In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology and life science news:

  • The Pfizer-Hospira deal nears a close;
  • Lenovo is No. 1 in 4g smartphones across India
  • Microsoft offers beta on Cortana for Android
  • A guilty please in a Facebook spam case
  • A driverless crash truck debuts

The details:.

  • Pfizer says Hospira purchase will close in early September

Drugmaker Pfizer says it’s received the final regulatory approvals for its $15.23 billion purchase of the injectable drug and infusion device maker Hospira, and says the deal will close in early September.

The New York company says regulators in the U.S. and Brazil cleared the deal. European Union regulators approved it earlier this month, as did antitrust agencies in Canada and Australia.

Pfizer says the Federal Trade Commission ordered it to sell four drugs in order to preserve competition. The products are a chemotherapy drug, an antibacterial drug, an antifungal drug, and a drug used to prevent liver damage after acetaminophen overdoses.

The deal involves Hospira facilities in North Carolina.

  • Lenovo No. 1 in India smartphone sales

Research firm IDC reports some good news for Lenovo’s smartphone business, which lately has been hit by layoffs and sagging sales.

Lenovo is No. 1 in India in 4G smartphone sales with a marketshare of 29.4 percent, IDC says.

Overall, Lenovo is No. 5 in smartphone sales.

Read more at:

http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/lenovo-emerges-as-the-biggest-4g-smartphone-brand-in-india-idc-report-278979.html

  • TechCrunch: Beta test for Cortana on Android

Microsoft on Monday launched a beta test of its digital assistant Cortana on Android, according to TechCrunch. “

Overall, Cortana on Android isn’t all that different from the PC version. You can set reminders, search the web, track flights and do the usual voice-powered searches Cortana has long been able to handle on other platforms,” the tech news site reports.

Read more at:

http://techcrunch.com

  • Nevada man pleads guilty to sending spam to Facebook users

A Nevada man pleaded guilty Monday to sending more than 27 million spam messages to Facebook users, federal officials said.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said Sanford Wallace, of Las Vegas admitted in federal court in San Jose, California, to accessing about 500,000 Facebook accounts and sendingunsolicited ads disguised as friend posts over a three-month span.

Wallace collected Facebook user account information by sending “phishing” messages that tricked users of the social networking site into providing their passwords, prosecutors said.

He then used that information to log into their accounts and post spam messages on their friends’ Facebook walls, according to the indictment. Those who clicked on the link, thinking it came from a friend, were redirected to websites that paid Wallace for the Internet traffic.

In 2009, Palo Alto-based Facebook sued Wallace under federal anti-spam laws known as CAN-SPAM, prompting a judge to issue a temporary restraining order banning him from using the website.

  • Driverless truck meant to improve safety in work zones

Roving construction crews — the kind you see blacktopping a road, painting lines, inspecting a bridge or installing a traffic signal — are often protected from oncoming traffic by a specialized truck outfitted with a crash barrier.

The crash trucks, fitted with a device called a truck-mounted attenuator, have been credited with saving lives. But the workers who drive them are inevitably placed in harm’s way.

On Monday, a Pennsylvania company demonstrated a new driverless crash truck that it hopes will improve safety at work zones around the country. Two of the vehicles will make their debut at highway construction sites in Florida by the end of the year under a state Department of Transportation pilot program.