IDC loves tracking stuff. When it's not too busy counting the PCs, laptops and tablets that are flying through the world's retail channels, it has smaller divisions that apply the same kind of ‘must know it all' mentality to other markets. Dan Vesset runs the Business Analytics effort and, right …
Read More »File share admin arrested for selling user info
The administrator of several Italian file sharing websites has been arrested after selling on the information of some 300,000 of his users. While the sites themselves were shut down last November, with such a number of users between them, the owner who went by the online pseudonym of Tex Willer, …
Read More »PC sales drop worldwide – Ultrabook sales ‘little impact’
Worldwide computer sales have dropped by 0.1% from the second quarter a year previously. The total sales were 87.5 million in Q2 according to Gartner research. Hewlett Packard are still the No 1 PC vendor worldwide, with 14.9% total share of the market. Lenovo claimed 14.7% which is a healthy …
Read More »Apple hope for peaceful iPad launch in China on July 20th
Apple will finally release the latest iPad in China on 20th July, targeting one of the largest markets in the world. The new iPad has seen great success so far, in both Europe and America when it went on sale earlier this year. China is actually the second biggest market …
Read More »Mitsubishi sell electric car for under $30,000
Mitsubishi have released the 2012 i-MiEV at under $30,000 – the least expensive all electric car targeting the American market. The car is a five door model with a 126 miles per gallon equivalent rating from the federal government in city driving. This is higher than the Nissan Leaf, at …
Read More »BBC.co.uk outages – is it ready for the Olympics?
While it may be one of the world's finest and most respected news gathering and broadcasting operations, the BBC has never designed, set up and run a web site for the Olympics. KitGuru notices when things don't go 100% smoothly. With just 15 days to go, the world plus dog …
Read More »Valve vows not to change, despite EU ruling
Despite a European court ruling last week, that validated the resale of games from a digital download platform, Valve has announced that it plans to make no changes to its current setup on Steam – squashing the hopes of those looking to make a quick buck on their old game …
Read More »Google to pay $22.5M fine over Safari privacy concerns
Google are set to pay a whopping $22.5 million fine to resolve concerns that they broke a privacy promise by secretly tracking millions of web surfers using Apple's Safari browser. The latest news is that the fine has yet to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission which oversees online …
Read More »Kickstarter to launch in UK
Fan funding website Kickstarter is set to debut in the UK soon, according to the website's official Twitter feed. While so far the British have only been able to send dollars overseas to back American based projects, in the near future ones based on the isle will be able to …
Read More »AMD will need a hero if it misses target by 14%
The world is full of what American's call ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacks' – the fat chaps who sit in comfortable chairs across the world and explain, to anyone who will listen, what they would have done to ‘make a difference'. The challenge for major corporations is that they need to make …
Read More »Monday FBI ‘malware safety net’ removal aftermath
If you have been reading Kitguru in the last week you will already be aware that the FBI were removing their safety net, exposing a DNS change left by malware on users systems. Initial concerns had assumed that almost a quarter of a million people could be affected, but the …
Read More »UK Judge: Samsung Galaxy ‘not cool enough’ to be confused with iPad
Samsung Electronics have won a legal ruling in the UK after the judge said their Galaxy Tablets aren't ‘cool' enough to be confused with the Apple iPad. Judge Colin Birss said yesterday that the design for the three Galaxy tablets don't infringe on Apple's registered design. He highlighted that consumers …
Read More »Blackberry 10 – will it save RIM?
