Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Facebook is 69% male and mostly white

Like many of its Silicon Valley peers, Facebook's workforce and management team is overwhelmingly white and male, according to the social media giant's first diversity report.
Released on Wednesday, the report is the latest in a flurry of voluntary diversity disclosures by high-profile tech firms.
The facts show that 69% of Facebook's global staffers are male. A full 85% of the company's tech workers, and 77% of its management team, are also men.
The company's U.S. workforce is 57% white, 34% Asian, 4% Hispanic and 2% black.
"As these numbers show, we have more work to do -- a lot more," Maxine Williams, Facebook's global head of diversity, said in a statement.
The report shows that while Facebook has women including "Lean In" author Sheryl Sandberg in prominent positions, diversity at the company is roughly in line with rivals including Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn.
There has been renewed focus on the lack of diversity at companies in Silicon Valley in recent months. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has appeared at several annual meetings of tech companies this spring, including Google and Facebook, to urge them to do more to recruit African American and Hispanic workers.
The true scale of the industry's diversity problem is difficult to determine, largely because most major tech companies have closely guarded their data.
Starting in 2011, CNNMoney probed 20 of the most influential U.S. tech firms. Almost all refused to provide numbers on workplace diversity.
When Freedom of Information Act requests were filed by CNNMoney, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Google, IBM and Microsoft all successfully petitioned the Department of Labor to exclude their data.
Data collected on five companies -- Cisco, Intel, Dell, eBay and Ingram Micro -- showed a significant gender imbalance in officer and management positions.
At the end of May, Google released a diversity report that showed 70% of its staff is male and 61% is white, while 30% is Asian. Linkedin has also released a diversity report which showed 61% of its staff is male, while 53% is white and 38% is Asian.
Yahoo, one of the most prominent Silicon Valley companies with a female CEO, has a U.S. workforce that is 50% white and 39% Asian. Only 6% are either black or Hispanic.
Williams said that a new "strategic diversity team" launched at Facebook last year has improved hiring and retention for underrepresented groups.

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Posted by Editorial Team on 6:59 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, May 19, 2014

Google Is Said to Have Held Acquisition Talks With Twitch

Google Inc. (GOOGL) has held talks to purchase video service Twitch Interactive Inc. to boost its YouTube site, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
With Twitch, Google would gain a platform that has more than 45 million active viewers a month. The San Francisco-based company acts as a social gathering place for video gamers, letting them discuss games or watch other players. Twitch is available on Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One game consoles.
Variety reported earlier this week that the two companies are in talks on a transaction that could value Twitch at about $1 billion. Tim Drinan, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google, declined to comment yesterday, as did Matthew DiPietro, vice president for marketing at Twitch.
Walt Disney Co.’s recent agreement to purchase Maker Studios for as much as $950 million has set off a scramble among well-capitalized companies to invest in or acquire online video companies that have a large viewer base. Google is stepping up efforts to bolster its video offerings as more users go online to find such content. YouTube was the No. 1 provider of video content in the U.S. during March, according to ComScore Inc. (SCOR)
Google has been on an acquisition tear as it looks to bolster services and attract more users. The Web-search company acquired digital-thermostat maker Nest Labs Inc. for $3.2 billion in February, and it has made several smaller deals in the past few weeks. Those include Stackdriver Inc., a startup that specializes in helping companies use online computing services, and Adometry Inc. to boost its Web measurement and analysis services.
To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net; Cliff Edwards in San Francisco at cedwards28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pui-Wing Tam atptam13@bloomberg.net; Anthony Palazzo atapalazzo@bloomberg.net Stephen West
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Posted by Editorial Team on 9:33 PM in , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Tech giants rally to protect net neutrality as FCC tries to kill it

Net neutrality proponents are getting unlikely backers after some of the largest names have joined together in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to drop its idea of "fast lanes" that many experts say would spell the end of net neutrality as it currently exists. Amazon.com, Google, Facebook and others banded together in a letter to the FCC that claims the changes being proposed would be the end of the Internet as it exists.
Net neutrality has become a vital and now controversial issue for the tech and Internet world after the FCC would bring forward a new set of regulations governing the Internet and ISPs. It would also potentially allow large companies to pay fees to the FCC in order to allow their content to be uploaded and viewed at a faster speed.
An appeals court has struck down the regulations on ISPs, but the fast lanes continue to be a tipping point in the debate over net neutrality.
A vote on the proposal is scheduled for May 15.
The FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler says he would fight back against Internet abuse and was looking into greater oversight in order to maintain standards of net neutrality.
"It is an experience that made me especially wary of the power of closed networks to innovate on their own agenda to the detriment of small entrepreneurs," Wheeler wrote in a letter to the large tech giants.
But the tech giants are continuing to put pressure on the FCC to get it right and not be the death of net neutrality as we know it today.
The letter says FCC rules should not permit "individualized bargaining and discrimination," the companies said.
"[The FCC must] take the necessary steps to ensure that the internet remains an open platform for speech and commerce," the letter says.
Many industry experts believe the FCC's cozying up with the cable and Internet television networks has led to the agency seeing it as an opportunity to bring in much needed funding to the agency in its efforts to revamp how they currently do business and function.
Those ties to the cable industry have led to the continuation of fears that the FCC is attempting to hijack the Internet for those who can afford to pay to have their content uploaded quicker, which would limit competition and hurt smaller organizations or businesses.

