Toshiba's Kirabook - A Windows Laptop With an Apple Price - Walt Mossberg - Personal Technology - AllThingsD

The Windows 8 toaster/fridge dilemma continues; also see Apple and Microsoft Desktop OSes: Two Models, One Winner (Tech.pinions)

"I’ve been testing a Kirabook for the past five days and I found it to be a good computer whose strongest feature is a brilliant, high-resolution screen. It’s a speedy and reliable machine that’s thin and light without feeling cheap.
But I consider it overpriced for what it offers. It actually costs more than a MacBook Air, but with much worse battery life, an older processor and a design that looks like a lot of other grayish, metallic laptops."

Meanwhile, the latest MacBook Air models started shipping this week

Toshiba's Kirabook - A Windows Laptop With an Apple Price - Walt Mossberg - Personal Technology - AllThingsD

TIBCO Software Acquires StreamBase Systems - Datanami

Another successful Stonebraker start-up story; see his Wikipedia article for other database start-ups with which he has been involved lately

"TIBCO Software Inc. today announced it has acquired StreamBase Systems, Inc., a privately held provider of high performance event processing and real-time analytics software. StreamBase enables companies to rapidly build, test, and deploy real-time applications for streaming big data. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. "

TIBCO Software Acquires StreamBase Systems - Datanami

Apple - Press Info - Apple Gives Sneak Peek Into the Future of the Pro Desktop

This was the device that led Apple marketing SVP Phil Schiller to observe "Can't innovate anymore, my ass," during yesterday's WWDC keynote

"The next generation Mac Pro is architected around an ingenious unified thermal core that allows the desktop to efficiently share its entire thermal capacity across all the processors. The result is a pro desktop with breakthrough performance packed into a design that is one-eighth the volume of the current Mac Pro. Next generation Intel Xeon E5 processors with up to 12 core configurations deliver double the floating point performance. With two AMD FirePro workstation-class GPUs, the all-new Mac Pro is up to 2.5 times faster than the current Mac Pro and delivers up to an amazing 7 teraflops of compute power. The new Mac Pro also features PCIe-based flash storage that is up to 10 times faster than conventional desktop hard drives and includes the latest four-channel ECC DDR3 memory running at 1866 MHz to deliver up to 60GBps of memory bandwidth.* With all that power, the new Mac Pro lets you seamlessly edit full-resolution 4K video while simultaneously rendering effects in the background."

Apple - Press Info - Apple Gives Sneak Peek Into the Future of the Pro Desktop

Apple unveils Google Docs-like 'iWork for iCloud' for both Macs and PCs | Digital Trends

So like Office Web Apps, but several years later, and probably not supported on Android devices real soon now?... Check this Apple beta page for more details.

"Apple’s Roger Rosner took the stage at this year’s WWDC to introduce the new version of iWork. Available later this year, the brand new iWork for iCloud application will allow you to “create beautiful documents whether you’re on a Mac or a PC.” That’s right, a Mac or a PC! That’s because iWork for iCloud works via your Web browser. It also works on iOS, making it a truly cross-platform app. "

Apple unveils Google Docs-like 'iWork for iCloud' for both Macs and PCs | Digital Trends

For the first time, a third of American adults own tablet computers | Pew Internet & American Life Project

Check the source for more details

"The following chart shows the increase in general tablet ownership over time, beginning with May 2010 when just 3% of adults said they owned a tablet computer."

For the first time, a third of American adults own tablet computers | Pew Internet & American Life Project

Google Glass in Everyday Life -- Now That's a Little More Like It - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD

Worth 3:51 of your time, imho

"The latest Glass video, which Google released today, takes a different tone. A group of employees wearing Glass goof off together and search for random stuff. It’s not overproduced (it was shot with Glass); in fact, it’s refreshingly amateurish.
You come away with a better idea of why you might want to wear Glass: To win an argument about Prince’s real name while you’re holding a beer; or to look up nearby restaurants on the fly; or to check arrival times of a friend’s flight while driving to the airport."

Google Glass in Everyday Life -- Now That's a Little More Like It - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD

What Does a Bing-Powered Siri Mean for Google? - Liz Gannes and John Paczkowski - Mobile - AllThingsD

I didn't catch any spontaneous applause following the nonchalant Siri + Bing reference in yesterday's WWDC keynote. The article also notes "Because come fall, the last place where Google services will remain the default on iOS will be in the search bar for mobile Safari."

"But with the debut of iOS 7, Siri search will default to Bing instead. Not only will it use Microsoft’s search index to answer all queries that it can’t quickly answer on its own, it will skip the “would you like me to search the Web” interim step entirely.
Caveat: You can force Siri to search Google by asking it to do so — “search Google for smartphones.” But that requires an explicit command, one that adds an additional layer of complexity to a voice interface that’s supposed to be intuitive."

What Does a Bing-Powered Siri Mean for Google? - Liz Gannes and John Paczkowski - Mobile - AllThingsD

Microsoft to Price Xbox One at $499 - WSJ.com

Perhaps following the J.C. Penney pricing play book -- price high now and coupon/discount later; coincidentally, Sony’s Next-Gen PlayStation 4 Will Cost $399, Launch “This Holiday Season” — With More Than Just Games in Tow (AllThingsD)

"Microsoft Corp. announced Monday that its new Xbox One will be launching in November for $499, well above price levels it has previously set for new videogame-console launches. The company was quick to point out that the device would sell as a single package, with no extra charges for accessories such as its popular Kinect controller device."

Microsoft to Price Xbox One at $499 - WSJ.com

Apple Plays Up Its Cool With Mobile OS Update - WSJ.com

So somehow having endless speculation about what Apple might next unveil makes the news less significant? Watch the WWDC keynote and decide for yourself; I for one believe Apple's competitors had a very bad day yesterday...

"Investors, whose faith in Apple has waned in recent months, brushed off the announcements, many of which had been previously reported. Apple shares closed down less than 1% to $438.89. This year, the stock is down about 18%.
Monday's event was a potpourri of announcements across Apple's product lines. They included new laptops, a version of iOS to run in cars, a new Mac operating system and a music service known as iTunes Radio."

Apple Plays Up Its Cool With Mobile OS Update - WSJ.com

‘Big Data,’ by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier - NYTimes.com

A timely book review; for a detailed book summary, see New Books in Brief

"Why spread such a huge net in search of a handful of terrorist suspects? Why vacuum up data so indiscriminately? “If you’re looking for a needle in the haystack, you need a haystack,” Jeremy Bash, chief of staff to Leon E. Panetta, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and defense secretary, said on Friday.
In “Big Data,” their illuminating and very timely book, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, a professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University, and Kenneth Cukier, the data editor for The Economist, argue that the nature of surveillance has changed."

‘Big Data,’ by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier - NYTimes.com

Hadoop Sharks Smell Blood; Take Aim at Status Quo - Datanami

First and last paragraphs from a snapshot of some interesting database market dynamics

"There may be blood is in the water as major Hadoop sharks, Cloudera and MapR, roll out new campaigns and messaging aiming directly at the turf of the traditional database management systems. Does their hype match-up with reality? Not everyone thinks so.
[...]
While none of the Hadoop vendors will openly say that they believe Hadoop will ever completely replace the traditional database, it’s clear that the Hadoop war is starting to cross boundaries into the traditional world, with all of the organization’s data being the ultimate prize."

Hadoop Sharks Smell Blood; Take Aim at Status Quo - Datanami

Android vs. Apple. Market Share vs. Profit Share, Part 255 | Monday Note

Excerpt from another timely Jean-Louis Gassée reality check

"Never mind two differences. First, the iPhone never lacked apps, 750,000 of them at last count. And never mind that it is immensely profitable, that Apple is embarrassingly flush with more cash than all its high-tech colleagues combined. The pundits won't accept evidence as an answer. Market Share will trump Profit Share. Why let facts cloud a good argument?
One is tempted to point to the race to the bottom that PC clone makers have experienced over the past decade. HP enjoys the largest Market Share of all PC makers, but it also "enjoys" less than 4% operating profit for its efforts. Meanwhile, Apple's margin is in the 25% range for its Mac line. That may not be as enjoyable as the 60% margin for the iPhone, but it's a solid business, particularly when you consider that the clone makers, HP and Dell foremost, are angling to get out of the business altogether."

Android vs. Apple. Market Share vs. Profit Share, Part 255 | Monday Note

This Time It's Real: Google-Waze Deal on the Way - By Liz Gannes and Mike Isaac - Mobile - AllThingsD

New Waze home?

