Tech: Unlocked Mobile US Cellphones, Xiaomi Smartphones

All US carriers must comply with requests from postpaid and prepaid customers to unlock their devices, as long as certain parameters are met. The industry group CTIA had committed last year to have all wireless carriers adhering to the regulation by February 11, 2015. Last year, the "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act," was enacted which overruled a controversial 2012 decision by the Library of Congress. (read more at CNET)

Xiaomi's key to smartphone success: 'Be friends with our fans' - CNET: "The up-and-coming Chinese smartphone manufacturer has gone from obscurity to China's number-one vendor in just four years. Xiaomi owes a large part of that to its attitude toward customers."


New York Times
Tech Investors Create a Billion-Dollar-Baby Boom
New York Times
... investors say, is the advent of today's technology — high-speed Internet connections, the ubiquity of smartphones, modern social networks — that ...

Forbes
Europe And Tech: Who's Hot?
Forbes
Silicon Valley showed the world how powerful and inspiring a strong tech sector can be, to an entrepreneurial culture and a nation's economy.
What's Germany's Top Tech Hub? - Forbes

5 most popular tech stocks among hedge funds
MarketWatch
However, David Tepper, George Soros, and Peter Rathjens of Arrowstreet Capital all dumped their positions in the tech giant, feeling the ceiling had ...

Fortune
Big tech is on sale
Fortune
The good news is that large tech stocks still have room to run, say experts, ... in its Android operating system, which drives the vast majority of smartphones. ... Investors can also gain diverse exposure to large-cap tech through the ...

Entrepreneur
How to Find the Right Tech Talent (for the Non-Tech Entrepreneur)
Entrepreneur
Unfortunately, when seeking tech talent with specialized training, such as back-end and front-end development skills for websites, mobile apps and ...

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Tech News: Mark Zuckerberg Q&A (video), Government Malware

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, sidestepping communication through the media, held his second public question-and-answer session to address users directly. (Bloomberg 12/12)

Antivirus Companies Shouldn’t Have Hidden What They Knew About Regin Government Malware | MIT Technology Review: "Antivirus companies had tracked the sophisticated—and likely U.S.-backed—Regin malware for years. But they kept what they learned to themselves. Last week we learned about a striking piece of malware called Regin that has been infecting computer networks worldwide since 2008. It’s more sophisticated than any known criminal malware, and everyone believes a government is behind it. No country has taken credit for Regin, but there’s substantial evidence that it was built and operated by the United States. This isn’t the first government malware discovered. GhostNet is believed to be Chinese. Red October and Turla are believed to be Russian. The Mask is probably Spanish. Stuxnet and Flame are probably from the U.S. All these were discovered in the past five years, and named by researchers who inferred their creators from clues such as who the malware targeted. I dislike the “cyberwar” metaphor for espionage and hacking, but there is a war of sorts going on in cyberspace. Countries are using these weapons against each other. This affects all of us not just because we might be citizens of one of these countries, but because we are all potentially collateral damage...."

HP Will Release a “Revolutionary” New Operating System in 2015 | MIT Technology Review: "...The main difference between The Machine and conventional computers is that HP’s design will use a single kind of memory for both temporary and long-term data storage. Existing computers store their operating systems, programs, and files on either a hard disk drive or a flash drive. To run a program or load a document, data must be retrieved from the hard drive and loaded into a form of memory, called RAM, that is much faster but can’t store data very densely or keep hold of it when the power is turned off. HP plans to use a single kind of memory—in the form of memristors—for both long- and short-term data storage in The Machine..."


Quartz
The war against Google in Europe is escalating—but will it make any difference?
Quartz
Also yesterday, on another company blog, Google noted the release of a ... That spurred responses from Google, Yelp, and the Microsoft-sponsored ...


Wall Street Journal
Google pulls Amazon app from Play Store listing
CNNMoney
Amazon and Google are having an app store standoff, resulting in the ... avoiding the standoffs with app developers that Apple (AAPL, Tech30) is so ...
Google Removed Amazon's App From The Play Store - Business Insider

With Amazon Facing $1.5 Billion Income Tax Bill, Bezos Too Busy To Testify
Forbes
Amazon is in quite a tax battle with the IRS. According the Amazon 10-K (downloadable) there is about $1.5 billion in taxes at stake spread over a ...

