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NFL schedule release winners, losers: Who’s sitting pretty for 2020 regular season?


Assuming the season kicks off as expected, the schedule dates alone have created a number of juicy scenarios to dig into as anticipation of the NFL’s — or any sport’s — return continues to grow.




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Canadian amateur sport to receive $72 million in pandemic relief money


The money earmarked for sports will go to national and provincial organizations, Canadian sport institutes and Indigenous sport groups.




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MLSE is offering to help with COVID-19 testing if Toronto becomes a hub for NHL games


The Leafs’ parent company will pay for the testing of its players, and help with public testing as well.




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Gregor Chisholm: Father still knows best as Jays shortstop Bo Bichette prepares for his sophomore season


It helps to have a former big-leaguer as a dad if you want to stay sharp during a pandemic.




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CFL, CFLPA resume talks on potential contingency plans for 2020 season


CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said the CFL lost collectively about $20 million last year and its future is “very much in jeopardy.”




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Column: It's called Earnin. I have no idea how the company ever turns a profit

The Palo Alto company doesn't charge for its cash advances. But tips are appreciated.




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Opinion: Worried about how facial recognition technology is being used? You should be

Facial recognition surveillance, powered by artificial intelligence, is being used — or misused — in cities worldwide.




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Newsletter: Nike tells Amazon, 'I'm just not that into you'

The sportswear giant says it will pull its products — from shoes to jerseys — from the e-commerce behemoth because it wants to create its own direct ties to online shoppers.




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Unionizing L.A. bus workers and their CEO come together over fighting climate change

Factory workers at Proterra, a Silicon Valley e-bus startup, have joined a union that also represents L.A. oil refinery workers.




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PayPal just struck L.A.'s biggest ever tech deal

PayPal is buying Honey, whose popular browser extension is used to compare prices at online shopping sites, for $4 billion.




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Uber accused of cheating the public in driver's suit over pay

Drivers being cheated out of wages and not being reimbursed for expenses causes California to lose out on payroll taxes, attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan argues in a new legal challenge to Uber's practices.




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Column: We're swamped with 182 million robocalls a day. Is a solution finally here?

Telecom-industry insiders say work is rapidly progressing on a system called "Shaken/Stir," which could go a long way toward making your phone usable again.




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Google workers protest suspensions of activist employees

Protests within Google over how the company handles employee activism continue to grow.




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Former Tinder CEO Sean Rad accused of secretly recording employees and bosses in new court filing

Tinder's parent company says Sean Rad, the dating app's co-founder and former CEO, illegally recorded conversations with executives.




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Newsletter: Those Black Friday deals? They're not as good as you think

The dirty little secret of Black Friday — and its cousin, Cyber Monday — is that the best deals are still to come.




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Google fires four for accessing internal documents. Workers say it's retaliation

Google terminated four employees for what the tech firm said were "repeated violations of our data security policies." At least one of them, Rebecca Rivers, had spoken out publicly against company initiatives including Google's past work with government agencies.




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Column: These holiday scams are heavy on naughty, totally lacking in nice

From gift-card rackets to online fraud, consumers are under near-constant assault amid what some analysts are calling the country's first-ever trillion-dollar holiday season.




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Riot Games will pay $10 million to settle gender discrimination suit

'League of Legends' maker Riot Games has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a gender discrimination suit. Every woman who has worked at the company since 2014 will get a payout.




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Google's Sundar Pichai becomes Alphabet CEO; Larry Page and Sergey Brin step down

Sundar Pichai is ascending at Google's parent, Alphabet, becoming CEO of the entire tech giant as co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin take a step back.




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Developers join call for GitHub to cancel its ICE contract

Open source developers, GitHub's power users, are joining the software platform's employees in calling for the company to cancel its contract with ICE. A boycott could be next.




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Tech recruiters were once welcomed on campus. Now they face protests

Tech firms such as Palantir, Amazon, Google and Microsoft hire huge numbers of college graduates every year. Student activists are trying to disrupt that recruiting pipeline.




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Uber's report on sexual assaults and accidents offers some answers, more questions

Uber's first-ever safety transparency report establishes a baseline from which the ride-hailing giant must improve.




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Newsletter: Privacy-minded consumer groups say the kids aren't all right

Coalition calls on FTC to review how companies are marketing to children and tracking them online.




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Column: Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say

"Extended warranties are generally a bad value," says one consumer advocate. "Rarely do they pay off."




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Newsletter: $1,000 is just too dang much for a smartphone

A new study from market researcher NPD Group reveals that fewer than 10% of consumers are willing to shell out more than a thousand bucks for a phone.




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Looking ahead: In 2020, we look to Mars, fake meat and the allure of wishful thinking

What will 2020 bring? There'll be plenty to roar about. Concerts and playoffs. Electric highways and robots that bring your pizza. The future is right now.




