Blair Hanley Frank
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Blair Hanley Frank
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Twitter looking for a ‘full-time’ CEO, deflating Dorsey’s candidacy
A week and a half after Dick Costolo announced that he would be stepping down from the CEO role at Twitter, the company’s board of directors has sent a shot across the bow of one of the expected front-runner candidates to take the social network’s top job.The social micro-blogging company’s search committee will only consider CEO candidates “who are in a position to make a full-time commitment to Twitter,” the board said.That would seem to rule out Jack Dorsey, the company’s co-founder who currently works as the CEO of Square and will be filling in as interim CEO of Twitter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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eBay sells stake in Craigslist, which responds with Shakespeare quote
EBay has sold its 28.4 percent ownership stake in Craigslist as part of an agreement between the companies announced Friday .The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but eBay said the companies have also agreed to end the outstanding litigation between them. The online auction house paid $32 million in 2004 for the stake in Craigslist, which turned the classified ad market on its head.Since then, the relationship between the two firms could best be described as contentious. In 2008, eBay sued Craigslist alleging it had diluted eBay’s stake in the business and taken eBay’s board seat away. Craigslist fired back that eBay had used its position on the board to gain an unfair competitive advantage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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iOS gets a first in Microsoft’s OneNote: New to-do list feature
Microsoft has rolled out a new OneNote feature to the iPhone first before any other platform, showing off the company’s interest in promoting cross-platform use of its note-taking system.OneNote users with Apple’s smartphones will now be able to convert notes with checklists in them into a special list mode that will organize items based on whether they’re checked off or not. A note formatted as a list also includes an “add item” button at the top that will create a new blank to-do.The feature is designed to make it easier for people to quickly interact with their checklists on touch devices without having to deftly pick out a single checkbox in a long column of little boxes. At any time, notes that have been converted to the new checklist format can be converted back without much fuss, and the notes will still be readable by other versions of OneNote as long checklists.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Chinese university opens Microsoft-backed U.S. outpost
China’s Tsinghua University has teamed up with the University of Washington and Microsoft to launch the Global Innovation Exchange (GIX)—a tech-focused graduate school that’s the first of its kind.The program, which was announced Thursday afternoon, will bring people from around the world to a new facility in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle, to learn and work together. The launch marks the first time a Chinese research institution has opened a physical presence in the U.S., the backers said.Tsinghua is a prestigious, Beijing-based institution that counts current Chinese President Xi Jinping and his predecessor Hu Jintao as alumni. UW is a key player in the tech industry with alumni including U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Ed Felten and Apple Vice President Bud Tribble.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Skype Translator now speaks German, French
The Skype Translator beta app now can help people say “guten tag” to their friends in Germany, thanks to an update it received on Thursday.Microsoft’s real-time translation app can now provide live voice and text translations for conversations involving people who speak German and French, in addition to English, Italian, Mandarin and Spanish.For example, someone who speaks English can call up another Skype Translator user who speaks German, and each will have their side of the conversation translated into the other’s native language in real time. The app will provide both a computerized voice translation and a running text transcript that allows users to read what’s being said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Outlook for iOS, Android get enhanced management features
Microsoft updated its Outlook apps for iOS and Android Thursday to let system administrators have greater control over how employees use corporate email accounts.The update brings support for the company’s Intune mobile application management solution and a Conditional Access feature that requires users enroll in mobile device management before getting their Office 365 email through Outlook. Administrators can deploy the Outlook app to devices that are enrolled in a company’s Intune system, and then manage them under a custom policy.That policy can include a variety of limitations, like preventing users from copying corporate email content to applications or other email accounts that aren’t managed by the company and encrypting data from the Outlook app. At the same time, the profile can be set up so that personal email accounts added to the Outlook app aren’t managed under corporate policy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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AT&T, WhatsApp get low marks from EFF for data disclosure policies
