What tech can do for jobs a focus at the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is a gathering of world leaders to talk about the needs and successes of society today and this year the topic of technological growth is playing a huge role.

Technology is a major player in today’s world economy, not just because of the prevalence of social media or the fact that just about every industry could benefit from having an online presence, but because of the jobs it creates. Sheryl Sandberg, … Continue Reading

Will Google make a Kindle Fire competitor below $199? Unlikely

That Google is developing its own Nexus Android tablet isn’t much of a surprise — Google chairman Eric Schmidt strongly hinted at it weeks ago — but can the company make it significantly cheaper than Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire? I don’t think so.

The source of this latest rumor is reason enough to be suspicious: Digitimes is reporting that Google is working on a 7-inch sub-$199 Android tablet with a potential release around March or … Continue Reading

Google+ had its best month ever in December with 49M U.S. visits

Fledgling social network Google+ had its best traffic month ever in December, with more than 49 million U.S. visits, a sign that the company’s bet on social is slowing paying off.

Several pundits previously wondered if Google+ would become a graveyard after several studies showed traffic declines, with one eye-popping Chitika study in October showing traffic had fallen 60 percent. But Google’s decision to incorporate the network into other products like Gmail and Google Reader … Continue Reading

Google is making its own tablet, and in 6 months you can buy it

Google chairman Eric Schmidt announced in an interview today that the company was looking to launch its own tablet within the next six months.

In a conversation with Italian publication Carriere Della Sera, Schmidt spoke briefly about the iPad and revealed, “In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”

While Apple has vigorously prosecuted manufacturers such as Samsung for its allegedy copycat tablet design — and while Steve … Continue Reading

Mobile app developers are choosing Apple iOS over Android this season

Mobile app developers are choosing to develop apps for the Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) over Google’s Android mobile operating system, according to a new report by analytics firm Flurry.

About 73 percent of apps created for the fourth quarter are based on iOS, compared with 27 percent for Android. Three quarters ago, the figures were 63 percent iOS and 37 percent Android.

Over 2011, developer support for Android has declined from a third … Continue Reading

With 8 jets of their own, Google execs aim to save historic Hangar One

Google’s top three executives have offered to pay $33 million through a jointly owned company to save Hangar One, a historic building used to house large airships at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif.

Google’s Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt made the proposal back in September via H211, a jointly owned company that manages their fleet of private jets. Ken Ambrose, director of operations at H211, says that NASA — which owns Moffett … Continue Reading

With Eric Schmidt as backer, HealthTap raises $11.5M for mobile patient-doctor Q&A network

HealthTap has raised $11.5 million in a first round of funding to expand its expert online physician community, which answers questions that patients pose online or via smartphones.

The backers include Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors fund and Mohr Davidow Ventures, while Mayfield Fund led the round.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based HealthTap’s interactive health network started just two months ago and it already has more than 6,000 doctors and 500 healthcare institutions. Patients ask questions … Continue Reading

Collaborative to-do app Any.do puts Reminders to shame

Is there a business in making mobile to-do lists more collaborative and less headache-inducing? Startup Any.do formally launches Thursday with a free Android application proffering shareable, voice-operated to-do lists, and $1 million in seed funding to find out.

The startup, founded in 2010, first released a simple to-do list application for Android called Taskos to test the mobile task management waters and determine what mobile users wanted in a lightweight to-do list app.

Taskos became … Continue Reading

Identified: What kind of recruiting tool have Eric Schmidt, the Drapers and DST invested in?

Launching publicly today, Identified is a professional social network for adults younger than 30, that’s built on top of Facebook and backed by $5.5 million from Google’s Eric Schmidt, Tim and Bill Draper and Alexander Tamas of DST.

What Identified hopes to do is create a rich and engaging dialog between young job aspirants, based on their personal and professional data, and potential employers. Identified is different from LinkedIn in that it’s not just a … Continue Reading

Google exec: “We won’t favor Motorola Mobility.” Rest of the world: “Suuuuure.”

Google chairman Eric Schmidt (pictured) stated today that Google would not give favorable treatment to Motorola Mobility on Android matters, even after the acquisition deal between the two entities is complete.

“In general, with all of our partners, we told them that the Motorola deal will close and we will run it sufficiently and independently, that it will not violate the openness of Android,” said Schmidt to a group of reporters.

“We’re not going to … Continue Reading

Google considers financing a deal for Yahoo buyout

Google is the latest company to be connected to a potential buyout of troubled Yahoo Inc. The search giant has talked to at least two equity firms about helping it acquire a chunk of Yahoo, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which sites an unnamed source close to the matter.

The talks are said to still be in the early stages, and no serious offers have been made, but the play would … Continue Reading

How Steve Jobs felt betrayed by Eric Schmidt over Google’s Android

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt had a bitter falling out with each other over Google’s creation of its Android mobile operating system, which Jobs felt was a grand betrayal.

Schmidt was a member of Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009. But the two companies began to compete with each other, at first without knowing it, when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007. The story was captured in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs, which will be … Continue Reading

Financial security startup BillGuard raises $10M to protect you from fraud

Personal finance startup BillGuard has raised $10 million in second-round financing, and it’s using it to expand its service that helps protect accounts from fraudulent activity, the company said Tuesday.

BillGuard protects users by registering their credit and debit cards and keeping an eye out for questionable and fraudulent charges. The company uses a crowdsourced approach to identifying unauthorized charges, by not only providing its own detection but also incorporating users’ billing complaints to track … Continue Reading

Google smashes Q3 expectations with $9.7B in revenue

Search giant Google brought in $9.72 billion in the third quarter this year — or $7.5 billion minus traffic acquisition costs. That amount crushed consensus Wall Street analyst estimates of $7.23 billion, and is a 33 percent increase from the same quarter one year ago.

Google brought in $2.73 billion in income off that revenue in the third quarter this year, up from $2.17 billion in net income the same quarter a year earlier. Google’s … Continue Reading

Google cleans house, closes 10 projects

Search giant Google announced today that it is shutting down a number of experimental projects as it cleans house under the direction of new-ish chief executive officer Larry Page.

Google is shuttering ten projects and relocating those resources to larger projects within the company. Resources will be allocated to divisions such as the company’s new social network, Google+, as well as web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs.

The switch-up is part of Page’s … Continue Reading

Google’s Eric Schmidt lays the smack down on patents

Google chairman and former chief executive officer Eric Schmidt slammed regulators and patent trolls at Salesforce.com’s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco today, saying the patent wars would slow down the mobile and device revolution started by Apple’s iPhone.

“All the patent fights that are interesting are done in one district in Texas. How this is possible is beyond me, it just doesn’t feel right” Schmidt said. “With the device revolution coming, I fear patents … Continue Reading

Updated: Activision Blizzard could make $1.25 billion in additional revenue in next three years

Updated: this post has been updated with corrected info.

Digital business models could substantially boost revenues at Activision Blizzard in the next three years, the company says.

Thomas Tippl, chief financial officer at the world’s biggest video game publisher, said during the company’s analyst meeting today that the company could make more money through non-traditional revenues related to its major hit franchises. That shows that Activision Blizzard is rapidly moving into digital markets and new … Continue Reading

HTC: We’re open to patent negotiations with Apple

Taiwanese phone maker HTC has said that it’s willing to talk things out with Apple over the two companies’ recent patent spat, Reuters reports.

“We are open to all sorts of solutions, as long as the solution and the terms are fair and reasonable,” HTC CFO Winston Yung told Reuters in an interview. “On and off we’ve had discussions with Apple, even before the initial determination came out.”

The news comes after Apple scored a … Continue Reading