IT Executive news

• One Network initiative creates cheaper calls in East Africa

  16-01-2015 22:50
  
  The cost of communications across borders has plunged in East Africa following the decision by Safaricom to lower roaming rates.Safaricom, East Africa’s largest telecom operator, has secured agreements with Africa’s largest operator, MTN, and the region’s second largest operator, Airtel Uganda. The deals enable subscribers to receive calls for free while in Uganda and a flat rate of Sh10 ($0.11) for calls to other East African countries including Tanzania and Burundi. Previously, the ra
  
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• Republican net neutrality bill allows 'reasonable' network management

  16-01-2015 22:40
  
  Draft net neutrality legislation released Friday by Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or selectively slowing legal Web content, but it would allow them to engage in “reasonable” network management.The proposal would give broadband providers wide latitude to engage in network management, with a management practice deemed reasonable “if it is appropriate and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose.”The draft le
  
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• IRS Opens Free File Portal for E-Filing of Tax Returns, But Only for Those of Modest Means

  16-01-2015 22:36
  
  Free tax software and free e-filing for federal returns are here: The IRS has opened its Free File portal, which offers handy links to all the top vendors—provided you don’t make that much.
  The Internal Revenue Service said Friday that its e-filing system is open for the 2014 tax year. U.S. taxpayers can e-file their taxes either by using online forms the IRS itself provides, or choosing from Free File's fourteen tax preparation services, including name brands like H&R Block.
  Taxpaye
  
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• MainOne's data center to service critical infrastructure in West Africa

  16-01-2015 22:10
  
  Nigeria’s MainOne this week opened what it describes as the largest commercial, vendor-neutral data center in West Africa, the Tier III Lekki Data Centre, to address the growing demand for co-location, cloud and disaster recovery services for enterprises and governments in the region.The 7 billion naira (US$37 million) investment has a capacity for 600 racks, is designed to ITU 942 Standards and will be managed under a new subsidiary, MDX-I.MainOne CEO Funke Opeke said in a YouTube message
  
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• Cuba's Pending Tech Revolution

  16-01-2015 22:01
  
  Cuba is on the threshold of getting, potentially, a massive technology upgrade, thanks to a U.S. decision to ease economic sanctions. But this tiny island nation needs a lot of work.
  Cuba's entry into the modern high-tech era will require improvements to its electrical grid, a buildout and upgrade of its wireless networks and IT workforce training. This will not be easy, and it may not happen swiftly.
  Cuba has an educated population craving technology, but it has little income for new tech.
  
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• Google Teams Up with PwC on Military Cloud Bid

  16-01-2015 22:00
  
  Google is adding its muscle to PriceWaterhouseCoopers' bid to build a new cloud-based healthcare system for the military that would support its more than 9.7 million beneficiaries.
  PwC announced yesterday that it will team up with Google on a bid that will go to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for what's been dubbed the Healthcare Management Systems Modernization Electronic Health Record contract.
  The DoD is looking to replace and modernize its online health system, enabling doctors and
  
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• In wearables push, Sony preaches collaboration

  16-01-2015 21:25
  
  After pulling out of PCs and fighting a losing battle in smartphones, Sony is staking out wearables as one of its last bastions of consumer computing.The troubled electronics maker has continued its push into consumer wearables, rolling out new smart glasses and fitness devices, while other Japanese manufacturers are sticking to wearable computers for the workplace.Sony is preaching cooperation and “co-creation” as watchwords for surviving in the still-nascent wearables market, which is e
  
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• Google Tries to Reset Glass Embarrassment with Cooler Wearable

  16-01-2015 21:13
  
  Is it too late for Google Glass to become the big hit that people are excited to be seen wearing and will use in their everyday lives, taking video of their work projects and vacation adventures?
  Pulling Glass out of the limelight and rethinking how the wearable computers look and function could make the device less of a widely mocked science project and more of what it should have been – a cool, useful new technology.
  Google is also trying to move away from the embarrassment that its Glas
  
