Life

Look, no hands! Test driving a Google car

(Reuters) – The car stopped at stop signs. It glided around curves. It didn’t lurch or jolt. The most remarkable thing about the drive was that it was utterly unremarkable. This isn’t damning with faint praise. It’s actually high praise for the car in question: Google Inc.’s driverless car. Most automotive test drives (of which I’ve done dozens while covering the car industry for nearly 30 years) are altogether different. There’s a high-horsepower car. A […]

Ebay in talks to take bitcoins at payments unit : WSJ

(Reuters) – Ebay Inc’s (EBAY.O) is in talks with Coinbase Inc and other bitcoin transaction providers to integrate the virtual currency within its Braintree payments system, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Executives at PayPal, which owns the service that handles payments for startups from room-bookings network AirBnB to car-on-demand service Uber, have not struck any agreements, the Journal cited people familiar with the matter as saying. A deal would be an endorsement for […]

‘Candy Crush’ decline continues for King, shares fall

By Malathi Nayak SAN FRANCISCO Tue Aug 12, 2014 6:50pm EDT (Reuters) – Social and mobile game company King Digital Entertainment Plc reduced its 2014 forecast after reporting lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as gamers continued to spend less money on its “Candy Crush Saga” game. King also announced a $150 million special dividend, or 46.9 cents per share, payable to shareholders of record on Sept. 30. Its shares, however, slipped 22 percent in after-hours trading […]

Sierra Leone, Liberia deploy troops as Ebola toll hits 887

By Umaru Fofana and Clair MacDougall FREETOWN/MONROVIA Mon Aug 4, 2014 9:51pm EDT (Reuters) – Hundreds of troops deployed in Sierra Leone and Liberia on Monday to quarantine communities hit by the deadly Ebola virus, as the death toll from the worst-ever outbreak reached 887 and three new cases were reported in Nigeria. With healthcare systems in the West Africa nations overrun by the epidemic, the African Development Bank and World Bank said they would […]