Tech

London (CNN Business)Europe has a new tech giant. Naspers (NAPRF), the South African media company that hit the jackpot with an early investment in Tencent (TCEHY), on Wednesday spun out its 31% stake in the Chinese internet group by listing a new company on Amsterdam's stock exchange. Called Prosus, the company was worth €95 billion ($105 billion) at listing, making it the biggest consumer tech stock in Europe and the second biggest tech company in the region behind German software group SAP (SAP). Prosus shares soared 26% by the close, boosting its market value to €120 billion ($132 billion). On Amsterdam's Euronext exchange, only Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) and Unilever (UL) are worth more. Why list in Amsterdam? Read More Naspers paid just $32 million back in 2001 for its stake in Tencent. That investment is now worth €118 billion ($130 billion). It's a return rivaled only by SoftBank's (SFTBY) $20 million punt on Alibaba (BABA) in 2000, which secured the … [Read more...] about A South African company just created Europe’s biggest consumer tech group

New York (CNN)The team at Pinterest felt it had to go dark to do right by its users. At a time when social networks are plagued by toxic content, misinformation and partisan bickering, Pinterest (PINS) has arguably been one of the few feel-good social sites around. According to the company, people often turn to the digital scrapbooking service before bed, looking to calm themselves with Pinterest's endless trove of design, food and travel pictures. But Sha Sha Chu, an engineer working on Pinterest's Android app, thought the company could make the service even calmer, especially in these late-night moments, by investing in dark mode. This increasingly popular feature flips the default white background found in smartphone apps to black and gray. "While many apps are moving toward a dark mode option, we felt especially responsible for offering dark mode because people often come to Pinterest for calm and relaxation, and turning down brightness can help," Chu told CNN Business. This … [Read more...] about The year that tech went dark

High-tech sector job growth is overwhelmingly benefiting three California cities, plus Seattle and Boston, while the rest of the U.S. has been left behind in the dust, according to a new study.The findings published Monday by The Brookings Institution offer yet another a sign that economic disparities continue to negatively impact middle America. Major Internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter are headquartered in the San Francisco area, while Amazon is based in Seattle. “The innovation sector has generated significant technology gains and wealth but has also helped spawn a growing gap between the nation’s dynamic ‘superstar’ metropolitan areas and most everywhere else,” the study concluded. Just five top innovation metro areas — Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and San Diego — accounted for more than 90 percent of the nation’s innovation-sector growth between 2005 and 2017, the study found. These metropolitan areas … [Read more...] about Study: High-Tech Job Growth Overwhelmingly Benefits Three California Cities

Kim Komando answers all your pertinent questions in this week's Tech Q&A. (iStock) Unsend Email Q: I emailed my husband that I wanted his very annoying mother to stay in a hotel and not with us over the holidays. But, I sent that email to my mother-in-law on accident! What a nightmare! Is there a way to unsend email using Gmail? A: You may be able to prevent this kind of blunder in the future. Gmail offers "Undo Send," a feature that lets you stop an email after you hit "send." In theory, this is a convenient tool, except that "Undo Send" only gives you five seconds to reconsider before your time is up and the email is fully transmitted. So what happens if you're prone to sending provocative emails before you've thought them through? Change the settings so that “Undo Send” gives you more time to amend your mistake. You can give yourself up to 30 seconds to waffle and then terminate the message. Tap or click here to learn exactly how to unsend email using Gmail. … [Read more...] about Unsend email, TV fire hazards, scouring Apple TV+ and more: Tech Q&A

How about a smartphone app that can remotely feed your parking meter? Or free Wi-Fi throughout San Francisco thanks to new hot spots installed in old telephone booths? Or large displays on all Muni shelters showing the locations of buses, cabs, trains and ferries in real time. Those high-tech ideas are depicted in a video that a tech-advocacy organization is releasing Tuesday to show the promise of how tech can make San Francisco a "smarter city." The video also promotes, not coincidentally, passage of San Francisco's Proposition E, which would switch the city's business payroll tax system to a gross receipts tax system billed as more friendly to startups and small businesses. But noted Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conway, chairman of the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation, or SF.Citi, said the video is not a campaign ad even though it comes from Portal A, the same production company that created Mayor Ed Lee's virally successful "Too Legit to Quit" … [Read more...] about SF.Citi video plugs in tech, Prop. E