Nokia and Samsung Extend Patent Agreement

A number of people had been wondering about the patent agreement between Samsung and Nokia that was about to expire. There was considerable speculation about whether the deal would continue or ended once and for all. However, it seems that the two technology companies have decided to carry on the mutually benefitting agreement. It was announced by the Finnish phone maker, Nokia Corp today that Samsung Electronics has extended its patent deal with them for another five years to come. The expiry date of the patent deal was at the end of this year. Nonetheless, the revised deal means that starting on 1st of January 2014, Samsung will be paying Nokia a greater amount than before.

Nokia provided this information and stated that the exact amount to be paid would be settled in a binding arbitration finally and this would conclude at the end of the year 2015. A statement was made by the Chief Intellectual Property Officer of Nokia Corp, Paul Melin, in which he said that the agreement and extension of arbitration is simply a hallmark of the construction resolution of settling licensing disputes and would end up saving considerable costs associated with transaction for both the parties involved.

There had been some murmurs when Nokia had announced in September that it would be selling off its handset business to none other than Microsoft Corp. But, the company had also announced that it would not be giving off its patent portfolio and would retain its ownership. The company said today that it sees plenty of opportunity for creating value by making investments in innovation and the company would achieve this by managing its licensing activities and its patent portfolio actively. Furthermore, the struggling Finnish company could benefit from the licensing fee that it would obtain from the South Korean giant because Samsung Electronics is the number one phone maker in the world.

Nevertheless, Nokia and Samsung have had a testy relationship for the most part. In the continuing patent suit between Apple and Samsung, it was revealed last month that Samsung insiders had had access to some confidential information and documents that pertained to Apple Inc. These documents included the patent deals of Apple with companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Phillips and Sharp. As per the court filings, licensing had been discussed on June 4th by Dr. Seungho Ahn of Samsung Electronics and Paul Melin of Nokia Corp.

Melin stated that Ahn had admitted that they had seen the terms of the deal that had been signed between Apple and Nokia. He had tried to coerce Melin to sign a similar deal with Samsung and this act had not been appreciated or well received by the court. In other news regarding patent licensing, it was also reported that last week, in the UK, Nokia had managed to win a patent battle that it was raging against Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. It had been decided by the patent court in London that Nokia’s accusation regarding HTC’s infringement of ‘Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station’ was quite accurate.

Google’s Schmidt Condemns NSA Spying

According to the Chairman of Google Inc., Eric Schmidt, the recent revelations that have been made regarding the alleged eavesdropping operations conducted by National Security Agency are simply ‘outrageous’ and may even be termed illegal in some circumstances. This week, Schmidt simply unleashed on the NSA while he was weighing in with Wall Street Journal this week and he was angered at the reports that the intelligence gathering agency of the United States had simply infiltrated communication links between the data centers that were operated by its competing search engine Yahoo and that of Google Inc. as well.

Leaked documentation had been published by the Wall Street Journal days earlier, which was credited to Edward Snowden, the intelligence contractor who had turned into a whistleblower. In the documentation, allegations were made against the NSA stating that it had tapped into the unencrypted data streams that existed between the centers and the private and confidential data of millions of customers had been intercepted in this way. Schmidt, who has served as the chairman for the Silicon Valley search engine giant for more than a decade said that this act on behalf of the NSA was simply outrageous.

He said that it wasn’t acceptable for the intelligence agency to pursue its mission by taking such steps because this violated the privacy of individuals. He also said that these revelations meant that there were perhaps more to come. Since June, classified NSA documents are being constantly published by the major media outlets that are spread all over the globe as revealed by Mr. Snowden. These documents have informed the world regarding the various spy programs that are conducted by the US government, but have an impact on the entire world. Also, previous documentation had revealed that an operation called PRISM had been followed when Google’s networks were used for collecting data.

However, the latest leaks suggested that yet another NSA surveillance program had been carried out when communications that had passed between different communication centers had been compromised. Last week, it had been stated that the NSA conducted a program called the MUSCULAR for breaking the links between data centers of Yahoo and Google secretly, but in conjunction with Britain’s Government Communication Headquarters. Unbeknownst to the companies in question, millions of records had been collected in this way. It was also said that Google had only recently started encrypting these links, but Yahoo has not shown any signs of beginning encryption.

In the meanwhile, even Twitter had announced that it would be encrypting its messages and other companies are going down the same path in order to prevent government spying. David Drummond, the Chief Legal Officer of Google said that company had always been worried about the kind of snooping that was done through MUSCULAR. Google’s Schmidt said that they were understanding of the government’s need to conduct intelligence gathering operations to prevent terrorism, if the latest revelations were true, then they were simply unnecessary and outrageous because they infringed on the privacy rights of every innocent individual.

Plunging Sales Cause Net Loss in Q3 For Nokia

The handset division of Nokia Corp may have been sold to Microsoft Corp, but that’s not helping it stop the sales plunge. The company was forced to report a loss in the third quarter, but there was a surge in the share price because the company had given a positive outlook regarding the continuing operations, especially the networks unit. Last year, the company had reported a net loss of 969 million euros in the third quarter as compared to 91 million euros that it had to bear this year. The revenue of the company totaled about 5.6 billion euros, which indicated a 20% decline.

However, the struggling company reported that the net profit of its network operations had grown about 33% and it was expecting to have a positive operating margin in the last quarter of about 12%. According to expectations, there will be a solid net sales growth for the company. Instead of causing a decline in the share price, Nokia’s shares actually rose by nearly 7%. In the third quarter, the Finnish company had managed to sell about 8.8 million smartphone and all of them were Lumia products. Moreover, this was an increase in smartphone sales for about 40%.

