Years have gone by since Microsoft launched a version of Windows that made the general public stand up and take notice. On Wednesday, the company will allow tech enthusiasts to start poking around Windows 8, a product that could help Microsoft get its groove back. Read more »
Google chairman Eric Schmidt is a passionate advocate for technology, and he laid on the charm in an hour-long appearance at Mobile World Congress that was part Chrome commercial, part techno-utopian vision, and part high-brow version of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything. Here’s what he said. Read more »
Every now and again, Apple reminds the mobile world that developing for iOS includes going through the harrowing and sometimes mystifying App Store review process. Evi, a voice-recognition search app, thought it was a goner for coming too close to Siri until Apple changed its mind. Read more »
Nokia kicked off its Mobile World Congress festivities with new Lumia Windows Phone devices, but also made sure to highlight new Symbian devices that appeal to lower-cost smartphone markets. China is now also in the company’s short-term plans. Read more »
MetroSprint? MetroPCS came within “hours” of joining forces with Sprint, according to a report, before the deal was killed by Sprint’s board. The $8 billion deal would have seen further consolidation in the wireless industry, but would have been tough sledding. Read more »
The 30-pin dock connector featured on every iPhone and iPad ever sold by Apple, as well as a huge number of iPods, may be headed for history’s dustbin. Apple is reportedly considering a move to a smaller connector on the next iPhone. Read more »
Finding what you want in a sea of mobile applications can be a frustrating and exhausting process. Facebook wants to remind mobile developers that it has a lot of users and that discovering new things is a huge part of the Facebook experience. Read more »
When Google launched the program, retailers, bloggers, book publishers and other website owners earned referral fees ranging from 6 to 10 percent of a book’s selling price, depending on the number of sales referred. That was a higher rate than the one offered through Amazon’s referral program… Read more »
Meet the new boss, Motorola employees: Google reportedly plans to name Dennis Woodside, a veteran Google sales executive overseeing the merger, as the new CEO, replacing current Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha. Read more »
The White House announced major privacy initiatives this week amidst a growing hubbub over how technology companies use consumers’ personal data. The news sheds light on both the privacy debate and on how the players involved are attempting to maintain political control of the issue… Read more »
Mobile privacy will still be a murky issue despite a new agreement between the state of California and six leading mobile companies over how best to help app developers comply with a California law requiring them to post a privacy policy. Read more »
Mozilla is getting ready to make a big push around HTML5 mobile apps in 2012, starting with a plan to unveil a mobile Web app store next week at Mobile World Congress. The maker of the Firefox browser is hoping developers are ready to submit apps. Read more »
Forget those old X-ray specs in the back of comic books (which never worked anyway). Google is reportedly working on a pair of Android-powered glasses that could record data and display information for around $400 to $500 and make you look ever dorkier. Read more »
Facebook is planning to upgrade its premium ads on February 29, with the goal of boosting performance by 40 to 80 percent, according to documents obtained by iStrategyLabs’ Peter Corbett. Read more »
Microsoft loves to jump on Google’s mistakes, but probably should have taken a pass before it slammed the search giant for not following an outdated standard that a close partner also shuns. Read more »
With its new iOS app, Clear, Realmac Software has taken the “less is more” axiom to its ultimate conclusion. Fjord’s Alfred Lui and Aynne Valencia explain why we’ll soon see more of this stripped-down approach to interface design, thanks to three big industry trends. Read more »
Precise’s Zohar Gilad explains how his company shaved more than $2 million from its annual IT budget by migrating its IT infrastructure and applications to the cloud. Read more »
As the former CEO of OpenTable, Jeff Jordan can attest that most CEOs believe they intuitively know which product developments will make the biggest impact. In this article, Jordan makes a compelling case for letting data — and not the CEO — drive product development. Read more »
Apple has once again cut prices on its iAd system for rich in-app advertising on iOS applications, as ad buyers continue to balk at the up-front cost of participating in Apple’s vision of how mobile advertising should work. Read more »
It’s kind of amazing to consider how passé the iPod, the gadget that defined a decade of music, has become at Apple: the iPhone is the now the halo maker, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Read more »
NBCUniversal will once again use its Olympics coverage to search for what it calls the “holy grail” of audience measurement. This time, however, the company is approaching the development of this metric with a little more urgency. Read more »
