Intel sets up joint lab with China’s Baidu for mobile apps
Intel is hoping to get more Chinese developers to back its products by forming a new joint innovation lab with the nation's largest search engine, Baidu.
The lab is part of an agreement the two companies signed on Thursday that will focus on developing software for China's mobile Internet market. Developers in the country will have access to Intel-powered products, including PCs, tablets, and mobile devices, to test and port software for Baidu and Intel platforms.
"If you are a developer, you will now have more choices of platform and more opportunities in business," said Christos Georgiopoulos, Intel general manager for developer relations. Read more...
Microsoft, Lenovo to promote genuine Windows on PCs
In the midst of its latest campaign to fight piracy in China, Microsoft has signed an agreement with Lenovo to ensure that its PCs ship with licensed versions of Windows software on its computers.
As part of the agreement signed Tuesday, Lenovo will also encourage its resellers to promote PCs with genuine Microsoft software.
Lenovo's pledge is notable, given that the company has long been China's largest PC vendor, with a market share of 36.7 percent. The company is also known to have a vast distribution network in the country that extends into China's smaller cities.
Microsoft has been fighting piracy in the country for years. In a recent survey, the company bought 169 PCs from the country's local electronic shops and found that all contained pirated Windows software. Read more...
Microsoft tries to sweeten Office 365 deal for partners
Microsoft is modifying its Office 365 sales agreement with partners to motivate them to push the product more aggressively, the company announced on Monday.
Microsoft wants to make Office 365 easier to sell and more profitable for its partners, said Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division, at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto.
The changes have been prompted by feedback from partners. "[They] aren't shy, they like to tell us what's working and what we need to improve on," said DelBene, during a keynote speech that was webcast.
To that end, Microsoft will let partners bill their customers directly for Office 365, and bundle in a single invoice complementary services they provide in addition to the price of the software. This will be possible via a new initiative called the Office 365 Open Program. Read more...
Micron, Oracle settle memory price-fixing lawsuit
Micron Technology has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by Oracle over an alleged conspiracy to increase DRAM prices, it said on Thursday.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleged a conspiracy to increase DRAM prices and other violations of federal and state antitrust and unfair competition laws based on purported conduct for the period from Aug. 1, 1998 through at least June 15, 2002, Micron said. Read more...
Microsoft signs up Aus eco geeks
Australian cloud computing eco-warrior Carbon Systems has scored its most significant deal to date with a global Microsoft agreement.
Carbon Systems’ Australian developed cloud app, Enterprise Sustainability Platform (ESP), will be implemented across Microsoft’s 600 global facilities across 110 countries.
Microsoft has selected CarbonSystems as its vendor of choice ahead of more than 30 software vendors following an extensive, rigorous tender process.
The energy management solution provider secured the international contract due to its ability to use cloud computing to simplify and streamline Microsoft’s global greenhouse gas management in addition to providing a stakeholder reporting solution. Read more...
Comment 4 inShare154 Yandex, Google’s Russian Rival, Is Twitter’s New Real-Time Search Partner
A significant step for Twitter in its international growth: Yandex, Russia’s search giant, today announced that it will carry Twitter data in all of its search results.
The news also underscores one possible route to revenue generation for Twitter: Yandex describes this as a licensing deal. The terms of it were not disclosed but Microsoft reportedly paid Twitter $30 million for a similar search agreement.
The agreement with Yandex will see Twitter’s data firehose appear both in Yandex’s blog search, as well as through a dedicated URL, twitter.yandex.ru. Read more...
Oracle handed setback in HP Itanium case
A court in California rejected Oracle's bid to use a fraud claim to undo an agreement to support the Itanium processor, that it is said to have made with Hewlett-Packard.
"The alleged fraud did not prevent Oracle from participating in the negotiations or deprive Oracle of the opportunity to negotiate," Judge James P. Kleinberg of the Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County said in a 21-page ruling on Monday.
The Judge was referring to HP's settlement agreement in 2010 with Mark Hurd, former CEO of HP, who later joined Oracle as president. Although Oracle was not a party to the previous litigation by HP against Hurd, its participation in the Hurd litigation settlement negotiations was extensive, he added. Read more...
Microsoft milks Casio for using Linux
In the latest news from the tech world's ongoing global hunt to find someone to sue over/deal with on patents, Microsoft has signed a licensing agreement with Casio.
The "broad, multiyear" contract, which neither party will put a price to, will help protect Casio devices that use Linux. While Linux is supposed to be open source, Microsoft has claimed since 2007 that more than 235 of its patents are violated by the project.
In the last four years, the software giant has been quietly threatening legal action for any Linux-using company that refuses to sign patent deals with it. Amazon, Novell, Linspire, TurboLinux and Xandros have all put their X on the dotted line. Others, like satnav maker TomTom, ended up in court, but eventually settled. Read more...
Database Of U.S. Internet Pirates Will Be Decentralized
Starting in a few months, millions of online ‘pirates’ will be monitored as part of an agreement between the MPAA, RIAA and all major U.S. Internet providers. Alleged infringers will be notified about their misbehavior, and repeat offenders will eventually be punished. Thus far the details on the operation have been very slim, but TorrentFreak has learned that unlike in France, the U.S. database of Internet pirates will be decentralized.
In June the MPAA and RIAA announced a ‘ground-breaking’ deal with all the major Internet providers in the United States. In an attempt to deter online piracy, a third-party company will monitor BitTorrent and other public file-sharing networks and collect the IP-addresses of alleged infringers. Read more...