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The annoyed shopper paced around and knocked on the windows of a minivan blocking him from leaving his Costco parking spot. He didn’t seem to notice, or care, that there was no one inside. A colleague and I had called for the Waymo ride — our first in a fully driverless vehicle — and quickly encountered a hiccup: figuring out how to tell it to meet us at the curb. We ended up spotting the minivan across the bustling parking lot, and hurried over. As we pulled away, the shopper raised his arm and extended his middle finger. Welcome to the United States’ first large-scale ride-hailing service with no backup drivers, which Waymo recently launched in suburban Phoenix. An AP photographer and I took it for a spin and discovered…

Daimler’s truck and bus division says it plans to shift most of its vehicle development resources to zero-emission vehicles by 2025 and predicts that battery and hydrogen-powered trucks could be competitive with diesels on cost later this decade. Daimler Truck CEO Martin Daum on Thursday underlined the company’s big plans for hydrogen — even though the technology is not as close to practical use as batteries. The world’s largest truck and bus maker, with brands including Freightliner and Mercedes-Benz, outlined its strategy for a wide-ranging transition away from internal combustion vehicles after it is spun off as an independent company later this year from Daimler AG. Chief Technology Officer Andreas Gorbach, said the company would spend the “vast majority” of vehicle development money on battery and hydrogen vehicles by 2025.…

The Federal Trade Commission and six states are suing Frontier Communications for not delivering the internet speeds it promised customers and charging them for better, more expensive service than they actually got. In its complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in California, the FTC said thousands of Frontier customers have complained that the company was not delivering promised speeds. Customers said they couldn’t use the internet service for the online activities they should have been able to. The complaint concerns what’s called DSL internet, an older type of network that’s sent over copper telephone wires. Phone and cable companies today build networks which can handle much faster speeds. The FTC says Frontier provides DSL service to 1.3 million customers in 25 states, mostly in rural areas. It has about 3…

A rundown of notable films coming out this summer: MAY 28 “A Quiet Place Part II” (Theaters): In this sequel to John Krasinski’s 2018 hit, the Abbott family (Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) ventures away from their home while trying to survive the creatures that hunt by sound. “Cruella” (Theaters, Disney+ Premier): A live-action origin story for the “101 Dalmatians” villain Cruella de Vil, starring Emma Stone. “Moby Doc” (Theaters and on-demand): Moby narrates his own documentary, a surrealist biography in which he reflects on his life and career. “Plan B” (Hulu): Natalie Morales makes her directorial debut in this teen comedy about a South Dakota high-schooler (Kuhoo Verma) who has 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill with her best friend (Vitoria Moroles) after a regrettable…

The merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia operations, marrying the likes of HBO and CNN with HGTV and Oprah Winfrey, is another illustration of the head-spinning speed in which streaming has transformed the media world. The companies are essentially placing a $43 billion bet that they’ll still be in the mix when consumers decide how to spend their monthly entertainment budgets. The agreement was announced this week after AT&T CEO John Stankey and his Discovery counterpart, David Zaslav, worked out the details in Zaslav’s Manhattan brownstone over the past two months. “I think, together, the combination makes us the best media company in the world,” said Zaslav, who will run the new company if approvals are granted, probably sometime next year. The deal also represents a strategic retreat for AT&T.…

Many of us were taught to share as kids. Now streaming services ranging from Netflix to Amazon to Disney+ want us to stop. That’s the new edict from the giants of streaming media, who are hoping to discourage the common practice of sharing account passwords without alienating subscribers who’ve grown accustomed to the hack. Password sharing is estimated to cost streaming services several billion dollars a year in lost revenue. That’s a small problem now for an industry that earns about $120 billion annually, but something it needs to address as spending on distinctive new programing skyrockets. Amazon’s upcoming “Lord of the Rings” series will reportedly cost $450 million for its first season alone - more than four times the cost of a season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” “Frankly…

