Amazon getting into advertising business

Posted on August 25, 2014 by - News

amazonOnline bookseller Amazon is getting into the internet advertising business.

The Wall Street Journal has been telling the world+dog that the in-house platform aims to replace ads supplied by Google on Amazon’s own website.

However the plan is to later expand the program to challenge Google and Microsoft advertising business in the future.

Amazon’s system is similar to Google’s AdWords, and is planned to make it easier for marketers to reach the company’s users.

The retailer is also building a tool that would help advertising agencies buy in bulk for thousands of advertisers.

Analysts have been wondering how long it would take Amazon to try to stick its foot in the door of the advertising industry. After all, if you know what a person reads you can target a lot of advertising their way.

Amazon is sitting on a huge consumer data but has so far been reluctant to use it for advertising.

The company already has an advertising service it employs chiefly on its own website but it is extremely low key in comparison to the potential.

 

Last of the Great Big Blue Mohicans dies

Posted on August 25, 2014 by - News

akarJohn Akers, one of the “Last of the Great Big Blue Mohicans” who led IBM to its longtime dominance of the computer industry died of a stroke on Friday. He was 79 years old.

Akers was a former fighter pilot who served as IBM’s chief executive from 1985 to 1993, this was a critical time for Biggish Blue as PCs, Microsoft and Intel started to grow.

However Akers was determined to keep IBM operating using its traditional methods, particularly when it came to being nice to employees.

Akers joined IBM in 1960 and rose through its sales ranks. Four years later, the company released a machine called the System/360 that cleaned the clock of rivals and Akers found himself very busy.

He received 16 promotions in a span of 23 years, but he also dubbed the IBM uniform of blue suits, white shirts and striped ties as “very square.”

As IBM’s mainframe sales tanked in the 1980s, Akers ordered reorganisations and job cuts. During his tenure, IBM posted its first operating loss and recorded more than $15 billion in charges.

He resigned, under pressure and was replaced by Louis Gerstner, Gerstner delivered big changes, including plant closings and a shift away from hardware and toward software and services.

However, Akers was known as a gentleman, who liked and cared for his employees.

 

Gmail a doddle to hack

Posted on August 25, 2014 by - News

black holeA hole in Android, Windows, and iOS makes Gmail a doddle to hack to steal personal information.

Researchers at the California Riverside Bourns College of Engineering and the University of Michigan have identified a weakness they believe to exist across Android, Windows, and iOS operating systems that could allow malicious apps to obtain personal information.

So far the attack has been tested only on an Android phone, but it is believed that the method could be used across all three operating systems because all three can access a mobile device’s shared memory.

Zhiyun Qian, an associate professor at UC Riverside aid that one app can in fact significantly impact another and result in harmful consequences for the user.”

First, a user must download an app that appears benign, such as a wallpaper, but actually contains malicious code. Once installed, the researchers can use it to access the shared memory statistics of any process, which does not require any special privileges.

The researchers monitored changes in this shared memory and can correlate see if someone is logging into Gmail, H&R Block, or taking a picture of a cheque to deposit it online via Chase Bank. They managed to hack with a success rate of 82 to 92 percent. Using a few other side channels, the team was able to accurately track what a user was doing in real-time.

It is not that easy. The attack needs to take place at the exact moment that the user is performing the action. Second, the attack needs to be conducted in such a way that the user is unaware of it.

Of the seven apps tested, Amazon was the hardest to crack, with a 48 percent success rate. This is because the app allows one activity to transition to another activity, making it harder to guess what the user will do next.

The team will present its paper, “Peeking into Your App without Actually Seeing It: UI State Inference and Novel Android Attacks” (PDF), at the USENIX Security Symposium in San Diego on August 23. You can watch some short videos of the attacks in action below.

Microsoft keeps its cash offshore

Posted on August 25, 2014 by - News

bahmasSoftware giant Microsoft is storing pots of cash away from the US government tax man.

According to disclosures in the company’s most recent annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission Redmond is sitting on almost $29.6 billion it would owe in US tax collector if it bought $92.9 billion it has stored in its off-shore bank accounts.

