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Techie News Roundup
KynloStephen66515:
Facebook response to IPO lawsuits to focus on Nasdaq
Facebook is expected to make its first public response as early as tomorrow to the wave of investor lawsuits regarding the company's lackluster IPO.
The social-networking giant is planning to file a motion to consolidate all the shareholder lawsuits pending against it, providing inside perspective on the role that the Nasdaq stock exchange's performance had on the stock's trading activity, a personal familiar with the matter told The New York Times. The IPO's lead underwriters -- Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase -- are also expected to join the motion, the paper reported.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57453733-93/facebook-response-to-ipo-lawsuits-to-focus-on-nasdaq/
Vizio launches Mac-like PCs starting at $898
Vizio, a company best known for making TVs, is officially throwing its hat into the PC arena.
The company is taking the wraps off three distinct lines of Windows computers: ultrabooks, mid-size laptops, and all-in-one desktops.
Vizio had previously announced its plans to jump into the PC market at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but today's New York press event was the official coming-out party for the new systems.
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http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-57453445-220/vizio-launches-mac-like-pcs-starting-at/
Facebook wants users' cell numbers in bid to bolster security
In the wake of a rash of password leaks, Facebook wants to educate its members about how to make their accounts more secure and is asking for users' cell phone numbers as part of that effort.
The social network has begun adding a message at the top of every member's news feed that suggests they "Stay in control of your account by following these simple security tips." The message includes a link to Facebook's security page, where users are tutored on how to identify a scam and choose a unique password, and are asked to provide a cell phone number where replacement passwords can be sent.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57453667-93/facebook-wants-users-cell-numbers-in-bid-to-bolster-security/
Cloud music is still the future for Apple, Amazon -- really
Given recent headlines about cloud music, you might be forgiven for thinking that the feature is huge with consumers.
Word came Monday that Apple has finally caught up to Google and Amazon and begun to stream songs from the company's cloud. The following day, CNET broke news that Amazon is very close to reaching agreements with the top four record companies that would let it run a licensed cloud music service. Music industry sources also told CNET that Google and the labels continue to discuss cloud licenses.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57453289-93/cloud-music-is-still-the-future-for-apple-amazon-really/
A 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is coming soon, analysts say
If you want a MacBook Pro with a Retina Display, your current options are limited to a single 15-inch size. However that might not be the case in a few months time.
AppleInsider today relays a note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI, who suggests that Apple is about three months from running up production on a 13-inch model of its new, top of the line MacBook Pro.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57453385-37/a-13-inch-retina-macbook-pro-is-coming-soon-analysts-say/
Mysterious Microsoft media event coming June 18
Microsoft has sent e-mail invitations to reporters far and wide about a mysterious announcement in Los Angeles on June 18.
(Yeah, that's Monday. And this is Thursday. Four days from now.)
"You are invited to an exclusive Microsoft media event in Los Angeles, California on Monday, June 18th. Doors open at 3:30 PM," reads the invitation from Microsoft's Waggener Edstrom PR agency.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57453383-92/mysterious-microsoft-media-event-coming-june-18/
Can Intel's Thunderbolt go mainstream with help from Apple and Acer?
To some, Thunderbolt is just a port on the side of a MacBook, a mere check-box on a feature list.
But to Intel, the high-speed communication technology is an ambitious attempt to do something that only happens every decade or so in the computing industry: rewrite the rules of how people plug stuff into their computers.
Thunderbolt arrived in 2011 with the potential to bring the flexibility of a tower computer to something as compact as an ultrabook. And it's got a bright future in premium and professional products, as events this week show.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57452782-92/can-intels-thunderbolt-go-mainstream-with-help-from-apple-and-acer/
Microsoft reportedly in $1 billion deal for Yammer
Microsoft has agreed to acquire business software company Yammer for more than $1 billion, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
The report did not indicate when the acquisition is expected to be announced or completed.
Yammer representatives declined to comment. CNET has also contacted Microsoft for comment and will update this report when we learn more.
San Francisco-based Yammer is sort of like Facebook for companies: employees can post, share, and discuss items. It's become an integral tool for many startups, but it's also big among larger businesses. More than 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Yammer. If Microsoft buys Yammer, it could help the tech titan modernize with social-enterprise tools.
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57453714-75/microsoft-reportedly-in-$1-billion-deal-for-yammer/
NeverSeconds blogger Martha Payne 'banned' from taking school dinner photos
A nine-year-old girl who became an internet hit after blogging about her school dinners claims she has been banned from taking photographs of her meals.
Martha Payne, from Argyll, began publishing photographs of her school canteen lunches on 30 April.
Her NeverSeconds blog got more than two million hits in just a few weeks.
She gave each meal a 'food-o-meter' and health rating, and counted the number of mouthfuls it took her to eat it.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18454800
Nokia cuts another 10,000 jobs as losses deepen
globally and has warned that second-quarter losses from its mobile phone business will be larger than expected.
The cuts bring total planned job cuts at the Finnish group since Stephen Elop took over as chief executive in September 2010 to more than 40,000.
Nokia will also book additional restructuring charges of about 1bn euros (£811m; $1.3bn).
Nokia shares closed down 18% and have slumped about 70% since February 2011.
"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength," Mr Elop said in a statement.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18438052
Diablo 3's real-cash auctions begin in the Americas
Activision Blizzard has launched the video game Diablo 3's real-money auction house for players in North and South America.
The facility allows users to buy and sell objects found in the title using real currency.
The publisher takes a cut of each transaction, securing a new source of profits.
It has warned that subscribers found guilty of using hacks or other attempts to cheat face a lifetime ban.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18428332
AMD and ARM team up to improve PC security with Trustzone
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is to license technology from rival chip designer ARM Holdings.
