Dave Lee

Image copyright Vizio

TV maker Vizio has agreed to pay out $2.2m in order to settle allegations it unlawfully collected viewing data on its customers.

The US Federal Trade Commission said the company’s smart TV technology had captured data on what was being viewed on screen and transmitted it to the firm’s servers.

The data was sold to third parties, the FTC said.

Vizio has said the data sent could not be matched up to individuals.

It wrote: " [The firm] never paired viewing data with personally identifiable information such as name or contact information, and the Commission did not allege or contend otherwise.

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California is a bubble. A rich, liberal, free-loving bubble.

It also just so happens to be the sixth largest economy in the world and home to the most influential, profitable and powerful companies on earth.

Image copyright Reuters

Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of ride-sharing service Uber, has stepped down from President Donald Trump's economic advisory group after strong criticism from staff and the public.

The board, which also counts Tesla chief executive Elon Musk as a member, is due to meet the president on Friday.

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For months, Silicon Valley seemed to be heeding the advice of one of its most powerful figures, billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who said President Trump should be taken "seriously, but not literally”.

But at the international arrivals gate at San Francisco airport at the weekend, things were getting very literal, very quickly. What the tech industry had feared might happen, was happening.

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If there’s one thing history has taught us: technology fails if using it makes you look like a plonker.

I don’t mean a bit silly, like skiing on a Nintendo Wii, or a little crackers, like running around in Snapchat’s Spectacles. I mean the sort of technology that when you look across a room and see someone wearing it you don’t think “wow” or “that’s futuristic”.

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Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, a constant source of intrigue (to me at least), is busy positioning himself as the “voice of reason” that lies between Silicon Valley and the White House.

I’ve written at length about President Trump’s relationship with the technology heartland.

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President Donald Trump has chosen Ajit Pai as the new head of the US Federal Communications Commission, the government agency which regulates telecoms issues.

The appointment has raised concerns among internet rights activists that laws ensuring net neutrality are now under threat.

Image copyright Olivia Grace

Like many a BBC reporter before, I come to you with news of a coup, and perhaps the most significant transition of power you’ll read about this weekend.

Cats on the internet are over. Done. "Cheezburgers" are off the menu. Play yourself out, Keyboard Cat.

Image copyright WHITE HOUSE

Much is written about the Herculean effort to move one family out of the White House and a new family in within the space of just a few hours.

But in our modern age, the digital moving trucks must also roar into action, as prime presidential online real estate gets a makeover, and eight years of President Obama's social media chat is confined to the national archives.

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Between January and March 2015, ride-sharing service Uber put out ads on Craigslist in the hope of attracting new drivers by offering attractive hourly rates of pay.

In Boston, for example, it told potential drivers they would earn $25 an hour.