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Posted by Editorial Team on 10:14 PM in , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Amazon joins Microsoft in opposing FCC’s Internet fast lanes

Internet companies including Amazon.com, Google, Netflix and Microsoft in a letter said they oppose a U.S. regulator’s call for allowing companies to pay for fast lanes on the Internet.
Internet companies including Amazon.com, Google, Netflix and Microsoft in a letter said they oppose a U.S. regulator’s call for allowing companies to pay for fast lanes on the Internet.
The companies said the rules may let phone and cable providers “discriminate both technically and financially against Internet companies” and “impose new tolls on them.”
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed letting service providers such as AT&T and Comcast negotiate deals with content makers for quicker and more reliable delivery of their video and other fare.
Wheeler has said the idea doesn’t abandon the FCC’s Internet fairness policy, commonly known as “net neutrality.” His proposal is set for an initial vote at the FCC on May 15. “This represents a grave threat to the Internet,” the companies said in the letter addressed to Wheeler and the four other FCC commissioners.
The FCC should protect users and Internet companies against blocking of Web traffic, discrimination and paid prioritization, the companies said.
A court in January threw out FCC rules designed to ensure Web traffic is handled fairly, and the agency is seeking new rules. The vote next week will commence a comment period, and Wheeler has said he wants a final decision this year.
Advocacy groups including Public Knowledge and Free Press that have supported rules to prevent Internet-service providers from unfairly blocking or slowing Web traffic said payment arrangements won’t protect Internet users.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who like Wheeler is part of the agency’s Democratic majority, Wednesday called for a delay of the vote “by at least a month.”
“I have real concerns about FCC Chairman Wheeler’s proposal on network neutrality,” Rosenworcel said. The plan has unleashed “a torrent” of reaction and “rushing headlong into a rule making next week fails to respect the public response,” she said.
Companies signing the letter included Amazon; Netflix, the biggest online-video-subscription service; and Microsoft. Also listed as signing were eBay, the top online marketplace; Yahoo, the largest U.S. Web portal; and the Twitter messaging service.

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Posted by Editorial Team on 10:40 PM in , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, April 28, 2014

Got an app? Facebook wants you

Social media giant is looking to attract developers to build apps with its new software which will help position it at the centre of mobile technology


Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Facebook, is set to issue a rallying cry for app developers at this week’s F8 conference in San Francisco to use the social network’s app building platform.Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Facebook is set to vie with Google and Apple for mobile-app makers, as it gets ready to encourage developers to use its Parse platform, thus boosting its prominence in the mobile world.
The social network recently reached out to Helsinki-based Huuuge Inc., the maker of the game, to convince the team to build mobile applications with its tools. The startup didn’t bite, said Anton Gauffin, Huuuge’s founder and executive chairman.
“I don’t think developers really see Facebook as a tool or provider of help for developers,” said Mr Gauffin, who added that his team makes games using Apple Inc.’s software.
Facebook is pushing to change that perception this week at the F8 developer conference in San Francisco, the company’s first major event for app makers since 2011.
While Facebook once was a key site where software makers like Zynga introduced their games, many programmers have since turned their attention to building apps for smartphones instead. At F8, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to rally developers with a new message:
Facebook has software that makes it easier to build apps for mobile phones, as well as tools that help programmers sell those wares to the social network’s 1.28 billion users. The more developers use the technologies, the more prominence the social network gains in a mobile world dominated by Apple and Google.
At the centre of Facebook’s developer strategy is Parse, which the company acquired a year ago. Parse offers technology to more quickly build an app and keep consumers engaged. Over the past 12 months, the number of apps built using Parse’s tools more than tripled to 260,000, the company said. Parse will be featured during Mr Zuckerberg’s F8 keynote on April 30th, and the chief executive will be joined on stage by Parse chief Ilya Sukhar.
Problem solvers
“Now we’re absolutely focused on solving people’s problems -- build, grow, monetise,” said Mr Sukhar, who is also head of developer products at Facebook. All of this contrasts with Facebook’s last F8 conference. At that event, the Menlo Park, California-based company promised developers they could popularise their apps on the social network by sending messages and prompts through users’ friends. Yet that created more spam on Facebook and annoyed consumers, leading the company to limit developers’ freedom on the site.
“We’ve definitely moved away from the world of ‘send a cow to 100 of your closest friends in one click,’” said Mr Sukhar, referring to Zynga’s method of distributing its FarmVille game on Facebook years ago.
Mobile ambitions
Getting more developers to use its tools is key to Facebook’s mobile ambitions. Mobile ads now generate 59 per cent of the company’s advertising revenue, up from almost nothing at the time of its 2012 initial public offering. The mobile business has powered the company’s stock, which has more than doubled in the last year. While shares dropped late last week, Facebook is up 5.6 per cent for the year, compared with a 2.4 per cent decline in the Nasdaq Composite Index. To boost mobile revenue, Facebook has leaned on a type of ad it offers developers to drive downloads of their apps, called app-install ads. Those promotions are one of Facebook’s best- performing products, responsible for more than 350 million app downloads since they became available in January 2013, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an earnings call with investors last week.
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Posted by Editorial Team on 12:58 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Android reigns in US smartphone market