CNET
Apple under scrutiny in Canada for its contracts with carriers
CNET
Canada's Competition Bureau said Thursday that it is investigating whether contracts that Apple's Canadian unit has with the country's domestic ...


Fortune
Google gives a big 'nyet' to Russian engineering operations
Fortune
The tech publication, which cites anonymous sources, adds that the Google engineers, most of whom are located in Moscow, will have the option of ...

Google Translate Adds 10 New Asian and African Languages
The Next Web
Multilinguals can now learn to say hello in 90 languages using Google Translate, ... You Can Now Shop atApple's Online Store with Paypal ... Microsoft sends out invites for Windows 10 event at headquarters on January 21 ... Mark Zuckerberg is thinking about how to let you 'Dislike' things on Facebook.

Selling Beats to Apple made Dr. Dre 2014's highest-paid musician
The Verge
Dr. Dre made an enormous amount of money in 2014. Forbes puts his single-year payday at $620 million, which is the most of any musician in history.

Google's Android Studio 1.0 Makes Building Apps Easy
Lifehacker
Windows/OS X/Linux: Google's Android Studio is out of beta, replacing Eclipse as the standard for Android application development. Aspiring Android ...

Industry Views: What Does Microsoft Mean for Bitcoin?
CoinDesk
Following Microsoft's decision to embrace bitcoin, CoinDesk surveys thought leaders in the industry for ...Technology ... Microsoft took the bitcoin world by surprise late last night with the sudden announcement that it would allow ...

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Europe's Rosetta Spacecraft Lands Probe on Comet (video)

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft landed the first ever probe on a comet, the culmination of a decade-long mission to the icy body that’s currently between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Planetary Resources President Chris Lewicki speaks on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg 11/12)

iOS weakness allows hackers to replace iPhone apps | Technology | The Guardian: iOS Vulnerability--"A weakness in newer versions of iOS lets hackers install apps on iPhones or iPads by sending users an email or text message."

PCWorld
Nexus 6 review: The best Nexus yet, if you can tolerate its gargantuan size
PCWorld
The biggest, most expensive, and best Nexus phone Google has ever produced. All it needs is decent camera software. Share on Facebook · Share on Twitter · Share on Google+ · Share on LinkedIn · Share on Pinterest. It's bound to happen. You'll be lining ...


Wall Street Journal
Amazon Web business jumps 40 percent
The Seattle Times
The head of Amazon Web Services says a long list of businesses in every “imaginable segment” is using AWS “in a meaningful way.” 


Android Headlines - Android News
Samsung VR Headset Arrives in December
PC Magazine
Samsung told developers at its SF conference that the future is wide open for exciting new tech platforms...

ABC News
The New Way You Can Say 'Thank You for Being a Friend' on Facebook
ABC News
There's a new way to say, "Thank you for being a friend," on Facebook. The social network announced today it is launching a new service, "Say Thanks," that allows users to send video cards to their friends and family. The service is gradually being rolled out ...


CIO Today
Microsoft Releases Another Windows 10 Build
Tom's Hardware
Microsoft's Gabe Aul updated the Windows blog on Wednesday with news that a new version of Windows 10 is now available to download. This new build, 9879, includes new windowing and gesture improvements, tweaks to OneDrive usage, improvements ...


Christian Science Monitor
AT&T halts improvements until FCC decides on net neutrality
Christian Science Monitor
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company will pause further investments into its fiber networks until the government makes a decision on net neutrality....


Detroit Free Press
Pew Privacy Survey: We've Lost Control Over Our Personal Data
NBCNews.com
A new Pew Research Center survey reveals that nearly all Americans surveyed feel they've lost control over how companies collect and use their personal information. The survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project asked 607 U.S. adults about ...


Wired
Microsoft's big play for the future of development
ITworld.com
It's hard to change direction when you're a company the size of Microsoft. In the past 18 months however, they've become considerably more open and modern. Today in a not so surprise move, Microsoft announced .NET Core 5, a component of the next ...

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Europe vs Google, EU Stuck in the Past

What is search today? Apple's Siri? How about searching on Amazon for your next purchase? The problem with governments in the digital age is that they waste their time dealing with issues that no longer, or never did, exist -- prime example is the EU's obsession with Google search --

Google and Europe Near Deal

New York Times
BRUSSELS — Google's antitrust troubles in Europe moved closer to a settlement ... an industry group backed by Microsoft and a number of other companies that ...

