Amazon Web Services, Tech Behind NASA and Netflix (video)

Amazon Web Services: The Tech Behind NASA and Netflix: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
Amazon CTO Werner Vogels explains how Amazon Web Services makes companies more competitive. He speaks with Bloomberg's Cory Johnson on "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)


New York Times
Facebook Will Curtail Unpaid Ads by Brands
New York Times
Facebook has accumulated one of the biggest vaults of consumer data in the world. It dominates social media advertising the way Google dominates ...
Your Facebook News Feed is about to have fewer ads - CNET


New York Times
Apple Pay Gives Glimpse of Mainstream Appeal for Mobile Payments
New York Times
And even some of Apple's competitors, like Google and Softcard, say Apple has helped ...Apple Pay Rival MCX Open to Other Technology OCT.


TechCrunch (blog)
As Developers Depart, Google Glass Is Ready To Become This Era's Segway
TechCrunch (blog)
Admittedly, Facebook and OpenTable are among the larger developers ... thing for Googleto do now would be to release the underlying technology ...


Sci-Tech Today
Is Amazon Echo the next big thing?
Standard-Examiner
It's not often that I'm intrigued with a new tech gadget, but Amazon's Echo, ... The gadget arrived on Amazon's website with no fanfare. ... Leslie Meredith has been writing about and reviewing personal technology for the past six ...


TechNewsWorld
Amazon's Echo: A Play For The Smart Home, A Hot Holiday Gift, Or Another Money Losing Gadget?
Forbes
All I could see was Amazon pitting itself, again, against big players in the electronic industry – like Apple, Google and Microsoft, who already have ...


Business Insider
Here's How To Figure Out Everything Google Knows About You
Business Insider
When you use Google, you are making a deal. You get to use Gmail and search and YouTube and Google Maps for free and in exchange, you agree ...


The Columbian
Why the Amazon–Hachette Deal Is Likely Good for Writers and Publishers
The New Yorker
The end of the months-long impasse between Amazon and Hachette over ... It is believed that Amazon, which has typically favored keeping e-book prices ... San Francisco and is a business and technology correspondent for the site.


Forbes
Apple Loop: iPad Sales Crashing, Why Apple Is So Addictive, iPhone Demand High
Forbes
Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week's Apple Loop covers lead times and demands for the new iPhones, projected ...
The desperate struggle at the heart of the brutal Apple supply chain | Technology | The Guardian: ".... Though it doesn’t actually own any factories, Apple pours gigantic amounts of money - about $12.5bn in the past four quarters - into “plant, property and equipment”, the majority equipping its suppliers to make its products. (It is spending about $3bn - nearly as much as chipmaker Intel, though far less than Samsung Electronics, which has factories making screens, hard drives, and memory chips as well as phones, tablets and computers. Apple can make or break a supplier -The reality is that Apple, as the most valuable company on Earth by market capitalisation, now has the power to make or break a company through its supplier relationships (unlike Jobs’s pique, which had minimal effect on ATI). Being known as a supplier to it has definite value, one company - which is listed in Apple’s top 200 list - told the Guardian: “The value lies in the fact that Apple is recognised as having a high-quality build spec, so a relationship reflects well on that supplier’s products,” an executive said...."

 more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Europe's Rosetta Spacecraft Lands Probe on Comet (video)

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft landed the first ever probe on a comet, the culmination of a decade-long mission to the icy body that’s currently between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Planetary Resources President Chris Lewicki speaks on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg 11/12)

iOS weakness allows hackers to replace iPhone apps | Technology | The Guardian: iOS Vulnerability--"A weakness in newer versions of iOS lets hackers install apps on iPhones or iPads by sending users an email or text message."

PCWorld
Nexus 6 review: The best Nexus yet, if you can tolerate its gargantuan size
PCWorld
The biggest, most expensive, and best Nexus phone Google has ever produced. All it needs is decent camera software. Share on Facebook · Share on Twitter · Share on Google+ · Share on LinkedIn · Share on Pinterest. It's bound to happen. You'll be lining ...


