Technology

  SAN FRANCISCO / AP Slack Technologies, a fast-growing startup trying to wean businesses off email by hooking employees on its more informal messaging service, is now hoping to snare the world’s biggest companies as customers. The company unveiled a new feature intended to let workers in different departments communicate more easily with each other. The new option, called “Enterprise ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. attracted a swathe of new iPhone customers over the holiday period, auguring well for a more significant upgrade to its flagship product this year — and the services revenue that these devices are increasingly generating. Existing iPhone users upgraded to the latest iPhone 7 models at about the same rate as the iPhone 6S a year ...

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co. shares slipped to a five-month low after a cut in the company’s operating profit forecast indicated sales of its upcoming Switch console may not make up for weak demand for mobile games and the 3DS gaming device. The stock declined 2.1 percent to close at 22,625 yen, the lowest since Aug. 30. The Kyoto-based company cut ...

  PARIS / AP An Austrian luxury hotel is ditching electronic room cards for old-fashioned locks and keys after having its systems frozen by blackmail-hungry hackers. The management of Romantik Seehotel Jaegerwirt, in the Austrian Alps, said that they’ve been repeatedly targeted by cybercriminals. One recent infection with ransom software on December 6 resulted in a complete shutdown of hotel ...

  Bloomberg Abby Rogers, a 15 year-old from California’s Bay Area, recently took extreme measures to help a buddy in Michigan. The friend had her phone confiscated by parents and biked to a local library where she got on a computer, sent Rogers her Snapchat user name and password, and begged for a big favor. Every day for two weeks, ...

  Bloomberg Late last year, just in time for Christmas shopping, Rachel Rhoads got a nice surprise. One of her secret savings accounts had grown to $900 behind her back. Rhoads, a 37-year-old Los Angeles-based sales director for a jewellery line, has an account with Digit, a financial technology company with an algorithm that tracks users’ income and spending patterns. ...

  Bloomberg Starbucks Corp. will begin letting customers order via voice on their iPhones and Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa system, a bid to bolster its tech capabilities even as the rapid evolution brings headaches to the coffee chain. The new capability works with the barista feature on the Starbucks’ app, which relies on artificial intelligence to interact with customers. Customers can ...

  WASHINGTON / AP The FBI defended its decision to withhold documents on how it unlocked an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, saying the information could be exploited by “hostile entities” if released to the public. The Justice Department earlier this month released heavily censored records in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit ...

  SAN FRANCISCO / AP The Pixel phone, Google’s answer to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy, is off to a promising start — but might have done even better had Google managed consumer demand as smartly as the device’s sleek design. Although Google hasn’t released sales figures, industry researchers say the Pixel has been a hot item since its October ...

  Dubai /Emirates Business GCC doctors will be able to review patient medical records in 3 seconds or less, if healthcare providers adopt the latest technology in the next three years. In the face of rising healthcare costs, GCC national transformation plans such as UAE Vision 2021 and Saudi Vision 2030 call for investment in the latest medical technology solutions ...