Tech News Week Review, Jack Ma Richest in Asia (video)

Jack Ma has become the richest person in Asia. The 50-year-old founder of Alibaba Group Holding, China’s biggest e-commerce company, passed Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong property and ports tycoon who has held the top spot in the region since April 5, 2012, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bloomberg's Yvonne Man has more on "On The Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg 12Dec)


CNET
FCC to spend $3.9 billion to expand Internet access to schools in rural and poor ...
Washington Post
The Federal Communications Commission agreed Thursday to dramatically boost spending to bring high-speed Internet access to schools and libraries in poor or rural areas, a move that would probably increase Americans' phone bills by about $2 a year.


USA TODAY
'Call of Duty' and Xbox One pace monthly game sales
USA TODAY
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare captured the top spot on November's video-game sales list and Microsoft's Xbox One outsold the PlayStation 4, according to The NPD Group — the first month Xbox has been the top seller since the consoles were released a ...


Forbes
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook May Offer Something Beyond The Like Button
Forbes
For years, people on Facebook have wanted something more than the Like button to express their feelings about the posts they see on the social network. Despite the clamoring, though, all you see to click on below posts is a thumbs up. That could change ...


Fortune
Twitter co-founder: 'I don't give a sh*t' if Instagram has more users
Fortune
Yesterday, Instagram announced it has 300 million monthly active users. The news drew immediate comparisons between the photo-sharing app, which sold to Facebook FB for $1 billion in 2012, and Twitter TWTR , a $24 billion publicly traded company ...


Financial Times
Google shuts Russia engineering office
Financial Times
Google is to close its engineering office in Russia, in the latest sign that a crackdown on internet activity by Russian authorities this year could hasten an outflow of engineering talent from the country. A series of moves against internet companies, culminating ...


Wired
Original Apple computer sells for $365000 at New York auction
Reuters
A fully operational Apple computer that company co-founder Steve Jobs sold out of his parents' garage in 1976 for $600 sold for $365,000 at Christie's on Thursday. The Ricketts Apple-1 Personal Computer, named after its ...


Quartz
Priceline.com Becomes First Major Online Travel Agency to Integrate Apple Pay ...
MarketWatch
Priceline.com announced today that it is the first major Online Travel Agency (OTA) to integrate Apple Pay in its recently updated ...


CBC.ca
Spanish news to vanish from Google News globally
Fresno Business Journal
Google announced Thursday it will close Google News in Spain and block reports from Spanish publishers from more than 70 Google News international editions due to a new Spanish law...


NDTV
YouTube unveils experimental new GIF maker, currently in testing on PBS Idea ...
9 to 5 Google
YouTube has just released a new GIF-making tool in testing on PBS's Idea Channel. The tool is available under the share menu and allows users to pick a five-second clip from the video, add two lines of text, and export the file to their computer. The frame rate ...

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Sony, DarkSeoul, Hackers, North Korea Links (video)

What's the Deal With DarkSeoul?
Sony's hackers are demanding the studio stop showing 'The Interview.' Experts say the attacks on Sony show similarities with a hacking group called DarkSeoul with suspected links to North Korea. (Source: Bloomberg)

techNEWS

Reuters
Sony's PlayStation store back online after cyber attack
Reuters
REUTERS - Sony Corp said its PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network had been disrupted by hackers in a distributed denial-of-service attack on Monday. Sony said its systems were back online and the company was investigating the cause of ...


The Week Magazine
Hackers sent Sony extortion email before security breach
The Week Magazine
The hackers behind a major attack against Sony last month reportedly emailed the company beforehand asking for money, Mashable reports. "Pay the damage, or Sony Pictures will be bombarded as a whole," the Nov. 21 email read. "You know us very well.


TechCrunch
Amazon To Let Shoppers Bargain For Lower Prices With New “Make An Offer” Option
TechCrunch
Amazon, pushing hard to pick up more business during the holiday season, wants you to make a deal. Taking a page from the likes of eBay and ...
Now you can haggle on Amazon - USA TODAY


CNET
Amazon tests delivery by bike in New York City
CNET
Amazon is testing bike messengers deliveries in New York City, which ... Google launchedGoogle Express last year in San Francisco and has since ...
Amazon wants an NYC bike messenger to bring you a package within an hour - The Verge


CNET
Facebook, Vessel put YouTube on notice: Your talent isn't safe
CNET
Over the last several months, Google has been actively striking deals with ... WhileFacebook is an obvious threat to YouTube, Google is by far more ... and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, to collect funds and target content creators. ... Don Reisinger is a technologycolumnist who has covered everything from ...


NBCNews.com
Amazon Official to FAA: Let Us Test Our Delivery Drones Outdoors
NBCNews.com
The massive flames that lit up downtown Los Angeles early Monday were terrifying, but thanks to modern firefighting technology and techniques, they ...

