Category: Biz Tech

BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday its popular messaging system BBM, or BlackBerry Messenger, would now be open to those using the Windows phone platform, a move that potentially makes the messaging service more appealing to its enterprise clients. BlackBerry, which is seeking to reinvent itself as a more software and services driven company as its smartphone market share has dwindled, has been lately touting new BBM features in a bid to make it a more viable messaging tool for clients such

(Bloomberg) Snapchat Inc., the company that makes a mobile application for disappearing photo messages, is in talks with investors including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) for a round of financing that may value the company at $10 billion, people with knowledge of the situation said. The talks are ongoing and the terms of the funding may change, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. If the funding is completed, Snapchat would join a small group

Apple Inc on Monday took the wraps off mobile applications that pool and analyze health and home data, kicking off an annual developers' conference lacking in big surprises, despite hopes the iPhone maker would offer a glimpse into its secretive pipeline of products. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and software-engineering boss Craig Federighi told several thousand developers about new features that come with the latest "Yosemite" Mac platform and iOS8, the software that powers the iPhone and iPad. Apple shares slid 0.7

Google Inc is building cars that don't have steering wheels, accelerator pedals or brake pedals, in an ambitious expansion of the Internet company's efforts to develop self-driving cars. The small electric cars, which seat two passengers, are currently prototypes that Google has been building through partnerships with automotive suppliers and manufacturers, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said at the Code conference in Southern California on Tuesday. Google aims to build up to 200 such cars in the near term and hopes the vehicles

|By TAP Staff| Ooredoo has announced a new collaboration with the world-renowned MIT Media Lab, in order to drive cutting-edge ICT innovation and research. Since 1985, the MIT Media Lab has pioneered unconventional research in the ICT sector to radically improve people's daily lives. Ooredoo joins the MIT Media Lab as a Consortium Lab Member. Dr. Nasser Marafih, Group CEO, Ooredoo, said: "ICT is rapidly converging, and our customers in emerging markets are quickly adopting mobile devices and integrating ICT into every

|Nicole Arce| Facebook is at the front and center of what could turn out to be an ugly legal battle after ZeniMax Media, parent company of Id Software, sent the social network a legal notice claiming at least part of the intellectual property rights to Rift, a virtual reality headset developed by Oculus VR. In March of this year, Facebook shook up the technology industry by announcing its plans to spend $2 billion to acquire Oculus, a virtual reality company that rapidly

It looks sleek, thin and premium, but its price is anything but the latter. OnePlus One smartphone is creating a buzz online as a budget smartphone killer since it was rolled out on April 23, and people are definitely hungry for it. During its first launch, One smartphone was initially available in countries such as Austria, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Hong Kong, U.S and UK. Earlier, it was reported that the product is

|Andy Greenberg| Just as antivirus researchers congratulated Apple for keeping the iPhone free of nasty apps five full years after its release, spammers seem to have finally tarnished that spotless record. Antivirus researchers at Kaspersky say they’ve spotted an app known as “Find and Call” in both the iPhone App Store and Google’s Play market that secretly uploads all of a user’s contacts to a remote server and then sends text message and email spam to every number and email address listed in his

SAN FRANCISCO — Trying to become even bigger — and make more money — Facebook will allow users to reveal a little less. The social network announced on Wednesday that when its 1.3 billion users log in to other websites or mobile apps through their Facebook identities, they will be able to limit what they reveal to the site or app to just their email addresses and public profile information, like name and gender. Before, depending on the app or site, the

With its $2 billion purchase of Oculus Rift, Facebook has made its second bold acquisition of a rising technology star, little more than a month after its $19 billion mega deal with WhatsApp. This time it’s not the price tag surprising everyone, but the strategy. Does Mark Zuckerberg envision a future where strapping a headset to our faces becomes the default route to going on Facebook? It’s left many scratching their heads. Zuckerberg, criticized at one time for being too slow to move Facebook onto mobile, explained

