T-Mobile now selling Square credit card payment systems in retail stores

By: | Feb 1st, 2012 at 02:21AM
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T-Mobile USA announced on Tuesday that it is now selling Square credit card systems in its retail stores. Square allows people to take payments by swiping a credit card through the Square dongle, which can be plugged into the end of a smartphone. “The success of our small business customers is important to us. Formerly ‘cash only’ small businesses can now simply and cost-effectively accept credit cards with their smartphone using Square, giving them an easy path to growth,” said Matt Millen, vice president of small and medium business sales at T-Mobile. “As these businesses evaluate their wireless needs, T-Mobile is committed to providing quality of service, cost savings and connectivity that are a requirement for their success.” T-Mobile will also offer direct support for the smartphone payment accessory. The company’s full press release follows after the break.

Nokia Siemens Networks to lay off more than 4,000 workers in Europe

By: | Feb 1st, 2012 at 12:12AM
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Nokia Siemens Networks recently announced that it will cut as many as 1,200 jobs in Finland and lay off another 2,900 workers in Germany as it begins to restructure the company. Both Nokia and Siemens originally tried to sell the joint venture, which has struggled to report a profit, but gave up those plans this past summer. The move is expected to save €1 billion per year, Reuters said Tuesday. Nokia Siemens Networks is the second larger maker of phone network equipment in the world behind Ericsson, and the joint venture was originally created to help both Siemens and Nokia better compete on a global scale. Nokia Siemens Networks originally said that it plans to cut as many as 17,000 jobs by 2013

Apple issues major Final Cut Pro X update with multicam editing and more

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 11:19PM
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Apple on Tuesday announced a major update to its Final Cut Pro X video editing software. The company added “multicam editing that automatically syncs up to 64 angles of video and photos; advanced chroma keying for handling complex adjustments right in the app; and enhanced XML for a richer interchange with third party apps and plug-ins that support the fast growing Final Cut Pro X ecosystem.” The Final Cut Pro v10.0.3 update is available now and is free for all existing Final Cut Pro X users. New users can purchase the software from Apple’s Mac App Store for $299.99 after a 30-day free trial. Apple’s full press release follows after the break.

Foxconn to build five new Brazilian factories for future Apple products

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 09:30PM
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Foxconn plans to build five additional factories in Brazil to produce liquid crystal displays for future Apple products. The plan was announced by the Secretary of Planning and Development for the State of São Paulo, Julio Semeghini, and reported by Brazilian news outlet, Folha. The five factories are in addition to the one already believed to producing iPads and iPhones, and each is reportedly set to employ roughly 1,000 workers. In addition to building Apple products, the factories will also manufacture notebooks, batteries and general electronics products. Officials from both Foxconn and the Brazilian government are said to be meeting to finalize the agreement soon, which São Paulo and neighboring states are rallying for. “We are awaiting the return of the executives of the Chinese New Year celebrations for taking up the negotiations,” said Semeghini.

BlackBerry London shows up again with fresher design

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 07:11PM
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We first saw the BlackBerry London make it way onto the internet a few months back, though I reported that the version that would come to market would look a bit different, and not so Porsche Design look and feel. CrackBerry got a hold of an internal slide with, surprise, a refreshed BlackBerry London that will be RIM’s first BlackBerry 10 smartphone due to launch this fall.

Mozilla’s Firefox 10 now available for download

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 07:00PM
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Mozilla on Tuesday released the latest version of its Firefox browser. In addition to allowing users to run full-screen apps, Firefox 10 offers the following enhancements:

  • The forward button is now hidden until you navigate back.
  • Most add-ons are now compatible with new versions of Firefox by default.
  • Anti-Aliasing for WebGL is now implemented.
  • CSS3 3D-Transforms are now supported.

Mozilla also made some HTML5 changes and noted two bug fixes. The company said that it has fixed a Java-related crash, which Mac OS X users experienced in earlier versions, as well as a crash related to moving bookmarks. Firefox 10 is available immediately as a free download.

Nikesh Arora rumored to become Motorola CEO after acquisition

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 06:05PM
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Nikesh Arora, Google’s SVP and Chief Business Officer, will run Motorola once the Google acquisition closes later this year, according to rumor published by Business Insider. Arora ran the company’s international business for Eric Schmidt, taking over the global business after the former CEO stepped down. Arora has reportedly been “agitating” for a CEO position and was included on a short list of candidates to head Yahoo. It is possible, however, that a promised CEO slot at Motorola could have prompted Arora to continue with Google. The rumor further notes that Dennis Woodside, Google’s current head of U.S. sales, will take over Arora’s current position.

