Physicio Inc.

Liverpool researchers create 'contagious' WiFi virus Researchers have created a computer virus that spreads like the common cold

2014-02-27T04:03:00.001-08:00

Researchers at the University of Liverpool have demonstrated that WiFi networks can be infected with a virus that can move through densely populated areas as efficiently as the common cold spreads between humans.

The team designed and simulated an attack by a virus, called Chameleon, and found that not only could it spread quickly between homes and businesses, but it was able to avoid detection and identify the points at which WiFi access is least protected by encryption and passwords.

Chameleon behaves like an airborne virus, travelling across the WiFi network via Access Points (APs) that connect households and businesses to WiFi networks. Areas that are more densely populated have more APs in closer proximity to each other, which meant that the virus propagated more quickly.

“When Chameleon attacked an AP it didn’t affect how it worked, but was able to collect and report the credentials of all other WiFi users who connected to it. The virus then sought out other WiFi APs that it could connect to and infect,” said Alan Marshall, Professor of Network Security at the University.

Chameleon was able to avoid detection as current virus detection systems look for viruses that are present on the internet or computers, but Chameleon is only ever present in the WiFi network.

While many APs are sufficiently encrypted and password protected, the virus simply moved on to find those which weren’t strongly protected including open access WiFi points common in locations such as coffee shops and airports.
“WiFi connections are increasingly a target for computer hackers because of well-documented security vulnerabilities, which make it difficult to detect and defend against a virus," said Professor Marshall.
“It was assumed, however, that it wasn’t possible to develop a virus that could attack WiFi networks but we demonstrated that this is possible and that it can spread quickly. We are now able to use the data generated from this study to develop a new technique to identify when an attack is likely.”
The team is now reportedly working on a product that could be installed in WiFi access points to prevent this kind of hijacking, without requiring the user to take responsibility.

BlackBerry Tries to Bring Back That Lovin' Feelin'

2014-02-26T04:22:00.002-08:00

Having let the parade pass it by, BlackBerry first tried to reinvent itself. That went over like a lead balloon. Now, with its customers and prospects dwindling, BlackBerry is backtracking, trying to restore the things people used to love about its products. Among them are a handful of physical buttons and a trackpad, which it's bringing back in the Q20, an upcoming BB 10 smartphone.

BlackBerry has announced new handsets and services aimed at moving the company forward as it tries to recover from a lackluster 2013.

At the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, CEO John Chen debuted two new phones -- the Q20 and the low-cost Z3.
The Q20 offers the classic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard and experience on BlackBerry 10. It features BlackBerry's physical Menu, Back, Send, and End buttons along with a trackpad. Last year's Q10 had the QWERTY keyboard, but neither the navigation buttons nor trackpad.
The company apparently received many complaints from customers who missed those elements of the BlackBerry experience.
"I want these customers to know that we heard them, and this new smartphone will be for them," said Chen.
The Q20 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen -- the largest display on a QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone -- a large battery, and a design including "premium materials" intended for reliability and durability.
It will be released in the second half of the year, with availability and pricing announced closer to launch.

Local Content

The Z3 is aimed at emerging markets such as Indonesia, where it will debut in April. It is the first smartphone to emerge from the Foxconn partnership BlackBerry announced in December.
The touchscreen device runs on BlackBerry 10 (version 10.2.1, which also was revealed at the event), has a 5-inch display, and includes what the company described as a "long-lasting" battery. It includes apps and content geared toward the local market.
Among the phone's features are BlackBerry Hub, BBM, FM radio and the BlackBerry 10 browser. It includes a Time Shift camera feature designed to let users capture group photos with everyone smiling and all eyes open.
Details on pricing and availability will be released closer to launch.

BBM For Enterprise

Meanwhile, BlackBerry revealed a number of new services. Among them is eBBM, a version of BBM intended for enterprise customers.
It also announced BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, a platform designed to unite BES10 and BES5. BlackBerry hopes the platform will enable organizations to develop enterprise-grade applications for BlackBerry smartphones and other devices.
It focuses on multiple capabilities: backward-compatibility and future-proofing; multiplatform support with the addition of Windows Phone 8 compatibility; advanced service management; and support for all deployment models, including on-site, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid environments.
In the quarter to Nov. 30, BlackBerry reported a loss of US$4.4 billion and a 56 percent fall in revenue. Chen appears to be hedging his bets by focusing both on emerging markets and the enterprise sector.

Low-Hanging Fruit

"I think at this point John Chen is actively pursuing the low-hanging fruit for BlackBerry," Ramon Llamas, research manager of mobile phones at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.
"That's going to be enterprises -- that's going to be government. He's also planning for those markets where BlackBerry has a good base. It's no real surprise here that he's going into Indonesia. Chances are he'll go into other markets across southern Asia as well," he said.
"We're going to be pretty conservative in our outlook [for BlackBerry]," Llamas continued. "2013 was not the year BlackBerry had hoped for, clearly. From a year-on-year perspective, volumes came down, BB 10 wasn't the hit the company had hoped for. That says to me the company is going to be in some sort of retrenchment mode, and the announcements today kind of show the company's strategy to help retrench the company. Nobody is pegging BlackBerry to be an overnight success."
BlackBerry's move away from the consumer market in North America, meanwhile, could be seen as puzzling.
"While there is enormous competition here in the States -- for example with Apple and Google -- there still is a huge opportunity here," telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan told TechNewsWorld.

Facebook Launches Ferry Service for Employees

2014-02-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

Facebook has become the latest San Francisco Bay Area technology company to launch ferry service for its employees.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1iSDd1M) the social networking giant began chartering a 30-person water taxi Feb. 4 to take employees from San Francisco to Redwood City. The taxi is free and runs round-trip service on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Workers are then taken by bus to the company's campus a little farther south in Menlo Park.