"While no deal has been inked yet, the acquisition is likely to be finalized in the coming days, sources said, with one source expecting a Tuesday announcement date. The deal could reach upwards of $1.3 billion, according to Globes, which first reported the news of the impending acquisition.
Waze will remain an independent entity for the time being, one source said, perhaps assuaging some fears that the tech giant will either outright kill or significantly alter the popular app."

This Time It's Real: Google-Waze Deal on the Way - By Liz Gannes and Mike Isaac - Mobile - AllThingsD

Apple Enters Busy Field of Streaming Radio - NYTimes.com

Apple WWDC speculation

"“The genius of iTunes 10 years ago was that they made the mainstream consumer understand what digital music was, and how it all worked,” said Russ Crupnik, an analyst at NPD Group who studies the digital music market. He said Pandora was mainstream, with 200 million registered users, but it was not a dominant global player, and that a similar service from Apple would expose more people to online radio.
The company is also expected to introduce new Mac notebooks and a redesign of iOS, its software operating system for iPhones and iPads, at the four-day developers conference. The conference includes seminars where software developers can get training on the latest Apple software development tools so they can start making apps."

Apple Enters Busy Field of Streaming Radio - NYTimes.com

The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism | ZDNet

Tangentially, also see The New York Times' Small But Significant Change to Its Blistering Obama Criticism (in Slate, which is, in a deeply-nested dimension, a division of The Washington Post Company)

"That rush to publication set off the Internet echo chamber and the cable news networks at a full-throated roar. The story and its key, now apparently discredited arguments have been spread far and wide.
The Post compounded its error by quietly correcting its story and not publicly acknowledging that there were errors in the original story. In fact, the revised story still claims the NSA and the FBI are “tapping directly into the central servers” of those companies when that allegation no longer appears to be true.
In short, one of the great journalistic institutions of the 20th Century is now engaged in outright click-baiting, following the same “publish first, fact-check later” rules as its newer online competitors.
Something tells me the Pulitzer committee won’t be considering this story for next year’s awards."

The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism | ZDNet

'I Cannot Figure Out Why This Was Classified to Begin With' - James Fallows - The Atlantic

Final paragraph from a James Fallows perspective piece

"There is a lot more to learn about this program, its reach into public life, its alleged or real benefits, and the possible consequences of its revelation. But at face value, I feel about this news the way I did when the Pentagon Papers were unveiled many decades ago. The public has learned something important about policies carried out in its name, at what seems -- for now -- a modest cost to vulnerable individuals or national safety as a whole."

'I Cannot Figure Out Why This Was Classified to Begin With' - James Fallows - The Atlantic

TechEd 2013: Microsoft Details Cloud-First Strategy for the Enterprise | Paul Thurrotts WinInfo content from Windows IT Pro

Lead paragraphs from a Paul Thurrott TechEd summary

"At what might arguably be called the most energetic and captivating TechEd keynote in many years, Microsoft corporate vice president Brad Anderson and a bevy of fellow executives made the collective case for the firm’s transition to devices and services. But the day was perhaps most notable for a related announcement that was delivered internally to Microsoft’s employees and then shared with the public: Going forward, Microsoft’s enterprise emphasis is in cloud services.
“To enable this transformation we had to make deep changes to our organizational culture, overhauling how we build and deliver products,” Microsoft Server & Tools president Satya Nadella wrote in his letter to employees. “Every one of our division’s nearly 10,000 people now think and build for the cloud – first. Our engineers live a ‘live-site’ first culture to better respond to our customers in real time. And we are laser-focused on building more complete end-to-end service scenarios, or modern workloads, to deliver more value to our customers and partners.”"

TechEd 2013: Microsoft Details Cloud-First Strategy for the Enterprise | Paul Thurrotts WinInfo content from Windows IT Pro

Ray Ozzie here. Regarding "minitruth" - you've got to maintain a bit of a sense... | Hacker News

Excerpt from a timely reality check

"Anyway, unlike 'web tracking' issues which seem to be broadly ignored because of our love for ad-supported services, I hope we all (especially the young readers of reddit, hackernews, etc) wake up to the fact that these privacy and transparency issues are REAL, and that they truly will impact you and the country you live in, and that even if you don't consider yourself an activist you really should get informed and form an opinion. Again, this is a non-partisan issue, and let's all work to ensure that it stays this way.
Two great organizations where you can learn are EPIC and EFF. (Disclosure: I am on the board of EPIC.) Take it in, and think. Your contributions are needed and would of course be quite welcome.
http://epic.org
http://eff.org"

Ray Ozzie here. Regarding "minitruth" - you've got to maintain a bit of a sense... | Hacker News

Revelations Give Look at Spy Agency’s Wider Reach - NYTimes.com

Very big data and digital dilemmas

"Because of smartphones, tablets, social media sites, e-mail and other forms of digital communications, the world creates 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data daily, according to I.B.M.
The company estimates that 90 percent of the data that now exists in the world has been created in just the last two years. From now until 2020, the digital universe is expected to double every two years, according to a study by the International Data Corporation.
Accompanying that explosive growth has been rapid progress in the ability to sift through the information."

Revelations Give Look at Spy Agency’s Wider Reach - NYTimes.com

Cloudera adds search to Hadoop distro and says it’s just getting started — Tech News and Analysis [GigaOm]

Excerpt from a timely big data analytics reality check

"The bigger picture here, though, is the encroachment of the open source Hadoop technology — whether sold by Cloudera, Hortonworks, MapR or whomever — into the lucrative data management and analytics space once (and still) dominated by vendors selling expensive software and big-iron systems. For now, Olson said, technologies like Cloudera Impala and the new search feature will be less functional than their legacy counterparts (Teradata for data warehousing and Autonomy for enterprise search, for example), but that could change over time."

Cloudera adds search to Hadoop distro and says it’s just getting started — Tech News and Analysis

Susan Landau: Canaries in the Coal Mine [Huffington Post]

Mining mobile metadata

"Such transactional information is remarkably revelatory. A recent paper in Nature found that with 95 percent probability four location points were sufficient to identify an individual (home and work pairs are often unique). Location tells you lots: who is going to church on Sunday (and which church), whether someone has changed jobs, where they are going for medical treatment), and with whom they are spending their nights. Three decades ago, the last time our laws (specifically the Electronic Communications Privacy Act) codified government's access to telephone billing records, telephones were large objects that didn't go anywhere. Now, with the ubiquity of cell phones -- and the consequent disappearance of payphones -- everyone carries a device that reveals their location many times a day. This transactional information can be more revelatory than the content of the calls, which is currently much more highly protected by law."

Susan Landau: Canaries in the Coal Mine

Charlie Rose Talks to Evernote CEO Phil Libin - Businessweek

Excerpt from an Evernote snapshot

"Is Evernote a Big Data company?
We have close to 60 million users. We do quite a bit of analysis of your information, but that never leaves your account. We never do it to target ads or sell you anything. Everything put into Evernote is totally private. We’re definitely on the other side of the fence from a lot of companies who are basically just figuring out how to make money off of your data."

Charlie Rose Talks to Evernote CEO Phil Libin - Businessweek

Why Google Reader Really Got the Axe | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

More speculation on the imminent demise of Google Reader

"“As a culture we have moved into a realm where the consumption of news is a near-constant process,” says Richard Gingras, Senior Director, News & Social Products at Google. “Users with smartphones and tablets are consuming news in bits and bites throughout the course of the day — replacing the old standard behaviors of news consumption over breakfast along with a leisurely read at the end of the day.”
Google Reader, and other RSS readers, subscribe to this “old” model. You sit, you pore through the day’s news link by link. Yes, some people are glued to their readers constantly. (Guilty!) And yes, you can use an app like Feedly to get your RSS fix on the go, but it’s a passive news-getting experience. With its updates to Now and Plus, Google wants its readers to take this more active approach to news consumption."

Why Google Reader Really Got the Axe | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

#36. A Summary of ‘Who Owns the Future?’ by Jaron Lanier | New Books in Brief

Another extensive New Books in Brief summary -- excerpt:

"The long short of it is that we must find a way to pay people adequately for the information and content they contribute to the information economy. Lanier argues this means reorganizing the Internet in such a way that informational transactions are monetized—such that the users of information are charged and the providers are paid for each transaction. It is not going to be easy to reorganize the Internet in this way–not only technically, but also because we have all become accustomed to using the Internet the way it is (and we like getting things for ‘free’).
Ultimately, though, we will have no choice, for our current course is leading us to an economy that is dominated by wealth at the top—and eventually no wealth for anyone. At some point, this state of affairs must lead to a revolt and/or a complete breakdown."