The cash would amount to almost the entire two-year operating budget of the company’s home state of Washington.

Microsoft insists that it is not avoiding tax and that the money it keeps out of the US is “reinvested outside the US.

However, it does look more as if the company is using tax shelters to dodge the taxes it owes as a company domiciled in the United States.

Microsoft’s SEC filing is turning up just when the US government is under pressure to do something about the fairness of U.S.-based multinational corporations using offshore subsidiaries and so-called “inversions” to avoid paying American taxes. Such manoeuvres although often legal threaten to reduce US corporate tax receipts during an era marked by government budget deficits. However if US politicians do anything about it, they are almost certain to lose all their campaign contributions from big corporates.

 

Intel talks up wi-fi cunning plans

Posted on August 22, 2014 by - News

cunning-planChipzilla is telling the world about its cunning plans to move to “wire-free” computing by 2016.

Writing in the company bog, Intel is apparently developing a smart dock through which laptops can wirelessly connect to monitors and external peripherals.

Intel said that this will remove the need to plug HDMI or DisplayPort display connectors directly into laptops. The wireless dock will provide USB 3.0-like speeds to transfer data to external peripherals.

“When you walk in the office with your laptop, it will automatically link with your wireless-enabled monitor or projector to deliver an HD streaming experience without the hassle of plugging into your HDMI or DisplayPort,” Intel said.

Intel is developing technology so wireless monitors automatically start and link up when laptops are within a specific distance. Intel calls this “proximity-based peripheral syncing” technology.

People could also log on with face recognition, without the need to touch the keyboard.

Most of Intel’s wire-free computing is based on WiGig, which is faster than the latest Wi-Fi technology. Intel is also considering WiGig to connect wireless keyboards and mice to laptops.

Power adapters will also become outdated in Intel’s wireless world. It is developing wireless charging technologies for laptops. So far we have already seen charging pads based on A4WP’s Rezence magnetic resonance technology.

Intel is expected to explain its wire-free computing for business PCs plans at the Intel Developer Forum next month in San Francisco.

But it will have to move fast. Rivals bought Wilocity, which develops WiGig technology, last month and will put WiGig in its Snapdragon mobile chipsets so smartphones and tablets can wirelessly stream 4K video to external displays.

 

Oregon wakes up to deal with Intel devil

Posted on August 22, 2014 by - News

satanic pactIt seems that people are starting to add up the cost of their tax sweeteners with Intel and they are not liking the numbers they are seeing.

Blue Oregon  has reported that Chipzilla has  asked for, and may well get their second dose of 30 year “tax certainty”,

This means that Intel does not have to pay Oregon income taxes for 30 years. But that was not enough, it is negotiating with Washington County Commissioners and the Hillsboro City Council on getting the same low property taxes they’ve had for the last 20 years as well.

There were a few people who do not think this a good idea and the Washington County Commission’s and the Hillsboro City Council’s open comment periods saw tax payers ask elected representatives a few questions about why Intel  was being allowed nearly a tax free life.

Of course, the elected representatives are unlikely to agree with the taxpayers, and seem certain to pledge Intel 30 years’ worth of tax breaks. They will say that Intel is promising to keep at least 17,500 Oregon employees for the next 30 years and will invest $100 billion in the region during that time.

However, those pesky tax payers with their slide rules point out that Intel is not promising anything as part of the deal and even if it was, it stinks for local tax payers who will have to fund Intel.

Intel said that it needs all these tax breaks to fund new equipment because their equipment costs are rising. However, the taxpayers point out that money really should be spent on public services and not giving Intel some state supported gear.

All up it is fairly likely that Intel will get its way and the tax payers will not even get a discount on the State backed products they made.

 

Monkey selfie is public domain

Posted on August 22, 2014 by - News

Picture thanks to Wiki Commons

Picture thanks to Wiki Commons

It looks like Wikipedia was right, and the “ape selfie” photo really is public domain.

