The three most important device platform vendors—Apple, Google, and Microsoft—have each consolidated their mobile and desktop operating systems under a single product leader. This could be taken as a hint of a new industry trend, where each company is looking to consolidate onto single unified OS for all types of devices. . They’re different. Any attempt to force them together will fail. But blending the best characteristics of each type of platform? That just might work. Microsoft has always tried to insist that the tablet is a kind of PC. Microsoft created a variant of Windows XP for tablets way back in 2002. Its strategy around Windows 8 and Windows RT was summed up by then-Windows chief Steven Sinofsky’s “no compromises” rhetoric.
. (Actually, the feature was announced back in May, but is only just now starting to roll out to users.) , Gmail can now automatically organize certain kinds of messages into tabs, greatly reducing inbox clutter in the process. For example, all your notifications from social-media services (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) will now be sorted into the Social tab, while offers from Groupon, LivingSocial, and other advertisers will land under Promos. If you're not yet seeing tabs when you sign into Gmail (in your Web browser, natch) or you want to make changes to the settings, do this:
If you're looking for a video transcoding product to compress your vacation vids, look to something other than the ultra-competent, but extremely pricey Sorenson Squeeze 9. If however, you're a busy professional who needs to produce video in a variety of formats in the shortest possible time, Squeeze is what you're looking for. It's a fast, comprehensive, extensible, and highly configurable transcoder. The client program comes in three flavors: a $799 standard version, a $999 pro version, and a $2000 server version.
When it comes to blogging, the conventional wisdom says that you should get your name and material out there as liberally as possible. Any place you can stuff a backlink to your business’s website is great, particularly if it’s on a noteworthy or popular site. Guest posts have long been thought to be a great way to do that: You get to reach a broader audience and link back to your own website, improving your search engine rankings while sharing your expertise. Meanwhile, the website owner gets free content. It’s win-win. But that conventional wisdom is changing, as many are questioning whether rather than better placement in search results. For the website owner who’s hosting the guest posts, the problem is relatively easy to see. Because you have limited control over the content of the guest post, you’re taking a leap of faith that you’re going to get quality work. Any links embedded in that post are also potentially troublesome. A guest blogger (who is rarely someone you actually know) may embed what looks like an innocuous link in the post, only to redirect it later to a less than savory site. And if your website links to a spam site—whether you or a guest writer does the linking—you can be subject to Google penalties and see your search ranking plummet. But what about the writer of the guest blog post? Well, there’s trouble emerging there, too. Posting your good work, name, and link on a questionable site can subject you to the exact same penalties as described above. And once Google starts to associate you with the gray areas of the Web, it can be hard to break that association. In fact, today, Google’s own advice is that if you do write a guest post for another site, you should include in order to avoid penalties.
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to take the first step toward revamping its program that subsidizes Internet connections to schools and libraries, with the focus in the future on big bandwidth instead of simple connectivity. The FCC on Friday voted to launch a notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM, focused on updating the 16-year-old E-Rate program. E-Rate, with a $2.25 billion annual budget, has helped bring Internet service to nearly all U.S. schools, but the program is outdated, commissioners said. About 80 percent of U.S. schools and libraries say they don’t have enough bandwidth, Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education, told commissioners at Friday’s FCC meeting. Schools need higher bandwidth to deliver modern technology-focused education, she said. Commissioners agreed. “We are quickly moving from a world where what matters is connectivity to what matters is capacity,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said.
Seeking a foothold with businesses that run Microsoft software, Novell has introduced an application to streamline the process of connecting employees to workspace printers, even if they are using non-Microsoft computers and mobile devices, such as iPhones. “We’re giving the administrator a very easy way to do browser-based administration of the print environment,” said Kai Reichert, a Novell product manager for collaboration. For the end user, the iPrint software provides a web interface for easily setting up a new device relationship with a printer. IPrint has been available as part of Novell’s Open Enterprise Server (OES) for some time, though now it can be run as a stand-alone software package. This version of iPrint is packaged in a VMware-based virtual machine, so it can be run as a virtual appliance. IPrint provides a way for users to set up connections between their Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, or Linux computers with their workplace’s network printers, without the need for contacting an administrator.
