By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – A study of small and medium-sized businesses around the world has found that one of the main reasons they underperform – especially in poorer countries – is that they make too little use of the Internet. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil are three times less productive than big firms there while those in India are 10 times less productive
Read moreBy Ellen Wulfhorst UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Inside the United Nations, hallways and office hum with preparations for this week's meeting of nearly 200 nations to adopt a set of global goals aimed at tackling a range of ills from poverty to climate change over the next 15 years.
Read moreBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Key Internet and social media companies should brief a United Nations Security Council sanctions committee on their efforts to stop al Qaeda, Islamic State and other extremist militants spreading their ideology online, U.N. experts said. Alexander Evans, coordinator of the team of experts, said such a briefing could stimulate a conversation among the 15-committee members on whether U.N
Read moreBy Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc has enabled users without an account to sign up for its Messenger app with a phone number, the social media company said on Wednesday, in another move to broaden the app's reach and make it a standalone platform. Earlier this year, Facebook opened up Messenger to developers, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to connect users directly with retailers, restaurants and other businesses. With the latest update, users will be prompted by an option that says “Not on Facebook?” when they open the app
Read moreBy Gerry Shih BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] became the world's No. 1 applicant for international patents in 2014, a United Nations agency said Thursday, underscoring the innovative strides made by Chinese technology companies. Huawei was followed by San Diego-based chipmaker Qualcomm Inc while Huawei's crosstown rival ZTE Corp, which was the world's leading applicant in 2012, took third place in its number of filings, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Read moreBy Teppei Kasai TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc is buying U.S. eBook company OverDrive Inc for about $410 million, deepening its push into the U.S.
Read moreBy Eveline Danubrata and Charlotte Greenfield JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group plans to launch payment, chat and other online services early next year as it continues expanding in the nascent e-commerce industry of the world’s fourth-most populous country, a senior executive told Reuters.
Read moreBy Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Germany and Brazil are pushing the United Nations to be tougher on spying by beefing up an earlier U.N. resolution raising concerns that mass surveillance, interception of digital communications and personal data collection could harm human rights. In a follow up to a U.N.
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