Google was once a humble startup with a big dream—to be the David that takes down Microsoft’s Goliath. Google has become a tech force to be reckoned with, challenging Microsoft in almost every area including Web search, browsers, email, operating systems, productivity software and mobile platforms. Over time, it has chipped away at Microsoft’s market share. Microsoft is great at many things, but over the years marketing has not been one of its strengths. Microsoft has also been a victim of hubris, ignoring threats to its products because it believes its dominance is untouchable. Lately, though, Microsoft has been campaigning more aggressively against Google to protect its market share.
with the relatively new and alternative Cinnamon desktop environment. as a default desktop, calling it “too much a burden to maintain/update going forward.” that's based on GNOME 3 instead.
Google has updated its Go programming language, making it faster and more suitable for multicore processors. “The most significant improvements are performance-related,” wrote Google engineer Andrew Gerrand, in a post . “It is likely that your Go code will run noticeably faster when built with Go 1.1.” For this release, the Go development team optimized a number of major elements of Go, including the compiler and linker, garbage collector, scheduler, and parts of the standard library. Google Go in 2009 as an experimental programming language, one that combines the speed and safety of a compiled language such as C++ with the flexibility of a dynamic language such as JavaScript.
Just 11 days after issuing an advisory, Microsoft has released a patch for a bug in Internet Explorer 8 that bedeviled the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this month. Microsoft’s speedy release of this patch “is an outstanding example of Microsoft’s responsiveness to the security community and their users,” wrote Andrew Storms, director of security of operations for security software provider Tripwire, in an email statement. This IE8 security bulletin (MS13-038) is one of 10 that Microsoft released Tuesday as part of its “Patch Tuesday” release of bug fixes and security bulletins that the company routinely issues on the second Tuesday of each month. Microsoft marked MS13-038 as critical and the company, along with other security firms, are advising those still running IE8 to apply the fix immediately. Using an altered Labor Department Web page, attackers for this vulnerability last week.
The U.S. tech industry added 67,400 jobs in 2012, a 1.1 percent increase from a year earlier, according to a new report from the TechAmerica Foundation. The tech industry’s growth slightly outpaced the overall private sector in the U.S., which grew by 1 percent, TechAmerica said Tuesday. U.S tech employment totalled 5.95 million in 2012, said the foundation, the research arm of trade group TechAmerica. Three of four tech industry sectors defined by the foundation saw growth in 2012, said the . Software services drove the vast majority of growth during the year, adding a net 63,900 jobs, compared to 11,300 jobs added in engineering and tech services and 1,800 added in Internet and telecommunication services. Tech manufacturing had a net decline in employment, dropping by 9,500 jobs.
Adobe has released scheduled security updates for its Reader, Acrobat, Flash Player and ColdFusion products on Tuesday in order to fix many critical vulnerabilities, including one that is already actively exploited by attackers. The Adobe Reader and Acrobat updates include fixes for 27 vulnerabilities, 24 of which could lead to arbitrary code execution if exploited successfully. One of the other flaws could allow attackers to bypass the sandbox protection in Adobe Reader, the company said in . The sandbox mechanism is a feature first introduced in Adobe Reader X that’s designed to prevent the successful execution of malicious code on the underlying system even if a traditional arbitrary code execution vulnerability is exploited. Adobe advises Reader and Acrobat users to update their product installations to the newly released versions: Adobe Reader XI (11.0.03), Adobe Reader X (10.1.7) and Adobe Reader 9.5.5 for Windows and Mac; Adobe Reader 9.5.5 for Linux; Adobe Acrobat XI (11.0.03), Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.7) and Adobe Acrobat 9.5.5 for Windows and Mac.
processor. Its design specs are an undeniable improvement on Nokia’s current offering, giving it a higher-end feel and appearance. It will also have an improved software experience, particularly with camera operation. T-Mobile made waves in March when they announced a shift to no-contract mobile plans, in addition to offering unlimited data. These offerings disrupted the normal 2-year-contract and capped-data model. Although they have the fewest number of subscribers amongst the top four carriers, T-Mobile’s no-contract mantra has gotten them a lot of attention. The addition of a hotly anticipated, high-end smartphone like the 925 to their lineup may serve to reinforce their foothold.
