Google and Facebook made their names by helping people find information or friends online. But in recent weeks the two rivals have made some surprising moves in a different direction — the business of selling and delivering goods.
Facebook is trumpeting its new Gifts service that lets users order a wide range of stuff, from wine and cupcakes to pet toys and children’s clothes, and have them delivered to friends.
Google, meanwhile, has been tight-lipped about its recent deal to buy a small company that operates lockers where shoppers can take delivery of items they purchase online. But some believe Google will combine the startup’s delivery expertise with other services to help merchants sell products through Google. read more »
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been known to use hyperbolic adjectives, but was he on the mark when he described 2012 as “the most epic in Microsoft history”?
It was the year, after all, in which the company launched Windows 8, a radical revamp of its flagship operating system.
It was also a year when Microsoft launched or previewed new versions of nearly all its products and services; debuted its first branded computing device, the Surface tablet; and announced it was moving from focusing almost primarily on software toward becoming a devices-and-services company.
So how epic did 2012 turn out to be? read more »
PayPal, the online payments unit of eBay Inc., has pilot projects in development with 16 retailers meant to make shopping easier and more rewarding-including through PayPal-driven loyalty programs-for their customers, the company says. “It’s all about making things easier and more valuable for consumers and for our merchants,” says Don Kingsborough, PayPal’s vice president of retailer and emerging markets.
At more than a dozen retail chains including The Home Depot Inc., Guitar Center and Toys ‘R’ Us Inc., PayPal is rolling out payment terminals that let consumers pay by either entering the same login and password they use for PayPal online, or by swiping one of three payment cards co-branded by PayPal and MasterCard read more »
SEATTLE — A powerful spam-sending application is attacking the most common smartphone operating system.
“Before you click on a link that is texted to you, understand it’s probably going to cost you,” says Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. “That text that appears to come from a reputable retailer is usually a trick to take your money, install a virus, or both.”
As reported by The Next Web, SpamSoldier “spreads through SMS messages that advertise free versions of popular paid games like Angry Birds Space.” It is also found on disreputable, third party app stores. Once it’s infiltrated an Android handset, it uses the subscriber’s allotment of text messages to put its tentacles on more targets. read more »
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is spiffing up and expanding its email service in an attempt to regain some of the ground lost to a Google alternative that lured away millions of users.
The changes unveiled this week are meant to make Yahoo’s email faster and easier to use on the Web. To cater to the growing audience checking their email on smartphones and tablet computers, Yahoo also introduced mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad and devices powered by Microsoft Corp.’s recently released Windows 8 system.
The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., also updated its email app designed for Google Inc.’s Android operating system. read more »
Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna’s office has filed a lawsuit targeting a Florida-based company accused of sending people unsolicited text messages, calling it another form of spam that annoys people and costs them money.
It’s one of the first lawsuits by a state attorney general targeting spamming via text messages, said assistant attorney general Paula Selis, who heads McKenna’s High-tech Unit.
The lawsuit was filed Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
McKenna’s office is targeting Orlando-based Dinav Holding and its owners, Jonathan Charles Diaz and Juan Carlos Diaz. The lawsuit alleges the company over a period of two days in May targeted residents in Washington with texts advertising payday loans with companies not licensed in the state. read more »
NEW YORK — Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.
Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.
Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC’s “Rock Center,” but it aired Dec. 6 on “Today” and was posted on the network’s website.
In a separate interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he said that the company will spend $100 million in 2013 to move production of the line to the U.S. from China. read more »
OLYMPIA — Washington state ranks number one in the nation for broadband adoption, network speeds and economic structure according to a study released by TechNet, a network of CEOs and senior executives that promote the growth of technology-led innovation.
“The state’s ranking reflects state broadband planning going back to 2008 and more than $2.3 billion in public and private investment in infrastructure and training during that period,” said Will Saunders, program and policy director for the Washington State Broadband Office. “The study also confirms that we are ideally positioned for economic growth based on this work.”
The state’s index rating is based on measures that “promote economic development, build strong communities, improve delivery of government services and upgrade educational programs,” according to the study’s lead researcher, John B. Horrigan. read more »
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The head of the U.N.’s telecommunication overseers sought to quell worries this week about possible moves toward greater Internet controls during global talks in Dubai, but any attempts for increased Web regulations are likely to face stiff opposition from groups led by a major U.S. delegation.
The 11-day conference — seeking to update codes last reviewed when the Web was virtually unknown — highlights the fundamental shift from tightly managed telecommunications networks to the borderless sweep of the Internet.
But others at the Dubai conference — including a 123-member U.S. delegation with envoys from tech giants such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. read more »