The company told the Chronicle it is testing the ferry service for 90 days.

Google also tested ferry service for employees but abandoned the experiment last week after a month.

The ferry services come as technology companies have faced criticism for running private buses to pick up employees in San Francisco.

Here’s a List of 58 Gender Options for Facebook Users

2014-02-14T22:39:00.000-08:00

Facebook introduced dozens of options for users to identify their gender today – and although the social media giant said it would not be releasing a comprehensive list, ABC News has found at least 58 so far.
Previously, users had to identify themselves as male or female. They were also given the option of not answering or keeping their gender private.
User’s can now select a “custom” gender option.
“There’s going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world,” Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison told the Associated Press. Harrison, who worked on the project, is in the process of gender transition, from male to female.
Facebook will also allow users to select between three pronouns: “him,” “her” or “their.”
The following are the 58 gender options identified by ABC News:

Agender
Androgyne
Androgynous
Bigender
Cis
Cisgender
Cis Female
Cis Male
Cis Man
Cis Woman
Cisgender Female
Cisgender Male
Cisgender Man
Cisgender Woman
Female to Male
FTM
Gender Fluid
Gender Nonconforming
Gender Questioning
Gender Variant
Genderqueer
Intersex
Male to Female
MTF
Neither
Neutrois
Non-binary
Other
Pangender
Trans
Trans*
Trans Female
Trans* Female
Trans Male
Trans* Male
Trans Man
Trans* Man
Trans Person
Trans* Person
Trans Woman
Trans* Woman
Transfeminine
Transgender
Transgender Female
Transgender Male
Transgender Man
Transgender Person
Transgender Woman
Transmasculine
Transsexual
Transsexual Female
Transsexual Male
Transsexual Man
Transsexual Person
Transsexual Woman
Two-Spirit

Facebook Users, Others React to Gender Options

2014-02-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

Facebook announced Thursday that its 159 million U.S. users now have dozens of options for completing the gender question on their profiles. The social media giant has been working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups to expand the choices beyond male and female. The result: a "custom" option that lets users pick from about 50 terms, including transsexual, androgynous and intersex.

The Associated Press asked Facebook users and others for their reactions:

Jay Brown, 35, of Maryland, changed his gender on Facebook to Trans Male on Thursday once the option became available.

"Looking at my Facebook profile, people see photos of my 3- and 5-year-olds, my love for running and that my wife had a birthday yesterday," Brown told the AP. "They saw a dad, a runner, a husband. The 'male' selection was right but it wasn't all there was to me. Today, Facebook is letting me bring more of my identity to the table."

Jeff Johnston, issues analyst for Focus on the Family, an influential national religious organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo., said just because people lobbying for the change say there are an infinite number of options, that's not true.

"Of course Facebook is entitled to manage its wildly popular site as it sees fit, but here is the bottom line: It's impossible to deny the biological reality that humanity is divided into two halves - male and female," Johnston told the AP.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the array of options represents an important cultural shift symbolizing the progress transgender rights activists have made in educating their fellow Americans.

"At a time in which transgender people still face high rates of bullying, disrespect, harassment, and violence, this welcome change is another step in the recognition of transgender and gender non-conforming people. As one of the most visited sites on the Internet, it's a significant sign of progress to have the realities of transgender and gender non-conforming people reflected on the platform.

Chiyerre Echie and Jasmine Jefferson are both 18-year-old freshmen at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Both are from Memphis and say they are occasional users of Facebook.

Interviewed at lunch on campus Thursday afternoon, they said they don't know anyone who is transgender, but they approve of the additional options on Facebook.

"I think it's progressive. It needed to happen since there are so many different options for people nowadays," Jefferson said.

Echie said, "I agree, I guess, if it makes people happy to be able to come out in public and say, 'This is who I am.'"

Shiv Pruthi is a 20-year-old junior at Loyola University in Chicago, says he's been a regular user of Facebook since high school. Speaking from campus Thursday afternoon, Pruthi said he doesn't know anyone who is transgender, but it wouldn't stop him from accepting a Facebook request from someone who identified themselves as something other than male or female.

"I probably would be kind of shocked at first. But if they did choose (a different option to identify themselves by), I would support that. Good for them, not being afraid to put that on a public social interaction site," Pruthi said.

Elizabeth Garcia, 48, of Miami, said that while she has friends who might want to use one of the new gender options, she wishes Facebook had left the choices at male and female.

"I think it's too much," Garcia said while walking with her daughter (who doesn't mind the change). "It doesn't bother me what people are or do, but they want to give too much information."

Selecting the word "transgender" in a dropdown box isn't quite so simple for some trans people, who may prefer to continue using the "male" or "female" designation, said Carrie Davis, 54, who works at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City.

"A transgender woman who is seen by the world as a woman isn't going to want her primary identity to be 'transgender woman,'" Davis said. "She's probably going to want to be seen, most of the time, as a woman."

Since the term transgender often implies some sort of medical intervention, some people may not want that information to be shared with their Facebook community, Davis said.

"I think the challenge here is that these words are loaded words," said Davis, who lives in Brooklyn with her partner. "So they may be accurate for some people and not accurate for others."

Mike Munoz, 27, of Boulder Creek, Calif., was reached after he posted a comment on the AP's Facebook page. He said he thinks the feature "is a great one to offer" but lamented that people feel the need to label themselves at all.

