Why European Parliament Is Picking a Fight With Google (video)

Thursday the European Parliament voted  in favor of breaking up Google (the vote is not binding). The world's largest search engine is accused of squeezing out its competitors. Bloomberg spoke with a legal expert about what's driving this action. (Source: Bloomberg 11/26) 

European parliament votes | Ars Technica: " Although the vote is non-binding, it's a definite setback for the company...."


India Today
International Business|In Symbolic Vote, EU Parliament Passes Measure to Break Up Google
New York Times
A breakup of Google in Europe will almost certainly not happen, legal .... Google in Europe are major American technology companies like Microsoft ...
European Parliament Votes To Break Up Google - Forbes
European Parliament Approves Google Breakup Resolution - Wall Street Journal
European Parliament Backs Investigation To Split Google Search From Its Other Businesses - TechCrunch


Wall Street Journal
EU Says Google Should Extend 'Right to Be Forgotten' to '.com' Websites
Wall Street Journal
In a new set of guidelines agreed upon in Brussels on Wednesday, the body representing the European Union's 28 national privacy regulators said search engines should apply the bloc's new right to be forgotten to all of their websites—in particular .com ...

New York Times
Sunset Overdrive, This War of Mine, Super Smash Bros. and Civilization
New York Times
Hovering above the destruction in Sunset Overdrive, set in a city of murderous creatures....

NDTV
Sony settles with FTC on allegedly misleading PlayStation tweets
Los Angeles Times
Sony's PlayStation Vita may not have been so game-changing after all. Sony settled with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday over charges that it deceived customers in 2011 about the "game changing" advanced technology on the handheld gaming ...

CNET
Get 100 free MP3 albums from Microsoft
CNET
"We'll see your one free album, Google, and raise you a hundred!" The catch? Windows 8 and Windows Phone users only...

PCWorld
Twitter starts peeking at the other apps on your phone
PCWorld
Twitter, hungry for new data to fuel its targeted advertising, will start looking at what other apps its ...

San Jose Mercury News
Tablet shopping: iPad, Android or Windows?
San Jose Mercury News
NEW YORK -- Time for a tablet? People tend to hold onto tablets longer than smartphones, so take time to weigh your options. A major consideration is what phone you or your gift recipient already has. Although it's possible for Android owners to have Apple's ...

CNET
Amazon Black Friday deals on Kindle and Fire devices start Thursday
CNET
Amazon is offering some impressive deals on its in-house Kindle readers, Fire tablets and Fire phones during the Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend....

Computerworld
Lenovo Pranks Shoppers for Yoga 3 Ad
PC Magazine
The laptop maker on Tuesday released a Yoga 3 promotional video featuring unsuspecting mallgoers and a broken Apple laptop. The prank featured members of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater comedy troupe, who tricked passersby at the Plymouth ...

Computerandvideogames.com
Assassin's Creed Unity Season Pass 'discontinued', free game offered
Computerandvideogames.com
In a drastic move following the marred launch of Assassin's Creed Unity, Ubisoft has "discontinued" the game's Season Pass and announced free offerings as compensation to owners of the game. Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallet detailed the move in a ...


TechCrunch
Identity Wars: Why Apple Pay Is About More Than Payments
TechCrunch
Editor's Note: Patrick Salyer is the chief executive officer of Gigya, a customer identity management company. There's been no shortage of attention ...

Microsoft reportedly planning Windows 10 event for January
Microsoft will hold an event this January to show off the new features of Windows 10, according to The Verge. Although January is traditionally ...

Hackers force message on websites via US firm - San Francisco Chronicle: "...The executive says hackers rerouted Internet traffic from its website to a computer server that generated a message to visitors that their site had been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. Published reports noted the message appeared on websites for several UK newspapers, CNBC and the National Hockey League. Gigya says no user or company data was compromised in the hack. The Syrian group aligns itself with Syrian President Bashar Assad..."