It’s become almost cliche to bemoan the state of infrastructure monitoring and management tools. Cliff Moon, the CTO of Boundary, cuts through the litany of complaints and explains why it’s time for us to think of monitoring in a new way. Read more »
Charlie Oppenheimer may be a fan of Amazon Web Services. But, as he explains here, he’s long felt that the economics of the choice between self-hosted and cloud provider had more texture to it than the patently attractive sounding “10 cents an hour.” Read more »
Glam Media on Thursday is launching a new website called Foodie.com, its first foray into the culinary space. It also serves as the first Glam site that fully incorporates the social networking features Glam acquired when it bought Ning in late 2011. Read more »
Netvibes, the San Francisco–based startup that allows people and brands to create personalized RSS feed dashboards, announced on Wednesday evening it has been acquired by French enterprise software firm Systèmes. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Read more »
Just thirty years ago, innovation in almost any category was measured in years, but today it’s measured in weeks or months. That cycle will continue to accelerate, especially in IT. So here’s how to build an IT ecosystem that can keep up. Read more »
Mini Motor Racing and Mini Motor Racing HD are excellent top-down racing games from The Binary Mill. A good racing game requires three main features to come together: vehicle control, a variety of challenging courses and a heart-thumping soundtrack. Plus, it offers great multiplayer gameplay. Read more »
Google is asking the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test a mysterious Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled “entertainment device,” in employees’ homes in four U.S. cities. So inquiring minds want to know, what exactly is it and is Google trying to build its own devices? Read more »
Facebook is in the process of converting all user profiles to the Timeline design. But according to a poll, the majority of people aren’t so keen on the new look. Seventy percent of all respondents disapproved of Timeline, as did 90 percent of people over 65. Read more »
Matthew Waldman’s Nooka watches are far from your standard time-keeping devices, with various dial designs that often use digital, visual markers to indicate the passing of hours, minutes and seconds. With a new app launched Thursday, Nooka brings that time-telling magic to the iPhone. Read more »
Apple’s iPad still the tablet market leader in terms of sales, despite gains by the Kindle Fire, and a recent survey of tablet user satisfaction suggests it’s well-poised to stay ahead. Setting the standards for tablet-buyer expectations will help Apple continue to lead the pack. Read more »
Congress is eyeing the competitive implications of Verizon’s $4 billion deals to buy spectrum from the cable companies. Much like those of us at GigaOM, they are wondering if this is a cease-fire in terms of broadband competition in the air and on the ground. Read more »
The Wallee is an iPad accessory that’s almost as old as the iPad. The new headrest mount that works with existing Wallee cases is a good example of smart accessory design that can grow with the iPad, rather than be left behind by Apple’s regular redesigns. Read more »
App developer Readdle has been busy lately. A big update arrived recently for its PDF Expert software for iPad, and now the company is also launching a new note-taking and PDF annotation app called Remarks. Here’s a hands on look at what the app offers users. Read more »
Apple’s huge iPhone sales numbers from its latest quarterly results helped it grow its mobile phone business by 128.4 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a new report. That makes it the third-largest mobile phone maker by volume. Read more »
Vimeo has joined forces with General Electric and video publisher Cinelan to launch “Focus Forward” — a micro documentary series that aims to showcase big, world-changing technology innovations in a compelling way. All the videos will be three minutes long and posted online. Read more »
According to Edward Aten, founder of Swift.fm, Facebook is recreating and competing with nearly every significant Internet product of the last few years. It’s an unprecedented pivot that threatens Facebook’s core products and may eventually benefit the very same startups Facebook is trying to crush. Read more »
YouTube is making a massive investment in original programming. But as it increases the value of the content being produced and uploaded, it needs to get better about helping viewers find it. To do that, YouTube will need to step beyond search tackle the discovery challenge. Read more »
Path has updated its app for the iPhone with the debut Wednesday of version 2.0.5. The key new part of the update is the addition of a new effect called “Depth” that brings what’s known as tilt-shift capabilities to Path’s photo taking feature. Read more »
The most highly anticipated initial public offering in today’s tech world is officially happening. Facebook filed S-1 documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday afternoon to raise a maximum of $5 billion. According to the filing, Facebook made $3.7 billion in revenue in 2011. Read more »