WASHINGTON: The Google Android platform grabbed the majority of mobile phones in the US market in early 2014, as consumers all but abandoned non-smartphone handsets, a survey showed Friday. 

The poll by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found 53% of new mobile phones activated by US customers were Android devices in the January-March period. 

Apple's iOS, the platform used by the iPhone, accounted for 42%, the survey found. 

Windows and BlackBerry devices each accounted for one per cent, while non-smartphones were just three per cent, the research firm said. Late last year 20% bought a "basic" mobile phone. 

Research firm co-founder Mike Levin said Apple's iPhone user base "grew a little faster than Android, from a smaller base, even though in absolute terms Android — used in Samsung phones — had a larger share. 

He added: "The long-term issue is where Android and iOS growth will come from when there are no more basic phones being retired. First-time smartphone buyers are key to that equation." 

The report was based on a survey of 500 US adults, from April 1 to 6, who activated a new or used phone in the first three months of the year. 

Recent surveys of global phone users show Android has a nearly 80% share of smartphone sales.
Source:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 2:53 AM in , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, April 10, 2014

AT&T poised to take gigabit fiber broadband to North Carolina

AT&T says it's in the final stages of negotiating a deal with cities in the North Carolina Triangle region to deploy its U-verse GigaPower gigabit fiber broadband service.
AT&T may beat Google again in offering an ultra-high speed fiber network, this time in North Carolina.
AT&T, which has already built a fiber network in Austin, Texas, announced Thursday that it's in final negotiations with the North Carolina Next Generation Network or NCNGN to deliver 1 gigabit per second broadband over a new fiber network.
AT&T's announcement that it is close to finalizing a deal in North Carolina is another indication that competition to build ultra-high speed gigabit networks is heating up as demand for these speeds increases among residents in communities. Google, which first announced plans to build a gigabit fiber network in 2010, has helped set the stage for communities and private companies to come together in building new fiber networks capable of delivering ultra-high speed networks. And now cities around the country are working with private broadband providers to build such networks.
The NCNGN is a regional initiative that spans six communities in the Triangle and Piedmont Triad regions of North Carolina. The group, which issued a request for proposal for interested broadband providers, includes members of the cities' chambers of commerce, representatives from several area universities and a nonprofit group called Gig.U. The cities involved in the project include Winston-Salem, Cary, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham, and Raleigh.
In February, Google said that the cities in the Triangle region were among the 34 cities it was considering for expansion of its Google Fiber business. The company launched its first Google Fiber network in Kansas City in 2012. Last year, Google announced plans for expansion in Austin and Provo, Utah. But it's still in the permitting phase in Austin.
Meanwhile, AT&T began offering its fiber service in Austin in December.
The network
AT&T appears to be one of potentially several broadband providers negotiating a contract to build a fiber network in the North Carolina Triangle region. An AT&T spokesman confirmed the deal is not exclusive. Press reports indicate that the NCNGN is negotiating with eight different providers. Time Warner Cable could be another company that is also selected to build part of the network. The company has acknowledged its in negotiations with the NCNGN group.
AT&T said in a press release that the next step in its negotiations with the group is approval from the governing bodies of the six communities involved in the project.
AT&T's all-fiber network is expected to deliver download and upload speeds of 1-gigabit per second, which is 10 times faster than most consumer broadband available to communities today. AT&T's service will also include TV and telephony voice services.
In addition to building the residential 1 Gbps network, AT&T will also offer public Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the North Carolina GigaPower footprint as well as free access to its gigabit network in up to 100 public locations. AT&T will also offer free 3 Mbps AT&T U-verse service to 10 affordable housing complexes, which includes up to 3,000 homes.
If AT&T wins the contract to build part of the NCNGN network it will be the second community to get the company's U-verse with GigaPower fiber service. The company launched its AT&T U-verse with GigaPower service in Austin, Texas in December. Due to high demand for the service, AT&T said in January it would double its deployment in Austin. And it expects to build a similar network in parts of Dallas in 2014.