"Purely by categorizing yourself with these gender labels you are restricting yourself from personal growth, you paint yourself into corner so to speak. The amount of options does seem a little overkill, but it's understandable as you wouldn't want to leave any group or individual out. I am grateful Facebook has implemented these changes and hope they're beneficial to those who will be using them; who knows, maybe I'll switch to something more appropriate to my liking."

Rachel Kinsey, 25, a nursing student at the University of Texas at El Paso, said she was less likely to accept people as Facebook friends if she saw they identified with a gender other than male or female.

"I have more conservative views. I don't think people need more than male or female. It doesn't bother me because things have changed ... if that(asterisk)s what makes them happy," Kinsey said.

Tajei Harper, 20, another University of Texas student, had no problem with the change but found the sheer number of options eye-opening.

"They said 50? I can't think of 50!" Harper said. "But it's all the same to me, if it makes people happy."

Dr. Scout, 48, directs an advocacy program called The Network for LGBT Health Equity and raced to change his Facebook profile on Thursday from male to the option of "trans" with an asterisk after it. He said the change sends a powerful message to young gender-nonconforming people.

"For many of us, when we see bathrooms, forms, or Facebook profiles, not seeing any option for us just reinforces this "other" status. This consistent reinforcement of how "other" you are is a very real burden on our sense of self and on our health. My strongest praise to Facebook for realizing not everyone fits into two boxes, and realizing everyone should be able to fit somewhere," he said.

Laurel Ramseyer, 50, of Massachusetts, said she kept her gender blank because the Facebook options did not include her preferred term: human.

"Having the first decision point as a choice between male, female and what is essentially 'other' is still stigmatizing," Ramseyer said in an email. "You could place male and female at the top of an otherwise alphabetical master list if you want to appease the majority who may be offended to be forced to pick their way through a list like we 'custom' folk are forced to do. It's probably too late now, but it shouldn't be called 'custom' if the user can't create their own term. It's simply an elongated list that someone(s) else came up with."

Contributing to this story were Associated Press writers Martha Mendoza in Menlo Park, Calif., Christine Armario in Miami, Meghan Barr in New York, Donna Bryson in Denver, Kerry Lester in Chicago, Travis Loller in Nashville, and Juan Carlos Llorca in El Paso.

Keep Visiting for more updates on the facebook saga

In new profile feature, Facebook offers choices for gender identity

2014-02-13T23:53:00.001-08:00

A portrait of the Facebook logo in Ventura, California December 21, 2013.

For the first time, Facebook Inc is letting users of its online social network identify themselves as a gender other than male and female.
The basic user profile for members in the United States now includes a customizable category among the gender types that users must select, the world's No.1 Internet social network announced on Thursday, the day the feature became available for U.S. members using the site's English-language version.

Those who select that option can select up to 10 gender identifications, including "transgender," "intersex" and "fluid."
The company said it worked with a leading group of gay and transgender advocacy organizations to come up with the selection of identity options.
Until now, Facebook's 1.23 billion members could only select male or female for their genders, which Facebook requires users to state in their profiles. Users of rival Google Inc's Google+ social network already had an "other" option for gender.
Facebook said users also can control the audience who can view a custom choice, noting the challenges that some people may face in publicly sharing their gender identity.
Users can also choose the personal pronoun to which they are referred publicly. A message on Facebook might now invite a user's friend to write a birthday message on "their" wall, instead of "his" or "her" wall.
"We want you to feel comfortable being your true, authentic self," Facebook said.
(In 2nd paragraph, this story corrects date of announcement to Thursday, not Wednesday)

Hackers used previously unknown Internet Explorer flaw in new attacks

2014-02-13T23:49:00.000-08:00

A previously unknown flaw in a recent version of Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer web browser is being used to attack Internet users, including some visitors to a major site for U.S. military veterans, researchers said Thursday.
Security firm FireEye Inc discovered the attacks against IE 10 this week, saying that hundreds or thousands of machines have been infected. It said the culprits broke into the website of U.S. Veterans of Foreign Wars and inserted a link that redirected visitors to a malicious web page that contained the infectious code in Adobe Systems Inc's Flash software.

FireEye researcher Darien Kindlund said that the attackers were probably seeking information from the machines of former and current military personnel and that the campaign shared some infrastructure and techniques previously attributed to groups in mainland China.
He said planting backdoors on the machines of VFW members and site visitors to collect military intelligence was a possible goal.
A VFW spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Microsoft spokesman said the company was aware of the "targeted" attacks and was investigating. "We will take action to help protect customers," said spokesman Scott Whiteaker.
The latest version of the browser is IE 11, which is unaffected, and a Microsoft security tool called the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit also protects users who have installed that.
Previously unknown flaws in popular software are a key weapon for hackers and are sold by the researchers who discover them for $50,000 or more, brokers say.
They are most often bought by defense contractors and intelligence agencies in multiple countries, but some of the best-funded criminal groups buy them as well.

Microsoft Windows 8 lags predecessor in first-year sales

2014-02-13T23:45:00.001-08:00

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 system has racked up more than 200 million license sales since its launch 15 months ago, according to Tami Reller, its head of marketing, lagging Windows 7 which sold 240 million within its first year.
The latest Windows 8 sales figure, announced by Reller at a Goldman Sachs technology conference on Thursday, is the first that Microsoft has made public for more than six months.
The relatively slow sales of Windows 8, and its latest incarnation Windows 8.1, reflect a steady two-year decline in personal computer sales, as smartphones and tablet sales explode. Sales of tablets are set to overtake PCs worldwide next year.

