A quick burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
Philips Exits Consumer Electronics - The Source - WSJ
Philips Electronics has drawn a line under its long history as a consumer-electronics company after failing to compete successfully with the likes of Apple, Samsung Electronics and Sony in the fast-moving industry.
Philips said Tuesday it has sold the remnants of its once-core business to Japan's Funai Electric Co. as the Dutch group reported a steeper net loss in the fourth quarter, weighed down by a restructuring charge and a fine for price fixing.
Philips, which has become primarily a maker of medical equipment and lighting products, has sold the audio, video, multimedia and accessories activities to the Japanese consumer electronics company for the almost token sum of EUR150m ($201.8m) in cash and a brand-license fee.
Utterly gobsmacking. Philips, inventor of the compact cassette, co-inventor (with Sony) of the CD, and that's it.
Android botnet infects 1M+ phones in China >> threatpost
A couple of weeks old, but:
Up to a million Android users in China could be part of a large mobile botnet according to research unveiled by Kingsoft Security, a Hong Kong-based security company, this week.
The botnet has spread across phones running the Android operating system via Android.Troj.mdk, a Trojan that researchers said exists in upwards of 7,000 applications available in third-party app stores, including the popular Temple Run and Fishing Joy games.
According to reports, the strain of malware was discovered in 2011 but recent analysis has shown the botnet has ramped up infection rates and at this point might have infected one million smartphones.
Windows 8 failure could set off tech industry chain reaction >> Windows IT Pro
Paul Thurrott:
There hasn't been much talk about this yet, because the reactions are fairly predictable, but I see Windows 8 as Microsoft's Hail Mary pass. If Windows 8 doesn't truly succeed (i.e., it achieves just Vista-level sales and customer engagement), the company might never fully recover. The failure of Windows Vista already knocked the stuffing out of Microsoft, leading to the complete upheaval of the Windows Division, and here they are making a big bet again, far earlier than I ever thought was possible. What if this one doesn't work? What if users don't embrace this weird dual-usage model with both tablet-friendly and traditional UIs? What if the world just passes them by?
Intriguing way to set out the alternatives.
Ridiculous: 64GB Surface Pro to only include 23GB of usable space >> Owened
Owen Williams:
The problem I have with this is that it is blatantly deceptive. Consumers are accustomed to tablets being marketed like the iPad, where if you buy a 64GB iPad, you actually get around that much space. This isn't like the PC market, where a machine ships with 95% usable of a 500GB drive because it's only a drop in the bucket.
By advertising a device that has "64GB of storage" but only actually has 23GB, Microsoft is not only setting themselves up to disappoint, they're actively deceiving users. 23GB is only 35% of the total usable space. It's grossly misleading, even if it is a "full PC" product, it's in a category that markets itself very differently.
Goodbye Research In Motion, hello BlackBerry >> CITEworld
Research In Motion is changing its name to BlackBerry, a move it hopes will signify a fresh start for the company.
The surprise name change, which takes effect immediately, was announced by CEO Thorsten Heins at an event in New York to launch the company's new BlackBerry 10 operating system and smartphones.
"Our customers use the BlackBerry, our employees work for BlackBerry, and our shareholders are owners of BlackBerry. From today on, we are BlackBerry everywhere in the world," he said at the event, which was broadcast.
Compare Apple Computer changing its name to Apple Inc with the launch of the iPhone. Any other tech name changes spring to mind?
iPhone users rack up the highest carrier bills >> AllThingsD
According to new data shared with AllThingsD by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the average monthly carrier bill of the typical iPhone user is the highest in the smartphone market. iPhone owners spend more on wireless fees than owners of any other handset, be they Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone.<p: Almost 60% of the iPhone users CIRP polled during October-December 2012 spent more than $100 per month on their wireless plan, with 10% spending $200 or more. Just 6% spent $50 or less; for Android users in that category, the percentage was double. And only 53% of Android users fell into the "over $100 per month" category, with 7% landing in the "over $200 per month" category.
The very clear message from this research: Americans spend insane amounts of money on mobile plans.
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer does not fear Dropbox or an Office-less IPad >> Businessweek
Good interview on Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Steve Ballmer, including this gem:
Q: You guys face the huge challenge of trying to advance a product on which about 1 billion people rely. You want to modernize it, but you don't want to break anything that people need. Partly as a result of this, Microsoft is coming to the cloud late and now going up against a company like Dropbox that already has 100 million users.
Ballmer: Well, you've got to remember, 100 million sounds like a pretty small number to me, actually. We've got a lot more Office users. And actually if you even want to go to the cloud, we have a lot of Hotmail and SkyDrive users. I'm not beating on Dropbox. They're a fine little startup and that's great.
100 million makes you a little startup? OK. He's then asked about Yammer (6m) which Microsoft bought for $1.2bn. And he also deals with the question of Office for iPad. Well, sort of.
Exclusive: Nest has raised another $80M, now shipping 40K+ thermostats a month >> Gigaom
Smart thermostat startup Nest has closed on a round of $80 million, we've learned, and the funding was done at a post money valuation of $800 million. Google Ventures led the round, and Venrock participated as a new investor, according to our sources. Nest is currently listed on Venrock's site.
The company has raised this round to continue its growth; it's now shipping 40,000 to 50,000 of its learning thermostats per month. If the company's growth continues at this current rate, Nest could reach a shipment rate of 1 million thermostats per year by the summer, say our sources. Note, that's shipments, not sales, though the figures are clearly closely related...
The thermostat, which costs $250, learns its owner's behavior and uses smart algorithms to shave off 20% to 30% of energy used for heating and cooling.
Live: Amazon misses estimates on earnings, revenue and guidance >> Business Insider
Amazon reported revenue and earnings that were below Wall Street's printed expectations, but the stock responded by soaring to an all-time high.
(The company's profit margin was modestly higher than expected. And the stock is likely benefitting from some short-covering, as Amazon bears panic and cover their bets).
Gotta love Amazon. And the stock market. (The "bears", by the way, would have short-sold stock - having sold a ton at a higher price, and promising to buy it back at a lower price; sell high, buy low, make profit. When the stock didn't fall, they had to buy it anyway to cover their debts from "selling" at the higher price.)
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