Facing fierce competition in the market for cloud services, hosting provider Rackspace has pledged to help its users debug the programs they’ll run on Rackspace’s OpenStack platform. “Traditionally, Rackspace has been in the infrastructure support business, and now customers are [interacting] at the application level,” said Scott Sanchez, director of strategy at Rackspace. “We wanted to make sure when customers called, we weren’t telling them the basics, but supporting them as developers.” The additional expertise will be incorporated into the standard support package for the company’s OpenStack-based service. Specifically, Rackspace wants to make it easier for developers to understand how their applications can interact, in their native languages, with OpenStack and the Rackspace Cloud service, through the use of Rackspace’s APIs (application programming interface) and SDKs (software development kits).
Capitalizing on apparent demand from customers, NetSuite is adding new capabilities aimed at manufacturers to its cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) software. NetSuite will announce a new version of its existing manufacturing ERP during the SuiteWorld conference in San Jose on Tuesday, CEO Zach Nelson said in an interview prior to the event. It’s also going to announce a partnership with Autodesk that will see the latter’s PLM (project lifecycle management) application integrated with NetSuite, Nelson said. “By integrating with their PLM we’re effectively integrating with their design products as well,” of which Autodesk has many, for 3D modeling and other areas, Nelson added. All told, NetSuite will now be able to tout itself as a company able to give manufacturers an integrated suite spanning from initial product design to manufacturing, distribution and sales, potentially improving its ability to compete with the likes of Infor, Epicor and SAP.
Email notifications are like coffee: Some people can't stand them, while others are addicted (and, yes, even use them to wake up in the morning). If you're of the latter camp, you may like Checker Plus for Gmail. Like every other mail checker, it lets you know when new emails arrive... but that’s where other email checkers stop and Checker Plus is only just getting started.
A new survey from the Uptime Institute suggests fatigue is setting in when it comes to making data centers greener, and it may be partly due to overachievers like Google and Microsoft. In the Institute’s latest survey of data center operators, only 50 percent of respondents in North America said they considered energy efficiency to be very important to their companies. That was down from 52 percent last year and 58 percent in 2011, and is despite a constant drumbeat of encouragement to reduce energy costs and cut carbon emissions. The decline in interest was more pronounced at smaller data centers, which tend to have fewer engineers and less money to devote to energy efficiency projects, said Matt Stansberry, Uptime Institute’s director of content and publications. “A lot of these green initiatives, like raising server inlet temperatures and installing variable-speed fans, are seen as somewhat risky, and they’re not something you do unless you have a bunch of engineers on staff,” he said.
It's official: The Windows Blue update will be dubbed Windows 8.1, it'll be available for Windows 8 and Windows RT devices alike, and it will cost you the low, low price of zip, nada, zilch. Interestingly, the free Windows 8.1 update will be available through the Windows Store, not the usual Windows Update method. "Windows 8.1 ... continues the journey we first began with Windows 8 last fall," the confirmatory commented this morning. "Windows 8.1 will help us to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners and to deliver the experiences customers—both consumers and businesses alike—need and will just expect moving forward." What's that mean? !) of our own.
SAP is hoping to win points with professional sports teams by showing how its HANA in-memory database, analytics, mobile software and other technologies can help them make fans happier, find better players and improve their operations. The vertical is SAP’s 25th, according to its announcement Tuesday at the Sapphire conference in Orlando. SAP has already made some moves in this direction. A partnership formed with the National Basketball Association last year resulted in an online platform giving NBA fans access to massive amounts of statistics. SAP later signed a pact with the National Football League as well as individual teams in the organization. It also rolled out a product called SAP Scouting, which uses the HANA in-memory technology and allows team officials to conduct analyses of player prospects.
Daemon Tools' as a hacking tool seem a speck in the rearview mirror now. Arriving at what appears to be the new top of the pyramid for single users is the $45 Daemon Tools Ultra, but there's more, and less, here than meets the eye. You've got to imagine the word "Diversification" is mentioned frequently over at Disc Soft Ltd these days. After years of static prices and singular release schedules, they've gathered an armful of new products under the Daemon Tools banner and have their market segmentation tuned finely enough to impress a Toyota executive. A cursory glance turns up 10 titles on the products page, some with prices close to $250 for corporate site licenses. In the plus column, Disc Soft Ltd has added Virtual Hard Drive support to Daemon Tools Ultra, allowing users to create and access hard disk drive files as if they were physical devices attached the system. Protocol support is expanded as well, including iSCSI implementation for networked image hosts via either Disc Soft's own Daemon Tools Net or other iSCSI compliant hosting solutions. Operation is swift and reliable, with Ultra mounting a wide variety of images during testing and new features working as expected. Popular optical emulation modes perform as robustly as here as in other versions. However, that's not the case with features across the board.
