Business, Spoken

Sinclair Broadcasting's proposed $3.9 billion takeover of the Tribune company, which would have expanded the conservative media company's footprint to nearly three-fourths of American households, suddenly appears in trouble. Today, Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai effectively came out against the acquisition by proposing to refer it to a hearing with a judge. In theory, the deal could still go ahead if the judge finds no problems with the acquisition or if the decision is appealed.

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Prime Day, which began Monday, is one of Amazon’s biggest promotions of the year, when the retailer offers deals to subscribers to its Prime service. This year, some Amazon workers in Europe are striking during Prime Day, hoping to draw draw attention to working conditions like proposed cuts in wages and health benefits. In solidarity, some consumers have been boycotting the company and its many subsidiaries, like Twitch and Whole Foods.

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Over the past year, Juul, the vaping sensation that dominates 70 percent of the US e-cigarette market, has tried to cultivate the image of decent corporate citizen that wants to play by the rules. The company is known for its legions of obsessive young users who have embraced Juul’s discrete, flash-drive-shaped e-cigarettes and pleasing nicotine pods in flavors like fruit medley and mango.

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Congress is finally turning its attention to Silicon Valley. And it’s not hard to understand why: Technology impinges upon every part of our civic sphere. We’ve got police using AI to determine which neighborhoods to patrol, Facebook filtering the news, and automation eroding the job market. Smart policy could help society adapt. But to tackle these issues, congressfolk will first have to understand them.

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The Federal Communications Commission has reportedly dropped a proposed change in how it handles complaints that critics argued could have left consumers with fewer avenues to resolve problems with telecommunications carriers like AT&T and Verizon. The agency is scheduled to vote Thursday on proposed changes to the complaint process, but according to the Washington Post, the most controversial changes have been removed from the draft.

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Federal prosecutors have charged a former Apple employee with stealing trade secrets related to Apple's autonomous vehicle program. Xiaolang Zhang allegedly worked on Apple’s secretive self-driving car project. Zhang left Apple in April saying he was going to work for a Chinese electric vehicle company called Xpeng Motors. He is accused of copying more than 40GB of Apple intellectual property to his wife's laptop before leaving the company, according to court documents.

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It may soon be harder to get the Federal Communications Commission to listen to your complaints about billing, privacy, or other issues with telecommunications carriers like AT&T and Verizon. Today, the agency approved changes to its complaint system that critics say will undermine the agency's ability to review and act on the complaints it receives.

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Perhaps a healthier Twitter is one with smaller follower counts—even if that comes as a blow to your ego. That’s what the company is hoping, anyway. Over the last several months, Twitter has embarked on a renewed push to fight abuse and spam, as well as encourage “healthy” debates and conversations, and on Wednesday the social network announced it was expanding that effort to profiles that have been “locked” for suspicious behavior.

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In January, I sat down with Liane Hornsey, who until yesterday was Uber’s HR chief, to discuss the progress she’d made helping to reform Uber’s culture. The company had invited me to report on its turnaround, in the run-up to the release of its redesigned drivers app. But I was interested in something else: how were things at Uber since CEO Dara Khosrowshahi arrived? She told me that she had asked an employee—a three-year veteran at Uber—how it felt to be there.

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For nearly as long as there have been ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, there have been apps that help riders compare fares and travel times. These aggregator apps allow riders to survey all the services in an area and check prices and wait times—an efficient version of what many do already. There are always fresh versions of these apps popping up. The newest one, Bellhop, officially launched in New York this week.

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