Windows 8 was designed as a flexible new system that would work equally well on desktops PCs and touchscreen tablets, but it ended up alienating many traditional users, while the company's Surface tablet has not won over many Apple Inc iPad users.
More worryingly for Microsoft, the number of people actually using Windows 8 is persistently low. While many businesses technically have purchased Windows 8 licenses, few have installed the system on office machines.
According to tech statistics firm NetMarketShare, only about 11 percent of PC users worldwide are using Windows 8 or 8.1. Meanwhile, 48 percent are sticking with Windows 7 and 29 percent are still running Windows XP, which is more than a decade old.
Windows 7, helped by the fact that it replaced the generally unpopular Windows Vista, is Microsoft's most successful operating system to date, selling more than 450 million licenses.

Is Microsoft rethinking its decision to build Office for iPad? Comments from the company's marketing chief suggest Microsoft may be having second thoughts

2014-02-13T23:39:00.002-08:00

In appearances in September and October, Steve Ballmer said Microsoft would build native Office editions for iPads and Android tablets, but the company's marketing chief spoke with much less certainty when asked about this on Thursday.
At the Goldman Sachs Technology & Internet Conference, Marketing Executive Vice President Tami Reller was asked about Microsoft's willingness to "repurpose" Office for other platforms, even if this means hurting Windows' appeal.
[ InfoWorld reviews Office 2013, the best Office yet, and reveals the best office apps for your iPad. | Stay up on key Microsoft technologies in our Technology: Microsoft newsletter. ]
Microsoft must make sure its most important brands are differentiated in the market, and Windows is no exception, Reller said .
"With Windows, we're obviously spending a lot of time thinking about how do we continue to differentiate the full Windows experience," she said.
A big asset for Windows continues to be Office, she said, adding that Office is also a major franchise in its own right.
Without directly answering the specific question posed by the moderator, Reller said those types of decisions will be made on a business-by-business and product-by-product basis.
The answer is a far cry from the unequivocal comments former CEO Ballmer made several months ago, when he went so far as to say that the Office version for iPads and Android tablets would come after Microsoft delivered a touch-first version for Windows 8.
Reller's answer begs the question whether Microsoft is having second thoughts about its plan to port Office to those rival tablet devices and is back to hand-wringing mode over the dilemma of protecting Windows at the expense of liberating Office.
Many critics fault Microsoft for having taken so long to deliver a full version of Office for iPads, in particular.
Regarding Windows 8, Reller disclosed that the OS recently topped the 200 million license mark, a milestone she described as "stunning" while cautioning that Microsoft isn't relaxing its efforts and focus on the OS.
"With Windows 8 we're being very thoughtful about what's going well and with what's not going well, how do we change that?" she said.
The OS has "a lot of traction" but there is "yet a lot more work to do," she added.
Expectations for Windows 8 were sky high when it shipped in October 2012, because Microsoft designed it with a touch-optimized interface intended to improve the OS' anemic position in the tablet market.
However, that tile-based interface got very mixed reviews, especially from consumers and businesses that planned to use it primarily with keyboards and mice. Windows 8.1, an update released almost a year later, addressed many of those complaints but also came with a new set of bugs, some of them widespread and disruptive.
Right now, Microsoft is focused on making sure Windows offers an outstanding user experience across a broad variety of existing and future devices, from small tablets and smartphones all the way up to high-performance desktop PCs, Reller said.
Asked about the future of Windows RT -- the Windows 8 version for devices running on ARM chips -- Reller said Microsoft is happy with the way it's working in its Surface 2 tablets. She also said Microsoft aims to have "a world-class mobile OS."
There have been rumors in recent months that Microsoft plans to merge Windows RT and the Windows Phone OS, which today are separate products.

Wozniak to Apple: Consider building an Android phone Apple's co-founder laments BlackBerry's fall and has harsh words for Microsoft and the NSA

2014-02-13T23:37:00.000-08:00

Though Apple sells its own wildly popular iPhone smartphone, the company might want to consider offering a phone based on the rival Google Android platform, too, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak suggested on Wednesday. "There's nothing to keep Apple out of the Android market as a secondary phone market," he said.An Android offering could supplement Apple's own iOS platform, Wozniak suggested while speaking at the Apps World conference in San Francisco. He acknowledged the rivalry between Android and iOS, even referring to Android as the "anti-iPhone" alternative to Apple. Wozniak made the suggestion of an Apple Android device when responding to a question about the fate of the faltering BlackBerry platform in which he said BlackBerry should have built an Android phone; he then said Apple could do so, too. "BlackBerry's very sad for me," Wozniak lamented. "I think it's probably too late now" for an Android-based BlackBerry phone.

Apple, he said, has had some lucky victories in the marketplace in the past decade, such as the iPhone and the iPad. "A whole new category of product doesn't happen very often." The company is very deliberate and silent when it comes to product development, Wozniak explained. "Apple takes a long time to get [its] products so good."
Wozniak reserved judgment on Apple CEO Tim Cook, who took over the reins of the company shortly before Steve Jobs' death in October 2011. Apple under Cook needs more time, he said. He also questioned Microsoft's claims of innovation, arguing unsurprisingly that Apple has bested Microsoft in that area. "Microsoft sat there for decades, saying, 'We're the company of innovation, innovation, innovation.' And I never saw anything compared to what Apple was doing."
Wozniak also had harsh words for the National Security Agency's monitoring of private citizens, which he said violates the Constitution. Wozniak said he grew up thinking his phone could be tapped only if he was doing something wrong, in which case a court-issued warrant would be required. "Now, they're saying anybody can be tapped." He warned that the United States risks becoming a police state if prosecutors and government agencies are allowed to proceed unchecked, and he stressed that there should be protections for law-abiding individuals.
Wozniak also commented on the controversial issue of patents, saying that the patent system has been abused a lot but is still important. "Sometimes, patents seem so ridiculous," with minor innovations becoming patentable, he said. But if someone devises a way of doing something in a way that is has not been done before, patent protection is deserved. "I just like it better when companies say, 'Rather than fight patents in court, why don't we just agree we'll cross-license?'"
Wozniak also doubted the ability to make computers that are conscious of what is going on around them, akin to human brain capabilities. "We don't understand the brain. How do we make a conscious computer?" Still, in an interview with InfoWorld about how to successfully innovate, Wozniak described the notion of companion computers that would be able to assist people in everyday activities. They may not be conscious, but they'd be more contextual and human than today.