Latest Google offer may end search engine antitrust case in EU
The Globe and Mail
An offer by Google to modify how it displays Internet search results could settle a long-running antitrust dispute with the European Union, the EU competition chief said on Tuesday. The world's most popular search engine has been under investigation for ...

FreedomPop launches free mobile plan with 200 minutes
CNET
The free mobile phone service includes 500MB of data, 500 text messages, and 200 voice minutes every month. FreedomPop has fired a shot over the wireless industry's bow. To commemorate ...

Apple bumps Coca-Cola to become world's top ...

CNET
Google claims second place, as IBM and Intel slip. ... with a 30 percent increase; Apple, at 28 percent; and Amazon, which rose 27 percent to take 19th place on ...

Bloomberg

Amazon Creating 70000 Full-Time Seasonal Jobs in the US to Fulfill ...

Wall Street Journal
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is creating more than 70,000 full-time seasonal jobs across its U.S. fulfillment centers this holiday season in order to meet ...

Bloomberg

Google Web Designer Offered As Free Download

InformationWeek
Google Web Designer Offered As Free Download ... Apple also offers similar free software, iAds Producer, though its license agreement limits content created ...

ZDNet

Apple's Continuing Travails With The Patent Troll Lodsys

Forbes
Things are not looking good for Apple and its apps developers in the ongoing battle against Lodsys the company generally agreed upon to be a patent ...

Apple Insider

Amazon and Wal-Mart open fulfillment centers in Dallas area

Dallas Morning News
Walmart.com's new fulfillment center in Fort Worth shipped its first order Sept. 23 The 800,000-square-foot distribution center is the first in Texas for Wal-Mart ...

Dallas Morning News

Microsoft Expands Power BI, Translation For Office

InformationWeek
Microsoft Office is becoming adept not only at creating data but also manipulating and ... Although most attention paid to Microsoft in recent days has involved its ...

Microsoft has an app problem

CBS News
Here's to hoping that Microsoft follows the Apple iPhone/iPad model, though, and lets Windows Phone apps run on Windows 8 -- perhaps in a window zoomed ...

IBNLive

Google paid £11.6m in UK corporation tax last year

The Guardian
A Google spokesman said it was only right the majority of its tax should be paid in the US, and argued the company made a significant contribution to the UK ...

The Guardian

Microsoft's Surface to be under revenue microscope

Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft will make it easier for Wall Street and industry analysts to track revenue generated by the company's struggling Surface line of tablets, ...

Google Launches Public Beta of Web Designer - The Next Web

Emil Protalinski
Google today launched a new advertising application in beta called Google Web ... Apple overtakes Coca-Cola to become 'Most Valuable Brand' of 2013.The Next Web Top Stories

Obsoletive: Revolutionary Products in Tech Don't Disrupt-They Obsolete: "Christensen’s theory of disruption remains an incredibly elegant and insightful framework for understanding why some companies – like Microsoft, to name the best example – decline. But it’s dramatically over-applied in technology. Most new products are simply better – stop calling them disruptive! – while the most revolutionary products – all of them, ever more personal versions of truly personal computers – are obsoletive. They are more expensive, more capable, and change the way we live.4"

more technology news below

Follow @expricom

Internet Freedom Updates

China, US, Europe, Brazil --

China Censors Eye Internet Freedom In Shanghai Trade Zone, Says ...

Forbes
A proposed free-trade zone (FTZ) in Shanghai has fired the imagination of optimistic investors looking to China's new leaders for pro-market reforms. Backed by ...

TechWeekEurope UK

The Delicate Balance Between Internet Freedom and Big Data

Mashable
As the world keeps going online, with more and more people getting connected, there's more and more data available to be mined. And this large datasets of so ...

Bid to curb internet porn sparks freedom row in Britain

South China Morning Post
In a land whose uptight reputation is belied by its wicked ways, the Conservative-led British government is in midst of a crusade to enact some of the strictest ...

Washington Post

At UN, Estonian President stresses Internet governance in ...

UN News Centre
In his statement, he stressed that cyber security and internet freedom “are intrinsically linked and in no way incompatible.” “Freedom of opinion and expression ...

