Financial services companies turn to mobile messaging
With financial services companies more at risk from the consequences of a data breach than other businesses, they're on the look out for the safest, most secure communication channels to interact with customers and employees.
New research from IDC and mobile engagement specialist OpenMarket reveals that mobile messaging is the top tool many are utilizing to accomplish this task with 80 percent of global financial services organizations using Global SMS/mobile messaging to communicate and share sensitive info.
Apple Watch user satisfaction tops iPhone, iPad
People are more satisfied with the Apple Watch than they were when they first bought the iPhone and the iPad, a new survey shows.
The report by Apple Watch research platform Wristly, published on 19 July 2015, found that three months after the launch of the smartwatch, overall customer satisfaction is at 97 percent.
You can no longer review apps if you're an iOS 9 beta tester
Apple is letting developers and enthusiasts test out beta versions of iOS 9 ahead of launch. While the company is keen on getting feedback for the next version of its mobile operating system (just as Microsoft is with the preview builds of Windows 10), there have been concerns that problems with apps during beta testing has led to a swathe of negative reviews in the App Store.
Developers have complained that problems with iOS betas can cause problems with their apps, rather than their apps being inherently problematic. To address the issue, Apple is placing a ban on App Store reviews from iOS 9 beta testers.
Microsoft Q4 FY2015 by the numbers: $22.2 billion revenue, $2.1 billion loss
Microsoft has revealed its financial results for Q4 FY 2015, posting its biggest-ever loss thanks to a $7.5 billion write-off related to the acquisition of Nokia's Devices & Services business. In the second quarter of the year, Microsoft's revenue was $22.2 billion, while gross margin, operating loss and loss per share came in at $14.7 billion, $2.1 billion and $0.40 per share.
Microsoft has also revealed a $780 million "restructuring charge" as well as a $160 million write-off that is related to its previous restructuring plan. However, both are basically chump change in comparison to the damage that buying Devices & Services has caused. Deciding to make its own Windows smartphones looks to be a huge mistake for Microsoft. There is, however, some good news too.
Windows 10 in action: Cortana and Microsoft Edge
It's final countdown! Baba ba baaa, baba baba baaaaa! (</Europe mode>) The July 29 launch of Windows 10 draws ever closer, and Microsoft continues to release videos highlighting what's new in a bid to entice people in. The latest installments cover Cortana and Microsoft Edge.
We've already seen a couple of videos from the Microsoft stables, firstly pointing out that the operating system is familiar, and then indicating that it is a new breed for a new generation. Now the company is choosing to focus on what is new -- Windows 10's digital assistant, and the new web browser. Are these enough to convince you?
New techniques to deal with data breaches [Q&A]
It's easy to think of data breaches as being someone else's problem, until you're affected by one yourself. Because breaches can involve large volumes of data, dealing with one can be a lot of work.
Can new techniques in capturing and storing data help to ease the burden on IT teams and even help prevent breaches in the first place? We spoke to Perry Dickau, director of product management from data-aware storage provider DataGravity to find out.
New Facebook video controls let you be sexist, ageist or secretive
Videos on Facebook are big business. As well as drugged up post-dentist footage, there is also huge advertising potential. Now Facebook has announced a new set of options for video publishers -- including the ability to limit who is able to see videos based on their age and gender.
A social network might not be the first place you would think of to try to keep something private, but a new 'secret video' option makes it possible to restrict access to those people who have a direct link. Other new options include the ability to prevent embedding on other sites, but it is the audience restriction settings that are particularly interesting.
The cost of the Ashley Madison hack: $200 million
The Ashley Madison hack has once again shown how serious and just how devastating cyberattacks can be. According to a report by Business Insider, the attack against the infidelity site could cost it $200 million (£128m).
According to the report, the site planned on launching a $200 million initial public offering in London later this year.
