| Microsoft ups Surface production, to sell in more stores Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:22 PM PST  SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp has stepped up manufacturing of the Surface tablet, its new device designed to counter Apple Inc's iPad, and will introduce it to third-party retailers this week. The moves suggest Microsoft is seeing some demand for its first own-brand computer in the crucial holiday shopping season, although it has yet to divulge any sales figures. "The public reaction to Surface has been exciting to see," said Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft's Surface project, which forms part of the company's Windows unit. ...
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| Compromise emerges in global talks on Internet oversight Posted: 11 Dec 2012 04:13 PM PST DUBAI (Reuters) - Hopes rose on Tuesday for a compromise agreement that would keep intrusive government regulation of the Internet from being enshrined in a global treaty. As a 12-day conference of the International Telecommunication Union drew near its Friday closing, the chairman of the gathering in Dubai circulated a draft that sidelined proposals from Russia, China and other countries that have been seeking the right to know where each piece of Internet traffic comes from. ... |
| Google, U.S. regulators close to deal in patents dispute: sources Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:16 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are near a settlement with Google Inc in a dispute over the search giant's efforts to stop the sale of products it says infringe essential patents, according to two sources close to the probe. But the Federal Trade Commission is not expected to reach a deal soon on the larger, more contentious issue of whether Google tweaks its search results to disadvantage rivals in travel, shopping and other specialized searches. Its rivals say Google fears the specialized sites will siphon away its most lucrative advertising and the revenue that goes with it. ...
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| Twitter Photo-Filters Maker: We Want to Democratize Creativity Posted: 10 Dec 2012 02:32 PM PST  Five-year-old startup Aviary made headlines Monday after Twitter unleashed its new photo filters and effects. Aviary provides the mobile-software development kit that Twitter uses to add photo-editing tools to its Android and iPhone apps.
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| Hands On With Instagram's New Features Posted: 10 Dec 2012 12:59 PM PST  New Camera
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| SolarCity postpones IPO as solar sector struggles Posted: 11 Dec 2012 06:19 PM PST (Reuters) - SolarCity Corp, a venture backed by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, postponed its initial public offering on Tuesday, according to an underwriter and a market source. The San Mateo, California-based company had intended to sell 10.1 million shares at a price underwriters hoped to set between $13 and $15. Some investors have questioned whether the solar panel company deserves the roughly $1 billion valuation. A representative for SolarCity was not immediately available for comment. ... |
| U.S. regulators approve Dish request and spectrum sale Posted: 11 Dec 2012 04:42 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal regulators on Tuesday gave satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp the go-ahead to use wireless spectrum and also approved a framework for a spectrum auction next year. The Federal Communications Commission voted to allow Dish to convert satellite spectrum for wireless use but would impose restrictions that the company opposes. Dish is the No. 2 satellite U.S. television provider after DirecTV. ...
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| Facebook helps FBI bust cybercriminals blamed for $850 million losses Posted: 11 Dec 2012 05:54 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Investigators led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aided by Facebook Inc, have busted an international criminal ring that infected 11 million computers around the world and caused more than $850 million in total losses in one of the largest cybercrime hauls in history. The FBI, working in concert with the world's largest social network and several international law enforcement agencies, arrested 10 people it says infected computers with "Yahos" malicious software, then stole credit card, bank and other personal information. ... |
| Top 35 Must-Have Educational iPhone and iPad Apps Used by Real Teachers in the Classroom Posted: 11 Dec 2012 01:46 PM PST For the 2012-2013 school year, teachers with access to mobile technology are teaching kids with these great education apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. |
| Kim Dotcom taunts his adversaries in new ‘MegaChristmas’ pageant Posted: 11 Dec 2012 09:12 PM PST  Christmas is a time of peace on Earth, good will toward men, and Kim Dotcom. New Zealand's 3 News reports that the Megaupload founder will make his stage debut in Auckland this week when he plays the role of "Santa Dotcom" in a satirical Christmas play called "MegaChristmas." Dotcom, who will be joined by New Zealand Labour Party politician Jacinda Ardern and soap opera stars Kimberley Crossman and Mick Innes, apparently takes some shots at his many adversaries in the play, including New Zealand prime minister John Key. "I was in my mansion playing Call of Duty, and suddenly I heard someone coming down the chimney," Dotcom says during the play. "And I was like, 'Oh my God! Not another raid! Who are
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| Facebook, Google tell the government to stop granting patents for abstract ideas Posted: 11 Dec 2012 08:24 PM PST  Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG) and six other tech companies have petitioned the courts to begin rejecting lawsuits that are based on patents for vague concepts rather than specific applications, TechCrunch reported. The agreement, which was cosigned by Zynga (ZNGA), Dell (DELL), Intuit (INTU), Homeaway (AWAY), Rackspace (RAX), and Red Hat (RHT), notes the only thing these abstract patents do is increase legal fees and slow innovation in the industry. The companies claim that "abstract patents are a plague in the high tech sector" and force innovators into litigation that results in huge settlements or steep licensing fees for technology they have already developed on their own, which then leads to higher prices for consumers. "Many computer-related patent claims just describe
