IT Executive news

• Alphabet earnings surge on mobile, YouTube

  26-01-2017 23:45
  
  Alphabet reported significantly higher revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 on the back of increased mobile and YouTube video advertising.Revenue in the last three months of the year jumped 22 percent from a year earlier, reaching $26.1 billion, while net income rose 8 percent to $5.3 billion.“2016 was simply a great year for us,” said Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google, in a conference call with analysts.The vast majority of the quarter's revenue, $22.4 bil
  
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• The world's largest battery storage substation is now live

  26-01-2017 23:32
  
  Southern California Edison (SCE) has flipped the switch on what is now the largest lithium-ion battery storage facility in the world -- a substation with 80 megawatt hours (MWh) of capacity.
  Located Ontario, Calif., the new Mira Loma substation quietly went live Dec. 30. The substation is made up of commercial-grade Tesla Powerpack 2 lithium-ion battery units.SCESouthern California Edison engineer Grant Davis examines components in one of the 604 racks of battery modules at the Tehachapi storag
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Bimodal IT: A steppingstone to agility

  26-01-2017 22:37
  
  Every few years Gartner advises companies on different IT strategies and processes, often coming up with new terms to define how IT should be managed. One of Gartner’s strategies is bimodal IT, and it received a lot of attention during 2016.In a nutshell, bimodal IT is a dual strategy promoting two modes of IT delivery: one focused on stability and the other on agility. Let’s take a closer look at these two modes.Mode 1: This can be called the “slow, safe mode.” It's the
  
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• Why Google finally stopped ignoring Google Voice

  26-01-2017 22:28
  
  Google this week is giving its long-forgotten voice and text communications service its first significant update in five years. Google Voice apps are gaining features and a cleaner design that match the look of Google’s other apps, according to the company.Most of the new features are overdue and Google is simply catching up to similar services in the market. While you will likely be pleased with the refresh, the new Google Voice looks more like a reset than a leap forward.Google Voice, wh
  
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• N.Y. okays largest U.S. offshore wind farm off Long Island

  26-01-2017 22:06
  
  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has approved what will be the largest U.S. offshore wind farm when it's built off the east end of Long Island. It will generate enough electricity to power more than 50,000 homes on Long Island's South Fork.
  The South Fork Wind Farm will consist of 15 wind turbines with 90 megawatts (MW) of capacity. While the project still needs to complete its permitting process, construction could start as early as 2019 and it may be operational as early as 2022.To read th
  
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• Google wants to add AI to gadgets made using Raspberry Pi

  26-01-2017 22:03
  
  Google wants to bring smarts to cool gadgets and devices made using Raspberry Pi 3 or Intel's Edison.The company is chasing makers with open-source tools needed to add artificial intelligence to consumer, industrial, and retail devices made using board computers.The plan may include machine-learning tools, which are central to AI. AI helps Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana answer questions, and also helps self-driving cars cruise the streets safely."We don't have any specific
  
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• Nasuni CEO: ‘We’re going to liberate you from the bottleneck around your files’

  26-01-2017 21:59
  
  When it comes to file systems, scale is the enemy, according to Andres Rodriguez, CEO of Nasuni. And the best weapon in the battle for scale is the cloud. Nasuni claims to have developed the first cloud-native file system, delivering not only virtually unlimited scale in the cloud but rapid access to files from locations around the world.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Make 2017 your year of saying no

  26-01-2017 21:45
  
  In the weeks leading up to the new year, I was hearing a lot about making 2017 a “year of yes.” It seemed like everyone was suggesting a flat answer of “yes” to any opportunity that comes across your path and that doing so will offer some life-altering state of happiness, solitude and success.Now, while I do believe that doing something that scares you offers tremendous opportunity for personal and professional growth, there remain some things that you just should not pur
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Connected cars are ripe for hacking

  26-01-2017 21:15
  
  Technology has taken over almost every area of consumers’ lives, from the way they work and play to the toys their children use. In addition to finding ways to connect homes to the internet, innovators have also begun developing software and hardware for the cars people drive every day. When a vehicle can connect to the internet, automakers can build in amenities that make their products more desirable to consumers.But like the many other devices that can communicate, connected vehicles br
  
