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

  • GSK sees earnings rise amid good demand for vaccines
  • AT&T says new streaming service will cost $35 a month
  • Google adds digital whiteboard to expanding device lineup
  • Watch a video about Jamboard at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXwV5SlKLAE
  • Ericsson names new CEO amid declining networks industry

The details:

  • GSK sees earnings rise amid good demand for vaccines

GlaxoSmithKline says its net profit rose 50 percent in the third quarter to 808 million pounds ($986 million) thanks in part to strong sales of its vaccine products.

The London-based company said Wednesday that revenue grew 23 percent to 7.54 billion pounds.

CEO Andrew Witty cited “the sustained progress we have made over the course of 2016 to deliver sales growth of new products, maintain effective cost control and execute on our restructuring and integration plans.”

GSK saw good demand for its flu and meningitis vaccines, particularly in the U.S. It’s trying to increase its range of products as some of its older treatments lose patent protection.

Witty is due to retire in March and leave his position to Emma Walmsley, currently head of the consumer healthcare division.

  • AT&T says new streaming service will cost $35 a month

AT&T says a streaming service with more than 100 popular TV channels that’s coming out next month will cost $35 a month.

That’s far less than the typical big bundle of channels on cable, which a recent survey from Leichtman Research Group says costs about $100, on average. But it’s comparable to the price of Dish Network’s Sling TV streaming service, which, granted, has fewer channels at that price. It is $20 cheaper than Sony’s PlayStation Vue streaming service tier with a similar number of channels.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced the pricing of the streaming service, called DirecTV Now, at the WSJ.D conference while onstage with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.

Dallas-based AT&T is buying HBO, CNN and Warner Bros. owner Time Warner for $85.4 billion. The phone company bought satellite TV company DirecTV last year.

Stephenson said AT&T would try to keep the streaming service’s price in check through new advertising models. It’s meant to attract the millions of people who have cut cable in recent years or never subscribed to a cable service at all. Many of those are thought to be ages 35 and younger.

  • Google adds digital whiteboard to expanding device lineup

Google has designed a giant touch-screen canvas for companies trying to make it easier for their employees to brainstorm as they work on team projects and other assignments.

The product is called “Jamboard,” an allusion to its goal of replacing the physical whiteboards that companies have been setting up in meeting rooms for decades. It boasts a 55-inch, ultrahigh-definition screen capable of recognizing the difference between when someone is writing on it with a stylus or touching it with a finger.

Google is releasing the device to a small group of companies Tuesday before making it widely available early next year.

  • VIDEO: Watch an introductory video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXwV5SlKLAE

As with a whiteboard, employees can post their ideas, documents and images on the Jamboard, only they won’t need markers, tape or sticky notes to do it. Instead, they can use their fingers, a stylus or smartphones and smaller tablets to share information and content from anywhere with an online connection. All the work posted on a Jamboard can be saved in Google’s online storage service, Drive.

Jamboard represents Google’s latest effort to lure business and government customers away from Microsoft, which makes a similar product called the Surface Hub. Google is undercutting Microsoft by pricing Jamboard at about $6,000, a 33 percent markdown from the $9,000 Surface Hub.

Using Jamboard will require a subscription to Google’s G Suite of email and other business applications, a service that starts at $5 per month.

Jamboard reinforces Google’s push to make its own gear in an attempt to hook more people on its software and other digital services. Until this fall, Google had teamed up with other manufacturers whenever it made a phone or other gadget.

But Google just rolled out a fancy smartphone called the Pixel that it designed itself. Soon it will start selling an internet-connected speaker called Home. Both those devicesfeature a digital assistant powered by Google’s artificial-intelligence programs.

Jamboard operates with an application that works on smartphones and tablets powered either by Google’s Android software or Apple’s operating system for iPhones and Pads. Jamboard won’t work with Microsoft’s Windows system, making it incompatible with Surface tablets and most personal computers.

  • Ericsson names new CEO amid declining networks industry

Swedish mobile networks company Ericsson said Wednesday it has named longtime board member Borje Ekholm as its new CEO, in a bid to turn around the company amid a decline in the industry.

The company, which has been struggling against fierce competition, recently announced 3,000 layoffs — or nearly 20 percent of its local workforce— and said it will downsize operations as part of its global plan to cut costs by $1 billion in 2017.

Ekholm is currently executive head of Patricia Industries, a division in Investor AB — the biggest stake holder in Ericsson. The 53-year-old executive, who has been an Ericssonboard member for 10 years, will remain on the board when he takes on the role as CEOon Jan. 16. Chief Financial Officer Jan Frykhammer will remain interim CEO until that date.

Ericsson, one of the world’s leading mobile network operators, in July sacked its previous CEO to find a new leader “to drive the next phase in Ericsson’s development.”

Chairman Leif Johansson described Ekholm as having “a strong track record of driving shareholder value,” and said that he was the right person to face the challenges of newtechnologies, including 5G mobility.