Pandora earnings shine, listener hours are light

SAN FRANCISCO — Pandora reported earnings and sales that topped forecasts, but disappointed with its listener hours.

Shares (TICKER: P) fell 5% after hours.

The Internet radio provider said it made 9 cents in non-GAAP EPS in the third quarter, besting forecasts for 8 cents. Sales of $239.6 million, up 40%, were better than the $238.5 million forecast by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The Oakland, Calif. based company said ad revenue surged 44% to $194.3 million, while subscription revenue gained 25%.

Its outlook was a mild positive. For the fourth quarter, it sees revenue between $273 million and $278 million compared to a mean of $272.75 million.

But listening hours -- which provide the inventory for advertising it sells -- disappointed some analysts. Total listener hours rose 25% to 4.99 billion for the third quarter. Mark Mahaney, at RBC Capital Markets, had expected 5.06 billion.

Essential security apps

Essential security apps for your phone or tablet

Hackers would love to weasel their way on to your smartphone or tablet, just like they try to do your computer. That's how they steal sensitive information like account details, passwords, important texts, intimate photos and whatever else possible.

Unfortunately for them, mobile gadgets are a bit harder to crack than the average computer. So hackers have to be even sneakier and use malicious apps, hidden Wi-Fi attacks or simply walk off with your gadget.

Minecraft - TITAN CITY - 2 years of work

Minecraft - TITAN CITY

October 16, 2012 - October 16, 2014

The sandbox-style game Minecraft has hosted several incredible creations, from the universe in Game of Thrones to Star Trek's Starship Enterprise.

The latest download dazzling players is Titan City, a metropolis that its creator says took two years to build.

According to a Youtube video from creator Colonial Puppet, Titan City was made using 4.5 million blocks and features 96 buildings, and it appears the creator isn't finished, promising this is "only the beginning."

Last month, Minecraft made a huge splash when Microsoft revealed it would acquire the game for $2.5 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

Facebook launches Rooms app

Facebook launches Rooms app for anonymous sharing of interests

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has taken the wraps off a new app for iOS called Rooms that brings people together around their interests.

A "room" is a feed of photos, videos and text like Facebook or Instagram, but the focus is on a single topic chosen by the person who created it.

Already popular on Rooms: beat boxing, Kicks from Above (cool shoes in cool places) and mouth watering, home-cooked meals, not to mention families who have ditched suburbia to raise their kids on the road and Facebook employees obsessively playing Kendama, a traditional Japanese game.

Microsoft sales lifted by the cloud to $23.2B

"We are off to a great start to the year," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on a conference call with analysts.

Shares of Microsoft MSFT popped after hours, trading up as much as 4%. The stock closed in regular trading Thursday at $45.02.

OFFICE 365 HOME

The consumer division, which includes devices, saw revenue growth of 47% to $10.96 billion, Microsoft said. Among highlights, Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers totaled more than 7 million, up more than 25% over the fourth quarter of 2014.

Amazon posts huge loss

Amazon posts huge loss, warns of more

LOS ANGELES — Amazon had warned that it would lose bundles of cash in the third quarter, and it didn't disappoint.

But the size of the loss and a forecast that warned of more red ink by year's end chilled investors, who had already sent shares sharply lower for the year.

The Seattle-based online retailer (TICKER: AMZN) said it had a net loss of $437 million for the quarter, or 95 cents a share, compared with $41 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had forecast a loss of 74 cents a share.

Tech Five: Amazon, Pandora shares slump

The losses aren't over at Amazon, and investors are not pleased. Let's look at the technology stocks to watch Friday:

Amazon. Shares of the online retailer plunged 10% in pre-market trading after posting a massive loss during the third quarter -- and warning of more by the end of the year. Amazon posted a loss of 95 cents per share in the third quarter, well above the 74 cents forecast by analysts.

Pandora. The streaming music service saw its shares drop more than 5% after listener hours rose at a slower pace that predicted during the third quarter. However, its $239.6 million in revenue and earnings per share of 8 cents beat Wall Street estimates.

