Technology

ASAPP Inc an artificial intelligence software that helps call center agents work better and faster, on Friday announced a $185 million series B funding round as the coronavirus pandemic pushes up call center volume at a time when companies are looking to cut labor costs.

((This April 30 story has been corrected to say Starship can carry more than 100 metric tonnes of cargo, not 100 pounds in paragraph 9. The error occurred in a previous version as well.))

Chinese gaming and social media group Tencent Holdings has bought a 5% stake in Afterpay Ltd, the Australian buy-now-pay-later firm said on Friday.

U.S. cloud services company Vonage is partnering with social enterprise CTI Africa to pioneer video-linked healthcare in Uganda, where good hospitals and qualified medical personnel are scarce.

A Chinese startup that develops augmented-reality products for use in manufacturing and gaming has found a promising growth area in the midst of a global pandemic - wearable glasses that measure temperatures on the move.

As lockdown orders force billions of people to work, learn and play from home during the novel coronavirus outbreak, usage has surged for the cloud computing services that power video conferencing, streaming television and online games.

(This April 30 story corrects name of Dealroom.co in paragraph 14.)

In the battle against coronavirus, Swiss soldiers are using smartphones to test a new contact tracing application that could prevent infections while also protecting users' privacy.

U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc said in Friday it has cut the starting price for China-made Model 3 sedans by 10% to qualify for subsidies in the world's biggest auto market.

Apple Inc and Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] each captured a higher share of China's smartphone market in the first quarter, according to data from research firm Canalys released on Friday.

Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it could post its first quarterly loss in five years even as revenue surges because it is spending at least $4 billion in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including plans to test its workforce for COVID-19.

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who has a history of being outspoken on Twitter, lashed out on the social media platform over the past several days with his strong views on restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Apple Inc reported sales and profits that beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, with Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook saying China sales were "headed in the right direction" as that country reopens from the novel coronavirus.

Amazon.com Inc on Thursday said it could post its first quarterly loss in five years because it is spending at least $4 billion in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including plans to test its workers for COVID-19 and providing them with protective gear, and paying higher wages.

U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management has further cut its stake in Italy's biggest phone group Telecom Italia (TIM), a regulatory filing showed, amid an ongoing portfolio rebalancing as COVID-19 rocks financial markets.

Video conferencing provider Zoom said on Thursday it had mistakenly published a blog last week that put its daily users at 300 million people when the figure instead referred to the number of meeting participants.

Reports of the demise of the digital advertising market due to the coronavirus outbreak appear exaggerated as the tech giants dominating the online ads business, Google and Facebook, said this week they saw early signs that the worst could be over.

U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management has further cut its stake in Italy's biggest phone group Telecom Italia (TIM), a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.

One day after Tesla Inc posted its third quarterly profit in a row, hedge fund manager David Einhorn, one of the electric carmaker's best-known critics, lobbed questions about the company's financials at its two top executives.

Telecom Italia (TIM) will keep just over half of its staff working from home when Italy's biggest phone group begins a gradual reopening of its offices across Italy next week, company documents seen by Reuters showed.