Technology

  Relaxnews Column inches in newspapers and on tech blogs may still outnumber the devices in the average consumer’s home but 2017 could be the year that the Internet of Things (IoT) truly becomes a thing. According to Juniper Research, by 2021, the number of connected devices, sensors and activators in use will total 46 billion, that’s a 200% jump …

  DUBAI / Emirates business LG Electronics (LG) has long been a key driver in innovation, applying analytics-driven insights to its appliances and electronics to produce a unified consumer experience that is as intuitive as it is effortless. The home appliances and home entertainment market is currently undergoing a great change where consumers are starting to shift from traditional products …

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is changing its powerful news feed in an effort to stamp out fake stories following a firestorm around the social network’s role in spreading false information. The new features, rolled out to select US users on Thursday, add options for readers and third-party fact checkers to flag articles, tweak Facebook’s algorithm and provide more restrictions on …

  Bloomberg Super Mario Run, Nintendo Co.’s first full foray into the world of mobile gaming, might be encountering some growing pains. The game was at the top of download rankings in 68 countries, but was the highest grossing game in only 14, according to researcher SensorTower. Nintendo shares closed 4.2 percent lower in Tokyo, wiping out about $1.5 billion …

  Bloomberg Facebook Inc. built a colossal business based on measuring something older advertising methods cannot: the granular details about people. Two months ago, the company copped to a flaw in that measurement. Then Facebook did it again. And again. On Friday, Facebook revealed faulty metrics with Instant Articles, its mobile publishing system, the fourth disclosure of a measurement error …

  Tokyo / AFP From a humble smiley face with a box mouth and inverted “V’s” for eyes, crude weather symbols, and a rudimentary heart — emoji have now exploded into the world’s fastest-growing language. There are now about 1,800 emoji characters — and counting. They cover everything from emotions and food to professions, are racially diverse and have become …

  Relaxnews Instagram has seen 100 million new users sign up over the past six months, pushing its total base to more than 600 million. The image sharing social media platform announced the news on its blog on Thursday, thanking users and adding: “we’re working to make Instagram safer than ever for connection and self-expression.” Recent updates to the platform …

  San Francisco / AFP Mark Zuckerberg envisions a software system inspired by the “Iron Man” character Jarvis as a virtual butler managing his household. The Facebook founder’s dream is about artificial intelligence, which is slowly but surely creeping into our daily lives, no longer just science fiction. Artificial intelligence or AI is getting a foothold in people’s homes, starting …

  Paris / AFP It has been hailed as a revolutionary way to get people moving, using smartphones to pursue cartoon creatures through city parks and streets on foot, instead of taking the car or metro. But has Pokemon Go made people more active and healthy? A study reported mixed success. In the first week of playing the game, people …

  Relaxnews Deliveries of the Chevrolet Bolt, the first mainstream electric car to offer a 238-mile range, have officially started. Three customers in San Francisco received their cars and by the end of this week, deliveries will extend to other cities in California and Oregon. “All of the hard work that the Chevrolet team have put into designing, engineering and …