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| Prepaid smartphone sales expected to surpass high-end devices by 2017 Posted: 11 Dec 2012 07:33 PM PST  High-end smartphones priced at $200 or higher made up more than 83% of the market last year, according to Informa. That share is expected to drop to 33% by 2017, however. The research firm predicts that by 2017 affordable smartphones, or those priced below $150 with no contract, will account for a majority of sales, CNET reported. The shift in the mobile industry isn't good news for smartphone manufacturers, which are expected to see smaller profit margins as prices continue to drop. The market of the future is expected to become increasingly split between high-end smartphones that continue to be heavily subsidies by wireless carriers, and cheaper prepaid devices. "As the market develops, the supply chain will increasingly be divided
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| Panasonic may sell Sanyo digital camera business: source Posted: 11 Dec 2012 07:08 PM PST  TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp may sell its Sanyo digital camera business to Japanese private equity fund Advantage Partners by the end of March, a source familiar with the plan said. A final decision on the sale will be made by the end of the year, the source said on condition he was not identified. Advantage Partners will pay several hundreds of millions of yen for the business, which makes digital cameras for other companies, including Olympus Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported earlier. Panasonic declined to comment saying it had not announced the plan. ...
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| Apple updates ‘Find My iPhone’ app with handy driving directions Posted: 11 Dec 2012 06:42 PM PST  Since its release, Apple's (AAPL) "Find My iPhone" app has helped countless people find their lost or stolen iOS devices. The company has updated its app with a new feature that provides driving directions to your iOS device wherever it's located. The only downside to the app appears to be the fact that it requires devices with iOS 6 installed because it uses the disappointing and sometimes dangerous Apple Maps for navigation. Still, if you can get over that flaw, Find My iPhone version 2.0.1 should definitely be one of the first apps all iOS users install. It's better to be safe than sorry if disaster strikes and your iOS device goes missing.
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| Sprint may finally buy Clearwire after all Posted: 11 Dec 2012 05:45 PM PST  Sprint (S) is reportedly in talks to acquire the remaining stake in Clearwire (CLWR), according to CNBC. While a deal isn't believed to be imminent, the two companies are involved in "active negotiations" and could announce an agreement before the end of the year. Sprint already owns a 50.8% stake in Clearwire and has long been rumored to be interested in a full acquisition of the company. CNBC's sources note, however, that a potential deal is still "fraught with difficulty" due to the complexity of their relationship and Sprint's pending deal to sell a majority stake to SoftBank. Shares of Clearwire reacted positively to the news, jumping nearly 15% to $2.75 per share.
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| Windows 8 games can easily be pirated through simple hacks Posted: 11 Dec 2012 04:53 PM PST  It was bound to happen. Nokia (NOK) engineer Justin Angel outlined on his blog various tactics that can be used to pirate Windows 8 games distributed through Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Store. While Angel doesn't condone the circumvention, he points out that Windows 8 game developers stand to lose a large chunk of revenue because games account for over "51% of developer revenue on every mobile developer platform." We won't detail them here, but Angel essentially posts a step-by-step guide on how to compromise games to unlock in-app purchases, crack trial versions to full paid versions, remove in-app ads and reduce cost of in-app purchases. Angel concludes that Windows 8 games and apps can easily be cracked and Microsoft should be on alert
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| Google explains cause of massive Gmail, Chrome outages Posted: 11 Dec 2012 04:07 PM PST  Users took to social networks on Monday to vent their displeasure with Google (GOOG) following a 40-minute disruption of service affecting the company's Chrome Web browser and Gmail service. It was previously unclear what caused the services to simultaneously crash and some suspected the company was hit with a denial-of-service attack. Google engineer Tim Steele took to the company's developer forums to clear up the confusion and confirmed what some developers had already suspected: The reason for the crash had to do with the Google Sync servers getting overwhelmed following a change in the code, not a DDoS attack. "It's due to a backend service that sync servers depend on becoming overwhelmed, and sync servers responding to that by telling
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| Microsoft plots living room domination with 43 new entertainment apps for Xbox 360 Posted: 11 Dec 2012 03:36 PM PST  Game consoles are no longer simply for video games, as evidenced by last week's announcement that the PlayStation 3 is the top Netflix (NFLX) streaming device of the year. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's (MSFT) chief marketing officer for its Interactive Entertainment Division, said this past March that Xbox 360 owners were spending more hours watching online entertainment than playing online games. And now, in a bid to bolster its efforts to conquer the living room, Microsoft Director of Programming for Xbox Live Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb announced in a blog post that 43 new entertainment apps (mostly video) will launch between now and spring of 2013 in various regions. Ten new apps including ARTE, CinemaNow, CNET, Karaoke, Maxim, Napster, SkyDrive, SPORT1, VEVO and Zattoo will arrive this week. Microsoft's full list
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| Science: Homosexuality Isn't Genetic, but It Is Biological Posted: 11 Dec 2012 03:22 PM PST  Discovered: No sign of a gay gene, but homosexuality could start in the womb; childhood obesity is going down; that fish you're eating probably isn't really fish; a new SARS to freak out about.
