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Qualcomm plans cuts, may spin off assets

Qualcomm will cut costs by about $1.4 billion per year and study the possible sale of assets as part of a company realignment.The mobile technology juggernaut is also shaking up its board of directors as part of an agreement with investment company Jana Partners. Jana, which owns a chunk of Qualcomm’s stock, has pressured the company to spin off its chip division from its patent licensing business.The realignment was announced as Qualcomm reported its profit fell by nearly half in the April-to-June quarter on revenue that declined by 14 percent from a year earlier.“The changes we are announcing today are designed to enable us to right-size our cost structure and reposition Qualcomm for improved financial and operating performance,” CEO Steve Mollenkopf said in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How to configure a cheap, secure RAID backup system

We usually store our photos, documents, and more on a single hard disk—or, increasingly these days, a solid state drive (SSD)—but there’s always the nagging worry that the disk will fail, taking all your work and memories with it. Backing up using Time Machine, Super Duper!, or CrashPlan, say, is a good way of reducing this risk, but there is another: RAID. RAID can be incredibly complicated, but it’s extremely worthwhile—one of the things it can do is to mirror the contents of one disk completely to another, all the time. While cloning your hard disk using Super Duper!, for example, is something that might happen once a day, with a RAID system, every bit of data that’s written to one disk is simultaneously written to the second, so that if one drive fails, you have a perfect copy of everything it contained on the second. (And optionally, if you replace the failed drive, everything will be mirrored back across to it automatically.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV appears headed for approval with conditions

AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV appears headed for approval, with Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission circulating to commissioners an order recommending approval, although with some conditions.The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division also announced Tuesday that it will close its investigation into the around US$48 billion deal.Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Antitrust Division said in a statement that the division had concluded that the combination of AT&T’s land-based Internet and video business with DirecTV’s satellite-based video business does not pose a significant risk to competition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

In Q2, Yahoo spent a pretty penny to achieve unusual growth

Yahoo reported on Tuesday an uncharacteristic rise in revenue for the second quarter, but it came with a hefty sum spent on boosting its search traffic.Total sales for the period ending June 30 were US$1.24 billion, up 15 percent from the previous year. In the company’s announcement, CEO Marissa Mayer called it the most substantial growth in revenue in nearly nine years.Yahoo’s revenue from search ads and display ads both grew, at rates of 22 percent and 15 percent, respectively.It would appear that Mayer’s efforts to turn around the struggling Internet portal have begun to pay off. Yahoo has struggled in recent years to grow its ad sales and attract users to its various online properties.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

To Cisco-backed Sensity, lights are just IoT waiting to happen

Cisco Systems is tightening its relationship with Sensity Systems, a Silicon Valley startup that wants buildings and cities now adopting LED lighting to embrace the Internet of Things.Sensity makes sensors and computers designed to be integrated with LED lights that can go into existing outdoor light fixtures. With Sensity’s gear, the fixtures can do more than light up the streets and parking lots where they’re installed. Its cameras, thermometers and other sensors can tell a lot of stories about what’s going on under the lights. Parking, security and pedestrian traffic are key applications.As lighting owners move to LED to save energy, Sensity wants to usher them into the age of IoT and data analysis. It estimates there are about 4 billion outdoor light fixtures around the world and most will be converted to LED over the next 10 to 15 years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft reports first quarterly loss since 2012 after Nokia write-down

Microsoft has reported its first quarterly loss in three years, largely as a result of a $7.5 billion write-down for its acquisition last year of Nokia’s devices and services business.Microsoft’s net loss for the quarter, the fourth of its fiscal year, was $3.2 billion, compared to $4.6 billion in profit during the same period a year earlier, the company announced Tuesday. That translated into a loss of $0.40 a share. Microsoft’s quarterly revenue declined more than 5 percent year over year to $22.2 billion. The news comes after a few tumultuous weeks for the company. Microsoft announced two weeks ago that it was cutting 7,800 jobs to streamline its smartphone hardware business.  The company also transferred technology and employees from the Bing Maps team to Uber and sold part of its display advertising business to AOL.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Nokia Here said to be snatched up by Audi, BMW and Daimler for $2.7B

