Der US-Geheimdienst National Security Agency (NSA) soll laut einem Bericht des britischen „Guardian“ Technologiefirmen wie Google, Microsoft und Yahoo Millionenbeträge gezahlt haben, damit diese ihre Technologie den Geheimdienstanforderungen anpassen.
Schon vor wenigen Wochen hatte der Software-Konzern SAP mit Hauptsitz im deutschen Walldorf die Lizensierung von Cloud-Anwendungen für Unternehmen vereinfacht. Nun gibt es weitere Neuerungen. Ab sofort sollen Nutzer älterer Software-Lösungen diese gegen neuere im gleichen Kostenrahmen eintauschen können.
Microsoft-Chef Steve Ballmer wird sich innerhalb des kommenden Jahres von der Spitze des Software-Riesen zurückziehen. Dies teilte teilte der Redmonder Konzern soeben mit.
Europäische Telekomausrüster haben sich bei einem milliardenschweren Handynetz-Projekt in China grössere Aufträge gesichert. Branchenkreisen zufolge erhalten Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent und NSN jeweils zehn Prozent an dem Vorhaben, das umgerechnet 2,45 Mrd. Euro kosten soll. Es geht um den Aufbau des Mobilfunknetzes der nächsten Generation (4G) von China Mobile, dem weltweiten Branchenprimus mit mehr als 700 Millionen Kunden.
Der US-amerikanische Internetriese Google hat laut Medienberichten mehr als eine Viertelmilliarde Dollar in den US-amerikanische Edel-Taxidienst Uber, der auch in Zürich aktiv ist, investiert. Der Internetkonzern habe die Investition über seinen Risikokapital-Arm Google Ventures getätigt, berichteten mehrere Medien übereinstimmend.
Die auf Colocation-Dienstleistungen ausgerichtete Rechenzentrumsbetreiberin Interxion Holding will an ihrem Schweizer Sitz in Glattbrugg auf über 200 Quadratmetern für Kunden und Partner ein Customer Event Centre mit mehreren Veranstaltungsräumen errichten.
Übernahmespekulationen haben die Aktien des Karriere-Netzwerks Xing am Freitag auf ein Rekordhoch getrieben. Mit einem Plus von bis zu 12,6 Prozent auf 78,40 Euro waren sie mit Abstand grösster Gewinner im Tecdax. "Es kursieren Gerüchte im Markt, wonach es einen Interessenten für Xing gibt", sagte ein Börsianer.
Der für seine aggressiven Methoden bekannte US-Investor Carl Icahn hat sich mit seiner Milliarden-Investition in Apple-Aktien zumindest schon mal ein Essen mit Konzernchef Tim Cook gesichert. "Habe mit Tim gesprochen. Planen Abendessen im September", schrieb der 77-jährige Icahn am Donnerstagabend auf Twitter. Er will Apple dazu drängen, mehr Geld mit den Aktionären zu teilen. "Tim glaubt an einen Aktienrückkauf und setzt einen um. Worüber wir reden werden, ist das Ausmass."
Die Schweizer Handyhändlerin Mobilezone zählt auf die Einführung neuer Smartphones. Dann könnten im laufenden Geschäftsjahr die Ergebnisse von 2012 übertroffen werden, wie das Unternehmen in einer Mitteilung vom Freitag schrieb. Für zusätzlichen Schub in den kommenden Monaten dürften aber auch neue Handymodelle anderer Hersteller wie Samsung, HTC, Nokia und Sony sorgen.
Apple hat die nächste Firma zur Verbesserung seines mit Problemen gestarteten Kartendienstes für iPhone und iPad gekauft. Das kalifornische Start-up Embark entwickelt kostenlose Apps mit Fahrplänen für den öffentlichen Nahverkehr für US-Städte.
While the Reddit community usually eschews complaining and mocking things they find on the Internet, they decided to throw their usual constraints aside to . Reddit made the correct decision. All the actors in the slickly produced ad speak in a close approximation of what you might expect a typical consumer to sound like—if you’ve never met an actual human before. So, what’s the deal here, Samsung? Apparently this ad, which, despite its inclusion of English speaking, American-born actors, was never meant to actually be seen by US consumers. That's likely because the ad will strike US consumers as absolutely insane (not to mention patronizing, as the only actress in the spot describes how she enjoys using her computer in-between chores and becomes anxious at the thought of installing a new drive). The ad was purportedly meant only for use as an in-house marketing tool to be shown at expos throughout Asia. At least, that’s the take according to a Redditor by the name ).