Last year, the company had managed to sell about 6.3 million smartphones in the third quarter. Nonetheless, Lumia products were less than 3 million back then. The surprising thing was that there was an increase in demand for Lumia products this year, which has always remained one of the toughest markets for the handset maker. But, this rise in sales was not enough for the company to give a positive outlook about the devices and services unit that the company has sold to the software giant Microsoft Corp for about $7.2 billion, which the company will show in the fourth quarter as discontinued operations.

The Finnish firm was more upbeat regarding its existing operations that include Nokia Solution Networks, HERE mapping services and also the Advanced Technologies Unit. It was stated by the CFO of the firm that the company would be in a better position after the devices and service unit would be removed officially because its net sales had fallen by about 19% and had become 2.9 billion euros because the company had only managed to sell about 64.6 million devices in comparison to the 83 million that it had sold a year earlier.

The CFO further added that the company was planning to make further investments in the growth of its mapping and location services. The company managed to retain its number 2 spot in the mobile phone sales having a 15.5% global market share that became possible mainly because of its line of non-smartphones that the company still sells in emerging markets. The company wasn’t able to fare well in emerging markets. The sales of the company lagged well behind that of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics as it sold only nine million units as compared to the 33.8 and 88 million that were sold by the smartphone giants.

Facebook Removes Decapitation Video after Backlash

After the largest social network was criticized by David Cameron for lifting the ban on violent films, Facebook decided to change its approach. Prime Minister David Cameron had dubbed the social media giant as ‘irresponsible’ because it had posted videos that depicted beheadings. The issue had been ‘reexamined’ by Facebook, after which it had concluded that video showing beheading and decapitation glorified violence in an improper and irresponsible manner. Moreover, the social network also asserted that it would strengthen the enforcement of policies that were concerned with the removal of posts, which celebrated violence and also to check if graphic content and similar videos were shared in a responsible manner or not.

This includes giving warnings to users about their content or prohibiting underage viewers to access such content. The move was greatly welcomed by Mr. Cameron, but he also added that he would be waiting to see if this tactic was good enough to ensure that children were being protected against exposure to such gory movies and videos. He had conveyed this message via Twitter. A storm had been sparked by social network Facebook when it had temporarily decided to lift a ban that had been imposed on videos of beheading in May. The social media giant had used the excuse that its website was used by people worldwide for sharing events that happened in different areas.

A video that had shown the beheading of a video by a Mexican drug cartel had sparked such response from the people. But, it had been removed now. The company also mentioned that it would be removing all posts and images concerned with beheading, but has been advised by the critics to rethink their decision. Mr. Cameron said that it was irresponsible on the part of the social network to post such content without giving any warning or assuring parents. Now, Facebook has clarified its policy. It said that content was shared by people for the purpose of raising awareness amongst others.

It asserted that this awareness involved sharing images and videos about different acts of violence and terrorism and the primary purpose is to condemn these acts. The social network doesn’t allow people to post such content for the purpose of celebrating it or for getting sadistic pleasure. Therefore, in order to combat this rising glorification of such contemptible and violent content, Facebook is attempting to strengthen its policies. The social network outlined that it reviews content when it’s reported and takes a very close look at the context that surrounds an image or video. If it has a negative impact, the said content is removed.

The network also said that they also checked that whether the person sharing such content was being responsible or not. This refers to the fact if warnings are being provided with the content and an age-appropriate audience is mentioned. Based on these standards, reports of graphic content have been reexamined and concluded that it is celebrating violence. This has led to its removal from the social network.

Apple Reveals Thinner iPad and Retina iPad Mini

Top-of-the-line tablet called the iPad Air was launched by Apple Inc. that is about 20% thinner when compared to its predecessor. The 9.7 inch device has a weight of about 1lb and is about 7.5mm thick and according to the company, it is the lightest yet full-sized tablet that can be found in the market today. Just like the company’s iPhone 5S, this device is also powered by the A7. This launch has come at a time when analysts have been predicting that Google’s Android OS is nearly ready to overtake the iOS platform of Apple Inc. as the bestselling tablet platform. A new version of the iPad Mini was also announced by the American multinational.

The resolution of this 7.9 inch has been improved and is very much like its larger version. Therefore, it is being referred to as ‘retina’ display for emphasizing the improved screen. Small tablets like the Google Nexus and Kindle Fire HDX have been announced by Google and Amazon respectively and they are known to have similar high definition displays. An analyst said that many had been of the opinion that the retina display should have been part of the first iPad Mini as well. Also, he added that it was inevitable for the company to lose its market share because there are numerous rival devices being launched.

The overall sector is growing, which is good news, but not necessarily for Apple. There is now a cheaper model of the iPad available in the market because the original iPad Mini will have a lower price, but the company isn’t willing to go to the low-end of the pool because that’s not where the real profit lies. The latest version of its Mac operating system was also announced by the iPhone maker. This new version is called Mavericks and will be available free of charge to those people who have been using OS X since it was launched in 2009.

This would be the first time the company wouldn’t be charging for making a major upgrade to the Mac OS. New leisure and productivity apps and also laptops were unveiled by the company at its October 22nd event, but it did not release a new TV set-top box as had been speculated by some people. As per the latest financial release of the company, 19% of its revenue in the nine months ending in July had been contributed by the iPad. Nonetheless, the company acknowledged that the amount of money it was earning had grown three times slower as compared to the unit sales because a large number of customers were opting for the iPad Mini instead of other models.

Apart from that, the iPhone giant also has to contend with the fact that it’s losing market share to other rival firms. In 2012, Apple had had a 53.9% share in the tablet market. It has been predicted that the Android OS will become the market leader this year with a 49.6% share while Apple has 48.6%. The gap is expected to increase next year.