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• Gmail will block JavaScript attachments, a common source of malware

  26-01-2017 20:59
  
  Starting Feb. 13, Google will no longer allow JavaScript attachments on its Gmail service, killing one of the main methods of malware distribution over the past two years.Users will no longer be able to attach .JS files to emails in Gmail, regardless of whether they attach them directly or they include them in archives like .gz, .bz2, .zip or .tgz. For those rare cases when such files need to be shared via email, users can upload them to a storage service like Google Drive and then share the lin
  
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• Seagate's roadmap includes 14TB, 16TB hard drives within 18 months

  26-01-2017 20:12
  
  Seagate is getting closer to reaching its goal of making 20TB hard drives by 2020.Over the next 18 months, the company plans to ship 14TB and 16TB hard drives, company executives said on an earnings call this week.Seagate's hard drive capacity today tops out at 10TB. A 12TB drive based on helium technology is being tested, and the feedback is positive, said Stephen Luczo, the company's CEO.The demand for high-capacity drives is mostly in enterprises and for consumers who can afford the drives. T
  
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• Google Pixel 2 rumor roundup: Camera, waterproofing, chipset, and more

  26-01-2017 19:44
  
  While Google’s Pixels might still have that new phone smell, there are already signs that Google is hard at work on the follow-up to its first officially branded Android phone. Google made a huge and somewhat surprising splash with the launch of the Pixel last fall, and all eyes will be on whether the next version of its handset can start to chip away at Samsung’s dominance.
  The details are extremely sparse so far, with the only real juicy tidbits coming out of a report from 9to5Goo
  
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• Apple will post iPhone sales gains next week, ending a 9-month slump

  26-01-2017 19:18
  
  Apple next week will report a return to iPhone growth after a three-quarter slump, a group of financial analysts predicted.
  According to Philip Elmer-DeWitt, the creator of the Apple 3.0 website, 12 institutional and 5 independent analysts all forecast a year-over-year increase in iPhone sales during the December quarter.
  The average sales figure from the 17 analysts was 77.3 million iPhones, which would represent a 3.4% increase over the 74.8 million Apple reported for the fourth quarter of 20
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Hacking the future of health at Yale

  26-01-2017 19:06
  
  Do you believe? The Yale Healthcare Hackathon event (#YaleHackHealth) blended passion, creativity and the belief that each one of us can improve the patient experience with new ideas. One believer is Philips Healthcare. The flagship sponsor of the event, Philips shared a passion for patient and provider empowerment throughout the weekend.The event was presented by the Yale Center for Biomedical Innovation and Technology (CBIT) and the Yale School of Medicine Department of Radiolog
  
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• U.S. companies spending millions to satisfy Europe's GDPR

  26-01-2017 18:56
  
  Ninety-two percent of U.S. multinational companies cited compliance with the looming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as a top data protection priority, according to new research from PwC. Sixty-eight percent are earmarking between $1 million and $10 million on GDPR readiness and compliance efforts, with 9 percent expecting to spend over $10 million, says Jay Cline, PwC’s U.S. privacy leader.Cline says PwC ‘slatest survey showed that fear remains the biggest motivator for U.
  
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• Facebook taps into NFC in Android phones for strong account security

  26-01-2017 18:26
  
  We hear a lot about 2-factor authentication these days, an invaluable way to protect your account from someone who has stolen your password, but there’s an inherent wrinkle built into the system: SMS. Most 2FA setups use text messages to deliver a one-time code sent to your phone, but there can be issues with that system. For one, it requires a cell connection, and for another texts can be intercepted.
  Granted, this is a small window of opportunity for hackers, but Facebook wants to close
  
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• Report: Trump still uses his unsecured Android phone to tweet

  26-01-2017 18:17
  
  President Trump is still tweeting from his old Android phone in the White House, even after being given a new, secure device just before his inauguration, according to a report in The New York Times.
  That revelation stirred some strong negative reactions from three mobile security analysts contacted on Thursday. Two of those analysts said using the older Android device only for tweeting doesn't necessarily pose a national security risk, but they questioned what else he might be doing with that
  
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• Face-off: Oracle vs. CA for identity management