#36. A Summary of ‘Who Owns the Future?’ by Jaron Lanier | New Books in Brief

CIA Venture Arm In-Q-Tel Invests in Narrative Science - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD

Check here for an index of Forbes articles attributed to Narrative Science

"If you’d like to see an example of their stuff, you can head to Forbes, which is using Narrative Science to create automated earnings reports and previews, like this look-ahead at Smucker’s prospects for tomorrow.
And as far as the CIA and like-minded agencies, you can imagine lots of places where Narrative Science could go to work. Those guys have a lot of data, and it would probably be helpful to have some of that sorted into sentences and summaries. It would be great to show you an example of that work, but obviously that’s not gonna happen."

CIA Venture Arm In-Q-Tel Invests in Narrative Science - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD

Republican National Committee Hires Senior Facebook Engineer As Chief Technology Officer [Huffington Post]

This reminds me of a line from "The Right Stuff" -- "Our Germans are better than their Germans."

"The Republican National Committee has hired a senior Facebook engineer with a decade of experience in Silicon Valley to fill its newly created position of chief technology officer, The Huffington Post has learned.
Andy Barkett, 32, an engineering manager at Facebook and a California native, will head RNC efforts to make the party more competitive in the digital realm, the RNC confirmed Thursday evening. One source called the decision to hire Barkett "a relatively speedy development." Barkett will split his time between Silicon Valley and Washington, sources said."

Republican National Committee Hires Senior Facebook Engineer As Chief Technology Officer

AMD No Longer Just Bound To Windows OS, Now Open to Android : The Droid Guy

Interesting times for AMD

"Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of global business units at AMD, said in her interview at the Computex trade event in Taiwan that the brand is expanding its OS options as it designs chips based in x86 and ARM architecture. It is also widening its borders for Android devices and Chrome OS for third-party chip design and integration, the vice president added."

AMD No Longer Just Bound To Windows OS, Now Open to Android : The Droid Guy

Intel 'Silvermont' chip demo makes old Atom look lame | Business Tech - CNET News

For more background details, see Deep inside Intel's new ARM killer: Silvermont (The Register)

"The "current best-in-class Intel Atom-based tablet" (Clover Trail) was pitted against a tablet with the upcoming (and completely redesigned) quad-core Silvermont Atom (aka, "Bay Trail") packing a new "video encoder and decoder."
[...]
On Tuesday, Intel said Silvermont will offer 2X the CPU (central processing unit) and 3X the GPU (graphics processing unit) performance of the current Atom technology in the market.
Silvermont will "enable sleek designs with eight or more hours of battery life and weeks of standby, as well as support Android and Windows 8.1," Intel said."

Intel 'Silvermont' chip demo makes old Atom look lame | Business Tech - CNET News

Informatica Wants to Be a Big-Data Overlord - Businessweek

Informatica attempts to catch the big data wave

"Informatica wants to improve the situation with Vibe, which it bills as a virtual data machine. The big pitch here is that companies should build Vibe into their applications and devices to ensure they can all communicate well and hammer away at big data problems with relative ease. The technology builds off Informatica’s success in the so-called data integration market, where it helps applications built by such companies as Oracle (ORCL), SAP (SAP), and IBM (IBM) work together. Through Vibe, Informatica hopes to move from being a niche data-integration player to a major force in Big Data and the equally hyped “Internet of Things.” Last year, the company posted record full-year revenue of $811.6 million, and its shares have more than doubled over the past five years."

Informatica Wants to Be a Big-Data Overlord - Businessweek

Printing Out Barbies and Ford Cylinders - WSJ.com

Excerpt from a 3-D printing market snapshot

"Also known as additive manufacturing, because objects manufactured in this manner are built one successive layer of material at a time, the technology is allowing manufacturers to get products to their customers more quickly.
Unlike traditional techniques, where objects are cut or drilled from molds, resulting in some wasted materials, 3-D printing lets workers model an object on a computer and print it out with plastic, metal or composite materials."

Printing Out Barbies and Ford Cylinders - WSJ.com

I.B.M. Buys Cloud Computing Firm in Deal Said to Be Worth $2 Billion - NYTimes.com

From a snapshot of IBM's cloudy future

"I.B.M. executives say its strategy is to compete in the public cloud market not with basic computing capabilities like processing and storage, but with software for marketing, procurement and customer service delivered as cloud offerings. Since 2007, the company has spent $4.5 billion on more than a dozen acquisitions to build up its cloud software and services offerings.
“We’re focusing on business services that leverage the cloud model,” said Ric Telford, vice president for I.B.M. cloud services."

I.B.M. Buys Cloud Computing Firm in Deal Said to Be Worth $2 Billion - NYTimes.com

Microsoft to Offer Discounted Windows and Office for Small Tablets - Ina Fried - Mobile - AllThingsD

tbd if/when all new Windows 8.x devices will come with Office Home and Student bundled

"Microsoft is making two big changes that could boost the appeal of smaller Windows tablets.
First, it is adding a version of its Outlook email and calendar app to Windows RT — the version of Windows 8 that runs on ARM-based chips from Qualcomm and Nvidia.
[...]Second, Microsoft is cutting some sort of deal with computer makers that want to bundle Windows 8 and Office Home and Student onto a seven-inch or eight-inch tablet."

Microsoft to Offer Discounted Windows and Office for Small Tablets - Ina Fried - Mobile - AllThingsD

Sony Tablet Good for Living Room, Bag and Water - Katherine Boehret - The Digital Solution - AllThingsD

Sony introduces a tablet for those who want to surf while bathing

"Now, a company that made its name with high-end consumer electronics wants to give Apple a real challenge. Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z runs the latest version of Android, has a 10.1-inch screen and is the thinnest tablet yet, even thinner than Apple’s iPad Mini.
At 1.09 pounds, it’s lighter than the 1.44-pound full-size iPad. This tablet has infrared that turns it into a universal living-room remote control. And just for kicks, it works even when submerged in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes."

Sony Tablet Good for Living Room, Bag and Water - Katherine Boehret - The Digital Solution - AllThingsD

Viacom Strikes Deal With Amazon to Stream Children’s Shows - NYTimes.com

Prime (Instant Video) time content

"On Tuesday, Viacom and Amazon announced an extensive, multiyear deal that includes granting Amazon exclusive rights to Nickelodeon’s preschool shows. The agreement, estimated to be worth several hundred million dollars, is Amazon’s biggest streaming deal yet and signals that the heated battle for online rights has increasingly moved to television’s youngest viewers."

Viacom Strikes Deal With Amazon to Stream Children’s Shows - NYTimes.com

Obama Issues Orders to Stop ‘Patent Trolls’ - NYTimes.com

Interesting intellectual property times

"Microsoft expressed wariness about some of the president’s plans. Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said in a blog post that the company was “concerned and surprised” that the proposal “goes beyond patent assertion entities and instead targets software innovations more broadly.”
Intellectual Ventures, one of the largest companies that specializes in owning and protecting patents, said it believes the provisions requiring more disclosure on ownership of a patent are “misguided and merit further discussion.”"

Obama Issues Orders to Stop ‘Patent Trolls’ - NYTimes.com

Acer Iconia W3 Preview | Windows 8 content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows

Another interesting aspect of the Acer Iconia W3; Windows RT devices appear to be heading to the future-collectors-item domain; for another Windows RT reality check, see Microsoft Said to Cut Windows for Tablet Prices (Bloomberg)

"Office. As was hinted at the Amazon leak, the W3 ships with a free copy of Office 2013 Home and Student, presumably to make this offering more competitive with Windows RT. I previously (and exclusively) reported that all Windows 8.x mini-tablets will include a free version of Office. This is the first."

Acer Iconia W3 Preview | Windows 8 content from Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows

Coming to Feedly reader: Speed, search, Windows 8 support | Internet & Media - CNET News

From a Feedly update, with less than a month until Google Reader is history

"Google's table scraps are a feast for others, though, and Feedly has been scrambling to advance its service to better meet the needs of Reader refugees.
There are plenty of them. The site's user population had been growing about 4 percent per week since last September but accelerated after Google announced the death of Reader. And about 70 percent of first-time users become regular users, the company said."