Windows 8.1 For Smooth Transition From Tablets to PCs

Microsoft has finally released its much-awaited upgrade Windows 8.1 and it is now available as a free download. When it came out last October, Windows 8 had attempted to bridge the gap between tablet computers and PCs and the dual worlds are still an important feature of the recent upgrade by the company to its operating system. On one side, the upgraded OS features a touch-enabled tile interface that resembles the one existing in tablets. On the other hand, the mouse and keyboard still reign on the desktop mode of the OS. As far as touch-based apps are concerned, some unique finger and gesture friendly shortcuts have been added.

This has helped in restoring the respect that a billion users of PCs have become used to. Current owners of Windows 8 can update their OS to 8.1 free of charge and it can be obtained from the Windows app store. Computers having pre-installed Windows 8.1 will go on sale very soon and so will the stand-alone copies of the OS. Changes made in the operating system range from improved functionality to cosmetics.

Desktop Respect

The desktop mode brings back the start button although it’s not the same as the way it was before the introduction of Windows 8. Now, a single tap on the button can flip users back to the file interface from where they can select programs by tapping or clicking the tiles. Important settings like Control Panel can be opened with the help of a long press. It is also possible for users to bypass the tiles for a while and keep the machine operating in desktop mode.

Touch Updates

Having the standard QWERTY layout, the onscreen keyboard now offers users the ability of typing punctuation marks or numbers by swiping away or up from some keys and this eliminates the need for people to toggle between the alphabetic and numeric layout. The suggested word midstreams can also be used for choosing words by using taps or side swaps on the virtual spacebar. People can also get a response by waving in the air in front of the camera. The Windows tiles can also be moved from one spot to another by tapping or holding them. They can also be resized in any of the four options with a couple of taps.

It has also become easy to find all applications because only a swipe up is needed from the start screen.

Small Conveniences

Applications are updated in the background so people don’t have to contend with the constant reminders telling them to update applications. There is also a home screen associated with Windows 8.1, which looks amazing when used in portrait mode in screens that measure about 7 to 8 inch. People will not have to log in for taking photos from lock screen and answering Skype calls because they only have to swipe down. Also, when the screen is locked, other applications like Twitter will be able to send notifications. In addition, the new update enables users to multitask and operate four apps at the same time.

Google and Nokia Both Goof Up and Leak Info

While strategic leaks are part of every company’s strategy for enticing and exciting customers, sometimes leaks can also occur because of mistakes. That seems to be the case with two notable companies in the information technology market. In what could be the worst leak that has ever been made by Google, it accidentally listed the heavily rumored Nexus 5 smartphone on its Android Google Play Store. From what it can be speculated by the images, the upcoming smartphone will show off a lot of changes that have been made after the launch of the previous editions. It has a completely different look as compared to its predecessors.

The LG Google Nexus 4 had a sparkly glass back, but the new edition i.e. Google Nexus 5 will have a rubberized back that has been seen in the Nexus tablets. While people are happy that the company has chosen to remove the scratch-prone back of the smartphone, the new rubberized option simply gives the smartphone a mundane look. The listing not only revealed the look of the smartphone, but also its price. The range of the phone will be around $349 and onwards. This means that this will be price of the 16GB variant of the smartphone. This is quite reasonable, considering the hype and specifications associated with the smartphone.

Needless to say, the new smartphone will boast the latest version of the Android OS, i.e. KitKat. Not only will this version make a debut on the device, but will also roll it out for older models of the Nexus smartphone range. A full HD 5 inch display is another specialty that will be associated with the upcoming smartphone. As for other features, the phone will boast memory variants of 16 and 32 GB, have 2Gb RAM and will also have a quad-core processor. However, Google doesn’t seem to wish to enter the camera wars between the smartphone companies as it is going to leave it at 8 megapixel.

Google quickly took off the phone after it had been listed. Nevertheless, now people know that the phone’s launch is not very far off. This seemed to be the week for oversights by major companies as a Chinese e-commerce website also listed Nokia’s upcoming phablet accidentally. The Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet was listed by error by Tmail, which is also an official retailer of Nokia. There have been lots of rumors about the 6 inch phablet and as part of the Lumia series, this device would be running on the Windows 8 platform.

There has been a lot of speculation about the device, but not much is known about the device. The Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet will have the biggest display for now and will be in direct competition with the large smartphones being sold in the market. It will also showcase a full HD display and its pixel resolution will be about 1920 x 1080 pixels. Its best feature will be the 20 MP camera as Nokia is very aggressive in advertising camera features.

Google Winning Online Ad War

Google Inc. seems to be on the winning road of the online advertising war although it is losing the battle against the falling prices of advertisements. The company revealed its earnings report in which it showed that there was again acceleration in the decline of a key pricing metric because the cost per click of the company was reduced by 8% as compared to last year. A surge in mobile advertisement was the reason behind this surge, which has a lower cost per unit, but its click rates are also lower in comparison to the ads that are served on desktop computers. The CEO of Google Inc., Larry Page said that mobile device users contributed to about 40% of the traffic on the video site of the company, i.e. YouTube.

In contrast, it had only been 6% 2 years ago. However, the search engine giant was able to use higher volume for making up for lower prices as there was a 26% year on year increase in its number of paid clicks. As compared to it, Google’s rival Yahoo had reported a 21% less figure of paid clicks. A 19% increase in quarterly revenue was the net result or 12% when also considering the lagging Motorola handset unit owned by the company and net income also surged by 36%.