The sorry state of Windows 8.1 Update 1

2014-02-13T23:28:00.001-08:00

If you're hoping for some relief with Windows 8.1 Update 1, you're in for a not-very-pleasant surprise

How bad is Windows 8.1 Update 1? Look at it this way: Windows 8.1 Update 1 is so bad, even Paul Thurrott -- a longtime Windows 8 stalwart -- opines that "it's a mess."
To see how Microsoft's going down a blind alley with Update 1 and why defenders of the Windows faith are bailing out in unprecedented numbers, you need only to look at the latest leaked Windows 8.1 Update 1 (variously called "GDR 1" and the "2014 Update") builds to see that Microsoft's still stuck in the old Windows 8 rut, with nary a clue how to escape it -- at least, not on short notice.
I put the leaked Jan. 14 build of Update 1 under the microscope in last week's missive
, "Windows 8.1 Update 1 leaks -- to widespread yawns." Since then, at least two more builds have leaked; one of them, dated Jan. 30 (build 9600.16610), is widely available. Here's a quick look at what awaits in the latest and greatest version of the OS everybody loves to hate:

On the Metro Start screen: Power Down (Shut down, Restart, Sleep) and Search tiles at the top right, next to the user name. Right-click context menus for Metro tiles. The context menu allows you to pin a Metro app to the desktop taskbar. The Apps View has a "by name" sorting option.
On all Metro (Modern, Store, whatever) apps: New icons in a bar at the top that let you split (snap), minimize, or close the app. The desktop taskbar appears (and disappears) from the bottom of Metro app screens when you slide your mouse to the nether regions. When a Metro app is running, it appears as an icon on the desktop taskbar. Some Metro apps on the desktop taskbar even have right-click Jumplists.
Internet Explorer 11 has a new Enterprise Mode, designed to help companies get IE8-dependent apps "unstuck."
The Windows 8.1 "boot to desktop" option is enabled when Update 1 is installed fresh on machines without touchscreens. Details remain hazy, but we're only talking about checking one box.
"SkyDrive" becomes "OneDrive." Be still my beating heart.

Personally, I don't see anything about Update 1 that warrants a complete reversal of faith; it simply lumbers along in the ill-defined path of its predecessors. Windows 8 is bad, as I've been saying for years, and Windows 8.1 did little to improve the situation. Win 8.1 Update 1 is just more of the same, piled higher and deeper.
Thurrot's absolutely right in that "Windows 8.1 Update 1 again proves that design by committee never works, and that by not strictly adhering to a singular product vision, the solution that is extruded out to customers on the other side is messy, convoluted, and compromised." But that's been Windows 8's problem from the get-go: As Tim Cook noted, it is a fridge and a toaster. The original bifurcated design tried to cater to two disparate classes and failed both, as if it were designed by a committee of one.
That said, I'm still optimistic about Windows 9. If the "Threshhold" version of Windows devolves into three distinct products, destined for three distinct markets -- Metro consumer, traditional consumer, and business -- Microsoft may win me (and, I suspect, many hundreds of million others) back.
Supposedly Windows 9 is due out in spring 2015. Although Microsoft will undoubtedly lose more market share between now and then, a strong "Threshhold," designed to bring keyboard and mouse stalwarts back into the Windows fold, should do well. If nothing else, we need something that will persist beyond Windows 7's end-of-life in 2020.
If it takes more than a year to turn out a great product, so be it. Microsoft needs to bake "Threshhold" thoroughly.
If the 'Softies flub yet again, all bets are off. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...
This story, "The sorry state of Windows 8.1 Update 1," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com

Intel yearns to be the 'operating system' for big data

2014-02-13T14:24:00.002-08:00

Intel is continuing to build out its array of software tools for the Hadoop open-source big data processing framework, with an emphasis on the security and reliability features demanded by large enterprises.
A Data Platform tools suite will become available in the next quarter as a free-of-charge but self-supported Enterprise Edition, as well as a subscription Premium Edition that provides features such as proactive security fixes, regular enhancements and live support.
Intel is competing with the companies like Hortonworks and Cloudera and others in the commercial Hadoop market. The rise of such vendors underscores the fact that Hadoop is "really at a crossroads," said Jason Fedder, general manager of channels, marketing and business operations for Intel's data center software division. Linux only took off once companies began investing in hardening its features and also "coalesced around keeping it open," he added. "The same thing's happening in the big data domain."

