Technology

  AFP Internet radio leader Pandora unveiled plans to challenge streaming stalwarts such as Spotify by undercutting them on price and matching them with on-demand music. The move comes after prolonged market jitters over the future of Pandora at a time that on-demand streaming is reshaping the music industry. Pandora said that its premium service would cost $4.99 a month ...

  Bloomberg Mercedes-Benz is looking at mounting automated flying drones onto a new line of electric vans as part of a 500 million-euro ($562 million) investment aimed at speeding delivery times for online orders. The small pilotless aircraft would be part of a suite of on-board systems, including digital sorting equipment, that could cut both costs and delivery times in ...

  Bloomberg Yi Wang was hearing the same refrain over and over: Why are English classes in China so expensive? And why aren’t I proficient yet?A year ago, 27-year-old software developer Roy Breidi was dreaming of launching a startup related to the digital currency bitcoin. Problem was, he “didn’t really understand what’s the magic behind it.” So he took an ...

  AFP Apple’s global iPhone launch was marked by excitement and frustration as fans queued to find scarce models of the coveted smartphone. Scenes in Apple stores around the world were reminiscent of days before online ordering became a norm and people camped out for days to be first to get hands on the California company’s iPhone 7 and 7 ...

  AFP The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of around one million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones plagued by incidents of batteries bursting into flames. The move by the US safety agency formalizes the recall underway in 10 countries after reports of faulty batteries that caused some handsets to explode during charging. Samsung meanwhile announced replacements for ...

  Bloomberg Tech company Curalate is jumping on the vertical video trend, made popular by Snapchat and Instagram, with a new product. The company has introduced its new ad product Tilt, designed to promote vertical videos, reports the Wall Street Journal. Curalate’s first Tilt partner will be clothing store Urban Outfitters, which has developed a new mobile site called UOTV ...

  AFP Wearable tech, which was seeing sizzling sales growth a year ago, is cooling this year amid consumer hesitation over new devices, a survey showed. The research firm IDC said it expects global sales of wearables to grow some 29.4 percent to some 103 million units in 2016. That follows 171 percent growth in 2015, fueled by the launch ...

  Relaxnews The inaugural WardsAuto Top 10 Best User Experience Awards highlight those cars where technology and infotainment systems are a pleasure rather than a punishment to use. Why is a user interface like a joke? If it needs to be explained, it’s not very good. This programmer’s mantra is very quickly moving from software and website design and into ...

  Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co., under pressure from consumers for longer-lasting batteries that charge faster, pushed the limits of lithium-ion technology. The effort backfired when some of its new Note 7 handsets caught fire and exploded. Building a better battery has long bedeviled the tech industry. Smartphones are constantly improving, with sharper displays, improved software and cameras rivaling those used ...

  AFP With new iPhones hitting the markets Friday, Apple is seeking to regain momentum and set new trends for the smartphone industry and tech sector. The newest versions of the California-based technology giant’s lifestyle-changing iPhone aim to win over users with sophisticated camera technology, water resistance, more power and other improvements. But Apple has raised eyebrows by eliminating headphone ...