Regional carriers ask FCC to impose a ‘shot clock’ for roaming agreements

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 05:10PM
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MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular and several other regional carriers have requested that the Federal Communications Commission initiate a “shot clock” for roaming agreements with larger wireless carriers. “Supporters stressed that imposing a shot clock on negotiations is necessary to provide the proper incentive for potential roaming partners to timely respond to inquiries,” a lawyer representing the regional carriers said in a letter to FCC Secretary Marlene H. Dortch. “Although data roaming negotiations may involve complex issues, the Joint Supporters emphasized that other situations that incorporate shot clocks, such as interconnection and siting negotiations, also have the potential to involve complex issues, and yet, a shot clock still has been successfully implemented in those negotiations.” In other words, the smaller wireless carriers want larger carriers to stop stalling when it comes to negotiating roaming deals in areas where regional carriers provide connectivity and to instead “engage in good faith negotiations.”

Amazon reports $17.4B in revenue, sales up 35% but misses Street estimates

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 04:15PM
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Amazon on Tuesday reported its earnings for the fourth quarter, during which it took in $17.4 billion in revenue. While its net sales were up 35% from the $12.95 billion reported during the fourth quarter last year, the company missed analyst estimates of $18.26 billion in revenue for the quarter. Amazon’s net income decreased 58% to $177 million during the quarter, or $0.38 per diluted share, compared with the net income of $416 million it reported during the same quarter last year. Net sales for the year jumped 41% to $48.08 billion, up from the $34.20 billion the company reported in 2010. Amazon said its Kindle Fire tablet has been the #1 best-selling, most wished-for and most gifted product on its website for the past 17 weeks. In addition, the company said the nine-week holiday period ended December 31st, 2011 resulted in a 177% increase in Kindle unit sales, which includes the Kindle Fire. Amazon expects net sales to fall between $12 billion and $13.4 billion during the first quarter of this year, up between 22% and 36% from the first quarter last year. Amazon’s full press release follows after the break. 

Galaxy Note to star in Samsung’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 03:40PM
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Samsung announced on Monday that the company will be launching the Galaxy Note smartphone with a 90-second Super Bowl commercial, which will be the first-ever Super Bowl ad in the technology giant’s 71-year history. “During the past six months we’ve launched the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus and now the Galaxy Note super phone in North America bringing unparalleled innovation to the marketplace,” said Todd Pendleton, Samsung‘s American Chief Marketing Officer. “The Galaxy Note ushers in the era of truly personalized communications, allowing people to capture, share and create like never before.” Samsung chose Bobby Farrelly — who created “There’s Something About Mary” and other popular comedies with his brother Peter — to direct the commercial. The advertisement will air during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI on February 5th, the same day the device is made available for pre-order from AT&T. Read on for Samsung’s press release.

A visualization of Apple’s market cap and cash [infographic]

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 02:15PM
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Apple reported a monster first quarter last Tuesday that sent the company’s stock skyrocketing over the past week. Apple’s holiday quarter was the most profitable quarter ever reported by a technology company, and the second most profitable quarter reported by any U.S. firm. With a market capitalization that now sits in excess of $420 billion, Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world, and with more than $97.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of calendar 2011, Apple has amassed an unbelievable war chest that is unrivaled among its competitors. Business blog MBA Online recently put together an infographic to help us visualize just how big Apple has grown since it teetered on the brink of bankruptcy in the late 90s. Among the graphic’s bullet points are the facts that Apple’s year-end cash pile is enough to buy an iPad for each and every person living in Canada and Greece combined, and it’s also enough to pay off the entire public debt of eight countries within the European Union. The site’s full infographic follows below.

Google responds to Congress’s concern over new privacy policy

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 01:30PM
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Google on Monday announced that the company would combine individual privacy policies from a variety of its products into one main policy. Critics of the change were worried that Google was now collecting more data than before, and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded answers. The Mountain View-based company has now responded to Congress and defended its decision to change the policy. Read on for more.

Wikileaks looks to move servers offshore to avoid prosecution

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 12:35PM
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In an attempt to evade U.S. prosecution, Julian Assange’s investors are said to be in the process of moving Wikileaks’s servers offshore, according to Fox News. Multiple unnamed sources spoke with the news network and said Assange’s financial backers have been going through the logistics of moving the servers to international waters. “They can keep running Wikileaks and nobody can touch them,” a source told Fox News. “If you get a certain distance away from any land then you’re dealing with maritime law … They can’t prosecute him under maritime law. He’s safe. He’s not an idiot, he’s actually very smart.” Read on for more.

Apple taking NFC payments mainstream with iPhone 5

By: | Jan 31st, 2012 at 11:40AM
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Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard’s head of emerging payments, sat down with Austin Carr of Fast Company to discuss the future of credit cards. “We’re rapidly moving to a world beyond plastic,” said McLaughlin. “In many ways, plastic is just convenient packaging.” The future of on-the-go payments may lie in the hands of near-field communication but unfortunately, adoption and availability have been extremely slow and limited. While NFC technology has been featured in a number of Android devices, MasterCard seems to think it won’t go mainstream until an iPhone is equipped with the mobile payment solution. Read on for more.

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