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Ten years after the introduction of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, and the broader category of smartphones, it’s worth stepping back to see what we have learned. As with most major technological innovations, it’s brought a number of collateral surprises about the rest of our world. First, we’ve learned that, even in this age of bits and bytes, materials innovation still matters. ...

Bloomberg Fitbit Inc., months away from the debut of its smartwatch, has lost several people working on the project and fallen behind on its app store — putting in peril the company’s most important product in years. Hard hit by the sinking popularity of its fitness trackers, Fitbit has bet its future on the smartwatch. But such devices are typically ...

Bloomberg The pace of adoption for electric cars over the next few years “could be surprising” and changing the global energy and auto industries faster than people expect, the boss of Europe’s largest utility said. Enel SpA is set to invest nearly 300 million euros ($341 million) to install about 12,000 recharging columns for electric cars across Italy, Chief Executive ...

Bloomberg In Burgos, a province in central Spain better known for archaeological digs and blood-sausages than for innovation, engineer Veronica Pascual is building automated vehicles. Not cars though, but fork-lifts, stackers and pallet trucks. Pascual, a 38-year-old aeronautical engineer, owns Asti, a company that produces so-called AGVs, or automated guided vehicles — mobile robots used in factories and warehouses that ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Canon Middle East, world leader in imaging solutions, launched a new innovative lens: the EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM. Designed to capture stunning Macro and close-up photography, the EF-S 35mm f/2.8 Macro IS STM features Canon’s unique built-in Macro Lite technology and is the first lens of its kind in the EF-S range. Forming ...

Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. surprised investors this week by withholding more than $90 million due to buyers of pre-crisis residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). The bank said it invoked its right as trustee to hold back funds to cover legal costs. The 20 transactions had a principal balance of $540 million and are among more than 2,000 deals involved in ...

Bloomberg Three of the UK’s biggest banks have stopped trading Qatari riyals as the Gulf state faces sanctions imposed by a Saudi-led coalition of neighboring states. Barclays Plc, Lloyds Banking Group Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) ceased the sale and buy-back of the Qatari currency for consumers, the banks said. Officials for the banks said the ...

Bloomberg The UK Financial Conduct Authority is setting up interviews with Barclays Plc executives as part of its investigation into Jes Staley’s attempts to unmask a whistle-blower, according to three people with knowledge of the requests. The FCA is planning to interview officials including Mike Ashley, the board member who supervises whistle-blowing complaints and Chief Operating Officer Paul Compton, in ...

Bloomberg Bad debts at Indian lenders, especially state-run banks, have climbed to a 15-year high and may increase further, a central bank study showed. Under the baseline scenario in a ‘macro stress test,’ the industry’s gross bad-loan ratio may increase to 10.2 percent by March 2018 after climbing to 9.6 percent in March 2017, the highest since 2002, according to ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s “hunger bonds” are now on the market. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which purchased $2.8 billion of the notes issued by the nation’s state oil company in a controversial transaction in May, began selling some of its holdings over the past few days to create liquidity, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Multiple Wall Street banks are ...