Fun with algorithms at Microsoft TechFest
It's a shame Microsoft only lets wizened old journalists into TechFest and not, say, packs of second graders. Because if there's anything that could show kids that math really is a ridiculous amount of fun, it would be a room full of people paid to find new ways to go about it.
All the truly significant tech companies have understood that somewhere at the heart of the firm, you have to make room for the guys who will never hand over an entirely shelf-ready product. That's true of most items found at TechFest, but it's a little more true of those working in theory -- and if you doubt me, ask the video crew charged with getting good footage of new search algorithms.
Sir Howard Stringer will expand role at Sony
Chairman, CEO and now president: Howard Stringer's role at Sony is expanding in the wake of the firm's unprecedented recent losses. Ryoji Chubachi, who oversees the electronics division, will step down from the president's role, staying on as vice-chairman of the board. The changes will take effect April 1.
The electronics division was ground zero of the bomb that was Sony's most recent earnings report. This quarter's not looking any brighter. For the quarter ending in March, the company now expects to report a loss of $1.53 billion, compared to earnings of $3.77 billion during the same quarter last year. (One widely quoted analyst, Yuuki Sakurai, suggested that the UK-born Stringer was moved into the driver's seat precisely because the situation's tough -- and will require someone with "non-Japanese loyalties" to make tough restructuring and cut decisions. Let the gaijin do it!)
Google News to add ads
On the same day that the 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News announced that it was shutting down effective Friday for lack of revenue, Google News confirmed its plan to sell AdWords placement on its Google News searches.
The ads, which officially debuted Thursday, work as AdWords usually do, serving up pages related to the search terms (rather than news results from specific publications). Josh Cohen, a business product manager for Google, described the results as "similar to what you see on regular Google searches or Google Book Search."
Google blocks paid apps on unlocked G1 thanks to 'rip and return' loophole
Google has unceremoniously blocked a large portion of the applications in the Android Market from owners of unlocked G1s. Any copy protected application (all of the new for-pay apps) are now unusable, according to an Android Market forum post.
Google told IDG's MacWorld that it is no longer distributing copy-protected apps to reduce the unauthorized copying of those applications.
Dell's Q4: 'Flat' is not a bad place to be
When former CFO Don Carty left Dell Inc. to rejoin his retirement, after having pulled one more rabbit out of his hat and perhaps saved the company, it was last May, and the first signs of the economic crisis (the collapse of the housing market) were only just now upon us. It looked as though Dell would ride a gradual wave of slow redemption, if not overall prosperity, having emerged from an accounting crisis the likes of which would have crippled almost any other US company in the public mind.
But did Carty exit at the wrong time for Dell, not knowing what lay ahead? Late this afternoon, the world's #2 PC maker revealed the answer: It's weathering the storm pretty well, thank you very much, with Michael Dell actively manning the tiller, and former GE Plastics CEO Brian Gladden in the CFO's chair.
Here's a get-well-soon gift idea: An Apple board with a grip
There exists a man named Steve Jobs. If we were to tell his life story, it would include his parentage of diverse companies. Some grew up smart and strong (Pixar). Some struggled through brief lives but live on in memory (NeXT). And then there's Apple -- the immature brat that refuses to move out of the house and do its own damn laundry.
Seriously, Apple board members, what have you been thinking all these years, that you spend your time during Jobs' six-month medical leave whining like a two-year-old about when Daddy's coming home and acting shifty when someone rings the doorbell? How did you let yourself get into a situation where corporate-governance folks want to string you up for not giving up even more information about what should by rights be a private and peaceful time in Jobs' life?
Confirmed: Time Warner Cable users impacted by DDoS attack
When users of Time Warner Cable systems report issues concerning slow broadband performance affecting a wide region, they've been happy to see prompt responses from JeffTWC -- one Jeff Simmermon, who's the company's New York-based Director of Digital Communication. In recent days, though, Simmermon's Twitter feed has been exploding with complaints.
As it turned out, there's a serious reason for concern, as Simmermon explained in a longer-than-Twitter post late yesterday: Time Warner Cable systems are the apparent target of an orchestrated denial-of-service attack.