Currently, AT&T offers speeds up to 300Mbps in Austin, but it plans to upgrade the service to 1 Gbps later this year. AT&T is offering promotional rates for GigaPower in Austin at $70 per month.
Fiber competition
While AT&T claims it has always had plans to deliver ultra high-speed broadband in places like Austin, the reality is that Google with its Google Fiber initiative has lit a fire under the feet of traditional broadband providers, both setting the stage for investments in such networks as well as providing a starting point for speeds and pricing.
"To be honest, we wouldn't have launched a 1Gbps service unless we didn't see it happening in the market," said Matt Murphy, president of Grande Communications, a small cable operator based in Texas that is also deploying a 1 Gbps fiber broadband service. "Google has definitely stirred things up in Austin. And when we saw AT&T and Time Warner Cable answering that threat, we knew we had to do something too in terms of speeds and pricing."
Phone companies like AT&T and Verizon, as well as cable operators like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, have been capable of delivering very high speed broadband services for a long time. But executives have long said there was no demand for ultra high-speed services. Speeds of 100Mbps or higher were offered in certain regions from these operators, but pricing was always high.
Google was the first to offer a 1Gbps service and also to offer the service at an affordable price tag of $70, which is about $20 more than the average broadband service.
The benefits of a gigabit fiber network
The competition or at least the threat of competition in these markets will likely benefit consumers who will not only have these ultra-high speed networks built in their communities, but will also be able to take advantage of the affordable pricing.
The hope in building these networks, regardless of the provider building them, is that they will bring many benefits to the community, including advances in telemedicine, distance learning, and new industries that will create new jobs. The Federal Communications Commission, which has been encouraging the deployment of gigabit fiber networks, says that such networks can spur economic development and attract businesses.
It said last year that a fiber network serving 170,000 homes in Chattanooga, Tenn., helped lure big companies like Volkswagen and Amazon to the community, which has created more than 3,700 new jobs over the past few years.
The NCNGN Tracy Futhey, chair of the NCNGN Steering Committee and vice president of onformation technology at Duke University, is hopeful that the gigabit fiber network will benefit the community.
"This kind of private sector investment is essential to ensure our regions remain competitive and at the forefront of next-generation applications that are important to all sectors of the economy," she said in a statement.

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Posted by Editorial Team on 6:46 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Google to Launch Android TV with Exciting Features

The latest announcement from Technology major Google has revealed that the company is planning to launch Android TV. The project will offer an entertainment interface and not a computing platform. Google informed that the Android TV will make it easier for users to find what they are looking for whereas Google TV aimed to change the way people tried to watch TV and content.

Android TV will be based on platforms that will depend on simple TV apps and scrolling cards that show off apps, movies, games, TV, etc. The unique features involved in the Android TV include simple D-Pad on the remote controls, which will allow the user to scroll through the content containing the curated suggestions.

The remote control also contain ‘enter’, ‘home’ and ‘back’ keys with up/down/left/right options for navigation purposes. The company reported to have game controllers similar to Amazon's newly unveiled Kindle Fire TV in its future applications.

The newly developed Android TVs will support voice search and voice notifications like the Kindle Fire TV. “It's all about finding and enjoying content with the least amount of friction and will be cinematic, fun, fluid, and fast”, said Google.

The Android TV will lack some of the unnecessary applications like touch screen support, which narrows the focus. Among other achievements of Google includes the development of Chromecast HDMI dongle.


Source:
newstonight.co.za
Posted by Editorial Team on 6:40 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Google Play Games gets game gifts, improved iOS support, in-app invites and more

Google has made some big changes to the Play Games cross-platform game service and given users and developers some new features that are geared towards improving the native Android gaming experience.

With these new changes, announced at the Game Developers Conference this week, Google is making a significant step up towards gaming on Android and also gives developers more tools to better monetise their offerings. Google claims that four times as much money was paid out to developers in 2013 as compared to 2012 from Google Play.