Wall Street Journal
Amazon Web business jumps 40 percent
The Seattle Times
The head of Amazon Web Services says a long list of businesses in every “imaginable segment” is using AWS “in a meaningful way.” 


Android Headlines - Android News
Samsung VR Headset Arrives in December
PC Magazine
Samsung told developers at its SF conference that the future is wide open for exciting new tech platforms...

ABC News
The New Way You Can Say 'Thank You for Being a Friend' on Facebook
ABC News
There's a new way to say, "Thank you for being a friend," on Facebook. The social network announced today it is launching a new service, "Say Thanks," that allows users to send video cards to their friends and family. The service is gradually being rolled out ...


CIO Today
Microsoft Releases Another Windows 10 Build
Tom's Hardware
Microsoft's Gabe Aul updated the Windows blog on Wednesday with news that a new version of Windows 10 is now available to download. This new build, 9879, includes new windowing and gesture improvements, tweaks to OneDrive usage, improvements ...


Christian Science Monitor
AT&T halts improvements until FCC decides on net neutrality
Christian Science Monitor
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company will pause further investments into its fiber networks until the government makes a decision on net neutrality....


Detroit Free Press
Pew Privacy Survey: We've Lost Control Over Our Personal Data
NBCNews.com
A new Pew Research Center survey reveals that nearly all Americans surveyed feel they've lost control over how companies collect and use their personal information. The survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project asked 607 U.S. adults about ...


Wired
Microsoft's big play for the future of development
ITworld.com
It's hard to change direction when you're a company the size of Microsoft. In the past 18 months however, they've become considerably more open and modern. Today in a not so surprise move, Microsoft announced .NET Core 5, a component of the next ...

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Access to Google services in China returns

Not much internet freedom in China --

Access to Google services within China returns | Reuters: "Users in China were able to access online services for Google Inc on Thursday, after more than a month of severe disruption that almost completely blocked people from using features such as its search, maps and e-mail functions. The Google disruption began in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the government's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square. China maintains tight control over the Internet, nipping in the bud any signs of dissent or challenges to the ruling Communist Party's leadership...."

Google Cloud Platform Blog: Welcome Microsoft, RedHat, IBM, Docker and more to the Kubernetes community: "Kubernetes is an open source manager for Docker containers, based on Google’s years of experience using containers at Internet scale. Today, Microsoft, RedHat, IBM, Docker, Mesosphere, CoreOS and SaltStack are joining the Kubernetes community and will actively contribute to the project. Each company brings unique strengths, and together we will ensure that Kubernetes is a strong and open container management framework for any application and in any environment - whether in a private, public or hybrid cloud. Our shared goal is to allow a broad range of developers to take advantage of container technologies. Kubernetes was built from the ground up as a lean, extensible and portable framework for managing Docker workloads. It lets customers manage their applications the way that Google manages hyper-scale applications like Search and Gmail. Containers offer tremendous advantages for developers. Predictable deployments and simple scalability are possible because Docker packages all of a workload’s dependencies with the application. This allows for ultimate portability; you can avoid vendor lock-in and run containers in the cloud of your choice. It is just as important that the management framework has the same properties of portability and scalability, and that is what the community will bring to Kubernetes...."

Aereo Lays Out New Survival Strategy in Letter to Judge - Hollywood Reporter: "... Aereo reports that it is proceeding to file the necessary statements of account and royalty fees, and asserts that the Supreme Court's decision has overruled the 2nd Circuit decision in Ivi, which concerned a predecessor digital TV transmitter that once attempted to gain legitimacy through the paying of compulsory license fees. Even if the judge doesn't accept the argument, Aereo says there are still issues to be addressed about the "scope" of any preliminary injunction...."

