Technology

Bloomberg Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad introduced a novel way of interacting with computers: via easy-to-use applications, accessible in the highly curated App Store. The same approach hasn’t worked nearly as well on Apple’s desktops and laptops. The Mac App Store is a ghost town of limited selection and rarely updated programmes. Now Apple plans to change that by giving ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is developing an advanced heart-monitoring feature for future versions of its smartwatch, part of a broader push by the company to turn what was once a luxury fashion accessory into a serious medical device, according to people familiar with the plan. A version being tested requires users to squeeze the frame of the Apple Watch with two ...

Bloomberg Deliveries by drones took a step closer to being allowed in the US after a federal advisory panel agreed on a framework for allowing law enforcement to routinely track the small devices. The committee’s report to the Federal Aviation Administration is a significant step towards widening drone flights to allow them over people, urban areas and over long distances. ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is introducing new facial recognition features that will automatically notify users when their photo is posted on the social network, the company said. The new features are being rolled out in the face of growing pressure on the company from regulators in Europe, the US and elsewhere who have criticised Facebook for spreading fake news, fostering hate ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is spending $390 million to boost production from a maker of laser technology that’s critical for new iPhone X features such as facial recognition. Apple, whose products can stretch the manufacturing capabilities of suppliers, will invest the money in Finisar Corp. from a $1 billion manufacturing fund announced earlier this year with the aim of creating more ...

Bloomberg Samsung Electronics Co. is aiming to introduce a smart speaker in the first half of 2018, entering a crowded field of voice-controlled devices from Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc., people briefed on the plans said. The device by the South Korean technology giant will have a strong focus on audio quality and the management of connected home ...

Bloomberg China is churning out robots. Annual production of industrial robots surpassed 100,000 for the first time — and it only took 10 months. Shipments were up 67 percent through October compared with a year earlier, state media reported. And there’s more to come: full-year output will reach 120,000 units, according to Ministry of Industry and Information Technology forecasts. China ...

Bloomberg Japanese companies are planning to kick-start the lunar economy by backing a local startup’s mission to land on the moon by 2020. Tokyo-based Ispace Inc . said it raised $90 million from some of the country’s biggest businesses, including Japan Airlines Co. and television network Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings Inc. The funds will be used to send a spacecraft ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc. is designing its own power-management chips for use in iPhones from as early as 2018, reducing its dependence on Dialog Semiconductor Plc, Japan’s Nikkei reported, without identifying its sources. The report sent Dialog plunging the most in almost eight months. Such chips handle charging and power-management functions in smartphones, and UK-based Dialog relies on Apple for about ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. announced new voice-activated tools for the workplace, hoping that verbal commands—“Alexa, print my spreadsheet”—will handle common office tasks. Alexa for Business will let users issue voice commands to begin a video conference or print documents, among a multitude of common workplace functions, Amazon said at its cloud computing conference in Las Vegas. “You no longer ever have ...