Business news

• Honda, Google in talks on self-driving vehicle partnership

  21-12-2016 23:30 via cbc.ca
  
  Honda says collaboration with the Google unit called Waymo would let researchers learn about integration of sensors, software and computers.
  
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• CalPERS votes to lower expected investment return rate to 7 percent by 2020

  21-12-2016 23:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The California Public Employees' Retirement System board voted on Wednesday to lower the pension plan's expected rate of return from investment to 7 percent by 2020, a decision that comes after the fund failed to meet its 7.5 percent target the past two years. The move by the country's largest public pension fund will place a greater financial burden on the state's cities, counties and other local government agencies across California that rely on CalPERS pensions.
  
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• MacBook Pro 2016 with Touch Bar: Video review

  21-12-2016 23:20 via techrepublic.com
  
  The MacBook Pro 2016 brought major changes to Apple's high-end line of laptops. We break down the kudos and caveats, with an eye on what it means for professionals and businesses.
  
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• Nokia sues Apple for infringing patents, industry back on war footing

  21-12-2016 22:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Eric Auchard and Jussi Rosendahl BELGRADE/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia Corp said on Wednesday it had filed a number of lawsuits against Apple Inc for violating 32 technology patents, striking back at the iPhone maker's legal action targeting the one-time cellphone industry leader a day earlier. "Since agreeing a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are use
  
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• Wall Street loses ground after Trump rally

  21-12-2016 22:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Dow briefly rose to within 15 points of 20,000, a level it has never reached, but relinquished that gain and spent most of the session at a loss. U.S. stocks have rallied since the Nov. 8 election, with the Dow up 9 percent and the S&P 500 gaining 6 percent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending will boost the economy. Some investors worry that the so-called Trump rally has made stocks expensive and are concerned that legislators ma
  
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• Viacom unit head overseeing MTV, Comedy Central to leave

  21-12-2016 22:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Liana B. Baker and Jessica Toonkel SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Longtime Viacom Inc executive Doug Herzog, who oversees the networks Comedy Central and MTV, is leaving the company next month, according to a memo to employees sent Wednesday from chief executive Bob Bakish. Herzog, a 25-year veteran at Viacom known for helping develop such MTV hits as "The Real World" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," is leaving as part of a restructuring following the appointment of Bob Bakish as ch
  
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• DuPont hit with $2 million verdict over Teflon-making chemical

  21-12-2016 21:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The federal jury also found DuPont acted with actual malice, raising the possibility of punitive damages, Bilott said. It is the third time jurors in Columbus, Ohio federal court have found DuPont liable for injuries linked to perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C-8, which is used to make Teflon. There are more than 3,400 lawsuits pending against DuPont over the chemical leak, which allegedly contaminated local water supplies.
  
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• Digital forensics: The smart person's guide

  21-12-2016 21:17 via techrepublic.com
  
  This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about digital forensics, the science of recovering data from computers, networks, mobile phones, and IoT devices.
  
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• Best of 2016: 11 essential TechRepublic stories to download and read offline

  21-12-2016 20:43 via techrepublic.com
  
  You may have missed some of our feature stories and great tips this past year. If so here are 11 that you should definitely download for reading on the go.
  
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• The top 15 TechRepublic must-watch videos from 2016

  21-12-2016 20:13 via techrepublic.com
  
  Wondering which important videos you may have missed from TR this year? Here are 15 you need to see.
  
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• Actelion re-enters talks with J&J, sidelining Sanofi

  21-12-2016 19:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By John Revill and Ludwig Burger ZURICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Swiss biotech company Actelion has turned back to prospective bidder Johnson & Johnson for exclusive talks about a "strategic transaction", in an about-turn that appears to sideline rival suitor Sanofi . Actelion said in a brief statement on Wednesday it was in exclusive negotiations with the U.S. healthcare giant but that there could be "no assurance any transaction will result from these discussions", declining to comment furthe
  
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• Nokia sues Apple for infringing technology patents

  21-12-2016 19:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Apple sued Acacia Research Corp and Conversant Intellectual Property Management Inc [GEGGIM.UL] on Tuesday, accusing them of colluding with Nokia to extract and extort exorbitant revenues unfairly and anticompetitively from Apple. "Since agreeing a license covering some patents from the Nokia Technologies portfolio in 2011, Apple has declined subsequent offers made by Nokia to license other of its patented inventions which are used by many of Apple's products," Nokia said in a statement.
  
