53801817
submission
symbolset writes:
Zach Whittaker over at ZDNet covers an IDC report. In it the 2013 9.7% forecast decline in PC shipments is advanced to 10.1%. Further, IDC's longer-term forecast turns quite grim: contracting 23% from 2012 levels by 2017.
There is also a projection of future Windows tablet sales, and a statement that total Windows tablet sales for 2013 are expected to be "less than 7.5 million units".
52889181
submission
symbolset writes:
The Verge is reporting that in a company-wide email today Microsoft HR Chief Lisa Brummel announced a new employee review system that unambiguously drops the stack ranking system. The prior system had been widely blamed by analysts for counterproductive internal competition.
52110907
submission
symbolset writes:
Mashable is reporting that the update has been failing for some people resulting in an unusable device and loss of data, leading the company to withdraw the update until further notice.
51217081
submission
symbolset writes:
Gizmodo has an article about the upcoming deployment of Google Fiber to Provo. The City of Provo made an informative Youtube video about it.
50182111
submission
symbolset writes:
REDMOND, Washington and ESPOO, Finland – Sept. 3, 2013 – Microsoft Corporation and Nokia Corporation today announced that the Boards of Directors for both companies have decided to enter into a transaction whereby Microsoft will purchase substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services.
Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will pay EUR 3.79 billion to purchase substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, and EUR 1.65 billion to license Nokia’s patents, for a total transaction price of EUR 5.44 billion in cash. Microsoft will draw upon its overseas cash resources to fund the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, subject to approval by Nokia’s shareholders, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
49315405
submission
symbolset writes:
In a public press conference viewable on Arirang news Tepco general manager Masayuki Ono said today the situation is bleak: "We understand that this discharge is beyond our control and we do not think the current situation is good." As the groundwater the melted reactor cores are steeping in rises, the press expects the level to crest over the existing barriers and resume spilling into the sea in a matter of weeks.
49304377
submission
symbolset writes:
Last night the town of Prairie Village, Kansas voted to accept a deal with Google for Google Fiber Internet and video services. They are the 17th municipal entity to do agree to Google Fiber. Google Fiber is a service of Google which offers symmetric gigabit Internet service over fiber to the premises at very low rates.
49259837
submission
symbolset writes:
Researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope have imaged some evidence that the merger of neutron stars is responsible for producing a short-duration gamma ray burst. On June 3rd the Swift gamma-ray burst (GRB) mission detected GRB 130603B, a burst lasting only one tenth of a second nearly 4 billion lightyears away. Imaging with Hubble they located a small red dot which, over the course of the following two weeks dimmed. Cites an article in yesterday's special online edition of Nature.
49145417
submission
symbolset writes:
HuffPo reports that Microsoft Office will be released for Android phones from Wednesday. /From the porcine aviation department?
49130463
submission
symbolset writes:
AllThingsD's intrepid reporter Ina Fried has an interview up where Asus chairman and CEO Jonney Shih says they will not make any more Windows RT devices until Microsoft proves demand for the product.
This leaves Dell as the only OEM who has not sworn off Windows RT. Dell is seeking to take itself private, relying on a $2 billion loan from Microsoft.
49130177
submission
symbolset writes:
Numerous sites are covering Microsoft's ordinarily dry 10-K report to the SEC today as it reveals more information about sales of tablets than previously disclosed. For the entire span of Microsoft Surface RT and Pro life so far, $853 million in revenues. As Microsoft has already written down $900 million in value of inventory on the Surface RT alone, this does not look good. Making it worse, additional advertising expense for Surface and Windows 8 come in at $898 million. If you're interested in directions in tech the 10-K is a long slog but worth the effort. Losses on the Surface Pro are yet to be revealed, and it is unknown whether Microsoft will be able to get the liquidation value out of their Surface RT stock that they expect.
Also in the 10-K: Microsoft doesn't want former Windows chief Stephen Sinofsky to work for Amazon, Apple, EMC, Google, Facebook, Oracle or VMware. The ban expires 12/31/13, so then he's free to do what he will.
48832469
submission
symbolset writes:
The Standard-Examiner reports that while it's not a crisis yet blood donations have been down 10% in the month of June, and the Red Cross is asking people to donate if they can.
48811691
submission
symbolset writes:
Apparently Australians have come up with the brilliant idea that if you don't want to be eaten by a shark it's best to not go swimming in shark infested waters in a seal costume.
48640655
submission
symbolset writes:
Discovery News is covering a project by two engineers from the University of Michigan to pair cubesats with tiny ion engines for inexpensive interplanetary exploration. The tiny plasma drive called the CubeSat Ambipolar Thruster (CAT) will ionize water and use it as propellant with power provided by solar cells. In addition to scaling down the size of ion engines they hope to bring down the whole cost of development and launch to under $200,000.
47914897
submission
symbolset writes:
Ars is reporting that Microsoft XBox One Kinect will not work on Windows PCs. It uses a proprietary connector and an adaptor will not be available. If you want Kinect for your PC you will need to buy a "Kinect for Windows" product. Although the Kinect 1.0 for XBox 360 also had a proprietary connector it came with a USB adaptor for compatibility with older versions of the 360 that lacked the new proprietary port and PC compatibility was quickly hacked up by third parties.