Apple has made iWork for iCloud available to the masses. It’s technically still in beta, but now anyone can use the cloud-based versions of , Numbers, or Keynote from an iCloud account. The question is whether or not iWork is the right suite of tools for you to use. Apple trumpeted iWork for iCloud at its WWDC event a few months ago. The tools provide Web-based equivalents to Apple’s iWork apps, and join Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, and Find My iPhone on Apple’s iCloud. Apple provides iCloud accounts with 5GB of storage for free. This is slightly less than the 7GB Microsoft provides by default for SkyDrive accounts, and only a third of the 15GB Google supplies for Google Drive customers. The tools themselves are capable. They to the experience provided by the desktop and mobile versions of the iWork tools. In general, the iWork tools are not as comprehensive or capable as their Microsoft Office counterparts, but they are more than adequate for most users’ needs.
Motorola's Moto X devices will become widely available within days.
Qualcomm has agreed to sell its Omnitracs fleet management subsidiary, one of its first businesses and one of the earliest vehicle information networks, to a private equity company for $800 million in cash. The buyer, Vista Equity Partners, said it plans to keep running Omnitracs and expand its product offerings. Vista will acquire all Omnitracs operations in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. The deal is expected to close during the final quarter of this year. Vista is a long-term investor in software and other technology-related businesses, with offices in San Francisco, Chicago and Austin, Texas, according to a press release. Last year it . Qualcomm started Omnitracs in the late 1980s, supplying devices for installation in fleet vehicles that collected information and sent it to management via satellite. The system is designed to help transportation and logistics providers with mobile asset management, safety, compliance and efficiency. Omnitracs has more than 10,000 customers across the Americas and Europe, according to the company's website.
PCWorld is hosting a giveaway for your back to school technology needs. That's right, you'll have a chance to win one of three sets of prizes. To enter, please read onwards for more details. These are the three sets of prize we're giving away: Entering is pretty simple. Please follow the below screen for entry and rules:
When from his role as CEO of Microsoft in 12 short months, the world will lose a little bit of luster. It’s not that the longtime leader is irreplaceable—Ballmer’s achievements were indeed momentous, but there are already to take the reins. But without Steve at the top, the constant flow of hilarious Ballmerisms we’ve come to enjoy over the years will no doubt dry up, leaving the technology world a decidedly unfunnier place. From ridiculous to ridonkulous to utterly insane, here are the best Ballmerisms to come out of Steve’s mouth throughout the years. One thing’s for sure: While laughter may die on our lips with Ballmer’s retirement, PR handlers in Redmond will surely sleep easier at night. On with the show!
Watching a YouTube video typically requires an Internet connection, but with a little preparation the videos can be saved for later offline viewing. Before downloading any videos on YouTube, be aware that downloading some content may infringe on copyrights. Once you are on a page with a YouTube video, copy the link in the address bar of the browser. Then open and paste the YouTube URL into the box at the top of the page. Click the download button to the right side of the link you just pasted. Since the page runs Java script, the browser will prompt you if you want to run the application and click “yes” or “run.”
Toshiba kicked off a project Friday that is the first step toward a new type of memory chip that could provide vastly greater capacity at a lower cost for digital gadgets such as cameras, smartphones and tablets. The company held a groundbreaking ceremony to begin expansion of its number-five chip fabrication building (fab 5) in Yokkaichi, a state-of-the-art chip production facility in central Japan operated by Toshiba and SanDisk under a joint venture. The construction, which is scheduled to last a year, will see the production line expanded to accommodate additional chip fabrication capacity for NAND flash memory, including more advanced conventional manufacturing processes and early generation 3D production techniques. 3D chips are tipped to be the next big thing in the memory market and provide greater data storage capacity by stacking memory cells in layers. Using this method, greatly higher storage capacity can be realized while keeping the chips small enough to fit inside flash memory cards and the cramped insides of modern gadgets.
Stay clear of The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, it’s nothing but a cash-in on its turn-based predecessor’s name.
An accumulation of perceived missteps under Steve Ballmer’s leadership may have hit a tipping point this year, leading to Friday’s groundshaking announcement that Bill Gates’ former right hand and heir, as well as Microsoft’s fiercest cheerleader, will . In recent years, Ballmer has been the target of critics over a variety of issues, including their dissatisfaction with the company’s stock performance, Google’s dominance in search advertising, the perception that Microsoft reacted late to cloud computing and its weak position in the tablet and smartphone OS markets.
Dropbox is a great place for storing your digital music collection, but its music playback features are limited, to say the least. Sure, you can use Dropbox to access your music stored on the service, but if you want to actually listen to these tunes, you’ll need to download them
Study finds that kids who can't read a clock yet have mobile phones now.