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• Exclusive: Viacom unit head overseeing MTV, Comedy Central to leave - sources

  21-12-2016 19:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Liana B. Baker and Jessica Toonkel SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Longtime Viacom Inc executive Doug Herzog, who oversees the networks Comedy Central and MTV, is expected to leave the company next month, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Herzog, known for helping develop such MTV hits as "The Real World" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," is leaving as part of a restructuring following the appointment of Bob Bakish as chief executive officer earlier this month.
  
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• Hyundai's top U.S. executive resigns

  21-12-2016 19:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co's top U.S. executive Dave Zuchowski has resigned effective immediately and has been replaced on an interim basis by the company's general counsel, a company spokesman said Wednesday. Trade publication Automotive News said Zuchowski, who has been chief executive of Hyundai Motor America since 2014, was fired for failing to meet sales objectives, but Hyundai spokesman Chris Hosford declined to confirm the report. Hyundai's U.S. sales are up 2 percent through
  
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• U.S. home sales near 10-year high as mortgage rates rise

  21-12-2016 19:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. home resales unexpectedly rose in November, reaching their highest level in nearly 10 years, likely as buyers rushed into the market to lock in mortgage rates in anticipation of further increases in borrowing costs. The third straight monthly increase in existing home sales, reported by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday, suggested housing would contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter after being a drag in the previous two quarters. Existing home sales increased 0
  
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• Wall Street little changed in muted pre-holiday trading

  21-12-2016 18:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Dow came within 15 points of hitting 20,000, the historic level it has threatened to breach for several days. "The 20,000 mark is just a number, but it's also a nice chance to step back and plan for the coming year," said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina. U.S. stocks have been roaring ahead since the election, with the Dow up about 9 percent and the S&P 500 6 percent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deregulation and
  
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• Ikea warns: Sleepover in stores equals trespassing

  21-12-2016 18:05 via cbc.ca
  
  Ikea, the leading home furnishings retailer, has warned that teenagers who have illegal sleepovers in their stores are guilty of trespassing.
  
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• Marco Rubio doesn't want you to see American Super Bowl ads

  21-12-2016 17:59 via cbc.ca
  
  Former Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio is adding his voice to growing calls on Canada's broadcast regulator to reverse a decision banning the substitution of Canadian ads over big-budget American spots during the Super Bowl.
  
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• Pimco names new vice president for commercial real estate team

  21-12-2016 17:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. bond fund manager Pacific Management Investment Co (Pimco) named Jeffrey Thompson as executive vice president and portfolio manager of its commercial real estate team.
  
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• Actelion says enters into exclusive discussions with J&J

  21-12-2016 17:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ZURICH (Reuters) - Actelion said on Wednesday it has entered exclusive negotiations with U.S. healthcare company Johnson & Johnson regarding what the Swiss biotech company called a "possible strategic transaction".
  
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• 7 LinkedIn groups every project manager should check out

  21-12-2016 17:39 via techrepublic.com
  
  If you're a project, portfolio, or programme management professional who wants to share and receive career advice, consider joining these LinkedIn groups.
  
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• Goldman Sachs to pay $120 million over attempted ISDAFIX benchmark manipulation

  21-12-2016 17:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Goldman Sachs Group Inc will pay a $120 million penalty to resolve civil charges that it attempted to manipulate a global benchmark for interest rate products known on Wall Street as "ISDAFIX," U.S. derivatives regulators said Wednesday. The case against Goldman Sachs, brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was the latest in a series of broad investigations into manipulation by big banks of a variety of global benchmark rates. To date, the CFTC has imposed penalties of over $5.2 bi
  
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• WTO rules largely in favour of Taiwan in steel row with Canada

  21-12-2016 17:31 via cbc.ca
  
  A dispute panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) largely ruled in favour of Taiwan on Wednesday on its complaint over anti-dumping duties imposed by Canada on some of its steel goods.
  