The Electronic Frontier Foundation released the latest version of its annual “Who Has Your Back” report on tech companies’ data disclosure policies Wednesday afternoon, giving perfect five-star ratings to companies including Apple, Adobe, Dropbox and Yahoo.This year’s publication is the fifth edition of the EFF’s reporting on tech companies’ policies around disclosing information to governments in response to data requests, and it brings major changes to the organization’s framework.“The criteria we used to judge companies in 2011 were ambitious for the time, but theyve been almost universally adopted in the years since then,” the EFF said in its report.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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AT&T, WhatsApp get low marks from EFF for data disclosure policies
The Electronic Frontier Foundation released the latest version of its annual “Who Has Your Back” report on tech companies’ data disclosure policies Wednesday afternoon, giving perfect five-star ratings to companies including Apple, Adobe, Dropbox and Yahoo.This year’s publication is the fifth edition of the EFF’s reporting on tech companies’ policies around disclosing information to governments in response to data requests, and it brings major changes to the organization’s framework.“The criteria we used to judge companies in 2011 were ambitious for the time, but theyve been almost universally adopted in the years since then,” the EFF said in its report.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Twitter acquires machine learning startup Whetlab
To boost its in-house machine learning efforts, Twitter has acquired Whetlab, a startup that makes it easier for companies to use machine learning tools.As part of the acquisition, announced Wednesday, Twitter will shut down Whetlab’s beta service on July 15, and will no longer accept sign-ups for the product. Current users will be able to export their data from Whetlabs’s website in either tab-separated format or JSON.It’s not exactly clear how Twitter plans to use Whetlab’s technology to enhance its existing machine learning plans. However, the startup’s tool seems useful for any company implementing machine learning techniques. The technology, which was developed by researchers at Harvard, Toronto and Sherbrooke universities, takes in information about the problem a user wants to solve with machine learning. It then gives the user a series of suggestions to help them optimize a machine learning model to solve the problem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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‘Scroogled’ architect Mark Penn to leave Microsoft
Mark Penn, Microsoft’s executive vice president of advertising and strategy, will leave the company in September to open a private equity firm.Called the Stagwell Group, Penn’s new firm raised $250 million in capital from investors including former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and could make up to $750 million in acquisitions using leverage. With that money, Stagwell will focus on investing in advertising, research, data analytics, public relations, and digital marketing services, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Online password locker LastPass hacked
LastPass users will be prompted to change their master passwords after the online password locker company reported that its network was breached on Friday.The company revealed the breach in a blog post Monday after investigating “suspicious activity” discovered by its security team. According to LastPass, the investigation did not reveal any evidence that the attackers stole encrypted data from users’ password vaults, nor did the intruders gain access to LastPass users’ accounts. That said, the attackers were able to steal account email addresses, password reminders, server per user salts, and authentication hashes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Uber launches iPhone game to attract new drivers
Uber launched a new game for iPhone users today aimed at teaching people what it’s like to work as a driver for the tech-driven transportation company.UberDrive is equal parts teaching tool and recruitment mechanism: players are taught to find the most efficient route around a map of San Francisco for the digital passengers they “pick up” in the game. Players are taught to go and grab riders from areas where surge pricing is in effect, and get rewarded for taking efficient routes to their destination. Surge pricing is Uber’s practice of charging multiple times its base fare in areas seeing heavy demand.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Apple will let developers build native apps for its Watch with new update
Developers will be able to create applications that run natively on the Apple watch using a new version of the wearable device’s operating system announced Monday. CEO Tim Cook gave the announcement a brief mention during his introduction to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote at San Francisco’s Moscone West conference center. His proclamation drew cheers from the audience of developers, who will be able to do more with the Apple Watch than they could at the time of the device’s launch in April. It’s an improvement to the current state of Apple’s Watch OS, which currently requires users have their iPhones on and within range in order to work with third party apps. That limitation has been criticized by both developers and reviewers alike, since it reduces the Watch’s utility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Apple may reduce its cut of app store revenue for some developers
