Microsoft puts Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote on Google Chromebooks

"Microsoft on Monday conceded that Google's Chrome OS and the Chromebooks the operating system powers are capable of doing real work, a reversal of its "Scroogled" campaign that once blasted the laptops as worthless. Almost as an afterthought, Microsoft yesterday announced it was bringing its free Office Online apps -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote -- to rival Google's Chrome Web store, the primary distribution channel for Chrome OS software...."
source: Microsoft concedes Chromebooks are work-worthy Computerworld "....The move was largely symbolic: The Office Online apps have long been able to run within virtually any browser, including Chrome, the foundation of Chrome OS...."

Google to Buy Titan Aerospace as Web Giants Battle for Air Superiority
Wall Street Journal
Facebook had been in talks to buy Titan earlier this year, but Google offered to top anyFacebook offer, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Google Glass: 5 Reasons I Won't Buy
InformationWeek
Google Glass: 5 Reasons I Won't Buy. Google Glass is available for one day only to anyone willing to plunk down $1,500. Here's why I'm saying no....

Apple v. Samsung: Samsung resumes defense against iPhone maker's patent case
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE -- Samsung on Monday resumed its defense against Apple's ... Apple, however, has told jurors that Google has nothing to do with the ...

Microsoft's Siri rival, Cortana, closes mobile gap with Apple and Google
San Jose Mercury News
Microsoft takes some of the best parts of Apple's and Google's virtual assistants and adds a few useful tools of its own. The result is Cortana, named ...

Apple now cooperating says external compliance monitor Bromwich in first report
Apple Insider
Apple's court-appointed external compliance monitor Michael Bromwich on Monday issued his first report to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote, noting a marked improvement in relations between himself and the Cupertino, Calif. company. Bromwich....

Google acquires drone company Titan Aerospace
CBS News
Google is buying Titan Aerospace, which manufactures solar-powered ... Google andFacebook have both launched ambitious projects that aim to get ...

Google May Push Sites to Use Encryption
Wall Street Journal
In a move that experts say could make it harder to spy on Web users, Google is considering giving a boost in its search-engine results to websites that ...

Google's 'Game of Thrones' spoilers are what's trending
CNET
It was clear from the lists of trending topics on Twitter and Facebook that ... Later, I revisited Google Trends and one of the "Game of Thrones" search ...

Facebook Prepares A Money-Transfer Service, But Still Needs Trust
Forbes
With more than 1 billion active mobile users, Facebook has the kind of scale to make any e-payments service jealous, but it could be years before the ...

Saturn spotted spawning new FEMTO-MOON
Register
Boffins peering at images sent home by NASA's Cassini spacecraft think they may have spotted the first throes of a new moon coming into being. Dubbed “Peggy”, the moonlet is probably a lump of ice. But astroboffin Carl Murray from Queen Mary University of ...

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Microsoft's Nightmares: Google Chromebooks; Win7 Beating Win8.x

What's it like to be a technology behemoth with technology nobody wants? Ask Microsoft:

Windows 7 Handily Bests Windows 8 And 8.1′s Minute Market Share Gains In November | TechCrunch: "November was not a good month for Microsoft's Windows 8.x operating system according to Net Applications, with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 collectively gaining a mere 0.05% points of market share during the period. Windows 8 fell 0.87% to 6.66% global market share. Windows 8.1 managed to grow by 0.92%. The total gain of 0.05% is a weak figure. The main competitor to Windows 8.x, Windows 7, spanked its homegrown rival in November. As The Next Web's Emil Protalinski pointed out earlier today, “Windows 7 grabbed 0.22 percentage points (from 46.42 percent to 46.64 percent). In November, Windows 7 thus managed to gain more share than Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 combined.” That 0.22% is more than four times the aggregate growth curve for Windows 8.x during the month..." (you would think somebody at Microsoft would be smart enough to wake up and smell the coffee)

Microsoft Should Be Worried About Google’s Chromebooks | TechCrunch: "Microsoft wants you to believe that you can't do anything with a Chromebook when you're offline. That's just plain wrong at this point. Sure, Chromebooks make more sense in an always-on environment (which is where most people use them), but nobody is stopping you from playing Angry Birds while you're offline. Indeed, while Microsoft specifically calls out Angry Birds as the kind of thing you can't do on a Chromebook, Google would be more than happy if you downloaded it from its Chrome Web Store and played it offline. More and more ChromeOS apps now work this way, which is great, but if you think about it, how much of what you do on a laptop these days actually happens offline? Unless you really need Photoshop or high-end CAD software or a similarly demanding program, the software you're probably using most on your laptop is your browser."