It is indicated by the ad numbers that the downward pricing pressure, which occurred because of a boost in mobile ad traffic has only been slowed down instead of stopped because of the changes made by Google in the way it sells advertisements. People who have been watching the company closely will remember that it was 15 months ago when the impact of mobile ads on the business of the search engine giant were revealed as it had announced its quarterly earnings report for July 2012.

It was the then that the company had announced a 16% year on year decline in its cost per click, which had alarmed Wall Street enough to cause a short term decrease in its stock price. In response, the company had made some changes to the way it dealt with professional online ad buyers and had taken away their right to target ads to desktops, smartphone or tablet users. Instead, Google now determines when and here text and video ads should be placed using its own technology and thus concluding the most optimal platform for placing the ad.

This new method has been dubbed as ‘enhanced campaigns’ and with its help, the company had managed to reduce the annual rate of its cost per click rate decline to 4%. However, during the last two quarters, the decline seems to have accelerated and prices have been falling twice at the same rate, primarily because of mobile. The algorithms of the company cannot change the fact that cheap-looking text ads that pop up on tablets and smartphones are more irritating than enticing to customers. These annoying ads aren’t clicked on much and therefore, mobile ads have a cheaper per unit cost.

In The Last Five Years Internet Population Has Doubled

Interconnected computer networks have a global system, which makes use of the Internet Protocol Suite (TCIP/IP). This system is called the internet and it offers its services to billions of users in every part of the globe. The internet is basically the head of all networks; this includes networks of businesses, schools, and public, private, academic and government networks amongst others. With the boom and advancement in information technology, the use of the internet has become quite widespread as it is also a vital and easy source of communication. According to a research, the total of internet users this year has come to 2.27 billion. Five years ago, the number of users was 1.15 billion and this is twice that.

Everyone is aware that the internet is big but these figures and facts really put it into perspective. The World Wide Web rests on top of the strong foundation that has been laid by the internet. Since its arrival, the internet population has continued to swell quite rapidly. Getting used to changes is part of nature but most people have the tendency to forget how quickly the world is undergoing change and continues to change frequently. Thus, the possible size of the online services also expands with the swelling and expansion of the internet.

Facebook is an example of such an extreme evolution. It was noted last year that the number of Facebook users had grown to such an extent that it has surpassed the users of the internet in 2004, which was the year Facebook was launched. The global population of the internet has grown by 1.1 billion since 2007. The question is that from where did these internet users come from? The largest of the internet population exists in Asia and it is also the location where the internet population is growing by the fastest margin.

A 317% increase in the internet population has been seen in Africa, which has reached 140 million from 34 million. Asia has seen a 143% increase and its internet population has totaled to 1 billion from over 418 million; in fact, Asian Internet users make 42% of global internet population. There has been a 56% increase in Europe where the number of internet users has reached 501 million from 322 million. Middle East has witnessed a 294% increase from 20 million to 77 million. In North America, the internet population has reached 273 million from 233 million because of a 17% increase. There has been a 27% increase in Oceania that also includes Australia and the population has increased to 24 million from 19 million. A 114% increase is found in Latin America (South and Central America) that has totaled 236 million from 110 million.

From this data, it can be concluded that in terms of internet population, Europe has become as large as the United States. Moreover, the internet population of Asia today is equal to what the entire population of internet was 5 years. In 2012, Asia surpassed the total of 1 billion internet users whereas Europe surpassed the total of 500 million.

As per Euromonitor, by year 2020, 43.7% of world's population will be the Internet users.

Talent Tussle: Twitter Pays $10 Million For Engineer

Christopher Fry’s name stands out amongst the various engineers that are part of Twitter’s list of highest paid executives. Last year, the senior vice president of engineer was able to rake in about $10.3 million and was only a little behind Dick Costolo, the chief executive officer of Twitter who had been given a salary of $11.5 million. This information has been obtained from the IPO documents of the social messaging service. These amounts are way more than the paychecks that were given to chief financial officer Mike Gupta, chief technology officer Adam Messinger and chief operating officer Ali Rowghani.

This is Silicon Valley; where there is a shortage of valuable engineering talent amidst an explosion of startups backed by venture capitalists, which has eventually inflated the paychecks of existing engineers. According to Iain Grant, a recruiter at Riviera Partners, which specializes in recruiting engineers for startups backed by venture capitalists, stated there is a limited number of A players in Silicon Valley. However, he added that the demand for these individuals has simply gone through the roof. It is quite common to hear stories regarding the length to which employers are willing to go for attracting the top engineering talent.

This includes offering them laundry services, free cafeterias and shuttle buses, which are also given Google, Facebook and other renowned companies. Venky Ganesan, a venture capitalist said that a coveted engineer had been offered a year’s lease on a Tesla sedan by a startup and this had led to a cost of about $1000 a month. He did not give the name of the company though as his firm is an investor in it. Sam Shank, the CEO of At Hotel Tonight that offers a mobile app for making last minute bookings said that the office area was staged to make it appear lively for a prospective hire. Two potential employees were roped into a ping pong game while others were positioned at the bar.

The strategy bore fruit and the recruits ended up designing an important part of the software. According to the IPO documents that were registered with securities regulators by Twitter; the compensation given to Fry was mostly in the form of stock awards that had been valued at $10.1 million. He had been given a bonus of $100,000 while his salary had totaled around $145, 513. Some people may regard him as an underpaid employee as well. This is due to the fact that before Facebook’s IPO, Mike Schroepfer, its vice president of engineering had been given $24.4 million in stock awards.

He had also been given a bonus worth $140, 344 and a salary of $270, 833. However, the total revenue that had been posted by Facebook that year had been 10 times greater than that of Twitter. Grant had added that cash compensation more than $250,000 had been paid to around three fourth of the candidates who had taken VP of engineering roles in his client companies in the last two years. Equity grants had also been given to many such candidates.

