As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off the company’s latest Office software Monday, he hit all the right marks — a touch interface, cloud storage, VoIP integration and social networking tie-ins. They had to. But a very different interface might spook current Office users. Read more »
Yahoo’s drawn-out search for a CEO has taken an unexpected turn with the company stealing away Marissa Mayer, Google’s first female engineer and the head of its location and local services, as its new chief Yahoo. Mayer takes over as president and CEO Tuesday. Read more at paidContent »
Will the Nexus 7 be the “standard” for future tablets smaller than the iPad but bigger than a phone? After using a review unit for nearly two weeks, I think so, even though the Nexus 7 isn’t without a few minor flaws. Overall, I’m impressed. Read more »
A trio of Sony Mobile’s Xperia smartphones are now available in the U.S., but you won’t find them in carrier stores. Instead, the company is selling the full-priced phones directly to consumers through Sony Stores, and various web retailers; a tough sell in the U.S. Read more »
In this week’s audio podcast, Matt and Kevin share hands-on insights with the Galaxy S III, Nexus 7 tablet and Nokia PureView 808 phone. Plus some impressions of Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean: It’s sweet! Plus some thoughts on the $99 Motorola Atrix HD. Read more »
The Nexus 7 costs less than you think to make but will Google earn money from it? Maybe not, but it should pressure the future price of small slates. Motorola’s Atrix HD gets a first look video while the Galaxy Note may soon hit T-Mobile. Read more »
Motorola’s Atrix HD for AT&T just arrived for review and I’ve already taken a quick video to give you an idea of what the phone is like. Yes it’s thin and the HD screen impresses; especially for $99 with contract. I particularly like the landscape dock. Read more »
A survey of mobile application developers shows falling confidence in the future of BlackBerry devices. Aside from waning support for RIM’s mobile platform, recently announced to be a late delivery, nearly a third of BlackBerry programmers are shifting to Google Android efforts. Read more »
Apple took Microsoft to school with its iPod, iPhone, iPad trilogy and Microsoft responded with vows to one-up Apple with Surface and Windows phones. But can the Microsoft of the 21st century do what the older Microsoft did in overcoming foes? Skepticism abounds. Read more »
Apple, Google, Facebook and others have chosen a several hundred-mile stretch in North Carolina to build their mega east coast data centers. Check out my 4-part series on the cluster, the resources that go into it, and why some are betting on clean power: Read more »
After topping the mountain in February when the U.S. passed 50 percent smartphone ownership, It’s all downhill: Nielsen notes 2 of 3 new phone purchases in the U.S. last month were smartphones. Android and iOS continue to pull away from the pack while BlackBerry fades away. Read more »
Google is finally giving users the option to transfer their circles from one Google+ account to another, which is a big relief for anyone with a private Google+ profile and one connected to their Google Apps account. However, the account transfer process is a little tricky. Read more »
DeviceScape’s app for Android gains a new name and additional features: What used to be called DataBooster is now DataSaver. The free software helps users manage their 3G and 4G data usage while making it easier to connect to DeviceScape’s more than 8 million Wi-Fi hotspots. Read more »
Chromebook owners have a new software update that adds Google Drive integration and offline Docs support Google previously announced. The newest Chromebook models also gain a firmware update while the original CR-48 models gain the new Chrome OS user interface and open source touchpad drivers. Read more »
Apple’s new $1 billion data center — one of the highest-profile new data centers in the world — has put the town of Maiden, North Carolina (population: just over 3,000) on the tech map. But it almost didn’t get built. Read more »
Time Warner Cable and I have something in common — we both want to figure out details on Google’s fiber-to-the-home deployment in Kansas City. TWC, which provides broadband access in Kansas City, is fishing for details on the Google deployment and is willing to pay for tips. Read more »
Starbucks continues to show how a brick-and-mortar retailer can offer the convenience of mobile payments. With its updated Android app, the company adds PayPal support and a widget for card balance information and store locations. The app is now supported in the U.K. and Canada. Read more »
That $199 Nexus 7 tablet Google sells directly to consumers costs $151.75 in materials, suggesting that Google is earning a profit on the hardware, supplementing sales of software, ads and services. With a low-cost tablet platform making a profit, others are sure to follow; even Apple. Read more »
As the world demands more clean energy, will North Carolina — and its power that largely comes from coal and nuclear — continue to attract these types of data center deals? Or will areas that can provide more grid-connected clean power win out? Read more »
Google just released a native Google+ app for the iPad, which includes support for Google’s Hangouts group video chats. The video chat service is also coming to the iPhone, and both devices are getting limited support for Google+ Events. Read more »
