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| Amazon launches Amazon Dash for delivery of groceries, household items Friday, Apr 04, 2014 07:16 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc launched a new product named Amazon Dash on Friday that allows the user to add groceries and household goods to their shopping lists using the company's AmazonFresh service. A black-and-white hand-held wand-shaped remote-control features a microphone, speaker as well as a bar-code reader and links directly to the user's AmazonFresh account. However, the device is available only for users of the AmazonFresh which currently operates exclusively in Southern California, San Francisco and Seattle. However, signing up for Amazon Dash is by invitation only while the AmazonFresh service is currently available only Southern California, San Francisco and Seattle. Full Story | Top |
| Mozilla CEO's exit tests Silicon Valley's tolerance Friday, Apr 04, 2014 06:25 PM PDT  By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tech workers in Silicon Valley debated on Friday whether Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich got the comeuppance he deserved or was himself a victim of intolerance when he resigned under pressure this week amid outrage over his opposition to same-sex marriage. Some, especially a dating website that had urged its users to boycott Mozilla's popular Firefox web browser, cheered Eich's resignation after less than two weeks as CEO of the nonprofit software company. Mozilla co-founder Eich, who invented the programming language Javascript, donated $1,000 in 2008 to support Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in California. His views about gay marriage had been known within Mozilla for nearly two years, but controversy erupted after he was appointed CEO in late March. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. knocks plans for European communication network Friday, Apr 04, 2014 03:13 PM PDT  The United States on Friday criticized proposals to build a European communication network to avoid emails and other data passing through the United States, warning that such rules could breach international trade laws. In its annual review of telecommunications trade barriers, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said impediments to cross-border data flows were a serious and growing concern. It was closely watching new laws in Turkey that led to the blocking of websites and restrictions on personal data, as well as calls in Europe for a local communications network following revelations last year about U.S. digital eavesdropping and surveillance. "Recent proposals from countries within the European Union to create a Europe-only electronic network (dubbed a 'Schengen cloud' by advocates) or to create national-only electronic networks could potentially lead to effective exclusion or discrimination against foreign service suppliers that are directly offering network services, or dependent on them," the USTR said in the report. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Symantec to hire banks for advice, activism defense - sources Friday, Apr 04, 2014 02:24 PM PDT  By Nicola Leske, Nadia Damouni and Soyoung Kim NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anti-virus and security software maker Symantec Corp, which recently fired its chief executive amid declining sales and fierce competition, is in the process of hiring banks to help advise on strategy and defend against possible activist investors, according to several people familiar with the matter. The $14 billion company, best known for its Norton anti-virus software, has been interviewing top Wall Street banks in recent weeks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley, the people said on Friday. JPMorgan, which helped Symantec in the past when the company was the target of potential activism, is expected to land a role as Symantec's financial adviser, although a mandate has yet to be finalized, the people said, asking not to be named because the discussions are not public. Symantec has decided to hire a bank as it is worried that its recent turmoil and management shake-up could potentially attract activist investors, the people said. Full Story | Top |
| Weibo IPO could value company at about $1.66 billion Friday, Apr 04, 2014 02:24 PM PDT  (Reuters) - China's Weibo Corp said it expected its initial public offering of 20 million American Depository Shares to be priced at $17-$19 each, valuing the Twitter-like messaging service at about $1.66 billion. Weibo, owned by Sina Corp, is the latest Chinese internet giant to tap U.S. markets, following on the heels of search service Baidu and its own corporate parent. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which owns a stake in Weibo, is expected to raise about $15 billion in New York this year, in the biggest internet IPO since Facebook's debut in 2012. Sina, which holds about 78 percent of Weibo, would see its stake drop to about 57 percent after the offering. Full Story | Top |
| Internet companies' growing ambitions spook 51 percent of Americans: Reuters/Ipsos poll Friday, Apr 04, 2014 02:16 PM PDT  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The personal data gathering abilities of Google, Facebook and other tech companies has sparked growing unease among Americans, with a majority worried that Internet companies are encroaching too much upon their lives, a new poll showed. Google and Facebook generally topped lists of Americans' concerns about the ability to track physical locations and monitor spending habits and personal communications, according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos from March 11 to March 26. The survey highlights a growing ambivalence towards Internet companies whose popular online services, such as social networking, e-commerce and search, have blossomed into some of the world's largest businesses. Now, as the boundaries between Web products and real world services begin to blur, many of the top Internet companies are racing to put their stamp on everything from home appliances to drones and automobiles. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: The footprint of Internet companies is getting larger Friday, Apr 04, 2014 02:04 PM PDT By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Internet companies are no longer limited to the Web browser as they look for new ways to grow their businesses. In recent years, the top Internet companies have increasingly expanded the scope of their activities and ambitions, raising the prospect of exciting new technologies - but also new privacy concerns. Here are some prominent examples of the growing reach of the big Internet players: GOOGLE: Google Inc built its business with its Web search engine, but more than any other Internet company, it has led the way in expanding to new horizons. In February, Google announced plans to acquire Nest, which makes smart thermostats and smoke alarms. Full Story | Top |