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• Sprint now says it's OK with broadband reclassification

  16-01-2015 20:50
  
  Sprint wouldn’t object to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission reclassifying broadband as a regulated public utility in order to pass strong net neutrality rules, as long as the agency applies those new regulations with a “light touch,” the mobile carrier said.In a break with other large mobile carriers and, apparently, its past position on net neutrality, Sprint has told the FCC that a light touch application of utility-style rules under Title II of the Telecommunications Act isn
  
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• Why IBM and Apple CEOs Should Swing for the Fences

  16-01-2015 20:22
  
  I was at IBM z13 mainframe launch last week and it brought back a lot of memories because I was at IBM when the mainframe era collapsed. I was also covering Apple when the Mac era collapsed with the launch of Windows 95. I have watched both companies recover largely by rediscovering what made them great in the first place.  Strangely even though the firms focus on vastly different customer bases their core differentiating fundamentals of product control and customer experience are both simi
  
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• New York Post Twitter account hacked, UPI's also appears compromised

  16-01-2015 20:20
  
  The Twitter account of the New York Post was hacked, and UPI’s was also apparently hit, the latest in a string of attacks that have hit the social media channels of high-profile organizations.At just before 1pm EST, the first in what appear to be a string of false tweets was sent on the UPI account claiming the U.S. Federal Reserve had declared a banking holiday for later in January.It was followed by a short series of tweets claiming that Chinese forces had fired an anti-ship missile at th
  
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• What if Windows 10 fails?

  16-01-2015 20:05
  
  It has been 25 years since the potential market failure of a Microsoft operating system carried serious consequences outside the corporation’s own campus. MS-DOS and Windows versions have failed to gain traction before and even been publicly lampooned. But in that quarter-century, Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop has kept the platform afloat, even when consumers and businesses stalwartly refused to upgrade.Today, the word “dominance” doesn’t really apply to Windows, and especial
  
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• Ruling on immigration lawsuit forthcoming - Valley morning Star

  16-01-2015 20:04
  
  Valley morning Star
  Ruling on immigration lawsuit forthcoming
  Valley morning Star
  Oldham told Hanen that the question is whether the president can unilaterally suspend immigration laws and “cloak it” by calling it executive action. The United States and the other named defendants countered through lead counsel U.S. Deputy Assistant ...
  Texas urges U.S. judge to delay Obama immigration shiftMcClatchy Washington Bureau
  
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• Chromebooks Spank Windows

  16-01-2015 19:52
  
  Last summer Microsoft talked its partners into trying to stop the growing popularity of Chromebooks in its tracks by making a big push during the holiday season. While full retail results won’t be in for a while, we do know the laptop sales results from the most important retailer of them all, Amazon. Guess what. With that retailer at least, Microsoft and its buddies failed. Miserably.
  Amazon reports that its top three computers sold over the holidays were — drum-roll, please — Chromeb
  
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• Facebook open-sources new AI smarts

  16-01-2015 19:20
  
  Facebook has released as open source some software modules that can speed image recognition, language modeling and other machine learning tasks, in a move to advance computer artificial intelligence for itself and others,Such modules could be used by startups or other companies that want to build AI-based products and services, but may not have the “deep engineering” expertise on hand to develop such capabilities in-house, said Soumith Chintala, a Facebook research engineer who works for
  
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• New CBI Scotland boss promises to build bridges with SNP - Telegraph.co.uk

  16-01-2015 19:13
  
  Telegraph.co.uk
  New CBI Scotland boss promises to build bridges with SNP
  Telegraph.co.uk
  The new head of the CBI in Scotland has promised to build bridges with businesses and SNP ministers after the group became mired in controversy during the independence referendum. Hugh Aitken, a former IT executive, said he planned to meet senior ...
  
