A few months ago, a real estate agent cold-called him on behalf of Ling about buying his home, which Cowfer interpreted as an attempt “to remove me from the equation,” he said. “[San Francisco is] one of the most heavily regulated real estate markets in history. Cowfer told the commission that lights and noise could drive down the value of homes by as much as 25 percent. The Bay Area has a rich and varied history of absurd real estate spats between tech moguls and their neighbors. Like real esta

A student at NYU spent six weeks working undercover in one of Pegatron’s factories manufacturing the iPhone before going public with his experience. Most people work in Pegatron’s factory building iPhones for money to support themselves or their family. You can’t work on the assembly line if you have HIV or if you’re pregnant. Six weeks on the assembly line only paid about $450, not enough to buy an iPhone. Zeng doesn’t really see iPhone manufacturing working in the U.S., even if that’s what Pre

[The stream is slated to start at 1:30 p.m., ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.] White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds his daily press briefing with Capitol Hill reporters.

In a filing in Japan, Toshiba said losses associated with Westinghouse Electric, its troubled nuclear power arm, had created “substantial uncertainty” over its ability to continue as a going concern. Nearly 40 years ago, an engineer at Toshiba invented the technology behind its chip business. For Foxconn, an investment in Toshiba would be the second recent foray into the often politically fraught world of corporate Japan. Mark Newman, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, argued in a report that T

Google Glass isn’t dead. That’s according to developers who license the smart glasses technology from Google Glass’ enterprise-focused “Glass at Work” program. An example might be in incorporating computer vision technology so field workers simply have to snap photos for the purposes of documentation. Augmedix, a San Francisco-based start-up with nearly 1,000 employees, built its business off smart glasses. CEO Ian Shakil said the company expects to deploy 1,000 Google Glass devices by the end o

A little less than a month before United’s passenger removal scandal, CEO Oscar Munoz was honored for being PR Week’s “Communicator of the Year.” In a statement that some found flippant, Munoz apologized for having to “re-accomodate” passengers. Another letter he wrote to United employees seemed to blame the passenger, whom he called “disruptive and belligerent.” Passengers were notified that four people needed to disembark in order to make room for four United employees because the airlines ove

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg may have built his fortune around new technologies and social media, but he still knows the value a good, old-fashioned book can provide. “I’ve found reading books very intellectually fulfilling,” he wrote on Facebook in 2015, as he embarked on a challenge of reading two books per month for a year. Some of the titles included in the challenge were science reads like “Genome,” by Matt Ridley, which explores the evolution of genetics. A few focus on how

Still, the findings raise troubling questions about the effectiveness of fingerprint security on smartphones. When a user sets up fingerprint security on an Apple iPhone or a phone that runs Google’s Android software, the phone typically takes eight to 10 images of a finger to make it easier to make a match. Since a finger swipe has to match only one stored image to unlock the phone, the system is vulnerable to false matches. Apple said the chance of a false match in the iPhone’s fingerprint sys

“The analysts who calculate the suggested amounts do not have access to employees’ gender data. An employee’s manager has limited discretion to adjust the suggested amount, providing they cite a legitimate adjustment rationale.” The Department of Labor initiated an offensive against Google in September 2016, later filing a lawsuit in January calling for access to the company’s compensation data. “Our analysis gives us confidence that there is no gender pay gap at Google. Naughton said Google’s m

The House of Marley, named after the late reggae star Bob Marley, offers a range of sustainable music devices. It is launching a new turntable called “Stir it Up.” Sustainability is a foundation of the House of Marley brand, which is why the company is releasing the Stir it Up to coincide with Earth Day on April 22. “We, as the Marley family, won’t be responsible for destroying the community,” said Marley, the brand’s ambassador. That sensibility also extends to his Marley Coffee brand, where he

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pictured above has famously called Windows Vista his biggest regret. Your copy of Windows Vista isn’t just going to stop working, but there are many reasons why you should upgrade to something newer. First, Microsoft will stop issuing all security updates, hotfixes and support options for Windows Vista. If you see “Windows Vista,” well, it’s time to move on. It is Windows Vista.