Spotify co-owner Daniel Ek says a bid to buy Arsenal has been rejected by the Kroenke family which owns the London-based Premier League club. The Swedish entrepreneur behind the music-streaming service first revealed his takeover interest last month after owner Stan Kroenke’s ill-fated attempt to lead Arsenal into a European Super League. The project collapsed amid fan anger and government opposition. Protests have continued ahead of games — where fans are locked out due to the pandemic. “This week an offer was made to both Josh Kroenke and their bankers that included fan ownership, representation at the board and a golden share for the supporters,” Ek said last weekend. “They replied that they don’t need the money. I respect their decision but remain interested and available should that situation ever…

The government’s new guidance on masks for vaccinated people has left some Americans confused and sent businesses and states scrambling to adjust their rules. Target and CVS on Monday became the latest retailers to say vaccinated shoppers and workers don’t have to wear masks in stores. New York said it will adopt the new mask advice this week, while California said it will wait a month. About 123 million Americans — 37% of the population — are fully vaccinated against coronavirus, and more than 157 million, or 47%, have received at least one dose. WHAT’S THE NEW ADVICE? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear a mask indoors or outdoors and can stop social distancing in most…

Carmaker Stellantis and Taiwan’s Foxconn announced plans to develop a jointly operated automotive supplier focusing on technology to make vehicles more connected, including artificial intelligence-based applications and 5-G communications. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the services that will be developed through the tie-up “will mark the next great evolution of our industry,” alongside fully electrified and hybrid powertrains. The deal brings together Stellantis, the world’s 4th-largest automaker formed this year by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Peugeot, and Foxconn, a major supplier of iPhones. The companies said the venture would focus on such services as infotainment, the integration of telecommunications and computer systems, artificial intelligence-based applications, 5G communications, e-commerce channels and smart cockpit integration. The companies announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form a 50-50 joint…

Even by Bitcoin’s standards, Wednesday was pretty wild. The price of the famously volatile digital currency fell nearly 30% at one point after the China Banking Association warned member banks of the risks associated with digital currencies. The decline narrowed to below 10% in the afternoon, but Bitcoin had still lost about $70 billion in market value in 24 hours. Bitcoin has lost about 38% of its value since April 13 when it hit a high of more than $64,800, according to Coindesk. The China warning was just the latest headwind: Before Wednesday, Tesla’s decision to not accept the digital currency as payment for cars — after it said it would — and murmurings in Washington about tighter regulation of digital currencies had put pressure on Bitcoin. The price is…

The founder of TikTok’s Chinese owner said Thursday he will give up his job as CEO to focus on longer-term initiatives, a step that comes amid uncertainty over whether the Biden administration will force the sale of the popular short video service’s U.S. arm. Zhang Yiming said Liang Rubo, a co-founder, will succeed him as ByteDance Ltd. CEO. Zhang said leaving day-to-day management will “enable me to have greater impact on longer-term initiatives,” but gave no details of his next role. ByteDance is waiting to find out whether the Biden administration will revive former President Donald Trump’s efforts to force the sale of TikTok’s U.S. arm. Trump said the service was a security threat because it gathered too much personal information about millions of American users. Regulators also are stepping…

The European Space Agency presented a vision to put satellites in orbit around the moon that would facilitate future missions to Earth’s closest neighbor. The plan, dubbed “Moonlight,” would see ESA offer communications and navigation services to any country that wants to carry out lunar exploration missions. By relying services provided from lunar orbit, space agencies would be able to design their moon landers without the need for cumbersome communications and navigation devices on board. This would free up space to carry other cargo, making each launch more cost-effective, said Paul Verhoef, ESA’s director of navigation. The project builds on one of the agency’s strengths: launching satellites to provide services to third parties. ESA has a fleet of observation satellites in orbit around Earth that supply weather, climate and other…

In an effort to better compete with the likes of Spotify, Apple Music has announced plans to introduce industry-leading sound quality, as well as Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support. Combined, these features allow musicians to create ‘immersive audio experiences for fans with true multidimensional sound and clarity’, whilst lossless quality is supported as standard for the first time. The best part? These features come free, changing Apple Music forever. INTRODUCING SPATIAL AUDIO ON APPLE MUSIC Although insiders had previously teased that Apple was working on a new premium version of Apple Music, perhaps introducing a new tiered system in the same vein as TIDAL, the company shocked fans and critics alike by announcing an array of new features would be coming to the $9.99 per month streaming service for…