Here are most of Amazon's Black Friday videogame deals, all in one place

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Free Voice Calls From Google Hangouts App

Voice calls in Hangouts: call history (left); dialer (middle); in a call (right) (source: Google)

Free voice calls from Hangouts: "... Hangouts already makes it easy to send a quick message, or start a group video chat. But sometimes it’s best to just call to say “I love you,” and with the new version of Hangouts you can. Starting today you can make voice calls from Hangouts on Android, iOS and the web. It’s free to call other Hangouts users, it’s free to call numbers in the U.S. and Canada, and the international rates are really low. So keeping in touch is easier and more affordable than ever. To get started on Android, just grab the new version of Hangouts (v2.3, rolling out over the next few days), then install the accompanying dialer to turn on voice calls. On iOS and the web, voice calls
will be available the next time you open the app..."

Call phones in Hangouts: Worldwide Calling Rates

Turn any Hangout into a live video call with up to 10 friends or simply choose a contact to start a phone call from your computer. Who says you can’t be together even when you’re not?
Download Hangouts: Google Play | iTunes App Store | For your computer

More info on Google Hangouts

Exclusive: Nokia, Windows Phone Brands to be Replaced By Microsoft, Windows - Geek on Gadgets : Geek on Gadgets: "we can confirm that Microsoft will be completely dropping the “Nokia” branding from their devices, leaving “Lumia” as the hero brand for upcoming devices. In fact we understand that the Lumia 830 and Lumia 730 will be the final two devices to launch with “Nokia” branded on the phone.  Future devices will most likely carry the “Microsoft” name along with “Lumia”."

RadioShack's Last Hope for Survival: Shrinking Fast in Bankruptcy - Businessweek: "RadioShack’s mission—to shrink like crazy—hasn’t been accomplished fast enough. The ailing electronics retailer said on Thursday that it may not be able to avoid bankruptcy. While still holding out hope for new financing, the company acknowledged it could run out of money as soon as this month..."


CNN
Facebook testing disappearing posts
CNN
(CNN) -- If you want to use Facebook a little more like Snapchat, you might soon get your chance. The social-media giant is testing a feature that would ...

What Exactly Is the Facebook Messenger App for iOS Tracking? | Motherboard: "... iOS forensics and security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski spent Tuesday morning disassembling Facebook Messenger’s iOS binary, at one point declaring via Twitter that “Messenger appears to have more spyware type code in it than I've seen in products intended specifically for enterprise surveillance.” In an email, Zdziarski said that Messenger is logging practically everything a user might do within the app, from what and where they tap, to how often a device is held in portrait versus landscape orientation; even time spent in the Messenger app, versus the time it spends running in the background...."

NBCNews.com
US threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data
Washington Post
The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it ... communications by users of Yahoo and other U.S.-based technology firms. ... The original order to Yahoo came in 2007 and set off alarms at the ... including Google, Apple and Facebook — to comply with the data demands.
Documents Unsealed in Yahoo's Case Against US Data Requests - New York Times


New York Times
Microsoft Sees More Than Fun in a Game Like Minecraft
New York Times
Technology |​​NYT Now ... And Microsoft likes the game so much that the tech giant wants to buy Minecraft's parent ... Already, Facebook bought a virtual reality headset maker for $2 billion and the Japanese ... Last month, Amazon agreed to buy Twitch, a streaming video site, for more than $1 billion.
Culture Clash: Minecraft Fans Fear Microsoft - Wall Street Journal

Google Continues To Build Upon Its Life Sciences Ecosystem
Forbes
Google has a mission to organize the world's information and make it accessible to everyone. The company is mostly known for its search engine and ...


Wall Street Journal
Europe's Google Piñata
Wall Street Journal
Mr. Almunia said in February he was satisfied with Google's third offer, reached after two rounds of renegotiation following competitor input on ...

A Google Glass fit for the factory floor
Fortune
 ... It wasn't long after Google first revealed its Glass project in 2012 that technology companies ...


NPR (blog)
Is Amazon's Failed Phone A Cautionary Tale?
NPR (blog)
Amazon slashed the price of the Fire phone from $199 To 99 cents. ... Google has gone to great pains to build versions of Android that use less and ...

Google's studied silence on net neutrality finally broken
Washington Post (blog)
After a long silence, one of the Internet's biggest companies has finally weighed in on the latest net neutrality debate. On Wednesday, Google said it ...

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Will Windows 9 Save Microsoft Or Is It Too Late?