Coming to Feedly reader: Speed, search, Windows 8 support | Internet & Media - CNET News

Intel's new fourth-gen 'Haswell' processors: What you need to know (FAQ) | Reviews - Laptops - CNET Reviews

In other price competition news -- an excerpt from an overview of Intel's latest PC chip families

"How much will these systems cost?
Prices will vary, of course, but Intel says two-in-ones, meaning those ultrabook/tablet convertibles, sporting a fourth-gen dual-core Haswell processor could cost as little as $399 by the holidays. Most PCs will probably cost the equivalent of what the previous systems did: in other words, a little more power without a markup. But don't forget, prices will drop even further once Bay Trail (see below) tablets and laptops hit: Bay Trail notebooks could cost as little as $199, or $299 for touch versions."

Intel's new fourth-gen 'Haswell' processors: What you need to know (FAQ) | Reviews - Laptops - CNET Reviews

Yahoo Mail Users, Prepare for Creepy, Gmail-Style Ads - Businessweek

A timely email advertising reality check

"What some folks find creepy or invasive, Google and other companies trafficking in online advertisements say simply makes advertising relevant, useful, and fun. As is often the case with online privacy, the statistics don’t follow the stated concerns. Yahoo and Google have been adding e-mail customers over the past six months. Microsoft has been losing them."

Yahoo Mail Users, Prepare for Creepy, Gmail-Style Ads - Businessweek

Inside Dell's Scorched-Earth PC and Server Price War Plan - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD

Dell presses ctrl-alt-del on pricing

"Here’s why: Assuming that it won’t need to make shareholders happy by growing its earnings per share every quarter, as public companies have to do, Dell plans to combine actions to rein in costs by simplifying its product lineup and tightening up its supply chain, with cuts to prices. “It’s almost as if Dell is acting like it’s a private company already, and is asking the industry for its reaction to it,” Moorhead told me.
Clarke made one key statement during his remarks, which Moorhead paraphrased like so: “We are not going to retreat anymore. We are going to compete in every country, at every price point.”"

Inside Dell's Scorched-Earth PC and Server Price War Plan - Arik Hesseldahl - News - AllThingsD

Acer's 8-inch Iconia W3 is the first one-handed Windows 8 tablet | The Verge

Windows 8 + Atom = the new Wintel?

“Acer points out that the W3 is actually the first eight-inch tablet to run the full version of Windows 8, but with a full week of announcements at Computex in Taiwan, and Microsoft reportedly planning to announce a 7-inch Surface tablet shortly thereafter, it likely won’t be the only one with that distinction for long. The suggested retail price for the W3 is $379, and while Acer isn't saying exactly when this month it will start shipping, pre-orders begin on Tuesday.”

Acer's 8-inch Iconia W3 is the first one-handed Windows 8 tablet | The Verge

Apple reaches iRadio deal with Warner Music, suggesting WWDC launch | Internet & Media - CNET News

New challenges ahead for Pandora and Spotify; also see Google beats Apple to it with streaming music service

"Apple struck a licensing deal Sunday with both Warner Music Group and its publishing arm, Warner Chappell, bringing Apple's free Internet radio product that much closer to launching, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The deal suggests that Apple is working hard to unveil what's been dubbed iRadio at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins June 10."

Apple reaches iRadio deal with Warner Music, suggesting WWDC launch | Internet & Media - CNET News

The Banality of Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ - NYTimes.com

Final paragraph of a Julian Assange review of "The New Digital Age" (I'm guessing Assange, who was interviewed by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, was not pleased with the way he was referenced in the book); for a similarly snarky review, see Evgeny Morozov's "Future Shlock" (The New Republic)

"This book is a balefully seminal work in which neither author has the language to see, much less to express, the titanic centralizing evil they are constructing. “What Lockheed Martin was to the 20th century,” they tell us, “technology and cybersecurity companies will be to the 21st.” Without even understanding how, they have updated and seamlessly implemented George Orwell’s prophecy. If you want a vision of the future, imagine Washington-backed Google Glasses strapped onto vacant human faces — forever. Zealots of the cult of consumer technology will find little to inspire them here, not that they ever seem to need it. But this is essential reading for anyone caught up in the struggle for the future, in view of one simple imperative: Know your enemy."

The Banality of Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ - NYTimes.com

Google Disallows Facial Recognition in Glass Apps - Liz Gannes - Mobile - AllThingsD

tbd how the facial recognition recognition will work...

"Worried about so-called “Glassholes” automatically identifying the faces of people around them? Google says it doesn’t want that to happen, either.
The company tonight posted an update to developer policies for its wearable device Google Glass that explicitly disallows facial recognition apps."

Google Disallows Facial Recognition in Glass Apps - Liz Gannes - Mobile - AllThingsD

Evernote Blog | Evernote’s Three New Security Features

Check the full post for details; e.g., two-step verification is, at this point, only available to Premium and Business subscribers

"The security and privacy of your data are our top priority at Evernote. Today, we’re happy to announce the availability of three new security features:

• Two-Step Verification

• Access History

• Authorized Applications"

Evernote Blog | Evernote’s Three New Security Features

What Is Elon Musk's Hyperloop - Business Insider

I think I'll wait until this transportation technology is well beyond beta, thanks...

"The closest to detail he's gotten is when he said the Hyperloop is a "cross between a Concorde, a railgun and an air hockey table."
He's been so vague that it seems like what he's talking about can't possibly be real.
But it can be real."

What Is Elon Musk's Hyperloop - Business Insider

LinkedIn Has Learned New Skills: Images And Documents – ReadWrite

Perhaps time to revisit the *Box product-or-feature debate

"The ostensible reason for this is to appeal to the people who follow a particular company on LinkedIn, who are typically employees, job seekers, customers, or other interested parties. One obvious way a tech company might use this, for example, is to post white papers about a new product it's rolling out.
One has to wonder, though, if this isn't also a move to carve out part of the document-sharing business that Dropbox, Box and YouSendIt have so far dominated. That's the public-facing sharing, where you're not sending a document to a particular person but merely alerting people to a place from which it can be downloaded."

LinkedIn Has Learned New Skills: Images And Documents – ReadWrite

For Galaxy Tab, odd Samsung-Intel partnership emerges | Mobile - CNET News

ARM wrestling

""[Intel's] Clover Trail+ delivers competitive performance and battery life with Qualcomm and Nvidia ARM chips," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.
Brookwood continued. "It's the first [version] of Atom that can support both Android and Windows 8. In the past, Intel's platforms for Windows 8 differed from their platforms for Android. So, it would be possible for Samsung to build a Galaxy Tab that is physically the same hardware [as an Android product] and use it for a Windows 8 version," Brookwood said.
Here's another reason: Intel's upcoming Bay Trail chip -- a complete redesign of the Atom micro-architecture -- may be an even more attractive option for Samsung tablets and hybrids in the coming months."

For Galaxy Tab, odd Samsung-Intel partnership emerges | Mobile - CNET News

With Windows 8.1, a New Start That Looks Familiar - NYTimes.com

Some additional Windows 8.1 details

"There are a variety of other changes in Windows 8.1 that are likely to receive less notice. People using Windows 8.1 in the modern interface will be able to have four different windows open at once, rather than two, which will make it easier for multitaskers to jump among different applications. A new built-in search function will automatically create a slick-looking mash-up of different types of data relevant to a search term, including songs, videos, photos and Wikipedia entries.
The underlying bet Microsoft is making with Windows has not changed, though. Unlike Apple, which has one operating system for the iPad and one for computers, Microsoft believes the software that powers both types of devices should be the same."

With Windows 8.1, a New Start That Looks Familiar - NYTimes.com

Behind the 'Internet of Things' Is Android—and It's Everywhere - Businessweek

tbd if/when Microsoft will receive an Android royalty on your next espresso maker

"Android is becoming the standard operating system for the “Internet of things”—Silicon Valley’s voguish term for the expanding interconnectedness of smart devices, ranging from sensors in your shoe to jet engine monitors. As each of these devices hits the market, Google further outflanks Apple and Microsoft (MSFT) as the dominant software player in a connected world."

