NewsCloud.com Tech News http://www.newscloud.com/section/tech Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:03:20 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 en-us Microsoft shares fall after earnings news, analysts react http://www.newscloud.com/read/Microsoft_shares_fall_after_earnings_news_analysts_react Microsoft's continued series of dubious acquisitions, sloppy pursuit of google and failed technical execution may finally be catching up to the company. Stock down to $25.00 a share. The stock has failed to show growth from its heights in 99 and 00 (like many other tech boom stocks).

]]> Yahoo's Build Your Own Search Service http://www.newscloud.com/read/Yahoo_s_Build_Your_Own_Search_Service Yahoo opens up their search technology for entrepreneurs to take on Google. Why start from scratch? I wonder if this is the sort of thing Microsoft might consider unprofitable when they purchase the company - and kill this innovative platform.

]]> OpenMoko - Open source phone http://www.newscloud.com/read/OpenMoko_Open_source_phone There may come a day when your parents ask you what version of the software you're running on your neo. Seriously, I can't bring myself to prostate myself to Apple and return to AT&T and let them lock me into a draconian monopoliesque service contract. It'll be interesting to see what developers do with OpenMoko ... especially a year or two from now.

]]> BitTorrent seed farmer found guilty, faces 10 years in jail http://www.newscloud.com/read/BitTorrent_seed_farmer_found_guilty_faces_10_years_in_jail A federal jury convicted 26-year-old Daniel Dove for both felony copyright infringement as well as conspiracy, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday. Dove, the last remaining administrator of EliteTorrents.com who did not plead guilty, now faces up to 10 years in prison.

]]> New Google Friend Connect Tool Helps Sites Be More Friendly http://www.newscloud.com/read/New_Google_Friend_Connect_Tool_Helps_Sites_Be_More_Friendly Google is introducing a Web site tool called Friend Connect today that promises to extend the reach of social networks such as Facebook to any site that wants to use the tool.

]]> Seattle company aims to 'fix the ticketing industry' http://www.newscloud.com/read/Seattle_company_aims_to_fix_the_ticketing_industry_ Brown Paper Tickets is tearing the walls down, one event at a time.

]]> Microsoft earnings post-mortem: The cash cows quiver http://www.newscloud.com/read/Microsoft_earnings_postmortem_The_cash_cows_quiver via

Crosscut

: I can't help but wonder if the lackluster Windows/Office results also can be attributed to Microsoft brass's complete and crazy obsession with Google (and taking over Yahoo) has resulted in no one minding the Windows store. Kevin Johnson, the head of Microsoft's Platforms & Services division seems to be so laser-focused on the online-ad business these days that he almost seems to have forgotten Microsoft is still in the software business, too.

]]> Do the Blind Deserve More Effort on the Web? http://www.newscloud.com/read/Do_the_Blind_Deserve_More_Effort_on_the_Web While the article generated many positive comments, one reader said the disabled should 'get a grip' and maintained they 'have no more right to demand that others provide for their needs than I, as a diabetic, have a right to demand that sugar no longer be used.' Should Web sites and software makers do more, or does the reality of today's economics dictate that the blind/disabled will continue to struggle and learn to live with it?

]]> Monsanto's Harvest of Fear http://www.newscloud.com/read/Monsanto_s_Harvest_of_Fear Intellectual property thuggery is not restricted to the IT and entertainment industries. The May 2008 edition of Vanity Fair carries a major feature article on the mafiaa-like tactics of Monsanto in its pursuit of total domination of various facets of agribusiness. First in GM seeds with its 'Roundup Ready' crops designed to sell more of its Roundup herbicide, and more recently in milk production with rBGH designed to squeeze more milk out of individual cows, Monsanto has been resorting to increasingly over-the-top tactics to prevent what it sees as infringement or misrepresentation of its biotechnology.

]]> Flickr Flicks at Video http://www.newscloud.com/read/Flickr_Flicks_at_Video What's the big deal? Flickr, which is owned by Yahoo, is hardly about to slay the Goliath that is Google's YouTube. But while this may not sound like an online revolution, it does significantly enhance the Flickr experience for its 42 million monthly visitors. Kakul Srivastava, the company's director of product management, calls these short videos 'long photos' moving snapshots that people can take with their point-and-shoot digital cameras.

]]> Microsoft Told to Pay Tax on Licence Fee (in India, not Washington) http://www.newscloud.com/read/Microsoft_Told_to_Pay_Tax_on_Licence_Fee_in_India_not_Washington The company, which sells its software in India through a circuitous route involving several group companies, had maintained that its deal with the customers is a sale and no royalty payment is involved. It is this position that has now been rejected. What nailed the issue, however, was an expression in the end-user agreement that says "the product is licensed, not sold". Tax authorities cited this and said if the software is licensed, there has to be a royalty involved.

]]> Mainstream Media Finally Catching On To How News Propagates http://www.newscloud.com/read/Mainstream_Media_Finally_Catching_On_To_How_News_Propagates According to interviews and recent surveys, younger voters tend to be not just consumers of news and current events but conduits as well -- sending out e-mailed links and videos to friends and their social networks. And in turn, they rely on friends and online connections for news to come to them. In essence, they are replacing the professional filter -- reading The Washington Post, clicking on CNN.com -- with a social one.

]]> Facebook's collision course with the big portals http://www.newscloud.com/read/Facebook_s_collision_course_with_the_big_portals In fact, Facebook is on a collision course with the more mature Web colonies--AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. One of the key metrics of a major portal is stickiness--the number of applications used per member and time spent on the site. Communications services, such as e-mail, instant messaging, group chat, and forums, have proven to be very sticky.

]]> Apple weighing an unlimited music plan http://www.newscloud.com/read/Apple_weighing_an_unlimited_music_plan Apple Inc. is mulling a plan to upend its iTunes business by giving people unlimited free access to the music library if they’re willing to pay more for the iPod and iPhone devices they use for playing and storing the digital media, according to a report published Wednesday.

]]> Apple unleashes new version of Safari web browser http://www.newscloud.com/read/Apple_unleashes_new_version_of_Safari_web_browser As was reported by AppleInsider earlier this year (1, 2), the new version of the Apple browser is the first to support the new video and audio tags in HTML 5 and the first to support CSS Animations. Safari 3.1 also introduces support for CSS Web Fonts, giving designers limitless choices of fonts to create new web sites.

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