Customers who choose Intel's Hadoop distribution over others can benefit from what Intel describes as significant performance improvements thanks to optimizations for Intel's Xeon processors, solid state storage and networking.
Intel also offers speedier data encryption and decryption within Hadoop with its AES-NI tecnology, according to the vendor. Along with security and reliability upgrades, the Data Platform features capabilities for streaming data processing, iterative analytics and graph processing, according to Intel.
Fedder declined to share how many customers Intel has for its Hadoop distribution. A lot of the work for it began as a lab project in China. To date, most customers are in China although there are users in Europe and the U.S. as well, he said.
Those looking to pinpoint Intel's intentions for Hadoop should know one thing, according to Fedder. "Where we differ from other players is we're not trying to build an end-to-end solution," he said. Instead, Intel wants to be the "operating system" for big data, letting third-party vendors and customers themselves create the application layer on top, he added.
Another problem in the way of mass Hadoop adoption is the availability of programmers and data scientists who can work with the low-level framework. To this end, in the second quarter Intel will also ship a new analytics toolkit aimed at reducing "the complexity, effort, and cost associated with knowledge discovery and predictive modeling," according to a statement.
The tools will provide generalized algorithms, such as for generating a social graph, that can be applied to various industry use cases, such as retail and financial services.
SOURCE:computerworld.com

Dismissal of Ticket for Driving in Google glass

2014-01-20T03:24:00.001-08:00

(CNN) -- It may have been the most anticipated traffic court date ever. Southern California resident Cecilia Abadie appeared in San Diego traffic court on Thursday for speeding and for wearing Google Glass while driving. It is considered the first time someone has been cited for wearing the face-mounted technology while driving. Commissioner John Blair threw out both charges, stating there wasn't enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Google Glass was turned on at the time. It is only illegal to wear the device while driving if it is operational. Abadie was pulled over in October for speeding by the California Highway Patrol. The officer then cited her for wearing Google Glass under California vehicle code 27602, which prohibits operating a video-display in front of the driver's head rest where it can distract the driver. The law was originally drafted to keep people from watching TV while driving. Google Glass is Google's early version of a head-mounted computer display. A small square monitor sits above the right eye, just out of the normal line of vision. To view information on the display like a map or text message, the wearer must look up. Google Glass defenders claim Glass is safer to use while driving than a smartphone since it can be voice controlled and you only have to glance up to view the Glass display
. Many rallied to Abadie's defense, even starting a #freececilia hashtag on Twitter. When asked to comment on the case, a Google spokesperson sent the following statement to CNN: "Glass is built to connect you more with the world around you, not distract you from it. As we make clear in our help center, Explorers should always use Glass responsibly and put their safety and the safety of others first. "It's early days for Glass and we look forward to hearing feedback from Explorers and others in advance of a wider consumer launch this year." On Google's Glass FAQ page, the company warns: "Most states have passed laws limiting the use of mobile devices while driving any motor vehicle, and most states post those rules on their department of motor vehicles websites. Read up and follow the law!" "Anything that distracts you from driving is something that were concerned about," said CHP Public Affairs Officer Jake Sanchez. While the ruling was a big win for Abadie, a product manager who wears her Glass 12 hours a day (she rested them around her neck while in the courtroom), it is not a green light for Google Glass wearers to freely wear and use their devices while driving. "It doesn't necessarily answer the question everybody wanted: Is it legal to drive down the road wearing Google Glass while it's operating?" said William Concidine of My Traffic Guys. Concidine and his partner, Gabriel Moore, are the traffic ticket attorneys who defended Abadie in court on Thursday. Google Glass wearers in California can still be pulled over and cited for wearing the head-mounted displays while driving. Whether they get a warning or a ticket will be up to the individual officer. Getting a charges dismissed will then be up to individual traffic court judges. "There is no law that that specifically says Google Glass is illegal. Each officer has to take each case on a case-by-case basis," said Sanchez. A dismissal in court is not uncommon for traffic violations, and this ruling will not change how CHP officers view distracted driving. "I do think it leaves it up in the air for Google Glass wearers," said Concidine. "They have to wear it with the possibility that they may get a ticket that they'll have to fight until a legislator takes some sort of action." Three states have already drafted laws that specifically ban Google Glass while driving: Delaware, West Virginia and New Jersey.

Buy Kindle Fire HD 7"

2014-01-11T03:00:00.001-08:00

Microsoft CEO search twists and turns have cost Ballmer, Gates billions With Ford CEO Alan Mulally out of the picture, Microsoft's stock will continue to slide, predict Wall Street analysts

2014-01-11T02:49:00.002-08:00

Computerworld - Current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has watched $1.1 billion evaporate from the value of his company stock as the selection process for a successor has dragged on and investors have expressed disappointment in the firm's apparent turn toward an internal candidate.

Since the Dec. 4 high for the stock, shares have fallen almost 9%, lowering the paper value of Ballmer's holdings by $1.1 billion, to $11.8 billion as of mid-day Thursday. Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, who owns slightly more shares than Ballmer, "lost" $1.2 billion in his portfolio's value.

It's possible that the two will be hit even harder in the days and weeks to come.

On Thursday, MKM Partners analysts Israel Hernandez and Tyler Radke predicted that Microsoft's price will drop into the low $30-range because the company will probably select its new CEO from the pool of current company executives.

The forecast was a repeat of one Hernandez made in early December when he said Microsoft's share price would fall if Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford Motor, wasn't selected by the Microsoft board to replace Ballmer.

Mulally took himself out of the race on Tuesday when he told the Associated Press that he wanted "to end the Microsoft speculation because I have no other plans to do anything other than serve Ford."

Investors had believed that Mulally, as an outsider and someone who had cut costs and sold off divisions to turn around Ford's fortunes, would be the most likely CEO to rid Microsoft of its unprofitable or marginally-profitable pieces, like the Bing search operation and Xbox game console business. That, investors believed, would in the short term improve the bottom line and boost share price.

"A large proportion of the stock's move in 2013 was driven by speculation that Mulally would come in and return cash to shareholders, cut costs and attack sacred cows such as Bing and Xbox," wrote the MKM analysts in a note (subscription required) published on Barron's today.