Behind the 'Internet of Things' Is Android—and It's Everywhere - Businessweek

Google's Eric Schmidt Invests in Obama's Big Data Brains - Businessweek

Politically decisive and divisive (e.g., National Journal asserts Civis "has pledged to serve only liberal causes")

"During the 2012 campaign, Barack Obama’s reelection team had an underappreciated asset: Google’s (GOOG) executive chairman, Eric Schmidt. He helped recruit talent, choose technology, and coach the campaign manager, Jim Messina, on the finer points of leading a large organization. “On election night he was in our boiler room in Chicago,” says David Plouffe, then a senior White House adviser. Schmidt had a particular affinity for a group of engineers and statisticians tucked away beneath a disco ball in a darkened corner of the office known as “the Cave.” The data analytics team, led by 30-year-old Dan Wagner, is credited with producing Obama’s surprising 5 million-vote margin of victory."

Google's Eric Schmidt Invests in Obama's Big Data Brains - Businessweek

Microsoft aims to simplify with Windows 8.1 - Business - The Boston Globe

Ensuring the continued success of Windows 7

"Microsoft believes the start-up screen replaces the need for a button, but its omission has ranked among the biggest gripes about Windows 8.
Microsoft is hoping to quiet the critics by resurrecting an omnipresent Windows logo anchored in the lower left corner. Users will also be able to ensure their favorite applications, including Word and Excel, appear in a horizontal tool bar next to the Windows logo. Accessing apps outside the toolbar will still require using the tiles or calling them up in a more comprehensive search engine included in the Windows 8.1 updates."

Microsoft aims to simplify with Windows 8.1 - Business - The Boston Globe

Cisco says Microsoft strengthened a monopoly with Skype deal | Reuters

Interesting voice/video times

"A third of the world's voice calls are now on Skype while over 280 million users use the service more than 100 minutes every month, Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner said in March. Skype had 170 million users at the time of the deal.
The case is important as Internet-based voice and video has become a vast market, with many consumers and corporates abandoning traditional fixed-line and mobile as a result, and is an area in which Cisco had hoped to expand its presence."

Cisco says Microsoft strengthened a monopoly with Skype deal | Reuters

Amazon Media Room: Press Releases: Amazon Announces Login with Amazon to Reduce Sign-In Friction and Drive Higher Customer Engagement

A new identity crisis for Facebook?

"Today, Amazon launched Login with Amazon, a new service that will enable the over 200 million active Amazon customers to securely and simply login to apps, games, and websites. Login with Amazon allows developers to easily reduce sign-in friction for their customers, leading to higher engagement and order conversion.
[...]
Login with Amazon is available at no charge to developers of apps, games, and websites. The service is easy to integrate, as developers can typically go from registration to launch in a matter of hours. It is based on the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, allowing developers to leverage a widely-adopted open protocol. For additional details about Login with Amazon, including code samples and the SDKs for Android and iOS, please visit login.amazon.com."

Amazon Media Room: Press Releases

Google Overhauls Gmail to Take On E-Mail Overload - NYTimes.com

Categorically improved email

"The revamped Gmail automatically sorts incoming messages into categories, which appear as three tabs — primary, social and promotions — that users can toggle between in their in-box. The primary tab contains the e-mails that the service thinks are most important. Social contains message updates from various social networks, like LinkedIn, Tumblr and Yelp. Promotions contains newsletters, party invites and concert announcements. Users can also select to add additional tabs to help manage electronic bills, banking statements and messages from forum boards."

Google Overhauls Gmail to Take On E-Mail Overload - NYTimes.com

The Real Reason Hadoop Is Such A Big Deal In Big Data – ReadWrite

Back to data basics

"Sometimes the reasons behind something success can be staring you right in the face. For Hadoop, the biggest motivator in the market is simple: Before Hadoop, data storage was expensive.
Hadoop, however, lets you store as much data as you want in whatever form you need, simply by adding more servers to a Hadoop cluster. Each new server (which can be commodity x86 machines with relatively small price tags) adds more storage and more processing power to the overall cluster. This makes data storage with Hadoop far less costly than prior methods of data storage."

The Real Reason Hadoop Is Such A Big Deal In Big Data – ReadWrite

D11: Motorola Mobility CEO Says Make Way for Moto X - Digits - WSJ

A Motorola product line reboot ahead

"Motorola Mobility has lost sales ground to emerging handset rivals such as Samsung Electronics, which like Motorola makes smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.
But Woodside said Motorola is relaunching its entire product lineup between now and October. He said Motorola won’t make dozens of phones, but instead will concentrate on a handful that will show where the company is going under Google’s ownership.
[...]
Woodside didn’t disclose the price of the new phones, but he did say Motorola can afford to sell smartphones at smaller profit margins than other handset makers."

D11: Motorola Mobility CEO Says Make Way for Moto X - Digits - WSJ

The Reborn Flickr Offers Lots of Space, All Free - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for additional pro/con considerations

"Last week, the new Flickr was born. First, the good news: Every free account holder gets one terabyte of storage. That is an insane, historic, vast amount of space. That’s enough room for about 600,000 typical photos, enough to last you the next couple of birthday parties, at least.
That’s 70 times the free space of the next closest competitor, Google Drive. And those are full resolution photos, too — the originals. Flickr doesn’t compress photos, degrading their quality, the way Facebook does."

The Reborn Flickr Offers Lots of Space, All Free - NYTimes.com

Aereo’s Internet TV service is so good it’s scary - Business - The Boston Globe

Something the traditional TV broadcasters are watching closely

"On my iPhone and iPad, the pictures looked quite respectable. Aereo also let me beam shows from the iPad to my home HDTV set, with the help of an Apple TV unit. The images were darker and less sharp than usual, but decent enough. In all, Aereo is a pretty good substitute for traditional television broadcasts.
And that’s bad news for the broadcasters, who are already in trouble. Viewership is sliding; advertising revenue is stagnant. Internet streaming companies such as Netflix are competing head-on with original television series of their own. Now Aereo could ravage the broadcasters’ lucrative deals with cable companies."

Aereo’s Internet TV service is so good it’s scary - Business - The Boston Globe

Apple May Open a Little to Developers, Possible Android App - Ina Fried - D11 - AllThingsD

Changes at Apple's core?

"Cook did say not to expect Apple to go too crazy on that front, saying that people pay Apple to make choices on their behalf.
“I think you will see us open up more in the future,” he said. “But not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience.”
But will Apple open up more? Cook said. “Yes.”
Secondly, Cook said that even though he still dislikes Samsung as much as ever, he wouldn’t rule out Apple doing its own Android app at some point, though it hasn’t yet seen a reason to do so."

Apple May Open a Little to Developers, Possible Android App - Ina Fried - D11 - AllThingsD

Apple's Tim Cook Hints at Wearable Devices - WSJ.com

Some hints from Apple

""We have several more game changers in us" that the company has been "working on for a while," Mr. Cook said at the event.
Mr. Cook praised devices such as Nike Inc.'s FuelBand, an activity tracker worn on the wrist. He said such wearable products "could be a profound area for technology," while expressing less excitement about Google Glass, Google Inc.'s high-tech eyeglasses that serve as a kind of heads-up display to view Internet content. He said it's "tough to see" Google's product having mass-market appeal."

Apple's Tim Cook Hints at Wearable Devices - WSJ.com

What Better Place’s bankruptcy tells us about the future of electric cars [Washington Post]

Gone too: a Better Place

"Some notable news in the electric-car world: Better Place, the Israeli company that once hoped to revolutionize the auto industry with its innovative battery-swapping stations, has filed for bankruptcy."

What Better Place’s bankruptcy tells us about the future of electric cars

Lessons from Obama 2012: How Data Science Can Help Nonprofits | MIT Technology Review

Big donation data

"Now, with Obama again ensconced in the Oval Office, some veterans of the campaign’s data squad are applying lessons from the campaign to tackle social issues such as education and environmental stewardship. Edgeflip, a startup Ghani founded in January with two other campaign members, plans to turn the ad hoc data analysis tools developed for Obama for America into software that can make nonprofits more effective at raising money and recruiting volunteers."

Lessons from Obama 2012: How Data Science Can Help Nonprofits | MIT Technology Review

IDC: PC shipments worse than predicted, tablet shipments get better | Desktop pcs - InfoWorld

It's still more "PC-plus" than "post-PC," but that's probably small comfort for PC vendors at this point

"Tablets will play a major role in the Post-PC Era: IDC is now predicting tablet shipments will exceed those of portable PCs this year and will outpace the entire PC market (portables and desktops combined) by 2015.
"What started as a sign of tough economic times has quickly shifted to a change in the global computing paradigm with mobile being the primary benefactor," said Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC's Mobility Trackers. "Tablets surpassing portables in 2013, and total PCs in 2015, marks a significant change in consumer attitudes about compute devices and the applications and ecosystems that power them.""

