TechStew

The Nokia of old is dead! Last year I predicted that this year would mark the demise of Nokia, at one time the biggest cell phone manufacturer in the world. After its disastrous dithering and the resulting market failure Nokia was snatched up by Microsoft for a measly $7.2b, a fraction of its worth from just a couple of years ago (in comparison, Skype was bought for $8.6b). However, I do not think that Microsoft really wanted to buy Nokia, rather it was forced into this move by Nokia’s dismal performance, and the fact that Nokia carried 90 per cent of all Windows Phone sales. Microsoft had no choice but to purchase the flailing smartphone maker in order to save its position in the market.

Ronald Pofalla, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, discussed the ongoing NSA surveillance first before a German parliamentary committee and then in front of the media. His biggest concern was not just the information leaked by Edward Snowden which exposed the extent of the United States' global data surveillance operations, but the cooperation of German intelligence services as well. For a long time, Merkel tried to ride out the scandal; whenever she addressed the issue, she either spoke in vague terms or she simply said that she could not seriously be expected to be involved in everything.

Summary : Some new numbers reveal the degree to which Skype surveillance has increased since leaving Luxembourg; Europe finds privacy violations in Microsoft M icrosoft has tried to catch up with Google on some transparency and based on numbers from Microsoft, in 2012 Microsoft and Skype got a total of 75,378 law enforcement requests, potentially impacting 137,424 accounts. US laws mean that Microsoft needed to comply.  Skype , originally a European product, is in US hands now, through Microsoft. Microsoft offers no privacy and the Microsoft booster says that  US law enforcement is the biggest recipient of Microsoft customer data . A few months back  the EU investigated Microsoft for privacy violations . To quote: “Bloomberg reports that Microsoft’s recent service agreement update to its online services has caught the eye of data privacy watchdogs in the EU. The data protection commission, led by Luxembourg and France, sent a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve...

The European Union fined Microsoft Corp 561 million euros on Wednesday for failing to offer users a choice of web browser, an unprecedented sanction that will act as a warning to other firms involved in EU antitrust disputes. It said the U.S. software company had broken a legally binding commitment made in 2009 to ensure that consumers had a choice of how they access the Internet, rather than defaulting to Microsoft's Explorer browser. An investigation found that Microsoft had failed to honor that obligation in software issued between May 2011 and July 2012, meaning 15 million users were not given a choice. While the sanction is sizeable, representing more than 11 percent of Microsoft's expected net profit this quarter and 1 percent of annual sales, the Commission could have charged the company up to 10 percent of annual global revenue. Microsoft's share of the European browser market has fallen by more than half since 2008 to 24 percent. Google...

From the mouth of the babes! So, folks you heard it from the biggest Microsoft authority Bill Gates himself - the Windows Phone strategy is a mistake! I have been saying that in this blog for a while now especially in regards to Nokia whose fortunes tumbled since it bedded Microsoft in 2011 .  "There's a lot of things like cellphones where wedidn't get out in the lead early. We didn't miss cellphones, but the way that we went about it didn't allow us to get the leadership." It is not very often that the heads of giant corporations speak the truth, nor even hint at it, so we have to take Gates' statement for more than just its face value. Admitting that Microsoft failed with its ill-recieved mobile operating system reverberated like an A bomb through the tech community drawing glee from its competitors and scores of denial from its supporters and astroturfers. The question of course remains: will Gates demand Ballmer's removal as Microsoft...

             Microsoft has made a name for itself as a company by continually meeting the technological needs of the masses by regularly releasing new software, operating systems and peripherals that provide intuitive function and ease of use. From its very beginnings in the early 1980s, the Windows interface has come to be beloved by users of PCs for its ability to be customized and utilized by novices and tech experts alike. Windows has continued to evolve, and since the advent of Windows 95 in 1995, the operating system has become a household mainstay for those who choose to use PCs for their home computing needs. PC titans eyeing tablet makers to regain customers In our technology driven society, having a computer with access to the Internet is no longer an option as much as it is a necessity. So much necessary information is stored online that having no access to the Internet at home is a massive inconvenien...

Given the speed of technological advancements and a slew of new mobile phones hitting the market every week it is no wonder the virtual wars of 'who is the best' among blogger and commentators are raging more then ever.   Some light on which brand customers like the best can be found in  a report from last week by Toni Sacconaghi, a Bernstein Research analyst : 95% of current iPhone users in Europe and North America plan on repurchasing an iPhone now, and 85% of iPad customers plan on repurchasing another iPad some time down the line as well. Bernstein Research also surveyed other smartphone users and found that 75% of Android users plan to repurchase another   Android device, 58% of BlackBerry users plan on doing similarly, while just 37% of Windows phone owners intend on sticking with the platform. At the bottom of the list is now almost obsolete Symbian.  Popularity of mobile platforms Mobile OS comparison: Windows Phone ...

