Victor Tangermann reports: After decades of establishing itself as one of the worst guardians of personal data, Meta raised eyebrows this year by encouraging users to hand over their email logins and credit card information to its new AI agent, Muse. The tool, a privacy nightmare anthropomorphized by a furry apparition, can crawl through years...

Scott Hall and Meaghan Henderson of Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass write: States continued to adopt more targeted privacy requirements in 2026, including new restrictions on precise geolocation and sensitive personal data and expanded requirements for data brokers. These laws are important even for businesses that have already determined whether they are subject to each...

OpenAI has acquired developer tools startup Pierre Computer Company to strengthen Codex. "The deal, announced today, signals OpenAI's aggressive push into the developer tools market as the AI arms race intensifies," reports The Tech Buzz. Financial terms weren't disclosed. From the report: Pierre Computer Company had been building specialized tools for code analysis and review, capabilities that complement Codex's existing strength in code generation. For developers, this could mean a more seamless experience -- using AI not just to write initial code snippets, but to understand legacy codebases, spot potential bugs, and conduct thorough reviews before deployment. That's a workflow improvement that enterprise engineering teams have been demanding. [...] For Pierre Computer Company, the acquisition likely provides the resources and distribution that startups in this space desperately need. Building AI developer tools requires massive compute infrastructure and access to cutting-edge models -- both of which OpenAI has in abundance. Pierre's team will now have access to OpenAI's latest models, including the technology behind ChatGPT and the recently announced Shepherd model for AI research validation. The integration timeline remains unclear, but developers using Codex should expect to see Pierre's capabilities rolling out in the coming months. OpenAI has been moving quickly to ship new features -- it just launched Dots, transforming its coding tools into an always-on AI assistant. Adding Pierre's code review and analysis features could make Codex a genuine end-to-end solution for software development teams.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Canva is cutting or relocating more than 1,200 jobs, representing 22% of its global workforce, as part of a major restructure that includes laying off staff who helped build the Australian-founded design platform. The changes mirror a trend across the technology sector, where software companies are fighting to stay competitive against cheaper artificial intelligence disrupters while aggressively embedding AI tools themselves. [...] The restructure will affect 1,271 people, according to the company, as it focuses on "collapsing layers" and bringing "more teams together in person." [...] Those leaving Canva will receive at least six months of salary and retain healthcare coverage for a further 12 months in countries where workers receive that benefit. They can also keep their laptops. Those leaving can also apply for US$10,000 (A$14,000) grants to start their own ventures. Canva's chief executive, Melanie Perkins, said the restructure was "without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history." "For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralized hubs," she said. "Sadly, it will also mean saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today."

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a settlement with Lyft, resolving allegations that the company violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California’s Unfair Competition Law by failing to offer consumers the ability to opt out of the sale of their personal information within Lyft’s mobile app. The settlement includes $1.8 million in...

Oregon will receive more than $10.4 million, and GM must now get drivers’ clear permission before collecting or sharing their driving and location data Attorney General Dan Rayfield today announced that General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it sold drivers’ private driving behavior and location data to data brokers, who then...

Kelly Sandberg of Troutman Amin, LLP writes: In Shirley Vanasch et al. v. GoFundMe Inc., Plaintiffs Sal Munoz and Shirley Vanasch brought an action against Defendant GoFundMe for violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), Cal. Penal Code §§ 631 and 638.51, and common law fraud, deceit and/or misrepresentation for the use of...

Marvell has agreed to acquire optical components maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal with an implied enterprise value of $115 billion. "AI infrastructure is undergoing a fundamental architectural shift toward optical connectivity, creating an opportunity that comes along once in a generation," said Marvell Chairman and CEO Matt Murphy. "The companies that move first and help define this transition will set the standard for decades to come." CNBC reports: Through the acquisition, Marvell said it can combine electrical and optical technologies to meet accelerating and shifting AI connectivity demands across regions and systems. Companies are increasingly relying on optical connections to piece together chips used to run and train large language models. Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share under the agreement. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2028. Marvell's takeover marks one of the most significant bets on AI in 2026 and comes despite recent concerns over the long-term sustainability of infrastructure spending.

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Reddit's stock plunged 29.22% on Friday, reports CNBC, its worst drop since becoming a public company in 2024. Thursday Reddit reported a sales growth that was weaker than previous quarters, and also forecast weak sales for the quarter to come (below analysts expectations): The report comes as the company has seen a shift in its search referral traffic with the rise of Google's AI Overview. In an interview with CNBC, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said search-referral traffic from Google went "down meaningfully in this quarter" due to AI... Multiple analysts downgraded the stock following Reddit's disappointing results, with Citizens noting that "search changes highlight the problem with selling content to Google" and that as referral problems worsen, uncertainty around user growth amid the login requirement switch "puts more pressure on user monetization." Reddit's CEO also said that forcing users to login will help the company's advertising business. "Reddit is the last platform to provide basically unfettered logged-out access, and that's largely because of me. I've been holding that line." "I think users will probably go through the same understanding that I have, which is that it's a sign of the times. It's an evolution of how these platforms work."

