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| U.S. news readers less engaged when referred by Facebook: study Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 09:06 PM PDT  Readers of some of the top U.S. news sites are more engaged when they go directly to the website rather than through Facebook, according to a study from the Pew Research Center released on Monday. The research found that users who come directly to a news site spend about three times as long per visit, or almost five minutes on average. Those who find the news by searching or through Facebook spend about two minutes. Direct visitors also view about five times as many pages per month as those coming through Facebook referrals or through search engines such as Google Inc. The study is revealing because increasingly news organizations are relying on social media platforms to distribute content especially to reach younger readers. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. tech giants' offshore cash piles earn interest from government: report Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 09:04 PM PDT  Four of the biggest U.S. technology groups collectively hold an estimated $124 billion in U.S. Treasury debt, much of it offshore, earning them tax-free interest, the UK's Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) said on Thursday. The finding means Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Cisco Systems Inc hold a large proportion of the $254.9 billion held in their foreign subsidiaries in U.S. Treasuries, according to securities filings reviewed by the London-based BIJ, a not-for-profit news organization. Democratic party Senator Carl Levin, who has campaigned for years against tax avoidance, was quoted saying by the BIJ that if U.S. corporations invested offshore funds in U.S. government debt, this income should face U.S. taxes. Full Story | Top |
| Tokyo police to probe leak of Toshiba chip technology: paper Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 09:01 PM PDT  Tokyo police will probe a suspected leak of Toshiba Corp technology to a South Korean company that relates to the top Japanese chipmaker's flagship memory chips, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Thursday. The paper also said police had obtained a warrant for the arrest of a former engineer at a Toshiba-affiliated chipmaker who was suspected of improperly providing technical data to SK Hynix Inc. A Toshiba spokesman said the company could not comment on the matter while it is the subject of a police investigation. Tokyo police declined to comment. This would mark Japan's first criminal investigation into a leak of advanced technology from the IT sector overseas, the paper said. Full Story | Top |
| 'Candy Crush' maker sees up to $7.6 billion IPO valuation Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 03:56 PM PDT  King Digital Entertainment Plc, maker of hit mobile phone game "Candy Crush Saga", expects to be worth up to $7.6 billion when it goes public this month in the United States, amid concerns about its over reliance on the game. King will hope to benefit from its focus on the estimated $17 billion market for mobile game apps and avoid the fate of rivals such as Zynga Inc, which has struggled to make its games as popular on phones as they are online. "Candy Crush," which involves moving candies to make a line of three in the same color, was the most downloaded free app and top revenue-grossing app in 2013. The game accounts for nearly three-quarters of King's revenue. Full Story | Top |
| Agent.BTZ spyware hit Europe hard after U.S. military attack: security firm Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 03:36 PM PDT By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - A mysterious computer virus believed to be from Russia infected hundreds of thousands of PCs around the globe after attacking the U.S. military's Central Command in an unprecedented breach uncovered in 2008, according to the details of new research released on Wednesday. Costin Raiu, director of research at Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, told Reuters on Wednesday that at least 400,000 computers across Russia and Europe were infected with the virus, dubbed Agent.BTZ, based on the number of infections detected by his firm's anti-virus software. Not much data has been previously released on the virus, so the research from Kaspersky Lab may shed new light on how sophisticated cyber espionage operations are conducted. Still, Raiu said Kaspersky published its analysis on the attacks because it believes they are likely linked to a sophisticated ongoing operation known as Turla, which is targeting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States. Full Story | Top |
| NSA 'hijacked' criminal botnets to install spyware Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 02:05 PM PDT  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - While U.S. law enforcement agencies have long tried to stamp out networks of compromised computers used by cyber criminals, the National Security Agency has been hijacking the so-called botnets as a resource for spying. The NSA has "co-opted" more than 140,000 computers since August 2007 for the purpose of injecting them with spying software, according to a slide leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by The Intercept news website on Wednesday. In November, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey told the Senate that botnets had "emerged as a global cyber security threat" and that the agency had developed a "comprehensive public-private approach to eliminate the most significant botnet activity and increase the practical consequences for those who use botnets for intellectual property theft or other criminal activities." According to the NSA slide published by The Intercept, one technique the intelligence agency used was called QUANTUMBOT, which "finds computers belonging to botnets, and hijacks the command and control channel." The program was described as "highly successful." Reuters reported in May that U.S. agencies had tapped botnets to harvest data from the machines' owners or to maintain the ability to issue the infected computers new commands. Full Story | Top |