Google-backed password-killer crosses major milestone
The Verge
In October, Google unveiled a surprising new way to log into Chrome and ... Google's security key was one example, and another was Samsung's ... has built a program adapting Apple's now-open API to the FIDO protocols. ... Qualcomm, and Blackberry; service companies like Google, Microsoft, and ...

Facebook Video Is Driving YouTube Off Facebook
Business Insider
Outside of Facebook, YouTube still dominates in terms of video uploads and views. A Google spokeswoman told Business Insider that 300 hours of ...

Powerful, highly stealthy Linux trojan may have infected victims for years
Ars Technica
Researchers have uncovered an extremely stealthy trojan for Linux systems that attackers have been using to siphon sensitive data from governments and pharmaceutical companies around the world. The previously undiscovered malware represents a ...

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Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs, Geekiness, Starting Apple (video)

Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs, Geekiness and Starting Apple: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
For its 85th anniversary, Bloomberg Businessweek chronicles the most disruptive ideas of the past 85 years. In 1976, The Apple 1 computer goes on sale for a retail price of $666.66. Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs and designed that product, remembers the early days. (Video by Brandon Lisy) (Source: Bloomberg 12/4)


New York Times
Media|Barnes & Noble and Microsoft End Nook Partnership
New York Times
In 2012, Microsoft invested $300 million for 17.6 percent stake in the Nook ... The company, which has struggled to compete with Amazon and other ... are you atechnology company, or are you a college bookstore company? ... Amazon's delivery service, Barnes & Noble began partnering with Google ...

Barnes & Noble, Microsoft End Nook Pact - Wall Street Journal


Wired
Amazon's New Cloud Prices Show That Google Is Now a Threat
Wired
Amazon just changed the way that it charges for some of its cloud ... Both Google andAmazon hand out discounts to customers that regularly use a lot ...

CNET
How to remove Yahoo as Firefox's default search engine
CNET
Mozilla has dumped Google in favor of Yahoo as Firefox's default search ... To get rid ofYahoo search, open Firefox's Preferences and click on the ... 

GeekWire
Amazon launches private-label 'Amazon Elements' household products, just for Prime members
GeekWire
In a release, Sunny Jain, Amazon.com's Consumables VP, said the launch leveragesAmazon's “strengths in technology to bring customers an ...
Amazon Announces Its Own 'Elements' Line of Products, Exclusive to Prime Members - Yahoo Tech


Business Insider
Google Just Made Another Smart Move In Its War With Microsoft
Business Insider
Google is really getting serious about selling Google Apps for Work, its Microsoft Office killer, to more businesses. It is rolling out a better, more ...
Google Launches Consolidated Partner Program - TechCrunch

Newsweek
Apple Is Being Sued for Removing Songs From iPods Without Owners' Knowledge
Newsweek
The plaintiffs, Melanie Wilson and Marianna Rosen, are suing Apple for $350 million and ... Apple defended themselves by saying that the measures were taken for security reasons. ... Apple or non-Apple, the FairPlay technology is still used on apps in the App Store, meaning ... Facebook social plugin.
Apple admits it deleted non-iTunes music off iPods for two years - Digital Trends


The Register
Snowden files show NSA's AURORAGOLD pwned 70% of world's mobile networks
The Register
The NSA, and its British counterpart GCHQ, spied on innocent telco employees and standards bodies to tap into mobile phone networks worldwide, according to the latest leak from the Edward Snowden archive. The mobile tapping system, dubbed ...

The Seattle Times
'Gangnam Style' pushes YouTube to its limits
The Seattle Times
South Korean rapper PSY performs his hit "Gangnam Style" live on NBC's "Today" show in New York in 2012. A video of the song,. Related. Reader Comments. Read all comments · Post a comment. advertising. Kim Kardashian may have tried to ...

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YouTube, 60FPS, Awesome Video

youtube.com/yt/creators/

YouTube Finally Supports 60FPS, And It Looks Awesome: "Earlier this year, YouTube announced plans to support videos running at 60 frames-per-second—plans that would make a huge difference for footage of video games. Today, the video network has finally started rolling out the new service, and you can already tell that this is going to be wonderful. You need Google Chrome to watch YouTube videos at 60FPS, and you need to watch them in HD, ... they look ... phenomenal..." (Make sure you set it to 720p or 1080p first.) 