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California is rewriting the rules of the internet. Businesses are scrambling to keep up

A new law that will let you opt out of the online data economy goes into effect on Jan. 1 — assuming businesses can figure out how to make that happen in time.




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New labor laws are coming to California. What's changing in your workplace?

For California businesses, 2020 will be a year of reckoning. Sweeping new laws curbing long-time employment practices take effect, aimed at reducing economic inequality and giving workers more power in their jobs.




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Controversial San Bernardino airport cargo expansion approved

Inland Empire residents have protested the airport expansion — rumored to be an Amazon project — for months. On Monday, airport officials approved the project.




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Uber and Postmates call AB 5 unconstitutional in new lawsuit

Uber and Postmates called AB 5 an "irrational and unconstitutional statute" that targets gig economy companies and workers.




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It's 2020 and you have new privacy rights online. But you might have to show ID

Californians have newfound power over their online information in 2020. Here's how to exercise those new rights.




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From 'Titanfall' to 'Star Wars,' the evolution of game studio Respawn mirrors our search for story

Respawn Entertainment began with a mission to build a better shooter. That became the hit "Titanfall." In 2019, the studio expanded with the free-to-play "Apex Legends" and "Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order." The studio run by Vince Zampella is just getting started, with a virtual reality project on tap for 2020. Zampella also is taking over the Los Angeles offices of DICE.




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Seeing those opt-out messages about your personal information on websites? Thank California's new privacy law

"Do not sell my info" links popped up on websites New Year's Day as companies scrambled to comply with California's sweeping new consumer privacy protection law.




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Column: Boeing's board shouldn't escape blame in 737 Max scandal

Boeing will be hobbled by the 737 Max affair for years to come. Yet the board that oversaw this calamity is not being held to task.




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Major union launches campaign to organize video game and tech workers

One of the country's largest unions is targeting video game and tech companies — and hired a Southern California organizer to spearhead the project




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Your $14 salad's not as eco-friendly as advertised — but Sweetgreen's trying

Sweetgreen has long said nothing from its stores goes to landfill. On closer inspection, that's more aspiration than guarantee.




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Women suing Riot Games may deserve $400 million, not $10 million, state regulator says

Two California state agencies are intervening in a class action suit against Riot Games, saying women who worked at the company could deserve more money.




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It's your last chance to claim a slice of the Equifax data breach settlement

More than 147 million people's credit data were exposed during Equifax's 2017 breach. Wednesday is the deadline to file a claim.




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Long hours and 'a pile of white dudes': Annual survey looks at game industry working conditions

A rare, insider look at the highly secretive game industry from the Game Developers Conference. Developers share thoughts on working conditions, the need for unionization, attempts to diversify and more.




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Riot Games accuses regulators of 'questionable tactics' to block gender bias settlement

California state agencies argue that women who worked at the video game company could deserve up to $400 million. The company—and the lawyers for women who worked there—strongly disagree.




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Ring app shares your personal data with Facebook and others, report finds

The high-tech doorbell maker's app is rife with unlisted third-party trackers that collect data from users' devices, according to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.




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Ad industry seeks to delay new California data privacy law

Some of the advertising industry's biggest trade associations are asking California's attorney general to delay enforcement of the state's new privacy law — which is set for July 1— by at least six months.




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California lost more manufacturing jobs to China than any other state, report says

California lost more manufacturing jobs to China than any other state.




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Column: Your car dealer may be quietly selling your data to your insurer

"There's a lot of information that gets traded" about people's driving habits, says an industry official. "It's amazing."




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AB 5 is already changing how Uber works for California drivers and riders

Responding to a new California labor law, Uber making concessions drivers have long sought. But it may change the service in ways that displease drivers and riders alike.




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App made by Clinton campaign veterans' firm is behind Iowa caucuses debacle

Shadow, a tech developer started by veterans of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential run, built the app being blamed for delaying Iowa Democratic caucus results.




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Lazarus: Would you write a 5-star Amazon review in return for a $20 bribe?

A Pasadena man found a card tucked away with his Amazon order offering a $20 payment in return for a glowing review — as long as he didn't tell anyone he'd been bribed.




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Column: The Iowa caucuses' meltdown shows that tech isn't always the solution

The Iowa caucuses teach a lesson that sometimes technology makes things worse.




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Snap is still in comeback mode. But investors are getting impatient

Snap's stock took a tumble after a disappointing year-end earnings report, but analysts say there's ample reason to think the company's upward trajectory will continue.




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Misinformation about the coronavirus abounds, but correcting it can backfire

With so much false information circulating about the coronavirus outbreak, health officials are trying to set the record straight. Here's why that can backfire.