Windows Small Business Server. Microsoft is no longer making the popular small business platform, but thankfully Microsoft didn’t just pull the plug and leave small business customers with nothing to fill the void. . Microsoft officially moved it into the Windows Server family, and changed the name to Windows Server 2012 Essentials. It’s basically the entry-level offering for Windows Server 2012. For Loyal fans of SBS, though, moving to Windows Server 2012 Essentials is more than just a name change. Customers often balk at change of any kind, but in this case some are upset that major features and capabilities their businesses depend on are lost through the transition to Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Windows SBS was a great platform because it contained all of the elements a business might need in one box—the server operating system and management tools, along with Exchange Server and SharePoint Server. The problem with SBS, though, is that it maxed out at 25 licenses, and was a dead-end that didn’t provide an easy path for companies once their needs grew larger than what SBS could handle.
Okay, Microsoft. You had your fun fling with ARM processors, serenading your newfound love with glitzy dubstep ads full of creepy dancing schoolgirls. Thin and light tablets packing a—gasp!—free version of Office? Freedom from Intel and AMD's x86 processors? Sanctity from traditional Windows malware? How . But the honeymoon is over, and reality ain't happy with the frivolous romp. Thursday, Microsoft announced that it took an accounting hit to the tune of nearly $1 billion——thanks to the steep discount it had to apply to the millions of Surface RT tablets lying around unsold. The dream has become a nightmare, and not just for Surface. Microsoft, it's time for Windows RT to take a vacation. , but this week really crystallized that its time is not now.
Six British citizens were wrongly detained or accused of crimes as a result of mistakes made by authorities when requesting access to Internet data, the U.K. Interception of Communications Commissioner said. A report detailing law enforcement’s errors in the UK was published as interest in surveillance of ordinary citizens’ online activities runs high, in the wake of disclosures about the U.S. National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programs. published on Thursday. The principal users of this communications data are still the intelligence agencies, police forces and other law enforcement agencies, wrote Paul Kennedy who served as the Interception of Communications Commissioner through last year. However, because public authorities often make many requests for communications data in the course of a single investigation, the total figure does not indicate the number of individuals or addresses targeted, Kennedy said, adding that those numbers are not readily available, but would be much smaller.
After months of behind-the-scenes teases, Google appears to have quietly introduced the inside Chrome’s app store. First spotted by , the new feature is Google’s incursion into the desktop PC, creating a self-sufficient Chrome ecosystem inside Microsoft’s OS. The Chrome App Launcher lets you directly fire up any Chrome Web app or packaged app right from the Windows taskbar—even when Chrome itself isn’t running. Packaged apps are HTML 5-based standalone desktop apps based on Chrome that don’t look anything like your Web browser. There are no tabs, URL address bars, or bookmarks, but these apps do rely on Chrome’s underlying infrastructure and are installed via the Chrome Web Store. It’s still early days for packaged apps, but there are a number you can try out, such as a .
Panasonic and its subsidiary Sanyo have agreed to plead guilty to price fixing conspiracies involving laptop battery cells and automotive parts. They will pay a total of $56.5 million in criminal fines, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said. Sanyo agreed to pay $10.7 million for the battery cells conspiracy and Panasonic will pay $45.8 million for its role in the automotive parts conspiracy, the DoJ said in on Thursday. LG Chem, a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, has also agreed to plead guilty and to pay a $1.056 million criminal fine for price fixing involving battery cells, the DoJ said. Sanyo and LG Chem were involved in a battery cell conspiracy from about April 2007 until about September 2008, it said. “The guilty pleas against Sanyo and LG Chem are the first in the department’s ongoing investigation into anticompetitive conduct in the cylindrical lithium-ion battery cell industry,” it said. Both companies conspired to fix the prices of battery cells sold worldwide for use in notebook computer battery packs, it added.
Cellphone users have a reasonable expectation of privacy of their cellphone location information, and police must obtain a search warrant before accessing that information, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled Thursday. on an appeal. “Instead, they can reasonably expect that their personal information will remain private.” requiring police and other agencies to obtain a search warrant from a court before tracking a person using location information from an electronic device. Federal courts have been divided on the issue of cellphone tracking by law enforcement. But historically the New Jersey Constitution has offered greater protection to New Jersey residents than the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Rabner observed. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Twitter. Facebook. Evernote. Dropbox. Gmail. Instagram. YouTube. RSS feeds. Email. Keeping up with the growing list of social networks, essential apps, and incoming data streams that have become part of modern online life is difficult for even a Web dabbler. Getting them talking to one another is even tougher, which is where tools like “,” or simply “IFTTT,” have become invaluable. This , for the iPhone platform. The mobile app enhances the utility of IFTTT for all of its users, but its release is also a good time to take a hard look at whether IFTTT can now be put to use in the business world. IFTTT is so valuable because certain networks, like Facebook, are famously closed off, so doing something that should be simple—like saving your photos to your hard drive or republishing videos on YouTube—can be extremely tedious and time-consuming.