Probably too late--Windows 7 owns just over 50 percent of the PC OS market share and Windows XP owns an additional 25 percent. Windows 8 platforms and Windows Vista combined make up just 15 percent. In the trendsetting United States Apple's Mac OS is gaining ground, now accounting for more than 15 percent of domestic market share and Chromebooks are taking off (sources infra)--

Will Windows 9 Be Able To Save Microsoft? - Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) | Seeking Alpha: "Microsoft is facing challenges from Google, Apple and others on numerous fronts. Windows 8 turned out to be a flop, Windows phones are struggling, and the Xbox One launch went poorly... Despite heavy investments in its Windows Phone platforms, the company has secured only 2.7 percent of the global smartphone OS market, vs. 81.1 percent for Google and 15.2 percent for Apple... If Windows 9 turns out to be yet another flop, Microsoft could find itself in a difficult situation. The company relies on the sale of its operating systems and updated software for each system to drive revenues. Windows 8 has thus far been rejected by most consumers, depriving Microsoft of potential revenue streams...."

Why 2014 Will be the Biggest Year Yet for Google Chrome OS | Digital Trends: "... Most people just want a computer that can perform simple computing tasks without crashing, and they want to pay as little for it as possible. Netbooks failed because they only met the latter goal, but Chromebooks achieve both. Don’t just take my word for it though. Head over to Amazon’s best-seller list, where three or four Chromebooks can usually be found among the top 10 best-selling laptops. Look further and you’ll see that, excluding MacBooks, it’s rare for a notebook priced above $500 to crack the top 20. People want to pay as little for a PC as possible, and also want it to work well. Chromebooks meet both criteria...."

Storm Clouds Over Amazon Business - WSJ: "Amazon.com Inc. has been fighting two big rivals in the world of cloud computing. But that battle shows signs of becoming a free-for-all that threatens its profitability goals for the business. Large telecom and small startups have been forging into or expanding services that let companies rent computing cycles rather than operate their own servers and data centers. The broader competition comes amid a continuing price war in the business among Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Those pressures were underscored... when the online retailer reported a wider loss for its second quarter. Part of the reason: its Amazon Web Services, or AWS, recently cut prices by between 28% and 51% for various services as gains at AWS and similar businesses slowed to 38% from 60% in its first quarter..." (read more at link above)

Zillow To Swallow Trulia For $3.5 Billion: "Online real estate giant Zillow has agreed to acquire rival Trulia in a $3.5 billion, all-stock deal, Zillow announced Monday. The transaction is expected to close next year."

Comcast Memo: Rep From “Painful” Retention Call Was Doing “What We Trained Him To Do” – Consumerist: "The agent on this call did a lot of what we trained him and paid him — and thousands of other Retention agents — to do."--Dave Watson, Chief Operating Officer, Comcast Cable

How to Make Any Smartphone or Tablet Screen out of Scratch-Proof Sapphire | MIT Technology Review: "...Sapphire, or crystalline aluminum oxide, is made in nature but can also be manufactured. It is second only to diamond in hardness, although incorrect processing can leave defects that make it brittle. Because of its scratch-proof properties, it has long been used for making LEDs, sensors on missiles, and the screens on some high-end phones that cost as much as $10,000...."

BRADENTON, Fla.: Fla. sheriff offers safe space for internet deals - Technology - MiamiHerald.com: "... The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says parking lots at each of its four district stations are available for residents to make transactions arranged online in a public and safe space. Hillsborough's program was created in response to threats of robbery or violence during the in-person cash transactions for items advertised online or in other classified ads."

BEIJING: Chinese portal Sohu reports $45 million loss - Technology - MiamiHerald.com: "... The loss for the three months ended June 30 compared with a $69 million loss in the previous quarter and an operating profit of $64 million in the same period of 2013. Profits at China's Internet companies have been squeezed by heavy spending to build a mobile presence as Chinese Web surfers shift quickly to going online wirelessly through smartphones and tablet computers. Sohu operates online media, search, gaming, community and mobile services. "For our news and video businesses, we made solid progress in mobile monetization as our large user base successfully attracted a growing number of advertisers," said chairman Charles Zhang in a statement...."

MORE TECH NEWS:

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Amazon Is Facing A Cloud Crisis, As Microsoft Muscles In
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Amazon's pioneering success in cloud computing, dating back to 2006, has now brought on the likes of Microsoft, Google, IBM and Hewlett-Packard ...


