Sony's Biggest Flops (video); Android Split for Work and Play

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Sony's famed and praised Walkman turns 35 this week but not every Sony product can say they've lasted that long. Bloomberg Ranx looks at five of Sony's biggest gadget flops. (Source: Bloomberg July 3, 2014)

Google Splits Up Your Android Phone for Work and Play | Business | WIRED: "... According to Amit Singh–who oversees business sales at Google–the software used to separate apps is based on technology Google acquired with its recent purchase of a company called Divide. The idea is that, by placing corporate apps in secure software “containers,” Google can allow businesses to manage and monitor them without messing with all the personal stuff on your phone. For instance, if you leave your job at a particular company, Singh told us after Pichai’s keynote speech, the company can erase all your corporate data and apps without touching, say, your personal Gmail account or Twitter app. For Google, the ultimate aim is to make Android more appealing to businesses that are concerned about securing corporate data on employee phones...."

Google Starts Scrubbing News Articles From Search After Court Ruling
TIME
Google In this photo illustration the Google logo is reflected in the eye of a girl on February 3, 2008 in London, England. Chris Jackson—Getty Images ...

Google makes way for wearables with Play Services update
PCWorld
Google has released a new version of Play Services that opens the door to more smartwatch apps and cooler games. Play Services is a set of features ...

Facebook may face European inquiries
Boston Globe
NEW YORK — Facebook could be in hot water with Europe's privacy regulators. The social network is facing potential investigations after it disclosed ...

Apple expands CarPlay to nine more automakers
Los Angeles Times
CarPlay, Apple's forthcoming vehicle radio system, will be supported by nine ... Googlelast week announced a vehicle radio system of its own called ...

Facebook's mind game was a violation of trust
Boston Globe
Every so often, the giant social network Facebook does something guaranteed ... And yetFacebook, Google and every other big-name Internet site ... ignore Google and ... at least dip into alternate services like Bing or Yahoo, or the ...

Amazon vows to fight FTC over sales to youths
Boston Globe
LOS ANGELES — Amazon said Wednesday it is prepared to go to court against ...Apple complained when the FTC announced its settlement with the ...

Google scoops up Songza and its modern version of the 80s mix tape
Computerworld
Music streaming service Songza announced today that it is being acquired by Google. Neither company provided financial details of the deal, ...

Microsoft trolls for Office beta testers
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft today put out a call for commercial and consumer beta testers to put upcoming versions of Office through the wringer.

Google Bans Porn From Its Ad Network
NBCNews.com
Google Bans Porn From Its Ad Network. Google is getting ... work in the industry. In May, Amazon began deleting the wish lists of several adult stars.

Microsoft Outlook Web App: Slicker Email Attachment Handling
InformationWeek
Microsoft Office For iPad Vs. iWork Vs. Google ... Earlier this year, Microsoft previewed a variety of upcoming tools designed to make Office easier to ...

Google Alerts British News Outlets About Deleting Their Links - NYTimes.com
By By MARK SCOTT
LONDON – A week after Google started to remove links to online content in Europe, some ... (The links, however, are still available on Google.com) ... market share in Europe, and other search engines like Microsoft's Bing. ... The Wall Street Journal | A senior Amazonexecutive on Tuesday defended the ...
Bits

How Google Street View Was Created - Business Insider
By Lisa Eadicicco
Elliot Kroo, an engineer that claimed he was Google's youngest intern ever at 14, helped create ... Login With Facebook Login With Twitter Login With Google ... BEACONS: What They Are, How They Work, And Why Apple's iBeacon ...
Business Insider

'Right to be forgotten': BBC, The Guardian, Daily Mail push back on Google
Sydney Morning Herald
A disgraced football coach and an investment banker involved in the global financial crisis are two of the early successful applicants to evoke the digital world's newly minted "right to be forgotten". Three major international news groups have received "notice ...

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FTC, T-Mobile, Cramming, Slamming

T-Mobile Sued for Adding Bogus Charges to Bills: Video - Bloomberg:
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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 ...

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