Amazon Surpasses Walmart in Revenue For First Time

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 15:41
Amazon has dethroned Walmart in quarterly revenue for the first time ever. From a report: Amazon said earlier this month that it brought in $187.8 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter. That beat out Walmart's sales for the period, which came in at $180.5 billion, the company reported on Thursday. Since 2012, Walmart has held the distinction of being the top revenue generator each quarter, a title it gained after overtaking oil giant Exxon Mobil. Walmart still leads the way in annual sales, though Amazon is gaining ground. Walmart is projected to reel in $708.7 billion in the fiscal year ahead while Amazon's full year revenue for 2025 is expected to reach $700.8 billion, according to FactSet.

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FTC Launches Broad Tech 'Censorship' Probe Targeting Meta, Uber

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 15:00
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into potential "censorship" by technology platforms ranging from Meta to Uber, marking an escalation in scrutiny of content moderation practices. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson called for public comment on what he termed "Big Tech censorship," describing it as "un-American" and "potentially illegal." The broad probe could examine social media, video sharing, ride-sharing and event planning services. The announcement follows long-standing Republican claims that conservative viewpoints face discrimination on social media platforms.

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Twitch is Limiting Streamers To 100 hours of Highlights and Uploads

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 14:22
Twitch is planning to cull some of the content archived by streamers to save on storage costs. From a report: On Wednesday the streaming platform announced that it will introduce a 100-hour storage cap for Highlights and Uploads starting April 19th, warning that users will have their content automatically deleted until it falls below the limit. Twitch says it's doing this because "Highlights haven't been very effective in driving discovery or engagement," and it isn't worth the cost of storing thousands of hours of such content. Twitch is owned by Amazon, a market-leading cloud storage provider -- a detail that hasn't gone unnoticed by streamers criticizing the decision.

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HP Deliberately Adds 15 Minutes Waiting Time For Telephone Support Calls

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 13:30
HP will impose a minimum 15-minute wait time for consumer PC and printer support calls in five European countries, seeking to push customers toward digital channels, according to internal documents seen by The Register. The policy, implemented February 18, affects retail customers in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy. The outlet added that it anticipates "more countries could be added."

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Video Shows a Rare ‘Doomsday’ Fish Off the Coast of Mexico

NY Times - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 13:25
Oarfish are rarely documented by scientists, but one was seen this month by a group visiting a beach in Mexico.

Rare Genetic Disorder Treated in Womb For the First Time

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 13:01
A two-and-a-half-year-old girl shows no signs of a rare genetic disorder, after becoming the first person to be treated for the motor-neuron condition while in the womb. Nature: The child's mother took the gene-targeting drug during late pregnancy, and the child continues to take it. The "baby has been effectively treated, with no manifestations of the condition," says Michelle Farrar, a paediatric neurologist at UNSW Sydney in Australia. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday. The child was conceived with a genetic condition known as spinal muscular atrophy, which affects motor neurons that control movement, and leads to progressive muscle weakening. About one in every 10,000 births have some form of the condition -- making it a leading genetic cause of death in infants and children. In its most severe form, as in the case of this child, individuals lack both copies of the SMN1 gene, and have only one or two copies of a neighbouring gene, SMN2, that partially compensates for that deficiency. As a result, the body does not produce enough of the protein required for maintaining motor neurons in the spinal cord and brainstem. This protein is most important in the second and third trimesters, and the first few months of life. Babies with severe disease don't usually live past their third birthday.

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Amazon To Shut Down Chime Communications Platform in 2026

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 12:20
Amazon will discontinue its workplace communications platform Chime in February 2026 and has stopped accepting new customers, the company's cloud division AWS said in a blog post. The service, which Amazon employees widely used for video calls, messaging and business communications, is among several products being phased out. The company also recently shuttered Inspire, its TikTok-style video feed feature in its mobile app, and announced plans to shut down its Android app store earlier today.

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Why Did It Take a Fire for the World to Learn of Altadena’s Black Arts Legacy?

NY Times - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 11:33
As Frieze Los Angeles shines a spotlight on art in the city, one community, long facing institutional apathy, calls for marking its memories in the public mind.

Germany’s Far-Right Comeback

NY Times - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 10:55
Germany’s attempts to “remember away” its Nazi past has instead paved the way for an extremist resurgence.

Souleymane Cissé, Celebrated Malian Filmmaker, Dies at 84

NY Times - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 10:25
He won multiple awards during his 50-year career, including the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and spent his life championing African cinema.

China Uses Public Shaming to Motivate State Workers

NY Times - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 00:01
Local governments are handing out “snail awards” to underperforming employees. But, for many, doing as little as possible seems like the safest bet.

Microsoft Declutters Windows 11 File Explorer in the Name of Euro Privacy

SlashDot - Thu, 02/20/2025 - 00:00
Microsoft will strip several features from Windows 11's File Explorer for European users to comply with privacy regulations, the company says. The changes, affecting Entra ID accounts in the European Economic Area, remove Recent, Favorites, Details Pane, and Recommended content sections that previously tracked user activity. These features relied on collecting user data to display recently accessed files and personalized recommendations. The privacy-focused update, part of Windows 11 preview build 26120.3281, results in a streamlined File Explorer interface.

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