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• Workers Want Employers to Hand Out Wearables

  16-01-2015 19:07
  
  White-collar workers want something to go with their Christmas ties -- a wearable tech device.Nine out of 10 white-collar employees want their company to provide a wearable device, such as a smart watch, according to a survey by Modis, an IT staffing firm.Exactly why companies should fork out hundreds of dollars for wearable technology isn't clear.[ Related: Will Wearable Technology Kill the Smartphone? ]In the survey, half of the workforce believe wearable technology could improve their work
  
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• Citrix develops mouse to make iPads, iPhones more Windows friendly

  16-01-2015 18:15
  
  Citrix Systems is working on a mouse to simplify the use of remote Windows apps on Apple’s tablets and smartphones.Since many Windows business apps haven’t been ported natively to iOS, enterprises use Citrix software, which lets them run on a server instead of directly on the device.Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t allow the use of physical mice on iPads, and virtual mice aren’t ideal. Enter Citrix’s X1 prototype mouse, unveiled at the company’s Summit conference this week.For the mou
  
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• Big 5 Community Services rededicates home - KXII-TV

  16-01-2015 17:32
  
  KXII-TV
  Big 5 Community Services rededicates home
  KXII-TV
  "We've been able to relocate to this facility, and we're so happy to have it," Executive Director Kent Watson said. "And we're here right in the center of Ardmore, where we should be, to serve the city." Big 5 covers five Texoma counties, running Head ...
  
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• Amazon got likely illegal tax deal in just two weeks, EU Commission says

  16-01-2015 17:20
  
  Luxembourg needed just 11 working days to approve a probably illegal tax deal allowing Amazon.com to allocate a large part of its European Union profits to one of its companies that does not have to pay tax, the European Commission said.The Commission published a 23-page document on Friday revealing details of an in-depth investigation it started in October into a tax deal struck between Amazon and Luxembourg. The deal stems from 2003 and was, at least in June 2014, still in place.To read thi
  
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• Juniper Taps Switching Chief to Run Product Development

  16-01-2015 17:11
  
  Jonathan Davidson
  
  Juniper Networks this week tapped security and switching executive Jonathan Davidson to lead its product development group.
  Davidson is now executive vice president and general manager of the Juniper Development and Innovation group, where he replaces Rami Rahim. Rahim was named Juniper CEO late last year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• French newspapers go offline, but hosting company rules out DDoS as cause

  16-01-2015 16:55
  
  High-profile French media websites went offline for a few hours Friday morning, prompting frenzied speculation about “unprecedented” cyberattacks—but the hosting company behind the sites soon dismissed talk of a massive distributed denial-of-service attack.A number of sites, including those of daily newspaper 20 Minutes and online news site Slate, went offline or were difficult to access from around 10 a.m. Paris time.The outages followed hot on the heels of the overnight arrest of 12 p
  
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• 2015 Resolution: Stop Dumb Procurement Practices, Part 2

  16-01-2015 16:54
  
  As I said last time, too many companies are selecting and procuring software consulting projects the way they did in 1990. Time for a re-think, particularly for customer-facing and CRM software projects.The discussion from last time was about definition and measurement—the foundation of the project. Now it’s time to look at other phases of your procurement process with a skeptical eye.Heresy No.1: Why Are You Talking to a Sales Rep?
  You know the joke: how do you know when a sales rep is l
  
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• UK police make arrest related to denial of service attack on Playstation and Xbox networks

  16-01-2015 16:45
  
  U.K. police have arrested a man they believe was involved in the denial-of-service attacks directed at PlayStation Network and Xbox Live at end of last year.Proud new owners of PlayStation and Xbox consoles weren’t able to or had trouble accessing Sony’s and Microsoft’s networks starting on Christmas day as a result of the attack, which the hacking group Lizard Squad took responsibility for.Authorities around the world have since been working to apprehend the people involved. The U.K. S
  
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• Why Intel Can Afford to Play the Long Game in the War for Phones and Smart Devices

