Technology

  Bloomberg An Australian startup is getting some traction with a proposition for mobile-phone users: Watch our ads, and we’ll cut your wireless bill. Called Unlockd, the company has reached half a million customers through deals this year with two carriers to offer users a discount on their rates if they agree to view ads when they unlock their handset ...

  Relaxnews Along with numerous smartphones marked for release this fall — the iPhone 7, new Nexus models, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro — several innovative high-tech products are set to go on show in the coming weeks. SMARTWATCHES From September 2 to 7, the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) industrial exhibition in Berlin, Germany, will ...

  Relaxnews Use music to push yourself further and harder during your workouts this fall with a pair of high-quality headphones designed especially for exercise. Here we round up some of the new season releases to push your performance to the next level with your favorite playlist and fitness tracking features. SAMSUNG LEVEL ACTIVE HEADSET The new Samsung LEVEL Active ...

  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. ...