Motorola is building a clandestine group of superfans to help shape its future products. Email invites spotted by Among the privileges are Google Hangouts with Moto executives, industry and company events, early access to company news, and the ability to test out and review products before they’re launched. It’s unclear how participants will be selected, though Motorola is probably pinging those who proclaim their fandom through social media.
Apple’s often been a company that pushes new technology into a world that’s reluctant to receive it or doesn’t know what to make of it. It’s a company that’s often designing for what it sees as the world of the future and not today. The first iMac dropped off legacy ports and embraced the then-unknown connection standard called USB. The MacBook Air ditched optical media. Even the current Mac Pro is a complete redefinition of what the standard features of a professional workstation should be. This approach has its strengths and weaknesses. Apple has rightfully gained a reputation for being on the cutting edge. Its designs push the entire computer industry forward—sometimes kicking and screaming. But it can be painful to live on the cutting edge. New iMac buyers couldn’t use any of their old Mac accessories without buying adapters, and it was months before USB accessories were widespread. MacBook Air owners had to grapple with their inability to insert a CD or DVD to install software.
LinkedIn is acquiring online learning company lynda.com for US$1.5 billion in cash and stock, the social networking site announced Thursday. Lynda.com offers professional development courses on design, creative and business topics. Some of the courses, for example, teach how to write HTML, negotiate better, or use design software like Photoshop. The site was launched by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin in 1995 as a way to teach Web publishing and design. Integrating lynda.com with LinkedIn would allow job seekers to know what skills are required for a position they’re interested in and immediately be prompted to take a course in that subject, Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn’s head of content, said in a
Limited stock means ordering a Watch in person will be impossible.
There’s nothing worse than planning to stream the season finale of But Google is toying with technology that would make it so that we The basic idea is that you would let the spoiler-blocking service know about a particular TV show, book, or movie you’re interested in. Then you’d let the service know how far into the content you are, such as the last TV episode you watched or the last book chapter you finished. This data could also potentially be pulled from video sites like Amazon or Netflix.
These online services exist for very different purposes. Sync and storage services, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, make selected files available to other PCs and devices, and sync those files between the devices. When you open a document on your PC, it will automatically have the changes you made on your iPad. Cloud-based backup services, such as Mozy and Carbonite, protect all of your data files from possible disaster. There’s a lot of overlap in what they actually do. Both types of services upload your files to another location, effectively protecting them. Both make files accessible anywhere, on any device, as long as you have an Internet connection and your account password.
Apple launched Wi-Fi calling allows you to make phone calls using your carrier-issued number, but instead of going out over a cellular network the calls traverse the Internet via Wi-Fi. Sprint's Wi-Fi calling will also enable subscribers traveling overseas to make free calls back to the U.S. from more than 200 countries.
The findings of a new survey debunks theories that Facebook is losing its “cool factor” among teenagers. Facebook is the most popular social network among teens, according to the results of the survey published Wednesday night by the Pew Research Center. The researchers found that 71 percent of all teens use it. And 41 percent of teens said they use Facebook the most often compared to other sites. The findings are a victory for Facebook, which has had to address claims in recent years that its site is losing popularity among teens. In 2013, Facebook’s chief financial officer
Two of 2015's top flagship phones go head to head. There can be only one winner!
Microsoft’s Lumia phones are the iMacs of smartphones: cheery, colorful slabs of plastic with the slightly manic perkiness of a preschool teacher. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if Microsoft offered something a bit more subdued for the mobile professional—something like... a Surface phone? If you shouted “YES!” you’re not alone. Some Windows Phone users have clamored for the steely professionalism of the Surface lineup to make its way into the Windows phone lineup for years, and now graphic designer Nadir Aslam
Passwords are stupid. Yet what’s stupid about passwords is not that they are inherently insecure, but they allow users—and in fact, encourage users—to do insecure things. When faced with the creation, and subsequent memorizing, of a new password, most users decide to use the same, stupid, easy-to-remember password they’ve used elsewhere. That’s just the kind of vulnerability hackers are looking for. Don’t be that victim. You can turn all your stupid passwords into safer ones that are easier to manage, in three easy steps. Everyone has stupid passwords. Take the findings of managed security firm Trustwave, which regularly tests the security of its clients to find vulnerabilities. During its security tests in 2014, the company collected 625,000 password hashes (the scrambled form in which passwords are stored), and its researchers tried to break them. Within two minutes, more than half—54 percent—fell to