Windows Phone Losing, Badly

Momentum is everything for smartphone platforms. Windows seems to be losing it: http://t.co/xSbebhOYdK via @tgryta
— Drew FitzGerald (@DrewFitzGerald) August 14, 2014

Windows Phone market share peaked a year ago, and has slipped back to 2.5%. pic.twitter.com/gOnamRC28k
— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) August 14, 2014

If You Haven't Seen A Windows Phone Lately, It's Because They're Practically Disappearing: "Neither Microsoft nor Nokia can hide from the very, very ugly truth. Windows Phone is failing miserably to gain any important traction despite tremendous marketing support. It’s true that globally, Nokia’s Lumia line set a record with 7.4 million units sold in the quarter. But those numbers mask the grim reality. First, North American sales actually fell to just 500,000 units. Second, average selling prices actually fell almost 20% from the prior quarter. To boost sales, Nokia has become a low-end smartphone maker..."

Lenovo first quarter net profit climbs 23 percent as smartphone sales surge | Reuters: "Lenovo's core PC business, which still accounts for roughly 82 percent of sales, continued to tighten its grip on the market despite a prolonged decline in the broader industry. Lenovo's laptop sales rose 12 percent over the year while global laptop shipments fell 3.7 percent, the company said. The company this year struck agreements to acquire IBM's low-end server unit and Motorola's handset business from Google Inc. Both deals hinge on U.S. regulatory approval, which analysts say could come as early as the third quarter of 2014."

Do You Really Need Microsoft Office Anymore? - WSJ: "Word, Excel and PowerPoint Alternatives From Google and Apple Have Many of the Same Features...."


Wall Street Journal
Amazon Unveils Mobile-Payments Service for Local Shops
Wall Street Journal
Amazon unveiled Local Register, a new mobile-payment service that could threaten rivals like Square and PayPal. WSJ's Scott Thurm explains on ...


CNNMoney
Apple Bans Use of 2 Chemicals in iPhone Assembly
ABC News
Apple is banning the use of two potentially hazardous chemicals during the final assembly of iPhones and iPads as part of the company's latest ...
Apple Bans Two Nasty Chemicals From Being Used In iPhone - TechCrunch


ITProPortal
Google goes DARPA
Fortune
Google goes DARPA ... the Defense Department's prodigious technology research organization that gave .... user interface, only to see them commercialized by Apple and Microsoft.


Yahoo Travel
Stalk the Reefs With Google Maps for Under the Sea
Yahoo Travel
The basketball-shaped, triple-lens SVII cameras use the same technology ... Thetechnology also records GPS data and quickly stitches the images together into panoramic views or 360-degree views. ... Follow us on Facebook and Twitter so that we can inspire you every day. ... Yahoo Travel Editors ... https://www.google.com/maps/views/streetview/oceans
Google 'street view' goes undersea to map Florida Keys, reefs - Florida Today


Bloomberg
Facebook to Track Users Across Devices to Study Shopping Habits
Bloomberg
Facebook Inc. (FB) will let advertisers know where a promotion was first viewed and when it led to a purchase by tracking users between their ...


Daily Mail
The Real Reason Facebook Is Forcing You To Download Messenger
Huffington Post
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken about his strategy to ... bought in the past,Facebook incorporated their technology into existing products ...

The Guardian
Orwell estate hits back at Amazon's corporate 'doublespeak'
The Guardian
George Orwell: 'If other publishers had any sense they would combine against [Penguin] and suppress them.' 

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Facebook Profits Massive and Growing (video)

Facebook Stock Surges: Massive Profits and Growing: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
Facebook posted second-quarter sales that surged 61 percent to $2.91 billion. Bloomberg Contributing Editor Paul Kedrosky examines the numbers on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg July 24)

Why Google And Facebook Cannot Be Compared On CPC (Cost Per Click) - Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) | Seeking Alpha: "Google and Facebook cannot be compared on CPC based on their growth and acquisitions strategy as well as user engagement models as analyzed. Google and Facebook are compared in terms of reach, technology and current user behavior to see where they are both heading in the internet advertising space. The market is penalizing Google for its acquisitions which are not producing revenue and rewarding Facebook for its mobile strategy..."

Amazon's Fire Phone: a shopping device that makes calls
CNNMoney
Amazon knows that you're not going to leave your iPhone or Galaxy S ... (Apple's forthcoming iPhones, expected in September, will reportedly come in ...


TG Daily
Google Hangouts Dresses Up For Business
InformationWeek
Google is making Hangouts part of Google Apps for Business to enhance the ... company's biggest rival for business customers ...


CNN
Facebook: Get Messenger app or else
CNN
(CNN) -- For mobile users who text with friends via Facebook, it's almost time to download the social-media giant's dedicated app for doing so, or lose ...


Wall Street Journal
Amazon Calls for Hachette to Cut E-Book Prices
Wall Street Journal
Amazon is in a standoff with the Hachette Book Group, blocking pre-orders of and ... "Books compete against mobile games, television, movies, Facebook, blogs, free news sites and more. ... In the blog post, Amazon said that its internal data showed that when a .... Google Attempts to Map Human Body.


