Qualcomm jumps into ‘wearables’ fray with Toq smartwatch

Qualcomm jumps into ‘wearables’ fray with Toq smartwatch

5:25pm EDT

By Noel Randewich

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc has unveiled the Toq, a smartwatch that can play music and handle phone calls and messages, and said it would start selling the device in the fourth quarter, marking the chipmaker’s entry into the emerging arena of wearable computing. The company, which dominates the global market for applications processors for smartphones and tablets, introduced the device on Wednesday in a bid to showcase its own technology to manufacturers as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its own much-anticipated “Galaxy Gear” in Berlin. Read more of this post

Social commerce in Korea to surge sixtyfold over three years

Social commerce to surge sixtyfold over three years

Kim Gyu-sik, Sohn Dong-woo, Won Yo-hwan

2013.09.04 18:12:36

The social commerce market is growing and evolving rapidly due to cheap price chasers, who go for lower prices, and its edge in the mobile environment. Social commerce has recently started diversifying its product line-up from intangible goods including tickets for dining at restaurants and watching performance to electronics, cars and food, seizing on the areas that have been reserved for other online shopping malls. The social commerce market in its infancy totaled 50 billion won ($45.6 million) in terms of the value of total transactions in 2010. Now the number is projected to exceed three trillion won this year. All of the three biggest social commerce players in Korea, Ticket Monster, Coupang, and We Make Price, are confident that their respective transactions would surpass one trillion won this year.  Read more of this post

Passwords will become obsolete when you can log-in with your heartbeat

Passwords will become obsolete when you can log-in with your heartbeat

By Rebecca J. Rosen, The Atlantic 10 hours ago

Nearly all of computer security boils down to one question: How can a device know that you are you? Passwords are the most basic tactic for confirming your identity. If you can come up with your secret string of numbers and letters, you must be you. But everyone knows that passwords are pretty weak barriers, in part because people are bad at choosing them (tending to use innovative combinations such as “password” and “123456″) and because computers are good at breaking them. Other than passwords, there are a host of other tricks, all with that same goal in mind: verifying that you are you. Two of the most common are security questions (silliness) and two-step verification such as Gmail’s, which involves a secondary code that only you have access to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUO7Qnmc8vE Read more of this post

A Multitasking Video Game Makes Old Brains Act Younger

September 4, 2013

A Multitasking Video Game Makes Old Brains Act Younger

By MATT RICHTEL

Findings on video games published in the journal Nature are a significant development in understanding how to strengthen older brains.

There may be a new market for video games: octogenarians. Brain scientists have discovered that swerving around cars while simultaneously picking out road signs in a video game can improve the short-term memory and long-term focus of older adults. Some people as old as 80, the researchers say, begin to show neurological patterns of people in their 20s. Cognitive scientists say the findings, to be published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, are a significant development in understanding how to strengthen older brains. That is because the improvements in brain performance did not come just within the game but were shown outside the game in other cognitive tasks. Read more of this post

Dish, Disney Gird for Showdown Over ESPN

Updated September 4, 2013, 8:56 p.m. ET

Dish, Disney Gird for Showdown Over ESPN

AMOL SHARMA And SHALINI RAMACHANDRAN

Dish Network Corp. DISH +0.13% chairman Charlie Ergen has long railed against the high cost of sports on TV. Now he has a chance to do something about it. Dish’s agreement to carry ESPN, the highest profile and most expensive of the national sports channels, expires at the end of September. Dish and ESPN’s majority-owner Walt Disney DIS +0.30% Co are now in negotiations on a renewal for the agreement, which dates back to 2005. The talks will also address the fees Dish must pay to carry Disney’s other channels, including ABC broadcast stations. As a result, the negotiations will likely revolve around some the pay-TV industry’s most contentious issues—broadcast fees and sports costs—even more than Time Warner Cable Inc.’s TWC +0.60% battle withCBS Corp., CBS +2.06% which ended just Monday after a monthlong blackout. Read more of this post

