Fixing Microsoft Culture, a Tough Job Ahead

"So ingrained is Microsoft's culture of protecting entrenched interests that swinging for the fences is sometimes punished, and so people stopped trying, say current and former employees and outsiders. They say that an outsider CEO may be the best choice to welcome back technologists who think outside the box." (source wsj.com infra)

One of the first things Marissa Mayer had to change at Yahoo was its "culture" -- not an easy task --

Next CEO's Job: Fixing Microsoft's Culture - WSJ.com: "Microsoft, however, hasn't always kept pace with change. It still frowns on higher-level executives using iPhones or other rival gadgets. Employees talk about the "Redmond Bubble," or tendency to lose sight of tech reality outside of Microsoft headquarters. Some workers, fearing for their jobs, say they are wary of working on a new technology that might not pan out. An executive who recently left Microsoft said such fear has made people stop trying to take risks . . . Today, he says, "so much energy is expended on repressing good things to play defense and protect the castle.""

Here’s what Steve Ballmer didn’t get about the tablet revolution: "...(Steve) Jobs thought tablets and smartphones represented a fundamentally new kind of computing platform, and he had his engineers design a new user interface from scratch optimized for small, cheap touchscreen devices. Ballmer saw the tablet as just another kind of PC, and so he built a single OS designed to work both on tablets and on desktop PCs. Today, the results speak for themselves. Apple sold 14 million iPads in its most recent quarter. In contrast, estimates suggest that only about 2 million Windows-based tablets were sold last quarter..."

Google Glass to gain local apps, but not cellular connection

PCWorld
Google Glass will eventually gain the ability to run local apps from the device ... Google has a “few thousand” of Glass devices available in the wild, through its ...

Apple Store's new design preserves fountain

San Francisco Chronicle
Ruth Asawa fans can rest easy - the artist's beloved bronze fountain near Union Square is staying pretty much right where it is. Apple has presented city officials ...

San Francisco Chronicle

Microsoft will craft XP patches after April '14, but not for you

Computerworld
Computerworld - Just because Microsoft doesn't plan on giving Windows XP patches to the public after April 8, 2014, doesn't mean it's going to stop making ...

Google's Australian revenue pegged at $1.74 billion by search ...

The Australian Financial Review
A new study has pegged Google's Australian revenue at almost $1.74 billion, with mobile search advertising on smartphones and tablets tipped to become the ...

The Australian Financial Review

Apple Blasts Feds' Proposed Remedy in E-Books Conspiracy Case

TIME
The feds want Judge Cote to issue an injunction requiring Apple to allow retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble to sell e-books through their iOS apps ...

Google Dictionary Makeover Adds New Meanings

CIO Today
As of Thursday's announcement, a flurry of comments from Google users poured in, ... Interestingly, international Google users voiced disappointment that the ...

CIO Today

Apple patent turns the iPhone into an intelligent universal media ...

Apple Insider
An Apple patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday describes a method in which a portable device, like the iPhone, can save, ...

Apple Insider

Google's self-certified hypocrisy

ZDNet
Summary: Google's policies for accepting SSL certificates from web sites in ... Apple, Microsoftand BlackBerry all use real code signing for their app stores.

Did Amazon Lose Millions in Outage?

CIO Today
We asked Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group, for his take on the Amazon (and Microsoft and Google) outage. He told us he's concerned about ...

CIO Today

Big break in dolphin die-off: It's an 'outbreak' of measles-like virus
NBCNews.com
A virus that is similar to measles has caused the deaths of some of the hundreds of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that have died since early July this year. Genetic tests have confirmed that an outbreak of a measles-like virus known as morbillivirus is playing a ...

Now all Windows developers have been thrown under the bus
ZDNet
Summary: Microsoft's latest boneheaded move is to prevent developers having early access to Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 RT...

Facebook: US demands data on 38K users
USA TODAY
Government agents in 74 countries demanded information on about 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of this year, with about half the orders coming from authorities ...

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 rumored to have 4K video capture
CNET
The forthcoming phablet could be the first mobile device to offer Ultra High Definition video recording in 4K resolution, but we think that's a long shot. Scott Webster. by Scott Webster. August 27, 2013 10:54 AM PDT. Follow @swebster77. The next-generation ...

Apple said to be prepping new trade-in program on eve of iPhone 5S launch
Christian Science Monitor
September is likely to see the unveiling of a pair of new Apple smart phones: An iPhone 5S flagship device and a cheaper model iPhone 5C for budget-minded customers. It now seems like Apple is also planning to unveil a new trade-in program for older ...

BBM spin-off pondered by BlackBerry
Telegraph.co.uk
The troubled Ontario-based smartphone maker is considering options for its future, including a break-up or sale, but has already confirmed that the popular BlackBerry Messenger service will launch on rival platforms such as Apple's iOS and Google Android ...

Amazon Enables In-App Purchases of Physical Goods
PC Magazine
Amazon on Tuesday launched a new mobile API that will let mobile users make one-click Amazon purchases from within apps. Developers who tap into the Amazon Mobile Associates API can add easy purchase links to Amazon within their apps...

Hunter-Gatherers in Europe Owned Domesticated Pigs as Early as 4600 BC
Science World Report
European hunter-gatherers may have started farming practices far sooner than anyone expected. Archaeologists have uncovered the interaction between hunter-gatherer and farming communities, revealing that less-stationary groups of people may have ...

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