Microsoft's stock price climbed by more than a third during 2013, but most of that increase came after Ballmer's abrupt retirement announcement: Between Aug. 21 and Dec. 4, shares rose 23.2%, but began to fall again when talk circulated that Mulally and other outsiders were probably out of the running.

The Dec. 4 high-water mark preceded rumors that Microsoft was considering Qualcomm COO Steve Mollenkopf. When Qualcomm quickly said Mollenkopf would become CEO, effective March 2014, Microsoft's stock began dropping.

As Mulally's prospects waned throughout December and into January, investors continued to drive down the stock.

Hernandez and Radke today also said, "We believe it is increasingly likely that an internal candidate will be promoted to CEO," echoing other reports, including from the Wall Street Journal, that said current executives Satya Nadella and Tony Bates, and Nokia's former CEO, Stephen Elop, who was once at Microsoft, are now the leading choices.

Investors have largely believed an outsider would be a better pick, seeing an insider as much more likely to continue the strategic pivot that Ballmer announced in 2012, which many believe to be misguided.

An internal candidate would also demonstrate that Gates, and to a lesser extent, Ballmer, will continue to call the shots from the board, anathema to those investors who see the pair as part of the problem with Microsoft's inability to make headway on mobile.

Gates and others have hinted that the new CEO would have to have technical chops, which pointed toward someone already inside the firm or an outsider with engineering experience in device hardware or software.

At Microsoft's November shareholder meeting, Gates said the next CEO needed "a lot of comfort in leading a highly technical organization and have an ability to work with our top technical talent." And when John Thompson, the director leading the search committee, announced in December that the new CEO would be announced in early 2014, he cited also Gates' criteria nearly word for word.

Facebook Boss- Mark Zuckerberg

2014-01-09T03:33:00.001-08:00

Cofounder, Chairman and CEO, Facebook
Age: 29
Source of Wealth: Facebook, self-made
Residence: Palo Alto, CA
Country of Citizenship: United States
Education: Drop Out, Harvard University
Marital Status: Married

The 29-year old CEO and co-founder of the famous social media Facebook has net worth of $19 B as of September , 2013- this clearly show that age does not determine impact in this world but determination and self discipline.

Hear what Powerful People(October 2013) had to say:

The hoodie-wearing CEO has over one billion "friends" but he's expanding his influence with lobbying group FWD.us, which advocates for immigration reform and technology education. Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, worth $500 million at the time, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in December 2012 for education initiatives.

Also Forbes added as at September, 2013.

Mark Zuckerberg foiled doubters with a strong return to the Top 20 of The Forbes 400. Thanks to strong mobile ad growth, shares of Facebook have more than doubled in the past year, helping to erase the sting of the company's botched IPO in May 2012. The hoodie-wearing CEO expanded his influence beyond Silicon Valley with lobbying group FWD.us, which advocates for immigration reform and technology education. One of the more generous figures in tech, Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, worth $500 million at the time, to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in December 2012 for education initiatives.

Billonaires: March 2013 Reported:

Few CEOs of any age are under more media scrutiny than 28-year-old Mark Zuckerberg. Since taking Facebook public in May 2012, the hoodie-wearing founder has seen his net worth rise and fall with every fluctuation of the stock price, which fell under $20 in August 2012. The stock has since rebounded more than 30% as of February on confidence that Facebook may end up figuring out how to make money on mobile ads. Zuckerberg, a signatory of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, showed his generosity during the holiday season, gifting 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in December for education initiatives. Based on share prices at the time, that gift was worth nearly $500 million and was one of the largest gifts to education in 2012. Zuckerberg has also expressed his willingness to become more involved in the political sphere, hosting a re-election fundraiser with his wife Priscilla Chan for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in February. His big early 2013 exploit was the launch of Facebook's Graph Search, which will allow users to comb their friend network based on shared interests and experiences.

Here is What Powerful People as at March 2012, Reported:

In May investors were giddy when the world's biggest social media site went public: "How high will it go?" That was then. Facebook's IPO was a debacle, and its stock remains far below the original $38 a share. Zuck's personal fortune declined from $17.5 billion to less than $14 billion. But the man still pulls in impressive numbers: Facebook hit 1 billion monthly users in October. 2012 HIGHLIGHT: Married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan in May.

So there you have it, the owner of the most famous social media is not that old after all but making quiet a great impact on his world so you too have more capacity to make the same if not more.

visit www.ng44.com to get secrets on making good and quality money online and maybe you will be the Mark Zuckerberg of our time

Visit the following links for more on Mark Zuckerberg:
http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg
or
connect to him on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/zuck
Thanks for Visiting

The war for mobile customers rages- AT&T offers T-Mobile customers $450 to switch

2014-01-09T02:29:00.002-08:00

vs

It looks rather daunting but its true, AT&T who recently grew bigger than T-Mobile threw a mind-boggling $450 at T-Mobile's customers to switch over to AT&T .AT&T is already bigger than T-Mobile for crying out loud. But that isn't stopping Ma Bell from trying to lure T-Mobile subscribers to switch to AT&T.
CNN Money reports thus:

The war for mobile customers is heating up with AT&T making this pitch directly to T-Mobile customers: Switch to us and get $450.

