Tag: techeye

Big Blue suits fight over redundancy

Posted on March 16, 2015 by - News

Backstreet_Boys_-_Black_&_Blue_album_coverSuits in Biggish Blue’s Systems Middleware division are fighting over the right to flee the company and collect a nice redundancy.

Some 110 people want to be paid to leave the company which is way more than the ten per cent of the division’s 736-strong workforce that IBM wanted.

IBM has said that if too many people applied for redundancy then it would choose from the list of volunteers.

The voluntary redundancy process is “coming to an end” and some will be offered redundancy. But the sheer size of the numbers of people who want out will be bad for IBM. It shows staff no longer have much confidence in the company and would rather take the money and run.

IBM has also bought in spending and travel restrictions to manage costs and it is investigating property portfolio projects which are aimed at reducing overall occupancy costs across IBM UK.
IBM staffers asking for redundancy will leave on 5 April, and compulsory lay-offs are not expected – at least, by employees.

Big Blue has restructured internal divisions, placed a big bet on cloud systems. It is also cutting costs by reducing its worldwide headcount. This follows eleven straight quarters of revenue decline.
IBM said it would take a $600m restructuring charge to expunge several thousand people this year, although the number of leavers depends on their seniority and pay scale.

 

HP resolves Autonomy case with shareholders

Posted on March 16, 2015 by - News

INDUSTRY HP 1Maker of expensive printer ink HP has finally won court approval of its settlement with shareholders over its botched Autonomy deal.

US District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted preliminary approval to the accord Friday, saying that unlike the last proposal it doesn’t provide officers and directors with broad protection against possible lawsuits that have nothing to do with the Autonomy acquisition.

The settlement releases HP from investor claims related to Autonomy in exchange for a set of corporate governance reforms and no money damages.

Executives at HP and Autonomy have been spatting over who’s responsible for the $8.8 billion writedown related to the $10 billion 2011 takeover of the UK software company. HP blamed much of the writedown on inaccurate financial statements, said it was the victim of fraud by Autonomy’s managers. Former Autonomy executives say HP missed it all up.

They argued, HP should be forced to litigate the shareholder suit, because then it would have to reveal documents that the Autonomy bosses believe will exonerate them of any wrongdoing. That doesn’t seem likely to happen.

The governance reforms apply to both entities to be formed when HP splits into two companies.

The reforms include the creation of a senior executive-led risk management committee, modifications to board-level oversight of mergers and acquisitions and a new due diligence policy for mergers.

Light sensor market set to boom

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

Samsung HQ Silicon Valley - MM picMEMS and sensors will be integral to the internet of things (IoT).

And today a report from analyst firm IHS said that the main beneficiaries of the boost in light sensors will be Samsung, Apple and Chinese original equipment manufacturing.

By 2016, revenues fro this sector will amount to $767 million, and Samsung is the main driver of the growth. Last year Samsung accounted for 43 percent of light sensor spending in smartphones.

Apple accounts for 19 percent of the market in 2014, mostly because it currently uses customised and high performance parts.

But Chinese OEMs spending in 2014 represented 23 percent of the market, mostly on low cost components as companies vied to produce inexpensive smartphones which actually have started competing with Samsung on the smartphone front.

As far as suppliers of the sensors go, AMS shipped 744 million units in 2014 and was the top vendor with design wins from both Apple and from Samsung.

Maxim shipped 132 million light sensors last year – most of them components in Samsung flagship products

But there are some contenders on the block, including Sitronix, Elan and Everlight, said IHS.

Microsoft migrates tech to competitors

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

windows-10-technical-preview-turquoiseThe artificial intelligence project called Einstein and used in its so called personal assistant Cortana is set to be ported to Android and to Apple’s iOS.

That’s according to a report from Reuters, which said in an exclusive interview that Cortana will eventually become a stand alone application.

But in the interim and widely flagged, Cortana will be rolled out as part of its Windows 10 desktop, not due until the autumn of 2015.

Microsoft has been boasting about Cortana’s abilities and a few weeks ago the company managed to predict a large number of Oscar winners.