While Research In Motion are posting record low financials Frank Boulben, the new Chief Marketing Officer seems confident in the upcoming BlackBerry 10 Operating System. He spoke to the Associated Press claiming that the new software will impress the audience. The new devices are expected in early 2013 – a …
Read More »Microsoft buys multi-touch firm
Software giant Microsoft has a new company to merge with its already multitudinous collection: Perceptive Pixel. Specialising in multi-touch displays and software development, the company was announced as a new Microsoft acquisition by Steve Ballmer, with it being made clear that the buy was part of Microsoft's Windows 8 release …
Read More »Samsung only second to Apple in profitability
While many companies are struggling, Samsung have posted record profit of $5.9 billion. They are second to Apple in this record, which is a heck of an achievement for the South Korean firm. Their revenue for $41.4B USD. Samsung are the new leader in global smartphone and feature phone sales …
Read More »RIM may get sued by shareholders
It has been a rough couple of years for Research In Motion (RIM), facing growing competition in the smartphone market. Shares in the company have fallen by a staggering 95 percent from the peak level in mid 2008. Last month they posted a $518 million quarterly loss, highlighting the dire …
Read More »Know a friend who can’t get online today? help them out
If you can read this today then you are likely to be safe from the DNS Changer malware which has reportedly infected thousands of computers. We reported last week that week that 277,000 people may be struggling to get online today. This malware has been active since 2007, and it …
Read More »Digital tool kit launched to help prevent loneliness
Being connected and communicating with other human beings is not only good for you, it could actually help you live longer – according to the Government's Minster for Care Services, Paul Burstow. KitGuru sticks ‘When I'm 64' on the gramophone and Zimmers off in search of answers. Scan through the …
Read More »Xbox Live is down
Microsoft's Xbox Live platform has gone down. Apparently the software giant is aware of the problem as the service status page has been updated with errors and explanations, but no reason has been given for the downtime as of yet. It appears to have been unintended. At the time of …
Read More »Viglen’s continued success is an education for all
While most local system companies have evaporated, Viglen continues to bang in the results – including a whopping £8m revenue for June alone. How does one of the last remaining giants of the UK PC industry do it? KitGuru goes back to school to see what can be learnt from …
Read More »Apple ‘mini’ iPad planned to take out Google and Microsoft
Industry insiders are confirming that Apple plan on releasing a smaller 7 inch iPad later this year. This model will be cheaper and won't have the retina capable screen featuring in the 9.7 inch version already available. We already reported on this before, however two people close to the matter …
Read More »Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSDs and VXL Software news
OCZ Technology Group a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that its PCI Express (PCIe) SSD platform, featuring all Z-Drive R4 PCIe SSD models and VXL software, accelerates virtualization of Microsoft’s cloud-ready SQL Server 2012 database. Providing enterprise, host-based flash performance and …
Read More »277,000 users may lose net access on Monday
Reports from the FBI say that over a quarter of a million users could lose internet access on Monday. The FBI are taking down a ‘safety net' which is protecting these people from a malicious piece of code infecting their systems. The FBI say that 64,000 Windows machines are infected …
Read More »ISP claims torrenting increased after Pirate Bay block
Despite copyright lobbyists like the British Phonographic Industry cheered when many European nations announced their intention to block torrent search site The Pirate Bay, a Dutch ISP has spoken out about file sharing traffic, saying that in-fact, the number of people torrenting has increased since the block was put into …
Read More »Ex Apple senior exec says Nokia should fire leadership
Silicon Valley veteran Jean Louis Gassée said that the Nokia leadership should be fired, including CEO Stephen Elop, who took over Nokia after a stint within Microsoft. Gassée told Computing in an exclusive interview “I think that Elop will have to go, but I also think that the board also …
Read More »HTC win UK patent ruling against Apple
A high court in the United Kingdom has ruled against Apple in an HTC patent ruling. The court said that HTC did not infringe on Apple's photo management patent and three other patent claims were invalid. The court declared three patents invalid, including the ‘slide to unlock' feature seen on …
Read More »Will AMD’s missing vital ingredient prevent cooking on gas?
Success in any market needs the right combination of products, pricing, players and placement. In simple terms, correctly marketing the right products into the right markets with the right team of people around you – and your success is pretty much guaranteed. But what happens when you have gaps in …
Read More »ACTA defeated in Europe
Members of European Parliament have sunk the ACTA ship, voting to reject the treaty and make it un-enforceable by member nations. While there is still the potential for countries outside the EU to enact it, it would take a large majority to successfully pass it and with the consensus on …
Read More »Gates says Apple may have to follow Microsoft Surface
Ex Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is ‘fanatical' about the upcoming Microsoft Surface. he spoke to Charlie Rose last night on the Rose PBS show. He said that the world's best companies are built by fanatics and “when you're in your 20s and 30s being fanatical comes…well at least it came …
Read More »Sony PS4 two years in development
News for the new Xbox and Playstation are heating up. It would appear that Sony have been working on the Playstation 4 for a few years now, if employees dates are accurate. Sony have remained tight lipped about the Playstation 3 replacement, however one of their staff members spotted a …
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