67628163
submission
jfruh writes:
The Bluetooth spec never quite became the worldbeater it was billed as, but it's aiming to become indispensible to the Internet of Things. Updates to the spec make it possible for low-powered Bluetooth devices to gain direct access to the Internet, and, perhaps more importantly, make those devices a lot harder to hack.
67627855
submission
jfruh writes:
With Microsoft aiming to make more money from cloud services and software subscriptions, some have speculated that Windows itself might be given away for free with the aim of locking users into Microsoft's ecosystem. But company COO Kevin Turner says that, while Windows 10 pricing hasn't been decided yet, it definitely won't be a "loss leader".
67519637
submission
itwbennett writes:
The allure of mobile devices has led Intel to take some uncharacteristic moves, partnering with Chinese companies to build some smartphone and tablet chips, and relying on third parties to manufacture those chips. Intel is betting the partnerships will accelerate its business in China, where smartphone shipments are booming. But the company wants to regain complete control over manufacturing, and on Thursday said it was investing $1.6 billion over 15 years in a China plant for mobile chip development and manufacturing.
67512639
submission
jfruh writes:
In 2012, Microsoft invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble's Nook division. This week, Microsoft agreed to sell its interest back to B&N so that the struggling bookstore could try to spin the division off as a separate business or sell it. The sale price was so low that Microsoft essentially lost nearly $190,000 every day on the botched attempt to gain access to the e-reader ecosystem.
67512491
submission
jfruh writes:
One of the EU's selling points is that it provides a single regulatory apparatus for the entire European market — but this isn't the case for everything. Data protection laws, for instance, provide a confusing thicket of different regulations across the continent, and now, much to the frustration of large American Internet companies, it seems that a plan to consolidate these rules under a single EU agency are coming apart.
67486171
submission
itwbennett writes:
IBM's X Force security researchers found an easy way to gain access to Web accounts by taking an advantage of an oversight in how some social login services are configured. The attack that abuses LinkedIn is demonstrated in a video included in a blog post. The attacker creates an account with LinkedIn, using the victim's email address. Once the LinkedIn account is created, the attacker goes to Slashdot (or Nasdaq.com, Crowdfunder.com and other sites) by abusing LinkedIn's social login mechanism. and uses the social login feature.
67443513
submission
itwbennett writes:
In the last three months, Fitbit, Snapchat and Sidecar all began lobbying in Washington for the first time, each paying D.C.-based lobbying companies to monitor moves by the federal government and lawmakers that might impact their business. Some companies have gone a step further and opened their own office in D.C., with their own lobbyist. Uber began in-house lobbying this year, less than a year after it first arrived in Washington, and has already spent $100,000 on its own efforts. Music streaming service Pandora, which has spent almost a million dollars on lobbying in the last four years, registered its own lobbyist in September and quickly spent a further $120,000. And then there's the erstwhile over-air TV streaming company Aereo, which had already spent $820,000 over two and a half years to pay a lobbying company, and then a few months after the Supreme Court ruling it filed papers to begin lobbying activity itself.
67443041
submission
itwbennett writes:
The FTC has reached a proposed settlement with PaymentsMD, an Atlanta health billing company that used the sign-up process for its billing service to surreptitiously seek customers’ consent to obtain detailed medical information. The medical information PaymentsMD requested included customers’ prescriptions, procedures, medical diagnoses, lab tests performed and their results, and other information, the FTC said. The bright spot in all this: In all but one case, the health care providers contacted for data refused to comply with PaymentsMD’s requests.
67389893
submission
jfruh writes:
Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town is a subdivision taking shape southwest of Tokyo. Built buy Panasonic, it aims to eventually produce zero CO2, but in the short term will reduce CO2 emissions by 70 percent compared to 1990 levels, as well as reducing water use by 30 percent. The town features lots and lots of solar panels, and, as you might expect, lots and lots of Panasonic appliances and gadgets.
67389735
submission
jfruh writes:
Hewlett-Packard acknowledges that its Unix business is in decline. However, the company also knows those customers remaining need support, and has rolled out a roadmap for its HP-UX Unix variant that will keep it up-to-date until 2025.
67386683
submission
itwbennett writes:
For the past two years, a team of Iranian hackers has compromised computers and networks belonging to over 50 organizations in 16 countries, including airlines, defense contractors, universities, military installations, hospitals, airports, telecommunications firms, government agencies, and energy and gas companies, researchers from IT security firm Cylance said in an extensive report released Tuesday. According to the report, 'ten of these victims are headquartered in the US and include a major airline, a medical university, an energy company specializing in natural gas production, an automobile manufacturer, a large defense contractor, and a major military installation.'
67338397
submission
jfruh writes:
Big companies like Google may need to fill seats with high-skilled workers, but smaller companies — which often fit the profile of the hip workplaces people dream of — still have the luxury of picking and choosing. That's why applicants' social skills and "cultural fit" are so important, which may shatter your dreams of tech as a clique-free meritocracy.
67336065
submission
itwbennett writes:
Plaintiffs in the Apple iPod iTunes antitrust litigation complain that Apple married iTunes music with iPod players, and they want $350 million in damages. The lawsuit accuses Apple of violating U.S. and California antitrust law by restricting music purchased on iTunes from being played on devices other than iPods and by not allowing iPods to play music purchased on other digital music services. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs will reportedly appear via a videotaped statement during the trial, scheduled to begin Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
67098907
submission
itwbennett writes:
China's state-controlled Xinhua News Agency said on Sunday that an unnamed international company was forced to pay 840 million yuan ($136 million) in back taxes, as part of a Chinese government crackdown on tax evasion. The Xinhua article simply referred to it as the "M company," describing it as a top 500 global firm headquartered in the U.S. that in 1995 set up a wholly owned foreign subsidiary in Beijing. The details match Microsoft's own background, and no other company obviously fits the bill. Xinhua added, that despite the company's strengths, its subsidiary in China had not been not making a profit, and posted a loss of over $2 billion during a six-year period.
67072235
submission
itwbennett writes:
Dealing with the fallout of one of the largest ever data breaches, Home Depot spent $43 million in its third quarter on investigations, providing identity theft protection services to consumers, increased call center staffing and other legal and professional services. The retailer said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it expects $15 million of that cost will be reimbursed by a $100 million network security and privacy liability insurance policy.
