LOS ANGELES — Two summers ago, the Santa Monica, California-based company behind the popular video game "Call of Duty" sent a letter to a 24-year-old man in Antioch, Tennessee, who went by the online handle "Lerggy."

Known in real life as Ryan Rothholz, court filings say, he is the creator of "Lergware," hacking software that enabled "Call of...Read more

The artificial intelligence camp loves big numbers. The sum raised by OpenAI in its latest funding round: $40 billion. Expected investments on AI by Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft this year: $320 billion. Market value of Nvidia Corp., the supplier of chips for AI firms: $4.2 trillion.

Those figures are all taken by AI adherents as ...Read more

For the first time in 15 years, there’s a new Toyota 4Runner. And while the 2025 edition may be new, it remains what it’s always been: a steel box standing on its toes with the long-term survival instincts of Cher.

Having hibernated without a significant change since the debut of the Apple iPad, the 2025 Toyota 4Runner no longer seems as if...Read more

As the truck market has continued to grow and develop, consumers have continued to demand more and more of manufacturers. In recent years, Ford released the Maverick, a small compact pickup aimed at drivers with honey-do lists, and took a big gamble by using a previously failed nameplate. In typical Ford fashion, they have capitalized on the ...Read more

CHARLEVOIX, Michigan — After not touching the steering wheel on Full Self-Driving for an hour and a half up I-75, I exited the freeway at Gaylord. Turning on to the M-32 twisties, I took back the controls — my left thumb searching for the turn signal — from Autopilot. ZOT! The sedan rocketed past 60 mph in less than three seconds, its ...Read more

The robot invasion is coming to Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Coco Robotics, a startup born on the UCLA campus, is about to carpet-bomb the city with hundreds of additional adorable delivery bots recently enhanced with some of the same AI that powers ChatGPT.

The company has been testing bots around the city for years, and it is at last confident...Read more

“E! News,” the nightly pop culture program that helped define cable network E! Entertainment Television, is going away.

The Comcast-owned network informed “E! News” staff Thursday the program will tape its final episode on Sept. 25. The channel’s news operation will continue to provide coverage online where it has a robust presence.

...Read more

A whopping 87% of Californians are concerned that climate change could increase their home insurance rates, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Some 60% said they were very concerned, a remarkable increase from the 47% who said the same last year.

The statistic was among the most striking ...Read more

David Ellison stepped within reach of his hard-fought prize, Paramount Global, after winning regulators' blessing for his Skydance Media's $8-billion takeover of the storied media company.

President Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr approved the Skydance-Paramount merger Thursday after months of turmoil and...Read more

Tesla shares tumbled Thursday after its latest earning results knocked the wind out of investors' confidence in Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker.

The company has been facing intense competition, cooling consumer interest and a reduction of the government incentives that made buying EVs more affordable.

Musk, the chief executive, broadcast ...Read more

UnitedHealth Group, one of the biggest health care companies in the world, confirmed Thursday that it’s cooperating with federal investigators probing the company’s large Medicare business.

While the Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the probe quoting unnamed sources, this was the first public acknowledgement by the Minnesota-...Read more

In a clear reversal, UnitedHealth Group said Thursday it is cooperating with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into its Medicare business.

The disclosure was an about-face from the company’s response in May when the Wall Street Journal first reported the DOJ had opened a criminal investigation into the company. At the time, ...Read more

In a marked shift in U.S. policy toward Venezuela, the Trump administration has quietly approved a new license allowing oil giant Chevron to restart its operations in the South American nation, according to sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

The decision this week represents a departure from earlier hard-line measures and ...Read more

Alaska Air Group reported Wednesday much lower profits in the second quarter compared with the same time period last year, but it remained optimistic amid the impact of tariffs and cautious consumer spending.

In the second quarter, which runs April to June, Alaska reported $172 million in profit, or $1.42 per share. In the same period last year...Read more

Sports and music fans, flocking to a once-questionable corner of downtown, were the springboard for an L.A.-born multibillion-dollar empire of venues and events for screaming enthusiasts around the globe.

AEG, the company behind Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Live district, has turned its know-how about hosting and promoting big shows into a ...Read more

The threshold for reporting slot machine jackpots to the IRS is going up, but not immediately.

At least, that is how many people close to the casino industry are interpreting the situation.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act included a revision to IRS Code Section 6041, increasing the reporting threshold to $2,000 and tying future increases to ...Read more

Over the years, Elon Musk has been known for making extravagant promises about the capabilities of Tesla cars, and for falling short.

California has finally called him out, via a lawsuit accusing Tesla of leading buyers to believe that its vehicles can operate autonomously — as self-driving cars — which they "could not and cannot do." That ...Read more

A new Illinois law is intended to allow law enforcement to remove squatters from privately owned property without the necessity of a lengthy eviction process.

The measure, signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday, clarifies what has long been a point of contention over how authorities should handle squatters — people who are living in a ...Read more

UnitedHealth Group says it’s cooperating with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of its Medicare business, including complying with formal criminal and civil requests by the department.

The disclosure Thursday morning by the Minnesota-based health care giant is an about-face from the company’s response in May, when the Wall Street ...Read more

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell for a sixth straight week, underscoring the resilience of the labor market.

Initial claims decreased by 4,000 to 217,000 in the week ended July 19, still the lowest since mid-April. That marked the longest stretch of declines since 2022, and the figure fell short of the median forecast in a ...Read more