| Apple, Intertrust settle year-old patent suit Friday, Apr 04, 2014 11:30 AM PDT  (Reuters) - Apple Inc has agreed to settle a year-old patent infringement lawsuit with Intertrust Technologies Corp, a software firm owned by a group that includes Sony Corp and Philips, according to court filings. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Silicon Valley-based Intertrust develops and licenses digital rights management (DRM) software, which is used to protect and manage content rights for companies that distribute music, movies and other digital content. Intertrust filed a lawsuit against Apple in March 2013 saying the iPhone maker infringed 15 patents relating to security. ... Full Story | Top |
| Officials praise Samsung's Galaxy S5 antitheft features Friday, Apr 04, 2014 10:25 AM PDT  By Marina Lopes NEW YORK (Reuters) - A move by Samsung to include free anti-theft features on its Galaxy S5 smartphones sold by Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular won praise on Friday by two U.S. members of an international coalition aimed at combating robberies involving smartphones. The new features allow Galaxy S5 users to track devices and require the owner's account information to reset the phone. The features, Find My Mobile, and Reactivation Lock, will come installed in the phones but must be activated by users. "The decision ... ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada proposes comprehensive digital plan after years of delay Friday, Apr 04, 2014 09:21 AM PDT The Canadian government presented a long-promised comprehensive plan for digital communications and commerce on Friday, outlining efforts to protect online privacy, beef up cybersecurity and bring Internet service to every corner of the vast country. "Data is the 21st century's new natural resource," Industry Minister James Moore said in prepared remarks in the tech hub of Kitchener-Waterloo in Ontario. The plan also backs measures to make it easier for Canadians to access government services and statistics online. The plan also calls on Ottawa to help move huge amounts of archival documents, pictures and films about Canada online and to support the creation of more domestic digital content. Full Story | Top |
| Shares of cloud-based software firm Five9 rise about 18 percent in debut Friday, Apr 04, 2014 08:00 AM PDT (Reuters) - Shares of Five9 Inc, a cloud-based software provider for call centers, rose about 18 percent in its market debut, valuing the company at about $380 million. Five9, which competes with Cisco Systems Inc and Avaya Inc, raised as much as $70 million after its initial public offering of 10 million shares was priced at $7 per share, much below its expected price range of $9-$11. Five9's shares opened at $7.95 and touched a high of $8.25. J.P. Morgan, Barclays and BofA Merrill Lynch were the lead underwriters to the offering. (Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore) Full Story | Top |
| Cuba brands as illegal U.S.-created ‘Cuban Twitter' Friday, Apr 04, 2014 05:58 AM PDT By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has branded as illegal a U.S. project to quietly create a Twitter-like service in Cuba to promote political opposition, saying it shows that Washington has not given up its "subversive" campaign of undermining the island's government. The U.S. government on Thursday admitted it had created a service similar to Twitter in Cuba in a "discreet" operation intended to promote democracy on the communist-ruled island, after the $1.2 million effort was revealed by the Associated Press news agency. Cuba said in a foreign ministry statement issued late on Thursday that the story "once again demonstrated that the government of the United States has not given up on its subversive plans against Cuba, which seek to create destabilizing situations in the country in order to provoke changes in our political order, to which the government of the United States continues to dedicate budgets of millions of dollars every year." Citing international law and the United Nations charter, Cuba called on the United States to "cease ... its illegal and covert actions against Cuba, which are rejected by the Cuban people and the international public opinion." The program was run by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which normally delivers aid to the world's poor, and was discontinued in 2012, officials said. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish court orders partial lifting of YouTube ban Friday, Apr 04, 2014 02:26 AM PDT  A Turkish court on Friday ruled that a blanket ban of social-media website YouTube violated human rights and ordered most of the restrictions be lifted, citing a top court ruling this week that scrapped a similar ban on microblogging site Twitter. The state telecoms authority on March 27 blocked access to YouTube, Google's video-sharing site, after anonymously leaked audio recordings appeared there purportedly of senior officials discussing a possible attack on Syria ahead of an election. Access to Twitter had been similiarly barred until the Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that violated the law. The court in the capital Ankara said the YouTube ban was too broad and instead specifically blocked access to 15 videos, a copy of the court document showed. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan criticises court ruling lifting Twitter ban Friday, Apr 04, 2014 12:09 AM PDT  Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday criticized a constitutional court ruling lifting a ban on Twitter, saying the court should have rejected an application to restore access to the micro-blogging site. "We complied with the ruling but I do not respect it," Erdogan told reporters at a news conference before departing on a trip to Azerbaijan. "It should have been rejected on procedural grounds." Access to Twitter was blocked on March 21 in the run-up to local elections and Turkey's telecoms authority lifted the two-week-old ban on Thursday after the court ruled the block breached freedom of expression. Full Story | Top |
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