Just because someone uses an Amazon Alexa device doesn't mean they've entered into a contract with Amazon.

That's one finding in a proposed order by U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson that would deny Amazon's attempt to force arbitration and dismiss a putative class action lawsuit. The suit, filed in federal court in Seattle in June, ...Read more

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg continued with his recent public openness campaign on Monday when he reiterated what he said was the social-media giant's commitment to free expression amid criticism about his company's role in political campaigns.

"I get that a lot of people are angry at us," Zuckerberg said in an interview with NBC ...Read more

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- SkyWater Technology Inc., the biggest maker of semiconductors in Minnesota, is adding a third clean room that will allow it to build smaller chips and ones designed for outer space.

Construction just started at the factory in Bloomington, just a few blocks from the Mall of America, on the addition. "It's exciting to be ...Read more

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Space mice, radiation vests, robotic avatars and recycling polymers for 3D printers are among the science experiments bound for the International Space Station on the next commercial resupply mission from Virginia.

Northrop Grumman's 12th robotic mission -- and its first under a new NASA contract -- is set to launch no ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- UC San Diego graduate Jessica Meir and fellow astronaut Christina Koch made history before most of California woke up Friday, becoming the first all-female team of astronauts to perform a spacewalk.

Meir and Koch floated out of the International Space Station shortly before 5 a.m. PDT for a roughly 5.5 hour mission to repair a ...Read more

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who has called upon the federal government to break up the social-networking giant he helped create, on Thursday launched a new $10 million fund aimed at taking on the influence of corporations in politics and rebuilding civic power.

The Anti-Monopoly Fund (AMF) is part of Hughes' Economic Security Project. ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A major California fault capable of producing a magnitude 8 earthquake has begun moving for the first time on record, a result of this year's Ridgecrest earthquake sequence destabilizing nearby faults, Caltech scientists say in a new study released in the journal Science on Thursday.

In the modern historical record, the 160-mile-...Read more

Cubic Corp., which makes fare collection technology for some of the world's largest public transit agencies, is working with Google to make it easier for riders to use their Android smartphones to pay for fares.

Cubic is collaborating with Google to add transit cards to the Google Pay platform, allowing unbanked riders, youth and others without...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Chase Fisher looks like your typical Pacific Beach bro. The 31-year-old surfer is tanned and freckled, his hair gelled back to give that permanent ocean-wet vibe. With bright-colored shades slung around his neck, he looks more like a DJ than a retail entrepreneur.

But Fisher is the sole owner of Blenders, a rapidly growing sunglass...Read more

There is nothing like a deadline to get millions of PC owners moving.

Windows 7 users face a Jan. 14 deadline for the end of Microsoft security updates and need to move to Windows 10 or risk being hacked.

There are still an estimated 300 million Windows 7 users worldwide. Corporate users can buy Windows 7 security updates for three more years....Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The magnitude 4.7 earthquake Tuesday east of Monterey Bay hit on a unique section of the San Andreas fault that has long generated interest from scientists.

The quake was felt across a wide area and caused no major damage. But it offered a reminder of the San Andreas' presence as a dangerous seismic presence in California.

THE '...Read more

Humans have the ability to regrow cartilage, a new study has found.

In a way similar to how salamanders and other creatures can regrow lost limbs, humans have the capacity to repair and regenerate cartilage in their joints, researchers at Duke Health discovered.

"We believe that an understanding of this 'salamander-like' regenerative capacity ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- When New Jersey lawmakers debated earlier this year whether to legalize recreational use of marijuana, the Garden State's police organizations were adamantly against it.

The cops said that legal weed might lead to an explosion in the numbers of impaired drivers operating under the influence. And the police would be caught ...Read more

Two weeks ago, the head of NASA seemed sick of waiting for SpaceX and Boeing Co. to finish developing the capsules that are supposed to carry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

As SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk unleashed fanfare about his passion project -- preparing to unveil SpaceX's Starship Mars spaceship ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- He's discovered many animal fossils. But to have a species bear his name?

University of California San Diego paleontologist Dick Norris didn't see that coming.

"My mom is tickled pink and I think my father would have been very delighted," said Norris, a researcher at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

He is the son of ...Read more

GitHub became the latest technology company to come under fire for its supporting role in the Trump administration's immigration clampdown Wednesday, with employees of the Microsoft-owned company demanding Chief Executive Nat Friedman cancel a $200,000 contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In an open letter on Twitter, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- CarePartners Plus, a healthcare software firm based in Horsham, Pa., wants to get its product into consumers' hands as soon as possible.

After years of waiting on the Veterans Administration, CarePartners Plus is now in discussions with bankers and financial advisors to sign a joint venture or strategic partnership with a larger...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Waymo this week set three Chrysler Pacifica minivans crawling Los Angeles streets to make maps -- but not the kind made for humans.

Google's autonomous vehicle offshoot deployed the vans not to chart the layout of the city's streets and avenues, but instead to craft 3-D maps of the infrastructure around which cars travel -- curbs...Read more