Audi, BMW and Daimler will jointly purchase Nokia’s Here digital mapping service for roughly $2.7 billion, and they plan to invite other auto makers to take a stake in the company as well, according to reports published on Tuesday.The deal could be signed in the next few days, with an announcement targeted for next week, according to separate reports in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and German publication Manager Magazin. All reports were based on anonymous sources familiar with the deal.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SLAPPED! The Year in Tech Industry Fines

NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY’It’s not like most of the big carriers and tech companies can’t afford a fine or two from the FCC, Justice Department or Federal Trade Commission here and there, but it’s still not the best publicity. Here’s a rundown of the year in tech industry fines to date:VERIZON 911The FCC in March fined Verizon $3.4 million for failing to notify police and fire departments last year during a six-hour 911 service outage affecting 750,000 California residents. The outage stemmed from a coding error at a big 911 routing center. Other carriers were also involved.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple hires Chrysler executive, furthering speculation of its automotive ambitions

Apple has hired an automotive industry veteran, increasing speculation that the company is working on an electric car.Earlier this month, former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executive Doug Betts took an operations role at Apple, according to his LinkedIn profile, which didn’t offer additional information on his new job. The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Monday.Betts has spent nearly 20 years in the car industry and held management roles at three major vehicle makers. As a senior vice president at Chrysler, he focused on product service and quality. Prior to joining Chrysler, he was the head of total customer satisfaction for the Americas at Nissan where his responsibilities included engineering quality and proving-ground operations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

10 (harrowing) tales of outdated tech used way past its prime

Old but unable to be forgottenImage by U.S. Census Bureau/WikipediaIn May, Rhode Island politics was roiled by the revelation that the state Department of Human Services's attempt to move away from its outdated InRhodes computer system wasn't going to happen. If you know anything about major government computer rollouts, you know this wasn't the first time this had happened, either; a state legislator compared it to "a similar situation as we have with the DMV where we had to practically get people out of nursing homes to come keep our old programs working."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

There’s more to municipal broadband than public funding, says report

U.S. communities looking for faster broadband service than incumbent ISPs provide have alternatives to the increasingly controversial choice of seeking to publicly fund a network, according to a new handbook for city officials. Public funding of broadband is just one of several possibilities, according to "The Next Generation Connectivity Handbook: a Guide for Community Leaders Seeking Affordable Abundant Bandwidth," released Tuesday by Gig.U, a coalition of universities focused on building high-speed broadband networks, and the Benton Foundation, an advocacy group focused on media and telecom issues. Most city officials say that their local broadband networks aren't good enough in the long term, according to the report, which advises that "the time to begin thinking about faster speeds, more competition and better service is now. Network upgrades do not happen overnight."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Verizon nabs another speed crown as low-cost carriers lag far behind

Despite ads that suggest, "Yes, you can have it all," wireless service really doesn't work that way. You can go for speed, or you can go for a low price, but you can't have both. A new series of speed tests from respected tech website Tom's Guide reiterates this fact. The tests also confirm that Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are much faster, and more expensive, than Sprint. When it comes to discount, prepaid carriers, download and upload speeds are so slow in some cases that customers may have problems watching videos or using other data-intensive applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Tuesday, July 21

New mainframe slows sales decline at IBMSales fell 13 percent in the second quarter at IBM, and profit dropped 16 percent—but things could have been worse if it weren’t for sales of the recently launched Z13 mainframe. IBM blamed much of the decline on a strong dollar and the sale to Lenovo of its low-end server business.Tech companies go on a spending spree in WashingtonIBM could have boosted its results by $1.8 million in the second quarter by eliminating its spending on lobbyists. Instead, it increased its spend by 7 percent. Other companies spent more, however: Amazon doubled its lobbying budget to $2.15 billion, while Facebook’s expenditure on lobbying rose by a quarter to $2.7 billion in the quarter. Apple and Intel each spent about $1.25 million, both up from the year-earlier quarter. Alone among the big tech companies, Google cut spending to $4.62 million—but at that level, it’s hard to tell whether peer pressure or thrifty new CFO Ruth Porat were behind the reduction.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook, Amazon, Apple pick up spending on lobbying