Who will replace Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer? Microsoft’s executive committee has up to a year to decide and a pantheon of candidates from which to choose. In many ways, identifying the next chief executive of Microsoft is a commentary on Microsoft’s current track record. Does Microsoft’s executive committee and board continue down the path that Ballmer began? Has the company failed to execute in some way? Or , perhaps with an emphasis on a particular business segment? All of these questions could guide Microsoft’s CEO search. Ballmer’s announcement that as a devices and services provider. The problem? The “flat” structure of the reorganization left no obvious successor. While Microsoft has not been averse to hiring from outside the company—chief operating officer Kevin Turner most recently served as chief executive of Wal-Mart division Sam’s Club—some of the company’s most senior staff have been long-time Microsoft employees. The executive committee that will find a replacement for Ballmer includes John Thompson, the board’s lead independent director, plus chairman Bill Gates, chairman of the audit committee Chuck Noski and chairman of the compensation committee Steve Luczo.
The pitchfork wielders have won: sometime in the next year, after he completes the search for a successor. And you know what? It couldn’t have happened at a better time. No, I’m not bashing Ballmer for the monumental transition that Microsoft currently finds itself in. In a world with many screens and a taste for mobile, Microsoft needs to change, or the company will wither. But while Ballmer may have started the ball rolling on these big changes, he simply couldn’t be the one to finish them. Ballmer’s retirement is a defining moment for Microsoft , a return to the Windows desktop we know and love. Ballmer saw the writing on the wall in the wake of the iPad—. It’s One Microsoft, all the time and across all devices, an ethos embodied by the divisive Windows 8.
comScore's July traffic numbers show Yahoo catapulted to the top of the Internet. But how?
Microsoft announced Friday that announcing the decision. I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen. There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction. You can read the press release on Microsoft News Center. This is a time of important transformation for Microsoft. Our new Senior Leadership team is amazing. The strategy we have generated is first class. Our new organization, which is centered on functions and engineering areas, is right for the opportunities and challenges ahead. Microsoft is an amazing place. I love this company. I love the way we helped invent and popularize computing and the PC. I love the bigness and boldness of our bets. I love our people and their talent and our willingness to accept and embrace their range of capabilities, including their quirks. I love the way we embrace and work with other companies to change the world and succeed together. I love the breadth and diversity of our customers, from consumer to enterprise, across industries, countries, and people of all backgrounds and age groups.
Mozilla is considering the possibility of rejecting as invalid SSL certificates issued after July 1, 2012, with a validity period of more than 60 months. Google already made the decision to block such certificates in Chrome starting early next year. “As a result of further analysis of available, publicly discoverable certificates, as well as the vibrant discussion among the CA/B Forum [Certificate Authority/Browser Forum] membership, we have decided to implement further programmatic checks in Google Chrome and the Chromium Browser in order to ensure Baseline Requirements compliance,” Ryan Sleevi, a member of the Google Chrome Team said Monday in . The checks will be added to the development and beta releases of Google Chrome at the beginning of 2014. The changes are expected in the stable release of Chrome during the first quarter of next year, Sleevi said. The Baseline Requirements for the Issuance and Management of Publicly-Trusted Certificates, sometimes simply referred to as the Baseline Requirements, is a set of guidelines agreed upon by all certificate authorities (CAs) and browser vendors that are members of the CA/B Forum.
The German Government is now deeply suspicious that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology built into a growing number of Windows 8 PCs and tablets is creating a gigantic back door for NSA surveillance, leaked documents have suggested. Documents from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs uncover the alleged unease of officials at the direction of version 2.0 of the standard being developed under the auspices of the multi-vendor Trusted Computing Group (TCG). TPM has been marketed as a security technology since its appearance in 2006, but version 2.0 would embed a chip on every PC that has complete control over which programs can and can’t run, a setting that can’t be over-ridden under Windows 8. The chip is also where the cryptographic data is stored for Windows BitLocker and it enables remote administration. Windows 8 security going forward will be founded on TPM 2.0 and the ability to access or break it would be of huge value to any intelligence service.
Apple has made the Web versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote publicly available to all at iCloud.com, though the apps remain in beta.
Chromebooks are now making it a little easier to tune out distractions and get right to the Web apps you’re looking for. , replaces the old “full screen” view, and it’s a major improvement. Now, going full screen hides the taskbar, tab bar and all other menu elements, but they pop back up again when you drag your cursor to the top or bottom of the screen. In previous versions of Chrome OS—and in current versions of Chrome for Windows and Mac—full screen mode didn’t provide any way to switch between tabs or apps. If you simply wanted to check an e-mail or reference another document, you had to exit full screen, switch tabs, then go back to full screen again. With immersive mode, it’s a lot easier to just stay in full screen the entire time. Hopefully Google can bring some aspects of this feature—at least the ability to make your tabs and menu pop up while in full screen—to Chrome for Windows and Mac.