Reuters
Microsoft targeted in apparent Chinese antitrust probe
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Apple to buy Swell, a talk-radio app, for $30 million, report says
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Apple Inc. is reportedly set to pay $30 million to acquire Swell, a Pandora-like app for Internet talk radio. The deal was reported late Sunday night by ...


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Amazon Launches 3D Printed Products Store
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Amazon on Monday launched a 3D Printed Products store, a development that the ...Amazon says its 3D Printed Products store offers "modestly priced ...


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Amazon India to expand same-day delivery capability with 5 new warehouses
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Customers who shop on online retailer Amazon can expect faster shipping times and greater availability shortly as the e-commerce player plans on ...


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Facebook Stock Is Classic Example Of Bubble
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I'm rounding these numbers because to think Facebook is not massively ... If you don't recognize today's market you can send it back to Amazon and ...


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Apple welcomes back top Bitcoin wallet app
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blockchain Apple banned Blockchain and other Bitcoin wallets from its App Store earlier this year. ... The world's top Bitcoin wallet program, Blockchain.info, is back on Apple'sApp Store. ... Google's (GOOGL, Tech30) mobile operating system has become a hotbed for ... Facebook launched my startup.


Ars Technica
Microsoft readying next Windows Phone update with folders, 7-inch screens
Ars Technica
Documents intended for the OEMs were accidentally made available on Microsoft'sdeveloper site for a short time, revealing details of what the patch ...

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AT&T, Trapped in Yesteryear, Buys DirecTV

Guess AT&T didn't get the memo: the future is internet video, both cable TV and satellite TV are in decline:

AT&T buy targets Comcast | Boston Herald: "...[analysts] question the strategic benefits of a deal that would give AT&T a larger presence in the mature market for pay TV. Last year, pay TV subscribers in the U.S. fell for the first time, dipping 0.1 percent to 94.6 million, according to Leichtman Research Group. While AT&T and DirecTV are doing better than cable companies at attracting TV subscribers, DirecTV’s growth in the U.S. has stalled..."

Google has released a Hangouts plugin for Outlook on Windows that lets you start or schedule video calls with fellow Outlook users inside your company. Your employer will normally have to use Google Apps for Business for this to fly, although the plugin also lets firms with Chromeboxes start chats with others that haven't hopped on the Google Apps bandwagon - source: Google's new Outlook plugin lets you start video Hangouts with coworkers

Microsoft's Surface: What's next, what's needed?
CNET
Microsoft's Surface tablet has been the focus of intense speculation in the past ...Microsoft is ahead of tablet market leader Apple in the the hybrid ...

Apple Loop: Smartphone Patents, Freemium Isn't Free, The Challenge Of The Mi Pad, And In-App ...
Forbes
Taking a look at the world of Apple, as Google and Apple come to a patent agreement, Italy is looking closely at freemium apps, Xiamoi are ready to ...

Google Struggles with EU Link Removal Requests
Top Tech News
Individual privacy rights should always be protected but at the same time, there are concerns that the European Union court ruling for a "right to be ...

Google Acquires Quest Visual and its (Awesome) Word Lens Translating App
PC Magazine
Google has acquired Quest Visual for an undisclosed amount. In doing so, the company has picked up a means for augmenting its translation ...

Google Adds Elevations for Google Maps-Using Bikers
PC Magazine
Google recently tweaked its Maps app, but you'll likely not notice the change unless your thighs are the size of tree trunks and you enjoy wearing tight, ...

Apple CEO Cook dares to be different from Steve Jobs
Pioneer Press
FILE - This July 16, 2010 photo shows Apple's Tim Cook, left, and Steve Jobs, right, during a ... Google purchased Nest for $3.2 billion in January.

The Facebook Page Where Iran's Women Are Unveiling Online
Daily Beast
Meet the young Iranian exile whose stealth Facebook page—it allows women to post pictures of themselves without their hijabs—has outraged the ...