| Outlook for online state sales tax fix dims in U.S. Congress Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 01:53 PM PDT  By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prospects for federal action to resolve a fight over state sales taxation of online retailing faded on Wednesday in the U.S. Congress, after a senior Republican lawmaker said more debate is needed before legislation can move forward. The comments by Robert Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee reduced the likelihood that the House might support a Senate bill that would empower states to collect sales tax on Internet purchases. The issue has been unsettled for years, with brick-and-mortar retailers, including those with big Internet businesses, saying it is unfair that they must collect state sales tax on their customers' purchases, while many shoppers who buy from strictly online retailers pay no sales tax. Full Story | Top |
| Vivendi hunts for the right telecom exit Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 06:10 AM PDT  When Vivendi's board meets on Friday to choose between two bids for its French telecom unit SFR, "seller beware" may be more appropriate. Both offers - from conglomerate Bouygues and local cable operator Numericable - leave Vivendi with a significant minority stake in the newly-created operator and continued exposure to the French telecom market, which has been in the throes of a price war since 2012. Complicating matters further, Bouygues' bid has garnered support from an outspoken industry minister who says it better serves France's interests, as well as the backing of the other telecom companies - leader Orange and low-cost challenger Iliad - which would benefit from taking the mobile market back down to three from four players. So will Vivendi's board members - led by veteran chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou and his chosen successor, tycoon Vincent Bollore - be able to drown out the noise and decide what is best for the group and its shareholders? Full Story | Top |
| 'The Walking Dead' game maker raises $6 million in funding round Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 03:44 AM PDT Finnish start-up Next Games has raised $6 million in funding in the latest of several venture capital investments in the Nordic country's booming mobile games industry, the company said on Wednesday. Founded in 2013 by former employees of Rovio and Supercell, which are known for their hit games "Angry Birds" and "Clash of Clans" respectively, Next Games said it was working on a mobile game based on the U.S. TV series "The Walking Dead." The company added in a statement it also had a second game in the making. Entrepreneur Jari Ovaskainen, an early investor in Supercell which last year sold a 51 percent stake to Japanese mobile operator SoftBank for $1.5 billion, also took part. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook's San Francisco-area HQ secured after threat made: police Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 03:18 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Police searched and secured the headquarters of social media giant Facebook Inc on Tuesday evening after receiving a threat against the company, which San Francisco-area authorities said turned out to be "totally not credible". Facebook personnel held employees at the campus until officers were on scene, Menlo Park Police Department spokesman Dave Bertini said. Police officers allowed Facebook staff to leave at about 8:30 p.m. (0330 GMT). "I am not even sure that it was specifically to the Menlo Park campus of Facebook." Facebook declined to comment on the incident. Full Story | Top |
| SoftBank CEO says Sprint could shake up U.S. 'oligopoly' Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:31 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executive officer of Japan's SoftBank Corp on Tuesday called the U.S. wireless market an oligopoly plagued by slow speeds and high prices and said his company's Sprint Corp could shake up the competition, but it would require a scale that Sprint cannot reach alone. Masayoshi Son, the billionaire CEO of SoftBank, in his first public speech to a U.S. audience since his company gained control of Sprint last year, lambasted the U.S. wireless market as offering "pseudo-competition." Son did not directly speak about his efforts to engineer a merger of Sprint and T-Mobile US Inc, the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. wireless carriers, but told reporters he hoped to meet again sometime with U.S. regulators, who so far have given a cold shoulder to such a deal. Full Story | Top |
| Alibaba buys ChinaVision stake for $804 million; gains TV, movie content Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:30 PM PDT  China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding has agreed to buy a controlling stake in ChinaVision Media Group Ltd for $804 million, giving it access to TV and movie content as competition in the world's biggest Internet market becomes increasingly cutthroat. The pact, which sent ChinaVision's stock surging, comes amid a flurry of deals as Alibaba, social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd and search engine Baidu Inc seek to expand into each other's turf. This week Tencent said it was taking a stake in China's No. 2 online retailer JD.com, with the new partnership gunning for Alibaba's Achilles heel - its weakness in mobile. ChinaVision and Alibaba said they will establish a strategic committee to explore future opportunities in online entertainment and media-related areas. Full Story | Top |
| Hong Kong's ChinaVision stock set to soar after Alibaba buys control Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:30 PM PDT HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of ChinaVision Media Group Ltd are set to open up 290 percent after China's largest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding agreed to buy a controlling stake in the Hong Kong-listed television program services supplier. Shares of ChinaVision, which were suspended on February 25 and resumed trading on Wednesday, are set to open at HK$2.50 per share, compared with its previous close of HK$0.64 per share. That compares with 1.1 percent fall indicated for the benchmark Hang Seng Index. A unit of Alibaba has agreed to buy 12. ... Full Story | Top |
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