Irish Independent
Microsoft faces anti-monopoly probe in China over Windows, Office
PCWorld
China has opened an anti-monopoly probe into Microsoft over problems ... secret surveillance programs being built into U.S. technology products.


Reuters India
Amazon to invest $2 bln more in India as e-commerce race heats up
Reuters India
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc on Wednesday said it will invest a further $2 billion in India just a day after the country's largest e-tailer Flipkart ...


Firstpost
Microsoft reveals Windows Phone 8.1's first update, with welcome new features
PCWorld
Microsoft formally unveiled Windows Phone 8.1 Update early Wednesday morning, confirming features such as Start screen folders, sandboxed apps, ...


Reuters UK
Samsung, Apple still dominate smartphones, but their shares slip
Computerworld
Computerworld - Samsung and Apple, in the second quarter, sunk to their ... "Samsung and Apple are both seeing a lot of pressure from alternative ... Lenovo is in the process of acquiring Motorola from Google and will use the ... Chinese officials seize Microsoft PCs, emails, financial info in antitrust ...


Telegraph.co.uk
Google's Problem With The Max Mosley Sex Party Pictures
Forbes
Max Mosley is suing Google yet again over links to pictures of him enjoying certain practices at a private sex party. As he points out himself this ...


ETF Daily News
Why Scorned Amazon.com Is Now A Rare Opportunistic Buy
Forbes
Post notes that Amazon is an “eCommerce leader with market share and margin potential stemming from its global scale, fulfillment, and technology ...

Heads rolling at Beats as Apple eliminating redundant positions, keeping developers and creatives ...
Mark Gurman
Eddy Cue, Jimmy Iovine, Apple, Beats Music, Code Conference ... and technology resources from Beats to Apple, according to sources briefed on the ...
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Google Illicit Ads (video); Samsung Tizen Smartphone DOA?

Google Targeted in State Crackdown on Illicit Ads: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
Google hasn’t done enough to satisfy an investigation by multiple states into whether it adequately screens illegal drug advertisements and illicit online videos, Mississippi’s top law enforcement official said. Bloomberg's Megan Hughes has more on "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg July24)

Samsung's Tizen Smartphone: Dead On Arrival? - InformationWeek: "...Samsung was scheduled to launch its first Tizen smartphone in Japan back in January. Japanese wireless network operators balked at the last moment and cancelled the launch. Later, Samsung announced the Z and its intent to sell the device in Russia during the third quarter. Developers knew something was fishy when the phone didn't make an appearance at a Moscow developer event earlier this month. Today's delay will likely put to rest any hopes that the device and Tizen platform will succeed...."

More Tech NEWS:

USA TODAY
Twitter stock surges on strong Q2 results
USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO – Twitter shares surged nearly 40% in after-hours trading with news that ... "Twitter is to Facebook what radio is to television.


Businessweek
Google's Android Has a Fake-ID Problem
Businessweek
Google's (GOOG) Android operating system has a security flaw that could allow hackers to impersonate trusted applications and potentially hijack your ...


Boston Globe
Chinese officials raid Microsoft offices
Boston Globe
BEIJING — Officials from a Chinese government agency that enforces anti-monopoly laws and other business regulations visited four Microsoft offices ...


CNN
Facebook: Get Messenger app or else
CNN
(CNN) -- For mobile users who text with friends via Facebook, it's almost time to download the social-media giant's dedicated app for doing so, or lose ...


CIO Today
Microsoft, IBM make cloud gains against Amazon
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft and IBM are gaining momentum in the cloud ... "This is in stark contrast to Google, which has its cloud offerings out there, ...


Telegraph.co.uk
Apple Doubles Down on Personalized Radio With Swell Acquisition
Wired
On Monday, Re/Code reported that Apple is now close to acquiring Swell, which is like Pandora for podcasts. If the deal goes through, it will be yet ...


CNNMoney
Amazon launches 3-D printing store
CNNMoney
That's the sci-fi scenario Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) is inching closer to with the launch this week of its 3-D Printing Store, which offers shoppers over ...


Reuters
Microsoft's Windows Phone dilemma: Sell cheap phones or great cameras?
PCWorld (blog)
A good question—and I worry further that Microsoft's senior executives won't ...Microsoft's Cortana constantly gains new capabilities, but so do Google ...


Financial Express
Apple Refreshes MacBook Pros, Cuts Prices
InformationWeek
Apple on Tuesday continued its season of incremental Mac updates, announcing refreshed MacBook Pros with slightly faster processors and, in the ...

Apple updates MacBook Pro, but where's the Retina MacBook Air? - ExtremeTechComputer Hardware & Software News | ExtremeTech


Design & Trend
Amazon Fire Phone not enticing enough to leave Apple, Android
Los Angeles Times
Amazon Fire Phone not enticing enough to leave Apple, Android ... Amazon released its first smartphone this month, but for most consumers, it doesn't .... of Android, meaning it looks and feels nothing like the software Google makes.

