Jefferson Graham reports on the new, higher price-tags for Apple computers, and compares them to Windows and Chromebook competitors on #TalkingTech. SAN FRANCISCO -- A funny thing happened when Microsoft and Apple held dueling product events last week. In Cupertino, Calif., the iPhone maker was making a small tweak to the way we work today with the unveiling of a slim interactive function bar to its MacBooks. In New York, the onetime software giant was unveiling tools for the way we will work that included a massive interactive drafting table and 3-D design software. But evidence is mounting that the software giant, a foil to Apple for decades, is now the more compelling, innovative company with forays into virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

The new MacBook Pro was always going to be expensive. But it is very expensive indeed in the UK, after the prices were shifted because of the falling pound. The computers are as much as £500 more expensive than previous models, because of a combination of the currency changes and the upgrades introduced by Apple. Buying the cheapest version of the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that was released yesterday will cost customers £1,749. Customers can spend as much as £2,699 on stock models of the computer, if they buy the 15-inch version.

Before we dive into the data behind Alphabet's forward-looking strategy, we must quickly assess its most mature and most profitable (by far) business line: Google search and advertising. As a reminder, Google now consists of search, mapping, cloud & enterprise, Google-branded consumer hardware and operating systems (Chrome, Android, etc.), and YouTube. All other units, from investment vehicles (GV, Google Capital) to the X arm, are now subsidiaries reporting directly to Alphabet management. We will use the Google moniker when discussing either the company proper or historical pre-Alphabet activities under its banner. The company outperformed analyst expectations in Q2'16 with surging top- and bottom-line growth.

Google parent Alphabet (Xetra: ABEA.DE - news) delivered higher profits for the third quarter, lifted by gains in mobile and video advertising as the tech giant narrowed losses on its "moon shots." Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) profit climbed 27 percent to $5.1 billion. Revenue rose to $22.5 billion from $18.7 billion in the same period a year earlier. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) rose nearly one percent in after-market trades that followed the release of the stronger-than-expected earnings figures. "We had a great third quarter," Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat said in the earnings release.

With plans to insert itself in the driver's seat for a slice of the self-driving car market, Qualcomm said Thursday it has agreed to acquire NXP Semiconductors for about $38 billion. Qualcomm said it would pay $110 per share for the Dutch company, which commands 14% of global automotive semiconductor sales. It expects the deal to close by the end of 2017. "With innovation and invention at our core, Qualcomm has played a critical role in driving the evolution of the mobile industry," Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in a statement. "The NXP acquisition accelerates our strategy to extend our leading mobile technology into robust new opportunities, where we will be well positioned to lead by delivering integrated semiconductor solutions at scale."

This decrease was mainly due to the Note 7 issue, despite the increase of sales in the memory and OLED businesses. The gross profit for the quarter was KRW18.4 trillion, about KRW1.7 trillion year-on-year decrease. But the gross profit margin as a percent of sale held steady due to higher gross profits from the sales expansion of premium products in the OLED and consumer electronics businesses. Our SG&A expenditures increased Y-on-Y, mainly due to the recall cost related to Note 7. The operating profit decreased by KRW2.2 trillion, year on year to KRW5.2 trillion, and the operating profit margin declined by 3.4 percentage points to 10.9%. The earnings of the component business decreased marginally year on year due to price correction of DRAM during the first half of this year. However, on Q-on-Q basis, this operating profit increased due to sales expansion of high-end products such as SSD, flexible OLED under the stabilized ASP environment. In the set business, earnings declined in the IM division due to the loss resulting from the Note 7 issue, but the consumer electronics business continued to grow year on year, driven by the sales growth of SUHD TVs and premium home appliance products. In this quarter's strengthening of the Korean won against the major currencies such as U.S. dollar and euro had a negative impact on the operating profit quarter on quarter. We figured it's approximately KRW700 billion effect, mostly on the component business. The non-operating profit was KRW540 billion, mainly from the sales of various investments including investments in ASML. Now I would like to address the business outlook. In the fourth quarter we expect the overall earnings to improve year on year. The mobile business is expected to recover its earnings to the similar level as 4Q last year through solid S7 sales, while earnings in the component business is projected to improve year on year. For the semiconductor business, we expect the earnings to improve due to the sales expansion of the V-NAND-based SSD. For the display business, we expect the earnings to improve also from LCD business recovery year on year.

Qualcomm said Thursday that it had agreed to acquire NXP Semiconductors for about $38 billion, expanding its presence in the increasingly lucrative market for automotive sensors and chips. Qualcomm said it would pay $110 per share for NXP and expects the deal to close by the end of 2017. The deal gives the telecommunications giant a greater foothold in the burgeoning market for technology that will power self-driving cars -- which represents a growth space compared to the saturated market for smart phones and other mobile devices. NXP also has a desirable position in the market for technology powering the so-called Internet of Things as well as security products. The acquisition also marks the latest in a series of deals for the semiconductor business, accelerating the trend of consolidation.

Watson, can you grow into a multibillion-dollar business and become the engine of IBM's resurgence? IBM is betting its future that the answer is yes. Its campaign to commercialize Watson, the company's version of artificial intelligence technology, stands out, even during the current A.I. frenzy in the tech industry. IBM has invested billions of dollars in its Watson business unit, created at the start of 2014, which now employs an estimated 10,000 workers. Its big-ticket marketing push includes clever television ads that feature Watson trading quips with famous people like Serena Williams and Bob Dylan.

Clarifai, whose visual recognition software can instantly sort through a travel website's millions of hotel photos, has raised $30 million in a Series B round. The Flatiron-district-based startup plans to use the money to further its development of low-cost and easy-to-use artificial intelligence applications. Silicon Valley stalwart Menlo Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors, including Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Founded in 2013, Clarifai has so far raised a total of $41 million. "We've launched new products that move us in this direction of personalizing AI and getting away from this one-size-fits-all approach," said Clarifai founder and CEO Matt Zeiler in an interview.

The smart energy startup Verdigris announced today that it has raised $6.7 million to scale production of its Einstein smart sensor and frequency detectors. The sensors are used to predict the failure of machines and improve energy efficiency. Factories, manufacturing facilities, and other large buildings using Verdigris technology reduce energy use 8 to 22 percent, CEO Mark Chung told VentureBeat in a phone interview. The Einstein frequency detector from Verdigris made its debut in August. "Rather than take a big data approach where we study thousands of motors and this is the failure pattern, we instead take a physics based model which is looking at a signal through our sensors," Chung said.