Toshiba launches luxury Kira ultrabook
At a time when laptop makers are looking for ways to cut the price of ultrabooks to appeal to mass-market consumers, Toshiba has announced a new luxury line where no expense is being spared.
The Japanese company’s Kira brand makes its debut with the 13.3-in KIRAbook, available next month in versions costing from $1,600 to $2,000 in the US. Read more
Logitech’s Ultimate and final remote
Logitech announced plans in January to sell its Harmony universal remote-control products division, as part of a strategic review that will see it focus more on PC, tablet and smartphone-related products.
But the Swiss company, which reported a disappointing $180m loss in its last quarter as PC-related sales slumped, is still coming out with new products, with two Harmony universal remotes announced today for the US and Europe. Read more
LucasArts shuts down Star Wars games
LucasArts has shut down Star Wars games in development and is laying off staff, as the San Francisco-based publisher switches to a licensing model for video games.
The decision means Star Wars 1313, greeted enthusiastically by gamers at last year’s E3 convention when a preview was shown, and Star Wars:First Assault, a planned first-person shooter, will not now appear. A small team working on casual games is also being disbanded. Read more
Google+ Sign-In signs up users to mobile
The launch of Google+ Sign-In five weeks ago seems likely to lead to a big conversion to mobile apps and favour the Android ecosystem, with Google announcing today that hundreds of websites are now adopting the common authentication method.
Google+ Sign-In saves users having to remember their logins for different services, similar to Facebook Connect, but the VentureBeat Mobile Summit was told it also is serving as a powerful tool to introduce them to app versions of the websites they visit. Read more
Dell ready to rip up PC model
Michael Dell is ready to tear up the PC model on which he built his business in order to claw back market share lost to Asian rivals such as Lenovo and Asus.
The new high-stakes strategy is revealed in Dell’s 274-page proxy filing released on Friday and is likely to shake up competition in the ailing PC industry. Dell would switch from the build-to-order bespoke PCs that made its name to the “build-to-stock” model of more generic PCs made by its rivals that anticipate demand and are built before a purchaser has been identified.
EA gunning to blow people away this year
John Riccitiello made a final public appearance as chief executive of Electronic Arts at the unveiling of Battlefield 4 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week.
He steps down on Saturday, resigning, according to the official account, over the company missing its numbers for the current fiscal year ending March 31.
The poor performance of another first-person shooter, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, last autumn contributed to this, but Mr Riccitiello’s green-lighting of Battlefield 4 could give his successor an easier ride this coming year. Read more
King.com becomes King of casual
King.co
m’s rebranding of itself this week as just King is hardly innovative, but it does sum up the publisher’s current position in casual games.
Its Candy Crush Saga is the most popular game on Facebook by daily active users – with 14m players, according to Appdata – while also being the top-grossing app on iTunes and the top free app on Google Play. Read more
Lenovo thinks afresh for T431s ThinkPad design
T430s, T431s – the notch up in model numbers between Lenovo’s last-generation T-series ThinkPad and the new one launched today is minimal, but the design decisions are dramatically different.
The T431s is the product of nine months of testing in nine countries with 900 users and the “clean sheet” design principles that have emerged will influence many more of Lenovo’s notebooks down the road. Read more
Dell launches XPS 18 portable All-In-One
Dell has entered the portable All-in-One category with the XPS 18, featuring an 18.4in Full HD screen and up to five hours of battery life.
The XPS 18 is smaller and much lighter with longer battery life than Sony’s 12lb Vaio Tap 20 - the first machine in this new category – and Lenovo’s 27in IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC, which was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics show in January. Read more
Vimeo’s 90:10 cash split favours video creators
Vimeo, which has established itself as a niche video platform player next to YouTube, is launching an on-demand service where content owners will keep 90 per cent of their sales.
The 10:90 revenue split is exceedingly generous by existing industry standards – Google is reported to be considering taking 45 per cent of subscription revenues for its planned video channels on YouTube. 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.
Older entries