Facebook, Google vying for growth as Alibaba IPO looms: "...While Google's 22% top-line growth for the June quarter shows how healthy its business is 10 years after it went public, Facebook is gobbling up digital ad money -- Google's core market -- a lot faster. Facebook's advertising revenue shot up 67% year-over-year, lifting total top-line growth to 61%, as mobile advertising now comprises nearly two-thirds of the social network's sales. Meanwhile, analysts estimate Google gets somewhere between a quarter and a third of its revenue from mobile. Researcher eMarketer estimates Google will capture about a third of the online ad market this year, while Facebook garners 22%... Facebook is growing three times as fast as Google. Yet the No. 1 social media company is still just a fraction of the size of the No. 1 Internet search company, as measured by revenue and market cap. With both companies' latest financial results reported, Google as of Friday's close was valued at roughly $400 billion. That's second only to Apple's $589 billion and about double that of Facebook...." (read more at link above)

Beijing Researchers Use Gene Editing to Create Disease-Resistant Wheat | MIT Technology Review: "Researchers have created wheat that is resistant to a common disease, using advanced gene editing methods."

The Next Big Thing in Computer Memory | MIT Technology Review: "... The type of memory in question, resistive random access memory (RRAM), is being developed by several companies, but fabrication usually requires high-temperatures or voltages, making production difficult and expensive. The Rice researchers have shown a way to make RRAM at room temperature and with far lower voltages...."

Shareholder report lays out why Alibaba should buy Yahoo | VentureBeat | Deals | by Richard Byrne Reilly: "....The push for Ma, Alibaba’s founder, to buy the massive IT giant is outlined in a report from Yahoo shareholder Eric Jackson, who owns Ironfire Capital. Jackson said such a deal would save Alibaba billions if Ma buys Yahoo as a tax-free way of reclaiming shares from his own company...As for the other investors who are interested in pushing Alibaba to buy Yahoo, speculation has centered on Yahoo shareholders Janus Capital, JAT Capital, and DE Shaw. Yahoo has a market valuation of $36 billion. Yahoo has about 800 million active users. Jackson did not reply to an email for comment. A Yahoo spokesperson declined to comment. Floating a report like Jackson’s is a common tactic by shareholder investors as one way they can promote their agendas regarding the company in question...."(read more at link above)

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Native Apps and App Stores Will Soon Be Dinosaurs

Steve Jobs was right -- he was just ahead of his time. With HTML5 and the modern mobile browser, native apps and app stores will soon look like dinosaurs, even worse than brick-and-mortar retail:

The Confusing World of Apps - WSJ.com: "Given the plethora of apps out there, it has become increasingly hard for smartphone users to spot the best ones. Apple's App Store and Google Play each have over a million to choose from. To make things worse, app searches aren't as intuitive as consumers might hope ..."

Audacity | Steve Jobs Looked Beyond Native Apps. And He Was Right.: " . . . The distinctions, as Jobs saw them, were that web apps would be secure, universally available, easy to update and required no dedicated software development kit (SDK). The debate was, and still is, that web app development was a better choice than native app development. While a few years ahead of the technologies of the time, Jobs correctly touted the browser as an important, if not the most important, application platform. Seven years later, huge advancements in browser technology and an incredible resurgence in JavaScript as a matured programming language have narrowed the gap between app development techniques...."

Heard on the Street: Alibaba's Magic Fades on SoftBank - WSJ.com: "SoftBank investors have more to keep in mind than just Alibaba's valuation. The company posted a 28% on-year decline in net profit for the three months ended in March, weighed down by costs from serial acquisitions and a telecom price war in Japan. And SoftBank still appears keen for its Sprint unit to make a bid for T-Mobile, despite regulator skepticism. The deal has strategic logic as it would help consolidate Sprint's position in the U.S., but it would also expand SoftBank's net debt, which already is at six times Ebitda, much higher than telecom peers."

Global Raids Target 'Blackshades' Hacking Ring - WSJ.com: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation and foreign police agencies have launched a series of raids around the world at the homes of people linked to a type of hacking software called Blackshades, according to posts on hacker forums and people familiar with the investigation. The software is what experts call a "rat''—remote access tool—that allows people to control computers from a distance..."

Apple, Google settle smartphone patent litigation | Reuters: "Apple Inc and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit have agreed to settle all patent litigation between them over smartphone technology, ending one of the highest profile lawsuits in technology. In a joint statement on Friday, the companies said the settlement does not include a cross license to their respective patents. "Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas of patent reform," the statement said...."

Apple Sued Over Vanishing Texts After IPhones Swapped Out - Bloomberg: "A former iPhone user sued Apple Inc. (AAPL) claiming the company’s messaging system interfered with delivery of texts after she switched to an Android-based smartphone. Apple’s iMessage retains text messages sent from other users of Apple devices and won’t deliver them to her Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) phone running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system, Adrienne Moore said in the complaint filed yesterday in San Jose, California. People who replace their Apple devices with non-Apple wireless phones and tablets are “penalized and unable to obtain the full benefits of their wireless-service contracts,” according to the complaint...."

BlackBerry Director Nordberg to Step Down as Board Shrinks to 6 - Bloomberg: "BlackBerry Ltd. said director Bert Nordberg won’t stand for re-election just a year after he was named, leaving the smartphone maker with six board members. Nordberg, the 58-year-old former chief executive officer of Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, is a member of the company’s nominating committee, BlackBerry said yesterday in a filing. It didn’t say why he won’t seek to remain on the board after being appointed last year...."