MS should not have competed with Android and Apple in the smartphone and tablet arena but should have reinvented the PC, the medium that it ruled for good 3 decades. There is a lot of talk circulating the web about a Surface tablet, both the RT and Pro versions and Windows 8 which powers them. The Internet is replete with comments and blogs praising the features of Nokia Lumia 920 or HTC X8 smart phones. However, the sales of such items are clouded in mystery although some indicators recently published point out that only 10,000- 15,000 units of Nokia Lumia 920 were sold in the United States per week. Far cry from iPhone 5 and especially Samsung’s Galaxy S3, which are sold in millions on weekly bases in the North American market alone and are currently the top selling cell phones on Amazon.

Metro UI - live tiles in 'action' Live tiles? Not so lively So the as whole array of various new iterations of MS Windows hit your screens, be it your desktop, cell phone, or laptop you may be wondering what live tiles are. Essentially, live tiles are just graphically simplified widgets. There sn nothing ‘live’ about them; the fact that different tiles display a number of newly arrived text messages, emails, and missed calls is nothing new, better looking widgets on iOS or Android do the same thing. The so-called ‘People’ tile keeps flipping pictures of your contacts incessantly without a single purpose; no relevant information is being displayed. Microsoft wants you to think that picture flipping is somehow ‘live’ whatever that may mean. The weather hub on HTC Windows phones does not update the weather information so the ‘live’ status here is a mute one. In Windows phone 8 you can resize the tiles and move them around anyway you wish which results in your screen beco...

Today Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 8, its umpteenth attempt at conquering the mobile world arena. All the buzz (or FUD, since no release and pricing information was given) that has been created lately in order to promote this new iteration of MS mobile platform as the something utterly new, something that will ride like a tsunami through iPhone and Android ruled ocean fails to acknowledge that there is in fact not much new here - it is NOT a new operating system. Its first iteration saw the light of day, 2 years ago as a Windows Phone 7 , a successor to clumsy Windows Mobile, which has, in one form or another been on the market since April 2000. Yes, folks, Microsoft has been in the mobile game for over a decade now, way before the onslaught of Apple and Android powered devices. 

  The  Nasdaq Index fell 1.18% today as  Google, and Microsoft reported weak performances in the previous quarter. The two tech giants are usually seen as proxies for the wider economic condition, in part because their business fortunes tend to fluctuate with global spending. Google’s advertising revenue, which still makes up the bulk of its business, it closely tied to the wider economy, and Microsoft still makes a lot of its money off desktop software sales, which also fluctuate with the economy. Google’s quarterly results fell short of Wall Streets expectations; the initial report stated a 20% decrease in revenue resulting in the Internet giant’s stock drop of 9%. The earnings report, which had not been expected until after the market close, revealed a weakening in Google's core Internet advertising business and persistent losses at its recently acquired cellphone business, Motorola Mobility. The slowdown in revenue growth came on the back of f...

Microsoft has officially announced the launch details for its revamped Xbox Music service, which will work on all Windows 8 desktop and mobile devices as well as on Android and iOS devices shortly thereafter. Conspicuously absent from the compatibility list are Microsoft’s own Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 devices. Those few people who believed in and stuck by MS’ mobile platform (including the writer of these words) are once again abandoned and thrown under the bus. Xbox Music is Redmond's attempt at competing with music-streaming powerhouses like Spotify. Microsoft will offer two levels of service: a free, ad-supported version for all Windows 8 computers and tablets, and a $10 subscription service for ad-free playback on all Windows 8 and Windows 8 Mobile devices, as well as on Xbox 360 consoles. At least at launch, Windows 8 will have one advantage over consoles; Xbox 360 users will not be able to download tracks to the Xbox for offline play, and they'll have to purchase a...

Nokia unveiled its new flagship phone on September 5, this time running Windows Phone 8 platform to a great fanfare of tech enthusiasts. Some would say that Microsoft/Nokia is arriving too late to the mobile party; I would rather like to believe that better late then never. But I may be wrong on this one. Notoriously tardy, Marilyn Monroe would often arrive a couple of hours late to a glitzy Hollywood event but no matter how late she was her appearance would always trigger a big stir. I don’t think that Lumia is Marilyn Monroe. Yes, some stir and commotion was made but given what was announced I reckon no that not too many people will want to touch it, much less purchase it whenever it actually comes out. Which makes this whole event a giant marketing failure; announcing a product without any indication as to its price and availability is nothing short of vaporware. I doubt that a couple of months after iPhone 5 and a score of other WP8 or Android devices hit the market that peopl...