‘Scary’ NSA will spy on you

Appelbaum: ‘Scary’ NSA will spy on you – every which way they can

Security researcher Jacob Appelbaum revealed what he calls “wrist-slitting depressing” details about the National Security Agency’s spy programs at a computer conference in Germany on Monday where he presented previously unpublished NSA files.

Appelbaum is among the small group of experts, activists and journalists who have seen classified United States intelligencedocuments taken earlier this year by former contractor Edward Snowden, and previously he represented transparency group WikiLeaks at an American hacker conference in 2010. Those conditions alone should suffice in proving to most anybody that Appelbaum has been around more than his fair share of sensitive information, and during his presentation at the thirtieth annual Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg on Monday he spilled his guts about some of the shadiest spy tactics seen yet through leaked documents.

Snowden leak: NSA plans to infect ‘millions’ of computers

Yet more previously secret surveillance operations waged by the United States National Security Agency were made public Wednesday morning thanks to leaked documents supplied by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The files — published first by The Intercept this week and dissected over the course of a 3,000-word article attributed to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher — bring to light a number of previously unreported programs undertaken by the secretive US spy agency, including operations that have given the NSA the potential to infect millions of computers around the world by relying on malicious software that’s sent to targets through surreptitious means.

Rare victory for online surveillance

Rare victory for online surveillance opponents following federal ruling

A US federal judge has denied a request from government prosecutors that would have allowed them to search an unnamed individual's email address, deeming it unnecessarily vague in what is already being called a rare victory for surveillance opponents.

US Judge John Facciola, serving as magistrate in a case involving a defense contractor accused of corruption and conspiracy, refused to give prosecutors authorization to search a user's @mac.com email address. While few details about the case have been made public, Facciola wrote that “for purposes of this opinion, the details of the investigation – which remain under seal on the Court's docket – are irrelevant.”

Microsoft must handover personal data

US judge rules Microsoft must handover personal data stored abroad

Microsoft has been told it must handover emails stored abroad to US prosecutors by a New York court. However, the software giant says it will fight the ruling, saying that an email deserves the same privacy protection as a paper letter sent by mail.

The company says they will not release any emails to US authorities, while it appeals the ruling, made by Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court in Manhattan. She said that Microsoft must hand over information, regardless of where it was stored.

"Microsoft will not be turning over the email and plans to appeal,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters."Everyone agrees this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen."

Wearable Technology will be the Next Big Thing

Wearable Technology will be the Next Big Thing

Lifelogger helps record your life (or the most important parts of it) by recording video/audio/gps information through the wearable POV. 

The recorded information can then be uploaded on the cloud, where it is processed/stored. 

The software extracts the faces you have seen, convert the words you said into a searchable text format, as well as OCR any street signs or other text that you read. All this along  the GPS coordinates of your location at the time of recording. 

It even lets you track the direction in which you were looking.

Microsoft ditches Nokia in rebranding effort

The once ubiquitous Nokia brand of mobile phone is no more. New owners Microsoft are making a clean break from the brand made famous with its old-school “brick” phones. Cutting edge smartphones from the company will now have the Lumia brand.

Nokia’s French Facebook page was the first to deliver the news with a post on Tuesday informing fans that the name is changing from Nokia to Microsoft Lumia.

"In the coming days, you will receive a Facebook message regarding the change of name of this page. We are on the verge of becoming Microsoft Lumia. Stay-tuned for more soon,” the statement said, in French.

Reality Movies

Virtual reality movies are coming

In a decade or two, going to the movie theater could feel as outdated as renting a VHS tape.

That's the future virtual reality enthusiasts from Oculus VR and elsewhere are sketching out, extolling the technology as a transformative new medium for visual storytelling.

Surgical robot

Surgical robot to enter brain through patient’s cheek

Researchers demonstrated a robot that will perform brain surgery to prevent epileptic seizures. During the procedure, the machine enters the brain through the cheek, making it a less-invasive option with a shorter recovery time than traditional surgery.

