NewsFactor Business

What's in Store for Apple's iOS 7?

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:19:18 -0500

There's been talk recently that Apple's products are beginning to coast on their glorious past. So, with Apple's big Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) arriving in San Francisco in three weeks, the speculation mill has been heating up about what the company might offer when it decides to unveil the new iOS 7.

Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that manufacturing of a "refreshed iPhone" was beginning in second quarter, with a possible launch during the summer, and that a less expensive iPhone could be on the market as soon as the second half of this year. The newspaper also said that Apple's next version of its iOS would be shipped by the middle of this year.

Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, has told news media that his team "can't wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X" into developers hands. This might imply some minor updates to the current version will be released at WWDC, or it could mean the company will tease or unveil the full iOS 7 redesign that is said to be under way. Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Sir Jonathan "Jony" Ive, who is known for a more minimalist style, is said to be leading a complete overhaul of the OS's interface.

Flatter, Simpler?

However, there have also been reports on the Web, attributed to "people with knowledge of the matter," that the full-scale redo of iOS may not be ready for WWDC.

Rumors have suggested a less-textured direction for the new look, which some have described as "very, very flat," cleaner, simpler, losing any shine or gloss, and bearing new icons. Some observers have speculated that users might even have a choice between displaying the new flat design or keeping the old interface.

One possible pitfall to a simpler, flatter design,...

Google Glass Raises Congressional Privacy Concerns

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:50:22 -0500

The buzz around Google Glass continues, but it's not all good. Some in Congress are raising privacy issues around the futuristic product.

Eight members of the House Privacy Caucus sent a letter to Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page. They have some questions about the privacy aspects of Google Glass. And they want answers.

"As members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, we are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of average Americans," the letter says. "Because Google Glass has not yet been released and we are uncertain of Google's plans to incorporate privacy protections into the device, there are still a number of answered questions that we share."

Congressional Questions

The caucus then puts forth eight questions:

1. How does Google plan to prevent Google Glass from unintentionally collecting data about the user/non-user without consent?

2. What proactive steps is Google taking to protect the privacy of non-users when Google Glass is in use? Are product lifecycle guidelines and frameworks, such as Privacy By Design, being implemented in connection with its product design and commercialization?

3. When using Google Glass, is it true that this product would be able to use Facial Recognition Technology to unveil personal information about whomever and even some inanimate objects that the user is viewing? Would a user be able to request such information? Can a non-user or human subject opt out of this collection of personal data? If so, how? If not, why not?

4. Would Google place limits on the technology and what type of information it can reveal about another person? If so, explain. If not, why not?

5. Given Google Glass's sensory and processing capabilities, has Google considered making any additions or refinements to its privacy policy? If so, explain. If not, why not?

6. Would [device-specific] information be collected from users operating Google Glass?...

Should Enterprises Skip Over Windows 8?

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:46:04 -0500

IT will skip Windows 8 as the enterprise standard. So says a new Forrester Research report penned by David K. Johnson that goes by the same name.

"Windows 8 is the boldest release of the OS since Windows 95. Microsoft chose to discard the Start button in favor of a new look designed to tie together the PC, tablet, and, smartphone experience," Johnson wrote. But he noted that the "unorthodox offering" drives IT leaders to ask a number of questions.

Those questions include: Is Windows 8's new interface too far of a departure for some employees to learn, and will there even be any employee demand for it? Does Windows 8 offer enough new value to justify migration investments, and if so, when, and across which devices?

The report goes on to explain why Forrester believes most businesses will not adopt Windows 8 as their primary standard, but must be prepared to meet employee "bring your own device" demand. The latter point lines up with a recent Gartner report suggesting that half of companies will mandate BYOD for employees.

The UI Beef

Windows 8 started out of the gate with disadvantages. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen set the stage for the complaints with a review that tore the operating system to shreds last November.

Nielsen didn't like what he deemed a reversal of Microsoft's user interface strategy, one that differs from the traditional Bill Gates-driven style that emphasizes powerful commands. He said Microsoft has "gone soft" and "smothers" users with big colorful tiles while hiding needed features.

"One of the worst aspects of Windows 8 for power users is that the product's very name has become a misnomer. Windows no longer supports multiple windows on the screen," Nielsen wrote in a blog post. "Win 8 does have an option to temporarily show a second area in a...

Windows Phone Now No. 3 in Market, BlackBerry No. 4

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:35:26 -0500

Has Microsoft Phone moved into a coveted though distant third place for smartphone platforms behind Google's Android and Apple's iOS? A new report from IDC says it has.

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker found that Android and iOS took an overwhelming combined 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments in the first quarter, a huge increase of 59.1 percent over the same quarter last year. Separately, Android took 75 percent and iOS 17.3 percent.

Windows Phone, for the first time in IDC's reports, took third place with 3.2 percent, barely ahead of the BlackBerry OS, which had 2.9 percent. This compares with 2 percent for Windows Phone in Q1 of 2012, and what had been a more substantial 6.4 percent for BlackBerry. In January of this year, BlackBerry released its new BlackBerry 10 platform.