Another day, another privacy payout. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Federal Trade Commission has assessed Google with a $22.5 million fine to settle claims that it hacked users’ iPhones in order to serve ads to them. Read more »
Steve Ballmer, unbowed by a negative Vanity Fair story that paints Microsoft as a company that no longer competes effectively remains … well, Ballmer. In a recent interview, Ballmer said Microsoft will take the battle to Apple again in tablets, in smartphones, in cloud. Read more »
Cloud-based storage and cross-device syncing of media content are two of the most competitive areas in consumer IT. Apple, Google and Amazon see cloud-based media services both as a way to increase attachment to their platforms and a means to extend and amplify their broader strategic goals. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
After buying a Chromebook four weeks ago, I quickly became a full-time user of the device. Along the way I picked up some tips and tricks that make my Chromebook more productive and fun. Here are ten of those tips for owners of Google’s new Chromebook. Read more »
After escalating for the past two years, there could be relief in sight for the ongoing mobile patent wars, as the International Telecommuncations Union is planning an October meeting in Geneva with handset makers, platform providers and standards boards. It’s about time. Read more »
One day, one tank of gas, and three data centers – those were the terms of a road trip that only a geek would dream up. My destination: a new cluster of cutting-edge, massive data centers north of Charlotte, North Carolina. Read more »
For better or worse, Hadoop has become synonymous with big data. In just a few years it has gone from a fringe technology to the de facto standard. But is the enterprise buying into a technology whose best day has already passed? Read more »
A major limitation of big data is that the technologies used to analyze it are not easy to learn. It doesn’t have to be that way, and technologies like data visualization and cloud-based tools target less-sophisticated users — from business users to receptionists to high school students. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As part of its continued pursuit of “focus” Google is shutting down five more products. That includes Google Video, iGoogle, Google Mini, Google Talk Chatback and its Symbian Search App, the company announced in a blog post Tuesday afternoon. Read more »
Like it or not, sweeping software bugs are just part and parcel with operating the largest computing systems the world has ever seen. Although Amazon is already fixing the problems that caused its latest outage, this won’t be the last we see. Read more »
Overall, between 2012 and 2017, more than 900,000 light-duty PEVs will be sold in the United States. But there remain hefty inhibitors to mainstream plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) use, including limited vehicle driving range and large battery packs, not to mention steep prices. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Stringent data protection rules have proven a big obstacle to cloud adoption in Europe, but now the continent’s privacy watchdogs want to make things more straightforward. How? They’re recommending external inspections on cloud providers in the U.S. and elsewhere. Read more »
Verizon filed its 116-page suit to appeal the network neutrality regulations enacted by the FCC. The suit has a glossary, 53 pages of legal argument, inflammatory prose on regulating the Internet and even the FCC trampling ISPs’ first amendment rights, but Verizon may prevail. Read more »
A new study from Google and the UK copyright collection society PRS for Music finds that live TV is the fastest-growing segment of copyright infringement — and a large presence on social networking sites. Read more at paidContent »
Twitter released its first-ever transparency report on Monday, which provides statistics on the number of times governments and individuals requested data on Twitter users or made takedown requests under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act during the first half of 2012. Read more »
Want to control your community’s broadband? Then you you have to own the process that determines how the technology is used, as Kansas City might be learning to its chagrin after Google didn’t seem keen a proposal for community Wi-Fi in one section of the city. Read more »
This week’s announcement by Google of its new Compute Engine cloud offering is a big deal, but most commentators are missing the real reason Google will get some stalwart Amazon customers to give Compute Engine a try. Performance, not scale, could be Google’s real differentiator. Read more »
For the Android crowd, this was an eventful week, thanks to the many announcements at Google I/O. Here’s my first look at the Nexus 7 tablet and Android 4.1 on the Galaxy Nexus, which is temporarily unable to be sold due to Apple winning an injunction. Read more »
Although both Google and Facebook have so far had little success with mobile advertising, Twitter says that its mobile ads are seeing huge levels of engagement. Is there something about the real-time information network that could make it a superior medium for mobile ads? Read more »
Swedish startup 13th Lab has just raised $700,000 from Nordic investors Creandum to help build its augmented reality browser and developer tools for iOS. But forget about tacky versions of AR: this team is trying to build a real interface between the digital and the physical. Read more »