Zhaoniya: Shanghai-based Mobile Pharmaceutical Platform

Zhaoniya: Shanghai-based Mobile Pharmaceutical Platform

By Emma Lee on September 4, 2013

Zhaoniya, also known as Uyi Uyao, is a mobile app targeted to balance the demands of pharmacies and patients. The app provides separate apps for merchants and users. Zhaoniya distributes orders placed by users to pharmacies within 2 miles of the user’s location. The pharmacists will connect the patients after receiving the orders to give professional advices and to decide which kind of medicine to deliver. The app now provides free service to both pharmacies and patients. But the customers are allowed to pay extra tips to pharmacies, especially when the medicine has to be delivered at night. Read more of this post

With a click on a smartphone, the experimental “Armadillo-T” electric car made in South Korea will park itself and fold nearly in half, freeing up space in crowded cities

South Korean ‘Armadillo’ car folds up for easy parking

1:39am EDT

By Hyunjoo Jin

DAEJEON, South Korea (Reuters) – With a click on a smartphone, the experimental “Armadillo-T” electric car made in South Korea will park itself and fold nearly in half, freeing up space in crowded cities. The quirky two-seater, named after the animal whose shell it resembles, may never see production but it is part of a trend of developing environmentally friendly vehicles for urban spaces. The car can travel 100 km (62 miles) on a 10-minute charge and has a maximum speed of 60 km per hour (37 miles per hour). When it comes time to park, the rear of the vehicle folds over the front, almost halving its body length to just 1.65 meters (65 inches). “They can be parked in every corner of the street and buildings, be it apartments, shopping malls or supermarkets,” said Suh In-soo, a professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology who led development of the car. Suh did away with rear-view mirrors by adding tiny digital cameras that show the back and sides of the car on a flat screen on the dashboard. A Windows-based computer system communicates with the driver’s smartphone and enables self-parking. The Armadillo-T cannot legally venture on to the road in South Korea because it does not meet certain mandatory criteria, such as withstanding crashes. Suh said South Korea should relax rules for micro cars, exempting them from crash requirements because of their relatively low speeds. A video demonstrating the prototype has been viewed more than 780,000 times on YouTube. (here)

EMC to Unveil Products Challenging Cloud-Storage Sellers

EMC to Unveil Products Challenging Cloud-Storage Sellers

EMC Corp. (EMC) said it’s introducing new products that will be offered via a faster and more simplified buying process, challenging the appeal of Web-based computing services from Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and other cloud providers. The product initiative, called Project Nile, will introduce machines in the first half of next year, Jeremy Burton, executive vice president at EMC, said in an interview. Customers can choose storage for files, databases or the Web and receive a complete system within 48 hours, he said. Read more of this post

Another 1.8 Million People Just Ditched Cable TV

Another 1.8 Million People Just Ditched Cable TV

JIM EDWARDS SEP. 4, 2013, 10:12 AM 2,020 4

Another quarter, another dismal set of numbers for the TV business. About 1.8 million people ended their cable TV subscriptions in Q2 2013, according to analysts at SNL Kagan. Some of those people went to other TV-supplying services, such as telcos like Verizon or AT&T that offer TV along with broadband internet access. But overall, the numbers of people who pay for any type of TV service are in decline, according to Multichannel news:

There were 366,000 total net losses across all TV/broadband subs in Q2, according to SNL Kagan.

