Technology news

• Google to pay CFO Porat more than $70 mln in 2 years

  26-03-2015 23:30
  
  (Reuters) - Google Inc said it would pay its new Chief Financial Officer, Ruth Porat, more than $70 million (47 million pounds) in the next two years through a combination of restricted stock units and a biennial grant. The company hired Morgan Stanley CFO Porat as its finance chief earlier this week, a sign it is aiming to rein in costs as it invests in new businesses such as self-driving cars and Internet-connected eyeglasses. Porat's compensation package includes a grant of $25 million t
  
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• Facebook talks up need for virtual reality, big tech bets

  26-03-2015 23:17
  
  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones will enable Facebook Inc to create a more lifelike and useful social network, the company said in its clearest explanation so far for technology projects that have puzzled some investors and analysts. Facebook executives made the case on Thursday, at its annual developer conference in San Francisco, that initiatives such as its $2 billion (1.3 billion pounds) purchase of virtual reality headset make
  
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• Meerkat vs. Periscope: Live-streaming app battle & buzz

  26-03-2015 23:08
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Download Periscope, Twitter's just-launched live video-streaming app, and you'll find people broadcasting all sorts of mundane stuff: waiting for AT&T to fix their wiring, getting out of bed in Silicon Valley, looking outside their office window in Chicago.
  
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• Google to pay Porat annual base salary of $650,000

  26-03-2015 22:48
  
  (Reuters) - Google Inc said it would pay its new Chief Financial Officer, Ruth Porat, an annual base salary of $650,000 (437,830 pounds) and a special one-time $5 million sign-on bonus. The company hired Morgan Stanley CFO Porat as its finance chief earlier this week, a sign it is aiming to rein in costs as it invests in new businesses such as self-driving cars and Internet-connected eyeglasses. Porat, who will join Google on May 26, will also get a new hire grant of $25 million through restrict
  
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• Microsoft wants US suppliers to give employees paid time off

  26-03-2015 22:34
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft said Thursday that it will push its U.S. suppliers to give their employees paid time off — but that only applies for the staffers that do work for Microsoft.
  
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• ​The most popular US web browsers

  26-03-2015 22:10 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  By the United States' government's count, Chrome is the most popular web browser followed by Internet Explorer and then Safari. Yes, Safari, not Firefox.
  
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• Most popular US web browsers, according to the federal government

  26-03-2015 22:10 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  By the United States' government's count, Chrome is the most popular web browser followed by Internet Explorer and then Safari. Yes, Safari, not Firefox.
  
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• India turns to 'satellite god' for crop mapping

  26-03-2015 22:08
  
  By Ratnajyoti Dutta NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sher Singh, a farmer from India's desert state of Rajasthan, prays to Varuna, the Hindu god of water, for a bountiful harvest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to promote a "per drop, more crop" approach to farming to make better use of scarce water, and aims to have a new satellite crop monitoring system working in time for the peak of this year's monsoon in July. Using remote analysis to assess soil moisture and crop development h
  
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• Microsoft to require suppliers to provide paid leave to workers

  26-03-2015 22:04
  
  The software giant said that paid leave is an important benefit for workers Continue reading...
  
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• Google to pay new CFO annual base salary of $650,000

  26-03-2015 21:58
  
  (Reuters) - Google Inc said it would pay its new chief financial officer an annual base salary of $650,000 (437,743 pounds) and a special one-time $5 million sign-on bonus. The company hired Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat as its finance chief earlier this week, a sign it is aiming to rein in costs as it invests in new businesses such as self-driving cars and Internet-connected eyeglasses. (Reporting by Avik Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
  
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• Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

  26-03-2015 21:48
  
  Cook says money will go to many social causes, as well as nephew’s educationApple co-workers found Cook’s sexuality to be a ‘yawner’, he says in interviewTim Cook is planning to give away all of his near $800m fortune before he dies, the Apple boss said in a surprisingly frank interview, in which he also described his sexuality as a “yawner”.
  Cook, 54, who took over as Apple chief executive from Steve Jobs in 2011, told Fortune magazine that he planned to donate all of his wealth to
  
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• Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

  26-03-2015 21:48
  
  Cook says money will go to many social causes, as well as nephew’s educationApple co-workers found Cook’s sexuality to be a ‘yawner’, he says in interview Continue reading...
  
