Technology

  AFP Just like credit cards, smartphones or search engines, autonomous cars will carry a trove of information about their owners as they make driving more comfortable, raising new concerns about privacy. Automakers are engaged in a fierce race to develop the first driverless car, which experts say should hit the road by 2020. Apart from legal obstacles facing the ...

  NEW YORK / AP Facebook is offering new tools for charity fundraising, for marking yourself safe during a crisis and for helping others — or asking for help — after a natural disaster. The social network made the announcements Thursday in New York at its Social Good Forum, a first-of-its-kind event it hopes to repeat in coming years. The ...

  New Delhi / AFP Next time you’re at the Taj Mahal, find yourself standing on a precarious cliff or see an approaching train, maybe just enjoy the moment rather than trying to capture the perfect selfie. These are just three of the ways that 76 selfie-takers in India have lost their lives, according to a study published by US-based ...

  Seoul / AP South Korea rejected a request by Google to use local mapping data in the company’s global maps service in a long-awaited ruling that had divided the country for months. The company said it was disappointed by the decision, which the land ministry said was based on concerns over national security. “We’re disappointed by this decision. We’ve ...

  Bloomberg Apple Inc. has big plans to outfit its next iPhone with vibrant, energy-sipping organic LED displays, seeking to entice consumers with new technology that’s already been embraced by other high-end smartphone makers. The trouble is that the four main suppliers for such components won’t have enough production capacity to make screens for all new iPhones next year, with ...

  ANICK JESDANUN / AP The best thing about Google’s new virtual-reality headset isn’t the headset at all. In fact, Daydream View would pale compared with Samsung’s Gear VR headset were it not for Daydream’s controller, a handheld device that responds to gestures and other motion. With Gear VR, I have to move my head to point a cursor at ...

  Bloomberg Jaguar’s working on its first electric car, a sport utility vehicle with a large glass roof and cutouts in the hood, as the luxury brand joins the race to meet ever-tightening emissions rules. Scheduled for production in 2018, the I-Pace will go more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) on a single charge, manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover said in ...

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co. will release Super Mario Run worldwide for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad on December 15 in US time zones, a highly anticipated launch that has a high bar for success after this summer’s Pokemon Go phenomenon. The game, the first mobile edition starring one of Nintendo’s most iconic characters, will be free to download initially, and ...

  Los Angeles / AFP German automaker BMW announced in Los Angeles that it is expanding its ReachNow program with new mobile tools and adding a city location: New York’s trendy Brooklyn borough. BMW ReachNow, launched in Seattle, Washington state in April, is adding services to its initial offering, the chief executive of the new program Steve Banfield said at ...

  San Francisco / AFP WhatsApp has temporarily suspended giving parent company Facebook information about users in Europe for ad targeting, responding to concerns there over privacy, a source close to the matter. Conversations with officials in Europe over the past few months resulted in the social network deciding to only tapping into WhatsApp user data there for purposes such ...