Lyft added access to 911 from its app, it emailed Tuesday. "Emergency assistance -- available to all riders today -- gives you a clear view of your current location and vehicle information, including the license plate, so you can quickly share with dispatchers." All app safety features will include "a way for both drivers and riders to reach 911," blogged President John Zimmer. The company got attention for not offering such capability, while Uber did (see 1902280029). Lyft didn't comment further now.

Comcast and LG launched the Xfinity Stream beta app for LG’s smart TVs from model years 2017-19, they said Thursday. Customers can access live, on demand, and cloud DVR programming included with their Xfinity TV subscription on LG 4K and HD smart TVs without a set-top box. LG's in the Xfinity TV Partner Program.

Universal Electronics handily exceeded expectations in Q2, despite the “background noise of accelerated cord-cutting,” emailed Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel to investors Wednesday. He cited improved gross margins following UEI’s shift of “substantial manufacturing capacity” from China to Mexico. In June, CEO Paul Arling said (see 1906040032) he was “unpleasantly surprised” to learn of President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports just as the company was shifting production from China to Monterrey, Mexico, to escape tariffs on Chinese goods.

AT&T and Lionsgate's Starz signed a multiyear content carriage agreement giving AT&T the rights to offer various Starz offerings on DirecTV, AT&T TV and U-verse, they said Friday. It includes HD, on-demand and online services.

An IEEE committee supported Bosch's petition for an FCC "early” and ”comprehensive” review of Part 15, Subpart F regulations on ultra-wideband devices and systems (see 1907190010). The petition has gotten mostly a favorable response (see 1908190029). The IEEE 802 Local Area Networks/Municipal Area Networks Standards Committee noted that when the FCC approved UWB rules in 2002, it characterized them as “ultra-conservative” and said it planned to review them over time. “Extensive industry experience now confirms the characterization by the Commission,” the IEEE committee said in RM-11844: “UWB has been widely used and proven to cause no harmful interference.”

Stepping down as HP president-CEO “to tend to a family health matter” (see personals section of this issue) was a decision Dion Weisler made “following a great deal of reflection” and was “among the hardest choices I’ve ever had to make,” said Weisler in opening HP's fiscal Q3 call Thursday. “There is nothing more important to me than my family.” Serving as HP’s first CEO after the 2015 separation from HP Enterprise “has been the honor of my career,” he said. The HP board “has had a rigorous succession-planning process since day one of our company," he said. The process. he said, "led the board to exactly the right leader” in Enrique Lores, president of HP’s imaging and printing business, who becomes CEO in November. The stock trended 6.2 percent lower after hours Thursday at $17.75.

Apple announced availability of its virtual credit card Tuesday, billing it as a “new kind of credit card” the company created to help customers “lead a healthier financial life.” The card has no annual or late fees. Variable interest rates range between 12.99 and 23.99 percent based on a user’s credit history. In a “new level of privacy and security,” the virtual card is stored in the Wallet app on an iPhone; a "titanium" hard version with a chip can be used at locations that don't have Apple Pay, but it doesn't have identifying information. Users who want to use Apple Card to buy an item online will find their card number, PIN and expiration date in the Wallet app on their phone. Because of the security and privacy architecture created for its credit card, Apple “does not know where a customer shopped, what they bought or how much they paid,” said the company, which is using Goldman Sachs as its issuing bank and Mastercard for its global payments network. The Daily Cash rewards program returns to users 2 percent of purchase prices for items bought with the card via Apple Pay and 3 percent on goods bought directly from Apple, including retail and app stores and Apple services, said the company. Purchases made with the physical titanium card net 1 percent back. Apple partnered with Uber to give customers 3 percent Daily Cash when they use Apple Card with Apple Pay for Uber and Uber Eats and will have similar promotions with other merchants, it said. Daily Cash is added to customers’ Apple Cash card each day and can be used right away for purchases using Apple Pay, to put toward an Apple Card balance or to send to friends and family in Messages, said the Cupertino company. Owners of iPhone 6 and later phones can apply for the card via the Wallet app. Users can reach customer support 24/7, said Apple, which uses machine learning and Apple Maps to tag transactions to merchant names and locations in Wallet. The card's app shows color-coded weekly and monthly spending summaries, payment due dates and balance.

LG Electronics is teaming with the architectural firm Studio Fuksas to showcase LG’s Signature ultra-premium brand of tech products and appliances at next month’s IFA show, said LG Tuesday. They will collaborate on an “Infinity installation” at LG’s stand in Hall 18 to showcase the “symbiotic relationship between art and technology and how the two areas have long been intertwined,” it said. IFA opens Sept. 6 in Berlin for a six-day run.

Comments are due Oct. 15 on an interim Federal Acquisition Regulatory rule that took effect Tuesday and prohibits DOD, the General Services Administration and NASA from procuring, or extending or renewing a contract to procure, telecom and video surveillance equipment by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision and other manufacturers "reasonably believed to be owned or controlled by, or connected to, the government of the People's Republic of China" unless there's an exception, said Tuesday's Federal Register. Federal contractors are directed to report "any such equipment, systems or services discovered during contract performance" and impose the same requirement on subcontractors, it said. FAR is expected to address further prohibitions to take effect in one year in a separate rulemaking, it said.

Energous shares fell Friday after the company’s Q2 earnings report showing revenue of $48,000 vs. $206,000 in the year-ago quarter, despite commercial availability of the first product to incorporate Energous wireless charging technology. SK Telesys’ long-promised Delight Oasis-RC personal sound amplification product with WattUp wireless charging from Energous ($349) began selling on Amazon last week after missing its promised delivery schedule early this year. Energous CEO Steve Rizzone said on a Thursday earnings call the company expects additional chip orders during the second half. Target categories for the company’s contact-based charging also include hearing aids, fitness bands, smart glasses and wearables, he said. The company secured regulatory approvals for its RF-based wireless charging technology in the U.S. and Europe but awaits approvals in China, Japan and Korea, where they've “taken longer than we originally anticipated.” Rizzone maintained Energous has “a number of top-tier consumer opportunities, both contact and distance-based that we're actively engaged in.” Shares closed 5.3 percent lower Friday to $3.79.