In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Twilio stock nearly doubles in stock debut
  • Instagram offers translation service
  • Drones becoming big problem for firefighters
  • Nuclear power set to end in California

The details:

  • Tech company Twilio nearly doubles in stock market debut

Twilio shares nearly doubled in their first day of trading Thursday, after the technology company raised $150 million in its initial public offering.

The San Francisco company makes software that helps companies communicate with their customers through text messages, phone notifications and in other ways. Cab hailing app Uber, for example, uses Twilio to notify riders about where their car is.

Twilio said it sold 10 million Class A shares at $15 per share, above the $12 to $14 range it was expecting the stock to be priced at. It plans to use the money raised to hire more people or buy other companies or technologies.

The stock’s rise Thursday gives Twilio a market value of more than $2.3 billion.

The eight-year-old company has never made a profit. It reported a net loss of $39 million last year, wider than the $27 million loss it reported in 2014, as its costs rose. It had revenue of $167 million last year, an 88 percent jump from the year before.

Shares of Twilio Inc. rose $13.79, or 92 percent, to close at $28.79 Thursday.

The stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “TWLO.”

  • Instagram to allow users to translate posts with button

Instagram is aiming to increase interaction with users across the globe through a new translation button it plans to roll out in the next month.

The photo sharing app says the button will appear on feed stories and profile bios written in languages different from the language a user’s phone or tablet is set to.Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, says its community “has grown faster and become more global” than it ever imagined.

Instagram lists on its website 23 languages that will initially be supported by the new feature, including French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

  • Agency enlists high-tech help keeping drones from wildfires

When Brian Cresto and his fellow firefighters fly toward a wildfire at just a few hundred feet off the ground, he’s scouting for the best spot for them to land when they parachute down.

Lately, he’s also been keeping an eye out for hobby drones that could take out their twin-engine propeller craft before it climbs to 1,500 feet, where the eight smokejumpers exit.

“It’s dangerous anytime you drop an aircraft down to a certain level,” said Cresto, a smokejumper with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. “Drones are starting to be a part of that conversation.”

Hobby drone ownership has spiked in recent years, and more and more of the devices have been spotted flying illegally over active wildfires, where they can endanger the airplanes and helicopters being used to battle the blazes.

It’s a high-tech problem, and federal authorities are thinking high-tech to stop it: The U.S. Interior Department is working with drone makers and mapping companies to create a system that uses smartphone apps already on the market to quickly alert dronefliers to temporary flight restrictions at wildfires.

Initial attacks on a wildfire are crucial, but firefighting aircraft can’t fly if a drone is in the restricted area because a collision could be catastrophic, officials say.

Retardant bombers and helicopters typically fly even lower than smokejumpers, at just above the trees or rooftops, and have little time to react in an emergency. A dronecollision could take out an engine or break a windshield. The devices also can get sucked into a helicopter’s intake or hit a rotor.

In just the past week, drone sightings have grounded aerial firefighters on three different days at a Utah blaze that has forced the evacuation of 100 homes. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert governor said those evacuations might have been avoided if not for thedrones.

According to Federal Aviation Administration rules, hobby drones are limited to 400 feet above ground level and within sight of the operator. But internet videos show a stream of violators, including at wildfires.

“I’ve heard sometimes that at a wildfire, there might be 20, 30 guys out there flying their quadcopters,” said Patrick Harper of the Meridian-based Idaho Drone Co.

Authorities across the U.S. recorded 20 incidents in which drones flew too close towildfires last year, with more than half hindering firefighting efforts. It has happened again at least nine times so far this year.

In Utah, a helicopter pilot refused an assignment after one of the recent near-drone collisions, fire spokeswoman Carissa Silvis said. A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the drone pilot’s conviction.

On Thursday, hobby drones grounded flight operations at an Arizona fire where more than 15,000 people are under pre-evacuation notice.

The Interior Department hopes the new smartphone notifications will keep drone fliers at a safe distance. Its plan is to post data online that companies can start using in August to keep the notification apps up-to-date.

The next step is asking drone builders to make it possible for drone operators to activate systems that would automatically prevent a drone from entering temporarily restricted airspace, Koeckeritz said.

  • End of California nuclear era: Last plant to close by 2025

California’s last nuclear power plant will close by 2025 under an accord announced Tuesday, ending three decades of safety debates that helped fuel the national anti-nuclear power movement.

The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric Co., and environmental groups reached an agreement to replace production at Diablo Canyon nuclear plant with solar power and other energy sources that do not produce climate-changing greenhouse gases.

The facility, which sits along a bluff on California’s central coast, supplies 9 percent of the state’s power.