Tech News: Microsoft, Android, CyanogenMod

Microsoft to Invest in CyanogenMod: What Could It Mean For Google? : PERSONAL TECH : Tech Times: "Microsoft is reportedly taking part in a $70 million investment round in CyanogenMod, an Android ROM creator that is one of the most popular alternative versions of Android. CyanogenMod essentially takes the Android code and modifies it, adding different features and bringing it to other devices. What could a Microsoft-powered CyanogenMod mean for Google? There are a number of reasons that Microsoft could be investing in CyanogenMod. Android is a very open operating system. However, Google does not offer the source code for services like Gmail and YouTube. Google has also been tightening its grip on Android in the past few years...." (read more at the link above)


New York Post
Apple is in a league of its own
New York Post
What Tim Cook and his execs pulled off this week is nothing short of amazing, as the tech giant reported record earnings and the stock on Friday came ...


Business Insider
Apple's earnings report was *too good*. People don't think Apple can beat it. Here's why that's a ...
Business Insider
And yet, Apple has consistently outperformed the skeptics. ... Apple's sales were up 30%, while Google's revenues were only up 15% last quarter.

In Kansas City, Google Fiber has changed workers' lives
The Tennessean
In 2010, Nashville was among the 1,100 cities that applied to be the first Google Fiber city. The title went to Kansas City, which has been reaping the ...

CNET
Why Apple keeps winning in style
CNET
Technically Incorrect: As technology becomes more fixated on fashion, the maker of the iPhone and the Apple Watch is well placed to take advantage.


Quartz
The most poignant commercial you'll watch today is on Google's homepage
Quartz
“I dream a world where man, no other man will scorn,” begins Google's animated tribute to the quintessential poet of the Harlem Renaissance, ...


Gizmodo
Apple Stores Will Be Outfitted With Special Safes for Gold Apple Watches
Gizmodo
As we get closer to Apple Watch's official launch, more details are becoming clearer and clearer. For one, we're pretty certain they'll be shipping in ...


Gizmodo
The British Army is Creating a Battalion of "Facebook Warriors"
Gizmodo
Warfare is a constantly changing landscape, from the weapons that are used to the battlefields they're fought on. Amidst mountains of Snowden leaks ...

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Microsoft Takes On US DOJ Over Email Privacy (video)

Microsoft Is Taking On the Government Over Email Privacy: Video - Bloomberg:
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Brad Smith, general counsel at Microsoft, explains why Microsoft is taking on the U.S. government over email privacy. He speaks with Bloomberg's Trish Regan on "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg 12/15)

Microsoft gets allies to help tell U.S. to back off on Irish search warrant
PCWorld
The U.S. Department of Justice should back off its request for Microsoft to turn over a suspect's digital documents stored on a server in Ireland, or be prepared for other governments demanding documents stored on U.S. servers, the company's general ...

iTunes trial: Case over Apple's digital music dominance heads to jury
San Jose Mercury News
OAKLAND -- iTunes 7.0: A landmark improvement to Apple's software for the iPod or an empty update meant to drive out competitors and hike prices for consumers? That will be the $1 billion question for a federal jury in Oakland as they deliberate over ...

Fortune
Apple aced its e-book antitrust appeal
Fortune
Judge Jacobs also repeatedly referred to Amazon's $9.99 pricing policy, whereby it sold books at below the wholesale acquisition cost, as “predatory ...
US faces tough questions in Apple e-books antitrust appeal - Reuters


Forbes
Facebook Removes Microsoft Bing Search Feature
Forbes
Bing.com is currently the second largest search engine with 20% of the market compared to Google's 67%. Fortunately for Microsoft, Yahoo!/Bing is ...

IBNLive
That Was Fast; Spain Already In Full Retreat Over Google Tax
Forbes
That's the exile of all of the Spanish press from the main Google index. ... 

