Category: News

What? This surprises you? Google is poised to further its dominance of all things internet with a move into domain-name registration. Plenty of people find companies online by typing their names into Google Search, rather than typing their URLs into their browsers, but the launch of Google Domainswill mark the first time the online ad-slinger has dealt with DNS directly. So far, Google has done nothing to publicize the effort and the site itself is marked as an “invite-only beta”. You can’t even sign up unless you have a special code. Over…

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Oslo, Norway – June 23, 2014 – Have you been longing for Opera on Linux? The wait is over! Opera Software has today released the Developer version of Opera 24 for Windows, Mac and Linux. If you love trying out new Opera improvements before anyone else, download it from the experimental Developer channel at opera.com/developer/. The Opera desktop browser was re-built from scratch for the Windows and Mac platforms, based on the Blink rendering engine. Opera’s engineers put a lot of effort into fine-tuning the browser and giving it a better performance,…

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Google Play Movies is now available in 21 new countries, bringing the total to 90 countries. Google Play Movies is now also available in Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. For a full list of all 90 countries, see Google support. The list of countries that gets TV shows alongside movies is still only five (US, Canada, UK, Japan and Australia). Google Play Movies can also be accessed on connected TVs…

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Germany’s national telco Deutsche Telekom is negotiating with global video-on-demand (VOD) market leader Netflix about a partnership when it launches in Germany by the end of the year. Telekom apparently wants to include Netflix into its offering despite the fact that it competes with its own platform Entertain, reports German magazine Manager Magazin with reference to people familiar with the situation. Recently, Telekom already added ProSiebenSat.1′s VOD service maxdome to Entertain as a third-party proposition. The conversations about a marketing collaboration between Telekom and Netflix are at an advanced stage, but haven’t been finalised yet, according…

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Oracle is scooping up co-browsing software maker LiveLOOK in a bid to flesh out its suite of customer experience software. LiveLOOK’s product is already being used by more than 100 Oracle customers, having been embedded into Oracle’s customer service application. It gives support and sales representatives a way to browse alongside customers in order to fix problems and help them make the right purchases, according to a statement. Some 500 customers use LiveLOOK, according to a FAQ document released Friday in conjunction with the acquisition announcement. Oracle is locked in fierce competition…

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Microsoft PR is in damage control after a ‘social strategist’ was caught trying to pay people to write good things about IE. Wed, June 18, 2014 Network World — It was only a couple days ago when Microsoft released its Internet Explorer Developer Channel, “a fully functioning browser designed to give Web developers and early adopters a sneak peek at the Web platform features we’re working on.” Any chance IE might have gotten some long-term social media love was dashed after a clueless “social strategist on behalf of Microsoft” invited the…

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Amazon entered the smartphone business Wednesday — and made a big splash doing it. At an event in Seattle, the retail giant unveiled the Fire Phone, a high-end, 3-D smartphone. It is the first smartphone Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) has produced on its own. “Can we build a better phone for our most engaged customers?” asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at the event. “Can we build a better phone for Amazon Prime members? Well, I’m excited to tell you that the answer is yes.” Display: The Fire Phone has a 3-D, 4.7-inch high-definition display. It uses…

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Heathrow Terminal 2 can use the data to analyse whether new loos are needed… Heathrow airport has installed sensors into its toilets at the newly opened Terminal 2 to monitor the number of people using each unit. When a certain number of people have used a unit, cleaners are alerted and they are cleaned. The data is also sent to the cloud so it can be analysed by planners who are then able to see where the highest demand for toilet facilities around the terminal is. In the long term,…

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Is Oracle on the hunt for another acquisition? Oracle is in talks to buy Micros Systems, which makes software for retailers and hotel chains, for more than $5 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. While the companies are in exclusive talks, they could still fail to reach an agreement, the report said. (http://r.reuters.com/hyw22w) Micros shares were up 16 per cent at $67.10 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Oracle shares were up one per cent at $42.61. Micros Systems makes point-of-sale hardware and software for restaurants…

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Complaint alleges anticompetitive behavior in the app market IDG News Service (Brussels Bureau) — Google has been hit with yet another antitrust complaint in Europe, this time for alleged anticompetitive behavior in the app market, the European Union’s top competition authority confirmed Tuesday. The formal complaint was filed by Aptoide, a Portuguese startup in the apps sector, according to officials at EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia’s office. Aptoide runs an independent apps store for Android smartphones. It claims that Google is leveraging its dominant position in the Android market to…

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