Miscellaneous
08 September 2010
Packaging Is All the Rage, And Not in a Good Way New York Times
Compared to the traditional versions of the products, frustration-free products have earned on average a 73 percent reduction in negative feedback on the Amazon site.
06 September 2010
Australian pedestrian death rise blamed on iPods Sydney Morning Herald
Death by iPod is being blamed as a contributing factor to the 25 per cent rise in the number of pedestrian fatalities in NSW.
02 September 2010
Cisco, Itron to jointly design US smart energy grid communications IT World
Networking giant Cisco today announced an alliance with Itron, a Liberty Lake, Wash.-based utility metering technology company, to develop secure Internet Protocol (IP) communications technology for so-called smart energy grids that connect wired and wireless networks.
31 August 2010
Google renews licensing deal with AP for news content Network World
After months of negotiations, Google has renewed the content licensing deal that allows it to publish full-text news articles from the Associated Press on Google sites such as Google News.
17 August 2010
Internet to slow down unless more undersea cables are laid Christian Science Monitor
As the internet rapidly expands with ever more videos, web pages and posts, more ocean-spanning cable lines will be needed to string together this essential global computer network.
13 August 2010
Reporters Without Borders slams Wikileaks ABC News
Reporters Without Borders has criticised the Wikileaks website's "incredible irresponsibility" in publishing the names of Afghans who had helped international troops fighting insurgents.
10 August 2010
Skype plans to raise $100m in New York flotation The Guardian
The internet phone service Skype plans to raise up to $100m through a Wall Street flotation, although the company's prospectus revealed today that the firm is facing a potentially embarrassing investigation by US authorities for alleged sanctions-busting in Iran.
02 August 2010
Technology Races to Keep Up With Tide of Data New York Times
As smartphones and video streaming double the crunch of data carried over mobile networks each year, big advances in optical transport, data filtering and networking are keeping the Internet from collapsing under its own weight.
30 July 2010
Joi Ito: Life among the cyber-elite BBC News
Joichi 'Joi' Ito is to start-ups what Brian Epstein was to the Beatles. With a talented eye for a promising idea, the 44-year-old has spotted and nurtured some of the web's most famous names, with the likes of Twitter, Flickr and Last.fm all receiving his help on the path to social-networking success.
25 July 2010
If Apple wants to be a major player it needs to start behaving like one The Observer
Over the past two months, Apple's market capitalisation (ie its value as measured by the stock market) averaged out at $229.8bn.
Opinion: Even With All Its Profits, Microsoft Has a Popularity Problem New York Times
Measured by profits, Microsoft trounces Apple and Google. In the most recent three months, Microsoft earned $4.52 billion, versus Apple's $3.25 billion and Google's $1.8 billion. But, dear investors, where is the love for this beaten-down company?
23 July 2010
Microsoft posts record quarterly revenues of $16bn The Guardian
Microsoft added to the growing sense of recovery in the technology sector last night by reporting record quarterly revenues, driven by strong sales. The software giant pipped Apple, one of its greatest rivals, with a 22% jump in revenues to $16bn (£10.5bn) in the three months to the end of June. Operating profits jumped 49% to $5.9bn during the quarter.
19 July 2010
Technology Rivals Lobby to Break Microsoft's Hold New York Times
A European plan to advise governments on software purchases has set off a lobbying battle this summer between the U.S. software giant Microsoft and its rivals Google, I.B.M., Red Hat and Oracle over a set of guidelines that could redefine the competitive landscape for proprietary and open-source software.
17 July 2010
Apple's iPhone imbroglio - Antennaegate: A minor glitch in Apple’s latest phone hints at bigger problems The Economist
Apple is revered in boardrooms and business schools around the world. The firm has produced a string of winning products, from the iPod to the iPad, that have generated mountains of money for its shareholders. But a growing controversy involving its latest gadget, the iPhone 4, threatens to take a little shine off its gleaming brand.
16 July 2010
Google Earnings Disappoint Investors New York Times
Like an impatient audience at intermission, Google's investors are waiting for its second act.
15 July 2010
Editorial: The Google Algorithm New York Times
Google handles nearly two-thirds of Internet search queries worldwide. Analysts reckon that most Web sites rely on the search engine for half of their traffic. When Google engineers tweak its supersecret algorithm -- as they do hundreds of times a year -- they can break the business of a Web site that is pushed down the rankings.
12 July 2010
Australia's CSIRO to trial wireless over analogue TV spectrum Computerworld
The CSIRO will begin live field trials of its experimental wireless technology in September to assess whether spectrum formerly used for analogue television can be used to deliver National Broadband Network (NBN) services.
Google accuses Jobs of 'rewriting history' The Age
Google has accused Apple CEO Steve Jobs of "rewriting history" on the smartphone wars and rejected any notion that Apple or Facebook presented a threat to the web search leader's business.
11 July 2010
Comment: Apple is better by design, but does little for western workers The Observer
Apple employs 25,000 people in the US but the Chinese company that make its products has 800,000 employees. Time to rethink the model, says John Naughton
10 July 2010
Google Street View gets back on the road ZDNet
Google's Street View cars are hitting the road again, after being sidelined in May over their unauthorised collection of people's Wi-Fi data.
05 July 2010
Microsoft Calling. Anyone There? New York Times
Microsoft's engineers and executives spent two years creating a new line of smartphones with playful names that sounded like creatures straight out of "The Cat in the Hat" -- Kin One and Kin Two. Stylish designs, an emphasis on flashy social-networking features and an all-out marketing blitz were meant to prove that Microsoft could build the right product at the right time for the finickiest customers -- gossiping youngsters with gadget skills.
04 July 2010
Revealed: What Apple really thinks about its customers Independent on Sunday
Its products are launched with more hype than a new Madonna album and generate small armies of fanboys queuing around the block. As far as they are concerned, Apple can do no wrong. Until now.
02 July 2010
Google buys air fare data firm The Guardian
Google last night splashed out $700m (£460m) on a specialist aggregator of airline flight information, ITA Software, in a venture into travel data that is likely to set off competitive alarm bells among many online booking agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and eBookers.
Google pays gay US workers extra Daily Telegraph [UK]
Google has begun paying extra to its gay employees in the US to compensate them for additional taxes on their benefits.
01 July 2010
Travel industry running scared from Google The Independent
Google's talks to buy ITA Software, an airline IT and services provider, has travel executives worried that the search engine giant could wield too much power in their industry.
