Twitter Begins Accepting Political Ads

Twitter on Wednesday started accepting political ads and announced a sales team dedicated to the category.

 

The company ran its first such ad today, a Sponsored Tweet from GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. (See below.) Romney is one of a small group of candidates and national party committees that Twitter is working with on a pilot program for the effort. Those partners will also run ads in coming weeks. The ads will be distinguished from other advertising by a purple “Promoted” icon and a Federal Election Commission disclaimer.

Twitter’s new political sales team will be run by Peter Greenberger, who until recently ran political sales for Google.

The 2012 presidential election has gotten under way in earnest. The FEC estimates that candidates for the 2008 presidential election spent $1.8 billion on ads.

September 23, 2011
Categories: News you can Use . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

October 4: Apple’s next big event; iPhone 5 expected to be unveiled

Reports are circulating around the media wires this morning that Apple’s new chief executive, Tim Cook, will take to the stage and announce ’something’.

John Paczkowski with the Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD network, says that Apple’s next event will be held on October 4, where it is most likely that the next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone will be unveiled.

Hedging on the side of caution, Paczkowski has long claimed through sources of his own that thelaunch will be in October. Sources say that the iPhone will be made available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.


There has been wide speculation over the device, which is believed to have changed in screen size and dimensions. Other leaks point to a radical new design, whereas leaked device cases show that the smartphone will remain widely the same.

The truth is: Apple has done it again. We have no real idea what the next-generation iPhone will look like.

But while consumers will be looking for the new iPhone, as the highly anticipated Christmas and holiday season seller of the year, analysts and journalists will be looking at Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs over the summer after he resigned from the company.

Cook will be in charge of the event, and no doubt will take to the stage as Apple’s new chief executive to announce the device. He has to be — he’s the boss. But Cook has never done this before, and will no doubt be aided by other executives to make their own announcement.

But as this may be Cook’s first presentation to the world, it has not been his first major challenge as chief executive.

September 22, 2011
Categories: Technologies, Vendor News . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: 1 Comment

HP reportedly pondering Whitman for Apotheker CEO swap??

Has HP lost their minds?

Leo Apotheker’s days as HP’s CEO look to be over after less than a year at the helm.

Can Meg Whitman do what Leo Apotheker couldn’t for HP?

Looks like we may find out fairly soon. Kara Swisher at AllThingsD is reporting that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered by HP’s board as a replacement for Leo Apotheker.

This swap isn’t a done deal, but just the fact that multiple sources are telling Swisher that Whitman is an option indicates Apotheker’s days may be numbered.Bloomberg is also reporting that Apotheker, who took over at HP on Sept. 30, 2010, is close to getting the boot.

Whitman has the chops since she ran eBay, which was a large organization. It also doesn’t hurt that Whitman has worked at Procter & Gamble, Disney and as a consultant at Bain.

HP could clearly use a whiteboard and some strategic thinking from an outsider. Apotheker’s missteps are numerous. Here’s the short recap:

Add it up and the Apotheker era hasn’t been a good one for HP and the board looks like it wants to start anew even though changing CEOs after just a few months is very embarrassing. The largest question for HP is this: What exactly does the company stand for? Today, HP is sort of an IBM-lite as it tries to do hardware and software while ditching low margin businesses like PCs. Who knows what Whitman will do.

On the bright side, at least Apotheker’s tenure will have lasted longer than the TouchPad—but not by much.

Investors liked the idea of Apotheker leaving HP.

What is next?

September 21, 2011
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SEAGATE ANNOUNCES 4TB EXTERNAL DRIVE

The 4TB GoFlex Desk drive will retail for $249.99 and is expected to be available through online retailers within the month. UK pricing has not yet been confirmed. The new drive will be able to hold 2,000 high-definition movies or about one million .mp3 music files.

The drive is the latest in the GoFlex product family launched last year . The new GoFlex Desk represents the line’s first redesign, and it features a sharper “industrial look” with a smaller footprint. The entire line of GoFlex drives will adopt the new industrial design over the next few weeks.