Eric Barth, the team leader and an associate professor in mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt University, and David Comber, a mechanical engineering graduate student who designed much of the machine, unveiled the prototype robot at the Fluid Power Innovation and Research Conference last week. The team performed a live demonstration of the surgical technique at the Nashville, Tennessee convention.

Mark Zuckerberg In china

Mark Zuckerberg's Chinese interview -- in Mandarin

SAN FRANCISCO- Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg participated in a question and answer session with college students Wednesday.

In Mandarin.

The audience at Tsinghua University in Beijing audibly gasped and then broke into applause when Zuckerberg took the microphone and greeted them in Mandarin, saying 大家好? "Da jia hao?" (Hello, everyone.)

He then went on to tell them, 我的中文很糟糕 "Wo de Zhongwen hen zaogao," (My Chinese is pretty terrible.) More applause.

Zuckerberg conducted the entire Q&A session in Chinese. He later posted the entire interview on Facebook.

Why do you speak Chinese? he was asked by the interviewer.

"There are three reasons," he told the audience. "The first is is that my wife is Chinese."

Google new to stay on the top

Google debuts Inbox, a new way to stay on top of e-mail

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A decade ago, Google took the wraps off Gmail, the popular e-mail service used by hundreds of millions the world over.

Now that e-mail is vibrating in pockets as often as it's pinging computers, the Internet giant is rethinking how your inbox should look and work.

The result is Inbox, a new product that Google says is a smarter way to sort e-mail. It's rolling out Wednesday by invitation only.

"We want this to be your inbox for the next 10 years," Alex Gawley, product director of Gmail and Inbox, said in an interview.

Clever Kano

Clever Kano lets kids build computers and learn to code

NEW YORK — Don't count on your child becoming a rich professional coder some day just because he or she is using the new Kano computer and coding kit. But this clever, entertaining and educational build-your-own-computer kit promises to start him or her off on the right foot.

Kano is appropriate for any age but is squarely aimed at kids, 6 to 14, a sweet spot that includes my 10-year-old daughter, Sydney, and 7-year-old son, Samuel, who both helped me put Kano to the test. They declare it a hit.

Twitter woos mobile developers

Twitter woos mobile developers, debuts tools at Flight

Twitter is introducing tools to make it easier for mobile developers to build applications on Twitter and make money from them.

Sexy iPad Air 2

Sexy iPad Air 2 is fabulous but not a must upgrade

NEW YORK — During his keynote trumpeting the new iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, Apple CEO Tim Cook bragged about how wildly satisfied customers are with their current iPads. Apple has sold more than 225 million in four years and the iPad has become the gold standard against which all other tablets are measured.

Apple's iCloud network under attack

people says it is aware of "intermittent organized network attacks" that attempt to get users' information when they try to sign in to iCloud.

The attacks don't compromise iCloud servers, but they could allow the attackers to steal users' login credentials.

ICloud is a storage service offered by Apple that allows users to keep their music, photos and files "in the cloud." Their information is stored on Internet-connected servers that the user can access through their phone, tablet or computer, without having to store it directly on a hard drive.

Netflix Says 4K Streaming Will Change Web Video Forever

Netflix Says 4K Streaming Will Change Web Video Forever

At the annual MIPCOM conference in Cannes, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos revealed that the streaming giant will shoot all of its original content in 4K from here on out. That includes original series like House of Cards andOrange Is the New Black, as well as movies like the recently announcedCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend.

Yahoo posts gains in sales

Yahoo posts gains in sales, profits but pressure still on

Yahoo sales rose modestly in the third quarter, beating Wall Street estimates and sending shares higher.

Read More...

Yahoo's big surprise

Yahoo's big surprise is fast mobile growth

Gains from Yahoo's mobile advertising business and its stake in Alibaba are helping to offset continued declines in desktop display ads, but the company's core profitability ispressured by investments that have yet to pay off.

Read More...

Snapchat has started showing ads

Snapchat, valued at $10 billion, has started showing ads

Homeland Security to scan federal computer networks without prior authorization

After failing to identify the potentially disastrous Heartbleed bug, the United States Department of Homeland Security has successfully lobbied to have the ability to conduct “regular and proactive scans” of civilian agency systems.