Private equity giant 3G Capital is not looking to outbid JAB Holdings for Panera Bread, sources told CNBC on Tuesday. Panera did not immediately respond to request for comment. 3G Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Lazard declined commenting to CNBC. Further, the Post headline said: “Buffett-backed firm interested in bid for Panera Bread: sources,” although there was no indication in the Post’s report that Warren Buffett would be involved in the potential bidding f

While Main Street largely remains optimistic, a new report released Tuesday showed uncertainty among small business owners has surged. The National Federation of Independent Business’ Index of Small Business Optimism ticked 0.6 points lower to 104.7 in March, down from a recent high of 105.9 hit in January in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election. While actual earnings, capital expenditure plans, and job-creation plans each rose in the report, sales expectations fell by 8 points. “The Un

Monthly job openings were last at 5.6 million on the last business day in January, the Labor Department reported in March. Hiring, however, slipped to 5.3 million in February from 5.4 million in January. Tuesday’s latest data comes from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTs. The report from the Labor Department is a key barometer of economic conditions, measuring job postings in different sectors, and the number of hires and layoffs. Monthly jobs openings are also a gauge of the U

Leaders of American companies are willing to take more risk on corporate tax reform than members of Congress, the former president of the Business Roundtable advocacy group told CNBC on Tuesday. That’s the payoff,” said John Engler, a Republican who had served three terms as governor of Michigan. An observer from Wall Street told “Squawk Box” in an earlier interview the stock market is expecting “some level of tax reform.” “[But] the market has realistic expectations,” said Cliff Robbins, founde

The Hong Kong government said on Tuesday it will curb purchases of more than one flat by individuals using one legal document in a bid to cool sky-high property prices in one of the world’s most expensive real estate market. Home prices in Hong Kong have jumped 364 percent since 2003, while the median monthly household income has risen just 61 percent, pushing home ownership out of reach for many. Hong Kong last introduced property cooling measures in November 2016, raising stamp duty on propert

Azul founder and former JetBlue CEO David Neeleman told CNBC on Tuesday traffic in Brazil has doubled and the company has taken about half of that new traffic. “The challenges in Brazil are big, but the opportunity is bigger,” Neeleman, who launched Azul in 2008, said on “Squawk on the Street.” “We are an airline today that does 26 percent of all the domestic air revenue in Brazil. That’s from zero to 26 in eight years,” he said. Azul eventually raised new capital through private stake sales in

A report from TrendForce published on Tuesday says that buzz around the iPhone 8 is already negatively affecting pre-orders for Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. “Samsung has also released its flagship device for the year Galaxy S8 this second quarter,” TrendForce said. On Monday, however, Samsung said that preorders for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are already outpacing early orders for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7+, which were launched before Samsung’s ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 last summer.

It’s not been a great month for some Apple suppliers: Shares of two companies plunged on concerns over their sales contracts with the iPhone maker. Europe-based Dialog Semiconductor fell more than 15 percent on Tuesday morning after Bankhaus Lampe cited “strong evidence” Apple was developing its own power management chips. Noting that more than 70 percent of Dialog’s revenue comes from Apple, the firm lowered its rating on the company’s shares to sell from hold. “We have been observing much stro

By her own description, Ms. Fitzpatrick was “short and scrawny.” A neighbor, Marty Atlas, nurtured her early interest in the markets, showing a teenage Ms. Fitzpatrick how stock tables worked. Ms. Fitzpatrick quickly zeroed in on her goal for after college: Wall Street. Ms. Fitzpatrick, once again an outsider on a testosterone-heavy trading floor, mastered the jargon and the hand signals. It was in Chicago that Ms. Fitzpatrick learned just how cruel markets could be.