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AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, technology briefs [AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates]
(AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) March 31--APPLE AND FOXCONN TO REVAMP CHINA WORK CONDITIONS: Apple Inc. has said it had agreed to work with China-based partner Foxconn to tackle wage and working condition violations at the factories that produce its popular products, Reuters has reported. Under the agreement, Foxconn, which makes Apple devices from the iPhone to the iPad, will hire tens of thousands of new workers, clamp down on illegal overtime, improve safety protocols and upgrade worker housing and other amenities. Analysts said the agreement may raise costs for other manufacturers who contract with the Taiwanese company, including Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com Inc., Motorola Mobility Holdings, Nokia Oyj and Sony Corp.
CISCO ANNOUNCES PLANS TO ACQUIRE NETWORK MANAGEMENT FIRM: Cisco has announced plans to acquire privately-held ClearAccess, a provider of service provisioning and device management software to service providers, Computer World has reported. Cisco is acquiring the software assets and personnel of ClearAccess. The hardware operations will continue as SmartRG, a maker of ADSL and gigabit routers that serve as residential gateways between the broadband network and the home. ClearAccess' network management and software capabilities, combined with Cisco's, will enable service providers to improve delivery and management of their residential and mobile services, and help enhance operational efficiencies and customer experiences, Cisco said.
REFUND WILL BE OFFERED TO ALL AUSTRALIAN BUYERS OF NEW IPAD, SAYS APPLE LAWYER: A lawyer for Apple Inc. has announced all Australian buyers of the company's new iPad are to receive an email offering them a refund, after the country's consumer watchdog accused it of misleading advertising over one key aspect of the product, Reuters has reported. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken legal action to ensure Apple makes consumers aware its third generation iPad cannot connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia due to technical incompatibility.
HACKER'S CYBERCRIME SERVERS SEIZED IN US: Microsoft said that cybercrime "command" servers in two US states have been seized in an ongoing campaign to sever online crooks from infected computers used as virtual henchmen, AFP has reported. The company capitalised on laws crafted to fight organised crime groups to obtain court orders to seize servers in Pennsylvania and Illinois being used to control computers corrupted by malicious code. Viruses slipped into people's computers stole online bank account and password information and relayed it to crooks who have looted more than $100m in the past five years, according to court documents.
SHARP EXPANDS LINE-UP OF TOUCH SCREEN LCDS WITH 80 INCH DISPLAY: Billed for usage in a modern work environment, Sharp Middle East today announced the launch of an 80-inch touch-panel display available in the Middle East region. The screen was unveiled to partners during Sharp's Bigger is Better partner conference held recently in Dubai. The 80-inch panel combines a high-performance interactive display with a system for collaborative sessions . This latest addition to Sharp's evolving family of large panel touch-screen displays adds to the existing 60-inch (60 1/32" diagonal) and 70-inch (69-{" diagonal) models, allowing an interactive workplace experience. "Similar to what our innovative and industry-leading large-screen TVs are doing for the home, Sharp's large-screen interactive touch-panel display systems are revolutionising the workplace," said Tomoo Shimizu, Director - Business Solutions Division, Sharp Middle East. "The 80-inch unit provides endless collaboration, information and entertainment options and is a welcome addition to Sharp's family of solutions designed to improve our workplace lives."
OMAN IT AUTHORITY DISTRIBUTES FREE LAPTOPS TO STUDENTS: Oman's Information Technology Authority (ITA) is distributing free laptops to students as part of the Phase II of the National PC (NPC) Initiative, Times of Oman has reported. The campaign involves distributing free laptops as part of the NPC bundle package, which comprises PC and Internet offers. The project also involves computer literacy training to social insurance beneficiaries in the various wilayats. The drive also includes providing subsidy on the cost of personal computers for students of higher education enrolled in the first year of their courses.
JORDAN LEADS REGION FOR TECH START-UP INVESTMENT, SAYS REPORT: According to a report by online business portal, Sindibad Business, Jordan has attracted investments in the largest number of technology and Internet start-ups compared to other Arab states between 2010 and 2011, Jordan Times has reported. Jordan attracted investments in 30 start-ups, while the UAE came second with 11 start-ups, followed by Egypt with nine, the report said. The total value of investment pumped into these start-ups is estimated at $24m. UAE start-ups attracted the largest value of investments with an overall estimate of $11m, followed by Jordanian start-ups with $9m, according to the report, which indicated that Saudi Arabian start-ups attracted only $583,000.
FACEBOOK BUYS 750 IBM PATENTS TO STREGTHEN DEFENCES: Facebook Inc. has acquired 750 patents from International Business Machines Corp (IBM), adding intellectual property that may help it counter allegations of patent infringement, Bloomberg has reported citing a person with knowledge of the transaction. The patents cover various technologies such as software and networking, said the person. The acquisition would swell the size of Facebook's portfolio, which includes at least 56 issued patents and 503 filed US patent applications.
RESEARCHER CLAIMS NEW IPAD'S CHARGING CALCULATIONS INCORRECT: According to a report by research firm DisplayMate Technologies, Apple's latest iPad is not fully charged when it shows that it is, attributing the problem to "bad math," Cnet has reported. The iPad's behaviour can be attributed to the calculations that go into determining how far along the recharging process is based on battery health and other factors, said DisplayMate president, Ray Soneira. Based on its own testing, the report found that the full power draw while charging Apple's latest iPad continued for about an hour after the on-screen display said the battery was at 100 percent.