The Guardian
Amazon UK's 1 penny firesale
CNNMoney
It was caused by a glitch in the software that third party sellers on Amazon ... Most of the orders have been canceled by Amazon. ... 

New York Times
Potential $1 billion Apple DRM judgment is now in jury's hands
The Verge
A jury of eight will now decide whether Apple should pay more than $1 ... "Plaintiffs don't understand the technology in this case," she told the jury.
Former engineer claims Apple intended to block 100 percent of non-iTunes clients - Digital Trends

TIME
Tuesday Is Amazon's Free Shipping Christmas Deadline
TIME
Inside An Amazon.com Distribution Center On Cyber Monday An employee stacks boxes filled with merchandise for shipment at the Amazon.com Inc.

TechRepublic
Why Google Fiber missed the mark with free internet
TechRepublic
Many know Google Fiber for its gigabit internet, but did you know it offers a no-cost option for internet access? Here's how Google dropped the ball on ...

TechCrunch
Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Profile Under Attack From Brazilian Trolls
TechCrunch
Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook profile has come under attack from a large ... photos and other “meme” images, on the Facebook CEO's public posts. ... this Facebook group titled “Flood that Mark” (translation via Google Translate). ... the design of Facebook's service and development of its core technology ...

Google App for iOS Gains Nest Integration
Mac Rumors
Following last week's major redesign, the Google app for iOS has seen yet ... Google makes devices and services that work with Google AND Apple ...

Google might build its own 'buy now' button to compete with Amazon
The Verge
Google has long had an e-commerce arm; its Google Shopping product lets you buy ... 

Video game industry struggles to grow, a year after new consoles launch - CNET: "After months of subsisting on strong sales of new game hardware, overall game spending plummets in November."

Google and French Space Agency partner on Project Loon:
Press Releases - CNES: "A fleet of balloons providing an Internet connection to rural, remote and underserved areas: that is the goal of Google’s ambitious Project Loon. CNES is supporting this project with balloon engineering expertise for which it has acquired international acclaim over the last 50 years. CNES and Google are delighted to be working together to give new momentum to research efforts in this area."

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Virtual Reality Gaming, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe (video)

Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe on Virtual Reality Gaming: Video - Bloomberg:
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Consumer virtual reality is edging closer to your living room but still has barriers to overcome. Oculus Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Brendan Iribe discusses the sector with Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde at the Dublin Web Summit in Ireland. (Source: Bloomberg)

Apple releases web tool to deregister phone numbers from iMessage | The Verge: "Apple has quietly released a new tool to make switching between iOS and other smartphones a bit easier. The new web tool lets you instantly deregister your phone number from Apple's iMessage system. The site, first spotted by a poster on Reddit, should solve the problem of disappearing text messages."


San Jose Mercury News
Apple Store looks for a boost with new leader Angela Ahrendts
San Jose Mercury News
While Apple's storefronts remain the envy of the retail world, sales have flattened as the stores undergo a global growth spurt. Using one key measure....

The Guardian
Facebook app poses a dilemma for publishers
The Guardian
Facebook's algorithms, like Google's, were always a bit mysterious, but at least the playing field was level. If ViralNova suddenly started getting ...

The Guardian
Microsoft has its head in the cloud over ugly wearable tech
The Guardian
Microsoft has released its own fitness tracker – for the moment in the US only, which means I haven't been able to lay my hands on one. But plenty of ...

Hattiesburg American
Tablet Review: Amazon's Fire vs. Google's Nexus 9
Hattiesburg American
This combination made from photos provided by Amazon and Google ... The Fire is also lighter than Apple's super-light iPad Air 2, though you're also ...
Google's Nexus Play and Amazon's Fire TV Stick: Two New Devices to Help You Ditch Cable - Motley Fool

AT&T GigaPower vs. Google Fiber: Why AT&T Will Win the High-Speed Broadband Race
Motley Fool
Already, Fiber has disrupted the few markets it has entered with cities racing to complete Google's checklist and get Fiber in their area. Yet despite ...

