Google announced today that it has acquired Paris-based Moodstocks, a startup that has developed machine learning technology to bolster the image recognition features on smartphones. "We continue to pursue our machine learning and research efforts," wrote Vincent Simonet, head of the research and development team for France Google, "and Moodstocks is the latest proof of our commitment to this area." Today, we're thrilled to announce that we've reached an agreement to join forces with Google in order to deploy our work at scale. We expect the acquisition to be completed in the next few weeks. Our focus will be to build great image recognition tools within Google, but rest assured that current paying Moodstocks customers will be able to use it until the end of their subscription. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Apple has acquired a machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) startup called Turi, which is based in Seattle, according to reports. Apple on its part has not commented on the deal, and its statement only said the company does make these acquisitions from time to time, which is the standard Cupertino-line on such report. The deal was first reported by GeekWire, which said Apple is paying close to 200 million for the company. According to a report on ReCode, Turi was earlier known as both GraphLab and Dato, and is used by companies like Pandora used to power recommendations. The company was founded was Carlos Guestrin, a University of Washington professor, but he too refused to comment on the deal.

Business is booming at Google's parent company, Alphabet, even as it loses billions of dollars on kooky-sounding projects that may never produce any revenue. Most of the losses are concentrated in Alphabet's'X'' lab, a wellspring of far-out ideas that has become known as a'moonshot factory' since Google co-founder Sergey Brin launched it about six years ago. The lab is responsible for some once-zany projects, such as Google's self-driving cars, that matured into potentially revolutionary technology. FILE - In this Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, file photo, electronic screens post prices of Alphabet stock at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Business is booming at Google¿s parent company, Alphabet Inc., even as it loses billions of dollars on risky projects that may never produce any revenue.

Online giant Amazon said it profit in the second quarter surged ninefold to 857 million, lifted by cloud services as the tech giant expanded its offerings. Revenues jumped 31 percent to 30.4 billion, Amazon said in stronger-than-expected results. While Amazon developed a reputation for delivering little or no profit in its retail operations, its earnings have been growing over the past year as it expands into video and new delivery services and boosts its cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Revenues jumped 31 percent to 30.4 billion, Amazon said in stronger-than-expected results The second annual Prime Day was the biggest day ever for Amazon, and was also a record day for Amazon devices globally. Compared to Prime Day 2015, worldwide orders grew by more than 60%, orders from third-party sellers with Prime Day deals nearly tripled, and Prime members saved over twice as much on deals.

Nvidia Corp. NVDA 5.59 % said its second-quarter profit surged as the chip maker exceeded its revenue guidance and saw strong demand for its new products. Nvidia shares rose 2.5% to 61.29 in after-hours trading. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters projected 1.45 billion. Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is a prominent name in graphics processing units used in gaming software. It has expanded in many new sectors ranging from virtual reality to self-driving cars.

As one of the internet's pioneers, eBay's seen it all. And now, it has a plan to stay relevant for years to come and even be "one of the winners," the CEO told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "We are planting the seeds right now to ensure that eBay is not only relevant, but a leader -- a disruptor -- in artificial intelligence," CEO Devin Wenig said on Thursday. "Some of the acquisitions we've done are world class teams of both data analysts and engineering capability that are going to allow us to use this incredible data set that we have." Wenig said eBay hopes to build a personalized shopping experience based on data they have on how people browse their site.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday published his second "master plan," pulling back the curtain on his long-term plans for the electric automaker. The document comes as Tesla is being criticized over its reaction to a high-profile fatality as well as its plan to merge with residential solar firm SolarCity. Here are the three most interesting revelations in Musk's plan. Tesla currently sells two vehicles: The Model S luxury sedan and the Model X luxury SUV, with the cheaper Model 3 sedan on the way. Now, Musk says at least three more are on the way, including "a compact SUV," "a new kind of pickup truck," a semi truck and a city bus.

IBM has given its investors a sign that Big Blue may finally be turning things around. Revenue increased for the first time in a key unit -- cognitive solutions, including its Watson artificial intelligence platform -- that the company has been touting as crucial to future growth. The results may signal that Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty is making good on her promise to shift IBM's software and services offerings to match customers' increasing appetite for cloud-based solutions. It's been an uphill battle. Overall, sales have declined for 17 quarters in a row, while margins have also narrowed.

Google acquired Kifi, an app for collecting links from across the Internet, which teams could then collaborate on. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. The Kifi service and data will not become part of Google. The service will remain fully functional for existing users for a few more weeks, before its shut down. The company is no longer accepting new registrations. The team at Kifi will be joining the Spaces team at Google.

SEOUL--Samsung Electronics Co. said it will acquire a stake in BYD Co. via the Chinese electric vehicle and battery maker's 2.3 billion share sale, as the South Korean technology giant bets on the automotive market to drive growth. Samsung's latest move comes as more technology companies tap into the automotive industry as it undergoes a shift toward next-generation vehicles such as electric and self-driving cars.