Cable TV suppliers lost 1.8 millions subs. Read more of this post

Samsung Electronics to talk strategy with investors, sceptics

Updated: Wednesday September 4, 2013 MYT 4:46:29 PM

Samsung Electronics to talk strategy with investors, sceptics

SEOUL: South Korean consumer electronics titan Samsung is planning a strategic conference with investors of a scale not seen since eight years ago to fight a gnawing suspicion that its heyday may have come and gone. Samsung Electronics, which undershot analysts’ earnings estimates in April-to-June in a rare miss, said on Wednesday that it would meet with 400 investors and analysts in Seoul on Nov. 6 to talk about its longer-term growth strategy. Read more of this post

For Microsoft and Nokia, India Is a Critical Market; As Indian Mobile Users Switch to Smartphones, Keeping Nokia’s Customers Is Key

September 4, 2013, 7:53 a.m. ET

For Microsoft and Nokia, India Is a Critical Market

As Indian Mobile Users Switch to Smartphones, Keeping Nokia’s Customers Is Key

R JAI KRISHNA

In Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT -2.13% attempt to turn around Nokia Corp.’sNOK1V.HE +0.55% fortunes in the mobile phone market, India will be a critical battleground. Even though Nokia’s share of the global handset market has tumbled over the past few years, the company still holds a sizable chunk of India’s huge market for basic, low-cost cellphones. Microsoft’s challenge is keeping Nokia’s customers as more mobile users in the country migrate to smartphones. Read more of this post

Venture capital’s model battle

Venture capital’s model battle

By Dan Primack September 3, 2013: 4:02 PM ET

Defending the defense of venture capital “classic.”

FORTUNE — Here are three things I believe about the venture capital industry:

1. Until five or six years ago, the venture capital model was largely unchanged from what it had been in the 1980s and 1990s. Different people and bigger dollars, but the same general structure and strategy.

2. Today there are a variety of new models. Some focus on providing a variety of non-finance services to entrepreneurs (marketing, HR, etc.). Some borrow from the crowdfunding model. Some emphasize their ability to make decisions in less time than it takes a “traditional” VC to iron his blue shirt.

3. We have no idea which model is actually better, from the perspective of generating high returns (which is the actual job of venture capitalists). Read more of this post

Microsoft’s Nokia Purchase Torches $16.6 Billion In Market Cap, Almost As Much As Ballmer’s Exit Added; Why Microsoft Had No Choice But To Purchase Nokia’s Handset Business; why Microsoft raced to Nokia deal

Microsoft’s Nokia Purchase Torches $16.6 Billion In Market Cap, Almost As Much As Ballmer’s Exit Added

ALEX WILHELM

posted yesterday

On the news that Microsoft will purchase substantial assets from Nokia, including its handset business and intellectual property, company investors have discarded its stock, sending it down 6 percent in regular trading. At current trade, that decline represents $16.6 billion in market capitalization, a stunning repudiation of the plan by investors. To put the decline in perspective, when current CEO Steve Ballmer announced that he will relinquish his role at Microsoft, the company picked up $18 billion in value. Read more of this post

Is the Kindle really the only e-reader that matters?

Is the Kindle really the only e-reader that matters?

BY NATHANIEL MOTT 
ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Reports of the Kindle’s death have been greatly exaggerated. Reports of other e-reader’s continuedslide into obsolescence, however, appear to be spot-on.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Kindle’s share of the Japanese market dwarfs that of homegrown products made by Sony and Rakuten — not because the Kindle’s competitors are technologically inferior, but because the Amazon Web Store is easier to use than Rakuten or Sony’s online marketplaces. Read more of this post

Kodak Exits Bankruptcy as Printer Without Photographs with ‘tech’ focus

Kodak emerges from bankruptcy with ‘tech’ focus

September 4, 2013 – 12:21PM

Bree Fowler

A slimmed-down Kodak has emerged from bankruptcy protection and says it will specialise in technology focused on imaging for businesses.

