Today's Top Technology Headlines
- Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, vows not to screw it up
By Alexei Oreskovic and Jennifer Saba SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. ... - Apple to argue for tax reform, defend tax practices on Tuesday
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for comprehensive corporate tax reform when it goes before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday, becoming the latest technology company to face questions over its offshore tax practices. In prepared testimony released ahead of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook's hearing on Tuesday before the permanent subcommittee on investigations, Apple said it does not use "tax gimmicks" like moving intellectual property into offshore tax havens or using Cayman Islands bank accounts. ... - Former Nokia software team unveils its first smartphone
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A group of ex-Nokia software developers unveiled its first smartphone on Monday, aiming to prove their former employer wrong by making a success of a technology dropped by the Finnish mobile phone maker. Jolla was founded by Nokia's former MeeGo software team that was shut down after the company decided to switch to Microsoft's Windows Phone software in 2011. With just 70 employees and 11 million euros ($14. ... - New Trick to Get the Best Seat in Coach
How to make the cheap seats feel like First Class. - Britain's Cameron tells Google and others to play fair on tax
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday told Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and other business leaders that he expected their companies to pay their taxes in exchange for benefiting from low tax rates. Cameron's intervention came days after British lawmakers accused Google of using "smoke and mirrors" to avoid paying tax, fuelling a debate over corporate taxation that has angered the public and led to calls for a tougher approach from the government. ... - China trying to manage exposure of corruption online
By Terril Yue Jones BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Internet is brimming with disclosures of officials collecting bribes, homes and luxury accessories as casually as they do mistresses. But while the government tolerates such anti-corruption vigilantism, it is also extremely leery of the threat the Internet can pose to Communist Party rule. The Internet is the new tool in the fight against corruption - a cornerstone policy of new President Xi Jinping, who has pledged to tackle the problem head-on. ... - Dell says cannot disclose more information to Icahn yet
(Reuters) - Dell Inc said in a letter to suitors Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that the company would not provide more information about itself unless the board determined that their proposal was "superior" to founder Michael Dell's. Earlier this month, Icahn and Southeastern offered $12 in cash per share or additional shares to existing investors as an alternative to Michael Dell's $24.4 billion bid to take the company private. ... - New Android apps worth downloading: Whisper, LinkedIn update, Kingdom Rush
Start your day with Whisper, an anonymous network similar to website Post Secret that lets you share confessions with photos and text. Second is an update to business networking service LinkedIn, which brings a new redesign to its Android offerings. Finally, there's Kingdom Rush, a tower defense game that has a ton of challenging levels. - Idaho couple and Sun Valley land in Twitter tussle
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Internet entrepreneur and former Wall Street derivatives analyst contends that central Idaho's Sun Valley resort and the Twitter Inc. social media site have heisted his handle. - As most brick and mortar retailers struggle, Apple Store revenue hits record heights
Apple’s retail stores continue to outsell, on a sales per square foot basis, all other retailers by a large margin. Horace Dediu of Asymco found that the number of Apple Store visitors grew 7% last quarter and helped Apple’s in-store retail revenue reach a record $57.60 per visitor. Each store is now averaging sales of $13 million per quarter, the highest level for any non-holiday quarter. The average number of visitors per store was said to have reached 250,000 per quarter in the past 12 months, up from 170,000 per store per quarter between 2009 and 2010. Dediu speculates that the jump in visitors could be from more space in new stores and renovations in older stores. Apple’s retail stores - New Samsung Galaxy S4 features coming soon to Galaxy S III
Samsung is staying true to its word and will soon bring new features from its Galaxy S4 smartphone to its older Galaxy S III. SamMobile has got hold of a leaked version of the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S III and has found that it will bring several Galaxy S4 features to the Galaxy S III, including the new version of S-Voice, a revamped settings UI that will feature a tabbed interface and the Galaxy S4′s new lock screen system. SamMobile says that Samsung will push out the Android 4.2.2 update to Galaxy S III owners starting in June. Samsung said earlier this year that any new features for the Galaxy S4 that aren’t reliant on hardware - Samsung takes on Google and Apple with highest-resolution notebook display in the world
Samsung on Monday announced a new super-high resolution display for laptop computers. The company revealed a 13.3-inch QHD display with a resolution of 3200 x 1800 and a pixel density of 276 ppi. The display’s pixels are packed even tighter on Samsung’s new panels than on Google’s Chromebook Pixel and Apple’s MacBook Pro with a Retina display. The Chromebook Pixel previously featured the highest laptop resolution display with a 2560 × 1700 pixel resolution and 239 ppi, while the Retina MacBook Pro features a 2560 x 1600 pixel display and 227 ppi. Samsung claims its displays are 30% more power efficiency than existing LCD displays. The company gave no details about when we may see these displays arrive in future products. - Samsung Galaxy S4 Active revealed in leaked photos
Among the many new variants of the Galaxy S4 Samsung has planned is the Galaxy S4 Active, a ruggedized version of the company’s popular smartphone. Details have trickled out over the past few weeks since Samsung confirmed that the phone is being developed, and now the Galaxy S4 Active has been revealed for the first time in purported leaked photos. GSMArena published the images on Monday, and they show a smartphone with a design that strays from the original S4. A shot of the handset’s “About” screen also reveals a quad-core Qualcomm processor and a full-HD 1080p display. Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S4 Active in the coming weeks but in the meantime, several leaked photos of the phone follow - Online takeout companies GrubHub and Seamless to merge
By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two of the nation's biggest online food delivery businesses said they are merging in a deal that they hope will drive more orders, in more cities, through their platforms. GrubHub and Seamless, which allow consumers to easily order online from various restaurants, are part of a group of fast-growing businesses that standardize local services under a national umbrella. Think restaurant reservations, where OpenTable dominates, or car services, where privately held startups such as Uber are making significant inroads. ... - Blackstone group offers to take Pactera private
Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, along with Pactera's CEO and other managers, have offered to take Pactera private in a deal that values the Chinese technology consulting and outsourcing firm at $680.4 million.