Windows Phone web usage tops BlackBerry in North America but looks stagnant — Tech News and Analysis: "While Chitika’s graph shows BlackBerry’s decline, more interesting to me is the lack of growth for Windows Phone usage. It suggests that Microsoft is still having a hard time finding a foothold for its handsets in the U.S. and Canada. Chitika’s report notes that iOS and Android are still doing well, accounting for 53.1 and 44.5 percent of North American smartphone web traffic, respectively."

Eric Schmidt: Europe struck wrong balance on right to be forgotten | Technology | theguardian.com: "Google's executive chairman says European court of justice ruling went too far in favour of privacy at cost of right to know...."

CDs, Fax Machines, Japan loves the "old stuff" - Japanese want "artifacts" - read more:   Why the Japanese still love music CDs | The Big Picture

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Microsoft Consumer Sales Tank and Nokia Windows Phone Sales Decline

Microsoft today: enterprise sales still strong but consumer sales in decline. Will enterprise follow?

Microsoft Windows Sales - Business Insider: "Basically, consumer PC sales are tanking, but sales to enterprises are strong.  Suh said Windows revenue for consumers was down 20%. Windows revenue for enterprises was up 12%. He said the consumer sales drop was affected by China, where there is an inventory build up. But, even if you don't include China, the consumer drop is still 14%"...".... didn't provide any guidance on whether corporations are buying Windows 8, or Windows 7 licenses. (If we had to guess, we'd guess Windows 7 is more popular since he didn't say anything either way. If Windows 8 was hot, Microsoft would want to brag about it."

Nokia Earnings - Business Insider: Nokia says it sold 8.2 million Lumia phones last quarter. Lumia phones are the devices that run Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system. Lumia sales had actually been growing quarter over quarter in 2013, but saw a decline in the final quarter. It sold 8.8 million Lumias in Q3 2013.That's a troubling stat since sales declined during the holiday season.

Microsoft results show tough realities of company's expansion into hardware - GeekWire: "Microsoft this afternoon posted record revenue of $25.5 billion for the December quarter, an increase of 14 percent. And yet the company’s profits were up just 2 percent, to $6.56 billion. So what’s going on? A quick glance at Microsoft’s Devices & Consumer segment helps to explain what’s happening — and illustrates how the company is being reshaped by its expansion into hardware. Revenue in the Devices & Consumer segment was up 13 percent, to $11.9 billion, driven by strong sales of the Xbox One and Surface tablets. However, the segment’s gross profit declined to $5.8 billion — a decrease of 14 percent from the same quarter a year ago...."

Microsoft Form 10-Q: "Launched in October 2012, Windows 8 was designed to unite the light, thin, and convenient aspects of a tablet with the power of a PC." Problem: Windows 8 is a debacle - "Threshold" to be Called Windows 9, Ship in April 2015 | Windows 8 content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: "there's no way to sugarcoat this. Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good."

Microsoft Earnings Illustrate Move to Devices and Services From Software
New York Times
Apple's success in new product categories like tablets and mobile phones — and Microsoft's weakness in those areas — is a big reason Microsoft has taken the once unthinkable step of making its own computers and mobile phones, although both crimp...

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Epic Fail of BlackBerry (video); NSA Fallout

Epic Fail: The Business Edition - Video - NYTimes.com: "Epic Fail: The Business Edition BY CHANNON HODGE November 4th, 2013 BlackBerry is just the latest example where a promising company falls in love with its own product while missing the signs that consumers are destined to move on."

Windows Phone, BlackBerry market share Q3 2013: Windows Phone surges | BGR: "For every winner there’s usually a loser and the biggest smartphone shipment loser over the last year has undoubtably been BlackBerry, which saw its shipments crash from 7.7 million in Q3 2012 to 4.5 million in Q3 2013 for a year-over-year decline of 41.6%. What makes these results particularly bad for BlackBerry, IDC says, is that the company is having a tough time selling BlackBerry 10 devices everywhere and that most of its shipments to emerging markets are still older BlackBerry 7 devices."

Internet architects propose encrypting all the world’s Web traffic | Ars Technica: "...A vastly larger percentage of the world's Web traffic will be encrypted under a near-final recommendation to revise the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that serves as the foundation for all communications between websites and end users. The proposal, announced in a letter published Wednesday by an official with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), comes after documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden heightened concerns about government surveillance of Internet communications.... "

NSA Fallout: Tech Firms Feel a Chill - WSJ.com: "...Cisco executives were the most explicit so far in suggesting that Chinese customers, particularly those with government ties, may be cutting purchases of U.S. tech gear in response to U.S. restrictions on Chinese companies and revelations about surveillance by the National Security Agency...."

Google Employees Speak Out About Government Spying - NYTimes ...
By By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER
The Google lawyer who oversees national security requests testified before Congress Wednesday, while in an unofficial capacity, Google security engineers lambasted the government for surveillance.
NYT Bits

David Miranda Is Nobody's Errand Boy: "...“It’s just that it’s a post-9/11 era,” Greenwald says gently. “I’ve just seen all these judges who are so subservient, who will get down on their knees in deference every time the state utters the words ‘terrorism’ or ‘national security.’” He adds, to get back in Miranda’s good favor, “They’re trying to make an act of journalism into terrorism.”..."