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| Fisker won't restart production until A123 sale clears Posted: 11 Dec 2012 03:08 PM PST Detroit (Reuters) - The short-term future of Fisker Automotive, the hybrid-sports car startup, could hinge on the outcome of Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang's controversial quest to acquire bankrupt U.S. battery maker A123 Systems. Fisker, based in Anaheim, California, hasn't built a car in six months and says it doesn't plan to restart production until after A123, its battery supplier, concludes a court-managed sale. The Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved the $256. ... |
| Court OKs sale of U.S. government-backed A123 to Chinese firm Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:58 PM PST WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - China's largest auto parts maker got court approval on Tuesday for its controversial purchase of A123 Systems Inc, a bankrupt maker of electric car batteries, but the judge said he was troubled that a U.S. rival might be working to kill the deal. A123, which was partly funded with U.S. government money, was sold at an auction on Saturday for $256.6 million to Wanxiang Group of China, which outbid Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee. The auction result prompted outcry from U.S. ... |
| Apple fixes potentially deadly Maps error, but countless others may remain Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:51 PM PST  It can't be said enough times: iPhone users who rely on Apple (AAPL) Maps do so at their own peril. Jacqui Cheng at Ars Technica notes that although Apple has fixed the mistake in its Maps application that left several Australians stranded in the middle of a national park with no access to food or water, the app may still have an untold number of deadly errors waiting to crop up. The reason for this is Apple's decision to rely on third-party data for its Maps application, which has left it vulnerable to having either outdated or flat-out incorrect information about various locations around the world. "I wrote in my original iOS 6 review that the new Maps dumped me off in the middle
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| Microsoft increases Surface tablet production Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:28 PM PST Microsoft says it's increasing production of its Surface tablets and will sell them in more stores. Staples says it will start carrying them starting Wednesday. |
| FTC and Google may be ready to settle ‘patent abuse’ investigation Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:24 PM PST Although earlier reports indicated that United States Federal Trade Commission was ready to sue Google for anticompetitive actions with the patents it acquired from Motorola, Politico is now reporting that the company has entered into talks with federal regulators and a settlement may be announced as soon as this week. Politico speculates that an agreement will force Google (GOOG) to license the industry essential patents it acquired from Motorola on fair, reasonable and nondiscrimination terms to competitors such as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Politico's sources note, however, that the final settlement may allow Google to continue seeking injunctions through court actions around the world. The Federal Trade Commission has also been investigating Google over its business practices concerning its popular search engine. It |
| One Man Is Now Tweeting Every U.S. Drone Strike Known to Man Posted: 11 Dec 2012 02:23 PM PST  Josh Begley set out to tweet a complete history of known U.S. drone strikes Tuesday with the goal of doing it all in ten minutes. Except there were way too many strikes to tweet, so his original plan fell apart pretty quickly.