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Ask the FCC Why Comcast, Verizon and AT&T Can Not Be Like Google Fiber!

Google Fiber: we don’t charge for peering, don’t have fast lanes - Hear that Tom Wheeler, FCC, US Congress, Barack Obama? What is WRONG with Washington DC and the industry incumbents is they all have their heads up their _____. At this point, the incumbents and the US government (including FCC) have done such a poor job providing low-cost, fast internet for the US, let's just turn it all over to Google!

Google Fiber: we don’t charge for peering, don’t have fast lanes — Tech News and Analysis: "....Of course, this was more than Google gloating about how fast Fiber is. The post also comes at a time where Netflix sees itself pressured to strike paid peering deals with companies like Comcast and Verizon to improve an otherwise subpar video streaming experience for the customers of those ISPs."

Google Fiber Blog: "Google Fiber provides the ‘last-mile’ Internet connection to your home. Meanwhile, content providers spend a lot of money (many billions of dollars) building their own networks to transport their content all the way to those ‘last-mile’ connections....we invite content providers to hook up their networks directly to ours. This is called ‘peering,’ and it gives you a more direct connection to the content that you want. We have also worked with services like Netflix so that they can ‘colocate’ their equipment in our Fiber facilities. What does that mean for you? Usually, when you go to Netflix and click on the video that you want to watch, your request needs to travel to and from the closest Netflix data center, which might be a roundtrip of hundreds or thousands of miles. Instead, Netflix has placed their own servers within our facilities (in the same place where we keep our own video-on-demand content). Because the servers are closer to where you live, your content will get to you faster and should be a higher quality."

Google Plans Low-Cost, High Quality Wi-Fi Networks For Small- And Medium-Sized Businesses, Report Says | TechCrunch: "Google is apparently planning to offers subsidized, commercial-grade Wi-Fi hardware to small and medium-sized businesses, The Information reports, alongside software to help greatly improve the quality of the Wi-Fi experience at places like doctors’ offices, restaurants, gyms and more. The hardware would be the only cost involved, as it would use the businesses’ existing Internet connections, unlike the Google-provided Wi-Fi networks running at Starbucks businesses across the U.S."

Wheeler Says F.C.C. Will Examine Peering Arrangements - NYTimes.com: "The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that the agency would examine the type of paid-priority arrangements that Netflix recently entered into with Comcast, a deal that created an uproar of accusations that the F.C.C. was allowing companies to buy fast-lane Internet access to consumers. The chairman, Tom Wheeler, told a House panel Tuesday that the commission “needs to be looking at and will be looking at” those types of agreements, which are business-to-business contracts known as peering arrangements. Mr. Wheeler also stated that position last week after the commission voted to release its open Internet proposal for public comment. The stance is significant because Mr. Wheeler has long said that peering agreements do not fall under the umbrella of what is commonly referred to as “net neutrality,” which is the focus of the commission’s open Internet proposals introduced last week..."

Google Backs Netflix in Epic Battle With Comcast
Wired
Netflix is now paying Comcast for a direct connection to the internet service provider, as it seeks to ensure that Comcast customers experience fewer ...

House of Representatives passes 'gutted' NSA surveillance reform | The Verge: "Privacy watchdogs hope Senate will roll back amendments to USA Freedom Act"

HP: Cheapest quad-core tablet yet comes in at just $99.99 | BGR: "The HP 7 Plus features a 1GHz quad-core processor, a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 resolution display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (and microSD card slot), 2-megapixel rear camera, 0.3-megapixel front camera, 2800 mAh battery and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. If you purchase the tablet from HP’s website, you’ll also receive 25GB of lifetime storage with Box and Kingsoft Office software."

JD.com Is Latest Chinese Company to Soar In U.S. Trading Debut - MoneyBeat - WSJ: "Investors are going shopping for JD.com Inc.JD 0.00%, the newly public e-commerce juggernaut, adding to a mostly buoyant market for Chinese companies listing in the U.S."