Microsoft's new Cybercrime Center combines tactics against hacking ...

NBCNews.com
Microsoft Corp's expanded Digital Crimes Unit inside the 16,800-square foot, high-security facility combines a wide array of tactics that have worked the best: ...

ZDNet

Amazon Introduces Personalized Kindle Accessories

Wall Street Journal
(NASDAQ:AMZN)--Amazon.com today announced an all-new service that allows customers to personalize Kindle covers and skins--all for the same price as a ...

Headlines & Global News

Google defeats authors in US book-scanning lawsuit

Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc on Thursday won dismissal of a long-running lawsuit by authors who accused the Internet search company of digitally ...

Slate Magazine (blog)

Google report says company rebuffing higher ratio of legal demands ...

Washington Post
Several other companies, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Yahoo Inc., have since followed Google's practice of disclosing government ...

Washington Post

Apple's Schiller: iPhone was a 'bet-the-company' product

CNET
Apple's Phil Schiller talking about the iPhone 5S' M7 coprocessor during an ... Apple's head of marketing, Phil Schiller, on Thursday told a court here that the ...

Times of India

Google Chrome pwned in final Mobile Pwn2Own hack

ZDNet
Google, Mozilla, Microsoft, Opera, etc. have spent years making their products as secure as possible and yet they're routinely penetrated by independent 3rd ...

IT PRO

Amazon builds shoddy 'House'

Boston Herald
'ALPHA' MALES: Amazon elected Mark Consuelos, John Goodman, Clark Johnson and Matt Malloy, from left, to star in 'Alpha House.' ...

Boston Herald

Apple rolls out iOS 7.0.4, includes new features, bug fixes

ZDNet
Secondly, in Spotlight, the device's internal search engine, Apple has brought back the ability to search Google and Wikipedia from the results. The two services ...

ZDNet

Destruction of Brazil's Amazon jumps 28%

USA TODAY
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's government reported Thursday that annual destruction of its Amazon rainforest jumped by 28 percent after four straight years of ...

Slate Magazine (blog)

Google Now Update Improves Voice Commands

InformationWeek (blog)
Google made a new version of its Google Search application available to Android devices recently. The updated software adds a handful of new cards to the ...

ExtremeTech

Google's Street View maps the watery roadways of Venice - Engadget

Matt Brian
Google's Street View has taken us all the way up (to the Burj Khalifa) and all the way down (to the Great Barrier Reef), so where else is there to go but.
Engadget RSS Feed

Intelligence Lawyer Robert Litt Claims Searching For Possible Privacy Violations ...
Techdirt
The ODNI's head counsel, Robert Litt, had made statements over the past few months that seem to hint that he's actually some sort of android, rather than a living, breathing human being. Maybe this is what happens to anyone who spends too long on the ...

The world has lost almost six Californias worth of forest since 2000
Quartz
Take a look: This is deforestation's footprint from 2000 to 2012, according to a new study of 650,000 high-resolution satellite images. ​. The world lost the trees on some 2.3 million square kilometers (0.9 million square miles) of land, while trees grew back or ...

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Microsoft, Nokia, Windows Phone, Missing Apps

Missing Apps Means Missing Sales --

Microsoft's $7.2 Billion Nokia Bet Not Luring Apps
Bloomberg
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, currently has more than 175,000 applications for Windows Phone, compared with more than 900,000 for Apple iOS and more than 1 million for Google Android -- and even those apps that it does have typically come ...

Microsoft Charges Into Enterprise Cloud Market
InformationWeek
Microsoft announced a variety of enterprise products and services Monday, including discounts to its Windows Azure cloud platform. The unveilings accelerate the company's effort to move its services to the cloud, and to compel businesses to build ...

Amazon Wins Ruling for $600 Million CIA Cloud Contract
Bloomberg
Judge Thomas Wheeler of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington granted Amazon's request for judgment on the administrative record following a hearing yesterday, according to a minute order posted on the court's electronic docket. A written ...

Google teams up with HP to offer lightweight, $279 Chromebook laptop
Los Angeles Times
The Chromebook 11 goes on sale starting Tuesday and can be purchased from Best Buy, Amazon, Google Play and HP Shopping. An LTE-compatible version of the ...

Amazon offers perks to customers who buy certain apps

CNET
Amazon's app store has roughly 100,000 apps, but that figure is overshadowed by the 375,000 apps that developers have created specifically for Apple's iPad....

ReadWrite

Amazon takes on PayPal, now offering Amazon login and pay service to online business: "For Amazon, that means a (unknown) cut in the sales margin by acting as middleman. For businesses, it means an easy implementation of a widely used system (a "set of widgets and APIs" are all that's needed to get the pay service running on your site). And for customers -- all 215 million active Amazon account holders -- it means their Amazon login will now work across the web (where implemented, that is)."

Google, Android, Malware
InformationWeek
. . . the gist of a presentation at last week's Virus Bulletin conference in Berlin by Google's Android chief of security Adrian Ludwig, who reported that only 0.001% of apps downloaded by Android users pose any harm to their devices or data. ...

Apple-Led Import Ban on Certain Samsung Products Takes Effect

TIME
The latest update in the seemingly endless patent feud between Samsung and Apple finds that an Apple-won ban on the sale of certain Samsung phones and ...

