KELVIN CHAN

AP Business Writer

FILE - A USB-C cable is pictured in San Jose, Calif. Tuesday, March 10, 2015. Apple is ditching its in-house iPhone charging plug and falling in line with the rest of the tech industry by adopting USB-C, a more widely used connection standard. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple’s Lightning cable?

Apple is ditching its in-house iPhone charging plug and falling in line with the rest of the tech industry by adopting USB-C, a more widely used connection standard.

FILE - A woman walks past a closed Apple Store in Lille, northern France, Monday, March 16, 2020. A French watchdog ordered Apple to withdraw the iPhone 12 from the market because it is emitting too high levels of electromagnetic radiation. The National Frequencies Agency (ANFR), the body monitoring public exposure to radiations, called on Apple to "implement all available means to rapidly fix this malfunction," in a statement released on Tuesday Sept.12, 2023. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler, File)

The iPhone 12 emits too much radiation and Apple must take it off the market, French agency says

French regulators have ordered Apple to stop selling the iPhone 12, saying it emits electromagnetic radiation levels that are above European Union standards for exposure.

FILE - A smartphone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023, temporarily blocked a lower court order curbing Biden administration efforts to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

EU targets Apple, Amazon, Meta and other Big Tech in next phase of digital crackdown

The European Union is targeting six Big Tech companies including Amazon, Apple and Microsoft under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.

Microsoft to stop packaging Teams and Office software in Europe to head off EU antitrust action

Microsoft will stop packaging its Teams videoconferencing app with its Office software in Europe in an effort to head off antitrust penalties by regulators.

Europe is cracking down on Big Tech. This is what will change when you sign on

Starting Friday, Europeans will see their online life change. People in the 27-nation European Union can alter some of what shows up when they search, scroll and share on the biggest social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook and other tech giants like Google and Amazon.

Europe’s sweeping rules for tech giants have kicked in. Here’s how they work

Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe must comply with one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people see online.

FILE - Local residents try to extinguish a fire, near the seaside resort of Lindos, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, on July 24, 2023. Greece’s resort island of Rhodes is nursing its wounds after 11 days of devastating wildfires. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

Heat and wildfires put southern Europe’s vital tourism earnings at risk

Greece’s resort island of Rhodes is nursing its wounds after 11 days of devastating wildfires. The July blazes, fed by heat waves, forced 20,000 people to evacuate during the height of tourist season.

Elon Musk reveals new ‘X’ logo to replace Twitter’s blue bird

Elon Musk has unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter’s famous blue bird as he follows through with a major rebranding of the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.

This undated handout photo shows British political candidate Andrew Gray in Selby and Ainsty, England. Gray, who's running in a special election on Thursday, July 20, 2023 used artificial intelligence to come up with campaign promises that he says reflect what residents want. Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents' sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto.(Tim Cook/Campaign for Andrew Gray via AP)

British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto

An independent candidate for a U.K. Parliament has turned to artificial intelligence to come up with his campaign promises.

FILE - Visitors passing an advertisement for the video game 'Call of Duty' at the Gamescom fair for computer games in Cologne, Germany, Aug. 22, 2017. Microsoft has signed an agreement with Sony to keep the “Call of Duty” video game series on PlayStation following the tech giant’s acquisition of the video game maker Activision Blizzard. The announcement was made Sunday, July 16, 2023 in a Twitter post by Phil Spencer, who heads up Microsoft’s Xbox. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Microsoft and UK regulators win more time to resolve blocked $69 billion Activision deal

Microsoft and British regulators won more time from a court Monday as the U.S. tech company uses a rare second chance to overcome opposition to its $69 billion bid for video game maker Activision Blizzard.

Amazon pushes back against Europe’s pioneering new digital rules

Amazon is disputing its status as an online platform subject to stricter scrutiny under European Union digital rules taking effect next month.

FILE - A worker adjusts the US and EU flags prior to the arrival of European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the EU-US Energy Council Ministerial meeting at the European Council building in Brussels, on April 4, 2023. The European Union signed off Monday July 10, 2023 on a new agreement over the privacy of people's personal information that gets pinged across the Atlantic, aiming to ease European concerns about electronic spying by American intelligence agencies. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Europe signs off on a new privacy pact that allows people’s data to keep flowing to US

The European Union has signed off on a new agreement over the privacy of people’s personal information that gets pinged across the Atlantic, aiming to ease concerns about electronic spying by American intelligence agencies.

