In the latest Bulldog wrapup of technology news:
- BlackBerry is paying $425 million for Good Tech
- Toyota is investing $50 million in advanced car research at MIT and Stanford
- Amazon adds more Dash buttons
The details:
- BlackBerry will buy security company Good Tech for $425M
BlackBerry said Friday that it will make another security-related acquisition, buying Good Technology for $425 million in cash.
BlackBerry, once known for making smartphones, is now trying to focus on software that lets IT departments manage mobile devices. The company said Good Technology will help it offer a unified secure platform for mobile devices that runs on any operating system. It said Good Technology has about $160 million in annual revenue, whileBlackBerry has reported about $3 billion in revenue in its last four fiscal quarters.
The Canadian company expects to complete the purchase by the end of November.
Earlier this year BlackBerry Ltd. bought WatchDox, a provider of secure enterprise file-sync-and-share technology, and agreed to buy AtHoc, a software company that develops emergency alert systems for government agencies, military bodies, and other organizations.
The company also announced a round of job cuts earlier this year as it restructures its business and deals with weak smartphone sales. BlackBerry has eliminated thousands of jobs in the last few years under CEO John Chen, who and has focused on reducing costs and increasing innovation.
U.S. shares of BlackBerry rose 10 cents to $7.56 in midday trading Friday. The stock has fallen 28 percent over the past year.
- Toyota to invest $50M in car-tech research at Stanford, MIT
Toyota is investing $50 million with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in hopes of gaining an edge in an accelerating race to phase out human drivers.
The financial commitment announced Friday will be made over the next five years at joint research centers at the schools located in Silicon Valley and another technology hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Toyota has hired robotics expert Gill Pratt to oversee research aimed at developing artificial intelligence and other innovations that will enable future car models to navigate the roads without people doing all the steering and stopping.
Major tech companies such as Google and Uber are competing against a range of automakers to make robot cars that will be better drivers than people and save lives by causing fewer accidents.
- Amazon adds more Dash buttons after rollout
Amazon’s futuristic “Dash” buttons appear here to stay.
The e-commerce powerhouse is expanding the number of available buttons, which reorder products at one touch. It’s also making them virtually free.
Last month, Amazon launched the “Dash” buttons — adhesive buttons designed to stick on any household surface near where you may need to reorder products — for about 18 brands, ranging from Bounty paper towels to Tide detergent.
Now they’re adding 11 branded buttons to the program, including ones for Ice Breakers Mints and Hefty trash bags. And for every $4.99 button customers buy, they’ll get a $4.99 credit back into their account.
The buttons are available to members of Amazon’s $99 annual Prime membership program.
They can be set up via Wi-Fi with a smartphone and an order alert can be sent to your phone in case you want to cancel.
Daniel Rausch, director of product management, said Amazon has been “learning a lot” from the way customers have been using the buttons. Some have been re-ordering items on a weekly basis, more frequently than expected, he said.
A popular feature with customers has been an option that lets the buttons respond only to the first order signal, until that order has been delivered — preventing accidental multiple orders.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. has held a long-time strategy of investing the money it earns back into the company, including making inroads into the connected home. Earlier this year it launched the Amazon Echo, a Wi-Fi-enabled speaker that responds to voice commands and can reorder certain items.