IDC: PC shipments worse than predicted, tablet shipments get better | Desktop pcs - InfoWorld

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies - The Washington Post

Deeply disconcerting

"Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.
Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board."

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies - The Washington Post

Sold! Antique Apple-1 brings a record $671K - Computerworld

At this rate, Steve Wozniak is probably tempted to make a new batch

"According to the auctioneer's website, the Apple-1's sales price was €420,000, or $542,000 at current exchange rates. The total, including a 22.3% commission as well as taxes, was $671,400.
That eclipsed the $640,000 record for an Apple-1 established last November at an auction also conducted by Breker, and was nearly double the upper estimate of approximately $390,000 set by the auctioneer earlier this month."

Sold! Antique Apple-1 brings a record $671K - Computerworld

Sony’s Bread and Butter? It’s Not Electronics - NYTimes.com

From a stark Sony reality check

"Sony is best known as a consumer electronics company, making PlayStation game consoles and televisions. And it loses money on almost every gadget it sells.
[...]
But as Mr. Loeb pressures Sony executives to do more to revive the company’s ailing electronics arm, some analysts are asking, Why bother?
Sony, it is suggested, might be better off just selling insurance.
Or just making movies and music. But not electronics."

Sony’s Bread and Butter? It’s Not Electronics - NYTimes.com

Meet the Man Who Sold a Month-Old App to Dropbox for $100M | Wired Business | Wired.com

Check the link below for a co-founder/CEO interview

"When Mailbox sold itself to Dropbox for a reported $100 million or so this March, the month-old iPhone app wasn’t even available to the public. People could download the email organizer, but using it required joining a mailing list that stretched to nearly 800,000 names at one point.
Mailbox was popular because it provided innovative new ways to organize and clear an inbox. Users can swipe a message to the left to “snooze” it, a command that instructs Mailbox to resurface the email after a set period of time. Other swipes — hard left, right, or hard right — archive, delete, or file messages."

Meet the Man Who Sold a Month-Old App to Dropbox for $100M | Wired Business | Wired.com

Yahoo's Bid for Hulu in $600M-$800M Range (and It's Working on Others) - Kara Swisher - Media - AllThingsD

A busy shopping season for Yahoo

"At the same time and separately, according to sources inside the company, Yahoo is also contemplating at least two other significant purchases — in the $150 million to $200 million range — each for a mobile and a communications company.
It’s certainly an ambitious and busy M&A agenda for Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer, who just forked over $1.1 billion in cash to purchase youth-skewing blogging site Tumblr last week."

Yahoo's Bid for Hulu in $600M-$800M Range (and It's Working on Others) - Kara Swisher - Media - AllThingsD

How Xbox One opens the door for the next Apple TV | TV and Home Theater - CNET Reviews

Excerpt from an overview of how Apple could capitalize on TV market dynamics

"If you think the Xbox One jams up Apple's plans, think again. The Xbox One is Apple's best friend. Apple needs the emerging TV landscape to be tackled, and whatever mistakes are made, Apple can improve upon them, and show everyone why that strategy was mistaken. This is the Apple Way. The iPhone was built on old smartphones, the iPad on failed tablets. The landscape now is littered with half-good, half-bad solutions: TiVo, Wii U and TVii, Google TV, Roku, Xbox 360, PS3, even the current Apple TV. None of them truly replaces your cable box. None of them is the true, absolute future of TV.
Yet."

How Xbox One opens the door for the next Apple TV | TV and Home Theater - CNET Reviews

New Computer Attacks Come From Iran, Officials Say - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a stark cyberwarfare reality check

"American officials have not offered any technical evidence to back up their assertions of Iranian authorship of the latest attacks, but they describe the recent campaign as different from most attacks against American companies — particularly those from China — which quietly siphon off intellectual property for competitive purposes.
The new attacks, officials say, were devised to destroy data and manipulate the machinery that operates critical control systems, like oil pipelines. One official described them as “probes that suggest someone is looking at how to take control of these systems.”"

New Computer Attacks Come From Iran, Officials Say - NYTimes.com

Google to Fund, Develop Wireless Networks in Emerging Markets - WSJ.com

Expanding Google's mission "to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful" to its next ~billion users

"Google Inc. is deep into a multipronged effort to build and help run wireless networks in emerging markets as part of a plan to connect a billion or more new people to the Internet.
These wireless networks would serve areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia to dwellers outside of major cities where wired Internet connections aren't available, said people familiar with the strategy.
The networks also could be used to improve Internet speeds in urban centers, these people said."

Google to Fund, Develop Wireless Networks in Emerging Markets - WSJ.com

Finding your photos more easily with Google Search - Inside Search

A new way Google helps you leverage your own metadata; start a Google search with “my photos”, if you have photos stored on a Google+ enabled account

“Starting today, you’ll be able to find your photos more easily and connect with the friends, places and events in your Google+ photos. For example, now you can search for your friend’s wedding photos or pictures from a concert you attended recently. To make computers do the hard work for you, we’ve also begun using computer vision and machine learning to help recognize more general concepts in your photos such as sunsets, food and flowers.”

Finding your photos more easily with Google Search - Inside Search

With Ubiquity, Sears is Turning Shuttered Stores into Data Centers » Data Center Knowledge

Solid state Sears

"Will blinking blue lights of servers soon fill the aisles that previously offered the Blue Light Special? Sears Holdings has formed a new unit to market space from former Sears and Kmart retail stores as a home for data centers, disaster recovery space and wireless towers.
With the creation of Ubiquity Critical Environments, Sears hopes to convert the retail icons of the 20th century into the Internet infrastructure to power the 21st century digital economy. Sears Holdings has one of the largest real estate portfolios in the country, with 3,200 properties spanning 25 million square feet of space. That includes dozens of Sears and Kmart stores that have been closed over the years."

With Ubiquity, Sears is Turning Shuttered Stores into Data Centers » Data Center Knowledge

Two-factor authentication: What you need to know (FAQ) | Security & Privacy - CNET News

Summary version: if your service provider supports 2FA, use it...

"Twitter announced on Wednesday that they've started supporting two-factor authentication, joining a growing list of major Web services that offer the more secure login method.
Two-factor authentication, or 2FA as it's commonly abbreviated, adds an extra step to your basic login procedure. Without 2FA, you enter in your username and password, and then you're done. The password is your single factor of authentication. The second factor makes your account more secure, in theory."

Two-factor authentication: What you need to know (FAQ) | Security & Privacy - CNET News

How the U.S. Government Hacks the World - Businessweek

From a cyber-espionage reality check

"The U.S. government doesn’t deny that it engages in cyber espionage. “You’re not waiting for someone to decide to turn information into electrons and photons and send it,” says Hayden. “You’re commuting to where the information is stored and extracting the information from the adversaries’ network. We are the best at doing it. Period.” The U.S. position is that some kinds of hacking are more acceptable than others—and the kind the NSA does is in keeping with unofficial, unspoken rules going back to the Cold War about what secrets are OK for one country to steal from another. “China is doing stuff you’re not supposed to do,” says Jacob Olcott, a principal at Good Harbor Security Risk Management, a Washington firm that advises hacked companies."

How the U.S. Government Hacks the World - Businessweek

The Box Blog » Consumer-Grade Innovation: Welcoming Folders to Box

Thinking inside the Box

"With Crocodoc, their ability to quickly and smoothly extract and preview documents in web and mobile-friendly HTML5 is a breakthrough. We’ll leverage the Crocodoc team and technology to make every document experience on Box and across the web fast, striking, and “consumer-grade” in all respects.
Likewise, Martin’s work on Folders will be integral to the next-generation of Box on iOS. When we saw Folders we saw a beautiful experience and set of design patterns that we had to bring to Box’s users. Adding the Folders technology and Martin’s expertise to Box will help us to continue to improve how people collaborate and engage with their content on Post-PC devices. In the near term, Box for iOS will become cleaner, faster and more beautiful throughout 2013."

The Box Blog » Consumer-Grade Innovation: Welcoming Folders to Box

Google Follows Amazon's Lead on New Shopping Site, Delivery, Other Services - WSJ.com

Excerpt from an overview of the expanding Amazon/Google competitive landscape

"Google's moves to copy Amazon underscore how the tech companies are expanding into each other's areas—each trying to be the primary Web destination shoppers. As the two battle it out, each increasingly has assumed some characteristics of the other, with Amazon stretching into Google's realms of online advertising, video streaming, applications and devices such as smartphones and tablets. Rather than develop its own mobile operating system, though, Amazon relies on a version of Google's Android software for the Kindle Fire line of tablets."

