Technology

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc. hired Hugo Barra to lead its virtual reality efforts just days after he quit Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. Barra, who led Xiaomi’s international expansion, will now take on a different challenge as vice president of virtual reality. He will need to navigate the competitive and young market, where Facebook’s Oculus Rift and Gear products have …

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. is set to join the Partnership on AI, an artificial intelligence research group that includes Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Apple’s admission into the group could be announced as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the situation. Representatives at Apple and the Partnership on AI declined to comment. …

  Bloomberg You need two primary pieces of information from a dive computer: your depth and how much time you have left before too much nitrogen gives you the bends. More advanced gadgets can tell you about the temperature of the water and the quality of the air left in your tank and may come with a submersible pressure gauge …

  Kevin Cha Emirates Business Technology today has progressed to the point where innovative solutions are no longer about creating a better life, instead it is the desire to create a better lifestyle for consumers that underpins the most exciting new products. While some of these sophisticated innovations will quickly find their way into our lives and change how we …

  Bloomberg After at least 12 years together, Alphabet Inc., the parent of Google, won’t be represented by one of Washington’s most prominent lobbying groups, a firm with long-standing ties to the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton. The Podesta Group — whose chairman, Tony Podesta, is a major Democratic fundraiser and the brother of Clinton’s former campaign manager — is …

  AP Apple Inc. has filed suit in China challenging Qualcomm Inc.’s fees for technology used in smartphones two years after Chinese regulators fined the chipmaker for its licensing practices. Two lawsuits filed by the iPhone maker accuse Qualcomm of abusing its control over essential technology to charge excessive licensing fees, a Beijing court said on its microblog. It said …

  Bloomberg Next time you’re searching for a new job, look to Siri for inspiration. Coders who can help machines communicate with people are in high demand. Software engineers who program computers to understand human speech saw US demand for their labor grow faster than workers with any other skill, according to data from last quarter compiled by Upwork, a …

  SAN FRANCISCO / AP Facebook is updating its “trending” feature that highlights hot topics on its social networking site, part of its effort to root out the kind of fake news stories that critics contend helped Donald Trump become president. With the changes announced, Facebook’s trending list will consist of topics being covered by several publishers. Before, it focused …

  Bloomberg Defects that caused Samsung Electronics Co.’s Note 7 phones to burst into flames last year revealed that the industry’s voluntary standards for the design and manufacture of rechargeable batteries aren’t adequate, a US consumer-safety regulator has concluded. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which negotiated a recall of 1.9 million of the phones and is conducting its own investigation, …

  Bloomberg Alphabet Inc. re-hired Yoky Matsuoka to oversee technology at its Nest Labs Inc. smart home unit, snapping up the robotics and artificial intelligence expert after she recently left Apple Inc. As Chief Technology Officer, Matsuoka will work closely with Nest’s engineering and product teams to define a long-term technology roadmap. She’ll be responsible for identifying important enabling technologies …