Technology

Bloomberg A team of scientists, some of whom have worked for Elon Musk, outlined a way to rapidly implant electrical wiring into the brains of rats. The process, described in an unpublished academic paper, is an important step towards a potential system to plug human brains directly into computers. The paper’s five authors have been employed by or loosely associated …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc is trying a new way to take its Alexa digital assistant mobile: wireless earbuds that mirror Apple Inc’s popular AirPods. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is readying earbuds with built-in Alexa access for as early as the second half of this year, according to people with knowledge of the plans. The headphones will look and act similar to …

Bloomberg Apple Inc showed it can open up its software and services to devices that compete with its own — but only when absolutely necessary. The company’s updated TV app, including a new subscription for original movies and TV shows, will launch on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. But it will also be available via gadgets from Amazon.com Inc and Roku …

Bloomberg Daimler AG’s truck unit agreed to buy a majority stake in US autonomous technology company Torc Robotics as the world’s biggest commercial-vehicle maker prepares to spend more than $561 million on self-driving vehicles in the next few years. The deal is part of a plan to start running highly automated vehicles on US roads, starting with routes between logistics …

Bloomberg Mynt, the Philippine mobile payments operator backed by billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, plans to roll out insurance products en route to becoming a sprawling financial services platform in its Chinese ally’s image. The operator of the GCash app is now trying to become a conduit for insurance policies with the help of strategic partners that can help it …

Bloomberg Facebook Inc’s Oculus division unveiled a new version of the Rift virtual-reality headset, the Rift S, adding a higher-resolution display and a new design. The new model, which goes on sale for $399 sometime in the spring, plays the same games as the original Rift, but adds embedded sensors instead of external cameras for tracking. The previous model, which …

Bloomberg Sony Corp and Nintendo Co shares slid after Alphabet Inc’s Google outlined a major push into video games with a streaming service called Stadia. Nintendo dropped as much as 4.6 percent and Sony declined 4.5 percent, the biggest intraday drop in six weeks. Stadia lets developers put games on a streaming platform that will allow players to access the …

Bloomberg The first concrete evidence of a possible link between two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes came from space. A new satellite network capable of tracking planes in high fidelity across the globe captured the flight path of the Boeing Co. 737 Max that crashed March 10. The data was critical in persuading the US to join the rest of …

Bloomberg KFC’s owner in China is pushing ahead with expansion plans, opening two stores a day in the world’s biggest consumer market and banking on technology to help it cut costs, even as carmakers and industrial companies signal demand there is deteriorating. Yum China Holdings Inc., the nation’s biggest fast-food chain, which operates the KFC and Pizza Hut brands, is …

Bloomberg Nintendo Co.’s Switch hybrid is making its first foray into virtual reality games. The Nintendo Labo VR Kit lets gamers build a headset mostly out of cardboard so that they can slide in the device to create what the company calls “basic VR technology.” It’s reminiscent of Google’s Cardboard, which turns smartphones into VR goggles and was introduced almost …