Software, Tech Trends & More

AOL to fire 2,500 employees

acoleman — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:22:11 +0000

The fallen Internet provider, AOL has announced that they will be cutting 2,500 jobs. The announcement comes during the company’s spin-off from its parent company Time Warner. The cuts are said to be being made in order to prepare for that transition.

It was in 2000 that AOL merged with Time Warner, a decision that has been very disappointing for both companies. The separation of the two companies will be finalized on December 9.

AOL stated in a regulatory filing that the job cuts will save the company some $300 million annually. They are currently asking for volunteers but will start layoffs if enough individuals do not accept buyout packages.

AOL has seen its revenue drop 23 percent, in the most recent quarter. Once one of the top Internet providers of the 1990’s with its dial-up service, AOL saw a serious decline in business with the boom of high speed Internet.

New York Times

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Modern Warfare 2 continues to break records World-wide

acoleman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:25:46 +0000

According to Activision, Modern Warfare 2′s latest sales numbers have far exceeded any and all expectations. The latest numbers show that Modern Warfare 2 has made a total of $550 million in sales over a five day period worldwide. This has shattered a number of records in entertainment media.

The Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sequel has crushed the records of almost every release for any form of entertainment media. It has broken the record for largest world-wide 5 day box office gross, which was previously held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It has also broken the record for highest five day worldwide game sales, which Grand Theft Auto 4 once held.

The total number of records broken have grown so high we really can’t list them all but you can get a look at them when you visit Activision.

Robert Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc stated “In just five days of sell through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest entertainment launch in history and a pop culture Phenomenon.” Whether you disagree with the game’s content or not, you can’t disagree with its popularity.

Activision

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Droid sells 250,000 units in first week sales

acoleman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:58:48 +0000

Some of you may remember that last week we reported that the Motorola Droid sold some 100,000 units its opening weekend. This week it is being reported that the Droid has sold 250,000 units after its first week of release.

Although the Droid’s opening pales in comparison to that of the iPhone 3GS, which sold 1.6 million units in its first week, there are a few factors you must consider. For one the iPhone 3GS is a third generation phone, while the Droid is only a first. Secondly the iPhone 3GS launched in 8 countries, while the Droid only launched in the US.

Overall the sales are very positive for Motorola and Verizon, as well as the Android market in general, which is still fairly young.

Mashable

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HTC expecting a tough fourth quarter

acoleman — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:59:38 +0000

Just after the launch of the HTC Hero earlier this year, HTC is reporting that they are expecting a poor fourth quarter. They have been plagued by poor numbers for some time now, and although they expect the next quarter to be better, the current one is not looking very promising.

HTC is expecting sales to drop somewhere between $1.23 billion to $1.3 billion, which is 15 percent less than last years fourth quarter. The cause of this drop has been attributed to the current competition in the Smart phone market, as well as the drop in the price of Smart phones.

HTC is currently in fourth place in the Smart phone market. They are trailing behind Apple, Nokia, and Research in Motion. The Taiwan based company is hoping to see a turnaround for the next year.

CNET

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Yahoo, IBM, and Microsoft compete for India’s Unique ID project

acoleman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:03:17 +0000

India is taking on a huge task to ID their citizens, and since there are some 1.2 billion of them it won’t be easy. Indian Tech Czar Naden Nilekani is behind the project that aims to give every Indian citizen a unique ID number, which is much like the US social security number.

The technology needed to store and categorize these numbers has not been chosen yet but we do know that Yahoo and Microsoft are among those competing for the role. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates expressed a desire to take part in the project earlier this year, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz lobbied the Indian Prime Minister this week to consider Yahoo for the project. It is also being reported that IBM has made an offer as well.

Bartz has stated that Yahoo has no commercial interest in the deal, and that their assistance would be entirely non-profit. Microsoft and IBM have not stated their stance yet.