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| Microsoft is increasing production of the Surface and expanding to new retailers Posted: 11 Dec 2012 01:53 PM PST  Contrary to earlier reports that claimed Microsoft (MSFT) had cut orders for the Surface tablet in half, the company on Tuesday announced that it has increased production and expanded availability of the tablet to additional retail outlets. The company's flagship device will be available as early as mid-December in non-Microsoft retail stores in the United States and Australia with retail availability expected to expand to more countries in the coming months. Microsoft has faced heavy criticism from analysts and investors over the last few weeks, some of which have called the Surface a failure and predicted the company would only sell 600,000 units in the fourth quarter. Panos Panay, general manager of the Surface, revealed that the company has "increased production,"
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| Apple has captured 26% of global LTE market with just one LTE phone Posted: 11 Dec 2012 01:36 PM PST  Apple's (AAPL) first LTE-compatible handset, the iPhone 5, has had an explosive debut quarter and is said to have already captured 26.7% of the global LTE device market, according to data from Strategy Analytics. The company's success has taken a toll on Samsung's (005930) share of the LTE market, which slipped from 50.9% in the previous quarter to 40% following strong competition from Apple and other smartphone vendors, TheNextWeb reported. Despite launching new flagship devices, Motorola and LG (066570) both saw their market shares fall from 15% in 2011 to 6.7% and 9.1%, respectively. The research firm estimates that global LTE subscriptions in 2012 will have surged more than fivefold to 50 million devices, an increase from 9 million in 2011. Earlier
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| Google Fiber clobbers competitors in Netflix ISP rankings Posted: 11 Dec 2012 01:08 PM PST  No, it's not particularly surprising the Google (GOOG) Fiber now delivers the fastest Internet service in the United States. But as Engadget reports, new Internet service provider rankings from Netflix (NFLX) show that Google's high-speed fiber network is in a class all its own. Overall Netflix found that Google Fiber delivered an average of 2.55Mbps for Netflix streams, while no other service provider provided average stream speeds of 2.2Mbps. Verizon's (VZ) FiOS came in second place with 2.19Mbps for Netflix streams, followed by Comcast (CMCSA) and Charter at 2.17Mbps. Numbers like this make it all the more tragic that Google would likely need to raise a budget-busting $140 billion to spread Google Fiber all across the United States.
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| Obama election tweet most repeated but Olympics tops on Twitter Posted: 11 Dec 2012 01:01 PM PST  (Reuters) - An election victory tweet from President Barack Obama -- "Four more years" with a picture of him hugging his wife -- was the most retweeted ever, but the U.S. election was topped by the Olympics as the most tweeted event this year. Obama's tweet was retweeted (repeated) more than 810,000 times, Twitter said as it published a list of the most tweeted events in 2012. (http://2012.twitter.com/) "Within hours, that Tweet simultaneously became the most retweeted of 2012, and the most retweeted ever. ...
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| Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy Camera with 4G LTE launches December 13th for $549.99 Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:30 PM PST  As expected, Verizon (VZ) announced on Tuesday it will sell the Samsung (005930) Galaxy Camera with 4G TLE online December 13th for $549.99, $50 more than what AT&T (T) is selling its HSPA+ version for. In addition to the white model, Verizon will also sell en exclusive Cobalt Black model. The Galaxy Camera features a 16-megapixel image sensor, 21x optical zoom lens, 1.4GHz quad-core processor, a 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, microSD card slot and a 1,650mAh battery. With Android and 4G LTE, the Galaxy Camera is well-equipped for both fast photo editing with apps like Instagram and for sharing to social networks such as Facebook (FB).
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| What Your Email Inbox Count Says About You Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:20 PM PST  What's the number of unread emails—right now, at this moment, without changing anything—in your inbox? That would be 3,487 in the case of Jen here; 1 in the case of Rebecca. More about what that means in a second, but first, a bit of backstory: The New Yorker's Silvia Killingsworth has embarked on an exploration into the subject of what she dubs in her headline as "Zero Dark Inbox," or having absolutely zero unread emails in one's inbox. She writes, "I have four e-mails in my inbox right now, but I'm aiming for that number to be zero. ...
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| Intel launches microserver chips, gets nod from Facebook Posted: 11 Dec 2012 12:12 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel launched a data-center chip using low-power technology found in smartphones, stepping up competition in the nascent microserver market and winning a nod from Facebook. The Atom chip rolled out on Tuesday uses much less electricity than Intel's previous processors for servers and comes as Intel's rivals also eye the low-power server niche. Energy-sipping chips similar to those used in smartphones and tablets lack the horsepower of traditional server processors made by Intel. ... |
| Apple’s HDTV could include game-changing 3D imaging tech Posted: 11 Dec 2012 11:52 AM PST  So, how could Apple (AAPL) "revolutionize" the television? How about by providing full three-dimensional projections in your living room? StreetInsider reports that Morgan Stanley analysts Katy Huberty and Jerry Liu have outlined some possibilities for what features an Apple HDTV could deliver based on patents the company has filed over the last several years. The most interesting feature the analysts outlined was a "groundbreaking 3D imaging and display system that optically detects human positions and motions, projects virtual objects onto a display area, and provides audio and visual feedback." Other possible features include Siri integration, a 3D remote control application that displays a cursor "by the position and orientation at which it is held," and a "search engine interface to search content across
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