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Newsletter: California Inc.: A new iPhone to go with your solar-powered luxury car

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Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section.

I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, and here’s a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.

Trading resumes Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday, with a weaker-than-expected jobs report casting a shadow over the market. The latest stats from the Labor Department on Friday were largely ho-hum but unlikely to change the prospects for an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month. Employers added 151,000 jobs last month, lower than the 180,000 that analysts were expecting on average. Manufacturing and construction industries shed jobs, but every major service sector, led by restaurant businesses as well as government, added to their payrolls.

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LOOKING AHEAD

New iPhone: Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 7 and a new version of the Apple Watch at an event Wednesday in San Francisco. One rumored change in the new iPhone: no headphone jack. Instead, users will have to connect their headphones wirelessly or through the charging port. The website Recode says the iPhone 7 will come with dual lenses on the camera to allow for “different focusing tricks.” The event will be held at the Bill Graham Auditorium, the same location where Apple has hosted its last few product launches.

Pro gamers: The fast-growing field of professional video gaming will be the focus of the second annual eSports Conference, being held in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday. The event, at the Westin Bonaventure, will feature speakers from top teams, service providers and game makers. E-sports ventures, including an estimated 200 competitive franchises, are expected to haul in nearly $900 million this year from sales of items such as match tickets, jerseys and online video ads.

Coastline development: A proposal to erect nearly 900 homes, a 75-room resort hotel and a retail complex on the largest private, undeveloped coastal parcel in Southern California will come before the California Coastal Commission on Wednesday. The staff of the commission has recommended that backers of the Newport Banning Ranch project significantly shrink their plans to protect wildlife habitat, setting the stage for a pitched battle at the hearing in Newport Beach. The project is proposed for an old oil field next to the mouth of the Santa Ana River.

High-end hybrid: If you’re interested in being among the first to own a luxury gasoline-electric-solar hybrid car from Karma Automotive, the Costa Mesa automaker that is going up against Tesla Motors and Faraday Future, this week is your chance to save yourself a space in line. The company will start accepting purchase reservations for its Karma Revero from the public on Thursday. The four-door sedan — which will get some energy from its solar-panel roof — is expected to cost $100,000 or more.

THE AGENDA

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Monday’s Business section looks at the painfully slow wage growth that has plagued the post-recession recovery, with many workers seeing little if any raises as they struggle to make ends meet. But there are signs that has started to change. The falling unemployment rate has led to more competition for workers, spurring solid gains in average hourly earnings in recent months. Still, we have a ways to go. When adjusted for inflation, median household incomes declined to $53,657 in 2014, the most recent year for which government data are available, from $57,724 in 2000.

STORY LINES

Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow:

Apple taxes: European regulators have given Apple a new moniker to accompany its hard-earned titles of computer pioneer, high-tech design icon and world’s most valuable company: multibillion-dollar tax cheat. The European Union ordered Ireland to send the Cupertino, Calif., company a bill for up to $14.5 billion in back taxes, plus interest. A two-year EU investigation determined that Ireland and Apple struck an illegal deal that allowed the technology giant to pay virtually no taxes from 2003 to 2014 on profits for sales throughout the 28-nation region.

Rocket blast: An unmanned SpaceX rocket, topped by an Israeli satellite, was being prepped for a test firing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when something went wrong. The 604-ton Falcon 9 rocket was being fueled with a potent mix of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellant when an explosion quickly enveloped the launch pad in flames. The ensuing fireball delivered a blow to the efforts of two high-profile billionaires: SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. The rocket was carrying a satellite designed to expand broadband service globally and extend Facebook’s reach.

Drug prices: At least eight pharmaceutical companies sell a decades-old drug that treats gallstones, but the competition has done little to keep its price down. Instead the price has skyrocketed. Experts say this is not how a competitive marketplace is supposed to work. Unlike nearly every other developed nation, the U.S. allows drug manufacturers to set their own prices, a policy that has resulted in overall medicine costs being far higher than elsewhere. Increasingly, insurers are passing the cost along to patients through higher deductibles.

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Shipping bankruptcy: A bankruptcy filing by South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping is rippling through the global supply chain, stalling the delivery of goods as the firm’s ships sit anchored off ports across the world, including in Southern California. The holdup — driven by concerns the world’s seventh-largest shipping line could not pay ports and terminals — comes at a crucial time for retailers that are bringing in products for the holiday shopping season. Hanjin accounts for 2.9% of the global shipping trade.

Paramount sale: Former Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman’s controversial plan to bolster Viacom’s finances by selling a 49% interest in Paramount Pictures appears doomed. As part of a settlement agreement that paved the way for Dauman’s departure from Viacom, the former chief retained the ability to present his Paramount plan to Viacom’s board. Dauman invested considerable energy this year lining up an outside investor, which was believed to be Dalian Wanda Group of China. Dauman is now expected to make only a written proposal instead of a formal presentation.

WHAT WE’RE READING

And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:

Whither Uber: Vanity Fair explores the plight of Uber in the age of driverless vehicles. “If you think about it, Uber isn’t actually connecting passengers to cars. Instead, it is really connecting passengers to drivers. When those drivers are replaced by computers, Uber is a less important, and less valuable, middle man.”

Walking dead: The New York Times finds a pulse among Silicon Valley start-ups that had been expected to crash yet remain kicking. For all of the hand-wringing, “there just hasn’t been much of a downturn,” one observer says. “I don’t even see many companies going out of business.”

Apple’s mojo: Tech maven Walt Mossberg asks Verge readers if Apple still has the goods in the post-Jobs era. “The company has surged financially to heights Jobs likely never dreamed of.” But it “has yet to produce the kind of new, game-changing product Jobs was famous for launching.”

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Imperial cities: The New Yorker looks at the rise of “imperial cities.” These metropolises “become wellsprings of resentment both for residents who can no longer afford them and for those who live outside and see the concentration of wealth mainly in the light of their television screens.”

Fountain of youth: Scientists have long struggled to keep the ravages of old age at bay. One researcher at MIT thinks he might have done it. As New York Magazine puts it, “His pill will either extend lives or tarnish his career.”

SPARE CHANGE

Fleeting youth has been a favorite theme of singers and songwriters for many years. Frank Sinatra contemplated the subject. So did Neil Young. And Steely Dan. For my money, though, the Grateful Dead said it best.

For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Until next time, I’ll see you in the Business section.

David Lazarus’ column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.

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