Google Chrome Blog: Mirror Your Android Screen to the TV with Chromecast: "Chromecast makes it easy for you to enjoy your favorite entertainment on the biggest screen in the house. Starting today, you can mirror your Android phone and tablet to the TV so you can see your favorite apps, photos or anything else, exactly as you see it on your mobile device—only bigger. To start mirroring, simply select “Cast Screen” from the navigation drawer in the Chromecast app and select your Chromecast device.  On Nexus devices, this feature is also available through the quick settings menu. Now, anything on your Android device will appear on the TV. You can share photos stored on your phone with a group of friends, or scope out the scenery for your next family vacation together on the big screen using Google Earth...."

Cast your Android screen from the Chromecast App -  Current Devices "Nexus 4 Nexus 5 Nexus 7 (2013) Nexus 10 Samsung Galaxy S4 Samsung Galaxy S4 (Google Play Edition) Samsung Galaxy S5 Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Samsung Galaxy Note 10 HTC One M7 HTC One M7 (Google Play Edition) LG G3 LG G2 LG G Pro 2 Support for additional devices coming soon"

Amazon allowed kids to spend millions on in-app purchases, FTC says
PCWorld
This week, Politico reported that Apple has complained to the FTC that Google allows the same kinds of in-app purchases in its mobile app store.

Google executive's November death on Santa Cruz yacht turns torrid with prostitute's arrest
San Jose Mercury News
The victim: Forrest Timothy Hayes, a 51-year-old who was on the Google team ... In Facebook posts and pictures on a page that disappeared around noon ... Google andApple representatives declined to discuss Hayes' tenure or ...

Google's Venture Capital Arm Adds $100 Million European Fund
Bloomberg
Google provides funds to the ventures arm, which makes strategic ... Facebook Inc. this year agreed to spend $19 billion for messaging startup ...

Apple Secures EU Trademark for Store Layouts
Wall Street Journal
Apple Inc. has secured an EU court ruling to register the layout of its shops--like its new flagship store opened in Madrid, Spain, last month--as a ...

Microsoft CEO backs Xbox in employee memo
USA TODAY
Microsoft chief Satya Nadella says the company will "continue to grow and innovate" with their Xbox video game brand, brushing off speculation that ...

Yahoo plan for Alibaba cash draws attention
MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Yahoo Inc. will kick off the tech earnings ... “We will be listening closely for how Yahoo thinks about using its Alibaba ...

Microsoft Enhances Azure, Office 365
InformationWeek
Microsoft sets the tone for its Worldwide Partner Conference with new Office 365 plans, ...Microsoft announced a raft of enhancements Wednesday to its cloud ... with those ofAmazon and other cloud competitors, and how well Microsoft ... I'm sure Apple will come up with something better for their users.

Apple's CarPlay to dominate infotainment systems, will be in 24M cars by 2019
Computerworld
Computerworld - In just five years, Apple's CarPlay API for iPhone integration ... Earlier this year, Google announced it would start an Open Automotive ...

Amazon Web Services Launches New Capabilities for Mobile Developers
MarketWatch
Amazon Cognito is a new service that provides simple user identity and data ... unauthenticated guests and then sign in with Amazon, Facebook, or Google. ... send notifications to Apple iOS, Google Android, and Kindle Fire devices.

Apple Plans All-Glass iPhone In Radical Design Shift
Forbes
It has long been an industry joke that the ultimate Apple Apple design would simply be a piece of glass. Well such teasing may not be far off the mark ...

Apple brings iTunes Extras to Apple TV, HD Extras to Macs today & iOS 8 in fall | 9to5Mac
By Jordan Kahn
While we'll have to wait for iTunes Extras to arrive on iOS with the release of iOS 8 this fall, the Apple TV OS 6.2 update rolled out late last month to ...