Read More...

NSA spying damages US economy, may end up ‘breaking the Internet’

Technology giants claim the National Security Agency’s bulk surveillance programs are hurting the American economy, and one Senator is hoping to use that warning to push stalled reform through Congress.

Learn More...

'Google, Facebook’s spying on users bigger intrusion than NSA’s'

Unlike Facebook and Google who collect enormous amount of users’ data, the NSA is not actively snooping on Americans’ internet and e-mail accounts and is acting within a carefully regulated program, Fred Fleitz, former CIA analyst, told RT.

Learn More...

How China's iPhone 6 black market works

Chinese Apple users are facing a wave of cyberattacks

Chinese Apple users are facing a wave of cyberattacks - not from cybercriminals, but from their own government.

Learn More...

Meet Apple Pay, your new virtual wallet

Apple launches its new mobile payments service Apple Pay.

Leeo launches 'smart alert night light'

Adam Gettings, CEO of Leeo, is launching a new 'smart alert night light' which is a simple device that monitors your smoke detectors and can send a message to your smartphone.

Apple Pay launches with few hiccups

Apple Pay, the new mobile payment system from Apple, went live Monday with few of the hiccups usually associated with Apple launches. 

Facebook sues lawyers

Facebook sues lawyers alleging they contributed to fraud

Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have filed suit against attorneys for Paul Ceglia, claiming they helped their client attempt to defraud the giant social network and its founder.

Learn More...

Microsoft soon to unveil a wearable

Microsoft's long awaited entry to the modern wearable tech category is "imminent" according to reports from Forbes and The Verge.

Learn More...

IOS 8.1 Update

Apple launches iOS 8.1 update

Apple launched a new version of its mobile operating system that will introduce the company's first stab at a payment processing service.

Learn More...

Apple sells 39M new iPhones

Apple profit soars as company sells 39M new iPhones

Record-setting iPhone sales helped Apple ring up sterling results on Monday, crushing analysts' estimates.

Read More...

iPhone sales

Tech Five: Apple shares jump off iPhone sales

IBM. Shares of the tech bellwether are steady after abandoning its earnings guidance for 2015 and reporting quarterly earnings that were way off Wall Street forecasts. IBM also announced it would hand over its chip division to Silicon Valley firm GlobalFoundries.

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Cutting the Cord: Fissures in the pay TV 'logjam'

Cord cutters should be feeling upbeat and vindicated. But don't start running those victory laps just yet.

Discover More

Automakers revving up for CarPlay

While it might seem like Apple's much-hyped in-vehicle platform has stalled — with only a Ferrari FF offering CarPlay out of the 30-odd carmakers signed on so far — you won't have to wait too much longer to test drive the infotainment technology.

Read More...

HTC RE is a fresh, fun-looking new camcorder

HTC is a company known for its smartphones, but within that sphere it is also known for taking risks on new photography technology.

Here we go:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/10/19/htc-re-is-a-fun-and-fresh-looking-new-camcorder/17365507/

Apple Pay launches today: Here's how to use it

For years, companies have been talking about replacing credit cards with smartphones to pay for goods. But consumers have been slow to play along.

Learn More:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2014/10/19/how-to-use-apple-pay/17399647/

Microsoft soon to unveil a wearable

Reports: Microsoft soon to unveil a wearable

Microsoft's long awaited entry to the modern wearable tech category is "imminent" according to reports from Forbes and The Verge.

Apple earnings

Apple earnings: Here are 6 numbers to watch

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple reports earnings after the close of stock trading Monday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/10/20/apple-earnings-preview-shares-stock/17592543/

IBM: $1.5B to spin off chip division

IBM to pay $1.5B to spin off chip division

IBM announced a deal clearing chip maker GlobalFoundries to acquire the tech titan's microelectronics business, as the company continues its transition toward the enterprise market.
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks about women

Nadella speaks about women and raises, post-Hopper

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that the comments be made at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing were 'wrong' in a sit down interview with USA Today's Marco Della Cava.

Learn More ...