Call it the end of an era. Friday, Microsoft announced that Steve Ballmer will be retiring within the next 12 months, bringing his 13-year run as CEO of the company to an end. “There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Ballmer said in . “We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing Senior Leadership Team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.” Ballmer, of course, recently refocused Microsoft in order to drag the PC stalwart into the faster-moving mobile age, initiating drastic sea changes such as the device-spanning —Microsoft's first foray into competing with its manufacturing partners. Any of those could be considered a major shakeup. of those combined constitute a near-complete reimagining of Microsoft.
from our desktops soon. , and to cater to professionals already working with the technology, Microsoft is aiming to make 3D printing as easy as 2D printing in Windows 8.1. The easiest way to do that, Microsoft says, was to base its new 3D printing pipeline on the tried and true process of Windows document printing. . Right now, 3D printing is a pain that involves wrangling with different file formats throughout the process, while at the same time being sure not to lose any metadata or critical details about the end product. You also have to deal with a multitude of 3D printing apps and devices that may or may not want to play nice together.
Back in March I , a third-party Roku channel that adds a desperately needed capability to the popular media-streaming boxes: YouTube. Alas, not long after, Roku ordered VideoBuzz to shut down, again leaving owners with no way to stream their favorite cat videos, movie trailers, "Colbert Report" segments, and so on. Why Roku still doesn't offer a proper YouTube channel, I have no idea. But here's good news: VideoBuzz is back, at least for a while. Here's how you can get it: 1. You'll need Google Chrome or Firefox; for whatever reason, the installer won't work in Internet Explorer.
Google has bought Foxconn's Hon Hai Precision Industry display patent portfolio as the search company ramps up its development of Google Glass. Hon Hai, a major supplier for Apple and other top IT brands, sold a portfolio of Head Mounted Display (HMD) patents, the company said in a news release on Friday. The technology consists of a computer-generated image which is superimposed on a real world view, Hon Hai said. The technique is commonly used in aviation and tactical displays, in gaming and video devices as well as training and simulation tools. No further details of the deal were provided. A Google spokesman declined to comment on the purchase. Neither Hon Hai nor MiiCs & Partners, which facilitated the sale, immediately responded to requests for comment.
Google unveiled some cool new features to the dictionary function in its search.
Take a trip back to when the Internet was young and games were simple but addictive. Sure, you can enjoy the high-quality stuff that modern browsers can create, but then you'd miss this free game nostalgia trip.
Creative Commons co-founder Lawrence Lessig has filed a complaint in a U.S federal court after he was forced to take down a YouTube video of his lecture which included clips that depicted groups of people dancing to a copyrighted song. The complaint filed by Lessig with help from digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation is likely to be a high-profile test of the "fair use" doctrine in the reuse of copyrighted material online. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that has created a variety of liberal licenses to promote the sharing of copyrighted material. Lessig, a professor at Harvard Law School, delivered a lecture on the present and future of cultural and technological innovation in June 2010, at a Creative Commons conference in Seoul, South Korea. The lecture included clips of amateur music videos, which depicted groups of people dancing to the song Lisztomania, by a French band Phoenix, according to the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Mozilla is developing a protocol that aims to let security tools and Web browsers work better together. Simon Bennetts, a security automation engineer with Mozilla, on Thursday. The proposed standard, called "Plug-n-Hack," will define how security extensions can work with a browser in a more usable way, Bennetts wrote. PnH will allow the security tool to "declare the functionality that they support which is suitable for invoking directly from the browser." Under the current arrangement, if a user wants to, for example, intercept HTTPS traffic, a user must configure proxy connections through the tool and browser correctly and import the tool's SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate, Bennetts wrote.
An upcoming NASA mission will test a new laser communications system that could one day deliver high-definition 3D video signals from Mars and beyond.
At least three U.S. banks have lost millions of dollars after fraudsters gained control of payment applications that control wire transfers. The attacks, which occurred over the last three months, show that hackers are "moving deeper and deeper into the [banking] systems," Avivah Litan, a Gartner vice president who has frequent confidential discussions with banks on security issues, said Friday. "There's no doubt about it." Hackers have long targeted individual users, compromising account logins and passwords to execute wire transfers. Money "mules" are recruited to accept the fraudulent money in their own accounts and then transfer it again, often overseas where it can be difficult to recover. But the latest attacks appear to be much more financially damaging. Litan said she cannot identify the affected banks, and few technical details are available about how the fraudsters accessed the wire payment application, also sometimes referred to as a wire payment switch.