Seagate chose to use a USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) connection on the new drive instead of one that uses the latest USB 3.0 (5Gbit/sec) SuperSpeed specification.

The company does, however, provide a USB 3.0 adapter that also features an illuminated gauge to display available space on the drive

Seagate said in a statement that with USB 3.0 still maturing and Apple now pushing Thunderbolt I/O technology, the adapter made more sense for use with existing desktops and laptops.

The GoFlex Desk comes with pre-loaded backup software that provides automatic, continuous back-ups with encryption for all stored files.

The GoFlex Desk for Mac external drive features both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 and will be available in Apple stores by the end of the month.

“Yet another industry first for Seagate, we have reached a new high-capacity in the 3.5-inch hard drive form factor,” Patrick Connolly, general manager of retail products for Seagate, said in a statement.

The GoFlex drives are Windows and Mac OS X compatible and have the flexibility to go between both operating systems. In addition to cross-platform compatibility, the GoFlex Desk drive can also be utilized with the GoFlex Home adapter if an owner chooses to use it as a network drive.

September 9, 2011
Categories: News you can Use, Technologies, Vendor News . Tags: , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

Google Launches Offline Versions of Gmail, Calendar & Docs

Google is launching a new Gmail web app and updates to Calendarand Docs, in an effort to increase its products’ offline utility.

Google users have called bringing Gmail, Calendar and Docs offline an essential step for improving productivity, Group Product Manager Rajen Sheth told Mashable. The problem, he explained, is that when users need offline access to their email or calendar, they really need it.

To that end, Google is launching a new Chrome app called Gmail Offline. Separate from Gmail itself, the new app is designed for accessing, managing and sending email while you’re disconnected from the web. “We can build on top of a lot of HTML5 standards, which gives us the capabilities to make it work offline,” Sheth said.

The HTML5 app looks and feels a lot like the Gmail app for tablets. That’s because Gmail Offline is based off the tablet version, which was designed to function with or without Internet access. It focuses on the key features users need to access while offline, including organizing, starring, labeling, archiving and responding to email. It won’t give you access to Gmail Labs features, but it will get the job done.

In addition to the Gmail Offline app, Google is rolling out the ability to access Calendar and Docs offline. The feature, available by clicking the gear icon at the top of the page, lets you view events and RSVP to appointments in Calendar and view documents in Docs. Offline document editing isn’t available yet, but Google promises to find a way to make it work. Part of the problem is finding a way to make sure document edits made offline don’t override edits made by online collaborators.

The apps are only available through the Chrome Web Store at the moment. If you try to use the Calendar or Docs offline features, you will be prompted to first install Chrome. Google says that it intends to roll out its offline apps to other browsers once they support the functionality.

September 3, 2011
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New Movies from Pixar Announced…

Pixar has announced it’s newest movies this weekend at the D23 in Anaheim. The first movie is set for 2014 and looks inside the human mind. Directed by Peter Docter, the Academy Award-winning director of Up, the new Pixar toon is just starting its designs and sets and anticipating castings.

 

The other movie is about dinosaurs set sometime in the future. Director Bob Peterson was inspired by his childhood visit to the 1964 New York World’s Fair, where he saw animatronic dinosaurs. Disney made  announcements to 4,200 fans at the Anaheim Convention Center as part of its D23 Expo this weekend that brings all things “Disney” under one roof: Parks & Resorts, Consumer Products, Media Networks, and of course the Studio. D23 is the first official Disney fan club, and the expo takes place every other year. This year’s arena presentation was hosted by Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross and featured John Lasseter from Pixar, Kevin Feige from Marvel, Sean Bailey from Walt Disney Studios and talent from upcoming films from animation, Marvel, and Disney live action.