Google Follows Amazon's Lead on New Shopping Site, Delivery, Other Services - WSJ.com

Apple-1 Computers Jump in Value at Auctions - NYTimes.com

An investment to consider, if you have a spare ~$400,000

"After the Apple II went on sale, the company began an aggressive trade-in program, offering Apple II’s and sometimes cash incentives in exchange for Apple-1’s, said Bob Luther, who is writing a book on the vintage machines, “The First Apple,” which he plans to self-publish, with help from a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
In his book research, Mr. Luther called Michael Scott, Apple’s president from 1977 to 1981, and interviewed him about the trade-in program. As Mr. Luther recalled, Mr. Scott told him, “If we had done a better job, you and I wouldn’t be having this phone call.”
“They just wanted the Apple-1 to go away,” said Mr. Luther, who bought an Apple-1 for $7,600 in 2004. (“Mine’s not for sale.”)"

Apple-1 Computers Jump in Value at Auctions - NYTimes.com

#35. A Summary of ‘The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business’ by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen | New Books in Brief

Another timely and detailed book summary by New Books in Brief

#35. A Summary of ‘The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business’ by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen | New Books in Brief

Microsoft’s Cheap Shot At The iPad Actually Points Out Exactly Why The Surface Sucks | TechCrunch

Check the full post for the Microsoft ad video and more analysis

"The problem is that not only is the Siri construct weak and her actual lines poorly written, but the abilities Microsoft chooses to highlight show exactly why it doesn’t “get” the tablet market. People aren’t looking for multitasking PowerPoint slide deck-creating machines; they have computers for that.
The closing bit here is maybe the worst part; showing that Apple’s iPad can easily provide a remarkably realistic experience for playing Chopsticks on the screen is not the way to trash your competition, especially if you noticeably can’t offer up an equivalent experience on your own hardware."

Microsoft’s Cheap Shot At The iPad Actually Points Out Exactly Why The Surface Sucks | TechCrunch

Microsoft's Xbox One: What's Windows got to do with it? | ZDNet

Time to update Dave Cutler's already amazing Wikipedia article

"In an under-the-hood architecture panel following the Xbox One reveal, Boyd Multerer, Director of Development for Xbox, confirmed that the team started with Microsoft's Hyper-V hypervisor in building the Xbox One operating system. Multerer said the team stripped out all the general-purpose "goop" to create an OS that allowd two virtual machines to run in side-by-side partitions. One of the partitions runs apps; the other runs games.
"David Cutler built the hypervisor that does the switching back and forth," Multerer confirmed."

Microsoft's Xbox One: What's Windows got to do with it? | ZDNet

Tesla Pays Off Its $465 Million 'Loser' Loan - Businessweek

On a roll

"Of all his recent moves, this one must be especially sweet for Musk. Critics have long taken swipes at Tesla and its all-electric hippieness for relying on a federal handout. The most public of such barbs arrived from Mitt Romney during the presidential debates, when he described Tesla as a “loser” alongside Solyndra and Fisker Automotive. Even back then, it seemed a bit silly to lump Tesla—a company employing thousands of people at an American car factory—in with that group of green lollygaggers. And now that Tesla has paid its way off the government dole, Romney may have sealed his fate as that rare capitalist-cum-politician rooting against a successful American car company. (Although Sarah Palin has recently threatened to keep him company.)"

Tesla Pays Off Its $465 Million 'Loser' Loan - Businessweek

Microsoft Creates 'Yammer North' in Redmond to Learn New Software Tricks - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ

A Yammer assimilation update

"Yammer North is composed of Microsoft people, not Yammer people–Yammer has retained its offices in San Francisco and is aggressively hiring, Teper said, while the Yammer North team, which is about 70 people, is responsible for integrating Yammer technology across Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365 and for “bringing Microsoft processes and approaches, where appropriate, back to the Yammer team.”"

Microsoft Creates 'Yammer North' in Redmond to Learn New Software Tricks - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ

Inside Google's Secret Lab - Businessweek

From an extensive Google X profile; also see Google X acquires kite-power start-up Makani (CNet)

"Teller has turned his sky’s-the-limit thinking into Google X’s most visible export. Last March he spoke at the South By Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Tex., telling a packed auditorium, “The world is not limited by IQ. We are all limited by bravery and creativity.” Last year, with longtime Google executive Megan Smith, he co-founded the company’s annual, invitation-only conference, Solve for X, a two-and-a-half-day gathering of a hundred or so big thinkers. At the recent session in February at CordeValle, a golf resort south of San Jose, speakers covered topics such as inflatable robots, eye examinations that can detect the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease, and nuclear fusion reactors. “There is really only one guarantee and that is if we don’t try, nothing is going to happen,” said Charles Chase, a senior program manager for Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) advanced development program, Skunk Works, who gave the fusion talk."

Inside Google's Secret Lab - Businessweek

In China, Hacking Has Widespread Acceptance - NYTimes.com

Interesting times

"The culture of hacking in China is not confined to top-secret military compounds where hackers carry out orders to pilfer data from foreign governments and corporations. Hacking thrives across official, corporate and criminal worlds. Whether it is used to break into private networks, track online dissent back to its source or steal trade secrets, hacking is openly discussed and even promoted at trade shows, inside university classrooms and on Internet forums.
The Ministry of Education and Chinese universities, for instance, join companies in sponsoring hacking competitions that army talent scouts attend, though “the standards can be mediocre,” said a cybersecurity expert who works for a government institute and handed out awards at a 2010 competition."

In China, Hacking Has Widespread Acceptance - NYTimes.com

Why The Apple TV Has Nothing To Fear From The Xbox One | Cult of Mac

For a different perspective, see Did Microsoft Just Kick Apple Out of the Living Room? (Mashable)

"The Xbox One demonstrates how to play to an audience. And that audience isn’t the same as Apple’s.
“Microsoft has included everything but the kitchen sink.”
While the Xbox One certainly looks like a fantastic entertainment hub, it would totally overwhelm my mother. Microsoft has included everything but the kitchen sink. To go from a traditional remote + controller combo to pinch and pull gestures with voice commands is quite the leap, even for a tech nerd."

Why The Apple TV Has Nothing To Fear From The Xbox One | Cult of Mac

Computer History Museum | Exhibits | This Day in History: May 22: Xerox Researcher Proposes "Ethernet"

Happy 40th birthday, Ethernet

"Robert Metcalfe, a researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in California, wrote his original memo proposing an "Ethernet." Metcalfe described the document, typed out on a Selectric typewriter, as follows: "Ether Acquisition" ... heavy with handwritten annotations -- one of which was "ETHER!" -- and with hand-drawn diagrams -- one of which showed `boosters' interconnecting branched cable, telephone, and ratio ethers in what we now call an internet.... I If Ethernet was invented in any one memo, by any one person, or on any one day, this was it.""

Computer History Museum | Exhibits | This Day in History: May 22

Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter & Instagram Adoption Way Up [MarketingLand]

For another take on the Pew/Harvard research, see Teenagers flock from Facebook to Twitter and share more info, poll finds (MercuryNews/AP)

“According to the report, 95 percent of teens (12 – 17) use the internet and 81 percent of them use social media sites. Facebook is by far the most heavily adopted social site, with 94 percent of social media teens reporting they have a profile there.

Twitter and Instagram are far behind Facebook, but both have made impressive gains. Twitter was used by only 12% of teens in 2011 but more than doubled that to 26% in 2012. with usage of 26% and 11%. Instagram doesn’t appear to have been measured in 2011, so surveyed growth can’t be determined. But it comes in with an impressive third place at 11%.”

Pew: 94% Of Teenagers Use Facebook, Have 425 Facebook Friends, But Twitter & Instagram Adoption Way Up

Xbox One runs three operating systems, including cut-down Windows for apps [Engadget]

Virtualization reality

"The latest update out of the currently unfolding announcement in Redmond: the next-generation Xbox will run three operating systems simultaneously. Complementing Windows 8 and RT on PCs and tablets, there'll be a third distinct version of Microsoft's operating system that has been pared down specifically for the new console. This will be the main system OS used to run apps such as Skype and other non-game titles downloaded from the Xbox storefront. At the same time, virtualization technology similar to Microsoft's Hyper-V will be used to allocate the bulk of system resources to a second, dedicated "Xbox OS" when the user loads up a game. This game OS will remain a fixed entity throughout the life of the console, so that game developers can be confident their games will run regardless of how much the Windows side of the machine gets updated. Finally, the third OS sounds like a small layer to assist with the virtualization, allowing the two main personalities of the console to talk to each other."

