Independent review board says NSA phone data program is illegal and should end
An independent executive branch board has concluded that the National Security Agency's long-running program to collect billions of Americans' phone records is illegal and should end.
Microsoft Reports Record Revenue of $24.52 Billion in Second Quarter
Double-digit growth in Commercial and Devices and Consumer segments drives record revenue. — REDMOND, Wash. — January 23, 2014 — Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $24.52 billion for the quar...
Interview with Schiller, Federighi and Tribble on the future of the Mac on its 30th birthday
Apple executives on the Mac at 30: ‘The Mac keeps going forever.’ — Thirty years ago, Apple introduced the Macintosh, and we all learned why 1984 wasn't going to be like 1984.
4½", 5" screen iPhones expected in second half of year, smaller one further along in development, to feature metal casing, plastic casing scrapped
Apple iPhones to Come Out With Bigger Screens — Facing competition from rivals offering smartphones with bigger screens …
Sources say new Apple TV box likely coming soon, App/Game Store possible
We've learned that Apple is making progress on its development of a successor to the current Apple TV and that the device is well into testing. We are led to believe that the new device, which is sai...
AOL Buys Personalization Startup Gravity for $90 Million in Cash
In a bid to add another publishing and advertising tool to its offerings, AOL has acquired personalization startup Gravity for about $90 million in cash. — As part of the deal, which is expected to ...
Nokia Says Lumia & Other Phone Sales Declined In Q4 As It Prepares To Sell Division To Microsoft
In what is likely to be Nokia's last quarterly earnings before it hands off its mobile phone making business to Microsoft, the Finnish mobile maker has reported lower sales of Lumia devices in its Q4.
Microsoft beats earnings, ships 7.4 million Xboxes, doubles Surface revenue
Microsoft posts record revenue of $24.5B, beats earnings expectations in holiday quarter — Microsoft just announced revenue of $24.5 billion for the December quarter, up 14 percent from the same q...
Lenovo to Buy IBM Server Unit For $2.3 Billion Amid PC Slump
Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's largest maker of personal computers, will buy International Business Machines Corp.'s server business for $2.3 billion. — The deal price includes about $2 billion of c...
iPhone 5s Owners Gobbling “Unprecedented” Levels Of Data, Study Finds
Users of flagship smartphones such as Apple's iPhone 5s and Samsung's Galaxy S4 are continuing to suck down more data than their tablet-wielding counterparts, according to a large-scale survey of mobi...
Revenge-Porn King Hunter Moore Indicted by U.S. Attorney
Moore and an alleged accomplice Charles “Gary” Evens are indicted on 15 counts, including conspiracy, seven counts of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information and seven counts...
Facebook Hilariously Debunks Princeton Study Saying It Will Lose 80% Of Users
Last week Princeton researchers released a widely covered study saying Facebook would lose 80% of its users by 2015-2017. But now Facebook's data scientists have turned the study's silly “correlation...
Samsung Misses Estimates as IPhones Win Sales, Won Gains
Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) posted fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates as new Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhones won high-end smartphone customers and gains in the South Korean won curbe...
The 2 Teenagers Who Run the Wildly Popular Twitter Feed @HistoryInPics
There is a new ubiquitous media brand on Twitter. — No, I'm not talking about Pierre Omidyar's First Look Media or BuzzFeed or The Verge, or any other investor-backed startup. — I'm talking about ...
Google charges Android device vendors for apps like Gmail and Maps, Play Store access
How Google controls Android's open-source software — Basic Android software may be free, but it doesn't include the apps that make up Google's mobile services — The idea that Google's Android mobi...
eBay CEO Donahoe gives Icahn e-commerce tutorial over PayPal plan
Summary: eBay CEO John Donahoe: Why in an era of big data and e-commerce innovation would you separate eBay, PayPal and their network effects? — eBay CEO John Donahoe elaborated on why PayPal should...
The Techtopus: How Silicon Valley's most celebrated CEOs conspired to drive down 100,000 tech engineers' wages
In early 2005, as demand for Silicon Valley engineers began booming, Apple's Steve Jobs sealed a secret and illegal pact with Google's Eric Schmidt to artificially push …
Google Glass User Detained By Feds Talks About Ordeal
While some businesses are banning the high-tech wearable device Google Glass, a theatre owner in Columbus, Ohio, saw enough of a threat to call the Department of Homeland Security. The manager called...
