Technology news

• Kleiner run 'like a boys club,' Pao attorney tells jurors

  24-03-2015 23:57
  
  By Sarah McBride and Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was run "like a boys club," a lawyer for one of its former partners who is suing the firm for sex discrimination told jury members on Tuesday. During closing arguments in San Francisco Superior Court, plaintiff Ellen Pao's attorney Alan Exelrod said the culture at Kleiner Perkins disrespected women, that men took the lead, and that "no woman was going to challenge them.
  
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• Standard General raises bid for RadioShack in bankruptcy auction

  24-03-2015 23:39
  
  Hedge fund Standard General has raised its bid to buy about 1,740 stores of bankrupt electronics retailer RadioShack Corp in a court-supervised auction, according to people familiar with the process, which entered its second day on Tuesday. Standard General, which would operate most of the stores in conjunction with Sprint Corp , increased its initial $145 million bid by at least $20 million, according to one of the sources. It also committed to keeping some 7,500 RadioShack jobs, the source sai
  
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• Australian government reveals data-retention operating costs

  24-03-2015 23:05 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Attorney-General George Brandis has revealed that the estimated average cost for storing telecommunications data will be close to AU$4 per customer, per year.
  
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• FAA streamlines rules to speed up permits to fly drones

  24-03-2015 23:00
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal aviation officials, battered by complaints that bureaucratic hurdles are preventing industry from realizing the economic benefits of drones, announced Tuesday they are streamlining rules to expedite permits to fly small, commercial unmanned aircraft.
  
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• Amazon warns Congress: US risks being left behind in delivery drone business

  24-03-2015 22:46
  
  The online retailer complains that slow and excessive regulation by the FAA is forcing it to develop potentially lucrative unmanned aircraft technology abroad Continue reading...
  
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• Cisco uncovers new credit card-stealing malware

  24-03-2015 22:15
  
  Cisco has discovered a new malware threat against Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals that has the potential to pilfer credit card details. The threat appears to be a lot more damaging than the malware that infected Target.The new malware family, which Cisco's Security Solutions team has nicknamed PoSeidon, scrapes the memory on PoS systems to try and grab credit card data that it then sends to its servers (primarily using Russian .ru domains) before they are harvested and eventually sold on.PoSeidon
  
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• Lockheed likely to lose some incentive over F-35 software delay

  24-03-2015 22:02
  
  By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp is likely to lose some incentive fees due to delays in final delivery of the 2B software it is developing for the F-35 fighter jet, the Air Force general who runs the $391 billion program told reporters on Tuesday. Lieutenant General Chris Bodgan said software testing in December revealed problems with the ability of the jets to fuse data about threats on the ground when four F-35s were flying at once. As a result, Lockheed would likel
  
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• Lexmark to buy Kofax in deal valued at about $1 billion

  24-03-2015 21:46
  
  (Reuters) - Printer maker Lexmark International Inc said it would buy customer management software maker Kofax Ltd for an enterprise value of about $1 billion. The $11 per share cash offer represents a premium of 46.7 percent to Kofax's Tuesday close of $7.50. Lexmark said the deal will double the size of its enterprise software business. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
  
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• Amazon's making new drones faster than the FAA can approve them

  24-03-2015 21:37
  
  Amazon has been working to get its drones off the ground for a long time, and the US's Federal Aviation Administration has fought it every step of the way.Now, despite certain well-publicized victories, the US has fallen behind European countries when it comes to drones, and it's in danger of slipping even further, Amazon Global Public Policy Vice President Paul Misener told a Senate subcommittee today.Android KitKat is still going stroingApparently the company is designing and testing new drone
  
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• PC Gaming Week: How to build a monster PC that will play any game

  24-03-2015 21:10
  
  Daring to dreamIn this article, PC Format looks at building the ultimate triple-GPU dream machine. PC Format is the magazine for PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts, created by geeks and gamers. Each issue covers the latest advances in graphics cards, processors, motherboards, memory, SSDs and complete systems. We also feature guides on overclocking, tweaking, system building, system modding and PC repair. Click here to subscribe.Over the course of a year, hardware comes into our office in trickl
  
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• Amazon blasts U.S. agency for slowness on drone regulation

  24-03-2015 20:59
  
  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - E-commerce power Amazon.com blasted federal regulators on Tuesday for being slow to approve commercial drone testing, saying the United States is falling behind other countries in the potentially lucrative area of unmanned aviation technology. Less than a week after the Federal Aviation Administration gave Amazon.com the green light to test a delivery drone outdoors, the company told U.S. lawmakers that the prototype had already become obsolete while the co
  
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• BenQ's gold monitor will complement your new gold HTC One M9, Galaxy S6

  24-03-2015 20:38
  
  Many smartphones today come with mobile high-definition link, or MHL, technology that allows them to pump video through the micro USB port. With an adapter or MHL to HDMI cable, smartphone owners can create a wired connection to mirror their phone's display to a larger monitor or HDTV. Some monitors, like the BenQ EW2440L, come with a built-in MHL support so an adapter isn't required.Now, BenQ has released its popular EW2440L monitor in gold trim, which is a great color complement for users who
  
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• Google imports new CFO Ruth Porat from Wall Street

  24-03-2015 20:14
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has hired Morgan Stanley's chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, as its CFO, at a time when Silicon Valley is under fire for hiring and promoting too few women.
  
