TechLife News

Pfizer said this week that new test results show its coronavirus vaccine is 95% effective, is safe and also protects older people most at risk of dying — the last data needed to seek emergency use of limited shot supplies as the catastrophic outbreak

Airbnb was losing money even before the pandemic struck and cut its revenue by almost a third, the home-sharing company revealed in documents filed this week ahead of a planned initial public offering of its stock. The San Francisco-based company has

Twitter is launching tweets that disappear in 24 hours called “Fleets” globally, echoing social media sites like Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram that already have disappearing posts. The company says the ephemeral tweets, which it calls “fleets” bec

A study by Oxford University researchers on how playing video games affects mental health used data from video game makers, marking what the authors say is a rare collaboration between academics and the game industry. Lack of transparency from game m

In July, fourth-grade teacher Susanne Michael was ecstatic as she celebrated the adoption of a former student from a troubled home and two of the girl’s brothers. For the festivities, Michael dressed them and her other children in matching T-shirts t

Wilson Tang was getting ready to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his restaurant, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, last winter and launch his first-ever cookbook. Then COVID-19 arrived, and Chinatown’s lively restaurant scene shut down, along with bars and eate

Tesla will be added to the S&P 500 index on Dec. 21. Based on its market value Monday, the electric car maker would be one of the top 10 companies in the benchmark index upon entry. S&P Dow Jones Indices made the announcement after the closing bell.

Apple will cut its app store commissions in half for most developers beginning next year amid an intensifying debate about whether the iPhone maker has been using the fees to unfairly fatten its profits and stifle rivals competing against its own mus

Now at Amazon.com: insulin and inhalers. The retail colossus opened an online pharmacy Tuesday that allows customers to order medication or prescription refills, and have them delivered to their front door in a couple of days. The potential impact of

After nearly two years and a pair of deadly crashes, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has cleared Boeing’s 737 Max for flight. The nation’s air safety agency announced the move early Wednesday, saying it was done after a “comprehensive and me

Three-quarters through “The Climb” comes a scene we’ve all come to expect in a romantic comedy: A wedding is interrupted by the best man who rushes into a church during a marriage ceremony and screams “I object!” He turns to the shocked bride and gro

With the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launching this month, it’s never been a more exciting time to be a gamer. In today’s COVID climate, these next-gen consoles open up new worlds and experiences that take players on immersive adventures away fro

Planning travel for college basketball teams can be complicated. Flights and hotels have to be booked, buses rented, meals planned. Schedules have to be worked around practices and games. Planning amid the COVID-19 pandemic makes it exponentially mor

Mazda beat traditional winners Lexus and Toyota to win top honors as the most dependable auto brand in Consumer Reports’ annual reliability survey. Ford and its Lincoln luxury brand fell in the survey with Lincoln finishing last among 26 brands after

Chinese tech giant Huawei is selling its budget-price Honor smartphone brand in an effort to rescue the struggling business from damaging U.S. sanctions imposed on its parent company. The sale announced Tuesday is aimed at reviving Honor by separatin

Lyft scored a major victory when California voters passed Proposition 22, allowing appbased companies to treat drivers as contractors instead of employees and saving the company from what many anticipated would be crippling expenses. The outcome was

Universal Pictures has struck another deal with a major theater chain to shorten the theatrical window from three months to as little as 17 days in an effort to adapt to the new business realities of moviegoing. Universal and Cinemark announced Monda

Aporine Shabani escaped violence in Congo to find a better life for her children in Scranton. As coronavirus cases surge in her new city, the refugee wants to help her sons learn virtually, but she can’t read the lessons. “I’m really worried for what

Delivery giant DoorDash Inc. is planning to sell its stock to the public, capitalizing on the growing trend of consumers embracing appbased deliveries as much of the world stays home during the pandemic. The San Francisco-based company filed papers s

European privacy activists have filed complaints against Apple over its use of software to track the behavior of iPhone users. The Vienna-based group NOYB - short for “none of your business” - said that it has asked data protection authorities in Ger

SpaceX’s newly launched capsule with four astronauts arrived Monday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. The Falcon rocket thundered into the night from Kennedy Space Center with three Americans and one Japanese, the secon

As half of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” Jonathan Scott is all about transforming interior spaces. Now he’s revealing a massive space he’d like to transform — the Earth. “Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip” is his new documentary about solar power and why thi

General Motors is recalling nearly 69,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric cars worldwide because the batteries have caught fire in five of them. The company said that it doesn’t know yet what’s causing the fires, but engineers are working to figure it out. T

The EU’s efforts to rein in the power of big tech companies such as Google and Facebook through antitrust investigations have taken too long, dulling their effectiveness, a report said Thursday. Legal tools available to the bloc’s competition regulat

The new film “ Ammonite ” unearths the stories of two women buried by history: paleontologist Mary Anning, who in the 19th century made significant prehistoric fossil discoveries along the coast in Southwest England, and geologist Charlotte Murchison

Children of the world can rest easy. The global pandemic won’t stop them from tracking Santa Claus’ progress as he delivers gifts around the globe on Christmas Eve. The North American Aerospace Defense Command has announced that NORAD will track Sant

Santa Claus is coming to the mall — just don’t try to sit on his lap. Despite the pandemic — and the fact that Santa’s age and weight put him at high risk for severe illness from the coronavirus — mall owners are going ahead with plans to bring him b