Amazon is using tech to get even closer to its customers.

It introduced a new sleep tracker, Halo Rise, that learns breathing patterns and senses room conditions to help users optimize sleep. Astro, its home robot, will soon be able to recognize doors, windows, pets and furniture in a user's home.

A new iteration of Blink, its home-security ...Read more

Federal workplace regulators have fined San Jose food-delivery startup Locale $140,000 for employing more than six dozen teenaged drivers in violation of child-labor law.

The drivers, aged 16 and 17, made deliveries for Locale between July 2020 and July 2021, U.S. Department of Labor officials said Wednesday.

“Performing time-sensitive ...Read more

Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance dropped unexpectedly to a five-month low, led by a sizable decline in Michigan, suggesting robust demand for workers amid economic uncertainty.

Initial unemployment claims decreased by 16,000 to 193,000 in the week ended Sept. 24, after downward revision in the prior week, Labor Department data ...Read more

Shortages of basic goods still plague the U.S. economy – 2½ years after the pandemic’s onset turned global supply chains upside down.

Want a new car? You may have to wait as long as six months, depending on the model you order. Looking for a spicy condiment? Supplies of Sriracha hot sauce have been running dangerously low. And if...Read more

When Robert Hernandez unpacked his meager belongings into one of San Jose’s celebrated tiny homes, finally getting a bed and access to a shower after more than a decade on the street, he had reason to be elated.

After all, tiny homes have become the hot new thing in the fight to end homelessness. The simple dwellings have multiplied across ...Read more

When voters in Oakland, Berkeley and South San Francisco, California, receive ballots in the mail next month, they’ll be asked whether their cities should be allowed to help build more desperately needed affordable housing.

The reason for seeking voters’ permission? A 72-year-old provision in the California Constitution requiring local ...Read more

MAHNOMEN, Minnesota — Hours after a parade ends marking the White Earth Tribal and Community College's 25th anniversary, Robert Shimek is standing near some squash in a field, marveling at a bumblebee crawling into a blossom.

"Oh, that's a great big one," said Shimek, an extension employee with the college. "That tells you the soil is healthy...Read more

For decades, the single-family home has been Southern California's ultimate lure — a chance to live a life of sun and sand from the comfort of your very own property.

Most buyers' ticket into that life is the starter home. Something modest but not minuscule. Two bedrooms, maybe three. A picket fence in front and a yard out back for the kids ...Read more

Homebuyers have lost six figures in buying power over the past year, thanks to soaring mortgage rates, according to new research.

It’s the equivalent of about $140,000, a new report from RedFin calculates, as mortgage rates jumped to 6% since the beginning of the year.

“Raising interest rates is necessary to fight inflation, but it comes ...Read more

I’ve rarely felt more trepidation about writing a column than this one. But here goes: After more than a century of almost continual growth, the world’s appetite for oil is peaking, and will soon enter terminal decline.

That’s hard to write, because those who’ve called a top in oil have a forecasting record on a par with film producer ...Read more

By some estimates, Americans spend as much as three hours a day on their smartphone, if all touches are added up.

The value users receive from their phones, however, can depend on how much that person understands what's available, or possible, with that device.

We talked with cellular service, app developers and device management executives ...Read more

In an Minnesota lab, clear containers hold pig kidneys and livers that scientists hope will someday be transplantable in humans.

Miromatrix Medical, a biomedical firm based in the Twin Cities suburb of Eden Prairie, is exploring the scientific area known as xenotransplantation.

Xenotransplantation is a blanket term for a wide range of ...Read more

After previously indicating he might veto the measure, Gov. Gavin Newson signed a new law Wednesday that will make it easier for agricultural laborers to join unions, a hard-fought win for the United Farm Workers.

The official signature came after union members and their supporters made a 335-mile pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento and then ...Read more