New York Times
Microsoft Jumps Into the Growing Market for Wearable Fitness Technology
New York Times
Now, like many other big technology companies, Microsoft believes it belongs ...Facebook alerts and even bar codes that allow people to pay for coffee at a ... Apple's Apple Watch, due out sometime next year, will start at $349 and ...
Microsoft Wants Its Wearable On Your Wrist And Your Health Data In Its Hands - Forbes
Microsoft watch beats Apple to market - USA TODAY
Microsoft outs Band fitness wearable in Apple App store screenshots - CNET


MiamiHerald.com
Apple Pay Rival MCX Open to Other Technology
New York Times
Facing pressure from supporters of Apple's new mobile payment system, the ... But the chief executive of the group said the technology was beside the ...
In Wake Of MCX Breach, Walgreens Looks Even Smarter For Embracing Apple Pay - Forbes
If Retailers Really Want A War With Apple Pay, They Had Better Prepare To Lose Big - Forbes


Washington Post
Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out: 'I'm proud to be gay'
Washington Post
Cook acknowledged in the essay published on Thursday that while his sexual orientation has not been a secret to many people at Apple (and has ...
Apple's Tim Cook Says That He Is 'Proud to Be Gay' - New York Times
6 Things to Know About Apple CEO Tim Cook - TIME
Apple's Tim Cook becomes highest-profile CEO to come out as gay - Kansas City Star

Google Hangouts now lets you make free one-minute international calls: "Google announced yesterday that users in 25 countries will now get the first minute free on international calls to 25 countries they make via its Hangouts app."

Aereo Sees Path Forward in FCC Online Video Proposal - Bloomberg: "Online video providers such as Aereo Inc. would be able to distribute TV programs like cable services, helping consumers circumvent large packages of channels, under a Federal Communications Commission proposal. If approved, the proposal would let Internet-video services negotiate for the right to distribute cable programs and local television. Aereo Chief Executive Officer Chet Kanojia, who halted his startup’s service after losing a Supreme Court decision in June, called the action by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “an important step.”..."

Amazon's Grand Design in Devices
New York Times
Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 tablet has a faster processor and better graphics capabilities than last year's model, as well as a surround-sound system...


CNET
BlackBerry: We're still in the phone business
CNET
CEO John Chen says the company is committed to earning back your business with its next phone -- the BlackBerry Classic. by Lance Whitney · @lancewhit; 30 October 2014, 4:52 am AEDT. comments. 0. facebook. twitter. linkedin. googleplus. more. more +.


New York Times
Hands On With the Weird But Intriguing HP Sprout
PC Magazine
The HP Sprout combines PC, projector, and 3D scanner. We go hands on to find out if this is the way of the future. 0shares. HP Sprout · VIEW ALL PHOTOS IN GALLERY. The desktop PC has been evolving rapidly in recent years, but things weren't moving ...


Business Today
China's Xiaomi surges to become world's third largest smartphone vendor
PCWorld
Phones from Xiaomi still haven't arrived in the U.S., but the company's booming sales in China have been enough to make it the third largest smartphone vendor in the world. Xiaomi reached the ranking, behind Apple and Samsung, in the third quarter, said ...


VentureBeat
Flipboard's latest update integrates Zite's tech to make you fall in love with digital ...
VentureBeat
Popular digital magazine app Flipboard is rolling out perhaps the biggest revamp of the service since its initial launch today, including improved navigation, new ways to discover content, a daily news feature, revised smartphone design, and more. The at the ...


Wired
UPDATE 1-Nintendo to develop "quality of life" device to track sleep, fatigue - CEO
Reuters
... * Nintendo will release new device in 2015/16. * Device is first offering from newly created healthcare division. * CEO Iwata says device may be offered on subscription service. * Nintendo announced a surprise profit for 2Q day earlier (Adds details on ...


ABC News
How Mobile Users in Zambia Just Scored Free Internet
ABC News
Mobile users in Zambia just scored free Internet, thanks to an initiative spearheaded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Following the release of the Internet.org app is Namibia over the summer, Zuckerberg announced today that the country's northeast ...


New York Daily News
FTC rules against first online dating service for using fake profiles to push ...
New York Daily News
The Federal Trade Commission has ruled against its first online dating service for using fake, computer-generated dating profiles to encourage consumers to pay up for premium memberships. JDI Dating Ltd., an England-based company, will instead be ...


SFGate
It's Official: Google Glass Is Banned in Movie Theaters
NBCNews.com
Wearing Google Glass at the movies never was cool to begin with, and now it's official: You can't use the smart eyewear inside theaters. The Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theatre Owners on Wednesday said they were ...

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YouTube, Stars, Channels, Talent Development (videos)

How to Turn YouTube Stars into Media Empires: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
Omnivision Entertainment CEO Rob Barnett discusses YouTube stars and talent development in the digital world. He speaks with Betty Liu on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)

How to Build an Audience for a Successful YouTube Channel: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
RocketJump Founder Freddie Wong and Bloomberg’s Felix Gillette discuss YouTube, short-form digital videos and building an online audience. They speak on "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg Aug28)

Instagram Hyperlapse app lets you create amazing time-lapse videos
Tech Times
Instagram has just launched Hyperlapse, an app that allows users to create professional-looking time lapse videos. The app uses image stabilizing algorithms to make images clearer. (Photo : Instagram). Instagram has just launched Hyperlapse, a standalone ...