Satya Nadella Says Changes Are Coming to Microsoft - NYTimes.com
By By NICK WINGFIELD
An essay sent to Microsoft employees by the company's chief executive appears to ... Satya Nadella's essay, sent by email to Microsoft employees, said the company would " ...
Bits

FTC: Amazon Billed Parents Millions for Kids' Unauthorized App Buys - Gizmodo
By Kate Knibbs
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Amazon demanding ... Earlier this year, Apple settled a similar complaint for $32.5 million.
Gizmodo

Facebook Is Studying Your Mom, Your Makeout Buddy, and Your 9/11 Conspiracy Theories ...
By Dana Liebelson
Facebook users and privacy advocates erupted in anger recently after New ... Although it's unlikely Facebook users have heard about most of these studies .... in with Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Disqus, or OpenID to comment.
Culture | Mother Jones

RUMOR: Apple Put In A Gigantic Order For The iPhone 6 - Business Insider
By Jay Yarow
Taiwan's “Business Weekly” is reporting that Apple told suppliers to make 68 million ... Login With Facebook Login With Twitter Login With Google.
Business Insider

Regulators sue Amazon on billing practices for in-app purchases | SiliconBeat
By Michelle Quinn
The FTC settled with Apple in January on the same issue. ... opportunity to point regulators to an article about Google's own practices, as I wrote about ...

Google Maps goes to Angkor Wat, Cambodia - AMERICAblog
By John Aravosis
Google takes you on a journey to the historic temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. How cool is that?
AMERICAblog News

Space Probe Might Lack Nitrogen to Push It Home - NYTimes.com: ".... On Wednesday, the team tried firings with different permutations of tanks, valves and thrusters. None worked, leading the engineers to suspect that the problem was not mechanical, but empty tanks. The nitrogen is used to squeeze the fuel, hydrazine, to the thrusters. “Without that, you don’t have a rocket,” Mr. Cowing said. There is a small chance that ISEE-3 is on course to slam into the moon on Aug. 10. A communication session on Friday will help determine its path. If it misses the moon, it will again wander in a looping orbit around the sun. “I’m going to wave to it as it goes by,” said Robert W. Farquhar, who was the spacecraft’s project scientist when ISEE-3 launched and who came up with the idea of sending it to visit a comet. Even though they might not be able to capture the spacecraft, Mr. Cowing said they were devising an alternative in which ISEE-3 would collect scientific data and send it back to Earth. “There’s a Plan B,” he said. “We’re going to listen to the spacecraft as long as it talks.”"

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

FTC, T-Mobile, Cramming, Slamming

T-Mobile Sued for Adding Bogus Charges to Bills: Video - Bloomberg:
(Allow video to load after clicking play or go to link above)
T-Mobile US Inc. was sued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over claims the wireless carrier placed unauthorized third-party charges on customer bills. Bloomberg’s Yang Yang reports on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg July 2, 2014)

FTC probably a little late -- it was a problem, a year ago --

FTC: T-Mobile knowingly added bogus charges to bills: "..."It's wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. "The FTC's goal is to ensure that T-Mobile repays all its customers for these crammed charges.""

DailyTech - FTC Calls Out T-Mobile for Fraudulent Charges on Phone Bills, CEO Lambasts Claims: "...T-Mobile CEO John Legere has since responded to the FTC complaint, saying that it is "unfounded and without merit." Here's Legere's full statement:  We have seen the complaint filed today by the FTC and find it to be unfounded and without merit.  In fact T-Mobile stopped billing for these Premium SMS services last year and launched a proactive program to provide full refunds for any customer that feels that they were charged for something they did not want.  T-Mobile is fighting harder than any of the carriers to change the way the wireless industry operates and we are disappointed that the FTC has chosen to file this action against the most pro-consumer company in the industry rather than the real bad actors..."

