| | |
| Troubled HealthCare.gov to switch website hosting to HP Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:24 PM PST  By Margaret Chadbourn and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The agency in charge of the troubled HealthCare.gov website said on Wednesday is it switching providers of Web hosting services, the latest change for the website at the heart of President Barack Obama's health care reforms. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it is replacing data center services from Verizon Communications Inc's Terremark subsidiary, with services from Hewlett-Packard Co. Terremark's data center experienced issues in late October that caused outages across the system, prompting embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to phone Verizon's chief executive to discuss the problems. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. judge dismisses Apple consumer lawsuit over data privacy Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:07 PM PST  A California federal judge has dismissed a consumer lawsuit over data privacy against Apple Inc, saying the plaintiffs had failed to show they had relied on any alleged company misrepresentations and that they had suffered harm. The four plaintiffs claimed in 2011 that Apple had violated its privacy policy, saying the iPhone maker had designed its iOS environment to easily transmit personal information to third parties that collect and analyze such data without user consent or detection. U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh in San Jose, California dismissed the case. "Plaintiffs must be able to provide some evidence that they saw one or more of Apple's alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentations, and that they were harmed thereby," Koh said in the November 25 ruling. Full Story | Top |
| Judge drops SIM cards case against ex-Telecom Italia managers Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:51 PM PST  ROME (Reuters) - A Rome judge has decided to drop a criminal case against three former Telecom Italia managers accused of having inflated the number of mobile phone cards in use because there was no case to answer, a judicial source said on Wednesday. The three executives are former Telecom Italia chief executive Riccardo Ruggiero and two former managers at the company's mobile unit, TIM, Massimo Castelli and Luca Luciani. The investigation, transferred to Rome from Milan a few months ago, was looking into allegations that client data for 5. ... Full Story | Top |
| OCZ gets offer from Toshiba to buy assets in bankruptcy sale Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:16 PM PST  Solid-state hard drive maker OCZ Technology Group Inc said it had received an offer from Toshiba Corp to buy the company in a planned bankruptcy proceeding. OCZ shares tumbled as much as 80 percent on Wednesday after trading of the stock resumed on the Nasdaq. OCZ, which has a market capitalization of $43 million, said it had "substantially completed" negotiations with Toshiba on an asset purchase agreement. The company said it expected to file a petition for bankruptcy shortly after completing final documentation with Toshiba and Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc, one of its lenders. Full Story | Top |
| Samsung's marketing splurge doesn't always bring bang-for-buck Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:06 PM PST  By Miyoung Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co is expected to spend around $14 billion - more than Iceland's GDP - on advertising and marketing this year, but it doesn't always get value for money. And Samsung, which has a market value of $227 billion, has made no secret of keeping up its aggressive marketing and promotion splurge as it seeks to make its brand as aspirational as Apple Inc's. But the money it's spending doesn't always bring the desired result. "Is this a singing competition or an extended Samsung advert?" asked Twitter user Ryan Browne. Earlier this year, Samsung's New York launch of its latest top-of-the-range Galaxy smartphone came under fire for being sexist, portraying giggling women chatting about jewelry and nail polish while the men discussed the new phone, and the company's new fridge and washing machine launch in South Africa drew similar complaints as it featured swim-suit dancers. Full Story | Top |
| HP shares jump on turnaround hopes; margins a concern Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:49 AM PST  Hewlett-Packard Co shares soared near their 52-week high on Wednesday after investors saw signs a turnaround plan was gaining traction, but Wall Street worried the improvement was coming at the expense of margins. HP shares jumped nearly 10 percent to $27.56 in afternoon trading, after at least one brokerage raised its rating on the PC maker's shares and another nine raised their price targets. Expectations had been low for HP's fourth quarter following a disappointing third quarter and after rivals IBM and Cisco Systems Inc reported poor results. But HP surprised on Tuesday, reporting stronger-than-expected revenue due to growth in its enterprise group, which supplies servers, storage and networking products to corporations. Full Story | Top |
| Siemens sees infrastructure business reaching margin target Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 09:23 AM PST  expects its Infrastructure & Cities (I&C) business, which has been hit by project delays and restructuring, to reach its profitability target this financial year, it said on Wednesday. There has been speculation, brushed off by Siemens' new chief executive Joe Kaeser, that the group might dismantle the I&C business after its performance fell well short of expectations. In the financial year ended September 30, the business posted a margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 3.7 percent, well below a target range of 8-12 percent. That made it the least profitable of Siemens' four main businesses, behind Industry, Energy and Healthcare. Full Story | Top |