Tech Times
Amazon won't change a thing about Twitch: Acquisition accepted by Twitch ...
Tech Times
Amazon has announced that it won't bring changes to Twitch, so everything should stay the same. Furthermore, it appears the Twitch community is quite pleased with the buyout. (Photo : Roja Directa). After it had been announced that Amazon has acquired ...


CNNMoney
Samsung unveils smartwatch that can make calls
Reuters
SEOUL Aug 28 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled what it said was the first smartwatch capable of making and receiving calls without a mobile phone nearby, in the South Korean firm's latest effort to find a new growth driver.


Telegraph.co.uk
Apple to unveil iWatch alongside iPhone 6
Telegraph.co.uk
Apple will unveil a smartwatch alongside the iPhone 6 on September 9, according to reports. The technology giant is expected to launch the iWatch at a "big" media event next month, Re/code has claimed. The wearable device could utilise the HomeKit ...

Cotap, A WhatsApp For The Workplace, Adds Box, Dropbox, Google, OneDrive And Desktop App | TechCrunch: ".... for a client like a cafe or a hotel, users include not just those in the back office, but those working at the front line of the retail experience. “Think of Cotap on a smartphone as replacing and improving on how a large business might have used a walkie-talkie,” Patterson explains. The Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive integrations that are being announced today are a part of that bigger concept, Patterson tells me, with the idea here being that you can send flyers to staff with information, pictures of lost property, or other communications — as well as the latest marketing strategy...."

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YouTube or Google Drive for video? (Google Enterprise video)

When do we use YouTube or Google Drive for video? -
YouTube or Google Drive for video? -- from Google Enterprise (Published on Jul 8, 2014): "We have two great options at Google when it comes to posting and making videos available to our customers, employees, and partners. So, how do you choose what you use? We look at three things: 1. Who is the target audience? 2. What do we need to learn? 3. Do we want people to share? Resources for working with YouTube and Google Drive video:
Uploading, it all starts here: http://goo.gl/0wXYSc
YouTube resources for anyone creating video:https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/
Using Google Drive for video: http://goo.gl/34KUHX

Silicon Valley harvesting interns straight from high school - Telegraph: "Companies such as Facebook and Airbnb are plying teenage programmers with perks and high pay, bypassing universities to seek new talent..."

Farewell to the big-screen plasma TV - Los Angeles Times: "To many aficionados of video image quality, this news comes as a dagger in the heart. Plasma has yielded to LCDs, which are cheaper, more energy-efficient and cooler."

Facebook kills 'Lecpetex' botnet that turned 250k PCs into Litecoin-mining zombies | PCWorld: "...Those behind Lecpetex launched at least 20 spam campaigns between December 2013 and last month, affecting Facebook and other online services. Some of the victims received private messages containing a “.zip” attachment containing a Java JAR file or Visual Basic script. Those files, if executed, would then retrieve other malware modules stored on remote sites. The modules were either DarkComet, a widely used remote access tool that can harvest login credentials, or variants of software that mines the virtual currency Litecoin, the team wrote. By frequently refreshing and changing the malicious attachments, Lecpetex defeated Facebook’s filters designed to stop such malware from being distributed. The malware would also automatically update itself to evade antivirus products...."

Amazon Dangles E-Book Offer Amid Hachette Dispute
Wall Street Journal
The Web retailing giant has proposed letting Hachette authors keep 100% of the revenue from their digital-book sales while the online retailer and ...

Google CEO: Fight Unemployment With Job Sharing
InformationWeek
That might sound like the setup for an episode of Star Trek, but it's the world Google'sfounders see ahead of us. In a video interview published last ...

Google offers workaround for bug that stopped paid apps installing on Android Wear
ZDNet
With new apps for Wear piling into the Google Play store, Wear developers have found a significant oversight by Google in the tools it recently ...

Facebook is a school yard bully that's going down
Computerworld
Computerworld - I can still remember when Facebook was still "The Facebook," before its doors were open to anyone who wanted to join, before you ...

Microsoft to try again to deliver an Azure 'cloud in a box' appliance
ZDNet
Back in 2010, Microsoft officials announced the company was readying Windows Azure Appliances, meant to function as "private clouds in a box.

Microsoft's Bing Ads Are Growing Nicely, But It's Still Living In Google's World
Forbes
With Google continuing to dominate spending on search advertising, ... that Microsoft remains “200% committed” to its search partnership with Yahoo.

With Google Offer, Cloud Storage Gets Closer to Free
Wall Street Journal (blog)
The move highlights the battle among Google, Amazon and Microsoft to provide companies with remote storage, computing power and other ...

Google to ship first Project Ara developer boards in July
PCWorld
Having nailed the basics of its ambitious Project Ara customizable smartphone, Google is now engaging the hardware developer community to add ...