Heard on the Street: Sina Spreads Gloom Amid Chinese Internet Boom - WSJ.com: "Chinese Internet portal operator Sina SINA -9.38% is giving investors plenty to worry about, and not much to look forward to."

Google feels political wind shift against it in Europe - FT.com

Marc Andreessen: Tech companies are still fuming over the NSA: "....Chief executives from leading companies including Netflix, Google and Facebook met with senior White House officials in December, and again in March. While the Obama administration said at the time that the meetings helped clear the air on intelligence reforms, Andreessen argued Monday that the White House has not done enough to mitigate the NSA's impact on tech companies' reputations, particularly overseas. "The level of trust in U.S. companies has been seriously damaged, especially but not exclusively outside the U.S.," said Andreessen. "Every time a new shoe drops — and there are 10,000 of them — it serves a blow to the U.S." Some estimates suggest the news about the NSA's surveillance practices may have cost tech companies tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue...."

How the Internet of Things Will Change Business | MIT Technology Review: "....Gordon Bell, a Microsoft researcher and a pioneer of the original computer revolution, believes no one knows exactly what form computing will take on the Internet of things. But he says that’s unsurprising. The importance of the PC and the smartphone became clear only after their development. “The ‘Internet of things’ is a way of saying that more of the world will become part of the network,” he says. “That is what is going on. We are assimilating the world into the computer. It’s just more and more computers.”"

Samsung Music will close its doors on July 1 | News | TechRadar: "Samsung is encouraging anyone using the service to "take the time to download all purchased content and use any remaining vouchers for Samsung Music before July 1, 2014 - after that date they will no longer be available." 

HP Shares Fall on Light Results; Plans to Cut up to 16,000 More Jobs | Re/code

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Google Fiber to test small-business service

Google Fiber plans to test small-business service in Kansas City - KansasCity.com: "...First, however, it’s querying those potential test customers about the industries they’re in, how many people they employ, whether their managers have Google Fiber service at home, their use of remote Internet storage and technical issues about their existing Internet connections. Those businesses have until April 25 to fill out the online questionnaire."

Coincidence Or Accident? Microsoft Security Essentials Bug Rendering XP Machines Hamstrung Like A Virus - HotHardware: "....If this is a widespread issue, and hints are leading us to believe that there are many out there battling it, we can't help but wonder what Microsoft is going to do about it - if anything at all. After all, with XP dead on the consumer side, it has no responsibility to continue updating it at all. If Microsoft does decide to patch it, we'd imagine users could go online and download the most up-to-date version of MSE, as it's not exclusive to XP. Still, what a coincidence. If you're still running an XP box, have you been bitten by this bug?"

The Future of Facebook May Not Say ‘Facebook’ - NYTimes.com: "Every time a new, much-hyped Facebook product blows up on the launchpad, and every time the company pays billions for someone else’s greatest idea, predictions of Facebook’s doom begin to roll in. But Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, is not worried. Facebook’s innovation engine may have stalled lately, but Mr. Zuckerberg has been working on revamping the way the company creates and distributes new services. The effort, which he began discussing this year, is called Creative Labs, and can be summarized in a single word: apps. Lots and lots of apps."

Exclusive: Google's Project Loon tests move to LTE band in Nevada
PCWorld
Google has expanded its Project Loon tests to the Nevada desert and, for the first time, into licensed radio spectrum. Google declined to comment on ...

Google offering try-before-you-buy kits to those interested in Glass
Los Angeles Times
Google has begun contacting customers and offering them the chance to try out the ... Get ready for new Facebook privacy freakout: 'Nearby Friends'.

Google wins a game of “Escape from East Texas,” linking Rockstar to Apple
Ars Technica
A federal judge issued an order today decreeing that Google's court battle against a "patent troll" owned by its competitors must be fought out in ...