Microsoft puts on an 'infinite' light show to make data pretty - Engadget
By Jon Fingas
If you're Microsoft, how do you convince people that data is more than just a dry set of charts and graphs? You put on one heck of a light show, that's.
Engadget RSS Feed

Microsoft's touch-first Modern Office suite revealed in documents - The Next Web
By Owen Williams
It's been a year and a half since Microsoft released Windows 8 and its 'Modern' interface to the world, but we're still yet to see a touch-first interface.
The Next Web

Microsoft TechEd 2014 Wrap-Up - Gartner Blog Network
By Jonah Kowall
Microsoft is innovating in the systems management space, and creating unique technologies with a broad reach. Microsoft has a significant install ...
Jonah Kowall

RIP, Titanosaur

Telegraph.co.uk
A new dinosaur has been discovered in Argentina that measured 130ft and weighed 77 tonnes – making it as heavy as 14 African elephants. The discovery comes at a time when Hollywood is making Jurassic World, a sequel to the film Jurassic Park about a ...

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Fair Use Doctrine, Copyright Infringement Misrepresentation

Copyright abuse by copyright holders, rampant, now Lawrence Lessig and EFF win Fair Use Doctrine victory:

Lawrence Lessig Wins Damages For Bogus YouTube Takedown | TorrentFreak: " . . . .in August 2013 and with support from the EFF he sued Liberation Music, asserting his right to use the music clip under the fair use doctrine. Liberation acted in bad faith when it sent the takedown notice, Lessig’s lawsuit said, and “knowingly and materially” misrepresented Lessig’s video as infringing copyright. Now, according to the EFF, Lessig has settled his dispute with Liberation after the label agreed to pay him damages and “fix” its copyright policies.. . . ."

Microsoft Said To Be Considering A Free Version Of Windows 8.1 | TechCrunch: "The nomenclature makes it sound like Windows 8.1 with Bing might be pretty heavily focused on the browser and its role as a potential platform play, so what we could end up with might look a lot like Chromebooks, in fact. This is all said to still be experimental, however, so it’s not guaranteed that it’ll ever hit the market."

Windows 7 change is good for businesses but may be more bad news for Windows 8 - TechRepublic: "....when asked "Was Microsoft right to extend the availability of Windows 7 for business customers?," TechRepublic's panel of international business decisions makers responded yes unanimously  – but their enthusiasm for Windows 7 seems to be linked to their lack of love for Windows 8....Some took a stronger line; Ingo Dean, IT director of EastWest Institute, said "Windows 8 is not ready. Allowing us to continue to get Windows 7 alleviates our need to seek alternatives such as MacBooks or Chromebooks...."

Spam phone calls cost US small businesses half a billion dollars in lost productivity | ZDNet: "....Although the federal government's national Do Not Call Registry may offer consumers some relief from spam, it leaves businesses exempt and unprotected. The volume of detected and blocked calls jumped 162 percent from January 2013 to January 2014 and is on track to keep rising with the mass adoption of mobile phones....Unlike spam emails, which can be ignored, spam calls are highly disruptive and costly for businesses that rely on phone calls for sales" said Jason Flaks, Director of Product and Engineering at Marchex...."

Mobile World Congress 2014: Winners And Losers
InformationWeek
Check out the most (and least) impressive gadgets and developments from the year's biggest mobile confab. Mobile World Congress: 5 Hot Gadgets. (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) The Mobile World Congress, the wireless industry's most ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook teases, reassures shareholders
Washington Post
Apple CEO Tim Cook is still trying to convince shareholders that the iPhone maker remains a step ahead in the race to innovate, even though recent performance of the company's stock lags behind other technology trendsetters. In making his case Friday ...

Microsoft's Windows Strategy: A New Hope
InformationWeek
It's worth noting that even though IDC projects Windows growth, it expects Apple to maintain its lead in the most lucrative segments. ... By creating a larger footprint in emerging markets, Microsoft impedes Android from becoming the reference point ...

Google loses bid to keep anti-Islamic video online during appeal
Chicago Tribune
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc on Friday lost its bid to keep an anti-Islamic film on its YouTube video sharing website while it appealed a federal appeals court order that the company said would have "devastating effects" if allowed to stand.

Google Chrome Beta Gets Hands-Free Voice Search
InformationWeek
Google has spent considerable effort developing effective voice recognition, going back to the introduction of its Goog-411 service in April 2007, since discontinued. In 2011, it brought spoken-word queries to desktop computers through Chrome. Last ...