Google Glass creator: Glass not only answer to life after smartphones
CNET
SAN FRANCISCO -- It seems like everyone's got an opinion on Google Glass, the search giant's ambitious connected headset that mounts a computer ...

Apple's 'Find My iPhone' Web Maps for iCloud.com Beta Move from Google to Apple - Mac Rumors
By Kelly Hodgkins
Apple is beginning the transition to move its Maps application online starting with the Find My iPhone web app on its iCloud.com beta website, ...
MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors...

Apple's Secret Ebay Store Is Back With Cheap Refurbished iPhones - Gizmodo
By Ashley Feinberg
... and eBay. And it's selling Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones for cheap. ... What Everyone's Getting Wrong About Facebook's "Creepy" Study.
Gizmodo

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Managing Your Digital Past (video); Bitcoin 51% attack

Managing Your Digital Past: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play)
Open Rights Group Executive Director Jim Killock discusses the debate between people’s “right to be forgotten” online and the right to view an uncensored web after the EU’s top court ruled that people can ask search-engine owners to remove personal information. He speaks to Anna Edwards and Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown.” (Source: Bloomberg June 12)

What is a 51 percent attack and why is it a threat to Bitcoin's future? - Everything you need to know about bitcoin - Vox: "... So long as computing power is decentralized, no one can tamper with the blockchain. If someone tries to alter a block that has already been accepted by the network, that person's change will be "shouted down" by the majority of miners who have already accepted the block as an official part of the blockchain. But that could change if someone gained control of a majority of the network's computing power. This is known in the Bitcoin community as a 51 percent attack. And that has become an increasingly serious concern in recent months. Miners have organized themselves into pools that work together and share the proceeds of their efforts. And in June 2014, a mining pool called GHash gained slightly more than 50 percent of the network's computing power...."

YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service | Technology | theguardian.com: "...The company's head of content and business operations, Robert Kyncl, told the Financial Times that the service – previously rumoured to be called YouTube Music Pass – will launch more widely later in the year. His confirmation that YouTube will block videos from labels that do not sign licensing deals for the new premium tier will be hugely controversial among indie labels, with trade body WIN already filing a complaint to the European Commission about its negotiating strategy...."

Wireline isn't the only net neutrality fight you should care about
BGR
U.S. regulators are apparently considering whether to take a fresh look at wireless and wireline networks and whether to apply the same net neutrality rules to both fixed and wireless Internet traffic, Reuters writes. These two types of Internet providers offer ...

Three things you need to know about the phone Amazon is...
The Verge
The Amazon phone is coming. Finally. At least that's what the company is very likely to announce at a big press event this Wednesday. Amazon has long been rumored to be working on a smartphone follow up to its line of Kindle Fire tablets, and all signs are ...

Google Adds Step-By-Step Instructions to Search Results: "Google got a little smarter once again this week. Now, if you search for something that Google knows has a step-by-step answer, it will give those steps to you above the search results.P For example, if you search gmail export contacts, Google will give you step-by-step instructions for exporting your address book. It works for non-Google stuff, too...."

Facebook takes another shot at Snapchat with Slingshot
USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook hopes its new Slingshot app will get people talking. The widely anticipated mobile app is being released today in the ...

Amazon Phone Looks To Be AT&T Exclusive
InformationWeek
Back in 2007, AT&T was the sole carrier to offer Apple's iPhone. ... carrier to sell theFacebook phone (HTC First), among other firsts and exclusives.

Microsoft Embraces Open With IE Developer Channel
InformationWeek
Microsoft on Monday launched Internet Explorer Developer Channel, ... IE Developer Channel could help by shifting Microsoft's Web efforts toward the ... rapid-release models favored by competitors such as Mozilla and Google. .... Apple just held WWDC, where the theme of the day was more open ...

Google Faces Fresh Antitrust Complaint in Europe
Wall Street Journal
Android commands 81% of the mobile market.... 

Sales of Nest smoke detector resume at lower price
Businessweek
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's Nest Labs is resuming sales and lowering the price of a high-tech smoke detector that was pulled from the market after malfunctioning. The new price for the detector, called "Nest Protect," will be $99 when sales resume ...

British spies track Facebook, Google use
San Jose Mercury News
LONDON -- The U.K.'s electronic spy agency is legally allowed to track the online activities of millions of Britons who use U.S.-based platforms such as ...

Microsoft Office For iPad Vs. iWork Vs. Google
InformationWeek
We compare the free alternatives from Apple and Google. ... More than a year beforeMicrosoft released Office for iPad, many critics had already ...

Microsoft Brings Predictive Analysis To Azure
InformationWeek
Microsoft isn't synonymous with advanced analytics, like SAS and IBM SPSS, but it announced Monday that it hopes to take predictive analysis ...