Apple Makes Key Part Of Google's Experimental 'Project Tango' Phone
Forbes
Online repair guide iFixit tore down one of Google's Project Tango phones ... makes components for Microsoft's Microsoft's Kinect and Apple used parts from Samsung going way back. ... Then again, Apple likes to let others be the first movers in a market and ... Yes, Facebook Buying Oculus Is Dumb.

Microsoft's Brand New CEO Needs to Do Much More
TIME
Office, of course, had long been Microsoft's great cash cow fenced off from the ... share lags those of Samsung, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and of course the iPad. With Nadella taking the reins from Ballmer, Microsoft has the chance to ...

Microsoft Azure Intelligent Systems: 4 Facts
InformationWeek
Microsoft tries to become a power player in the brave new world of Internet-connected sensors, using a cloud-based Internet of Things management ...

Microsoft has sold more than 5 million Xbox Ones
MarketWatch
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said it has sold more than five million Xbox One consoles to retail shops since the product was launched in November.

Microsoft's Outlook.com now imports Yahoo Mail
PCWorld (blog)
In the past year or so, Microsoft, like its rivals Apple and Google, have tried to develop a complementary set of services and apps that share ...
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Apple iPhone 6 to Cost $100 More? (video)

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Will Apple iPhone 6 Cost $100 More?: Video - Bloomberg: "Jon Erlichman reports on what Apple may charge for the iPhone 6. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg, April 14)"

Lavabit held in contempt of court for printing crypto key in tiny font [Updated] | Ars Technica: "In the opinion, Judge G. Steven Agee of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals didn't rule on the merits of Levison's claims and found that a procedural error on his part forced the court’s hand. Judge Agee, who was joined in his ruling by Judge Paul Niemeyer and Judge Roger Gregory, ruled that Levison should have brought his claims that the government allegedly exceeded its authority under the US “pen register” and “trap and trace” statutes prior to the district judge holding him in contempt of court last year...."

Google Play Still Tops iOS App Store Downloads, And Now Narrowing Revenue Gap, Too | TechCrunch: "....App Annie’s Q1 2014 Market Index report includes data from over 150 countries around the world, examining apps on both Google Play and the iOS App Store. However it doesn’t take into account Amazon’s Appstore, which is found to be more lucrative for Android developers than Google’s own marketplace. The key finding in terms of revenue from the Q1 report appears, at first glance, to be more of the same – that is, Apple generates more revenue for developers, despite Google’s massive install base. However, what’s interesting is that Google Play is now narrowing that revenue gap, according to App Annie...."

Google Fiber: New York City could be next on the list | BGR: ".... Google Fiber has already been a roaring success in its initial launch markets, but Google has avoided the staunch competition of large metropolitan regions thus far. Although New York did not make it on the most recent list of cities that would be receiving Google Fiber, this job opening seems to signal that Time Warner and Verizon FiOS will have some competition in the near future...."

Google’s modular Ara phones to go on public sale in Jan 2015 via configurator tool | 9to5Google: "If you’re keen to get your hands on one of Google’s modular Ara phones, the bad news is you’re going to be waiting a while: the company has said at its first developer’s conference they won’t go on public sale until January of next year. You will, though, be able to configure your own phone using a Moto Maker style tool that will allow you to not only select your components but add customized colors and designs to them as you do … "

Samsung executive says Galaxy S5 to outsell S4, sees second quarter rollout for Tizen phone | Reuters: "...Yoon said that although Android "still needs to be our main business", Tizen or Windows would be used for markets that Android could not address. "We had tried to launch (Tizen) with DoCoMo and Orange ... but couldn't because of poor market conditions. We have changed our strategy and will release the phones in a few countries where we can do well," he said, adding that he thought Tizen would have to account for up to 15 percent of Samsung's total smartphone shipments to become a successful platform...."

Google Remote Desktop Lets Android Users Access Their PCs, but iOS Users Have to Wait
TIME
If you're an Android user, you can now access any computer running Google's Chrome web browser remotely, courtesy the company's just-unveiled ...