HP SET TO MERGE PRINTER AND PC DIVISIONS, MAJOR INTERNAL OVERHAUL: Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP) plans to combine the computing giant's PC and printing divisions in a major internal overhaul intended to spur combined sales of hardware to customers, Reuters has reported, citing two sources familiar with the move. Whitman is looking to streamline the organisation to make it easier for customers to buy the two products together, and to reinvest any savings into research and development, one of the sources said. HP, the largest US technology company by revenue, is struggling to keep its core personal computing business in the black as mobile devices from tablets to smartphones eat into sales and is trying to reinvent itself as a major enterprise computing provider.
APPLE'S NEW IPAD RUNS HOTTER THAN BEFORE, SAYS WATCHDOG: Influential consumer watchdog, Consumer Reports has found Apple Inc.'s new iPad to throw off a lot more heat than the previous version, lending weight to complaints on internet forums that the hot-selling tablet computer could get uncomfortably warm after heavy use, Reuters has reported. Tests by Consumer Reports have found that Apple's new tablet racked up temperatures of 47 Celsius after 45 minutes of running an intense action game. "During our tests, I held the new iPad in my hands. When it was at its hottest, it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period," reviewer Donna Tapellini said in the report. The group plans to release a final review on the new iPad, which has sold more than three million units since it hit store shelves in more than 10 countries on Friday, in about five days.
SAUDI ARABIA ICT SPENDING TO GROW 12 percent IN 2012: A report by Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has said the volume of spending on the ICT services in the kingdom rose to SR83bn in 2011, compared with SR21bn in 2002, an average annual growth rate of about 14 percent, Arab News has reported. Spending on ICT products and services is expected to grow by more than 10 percent in 2012, driven mainly by expected strong growth in demand for smart phones, high-speed networks and interactive applications resulting from strong growth of investment in the sector, and implementation of government projects, all of which will lead in turn to the growth of support services in the sector, CITC said.
APPLE REWARDS INVESTORS WITH $45BN DIVIDEND OVER THREE YEARS: Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple Inc. has announced a quarterly dividend and share buyback that will pay out $45bn over three years, Reuters has reported. The world's most valuable company will start paying in July a regular quarterly payout of $2.65 a share, its first dividends since 1995, and buy back up to $10bn of its stock beginning in the next fiscal year. The $10bn annual dividend programme, which Cook said will be reviewed periodically, ranks among the largest current US corporate cash payouts.
MICROSOFT NOT PLANNING NEW XBOX ANYTIME SOON: Microsoft has said it has no plans to release a new Xbox gaming console anytime soon, the Associated Press has reported. The company said it won't be discussing new Xbox hardware at the upcoming E3 Expo in June. Rather, it plans to focus on games, music and other entertainment for the Xbox 360, which came out in 2005.
NEW IPAD SETS APPLE RECORD: Apple has announced that it has sold more than 3 million new iPads since the new version's March 16 launch, making this the most successful launch yet for Apple's tablet, CNN has reported. The iPad launched in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, and the UK on Friday. By comparison, the iPad 2 was only available in the United States last year during its launch weekend. The new iPad will be available in 24 more countries this Friday.
APPLE TO ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR ITS $97.6BN CASH: Apple Inc. is set to announce today the long-awaited outcome to a discussion by its board of directors about what to do with its nearly $100bn cash balance, New York Times has reported. The Cupertino-based company is widely expected to announce a plan to issue an ongoing dividend to its shareholders. Although having too much cash is rarely seen as a burden for a company, Apple earns less than 1 percent in interest on the cash, which many investors view as wasteful.
NOKIA PLANS TO RE-ENTER TABLET MARKET: Nokia's design chief Marko Ahtisaar has told a Finnish magazine the mobile giant is readying a tablet that would run Microsoft's Windows 8 to take on the iPad, ZDnet has reported. Though he provided no specifics about the device, Ahtsiaar said Nokia will need to take a different approach than competitors to fight the iPad tidal wave. Nokia had previously released the N800 Internet Tablet series, to limited success.
GOLDMAN OFFICIAL SAID TO HAVE LEAKED SECRETS ABOUT APPLE, INTEL: A lawyer for former Goldman Sachs Group board member Rajat Gupta has told a court on Friday that a person at the firm, who has not been identified or charged in a broad US insider-trading probe, has been caught on a wiretap leaking secrets about Intel and Apple, Reuters has reported. A person familiar with the Gupta case said in early March that prosecutors are investigating David Loeb, a managing director of Goldman Sachs. Loeb works with technology hedge-fund employees, including an Asia-based analyst, Henry King, who is also under investigation, according to another source briefed on the case.
CISCO TO BUY DIGITAL VIDEO FIRM NDS FOR $5BN: US networking giant Cisco has reached a deal to acquire Britain-based digital video company NDS Group for approximately $5bn, Reuters has reported. In its biggest acquisition since it bought Norway's videoconferencing company Tandberg for $3.3bn in 2009, the San Jose, California-based Cisco said the acquisition of NDS will accelerate the delivery of its Videoscape entertainment platform.
APPLE CHOOSES SAMSUNG FOR IPAD SCREEN: Apple Inc has chosen Samsung Electronics to supply the screen for its new iPad as LG Display and Sharp didn't meet the US company's quality requirements, Bloomberg has reported. Vinita Jakhanwal, a senior manager at iSuppli, a unit of Englewood, Colorado-based IHS Inc told the news service that the world's top flat-panel maker, Samsung, currently is the sole vendor of the display for the 9.7-inch, touch-screen device that goes on sale March 16.
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(c)2012 AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
Visit AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) at www.ameinfo.com
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