In terms of user-facing changes, Google has enabled Game Gifts, which allows you to send virtual in-game gifts to anyone in your Google+ circles or through searching for a particular player. Similarly, others can send you objects to help you clear hurdles within a game. You can also send multiplayer match invites from within the app now, letting you notify your circles of any new games you may have stumbled upon.

Google has expanded multiplayer to support iOS, so now turn-based and real-time multiplayer options are available on both Android and iOS, significantly reducing the amount of time taken for match-making. “To further help with cross platform game development, we’re updating our Play Games Unity Plug-in to support cross-platform multiplayer services, and introducing an early Play Games C++ SDK to support achievements and leaderboards,” Greg Hartrell from the Google Play Games team, said in a blog post.

Google is giving developers the power of Google Analytics to understand which types of ads work best within their games, get realtime data on how any changes are affecting the user experience, and how users interact with the various screens like the in-app purchases banner ads and other key revenue channels.

Along with this Google is allowing developers to pick one out of 18 new game categories: Action, Adventure, Arcade, Music, Role Playing, Simulation, Strategy, Puzzle, Educational, Card, Casino, Casual, Board, Family,  Trivia, Word, Racing and Sports. This would theoretically make it easier for users to discover new games, and gives developers more exposure too.

News Source: tech.firstpost.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 12:53 AM in , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Google tests search page appearance with bigger fonts sans underlined links

Google has reportedly changed the way its search results page looks in a new experiment that shows larger fonts and the ads links are no longer shown with yellow background.

The large 'bucket' test currently underway has also got rid of the underlined search result links.
According to Tech Crunch, ad links are now simply flagged with a small yellow label that says 'Ads,' a feature that had been originally introduced on tablet and mobile, before being tested on the desktop.
Google's experimental runs are to determine whether or not a change is either financially viable, benefits its user base, or, in the best case, both.

Some users were able to see both the current design and the new design when they switch between browsers.


The report said that the changes to the search result look could be seen as an extension of a broader series of changes already in the works, which are meant to better unify the desktop and mobile experience.
Posted by Editorial Team on 3:28 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Jawbone UP24 Fitness Tracker Now on Android

Jawbone today released an Android version of its UP app, which pairs with the recently released UP24 wristband.
The bracelet connects seamlessly with any Android device to help users understand how they sleep, move, and eat.
"We believe that helping people understand the context and meaning of their data is key in helping to make sustained behavior changes," Travis Bogard, Jawbone vice president of product management and strategy, said in a statement.
Those changes can be made through better knowledge of your everyday life, which is synced wirelessly via Bluetooth Smart between the band and the UP 3.0 app for Android. Users also receive continuous feedback and in-the-moment notifications to help achieve goals.
Jawbone UP24
"Through our investment in data science we have been able to provide personalized insights to help nudge people to meet their sleep or activity goals," Bogard said. "Now with the launch of UP24 on Android, our entire community can enjoy the benefits of these insights in real-time, with continuous feedback and in-the-moment notifications to help them achieve their goals."
Built for 24/7 wear, the UP24 wristband is covered in hypoallergenic, medical-grade rubber, with a new textural design "that's comfortable enough to wear throughout each day and night," the company said. It also sports a USB power adapter, but with a battery that lasts seven days, you'll only need to charge it once a week.
The UP by Jawbone 3.0 application is now available in 12 languages as a free download in the Google Play store.
"Android users have been incredibly active in the UP community, and we're thrilled to bring UP24 to the Android platform," Bogard said.
The UP24 launched in November with a companion app for iOS for $149.99. It's on sale now in red or black. For more, check out PCMag's roundup of The 25 Best Fitness Apps.

News Source: www.pcmag.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 10:23 AM in , , , , , , ,

Monday, March 10, 2014

Google exec: We’ve sold millions of Chromecast adapters

Google SVP Sundar Pichai told the crowd at SWSW that Chromecast has been selling really well, and that it will come to many more countries soon.
Google has sold “millions” of Chromecast adapters since it first introduced the device last summer, said Google Chrome and Android SVP Sundar Pichai at SXSW Sunday, according to multiple reports. Pichai added that Chromecast sales are growing “very actively,” and reiterated that the company wants to bring it to many more countries soon.
This is the first time anyone from Google has publicly commented on Chromecast sales, but there’s been some clues before that hinted at Chromecast being a success story for Google. The device was sold out for weeks after it was introduced, and has remained the best-selling consumer electronics product on Amazon.com for months, selling even better than Amazon’s Kindle. And during Q4 of 2013, Google saw its revenue coming from hardware sales shoot up – something that executivesdirectly related to the success of the Chromecast.
Of course, we don’t really know how Chromecast sales compare to sales of competing products like Apple TV and Roku unless Google gives us some more concrete numbers. Roku said earlier this year that it has shipped close to eight million of its players to U.S. consumers over the years. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that his company made $1 billion with Apple TV in 2013, but that number included media sales.