Apple Planning to Release Cheaper iMacs in 2014; Analyst

When it comes to predicting what Apple Inc., one of the most secret tech firms has up its sleeve; an analyst by the name of Ming-Chi Kuo, part of KGI Securities has an absolutely formidable record. On Saturday, Mr. Kuo forecasted that the iPhone maker will be releasing a new ‘budget’ version of its iMacs by 2014. Apple had surprised its users on September 24th, 2013, when it had announced that it would soon be releasing an updated iMac. The Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing of Apple Inc., Phillip Schiller had made the announcement in a press release.

He had said that the iMac was a perfect example of how fast, beautiful and fun a desktop computer could turn out to be. He had added that the new iMac would have faster graphics, the new Intel processors and its faster PCle flash storage, all contained within its ultra-thin aluminum enclosure. A number of updates were announced to the iMacs and the prices were also revised a bit. However, there was no show of any enthusiasm amongst the iMac users even after these updates. According to the sources of Mr. Kuo, Apple wishes to boosts its market share in the PC market and will therefore develop a range of affordable and entry level desktop computers.

Even though it is an excellent computer, the cheapest of the iMacs still costs about $1299. Thus, for many consumers, it can be a huge investment. It can be a very big investment, considering the fact that analysts are predicting a post-pc world. If the forecast of cheaper iMacs is to be believed, it wouldn’t be the first time for Apple to make its Mac line easier to afford for its customers. Along with the Mac, Apple had used to sell eMac, which was a cheaper and no frills version of the former.

In addition, the company had also offered MacBook Notebooks in black and white and made from polycarbonate along with the MacBook pros. As a matter of fact, this particular line was discontinued in 2010. The analyst is predicting that the overall iMac shipments will be increased because of the reported budget iMac. An increase of about 10 to 20 percent over every year will be seen. He is of the opinion that the iMacs failed to penetrate the non-US market because they were priced too high. Therefore, in order to tap the potential of the non-US markets, Apple will be releasing its budget iMac model.

The company is hoping that this new model will echo the successful release of the budget iPhone called the iPhone 5C. However, the low budget iPhone doesn’t seem to be doing that well. Regardless, Apple might also be considering a change in the pricing strategy of its iMac line in order to overcome the effect of the US partial government shutdown that has been placed as it might trigger a slowing down in the market. The predicted halt in personal spending will not be beneficial for consumer-driven companies like Apple.

Microsoft Pays Hacker For Discovering Security Holes

Tech companies are known to give rewards to hackers or researchers for finding out any security holes in their security system. They also hire them for doing short term job related to security. As per the latest news, a British hacking expert will be receiving $100,000 from the American software giant, Microsoft Corp for finding and locating any security holes that exist in its software. This is one of the largest bounties that have been awarded to date by the technology companies to any hacker or researcher. A much anticipated update of the Internet Explorer was also finally released by the company.

According to the company, this update fixes a problem in the browser that had exposed the users to a remote attack. The company said that the first $100,000 bounty had been claimed by James Forshaw, who is head of the vulnerability search department of Context Information Security, a British consulting firm. He had identified a new exploitation technique in Windows operating system. Microsoft will now be developing defenses against a complete class of attacks. Forshaw is one of the ‘white hat’ hackers that hack security systems with good intentions and are rewarded for their efforts.

Hackers are recognized on the hall of fame pages on websites of various technology companies such as Apple and Facebook and they often pay them for their services. Currently, Forshaw is traveling for the purpose of attending a security conference and had also identified security holes in a preview release of Microsoft Explorer 11 browser, for which he had been awarded a sum of $9400. This information was provided by the senior security strategist of the Security Response Center of Microsoft. Forshaw stated that he had been working in secure research and development in the past decade and had come across interesting security vulnerabilities.

He added that he was interested in finding new techniques of exploitation and the level of creatively required for that purpose. The mitigations that are available today were studied by him and a few potential angles were identified after brainstorming through which he managed to find his winning entry. He said that it took him a few tries before he was successful. He also asserted that having his entry acknowledged was exciting for him as well as his employer. Forshaw said that it pleased and satisfied him because he was enhancing the security of the customers of his own employer and Microsoft.

Four months ago, the reward program had been revealed by Microsoft for the purpose of bolstering efforts of preventing sophisticated hackers to subvert the new technologies that the company was using in its software, which is used in most of the PCs of the world. A variety of software security bugs have been identified by Forshaw. Hewlett-Packard had also given him a large bounty. Microsoft had disclosed a security bug in its browser last month and also released an update for the purpose of fixing the bug. According to researchers, this flaw was used by hackers for attacking countries in Asia and other regions.

Samsung Boasts Record High Profit

The South Korean smartphone maker still seems to be going strong, despite the predictions of the analysts that the smartphone market has become saturated. Another record high was established by the operating profit of Samsung Electronics in the July-September quarter. However, as per the experts, this record profit was most probably driven by the robust sales of the mid-range and cheaper smartphones that it’s marketing in developing countries. According to the maker of the Galaxy line of smartphones, as compared to its last year earnings, its operating income had increased by 25%. The result had turned out better than the expectations in the market.

The sales of the third quarter had also shown a record 13% increase. The net income and other related details of its complete financial performance were not disclosed by the South Korean giant. The company will be announcing its complete results later in this month. The analysts were of the opinion that the record quarter had come to be because of the increased profit from the semiconductor business of Samsung Electronics and the high sales of its low-end and mid-range smartphones in emerging markets. It had been expected that the profits of the South Korean firm would be dented because of the slowing growth of high-end smartphones in developed countries.