Microsoft wants to get away from being considered a proprietary company and the new CEO broom at the company, Satya Nadella, wants to sprained the appeal of the company’s tech.

Certain differs from Google Siri because that trawls the web and its own server for information that it believes people want.

Certain is being projected as super duper artificial intelligence (AI). But although AI has been touted now for many decades it still faces many challenges.

What’s certain is that in the quest for the perfect AI agent, Microsoft faces many challenges from its competition – in particular Google – which has fairly deep pockets too.

Kids say Apple watch uncool

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

uncool-yellowbutton_web-600While the Tame Apple Press and older people think that Apple’s new watch is a good idea, the kids of today think it is as uncool as your dad dancing at the school disco.

Marketing research company Fizziology analyzed nearly a million tweets around Apple’s big iWatch announcement, and it turns out that millennials aren’t as excited about the Apple Watch as many people may have thought.

According to the research, those over 35 years old were twice as likely to discuss the Watch than those under 35. In addition, the research showed that one in six tweets about the Apple Watch were negative.

This seems to indicate that Apple, rather than attracting the hipsters, is getting their parents with its iWatch. This will be the kiss of death for Apple’s normal target market. In fact analysts believe that sales of the iPhone stalled when kids realised they were popular with their parents.

The Tame Apple press attempted to reassure their readers that interest in the Apple Watch will pick up.

“Just because people aren’t talking positively about the new product doesn’t mean it won’t sell well: The iPad received extremely negative response after the announcement, and look at their sales now,”” sniffed Neowin. Given that sales of the tablet are falling fast, we are not sure what Neowin’s point was here.

BT needs to be sliced up

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

still_open_all_hours_6BT’s business rivals have called for the telco to be sliced up after having enough of the outfit’s monopoly like powers.

It all goes back to 2006, when Ofcom forced BT to set up Openreach as a separate division that manages its network infrastructure across the UK.

This was supposed to give rival telephone and internet service providers (ISPs) equal access to BT’s wide-reaching network of copper and fibre cables and promote competition.

The signs are that it more or less worked, but now, Sky and TalkTalk are urging Ofcom to split up BT and Openreach completely.

TalkTalk’s CEO Dido Harding says it’s “crucial” that Openreach is separated because it would encourage the subsidiary to focus exclusively on the quality of its network.

At the heart of the problem is the BT and EE merger because the pair will have too much influence over the UK telecoms market and reduce their level of investment in Openreach.

Sky holds a similar view saying that splitting Openreach and BT “is at the heart of creating a sustainable industry” that allows multiple providers to compete.

Ofcom just announced its second ‘Strategic Review of Digital Communications’ and since this was the first to led to the creation of Openreach, it is an opportunity for BT’s rivals to put the boot in.

Ofcom is expected to be releasing a “discussion document” this summer, but the regulator’s initial conclusions won’t be published until the end of 2015.

 

 

Swedish prosecutors want a word with Assange

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

chiefIt seems that Swedish prosecutors want to talk to Julian Assange who is still holed up in an Ecuadorian embassy.

The Wikileaks founder Assange skipped bail so that he did not have to be extradited to Sweden to face police questioning on sex charges.

Assange insisted that the whole case against him had been fabricated because the US government was desperate to extradite him to the US to face spying charges.

Assange denies all the sexual assault allegations against him. He has previously called on Swedish prosecutors to question him in London, either in person or via videolink. The Foreign Office said it would welcome this possibly, but prosecutors in Stockholm have argued against it as it is not normal practice.

Now it seems that Sweden has changed its mind and are asking to question Assange in London on allegations of sexual misconduct.

The prosecutor on the case, Marianne Ny, also said she wants to take a DNA sample from Assange.

We don’t think it is likely that Assange will agree to that. He is likely to come up with some excuse that if the Swedes have his DNA the US spooks could plant it in various crime scenes to force him to come to the US.

However one of Assange’s lawyers, Per Samuelson, has welcomed the offer. “This is something we’ve demanded for over four years,” he said.

“Julian Assange wants to be interviewed so he can be exonerated.”

Last year, a Swedish court rejected an appeal by Assange to have his arrest warrant over sexual assault allegations revoked.