Facebook's new terms of service: Direct Democracy 2.0
In light of Facebook's recent Terms of Use conflicts, users' pages are now stamped with a message linked to a blog post from founder Mark Zuckerberg announcing suggested changes to how Facebook may be governed in the future.
Two documents, called "Facebook Principles" and "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities" have been posted for user review and comment. These will not go into effect until they have been voted upon and changed by the users. The comment period closes at 12:01 am Pacific Time on March 29.
Bartz wields Yahoo's terrible swift sword, Jorgensen falls
Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen is out and the much-rumored reorganization is on as CEO Carol Bartz blows up the "notorious silos" that have left the company sluggish in recent years, and makes visible moves to renew the company's consumer focus.
Current CTO Ari Balough will now hold sole managerial responsibility for all of Yahoo's technology and products. The company will seek a new CFO, and Jorgensen will fill in during that period.
Nintendo to replace Wii classic controllers that triggered patent suit
Last May, Texas company Anascape won $21 million from Nintendo in a patent infringement suit regarding the video game giant's "classic controller" for the Wii. The analog stick architecture of a number of Nintendo's controllers infringed on a patent held by Anascape, and the future of the Wii classic controller became uncertain.
Predictably, sales of the controller saw a brief 207% explosion after the ruling.
Where have you gone, Joe Nacchio? (Jail, possibly.)
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reinstated former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio's 19 insider-trading convictions. He's appealing the 5-4 decision to the Supreme Court, but unless the Supremes grant a stay within the next couple of weeks, Nacchio's on his way to federal prison.
The appellate court ruled that the judge in Nacchio's trial, US District Judge Edward Nottingham, was within bounds when he excluded a particular defense witness. It sent the case, its six-year sentence and its $52 million forfeiture back to a three-judge panel for review, but it also chucked an earlier ruling that Nacchio could be free on bail during the the appeals process and lifted a stay on his prison stint.
Dell Studio XPS 435 goes up for sale
Dell's newest performance desktop is now available for purchase online. Geared toward the "power user," the XPS 435 has six DIMM slots, and three drive bays for a maximum potential of 24 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz Tri-Channel memory, and 4.5 TB of storage.
The XPS 435 is powered by Intel Core i7 processors -- for the base configuration priced at $1,099, a 2.66 GHz i7-920. For an additional $470, that can be upgraded to the i7-940 that runs at 2.93GHz. The top speed i7 processor available in the XPS 435 is the 965 which hums at 3.2 GHz but tacks on an additional $1,170 to the overall cost.
Can Lenovo afford to take the Dell route for product support?
Just like every other major player in the PC industry these days, Lenovo is having to rethink the way it has already rethought its short-term business plan. After already having shuffled its executive ranks earlier this month, the company's reassigned CEO Yang Yuanqing announced yesterday an additional 450 job cuts, in addition to the 2,500 the company already decided to make, with the new cuts affecting workers in Lenovo's native China.
But the part of Yang's message that rang the loudest bell yesterday was this: "While our business in China remains very strong, many of our global support functions have employees based in China," an indication that the latest round of additional cuts will impact Lenovo's product support team first.
Digital Music Forum: Age matters, but how much?
According to conventional wisdom, teens are the ones actively downloading all the hot new tunes from the Internet on to their iPods. Baby Boomers, on the other hand, hit the shopping mall once or twice a year to lazily fill in missing pieces in their personal CD collections of Golden Oldies.
In reality, though, a lot of under-20-year-olds are scouring the Web for information on the Beatles, while their parents trade songs with their own peers on Facebook or MySpace, according to participants in this week's Digital Music Forum in New York City.
Asus Eee drops $100 in price
Asus ushered in the netbook craze with its Eee PC in 2007 by hitting a sweet spot in price, features, and aesthetic appeal. When all of those aspects are in harmony, and the timing is right, the overall value of the product soars. We could be seeing a jump in value right now.
The 8.9" solid state, Linux-driven, Eee PC 901is being sold with a $100 rebate from Asus until March 8. It is equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB of Ram, 20GB of solid state memory, a 6-cell battery that promises up to 6 hours of use, and the Xandros Linux operating system.
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