The US Copyright Office has ruled  against David Slater the photographer, who has claimed ownership snap saying that images taken by animals, including the 2011 primate self-shot, could not be registered for copyright by a human.

“The Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants,” the US copyright authority said.

While we can see that a camera could be struck by lightning and take a pic, we are not sure how a tree could take a picture, but it is clear that the USOP is covering all its bases here.  We notice that if a lump of a satellite falls on your camera and takes a picture that would technically be covered, because it is not nature.

However the copyright office will not register anything which is claimed to have been created by divine or supernatural beings, although the Office may register a work where the states that the work was inspired by a divine spirit.

So if I claim that my novel Sex Slaves of Babylon was inspired by the God Marduk it could be copyrighted, but if I claimed Marduk actually wrote it, then it could not be.

The copyright office specifically cites the monkey snap which has been the source of a legal battle between the Wikimedia Foundation and Slate when a macaque nicked his camera and pressed the shutter button a number of times.

 

Cloud lifts Salesforce aloft

Posted on August 22, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeSalesforce surprised the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street by reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.

According to the company, its revenue was helped by an increase in demand for its web-based sales and marketing software. It also raised its full-year profit and revenue forecast.

Salesforce expects an adjusted profit of 50-52 cents per share on revenue of $5.34-$5.37 billion for the year ending Jan. 31. It had previously predicted it would make 49-51 cents on revenue of $5.30-$5.34 billion. Wall Street had been expected a profit of 51 cents per share on revenue of $5.34 billion.

Wall Street now suspects that Salesforce is sitting on a few mega-deals in the pipeline that it should close.

Salesforce is investing in software targeted at specific sectors such as healthcare to boost growth and has already signed some deals with Dutch healthcare and lighting company Philips to offer online management of chronic diseases.

Salesforce reported net loss of $61.1 million for the second quarter ended July 31, compared with a profit of $76.6 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.32 billion from $957.1 million.

The outfit’s subscription and support revenue, which accounts for 93 percent of total revenue, rose 37 percent. Professional services revenue rose 58 percent.

Ebay may change mind on Paypal

Posted on August 22, 2014 by - News

janus1Online auction outfit Ebay has changed its mind about Paypal and might spin off the fast growing unit.

For a while now it has been suggested that Ebay should off-load Paypal to make a fast buck. In fact, activist investor Carl Icahn has said as much. But EBay CEO John Donahoe said that PayPal was important to eBay’s business and a split would not make sense.

However, EBay told potential candidates for the position of PayPal chief executive officer, a post that David Marcus vacated in June, about a possible spinoff of the payments unit.

EBay spokeswoman Amanda Miller clearly did not get the memo and insisted that that board will continue to “assess all alternatives to create that long-term value and to enhance the growth and competitive positions of both eBay and PayPal.” This position has not changed said.

It is a little odd that Ebay is thinking about it. Donahoe won Icahn  over to his point of view. Ichan backed off from his demand in April, saying that while he supported a PayPal split in the near future, now was not the time. Although that was April and thinks might have changed by the end of the year.

Intel to buy MediaTek prediction

Posted on August 21, 2014 by - News

entrailsThe fortune-tellers at RBC Capital Markets have emerged from their blood-stained temples with a dark prediction for MediaTek.

Analyst Doug Freedman, after seeing the liver of a particularly well fed Ram, claims that Intel will write a cheque for $27 billion to buy wireless chipmaker MediaTek within three years.

He told the Street that the deal would make sense as Intel’s earnings would grow and would help stop the investment losses it is incurring to grow wireless market share.

Freedman said the deal will happen within the next two-to-three years “almost out of necessity.” He said that  MediaTek’s purchase is Intel’s best option to grow in the wireless market. Intel may also find that the timing is improving for a large deal as the baseband market continues to consolidate, the analyst said.

Although $27 billion is a lot of dosh, Chipzilla is already spending more than $1 billion a quarter to expand into the mobile and wireless market.  This money appears to be just disappearing and the company is suffering heavy losses in the unit as it tries to boost market share beyond the single digits. Over all buying MediaTek could be a less expensive way to drive market share gains and would entail less risk, Freedman said.

