Privacy

US Competition Authority Urged To Block Expedia & Orbitz Merger

August 11, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>The US Department of Justice to is being urged to block the proposed $1.3 billion merger of online travel agency giants Expedia and Orbitz "to maintain vital competition that ensures fair prices for consumers".</p> <p>The call comes from US-based consumer champion, Consumer Watchdog.</p> <p>Expedia announced the Orbitz merger in February just after it closed the deal to buy Travelocity.</p>

Inside Alphabet: Why Google Rebranded Itself And What Happens Next

August 11, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<h2>As Larry Page once told staff, technology is revolutionary, not evolutionary, and Google’s surprise move has experts speculating there are more changes to come</h2>

Airline Gripes Take Off; Complaints Climb 20 Percent, U.S. DOT Reports; Chicago’s Hubs Worst For Late Departures In June

August 11, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Complaints about airlines soared more than 20 percent during the first half of this year, according to a government report released Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chicago-based United Airlines had an abysmal on-time rate in June, with just two-thirds of flights arriving on time, according to the same report.</p> <p>And more bad news: Chicago's two airports were the worst in the country among large airports for on-time departures in June, when thunderstorms and heavy passenger traffic often led to flight delays.</p>

Consumer Group Asks Feds To Block Orbitz, Expedia Merger

August 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even"> <p>A leading consumer group is joining the hotel industry in asking the Department of Justice to block the proposed merger of travel booking sites Expedia and Orbitz.</p>

Google Gives Itself A Brand-New Name: Alphabet

August 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p style="">One of the world’s best-known tech companies, with a name no one can forget, just announced a new name for itself that’s exceptionally generic.</p> <p style="">Google said Monday it will be owned by a new umbrella company, Alphabet.</p>

G Is for Google, A Is for”

August 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong>Internet Giant Restructures Under New Holding Co., Alphabet</strong></p> <p>Search behemoth Google will reorganize under a new holding company dubbed Alphabet that will be run by co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin as CEO and president, respectively. Sundar Pichai, currently senior vice president of products for Google, will become CEO of the search giant.</p>

Google, Coming To Grips With Its Giant Size, Forms A Parent Company: Alphabet

August 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — Google, coming to grips with its gargantuan size and the disparate nature of its many businesses, is forming a parent company called Alphabet in a move to streamline its corporate structure.</p> <p>The shakeup reflects the 17-year-old company's sprawling interests, which include Internet search, drones, investments, healthcare, wearables, online shopping, glucose-sensing contact lenses and self-driving cars. Under Alphabet, the company aims to better organize those businesses by operating as a collection of separate entities.</p>

California Lawmakers To Weigh Bid To Cut ‘Frivolous’ Initiatives

August 7, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>When the state Senate goes back into session this month, its members will have the delicate task of revising California’s 72-year-old filing fee for initiatives so that it will discourage over-the-top measures but still allow the “citizens’ democracy” that for more than a century has been a major part of the state’s political scene.</p> <p>But despite several changes to AB1100 by Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, critics remain unsatisfied.</p>

Group Seeks A Legislative Fix As California Refinery Profits Surge

August 5, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>A consumer advocacy group says Californians paid a $4.8-billion premium compared with prices in the rest of the nation during the first half of 2015 because of the state's gasoline price spike, and it proposed legislation to fix what it sees as problems in the market.</p> <p>At a news conference Wednesday, Consumer Watchdog, backed by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, criticized the fuel refining industry for overcharging Californians while the rest of the nation paid as much as $1.50 less. In July, Californians paid $1.2 billion extra, the group said.</p>

Report Highlights Overly High Gas Prices In California

August 5, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Southland motorists are used to getting gouged at the pump.</p> <p>But a new <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/thegoldenstategouge.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Consumer Watchdog</a> reveals that since the state’s record gasoline price spike began in February, Californians have paid $4.8 billion more than the rest of the nation for regular gasoline.</p> <p>That figure comes from a Consumer Watchdog analysis of state and federal data, which deducts California’s slightly higher taxes.</p>

Graphic Photos Underscore Need For U.S. “Right To Be Forgotten”

August 2, 2015  ·  John M. Simpson

The failure of search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to honor the “right to be forgotten” in the United States is not an abstract issue. Their callous decision hurts real people

Google Says No Global ‘Right To Be Forgotten’

August 1, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>A French order to apply the "right to be forgotten" to Google searches not just across European domains but globally would risk "serious chilling effects on the Web," according to the Internet search giant. Rather than comply, Google is asking the French agency that issued the order to withdraw it.</p>