Google’s proposals to address the European Commission’s antitrust concerns will make matters worse, competitor Foundem said Tuesday in a complaint it filed in the case. The Commission on April 25 opened a month-long period to allow rivals to assess a package of proposals aimed at alleviating concerns that they were unfairly penalized by Google’s search algorithm and were placed lower down in search results, while Google’s services were promoted. British company Foundem was one of the first to complain to the Commission about Google’s practices. A fundamental flaw undermines every clause in the proposals and “would do nothing to curtail the unassailable advantage that Universal Search affords Google’s own services,” Foundem CEO Shivaun Raff, said in a statement Tuesday. She called on the Commission to reject the proposals, saying that “in many important respects, the proposed changes would make things considerably worse.” Google is keen to portray the Commission’s acceptance of its proposals as a fait accompli, she said. Indeed, Google has been in talks with the Commission over these proposals for many months and the decision to put them to a market test will not have been taken lightly.
A new cloud version of SAP’s Afaria mobile device management software offers IT departments a more convenient way of controlling mobile devices. As with its other cloud-based offerings, SAP hopes to attract enterprises to the cloud-based version of Afaria with improved installation speed and cost, compared to traditional software. Enterprises gain all the benefits and features of on-premise mobile device management without the capital expenses, the company said Tuesday at its Sapphire conference in Orlando. Using the offering, IT departments can provision in-house apps and revoke privileges without limiting access to personal information. Employees can handle routine tasks such as configuring their smartphones and downloading enterprise apps, but if they make changes and become noncompliant with corporate policies, they are blocked from accessing enterprise resources. Analytic dashboards from the BusinessObjects portfolio, which allows IT staff to keep track of device compliance and usage, are bundled with the package.
SAP’s HANA Cloud Platform, consisting of the core in-memory database plus application development tools, analytics and integration services, will eventually underpin all of its cloud-based applications, the company said at its Sapphire conference. The announcement Tuesday came shortly after SAP , a new service that gives customers the ability to run their SAP Business Suite, CRM (customer relationship management) and Business Warehouse software, which are typically deployed on-premises, in a cloud environment. SAP is planning to give hosting partners the ability to run the service as well in their own data centers. Meanwhile, the HANA Cloud Platform announcement gives SAP customers yet another signal of the vendor’s long-term commitment to HANA. The product became generally available in 2011, primarily targeted at analytic workloads, but since has gained the ability to run transactional applications. SAP built up a portfolio of cloud-based software through the acquisition of SuccessFactors and Ariba, and has also developed some such applications on its own. A number of the latter have been renamed, with the former Financials OnDemand becoming Cloud for Financials and Travel OnDemand now titled Cloud for Travel, according to the announcement on Tuesday.
Google has to remove search suggestions from autocomplete in Germany if the results are offensive, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ruled Tuesday. . In 2010, the complainant noted that when he searched for his full name on Google.de the autocomplete functionality suggested search terms where his full name was combined with "Scientology" and with the German word for fraud, the court said. By showing these results, the plaintiff felt his personal rights and business reputation were violated because he is not in any way related to Scientology and the search accuses him of fraud, while no connection between the plaintiff and Scientology or fraud can be seen, the court said. Therefore, Google should stop using the two terms as suggestions in the autocomplete results, the plaintiff demanded.
A U.S. federal court has modified a protective order to allow disclosure of the court records of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, but ruled that names and other personal identifying information of those involved in his arrest and prosecution should be redacted. The court also ordered that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and online database JSTOR should be allowed to review and redact information relating to the weakness of MIT networks, which Swartz allegedly used to download JSTOR documents. Swartz, who committed suicide in January, was charged with wire fraud, computer fraud and other crimes for allegedly accessing and downloading over 4 million articles from JSTOR. If convicted, Swartz could have faced up to 35 years in prison and a fine of US$1 million, according to a statement in July, 2011 from the office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen M. Ortiz. His suicide led to concerns that the government had misused its powers, and prompted many people including lawmakers to propose amendments to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) under which he was charged. Swartz's family and partner said soon after his death that decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his suicide, and his death was the product of "a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach."
Hackers are finding it pays to call ahead before sending malware-laden email. Symantec has seen what it describes as a sophisticated social engineering campaign aimed at French-speaking accounting and finance department employees. The victim is called and asked in French if they can process an invoice sent by email. The style of attack, known as "spear phishing," has been used against French organizations, including subsidiaries in Romania and Luxembourg. on its blog.