Google Updates Hangouts For iOS
InformationWeek
"The app has a brand new look and feel, is super easy to navigate, and includes a bunch of performance improvements," said Google's Frank Petterson in a Google+ post that announced the changes. "You can still make free voice and video calls, of course.

Google Donates $6.8M to SF Youth Transit Program
PC Magazine
In recent months, Google has come under fire, alongside companies like Apple and Facebook, for shuttling workers in luxury, Wi-Fi enabled buses from San Francisco to Silicon Valley campuses. The buses sparked a heated debate, with activists arguing ...

How Amazon Could Ease the Pain of a Pricier Prime
Wired
For a business that makes most of its money selling physical stuff, getting streaming music right could be surprisingly important to Amazon's future. Rivals Apple and Googleare in many ways already well ahead in the music game, which eats into Amazon ...

Microsoft hints at new apps for Office suite
PCWorld (blog)
Microsoft executives signaled that Microsoft is working to add new apps to its Office suite, as well as versions tailored for new platforms. In an interview with GeekWire published Friday morning, Microsoft corporate vice president of marketing for ...

Apple CEO promises new products, says Apple TV no longer a 'hobby'
Chicago Tribune
Apple's ability to again transform the fast-moving technology arena is the central question in investors' and Silicon Valley executives' minds as the company's growth slows, and rivals like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Google Inc take chunks out of ...

What investors need to know about Apple: Pro
CNBC.com
Still, Apple's slow pace of growth concerns some investors. Colin Gillis, a senior tech analyst at BGC Financial, asked why the company, with its massive cash reserves of close to $160 billion, hasn't been aggressive making blockbuster acquisitions ...

Signs of past water, life found in Martian meteorite
The Space Reporter
Although two rovers are currently active on Mars, a mission to return samples of the Red Planet to Earth is still years away. The only Martian samples available to us are those that have been blasted off of Mars by impacts and have survived to reach Earth's ...

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Windows Disappearing, Microsoft Platforms Nowhere at CES

"There's no way to sugarcoat this. Windows 8 has set back Microsoft, and Windows, by years, and possibly for good"--Paul Thurrott, Jan. 11, 2013

Goodbye Windows? --

Closing Windows: Microsoft and its platforms are nowhere to be found at CES | The Verge: "With a lack of new products and no presence on the floor, Microsoft and its platforms are almost nowhere to be seen. Microsoft wasn’t officially at CES last year either, but Steve Ballmer ran on stage with Qualcomm, and Microsoft joined the Samsung press event to demonstrate an impressive Illumiroom concept. This year the company has barely involved itself with CES: Microsoft executives like Julie Larson-Green and Terry Myerson are in Las Vegas, but the show itself has been dominated by sensors and devices that are optimized for iOS and Android, with few Windows and Windows Phone apps to be seen."

Apple did not violate Google patent, says US appeals court

Reuters
The ITC ruled in April 2013 that Apple did not violate any of the six. ... Googleacquired the patents in the case - and the lawsuit - when it purchased ...

Headlines & Global News

Why Apple Is Losing Ground To The Samsung Brand

Forbes
On the upside for Apple, it scores higher for people with salaries of over $50,000. But separate studies show that both Samsung and Microsoft are ...

Windows IT Pro

Google Maps Apologizes for Hitler Square Gaffe

Voice of America
Google apologized today for a glaring mistake on its Google Maps service which identified Berlin's Theodor-Heuss-Platz by its Nazi-era name, ...

Times of India

Microsoft Partners In Uproar Over Cloud Sales Commission Cuts

CRN
Microsoft is preparing to slash the fees partners get from its Online Services Advisor Incentives program, and many ... The fee cuts mean partners will have less incentive to tout Microsoft cloud services over Google's, the source said.

Apple, Amazon among decliners as techs weaken

MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The tech sector weakened along with the broader market following what was seen as a disappointing report on ...

Amazon makes it easier to submit mobile apps with new developer ...

Computerworld
IDG News Service - Amazon.com opened a new portal that aims to help ... In the last 10 months it has made its competitor to the Google Play Store ...

Google to bundle Chromecast with Moto X purchase

USA TODAY
At $35, the Chromecast is currently listed as the most popular media streamer on Amazon ahead of devices like the PlayStation 4, Roku and Apple TV.

