Windows 8 point whatever consensus: FAIL, #FAIL, FAIL!

Windows 8.1? It is now obvious that without a sea change, Microsoft is going to sail the Windows 8 disaster ship, and the faulty vision it was founded upon, to the same graveyard where BlackBerry is, of once upon a time great tech companies -- unbelievable! --

Windows 8.1 is here: Can it win over skeptical PC buyers? | ZDNet: "Windows 8.1 is here: Can it win over skeptical PC buyers?" Short Answer: No

Windows 8.1: New features, but same problems | Microsoft - CNET News: "Microsoft fixes some complaints about Windows 8, such as the lack of a  Start button, but the features likely won't change buyers' opinions. . ." (read more at the link above)

Editor's Note: In other words, if you have any sense, and/or you are a knowledge worker (you actually use your PC to get work done) STAY AWAY from Windows 8 point whatever -- either find a Windows 7 PC or RUN to a Chromebook (I would recommend the Pixel or the new HP Chromebook 14 with Intel Haswell (and preferably 4GB of RAM), $299+) or an Apple Mac.

Apple warns of SSD failures in MacBook Air, offers free replacements | PCWorld: ". . . Users can determine if their drives are affected through firmware available at the Mac App Store. Users can click on Updates at the Mac App Store and choose “MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.1,” which will check the drive. Apple is recommending users back up their data and that they not install any new OSes or applications . . ."

Ubuntu 13.10: A desktop tour (Slideshow) | Page 13 | ZDNet: "When day is done, Ubuntu makes it easy to turn the system off. -- Last, but not least, Ubuntu 13.10, unlike some other recent operating systems I could name—cough, Windows 8.x, cough—makes it simple to restart or turn off your computer."

Microsoft pulls Windows RT 8.1 update from the Store
ZDNet
Summary: Microsoft has temporarily pulled its recently released Windows RT 8.1 update for ARM-based devices due to an unexplained issue. By Mary Jo Foley for All About Microsoft | October 19, 2013...

Why I Returned My iPhone 5s - Mobility - Smartphones - Informationweek: " . . . The biggest reason I returned the iPhone 5s is because it didn't offer a different experience from the iPhone 5. Aside from the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, there was no obvious change in how the device performed. Sure, the 5s has a slightly better camera and faster processor, but the difference in performance is hardly noticeable. If you look at it from this angle, I spent $900 to get a fingerprint sensor. Let me tell you something: I don't need a fingerprint sensor on my smartphone. At least, not right now. . . ."

Redesigned Google Play Store for Android revealed in leaked images | The Verge: "Android users may soon see a redesigned Google Play Store, judging by newly leaked screenshots of an unreleased update. . . ."

Apple decks out venue for iPad event next week
CNET
The company is decorating the windows of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center to match the design on press invites sent out for an event on October 22....

Google Without Larry Page Would Not Be Like Apple Without Steve ...

Wired
“I wanted to let you know that going forward, I won't be joining every earnings call,” the Google co-founder and CEO said after introducing Google's third-quarter ...

Washington Post (blog)

During development, Apple's gold iPhone 5s was jokingly called the 'Kardashian'
Apple Insider
Apple employees had a humorous nickname for the gold iPhone 5s as they were planning to release the new color option: They called it "The Kardashian Phone." Style. The nickname, in honor of socialite Kim Kardashian, was first revealed by New York ...

Apple hopes for quick start on new campus to meet 2016 deadline

Los Angeles Times
Apple and the city of Cupertino, Calif., took a moment to catch their breath this week ... Microsoft's Windows 8.1 upgrade adds more multitasking, customizing....

Microsoft Office fends off open source OpenOffice and LibreOffice ...

ZDNet
Office 365 leads on 14 percent against Google Apps' nine percent. Forrester attributes Microsoft'slead to Office 365's support for hybrid deployments....

Google gets friendly with Facebook, will sell ads on Facebook

Los Angeles Times
The search giant announced on Friday that advertisers who buy ads across the Web through Google's DoubleClick service will soon be able to buy ads on ...

Wall Street Journal (blog)

Google stock poised to hit all-time high

Christian Science Monitor
Among top gainers in premarket trading was Google Inc , which surged 9.2 percent to $969.50, a day after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results as the ...

Christian Science Monitor

Google surpasses $1000 for first time on mobile-ad optimism

The Seattle Times
On Friday, Google's share price jumped above that price for the first time, marking ... Starbucks, Nike and Amazon, another technology-oriented stock that traded ...