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• GameStop revenue falls on weak demand for hardware

  26-03-2015 21:23
  
  (Reuters) - GameStop Corp, the world's largest retailer of video game products, reported a 5.6 percent drop in quarterly revenue, hurt by lower hardware demand during the holiday shopping season. Net income rose to $244.1 million (164 million pounds), or $2.23 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 from $220.5 million, or $1.89 per share, a year earlier. Total global sales fell to $3.48 billion from $3.68 billion. Comparable store sales fell 1.8 percent. (Reporting by Devika Krishna
  
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• Mandatory metadata retention becomes law as Coalition and Labor combine

  26-03-2015 21:16
  
  Major parties join forces in the Senate to vote for the metadata storage scheme despite attempts to amend bill by independents and minor parties Continue reading...
  
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• Leave Facebook if you don't want to be spied on, warns EU

  26-03-2015 20:11
  
  European Commission admits Safe Harbour framework cannot ensure privacy of EU citizens’ data when sent to the US by American internet firmsThe European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data.The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima in a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, loo
  
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• Google did not lobby us into submission, US trade watchdog says

  26-03-2015 19:49
  
  The Federal Trade Commission denies accusations that it took no legal action against the tech company because of intense lobbying efforts Continue reading...
  
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• Twitter launches video streaming app Periscope

  26-03-2015 18:55
  
  (Reuters) - Twitter Inc launched a video streaming app called Periscope on Thursday, just days after reports that it had blocked a rival app called Meerkat. Meerkat relies heavily on Twitter and has become hugely popular in the month since its launch. Twitter's announcement comes on the same day that Meerkat unveiled a list of investors that included Silicon Valley venture capitalists Greylock Partners and Sound Ventures, Ashton Kutcher's fund.
  
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• Raspberry Pi competition: Robot dog unlocks potential of pocket-sized computer

  26-03-2015 18:45
  
  Since launching in 2012 the Raspberry Pi has fundamentally changed the way computer science is taught. More than five million of the credit card-sized computers have been used by schools around the world to teach the principles of computer hardware and circuitry, while encouraging students to build their own electronics. At the third annual PA Raspberry Pi Competition, held this week at London's Science Museum, the full potential of the device was put to the test by teams of students challe
  
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• Zynga must face U.S. lawsuit alleging fraud tied to IPO

  26-03-2015 18:37
  
  Zynga Inc must face a lawsuit that accuses the gaming company known for its "FarmVille" game of defrauding shareholders about its prospects before and after its December 2011 initial public offering. Ruling 13 months after dismissing an earlier version of the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco said on Wednesday that shareholders could pursue claims that Zynga concealed declining user activity, masked how changes in a Facebook Inc platform for its games would af
  
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• New Samsung, HTC phones coming April 10 in US

  26-03-2015 17:51
  
  New phones from Samsung and HTC will be available in U.S. stores starting April 10. Advance orders for the new HTC One begin Friday, and those customers might receive their phones before April 10. Orders ...
  
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• Tinder prank 'tricked flirting men'

  26-03-2015 17:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  After a series of men on Tinder were reportedly tricked into flirting with each other, an expert attacks the app's security.
  
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• If you want to succeed you must fail first, says the man who dreamt up the Internet of Things

  26-03-2015 17:08 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Discussing the vital parts genius and failure play in creation.
  
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• Can you suggest a cheap desktop PC for family use?

  26-03-2015 16:48
  
  Sam wants a new family desktop computer for word processing, photos and listening to music and he wants to spend less than £500. Here are some options. Continue reading...
  
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• India's top three mobile phone operators spend $13.6 billion in airwaves auction

  26-03-2015 16:36
  
  By Aman Shah MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's top three mobile phone network operators have spent a combined $13.6 billion (9.1 billion pounds) in a government auction of airwaves to secure almost 80 percent of the spectrum on offer, reinforcing their positions in the world's second-biggest mobile market. "The outcome of this auction ... will eventually lead to a significant outflow of funds and further burden the industry, which already remains under a debt of 2.5 trillion ru
  
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• PayPal fined for illegal payments

  26-03-2015 16:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  PayPal agrees a £5.1m payout over allegations it allowed payments from accounts deemed enemies of the state by the US government.
  
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• Digi.me gives away free backup software to keep your social media memories intact

  26-03-2015 16:28 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  One in three people use social media on a regular basis however only one in four people make a back-up of their social data. As 29 percent of disasters are accidental, what would you do if you lost all your precious photos and their comments, likes, shares or tags?
  
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• Uber moves to improve passenger safety

  26-03-2015 16:24
  
  Company reacts to recent rape allegations against driver in India by setting up incident response teams and implementing new code of conduct
  Uber is taking steps to improve passenger safety following allegations of rape against a driver in India and mounting concerns about background checks.
  Phil Cardenas, head of safety, said the company was implementing a new global code of conduct and setting up “incident response teams” worldwide to reassure riders in the wake of several high-profile inc
  
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• Vodafone says BT should be made to spin off its broadband network

  26-03-2015 16:17 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Rivals want BT to separate off its broadband business completely.
  