News Source: gigaom.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 12:21 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Apple and Google Dominate the Mobile World According to ComScore


Apple and Google dominate the mobile space, according to a new data report by ComScore.
ComScore is a leader in measuring the digital world, and today released data from its Mobilens and Mobile Metrix, reporting important trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for January 2014.
Apple lead as No.1 smartphone manufacturer, with its iPhones capturing 41.6% of the US market this year so far, and Samsung came second with 26.7%.
On the operating system side however, Apple was unable to compete with Google. Android led the market with 51.7% share while iOS had 41.6%. Trailing behind them was windows phone at 3.2% and Blackberry OS at 3.1%.

There is no surprise about the popularity that the iPhone and Android share. It's worth noting however that while Apple saw its manufacturer market share jump over the last 3 months, Samsung is also picking up momentum.
In addition to their report on smartphones supremacy and operating systems, ComScore also reported on the top destinations for mobile browsers. Google's sites were visited by almost 90% of the American mobile users, and Facebook took second place with 87 percent. Yahoo and amazon came next with 86.2% and 69%, respectively.
Google's sites ranked in the report as the top "web property," reaching 89.4% of the mobile media crowd. Included in this statistic was also web browsing and app usage.
Another cool number: Facebook was the most popular mobile app in the US last quarter, and was employed by 78% of its users.
ComScore, a digital measurement and analytics company, also reported Friday that 7 percent more people owned smartphones in January over last October, with a total of 159.8 million Americans possessing the tech. That's a 66.8 percent mobile market reach.
Mobile Metrix and Mobilens, the tools used to measure the information, are intelligent censuss-based measurement methods and online surveys on smartphones and tablets. 

News Source: www.designntrend.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 6:55 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, March 7, 2014

Google offers up its own Googlers in cloud channel chumship trawl

Google has expanded its cloud reseller program as the web giant tries to enlist the channel to help it diversify its business away from search.
The updates to the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program were announced by the company on Thursday and sees it split its partners into three tiers: Registered Company, Authorized Partner, and Premier Partner.he kicker is that Premier Partners can get access to the rarest resource at Google: flesh-and-blood homo sapiens who will help the partner with sales, marketing, and technical support.
"These tiers are the first steps of many to further develop our partner community so we can provide the best possible experiences for everyone out there while working hand in hand with those companies that make it possible," the company wrote in a blog post announcing the expanded program.
Google launched its partner program back in July 2012, and since then has been pushing out new cloud services and cutting prices as it tries to build a business that competes with Amazon Web Services and Windows Azure.
One of the greatest problems Google's cloud has faced is a perception that the company may just drop its public cloud ambitions at some point and move on to other projects, as it has done in the past with popular services like Google Reader and paid-for schemes like Google Answers.
Google has always protested this, and by lassoing partners together and herding the more successful ones onto the Google farm, the company is able to drum up more business for its products and instill confidence in users and the channel.
As any scholar of religions knows, you need people out there beating the drum and talking up your ideology to get seriously big, and so Google's channel ambitions are likely critical to the future success of its public cloud service.
Organizations with some Google cloud customers can sign up for the Registered Company role for free, but if they want to get the glamour of some Google marketing and training they'll need to be doing over $12,000 in Google-related revenue to become an Authorized Partner, and if they want to co-sell services with Google then there'll need to be doing over $120,000 a year.
As before, partners fall into two categories: Services Partners and Technology Partners. These, roughly speaking, are companies that either resell Google's technology, or who build and sell standalone services that use Google in the backend.
Another less frequently noted aspect of partner programs is that it's a two-way street in terms of information sharing: partners will get confidential information from Google about upcoming projects, but Google will also gain a valuable source of information about what customers are asking for, and what they are complaining about to the channel. ®

News Source: www.theregister.co.uk
Posted by Editorial Team on 3:47 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Since It Can't Sue Us All, Getty Images Embraces Embedded Photos