A plan to set up a massive database of every non-European Union citizen entering and leaving the bloc is disproportionate, Europe’s data privacy watchdog said Friday. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx described the so-called “Smart Borders” initiative as intrusive and uneconomic, and said its aims could probably be achieved more efficiently by using already-existing databases. In February the European Commission proposed setting up a Registered Traveler Programme (RTP) aimed at frequent business travelers or those with relatives in the E.U.; and an Entry/Exit System (EES). The RTP would make use of automated border control systems such as automated gates for pre-screened visitors, while the EES would digitally record the time and place of entry and exit of third-country nationals and issue an alert to national authorities when there is no exit record by the expiry time. The current practice when checking a third-country national wanting to cross the E.U.’s external borders is based mainly on the stamps in the travel document. But, Hustinx said Friday, “There is no clear evidence that the Commission proposals will fulfil the aims that it has set out.” Even the Commission’s own assessments fail to prove that it will be sufficiently efficient to justify the expense and intrusions into privacy, he added.
As dynamic, productive, and exciting has Microsoft has tried to make the Surface RT tablet out to be, consumers can’t shake the perception that it’s just a bland bit of overpriced plastic—all its VaporMg cladding notwithstanding—that can do little more than surf the Web. Unfair? Maybe so. But as Wall Street digests that distasteful reality, so too should Microsoft’s marketing department. In fact, it’s eventually going to realize that as painful as the have gone, they didn’t go nearly far enough. Microsoft reported fourth-quarter revenues Thursday that came in nearly a billion dollars less than what analysts expected, thanks to a . To Hood’s credit, she dodged nimbly, scattering bland crumbs of data that the analysts meekly accepted. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how many Surface RT tablets the writedown represented: $900 million divided by the—equating to $150 for each version of the Surface RT—will equal the number of Surface RT tablets sitting idle on Microsoft’s shelves, said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy.
It’s no stretch to say that PC power users aren’t united in their praise of Windows 8. The operating system’s modern-style Start screen and its focus on touch-friendly apps has ruffled quite a few feathers among users who just want their old desktops back. But if you own a home-theater PC, you might want to put the hate on hold. Although Microsoft clearly had tablets and touchscreens in mind when it designed Windows 8, the new look and new apps actually translate well to television screens. Windows 8’s modern side provides an almost console-like experience, offering quick access to video apps and a look that’s a lot prettier than an icon-laden desktop. , for about six months. The update has breathed new life into the machine, especially for streaming video and music. Although I still lean on the desktop for certain things, the modern side of Windows 8 has turned out to be a useful supplement. Let's take a peek at where Windows 8 shines and where it struggles on home theater PCs.
Think deeply. Plan your next move carefully, or it could be your last. Strategy games are the best ways to have fun and sharpen those acute decision-making skills we all love to flaunt. Whether you're planning the perfect assault, finding the most efficient supply chain, or simply running for your life to survive, it's important to be able to formulate a plan. These games are the way to do it—starting with captaining your own deathtrap, er, spaceship.
The U.K. government is launching a review of a vetting process for products from Huawei Technologies, reflecting continuing security concerns about the Chinese company. ordering a review of the center that will look at its effectiveness to protect the nation’s telecommunication infrastructure. about Huawei’s alleged ties with the Chinese government, which has been accused of state-sponsored hacking. In particular, the committee was “shocked” that Huawei was able to supply sensitive telecommunication infrastructure to U.K. operator BT without consultation with government ministers. As early as 2008, the U.K.’s own Security Service had determined that China could theoretically exploit vulnerabilities in Huawei products to conduct espionage over BT’s networks, the committee’s report said.
South Korea has dropped a two-year anti-competition probe into Google’s Android smartphone operations in that country, sources close to Google confirmed Thursday. The investigation, which was based on claims that Google had pressured Android phone manufacturers to block search engines or other applications that rivaled its own, has ended with no finding of a violation of law, sources said. Two Korean search engine operators, Daum and NHN, filed the claims with South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission in 2011. Among other charges, Daum said Google had influenced Android-based phone manufacturers to block certain other software services from being placed before Google’s search tools. However, it has since been established that Google’s Android business practices did not break any laws, the sources said. Google declined to comment on the case. Neither Daum nor NHN could be immediately reached for comment.