August 28, 2011
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Another PC Maker is Hurting…

Taiwanese PC maker Acer, the world’s No. 2 PC vendor, reported its first-ever loss as it and PC makers see their market eroded by strong sales of Apple’s (AAPL) iPad and rival tablets. Acer lost $234.3 mil in the April-June quarter, vs. analyst views for a $114 mil loss. Still, analysts said Acer and Dell (DELL) could benefit from Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) exit. HP, the world’s largest PC maker, last week said it plans to spin off its PC unit, valued at $10 bil to $12 bil.

August 26, 2011
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Who is Tim Cook (new CEO) of Apple?

Tim Cook, the man named to replace Steve Jobs as Apple’s chief executive, already has extensive experience running the company.

Cook, who has served as Apple’s chief operating officer for seven years, was named as its new chief executive today with the resignation of Jobs, the iconic co-founder of the company. Cook, a reserved and private man, was tapped to fill in for Jobs during his three medical leaves of absence.

“The board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” Art Levinson, chairman of Genentech, said in a statement on behalf of Apple’s board.

Long considered a front-runner to replace Jobs, the 50-year-old Cook joined Apple in 1998 as a senior vice president of worldwide operations and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2004. Before joining Apple, Cook briefly served as an executive at Compaq and spent 12 years at IBM, where he ran manufacturing and operations for the company’s PC business. Cook earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from Duke.

Cook is credited with completely restructuring Apple’s manufacturing operations, insisting that Apple shut down its overseas factories and farm out the work to third-party manufacturers. As a result, the company reduced inventory and improved margins on its entire product lineup.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20096918-37/a-look-at-tim-cook-the-man-replacing-steve-jobs/#ixzz1Vzon6LIl

August 25, 2011
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Ticketmaster to meet it’s match?

 

Anschutz Entertainment Group will roll out its much-hyped challenge to chief rival Live Nation Entertainment’s Ticketmaster this Saturday. So the battle is on. AEG has partnered with start-up Outbox Technology to form AXS with a plan to sell tickets through more than 100 arenas and theaters by the end of 2012. AEG — which owns L.A.’s Staples Center and London’s 02 Arena — was Ticketmaster’s biggest client, so not only will the loss hurt Ticketmaster’s bottom line but the new entity could challenge.

 

Ticketmaster’s dominance in this cutthroat biz. Turns out that a primary architect of AEG’s Outbox strategy is none other than Fred Rosen, who was Ticketmaster’s CEO in the 1980s and masterminded the company’s rise by creating a centralized ticket sales system used by the venues. The revenues came from service fees which, as anyone who’s bought a ticket to a live event in the past 20 years knows, have spiraled higher and higher. The AEG plan instead has the venues selling the tickets themselves via Outbox software that can be customized. AEG’s expansion into the ticket-sales business was seen as inevitable after the U.S. Justice Department approved the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger in 2010. But as a condition for that merger, the feds insisted that AEG have the opportunity to license Ticketmaster’s software. AEG ultimately chose to go with Outbox instead.

August 24, 2011
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Steve Jobs steps down at CEO

Legendary leader Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple (AAPL) , the company he co-founded and saved from the brink of disaster 14 years ago.

 

Steve Jobs

Jobs, who survived pancreatic cancer, has been on medical leave since Jan. 17. Neither he nor the company have stated his latest health issues. It’s his third medical leave in six years.

 

In a statement, Apple’s board said Jobs had been elected chairman, and that Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook has been named the new CEO. Cook has run the day-to-day operations during Jobs’ leave, and has received good reviews for his work. But Jobs retained a huge influence over the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Jobs left Apple after losing a power struggle with former CEO John Sculley in 1985, but returned in 1997 when the company was struggling to survive.

Jobs then oversaw the development of the iPod music player, iPhone smartphone and iPad tablet, among other top-selling products that has made Apple the U.S. publicly traded company with the second-largest market cap and the technology leader in many fields.

“Steve’s extraordinary leadership vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” Apple director Art Levinson, chairman of Genentech, said in a statement.

In a letter to the board, Jobs said:

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

“As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

“I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”

August 24, 2011
Categories: Events, Technologies . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

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