MediaTek is a big name in mobile and tablet chipsets, in addition to Bluetooth, WLAN and GPS chips and NFC system on chips.  While Intel pines away in the baseband market,  MediaTek has made steady market share gains.

This would be the second time that Intel has had to buy the stairway to wireless heaven. In 2010 Intel bought Infineon’s wireless solutions business for $1.4 billion .  However Intel’s baseband market share has fallen to the mid-single digits.

Intel has made significant investments but it isn’t expected to post revenue growth in the next two and a half years, according to Wall Street consensus.

 

AMD slashes prices

Posted on August 21, 2014 by - News

The_Pit_and_the_Pendulum_(1961_film)_posterAMD appears to have been going on a campaign of price cutting to take out  Intel’s Core i5 “Devil’s Canyon”.

According to Xbit Labs,  Intel wants to cut prices of its AMD FX-9000 “Centurion” microprocessors in a bid to make them more competitive “Devil’s Canyon” and several other chips from its rival.

AMD has also slightly reduced prices of other FX-series chips and culled some older and lower-end models.

From September 1, 2014, AMD’s FX-9370, with eight cores, 4.40/4.70GHz, 8MB L2 cache, 8MB L3 cache, 220W thermal design power will cost $199 .  The  top-of-the-range FX-9590, eight cores, 4.70/5.0GHz, 8MB L2 cache, 8MB L3 cache, 220W thermal design power will set you back $215.

The prices of the FX-9370 and the FX-9590 will be cut by 23 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Given the minimal difference between pricing of the FX-9370 and the FX-9590.

AMD has promised to cut the prices of “mainstream” FX-series chips slightly on the 1st of September to make them more competitive.

The company said that it will discontinue or will not change the price of many older AMD FX central processing units, including FX-8150, FX-8120, FX-6200, FX-6100, FX-4170, FX-4130 and FX-4100.

Centurion was AMD’s attempt to deal with the launch of Haswell. AMD released two “extreme” FX-class central processing units code-named “Centurion”, which are compatible with advanced AM3+ mainboards and require sophisticated cooling systems. Initially the FX-9370 and the FX-9590 chips were only available to select system integrators and cost up to $800-$900 per unit.

It had been expected that AMD would introduce all-new AMD FX-9000-series “Centurion” microprocessors with increased clock-rates, but it looks like the price cut will make them look better against Intel’s Core i5-4690K “Devil’s Canyon”.

 

Ebooks worse than paper

Posted on August 21, 2014 by - News

kindle-waterBad news for readers of ebooks, a team of boffins have worked out that if you read information on a tablet you are less likely to take it in.

A new study which found that readers using a Kindle were “significantly” worse than paperback readers at recalling when events occurred in a mystery story.

The study gave 50 readers the same short story by Elizabeth George to read. Half read the 28-page story on a Kindle, and half in a paperback, with readers then tested on aspects of the story including objects, characters and settings.

Anne Mangen of Norway’s Stavanger University, a lead researcher on the study, was looking for differences in the immersion facilitated by the device, and in emotional responses.

What she found was that Kindle readers performed significantly worse they were asked to place 14 events in the correct order.

The researchers think that “the haptic and tactile feedback of a Kindle does not provide the same support for mental reconstruction of a story as a print pocket book does”.

Mangen said that When you read a paper book, it is possible to make sense of the flow of the book because your fingers feel a pile of pages on the left growing, and shrinking on the right.  This gives the reader a tactile sense of progress.

A similar test in Norway gave kids texts to read in print, or in PDF on a computer screen, followed by comprehension tests. She and her fellow researchers found that “students who read texts in print scored significantly better on the reading comprehension test than students who read the texts digitally.”

What is worrying is that “research shows that the amount of time spent reading long-form texts is in decline, and due to digitisation, reading is becoming more intermittent and fragmented”, with evidence indicating that the use of devices might negatively impact cognitive and emotional aspects of reading..