Yahoo has made yet another acquisition, this time picking up Beijing-based data analysis startup Ztelic to boost its research and development efforts in China. The deal, announced Thursday, is Yahoo’s second acquisition in two days and its 19th since former Google executive Marissa Mayer was made CEO of Yahoo . Ztelic developed a software product for analyzing and monitoring activity on social networks. Yahoo said it bought the company for the engineering talent, which has been the motivation for a few of its recent buys. “As part of our investment in our R&D efforts, we’re bringing on a talented team of eight developers and engineers from Ztelic,” Yahoo said in a statement via email.
. by 30 percent, to have a positive impact on the tablet, the source said. (The entry-level 32GB Surface RT model now sells for $349; the 32GB device, for $499; and the 64GB configuration is priced at $599.) The $900 million charge reflects the financial impact of those price cuts, the source said. Typically, when a price cut occurs, it spurs demand; Microsoft hopes that the same trend will occur with the Surface RT. . Moorhead characterized the Surface RT, which ran on ARM processors, as a wakeup call for Intel and its own low-power Atom architecture. , the chip maker is expected to challenge ARM. While Microsoft is expected to refresh the Surface RT at some point, it’s not clear whether the company will select Intel’s Atom—which runs Windows 8 and Google’s Android OS, as well as Windows RT.
Advanced Micro Devices hopes to turn around its financial struggles in the third quarter, saying it will record significant revenue growth and return to profit after reporting a loss and drop in revenue during the second quarter. “Looking ahead, we will continue to deliver a strong value proposition to our established customers and also reach new customers as we diversify our business. We expect significant revenue growth and a return to profitability in the third quarter,” said AMD CEO Rory Read in a statement. AMD on Thursday reported revenue of $1.16 billion for the second quarter of 2013, which ended June 29, a drop from the $1.41 billion recorded during the same quarter last year. Including one-time charges, the company reported a net loss of $65 million, or a 9-cent loss per share. For the third quarter, AMD expects revenue to increase on a sequential basis by 22 percent, plus or minus 3 percent.
Aided by consumers’ shift to mobile devices, Google’s second-quarter revenue increased by 19 percent to about $14 billion, the company announced Thursday. The Internet company generated sales of $14.11 billion for the quarter, which ended June 30. The revenue excludes the commissions and fees that Google pays to other sites that run its ads. Taking those into account, the company’s second-quarter revenue was $11.1 billion. The company’s second-quarter rise in revenue constitutes in revenue gains of 31 percent that Google reported in April, but is up 19 percent compared to the year-ago quarter.
Microsoft fell way short of analyst estimates for its fourth fiscal quarter, with revenues nearly a billion dollars short of what analysts had expected. The culprit? Microsoft’s Surface RT tablets. A lack of sales forced Microsoft to take a $900 million charge, in addition to a previously deferred $782 million charge related to Microsoft Office. Sources close to Microsoft said that the charge reflects the . Microsoft reported net income of $4.97 billion (59 cents) on revenue of $19.90 billion, nevertheless, which showed strong improvements from a year ago. The company reported a 10.1 percent increase in revenue from a year ago, when Microsoft reported a loss of $492 million. For the fiscal year, Microsoft reported net income of $26.86 billion on revenue of $77.85 billion.
U.S. lawmakers plan to resurrect national data breach notification legislation that has failed to pass in past sessions of Congress, but some advocates don’t agree on what should be included in a bill. Six witnesses at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing Thursday called for a national law requiring businesses that lose data in hacker attacks to notify affected customers, but there were differences about whether the bill should preempt 48 existing state laws or should set a minimum standard that state laws can build on. “Any federal law should not weaken strong state laws,” Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, said during a hearing of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s trade subcommittee. “Any federal response should establish a baseline so that every American can be assured some level of data protection, not just notification after the fact.” Others disagreed, saying a new federal law that doesn’t preempt state laws would create a 49th data breach regulation for businesses to comply with. A national standard would be “particularly helpful to small business, many of whom cannot afford teams of lawyers to navigate 48 breach standards, should something bad actually happen,” said Kevin Richards, senior vice president for federal government affairs at trade group TechAmerica.