Newsday

Is Google next to make a smartwatch?

San Jose Mercury News
After Samsung's Galaxy Gear, rumors suggest that Google will be the next... firms within Apple's supply chain that they had received orders to build the device....

Computerworld

Amazon goes for PayPal jugular with 'login and pay'

USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO -- Amazon.com stepped up competition with eBay's PayPal division Tuesday by launching a new service that lets its more than 215 million ...

ZDNet

Apple Moves Closer to China Mobile With Ad Seeking Network Skill
Bloomberg
Apple Inc. (AAPL) wants to hire an engineer with extensive knowledge of China Mobile Ltd. (941)'s homegrown phone network, evidence it's moving toward an ...

Amazon adds India to its Android app

IBNLive
New Delhi: Amazon.in announced the availability of its app for Android users in India. In other words, the company has now added India to its Android app....


IBNLive

Google Takes on TV Schedules (And TV Guide)

TIME
Google Takes on TV Schedules (And TV Guide). New feature in ... AGoogle logo is seen at the entrance to the company's offices in Toronto September 5, 2013....


NDTV

Google Play adds HBO's Game of Thrones and 6 other shows

PCWorld (blog)
All Google Play prices are in line with those on other streaming services, including Amazon's video service. Also, as with other services, current season ...

Macgasm

Microsoft updating Skype for new Kindle Fire tablets, iOS 7 devices

ZDNet
Summary: Microsoft is rolling out new Skype updates for Android tablets, ... Fire HD and HDX tablets, as well as current support for Apple devices running iOS 7....

Apple Will Hold Fall iPad Event on October 22 - John Paczkowski ...

John Paczkowski
Worth noting: The date of Apple's fall event coincides with both Nokia's Innovation Reinvented showcase, and the retail debut of Microsoft's new Surface 2 in the ...

AllThingsD 

Apple iMac review (2013) - Engadget

Dana Wollman
This is an "s" year for Apple, and no, we're not just talking about the iPhone. ... quite similar to whatApple already does with the iPhone, and what Microsoft does .... That's available now on Amazonfor $1,650 with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of .... to Financial Publishers · PHP On Google App Engine Now Generally Available ...
Engadget RSS Feed 

Google Nexus 5 rumor roundup: $299 starting price, November 14 ...

Brad Linder
Google's next-generation Nexus smartphone is almost certainly going to be built by LG, feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, full HD screen, and ...
Liliputing

Scientists Uncover First Ever Evidence of Exploding Comet Striking Earth
Science World Report
Scientists have uncovered the first ever evidence of an ancient comet that entered Earth's atmosphere before exploding in a spectacular display. The resulting shock wave rained down a wave of fire which obliterated almost every life form in its path.

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No easy road ahead for Microsoft after Nokia deal

With the Nokia deal, Microsoft might have substituted short-term pain (loss of Windows Phone) for long-term pain -- continuing decline and irrelevance as Windows Phones will never be competitive to Apple iPhones or Android smartphones --

The Deal That Makes No Sense | stratēchery by Ben Thompson: "The tragedy in the deal, as I hinted at earlier, is that I think Microsoft ought to abandon Windows Phone. The war is over, and iOS and Android won. It would be far better for Microsoft to focus on serving and co-opting those devices, instead of shooting the most promising parts of their business in the foot for the sake of a platform that is never going to make it."

Google-Motorola Deal Foreshadows Challenge Awaiting Microsoft - Bloomberg: "Google’s experience with Motorola may hold lessons for Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, which announced plans on Sept. 2 to buy Nokia’s handset unit, stepping up an effort to challenge Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Google in the smartphone market. Nokia’s devices and services business swung to a loss of more than $1.4 billion after earning almost that much in 2011. “Hardware margins are always much lower than software,” said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley & Co in San Francisco. “Microsoft will have to bear the brunt. You will see margin compression. There’s no doubt about it.”"

Panasonic officially quits the consumer smartphone business, president says mobile performance was 'unacceptable': ""It's not acceptable for the company to be bleeding red ink like this, so we have to think about ways to develop assets that we do have in a more effective direction", Tsuga said. Panasonic is not stopping completely with phones, however, and plans to expand on its Toughbook laptop series with smartphones for rough-and-tough business use."

Intel Unveils Optical Technology to Kill Copper Cables and Make Data Centers Run Faster | MIT Technology Review: "Intel hopes to make computing far more efficient by introducing a technology that replaces conventional copper data cables with faster optical data links. The breakthrough required Intel to fit lasers and other optical components onto silicon chips, which usually deal only with electronic signals."

Microsoft claims victory in 2nd Motorola patent trial
Chicago Tribune
The long-running argument between Microsoft and Motorola, and by extension Google, is just one facet of a wide-ranging global patent war surrounding smartphone and internet technology that has drawn in Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Nokia and ...

Microsoft's Make-or-Break Decision: Selecting the Next CEO
Businessweek
The course has been set, but the company has not done well here, whereas Apple(AAPL) has succeeded. The Nokia (NOK) acquisition brings ... Google (GOOG) andAmazon (AMZN) passed Microsoft years ago, but it's not too late. Microsoft still casts a long ...