  26-01-2017 16:58
  
  Employees come and go, or switch departments, so IT managers seek an automated way to give (or deny) them access privileges to corporate systems. Two of the top software products for identity and access management (IAM) are Oracle Identity Manager and CA Identity Manager, according to IT Central Station, an online community where IT professionals review enterprise products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Het smart contract: hoeksteen van de blockchain

  26-01-2017 16:32
  Blockchain is bezig aan een ongekende opmars; in elk geval in tijdschrift- en krantenkolommen en in techblogs, maar steeds vaker ook aan de directietafels van uiteenlopende bedrijven. Zogenoemde ‘smart contracts’ vormen een belangrijk element binnen de beloftevolle nieuwe technologie: ze leiden tot meer... lees meer
  
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• HTC confirms that a flagship Snapdragon 835 phone is coming this year

  26-01-2017 16:30
  
  Fresh off reports that Samsung's Galaxy S8 would be the first phone to launch with the highly anticipated Snapdragon 835, HTC wants everyone to know it won’t be left behind. Despite the upcoming release of a brand new flagship built on the older 821 architecture, HTC is vowing to deliver an 835 phone as well this year, possibly just months after the U Ultra’s launch.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Trump’s trade TPP move a setback for cloud computing

  26-01-2017 16:11
  
  WASHINGTON -- On the heels of the news that President Trump has removed the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive trade deal that he blasted as a candidate, experts warned of the fallout for cloud-computing companies that have been advocating for policies to break down digital trade barriers that restrict the flow of data traffic across international boundaries.
  Here at the annual State of the Net tech policy conference, the news was met with disappointment by a pane
  
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• Raspberry Pi roundup: Here comes Google (kinda, probably), Competitor Corner and the sounds of Pi-lence

  26-01-2017 15:56
  
  We in the tech press have a lot to answer for, it has to be admitted, like insufficiently tough coverage of net neutrality regulations, and the word “phablet.” We’ve also gotten into the habit of writing headlines that say “Giant company X has some big news!” based solely on the fact that Giant company X told us “hey, we’re gonna announce some big news Wednesday” or something.
  This is – kind of – not one of those times, in that Google
  
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• Chrome, Firefox start warning users when websites use insecure HTTP logins

  26-01-2017 15:54
  
  The war on insecure webpages has begun, and Mozilla fired the first shot.
  Recently, Mozilla rolled out Firefox 51 to its mainstream user base. With the new release comes an insecure warning on any page that offers a login form over an HTTP connection instead of HTTPS. Chrome plans to follow suit with version 56, expected to be released to mainstream users on Tuesday, January 31, as Ars Technica first pointed out.
  HTTP uses an open, unencrypted connection between you and the website you’re
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: IT management: two parts art, one part science

  26-01-2017 15:46
  
  As a seven-time CIO I’ve had an opportunity to observe the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of IT management up close and personal. My recently published book, Truth From the Trenches: A Practical Guide to the Art of IT Management, is my attempt to share my experiences with emerging IT leaders to help them avoid the chronic problems that afflict so many IT organizations. This is the first in a series of articles highlighting key takeaways from my book.IT management is an acquired skill t
  
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• Has Cisco broken out of the network hardware box?

  26-01-2017 15:44
  
  Cisco has for a few years now touted software over its hardware powers but with this week’s AppDynamics buy it may have broken out of its traditional bailiwick for good.
  That’s because AppDynamics gives Cisco customers a unique, intelligent comprehension of what ‘s going on in their business networks from the infrastructure to applications. It also gives Cisco, which was an AppDynamics customer itself, the ability to help customers keep up with the rapidly-changing enviro
  
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• 5 of the most anticipated smartphones for 2017

  26-01-2017 15:13
  
  It's become an annual tradition that we await tech companies to debut the latest smartphone hardware. Smartphone rumors fly every year as experts and consumers  speculate about the features they think -- and hope -- will be included in their favorite devices.
  And if it's time for an upgrade, there are plenty of new exciting smartphone features that your old device probably doesn't offer. Whether you want more screen real estate, a waterproof smartphone or a fresh new design, you'll want to
  
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• Digital disrupts traditional outsourcing market in 2016

