Apple confirms $3bn deal for Dr Dre’s Beats May 28, 2014 APPLE announced yesterday that it is snapping up Beats Electronics, an audio firm famed for its headphones, for $3bn (£1.8bn). Beats founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre will join Apple as the technology and computer giant takes over their firm, which is known for its iconic headphones. The deal will worth $2.6bn immediately with another [...]
Tablet market in slowdown as shipments drop May 28, 2014 GLOBAL tablet shipments fell during the first quarter of 2014, according to new research, the first fall since Apple’s iPad launched in 2010. Shipments dropped from 59m units in the first quarter of 2013 to 56.3m units in the first quarter of this year, according to research firm NPD. “The wider trend is that clearly [...]
Why it’s nimble SMEs that are best-positioned to capitalise on the huge benefits of big data May 28, 2014 BIG CORPORATIONS are best placed to exploit big data, right? They have the resources, and can afford to focus effort on the science of data, and turn that into business advantage. Maybe. But the way the technology environment is moving, maybe not. It’s now been the case for a while that, with a credit card, [...]
Apple rumoured to be close to unveiling Jetson-style home automation platform May 27, 2014 Remember the Jetsons? Their home was filled with a variety of push-button, space age, automated conveniences. Fifty years on and the fantasy could soon be another step closer, as Apple takes its biggest stride yet into the "internet of things". According to the FT, the electronics titan is preparing a new software platform that’d turn [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 May 2014 May 27, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Apple readies “smart home” platform Apple is readying a new software platform that would turn the iPhone into a remote control for lights, security systems and other household appliances, as part of a move into the “internet of things”. Apple plans to take on rivals Google and Samsung and make a “big play” [...]
The man behind the revolution in your pocket May 27, 2014 The boss of Britain’s biggest tech firm tells Oliver Smith why so many people haven’t even heard of Arm Holdings DESPITE his company helping to power the smartphone revolution and almost single-handedly leading the charge into the so-called internet of things, Simon Segars says he doesn’t mind that outside of tech circles most people have [...]
Smartphone wars go galactic at Heathrow May 27, 2014 THE SMARTPHONE industry is well-known for its tit-for-tat behaviour. When they’re not battling in courts over patents, phone-makers use advertising to take pot-shots at their rivals. Samsung once built an entire fake Apple store to use for filming in its mockery of Apple. A month ago on Earth Day, Apple commissioned a nationwide ad saying, [...]
Frozen movement May 23, 2014 Professor Harold Edgerton: the 20th century photography pioneer who showed the world the invisible Who says science isn’t creative? For Harold Edgerton (1903- 1990), Institute Professor at MIT and inventor of the strobe flash in the early 1930s, a lifetime devoted to engineering culminated in one of the most highly regarded fine art photography [...]
Seven habits of the most effective digital enterprises May 23, 2014 In an age where most developed economies are experiencing lacklustre growth, digital continues to expand at an ever more rapid pace. E-commerce is booming at double-digit rates in the US, as well as the majority of European countries, and is rising across Asia. However, many companies are struggling to move beyond the experimentation stage of [...]
Five of the best: Rubiks’ Retro contemporaries that have been updated for touchscreens May 21, 2014 Tetris The colourful stacking game has been revamped for smartphones and tablets for its 30th birthday with multiple gaming modes. It can now be played lightning fast on a touchscreen device, and scores can be compared on Facebook. iOS/Android; 69p Pac-man The yellow sphere will have been chasing ghosts for 35 years in 2015. Now [...]