San Francisco Chronicle

Illinois Supreme Court strikes down 'Amazon tax'

Chicago Tribune
An Illinois law aimed at leveling competition between online and brick-and-mortar retailers while collecting more state sales taxes is unconstitutional, the state ...

Sky News Australia

Microsoft Just Edges Sony in ABI Research's Game Console ...

HispanicBusiness.com
--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Microsoft just edged Sony for the top position in ABI Research's game console Competitive Assessment, based on expectations for the ...

1.8 million-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution
Sydney Morning Herald
A "time capsule" from 1.8 million years ago, located in Dmanisi, Georgia, shows variations among five human skulls from that period that suggest long-debated distinctions about early human development may be overblown. The differences between the skulls ...

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Microsoft Windows 8 FAIL, part 3

3 strikes and you're Out!--

The Flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 8 Logic | TIME.com: " . . . instead of pushing for more vendors to put touch-based screens on their PCs and laptops, which added a significant cost to these products last year, there should have been more time spent making trackpads more touch friendly and getting people used to pinching, zooming and using other touch-based gestures on these trackpads first. Apple has done this with its Magic Trackpad, an accessory for its line of desktop computers. Key gestures like pinching, zooming, and moving windows from side to side are hallmarks of the Magic Trackpad. In fact, the Magic Trackpad’s gestures mimic the same gestures found on the iPhone and iPads, without requiring Apple to add touchscreens to its desktops and laptops . . ."

Funky Friday: More than $32 billion in Microsoft stock value wiped out | Microsoft - CNET News: "Shares suffer biggest one-day percentage sell-off since 2000 as investors fret over weak demand for Microsoft's latest Windows operating system and Surface tablet."

Microsoft's Stock Falls After Bad Earnings - Business Insider: "The Windows division's operating income was down 55% on a year-over-year basis, which dragged down the company's EPS. It also took a $900 million charge on the Surface RT, its iPad-wannabe tablet."

"Enterprise fanboys" push back on TechNet subscription shutdown | ZDNet: "Microsoft is going through a significant and difficult transition right now, with its enterprise side holding down the fort as the consumer business collapses."

Apple, Samsung in Renewed Settlement Talks, but Deal Elusive
Wall Street Journal
Samsung, relying primarily on the Android software platform created by Google Inc., stormed into the smartphone lead in 2011, selling 24 million units in the third quarter of that year, according to Gartner. Apple, by comparison, sold 17 million ...

Amazon CEO says discovery is Apollo 11 rocket engines(CNN) -- Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos rescued sunken treasure in the Atlantic this year: components of two F-1 rocket engines. Now he says he has verified that they are engines from Apollo 11, the first mission that took U.S. astronauts to the moon.

Shinal: Google scares Wall St. -- again
USA TODAY
By April, Google was reporting only a 4% annual drop in its CPC metric, and investors' fears that the company might be facing a long-term slide in prices ebbed. That renewed Wall Street optimism on the stock, which had taken a hit after CEO Larry Page ...

Microsoft Doesn't Fear The Post-PC World: Bank On $77B In Cash And Ballmer's ...
Forbes
It was a tech bloodbath on Wall Street on Friday, with two juggernauts, Google and Microsoft, tanking on missed earnings. Microsoft missed profit estimates big time, with adjusted EPS coming in at 52 cents, while analysts expected $0.74 (the revenue ...

Apple adds HopStop, Locationary to its mobile mapping arsenal as it takes aim ...
Washington Post
The acquisitions confirmed Friday give Apple Inc. more tools to round out the maps that it embeds in the mobile operating system running its iPhones and iPads. Apple relied on Google Inc. for the built-in maps on those devices until switching to its ...

Google's Moto X phone coming Aug. 1?
USA TODAY
Bet you thought the summer months were supposed to be quiet for product introductions? Not in the fast-moving mobile space where Googleplays. Motorola has sent out invitations to a New York City ...

Apple acquires navigation service Hopstop
CNET
Apparently Locationary isn't the only location-based company Apple's bought up recently. Citing sources, Bloomberg on Friday reported that Apple has acquired New York-based local navigation company Hopstop, which specializes in local transit directions.

Google-ized HTC One Gains, Loses in Translation: Rich Jaroslovsky
Businessweek
Google Play phones differ from standard editions in their software, and in how they're priced and sold (directly from Google, not through a carrier). In the case of the One, Google has dispensed with the custom Sense skin that HTC layers on top of the ...