Microsoft Made a Pretty Good Smartwatch, Back in 2004
Businessweek
Before Samsung's product is official, now might be a good time to travel back to 2004 to see the beginnings of the modern smartwatch because in some ways, Microsoft had the right idea, as evidenced by modern takes on the concept. I remember my ...

Apple iPhone Anticipation Grows
InformationWeek
"This should brighten everyone's day," says coy Apple event invitation -- but probably not for Microsoft and other Apple competitors. Start The Discussion. Tweet; Mail Mail; Print Print · Thomas Claburn | September ... But the Android camp has wasted ...

Google taking Android mainstream with KitKat
ZDNet
Amidst all the fury following the announcement of the Microsoft/Nokia deal, Googlequietly shook up the Android space with the unveiling of its affiliation with the KitKat candy bar. While Key Lime Pie was long expected to be the next major version of ...

Google Sued in Europe-Privacy Test Case
Wall Street Journal
Google Inc. was hauled into a French court Wednesday by former Formula One racing head Max Mosley, who wants the Internet giant to scrub its search results of grainy images of a sexual escapade. The images were found to be a privacy breach by a U.K. ...

Xbox One To Be Released on Nov. 22
ABC News
The CPU speed of the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft's chief rival in the latest iteration of the console wars, has not yet been specified. However, there have been rumors that it could be upwards to about 2.75 GHz, though that has not been confirmed by ...

Microsoft's Haswell-based Surface Pro 2: The leaks begin
ZDNet
He added that the new Surface Pro will look identical to the current Surface Pro -- which makes sense, given Microsoft is expected to allow the same keyboard/covers to work with the new Surface models. And as far as the "refined" kickstand goes ...

Apple Shows China the Respect It Deserves
Businessweek
If it wasn't already clear that Apple's (AAPL) priorities lie in the East, the company is beating the point home when it introduces its newest products next week. As always,Apple will trot out executives in a California auditorium to show off its ...

Microsoft faces quandary in aping Apple and Google
CBS News
(MoneyWatch) Microsoft (MSFT)'s $7.1 billion deal for Nokia's device business is a clear effort to regain the ground it has lost over the years in the mobile platform arena to industry leaders Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG). Yet while the acquisition ...

Your Turn, Apple | TechCrunch
By Matt Burns
Samsung is a different company than Apple. Samsung iterates where Apple innovates. Samsung releases a first generation product that's far from perfect. The first Galaxy Note was large enough to kill a man and was too slow for general use.
TechCrunch

Coffee Talk -- The Inside Story of Microsoft's Nokia Deal - Ina Fried ...
By Ina Fried
The result was that Windows Phone still had single-digit market share, a situation that kept Microsoft on the sidelines of the mobile conversation and a clear also-ran to Google's Android and Apple's iOs. Perhaps more significantly, without big ...
AllThingsD

Google Glass could be worth $3.3B in just 4 years | VentureBeat
By John Koetsier
Given the amount of interest in Google Glass and the average consumer's increasing interest in wearable technology — in a recent survey, 20 percent of Americans wanted an Apple iWatch, sight unseen — I'd have to guess that first-year ...
VentureBeat

Apple's iWatch Is Cleared For Takeoff - Business Insider
By Jay Yarow
Google Has Created A Programming Language That Thumbs Its Nose At Oracle ....Before Apple announced the iPad, Microsoft and HP rushed to announce a tablet at the annual technology trade show, CES. That tablet, the HP Slate, was ...
Business Insider

Apple Beefing Up iAd Team Ahead of iTunes Radio Launch - Mac ...
By Eric Slivka
Apple has been working to expand its iAd team over the past month, posting job listings for dozens of positions just as the company prepares to...
MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors...

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Dell dumps $299 Windows RT tablet -- is it time to dump everything Microsoft?

As reported yesterday, Windows 8.1 is DOA (it doesn't fix the disastrous Windows 8), and we know all Asian manufacturers have dumped Windows RT tablets, and who wants a Windows Phone that doesn't even have a YouTube video app? 

Dell dumps $299 Windows RT tablet, now cheapest is $479 | PCWorld: (comment to the PCWorld article says it all) -- "This Windows RT and Pro crap are a disaster for Microsoft. Other manufactures are dumping RT tablets like stale cookies. Not too long ago, Microsoft was staging fake funeral for Apple devices when they released their stupid Windows 8 phone. Gees, how embarrassing. Tried to use Surface Pro and it was uncomfortably hot. Too heavy and wide for use as a tablet, runs only about 3 hours top with watching video. The RT is just simply awful to use with sluggish screen redraws when loading apps. Microsoft is a joke."

Is Windows 8 killing PCs? - The Week: ""Microsoft made a big gamble in designing Windows 8 as an operating system" better suited for "tablets and touch than for traditional PCs," says Preston Gralla at Computerworld. The software has dueling interfaces that are only confusing people and making them reconsider whether they want to stick with PCs at all."

Microsoft is Playing Google | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: " . . . . Microsoft brings out apps that violate the YouTube terms of service, such as an app that strips YouTube advertisements. Microsoft gets blocked. It bring out an app that actually lets you download the videos. Blocked. It (Microsoft) does whatever it can to get Google to block them. Now Microsoft is not only wasting Google's time, but making the company look like mean spirited a-holes. This goes on and on, with plenty of press and Microsoft crying . . . ."