  16-01-2015 16:30
  Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has made no secret of his vision for Microsoft: cloud first, mobile first. On Thursday, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich unveiled his own mantra. And no, it’s not “Intel Inside.”
  During Intel’s record fourth-quarter earnings call, Krzanich noted that Intel “is in a very different place than it was even 12 months ago,” participating in a broader range of devices and product segments. 
  “These are the trends we’ll build on in 2015, bringing us cl
  
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• Outsourcing Contracts: Foundations for Success

  16-01-2015 15:57
  
  Most business and IT leaders learned to negotiate with outsourcers 15 or 20 years ago, when the virtual corporation was seen as the organization to emulate. Although virtual organizations have faded, they provided valuable lessons regarding how to structure outsourcing contracts. Unfortunately, those lessons are being lost. Over the last few years, I have encountered multiple organizations making “first-time buyer” mistakes when negotiating with outsourcers.To read this article in full or t
  
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• Report Analyzes Amazon's Dynamic Pricing Strategy

  16-01-2015 15:15
  
  If you're a regular Amazon.com customer, you might think prices on the huge retail site never change. You'd be wrong; they do change, and though the fluctuations may seem random, they're anything but. Amazon is a master of the art of retail pricing, and it carefully monitors the behavior of shoppers and competitors to determine the best times to raise or lower prices.A new report from Boomerang Commerce, a startup that helps online companies find optimal prices for their merchandise, pulls b
  
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• Sony Hack Is a Corporate Cyberwar Game Changer

  16-01-2015 15:13
  
  The cyberattack on Sony Pictures late last year, which the FBI has attributed to North Korean hackers, represented a major escalation in digital hostilities that could reignite the long-simmering policy debate over how to better protect systems in the public and private sectors, a panel of former top intelligence officials said on Thursday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Do you have what it takes to pass a high school civic test? - WXII The Triad

  16-01-2015 14:42
  
  Do you have what it takes to pass a high school civic test?
  WXII The Triad
  100. WHO MAKES FEDERAL LAWS? THE SENATE? NO. IT'S EXECUTIVE? THE PEOPLE. WE, THE PEOPLE. JUDICIAL. NO. THAT'S -- I DON'T KNOW. WE THE PEOPLE. ALL RIGHT. WELL, NOW WE'RE GOING TO PUT OURSELVES TO THE TEST.
  
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• Two Apps That Deliver Quick Medical Advice from Pharmacists, Docs

  16-01-2015 14:00
  
  A few weeks ago, I put on a pair of brand new latex gloves — something I hadn't worn in years — to do some heavy-duty cleaning. Within an hour, a latex allergy I never knew I had turned me scarlet from scalp to toe. My skin was on fire. I didn't think it was serious, but it was extremely uncomfortable. Coincidentally, I'd recently read about the free Walgreens pharmacist chat feature, which is available in its Android and iOS apps, as well as on its website. I used the Walgreens app on m
  
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• 9 Reasons Your Employees Are Unhappy

  16-01-2015 13:55
  
  Employee Satisfaction is ImportantImage by ShutterstockThere's a disturbing trend in the American workplace: Employers don't understand what motivates and satisfies their employees, and that leads to poor performance, disengagement and high turnover rates, according to the Answers.com 2014 American Employee Study. Not only that, but employers are not doing nearly enough to rectify the situation, says Eric Feinberg, senior director, product strategy, for Answers Cloud Services. "Improving employe
  
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• The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Friday, January 16

  16-01-2015 13:45
  
  Servers push Intel’s Q4 to new heightsIn a promising start to earnings season, Intel reported profits of $3.7 billion for its fourth quarter on Thursday, up 39 percent from a year ago. Its server business contributed $4.1 billion in revenue, up 25 percent from the fourth quarter last year.Xiaomi has a plan for the smart home, tooXiaomi is looking beyond the smartphone market: At Thursday’s launch of a phablet meant to eat into iPhone 6 Plus market share, the Chinese company said it has pl
  
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• The Hidden Dangers of Short-Term Outsourcing Deals