This photo, taken in New York, Thursday, July 6, 2023, shows Meta's new app Threads. Meta has unveiled an app called Threads to rival Twitter, targeting users looking for an alternative to the social media platform owned — and frequently changed — by Elon Musk. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Meta’s new Twitter rival app Threads gets tens of millions of sign-ups in its first day

Tens of millions of people have quickly signed up to Meta’s new app, Threads, as it aims to compete with Twitter.

The announcement of the social media app 'Threads' is displayed in Apple's US App Store seen on the screen of a smartphone in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Meta is poised to launch a new app that appears to mimic Twitter in a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk. A listing for the app, called Threads, appeared on Apple’s App Store, indicating it would debut as early as Thursday. (Christoph Dernbach/dpa via AP)

Meta looks to target Twitter with a rival app called Threads

Meta is poised to launch a new app that appears to mimic Twitter, marking a direct challenge to the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

FILE - Twitter, now X. Corp, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk poses before his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, May 15, 2023, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. A top European Union official is visiting Silicon Valley to oversee “stress tests” for Twitter before the bloc’s tough new digital rules take effect. Thierry Breton, who oversees digital policy, is the EU’s point person working to get Big Tech companies in line for the Digital Services Act, which kicks in Aug. 25. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File)

Is Twitter ready for Europe’s new Big Tech rules? EU official says it has work to do

Twitter needs to do more work to comply with the European Union’s tough new digital rulebook. That’s according to a top EU official who has overseen a “stress test” of the company’s systems.

Deliveroo shares slump in UK IPO as investors lose appetite

Shares of app-based meal delivery service Deliveroo tumbled by as much as a third in their U.K. stock market debut on Wednesday.

Uber to give UK drivers minimum wage, pension, holiday pay

Uber is giving its U.K. drivers the minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay, following a recent court ruling that said they should be classified as workers and entitled to such benefits.

Digital siege: Internet cuts become favored tool of regimes

When army generals in Myanmar staged a coup last week, they briefly cut internet access in an apparent attempt to stymie protests. Ugandans couldn’t access social media platforms for weeks after a recent election.

Twitter says hackers accessed Dutch politician’s inbox

Twitter says an elected Dutch official was among 36 account holders whose direct message inboxes were accessed by hackers in a recent cyberattack.

Britain scraps virus tracing app for Google-Apple system

Britain is scrapping plans to launch its own coronavirus contact tracing smartphone app because of technical problems and will now work on building one using technology supplied by Apple and Google.

Sony, Amazon, others drop out of big tech show over virus

Sony, Amazon and Japan’s NTT DoCoMo are the latest companies to pull out of a major European technology show over virus fears.

No handshakes at meet and greet? Tech show adapts to virus

A major European technology trade fair this month has a low-tech idea for reducing virus risks: go hands-free.

UK police use of facial recognition tests public’s tolerance

Police in Britain are testing the real-time use of facial recognition to scan crowds for wanted people and then detain any suspects for questioning. The method was tested most recently at a soccer match in Wales.

Hong Konger complains to UK about China TV forced confession

A former British Consulate employee in Hong Kong has complained to U.K. regulators that China’s state TV channel aired his forced confession. Simon Cheng says he was detained and tortured by Chinese police for information on protesters.

Free broadband? UK Labour Party promises nationalization

The British Labour Party is expanding its plan for public ownership of big industries. It promised Friday to nationalize part of the former phone monopoly BT to provide free fiber optic broadband for all.

Hong Kong protesters, police in Halloween standoff

Police and protesters have engaged in a standoff in Hong Kong’s nightlife district after pro-democracy demonstrators urged people to celebrate Halloween by wearing masks in defiance of a government ban on face coverings.

Hong Kong protesters mock China leaders, defy face mask ban

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters have donned cartoon character masks and mocked China’s leaders while forming human chains in defiance of a ban on face coverings at public assemblies.

EU warns hostile countries are 5G risk, avoids naming names

The European Union has warned that next-generation telecommunication networks face a range of cyber threats, including from hostile countries, while steering clear of singling out China’s Huawei.

Hong Kong’s business reputation takes hit with airport chaos

Protests at Hong Kong’s airport have caused a second day of travel mayhem at one of the world’s busiest air-transport hubs, further threatening the city’s reputation as a stable place for doing business.

UK health service to use Amazon Alexa to give medical advice