Google Revenue Jumps, but Misses Forecasts
New York Times
Google has been on a buying binge that has had little to do with its core ... $5 billion, which is more than the total ad revenues of Yahoo or Microsoft. The only viable threat toGoogle comes from Facebook, whose ad revenues are ...

Microsoft chops the price of custom Windows XP patches
ZDNet
While Microsoft has pulled the plug on Windows XP support, it continues to provide Windows XP security patches to large enterprise users who are ...

Google Wants to Make 'Science Fiction' a Reality—And That's Limiting Their Imagination
The Atlantic
Self-driving cars, extreme life extension, and global wifi provided by weather balloons:Google makes projects that sound like science fiction into ...

Facebook users targeted by iBanking Android trojan app
PCWorld
Cybercriminals have started using a sophisticated Android Trojan app designed for e-banking fraud to target Facebook users, possibly in an attempt to ...

Amazon Workers in Germany to Strike Again, Union Says
Wall Street Journal
Amazon Workers in Germany to Strike Again, Union Says. Action Continues Protracted Dispute Over Pay. Email; Print. Save ↓ More. Save to ↓ More.

Google's 10 Big Bets On The Future
InformationWeek
Its direct competitors in the computing market, Apple and Microsoft, tend to ... Each has taken a page from Google's playbook in moving into cloud ... Amazon is following a similar path, though it is hampered by its reliance on retail .... Facebook · LinkedIn · Google+ · RSS · UBM Tech. Featured UBM Tech ...

Samsung And Amazon Team Up For Custom Galaxy Kindle E-Book App | TechCrunch
By Ingrid Lunden
That still some way behind Apple and the iPad (which took 36% of all sales) but Samsung is gaining ground fast, picking up several percentage points ...
TechCrunch

Twitter Goes After a Facebook Cash Cow - The New York Times
By VINDU GOEL
The category has been a lucrative franchise for Facebook. ... hundreds of thousands of other apps in the Apple and Google stores, the ads are a great ...
NYT Bits

CEO Satya Nadella: Microsoft needs a 'data culture' - Fortune Tech
By Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large
FORTUNE -- Neophyte CEO Satya Nadella held an event in San Francisco Tuesday, his third public appearance in three weeks. Unlike his last outing, ...

CAPTCHAs Are Becoming Security Theater
The Atlantic
CAPTCHAs are a time-worn way for humans to tell computers that ...

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iOS 7.1 full of problems?

iOS 7.1 May Be Draining Your iPhone's Battery, Among Other Horrible Things: "...That's one of the complaints being raised against Apple's latest update to iOS 7, released on [last] Monday. iPhone owners have taken to Twitter and the Apple Community Forum message boards to voice their frustration at iOS 7.1, the first major update to Apple's newest operating system for iPhones and iPads. The software seems to be causing several issues, including loss of battery life, poor Bluetooth connectivity and spontaneous restarts...."

Why Google Is Not Scared Of Samsung Forking Android - Business Insider: "...Samsung may be very talented at quickly manufacturing hardware products, but it is no good at making software and applications (Walt Mossberg called the S4 "weak" and "gimmicky"). Therefore, it would be taking a huge risk by ditching the well-liked, and highly successful, Android platform for a platform of its own...."

Apple Co-Founder: Snowden Is A ‘Hero’ « CBS DC: " Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is full of praise for NSA leaker Edward Snowden. He tells the Times of India that Snowden is a “hero” for divulging information about the top secret government surveillance program. “I believe that Snowden believed, like I do, that the U.S. has a right to freedom. He had the guts to and courage to sacrifice his life for a principle,” he said. Wozniak was at the CeBit conference in Germany...."

Wireless electricity? It's here - CNN.com: "For Hall, the applications are endless: "I always say kids will say: 'Why is it called wireless?'" "The kids that are growing up in a couple of years will never have to plug anything in again to charge it.""