Famed investor Tim Draper wins auction of Silk Road’s 29,655 bitcoins | Ars Technica: "A relatively unknown Silicon Valley Bitcoin startup named Vaurum announced that one of its primary investors, Tim Draper, has won the government auction of an enormous trove of 29,655 bitcoins seized from Silk Road—currently worth over $19 million. “Bitcoin frees people from trying to operate in a modern market economy with weak currencies,” Draper, a founding partner at the well-known venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), said in a statement posted by Varurum on Wednesday morning. DFJ manages over $7 billion in global investments and was an early funder of Hotmail, Skype, Tesla Motors, and the Pebble watch. Vaurum said in its statement that it will partner with Draper to “leverage the pool of [around] 30,000 bitcoins as a liquidity source” as a way to develop trading platforms in “developing economies.”..."

Google's Latest Buy Is Full of Hits
ABC News
Google's latest acquisition is already a hit. The search giant announced today that it had scooped up Songza, a music streaming and curation service.

Microsoft accidentally borks legit websites while hunting malware in No-IP takeover
PCWorld
Microsoft admitted Tuesday it made a technical error after it commandeered part of an Internet service's network in order to shut down a botnet, but the ...

Amazon Defends Its Stance Against Hachette
Wall Street Journal
In its standoff with Hachette, Amazon wants a larger share of e-book ... The Justice Department in 2012 brought a civil antitrust lawsuit against five major publishers and Apple Inc., ... 

Amazon Resisting FTC On In-App Purchases By Children
Wall Street Journal
In a letter to the FTC Tuesday, Amazon said it was prepared to "defend our ... He said Amazon's app store included "prominent notice of in-app ... and has updated its app store to conform to the standards the FTC set for Apple. ... App stores, such as those operated by Amazon, Apple and Google Inc., ...

Facebook policy didn't mention 'research' at time of controversial experiment
San Jose Mercury News
Facebook argues it had users' consent to carry out the test, based on ...

Microsoft sides with Qualcomm in showdown over connected home
Reuters
Microsoft on Tuesday joined 50 other members in the AllSeen Alliance, including ... AppleInc, known for strictly controlling how other companies' products interact with its own, ... Last week, Google said it partnered with Mercedes-Benz, Whirlpool Corp and light bulb ...

Amazon Strikes Back With Lower Cost Instances
InformationWeek
Amazon Web Services has introduced a lower cost, general-purpose instance type for users who want both a modest CPU and also an ability to burst ...

Amazon seller sues Amazon, Apple over deleted listings
CNET
An independent electronics accessories retailer is suing tech giants Amazon and Apple on a multitude of allegations that include stopping the ...

Microsoft, Google form Ethernet consortium for data center networks
ZDNet
Five tech giants including Google and Microsoft have formed a consortium to push ...Facebook: Unethical, untrustworthy, and now downright harmful ...

Facebook Faces Investigation In UK Over Emotion Experiment - The Next Web
By Kaylene Hong
Facebook posts, comments and likes related to the World Cup have already ...Facebook's brewing trouble in Europe comes as Google has started ...
The Next Web Top Stories

Microsoft Communication Applications - AT&T Business
AT&T Managed Application Services for Microsoft can provide hosting, monitoring, management, and support across the application lifecycle. We can ...
AT&T - Enterprise Business Services

Google in Deal for Songza, a Music Playlist Service
New York Times
In a sign of growing consolidation in the digital music business, Google announced on Tuesday that it had bought Songza, a three-year-old app that competes with Pandora and others in making customized playlists of recommended songs. The price was not ...

ray turns out to one of world's deepest divers
New Zealand Herald
A ray known for basking on the ocean surface has turned out to be one of the natural world's deepest divers, able to forage at submarine-crushing depths, scientists said this week. Researchers attached data recorders to 15 Chilean devil rays (Latin name ...

 more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom

Autonomy, HP -- the Apotheker mess Meg Whitman is trying to clean up

Can Meg Whitman save HP? - CBS News: ".... There aren't many tech companies that have been able to make this type of transition. "You're right," said Whitman. "You have to be willing to cannibalize your existing business. Frankly, I'd rather do it to myself than have someone do it to me." In Las Vegas this month, Whitman revealed that Hewlett-Packard is working on a radical redesign of computing, a project it calls "The Machine." "This changes everything," she said in Las Vegas. How? By building computers in an entirely new way, using light to move data instead of copper wires, and combining all forms of the computer's memory in the same place. What will The Machine be able to do? "It will be able to compute much faster with huge amounts of data," Whitman said. "And it will also take up a lot less space and pull a lot less energy."...."