Firefox OS faces brutal road ahead
CNET
Mozilla may have figured out a way to get its shiny orange and blue Firefox phones into the hands of fans in the U.S. and U.K. But that doesn't mean that analysts are any less skeptical about its chances....

When You Can't Tell Web Suffixes Without a Scorecard
New York Times
ON the Web, there's no place like .home. Enlarge This Image. Boyoun Kim. Bits · More Tech Coverage. News from the technology industry, including start-ups, the Internet, enterprise and gadgets. But there soon may be, along with ...

Fossil of most evolutionarily successful mammal found in China
Times of India
WASHINGTON: A nearly complete skeleton that belongs to the oldest ancestor of "the most evolutionarily successful and long-lived mammal lineage" on Earth has been unearthed in China, researchers from China and the US said. Dubbed as " Rugosodon ...

GPU replacement program announced for 2011 iMacs, Apple to offer refunds for ...
Engadget
Remember the 2011 iMac's HDD replacement program? It seems like the machine thought it was time for an encore. Apple recently announced that 27-inch iMacs sold between May 2011 and October 2012 may be eligible for a free repair, citing faulty AMD ...

Facebook Explains Vexing Developer Site Outages
RedOrbit
Many Facebook developers had trouble signing into their accounts on Tuesday, and some even had their apps permanently disabled. Yesterday morning, Facebook responded saying the automated system they use to detect malicious apps began targeting ...

Motorola Moto X will be available in AT&T stores from August 23
Capital Technologies
The wait for Motorola Moto X is almost over. AT&T will start offering the Motorola Moto X starting from the 23rd of August. The carrier company will offer the 16GB and 32GB models of Moto X and will offer the smartphone in Black and White color options as ...

Apple Needs To Regain Command Of Smartphone Buzz

Forbes
Microsoft Microsoft's Windows came in third place for the first time displacing ... Samsung outsold Apple by more than 2 to 1 with each one capturing 31.9% and ...

Is Apple becoming a democracy?

USA TODAY
In a remarkably short time, Apple has gone from being a dictatorship to a democracy. What Steve Jobs could do as he moved the company from a modest maker ...

 

Microsoft to bundle Skype into Windows 8.1

The Seattle Times
Microsoft purchased the video- and audio-calling Internet phone service in 2011. Skype has ...Apple and Google declined to comment on the issue. Ultimately ...

Rumor: Apple may announce 'some sort of television product' as ...

Apple Insider
It may not be a full-fledged television set, but Apple could announce some sort of TV-related product later this year with enhanced control functionality, a new ...

Apple Insider

Google engineers insist 20% time is not dead—it's just turned into ...

Quartz
A lively debate among current and former Google engineers is raging on Hacker News about Quartz's piece on the death of 20% time at Google—that formerly ...

Microsoft warns Windows XP users risk 'zero day forever'

ZDNet
Summary: Microsoft's latest tack in trying to wean users off Windows XP is to warn them of a possible 'zero day forever' scenario in the post-April 2014 support ...

Utah Apple retailer, Simply Mac, expands into Texas

Salt Lake Tribune
Simply Mac, the Salt Lake City-based independent retailer of Apple products, has opened two new stores in Texas this month, the first of a planned national ...

Google went down today. The Internet went bananas. - The Next Web

Google.com, Google's search product (you may have heard of) went down between 23:52 and 23:57 BST according to Search Engine Land. Not since 2009 has ...

The Next Web 

Apple Ramping Up China Operations With LinkedIn Job Push ...

Darrell Etherington
Apple is apparently stepping up its China operations, according to a number of new job postings found on LInkedIn by the Wall Street Journal today.

TechCrunch 

ICANN kills Google's dotless domain search dreams - Engadget

Mariella Moon
DNP ICANN blocks Google's dotless domain dreams ... Google had big plans to turn http://search into a service where users could choose among a number of ...

Engadget RSS Feed 

Apple Appears to Be Hiring in China - Lorraine Luk - News ...

Lorraine Luk
Apple Inc. seems to be beefing up hiring in China. Among the more than two hundred openings in China on professional network site LinkedIn, some of the ...

AllThingsD 

Researchers slip malware onto Apple's App Store, again - CNET News

Josh Lowensohn
Researchers have once again pulled a fast one on Apple's app approval process, getting malware onto the App Store to prove it's still a possibility. A group of ...

Apple May Release A Gold iPhone 5S - Business Insider

Jay Yarow
Here's What Being An Intern At Google, Microsoft, And The White House. ... Apple may be releasing a gold version of the iPhone 5S later this year. KGI analyst ...

Business Insider 

Google+ for iOS adds Google Drive photos integration & Apps ...

Jordan Kahn
After updating its Android app for Google+ earlier this week, Google has today updated ... Apple'snew App review guidelines strengthen protection for children ...

9to5Mac

 
Apple Will Allegedly Release New TV Product This November ...

Brandon Russell
Rather than release a full blown HDTV, Apple is instead prepping a completely new TV product that's set to hit in November.

TechnoBuffalo

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