In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Tesla unveils lower-priced S
  • Uber convicted in France
  • Mobile Messenger Line goes public
  • The iconic rubber duck goes digital (Be sure to check out the photo)

The details:

  • Tesla to release lower-priced versions of Model S car

Tesla said Thursday that it has started selling a cheaper version of its Model S car in an attempt to make its electric vehicles more affordable for more people.

The new version, called the Model S 60, starts at $66,000. An all-wheel drive version of the Model S 60 will start at $71,000. Both cost less that the current Model S 90D, which starts at $89,500.

Tesla said that when tax incentives and gas-savings are taken into account, the Model S60 will have an effective cost of about $50,000.

The company says the Model S 60 can travel 200 miles per charge and has a top speed of 130 miles per hour.

Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors Inc. is taking orders for the new Model S 60 for delivery next month, according to its website.

  • Uber convicted, fined in French trial over taxi practices

A French court has convicted and fined Uber and two of its executives for deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its lowest-cost ride service.

It’s the latest legal tangle for the app-based business, which has faced protests from taxiunions and regulators around the world, reflecting larger tensions between long-regulated industries and the borderless, online economy.

The court fined the San Francisco-based company 800,000 euros ($907,000), regionalUber executive Pierre-Dimitry Gore-Coty 30,000 euros, and Uber’s France general manager Thibaud Simphal 20,000 euros. Half of all the fines were suspended.

The court did not hand prison terms, and rejected a prosecutor’s request that the two executives be barred from running any company for five years.

And the fines were much lower than the 100 million euros in damages that traditionaltaxi services had sought.

Traditional taxi services accused the low-cost UberPop service of unfair competition because it uses non-professional drivers. UberPop is now banned in France but Uber still operates a service with professional drivers.

Jean-Paul Levy, lawyer for a taxi union, said the conviction is a “founding decision”, showing that Uber “is a company which placed itself outside the law.”

  • Mobile Messenger Line to go public in New York, Tokyo

Line Corp., the Japan-based operator of the namesakemobile messenger, will list its shares in New York and Tokyo next month, as the iconic Asian mobile messenger app seeks to expand globally.

Naver, the South Korean Internet company that wholly owns Line, said Friday that the move will help the mobile messenger to better compete against global companies backed by big brand and capital. The proceeds from the initial public offering will be used for acquiring new companies and other expansion strategies.

Though not as widely known in Europe and the U.S., since it was founded in 2011Line messenger has fueled a boom in mobile messenging in Asia, especially outside China.

With 215 million active global users, the Line app is hugely popular in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia, where many users regularly buy cute digital stickers and merchandised dolls. The messenger app pioneered the trend where smartphone users communicate with each other by exchanging emoticon called “stamps” instead of typing text messages. They also use the mobile messenger app to search for music and jobs.

But Line faces competition from Facebook, which has its own messenger and is gaining popularity in Asia. In Japan, the number of Line’s active users is larger than that of Facebook and Twitter, but the number of Line users otherwise has been dropping.

  • Iconic rubber duck goes digital

The iconic rubber duck has gone digital — but maybe it doesn’t need to.

Billed as the world’s first “smart duck,” the $100 Edwin the Duck is yellow, cute and waterproof, just like the good old rubber ducky floating in many bathtubs for generations. But Edwin also reads and plays music. He quacks, rather than squeaks like the traditional ducky, thanks to internal electronics. Motion sensors turn Edwin into a controller for games.

Yet Edwin feels like a work in progress, a collection of miscellaneous functions that are mildly duck-related, without the features that would truly make him smart. For instance, he doesn’t converse with kids using computer-generated responses, as other smart toys do. And most of his wizardry merely directs a child’s attention right back to screens.

Perhaps Edwin would have worked better without trying to be all that smart. Not every toy needs to be a smart toy. A good personality might be all that adigital rubber duck needs.

Edwin does have a personality — and more.

You can have Edwin tell a story or play a song by launching a free iPhone or Android app. The fun part comes through Edwin’s built-in motion sensors. As your kid shakes, turns or moves Edwin up and down, an animated Edwin on the app swims or flies, or selects a response in a game or quiz. Tap on Edwin’s wing, and a light in his head turns on. Edwin becomes a night light — but one that can also tell a child a bedtime story or play a lullaby.

Two children asked to play with Edwin appeared to enjoy squeezing Edwin’s soft head, just for fun, as that was not designed to control anything digitally. They also liked moving the toy energetically to make an on-screen duck swim in a race. But one of them remarked that he wanted Edwin to read a different story. The selection is still limited.

Of course, the reading capability begs the question of whether parents ought to be reading to their kids directly instead.