  16-01-2015 13:14
  
  In today's dynamic business and technology environment, companies have embraced the flexibility that comes with shorter term IT outsourcing deals. And at a time when niche specialty providers continue to proliferate, outsourcing customers may assume that it's relatively easy to get into — and out of — these smaller IT services deals.However, exits from short-term IT outsourcing contracts can be costly, time-consuming and disruptive to the business, warns Paul Roy, business and technology
  
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• Google publishes third Windows 0-day vulnerability in a month

  16-01-2015 13:10
  
  Google ignored Microsoft’s calls for flexible vulnerability disclosure deadlines and released details of another unpatched Windows flaw, leaving users exposed for at least the next 25 days.The new vulnerability, which was confirmed on Windows 7 and 8.1, might constitute a security feature bypass for the way applications can encrypt their memory so that data can be exchanged between processes running under the same logon session.“The issue is the implementation in CNG.sys doesn’t check t
  
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• Google Goes Public With More Windows Bugs

  16-01-2015 13:07
  
  Google this week let fly two new disclosures of Windows vulnerabilities before Microsoft was able to patch them, marking the third and fourth times it's done so in the past 17 days.
  The bugs were revealed Wednesday and Thursday on Google's Project Zero tracker.
  The more serious of the two allows an attacker to impersonate an authorized user, and then decrypt or encrypt data on a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 device.
  Google reported that bug to Microsoft on Oct. 17, 2014, and made some background
  
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• US and UK to step up cyber defense efforts

  16-01-2015 12:40
  
  The U.S. and Britain are stepping up their collaboration to fight digital threats. They are planning to launch more attacks against each other to test their defenses and scare away possible enemies.The U.S. and the U.K. have been working together to prevent cyber attacks for some time, but are going to increase the collaboration. They will combine their expertise to set up “cyber cells” on both sides of the Atlantic to increase sharing information about threats and to work out how to best
  
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• Blue LED inventor sees laser lights shining imagery, data

  16-01-2015 12:25
  
  If you love the lasers of science fiction, rejoice because the future will be full of them, according to Nobel laureate Shuji Nakamura, co-inventor of the blue light-emitting diode (LED).The power and sparkle of laser diodes, already used in some car headlights, will eventually replace LEDs and become the dominant form of lighting, also increasing the availability and power of wireless communications networks based on light, he predicted.“There is a limitation to LEDs,” Nakamura, a materi
  
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• Restraining Orders by Telepresence -- and Why the Law Needs to Catch Up With Tech

  16-01-2015 12:09
  
  Over the last four years, St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Passaic County, N.J. has helped 90 victims of domestic violence get 39 restraining orders, all from the emergency room and without their ever needing to set foot in a courthouse. That's  thanks to off-the-shelf Polycom videoconferencing technology and a partnership with a local Passaic County judge's office. 
  That number may seem really low -- barely even a drop in the ocean, when you consider that nonprofit Safe Horizon est
  
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• Organisaties zoeken dekking onder lappendeken van security-tools

  16-01-2015 11:13
  Nederlandse organisaties hebben allerlei los van elkaar functionerende security-tools in gebruik. Hierdoor kan slechts een kwart alle relevante security-info op één centraal platform bij elkaar brengen. Dit betekent in de praktijk dat het erg lastig is om in real-time dreigingen te detecteren en af te... lees meer
  
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• Internet venture funding hits a post-2000 record last year

  16-01-2015 06:20
  
  U.S. venture funding for Internet startups last year rose to its highest level since 2000, as even controversial companies like Uber Technologies attracted big bets on the future.Internet companies raised US$11.9 billion in 2014, up 68 percent from 2013, according to the MoneyTree Report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters. That was the most money raised since 2000, the peak year of the first Internet boom, when $41.7 bill
  
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• MtGox's Karpeles denies involvement in Silk Road

  16-01-2015 06:05
  
  Mark Karpeles, the former head of failed Bitcoin exchange MtGox, has denied involvement in the Silk Road online marketplace following allegations that he was its mastermind, but admitted the bazaar’s marketing website was hosted on a MtGox-affiliated service.“This is probably going to be disappointing for you, but I am not Dread Pirate Roberts,” Karpeles wrote in an email, referring to the character who was the kingpin behind Silk Road, where drugs and other contraband were trafficked.
  