The British government says it has spent $10 million policing the embassy to ensure Assange does not flee the country.

Qualcomm gives fingers for ultra-security

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

Churchill-first-V-signQualcomm has announced details of its Ultrasonic Finger Print Reader which is part of its  new Snapdragon processor.

The idea is that the tech can be used by smartphone ODMs and OEMs to provide ultrasecurity for their phones.

Qualcomm’s tech uses ultrasonic waves to scan all of the ridges and wrinkles of your fingers. This means that it can do a deeper analysis than the 2D image created by a fingerprint mashed up against a capacitive sensor.

It can also penetrate beneath the surface of your skin to identify unique 3D characteristics of your print.

Ultrasonic waves can go through glass, aluminum, steel and plastic housings of any phone, they don’t need a dedicated touch pad or button to work. You could conceivably touch any part of the smartphone with a finger to gain access to the phone itself.

While many might see the technology as a stab in the eye of Apple, which uses the old style of fingerprint technology. Qualcomm’s major competitor is MediaTek, whose processors and related technology are used in millions of phones, especially in China and areas where low cost smartphones are selling well.

Qualcomm’s new Ultrasound fingerprint reader means it has a weapon to counter MediaTek.

The thought is that this could win Qualcomm a lot of business.

 

 

US advances cyber threat bill

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

National-Security-Agency--008A move that would allow the US government to share cyber information with private companies has been given the nod by a key committee.

The US Senate Intelligence Committee voted 14-1 on Thursday to approve a bill intended to enhance information sharing between private companies and intelligence agencies about cybersecurity threats.

The Bill will go to the Senate where it is expected to get a full backing – after all many private companies would like all that data that the US intelligence services collect and are quite happy to pay their tame Senators to change the law to get it.

Privacy advocates opposed the bill, worrying that it would do too little to prevent more data collection by the National Security Agency and other US intelligence agencies.

Privacy concerns were cited by the only member of the committee who voted against the bill, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon who saw it as another surveillance bill.

In practice the law is targeted at preventing the major cyber attacks and co-ordinate companies and government departments better. Microsoft, Lockheed Martin and Morgan Stanley, had pushed for a such a threat-sharing bill.

 

More gloom ahead for the PC market

Posted on March 13, 2015 by - News

A not so mobile X86 PCThere’s still no light at the end of tunnel for PC sales, market research company IDC has predicted.

It estimates that world wide shipments of PCs will drop by 4.9 percent this year, but it suggests things may be slightly better in 2016 and 2017.

Total shipments of PCs this year are expected to total 293.1 million, but the underlying trend remains poor.

IDC said that some sectors of the market saw an uptick in demand during the second half of last year, but volumes were up because the supply chain was inflated by Microsoft’s plan to cut subsidies in its Windows 8.1 + Bing scheme early this year.

The strong US dollar makes PCs more expensive and there’s a continuing move to other form factors. Intel won’t release its Skylake processor and Microsoft won’t ship Windows 10 until later this year, so many will wait buying until they see which particular writing is on the wall.

Emerging markets don’t offer much either. IDC said that these markets ended 2014 with a decline of 9.5 percent in PC shipments.

Loren Louverde, VP of PCs at IDC, said opportunities for long term growth depend largely on growth in the emerging market. “That seems unlikely with the shift towards mobile devices. Vendors can focus on growth segments of the market such as All in One, slim and convertible PCs, or consolidate share, but pressure on pricing and from competing devices will continue to make it a challenging market.”

Swatch fleshes out smart watch plans

Posted on March 12, 2015 by - News

Screen Shot 2015-03-12 at 16.29.23Giant watch vendor Swatch isn’t going to directly take on Apple in the smart watch market.

Instead it has what just might be a far more cunning plan.

According to CEO Nick Hayek, Swatch is going to start selling watches using inexpensive near field communication (NFC) chips, letting you make payments by just waving your wrist at the receiver.

Reuters said that Hayek’s view on Apple is that it is creating a new market for watches which it will be able to leverage. It won’t venture into what he described as having a mini mobile phone on your wrist.

