Technology

European countries cautiously emerging from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic are looking to a second generation of contact tracing apps to help contain further outbreaks.

Germany has become the second major European economy to use a multi-billion-euro recovery plan to spur clean driving, with incentives for electric cars that should boost Volkswagen and Tesla , while polluting SUVs face higher taxes.

One robot makes cocktails from 25 bottles hanging upside-down from the ceiling, another carves perfect ice balls in the fraction of the time it takes a human with a knife and an ice pick.

Germany unveiled sweeping incentives for cheap electric cars, providing a boost to Volkswagen's electric push while penalising heavy sports utility vehicles (SUVs) with new staggered taxes for polluting combustion-engined cars.

For years, hardware engineers at American consumer electronics firms have hopped on a flight to China to iron out manufacturing kinks on assembly lines, but the COVID-19 pandemic and Sino-U.S. tensions have made travel between the countries difficult.

Spain's lower house voted on Thursday to begin drafting a 3% tax on revenues of internet giants, the latest of such moves by U.S. trading partners that has spurred a U.S. investigation and could lead to punitive tariffs.

Zebra Technologies Corp, which sells barcode scanners and other computers used in warehouses globally, introduced a feature on Thursday that sounds an alert when workers breach physical distancing guidelines over the novel coronavirus.

Danish researchers have developed a fully automated robot that can take coronavirus swabs so that health care professionals are not exposed to the risk of infection.

Amazon.com is in early-stage talks to buy a stake worth at least $2 billion in Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel , three people with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters, in a move that could turbocharge India's digital economy.

General Motors will "work very closely" with Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) as it ramps up electric production in the world's biggest auto market, a senior executive said.

Facebook Inc messaging platform WhatsApp and PayPal Holdings Inc on Wednesday said they have invested in payment, food delivery and ride-hailing app operator Gojek as part of the Indonesian firm's ongoing fundraising round.

ZoomInfo Technologies Inc priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $21 per share, above its upwardly revised target range, in the largest U.S. technology listing so far this year, the company said early Thursday.

Taiwan hopes a new programme will attract T$40 billion ($1.34 billion) of research and development investment by foreign tech companies, creating more than 6,300 jobs a year, the government said on Thursday.

From its Silicon Valley-like campus near Mumbai, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio telecom carrier is emerging as a winner from changes in the way Indian consumers plug into a digital economy made more urgent by the coronavirus pandemic.

Snap Inc said it would no longer promote U.S. President Donald Trump's account in Snapchat's Discover section, saying his incendiary comments last week made the account ineligible for the curated section where users explore new content.

Amazon.com Inc has been sued for allegedly fostering the spread of the coronavirus by mandating unsafe working conditions, causing at least one employee to contract COVID-19, bring it home, and see her cousin die.

Australian graphite explorer EcoGraf Ltd said on Thursday it had signed an agreement to supply graphite products used in making batteries to a unit of German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp AG, sending its shares more than 32% higher in early trade.

Nearly three dozen former employees from Facebook's early days on Wednesday blasted Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to act against incendiary posts by U.S. President Donald Trump as "cowardly" and a "betrayal" of company ideals.

Canadian telecom firm Telus Corp said director Stockwell Day had stepped down from its board a day after the former cabinet minister compared enduring racism to his experience of being teased in school for wearing glasses.

British officials have discussed supplies of 5G networking equipment with companies in South Korea and Japan as part of a bid to develop alternatives to China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.