You can feel the spirit of George Eastman in Antonio Perez’s office. A picture of Eastman, who founded Kodak in 1880, sits among the current chief executive’s collection of family photos. The outer areas of Perez’s office, built and first inhabited by Eastman about a century ago, include some of Kodak’s Oscar and Emmy awards, along with a collection of historic photos. A large portrait of Eastman, who died in 1932, hangs near the entrance. Perez’s surroundings serve as a constant reminder of Kodak’s hallowed history in the print and movie film industries – and of the pressure he is under to revive the ailing company. Read more of this post

Microsoft Brings New ESPN And NFL Experiences To Xbox One

Microsoft Brings New ESPN And NFL Experiences To Xbox One

RYAN LAWLER

posted 18 hours ago

When Microsoft’s next-generation video game console launches in the fall, it wants to provide users with plenty of reasons to buy one. And what better reason is there than sports? With that in mind, the new Xbox One will feature improved apps for sports fans tuning in to ESPN and the NFL. The new ESPN app is designed to provide a personalized experience for users, highlighting all content that is relevant to them. There’s a fair amount of customization available for users — for instance, they can designate specific sports leagues or teams to follow and having clips, highlights, and news shown when they log in.

Read more of this post

Sony Eyes Sensors in Wearable Computers to Gesture TVs

Sony Eyes Sensors in Wearable Computers to Gesture TVs

Sony Corp. (6758) is considering applying its image sensors to wearable computers and hand-gesture TVs for growth as it expects smartphone revenue to peak around 2015.

The company plans to seek growth in developing the chips, already used in smartphones and digital cameras, for products such as self-driving cars and medical equipment, Yasuhiro Ueda, senior vice president for Sony’s image sensor unit, said in an interview. Read more of this post

Tesla Is the New Apple: Najarian; Any mention of the electric car industry leader’s stock in a favorable light is met by the sneering contempt unique to bears

Tesla Is the New Apple: Najarian

By Jeff Macke | Breakout – 17 hours ago

Tesla’s (TSLA) stock has done nothing but make people money but you wouldn’t know it from the Twitter-sphere. Any mention of the electric car industry leader’s stock in a favorable light is met by the sneering contempt unique to bears. Sure there are devotees but for the most part Tesla is regarded as a stock for cult-members, not investors. “If you talk positively about Tesla you’re some sort of fiend,” says OptionMonster’s Jon Najarian. “There are so many haters… you can see it by the 30% short interest.” In that sense Najarian says he hasn’t seen such instinctive contempt for “cult-ish” shareholders since the days when Steve Jobs was running Apple (AAPL). Read more of this post

The next version of Google’s Android operating system will be named KitKat

Sep 3, 2013

KitKat, Google’s Purely Promotional OS Flavor

By Greg Bensinger

GoogleGOOG +1.59% raised eyebrows Tuesday when it announced that the next version of its Android operating system will be named KitKat, after the trademarked NestleNESN.VX -0.73% candy bar. Sundar Pichai, Google’s head of Android, said in a blog post on Google+ that he was surprised to return from a trip to Asia only to find a giant statue of an Android-looking KitKat bar on the lawn. That Google named the latest version of its mobile OS after a sweet treat isn’t a surprise. Previous versions of Android software have been named after ice cream sandwiches, gingerbread and jelly beans. Naming it after a well-known brand, though, is a first. (We hardly knew ye, Android Key Lime Pie.) Is there more to this alliance? Will Nestle and Google somehow profit with money changing hands? Nope, says a Google spokesman. The KitKat promotion is just that — a promotion. Neither Google nor Nestle gets paid or pay as part of the accord. Still, KitKat packages will be graced with the familiar Android robot logo, and the two companies announced a sweepstakes for a limited number of robot-shaped KitKat candy bars, free Google Play app store credits and Nexus 7 tablets. But there will be plenty of marketing prowess on display. A verified Twitter account for KitKat, replete with the confectionery Android robot, retweeted praise for what many called Nestle’s marketing “win” and kept up with its own tweets. Google is only now getting to letter K in its march down the alphabet of OS names. What will future letters hold? Oreo? Whatchamacallit? Will OS names, like professional sports arenas, go to the highest bidder? Google isn’t saying.

Vodafone Decade of Patience Pays $125 Billion

Vodafone Decade of Patience Pays $125 Billion: Real M&A

Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s payout from a decadelong dance with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) over the fate of their U.S. wireless joint venture was worth the wait.