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Gen Z can't catch a break. Entry-level jobs are vanishing; some 40% of bosses say they plan to hire fewer grads because AI can do the job cheaper, and young workers are routinely slammed for showing up late and refusing to put in overtime for free. Cisco's president and chief product officer Jeetu Patel isn't buying it -- he's just handed one of the company's biggest jobs to a 27-year-old he found hidden in the org chart "five levels" below him. "I've given him unlimited tokens because he's going to refactor code," Patel told Fortune at a small roundtable dinner. "So I'm like, you can go, you can go nuts." The "him" is Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, or "Paddy," as Patel affectionately calls him. He joined Cisco in 2025 after the $429 billion tech giant acquired EzDubs, the real-time translation startup Krishnamurthy cofounded in 2023. And despite coming in as a former founder with CEO experience, he was, in Patel's words, "buried away in the organization doing something unstrategic." That changed when Patel dropped into Cisco's San Francisco office, and the pair got talking. Krishnamurthy reckoned he could rewrite Cisco's legacy code with a two-person team. Patel says even the most AI-forward people on his own team weren't thinking that way. So he has given himself four weeks to prove it, with the final goal of rewriting 98% of Cisco's legacy code within 24 months. Now, he's on the hunt for more Paddys: young hires who will "challenge the system and the status quo," or, as he puts it, be "an energizer bunny that just goes out and kind of revs everyone up." "The only way for us to keep accelerating is to make sure we're surrounded by people with a broad range of experience," said Patel. "Roughly one-third of my team is experienced, scaled operators who understand how the Cisco engine works. The second third are systems thinkers from the market who bring the outside-in perspective. And the final third is made of entrepreneurial founders, CEOs, and engineers who are AI-native who operate in founder mode." "Either of these groups by themselves aren't nearly as potent as when all three work together. It's what creates magic."

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Yesterday, Google reported its Q3 results that showed searches made through its AI Mode generate less revenue than traditional search, even as overall search revenue grew 12% year over year to $63.25 billion. The news sent Alphabet shares plunging, with Bespoke Investment Group reporting that the stock is on track for its steepest post-earnings decline since the company went public in 2004. Yahoo Finance reports: At its low, Alphabet had lost $524 billion in stock market value, the second-biggest one-day loss ever for a US-listed company. Only Nvidia has lost more, about $593 billion on Jan. 27, 2025, the day China's DeepSeek rattled AI investors. Alphabet would need to close at about $274.75, down roughly 15%, to take Nvidia's record, by Yahoo Finance calculations. It has already blown past the $400 billion SpaceX lost on June 22, the previous No. 2. In dollars, it's Alphabet's worst day by far. Its previous worst was about $275 billion on July 23. It's also on track for the stock's steepest drop after an earnings report since the company went public, according to Bespoke Investment Group. The previous low was a slide of nearly 10% in July 2008. [...] US-listed stocks have shed $200 billion or more in a single session 18 times this year through Wednesday. That's up from 13 in all of 2025 and none before 2022, according to Yahoo Finance calculations from Bloomberg data. Alphabet alone has lost about $1.4 trillion since its record in May.

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DoorDash has agreed to acquire Instacart for about $17 billion as it expands beyond restaurant delivery and deeper into the U.S. grocery market. The deal, expected to close in late 2027 or the first half of 2028, could face regulatory scrutiny over further consolidation in the delivery industry. Reuters reports: DoorDash has offered Instacart shareholders $65 per share held, representing a premium of about 26% to the stock's closing price on October 22 before reports of deal talks first emerged. The consideration will be at least 75% cash, with Instacart shareholders able to elect cash, DoorDash stock or a combination of the two, the companies said. [...] The transaction is expected to close at the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028. The deal could face scrutiny over its impact on competition, with New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) saying on Wednesday that a potential merger continued a "troubling trend" of corporate consolidation. DoorDash, however, pledged on Thursday that local grocers could continue to work with any delivery platform they choose.

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced a settlement with Lyft, resolving allegations that the company violated the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California’s Unfair Competition Law by failing to offer consumers the ability to opt out of the sale of their personal information within Lyft’s mobile app. The settlement includes $1.8 million in...

Oregon will receive more than $10.4 million, and GM must now get drivers’ clear permission before collecting or sharing their driving and location data Attorney General Dan Rayfield today announced that General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it sold drivers’ private driving behavior and location data to data brokers, who then...

The FCC has approved (PDF) Amazon Leo's $11.5 billion acquisition of satellite operator Globalstar, giving the Starlink rival additional infrastructure and spectrum to expand into direct-to-device satellite connectivity. Engadget reports: You may not know Globalstar but have possibly used its services, as the company provides Apple's emergency satellite connectivity for compatible iPhones and Watches. Interestingly, Apple also held a 20 percent stake in Globalstar prior to its takeover. As part of the deal, Leo will power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models. Leo, a rival to SpaceX's Starlink, has been active of late. The company recently announced that it has 400 satellites in orbit and revealed last month that it had launched high-quality satellite internet service in Uzbekistan. It's teaming up with Delta to eventually bring satellite internet to flights, as well. Amazon recently added six new Arianespace launches and aims to have more than 3,000 low-earth orbit satellites up in the near future, still well short of SpaceX's 11,000 satellites.