| South Africa's MTN hopes for U.S.-Iran thaw to free its cash Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:53 AM PST Better U.S.-Iranian relations would be very welcome for South African mobile phone operator MTN Group as it has been unable to repatriate around $450 million from a unit in Iran due to sanctions, a company spokesman said. Johannesburg-based MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone operator, said its funds had been blocked since early last year because of Washington's sanctions against Tehran. "Our primary focus remains to ensure that we are sanction-compliant with everything we do there," said spokesman Nik Kershaw. Full Story | Top |
| Turkcell sues MTN in South Africa for $4.2 billion in Iran damages Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 08:06 AM PST  By David Dolan and Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Turkish mobile phone company Turkcell has taken to a South African court with its $4.2 billion lawsuit against rival MTN Group, alleging it was the victim of corruption and bribery that caused it to lose a contract in Iran. Turkcell originally pursued the case against Johannesburg-based MTN in the United States but dropped it in May after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a separate case made clear that U.S. courts would not have jurisdiction in a claim involving two foreign firms in an overseas dispute. In papers filed on Tuesday with the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg and seen by Reuters, Turkcell says that MTN, former CEO and current Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko and former executive Irene Charnley "acted wrongfully" and interfered with Turkcell's relationship with the Iranian government over the granting of a mobile license in 2005. Full Story | Top |
| SAP rejects calls for a pan-European IT champion Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 07:33 AM PST  Germany's biggest tech company, SAP, has rejected calls by domestic politicians for European IT firms to band together to better compete against U.S. tech groups in the wake of spying allegations. Some German politicians have suggested an IT industry equivalent to European jetmaker Airbus following allegations about U.S. spying on Europeans, including the monitoring of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. "A merger between some European IT companies with the aim of drawing a line between them and the rest of the global market, does not make any sense," SAP co-Chief Executive Jim Hagemann Snabe said on Wednesday, in an e-mailed response to questions from Reuters. German politicians in favor of IT companies teaming up, such as Merkel, argue it would make Europe less dependent on U.S. technology and data groups including Microsoft, Google and Cisco. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft blocks censorship of Skype in China: advocacy group Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 06:30 AM PST  By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. has made it harder to monitor calls and chats over its Skype phone service in China, a freedom of expression advocacy group said, as the Chinese government steps up censorship of the Internet. Skype said on Monday it had ended an eight-year joint-venture with Hong Kong-based TOM Group - 51 percent owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing - and found a new partner in China. "After careful analysis of the new Skype, we believe that Microsoft have lifted all censorship restrictions on their China product," the advocacy group, GreatFire, said on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Vietnam announces big fines for social media 'propaganda' Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 05:15 AM PST  Vietnam will hand out fines of 100 million dong ($4,740) to anyone criticizing the government on social media, under a new law announced this week, the latest measure in a widening crackdown on dissent by the country's communist rulers. Vietnam has repeatedly drawn fire for the harsh treatment and lengthy jail terms it has given to bloggers who criticized its one-party regime. Internet penetration is soaring in a country of an estimated 90 million people, a third of whom use the internet and about 20 million of whom have Facebook accounts, a report published at a seminar on information technology in Ho Chi Minh City in September showed. Rights groups and foreign governments have come down hard on Vietnam over its draconian cyber laws, including the United States, which has urged Vietnam to improve its human rights record to strengthen its case for stronger trade ties. Full Story | Top |
| Smartphone apps for last minute pre-shopping Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:03 AM PST  Attention, shoppers: If you just decided to join the Black Friday shopping crunch but didn't prepare well, don't despair: Just pick up your smartphone. It can help you find out what other consumers think of a product before you buy it - or figure out where to buy that hot toy on the biggest shopping day of the year. "Information is power," says Jeff Goldstein, president of PriceGrabber, a web service (with app) that collects pricing from about 4,000 retailers. Retailmenot, CouponCabin and CouponSherpa all deliver discount coupons, and many of which can now be simply flashed at the cash register, where the bar code can be scanned from your phone. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: No checkouts, no chocolate: Online shopping hits impulse buys Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:08 AM PST  In Britain, the country where e-commerce is most popular, about 13 percent of people do all or most of their grocery shopping online. Nearly all sales are from stores, though online made up 0.9 percent this year, up from 0.6 percent in 2008. Full Story | Top |
| Panasonic to sell three Japan chip plants to Israel's TowerJazz: sources Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:57 AM PST  By Reiji Murai TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp will sell its three main chip plants in Japan to Israel's TowerJazz, people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, as the electronics giant wraps up a multi-billion-dollar restructuring drive. The sale is expected to happen before Panasonic closes its books on the current financial year next March, the sources said, without giving an anticipated value for the deal. Panasonic said nothing had been decided. TowerJazz declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment