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Dell Inc. showed off a tablet device for business users that runs Microsoft’s Windows software, as the personal computer company continues to push aggressively into the mobile market.
Though many analysts believe the current version of Windows is not a good fit for touchscreen tablets, Dell said its commercial customers are looking for the familiarity and security of the Microsoft environment in a more portable package. Get the full story »
Chicago-based Orbitz Worldwide Inc. said on Monday that it has renewed its agreement with airfare software provider ITA Software through the end of 2015. Get the full story »
Google Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a Android Market web store that lets consumers download applications through their Internet browser, a move that ratchets up the company’s rivalry with Apple Inc.’s popular App Store.
Users previously could access the more than 100,000 apps at Google’s Android Market only from their mobile devices. Get the full story »
Google’s Android dethroned Nokia’s Symbian as the most popular smartphone platform in the last quarter of 2010, ending a reign that began with the birth of the industry 10 years ago.
Research firm Canalys said on Monday phonemakers sold 32.9 million Android-equipped phones in the last quarter, roughly seven times more than a year ago, compared with Symbian’s sales of 31 million.
The phones are produced by manufacturers that include Libertyville-based Motorola Mobility, Samsung and HTC. Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp. reported a dip in quarterly profit Thursday as sales of personal computers lagged expectations and Apple Inc.’s iPad began to eat away at the fringes of its core market.
The world’s largest maker of software, which powers more than 90 percent of the world’s computers, reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share. That compared with $6.66 billion, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier. The per share figure was higher due to a reduction in shares outstanding from last year. Get the full story »
Mosiac app. (Tribune)
The Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, is rolling out a news-reading application that will run on a new line of Microsoft-based tablet computers.
The app, called Mosaic, creates a moving set of touchable photographs that, when tapped, reveals the headline associated with the photo and allows the user to open and read the article.
“It’s a very different, visual way for readers to sort through and personalize how they want to see news delivered,” said Eddy Hartenstein, the Tribune’s co-president. “You just touch it and it blossoms.” Get the full story »
Apple Inc. is launching an applications store for Mac computers, replicating a model that proved wildly popular on its iPhones.
The Mac App Store, similar to the iPhone App Store and linked to iTunes accounts, went live Thursday offering more than 1,000 apps, or programs. The store is launching in 90 countries with paid and free apps in areas such as games, design and education. Get the full story »
A federal judge has sided with Google Inc. in a lawsuit alleging the U.S. Department of Interior improperly favored Microsoft Corp. in a deal that could have had ripple effects on future software contracts with other federal government agencies. Get the full story »
Comcast Corp. plans to soon roll out a feature allowing its customers to watch real-time television shows, whether a crime drama or newscast, on tablet computers such as Apple Inc.’s iPad. Get the full story »
Microsoft Corp. said it has resolved a glitch that caused some Hotmail users to temporarily lose all of their e-mails. Get the full story »
(Reuters)
A glitch with Apple Inc.’s iPhone alarm gave some users a late start to the new year. The alarm application on the smartphone failed to work for alarms that were set for one-time use only — as opposed to recurring — on the first two days of 2011, triggering complaints of oversleeping.
A spokeswoman for Apple acknowledged the issue, saying that “customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning Jan. 3.”
Apple declined to comment further about the exact nature of the glitch, but some Internet blogs said the problem was primarily affecting the iPhone 4 and older models that were updated with the latest software. Indeed, some iPhone users on Twitter boasted that their alarm clocks were working just fine. Get the full story »
The Web may seem like the land of something for nothing. Free video. Free news. Even free tools such as word processing and spreadsheets.
But almost two-thirds of adult Internet users in the U.S. have paid for access to at least one of these intangible items online, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Get the full story »
Nintendo Co. has issued a warning that children under the age of six shouldn’t play 3-D games on its soon-to-be-released handheld game machine, as looking at 3-D images for a long period of time can have a harmful effect on the growth of young children’s eyes.
The company posted the disclaimer at the bottom of its Japanese-language Web site promoting a three-day event in Japan where people can try its new Nintendo 3DS, due to launch Feb. 26 in Japan. It asks that 6-year-olds and those younger play games on the 3DS in 2-D mode. Get the full story »
Skype SA says a software glitch caused the Internet calling and messaging service’s major outage last week.
In a blog post Wednesday, chief information officer Lars Rabbe said the 24-hour outage that cut service for millions of users stemmed from a problem in a version of Skype’s software for computers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. Get the full story »