Not many CEOs have the perseverance of HP CEO Meg Whitman -- if HP survives, she deserves a lot of credit --

Hewlett-Packard and shareholders reach settlement in suit over Autonomy deal - San Jose Mercury News: "...HP has  been widely criticized for ignoring red flags when it paid $11 billion for Autonomy in 2011. For years before that, analysts and others had raised doubts about the software company, and HP in November 2012 wrote down Autonomy's value by $8.8 billion. That prompted some of its shareholders to file suit, claiming the Palo Alto company's executives misrepresented how much prior checking they did on Autonomy, exaggerated the importance of Autonomy's technology and delayed publicly acknowledging Autonomy's problems months after learning of them. In its defense, HP claims it was misled about the British firm's worth because of "accounting improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures" by Autonomy's executives. The U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office all are looking into HP's charges. In addition, Air Force investigators have filed similar accusations against Autonomy officials, seeking to bar them from doing business with the military...."

A look back:
Views under the Palm | johnmpoole.com: Apotheker's Legacy of Wrecking HP Continues: Jan 8, 2013 ".... If only HP had not hired Apotheker but a CEO who could have advanced webOS.... "According to a recent report in Fortune, HP CFO Kathie Lesjak tried to stop HP from buying Autonomy for nearly $12 billion last summer, thinking the price was too high, but she lost that battle to then-CEO Leo Apotheker."--$12 billion down the drain. What a waste!"

Facebook's Study Of Emotion Is About Keeping Us Addicted To Facebook
Forbes
Facebook made some errors of judgment in the way it handled its now-infamous, behavioral experiment on users. We now know it only added ...

Google Shutting Down Orkut
InformationWeek
After Monday, the Orkut mobile app will be removed from Apple's App Store and from Google Play. Those who have already downloaded the app will ...

Microsoft boosts anti-snooping protection in Outlook.com, OneDrive
PCWorld
Microsoft has added encryption safeguards to the Outlook.com webmail ... Cloud computing providers like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and many ...

Yahoo Picks Up 'Community' for Its Streaming-Video Site Screen
Wall Street Journal
Sony Pictures Television and Yahoo finalized an agreement Monday, the last day of the cast ... on Yahoo's site watching video could help the company lure ad dollars fromGoogle Inc.'s YouTube, by far ... Yahoo was the fourth-largest video site, with 52 million viewers, trailing Facebook Inc. and AOL Inc.

Google Is Locking Down The UI On New Android Wear, TV and Auto Spin-Offs
Forbes
This past week at its I/O event, Google disclosed a plethora of additional details regarding its plans for Android Wear and unveiled additional spin-offs ...

Amazon Web Services Introduces New Low-Cost General Purpose Instance Type forAmazon EC2
Wall Street Journal
Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced the availability of T2 instances, a new Amazon ...

Google Glass taking fans closer to the action
USA TODAY
CHICAGO (AP) -- Your favorite team is playing for the title, and you are in the middle of the field. You have a ticket in the very top row for an NBA ...

Apple patches iOS, OS X and Safari on Mega Monday
Computerworld
Nine of the 19 Mavericks vulnerabilities -- and 8 of the 11 critical flaws -- were reported toApple by Ian Beer, a Google security engineer. Along with ...

Enigmatic Disappearance Of Ocean Garbage Patch: "Millions Of tons. That’s how much plastic should be floating in the world’s oceans, given our ubiquitous use of the stuff. But a new study finds that 99% of this plastic is missing. Plastic junk is floating widely on the world’s oceans, but there’s less of it than expected, a study says"

more technology news below ( @ web version--link below)

Follow @expricom