  26-01-2017 15:03
  
  The traditional IT and business process outsourcing market declined 25 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to the same period last year, producing a total of $9.6 billion in total contract value, according to data from Information Services Group (ISG). The value of traditional infrastructure, applications, and business process deals in the fourth quarter was down eight percent over the previous quarter, according to ISG.
  [ Related: Outsourcing trends to watch in 2017 ]
  “These r
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: When it comes to success, nothing tops passion

  26-01-2017 13:00
  
  One of the biggest problems with students in college is that many of them don’t know what they want to do with their life. While some may genuinely not know what to do, others fall into a trap that they have to get a safe, high-paying job to succeed.17 and 18-year-olds are entrusted with making what can easily reach a one hundred to two-hundred thousand dollar investment. Yet they have little to no capital allocation experience and personal experience investing what, at that point in one's
  
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• A new service for the less techie criminals

  26-01-2017 12:49
  
  Sketchy charactersImage by ThinkstockYou’ve heard of big business owners like Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Warren Buffet. However, did you know there’s a long list of business owners, all of who have access to millions of dollars at their fingertips, that you’ll never hear about. These people are the owners of crimeware-as-a-service (CaaS) businesses. For underground cybercriminals, CaaS provides a new dimension to cybercrime by making it more organized, automated and accessible
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Everything you need to know about the SLIMBOOK KDE laptop

  26-01-2017 12:30
  
  Founded by Alejandro López, Grupo Odín is a small business in Spain that sells high-quality laptops with Linux preloaded on them. Their goal is not to make a lot of money, but to bring Linux to more users.
  A majority of desktop Linux users buy Windows laptops, wipe the hard drive and install Linux on them. But then they are on their own with no support from the company that sold them the laptop. By contrast, López offers complete support for his hardware.
  Jens Reuterberg, a
  
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• Vopak brengt HR onder in cloud van Workday

  26-01-2017 12:29
  De internationaal opererende operator van tank-terminals Royal Vopak heeft gekozen voor de human capital management-oplossing van Workday, leverancier van cloudapplicaties voor finance en HR.Met 6.000 werknemers in 24 landen beheert Vopak een wereldwijd netwerk van terminals voor de opslag en overslag van vloeibare... lees meer
  
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• Self-protection is key to Linux kernel security

  26-01-2017 12:00
  
  Linux has quietly taken over the world. The operating system now powers the large datacenters that make all our cloud applications and services possible, along with billions of Android devices and internet-connected gadgets that comprise the internet of things (IoT). Even the systems that handle the day-to-day operations on the International Space Station run Linux.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Microsoft: Upgrade .Net for better garbage collection

  26-01-2017 12:00
  
  Microsoft is encouraging developers to move to the 4.6.2 version of the .Net Framework, so they can benefit from significant changes to the garbage collector, which provides automatic memory management.
  .Net Framework 4.6.2 was released late last summer, but Microsoft is now advising upgrades to take advantage of benefits in object handling. These changes were made in order to improve the framework's performance and to allow the garbage collector to operate more efficiently, Microsoft said
  
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• Machine behaviors that threaten enterprise security

  26-01-2017 12:00
  
  Machine learning has moved enterprise security forward, allowing for visibility inside the network in order to better understand user behavior. However, malicious actors are using what is done with machine learning on the inside in order to attack the perimeter.Specifically, these types of attacks include DNS tunneling, attaching to Tor networks, and sending rogue authentication requests to directory services. Tom Gorup, security operations leader for Rook Security, said that in addition to thes
  
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• 13 top Chromebook tools for business

  26-01-2017 12:00
  
  Get your Chromebook ready for workChromebooks aren’t the anomaly in the workplace they used to be. Their easy administration, quick setup, and low learning curve have made them a successful and viable alternative to computers based on Windows or MacOS.For many, the major knock remains that Chromebooks can’t handle more sophisticated tasks given their reliance on web apps. One of Google’s solutions to this is bringing the Play Store to Chromebooks, empowering developers to packa
  
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• 10 frustrating Google Chrome irritations and how to fix them

