Tag: business

First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Hot on the heels of Office 2016 for Mac , Microsoft today released a preview of Office 2016 for the operating system that it actually earns money from. You know—Windows. In fairness, Windows isn’t in such desperate need for an updated Office. Office 2013 is fresher than Office 2011 was, and so it’s not altogether surprising that Office 2016 is to Office 2013 much the same as what Office 2013 was to Office 2010. This is a minor update with some small new features and a visual refresh. The preview is currently aimed at IT professionals and developers, and as such it requires an active Office 365 subscription. A consumer-oriented preview should be released later in the year, but it’s pretty clear that Microsoft wants people to subscribe to Office 365, and the company is going to continue to offer small perks for having a subscription. Last year’s Outlook for Mac update was similarly an Office 365-only benefit. Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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First look at the Office 2016 Preview for Windows

Electrical Engineering Employment Declines Nearly 10%, But Developers Up 12%

dcblogs writes The number of people working as electrical engineers declined by 29, 000 last year, continuing a long-standing trend, according to government data. But the number of software developers, the largest IT occupational category, increased by nearly 12%, or a gain of 132, 000 jobs. There were 1.235 million people working as software developers last year, and 271, 000 electrical engineers, according U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Electrical Engineering Employment Declines Nearly 10%, But Developers Up 12%

The Mexican Drug Cartels’ Involuntary IT Guy

sarahnaomi writes: It could have been any other morning. Felipe del Jesús Peréz García got dressed, said goodbye to his wife and kids, and drove off to work. It would be a two hour commute from their home in Monterrey, in Northeastern Mexico’s Nuevo León state, to Reynosa, in neighboring Tamaulipas state, where Felipe, an architect, would scout possible installation sites for cell phone towers for a telecommunications company before returning that evening That was the last time anyone saw him. What happened to Felipe García? One theory suggests he was abducted by a sophisticated organized crime syndicate, and then forced into a hacker brigade that builds and services the cartel’s hidden, backcountry communications infrastructure. They’re the Geek Squads to some of the biggest mafia-style organizations in the world. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Mexican Drug Cartels’ Involuntary IT Guy

Intel To Rebrand Atom Chips Along Lines of Core Processors

angry tapir writes Intel has announced that going forward it will use style of branding for its Atom chips that is similar to its branding for Core chips. Atom CPUs will have the X3, X5 and X7 designations, much like with the Core i3, i5 and i7 brands. An Atom X3 will deliver good performance, X5 will be better and X7 will be the best, an Intel spokeswoman said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel To Rebrand Atom Chips Along Lines of Core Processors

Pandora Pays Artists $0.001 Per Stream, Thinks This Is "Very Fair"

journovampire writes with this story about how much artists make on Spotify. “Pandora founder Tim Westergren has claimed that the company is paying out ‘very fair’ sums to artists, despite its per-stream royalty weighing in at just one sixth of Spotify’s. The digital personalized radio platform has previously gone on-record as saying that it pays music rights-holders approximately $0.0014 for each play of their tracks: Westergren blogged in 2013 that Pandora pays ‘around $1, 370 for a million spins’. That’s around 80% smaller than Spotify’s per-stream payout, which officially stands somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Pandora Pays Artists $0.001 Per Stream, Thinks This Is "Very Fair"

Scotland’s Police Lose Data Because of Programmer’s Error

Anne Thwacks writes Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson told the [Scottish Police Authority] committee that a total of 20, 086 records had been lost because a computer programmer pressed the wrong button between May and July last year. He added: “….they had been properly put on the system by the officers as a result of stopping and searching people, but we lost the outcome of it as a computer programming error. We have been working really hard to recover that data. I have personally overseen the sending out of several thousand emails to officers and follow-up audits. We have been working hard with HMICS to oversee everything that we do, to make sure it is done properly and I am pleased to say that the vast majority of that data, those results, are now back on the system.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Scotland’s Police Lose Data Because of Programmer’s Error

Staples To Buy Office Depot For $6.3 Billion

An anonymous reader writes: Today Staples announced plans to buy Office Depot in a deal worth $6.3 billion. This is a huge consolidation within the office supply industry. Office Depot and OfficeMax were the second- and third-biggest suppliers when they merged in 2013. Adding those to the enormity of Staples would effectively bring the U.S. under a single office supply chain. “The move is expected to draw scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission, though regulators have been increasingly willing to approve retail mergers in light of burgeoning e-commerce competition. … This isn’t the first time Staples has tried to buy Office Depot. In 1997, the FTC derailed Staples’ acquisition of its rival as anticompetitive. By 2013, though, the agency’s view had shifted. When the FTC allowed Office Depot to buy OfficeMax, it said the advent of online retailing ensured competition in the market for office supplies. Consumers today also rely more heavily on big-box chains such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for office products, the commission said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Staples To Buy Office Depot For $6.3 Billion

Don’t Sass Your Uber Driver – He’s Rating You Too

HughPickens.com writes David Streitfeld reports at the NYT that people routinely use the Internet to review services from plumbers to hairdressers but now the tables are turned as companies like Uber are rating their customers, and shunning those who do not make the grade. “An Uber trip should be a good experience for drivers too, ” says an Uber blog post. “Drivers shouldn’t have to deal with aggressive, violent, or disrespectful riders. If a rider exhibits disrespectful, threatening, or unsafe behavior, they, too, may no longer be able to use the service.” It does not seem to take much to annoy some Uber drivers. On one online forum, an anonymous driver said he gave poor reviews to “people who are generally negative and would tend to bring down my mood (or anyone around them).” Another was cavalier about the process: “1 star for passengers does not do them any harm. Sensible drivers won’t pick them up, but so what?” In response, some consumers are becoming more polite and prompt. “The knowledge that they may be rated is also encouraging people to submit more upbeat reviews themselves, even if the experience was less than stellar, ” writes Streitfeld. “When services choose whom to serve, no one wants to be labeled difficult.” The result may be a Barney world says Michael Fertik referring to the purple dinosaur who sings, “With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you/ Won’t you say you love me too.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Don’t Sass Your Uber Driver – He’s Rating You Too

Dish Network Violated Do-Not-Call 57 Million Times

lightbox32 writes Dish Network has been found guilty of violating the Do Not Call list on 57 million separate occasions. They were also found liable for abandoning or causing telemarketers to abandon nearly 50 million outbound telephone calls, in violation of the abandoned-call provision of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule. Penalties for infringing on the Do Not Call list can be up to a whopping $16, 000 for each outbound call. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dish Network Violated Do-Not-Call 57 Million Times

Winklevoss Twins Plan Regulated Bitcoin Exchange

itwbennett writes They of the square jaws and famous dispute with Mark Zuckerberg over the origins of Facebook, are also believed to be among the largest holders of Bitcoin in the world. Now they want to launch a regulated Bitcoin exchange—named Gemini, of course. To bolster confidence, they said they have formed a relationship with a chartered bank in the state of New York. “This means that your money will never leave the country, ” the twins wrote in a blog post. “It also means that U.S. dollars on Gemini will be eligible for FDIC insurance and held by a U.S.-regulated bank. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Winklevoss Twins Plan Regulated Bitcoin Exchange