Technology

  DETROIT / AP With all the attention paid to Tesla Motors’ Autopilot system, you’d think the company was the only one making cars that can almost drive themselves. But many automakers have rolled out cars that do what Teslas do. The difference: Tesla debuted Autopilot, a suite of semi-autonomous driving features, with a swagger, while others tread more carefully. ...

  Bloomberg Google is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece in virtual-reality films and programs, part of a plan to line up exclusive content for the debut of its new Daydream service in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Google will help promote projects from Hulu LLC and fund the production of 360-degree videos with ...

  Beijing / AFP China has unveiled illustrations of a Mars probe and rover it aims to send to the Red Planet at the end of the decade in a mission that faces “unprecedented” challenges, state media said on Wednesday. China, which is pouring billions into its space programme and working to catch up with the US and Europe, announced ...

  Bloomberg Project Loon, Google’s high-profile effort to put broadband-emitting balloons into the stratosphere over remote parts of the world, is getting a new leader with practical industry experience. X, the research division of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., said it hired Tom Moore, co-founder of satellite-based broadband service provider WildBlue Communications Inc. He starts as a vice president at ...

  Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has tried to shake the perception that it’s just the EBay Inc. or Amazon.com Inc. of China, by pushing into social media and entertainment and actively investing in startups like Snapchat Inc. Chairman Jack Ma’s sprawling pursuits are starting to pay off. Alibaba’s Taobao mobile app is a riot of tiny print and icons ...

  Bloomberg Some of blockchain’s biggest backers, including people with ties to IBM and JPMorgan, will gather on Wednesday to work on the biggest issue hobbling the technology behind digital currency — the absence of grown-up governance. While growth of the internet was fostered by bodies such as the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Governance Forum and the Internet ...

  Bloomberg A group of Chinese investors said it’s acquiring ad-tech startup Media.net for about $900 million in cash, with plans to eventually sell the company to an obscure telecommunications firm whose shares have been suspended from trading since last year. Media.net, which is based in Dubai and New York, is touting this as the third-largest ad-tech acquisition in history. ...

  Bloomberg The imminent Hong Kong debut of Meitu Inc., whose main claim to fame is selfie touch-up apps, offers investors a rare chance to get in near the ground level of China’s nascent, booming smartphone economy. Meitu banked on China’s growing pre-occupation with ideals of comeliness, a passion that’s inspired countless internet memes and a surge in cosmetic surgery. ...

Bloomberg Don’t look now, but technology companies are exerting more control over the US stock market than any time since the internet bubble. Fueled by three-year rallies in which Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. doubled, Amazon.com Inc. tripled and Facebook Inc. surged fivefold, computer and software stocks have increased to almost 21 percent of the S&P 500 Index’s value, near ...

  Bloomberg Kingsoft Corp Ltd., the Chinese software company whose chairman is Xiaomi Corp. co-founder Lei Jun, is preparing to go head-to-head with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the rapidly growing market for cloud-computing services. Kingsoft Chief Executive Officer Hongjiang Zhang is banking on new businesses from mobile games to cloud computing to help pull the company out of the ...