Motorola $349 special promotion for Moto X continued for Wednesday 12/4 and next Monday 12/9 -- http://www.motorola.com/us/motorola-shop-all/motorola-shop-all-sale.html

The Official Motorola Blog: We owe you an apology.: "Starting at 12 pm EST/9 am PST this Wednesday, we will relaunch the $349 promotion. To help make up for this major inconvenience to shoppers, we will also add an additional promotional day on Monday, December 9. We will double the quantity of phones available, while supplies last, to allow as many people as possible to take advantage of the promotion. We’re also extending the 30% off offer on accessories to these two days."

Apple buys startup Topsy; gets rich Twitter data

Chicago Tribune
SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc has acquired social media search and ...apps store, still one of the largest in the mobile industry along with Google Inc's Play for ...

Wall Street Journal

Google Joins a Heavyweight Competition in Cloud Computing

New York Times
Google already runs much of the digital lives of consumers through email, ... dollars annually in material and talent, already includes Microsoft, IBM and Amazon.

New York Times

Amazon Kindle 'Fire' Sale Is On

InformationWeek
If you're looking to score a deal on an Apple iPad from Amazon, forget it.... Best Buy is, however, offering last year's Microsoft Surface RT tablet for just $200.

ABC News

Microsoft codename 'Threshold': The next major Windows wave ...

ZDNet
Hell, even Amazon controls more of the mobile market than Microsoft, and ... the roll you own Linux servers in corporations like Amazon,Google, Facebook, etc....

Apple Insider

Amazon's war on sales taxes whimpers to an end

Los Angeles Times
Although Amazon.com largely abandoned the battlefield in its long war against state sales taxes last year, the Supreme Court on Mondaydelivered the final ...

U.S. News & World Report

Microsoft squares up to Google in the school yard with free Office ...

ZDNet
It sees Microsoft arming itself with a free full-featured Office product to help combat Google's free Google Apps for Education plus Chromebook assault on the ...

Microsoft announces €170m expansion of Dublin data centre

Irish Times
Microsoft is to invest €170 million to expand its Europe, Middle East and Africa ... “Microsoft contributed greatly to this strategy when it chose Ireland as the home ...

Irish Times

Microsoft's Desktop Optimization Pack gets Win 8.1 management ...

PCWorld
MDOP 2013 R2, released on Monday, lets IT administrators manage BitLocker in Windows 8.1 using version 2.0 SP1 of Microsoft BitLocker Administration and ...

Amazon Announces 12 Days of Deals in Books

MarketWatch
(NASDAQ:AMZN) --Amazon today announced its second annual 12 Days of Deals for ... To sign up for daily emails, visit www.amazon.com/kindledailydeal.

Apple acquires Twitter analytics firm Topsy for around $200 million ...

Trevor Mogg
Apple has reportedly acquired social-media analytics firm Topsy for around $200 ... Last month, for example, it picked up PrimeSense, the Israeli company behind Microsoft's ... Delivery by drone:Amazon plans to deliver goods in 30 minutes using ... Google Glass user gets kicked out of a cafe, starts an online war with…
Digital Trends

Anybody's game: Mobile world divided between Apple, Google, Microsoft - NBC News.com: "Although the explosive success of Google's Android operating system over the last couple years means that it's No. 1 in nearly every market, the battle for the global smartphone market is far from finished. Android, iOS and Windows Phone are fighting tooth and nail — and finding success in unexpected places...."

Amazon is not alone: UPS, Google also testing delivery drones
Los Angeles Times
In Silicon Valley, Google is also testing delivery drones. Reports from as far back as February by news site 9to5Google say Google has been testing "mini-drone delivery systems" that it would like to use with Google Shopping Express, a same-day ...

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