By Youkyung Lee, Technology Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --Samsung Electronics has agreed to buy a U.S. cloud service startup to boost its software and internet services.
The South Korean company said Thursday that its acquisition of Joyent Inc. will enable Samsung to access its own cloud platform to run its internet-based services, apart from renting other companies' data centers. The company did not disclose financial terms.
The move will likely accelerate Samsung's push to develop services that rely on external computing power for quick and large-scale data analysis.
Software has been a traditional weakness for Samsung, one of the largest tech hardware manufacturers and the world's top supplier of smartphones, television sets and memory chips. The Korean company opened its Global Innovation Center in Silicon Valley in 2013 to help fortify its software and services.
The company has been buying U.S.-based startups, responding to suggestions that it use outside expertise and technologies to more quickly adapt to the changing business environment.
Demand for cloud computing is growing as more smartphones and internet-connected devices run apps and software that process data, such as photos, on the internet, with many companies relying on remote data centers operated by companies like Amazon.
Among other notable acquisitions, Samsung bought mobile payment technology developer LoopPay last year. Using LoopPay's technology, it launched mobile payment services in the U.S., China and South Korea, among other countries. Analysts say the new services have helped Samsung's sales of mobile devices as consumers ditched plastic cards for smartphones.
In 2014, Samsung acquired SmartThings, a U.S. company that helps control internet-connected home appliances.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More