Das Keyboard promotes the sound of their peripheral more than anything—their tagline is "The Mechanical Keyboard " Now they're going after the market that craves the sweet benefits of a mechanical keyboard but can't stand the constant commotion that comes with it. Meet the Professional Model S Quiet: The quietest mechanical keyboard around. In the beginning keyboards were loud, mechanical and everlasting ( anyone?). Soon a cheaper solution came and took the click-clack away with plastic and a domed-shaped membrane. Yet, like all good fads the mechanical keyboard came back into style for typing enthusiasts and gamers alike. —and with the Das Professional Model S Quiet you don't have to choose between an awesome keyboard and not annoying your coworkers (though some consider that a benefit). The video below compares the IBM Model M to the Das Keyboard rival, competing for the most "clicky" keyboard. It gives you an idea of the click that they strive for—but can quickly get on your cubicle neighbors nerves. The Professional Model S Quiet's sound is nearly undetectable in comparison.
There's no doubt about it: Outlook.com is on a tear these days, eager to snatch the email crown back from Google's grasp. —Windows 8's baked-in Calendar app. For its latest helpful trick, Microsoft is literally tearing a page out of the Google playbook by adding the ability to chat with Google contacts in Outlook.com's messaging pane. Given the near ubiquity of Google accounts, this is a very good thing for Outlook.com, which already offers the ability to chat with your Facebook and Skype pals while you're slinging email. Once the feature is activated on your account—the rollout is happening now, so it should appear in the next couple of days—a prompt will ask you to connect your Google account when you open the Messaging pane. After entering your login info, you'll see the now-familiar Google Request for Permission window appear, where you'll grant Outlook.com permission to access your account.
China's reputation for security may have been marred by recent U.S. accusations of state-sponsored hacking but the nation is still a safe place as a tech subcontractor for foreign businesses, according to one of China's largest IT outsourcing vendors. "We take security as a 'live or die' thing," said Jun Su, corporate executive vice president for Pactera Technology in an interview. "We are a public company. If we ever got exposed for leaking IP, we are dead." about alleged Chinese cyber-espionage that has sought to steal sensitive data from the U.S. military and corporations. the two companies of having links to the Chinese government, and advised that U.S. businesses looks elsewhere for their networking equipment purchases.
Japan's Sharp booked another huge loss on Tuesday, and unveiled its latest turnaround plan, which includes relying on partnerships with Samsung Electronics and Foxconn Technology Group for business, sacking top management, and expanding into new fields such as robotics. Osaka-based Sharp, one of the world's largest LCD screen makers but struggling under massive debt and unused capacity, said its losses for the year ended March 31 reached ¥545 billion ($5.4 billion), the largest in the company's history. Sharp promised its ongoing restructuring, involving thousands of job cuts and factory closings, will finally bear fruit this year in the form of a modest ¥5 billion profit. The company said it will rebuild its tattered finances on products like laptop screens with the industry's highest pixel density at up to 262 pixels per inch, which it is to mass produce from June. The company has already found a customer for the screens in Samsung, according to local media reports. In March, Sharp secured a $110 million investment from Samsung and locked in the South Korean company as a long-term client. Sharp said its turnaround will also include increasing income in its core LCD screen business to over $1 trillion in the year through March 2016. The company owns some of the largest factories in the world but has struggled with price falls and generating enough business to operate its lines. A deal signed with Foxconn last year gave that firm half control of one of Sharp's main LCD factories in return for a cash infusion and a steady stream of business.
Keeping track of emails, calendars and contacts can suck untold time out of any workday. Anything that in Outlook can boost your productivity measurably. Imagine if your inbox only showed the messages you wanted to see. Consider if you could locate vital contact information in seconds. What if you finally knew why some of the hyped Outlook features aren't working as advertised? These 10 tips will help you zip through your messages and agenda, and work more effectively overall. When you first open your inbox, a default view appears, but it doesn't have to look this way. To see Oulook's many customization options, click the . There are multiple preset views you can choose, like one that displays the most recent emails only. Also on the View tab, you can select to view that number of lines of the message text beneath its header. You can configure any of these options either for the current folder or for all mailboxes.
A prominent computer security researcher says he recently rejected a request by a Saudi telecommunications company to help it spy on mobile customers.
For the first time ever, the Navy launched a drone off an aircraft carrier at sea today. It just didn't land on the carrier, a much harder task.
The sun has unleashed three strong solar flares since Sunday evening, punctuating a short period of increased solar restlessness that comes as scientists are keeping an eye out for this cycle?s solar maximum.
Take a trip around the solar system and bring the entire city of New York with you in these captivating drawings showing how the atmospheres of other planets would interact with the iconic metropolitan skyline.