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• Zynga must face lawsuit alleging fraud tied to IPO

  26-03-2015 15:48
  
  Zynga Inc must face a lawsuit accusing the online gaming company known for "FarmVille" of defrauding shareholders about its prospects before and after its December 2011 initial public offering. Ruling 13 months after dismissing an earlier version of the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco on Wednesday said shareholders could pursue claims that Zynga concealed declining user activity, masked how changes in a Facebook Inc platform for its games would affect demand
  
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• Dutch regulators raid Uber offices over court ruling compliance

  26-03-2015 15:40
  
  By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch regulatory agency raided the Amsterdam offices of taxi hailing service Uber on Thursday in connection with its UberPOP unit after a court deemed it illegal in December. Uber allows users to summon taxi services with smartphones while its UberPOP arm links private drivers to passengers. In December, a Dutch court became the latest in Europe to ban UberPOP on grounds that it fell foul of licensing laws for commercial drivers. It ordered Uber to stop o
  
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• Trent Reznor to be 'point man' for iTunes relaunch

  26-03-2015 15:35
  
  Music industry sources say Apple has yet to convince labels that it should undercut streaming rivals on priceHere’s one hard fact about Apple’s plans to relaunch its Beats Music streaming service later this year: there will be an endless stream of rumours about those plans until it happens.Why? Because if there’s one thing leakier than the hype cycle leading up to new Apple products, it’s the music industry when digital licences are being hammered out. Related: Streaming music: what next
  
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• 'American Idol'-like talent competition app launches

  26-03-2015 14:48
  
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — For anyone who's ever dreamed of being on "American Idol" or "The Voice" as a performer or judge, a new app seeks to make their fantasy come true.
  
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• ​Deutsche Telekom opens 5G 'haus' to partner with AI experts and others

  26-03-2015 14:22 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  ​Deutsche Telekom will use its broad presence in Europe to put its stamp on the emerging 5G standard.
  
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• Testing of software adds to urgency in race for driverless cars

  26-03-2015 14:18
  
  By Edward Taylor FRANKFURT (Reuters) - In the race to build a self-driving car, German automakers are hitting a road block in their efforts to test vehicles so complex they need more than 10 times the amount of software found in a fighter jet. German laws currently place limits on testing on public roads. Automakers fear this is allowing U.S. competitor Google to pull ahead in developing software, specifically progammes that will give cars the correct reflexes in real-life traffic situations. Fo
  
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• Dutch Transport Inspectorate says carrying out raids on Uber

  26-03-2015 14:09
  
  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch regulatory agency said on Thursday it was carrying out raids on the Amsterdam offices of ride-hailing service Uber in connection with its UberPOP service. In December, a Dutch court became the latest in Europe to deem the UberPOP service illegal and ordered Uber to stop offering it under threat of a 100,000 euro (73,684 pounds) fine. Transport Inspectorate spokeswoman Elif Bagci said the raids follow signs that the company continued to offer the UberPOP service. (Re
  
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• Top three mobile operators spend 9.1 billion pounds in auction

  26-03-2015 13:21
  
  MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's top three mobile operators scooped up almost 80 percent of the country's airwaves in fierce competition, spending $13.6 billion in the latest round of spectrum auctions that raised a record $17.6 billion. The three operators bought airwaves worth a total 855.75 billion rupees (9.1 billion pounds), or about 78 percent of the total airwaves sold in the auction, telecoms minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday. India raised $17.6 billion from the
  
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• Penn State announces part two of their new data center plans

  26-03-2015 12:51 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Main campus data center will complement medical center facility previously announced.
  
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• ​Google's desktop Chrome Data Saver aims to slash data costs

  26-03-2015 12:31 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Google's build-in data compression for Chrome on mobile comes to the desktop in the form of a Chrome extension.
  
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• Periscope review: does Twitter's live-streaming service beat Meerkat?