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• Lawyer in Silicon Valley lawsuit says firm judged men and women differently

  24-03-2015 20:11
  
  Attorney for Ellen Pao, who is suing a Silicon Valley venture capital firm for gender discrimination, makes claims during trial’s closing arguments Continue reading...
  
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• Panasonic opens up patent free-for-all to trigger IoT growth

  24-03-2015 20:10
  
  Panasonic has made a big step towards spurring development in the Internet of Things (IoT) sector by making 50 patents royalty free.The company wants to improve development in the area by making open source code easily available for its mature and tested device-to-cloud software technology, which is already used in home monitoring systems, solar energy and other retail applications."In a market full of incompatible, proprietary offerings, this initiative brings a powerful tool to developers
  
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• PC Gaming Week: The anatomy of a graphics card - from overclocking to memory

  24-03-2015 20:00
  
  Core, Fabrication Process, MemoryEver wondered just what goes on in the graphics cards that power your favourite games? If you're a PC gamer, the answer is problably yes. The following article is from The Ultimate PC Building Handbook, published by Future, which contains 180 pages of PC upgrading advice from the experts at PC Format and Maximum PC.The coreThe processing core functions in a similar manner to a PC's processor - it uses clock cycles and cores, and speed is measured in hertz. The sp
  
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• Comcast gets social to shake bad customer-service reputation

  24-03-2015 19:42
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Comcast is adding more social media representatives as it tries to work on its reputation for inefficient, unresponsive or just plain rude customer service.
  
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• Updated: It's virtual reality's fault that most Samsung Galaxy Note 4s don't have Lollipop

  24-03-2015 19:19
  
  If you're a Galaxy Note 4 owner then you're probably wondering where your Android 5.0 Lollipop update is, considering both the device and Google's software upgrade appeared at roughly the same time.According to a tip passed on by Faryaab Sheikh of SamMobile, the delay is down to engineers at Oculus. They're busy updating the software to work with the Gear VR headset - which of course relies on the Galaxy Note 4 to power it.That would make a lot of sense though it's frustrating for all the Note 4
  
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• Super-network edging closer, as Three owner agrees £10bn deal to buy O2

  24-03-2015 19:15
  
  A UK super-network comprising Three and O2 now looks certain to happen, with Hutchison Whampoa in agreeing a £10 billion fee for Telefonica's UK network and only regulator approval now needed for the deal to go through. Exclusive talks have been ongoing between the two since January and the fee has now been agreed at the expected level. With BT buying EE, the UK is looking at three 'super-networks' and a handful of virtual networks from the supermarkets and key media giants like Virgin and Sky,
  
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• Wall Street's 'most powerful woman' is Google's new finance chief

  24-03-2015 19:06
  
  Ruth Porat swaps Wall Street for Silicon Valley after almost three decades at Morgan Stanley, prompting Google shares to rise 1.8%Ruth Porat, the Morgan Stanley chief financial officer often called “the most powerful woman on Wall Street”, is joining Google as its finance chief.Porat, 57, who has been at Morgan Stanley since 1987 and advised the US government on its rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the 2008 financial crisis, will join Google on 26 May. She will report directly to
  
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• HP, Bang & Olufsen partnership plays to audiophiles

  24-03-2015 19:06
  
  HP announced a new partnership with Danish audio company Bang & Olufsen to bring premium sound to its computing products. Like the Beats deal that it replaces, the partnership will see Bang & Olufsen branding and sound tuning on HP's laptops, desktops, and tablets. The first devices out of the B&O partnership will arrive this spring. Premium HP devices will have the Bang & Olufsen brand while the B&O Play brand will show up on more affordable and mobile-centric products. &quo
  
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• 'Threat-sharing' cybersecurity bill introduced in US House

  24-03-2015 19:05
  
  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee introduced on Tuesday long-awaited legislation intended to enhance information sharing between private companies and intelligence agencies about cybersecurity threats. Representative Devin Nunes, the intelligence panel's chairman, told reporters. If passed by the committee as expected, aides said they expect a vote in the full House in late April. Similar legislation is also making its way t
  
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• Amazon blasts U.S. FAA for slowness on drone regulation

  24-03-2015 19:02
  
  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - E-commerce power Amazon.com blasted federal regulators on Tuesday for being slow to approve commercial drone testing, saying the United States is falling behind other countries in the potentially lucrative area of unmanned aviation technology. Less than a week after the Federal Aviation Administration gave Amazon.com the green light to test a delivery drone outdoors, the company told U.S. lawmakers that the prototype drone had already become obsolete while
  
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• Facebook data row in top EU court

  24-03-2015 18:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The future of how Europeans' data is shared with US companies is set to be considered by the EU's highest court.
  
