Monday, April 8, 2013

Cisco, IBM as well as others form teams upon new-technology task

 Cisco Systems, IBM and Citrix have joined forces with other tech companies in a consortium to kickstart the corporate market for software-defined networking (SDN), aimed at making network management easier and cheaper.

Other members of the development platform called OpenDaylight include Juniper Networks, VMware, Microsoft, Red Hat, Intel and Brocade as well as privately held Big Switch Networks and Arista Networks.

Each member will contribute technology such as code to the project in an effort to share the costs of basic research and development, and enable products from different vendors to work together, the companies said on Monday. However, vendors will still be able to customize their offerings to differentiate themselves from rivals.

The SDN market is still considered nascent, but is expected to grow to $3.7 billion (2.4 billion pounds) by 2016 from an estimated $360 million this year, according to research firm IDC.

The first code from OpenDaylight is expected to be released in the third quarter of this year.

"It will be interesting to see how it works in practice. There was some scepticism on our part on the networking industry getting together because they never got together before," said Brad Casemore, a veteran networking analyst at IDC, in Toronto.

SDN products let businesses reduce the amount of networking gear in data centres by replacing much of their function with software that is centralized in one or more servers.

The technology has been in the spotlight ever since VMware bought SDN startup Nicira in August last year for $1.26 billion.

 

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THE NEW HTC articles record-low quarterly revenue right after postponed cell phone release

TAIPEI (Reuters) - THE NEW HTC Corp documented the record-low quarterly revenue upon Mon which skipped analysts' estimations following the postponed release of 2013 range topping smart phone product additional eroded product sales among difficult competitors through Special Consumer electronics as well as Apple company.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker said its unaudited net profit was T$85 million (1.86 million pounds) in its January-March first quarter, compared with T$1 billion in the prior quarter and T$10.9 billion in the same period last year. It was the lowest since HTC began reporting quarterly profits in 2004.

HTC was expected to post a net profit of T$467.5 million, according to the average forecast of 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

First-quarter revenue was T$42.8 billion, lower than the T$50-60 billion range that HTC had forecast in February. Revenue in the fourth quarter was T$60 billion.

HTC rolled out its latest smartphone, the HTC One, in just three countries last month, instead of in 80 countries as it had originally planned. The company said HTC One sales would not kick off before the end of April across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.

HTC was the world's 10th-biggest smartphone maker by shipments in the fourth quarter, according to IT research firm Gartner, jostling in a crowded field behind the top-two heavyweights Samsung Electronics and Apple.

Stocks associated with THE NEW HTC taking over fifty percent of the worth during the past a year, underperforming a small within Taiwan's primary TAIEX catalog. Upon Mon, THE NEW HTC stocks shut straight down second . two % prior to the revenue had been launched, in contrast to the second . four % along with the primary catalog.

 

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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Facebook, cellular video games take into account 1 / 2 time used on iOS, Google android gadgets

Perhaps FB is actually on to some thing in the end using its belief that individuals would like their own mobile phones to become focused much more about the social networking. Flurry Analytics released a new report on Wednesday showing that iOS and Android users spend roughly half their time either playing mobile games, which accounted for 32% of all time spent on both platforms, or using Facebook's mobile app, which accounted for 18% of all time spent. The report, which used both Flurry's own data as well as data from comScore and NetMarketShare, found that mobile users spend 80% of their time using some kind of mobile app on their devices and spend just 20% of their time using some kind of mobile browser.

 

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Safari grows cellular internet browser discuss business lead in spite of warmed competitors

Apple (AAPL) may be under more competitive pressure than it's faced in a while but that doesn't mean its iPhones and iPads aren't still the dominant devices for browsing the mobile web. The latest numbers from NetMarketShare show that Apple's Safari browser has actually increased its lead among smartphone and tablet users and now accounts for 62% of mobile web browsing, followed by Google's (GOOG) Android browser at 22% and Opera Mini at 8%. Safari's share actually marks a significant increase from the previous month when it accounted for 55% of mobile browsing, so it seems that Apple's dominance of the mobile web isn't in danger of shrinking anytime soon.

 

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The reason why the New Patent Taxes Break Won't Help Little Tech Companies

It really is supposed to assist turn Britain in to Europe’s technology middle, however the new tax alleviation on profits produced from patents scheme — known as the Patent Box — may have no effect on most innovative little companies in the Oughout. K. with regards to starts in may, entrepreneurs thought.