'Forward Motion'

Rounding out the top half dozen platforms, Linux had 1 percent and the dying Symbian, which posted 6.8 percent in first quarter of last year, now has 0.6 percent.

We asked Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team, if the Windows Phone showing in this report appeared to be just a blip, or if seemed to be a forward motion that could continue to keep Microsoft in third place.

He replied that he sees this "as forward motion" and not a blip, and the reason is Nokia. We can see now, Llamas said, "how serious they are and how serious their carrier partners are," as evidenced by their evangelizing, marketing, and steady stream of new Windows phones. Llamas said "it takes some time" to launch a new platform, and Nokia's efforts are now bearing fruit.

While other manufacturers have released Windows Phone devices, Microsoft's partnership with Nokia is the key to whether the smartphone platform succeeds. Nokia's devices accounted for 79 percent of Windows Phone shipments during Q1.

'Significant...

U.S. Could Use Cyberattack on Syrian Air Defenses

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:23:42 -0500

The Pentagon has cyberattack capabilities that allow the U.S. military to help blind Syrian air defenses without firing a shot, according to military analysts.

"One of the reasons the Air Force has paid so much attention to cyberwarfare is ... for beating enemy air defenses," said James Lewis, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

U.S. abilities to defeat Syria's air defenses are central to a debate over whether to intervene in the 2-year-old civil war. Electronic methods to disable enemy air defense systems include the injection of malware, a form of computer software, into the air-defense network through a computer attack or by electronic warfare aircraft capable of jamming radar.

The radars act like wireless transmitters, and jammers can send false or destructive information into the radar, which then gets into the network, said Shlomo Narkolayev, an analyst who has worked on cyber issues for the Israeli military's cyberwarfare unit. "It sounds like science fiction. It's not," Narkolayev said. "It's not hard to do this," he said.

Syria and other nations are constantly adjusting the electronics for their air systems, and Air Force documents show the U.S. military does the same with its cyberweapons. They are constantly updated to counter changes made by enemy militaries.

A 2007 Israeli attack on a suspected Syrian nuclear power plant in 2007 provided a template for a future attack. The Israelis used a cyberattack to disable Syrian air defenses before aircraft entered Syrian airspace.

The Israeli attack was a quick strike that only required temporarily blinding air defenses. Establishing a no-fly zone would require taking down Syrian air defenses for months.

Cyberattacks can cause permanent damage, Lewis said. U.S. forces have been reluctant to use cyberattacks for fear malware could damage other networks and because of concerns that enemy nations will copy the malware once it is...

Facebook Finds Footing a Year After IPO Flop

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:15:19 -0500

A year ago, Facebook was being blamed for eviscerating the tech IPO market. This year, it could help resuscitate it. Some stock watchers suggest Facebook's recent reversal of fortune reflects a rejuvenated tech market, and the company would have fared much better had it gone public this year.

"It's both Facebook performing well, and (a stronger) tech (market) helping any high-profile tech stock," says Bill Tai, a general partner at Charles River Ventures.

"What happened last year is ancient history," says John Fitzgibbon, founder of market researcher IPOScoop.com. "Facebook was a spectacular pop and flop. Market conditions were bad then."

But Facebook's strides in mobile advertising and healthier financial standing since underscore an improved tech sector, Fitzgibbon says.

"This market is stronger than people realize, with some promising IPOs," Fitzgibbon says. "Apple's stock drop is masking the true strength of (the tech-heavy) Nasdaq composite."

Two business-software companies are expected to go public Friday: Marketo, which makes marketing software, and data-visualization company Tableau Software, which recently raised its price range to $28 to $30 per share, from $23 to $26.

There could be more, with strong rumblings of potential IPOs over the next year from consumer tech players such as Twitter, Square, Dropbox and Box, among others.

Last year, Facebook's flop rippled to the market, with an absence of consumer-related Web offerings in late 2012 and early this year.

Since Facebook stumbled out of the IPO gate, however, it has rebounded nicely. Despite the rap against Internet companies as money-losing story stocks, Facebook has been profitable the past two quarters.

It recently reported $1.5 billion in revenue for its first quarter, which is 38% higher than it was in the same quarter a year ago. Facebook's net income of $219 million in the first quarter was a 6.8% improvement over the same period a year ago. That's above the 5%...

Lawmakers Accuse Google of U.K. Tax Trickery

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:42:26 -0500

U.K. lawmakers subjected search giant Google to blistering criticism Thursday, accusing the U.S. Internet company of playing games with Britain's tax rules to avoid paying what it owed.

In his second appearance before Parliament in roughly six months, Google Vice President Matt Brittin tried to defend his company's complex corporate structure to a committee of skeptical U.K. politicians, many of whom seemed unconvinced by his assertion that Google was being transparent about how it paid its bills.

After two hours of sharp questioning, committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge accused Brittin of "devious, calculated and, in my view, unethical behavior in deliberately manipulating the reality of your business in order to avoid paying your fair share of tax to the common good."

"You are a company that says you do no evil and I think that you do do evil in that you use smoke and mirrors to avoid paying tax."

Brittin countered that his company's employees "fully comply with the law."