  26-01-2017 12:00
  
  Chrome may be the most-used browser in the world, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Far from it. Despite receiving over 50 updates over the years, Google’s browser still harbors several rough edges and idiosyncrasies that can make for a less than optimal online experience.
  A lot of articles show you how to fiddle with the browser in exotic ways. Not this one. Here, we’ll show you how to make Chrome less annoying—and that sweet, serene sanity is worth more than a
  
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• Eindhoven sluit overeenkomst met PQR voor vernieuwing infra

  26-01-2017 11:39
  De gemeente Eindhoven is een vierjarige overeenkomst aangegaan met IT-dienstverlener PQR voor de vernieuwing van haar infrastructuur. De leverancier gaat een hyperconverged IT-infrastructuur van Nutanix implementeren en ondersteuning bieden.De gemeente was op zoek naar een stabiele, betrouwbare en veilige... lees meer
  
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• 11 ways company politics can thwart your projects

  26-01-2017 10:05
  
  Workplace politics are ultimately types of behaviors or actions injected into business situations that can complicate, impede, or derail progress altogether. Politics and its impact are often underestimated until it's too late. However you can mitigate the risk and the first step is to identify the type and level of political behaviors that might curtail the efforts of a project, program, portfolio, or even an entire organization.
  Political games can stem from one individual to multiple areas wi
  
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• Facebook appoints Xiaomi exec Hugo Barra to head VR business

  26-01-2017 07:24
  
  Facebook has appointed Xiaomi executive Hugo Barra to lead its virtual reality initiatives, including the Oculus VR business that was acquired in 2014.The appointment was announced by the company's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said that Barra will lead all of Facebook's virtual reality efforts including the Oculus team.Facebook's decision to hire Barra as vice president of virtual reality may have been influenced in part by his exposure to the Chinese market, which is forecast by IDC to
  
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• Facebook appoints former Xiaomi exec Hugo Barra to head VR business

  26-01-2017 07:24
  
  Facebook has appointed former Xiaomi executive Hugo Barra to lead its virtual reality initiatives, including the Oculus VR business that was acquired in 2014.The appointment was announced by the company's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said that Barra will lead all of Facebook's virtual reality efforts including the Oculus team.Facebook's decision to hire Barra as vice president of virtual reality may have been influenced in part by his exposure to the Chinese market, which is forecast by
  
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• IBM brings Google's AI tools to its powerful computers

  26-01-2017 06:00
  
  Google has cool technology to recognize images and speech, and IBM's hardware can diagnose diseases and beat humans in Jeopardy.Combine the two, and you get a powerful computer with serious brains.IBM is merging Google's artificial intelligence tools with its own cognitive computing technologies, allowing deep-learning systems to more accurately find answers to complex questions or recognize images or voices.Google's open-source TensorFlow machine-learning tools are being packed into IBM's Power
  
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• Password-free security uses voice, user behavior to verify identity

  26-01-2017 03:28
  
  Tired of conventional passwords? So is Nuance Communications, a tech firm that is promoting the human voice as a way to secure user accounts.The company’s voice biometric product is among the technologies that promise to replace traditional -- and often vulnerable -- password authentication systems, which can be easy to hack. That isn’t the case with Nuance’s solution, the company claims.   “To determine if it’s you or not, we are looking at over 100 diffe
  
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• Top data breach trends in 2016 — Phishing, skimming rise; hacking holds ground

  26-01-2017 02:07
  
  When news broke in December of a massive data breach at Yahoo, it was met with a collective “This, again? Didn’t they just report a breach?” The company had, in fact, reported a record-breaking breach of 500 million user accounts three months earlier, but it was dwarfed by the December breach, which impacted over 1 billion records.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Qualcomm CEO slams Apple for 'without merit' lawsuits

  26-01-2017 01:42
  
  Senior executives at Qualcomm slammed Apple on Wednesday for lawsuits filed in the last week alleging the smartphone chip-maker significantly overcharged it for licensing fees.The spat saw cases filed last Friday in California and this week in Beijing and were top of mind when Qualcomm conducted an earnings call with analysts on Wednesday.For 15 minutes, Qualcomm executives criticized Apple's moves, calling the two lawsuits "without merit" and accused the iPhone-maker of trying to use
  
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