  26-03-2015 12:28
  
  This video app might be late to the party, but its extra features makes it worth the waitIt’s fair to say that Periscope, Twitter’s live-streaming video app, is late to the game. Not just the three-weeks-and-counting between its launch and that of tech press darling Meerkat, but the two and a half years between it and YouNow, which has grown to 100m user sessions every month by offering performers a share of the revenue.
  So does Periscope have what it takes to seize the lead in an already cr
  
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• Review: Motorola Moto E (2015)

  26-03-2015 12:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction, design and displayAt the back end of February this year, as I was packing my bag for MWC 2015, Motorola delivered a surprise package to TechRadar towers. Quite like a child abandoned on an orphanage's doorstep, there was a small box waiting for us when we got to work and upon bringing it into the warmth we found it to be Motorola's own "press conference in a box."It's a smart idea considering inside was the Motorola Moto E (2015), and heading to a full blown press conferenc
  
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• Review: Nikon S7000

  26-03-2015 12:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Camera reviewsBest compact camera 2015Best camera 2015Nikon's new S7000 compact is aimed at the point-and-shoot holiday photographer who wants a versatile zoom range in an easily portable package. The headline feature of the S7000 is its generous 20x optical zoom, which equates to 25-500mm in 35mm terms.There's a 20 million pixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, full HD video recording, which is pretty much standard these days, along with Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, which are becoming increasingly
  
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• Who will win the live-streaming video battle?

  26-03-2015 11:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Tech companies are vying to launch a successful live-streaming video service.
  
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• New Moto X release date confirmed: 2015's underground hit?

  26-03-2015 11:32
  
  Although the second-generation Moto X is only six months old, Motorola has been hard at work to bring us a new updated Moto X for this year, and we now know that we can expect it around August or September.That's thanks to comments made by Motorola's president, Rick Osterloh, who announced on Twitter that Motorola was going to "stay on a roughly annual cycle for all of our products, including Moto X."As the original Moto X was launched in August 2013, and the second generation hit the
  
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• The joy of sticks: let's celebrate the return of the specialist gaming controller

  26-03-2015 11:19
  
  With the return of epic space shooters and the rise of virtual reality, elaborate game controllers are on the way backI can remember my first proper joystick. It was the mid-80s and my dad had brought us a Commodore 64, “to do homework on and stuff”. He wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all himself; this sexy chunk of brown plastic was for gaming and we all knew it. Soon though, we got fed up of playing Chuckie Egg with keyboard controls, so using my birthday money, I bought a Quickshot II �
  
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• EU antitrust regulators to investigate ecommerce

  26-03-2015 11:17
  
  By Foo Yun Chee and Rene Wagner BERLIN (Reuters) - European Union regulators plan a year-long investigation into ecommerce to help remove barriers to cross-border trade in the 28-nation bloc, the EU's antitrust chief said on Thursday. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said she decided to launch the inquiry because such hurdles were hampering the growth of online sales as well as signs that some companies may be deliberately blocking trade. According to the European Commis
  
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• ​Apple bought UK analytics firm Acunu before FoundationDB

  26-03-2015 11:15 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Apple acquired a UK Cassandra-based analytics firm before Foundation DB, around the time it was buying tech to improve Siri.
  
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• ​Apple bought UK analytics firm Acunu ahead of FoundationDB

  26-03-2015 11:15 via zdnet.com.feedsportal.com
  
  Apple also acquired a UK Cassandra-based analytics firm before Foundation DB, around the time it was buying tech to improve Siri.
  
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• Twitter's Periscope streaming app just one-upped Meerkat

  26-03-2015 11:11
  
  The immediacy of live-streaming is fantastic, and in some ways having the footage disappear after you've ended your broadcast (as is the case in Meerkat) just adds to the intrigue - be there or miss out.The thing is, we can't all be there all the time. Enter Periscope, a new app created by a company acquired by Twitter. Periscope has all the live-streaming skills of Meerkat, but also allows you to save your video so users can browse the app and find not-so-live content that they otherwise would
  
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• Japan's Panasonic says ready for 1 trillion yen M&A spree as profit jumps

  26-03-2015 11:03
  
  By Ritsuko Ando TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics supplier Panasonic Corp said it was ready to spend 1 trillion yen (5.62 billion pounds) on acquisitions over the next four years, emboldened by a stronger profit outlook for its automotive and housing technology businesses. Chief Executive Kazuhiro Tsuga said at a briefing on Thursday that Panasonic doesn't have specific acquisition targets in mind for now. Tsuga has spearheaded a radical restructuring at the Osaka-based company that ha
  
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• PC Gaming Week: TechRadar's favourite PC games of all time

  26-03-2015 11:00
  
  IntroductionThe PC has stood out throughout the years for its rich abundance of games, something that has only accelerated through the years thanks to download services like Steam and Origin.We're a diverse bunch here at TechRadar and a list of favourites was never going repeat titles. Hitting our rundown is every type of game out there — from the massive arenas of Unreal Tournament to the sprawling metropolises of Sim City, the random slapdash mayhem of Worms and a bit of Star Wars thrown in
  
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