Jill Lepore: What the Theory of “Disruptive Innovation” Gets Wrong : The New Yorker: "Disruptive innovation is a theory about why businesses fail. It’s not more than that. It doesn’t explain change. It’s not a law of nature. It’s an artifact of history, an idea, forged in time; it’s the manufacture of a moment of upsetting and edgy uncertainty. Transfixed by change, it’s blind to continuity. It makes a very poor prophet."
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Video Streaming Quality, YouTube now rating US ISPs

Transparency and Accountability -- YouTube keeping track of ISPs and letting you know:

YouTube starts rating US ISPs, puts its weight behind settlement-free peering — Tech News and Analysis: "Google wants you to know which ISPs provide the best streaming experience, and it wants ISPs to work with it to ensure HD-quality streams without buffering.... The report also shows which ISPs are capable of delivering SD quality video without buffering, and which ones deliver videos at a lower performance, or in other words will leave you completely frustrated. To get to these results, YouTube monitored streams over a 30 day period. Only ISPs that were capable of delivering HD at least 90 percent of the time are being called HD verified...."

for more info go to: Google Video Quality Report: "There are many factors that influence your video streaming quality, including your choice of Internet Service Provider (ISP). Learn how your ISP performs and understand your options."

Search for flair grows as gadgets become accessories
Boston Globe
Apple's $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics, by far the company's ... The standard Google Glass product looks more like something out of Star Trek ...

Google steps up efforts for more racial diversity
Boston Globe
Google has had more trouble diversifying its workforce than its computer ... One year,Google says, there were just two black people in the United ... The company hired one of them, and Microsoft hired the other, according to ... to shareholder meetings this spring at such companies as Google, Facebook, ...

Google's Motorola Mobility to Close Factory in Texas
Wall Street Journal
Motorola, which Google plans to sell, opened the factory in May 2013. ... Apple's latest iPhone sells for $650 without a contract on the website of AT&T ...

Google now taking requests to censor results in Europe
San Jose Mercury News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is starting to accept requests from Europeans who want to erase unflattering information from the results produced by the ...

Apple hits new “Beats” ahead of WWDC
MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Well, now that you can scratch Apple Inc.'s acquisition of Beats Music and Beats Electronics off the list of things ...

Microsoft, Salesforce.com Make Nice, Marry Apps
InformationWeek
Salesforce apps will work with Office 365, Windows, Windows Phone. Microsoft keeps using ExactTarget. But don't expect Salesforce apps on Azure....

Google to test self-driving cars
Los Angeles Times
Self-driving prototypes will have manual controls to override the autonomous driving systems. But Google plans to build the bulk of the cars as fully ...

Microsoft Preparing To Jump Into The Wearables Market With Its Own Smartwatch
Forbes
A spokesman for Microsoft would not comment on the details. ... “Microsoft needs to run across Apple and Android platforms,” said a recent research ...

8 books Amazon is making it hard to buy
CNNMoney
Amazon has been pressuring Hachette to accept its terms -- consequently, ... Patterson wrote on his Facebook page: "What I don't understand about this particular battle tactic is how it is in the best interest of Amazon customers.

Apple is still an iPhone story, for now
MarketWatch
Last year, when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) hosted its annual Worldwide Developer Conference, its shares were trading around $439. One year later ...

Surprise: Microsoft's working on a smartwatch of its own - Engadget
By Zach Honig
Apple's reportedly working on one, Google's developing an entire ecosystem and hundreds of smaller companies either have products already on the ...
Engadget RSS Feed

Apple Stock Rises iPhone 6 Rumors - Business Insider
By Jim Edwards
Apple Stock Is Going Through The Roof As People Figure Out Just How ... Yahoo Finance ... Login With Facebook Login With Twitter Login With Google .... Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion.
Markets

What's the Most Expensive Thing You Can Find on Amazon? - Gizmodo
By Eric Limer
This week, Amazon added (absurdly expensive) commemorative coins to the long list of ... Just a year after starting it up, Google's shutting down its Texas-. ... Beats by AppleMakes Monster's Big Mistake Even Bigger ... bHide; EShare to Kinja; jShare to Facebook· iShare to Twitter · rGo to permalink.
Gizmodo

Jimmy Iovine, David Geffen & Oprah Winfrey Outbid by Ex-Microsoft Exec for LA Clippers - Radio.com
By Brian Ives
Music industry mogul Jimmy Iovine is about to get a big payoff for selling Beats Audio toApple, but it looks like a bid he was involved with to purchase ...
Radio.com

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Primary Video Source No Longer TV

A complete disintermediation in video viewing -- Losers: Live TV, television networks, local TV stations, cable TV operators. Winners: online video, YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Daily Motion, Vimeo, etc. --

Off the Grid National Survey from Targeted_Victory

As viewing habits change, political campaigns must change their habits, as well - The Washington Post:

"....For the first time, fewer than half (48 percent) of [the 800 likely voters surveyed, 30% on cell phones] say that live TV is their primary source for watching video content. The second-most-preferred form for viewing is through recorded programming, but a majority said they skip 100 percent of the ads when they watch. ... Seventy percent of those surveyed said they had watched live television in the previous week. But fully 30 percent said that, other than live sporting events, they had watched no live television in the previous week. For younger voters, it's closer to 40 percent...Over time, this will require a substantial reorientation in thinking about how to allocate advertising dollars...."

