Are We in a Tech Bubble? (video)

We Don’t Believe We’re in Bubble: Stanford: Video - Bloomberg:
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Sherpaventures Managing Directors and Co-Founders Shervin Pishevar and Scott Stanford discuss the company’s first fund on “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg, July 22)

Microsoft's Profit Takes Hit on Nokia - WSJ: "An initial report card came in for Microsoft Corp.'s purchase of Nokia Corp.'s mobile phone business. As feared, the marks were poor. Nokia's former handset operation, which Microsoft bought for more than $7 billion in April, drained nearly $700 million from operating profit in the quarter, the company said on Tuesday. Cost-cutting to offset Nokia losses also represented the lion's share of 18,000 job cuts ordered last week by new Chief Executive Satya Nadella, the biggest workforce reduction in its history. The Nokia purchase could look smart in the long run if Microsoft is able to sell more of its smartphones and use them to lure customers to its software, Internet services and mobile apps. Initially, at least, that appears more hope than reality..."

For Apple, iPhone Roars and iPad Whimpers - WSJ: "Ahead of a refresh of the iPhone, Apple Inc. reported 12% profit growth and strong sales of its current handset, especially in markets far afield from its traditional customer base in the U.S. The iPhone results stood in contrast to iPad sales, which slid for the second consecutive quarter, raising questions about the future of Apple's tablet as the company gears up to launch bigger-screen iPhone models...."

U.K. Cabinet Office Adopts ODF as Exclusive Standard for Sharable Documents - ConsortiumInfo.org: "In making a decision that had been strongly opposed by Microsoft, the Cabinet Office’s decision reflects: …the government’s policy to create a level playing field for suppliers of all sizes, with its digital by default agenda on track to make cumulative savings of £1.2 billion in this Parliament for citizens, businesses and taxpayers."
more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument
and https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/odf

FCC running on dial-up | TheHill: "...“Their website’s been a disaster for as long as I can remember,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee that oversees the FCC and a former radio station owner who dealt often with the commission. “The search engine is horrible, the website stinks... When I was in the business you’d try to plug in your call letters or whatever; never could find anything,” he added. “It’s horrible.” The flaws burst into the open during the commission’s recent efforts to write new regulations for net neutrality, the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally regardless of which websites people are visiting...."

Apple Documents Undisclosed iOS Services
InformationWeek
"Each of these diagnostic capabilities requires the user to have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer," Apple's documentation ...


USA TODAY
Facebook revenue jumps 61% on mobile ad strength
USA TODAY
Facebook is still a distant second to Google, but Google's share is expected to slip to 40% this year from 50% in 2012. Analysts also see promise in a ...


SFGate
Amazon Fire phone merely lukewarm
Boston Globe
Only two companies, Apple Inc. and Samsung Corp., make much money selling smartphones. Every other player -- HTC, LG, Microsoft, BlackBerry -- is either in the red or ... So the smartphone business is ideal for Amazon.com. ... We're all locked in to Apple iOS devices, and those running Google Inc.'s ...


Wall Street Journal
Microsoft Strives For One OS To Rule Them All
Forbes
Speaking to analysts about the Q4 FY2014 earnings numbers, Microsoft ... Apple has already been working toward that goal by meshing features of ...


Inquirer
Microsoft again writes off Surface inventory, renews profitability doubts
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft again took a hit on its Surface business, the company acknowledged Tuesday, although the extent of the damage was ...


Economic Times
Google tried to buy music giant Spotify
Computerworld
Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page also reportedly stymied the ... Apple, a major player in the music industry with the iPod and the ubiquitous ...


Forbes
Amazon Flexes Muscle Against Blogger Who Thought It 'Was Nicer Than Average Mega Corporation'
Forbes
Amazon has spent the last few months doing battle with a major U.S. ... and readying itself for mobile phone fisticuffs with Apple Apple and Samsung. ... delete his Facebookpage, which also had the same FireTVNews moniker. ... Amazon Lures Google Glass Creator Following Phone Launch · Ryan Mac ...


Wall Street Journal
Apple faces class-action lawsuit over work breaks
San Jose Mercury News
A San Diego judge's ruling raises the stakes in a lawsuit against Apple that accuses the tech giant of failing to provide its hourly workers with timely ...


Reuters
Apple posts biggest earnings gain in two years
Boston Globe
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple's growth prospects are brightening as ... Earnings rose at the highest rate in nearly two years as Apple Inc. sold 35.2 million iPhones during the period. ... screens on a variety of smartphones running on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. ... Facebook · Twitter · Google+ ...