Mangen said that there needed to be research and evidence-based knowledge provided to publishers on what kind of devices should be used for what kind of content; what kinds of texts are likely to be less hampered by being read digitally, and which might require the support of paper.

 

 

Torvalds still dreams of desktop Linux

Posted on August 21, 2014 by - News

torvaldsLinus Torvalds told his open saucy mates at  LinuxCon that he still wanted to see Linux running on the desktop.

Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman moderated the discussion and commented that Linux already runs everywhere, but asked Torvalds where he thinks Linux should go next.

According to eWeek Torvalds replied that he wanted to see it on the desktop. However, that was not really a kernel problem but an infrastructure one. He said that he thought that Linux will get there one day.

While this was more in the future, Torvalds said that one of Linux’s biggest problems was kernel code bloat was also addressed as Linux is now being run in small-form-factor embedded devices.

Torvalds said he’d love for Linux to shrink in size “We’ve been bloating the kernel over the last 20 years, but hardware has grown faster,” he said.

One of the big successes for Linux on small-form-factor devices in recent years has been the rise of the Raspberry Pi device; the mini-computer, he said.

Linux was also being held back by the fact that some Linux kernel code has only a single maintainer and that can mean trouble when that maintainer wants to take time off.  He said that at good setup that is now used by the x86 maintainers is to have multiple people maintaining the code.

He added that things have improved with ARM as a result of using multiple maintainers.  In the bad old days when Torvalds used to do ARM merges, he wanted to shoot himself and take a few ARM developers with him.

“It’s now much less painful and ARM developers are picking up the approach.”

 

Half of users share their passwords

Posted on August 21, 2014 by - News

face-palmMore than half of users risk their computer being hacked because they share their passwords or sign up for automatic log on to mobile apps and services.

Research by security outfit Intercede said that while more than half of users thought security was important they putting their personal data at risk by sharing usernames and passwords with friends, family and colleagues.

The survey of 2,000 consumers also questioned whether these passwords are strong enough to protect consumers’ applications and the data they hold.

Half of respondents stated that they try and remember passwords rather than writing them down or using password management solutions, suggesting that consumers are relying on easy to remember combinations and using the same password across multiple sites and devices.

Richard Parris, CEO of Intercede said that we need so many passwords today, for social networking, email, online banking and a whole host of other things, that it’s not surprising consumers are taking shortcuts with automatic log ins and easy to remember passwords.

The research revealed that consumers are not only sharing passwords but also potentially putting their personal and sensitive information at risk by leaving themselves logged in to applications on their mobile devices, with over half of those using social media applications and email admitting that they leave themselves logged in on their mobile device.

Parris said that consumers are also compromising their bank and credit card details by selecting ‘Remember me’ or ‘Keep me signed in’ options.

Of those that use Amazon and other shopping sites, 21 per cent said they were automatically logged in, while the figures stood at 16 per cent for mobile banking and 12 per cent for PayPal.

Intel replays marketing card

Posted on August 20, 2014 by - Moving People, News

Intel-logoBecause Intel has so few products to show at its expensive upcoming Intel Developer Forum in September in San Francisco, it will play its old three card trick and show off new logos and marketing plans instead. Ailing Intel, it seems, has run out of “innovation”.

That’s according to reliable sources within the corporation that told the Eyes that newly formed CEOs need marketing ideas because product ideas are few on the ground.

The source – based in Asia – told the Eyes that it had attempted to convince ex CEO Paul Otellini that the marketing needed changing to a retro kind of thing, but had come up against determined opposition from the then CEO.

But facing ruin because it was slow off the mark with chips for tablets and for smartphones, instead Intel will attempt to bamboozle the world with marketing. The newly born CEO – and the INTC board are  up for it.

The re-branding will re-position Intel as a 21st century company that doesn’t really invent technology any more. Just manufacture it.

Although we don’t have the new logos and that yet, expect a blast of marketing publicity that talks a lot about not very much at all, faced with the opposition. Oh, that’s not AMD, by the way.