Apple will begin taking a smaller cut of application revenue from some developers on its App Store, according to a report Friday from the Financial Times.Since the App Store opened in 2008, one of the costs of being an iOS developer has been handing over to Apple 30 percent of an app’s revenue. But the company is now working with media companies including Spotify, Netflix and Time Inc. to give them a larger cut of the sales from their apps, the FT said, citing unnamed sources.It’s unclear what the new revenue split will be, or which companies will be eligible for it, but it marks a departure from the plan Steve Jobs announced when the store first launched.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Microsoft provides privacy dashboard ahead of Windows 10 launch
Microsoft gave its privacy policy and service agreement a facelift Thursday, and offered users a new central clearinghouse to manage privacy settings for all the data the company keeps about them.The newly-minted privacy dashboard (included in the Security and Privacy section of Microsoft’s account administration page) gives users links to control data stored for personalizing their experience on Bing, what apps and services use their information, whether Microsoft personalizes ads for them and whether the company can market to them via email. It’s part of a move by the company to unify and simplify most of its service agreements and privacy policies for various products under one document.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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AWS customers want more information on its renewable energy plans
Amazon Web Services customers have sent a letter to the cloud services provider requesting that it disclose more information about its sustainability practices.The 19 companies, including Tumblr, Change.org and the Huffington Post, said they want to convey the information to their users, customers, employees and other stakeholders.While lauding Amazon’s commitment to get its entire cloud operation running on renewable energy, the companies wrote to AWS chief Andy Jassy last week that they want to see Amazon disclose more about its current carbon and energy footprint, its progress towards renewable energy goals, and its strategy for increasing its use of renewable energy. The letter also requests that Amazon share how it defines renewable energy and what energy sources the company will prefer going forward.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Report: Microsoft acquires startup behind Wunderlist to-do app
Microsoft has acquired 6Wunderkinder GmbH, a German startup that makes the popular Wunderlist to-do list application, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.The deal was worth between $100 and $200 million, and is the latest in a string of acquisitions from the Redmond company aimed at bolstering its cross-platform holdings in the mobile productivity space. 6Wunderkinder’s staff will continue to work out of the firm’s Berlin office, but will report to Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington. The report squares with an earlier article from VentureBeat, which said the deal would be valued below $250 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Report: Microsoft acquires startup behind Wunderlist to-do app
Microsoft has acquired 6Wunderkinder GmbH, a German startup that makes the popular Wunderlist to-do list application, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.The deal was worth between $100 and $200 million, and is the latest in a string of acquisitions from the Redmond company aimed at bolstering its cross-platform holdings in the mobile productivity space. 6Wunderkinder’s staff will continue to work out of the firm’s Berlin office, but will report to Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington. The report squares with an earlier article from VentureBeat, which said the deal would be valued below $250 million.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Google levels up security at I/O with secure comms tool, better authentication
Google targeted people’s growing digital insecurity at its I/O developer conference this week with a number of new products that aim to protect communications and improve authentication.Project Vault is a new hardware device created by Google’s Advanced Technology and Products (ATAP) lab for people who need the absolute highest security for their communications. The device, which is packed in the form factor of a MicroSD card, is designed to provide encryption for sensitive data at rest, and allow end-to-end protection of streaming data (including streaming video) as well. The Vault card contains its own antenna, processor and operating system, which means that the device can authenticate directly with the Project Vault servers without requiring the use of other potentially insecure hardware.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Microsoft app store gets a spring clean before Windows 10 launch
Microsoft is cleaning house in the Windows Store, enacting policies that could see some apps removed as it tries to reduce clutter and ensure fair pricing ahead of the Windows 10 launch later this year.The new policies, designed to make it easier for users to find quality apps, will also clamp down on developers who abuse keywords to game the Store’s search results.First off, Microsoft wants to ensure users can distinguish between different apps, which means developers will need to use icons that accurately reflect what a program does, and that aren’t too similar to other app icons in the store. The same rules will apply to application titles, and to application functionality.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here