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Kelly Sandberg of Troutman Amin, LLP writes: In Shirley Vanasch et al. v. GoFundMe Inc., Plaintiffs Sal Munoz and Shirley Vanasch brought an action against Defendant GoFundMe for violations of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”), Cal. Penal Code §§ 631 and 638.51, and common law fraud, deceit and/or misrepresentation for the use of...

Jim Vorel reports: This has been one hell of a year, especially when it comes to social media giant Meta getting its digital ass handed to it in the courtroom. It’s only been a few months, after all, since Mark Zuckerberg’s goliath reached a landmark settlement with 47 different states, and agreed to pay a...

Skydance, as it begins integrating Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, is offering voluntary buyouts to some employees and imposing a five-day-a-week office requirement. Layoffs are also expected as the company targets more than $6 billion in annualized cost savings within three years. Variety reports: The new program was outlined by chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz in a memo to staffers Monday. "As we bring our teams together, we recognize that not everyone will see their future here, and we respect that. To give eligible employees the option to move on in a way that works for them, we are introducing a Voluntary Buyout (VBO) Program," the execs wrote. "Those who qualify will receive an individual communication with their personalized details and terms, and a window to decide whether to accept this one-time offer." They added, "Please know we don't take any of this lightly. We are clear about what we're building: a company that tells the stories people around the world love, embraces new ways to connect with audiences, and leads the next era of media and entertainment. We have the talent, the creative firepower and the ambition to do it, and we will get there together." [...] In the Oct. 26 memo, Ellison and Kreiz also said the new Skydance is moving to a mandatory five-days-per-week in-office policy across the company. "We believe in-person collaboration is vital to our culture and to the success of our business. Especially in a creative company like ours, the best ideas come from people in the same room, sharing perspectives, challenging one another and solving problems," the execs said. "We truly believe this is in the best interest of our company and our people. We've seen the benefits firsthand at Paramount, and we want every part of Skydance to share in them."

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Anthropic has filed to go public on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, setting the stage for a potentially record-setting IPO that could value the Claude developer at more than $2 trillion. Alongside the extraordinary cost of its AI expansion, Anthropic warned that it "may not generate sufficient revenue to achieve or sustain profitability in the future." "While we have experienced significant revenue growth in recent periods, our business is highly capital intensive," the company said. "Our revenue growth may not be sustainable, and our rate of growth may decrease." NBC News reports: The filing did not include a potential share price, the number of shares to be offered or a valuation for the whole company, all of which will be determined after Anthropic holds a "road show" with investors, prospective investors and its bankers. [...] The company plans to spend at least $110 billion with Amazon for cloud services through April 2036 and another $120 billion with SpaceX through 2029. Anthropic also said it planned to spend $115 billion with Google and $45 billion with Microsoft, both through 2033, for computing infrastructure. The filing said that the company recorded revenue growth of "1,368% year over year for the three months ended June 30, 2026." The cost of renting servers and chips grew by 300% over the same period. Anthropic's net loss for the first six months of 2026 was $80.7 billion. For the entirety of 2025, the company reported a $42 billion net loss. Anthropic added that it expects its current cash and sales to be sufficient for the next 12 months but warned that future revenue growth depends on a number of important factors, including the cost of infrastructure. As a result, it said, "we may be required to seek additional financing sooner than we currently anticipate." The company said it has raised about $141 billion of capital through the end of June and is sitting on $112.4 billion of cash.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast reportedly plans significant job cuts in its cable division as the firm continues to lose residential broadband and TV customers. Comcast lost 144,000 residential broadband customers in Q3 2026, up from a 91,000-customer loss in the same quarter a year ago, the company said in its earnings report today. Comcast historically capitalized on a lack of competition for high-speed wired broadband. But now it faces stronger competition from fixed wireless providers and from fiber providers in parts of its cable territory. "Fixed wireless remains aggressive and continues to take share, while fiber construction remains elevated, with pockets of irrational pricing and promotional activity," Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said today in an earnings call. Comcast CFO Jason Armstrong said "irrational pricing" from fiber operators includes $30 to $40 monthly broadband offers "in specific markets in the third quarter." He said $30 to $40 pricing is irrational because deploying fiber costs $1,500 or more per home, and is "getting more expensive with construction costs up as you get into more suburban and rural areas." "As we look at the return profile of that, to us, that is irrational competition," Armstrong said. While he didn't name any specific competitors, Verizon has been pitching FiOS fiber plans that start at $30 a month. Comcast's network is a mix of fiber and cable, and it offers fiber-to-the-home in only small portions of its cable territory. Armstrong said more Comcast customers are leaving when they face "pricing transitions," apparently referring to the price hikes customers get when promotional offers expire. "We've been refining our offers and retention strategies to better manage these transitions and strengthen customer retention," he said. Cavanagh said that "satellite is not yet a material factor" in the competition Comcast faces, but that Comcast is focused on "anticipating emerging forms of competition and positioning our business to respond as the market evolves."

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