Security researchers from Polish vulnerability research firm Security Explorations claim to have identified a new vulnerability in Java 7 that could allow attackers to bypass the software’s security sandbox and execute arbitrary code on the underlying system. . According to Gowdiak, the vulnerability is located in the Reflection API (application programming interface), a feature that was introduced in Java 7 and which has been the source of many critical Java vulnerabilities so far. Security Explorations confirmed that its PoC exploit code works against Java SE 7 Update 25 and earlier versions, he said. The new issue identified by Security Explorations can allow hackers to implement a “classic” attack that has been known for at least 10 years, Gowdiak said.
More than six million campaigns have been upgraded to AdWords Enhanced Campaigns so far and Google expects to have the remainder of its advertising partners, and their respective campaigns, switched over by the end of this month.
The Korean FTC stated Google was not demonstrating an unfair advantage by preloading its search engine on Android mobile phones. While this is one small battle won by Google, it still has its hands full with an ongoing antitrust battle in Europe.
Bing initially provided info directly in the search box for a celebrity, politician, athlete or a connection on LinkedIn with a public profile. This has now expanded to include brands, movies, albums, places, software, sport teams, animals, and more.
SEO isn't content marketing and content marketing isn't SEO. There's some potentially great crossover, but one is not a replacement for the other. Rather than trying to rebrand yourself, here's why you should be proud to be an SEO professional!
Google transformed the face of retargeting for online businesses this June with the release of Google Dynamic Remarketing, making retargeting specific to user search available to retailers of all sizes. Here are five best practices for retailers.
Amazon is definitely the right place for merchants looking to increase sales – it's just a matter of picking the right advertising product. Here's a rundown of the three most popular forms of Amazon advertising: product, local, and display ads.
A new international SEO initiative is an exciting undertaking, but can be a daunting task when you take locations, languages, and many other factors into account. Your best success will come from a key combination of focus and realism.
Ripoff Report, one of the most popular review sites for posting customer complaints, has launched "Ripoff Report Verified." The new program gives businesses a chance to resolve disputes in 14 days before negative reviews are posted for $89 a month.
In June, 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos, while the number of video ad views surpassed 20 billion, comScore reports. YouTube also reveals which summer movie and music blockbusters video ads were viewed most.
The iOS update sports an overhauled interface with new discovery features. But more importantly for Apple tablet users, the updated app has been specially designed so all the above features work better and more intuitively on a bigger screen.
Although it was widely thought that Google's three-year long antitrust review in relation to the firm blocking its rivals in search results was coming to an end, it seems not. EU regulators say Google must offer more and improved concessions.
SEO has become a very complex job. Has it become too complicated for you to continue doing it yourself? Use this helpful list and related questions to test your SEO knowledge – and determine whether it's time to call in an SEO professional.
Organic search is extremely effective at reaching new audiences, causing many to forgo the integrated approach and focus just on SEO. Resist this urge! Here's how owned, earned, and paid media supports SEO for maximum organic search performance.
The tools available for mining and identifying keywords that will drive the highest ROI are extensive, but often the best place to start is at the search engines. Here's how to discover new keyword opportunities for local businesses using Google.
If you have multiple domains, should you link them altogether, or will this look spammy? Google's Matt Cutts says to keep everything within the same domain to prevent mass cross-linking, and prevent any massive cross-linking schemes between sites.
Baidu is in the process of making one of the largest ever Chinese Internet takeovers, with a $1.9 billion purchase of 91 Wireless, an Internet app Store, from NetDragon.
When users click on a newly featured arrow beneath the PLAs, Google expands the results from five products to 16. This presents a huge opportunity for advertisers. Also: AdGooroo reveals which brands are seeing the most PLA impressions so far.
Paid clicks jumped 21 percent and the average price per click slid 8 percent. Yahoo's display business generated $423 million, an 11 percent decline from last year. The number of display ads sold and average price per ad sold both declined.
Foursquare has begun rolling out a new style of advertisement which is displayed once users check-in at specific locations. Captain Morgan is one of the first brands to sign up for the new advertisements, which will be running for 4-6 weeks.
ComScore's latest data for June indicates Bing and Yahoo are merely swapping market share, with Bing as the favorite for June 2013. Google held steady as the top U.S. search engine, but its market share was down slightly from this time last year.