However, the success of the company’s expansion in the mobile phone market of developing countries was underlined by the latest results. The sales of the current flagship smartphone of the company the Galaxy S4 that was launched in April saw a plunge in the third quarter, but as per the analysts, the company had still managed to sell more smartphones in contrast to the previous quarter as its cheaper smartphones had been snapped up pretty quickly. Last month, the company launched its latest device of the phablet line; the Galaxy Note 3.

Along with the most recent iteration of the Galaxy Note line, the company made another introduction in the form of Galaxy Gear. This is a wristwatch that not only has a touchscreen display, but also has the capability of placing and receiving phone calls through the Samsung smartphone owned by people. While other smartphone companies are struggling to remain stable in the market, Samsung is not facing so much trouble as it is quite diversified. Not only is Samsung Electronics the largest maker of smartphones all over the world, but it is also the largest vendor of TVs and computer memory chips.

In recent years, only two thirds of its overall profit was earned with the contribution of smartphones. There is a tepid demand for personal computers and televisions that are also an integral part of the company. Samsung beat Apple Inc. in the race of introducing a smart watch and has launched its own device in the wearable technology market. The company is expected to expand on its line of watches and introduce better versions, just like its smartphones. So far, it remains quite stable in the smartphone market with its variety of phones at every price point.

HTC Announces Disappointing Quarterly Results

Last week, the Taiwanese smartphone maker, HTC Corp posted its first quarterly loss. The company is attempting to win sales from Samsung Electronics and Apple Inc. and said that the next two months would be the ‘biggest challenge’ that the company will face as yet. The Chairwoman of the company, Cher Wang said that they had the latest technology and is making the best product from it. The only thing that the company needs to work on is its communication with its consumers. HTC saw itself fall the most in a mere month and it has been slumping downwards this year as the share of the firm in the global smartphone market was reduced by half in the second quarter.

HTC is one of the biggest seller in the US and it is planning to redesign its flagship smartphone model called the HTC One and is making an attempt to promote its brand by hiring the renowned actor Robert Downey Jr. Since September 4th, the company’s share price saw its biggest decline when it plunged to NT$126 in Taipei trading. This year, the stock of the company has seen a decline of almost 58%. At its peak, the Taiwanese smartphone maker had been valued at about $37 billion, but this has been reduced to $3.7 billion.

HTC has been facing growing competition from Chinese smartphone makers in the less-expensive mobile division while the high-end market remains dominated by Samsung and Apple. In contrast with the market share of about 5.8% in the second quarter of last year, the company only had about 2.8% market share. Analysts have predicted that there is no possibility of a turnaround for the company with the smartphone market becoming saturated. They have stated that its devices aren’t good enough to compete with that of the rivals, whether future or existing.

A quarterly loss of NT$2.7 billion or $101 million was reported by the company for the three months ending in September. The average that had been expected by the analysts was exceeded by the actual results. The Chairwoman of the company stated that their communication was a problem and they were trying to clear the gap and improving their marketing and innovation as well. Currently, the company has pinned all its hopes on the HTC new and upcoming products and it is also hoping to halt its declining sales by building up on its franchise of HTC One.

It launched the HTC One Mini in August that has a more slender design and a smaller screen of 4.3 inch. The global smartphone market is currently dominated by Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics and they had a combined 43.5% share of the smartphone market in the second quarter of this year. In order to gain some traction in the market, the company has made a marketing deal with Robert Downey Jr., who is seen as a change maker. The company’s chairwoman said that he will be the right choice because HTC is here for change as well. It is yet to be seen if this strategy will work.

BlackBerry Bids Being Discussed By SAP, Cisco and Google Inc.

As its smartphone business is struggling, the Canadian phone maker BlackBerry Ltd. has put itself on the block. According to some sources, the company is currently in talks with SAP, Cisco Systems and Google Inc. about selling all or some parts of itself to them. Weeks ago, the company had reached a preliminary agreement with a group that was led by Fairfax Financial Holdings, the largest shareholder of the company and a deal with the three mentioned firms would be an alternative. As per its existing agreement, the company will be made private for $4.7 billion, but this bid has been faced with skepticism considering the financial condition of the company.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company has asked potential strategic buyers to make preliminary expressions of their interest by next week. This list of buyers includes prominent names like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Intel Corp. It is not known if any or which parties will be making a bid. However, according to some sources, the potential technology buyers have shown an interest in the patent portfolio and secure server network, but the value of the assets is still an issue. No comment was made by any of the aforementioned companies and parties regarding this matter.

Considering the uncertainty surrounding BlackBerry, caution is being exercised by the possible bidders. The company had reported a loss of about $1 billion because of a write off contributed by its unsold Z10 touchscreen smartphones. As per the company filing this week, it is obvious that the value of licensing agreements and patent portfolio of BlackBerry Ltd. will be reduced by half in the upcoming 18 months and this has limited the attractiveness of the company’s assets. As per analysts, the a well-regarded yet shrinking services businesses is part of the assets of the company and its powered by a messaging system that’s security-focused.

This system has been given a value of somewhere between $3 billion and $4.5 billion. The company has cash investments that are valued at $3.1 billion while its collection of patents is almost worth $2 billion to $3 billion. Analysts have said that the company’s woes will be increasing as in the next year and a half; it will simply burn off around $2 billion of its cash pile. An interest in the company has also been expressed by some private equity firms, but they have asked the company to provide some additional financial information regarding its business segments.

Another few weeks will be taken up in this process because the company is currently focused on taking bids. The company had stated in August that it was considering all its options and this could include an outright sale. Another report had revealed that the board of the company was considering making it private. A special committee was formed by the independent legal and financial advisors of the company for considering the various strategic alternatives that are available to the Canadian smartphone maker before making a final decision regarding the fate of the company.