Hot Hardware

Google And Intel, Welcome To The New American Conglomerate

Forbes
... on more or less any sector and win (Amazon is the original new American conglomerate). ... By way of contrast to Intel and Google, Apple hired the CEOs of Yves St Laurent and of ... Message toMicrosoft – one CEO is not enough.

Apple Patent Application Reveals Optical Image Stabilization Tech ...

The Mac Observer
Complimenting yesterday's report that Apple may keep the 8-megapixel image sensor for the next iPhone's camera and instead focus on image ...

The Mac Observer

Microsoft Surface 2 LTE, Surface 3 details purportedly revealed on ...

NDTV
Some details about the anticipated Microsoft Surface 3 tablet have seemingly been revealed in a series of tweets. The tweets were written by someone ...

NDTV

Is Windows Update Broken? 5 Broken Updates Microsoft Released ...

Chris Hoffman
Quality control seems to be suffering as Microsoft scrambles to update their ... On December 10, 2013, Microsoft released a firmware update for their ... Affected users had to Google up the problem and manually uninstall the update.
How-To Geek

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LG Exits Traditional PC Market, Thank You Microsoft!

LG now, many more to follow as Microsoft successfully kills its Windows PC market --

LG 'to exit traditional PC market' amid declining sales and profit squeeze | Technology | theguardian.com: "Korea's LG Electronics is said to be preparing to exit the traditional PC market, as worsening margins and sales make it uneconomic, presaging a shift to tablets, smartphones and "hybrid" PCs. The announcement could come at next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where LG will have one of the first press conferences of the whole event. According to the Korea Times the company has even considered a wholesale exit from Windows PCs as its sales have shrunk...."

Google looks to tap Australian telcos

The Australian
TELSTRA is among a group of telcos that have held high-level talks with Google about working together on a revolutionary project to beam wireless ...

Microsoft's Chromebook headache

Fortune
Redmond can bash Google's $199 laptop all it wants, but a look at holiday sales ... So was the Amazon announcement good news for Microsoft?

Computing

Google's 4K video format to hit TVs, mobile devices, PCs

PCWorld
Google is working with hardware makers so TVs, smartphones and PCs can play 4K content from YouTube and other streaming services while ...

Headlines & Global News

Google In 2014: 10 Predictions

InformationWeek
Google had a good year in 2013. As of mid-December, its stock was up about 55% for the year. Apple meanwhile was up a mere 4%. Google is ...

Financial Express

Microsoft's Surface Tablet May Have Been Saved by Christmas

Wired
What's more, the boost put Microsoft ahead of Google-made tablets, which accounted ... Amazon's tablets saw the other most notable post-Christmas gain, up 0.6 ... Unsurprisingly, the top tablet was Apple's iPad, which, though more ...

Ubergizmo

Microsoft's Project Siena Enables App Creation With No Programming

eWeek
Microsoft has delivered a beta version of a Windows 8 app codenamed Project Siena that enables business users to build apps without coding.

TechWeekEurope UK

Apple opens year on rough note after rating's cut

MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Investors put pressure on Apple Inc. early Thursday and never let up on the year's first day of trading after Wells ...

ValueWalk

Google, Starbucks, Marijuana, Duck: Intellectual Property

Bloomberg
Google Inc. (GOOG), operator of the world's most-used Internet search engine, received a patent on a method of creating comic strips on social ...

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Microsoft Malware? Microsoft Trying To Put Windows Phone OS On Android Devices

Why would anyone want an Android smartphone afflicted with Microsoft malware ( a/k/a Windows Phone OS)? If Microsoft wants to "try this," they should start with Nokia phones -- that might increase sales of the badly lagging Nokia Windows smartphones. On the other hand, Microsoft loves dueling operating systems on the same device (although users HATE the idiotic idea) --

Microsoft Reportedly Looking To Put Windows Phone On Android Devices, Starting With HTC | TechCrunch: "Microsoft has reached out to HTC to see if the company would be interested in adding Windows as a second OS to its Android handsets, a new report by Bloomberg claims. It isn’t clear exactly how the two operating systems would share the handset, in terms of allowing dual-booting or making a user choose a default at device setup, but it’s a sign Redmond may be thinking about pulling out all the stops to get people using its mobile OS. . . ."

