Panasonic targets convertible tablet limitations
Despite the best efforts of Microsoft and its hardware partners over the past decade, pen-operated tablet PCs – particularly slate-style devices – never really took off outside niche verticals like health and insurance.
Even convertible tablets – laptops with touch screens that fold down on top of the keyboard to turn the devices into a slate-style PCs – never really made much headway though I personally used a convertible X- Series ThinkPad for several years. Read more
PayPal bank withdrawals back up in India
Indian PayPal users can once again use local banks to withdraw money from their accounts, resolving a hiccup that for weeks had prevented users in the world’s second most populous country from getting cash from their accounts.
The trouble began last month, when Indian regulators threw a wrench into PayPal’s business in the country as they investigated whether PayPal, the world’s largest online payments company, should be considered a remittances business.
As a result, PayPal stopped allowing users to transfer funds directly from one personal account to another, and also made it impossible for its customers in India to withdraw PayPal funds through a bank, effectively shutting down the only method for retrieving an account’s balance. Person-to-person transfers will likely be suspended for a few months as the company works with regulators to obtain new licenses that will allow it to legally handle remittances. Read more
In today’s Business Life section of the FT, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson reports on the growth of the virtual exhibition industry:
“Inside the cavernous exhibition hall, delegates milled round booths, inspecting white papers from exhibitors such as Novell, AT&T and Imperva. Off to one side, contact details were exchanged in a networking lounge while in a darkened auditorium the audience listened to a keynote panel discussion: “Data is valuable: bad guys want it.” Read more
Tech blog wins award
The Financial Times Tech Blog was named as one of the best business blogs in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers 15th annual Best in Business Journalism competition.
In fact, the FT dominated the category for blogs at mid-sized websites, with the Alphaville blog also being commended. Read more
Tivo premieres DVRs with added web content
My TiVo digital video recorder has been gathering dust for the past couple of years since I replaced it with free DVRs from Dish Network that did more or less the same thing and had bigger capacities.
But TiVo is giving current and former users a reason to consider buying its boxes anew with the launch of its Premiere and Premiere XL units on Wednesday. Read more
TVs of tomorrow get new look, features
While TiVo unveiled its new interface and Premiere DVRs on Wednesday, combining regular TV with internet services, the TV of Tomorrow Show in San Francisco gave a glimpse of the future.
In a New User Experiences session, Immersive Media showed off its 360-degree video first used in Google’s Street View and latterly at the Vancouver Olympics , Alticast demonstrated more advanced TV interfaces being enjoyed by viewers in Korea and NDS showed how cable operators could fight back against the threat from “over the top” internet services. Read more
As Google ponders whether or not to stay in China, it may be taking its fight to the World Trade Organisation. The FT’s Lex column draws an analogy between Google’s threat and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
When pondering his next course of action in the third act of Macbeth, our anti-hero reasons that he was “in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er”. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
