Technology

  AP A Samsung phone user in France says her Galaxy J5 smartphone caught fire and exploded on Sunday. The model is different from the Galaxy Note 7 that has been recalled worldwide. Lamya Bouyirdane said that she noticed the phone was very hot after she asked her four-year-old son to pass it over during a family gathering at her …

  Relaxnews Business software maker SAP SE introduced the most significant update to its database software in five years, including new tools for analyzing streams of data created by smart sensors and a lightweight free version for developers to test. Hana 2, the second major release of SAP’s main database software since its wide release in 2011, includes tools for …

  Bloomberg Broadcom Ltd., whose chips are used in Apple Inc.’s iPhone and TV set- top boxes, agreed to buy Brocade Communications Systems Inc. for $5.9 billion including debt to capitalize on booming demand for cloud computing and the data centers that deliver it. Broadcom is acquiring Brocade for technology that links computer-storage systems and allows the fast transfer of …

  Bloomberg Google’s DeepMind AI unit, which earlier this year achieved a breakthrough in computer intelligence by creating software that beat the world’s best human player at the strategy game Go, is turning its attention to the sci-fi video game Starcraft II. The company said it had reached a deal with Blizzard Entertainment Inc., the Irvine, California-based division of Activision …

  Bloomberg How big a threat are the new batch of robo-advisors to traditional active fund managers?Are they, as Sanford C. Bernstein & Co LLC put it in a new research note, an “innocuous robot like R2-D2 or are they Terminator?” To answer the question, Bernstein analysts opened multiple accounts at two prominent European based robo-advisors, Nutmeg Saving and Investment …

  AFP BlackBerry Ltd. said it will work directly with Ford Motor Co. to develop automotive software, a move BlackBerry says will help it move into self-driving technology as the company looks beyond the smartphone market. Ford has been using software built by BlackBerry’s QNX unit for its Sync3 in-car infotainment system, but previously bought it through Panasonic Corp., QNX …

  AP Ronald De Feo has watched robots take factory jobs for years. Now he sees them threatening a new class of worker: People who drive for a living. “I am in Pittsburgh; it’s a test market for Uber’s autonomous vehicle,” says De Feo, CEO of the industrial materials firm Kennametal. “We see all these (automated) Ubers running around the …

  ANICK JESDANUN / AP Google’s new smart speaker is at once a secretary, a librarian and a radio. Ask about your day, and the Home speaker will give you the time, weather, estimated commute, the news and upcoming calendar appointments. It will convert miles into feet, and dollars into euros. Want to hear Adele or Coldplay? Home will fetch …

  SEOUL / AP Samsung Electronics said on Sunday it will offer an artificial intelligence assistant service in the upcoming flagship smartphone, as the South Korean firm seeks recovery from its global smartphone recalls. The Galaxy S8 will let users order food or perform other tasks without going through a third-party application but by simply asking the phone’s virtual assistant, …

  Relaxnews Google’s Android operating system captured a record-high 87.5 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, a research firm said. The survey by Strategy Analytics found Android’s share increase from 84.1 percent in the same period a year ago, while Apple’s iOS saw its share slip to 12.1 percent from 13.6 percent. “Android’s leadership of the …