That’s for two reasons said Greg Marsh, CEO and co-founder of London-based startup OneFineStay.                

“One, because most small innovative companies will be putting their revenues back into growth so they’re not making a profit. Two, because in this sector of tech, very few businesses will hold patents.”

Mr. Marsh’s company, OneFineStay, is a relatively unusual hybrid: part software platform hosting the company’s room hiring service, part hardware — they also sell a remote-controlled electric door lock called the Sherlock that ties into the software platform. Mr. Marsh has patented the hardware, but not the software part of his business.

“Most of our creation as a business would be software or services, [that is] innovation which doesn’t qualify for patent protection,” he says. But they chose to patent the lock: “Fundamentally, we felt like it was an innovative invention capable of getting a patent.”

Mr. Marsh touches on the old problem of software patents: “I used to work on the other side of the fence at Index Ventures. And it is almost impossible to defend software or business process innovation patents in the U.K.”

Jon Bradford, of U.K.-based accelerator Springboard, has a similar story — tax cuts on patents won’t help the startups he knows any time soon.

“For the vast majority of the teams that I am working with it is not relevant. The cost and time to acquire a patent is prohibitive and there are limitations around being able to acquire software patents in the U.K.”

Introduced in the April 2012 Budget, Patent Box legislation was part of a raft of measures aimed to “turn Britain into Europe’s technology centre” as Chancellor George Osborne put it in his 2012 Budget speech.

The tax break will help large companies with strong Intellectual Property holdings such as pharmaceutical companies, and it was representatives from GlaxoSmithKline GSK.LN +0.55%, Rolls-Royce and large manufacturing firm Dyson who were part of the Treasury’s working group in the consultation on the topic.

From the 1st April 2013, any profits that can be attributed to patents, or to a patent that a company holds an exclusive U.K. license for, are subject to only 10% tax. That’s a significant cut from the current corporation tax rate of 23% and the 2015 rate of 21%.

The tax cuts for patents will be phased in over the next four years, with 60% of the cut applicable from now, and the full tax cut available in 2017.

The U.K. Intellectual Property Office (IPO) told us that there had been a modest increase in the number of patents filed by U.K. companies since the announcement of Patent Box, a 4 % rise compared to 2011. Finalized end-of-year figures are not released by the IPO till April, but it is understood that 15,343 patents were filed by U.K. companies in 2011, according to figures gained from a Freedom of Information request and published in the New Law Journal. This means that approximately 16,420 U.K. patents were filed by U.K. companies in 2012.

The IPO was ambivalent about attributing rises or falls to any single cause. “Changes in demand may arise from a range of factors, such as the financial environment, innovative activity in particular technologies, and responses to initiatives such as the introduction of the Patent Box.”

But while the nation’s innovators aren’t flooding to file more patents, some U.K. startups will benefit from Patent Box. Cambridge-based biotech firm, Cambridge Temperature Concepts is one. The company makes devices that monitor fertility rates, and they have patented their core technology.

CEO Shamus Husheer said: “Pretty much 100% of our revenues are from our product which we’ve got a patent for. It appears to be black and white for us, and we haven’t needed to talk to any lawyers, just our accountant. We were going to get patents anyway, we’re not adjusting our company in any way, so this is a gift for us, if you like.”

But, like many other early-stage high-growth companies, they’re not actually going to see any cash anytime soon:

“But we’re not actually profitable, this is something that will be very attractive to us when we start making a profit, and not plowing revenues back into our operation. Which we’re currently trying to expand into America.”

Nevertheless when they do begin turning an income, it will likely be something. “The some other effect is it is a reason for all of us to stay in the actual U. Nited kingdom. It’s a method the U. Nited kingdom. government will help keep our own high value knowledge economic climate jobs. ”

 

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FW: Google Alert - innovative technology

