Technology

  Bloomberg BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX automotive software, used in more than 60 million cars, was listed as a potential target for the Central Intelligence Agency to hack, according to documents released by WikiLeaks. CIA meeting notes mention QNX as one of several “potential mission areas” for the organization’s Embedded Devices Branch. The same branch also worked with U.K. spy agencies ...

    NEW YORK / AP If the tech industry is drawing one lesson from the latest WikiLeaks disclosures, it’s that data-scrambling encryption works, and the industry should use more of it. Documents purportedly outlining a massive CIA surveillance program suggest that CIA agents must go to great lengths to circumvent encryption they can’t break. In many cases, physical presence ...

  LOS ANGELES / AP Cars with no steering wheel, no pedals and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year, under proposed state rules that would give a powerful boost to the fast-developing technology. For the past several years, tech companies and automakers have been testing self-driving car prototypes in ...

  Bloomberg Kuka AG, the German robot maker acquired last year by Midea Group Co. of China, needs to lower costs and win government recognition as a local brand to achieve its goal of becoming the No. 1 supplier in the Chinese market, according to an executive. “Kuka has a reputation for reliability, but as you know, as a German ...

  Bloomberg Jeff Regan was born with underdeveloped optic nerves and had spent most of his life in a blur. Then four years ago, he donned an unwieldy headset made by a Toronto company called eSight. Suddenly, Regan could read a newspaper while eating breakfast and make out the faces of his co-workers from across the room. He’s been able ...

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc. unveiled new customers and partners for its cloud storage service in an attempt to boost the standing of Google’s business sales unit, which lags behind Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Diane Greene, Google’s cloud chief, named several recent clients at the company’s event in San Francisco, including Colgate-Palmolive Co., HSBC Holdings Plc and EBay Inc. Google ...

  Bloomberg Tom Moore, a satellite veteran brought in to lead Google’s Project Loon unit, has stepped down after about six months. Alastair Westgarth, who headed wireless antenna company Quintel, is taking the spot. The transition comes after the company scaled back an ambitious attempt to build a global communications service by circling the earth with high-altitude balloons. X, the ...

    Dubai / Emirates Business The LG HOM-BOT vacuum cleaner’s popularity is on the rise across the world, reaching a cumulative sales total of one million since first entering the market seven years ago. After its 2003 domestic launch, the HOM-BOT vacuum cleaner was introduced to more than 40 countries beginning with European markets in 2010, across Asia the ...

  Bloomberg Despite the US government’s steps to tackle cybersecurity threats, hackers continue to target federal agencies and they experienced tens of thousands of incidents last year, according to a White House report. The Trump administration released the Office of Management and Budget’s annual report to Congress on federal cyber performance. Federal agencies weren’t immune to broader trends affecting the ...

  NEW YORK / AP These days, it’s possible to use your phone and sometimes just your voice to control everything from your TV to your lights, your thermostat and shades, even your car or medical device. (At least, once you have gadgets that can listen.) But the WikiLeaks allegation that the CIA commandeered some Samsung smart TVs as listening ...