(Reuters) – Google will showcase artificial intelligence features, and updates to its Pixel devices and the Android platform at a special event on Aug. 13, according to invites shared online by the Verge and tech commentator Marques Brownlee. The event will be held at Google’s Mountain View headquarters, and have a keynote beginning at 10 am PT (5 pm GMT) followed by a “hands-on product experience”, according to the invite graphic. The Alphabet unit did … Read more…

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) – RTX Corp subsidiary Collins Aerospace is in talks with NASA to back out of its contract to build new spacesuits for astronauts on the International Space Station, setting back the agency’s bid to modernize its decades-old spacesuits, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The contract was part of $3.5 billion awarded to both Collins and Axiom Space by NASA in 2022. A breakdown of the contract was … Read more…

By Chuck Mikolajczak and Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investors are gearing up for the final reconstitution of the benchmark indexes by FTSE Russell on Friday, with the furious rally in artificial intelligence (AI) related stocks over the past year expected to leave an outsized imprint on their final shape. The Russell Reconstitution, an event that typically results in one of the busiest trading days of the year, will become official after the closing … Read more…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – AT&T CEO John Stankey said on Monday that Congress should give the Federal Communications Commission the power to require Big Tech firms to contribute to a government fund that subsidizes access to telecom and broadband services. Under current law, fees are assessed on wireless and landline telephone service subscribers to support the Universal Service Fund. “The seven largest and most profitable companies in the world built their franchises on the internet and … Read more…

By Abhirup Roy NORMAL, Illinois (Reuters) -Electric-vehicle maker Rivian’s drive to cut costs and turn its first profit has removed over 100 steps from the battery-making process, 52 pieces of equipment from the body shop and over 500 parts from the design of its flagship SUVs and pickups. The result of Rivian retooling its manufacturing process is a 35% reduction in cost of materials for vans and savings of “similar magnitude” for its other lines, … Read more…

By Isabelle Yr Carlsson and Maggie Fick COPENHAGEN/LONDON (Reuters) – Obesity drug-maker Novo Nordisk will spend $4.1 billion to build a U.S. facility to fill injection pens for its hugely popular weight-loss treatment Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic, it said on Monday. Construction of the plant at Novo’s existing main U.S. manufacturing site in Clayton, North Carolina, will be completed between 2027 and 2029, and will add 1,000 workers to the 2,500 already employed there, … Read more…