The US firm plans to add an ARM-based processor to its computer chipsets alongside its own x86-based CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) technology.
The ARM-based core will be dedicated to offering security features to safeguard actions such as online payments.
Analysts say this could be the beginning of an important relationship.
Both firms compete against the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, Intel.
Safer computing
AMD made the announcement at its Fusion Developer Summit in Seattle.
The firm said it intended to incorporate an ARM Cortex-A5 CPU to its chips for what it terms "superthin" laptops from 2013, across chips for other mainstream computers in 2014, and beyond that into servers.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18434285
Sweden Twitter campaign marred by 'Jew' comments
in Sweden has caused controversy after a woman controlling its Twitter account posted messages about Jews and Nazis.
The @Sweden account is run by a different Swedish citizen every week - this week, mother-of-two Sonja Abrahamsson has been in control.
She tweeted messages such as "What's the fuzz with Jews" before later apologising.
A spokeswoman for VisitSweden said the tweets would not be removed.
Marketing director Maria Ziv said that had she deemed the comments to be racist, then "we would have taken them down".
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18423780
Skout dating app suspends teen service after rape allegations
he location-based "flirt" and meet-up app Skout has suspended its service to teenagers after being linked to three sexual attacks.
The software uses phones' GPS chips to help members see who is nearby, allowing them to contact each other.
It had sought to operate two separate services: one limited to 13-17-year-olds, the other designed for older users.
However, the firm said its safety measures had proven to be insufficient.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18423498
ATMs to operate without a card
withdraw money from cash machines using their smartphone has been unveiled.
Customers who use the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) or NatWest mobile banking app can now request cash, up to £100, via their smartphone.
They are given a six-digit code to enter into an ATM to release the cash.
A similar system has been developed by cash machine operator NCR. This requires users to scan a barcode to withdraw the money.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18409560
Apple blocks HTC's use of Google patents in US lawsuit
be able to use five patents it acquired from Google last year to sue Apple.
The iPhone maker had claimed that its rival had failed to acquire all necessary rights to the intellectual properties.
HTC said it would appeal.
One patent expert said the ruling could have major implications for other firms who regularly assigned patent rights to third parties.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18410563
Researchers work on smart city search engine
Researchers at the University of Glasgow are working on an urban search engine that will interrogate sensors and answer questions such as: "How crowded is the city centre?"
Sensors attached to traffic lights, lamp-posts and other city landmarks are seen as key to creating smarter cities.
They will create a vast amount of data and the hope is that citizens will make use of it to improve city life.
The plan is to test the search engine in a real city by 2014.
The project is part of a European-funded initiative, known as Smart ("search engine for multimedia environment-generated content"), which aims to create a system for internet users to search and analyse data from sensors.
The search engine will answer queries by automatically identifying cameras, microphones and other sensors that can contribute to the question.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18408123
Obama Signs Order for Full-Bore Broadband Expansion
President Barack Obama on Thursday signed an executive order intended to make broadband construction along federal roadways and properties in the United State more effective and up to 90 percent cheaper.
Building a nationwide broadband network will strengthen the U.S. economy and put more Americans back to work, the president said.
The White House also announced the establishment of U.S. Ignite, a public-private partnership aimed at creating a new wave of services that will bring together software developers and engineers from government and industry with representatives from communities, schools, hospitals and other institutions.
"We are creating and transmitting data at a rate of 8 trillion bits a second, and the road is just not large enough," W. Hord Tipton, executive director of (ISC)2 and former CIO of the U.S. Department of the Interior, told TechNewsWorld.
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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Obama-Signs-Order-for-Full-Bore-Broadband-Expansion-75385.html
Sony Charges Into Smartphone Scene With Xperia Ion
Sony (NYSE: SNE) has launched its first Xperia smartphone since buying out Ericsson in February. The Xperia Ion is a 4G LTE device that will be available from AT&T (NYSE: T) June 24 for US$100 with a two-year agreement.
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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Sony-Charges-Into-Smartphone-Scene-With-Xperia-Ion-75384.html
Linus, GNOME 3, and Much Ado About Desktop Interfaces
If ever there was a week to make a person believe in the cosmic forces of fate, this might be it.
To wit: Linus Torvalds -- always a topic of interest here in the Linux blogosphere -- has been a particularly "hot topic" in recent weeks thanks to his critical comments earlier this month about GNOME 3.
Quick snapshot: "The whole gnome3 approach of 'by default we don't give you even the most basic tools to fix things, but you can hack around things with unofficial extensions' seems to be a total UX failure," he wrote in a post on Google+.
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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Linus-GNOME-3-and-Much-Ado-About-Desktop-Interfaces-75377.html
The New MacBook Pro Aims for the Heart, Not the Head
With a heavy heart, I have decided not to the buy the gorgeous new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I lust after the idea of 2,880 by 1,800 pixels gloriously showing off my awesome photos of the Grand Tetons, Half Dome and small children running from the cold droplets of a sprinkler system under a hot summer sun.
These photos are the closest I can come to replicating the cool swirling zebras running on fresh green African grass that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is using to tout its newest MacBook Pro.
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http://www.technewsworld.com/story/The-New-MacBook-Pro-Aims-for-the-Heart-Not-the-Head-75376.html
KynloStephen66515:
The 2nd link looks broken, but still works...Before anybody else notices that :P
mouser:
Thanks for the Tech News! :up:
Renegade:
Regarding the little girl's blog... Anytime you need to stop taking pictures, there's something to hide.
Nice round up~! :)
IainB:
Council reverses ban on school dinner blog
I've written an emailed letter of complaint to Argyll and Bute Council at their website complaints page:
http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/forms/comments-and-complaints
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