Dec. 10, 2010 at 5:52 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Consumer news,
Technology
By Reuters
Component suppliers for Apple Inc.’s iPad are gearing up for a new round of production in the first quarter, sources said on Friday, with one saying the product will be a revamp of the popular tablet computer including front- and back-mounted cameras.
Touchscreen chip designer Wintek Corp., battery maker Simplo Technology Co. Ltd. and AVY Precision, an unlisted maker of covers for electronic products, are among suppliers for the next batch of iPads, four people familiar with the situation said. Get the full story »
Dec. 9, 2010 at 5:50 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Entertainment,
Technology
From Bloomberg | Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was the best-selling video-game console in the U.S. for the sixth consecutive month, the company said Thursday. Sales were helped by Microsoft’s Kinect motion-capture controller. The company said separately that Wii sales gained 0.8 percent to 1.27 million units.
Dec. 9, 2010 at 11:16 a.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
Technology
By Wailin Wong
(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Education-related Web sites ranked among the most popular Google searches for Chicagoans in 2010, according to the search giant’s newly released “Zeitgeist” list.
Google compiled lists of the hottest search items for individual U.S. cities, ranking searches based on their uniqueness to that city. A search query is considered unique if it is “disproportionately popular” in a certain city versus the rest of the country, Google said.
In Chicago, the top search was the bulky “student.cps.k12.il.us,” which is a Web portal for Chicago Public School students to manage grades and assignments. Jim Lecinski, Google’s Chicago-based managing director of U.S. sales, said students were likely bringing home flyers or notes from teachers with the URL printed on it. Their parents would then type the address into a Google search bar instead of their browser’s address bar. Get the full story »
Dec. 8, 2010 at 4:52 p.m.
Filed under:
Entertainment,
TV,
Technology
By Associated Press
Shipments of LCD flat-panel TVs will fall this year from the year before, the first such decline since the popularity of such TVs took off in 2006, according to a research firm. Get the full story »
Dec. 8, 2010 at 6:47 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Technology
By Associated Press
The European Union’s competition watchdog says it is fining five Taiwanese and South Korean electronics companies $856 million for fixing prices on LCD panels between 2001 and 2006. Get the full story »
Dec. 8, 2010 at 5:41 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Technology
By Associated Press
The FBI says it recently issued an alert about a popular Barbie doll with a hidden video camera that could be used to produce child pornography, but stressed that the toy has not been linked with any reported crimes.
FBI spokesman Steve Dupre said Tuesday the alert last month was meant only for law enforcement agencies to advise them not to overlook Mattel’s “Barbie Video Girl” during any searches. The alert was sent out by the bureau’s Sacramento office. Get the full story »
Dec. 7, 2010 at 5:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Policy,
Politics,
Technology
By Reuters
Google won a share of a federal government contract last week that the company hopes will give it a boost over rival Microsoft as they race to convert government agencies to cloud computing. Get the full story »
Dec. 7, 2010 at 3:02 p.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
Internet,
Technology,
Updated
By Reuters
The first laptops powered by Google Inc’s Chrome system will hit store shelves later than expected, as the Internet company works out bugs in a family of Web-centric computers intended to take on Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc . Get the full story »
Dec. 6, 2010 at 9:59 a.m.
Filed under:
Internet,
Technology
By Associated Press
The popular blogging site Tumblr is working to recover from an outage that’s left it out of service for at least 15 hours.
Tumblr says the problem is in one of its database clusters, or collection of databases. Get the full story »
Dec. 3, 2010 at 6:04 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
IPOs,
Internet,
M&A,
Startups,
Technology
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason speaks at the company's headquarters on Aug. 31, 2010. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
By Melissa Harris and Wailin Wong
The deal didn’t tip after all.
Chicago-based Groupon Inc. has turned down an acquisition offer from Google Inc. and is staying independent, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation said Friday.
The two companies had been engaged in talks, with speculation about the marriage reaching a fever pitch over the last week. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google reportedly had offered between $5 billion and $6 billion for the daily deal start-up. Get the full story »
Dec. 3, 2010 at 1:43 p.m.
Filed under:
Litigation,
Privacy issues,
Technology
By Reuters
Google admitted to trespassing, but will pay just $1 to resolve a lawsuit over its use of photos of a couple’s Pennsylvania home for its Street View mapping service.
The agreement ends a case brought by Aaron and Christine Boring, who said the Internet search company violated their privacy by photographing their Pittsburgh home and swimming pool without their permission. They said the home sits on a street clearly marked “Private Road.”
“Google could have just sent us an apology letter in the very beginning, but chose to try to prove they had a legal right to be on our land,” the couple said in a statement. “We are glad they finally gave up.” Get the full story »
By Reuters
Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha. (PRNewsFoto/Motorola, Andy Kuno)
Shares of Motorola fell 1.5 percent after it warned its cell-phone unit would post a loss in the first quarter, when key client Verizon Wireless is seen starting sales of Apple’s iPhone.
Analysts on Thursday cut their share price targets and earnings estimates for the company, which had only recently posted its first quarterly profit in years.
Motorola’s mobile chief and Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha flagged the loss during an investor conference late on Wednesday saying first quarter sales would involve a higher proportion of cheaper phones as the company looks to boost sales at U.S. operators such as AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA. Get the full story »
Dec. 1, 2010 at 12:55 p.m.
Filed under:
Technology,
Telecommunications
By Wailin Wong
Verizon Wireless senior technician Jim Harper works at a switching center in Los Angeles on Oct. 18, 2010. The company and other major cellular providers have spent billions to build 4G networks. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
Verizon Wireless is going live with its new 4G network in Chicago and 37 other cities on Sunday, the carrier said Wednesday.
The network will deliver speeds between 5 and 12 megabits per second, representing a tenfold increase in speed from Verizon’s current 3G network, Tony Melone, Verizon’s chief technical officer, said in a conference call. On the 4G network, a user can download a 10-megabyte presentation in less than 10 seconds or download 20 photos in 60 seconds, Melone said.
Clearwire, Sprint and Comcast began offering 4G services in Chicago on Clearwire’s network about a year ago. T-Mobile announced the local launch of its 4G network at the beginning of November. Get the full story »
By Wailin Wong
Motorola unveiled Wednesday its board of directors for Motorola Solutions, one of the two new companies that will result from a planned split in January.
The separation is scheduled for Jan. 4, 2011. On that date, Motorola will spin off Motorola Mobility, a company led by current co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha that will focus on mobile devices and television set-top boxes. The remaining company, headed by co-CEO Greg Brown, will become Motorola Solutions and trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “MSI.” Motorola Solutions will make communications equipment and software for public safety, government and industrial sectors. Get the full story »