Report: Microsoft Investors Want Bill Gates to Step Down

New reports have surfaced regarding the software giant, Microsoft Corp. According to them, the board of the company is being pressurized by three of the top investors of Microsoft to force Bill Gates in stepping down from his role of Chairman. Bill Gates co-founded the company about 38 years ago and the company is now worth $277 billion. The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Steve Ballmer has been under pressure for years as he was given the role of improving the performance and the share price of the company. However, it is the first time that the investors have aimed at Gates, who is regarded as an influential and respected figure in the field of technology.

No comment was made by a representative of Microsoft Corp. Despite the pressure, there is no indication that the request of the three investors will be tolerated by the Microsoft board. According to the sources, when combined, all three investors hold about 5% of the company. However, it was requested by the sources that the identity of the investors should not be revealed because this discussion was simply a private matter. Bill Gates is the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft and owns about 4.5%.

The three investors have made this suggestion because they are concerned that the adoption of new strategies is prevented because of the role of Chairman held by gates. They have an objection to Gate’s presence in the committee that has been chosen to select a successor of CEO Ballmer, who has announced his decision of retirement. They are worried that the power of the CEO of making substantial changes will be limited as long as Bill Gates remains chairman. It is another concern that in comparison to his declining shareholding, Gates, who devotes most of his time to his philanthropic foundation, wields extra power.

Before Microsoft went public in 1986, Bill Gates had owned about 49% of the company, but as per a pre-set plan, he sells of about 80 million shares of the company every year. If this cycle is continued, Gates will lose his entire financial state in the company in the year 2018. In 2000, after handing the role of CEO to Ballmer, Bill Gates lowered his profile and instead shifted his focus on his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Ballmer had announced in August that he would be retiring in a year, amidst pressure from investors.

The hunt for a new CEO has begun at Microsoft, although the board has stated that his strategy of turning prominent software into services will still be followed through. However, some investors are of the opinion that the new CEO should not be forced to follow through this strategy. Mixed reactions were seen amongst shareholders when they heard that investors were lobbying for ousting Bill Gates from his role of Chairman of the company. Some are of the opinion that fresh eyes are needed while others maintain that he should be asked to play a larger role instead of ditching him.

Google Close to Settling Anti-Trust Case With Europe

It seems that Google might actually be three times lucky. Earlier this year, the tech giant was able to avoid serious anti-trust action in the United States and was also able to dodge a hefty blow from Europe in April. From the company’s standpoint, its third piece of good fortune came on Tuesday. The chief of European Union’s antitrust announced that he might have reached a deal he could agree to in his inquiry of the search practices of Google Inc. This deal would require the search engine giant to give competitor’s listings a higher visibility in the web search queries. Mr. Alumnia stated that by the next spring in the US, he intends to have the finalized deal after obtaining comments from competitors.

This European deal would go a lot ahead than the one the company struck with Federal Trade Commission this year in which it had to make only minor concessions. Moreover, this deal would help the company in avoiding a limit on its future activities due to a finding of wrongdoing and also deter a potential fine that would be worth $5 billion. This deal would finally happen after four years of negotiations. During this time, the business model of Google and its ways of generating money have changed considerably.

However, according to some experts, this would mean that Google would eventually end up as the winner of a protracted waiting game. They are of the opinion that the world would have moved on by the time a decision is finally made. The accusation was made in 2010 by rivals and they had stated that the company was squeezing out the competition with its search engine results. Google had suggested a package of concessions itself in April that included the offer of labeling its own services and thus making it simpler for people to opt for the services of rivals.

Nonetheless, the rivals had rejected this deal. Kent Walker, the general counsel of Google Inc. stated that they were told to make significant and additional changes as per the feedback of the European Commission regarding the proposal they had put forward. He said that solely for the purpose of making a settlement, the company had made the decision of accepting the deal that EU would put forward. This particular deal would enable competitors to take up extra space on the result pages of Google’s search engine and would allow them to display their respective logos.

Websites will also be able to decide what part will be showing up in the result page of web search. As per Mr. Alumnia, the competitors of Google will now be allowed to have a look at the proposals decided by the commission. Around 80% of the European search market is dominated by Google. The EU regulators have been investigating the business practices of Google since 2010 because a dozen companies had filed a complaint against it. This includes notable names such as that of Microsoft and Foundem, the price comparison site.

Reviewing the iP hone 5S

 Credit: CultofMac           

Just because the new iPhone 5S is available in gold doesn’t make it precious. The latest version of the popular smartphone that was launched by Apple Inc. may call out to countless people, but the fact is that this new device is a good and definitely not a stellar upgrade to be made from the previous model. Like every year, the company launches a new model of the iPhone. Then it eventually launches the S model, which is basically a minor improvement of the previous device. The iPhone still boasts the same 4-inch screen, the same case and the same mono-speaker. The only difference is in one new and noticeable feature.

The fingerprint scanner is the most-talked about and biggest addition that has been made to the iPhone 5S and has been placed on the ‘home’ button of the phone in a wise move. With this feature, people are forgoing the four digit code that they had to input every time they accessed the device and will now need to place their thumb or finger on the home button for opening the phone. For a device, this is an excellent idea and not to mention that it works almost flawlessly on it. The phone will ask the user in the setup process to place their thumb or finger on the scanner for about a dozen times in order to ensure that the prints are picked up by it.

Once the setup has been completed, the device will be able to detect the print, regardless of the direction in which it’s placed. The phone can be trained for detecting around five different fingerprints. In addition, this feature is quite quick. The phone will be unlocked when the button is held just for an extra second. Someone else’s finger cannot be used for unlocking the device. However, there is one downside. A long press is not enough to raise the phone from its sleeping state.

