IntellectBeat

Ask Siri if iPhone 7 will be the answer to Apple's problems, and you're told that a visit to Apple's website should answer that question "and more". If only it was that easy. Apple's shares closed down 6.3 per cent at $97.82 on Wednesday, wiping off about $36 billion in market value, a day after the company reported its first-ever fall in smartphone sales, arousing talk of "peak iPhone". For many analysts, the company's immediate future rests with iPhone 7, which Apple is expected to launch in September. The iPhone 7 is expected to sport a new look with features such as waterproofing, wireless headphones and force touch as the home button. But many wonder if that will be enough to entice users to dump their existing iPhones or switch from the Android-based phones that have come to dominate the smartphone market. Apple usually launches new iPhones in September and sells the most devices in the December quarter. Unit sales typically drop ov...

A Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Beijing has embraced technology and debuted a robot monk in a bid to attract new followers to the faith. The cartoon-like creation, dubbed Xian'er, wears a yellow robe and has a shaved head, and can recite mantras and answer 20 simple questions about Buddhism and the daily lifestyle at the Lonquan temple from an attached screen. Developed from a as a joint project between a technology company and artificial intelligence (AI) experts from some of the top universities in China, the bot signals a new era for Buddhism in contemporary culture. The two-foot tall robot is already making its mark and has become a hit in Chinese social media platform Weibo,amassing more than 300,000 followers on the Chinese micro-blogging site, according to the International Business Times UK.

Facebook Inc's quarterly revenue rose more than 50 per cent, handily beating Wall Street expectations as its wildly popular mobile app and a push into live video lured new advertisers and encouraged existing ones to boost spending. The company's shares rose 9.5 per cent in after-hours trading on Wednesday to $118.39, setting it on track to open at a new high on Thursday, at nearly triple its initial public offering four years ago. Facebook also announced it will create a new class of non-voting shares in a move aimed at letting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg give away his wealth without relinquishing control of the social media juggernaut he founded. The company plans to create a new class of non-voting shares, which would be given as a dividend to existing shareholders. That would allow Zuckerberg, who wants to give away 99 percent of his wealth, to sell non-voting stock to fund philanthropy and keep the voting stock that assures his control. Alphabet Inc passed ...

Japan's Nintendo said on Wednesday it expects operating profit to rise 36.9 per cent in the year through March 2017, as the videogame maker plans to release more smartphone games as well as its next-generation game console. Nintendo estimates operating profit to grow to 45 billion yen ($404.9 million) from 32.9 billion yen a year prior, when earnings were roughly in line with a forecast announced in February. Nintendo last year said it would enter the rapidly growing mobile gaming segment after years of resisting investor calls for the move, with consumers starting to shift from dedicated consoles to simple and often free-to-download smartphone games. Its first mobile title launched in March, Miitomo, was more of a social networking application, leaving investors and fans awaiting games based on bestselling franchises such as Super Mario Bros. The company has promised four more smartphone games this business year. At an earnings briefing on Wednesday, President Tatsumi Kimishim...