Google is rolling out a new Material Design-inspired version of Google Play for Android
Jon Russell
Google's 'Little Box Challenge' to shrink a power inverter is now open for submissions ... Material Design homescreens have already landed for Google's Docs, ... Apple releases information about iOS in response to claims of a 'backdoor' for data ... Microsoft launches $114 Lumia 530 with 4-inch display.

Apple Working With Swatch For iWatch With Multiple Designs, Price Points?
Juli Clover
Apple may be working with manufacturing partners like Swatch to create ... Paparazzi, a 2004 smart watch created in collaboration with Microsoft .... Facebook Debuts New Read-It-Later 'Save' Feature for iOS and Desktop (14).

Amazon's Fire Phone Serves A Prime Strategic Purpose
Michael Comeau
And, arriving seven years after the debut of the first modern smartphone, Amazon's new entry lacks some key functions both Apple and Samsung ...

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China's Crackdown on Google Hurts Chinese Businesses (video)

Google Crackdown Hurts Chinese Businesses: Rein: Video
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Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research, discusses China cracking down on Google ahead of the Tiananmen Square anniversary. He speaks with Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg, June 3rd)

Cybercrime Remains Growth Industry With $445 Billion Lost - Businessweek: "...The outlook “is increased losses and slower growth,” with no “credible scenario in which cybercrime losses diminish,” according to the report published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Some of the damage will be hard to trace, such as economic downturns caused by foreign competitors selling products based on stolen designs and financial markets undermined by hackers...."

Search Apps Stealing Mobile Search Ad Revenues from Google [Report] - SEW: "Google's dominance in paid search is taking a hit from the number of mobile apps that users are using on a daily basis, apps that often use alternative sources of revenue generation outside of Google ads. according to a new eMarketer report...."

Facebook mistakenly releases second Snapchat clone, quickly removes it
Los Angeles Times
In recent years, Facebook has seen its younger users turn to other apps to get their social networking fix, and Snapchat has proven particularly ...

Apple Beefs Up iOS 8 Security In Preparation For Launch Of Secure Smartphone Competition
Forbes
The iPhone 6 could be Apple Apple's most secure smartphone to date ... asking users to share its app on Facebook to receive in-game bonuses.

Facebook, Twitter brace for World Cup fever
Salt Lake Tribune
New York • This year's World Cup will play out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and messaging apps like WhatsApp just as it progresses in stadiums ...

Google Open Sources Its Secret Weapon in Cloud Computing
Wired
When Google engineers John Sirois, Travis Crawford, and Bill Farner left the internet ... With Borg, Google engineers could instantly grab enormous amounts of ... It also lets you oversee machines running on competing cloud services–from Amazon, say, ...

Microsoft withholds monster IE update from Windows 8.1 dawdlers
Computerworld
Computerworld - Microsoft refused to give Windows 8.1 customers a ... Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and ...

Microsoft firmware improves Surface 2 family's Cover performance
PCWorld
If you own a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 or Surface 2, good news: A number of Microsoftupdates should improve how your tablet interacts with its Surface ...

Microsoft's 3D-Sensing Smartphone: Evidence Mounts
InformationWeek
Microsoft may be prepping a 3D-sensing smartphone that lets users interact with it ...Microsoft places a distant third in the smartphone race but has still managed to ... ReadApple WWDC 2014 Highlights: A New Era?] ... Later this month, Amazon is expected to debut a smartphone with a 3D, perhaps ...

Three Questions with Beats Designer Robert Brunner | MIT Technology Review: "....Do people really want to wear another device, though? It means one more gadget to keep track of and charge. An iPad is a more limited interface, but for a certain number of things it’s perfectly adequate. So for a lot of people who bought computers for e-mail and Web browsing and games, “Oh, I’ll just get this because it’s more mobile, it’s easier,” and so forth. Well, you could see the same kind of thing happening between a phone and a watch. Let’s say with my watch I could easily make phone calls, I could easily get my messages, there’s a certain subset of things that are easier, simpler, and much more mobile, you could make that transition as well. There may be a subset of functionality on the smartphone that a bunch of people buy it for, all of a sudden it moves to the watch, and, great, I don’t have to drag this thing out of my pocket; it’s always on my wrist."

Sun Unleashes Two X-Class Flares, Back to Back
NBCNews.com
The sun unleashed two major solar flares early Tuesday in amazing back-to-back storms. The first outburst, an X2.2-class solar flare, hit its maximum at about 7:42 a.m. ET. An X1.5-class flare followed at 8:36 a.m. EDT (1236 GMT). Both flares were capable of ...

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