Instead, when this is one, the voice-enabled assistant called Siri starts up. The button has to be pressed twice as the first press will get it out of sleep mode and the phone will be unlocked in the second press. An option to switching should have been provided for unlocking the phone in a single long press. Apart from that, when people wish to purchase movies and music from the App Store or iTunes, the fingerprint scanner will also be useful in this regard. This is because people only have to place their finger on the sensor for making a purchase instead of having to put in their password every single time.

The camera is another improvement made to the device. It’s still 8 mega-pixel but its sensor has been enhanced. People can take better low-light photos as more light is allowed by the larger aperture and new sensor. This doesn’t make it better than the S4 and HTC One. Another big improvement is the new OS i.e. the iOS 7, which offers a brighter color scheme. However, all of these features do not make the iPhone 5S worth the upgrade.

Components Jacked-Up In Next Gen Surface Tablets

On Monday, the software giant Microsoft unveiled an update made to its Surface tablets that include the simpler Windows Surface 2 and the full Surface Pro 2. The burgeoning niche of the tablet market is being dominated by Apple’s iPad and a healthy level of rivalry offered by products based on Google’s Android OS. Not wanting to miss out on this loaded ride, Microsoft launched its own take in the form of Surface tablets and chose to use its own products for promoting Windows RT and Windows 8. Last year, the company made its first attempt, which was highly disappointing, but its back again with enhanced internal specifications.

The Microsoft Vice President of Surface introduced the Surface Pro 2 as a tablet design of a complete laptop. He said that in contrast to its predecessor, this tablet boasted a 20% better battery life and 50% enhanced graphics. The screen can be tilted by the users at two different angles with the ‘dual position kickstand’. The Surface 2, on the other hand, is operating on a stripped-down version of the new Windows and succeeds Surface RT. However, as per the company, this device is faster, lighter and thinner. A Tegra 4 Chip obtained from Nvidia is included in the Surface RT.

As opposed to its predecessor, it is three times faster and boasts a full HD 1080p screen. The battery life has also improved by 25%. Microsoft also introduced some new things in regard to accessories that include a Power Cover, a dock for the tablet, a thinner Type Cover and also a new-back-lit keyboard. The company has attached a price tag of $499 to the Surface 2 32 GB version and running on Windows RT and this is $50 less than the original. $549 is charged for a 64GB version. Meanwhile, the price of the 64GB version of the Pro tablet will be available for $899.

The tablets are available for preorder and will be hitting the stores on October 22nd of this year.  It was also mentioned that the latest processor of Intel that’s called Haswell has been used in the Surface Pro 2. This means that as compared to 90% of the laptops available in the market, this tablet is way faster and is 20% quicker than its predecessor. Also, a 75% improved battery life has been given to the Surface Pro 2 in contrast to the original. A 46% improvement in the color accuracy of the Surface Pro 2 is another advantage.

The sales of the first Surface tablets launched by Microsoft were dismal, to say the least. In July, the company had to make a write off worth $900 million for the Surface RT tablets and the company later stated that only $853 million had been generated in terms of revenue from the Surface RT and the Surface Pro combined in the year since they made their debut. In the second quarter of this year, only 4.5% of all tablet shipments were that of the Windows RT and Windows 8 devices. 

Amazon Launches Kindle Fire HDX

Like the smartphone market, the tablet market is also a profitable niche for various information technology companies. While Apple Inc.’s iPad is currently leading the tablet market, it is still on the receiving end of some healthy competition from the tablets that are based on the Android OS of Google Inc. and also from the Kindle line of Amazon. Now, it seems that Amazon is once again strengthening and refreshing its lineup of tablets with the introduction of its new devices that are called Kindle Fire HDX. It is reported that these devices are significantly lighter and faster as compared to the previous generation of tablet computers of the company.

Furthermore, as compared to the older models, the newer ones, which are available in 7 inch and 8.9 inch versions have more colorful and sharper displays and they also have more pixels for every inch when compared with the most recent iPad. Moreover, Amazon has also provided a new feature in the new Kindle versions for those people who are unfamiliar with tablets. Mayday is the name given to this feature and it enables users to call upon a live customer service representative who can be seen in a tiny video window. New features can be explained by the helpers.

Also, they can provide guidance in regard to the on-screen hand scribbles and also troubleshoot problems at the same time. As a matter of fact, the device can also be controlled by the helpers from afar. The feature was introduced to reporters on Tuesday by CEO Jeff Bezos and he called Kindle Fire HDX totally unique. He also added that this feature took advantage of the exceptional customer service infrastructure of Amazon and its massive cloud computing. The device is simply building onto the superb customer service reputation of Amazon Inc. Bezos said that people did not have to be scared of their device.

A demo was also shown in which the on-screen customer service representative was asked to recommend a good application. Angry Birds: Star Wars II was recommended by the representative and instructions were also provided for setting time limit on different activities performed by children. Hence, the new Kindle tablets have been upgraded in a variety of ways. Not only that, but Amazon has also taken steps for reducing the price of its entry level tablet that will measure about 7 inch. This device is called the Kindle Fire HD and has 8 gigabytes of memory and will carry a price tag of $139.

Previously, a price tag of $199 had been given to the base HD model, but it had boasted a memory of 16 gigabytes. The price of this tablet makes it $20 cheaper in comparison to Kindle Paperwhite, which is the latest dedicated e-reader launched by Amazon. A new body made of magnesium alloy has been given to the Kindle Fire HD just like the HDX models. According to analysts, the reduction of the price of the Kindle Fire HD will benefit Amazon’s position in the tablet market more than its new features.