Cameras on cops: Coming to a town near you: "Who watches the watchers? It's an age-old question, but police across the country may have a new answer. The Los Angeles Police Department is currently testing body-mounted cameras that record officers' interactions with citizens. The New York Police Department says it's reviewing the technology...."

The Future of Internet Freedom - NYTimes.com: ".... Much of the fight against censorship has been led by the activists of the Internet freedom movement. We can join this open source community, whether we are policy makers, corporations or individuals. Money, coding skills or government grants can all make a difference. Given the energies and opportunities out there, it’s possible to end repressive Internet censorship within a decade. If we want the next generation of users to be free, we don’t see any other option."

Google patches $310K worth of Chrome, Chrome OS bugs
Computerworld
While all four targeted browsers -- Chrome, Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox andMicrosoft's Internet Explorer -- fell to researchers at the cash prize contest, Google's was the only one to have fixed flaws as of Sunday. Four vulnerabilities were ...

Notification overload: Why I'm turning off my phone alerts ... at least until my apps know me better | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Andy Hickl, A.R.O.: "I’ve decided not to receive any more notifications on my phones. No, I’m not a Luddite. Just someone who’s escaping the noise and anxiety caused by a mostly broken system...."

Look, Smartphone: No Hands! | MIT Technology Review: "Controlling an iPhone or Android phone with just your voice and a noise-cancelling headset is doable, but frustrating.....People might not mind chattering alone in the car, but not everyone is comfortable doing so on the bus. “I think giving people choice is always the best option when you can,” he says. I agree, in part because I couldn’t shake the feeling that I looked completely bizarre muttering to myself while using the Era in public. I suspect erasing that feeling will prove to be even more difficult than improving the speech recognition."

Google’s Chromecast streaming stick set to go on sale in the UK this week | Technology | theguardian.com: "The Chromecast plugs directly into a television via the HDMI port and acts as a receiver for media sent from Android smartphones and tablet apps, Apple devices as well as computers via the Chrome browser...."

Glenn Greenwald’s Encryption Guru - Alex Carp - POLITICO Magazine: ".... Schneier is a legendary encryption specialist who has written or edited 13 books on the subject, and worked for the Department of Defense, telecommunications companies, banks and governments. Most recently, he’s been a vocal advocate of the idea that the best security systems accept a reasonable amount of risk; a blind focus on protecting against every threat, he says, usually comes with unexpected costs....."

Google improves game content for players and developers
PFhub
This week, the Game Developers Conference kicks off at San Francisco's Moscone Center. While that is taking place, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced a bevy of positive changes it is making on games for players and developers. This is a move ...

Google's chat service crashes-- now Fixed
San Jose Mercury News
Google has been building up its professional offerings to challenge Microsoft's dominant enterprise offering of the Office productivity tools and Outlook email program, offering paid versions of its free Web-based suite to corporations. Google's non ...

Alibaba plans IPO that could break Facebook's record, Yahoo shares jump - San Jose Mercury News: "...."There are certainly some smart investments that I owe to my predecessors. Very notably, Jerry Yang's investment in Alibaba is something that people are very excited about," Mayer said at a conference in San Francisco last year. While Alibaba has not established how many shares it expects to sell nor a preliminary price range, experts say the company is currently worth as much as $200 billion, topping Amazon's market capitalization, $172 billion. An IPO that comes anywhere near that type of valuation would easily top Facebook's $104 billion value during its May 2012 IPO, when the Menlo Park social network raked in $16 billion, the most ever for a technology company...."

Android phone battery suffering? Here's a simple fix | ZDNet: "Google services aren't the only culprits; third-party apps can also get stuck and drain the battery. If your phone keeps killing the battery too fast even after a reboot, check the battery information in Settings. If an app is using the battery too much, Android settings will show it clearly as the offender. If that's the case, you'd better uninstall the app immediately."

Government computers running Windows XP will be vulnerable to hackers after April 8 - The Washington Post: "...Federal officials have known for more than six years that Microsoft will withdraw its free support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014. Despite a recent rush to complete upgrades, an estimated 10 percent of government computers — out of several million — will still be running the operating system on that date, company officials said...."

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Why Is Broadband Internet More Expensive in the US?

Basically it comes down to a failure of regulation -- the FCC and Obama Administration have dropped the ball -- and there probably isn't a more important issue for economic progress and infrastructure. Will Washington wake up, or will Obama's carrier-connected, conflicted FCC chair, continue to cater to ISPs?