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• FINRA fines Wells Fargo, others $14 million for records' changeable format

  21-12-2016 17:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it fined several Wells Fargo & Co businesses, RBC Capital Markets, LPL Financial and others a combined $14.4 million on Wednesday for record-keeping problems that may have allowed company and customer documents to be altered. The securities industry's self-regulator found that the firms failed to keep hundreds of millions of electronic documents in a "write once, read many" format, which would have made it impossible to alter or destroy record
  
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• U.S. existing home sales rise to near 10-year high

  21-12-2016 17:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. home resales unexpectedly rose in November, reaching their highest level in nearly 10 years, likely as buyers rushed into the market to lock in low interest rates in anticipation of further increases in borrowing costs. The third straight monthly increase in existing home sales, reported by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday, suggested housing would contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter after being a drag in the previous two quarters. Existing home sales increas
  
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• Wall Street eases in muted trading as investors pause

  21-12-2016 17:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Dow came within 15 points of hitting 20,000 level, the historic level it has threatened to breach for several days. "The 20,000 mark is just a number, but it's also a nice chance to step back and plan for the coming year," said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina. U.S. stocks have been roaring ahead since the election, with the Dow up about 9 percent and the S&P 500 6 percent on bets that President-elect Donald Trump's plans for deregulati
  
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• Here are the biggest IoT security threats facing the enterprise in 2017

  21-12-2016 17:06 via techrepublic.com
  
  The coming year will bring a large-scale IoT security breach, with fleet management, retail, manufacturing, and government at the biggest risk, according to experts.
  
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• Trump weighs 'half-blind' trust option for businesses: Politico

  21-12-2016 17:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is considering the use of discretionary trusts to avoid conflicts of interest for Trump family members or administration officials, Politico reported on Wednesday. Such an arrangement would provide individuals with an alternative to selling off assets or placing wealth in blind trusts, which president-elects traditionally do. Trump aides have discussed the idea of discretionary trusts with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), but it was uncle
  
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• Is this the new era of big software?

  21-12-2016 17:00 via techrepublic.com
  
  After several years of high quality, point solutions to IT problems, consolidation is gaining steam as enterprise stalwarts gobble up smaller software companies.
  
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• New White House report addresses effect of AI on unemployment

  21-12-2016 16:56 via techrepublic.com
  
  Experts say new federal recommendations on policies to address artificial intelligence's impact on workers are not bold enough.
  
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• How to get all the information you need about your Linux machine with a single command

  21-12-2016 16:53 via techrepublic.com
  
  If you need to gather information about your Linux system, and you need to do so quickly, Jack Wallen has just the tool for you.
  
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• Teksavvy credits CRTC ruling for move to cut prices while improving service

  21-12-2016 16:39 via cbc.ca
  
  Hundreds of thousands Canadians got an unexpected letter from their internet service provider this week: a promise to lower their bills starting next year, without any corresponding decrease in their service.
  
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• Teksavvy credits CRTC ruling for its move to cut prices while improving service

  21-12-2016 16:39 via cbc.ca
  
  Hundreds of thousands Canadians got an unexpected letter from their internet service provider this week: a promise to lower their bills starting next year, without any corresponding decrease in their service.
  
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• Exclusive: Investors shun Italian bank Monte Paschi's share offer - sources

  21-12-2016 16:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ailing Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena has been unable to find an anchor investor willing to put money in its privately funded rescue plan, less than 24 hours before the offer ends, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. The Italian government is expected to step in this week to bail it out. The Tuscan lender, Italy's third biggest bank and the world's oldest, had pinned its hopes on Qatar's sovereign wealth fund investing 1 billion euros in its cash call, but that option is n
  
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• How to improve the security and privacy of your iPhone: 5 steps

  21-12-2016 16:24 via techrepublic.com
  
  Protecting the data on your smartphone is paramount. Here are five simple changes you can enact to make your iPhone more secure.
  
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• CRTC to rule on whether internet is an essential service

  21-12-2016 16:17 via cbc.ca
  
  Canada's broadcast regulator could make a watershed ruling this afternoon on whether the internet should be deemed an essential service. CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais will hold a news conference starting at 4 p.m. ET in Gatineau, Que., and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.
  
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• CRTC declares broadband internet access a basic service

  21-12-2016 16:17 via cbc.ca
  
  Canada's telecom and broadcast regulator has declared that broadband internet access should be deemed a basic telecommunications service for all Canadians. CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais is holding a news conference in Gatineau, Que. CBCNews.ca is carrying it live.
  