U.S. to Cede Its Oversight of Addresses on Internet - NYTimes.com: "The United States will give up its role overseeing the system of Web addresses and domain names that form the basic plumbing of the Internet, turning it over in 2015 to an international group whose structure and administration will be determined over the next year, government officials said on Friday...."

Google Fiber vs. Comcast, Time Warner Cable: serious competitor | BGR: "ISPs will ignore Google Fiber at their own peril. MarketWatch’s Nat Worden writes that many cable executives he talked with four years ago were openly dismissive of Google’s chances of succeeding as an ISP because the company didn’t have the experience managing a network and dealing with customer service to make it work. Now, however, Google Fiber is up and running in three markets and is considering an expansion to nine other major metropolitan areas encompassing 34 cities and towns, meaning the time for Comcast and Time Warner Cable to scoff at Google’s broadband adventure may be at an end...."

Microsoft takes on the 'free' OS
CNET
Microsoft fell behind Android and Apple when it missed the move to mobile, not offering the Windows Phone OS until 2010, long after Google and Apple jumped in the market. Former CEO Steve Ballmer said as much earlier this month. "We would have a ...

Google Play Store offers more control over in-game purchases
CNET
An earlier Federal Trade Commission complaint -- against Apple and the 15-minute purchase window it had in effect on its App Store -- revealed that one woman's daughter had spent $2,600 while playing Tap Pet Hotel and that other kids had shelled out ...

Apple, HP, Intel may be hit by slowdown in growth of smartphone salesSan Jose Mercury News
The smartphone business has generated staggering wealth for companies such as Appleand triggered a recent scramble by Hewlett-Packard and Intel to try for a piece of the action. But it now looks like its best days may be behind it, a troubling trend ...

Why Veronica Mars embraced UltraViolet and angered fans | TechHive: "....The implementation of UltraViolet as an answer to iTunes, however, has shown itself to be a colossal failure over the last two years. It has been in need of a page-one rewrite for as long as the service has existed, and this is its highest-profile flop yet."

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Google Fiber Continues to Expand

Move over Comcast, Google Fiber is coming to even more cities! --

Official Blog: Exploring new cities for Google Fiber: "... We've long believed that the Internet’s next chapter will be built on gigabit speeds, so it’s fantastic to see this momentum. And now that we’ve learned a lot from our Google Fiber projects in Kansas City, Austin and Provo, we want to help build more ultra-fast networks. So we’ve invited cities in nine metro areas around the U.S.—34 cities altogether—to work with us to explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber...."

More info at link above and at: https://fiber.google.com/newcities/

HP 'KNEW' about Autonomy's hardware sales BEFORE the whistle blew: report • The Register: "HP knew about Autonomy's hardware and reseller sales long before a whistleblower pointed them out and the company wrote down its acquisition by $8.8bn, theFinancial Times has claimed (paywall), citing emails and Deloitte audit reports. HP has accused Autonomy of "accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures" to excuse the massive writedown it made after it bought the UK software firm for $11.1bn in 2011. A year later, it claimed that it was misled about the state of the company's business when it wrote off most of the cost of the purchase...."

FCC won’t appeal Verizon ruling, will regulate ’Net on “case-by-case basis” | Ars Technica: " . . . Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge has previously warned that case-by-case regulation is ineffective. "We're in a bad place with net neutrality right now because the FCC got itself tied up in a knot with subtle lawyering," Bergmayer wrote. "Instead of building on its successes as a telecommunications regulator, it tried to come up with a 'third way.' I'm skeptical that yet more subtle lawyering—a fourth way or a fifth way—is going to save us." Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman released a statement today, saying, "While skeptical that the FCC's initial focus on section 706 will yield meaningful results, we are encouraged to see that the FCC plans to keep its 'reclassification' proceeding open...."