Swatch hopes that people will buy Apple watches because lots of people don’t wear watches and if Apple succeeds in selling as many as it hopes, that will put it and other watch vendors in a stronger position.

Hayek is quoted as saying that Swatch is not in the business of upgrading software every year.

In any case, Swatch is going to introduce sort watches which will connect to Android phones and perform many of the functions of the Apple iWatch. You won’t have to pay hundreds or even thousands of US dollars for this functionality.

ICO busts nuisance call centre

Posted on March 12, 2015 by - News

policemanThe Information Commissioner’s Office said it raided a call centre in Hove that it thought is the origin of millions of nuisance phone calls.

The ICO said the company used automatic dialling to make millions of calls about payment protection or debt management.

The calls are made without peoples’ permission and the ICO said it’s impossible for people to opt out of them.

The enforcement people at the ICO removed documents and computer equipment for forensic action and to decide what action it could take to prevent the company from making the the prerecorded calls.

Options include issuing a civil monetary enforcement notice.

David Clancy, who led the raid for the ICO, said: “It is astounding to think this one small company has the ability to pester millions of people with unwanted calls on a huge skill.”

He said the rules are clear about making recorded calls without consent. “If the evidence proves the law has been broken, we will act,” he said.

Electronic marketing regulations are soon to change and that it will make it easier for the ICO to take action, he said.

 

Intel suffers $1 billion hit

Posted on March 12, 2015 by - News

Intel-logoChip megagiant Intel has revised its forecast for the first quarter of this year by close to one billion dollars.

The company said that people haven’t been buying the expected number of business PCs, and distributors, dealers and other vendors haven’t been ordering what Intel expected.

Intel thought that small and medium sized companies would flock in their droves to upgrade the now defunct Windows XP operating system. But that hasn’t happened.

It also said that currency conditions in Europe had affected its business.

Now Intel thinks its first quarter revenues will amount to $12.8 billion – down from its original estimate of $13.7 billion.

But if you’re starting to feel sorry for the behemoth, you don’t need to be. It said it is still expecting its gross margin to be about 60 percent, a gross margin that many other enterprises would die for.

 

Tablet shipments to slide

Posted on March 12, 2015 by - News

ipad3The next five years for shipments of tablets will see them grow only in the low single digits, according to market research company IDC.

IDC said it expects worldwide shipments of tablets to amount to 234.5 million units this year, that’s only 2.1 percent up from shipments last year.

It anticipates, however, that the commercial market for tablets will grow, and Microsoft will gain some market share in the sector.

IDC said that the Android operating system will remain the leader in the market while Apple’s iOS will show declines this year. Microsoft, which had 5.1 percent share in 2014, is expected to grow to 14.1 percent in 2019.

IDC thinks the introduction of Windows 10 this year will have a “significant impact” because people want consistency across different devices.

Predicted market share in 2019 will be 62.9 percent for Android based tablets, 23 percent for iOS based tablets, and 14.1 percent for Windows based tablets.

IBM pushes low power WANs

Posted on March 12, 2015 by - News

ibm-officeBig Blue said it is cooperating with Semtech to create a new technology using low power wide area networks (LPWANs) that it says has advantages over wi-fi and cellular nets for machine to machine communication.

The long rage wide area networks (LoRaWAN) uses a spec and protocol for low power nets that uses a wireless spectrum that can contact sensor over long distance in anticipation of the emergence of the internet of things (IoT).

These networks have better mobility, security, bi-directionality and localisation as well as being cheaper than existing networks, IBM said.

Semtech, IBM and other firms have formed an organisation called the LoRa Alliance to develop and provide standardisation for the technology.

The technology promises communications of over 60 miles in favourable environments, nine miles in semi rural environments and 1.2 miles in urban environments with data rates of 300 bit/s up to 100 kbit/s.

Sensors can run on one AA battery for 10 years and AES128 keys make for good security, IBM claimed.

Applications include machines telling distributors when they’ve run out of supplies or need fixing; cities could offer smart metering; distributors can track cargo containers; and home heating firms would get alerts when oil tanks are running low.

IBM has made the LoRaWAN protocol open source to encourage standardisation.