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• A volatile calm - the paradox of 2016 financial markets

  21-12-2016 16:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Traditional measures of volatility at historic lows and Wall Street stocks at new record highs went hand-in-hand in 2016 with traders fretting about bouts of wild stock-price swings and currency flash-crashes. The past year has been nothing if not paradoxical for financial markets - a landscape that will probably persist in 2017. The proliferation of automated trading and passive investing, extreme levels of speculative positioning in an increasingly regulated broking world suggest investors sho
  
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• Why tech offers better fertility benefits than other industries

  21-12-2016 15:38 via techrepublic.com
  
  Intel, Apple, Facebook, and Google cover employee fertility treatments such as IVF and egg freezing. Here's why they are paving the way for others.
  
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• Looking to cut the TV cord? 2016 didn't make it any easier for Canadian streamers

  21-12-2016 15:03 via cbc.ca
  
  Viewers who hoped that 2016 would mark an explosion in new streaming video competition in Canada were left disappointed, and some industry observers say next year probably won't signal any big changes either.
  
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• U.S. mortgage activity edges up even as rates head higher

  21-12-2016 14:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage application activity rebounded from its lowest level since January despite interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate home loans hitting their highest levels in over 2-1/2 years, Mortgage Bankers Association data released on Wednesday showed.
  
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• Dollar retreats from 14-year high, banks drag Europe shares lower

  21-12-2016 14:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar eased from 14-year highs on Wednesday, giving back some of the gains chalked up since Donald Trump's U.S. election victory, while concerns over banks pulled European shares lower.
  
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• Holiday homework: 7 tasks for IT pros stuck in the office

  21-12-2016 14:00 via techrepublic.com
  
  Not everyone gets to take a vacation this holiday season. Here are some tasks that IT pros can work on to prepare for the coming year.
  
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• Rolls-Royce denies UK media report over past Iran sales

  21-12-2016 13:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  British engineering company Rolls-Royce denied a report in The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday that it had in the past sold equipment to Iran by exploiting a series of loopholes in U.S. sanctions. "Rolls-Royce refutes any accusation that it has traded 'in secret' in Iran or that it circumvented U.S. sanctions," said a Rolls-Royce spokesman in an emailed statement. "We conduct business in all countries, including Iran, in accordance with all relevant UK, EU or other national sanctions and export
  
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• The top 10 mobile risks of 2016

  21-12-2016 13:26 via techrepublic.com
  
  2016 was a big year for mobile devices - in good and bad ways. Here are the biggest disasters we saw this year.
  
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• Raspberry Pi PIXEL desktop now on Mac/PC, promises to revive old laptops

  21-12-2016 12:59 via techrepublic.com
  
  The Pi's official PIXEL desktop has been ported from the $35 credit card-sized board to Mac/PC.
  
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• Coke moves away from AB InBev with Africa bottling deal

  21-12-2016 12:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Philip Blenkinsop and Martinne Geller BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co has reached a deal to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev's majority stake in their African bottling venture for $3.15 billion and hold onto it until it finds a new owner, the companies said on Wednesday. Coke said in October it would exercise a right to buy the stake formerly owned by SABMiller following SAB's takeover by AB InBev. Coke has not said why it decided to buy back the stake, but it might be in its best interest t
  
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• Nintendo's mobile Mario game sets download record but pricing proves sticking point

  21-12-2016 11:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd's first Mario smartphone title has set a download record but gamers baulked at the one-time cost of unlocking content, prompting investors to push the Japanese game makers' stock to a one-month low. Super Mario Run hit 25 million downloads just four days after its Dec. 15 release in 151 countries on Apple Inc's App Store, earning gross sales of about $21 million, showed data from app analyst Sensor Tower. "Mario is arguably the most popular ga
  
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• Oil prices lifted by expected fall in U.S. inventories

  21-12-2016 11:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged up on Wednesday, driven by expectations for a decline in U.S. crude inventories and bringing price gains for December to 10 percent, which would be the strongest performance in the final month of the year in six years. Brent crude oil futures were up 21 cents on the day at $55.56 a barrel by 1010 GMT, while U.S. crude futures were up 25 cents at $53.55 a barrel. Brent's rally is its largest so far for any December since 2010, thanks to an unprecedent
  
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• Volkswagen gets final clearance from KBA watchdog for diesel fixes

  21-12-2016 11:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen said on Wednesday it has received all clearances from Germany's motor vehicle authority KBA to fix diesel cars fitted with illicit emission-control software. The number of diesel vehicles approved to date by the KBA for repair totals about 9 million models, a VW spokesman said, adding German regulatory approval does not apply to cars in the United States and Canada. (Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
  
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