Apple, Facebook and Amazon.com have increased their expenses on trying to influence U.S. politicians and policy at the federal level, but Google still outstrips them in spending though it reduced expenditure in the second quarter.Amazon’s spending on lobbying increased by 103 percent to a record US$2.15 million in the second quarter of 2015, according to data collated by advocacy group Consumer Watchdog from filings by the company. Facebook’s expense rose to $2.69 million in the quarter, up 27 percent from $2.12 million in the second quarter of 2014. The social networking company outstripped its first quarter spending of $2.44 million by 10 percent.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM’s Q2 sales slide 13 percent on sale of low-end server unit

IBM has reported another quarter of declining revenue and profit, though sales of its new mainframe gave it a lift.Revenue for its second quarter was $20.8 billion, down from $24 billion a year earlier, IBM announced Monday.The big drop is partly from IBM selling its x86 server business to Lenovo, as well as the impact of the strong U.S. dollar. Without those factors, revenue would have declined one percent, IBM said.Net income was $3.45 billion, down 16.6 percent.Revenue from IBM’s giant Global Technology Services segment were down 10 percent to $8.1 billion. Factoring out the currency effect and the sale of the x86 server business, revenues were up one percent, IBM said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

New products of the week 07.20.2015

New products of the weekOur roundup of intriguing new products. Read how to submit an entry to Network World's products of the week slideshow.Proficio ProSOC ExpressKey features: ProSOC Express provides SMBs with 24x7 enterprise-class security monitoring and alerting services. Offered as a highly affordable SaaS subscription service, it includes the same advanced SIEM technology and 24x7 expert monitoring that Proficio provides to its enterprise customers. More info.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Faced with power crisis, Africa looks to renewable energy technology

African countries, driven by the need to power base stations for mobile phone operators in the face of serious power shortages, are starting to scoop up renewable energy technology.Countries in different regions of the continent are experiencing an increasing number of power shortages, affecting the ability of businesses to run base stations, data centers, computers and other IT equipment.Energy and telecom experts have blamed African governments for not fully liberalizing the energy sector, the way the telecom sector has been liberalized, so as to encourage private investment and competition.The situation has become dire in a number of countries. Renewable energy technology is the only answer, according to Andrew Makanya, managing director at Internet Solutions Zambia.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IBM Watson’s next trick: Helping you write better

IBM’s Watson has already proven its mettle in the kitchen and on game shows, but its latest skill set is one that could help us all: making sure our writing conveys what we want it to.Now in experimental mode, Watson Tone Analyzer is a new service that can analyze text for the attitude and tone that underlie it. The tool could help anyone refine an email, marketing message, presentation or blog post before releasing it into the world, IBM said.“To read a message and to judge the tone conveyed in the message comes naturally to humans,” explained Rama Akkiraju, a distinguished engineer and master inventor for IBM Watson User Technologies, in a Thursday blog post announcing the project. “But, at times, the tone may be overlooked, undesired or not conveyed well by the author.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google reports strong earnings, propelling its stock

Google’s stock jumped more than 7 percent in the after-market hours on Thursday, after the company reported strong earnings results for the second quarter.Total income for the period ended June 30 was US$3.93 billion, up 17 percent from $3.35 billion in the second quarter of 2014, Google announced Thursday. Excluding certain expenses, Google reported earnings of $6.99, beating analysts’ estimates of $6.71, as polled by the Thomson Financial Network.The company’s stock was trading at around $620 after Google reported its earnings at the end of trading, up from closing at $579.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft snaps up FieldOne to enrich Dynamics CRM

Microsoft and FieldOne have been partners for several years already, but on Thursday Microsoft took the relationship a step further and acquired the New Jersey-based provider of field-service software.Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it comes just four months after the two companies signed a global strategic agreement to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM and FieldOne’s Sky platform, which offers features such as automated routing, scheduling and dispatch, work-order management, mobile collaboration and more.Field-service management software is used by companies that need to send workers to customers’ locations to provide on-site support. Typically, it relies heavily upon cloud and mobile technologies, with an increasing use of data science and predictive analytics.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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