Nonprofits bring the Internet to low-income families in KC, KCK

Kansas City Star
The key: While most Internet service providers deliver the Net to homes via copper or, in Google's case, fiber optic cable, KC Freedom Network has gone ...

Kansas City Star

President Ilves at the UN: the Internet must remain open

The Baltic Course
"The same freedom of speech and the same personal liberties that are protected by law in the real world must be applicable on the Internet," confirmed the ...
The Baltic Course

Andres Oppenheimer: Brazil's proposal to regulate Internet is scary

MiamiHerald.com
Freedom of expression advocates say that Brazil's proposals to regulate the Internet are much more respectful of individual freedoms than China's or Russia's.

Apple passes Coke as world's 'top brand'
CNN
They headed a tech-heavy list, on which IBM, Microsoft, Samsung and Intel helped round out the top 10. But Apple shone brightest, as much for its role as a cultural institution as for the products ... Apple and Google were just two of many tech ...

Microsoft should buy BlackBerry. There, I said it
ZDNet
Google the phrase, "Microsoft should buy BlackBerry". You'll see a lot of hits appear. And with good reason too—Microsoft should buy BlackBerry. It's a bargain of ... It seems that Apple sweeps consumer tech but not necessarily corporate tech ...

Google Web Designer Offered As Free Download
InformationWeek
Adobe got serious about creating HTML5 tools that could replace its Flash authoring applications in 2010 at the urging of Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple at the time, who disallowed Adobe Flash on iOS devices. In his widely read public letter, "Thoughts on ...

Microsoft Expands Power BI, Translation For Office
InformationWeek
Microsoft's new Translator app is a standalone tool but also lets Windows 8 and Windows RT users select any text within Word or PowerPoint and instantly translate it. In a blog post, Microsoft noted that organizations can use the app with custom ...

Microsoft's Surface to be under revenue microscope
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft will make it easier for Wall Street and industry analysts to track revenue generated by the company's struggling Surface line of tablets, the company promised Thursday. In a conference call with analysts last week, Microsoft ...

Google pays $55 million tax in Britain on 2012 sales of $5 billion
Chicago Tribune
LONDON (Reuters) - Google, which has been grilled twice in the past year by a UK parliamentary committee over its tax practices, had a UK tax bill of 35 million pounds ($55 million) in 2012, on sales of $4.9 billion to British customers, its accounts ...

Microsoft achieves FedRAMP JAB P-ATO for Windows Azure
Wall Street Journal
Windows Azure is the first public cloud platform, with infrastructure services and platform services, to receive a Provisional Authority to Operate from the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board...

Microsoft to pay execs who stay, pay those culled during reorg turmoil
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft handed out nearly $60 million in stock grants to eight executives on the same day it filed papers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing that the board had authorized special incentives to keep...

Apple Reopens In-Store Pickup for iPhone 5s
PC Magazine
Fear not: Apple's in-store pick-up option has returned this week, if only in limited capacity. Depending on your choice of size, color, and carrier, the new flagship device is available for pick up in various stores, including New York's Grand Central ...

Mystery AD1257 eruption traced to Lombok, Indonesia
BBC News
Scientists think they have found the volcano responsible for a huge eruption that occurred in AD1257. The mystery event was so large its chemical signature is recorded in the ice of both the Arctic and the Antarctic. European medieval texts talk of a sudden ...

Facebook expands Graph Search to let you search status updates
CNET
Graph Search will now let some members uncover status updates, photo captions, check-ins, and comments....

UN's massive new climate report adds little explanation for 'pause' in warming
Fox News
An enormous U.N. report on the scientific data behind global warming was made available Monday, yet it offers little concrete explanation for an earthly oddity: the planet's climate has hit the pause button. Since 1998, there has been no significant increase in ...

Dumping a Surface? eBay averages double the return of a buyback vendor
Computerworld
Computerworld - First-generation Surface owners have complained that Microsoft won't buy their used tablets to fund their jones for the new editions slated to ship in three weeks, but other markets can actually return much more cash than any trade-in ...

Feds Defend Plan to Drop Gray Wolf Protection
ABC News
Federal officials offered a staunch defense Monday of their proposal to drop legal protections for the gray wolf in most of the country, as opponents rallied in the nation's capital before the first in a series of public hearings on the plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife ...

more technology news below

Follow @expricom