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SHANGHAI/HONGKONG: China's Alibaba Cloud on Thursday said it will slash prices of some of its products by as much as 55%, its most severe price cut to date, amid intensifying competition to attract heavy users, particularly artificial intelligence software developers. This would be the second time the cloud arm of Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding has cut price s in less than a year after reductions of as much as 50% in April. The cloud service provider said it will lower price s of over 100 products by an average of 20%. The price cuts constitute Alibaba's latest effort to persuade developers to build data-intensive AI models and applications using its cloud services. Rivals including Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies, which also cut cloud price s last year following Alibaba's lead, have offered a number of promotions to convince tech firms to develop AI within their ecosystems. "We decided to launch the price reduction cam...

 Netflix's crackdown on password -sharing likely boosted subscribers by about 6 million in the third quarter and the streaming pioneer is expected to set the stage for price increases when it reports earnings on Wednesday. The only profitable major streamer, Netflix has resisted joining rivals like Walt Disney (DIS.N) in hiking ad-free prices this year and instead curbed password-sharing outside households to tap the more than 100 million viewers who use its service without subscribing. "Netflix now closely resembles a utility in many markets," analysts at Bernstein said. "The challenge of being labeled a utility is how a maturing company continues finding growth." It could hike prices after the end of the Hollywood actors strike, a media report said earlier in October. Five months after calling a strike that plunged Hollywood into turmoil, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) last week approved a new contract with major st...

Uber Eats could cost even more for customers if the government’s workplace reform delivers new wage laws. The Labor Government announced on Thursday the need for fairer working conditions in Australia’s gig economy, which uses online platforms to connect individuals providing services with consumers. Ride-share services such as Uber and Didi, UberEats and MenuLog and other food delivery services, and service outsourcing platforms such as Airtasker all fall within the gig working industry, along with many roles in the NDIS and aged care sector. Looking for a new job or job candidate? Post jobs and search for local talent on 7NEWS Jobs >> The sector is in what workplace relations minister Tony Burke called a “loophole”, in a National Press Club speech which announced the government’s plans to close it. He admitted there could be some “modest pass through” because of the reforms, but “we are talking about some of the lowest paid people in Australia”. “If that means there’s a tiny b...