Apple reportedly buys HopStop (updated) - Engadget
By Brian Heater
Don't let it be said that Apple isn't working to improve its once-maligned mapping app. ... Science Software Storage Tablets Transportation Wearables Wireless Acer Amazon AMD Apple ASUS AT&T Blackberry Canon Dell Facebook Google HP HTC Intel Lenovo LG Microsoft Nikon Nintendo Nokia NVIDIA Samsung Sony Sprint T-Mobile Verizon ... The deal comes hot on the heels of Apple'sLocationary buy -- we wouldn't quite qualify it as a shopping spree yet, but it's certainly a start.
Engadget RSS Feed

Apple To Buy Transportation App HopStop — Mass Transit To ...
By Anthony Ha
... agencies in over 750 cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. HopStop pioneered the pedestrian navigation market, and is the #1 ranked transit app in the Apple App Store for both iPhone and iPad as well as the #1 ranked transit app for Android in Google Play and the Amazon App Store. ... Trending Stories. Microsoft Still Hopes You'll Buy A Surface · Apple's Developer Center Goes Down · Nate Silver Is Leaving The New York Times.
TechCrunch » Mobile

Apple Buys 2 Mapping Companies - NYTimes.com
By By NICK BILTON
Apple confirmed on Friday that it had bought the mapping start-ups HopStop and Locationary, givingApple more expertise in an area where it has struggled. Read more…
NYT Bits

Apple Confirms Hopstop Acquisition - John Paczkowski and Liz ...
By John Paczkowski and Liz Gannes
Looks like Apple's recent purchase of crowdsourced location data company Locationary was part of a twofer mapping acquisition. ... HopStop was one of the companies we mentioned as part of a larger feature earlier today on the possibilities for mobile crowdsourcing after Google bought Waze. Microsoft Celebrates $900 Million Surface RT Write-Down With Ironic Advertisement....
AllThingsD

After losing Waze to Google, Apple will acquire city transit app ...
By Harrison Weber
After losing Waze to Google, Apple will acquire city transit app HopStop to bolster its Maps offering. HopStop, the city-focused navigation app which passed 3 million users back in March, will be ...
The Next Web

Gmail adds full-screen compose option following complaints
VentureBeat
Google has made a lot of design changes to Gmail in the past year, sometimes to the dismay of its users. One such change was making the compose screen take up just one corner of your display rather take up the whole screen. Google has apparently heard ...

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Microsoft Windows 8 FAIL, part 2

The Flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 8 Logic | TIME.com: " . . . . Another thing we keep hearing is that touch is not great for precise cursor positioning, especially in spreadsheets, desktop publishing documents and any other application where pinpoint cursor control is key to the program. This is one of the major reasons we are not seeing any serious demand for touch-based laptops or PCs from IT departments . . . One of the more interesting things we have observed when a touch-based system has gone into IT and SMB segments is that the attach rate for a mouse goes up exponentially. . . ."

Microsoft Finally Reveals That No One Wanted The Surface RT ...
By Matt Burns
It's Microsoft punching down where it should have just walked away from the fight. While Intel is quickly bringing most of the advantages of ARM chips to its x86 line, Microsoft decided it couldn't wait and built a product that ignored Windows' ...
TechCrunch

Microsoft skids on Surface, earnings disappoint
Boston.com
The shipments gave Microsoft a meager 2 percent share of the tablet market. Apple Inc. remained the leader with 39.1 percent and was followed by Samsung Electronics Co., AsusTek Computer Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Acer Inc. Microsoft also saw revenue ...

Google Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2013 Results – Investor ...
July 18, 2013 – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2013. “Google had a great quarter with over ...
investor.google.com/earnings/2013/Q2_google_earnings.html

Google rakes in over $14 billion in revenue during Q2, increased ad ...
By Terrence O'Brien
Of that massive haul, all most all of it (93 percent) was generated directly by Google properties, most notably massive advertising networks -- $12.1 billion of its gross was thanks to advertising. Motorola's efforts equate to just less than $1 billion ...
Engadget RSS Feed

Google Results Show Struggle With Mobile
New York Times
Google reported second-quarter results that missed analysts' expectations for revenue and profit. They showed that its desktop search business continues to slow and ad prices continue to fall as it struggles to make as much money on mobile devices....

Could digital technology transform public services? | Annika Small ...
Annika Small: Innovations such as Room for Tea and Tyze are providing new solutions to social care.
www.guardian.co.uk/.../digital-room-tea-tyze-public-services

Microsoft attacks iPad to unload Surface RT inventory
CNET (blog)
In a new ad, Microsoft compares a Surface RT to an iPad. An Apple Siri-like voice, representing the iPad, says, "This is not going to end well for me." Microsoft's Surface RT.. . . .