Google is one of several major multinationals -- including Amazon, Facebook and Starbucks -- whose convoluted corporate structures and disproportionately low tax bills have drawn increased attention in Britain and elsewhere.

Google, one of the world's most visible companies, has attracted particularly close scrutiny. The company has paid less than 0.1 percent of its billions in U.K. revenue back to the government in tax. In the first quarter of this year it made $1.3 billion in revenue from the UK, according to a Google release. The company justifies low taxes by saying that the overwhelming majority of sales actually occur at the company's European head office in Dublin.

The ins and outs of what makes a company's revenue taxable in Britain are complicated, but much hinges on where the sales take place. At his first hearing back in November, Brittin said that sales didn't take place in...

Cisco Surges After Profit Exceeds Analysts' Estimates

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:41:08 -0500

Cisco's net income jumped 14 percent in the latest quarter as revenue at all four of its divisions rose for the first time in a year and a half.

Cisco earned $2.5 billion, or 46 cents per share, in its fiscal third quarter, which ended April 27. That's up from $2.2 billion, or 40 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items Cisco earned 51 cents per share in the latest quarter, and its revenue increased 5 percent, to $12.2 billion from $11.6 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 49 cents per share and $12.2 billion in revenue.

The networking equipment company's net income and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations and its stock gained $1.21, or 5.7 percent, to $22.42 in aftermarket trading after the release of the numbers. The stock fell 6 cents to $21.21 during Wednesday's regular trading session.

"We are starting to see some good signs in the U.S. and other parts of the world which are encouraging," Chairman and CEO John Chambers said in a press release.

Revenue in the U.S. improved and sales from emerging markets grew more than 10 percent.

As one of the largest technology companies in the world, Cisco's performance is widely regarded as a way to gauge the relative health of the technology industry. The San Jose, California, company cuts a broad swath, selling its routers, switches, software and services to corporate customers and government agencies around the world.

In addition, Cisco's fiscal quarters end a month later than most other major technology companies, giving it additional time to assess economic conditions.

The company said total orders rose 4 percent during the quarter. Orders in the Americas grew 7 percent. The company said government spending improved as local and state governments and education departments spent more money. Orders from the federal government decreased.

"We believe this balanced...

Better Batteries Could Revolutionize Solar, Wind Power

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:14:25 -0500

On an arid mountain in Eureka County, Nev., a mining company believes it's struck the 21st-century equivalent of gold. The precious commodity is vanadium, a metal that can be extracted from shale rock and used to make powerful, long-lasting batteries for cars, homes and utilities.

If Vancouver-based American Vanadium gets federal approval for its proposed Gibellini Hill Project -- a 30-day public comment period ends May 29 -- it will operate the only vanadium mine in the United States.

The battle to build a better battery is intensifying as the United States and other countries, faced with growing global demand for electricity and a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that worsen climate change, look to expand carbon-free renewable energy such as wind and solar.

Batteries are key. They can directly power electric cars and buses, and indirectly, homes and big buildings, by storing solar and wind power for times when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. They balance out renewables that produce energy intermittently, so consumers can power laptops or run refrigerators 24/7.

The race is on. Universities, start-ups and major companies are working with new materials such as vanadium, or tweaking the lithium-ion battery that Sony introduced more than 20 years ago for personal electronics. Some advances, such as the ones that Toyota and IBM are developing to power cars for 500-plus miles on a single charge, won't make it to market for at least five years.

Others are making their debuts this year, including a battery by Ontario, Canada-based Electrovaya, which enables homes with solar panels to go entirely off grid, or one by General Electric, which will be paired with a Texas wind farm to provide continuous power.

"It's the dawn of the energy-storage age," says Bill Radvak, president of American Vanadium, which is partnering with the German CellCube...

Reality TV's New Stars: Small Businesses

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:48:31 -0500

There's no business like small business. Mix the high stakes of running a small business with a dash of family drama and throw in a camera crew and you get hit reality television shows such as "Pawn Stars," "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" and "Duck Dynasty."

Turning small business owners into stars has become a winning formula for television producers, but some businesses featured in them are cashing in, too. Sales explode after just a few episodes air, transforming these nearly unknown small businesses into household names. In addition to earning a salary from starring in the shows, some small business owners are benefiting financially from opening gift shops that sell souvenirs or getting involved in other ventures that spawn from their new-found fame.

Sales at Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas are five times higher than they were before "Pawn Stars" first aired in 2009. More people are pouring into the St. Louis restaurant featured in "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" to eat its jumbo-sized fried chicken wings and six-cheese macaroni and cheese. And Duck Commander, seen in "Duck Dynasty," is having trouble controlling the crowds in front of its headquarters in the small city of West Monroe, La.

"Sometimes it's hard getting from the truck to the front door," says Willie Robertson, who owns Duck Commander with his father and stars in the A&E series with his extended family.

It's a big change for a company that sells duck calls out of a part-brick, part-cinder block warehouse on a dry, dead-end country road. Duck hunters use the whistles, which mimic duck sounds, to attract their prey.

Since "Duck Dynasty" began airing in March 2012, Robertson finds at least 70 people waiting in front of the warehouse every morning asking for autographs and photos. Neighbors have complained about the mobs and the police have...