Xbox One runs three operating systems, including cut-down Windows for apps

Eight years later, one new Xbox | Tech Culture - CNET News

More Xbox One details

"The new console, black and sleek with a horizontal slit across its center and a modern Xbox logo, features 5 billion transistors, 8GB of RAM, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi direct, a Blu-Ray drive, and a native 64-bit architecture. In addition, it has a 1080P HD RGB camera and an all-new game controller.
The Xbox One will not be backward compatible, but Microsoft said it will continue to support the Xbox 360. The new console will be released later this year, but a pricing structure was not disclosed.
[...]
Naturally, Microsoft has boosted the Xbox Live infrastructure. The company said that when Xbox Live was first unveiled in 2002, it had 500 dedicated servers. When the Xbox 360 was launched in 2005, there were 3,000. Today, the number is 15,000 servers. For Xbox One, there will be more than 300,000 servers dedicated to Xbox Live, a number larger than the world's entire computing power in 1999, according to Microsoft."

Eight years later, one new Xbox | Tech Culture - CNET News

Xbox One Enters Changed Gaming Landscape - NYTimes.com

Final paragraphs from an Xbox One launch recap

"The games business could use a jolt. Total United States retail sales of game hardware and software fell 25 percent to $495.2 million in April from $657.5 million a year earlier, according to estimates by NPD Group, a research firm. That figure does not include the sale of downloadable content over the Internet.
Alex St. John, an entrepreneur who worked on Microsoft’s pre-Xbox game efforts, says he is pessimistic about prospects for gaming consoles.
“They’re coming out with the latest and greatest stone tool,” Mr. St. John said. “The new console that trumps the old console is called the Apple iPad. This generation of kids loves mobile games.”"

Xbox One Enters Changed Gaming Landscape - NYTimes.com

In Disarming Testimony, Apple Chief Eases Tax Tensions - NYTimes.com

Reality distortion field, Capitol Hill edition

"Timothy Cook came to the lion’s den on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, prepared to face down lawmakers furious over evidence that Apple, the famous company he runs, had avoided paying billions in taxes. By the time Mr. Cook walked out, the big cats on a Senate committee were practically eating out of his hand."

In Disarming Testimony, Apple Chief Eases Tax Tensions - NYTimes.com

Intel’s Data Economy Initiative Aims to Help People Capture the Value of Personal Data | MIT Technology Review

Related recommended reading: Who Owns the Future?

"Intel Labs, the company’s R&D arm, is launching an initiative around what it calls the “data economy”—how consumers might capture more of the value of their personal information, like digital records of their their location or work history. To make this possible, Intel is funding hackathons to urge developers to explore novel uses of personal data. It has also paid for a rebellious-sounding website called We the Data, featuring raised fists and stories comparing Facebook to Exxon Mobil.
Intel’s effort to stir a debate around “your data” is just one example of how some companies—and society more broadly—are grappling with a basic economic asymmetry of the big data age: they’ve got the data, and we don’t."

Intel’s Data Economy Initiative Aims to Help People Capture the Value of Personal Data | MIT Technology Review

Cisco: Big Data Is the Network, Too - NYTimes.com

Concluding paragraphs of a snapshot from the front line of the battle for "Internet of things" and big data market leadership

"As we rush to crunch data from more parts of both the Internet and the physical world, the argument runs, we will make analytics and computing part of everything. That could make it hard for independent analytics providers, or force them to also adopt networking or computing businesses. But that would require a lot of money.
The question could ultimately be whether the center of the system is in the data, as EMC thinks, or in H.P.’s servers, IBM’s software, or Cisco’s network. As the saying goes, where you stand has a lot to do with where you sit."

Cisco: Big Data Is the Network, Too - NYTimes.com

The 25 Most Popular Tumblrs Reveal the Challenge for Yahoo! - Businessweek

Sign of the times

"Tumblr has been quietly chopping down on the smut, and only one of its top 25 sites today is pornographic, according to Quantcast.
The rest of Tumblr’s most popular blogs are SFW, but they’re not exactly mainstream. The single most-visited Tumblr is dedicated to Minecraft, followed by a Portuguese-language site specializing in animated GIFS and one that translates people’s names into various languages spoken on science fiction shows. Professional media outlets and brands make up three of the top 25 (Comedy Central; Clarin, the Argentine newspaper; and Angry Birds). Other particularly popular sites are a blog juxtaposing handsome men and adorable kittens; a blog shaming people who act like douchebags on other social-media platforms; and various collections of cartoons."

The 25 Most Popular Tumblrs Reveal the Challenge for Yahoo! - Businessweek

The Jolla ‘Other Half’ is the Nokia version of an Android smartphone. Sort of | VentureBeat

MeeGo morphs and finds a path to market

"Jolla, a new and independent smartphone vendor which almost no-one but mobile wonks has ever heard of, took the core of Meego and built Sailfish, a new mobile operating system that is built on an open-source project named Mer that is the new incarnation of Meego, and is just now teasing the coming-soon release of its very first device, the oddly named and oddly designed but also oddly attractive “The Other Half.”
Surprise, surprise, Jolla is based in Helsinki, Finland, where there just happens to be a surplus of top-notch mobile talent available lately (shocking, isn’t it). And surprise, surprise, all of the top Jolla leaders are ex-Nokia employees. Almost two years ago, Jolla announced its intentions of bringing a new smartphone to market. The biggest surprise is that they seem to be succeeding."

The Jolla ‘Other Half’ is the Nokia version of an Android smartphone. Sort of | VentureBeat

In Media, Big Data Is Booming but Big Results Are Lacking - Ben Elowitz - Voices - AllThingsD

Excerpt from an insightful big data perspective

"The trouble with data is that it asks as many questions as it answers. Your engagement is down, bounce rate is up, search traffic is up — why is that, and what can we do to make it higher, lower and higher? Data almost never hands you the answers or insights directly; it just illuminates the issue. And it illuminates a whole bunch of them at once, so it’s up to you to figure out what the priorities are.
If this problem is an “opportunity in disguise,” most executives seem quickly scared off by the masquerade. In truth, Big Data raises the bar for how smart you have to be as an executive."

In Media, Big Data Is Booming but Big Results Are Lacking - Ben Elowitz - Voices - AllThingsD

Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds - NYTimes.com

Seems pretty obvious the only real solution is to eliminate the loopholes; otherwise, companies are likely to continue doing what they are financially incented to do; on a related note, see Schmidt: Don't like our tiny tax bills? Google this... 'Change the law' (The Register)

"Investigators have not accused Apple of breaking any laws and the company is hardly the only American multinational to face scrutiny for using complex corporate structures and tax havens to sidestep taxes. In recent months, revelations from European authorities about the tax avoidance strategies used by Google, Starbucks and Amazon have all stirred public anger and spurred several European governments, as well as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based research organization for the world’s richest countries, to discuss measures to close the loopholes.
Still, the findings about Apple were remarkable both for the enormous amount of money involved and the audaciousness of the company’s assertion that its subsidiaries are beyond the reach of any taxing authority."

Apple’s Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds - NYTimes.com

But Wait. Didn't Yahoo Try a Deal Like This Before? - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a Yahoo/Tumblr reality check

"The lesson of GeoCities raises this question about Tumblr: How can a company with zero profits (actually, multimillion-dollar losses) and just $13 million in revenue be worth $1.1 billion?
Inside Yahoo, officials dismiss the comparison to GeoCities. Instead, they compare the Tumblr deal to Google’s purchase of YouTube — that is, Yahoo’s management believes that Tumblr is one of a rare few transformative sites on the Internet. Google paid $1.6 billion for YouTube when it too made no money. At the time of that deal, it seemed heretical. Now, it seems genius.
To Yahoo, Tumblr is the equivalent of beachfront property. With more than 100 million user-generated blogs on Tumblr, there is no question that it brings Yahoo a younger audience. It adds a sense of hipness to a company that had lost its sense of cool."

But Wait. Didn't Yahoo Try a Deal Like This Before? - NYTimes.com