Apple purchases mapping company Locationary: report
Christian Science Monitor
Apple purchased Locationary, a data management company that aggregates information about different places, such as local businesses, according to All Things Digital. Skip to next paragraph. Enlarge. Related stories ...

I. LTE, Post-Paid Adds Continue Strong Growth
DailyTech
Outside of the wireless carrier business, which it owns a 51 percent stake in (with Vodafone holding the remaining 49 percent), Verizon grew its wireline revenue by 9.4 percent. Over 140,000 fiber-optic (FiOS) video customers and 161,000 FiOS internet ...

7 of the World's Longest-Running Experiments
National Geographic
When physicists at Trinity College, Dublin, started a viscosity experiment in 1944....

Curiosity Rover Samples Air for a Taste of Mars History
Scientific American
LASER BEAMS: A laboratory demonstration of the sample chamber within the Curiosity rover's Tunable Laser Spectrometer, one of the two instruments returning new data on Mars's atmosphere. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech ...

Snow's Up! Frosted Star System Discovered
Discovery News
Math and science majors are popular choices for incoming college students, but new research shows students quickly change majors when they realize they're gonna have to work really hard. And, as Trace tells us, this attitude has serious consequences.

Huawei Spies For China, Former NSA Director Says
Intelligent Enterprise (blog)
Michael Hayden, a former NSA and CIA chief, accuses Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei of engaging in espionage on behalf of the Chinese state....

Apes, like Proust, remember things past
Los Angeles Times
Great apes have a lot in common with Marcel Proust, it turns out. Their long-term memories can be provoked by the equivalent of dipping a madeleine in a cup of tea. In this case, chimpanzees and orangutans remembered how to find tools that would help ...

Apple 'iPhone Lite' pictured in two versions -- report
CNET (blog)
Another day, another rumor about Apple's plans to launch a "lite" version of its iPhone. Apple could be planning to launch two versions of an "iPhone Lite," claims a report out of China that was discovered by Phone Arena on Friday. The report, which ...

Apple, Samsung's latest phones face antitheft stress test
CNET
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are testing the latest security features of Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S4 to see whether they can stop thieves who have made off with said ...

Amazon scores victory against Pinterest over control of .pin
CNET
In March, Pinterest filed an objection with the World Intellectual Property Organization, arguing in part that domain names on .pin -- clothes.pin, say, or whatever Amazon has in mind -- would cause confusion around the term "pin." But WIPO was ...

Google Chrome For iOS Promises Data Cost Savings
InformationWeek
Chrome for iOS version 28.0.1500.12, available from Apple's iTunes App Store, takes the unusual step of offering users a way to avoid using the app. In Chrome's Settings menu, there's a GoogleApps submenu that includes switch buttons to open URLs ...

Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo join new push for disclosure on data-gathering
San Jose Mercury News
Apple (AAPL), Facebook, Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) joined other tech companies and civil liberties groups Thursday in asking the U.S government to reveal more information about its Internet surveillance efforts,. A sign stands outside the National ...

Apple purchases Locationary to make accurate crowd-sourced Maps
Computerworld (blog)
GigaOm notes: "Locationary CEO Grant Richie told us a couple years back that the dirty little secret of location-based services, like the ones that Google, Yelp and CitySearch use, is that some of their information is incorrect, based on outdated and ...

Apple Acquires Locationary - John Paczkowski - News - AllThingsD
By John Paczkowski
Apple has snapped up the crowdsourced location data start-up for an undisclosed sum, the latest move in its efforts to beef up its new mapping service. ... Microsoft Misses, Takes a $900 Million Charge on Surface RT Stock. July 18, 2013 at ...
AllThingsD

Amazon Rejected as Domain Name After South American Objections

By By ERIC PFANNER
A group of Latin American countries succeeded in blocking Amazon.com's request to use the domain name .amazon, citing its importance to the identity of the Amazon basin. Read more… ...Daily Report: Apple Ruling Strengthens Amazon's Powerful Hand ... scuttlebot News from the Web, annotated by our staff. Google, Microsoft spend billions a quarter on data centers. gigaom.com |Microsoft & Google together spent $3.4 billion on infrastructure, mostly data center gear, last quarter .
NYT Bits

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Microsoft Windows 8 FAIL, part 1

The Flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 8 Logic | TIME.com: " . . . . PCs and laptops have bigger screens and have used keyboards, mice and trackpads as input devices for most of their existence. It appears that Microsoft’s logic for Windows 8 has been that if touch is good for smartphones and tablets, it must be good for PCs and laptops, too. However, in our current research with PC and laptop users, we are sensing that this type of thinking, at least for traditional desktop PC and laptop users, is flawed. For one thing, most PC users over 16 have been trained to use keyboards, mice and trackpads and are very comfortable with these forms of input. Nobody in our research has said, “Boy, I sure wish I could touch my PC or laptop screen to get things done.”. . . . " 

Apple's Move Into TV Relies on Cooperation With Industry Leaders
New York Times (blog)
Reports emerged earlier this week that Google has held talks with several channel owners about licensing channels for such a service, but no content deals are within reach. Apple weighed something similar years ago, but its executives concluded that it ...

Google reclaims No. 1 spot in tech world but its hold may be tenuous
Los Angeles Times
For years, the technology giant grumbled while playing second fiddle to Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. But with both rivals now on the outs with investors, Google is ascending once again. On the eve of its second-quarter earnings report, Google shares ...

Dell Adjourns Vote on Sale as Some Big Investors Start to Shift
New York Times (blog)
Michael S. Dell, the founder of the computer company that bears his name. Kimihiro Hoshino/Agence France-Presse — Dell Inc. adjourned a vote on its ...

Google competition plan 'not good enough' - EU official
BBC News
It also offered to more clearly label results from YouTube, Google Maps and its other sites. But lobby groups from other companies, including Microsoft, disputed the effectiveness of the changes. "It is clear that mere labelling is not any kind of ...

Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter call for transparency on NSA spying
Fox News
Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft are part of a broad alliance of technology companies and civil liberties groups that will demand dramatically increased transparency around U.S. government surveillance efforts. In a letter published Thursday, the ...

Google appears poised to unveil new Nexus tablets
USA TODAY
Android, the world's leading mobile operating system, powers Google's line-up of Nexus tablets. Those devices have emerged as a popular alternative to Apple's iPad since Google released the first Nexus tablet with a 7-inch display screen last July.

Faith and Works at Apple - The New York Review of Books
By Edward Mendelson
Great institutions thrive on internal contradictions and irresolvable divisions. This has always been the case with governments and universities, and especially ...
The New York Review of Books

Chrome for iOS gains single click Google sign in; full screen iPad ...
By Kevin C. Tofel
After updating the app to version 28 on an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad, it's easier to use Google's other apps and services on Apple devices thanks to better app interoperability. Apple's iPad also gains a full-screen browsing experience. Open in maps Many of the changes are meant ...Implosions in the electric vehicle space dominated news in the cleantech area just as new EV darling... Open-Xchange pulls in $20M to help ISPs and hosting providers battle Microsoft and Google...

Nielsen: Microsoft Pays The Most Right Now To Promote Its ...
By Ingrid Lunden
Others in the top-five included Apple, Google and Amazon, “none of which were strangers to the top tech advertisers list in previous years.” Overall tech advertising is growing at a fast clip, up 30% over last year to $723 million for Q1, ...
TechCrunch

Google set to host press event July 24th featuring Sundar Pichai
By Brad Molen
Google's always cooking something up, and the company has our undivided attention when the press gets invited over for a breakfast featuring Sundar. ... DNP Google set to host product event next week. Google's always cooking something ...
Engadget RSS Feed

Daily Report: Apple Works With TV Industry on 'Grand Vision ...
By By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Apple is working with distributors and producers of TV programming in its efforts to reimagine television as it did the cellphone, Brian Stelter reports in The New York Times. ... ever materializes, the company's more modest steps, like improving the $100 Apple TV box that 13 million households now have and adding access to cable channels through the box, suggest that its strategy stands in stark contrast to Google's, which is contemplating an Internet cable service that would compete ...
NYT Bits

Better integration between Chrome and Google apps - Chrome Blog
Today's release of Chrome for iPad and iPhone makes it easier to integrate your favorite Googleapps with Chrome. After you sign in to Chrome, you can sign in ...
chrome.blogspot.com/.../better-integration-between-chrome-a...

Exclusive: Apple Pitches Ad-Skipping for New TV Service – jessica ...
Apple has a new trick up its sleeve as it tries to launch a long-awaited ... stories as The Journal's beat reporter for Apple, Google and other leading companies.
jessicalessin.com/.../exclusive-apple-pitches-ad-skipping-for-n...

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