Chinese appliance maker Midea made a takeover offer Wednesday for German industrial robot maker Kuka, a move that it says would help it capture a larger share of the "future service robots market." Midea said it would offer 115 euros (about 130) a share to buy all the Kuka shares it doesn't already own. The Chinese company, which is based in southern China's Guangdong province, raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent in February. Indirect holdings of Kuka stock bring its current total ownership to 13.5 percent. Chinese companies have been on an overseas acquisition spree as they use their cash hoard to buy up foreign technology to bolster their competitive positions at home.

China's biggest manufacturer of home appliances, Midea Group, announced Wednesday an unsolicited takeover bid for German robot maker Kuka, offering 115 euros ( 130) for each share of the German company, valuing it at over 5 billion. The Chinese company, which has a market cap of about 21 billion based on its listing in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, had, on Feb. 4, announced it raised its stake in Kuka to 10.2 percent and currently owns 13.5 percent of the German company's shares. The offer, made through Midea subsidiary MECCA International, of 115 euros is a 59.6 percent premium to Kuka's closing share price on Feb. 3, which was 72.05 euros per share. The company said in its statement it "is committed to maintaining Kuka's independence as a publicly listed company in Germany and has no intention of entering into a domination agreement regardless of the result of the takeover offer." Midea has previously announced its intent to increase its stake in Kuka, and the current bid is to keep in line with regulatory framework that makes it mandatory for an acquiring company to make an open offer for all issued shares of the company being acquired, if its stake exceeds 30 percent.

Cogitai, a new company aimed at developing and commercializing core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, today announced a strategic investment from Sony Corporation. Tokyo: Japan's Sony Corp said it plans to build up its artificial intelligence (AI) business and eventually turn it into a major revenue source, beginning with an investment in a US startup. TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's Sony said it plans to build up its artificial intelligence (AI) business and eventually turn it into a major revenue source, beginning with an investment in a U.S. startup. Japan's Sony Corp said it plans to build up its artificial intelligence (AI) business and eventually turn it into a major revenue source, beginning with an investment in a U.S. start-up.

BEIJING – It could be a blockbuster. At least that's what a Chinese-American movie studio hopes to produce in a sci-fi thriller based on the popular 1980s video game "Tetris." The 80 million ( 8.72 billion) project is the first from the newly formed Threshold Global Studios, a joint venture between Chinese entertainment investor Bruno Wu's Seven Star Works and producer Larry Kasanoff's California-based Threshold Entertainment Group, which produces live action movies. The joint venture "will make cross-cultural movies for the global market," a statement released Tuesday from the studio said. Kasanoff added that the 32-year-old video game "Tetris" is a perfect first project for this strategy.

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has invested in U.S. artificial intelligence startup Cogitai, aiming to develop new AI technologies and release products within the next three years. Sony is believed to have obtained a roughly 20 percent stake in the company that was founded in September by three AI researchers. The move could lead to the electronics giant re-entering the robot business. Sony was an AI pioneer, known for producing robotic dog AIBO and humanoid QRIO featuring AI technologies. But it withdrew from the robot business in 2006 to improve profitability and restructure its consumer electronics business.

Following a similar business tactic that drug dealers have employed for ages, developer Blizzard is giving folks who check out the upcoming Warcraft movie a free, full, copy of World of Warcraft. That's assuming you see the movie at certain Regal Cinemas (which is running a promo to send folks to BlizzCon, as well), United Artists Theaters or Edwards Theaters here in the United States. The promo is supported abroad too, with Australia, Brazil, Europe, Southeast Asia and New Zealand all getting in on the action.

It lacks the building blocks of characters and a plot for now, but a Chinese-American studio hopes to turn the Tetris video game into a blockbuster movie. Threshold Global Studios is budgeting 80 million to strategically rotate, slide and drop the famed 1980s stacking game into a sci-fi thriller. The project is the first for the studio, a newly formed joint venture between Chinese entertainment investor Bruno Wu's Seven Star Works and producer Larry Kasanoff's California-based Threshold Entertainment Group, which produces live-action movies. "For our debut project, Threshold Global Studios will bring one of the most beloved, cross-generational gaming brands in the world to the big screen as an epic, sci-fi thriller," Kasanoff said in a statement. The video game requires players to arrange and clear bricks that fall faster and faster into a rectangular matrix at the bottom of the screen before they run out of space.

Need a translation app for your vacation but don't want to get slammed with a big data bill? New updates to Google Translate, including the addition of another major language and a pop-up translation feature, can help. Google said today that its translation app -- which can translate in a number of ways including hearing someone speak or by reading what they write -- can now be used in offline mode with no data or Wi-Fi connection on both iOS and Android (it previously wasn't available on iOS), potentially eliminating the high price of data for travelers with iPhones. Some 52 languages, including French, German, Russian and, most recently, Filipino, can be translated offline. A complete list is here.

Sony Corp. said Wednesday it has invested in U.S. artificial intelligence startup Cogitai, aiming to develop new AI technologies and release products using them within the next three years. Sony is believed to have obtained a roughly 20 percent stake in the company, founded in September by three AI researchers, in a move that could lead to the Japanese electronics giant's return to the robot business. Sony was an AI pioneer, known for producing robotic dog AIBO and humanoid QRIO featuring AI technologies. But it withdrew from the robot business in 2006 to improve profitability and restructure its consumer electronics business. The company has continued AI research itself, however, and its technologies, including face and speech recognitions, have been applied to other Sony products, such as digital cameras and smartphones.

Chinese and U.S. producers say they plan to make an 80 million live-action sci-fi thriller based on the popular 1980s building block computer game Tetris. The movie will begin shooting next year. It is the first project from the newly formed Threshold Global Studios, a joint venture between Chinese entertainment investor Bruno Wu's Seven Star Works and producer Larry Kasanoff's California-based Threshold Entertainment Group. The pair said in a statement Tuesday that the joint venture "will make cross-cultural movies for the global market." Kasanoff added that the 32-year-old video game Tetris "is a perfect first project for this strategy."