The Holes in Microsoft's Data Protection Pledge
Microsoft says it can keep its customers' data from the prying eyes of U.S. spies and cops. But the company may not be able to honor its pledge. — Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said the ...
Google: We do not charge licensing fees for Android's Google Mobile Services
Earlier today a report from The Guardian claimed that Google was charging manufacturers a per device fee to have access to Google Mobile Services (GMS). Android has long been split into two distinct...
Apple Updates iWork Across Platforms, Brings Password-Protected Sharing To The Web And Mobile
Apple released a number of updates to iWork today, across all platforms, including OS X, iOS and iCloud on the web. Improvements include the addition of customizable alignment guides …
Lucrative Role as Middleman Puts Amazon in Tough Spot
While Business Is Key to Growth, Conflicts Arise Over Counterfeit, Unsafe Products — Last spring, Amazon.com Inc. moved to end its relationship with one of its biggest third-party sellers, saying th...
Instead of porting its games to other mobile platforms, Nintendo should run its own platform
Everything You're Thinking About Nintendo Is Totally Wrong — The entire internet has weighed in with what it believes is the answer to Nintendo's financial woes: Go mobile, immediately.
S. Korea to spend $1.5 bn on 5G ‘movie-in-a-second’ service
Seoul — South Korea, already one of the most wired countries on earth, Wednesday announced a 1.6 trillion won ($1.5 billion) plan to roll out a next-generation 5G wireless service quick enough to down...
Google Calendar bug adds others to your private events without warning
Google Calendar users should be careful with how they name their events, or they might just end up sharing them with others. In an attempt to intelligently interpret event names, it appears that Goog...
What if it's Apple, and not Google, that's invulnerable?
Invulnerable — On a recent podcast I noted that Google was perceived as invulnerable. In contrast, Apple is seen as temporarily enjoying a stay of execution. [1] This is not necessarily a bad thin...
Pentagon says ‘absolutely no new orders have been placed’ for BlackBerry phones
Stock surges on news of a big win that never was — Last week, a press release from the Department of Defense announced the launch of a new mobile network within the agency that will utilize unclassi...
NewsCred Raises $25 Million to Fill a Content-Marketing War Chest. (What's Content Marketing Again?)
Advertisers have spent the last few years toiling away in the social media fields, and now have long lists of followers on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms to show for their efforts.
Huawei settles with Rockstar Consortium, will pay for Android's infringement of ex-Nortel patents
The Google-led group of Android device makers sued on Halloween 2013 over former Nortel patents fails to present a united front to the Rockstar Consortium, a patent holding firm jointly owned by Apple...
Prim: Anatomy of a folded startup
The YCombinator-backed laundry pick-up and delivery business barely lasted 7 months. One of its founders walks Fortune through the post-mortem. — FORTUNE - Can technology disrupt even the most mund...
Tor Anonymity Software vs. the National Security Agency
Last year, Edward Snowden turned over to the Guardian, a British newspaper, some 58,000 classified U.S. government documents. Just a fraction of the files have been made public, but they outline the ...
Lively raises $2 million as live concert space heats up
Seattle-based digital music startup Lively has raised close to $2 million in new funding, according to an SEC filing. Lively offers artists an easy way to record their concerts, and then sell them to...
Groupon Adds 20,000 Properties To Its Hotel Feature
Groupon added 20,000 hotels, up from the several hundred hotel flash sales that it previously ran. / PlaceIt by Breezi — Groupon wants to be much more than a flash sales site when it comes to hotel...
Singularity University to launch $50 million venture fund to tackle the world's ‘grand challenges’
Forward-looking startups will have a chance at $50 million later this year when Singularity University, an education center and accelerator based at Mountain View's NASA Ames Research Center, launches...
App Revenue In Asia Grew A Massive 162% In 2013, Driven By Google Play
Over the past two years, Asia has emerged as the world's top marketplace for apps-and it's still growing. Revenue in Asia rose by a massive 162% in 2013, “annihilating” growth in all other continents...
Amazon's lack of public involvement in open source may cause talent attrition, say insiders
Amazon's ‘schizophrenic’ open source selfishness scares off potential talent, say insiders — Moles blame Bezos for paltry code sharing — Exclusive Amazon is one of the most technically …
Wal-Mart aims to match Amazon's service offerings in two years, continues warehouse build out
Wal-Mart Aims To Match Amazon's Service Offerings — Wal-Mart Will Continue To Build Out New Distribution Centers for Online Delivery — The head of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 's e-commerce efforts predic...