John Krasinski catches you off guard in the first moment of “ A Quiet Place Part II,” inviting you into his film with the most terrifying thing of all in this universe: Noise. It’s a testament to the effectiveness of “A Quiet Place” that any sound is guaranteed to make you immediately uneasy: The crinkle of a bag, the crunch of an apple, a car door closing. Krasinski begins the sequel, which he wrote and directed, in a flashback to the day the monsters arrived, and boy, are we LOUD. It’s a bit of a gut punch, and not just because he doesn’t waste any time before getting to action. We know he and others won’t be around when the film cuts to the present. And you might be surprised…

Amazon said that it will extend its ban on police use of its face-recognition technology beyond the one-year pause it announced last year. Amazon and other technology companies have been under pressure from civil rights activists and their own workers to halt the sale of face-recognition systems to law enforcement agencies. One concern is that the technology can incorrectly identify people with darker skin, which Amazon has denied. At least seven states already have enacted restrictions limiting government use of the technology and several others are debating bills. Last June, Amazon announced it would pause police use of its facial-recognition technology, a move coming at a time of nationwide protests and a renewed focus on racial injustice in the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who…

Paycheck advance apps let users borrow a small amount of their expected earnings, usually in exchange for a small fee, and repay it on their next payday. It seems like an attractive offer if you need extra cash between paychecks, and millions of users have accepted it. While it’s possible to use these apps without harming your finances, some consumer advocates say they can lead to a cycle of debt. If you’re thinking of using a paycheck advance app, here’s what to know before you download. FEES FRAMED AS TIPS When Jose Polanco uses the Earnin app to borrow from his upcoming paycheck, the app asks him if he wants to leave a tip. The New York school administrator says he gives the app $8 for the $100 he usually…

The pandemic gave them lemons. So they made lemon rosemary chicken. A Facebook group that swapped homemade recipes after restaurants were shuttered during lockdown has blossomed into a vibrant online community and has now produced a cookbook. “In the Quarantine Kitchen” offers some 120 recipes from pastas to fish dishes that pandemic users have proudly posted — with all proceeds going to charity. “It kind of grew and grew and snowballed,” said Daniella Cangiano, one of the organizers. “We were able to take something really negative and make it something really positive.” Some dishes are cherished family hand-me-downs, like Nanny’s Stuffed Calamari in Red Sauce and Aunt Nellie’s Fried Chicken. Others were concocted during the pandemic, like one for tres leches ice pops that was created because ice cream shops…

The European Union took a step toward relaxing travel rules for tourists from outside the 27-nation bloc this week when EU ambassadors agreed on measures to allow in fully vaccinated visitors. The ambassadors also agreed to ease the criteria needed for nations to be considered COVID-19 safe and from which all tourists can travel, depending on their coronavirus and vaccination status. Under the existing criteria, the list includes only seven nations. The EU imposed restrictions on nonessential travel last year to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The bloc’s ambassadors say many of those restrictions should be eased, including to permit vacation travel by non-EU residents. The European Council made up of EU nations, “will now recommend that member states ease some of the current restrictions” for those who have…

The operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to a gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems. Colonial Pipeline said Wednesday that after it learned of the May 7 ransomware attack, the company took its pipeline system offline and needed to do everything in its power to restart it quickly and safely, and made the decision then to pay the ransom. “This decision was not made lightly,” but it was one that had to be made, a company spokesman said. “Tens of millions of Americans rely on Colonial – hospitals, emergency medical services, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, airports, truck drivers and the traveling public.” Colonial Pipeline’s CEO, Joseph Blount, told The Wall Street Journal he authorized the payment because the company didn’t…

The Department of Homeland Security plans to ramp up social media tracking as part of an enhanced focus on domestic violent extremism. While the move is a response to weaknesses exposed by the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection, it’s raising concerns about undermining Americans’ civil liberties. President Joe Biden’s top appointees have called white supremacists the greatest security threat to the country and are pushing for bolstered intelligence gathering. Closely watching are advocates for communities of color and groups that have previously been the focus of intensified surveillance, sometimes unlawfully. DHS in recent weeks has announced a new office in its intelligence branch focusing on domestic extremism and a new center to facilitate “local prevention frameworks” that, according to a statement, can better identify people “who may be radicalizing, or have…

