Technology

  Bloomberg In the sixth grade, Austin Russell turned a Nintendo gaming handset into a cell phone. At 15, he built a holographic keyboard. By 17, he’d filed for a patent. Now at 22, he’s running a startup at the heart of Silicon Valley’s latest technology mania. As founder and chief executive officer of Luminar Technologies Inc., Russell and his …

  Bloomberg As Europe’s industrial companies attempt to modernize production with sensors and software, Microsoft Corp. is trying to grab a piece of the spending. The US software giant is launching a new lab in Munich — following openings in Redmond, Washington and Shenzhen, China — for customers investing in the so-called Internet of Things, the idea that everything from …

  Bloomberg The US Congress’s decision to invalidate a set of internet privacy rules from the Obama administration set off a firestorm this week. The change, which will allow service providers like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. to collect and sell customers’ information without their permission, prompted ad campaigns from internet freedom groups shaming lawmakers and a small wave …

  Bloomberg Google’s UK business is to pay 25 million pounds ($31.4 million) in UK corporation tax, according to its latest results, a year after the company was ordered to hand over 130 million pounds in back taxes to the government. The UK subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.’s Google turned a profit, before taxes, of 148.2 million pounds for the year …

  Bloomberg Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.’s reported an unexpected rise in quarterly earnings after the main assembler of Apple Inc.’s devices rode record iPhone sales during the pivotal holiday shopping period. The world’s biggest contract manufacturer of electronics reported a 30 percent increase in net income to NT$68.8 billion ($2.3 billion) in the three months ended December, according to …

  AP Huawei Technology Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of telecoms equipment, said its 2016 sales rose 32 percent from a year earlier but profit increased by only 0.4 percent due to higher spending on research and marketing. Huawei said it earned 37 billion yuan ($5.4 billion) on total revenue that rose 32 percent to 521.6 billion yuan ($75.6 billion). …

  Bloomberg BlackBerry Ltd. is finally starting to look like a real software company. After three years of acquisitions, layoffs and trying to convince customers it could do more than build smartphones, the Canadian company’s software revenue and profit margins are growing in the way Chief Executive Officer John Chen wants them to. The stock too: It rose the most …

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. knows it needs to get its new flagship smartphone right. Apart from making sure the gadget won’t cause bodily harm, the company packed it with a plethora of new features: taller, curved screens, encrypted facial recognition, deeper display colors, system-wide voice control and the ability to turn into a desktop computer. The Galaxy S8 comes …

  Bloomberg Pinterest Inc. has started pursuing a segment of advertisers that may one day contribute a quarter of its revenue: small and medium-sized businesses. The company unveiled a new program, called Pinterest Propel, which provides special services for new advertisers unfamiliar with the way its site works. By committing to spend up to $100 a day on Pinterest ads, …

  Bloomberg Up to one-third of British jobs could face automation in the next 15 years, but the technology will improve productivity and create new roles elsewhere, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The transportation and storage industry and manufacturing have the most roles at risk, the report showed. Education, health and social work are least likely to be affected due to …