The gaming gods must have gone crazy |Nicole Arce| A new game that combines the mechanics of "Flappy Bird" with a weird "2048" bent is fast becoming one of the most addictive mashup games of this season. The free game, aptly named "Flappy48," challenges players to work their way as a tile with the number 2 through a "Flappy Bird"-esque series of gaps. For each gap they successfully hurdle, they are presented with a tile they can either collect or ignore. If they

| Joseph Mayton | Wearable technology looks likely to be heading through Google, after Nike announced it would be moving away from wearable tech and more into the software development sector. It comes after repeated rumors that the massive apparel corporation was dropping its Fuelband. It appears that the company isn't giving up entirely and will be leaving the hardware business behind to focus more on the software side of things. This doesn't mean that Nike is leaving wearable tech altogether, but

[caption id="attachment_5126" align="alignleft" width="210"] Microsoft Rushes To Fix Major Internet Explorer Security Flaw[/caption] Reuters | Jim Finkle - BOSTON, April 27 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is rushing to fix a bug in its widely used Internet Explorer web browser after a computer security firm disclosed the flaw over the weekend, saying hackers have already exploited it in attacks on some U.S. companies. PCs running Windows XP will not receive any updates fixing that bug when they are released, however, because Microsoft stopped supporting

AP | New York | Microsoft Corporation unveiled a new virtual assistant for Windows Phone devices Wednesday as it seeks to gain traction in a highly competitive and lucrative market for smartphones. The assistant, Cortana, is named after an artificial-intelligence character in the company's ''Halo'' video games. Cortana tries to be chatty like Apple's Siri, while anticipating information you might want, like Google Now. Cortana is among the new features coming to a Windows Phone update called 8.1. The updated operating system will come

Microsoft Corp's new Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, finally unveiled Office for Apple Inc's iPad in a polished debut that set him apart from his energetic predecessor while signaling his plans to make mobile apps the top priority at the world's largest software company. At a news conference Thursday, executives demonstrated a new "touch-first" version of Office crafted for the iPad, available for download as a free app, though a subscription is needed to let users create or edit documents rather

The U.S. National Security Agency has infiltrated servers in the headquarters of Chinese telecommunications and internet giant Huawei Technologies Co, obtaining sensitive information and monitoring the communications of top executives, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The newspaper said its report on the operation, code-named "Shotgiant," was based on NSA documents provided by Edward Snowden, the former agency contractor who since last year has leaked data revealing sweeping U.S. surveillance activities. The German magazine Der Spiegel also reported on the

Google Inc has settled a landmark copyright lawsuit in which Viacom Inc accused the Internet search company of posting its programs on the YouTube video service without permission. The settlement ends seven years of litigation that drew wide attention from Hollywood, the music industry and Internet companies, and which tested the reach of a federal law designed to thwart piracy while letting people find entertainment online. "This settlement reflects the growing collaborative dialogue between our two companies on important opportunities, and we

The countdown is over — Google has launched its Launcher. It’s been anticipated for some time and, on Wednesday, the Google Now Launcher became available on the Play Store. Initially, the launcher was released for the Nexus 5 last year with promises at the time that the launcher would become available for other devices. Really, it’s just an Android application package that links the device’s operating system to the Google Search app. Installing the launcher will add the Google Now Launcher. It

Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara has sent subpoenas to Mt. Gox, other bitcoin exchanges, and businesses that deal in bitcoin to seek information on how they handled recent cyber attacks, a source familiar with the probe said on Wednesday. In the attacks - known as distributed denial of service attacks - hackers overwhelmed bitcoin exchanges by sending thousands of phantom transactions. At least three exchanges were forced to halt withdrawals of bitcoins on February 7, including Mt. Gox, which was the largest

BlackBerry Ltd plans to launch a new tool for business and government customers to manage mobile devices on their networks, part of a drive by the one-time smartphone pioneer to focus on its profitable enterprise or services business. The company said on Tuesday it would launch BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, or BES12, to unify its existing platforms and provide clients with increased flexibility and security. Following a decline in popularity of its once iconic devices, BlackBerry is striving to reinvent itself under

BuzzFeed has come a long way from cat lists. This month one of its journalists was on the ground in Kiev reporting on the crisis in Ukraine, and last December it published an in-depth article on a Chinese dissident living in Harlem, New York. The kittens haven't disappeared, but these days there is serious journalism as well. When Facebook Inc tweaked its News Feed filters in December to weed out low-quality stories and other content, many were waiting to see if it

Microsoft is cutting the price of Windows 8.1 by 70 percent for makers of low-cost computers and tablets as they try to fend off cheaper rivals like Google Inc’s Chromebooks, people familiar with the program said. Manufacturers will be charged $15 to license Windows 8.1 and preinstall it on devices that retail for less than $250, instead of the usual fee of $50, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The discount will apply

 Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the fold. The transaction involves $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in stock and $3 billion in restricted stock that vests over several years. The WhatsApp deal is worth more than Facebook raised in its own IPO and underscores the social network's

The Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler will once again seek to set rules that make sure broadband providers do not discriminate or block any content on the Internet, a senior FCC official said on Wednesday. The FCC will not appeal a U.S. court decision last month that rejected a previous version of these rules because of the way the FCC had classified broadband providers, the official said. But the court said the commission does have the authority to regulate broadband access

Robocoin said on Tuesday that later this month it will install the first automated teller machines in the United States that let users buy and sell bitcoin, the latest step into the mainstream for the digital currency. The kiosks, to be installed in Seattle, and Austin, Texas, are similar to ATMs but have scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver's license or a passport to confirm users' identities. The ATMs will allow people to swap bitcoin for cash, or deposit

LG Electronics (LG) will be unveiling the third generation of its popular L Series smartphones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014. The L SeriesIII devices retain LG’s distinctive minimal design philosophy while boasting an impressive package that includes enhanced hardware, UX features and operating systems (OS) unmatched in its class. With the original L Series and L SeriesII having enjoyed tremendous success worldwide, the L SeriesIII is expected to continue the momentum with its handsome design and practical user

Kickstarter, the fundraising platform used by millions of people to raise capital for creative projects and businesses, said on Saturday that hackers had gained access to some of its customers' data earlier this week but that the breach had been repaired. "No credit card data of any kind was accessed by hackers. There is no evidence of unauthorized activity of any kind on all but two Kickstarter user accounts," Kickstarter Chief Executive Officer Yancey Strickler said in a blog post on

Microsoft has reportedly announced that it has extended life for PCs that come pre-installed with Windows 7 Professional, which means that those computers with consumer versions of the OS still face the axe on October 31 this year. The software manufacturer said that erroneous information about Windows 7's ending was posted online in December, adding that only the consumer versions, including Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate, would be ended. According to PC World, the move to exclude Windows 7

A previously unknown flaw in a recent version of Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer web browser is being used to attack Internet users, including some visitors to a major site for U.S. military veterans, researchers said Thursday. Security firm FireEye Inc discovered the attacks against IE 10 this week, saying that hundreds or thousands of machines have been infected. It said the culprits broke into the website of U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars and inserted a link that redirected visitors to a

Comcast Corp is buying Time Warner Cable Inc  for $45.2 billion in an all-stock deal, combining the nation's two largest cable operators, according to people familiar with the matter. The friendly takeover comes as a surprise after months of public pursuit of Time Warner Cable by smaller rival Charter Communications Inc, and immediately raised questions as to whether it would pass regulatory scrutiny. Comcast will pay $158.82 per share, which is roughly what Time Warner Cable demanded from Charter, and the deal

Nokia said on Wednesday it plans to challenge a Delhi High Court ruling that is blocking the transfer to Microsoft of assets related to its mobile phone business. One such asset - a plant in Chennai - is among Nokia's  biggest phone-making factories. Local authorities seized it last year in a tax dispute, blocking its transfer to Microsoft which bought Nokia's mobile phone business. Nokia agreed in December to place 22.50 billion rupees into an escrow account and pay for any additional

Google Inc., the company that leads Internet search, has gained a new superlative: top dealmaker. From buying a digital-thermostat developer to selling a mobile-phone business, Google has executed more deals than any company in the world over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through January, up from 13th place in the three years prior. Advertising-firm WPP Plc was second, followed by chipmaker Intel Corp. Since taking over as chief executive officer in 2011, co-founder Larry Page has pushed

The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months on Monday after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt. Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected "unusual activity." The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day. On the Mt. Gox platform the currency plunged to

Smarting from growing losses, Taiwanese phone maker HTC Corp says it will expand its range of cheaper products as it fixes off-target marketing for its premium smartphones. The company that has long prided itself as a purveyor of upscale, feature-loaded products says it needs to sell more mid-tier and affordable smartphones after losing out in 2013. Muscled off-track by fast-growing Chinese rivals like Xiaomi Inc as well as giants like Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc, HTC is seeking to reverse