For the past decade or so, the best defense Getty Images could find against the right-click button on your mouse—home of the “copy” and “save” functions—has been a team of scary lawyers. By copying one of its images and using it on your blog, you’re entering a random drawing where the prize is a terrifying letter offering a tutorial in copyright litigation.
But this week the photography company is embarking on a different strategy: Anyone can now visit its website, grab some embed code, and display an image on blogs or Facebook (FB) pages without paying a licensing fee. As a technological feat, of course, embeddable media is unremarkable. It’s a basic feature on YouTube and Twitter (TWTR) and many other major websites. Yet it marks an unlikely pivot for Getty, which makes its money selling permission to use photos from its vast library of work from more than 150,000 individuals, stock photo agencies, and media organizations. Creating an embedding tool is a tacit acknowledgment that Getty simply can’t police the use of its images to the four corners of the Internet.
Craig Peters, a senior vice president at Getty, is more explicit about the futility of trying to maintain control of its images. Three years ago, Getty acquired PicScout, which makes a technology to crawl the Web and track the images appearing online. PicScout described itself an intellectual-property protection service, but Getty eventually learned a different lesson from the acquisition: The problem of purloined images is too big to solve on a lawsuit-by-lawsuit basis. Peters found that “tens of millions” of Getty photos have been shared without legal licensing. “There are two ways to look at the world,” he says. “People sharing content without a license is an issue—or it’s an opportunity.”
STORY: Hey, Pro Athletes: Your Tattoo Is Going to Get You Sued
Peters likens the current state of photography to the pre-iTunes music industry, where there was no legitimate way to access digital songs. People are inevitably going to display images publicly on blogs and social media feeds, so the only way to remain relevant is to provide them with a viable legal alternative.
If the Getty project is successful, it will eventually open a new revenue stream. The images displayed on other websites will remain on a server owned and operated by the company and will contain information about the photographer and how to license the images for commercial use. Eventually, Getty could include advertisements within the embedded images, much like YouTube videos embedded on personal blogs show ads that bring revenue to Google (GOOG). But Peters says Getty hasn’t figured out how exactly that will work.
The embedding tool is intended only for noncommercial uses. In many cases, Peters says, publishers will prefer to pay for images because they will get more control and won’t have embedded images sending information about their Web traffic back to Getty. Embedded images will not be allowed in contexts that promote products or businesses. “That’s a pretty clear delineation,” Peters says. “We’ll enforce the terms of this license if people start using these images to do that.”
VIDEO: Martha Stewart: Pinterest Has a Copyright Issue
It could be murkier than he admits, though. In an Internet chock-full of self-promotion, obscurity can turn into fame in a matter of moments. What happens when an individual’s personal brand—or blog—becomes a business in and of itself? Unclear.
This project isn’t coming from nowhere. Getty has been increasingly bold in experimenting with ways to keep up with changes forced on the photo industry by digital distribution. Last fall the company forged a partnership with Pinterest in which it receives payments from the social network in exchange for metadata. Getty is already working with smaller startups such as Stipple to embed advertising into images.
At the same time, the company is hardly laying off its lawyers. Getty regularly sends letters to those it finds using its images without licenses, but those disputes rarely end up in court. According to records compiled by Bloomberg Law, Getty has only filed seven copyright infringement lawsuits in the past five years. Of those, five came in a single week this January.
STORY: How Sheryl Sandberg and Getty Are Making Stock Photos Less Sexist


News Source:www.businessweek.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 6:11 AM in , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Roku Streaming Stick vs. Google Chromecast: How do they stack up?

Roku's new Streaming Stick is clearly aiming to take on Google's Chromecast, but both streamers have their strengths and weaknesses. Here's how they compare so far.

(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
Roku Streaming Stick(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
Roku's new Streaming Stick bears more than just a passing resemblance to Google's Chromecast.
They're both tiny sticks that connect to the back of your TV, use a nearby USB port (or power outlet) for power, and stream media from a variety of sources like Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go and Pandora. So which one should you get?
I haven't had the chance to fully review the new Roku Streaming Stick (which comes out in April), but from my brief hands-on time, it looks to deliver the same Roku experience that's available on the company's traditional streaming boxes. While it's too early to crown a winner, we already have a pretty good idea how these two sticks will match up.

Apps: Roku in a landslide

When it comes to apps, nothing comes close to Roku's massive 1,200-channel library. While some of those channels are definitely filler, there's a ton of top tier content, including Netflix, Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Pandora, Hulu Plus, MLB.TV, PBS, YouTube, Showtime Anytime, Time Warner Cable, Spotify, Amazon Cloud Player -- the list goes on.
Roku 3 new user interface(Credit: Roku)
In the Chromecast's defense, it has most of the major apps covered, including Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, and Pandora. And now that Google has released an SDK, it's fair to expect that the rate of new apps should increase.
There is one big exception where Chromecast beats Roku in apps and that's Google's media ecosystem. Right now, Chromecast is pretty much your only option if you want to stream media from Google Play TV and Movies and Google Music. If you're all-in on Android for your media purchases, you're probably better off sticking with the Chromecast.