By holding off until now to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone secured $130 billion, adding to more than $15 billion in dividend payouts since the venture was formed in 1999. With Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. estimating Vodafone’s initial investment at $20 billion, the company is getting as much as $125 billion more than that for a sixfold return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Read more of this post

YouTube marketing pioneer BH Cosmetics named to the Inc 500, proving the power of online brand building

YouTube marketing pioneer BH Cosmetics named to the Inc 500, proving the power of online brand building

BY MICHAEL CARNEY 
ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Nearly every brand and aspiring self promoter has a YouTube channel today that they use to “engage” with their fans. But this was hardly the case in 2009 when BH Cosmetics launched their first video content marketing initiative in 2009. At the time, BH founder Fred Sadovskiy, a former ad agency owner, was well ahead of his time. This foresight enabled the founders to build a massively popular online-only cosmetics brand without ever raising a dollar of outside financing. Last week, BH was named to the Inc 500 list (No. 448) as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, a feat that Sadovskiy attributes largely to the more than 200,000 videos his company his published and the more than 100 million total video views they have amassed over the last four years. Read more of this post

Verizon to Microsoft Buoy M&A Surge to Counter Tech Disruption

Verizon to Microsoft Buoy M&A Surge to Counter Tech Disruption

Ask telecommunications and technology bankers what they did this summer and many will have a simple answer: Deals.

There have been more than $240 billion of tech and telecom takeovers this quarter, led by Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)’s $130 billion buyout of Vodafone Group Plc (VOD)’s stake in their wireless venture, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That puts the period on pace to be the busiest quarter since 2000, when AOL Inc. and Time Warner Inc. announced their merger, then valued at as much as $186 billion. Read more of this post

Timing of bullish Nokia options trades raises questions

Timing of bullish Nokia options trades raises questions

Tue, Sep 3 2013

By David Gaffen

(Reuters) – A flurry of bullish bets on Nokia just before markets closed on Friday are in line to pay off handsomely as a result of Microsoft’s move to buy the Finnish company’s handset business, and has once again raised questions about suspicious timing of such trades. Microsoft Corp said Monday that it would buy Nokia’s handset business for $7.2 billion in a bid to win market share in the mobile business. The announcement sparked a massive rally in Nokia’s U.S.-listed shares, which were up 30 percent on the day. Read more of this post

Why Nokia didn’t sell its patents to Microsoft

Why Nokia didn’t sell its patents to Microsoft

Tue, Sep 3 2013

By Dan Levine

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Nokia may have sold its handset business to Microsoft Corp, but by hanging on to its valuable patent portfolio, the Finnish company could also get a big future payoff at the expense of Android phone makers. Microsoft agreed on Tuesday to pay 3.79 billion euros ($5 billion) for Nokia’s handset business and another 1.65 billion euros for a 10-year license for Nokia’s patents, considered some of the highest-quality patents in the mobile market. Read more of this post

Why Microsoft and Nokia won’t live happily ever after

Why Microsoft and Nokia won’t live happily ever after

September 4, 2013 – 11:07AM

Stephen Hutcheon

Flashback: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, right, and Stephen Elop share the stage in November 2012. Photo: Bloomberg

Two-and-a-half years ago, the then recently recruited Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop fired off an email to his staff which became known as the “burning platform” memo. The email spelt out the uncomfortable truth: Nokia, the one-time mobile phone industry leader, was on the ropes and faced some difficult decisions. Those choices, he explained using a metaphor, were not unlike those facing a man working on a North Sea oil rig that had just caught fire. Read more of this post

Nokia Sale Marks End of an Era; Former Tech Giant Has Long History of Reinventionk

