From the ashes of Webvan, Amazon builds a grocery business

The online grocery start-up Webvan may have been the single most expensive flame-out of the dot-com era, blowing through more than $800 million in venture capital and IPO proceeds in just over three years before shutting its doors in 2001. Twelve years later, though, Webvan is rising from the dead &...

Reuters

Google’s Project Loon explores balloon-powered internet access

Google Inc has launched a small network of balloons over the Southern Hemisphere in an experiment it hopes could bring reliable Internet access to the world’s most remote regions, the company said late Friday. The pilot program, Project Loon, took off this month from New Zealand’s South ...

Reuters

New consoles, popular genre games rock E3 show; can it revive the videogame industry?

Few first-time participants at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles this week would have realized that the $66 billion videogames industry is in steep decline. Microsoft Corp, Sony Corp, Electronic Arts and other industry giants whipped up the crowd of gamers and developers at the e...

Reuters

Apple looking at bigger iPhone screens, multiple colours

Apple Inc is exploring launching iPhones with bigger screens, as well as cheaper models in a range of colors, over the next year, said four people with knowledge of the matter, as it takes a cue from rival Samsung Electronics. The moves, which are still under discussion, underscore how the Californi...

Reuters

Facebook adds ‘hashtag’ feature, taking a page from Twitter

Facebook Inc, the world’s No. 1 social network, is adopting the “hashtag,” one of the most recognizable features of its younger rival Twitter, in a move to position its Web service as an important complement to television, sporting events and breaking news. Facebook said on Wednesd...

Reuters

How Disney is banking on Infinity to turn around its gaming unit

When Walt Disney Co introduced its latest video game, Infinity, to the gaming faithful this week at the annual E3 gaming conference, it rented a Los Angeles movie theater to show 30-minute clips of upcoming films and hosted a party with the glitz it usually reserves for its blockbuster movie wannabe...

Reuters

Google buys Israel’s Waze to keep mobile maps lead

Google Inc bought Israeli mapping startup Waze on Tuesday for just over $1 billion, a source familiar with the matter said, acquiring an online real-time mapping service to safeguard its lead in one of the most crucial aspects of smartphone usage. Google said in a Tuesday blog post it had closed the...

Reuters

Sony takes on Microsoft, prices new PS4 below Xbox One

Sony Corp on Monday priced its latest PlayStation 4 console $100 lower than the new Xbox One by rival Microsoft Corp as competition for gamers’ pockets intensifies ahead of the year-end holidays and gift-giving season. Sony said it would sell the latest PlayStation model for $399 late in the y...

Reuters

Microsoft prices Xbox One at $499 for November launch

Microsoft Corp  said on Monday its new Xbox One console would launch in November at $499 in the United States, higher than most gamers had expected. The price is greater than its current console, the Xbox 360, but it includes a Kinect motion sensor for hands-free game playing. Microsoft announced t...

Reuters

Google close to buying Israeli mapping startup Waze

Google is close to buying Waze for $1.3 billion, an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday, potentially trumping rival offers for the Israeli mapping start-up. The report on the website of financial newspaper Globes did not cite sources or provide further details. Last month sources told Reuters the I...