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• Why brands like Pebble keep coming back to Kickstarter

  24-03-2015 18:41
  
  The smartwatch developer is just one creator returning to the crowdfunding site long after they’ve been kickstartedWhen the Pebble smartwatch returned to Kickstarter to raise funds for a third iteration, the Pebble Time, it rapidly broke every record the crowdfunding site had going, hitting its funding goal 17 minutes after launch.The fundraising period isn’t even over for the watch, and yet it’s already the highest-funded project on the site, by a comfortable margin. As I write this, it�
  
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• Family of alleged Facebook fraud fugitive to forfeit bail - U.S. judge

  24-03-2015 18:39
  
  By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - The family of a New York man who became a fugitive after being criminally charged with trying to defraud Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg out of half of the social media company was ordered on Tuesday to forfeit his bail. U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick in Manhattan entered a $250,000 judgement against Paul Ceglia's parents and brother after previously revoking his bail. Broderick said he might reduce the penalty if the family helps locate Cegli
  
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• Why Facebook's Offer to Host News Is So Terrifying

  24-03-2015 18:27
  
  Now, Times stories are everywhere, and the news organization has not only the paper but also a bustling website and a range of apps. The New York Times is considering publishing some of its stories directly to Facebook, according to a story in the paper Tuesday. These stories would look somewhat like a normal news story in a user’s News Feed, but instead of sending users to NYTimes.com servers, they’d send users to Facebook’s own. We still don’t know how (or even if) Facebook will share
  
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• Facebook as a Press Baron

  24-03-2015 18:27
  
  Now, Times stories are everywhere, and the news organization has not only the paper but also a bustling website and a range of apps. The New York Times is considering publishing some of its stories directly to Facebook, according to a story in the paper Tuesday. These stories would look somewhat like a normal news story in a user’s News Feed, but instead of sending users to NYTimes.com servers, they’d send users to Facebook’s own. We still don’t know how (or even if) Facebook will share
  
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• updated: Best in-ear headphones 2015: our top 5 reviewed

  24-03-2015 18:24
  
  Update: If you're looking for impressive sound performance, a comfy fit and impressive value in a set of earphones, you'll like the newest addition to our guide, the Shure SE215.As much as we love the sound and bass performance of big, hulking over-ear headphones, there are some situations where they simply tend to cause more problems than they're worth.Whether you're at the gym, traveling, or just hanging out, sometimes you just want something a little more compact, something that won't weigh y
  
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• Twitch issues password warning

  24-03-2015 18:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The video game streaming site says names and addresses, among other personal details, may have been leaked.
  
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• Health and fitness wearables spending grows, but standards and privacy worries remain

  24-03-2015 16:41 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Currently valued at $320m, the market for those two sectors of the wearable market is set to grow nearly six times in four years according to Juniper Research
  
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• Google hires Morgan Stanley's Ruth Porat as CFO

  24-03-2015 16:41
  
  Morgan Stanley's chief financial officer, Ruth Porat, is leaving the New York investment bank for the same job at Google. Porat, 58, will be the Internet search company's top female executive when she ...
  
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• Andreessen Horowitz gets behind London VR startup Improbable

  24-03-2015 16:37
  
  US backer of Facebook and Twitter puts $20m into British company established by Cambridge computer science graduates developing virtual reality systemAndreessen Horowitz, the US venture capital firm that backed Facebook and Twitter, has invested $20m (£13m) in a startup creating virtual reality from London’s “silicon roundabout” area.Improbable was founded three years ago by a group of computer science graduates from Cambridge, led by Herman Narula. Continue reading...
  
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• Robot astronaut to robot girlfriend: Kibo project points to future of artificial companions

  24-03-2015 16:03
  
  The first ever robot astronaut has finished an 18-month stint on board the International Space Station (ISS) and has now returned to Earth for a new mission: to keep people company. "The project itself is a sort of giant project," Yorichika Nishijima, a senior robotics designer at Dentsu, told IBTimes UK. The Kibo Robot Project originally formed from a collaboration between the University of Tokyo, Toyota, Robo Garage and Dentsu. As a result, two identical humanoid robots - Kirobo and
  
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• Clash of Clans publisher Supercell doubles profits

  24-03-2015 15:33
  
  Revenues triple for Finnish mobile games maker as advertising and in-app purchases soar in its three titlesClash of Clans maker Supercell has posted annual revenues of €1.55bn (£1.13bn) from its three titles.The mobile games maker reported earnings (profits) before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) for 2014 of €515m, fuelled by in-app purchases and advertising in its Clash of Clans, Hay Day and Boom Beach games for iOS and Android. Related: Clash of Clans maker Supe
  
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• Charlie the Abusive Teddy Bear creators drop lawsuit against Seth MacFarlane’s Ted

  24-03-2015 15:22
  
  Bengal Mangle productions concede that ‘Ted character was independently created by Seth MacFarlane using his own efforts and creativity’ Continue reading...
  