BBC News - Why is broadband more expensive in the US?: "...The price of basic broadband, TV and phone packages - or bundles as they are known - is much higher in American cities than elsewhere, suggests the New America Foundation think tank, which compared hundreds of available packages worldwide. Looking at some of the cheaper ones available in certain cities, at lower to mid download speeds, San Francisco ($99/£61), New York ($70) and Washington DC ($68) dwarf London ($38), Paris ($35) and Seoul ($15)..."

Why is Netflix streaming slow? Major peering dispute with ISPs | BGR: " . . . What this really boils down to, explains Ars Technica’s Jon Brodkin, is a dispute over peering. Most of the time, ISPs and bandwidth providers such as Cogent Communications have peering agreements to swap traffic with one another without any additional charge. However, ISPs apparently think the rise of video streaming over their networks has upset the balance that peering agreements have traditionally struck which is why they’re trying to change things up. . . ."

Time Warner Cable Raises Rates (Again), Adds 'Broadcast TV' Fee | DSLReports, ISP Information: "As with most rate hikes, the notices are accompanied with the insistence that the hikes are about bringing you added "value," and necessary because of all the great upgrades the companies have been busy with. Except in Time Warner Cable's case those upgrades have been slow in coming, the company considerably slower than Comcast in deploying faster DOCSIS 3.0 speeds or new TV technologies."

Inside Scoop: Samsung S5 and other Mobile World Congress soothsayings Video
CNET
....All eyes are on Barcelona, Spain, ...(Mobile World Congress, February 24-27, Barcelona)

How Will WhatsApp Coexist With a Company Whose Business It Hates?
Businessweek
In recent weeks Facebook has been talking up the strategy it hopes will help keep it from fading into obsolescence during its second decade. In earnings calls and profiles in prestigious business publications, Mark Zuckerberg has talked about the value of ...

YouTube Gets a Makeover With Layout, Playlist Tweaks
PC Magazine
If you browsed over to YouTube this morning, you may have noticed that things look a little bit different. The Google-owned video-sharing site has received a mini-makeover, including changes to the layout and playlists. "The way you watch YouTube keeps ...
What Is WhatsApp? An Explainer | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: " The app also uploads all of a user's contacts and requires them to individually block users with whom they do not want contact. Additionally, even the numbers of those who do not use WhatsApp are stored in the app in perpetuity."

Google's Project Tango Sees All
InformationWeek
Current smartphones can manage limited tracking of position and orientation, but lack the full range of sensors and precision to run the kinds of applications Google envisions. More significantly, they aren't designed to place the device within a 3D ...

Hey Microsoft, where's the next Mac Office?
Computerworld
Historically, Microsoft has hewn to a three-year development cycle for both Office on the Mac and the far-more-popular Office suite for Windows, with a new version of the former following the newest of the latter by several months at a minimum. Office ...

Apple Acting More Like Microsoft Than Facebook
Forbes
Not only has Apple been slow to enter new categories with in-house products, it has also been beaten out for acquisitions by rivals like Facebook and Google Google. Whether or not Apple bid for assets like smart appliance maker Nest Labs, which Google ...

Google Fiber Plans Expansion To 34 New Cities (Including Salt Lake)
Forbes
The race for the Internet gigabit space took another leap forward this week with Google Google Fiber's announcement that it has targeted 34 more cities in 9 metro areas for access to Google internet services at the increasingly popular 1Gps speed. Salt ...

Google Borrows $1 Billion With First Bond Sale in Three Years
Bloomberg
Google Inc. (GOOG) sold bonds for the first time in three years, borrowing funds to refinance $1 billion of maturing debt even after its cash hoard swelled to a record of more than $60 billion. The owner of the world's largest search engine issued 3 ...

Google Fiber may be fast, but it takes time to build
San Jose Mercury News
If you live in one of the five Silicon Valley cities Google may wire for high speed Internet, don't expect it to happen overnight. Based on the experience of Kansas City, whereGoogle is building its first high-speed network, it could take a couple of ...

Microsoft Stops Hiding Office's Free Online Edition
TIME
PS Apple has iCloud and it's giving Office Online a run for its money and totally blows Google Drive out of the water when it comes to presentations (haven't tried it for anything else)....

Google makes good on threat, flips 'kill switch' on some Chrome add-ons
Computerworld
By forcing add-on developers to publish their work in the Store, Google moved another step closer to a closed market, the kind popularized by Apple's mobile app ecosystem, where it can more easily vet the extensions and then yank them if necessary. On ...

Google deal is no 'gentlemen's agreement', says EU antitrust chief
Chicago Tribune
PARIS (Reuters) - The EU antitrust chief defended a deal with Google over how it displays web search results, following criticism from rival firms and his own colleagues, saying there had been no gentlemen's agreement to close the case. The world's ...

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