By Wailin Wong
Motorola Inc. has hired a new senior vice president of human resources for its mobile devices and home business, which is scheduled to be separated from the rest of the company in the first quarter of 2011.
Scott Crum will take up his new position on July 19, the company said in a press release. Motorola co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha, who heads the mobile devices business, has been building his team in advance of the planned split. Last week, the company announced it had hired a corporate vice president of strategy for mobile devices and home. Get the full story »
By Wailin Wong
Motorola and Verizon Wireless on Wednesday unveiled the Droid X, a new smartphone running Google’s Android operating system.
Verizon is using the Droid name to denote a series of Android devices. Motorola was the first manufacturer with Droid, released late last year, and Taiwanese company HTC has two devices under the Droid moniker at the carrier.
The Droid X has a 4.3-inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera with a shutter. It is the first device in Verizon’s line-up with a camera shutter and the ability to capture high-definition video at 720p. As part of the phone’s emphasis on video, Verizon introduced an embedded Blockbuster application that allows users to download feature-length films and rent movies. Get the full story »
June 23, 2010 at 9:45 a.m.
Filed under:
Technology,
Telecommunications
By Associated Press
Though Apple stores will be carrying the iPhone 4 this Thursday, you’ll have to wait until next week if you want to buy it from its official U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T Inc.
AT&T said Tuesday that it will start selling the iPhone 4 on June 29 through its stores and website to anyone who wants to buy one, but was not able to order on June 15 — the first day that Apple and its partners took orders for the gadget. AT&T stopped taking orders the next day because of overwhelming demand. Get the full story »
By Dow Jones Newswires
Google Inc. said it will open its potentially disruptive Google Voice technology to the public. Get the full story »
June 22, 2010 at 11:07 a.m.
Filed under:
Technology,
Wireless
By Reuters
Visitors check out Apple iPads at an Apple retail store in Madrid, May 28, 2010. (Reuters/Susana Vera)
Apple Inc said it has sold 3 million iPads since the touch-screen tablet computer hit store shelves less than three months ago, and the pace of sales suggests that demand for the device is steaming ahead.
Apple did not provide a month-by-month breakdown of sales. However, Apple previously said that it sold 1 million iPads in the first month after the U.S. launch on April 3, and had sold 2 million iPads by May 31.
It hit the 3 million mark on June 21, it said in a release Tuesday.
Get the full story »
June 22, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Entertainment,
Internet,
Media,
Technology
By Reuters
Google Inc. is planning to launch an online music downloading service tied to its search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported, a move that would pit it against Apple Inc and its popular iTunes site.
Google’s plans are still vague, but it has been “stepping up conversations” about offering music services online as well as over mobile phones that use its Android operating system, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the company’s talks with the music industry. Get the full story »
June 21, 2010 at 3:12 p.m.
Filed under:
Media,
Technology,
Telecommunications
From Crain’s Chicago Business | Sun-Times Media and more than 300 media and broadcast companies have teamed up with Ranger Data Technologies Inc. to form a national online auction house, Boocoo.com. It is designed to compete with eBay and Craigslist.
June 18, 2010 at 9:33 a.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
Technology
By Associated Press
A leading medical journal says the world could boost its blood supply from young donors by tapping into social networks like Facebook.
In an editorial on Friday, the Lancet calls for doctors to encourage young people to donate blood, including recruitment drives on Facebook or running advertisements for national blood donation agencies on Google. Get the full story »
June 17, 2010 at 11:39 a.m.
Filed under:
Technology,
Telecommunications
Reuters | U.S. communications authorities Thursday took a small but significant
step toward regulating high-speed Internet in a bid to reclaim
oversight, setting the stage for an eventual legal showdown with
industry heavyweights. Big broadband providers like AT&T Inc,
Verizon Communications Inc and Comcast Corp oppose the move by the
Federal Communications Commission, fearing the agency may heavily
regulate their businesses in way that could crimp profits and cast a
cloud on investments.
Get the full story »
By Wailin Wong | Verizon Wireless has lifted the curtain on the next device in its Droid franchise, a phone by Motorola called the Droid X.
The carrier unveiled a teaser site for the new phone, which is expected to get its official launch next week. On the page, an image of the new phone is flanked on either side by two of its predecessors — the first Droid by Motorola, which was launched late last year, and Taiwanese manufacturer HTC’s Droid Incredible, which came out in late April.
Verizon Wireless uses the “Droid” moniker to describe its premiere line of smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system. The Droid X will be Motorola’s second Droid device.
Get the full story »
June 17, 2010 at 10:42 a.m.
Filed under:
Technology
Reuters | AOL Inc will sell its Bebo social network site to private investment
firm Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum, as it tries to
restructure its business and deal with declining revenue.
Thursday’s announcement comes as AOL has been trying to streamline
operations since being spun off from Time Warner Inc last year. It has
been struggling with a declining Internet access business and weak
advertising revenue.
Get the full story »
By Wailin Wong | Illinois has joined a list of governments in the U.S. and worldwide that are probing Google’s data collection for the search giant’s Street View service.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said Wednesday her office is investigating whether the California-based company gathered personal information from state residents. Street View is used in Google Maps and Google Earth to show photos at the street level, displaying pictures taken by special camera equipment mounted on cars and other vehicles.
The controversy over Street View arose last month, when Google admitted to inadvertently capturing and storing bits of private information sent over unencrypted WiFi networks. This “payload data,” as the information is called, can include e-mails, passwords and browsing activity.
Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 5:05 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology
An Apple Inc. employee shows the iPhone 4, June 7, 2010. (Photo Credit should Read /AFP/Getty Images)
Reuters | Sales of Apple Inc’s latest iPhone blew away expectations in its first
day on the market despite shortages and an embarrassing online ordering
glitch that thwarted many shoppers.
Apple shares rose nearly 3 percent on Wednesday after it announced sales
of more than 600,000 iPhone 4s, a record for just a single day of
pre-orders. That put the device on track to surpass sales of its
previous iPhone models as well as its iPad tablet computer, and sounded a
strong challenge to rivals like Nokia Corp, which warned of
weaker-than-expected sales at its phones unit.
But Apple apologized Wednesday for having to halt sales temporarily
after the surprising volume of online interest overloaded order and
approval systems and supplies ran out.
Get the full story »
June 16, 2010 at 9:49 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Technology
By Wailin Wong | IBM is helping to fund a new center at DePaul University that focuses on
advanced data analysis for businesses.
The Center for Data Mining and Predictive Analytics, which is scheduled
to open in September, is partially the fruit of last year’s $1.2 billion
acquisition of Chicago-based software company SPSS Inc. by IBM. SPSS
specializes in data mining and predictive analytics, which sifts through
massive amounts of data to spot patterns.
Companies in a wide range of
industries use predictive analytics — an insurance firm, for example,
could better detect fraudulent claims by examining millions of past
claims and identifying certain variables that indicate a statistical
probability of fraud.
Get the full story »