Nortek Completes Acquisition Of 2GIG Technologies
Daily Markets
PROVIDENCE, R.I., April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Nortek, Inc. (NTK), a global diversified company with leading brands and innovative, technology-driven products and solutions for residential and commercial applications, today announced the closing of its ...
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Visteon to Present Innovative Vehicle Technologies at Auto Shanghai 2013
Sacramento Bee
Capitalizing on Visteon's experience in consumer and market trend insights and its track record of anticipating and developing new technologies, the e-Bee incorporates a wide range of automotive innovations to create a unique and personalized driving ...
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Technology incorporates structure & art on Project Runway
Fibre2fashion.com
HP showcased its innovative technology on last night's episode of "Project Runway," the popular, long-running hit show on Lifetime. This season marks five consecutive seasons of HP and Intel support, further demonstrating the role that technology can ...
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Health Tech Hatch selected to participate in TheHive@TEDMED
Silicon Prairie News
Health Tech Hatch, which we first covered in January, is a crowdsourcing resource that helps launch innovative technology in the field of health care to better the experience of patients, doctors and medical professionals. The TEDMED conference will be ...
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Ethertronics Unveils Innovative EtherDAS 1.5™ and EtherDAS S™ Distributed ...
Sacramento Bee
SAN DIEGO, April 1, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Ethertronics, a leading technology company enabling innovative antenna and RF system solutions to deliver the best connected experience, today announced that the company has expanded its EtherDAS Indoor ...
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In Porting Ship Simulation and Training Technologies for US Mariners
The Maritime Executive
STORM's main activities are the development of innovative technologies for comprehensive training and manufacturing simulators for mariner training programs and interactive distance technologies in education. QMT recently installed STORM's "SSH" ship ...
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The Maritime Executive

Ku6 Media Announces Management Change
Sacramento Bee
Their operational experience in Internet and media and their proven track record in turning innovative technologies into killer applications and market leading products make them the perfect fit for Ku6 as we propel the business to its next phase of ...
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Why the New Patent Tax Break Won't Help Small Tech Companies
Wall Street Journal (blog)
It is supposed to help turn Britain into Europe's technology center, but the new tax relief on profits derived from patents scheme — known as the Patent Box — will have no impact on most innovative small companies in the U.K. when it starts this ...
See all stories on this topic »


Wall Street Journal (blog)

Selenium, Ltd. Awarded $500000 SBIR Grant for Biofouling Prevention ...
DigitalJournal.com (press release)
“The NSF's SBIR program is focused on identifying companies with innovative technology and talented teams capable of bringing products and technologies to commercialization that could have a significant societal impact,” said Mr. Thomas Harlan, CEO of ...
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innovative technology | Adweek
For the last several weeks, speculation about what Google Glass could mean to the world has been rampant, but access to the wearable technology has been ...
www.adweek.com/topic/innovative-technology

Blueprint for Integrating Technology Innovation into the National ...
"Technology innovation can accelerate progress toward our goals of clean and safe water. EPA and many stakeholders will strive to support technology ...
water.epa.gov/blueprint.cfm

 

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Monday, April 1, 2013

HBO confesses piracy is really a ‘compliment’ this does not harm product sales

Although some businesses are seeking to finish piracy over the amusement business 1 main gamer does not believe it is very the actual problems it is frequently generically mass marketed to the public as.  HBO's hit show Games of Thrones is the most-pirated TV show on the Internet with more than 4 million illegal downloads per episode, however the company's programming president Michael Lombardo believes piracy is a "compliment" to the show and has actually helped sales. In February, Game of Thrones season two was released to record-setting DVD sales, becoming the company's biggest first-day home video release with sales of 241,000 units, an increase of 44% over season one, and sales of individual episodes reached 355,000, up 112% from season one.

 "I probably shouldn't be saying this, but it is a compliment of sorts," Lombardo said to Entertainment Weekly. "The demand is there. And it certainly didn't negatively impact the DVD sales. [Piracy is] something that comes along with having a wildly successful show on a subscription network."

Despite being the most pirated show on television, Games of Thrones is also the network's top money-maker.

"If you look at aggregate of international and DVD sales — which are the two revenue streams we look at since we're not selling it domestically on another platform — yes, absolutely, in terms of shows we have on now," Lombardo said.

The executive noted, however, that HBO's policy remains firmly against piracy.

"We obviously are a subscription service so as a general proposition so we try to stop piracy when we see it happen, particularly on a systematic basis when people are selling pirated versions," he said, adding that the network "hasn't sent out the Game of Thrones police."

Games of Thrones is only available through DVD purchases, digital downloads or subscription to HBO. The show can also be viewed on HBO GO, a streaming service that allows users to view HBO content on computers and mobile devices, however it is only available to current HBO subscribers. A company executive hinted that the network may soon offer the service in partnership with different broadband providers, though.

 

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