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• OBAMA CASE IN COURT - Valley morning Star

  16-01-2015 05:33
  
  Valley morning Star
  OBAMA CASE IN COURT
  Valley morning Star
  Oldham told Hanen that the question is whether the president can unilaterally suspend immigration laws and “cloak it” by calling it executive action. The United States and the other named defendants countered through lead counsel U.S. Deputy Assistant ...
  Texas urges U.S. judge to delay Obama immigration shiftMcClatchy Washington Bureau
  
  all 178 news articles »
  
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• How to protect yourself against Verizon's mobile tracking

  16-01-2015 05:00
  
  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a list of tools that can block online advertising companies from collecting web browsing data in ways that privacy advocates contend are deceptive.Computer scientist Jonathan Mayer of Stanford University and ProPublica revealed on Wednesday that an online advertising company, Turn, can re-create the history of a person’s Web browsing traffic using Verizon’s tracking system.Verizon tracks its mobile subscribers’ web surfing by tagging thei
  
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• PC prices will stay low this year, Intel says

  16-01-2015 02:15
  
  Capable, lightweight laptops are available these days for less than $200, and those prices are likely to stick around or even fall slightly this year, Intel says.PC shipments are expected stabilize this year, and average prices for desktops and laptops may decline a little, said Brian Krzanich, Intel’s CEO, during a conference call Thursday to discuss the company’s earnings.Thin-and-light laptops are delivering more bang for the buck than in previous years, and well-built, fully functiona
  
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• Tech giants increase offer to $415 million to settle no-poaching case

  16-01-2015 01:25
  
  Hoping to avoid a potentially embarrassing trial, Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe have increased their offer to $415 million [m] to settle a lawsuit that accuses them of cutting secret deals not to hire each other’s workers.The offer comes after Judge Lucy Koh, of the District Court in San Jose, California, rejected a previous settlement offer of $324.5 million as being too low.The “no-hire” agreements allegedly drove down wages for engineers and other tech workers and restricted their a
  
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• Intel's bought a foothold in tablets, but now it wants to cut its losses

  16-01-2015 01:15
  
  Intel shipped 46 million tablet chips last year, exceeding its own goal of 40 million, but don’t expect the company to make such a commitment again.This year, the chip maker wants to focus on making money on mobile chips rather than shipping large volumes, CEO Brian Krzanich said during a conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.Entering 2014, Intel was still struggling to make its mark in the tablet market, which was dominated by ARM. Intel set a goal to ship 40 milli
  
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• Microsoft Xbox Chief Spencer Talks About Bringing Xbox Tech to Windows 10

  16-01-2015 01:13
  
  Xbox chief Phil Spencer said Thursday that Microsoft is working to make Windows 10 the best operating system for gamers, traversing the PC, phone, and console. 
  In a video (embedded below) Spencer talks about what's new for the Xbox One console in 2015: screenshots.  Earlier this week, Larry Nelson, Microsoft's chief point person in the Xbox One community, revealed the Xbox One updates for February, involving custom backgrounds and content "game hubs" that will be built out for each game.
  
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• How much trust can you put in Telegram messenger?

  16-01-2015 00:05
  
  Messaging programs are a closely watched application category, with experts scrutinizing how communications are protected from government surveillance dragnets and hackers. The primary defense invariably involves encryption, but just saying an application uses encryption by no means ensures it’s secure.One of the latest programs to come under fire is Telegram, which is backed by Pavel Durov[cq], who also founded the popular Russian social networking site Vkontakte. Telegram is a free deskto
  
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