It's not cash. AT&T (T, Fortune 500) is offering T-Mobile (TMUS) refugees a $200 credit per phone line, plus the chance to trade in their smartphones for up to $250.
It's the latest in the battle between AT&T and T-Mobile, the underdog that's been hounding its larger rival on every front.
With its very public "uncarrier" strategy, T-Mobile has set its sights on AT&T as well as Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500). First, T-Mobile eliminated contracts, opting instead for customers to pay lower monthly rates and buy their own phones. Then came the "Jump" program, which allows customers to upgrade phones twice a year. Then T-Mobile killed roaming fees and slashed per-minute and text charges.
AT&T is fighting back by appealing to T-Mobile customers' wallets. AT&T declined to say how long the $450 offer would last, citing competitive reasons. The company wouldn't say how many customers it expects to gain from the pitch -- or how much it would cost.
T-Mobile did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But CEO John Legere addressed rumors of the AT&T offer Thursday night on Twitter. "I guess we are making AT&T a bit nervous," he wrote.
T-Mobile is currently the fourth largest wireless company in the U.S. But it has always been viewed as a possible takeover target.
In fact, AT&T and T-Mobile agreed to a $39 billion merger in 2011 but AT&T wound up scrapping the deal once it became clear that regulators would block it. Now there is speculation that Sprint (S, Fortune 500), the nation's third largest carrier, may want to buy T-Mobile.
Shares of T-Mobile fell nearly 4% in early trading Friday. But the stock is up more than 20% in the past month due to the reports of a possible Sprint takeover.

So folks as we have seen this won't be the last we will hear of the war that rages between the two underdogs who so aggressively competes after each other.
I would you to comment on this issue and keep visiting for more updates- subscribe to my feed if need be.
thanks for visiting.

The Great African Hero- Nelson Mandela

2014-01-09T02:12:00.001-08:00

Biography

Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo, Transkei, on July 18, 1918, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
His father died when he was 12 years old (1930) and the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.
He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names.
He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where he matriculated.
Nelson Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in a student protest.
He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.

On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, who introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky. He then did his articles through a firm of attorneys, Witkin Eidelman and Sidelsky.
Meanwhile he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also did not complete that degree.
In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.
Nelson Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth League.
In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two sons, Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. They effectively separated in 1955 and divorced in 1958.
Nelson Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work, in 1949 the ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action.
In 1952 he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months hard labour, suspended for two years.
A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice law, and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he was banned for the first time. As a restricted person he was only permitted to watch in secret as the Freedom Charter was adopted in Kliptown on 26 June 1955.
Nelson Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop on 5 December 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 28 accused, including Mr Mandela were acquitted on 29 March 1961.
On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest against the pass laws held at Sharpeville. This led to the country’s first state of emergency and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among thousands detained during the state of emergency.
During the trial on 14 June 1958 Nelson Mandela married a social worker, Winnie Madikizela. They had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced in 1996.
Days before the end of the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference, which resolved that he should write to Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a non-racial national convention, and to warn that should he not agree there would be a national strike against South Africa becoming a republic. As soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March. In the face of massive mobilisation of state security the strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).
On 11 January 1962, using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela secretly left South Africa. He travelled around Africa and visited England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip.
He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment which he began serving in the Pretoria Local Prison. On 27 May 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and returned to Pretoria on 12 June. Within a month police raided a secret hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists, and several of his comrades were arrested.
On 9 October 1963 Nelson Mandela joined ten others on trial for sabotage in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. While facing the death penalty his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became immortalised:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
On 11 June 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other accused: Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni were convicted and the next day were sentenced to life imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white, while the others went to Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.
On 31 March 1982 Nelson Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When he returned to the prison in November 1985 after prostate surgery Nelson Mandela was held alone. Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee visited him in hospital. Later Nelson Mandela initiated talks about an ultimate meeting between the apartheid government and the ANC.
On 12 August 1988 he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. After more than three months in two hospitals he was transferred on 7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl where he spent his last 14 months of imprisonment. He was released from its gates on Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of his remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.
Nelson Mandela immersed himself in official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the first time in his life.
On 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third wife.
True to his promise Nelson Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
In April 2007 his grandson Mandla Mandela became head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
He died at his home in Johannesburg on 5 December 2013
Visit the following link for more articles on Nelson Mandela-.http://www.nelsonmandela.org

The Fame- Bill Gates

2014-01-09T02:11:00.003-08:00

Bill Gates

Net Worth
$72 B As of September 2013

Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Age: 58
Source of Wealth: Microsoft, self-made
Residence: Medina, WA
Country of Citizenship: United States
Education: Drop Out, Harvard University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3

Sir Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the U.S. (and the world, for that matter) in fact as at September 2013(Just Last Year Folks!) he had a net worth of $ 72 B(that's 72 USSD folks! ).Despite past gifts of more than $28 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He bolstered his foundation's efforts to eradicate polio in April, securing $335 million in pledges to the cause from six billionaire comrades, including $100 million each from Mexico's Carlos Slim and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Shares of Microsoft jumped in late August on news that Steve Ballmer will step down as CEO; Gates will remain chairman of the software company. He and Warren Buffett have thus far convinced over 100 of the super rich to sign on to the Giving Pledge, a promise to donate at least half one's net worth to charity.

Below is a report by Forbes as at 2013 on Gates:

Bill Gates remains atop The Forbes 400, a perch he's held since 1994, despite giving away $28 billion, most of it to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He's also again the world's richest person, having reclaimed that title from Mexico's Carlos Slim earlier this year. Gates bolstered his foundation's efforts to eradicate polio in April, securing $335 million in pledges from six billionaire comrades, including $100 million each from Slim and Mike Bloomberg. Shares of Microsoft jumped in late August on news that Steve Ballmer will step down as CEO, but Gates will remain chairman of the software company he cofounded in 1975 with Paul Allen. His stake in Microsoft represents less than a fifth of his fortune. Gates' investment firm, Cascade, owns chunks of tractormaker Deere & Co., Canadian National Railway and Mexican Coke bottler Femsa.
Will this Monarch who is a force to be reckon with still make headlines in the year 2014 despite the various setbacks late last year? Keep visiting to find out