Technology

John Gapper The curious absence of Sony’s PlayStation 4

February 21, 2013 11:11 am by John Gapper

Video game designer Mark Cerny talks about the new platform of the Playstation 4. Getty Images

Perhaps there is a method to the madness but I find Sony’s so-called launch of the PlayStation 4 without producing the games console peculiar.

Its executives revealed all kinds of technical details about the new console in New York on Wednesday evening, but did not unveil the thing itself. As the New York Times reported the event:

The console itself was never shown during the two-hour presentation. No release date was given, although before the Christmas holidays is a good possibility. No price was mentioned.

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Posted in Business, Technology |

Ravi Mattu Has BlackBerry met its Waterloo?

February 6, 2013 3:11 pm by Ravi Mattu

Getty Images

What happens when the cluster you helped create falls out of love with you? It is a question BlackBerry may be asking itself just a week after relaunching with a new name and a new phone.

According to a New York Times report, after years of being the beating commercial heart of Waterloo, Ontario, the company formerly known as Research in Motion is no longer the destination of choice for top talent. “BlackBerry is now a last resort,” it said.

And if that wasn’t tough enough for a former emblem of Canadian ingenuity, its position has been usurped either by US companies, “including Google, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft” or graduates launching their own businesses. Read more

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Posted in Business, Technology, Telecoms |

John Gapper FT column: Aaron Swartz’s illusion over research

January 16, 2013 10:52 pm by John Gapper

The death of the internet activist Aaron Swartz at the age of 26 has rightly evoked tributes to his creativity and selflessness. Swartz, who faced jail for illegally downloading millions of academic papers from an electronic library, committed suicide last week. Read more

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Posted in Media, Technology |

John Gapper BlackBerry maker Research in Motion fights back

December 13, 2012 11:30 am by John Gapper

BlackBerry phones by RIM. Getty Images

We are about to find out whether Research in Motion can re-establish itself as a serious competitor in the smartphone world, or will go the way of Palm and others, crushed by Apple and Google.

Judging by alleged leaked photographs of the new BlackBerry London phone that will run BlackBerry 10 software, it seems as if RIM has gone through the full five stages of the Kübler-Ross grief model in response to the iPhone, arriving at “acceptance” and abandoning its illusions.

Having initially protested that few people would want a smartphone without a physical keyboard, and continuing to display a lot of anger and resentment, RIM has changed its management and adjusted to the world as it is. Read more

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Posted in Business, Media, Technology |

Andrew Hill Groupon shows where founder-CEOs can slip up

November 29, 2012 1:35 pm by Andrew Hill

Entrepreneurs should take a look at the video of Groupon founder Andrew Mason being interviewed at Wednesday’s Business Insider conference. It could be the last time you see him as the internet company’s chief executive. The board is due to meet later on Thursday to discuss his future, in the wake of the sharp fall in the stock since its IPO. A series of brutal leaks suggests his job is on the line.

Mr Mason evinces an odd and contradictory mixture of arrogance and humility. For example, he told Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget: Read more

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Posted in Technology |
From FT.com November 21, 2012

Things got quite exciting in London at noon on Tuesday. First Kweku Adoboli, the rogue trader formerly employed by UBS, was sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud. Then Hewlett-Packard accused the former management of Autonomy, the UK software company, of wrongdoing. The moral appeared to be, as a New York journalist wryly tweeted: “Don’t trust the British.” Read more

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Posted in Business, Technology, UK, US |

Andrew Hill Now Autonomy puts HP on the rack

November 20, 2012 3:48 pm by Andrew Hill

“Real business value”, “industry-shifting technology”, “unsurpassed innovation” or “accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures”? Or both?

Hewlett-Packard’s accolades for Autonomy’s technology are drawn from an HP “fact sheet” which is helpfully included in the “related links” HP provides from Tuesday’s withering online statement about an $8.8bn impairment charge. Most of the charge relates, HP says, to alleged improprieties at the UK software company the US group bought last year.

The announcement brings back into the open the sort of concerns that dogged Autonomy as Mike Lynch, its co-founder, built up the business – and that he always dismissed as untrue. Read more

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Posted in Business, Technology |

John Gapper Microsoft’s Sinofsky follows Apple’s Forstall to the exit

November 13, 2012 11:45 am by John Gapper

Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky introduces a new tablet computer. Image by Getty

The unexpected departure of Steven Sinofsky as head of Microsoft’s giant Windows division has some inescapable similarities to that of Scott Forstall, who ran Apple’s mobile software. Read more

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Posted in Cities, Technology |
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