Alphabet fails to shut down Uber's self-driving program; RIP MP3, and more news

It's a partial victory for Alphabet;'s Waymo division, but Uber gets plenty of open road, and the trouble with Sears is worse than we knew. Read on...

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A judge declined to halt Uber's self-driving program — but barred an engineer at the heart of a lawsuit from working on the development of a key AV technology. The lawsuit, by Alphabet-owned Waymo, alleged that former employee and Uber VP Anthony Levandowski stole files for the startup he formed and Uber bought in his acqui-hire. Judge William Alsup said Waymo's patent infringement theories were too weak to shut down Uber's AV program — but he did order Uber to return those 14,000 files. (Photo: Angelo Merendino/AFP/Getty Images)

• In the race to develop a self-driving car, do you have any favorites?

It makes you WannaCry: Some 200,000 computers have been hit worldwide, and there are new variants of the ransomware. The US has been relatively unscathed — "I don't want to jinx it," a DHS official said, according to NPR. Attackers are typically seeking a ransom in Bitcoin; the cryptocurrency has declined from record highs on the "negative publicity."

• Have you been affected?

Sears is "quietly" closing more than the 150 stores it tipped in January. Business Insider reports that the struggling retailer is shuttering at least 28 additional Sears and Kmart locations. Also, CEO Eddie Lampert lashed out at suppliers who he claimed were trying to take advantage of the company's struggles. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

• Are "department" stores like Sears still relevant to the way you shop?

Two decades after heralding a new era in audio, the MP3 is dead, its creators concede. Mind you — this doesn't mean the format is going away, or that the MP3 player you have in a box with your 8-track player is obsolete. But the researchers who developed this seminal compression technology admit it's been outpaced by "more efficient audio codecs," CNBC reports. The news is just that they aren't bothering to license it anymore.

• How have your listening habits changed over the past two decades?

Dodge is recalling some 1.25 million Ram pickups due to a software glitch that can cause airbags and seatbelts to fail during rollover crashes. The flaw has been linked to at least one death and two injuries, and affects three models.

Cover Art: Anthony Levandowski, Otto Co-founder and VP of Engineering at Uber, speaks to members of the press during the launch of the pilot model of the Uber self-driving car at the Uber Advanced Technologies Center on Sept. 13, 2016 in Pittsburgh (Photo: Angelo Merendino/AFP/Getty Images)