IBM is so screwed
I’ve been working on a big column or two about the Office of Personnel Management hack while at the same time helping my boys with their Kickstarter campaign to be announced in another 10 days, but then IBM had to go yesterday and announce earnings and I just couldn’t help myself. I had to put that announcement in the context you’ll see in the headline above. IBM is so screwed.
Below you’ll see the news spelled-out in red annotations right on IBM’s own slides. The details are mainly there but before you read them I want to make three points.
Does Windows 10 attract or repel you?
In some ways it only seems like five minutes since the appearance of Windows 8. But at the same time, it feels as though Windows 10 has been a long time coming. While Microsoft has been talking about the upgrade for quite some time, it has only been in recent months that there has been any sense of progress having been made.
Early builds of Windows 10 were a little lacklustre, and even later builds failed to inspire the levels of excitement that Microsoft would undoubtedly want them to do. Any new version of Windows is met with a combination of trepidation, eagerness, and disappointment, and Windows 10 is no different. It's very easy to say that it is impossible to please everyone, but it's certainly fair to say that Windows 10 has proved particularly divisive. Now, as we edge ever closer to launch, the time comes to ask -- what has Microsoft done right, and what is still wrong?
Google Maps 'Your Timeline' is a creepy reminder that you are being tracked
Google is everywhere, you cannot run and you cannot hide. Well, maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but if you use Android or any of Google's services, it is compiling data to track your actions and behaviors. The search giant may know your favorite restaurants, sexual tastes, plus home and work locations too.
If you use Google Maps and location services, the search giant is even tracking your movements. While that can lead to powering some useful solutions, it is also creepy as hell. Today, Google announces "Your Timeline", which is a tool for Android and desktop that shows you all the places you have been. While it is sort of cool, it is also a reminder that Google is watching you.
Apple withholds smartwatch sales data
All eyes turned to Apple this afternoon as the world's most profitable tech company announced the first full quarterly results that include its smartwatch. You could hear a collective pin drop across the Internet as U.S. stock markets closed and everyone waited wondering: Flop or Not?
We don't know. In the press release, CEO Tim Cook refers to the "great start for Apple Watch", but there's no data in the PR or in the 8-K filing with the SEC. The device fits into the "Other" category. During Cook's earnings conference call opening remarks hard data also is lacking.
Apple Q3 2015 by the numbers: $49.6B revenue, $1.85 EPS
After the closing bell today, Apple announced results for fiscal third quarter, which largely is congruent with calendar Q2 (End date, April 27). Broadly: $49.6 billion in sales, $10.7 billion net income, and $1.85 earnings per share. Year over year, revenue rose 33 percent and EPS by 45 percent. Apple guidance before the big reveal: Between $46 billion and $48 billion revenue. Wall Street consensus was $49.31 billion sales and $1.81 EPS. The Street's estimates ranged from $46.9 billion to $53.64 billion.
Gross margin reached 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent annually and 40.8 percent sequentially. Company guidance: 38.5 percent to 39.5 percent. Once again, international sales accounted for most of the quarter's sales: 64 percent, which is up from 59 percent the previous year but down from 69 percent three months earlier.
Google does not like it when employees know each other's salaries
An ex Google employee says her bonuses were blocked by management because she created a crowd-sourced spreadsheet which revealed inequality in pays.
Erica Baker worked at Google for nine years before switching to Slack. She recently took to Twitter to explain what she did. On a boring Sunday afternoon at work, Baker and a couple of colleagues created a spreadsheet that would list everybody’s salaries as an experiment in radical transparency.
Anonymous destroying Islamic State propaganda with images of Anime girls
It’s fair to say Anonymous is no fan of Islamic State. The hacktivist collective has been waging an online war against the terrorist organization for a while now as part of #OpISIS. Five months ago it described Islamic State as a virus, and itself as the cure.
Now Anonymous has a new weapon which it’s using to reduce the impact of Islamic State’s presence on Twitter -- female Japanese Anime characters.
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