whether the
company had breached competition laws.
The company’s shares fell 2.4% in after-hours trading, exacerbating a near-10%
drop in the regular trading session that slashed its value by $279bn (£212bn) to
$2.6tn, marking the largest one-day drop in history for a US company.
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Campaign group says firms such as Uber should reveal data on driver miles to
help boost wages
Uber and other ride-hailing apps should be forced to publish data on drivers’
workloads so that regulators can tackle exploitation and cut carbon emissions,
campaigners argue.
Analysis by the pressure group Worker Info Exchange suggests drivers for Uber
and its smaller rivals may have missed out on more than £1.2bn in wages and
costs last year because of the way they are compensated.
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Millions of users shut out and 500,000 switch to rival platform Bluesky as
providers enact supreme court ban
One of the world’s most popular social networks, X, has gone offline in Brazil –
the country with the fifth largest digital population – after Elon Musk’s
refusal to comply with local laws saw it blocked by the supreme court.
Millions of Brazilian X users found themselves unable to access the network on
Saturday morning as internet providers and mobile phone companies began to
enforce the ban.
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In isolation, Alexander Grothendieck seemed to have lost touch with reality, but
some say his metaphysical theories could contain wonders
One day in September 2014, in a hamlet in the French Pyrenean foothills,
Jean-Claude, a landscape gardener in his late 50s, was surprised to see his
neighbour at the gate. He hadn’t spoken to the 86-year-old in nearly 15 years
after a dispute over a climbing rose that Jean-Claude had wanted to prune. The
old man lived in total seclusion, tending to his garden in the djellaba he
always wore, writing by night, heeding no one. Now, the long-bearded seeker
looked troubled.
“Would you do me a favour?” he asked Jean-Claude.
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The immersive theatrical experience, which sees your seat move, shake and often
spray water, has seen a record summer
During this long, hot, languishing summer, I have come to believe in one thing
and one thing only: seeing Twisters in 4DX. The Oklahoma-set film, directed by
Lee Isaac Chung, is about a 7/10 movie in 2D – a blockbuster sequel of sorts to
the 1996 disaster flick, starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as tornado
chasers with modest chemistry. But in the immersive theatrical format known as
4DX, in which viewers are buffeted with literal wind and rain, Twisters becomes
an unmissable 10/10 experience.
In 4DX, you feel every bump and jolt of a truck in an F5 gale, thanks to moving
seats that, among other things, punch you in the back and tickle your ankles.
When the characters clung to bolted theater seats during a final climactic
storm, I too clung to my armrest, lest I get rattled off my wind-ripped chair.
Each of the film’s tornado encounters drew loud cheers at my screening, as did
the shot of Powell in a tight white T-shirt during a palpable drizzle. I emerged
from Twisters with tangled hair and horizontal tear streaks; my friend lost her
shoe. In 4DX, you do not just, in the words of Powell’s Tyler Owens, “ride” the
storm. You are the storm.
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Doubling of quarterly revenues fails to allay concerns about production delays
to its next-generation of AI chips
* Business live – latest updates
Shares in the chip designer Nvidia have fallen after investors were spooked by
signs of slowing growth and production issues, despite the artificial
intelligence company posting a doubling of quarterly sales.
The Silicon Valley company posted a 122% rise in second-quarter revenues to
$30bn (£23bn) compared with the same period last year. While that beat average
analyst estimates of $28.7bn, investors were spooked by signs of a slowdown in
growth, particularly around its next-generation AI chips, code-named Blackwell.
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