We Need Straightforward Rules to Protect Net Neutrality | Public Knowledge: "Telecom lawyers just can't stop coming up with complicated answers to simple problems. The reason the FCC lost its net neutrality case at the DC Circuit was simple. It tried to both de-regulate broadband access, by classifying it as an "information service" (something like a website or a social network), while applying traditional "telecommunications" rules to it--things like prohibitions on blocking content and discriminating against competing services. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals said--sorry, FCC. If you want to treat broadband access like a communications service, you need to formally classify it as one. Clever legal tricks aren't going to get you around this...."

Official Blog: Thank you, and welcome to the new Google Maps: "Over the coming weeks the new Google Maps will make its way onto desktops around the world. Many of you have been previewing it since its debut last May, and thanks to your helpful feedback we’re ready to make the new Maps even more widely available.... "

Xiaomi kicks off global expansion with Singapore launch | ZDNet: "Chinese smartphone darling, Xiaomi, has kicked off its global expansion plans in Singapore where its Android devices will go on sale this Friday, marking the company's first foray into markets outside of Greater China...."

AT&T reveals number of NSA and location demands in first-ever transparency report — Tech News and Analysis: "AT&T has made good on its promise to publish a report showing how often government demands data about its customers. The report includes information about cell tower searches and once-secret NSA demands...."

Apple passing Microsoft — Benedict Evans: "A symbolic moment, this: in Q4 2013 the number of computers* sold by Apple was larger than the number of Windows PC sold globally. If you add Windows Phone to the mix they're more or less exactly equal. "

Apple, Google, Microsoft: Where does the money come from? | ZDNet: "Three companies dominate the tech landscape in 2014: Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Although they compete directly and indirectly in various segments, each company has its own distinct financial personality. Big Three earnings Apple Q1 2014 hardware sales: By the numbers Microsoft earnings cheat sheet: Windows is back to cash cow number one Google's earnings: What future for plunging AdSense business? The best way to understand the differences between these three publicly traded companies is to look at the detailed reports each is required to file every quarter...."

BBC News - Kim Dotcom mansion raid was legal, NZ court rules: "However, the court did agree that the investigators' cloning of electronic evidence had been unlawful. . . .Mr Dotcom's legal team said it intends to contest the appeal court's decision."

Microsoft kills SkyDrive, launches OneDrive
Computerworld
In comparison, Apple provides only 5GB of free storage space for its iCloud online syncing and storage service, Google offers 15GB free with Google Drive, and the popular Dropbox file synchronization service hands just 2GB to customers free of charge.

Apple, Elon Musk and interplanetary travel
CNET
Apple, as well as Microsoft and Google, wants to be in every car, not just Tesla. The company is betting that iOS users want to have their Apple-ness everywhere. Applehas been working with Audi, General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, and others to integrate ...

Apple Gains Some Ground in China Smartphone Market
Wall Street Journal (blog)
According to research firm IDC, Apple's market share in mainland China rose to 7% in the quarter from 6% in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was the first full quarter afterApple launched its iPhone 5S and 5C in China in late September, on the ...

Google Capital Lands $300 Million and Leaps Into Web Education
Bloomberg
Google Inc. (GOOG)'s new investment arm has $300 million in fresh capital to put to work this year and is starting the dealmaking with its first foray into Web education.Google Capital, established by the search company to back late-stage technology ...

Microsoft Brings Lync, Skype Closer Together
InformationWeek
Microsoft faces strong competitors such as Cisco, Siemens, Google, and ShoreTel in the unified communication and collaboration market, which research firm IDC estimates will be worth $21 billion this year. Lync is formidable in its own right; in ...

Steve Perlman's Artemis unveils his 'breakthrough' wireless broadband ...
VentureBeat
Steve Perlman, the serial Silicon Valley entrepreneur who brought us OnLive and WebTV, has announced a new wireless broadband technology called pCell. The technology will enable full-speed wireless broadband to every mobile device, regardless of ...

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