TechCrunch

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100,000 units sold for Motorola Droid launch

acoleman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:16:35 +0000

The much anticipated launch of the Motorola Droid arrived last week, and with it a high expectation of the public response. Although the earliest reports indicated that Verizon stores had a lackluster turnout for launch, this week we have received the official numbers and the Droid made a solid debut.

Verizon sold some 100,000 Droid phones over the past weekend, which was more than half of all the Motorla Droids stocked. Although it isn’t as impressive as the iPhone 3GS launch, which sold some 1 million units, it is quiet an achievement for Verizon.

The numbers are oddly reminiscent of the launch of another phone that was seen as an iPhone competitor, the Palm Pre. The Pre sold almost the same amount for its weekend release but has somewhat dwindled in popularity since.

Mashable

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EA acquires Playfish for $300 million and a $100 million earnout

acoleman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:20:00 +0000

If you still think that social gaming is irrelevant, guess again! Today Electronic Arts has closed their acquisition of the social gaming startup Playfish, for $275 million in cash. EA also payed $25 million in stocks, as well as $100 million in earnouts, which comes to a $400 million total deal.

Playfish is based in London and has developed games for Facebook, MySpace, and number of other social media sites. They claim to have some 60 million monthly users, and their top games include Pet Society, Restaurant City, and who has the Biggest Brain.

The EA acquisition of Playfish shows a serious shift in the direction of gaming. Social gaming has become more and more popular with the growth of social networking. EA will be one of the first major console publishers to step into the social gaming realm. Many more may be soon to follow.

A few of the other top social gaming companies include Zynga and Playdom.

TechCrunch

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Settlement reached on eBay sale of Skype

acoleman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:20:42 +0000

The on-line auction site eBay has announced that the Ebay/Skype lawsuit has reached a settlement, and that the selling of Skype’s controlling interest will continue.

The conflict began when Skype owners expressed their discontent with how eBay was handling their business. During this time eBay proceeded to sell Skype to a group of investors and Skype filed a lawsuit in response.

When eBay purchased Skype in 2005 they failed to purchase a key p2p technology needed to power the service. Still owned by Skype owners they have since threatened to end the licensing that powers the p2p technology.

The settlement will now allow eBay to sell Skype, while still holding 30 percent of the company. Skype owners Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis will own a combined 14 percent, and Skype will now own the key p2p technology it needs to run its service.

Mashable

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Microsoft cuts 800 jobs

acoleman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:25:57 +0000

Microsoft announced today that they will be cutting 800 more jobs worldwide, in order to cope with the decline in demand for their products. The latest cuts complete a round of layoffs first announced in January which total 5,000.

CEO Steve Ballmer originally stated that the number of layoff would be around 5,000, however today’s cuts have now taken that total beyond the original estimate. Microsoft stated “We are working closely with affected employees to help them through this difficult transition.”

The news of these latest cuts comes just after Microsoft reported a drop in profits and revenue. It marked a significant decline for the company since the success of its previous year. Microsoft still employees some 90,000 individuals worldwide despite rough PC sales, and the downturn in the economy.

Although the release of Windows 7 has been an overall success, Microsoft is seeing the first real negative growth since its founding 34 years ago. It is being reported that there may be more cuts in Microsoft’s future.

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Dell finalizes a $ 3.9 billion offer for Perot Systems

acoleman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:59:08 +0000

You may remember that we reported on a story in September, in which Dell made a bid to acquire Perot Systems. Today Dell announced that they have completed their $3.9 billion offer for the consulting service. Dell will now own more than 90 percent of Perot Systems.

The acquisition will create a new business unit known as Dell Services, which will offer IT services to customers. Dell will now be able to provide a number of new services including, technology hosting, consulting, and application outsourcing.

Former Perot CEO Peter Altabef will be president of dell services, and will report to Dell chairmen and CEO Michael Dell. Altabef stated “Dell Services will be a powerful organization with the extensive capabilities and global reach to address the needs of organizations of all types.”

Dell is planning to expand its IT services with their acquisition of Perot Systems. They expect the deal to be finalized very soon.

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