September 3, 2013, 5:23 a.m. ET

Nokia Sale Marks End of an Era

Former Tech Giant Has Long History of Reinvention

JOHANNES LEDEL

Nokia Corp.’s NOK1V.HE +33.94% decision to sell its handset business to MicrosoftCorp. MSFT -4.55% and focus on wireless-network equipment is the Finnish company’s latest attempt in its 148-year history to reinvent itself during a crisis. It also marks the effective end of a national champion and onetime global tech giant. “This is end of an era in Finland,” Jan Vapaavuori, the country’s minister of economic affairs said Tuesday. The deal with Microsoft will have a “mental effect,” he said, since Nokia long has been an important international brand with Finnish roots. Read more of this post

Microsoft-Nokia deal not necessarily good news for fellow device maker BlackBerry

Microsoft-Nokia deal not necessarily good news for fellow device maker BlackBerry

Matthew Braga | 13/09/03 | Last Updated: 13/09/03 4:50 PM ET
On the surface, BlackBerry Ltd. and Finland’s Nokia Corp. share much in common: both are struggling smartphone manufacturers fighting against fierce competition from Apple Inc. and devices running Google Inc. software in the battle for third place — with one key difference. Read more of this post

In Nokia, Microsoft Bets on Apple-Like Revival

September 3, 2013

In Nokia, Microsoft Bets on Apple-Like Revival

By NICK WINGFIELD

SEATTLE — With its purchase of Nokia’s phone business, Microsoft is taking inspiration from Apple’s way of making products, bringing hardware and software under a single roof where they can be more elegantly woven together. But Microsoft already bears a striking resemblance to Apple — the Apple of two decades ago, not the trailblazer of the mobile era. The $7.2 billion Nokia deal, which was reached late Monday, is unlikely to change that and catapult Microsoft up the ranks in the smartphone market. Read more of this post

Don’t cry for Nokia, Finland

Don’t cry for Nokia, Finland

By Michal Lev-Ram, writer September 3, 2013: 2:53 PM ET

Why the Microsoft acquisition — and Stephen Elop — may turn out to be Nokia’s greatest hope.

FORTUNE — It’s a sad day for Finland. Or is it? Sure, much of the phonemaker’s storied legacy — and future — is now in Microsoft’s hands, a bitter pill to swallow for many Finns. And yes, 32,000 Nokia employees will become part of the Redmond-based tech giant’s empire overnight, whether they like it or not. But Nokia’s (NOK) downward spiral began a long time ago, and the company wasn’t headed toward any kind of happy ending, with or without Microsoft (MSFT) swooping in to buy its devices and services business for $7.2 billion. What’s more, the deal may actually give the Finnish brand a sliver of a chance to regain some of its lost momentum. Especially if Stephen Elop — yes, the Nokia CEO and former Microsoft exec now blamed for this most recent turn of events — lands the top job in Redmond. Read more of this post

Australian billionaire James Packer bought 9.4 percent of Zillow Inc., becoming the second-biggest shareholder in the U.S. real-estate website

Billionaire Packer Buys Zillow Stake as Housing Rebounds

By David Fickling – Sep 4, 2013

Australian billionaire James Packer bought 9.4 percent of Zillow Inc., becoming the second-biggest shareholder in the U.S. real-estate website amid a recovery in the housing market. Cavalane Holdings Pty bought about 3 million shares, Seattle-based Zillow said in a filing, without giving financial terms. The stake is valued at $298 million based on Zillow’s last closing price. Cavalane, controlled by Packer, is Zillow’s largest shareholder after Caledonia Private Investments Pty, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Packer, who has a net worth of $6.1 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is betting on improving demand in the U.S. housing market. Confidence among U.S. homebuilders climbed in August to the highest level since 2005 as demand for new homes supports the market amid rising mortgage rates. In August, Packer sold about A$261 million of shares in jobs website Seek Ltd. (SEK) and fund manager Magellan Financial Group Ltd. (MFG) that were held by Cavalane, the vehicle he used in 2010 to buy into broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd. (TEN) Zillow climbed 2.7 percent to $99.09 yesterday. The stock has more than tripled this year, after advancing 23 percent in 2012.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Fickling in Sydney at dfickling@bloomberg.net