Price: $35 Chromecast is irresistibly cheap

Roku managed to cut the cost of its Streaming Stick ($50) in half, but it still doesn't compare to the Chromecast's unbeatable $35 price.
Roku Streaming Stick(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
The difference between the two sticks may be a mere $15, but there's something about $35 that makes easy click to "add to cart" without thinking twice. Both are cheap, but the Chromecast is cheaper, especially if you're looking to outfit several rooms with a streamer.

Remote: Roku has the flexible approach

The Chromecast's approach to remotes was relatively novel when it was released: your mobile device is the only remote your need. Not only did it allow Google to hit that impulse-friendly $35 price, it actually works better for certain search-heavy apps like YouTube, and eliminates one more remote from your coffee table.
Roku Streaming Stick(Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
The Roku Streaming Stick includes a standard RF-based Roku remote and that's good news for anyone like me who thinks real buttons still win when it comes to the living room. Even better, Roku now supports Chromecast-style control for Netflix and YouTube and the company says it's looking to add more services in the future. That means everyone in the household can choose whether they'd rather use a regular remote or stick with their mobile device.
One final word of caution: neither works with a traditional IR-based universal remote, unless you run an IR-extender behind your TV. The good news for Harmony Smart Control owners is Logitech says it's working on adding the ability to control Roku boxes over Wi-Fi -- hopefully it works with the Streaming Stick.

Screen mirroring: Chromecast, when it works

One of the neatest features of Chromecast is the ability to cast any tab from the Chrome browser to your TV. That includes streaming video from major content Web sites like ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and Hulu (without a subscription), which typically are only available when browsing using a computer.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
The big caveat is that in my testing, the screen-mirroring functionality doesn't work all that well. Some have had more luck with this feature than me, but it hasn't worked well in any of the wireless environments I've used it. (In the same locations, the Apple TV's screen mirroring has been considerably more reliable.)
On the other hand, Roku doesn't have any kind of screen-mirroring functionality at all. If you want screen-mirroring from a stick, the Chromecast is the best option, just don't expect flawless performance.

Search: A surprising lead for Roku

It's hard to imagine Google not being the leader in search, but Roku has it beat in the living room. Roku's cross-platform search scours through Netflix, Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Hulu Plus and more, to find where a TV show or movie is available and how much it costs. It's also quick to predict your search term based on just a few characters, which takes a lot of pain out of using the onscreen keyboard.
When Roku briefed me on the Streaming Stick, the company also showed off its upcoming mobile app (also due in April) which will integrate the same cross-platform search functionality that's available on the boxes. It's a nice plus -- not only is it easier to search on a mobile device, but when you choose the service you'd like to watch your content on, it automatically loads on the Roku.
Roku Streaming Stick(Credit: Matthew Moskovciak/CNET)
Google had a relatively sophisticated TV and movies search engine on Google TV and I wouldn't be surprised if that made its way to the Chromecast in some form soon. Until then, it remains a weakness on the Chromecast, as you need to open and switch between several apps to see where content is available. (Or use a third-party service.)

Hardware: Dead even

When it comes to the guts of these sticks, they're pretty much the same as far as I can tell. They both output at 1080p, have built-in dual-band Wi-Fi and use a nearby USB port for power. Perhaps there will be some performance differences when I compare them, but I'm betting they'll be pretty similar.

Roku's new Streaming Stick takes on Chromecast (pictures)

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Personal media: It's a tie

Both of these devices are focused on streaming content straight from the Internet, but they can also be used for displaying your personal media content as well. For media stored on your computer, both devices support the Plex media server, which supports a wide variety of file formats. The only drawback is you'll need to leave your computer on with the Plex server running.
Plex on Chromecast
(Credit: Plex)
They're about equal when it comes to media stored on your mobile device too. Roku's mobile app has a "Play On Roku" feature that lets you stream music, photos and video that are stored on your mobile device. You can do the same on the Chromecast using a third-party app likeRealPlayer Cloud, although it would be nice if Android natively supported casting functionality.

Full head-to-head comparison to come

When I get the Roku Streaming Stick in for review, I'll be able to fully test both of these devices head-to-head to see which stick comes out on top. Based on the spec sheets alone, I'd give Roku the early edge: more apps, a traditional remote, and an excellent cross-platform search seems worth the extra $15, especially for a device you'll use frequently. But the good news is, whether you go Roku or Chromecast, both streaming sticks are excellent values are only likely to get better as they continue to receive software updates.

News Source: reviews.cnet.com
Posted by Editorial Team on 7:57 AM in , , , , , , , , ,
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