After more than a year of benching its biggest spectacles, Hollywood is ready to dazzle again. From “F9” and “In the Heights” to “The Suicide Squad” and “Black Widow,” there will be a steady stream of blockbusters populating multiplexes across the country for the first time since March 2020. For streaming-weary audiences, the promise of air conditioning, popcorn, soda fountains, 60-foot screens and state-of-the-art sound could be a welcome respite from the living room and virtual watch parties. Not to mention the ever-romantic concept of the shared experience. For beleaguered movie theaters, it’s not a moment too soon. The modern summer movie season, which runs from May through Labor Day, regularly accounts for over $4 billion in revenue and makes up around 40% of the year’s grosses. Last year, summer…

Board members at Microsoft Corp. made a decision in 2020 that it wasn’t appropriate for its co-founder Bill Gates to continue sitting on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed sources, The Journal reported online that board members looking into the matter hired a law firm in late 2019 to conduct an investigation after a Microsoft engineer alleged in a letter that she had a sexual relationship with Gates over several years. The Journal reported that Gates resigned before the board’s investigation was finished, citing another person familiar with the matter. An unnamed spokeswoman for Gates acknowledged to The Journal that there was an affair almost 20…

It won’t take you long to warm to Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead.” All it took for me was the sight of a zombie Elvis impersonator. Equal parts hysterical and deadly, the bloody-mouthed, jumpsuit-wearing King in the opening credits is the perfect touch to a joyously violent film that takes a vanilla heist flick and sets it inside a Las Vegas that has suffered a zombie apocalypse. The song playing over those credits is, of course, “Viva Las Vegas.” Snyder is in many ways returning to his undead roots — before “Justice League” and “300” he remade “Dawn of the Dead” — but this time he’s added to zombie lore while adding some social commentary along with his trademark gleefully over-the-top violence. The plot stitches old and new ideas…

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is reviewing whether Tesla is violating a state regulation by advertising its vehicles as being fully autonomous without meeting the legal definition of self-driving. The department confirmed the review earlier this week in an email to the press. State regulation prohibits advertising vehicles for sale or lease as autonomous if they can’t comply with the regulatory definition, it said. Tesla advertises a $10,000 “Full Self-Driving” option on the website for its electric vehicles, but the same website says the vehicles cannot drive themselves. CEO Elon Musk has said he expects Tesla’s vehicles will be able to drive themselves more safely than humans sometime this year. “The current enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” the website says. Tesla is…

Children are having their noses swabbed or saliva sampled at school to test for the coronavirus in cities such as Baltimore, New York and Chicago. In other parts of the U.S., school districts are reluctant to check even students showing signs of illness for COVID-19. Education and health officials around the country have taken different approaches to testing students and staff members — and widely varying positions or whether to test them at all as more children give up virtual classrooms for in-person learning. Some states have rejected their share of the billions of dollars the Biden administration made available for conducting virus tests in schools. Officials in districts that have embraced testing describe it as an important tool for making sure schools reopen safely and infections remain under control.…

A $1 billion missile-warning satellite for the U.S. Space Force rocketed toward orbit Tuesday. It was the fifth in this series of space-based infrared system satellites. These advanced national security spacecraft are meant to replace the long-time Defense Support Program constellation of surveillance satellites. United Launch Alliance sent the Atlas V rocket skyward from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. “Bird away,” ULA President Tory Bruno announced via Twitter. The flight was delayed a day by a bad temperature sensor in ground equipment. Lockheed Martin won a $1.86 billion contract for this satellite and the next one, due to launch next year. They’re intended for an orbit 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) high.…

Russian authorities backed away from threats to block Twitter, saying that the social media platform deleted most of the banned content identified by Moscow and expressed “readiness and interest in building a constructive dialogue.” Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it decided not to block Twitter in light of these developments, an announcement that seemingly ends the most recent standoff between the Russian government and the platform that has played a role in amplifying dissent in Russia. Two months ago, Roskomnadzor accused Twitter of failing to remove content encouraging suicide among children, as well as information about drugs and child pornography. The agency announced on March 10 it was slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to the platform, both on desktops and mobile devices, and less then…