BlackBerry Could Burn Through Most of Its Cash in Just Six Quarters - John Paczkowski - Mobile - AllThingsD: "Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Ferragu figures that BlackBerry will burn through most of its $2.6 billion in cash in the next 18 months, leaving it in a bad, bad way. “Because the company is losing users at a very high pace, has a stretched working capital and massive off-balance-sheet commitments that will turn into cash burn in the next four quarters, we believe BlackBerry is likely to burn close to $2 billion in the next six quarters on a standalone basis,” Ferragu said in a note to clients. And that, he believes, will lead the company into material liquidity problems." (read more at link above)

Ford: New Manufacturing Process Cuts Costs - The CIO Report - WSJ: "Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday unveiled a new metal stamping process that replaces the use of custom, physical dies, or molds, with a software program and a robotic arm, cutting the cost of developing an automotive prototype part by 80% or more. The new process will not only slash some production times, but could provide the automotive giant with new opportunities for revenue growth, including allowing consumers to customize parts and “possibly” licensing the technology to companies in other industries. It is also helping the company pick up the pace of innovation and look past the immediate horizon." (read more at link above)

Google and the Transformation of Marketing - The CIO Report - WSJ: " . . . Google in 2013, however, is sitting on a volcano. Its markets and products are growing at a dizzying pace. Google Analytics, a tool for monitoring website traffic and digital marketing activity, is a great illustration of the changes taking place in the marketing world, and of Google’s success at adapting to them. Some figures for changes in the recent past that were described at the conference include:

• 2.7 billion Internet users—up from 1.5 billion 3 years ago ;
• 4 billion videos watched on YouTube every day, up from 2 billion three years ago;
• Mobile media consumption up 500% in 3 years;
• 300% increase in video ads in the past year;
• 200% increase in “programmatic buying” (algorithm-based matching of ads with websites and users) of digital ads in the past year. . . ."

Apple appeals e-books conspiracy ruling

CNET
It also noted that the court disregarded credibility issue with Amazon and Google witnesses. In a scheduling proposal, Apple said issues it could raise on appeal ...

Apple Insider

Amazon Shows That France Really Doesn't Get Adam Smith

Forbes
Amazon's another little example of the way that France and the French really don't get the points that were put across by Adam Smith. It's only been 238 years ...

PolicyMic

Apple's Schiller, Forstall set to testify in retrial over Samsung damages

PCWorld
Apple and Samsung Electronics will return to a Silicon Valley federal court on Nov. 12 for a retrial of their billion-dollar 2012 patent battle, and Apple marketing ...

Apple's iPhone 5C now costs $45

MarketWatch
It just got easier to make a profit by trading in an old iPhone—and still buy the latest model. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) are dropping ...

Apple Insider

Microsoft, Yale Professor Spar Over 'Bing It On' Campaign

PC Magazine
When Microsoft launched the "Bing It On" campaign more than a year ago, the company intended to break the "Google habit." But it doesn't seem to have even ...

Google vs. Facebook vs. Baidu: Battle of the Internet empires

ZDNet
If you had to guess what was the most popular Website in your country, most of you probably would have guessed Google and some of you might have thought ...

NPR (blog)

Amazon.com: Dangerous for Competitors—and for Shareholders

Barron's
Investors give Amazon a free pass to operate with little or no profit. That's bad news for competitors like Netflix and Best Buy and good news for shoppers....

Amazon Vs. Walmart: E-Commerce Vs. Omni-Channel Logistics

Forbes
In short, Walmart still badly lags Amazon in eCommerce and they are playing catch up. You have to go pretty deep into the article before you see this excerpt:...

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)'s Next CEO: Maritz Is Nomura's Top Pick

ValueWalk
Long-time Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) expert Rick Sherlund has a plethora of suggestions for the company, including who the next CEO should be...

ValueWalk

Plans Approved for Apple's Cupertino Campus | ArchDaily

James Taylor-Foster
Richard Nieva (CNET) reports that plans for Apple's new corporate headquarters have been approved by Cupertino's planning commission (the final, deciding ...

ArchDaily 

Matt Cutts: Google Penguin 2.1 is Going Live Today - Search Engine ...

Danny Goodwin
Google Penguin 2.1 is launching today, according to Google's Distinguished Engineer Matt Cutts. The first update to the second-generation Penguin algorithm ...

Search Engine Watch - Latest

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