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• HP partners with Bang & Olufsen for sound technology

  24-03-2015 15:05
  
  (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said it had entered into a partnership to equip its PCs, tablets and other gadgets with audio technology from Danish television and sound system maker Bang & Olufsen. HP said on Tuesday that it would start selling personal computers with Bang & Olufsen and B&O PLAY audio technology this spring. The Bang & Olufsen brand will appear on HP's Spectre, OMEN, ENVY and select commercial PCs, while the B&O Play brand will appear on HP Pavilion PCs,
  
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• Bees get wearable tech trackers

  24-03-2015 15:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A tiny new tracker designed to monitor bee behaviour is being tested by ecologists at London's Kew Gardens.
  
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• Net neutrality legal contest begins

  24-03-2015 15:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Legal action against planned US rules on net neutrality begins in the District of Columbia and Louisiana.
  
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• Pivotal Cloud Foundry bundles managed Amazon capacity and simplifies AWS installs

  24-03-2015 15:00 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Changes in the latest release of app-development platform Pivotal Cloud Foundry are designed to accelerate uptake and make life easier for coders.
  
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• Microsoft integrates three cloud services into a new unified Azure app-development service

  24-03-2015 14:09 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Microsoft is combining Azure Websites, Mobile Services and BizTalk Services into a new bundle for developers building all kinds of cross-platform apps.
  
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• Bloodborne review – elegant, precise and irresistible

  24-03-2015 13:57
  
  Game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki returns with another obtuse but enthralling masterpiece that both mirrors and subverts his previous classicsBloodborne’s horror, at a glance, approaches cliché. Yharnam, the city in which Hidetaka Miyazaki’s latest game is centered, is beleaguered with plague, its streets all grime and squalor. Bodies pile in sodden sacks, flies buzz around horse carcasses, while a pram, that beloved prop of the Hollywood set designer, lays on its side at the doors to a
  
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• ​Mobile networks put £100 cap on bills from stolen phones

  24-03-2015 13:54 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  UK customers will only be liable for £100 of charges that are racked up on a stolen phone if they report it within 24 hours.
  
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• Robot racing sparks scientific enthusiasm in U.S. students

  24-03-2015 13:28
  
  The robots, designed by student teams at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will be racing a lineup ranging from commercial available machines weighing hundreds of pounds to remote control cars jerry-rigged by teenage hobbyists. The 100-meter out-and-back course, where the robots will accept a cup full of confetti at the turnaround, has no ambitions of attracting competitors on par with those in the U.S. Defense Department-funded Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robotics Challenge, wh
  
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• Why the CIO must become the Chameleon In Chief

  24-03-2015 13:09 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  The two-speed CIO just isn't going to cut it - tech chiefs need to be able to respond to changing environments and requirements more quickly than ever.
  
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• Twitch continues move into music with Ultra festival deal

  24-03-2015 12:41
  
  Dance event will be streamed on Amazon’s gaming-focused live video subsidiary, with sets from Avicii, Skrillex and Steve Aoki Continue reading...
  
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• ​Adobe helps Microsoft open up Project Spartan to web standards

  24-03-2015 12:33 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Microsoft's new browser, codenamed Project Spartan, is getting better support for web standards, thanks to a new partnership with Adobe.
  
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• Glittering spires and silicon roundabouts

  24-03-2015 12:29 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two video-game related start-ups with links to Cambridge attract attention
  
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• India's top court ditches 'Facebook' arrest rules

  24-03-2015 12:28
  
  By Suchitra Mohanty NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's top court struck down a law on Tuesday that gave authorities powers to jail people for offensive online posts, a verdict hailed as a victory for free speech in the world's largest growth market for the Internet. Section 66A of the country's Information and Technology (IT) Act was challenged in the Supreme Court by law students, bloggers, writers and rights groups following arrests across the country for statements posted on social
  
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• Amazon releases Stick version of Fire TV streaming box in UK

  24-03-2015 12:24
  
  New, smaller version is the size of a USB stick, plugs directly into a TV’s HDMI port and costs £35Amazon has revealed a new, portable version of its streaming box the size of a USB stick that plugs directly into a TV’s HDMI port.
  Related: Which is the best streaming media box? Continue reading...
  
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