Google CEO Larry Page says both his vocal chords are partially paralyzed, a "very rare" condition. He'll be speaking softly and funding research.
Using open data,
Google Now Cards are amazing. The location-based search service can tell you whether the commute home will be hellish or merely miserable. Knowing what time your bus arrives or whether the day will bring driving rain or glorious sunshine is simply a swipe and tap away. Google Now does this via individual cards that handle ...
Officially, Ryan Christopher Fogle worked as a junior diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. According to Moscow, he was a spy working for the CIA. If so, he screwed up bad.
BlackBerry just introduced a cheaper phone. With colors. The new Q5 is the company's first entry into the mid- to low-cost phone range since introducing its new operating system, BlackBerry 10. The phone is designed and built for emerging markets, according to CEO Thorsten Heins. It will be launched by global carrier partners this July, ...
Upstart 3-D printer companies have captured the attention of makers, but a 30 year old company called 3D Systems is having a record year on Wall Street. The company just announced an 81% increase in sales of their 3-D printers, catapulting their market capitalization over $4 billion dollars. Their Cube 3-D printer is the first of its kind for sale at a big box store like Staples. And while
The artisans of Etsy are old hands at exploring new frontiers, so it?s no surprise that they?ve enthusiastically joined into the long and hallowed tradition of seriously weird Star Trek homage, like the TNG pasties above (or their original series counterparts). Strap on your phasers and prepare to explore strange new bow ties, to seek out new hats and new flower pots, and boldly go where no crafters have gone before.
Increasingly, we buy a device because it's going to work with our other devices and existing apps. We don't want just the gadget itself; we want the ecosystem it inhabits. And Google's ecosystem is fractured.
Outlook.com is taking a major step to woo Gmail devotees by integrating Google Talk contacts into its webmail messenger service.
Bitcoin took another step toward the mainstream Tuesday with the announcement of at least $350,000 available for Bitcoin-focused startups in the next class of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Boost VC.
Every year there's a new trendy way to burn calories -- yoga, P90X, crossfit -- each one promising to hold the secret to optimal fitness. Photographer Henry Hargreaves' new photo project provides commentary on the phenomenon by lighting unhealthy food on fire.
We are surrounded by tiny, intelligent devices that capture data about how we live and what we do. Soon we'll be able to choreograph them to respond to our needs, solve our problems, and even save our lives.
The defense secretary who screwed up Iraq and Afghanistan has some advice for you. Some of it is good!
With all the futuristic talk today about missions to Mars, lunar bases and asteroid mining, it's easy to forget that man has already been living off of the planet on and off for decades. Here's a look back at the pioneering Skylab mission that launched 40 years ago today, including mechanical failures, an aborted rescue mission, a crew mutiny and an unplanned crash landing on Earth.
Critics are calling Facebook Home "a disaster" and worse, but the aggressive Facebook shell has been out for less than two months. Software takes time.
With the IdeaPad Y500, Lenovo says to hell with the modern laptop diet plan and pumps out a high-performance machine primed for gaming.
San Francisco-based RelayRides just announced a deal that puts new corporate and technological weight behind its vision of ubiquitous mobility.
International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield has spent the last year charming the pants off the earthbound public with his tweets and Tumblr posts from the International Space Station. Now, it turns out he?s got pipes, too: to celebrate the end of his tenure on the I.S.S., he?s recorded a gorgeous and touching tribute to David Bowie?s ?Space Oddity.?
After a five-month stay on the International Space Station, a crew comprising one Canadian astronaut, one U.S. astronaut, and one Russian cosmonaut will return to Earth aboard a Soyuz space capsule. The landing is being broadcast live on NASA TV beginning at 3:45 p.m. Pacific, with touchdown occurring around 7:30 p.m. Pacific (which is Tuesday morning in Kazakhstan, where they'll land).
Every week, Wired takes a look at the latest episode of
The Department of Justice secretly obtained phone records for reporters and editors who work for the Associated Press news agency, including records for the home phones and cell phones of individual journalists, apparently in an effort to uncover a leak.
The team behind the original
If the fast-cut footage from the trailer to Marvel's Agents of SHIELD left you confused last night, here's our guide to what (and who) you maybe missed.
The crew from Sant'Agata has lost its collective mind. There's no other explanation for the Lamborghini Egoista concept.
The
Finding your niche in the cut-throat tablet market is the key to success. Or at least the key to landing in a few kitchens. Archos introduced the ChefPad today. It's a 9.7-inch Android tablet aimed at the budding chef in all of us. Archos says the tablet is pre-loaded with its "Chef Apps Selection" that ...