Just about a done deal.
Yahoo!’s board approves acquisition of Tumblr for $1.1 billion
Some breaking weekend news – The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Yahoo!’s board has given CEO Marissa Meyer the greenlight, approving a $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr. Rumors that Yahoo! was in talks to purchase Tumblr began just a couple of days ago, with the latest news being that Yahoo! will announce the acquisition at a press event planned for tomorrow.
The move could be considered a bit surprising as Tumblr has yet to turn any real profit – the social network has been burning cash for years now trying to keep afloat in a similar manner to Twitter. Yahoo! will have to work pretty hard to make any cash from Tumblr in the long run, and we would therefor expect some pretty significant changes to start cropping up on Tumblr shortly.
So that’s that; all we’re waiting for now is official confirmation from Tumblr and Yahoo!. But we believe it’s safe to say this is a done deal – Tumblr has been purchased by Yahoo! for $1.1 billion.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Twenty-somethings everywhere cry out in horror
Yahoo! in talks to buy Tumblr (Updated!)
As if Yahoo! hasn’t already purchased and (arguably, I suppose) abused enough big name internet properties in the past, rumor has it that the company is now in talks to purchase none other than the blogging platform of choice for twenty-somethings all around the world, Tumblr. According to TIME Magazine, the deal is in the fairly late stages of talks and discussion and is currently set for approximately $1 billion dollars in a move that Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer obviously hopes will help bring the company out of its nearly decade long slump.
Tumblr is currently estimated to have a valuation of about $800 million, with CEO David Karp continuing to actively pursue a new round of venture capital that would add even more cash to that number. Tumblr has actually only made $125 million off of that investment however, suggesting that Tumblr continues to have the same problem as Twitter – figuring out how to make money off of blogging.
A Yahoo! spokesperson reportedly said that the company “does not comment on rumor and speculation”, however TechCrunch is also putting in its 2.5 cents “confirming” that Yahoo! is indeed in talks with Tumblr, but that Yahoo! also “literally talks to everyone”.
Update 05/17 @ 6:40 PM EST: Yahoo! has just announced that they will be holding a “product related press event” on Monday, May 20th. Reports indicate that Yahoo! will indeed announce that they have purchased Tumblr at the event.
Source: TIME
Microsoft Office “Gemini” to bring the revered office suite to the tablet era
The writing on the walls appears to be getting more clear and more frequent, as plans for Microsoft’s next version of their Office suite, codenamed “Gemini”, have begun to spread online like wildfire. According to some new reports, Microsoft’s “Gemini” update aims to bring the world’s most popular office suite to the tablet era with versions for Windows 8 “Metro”, iOS, and Android being developed concurrently.
Among the new tablet applications will also include updates developed specifically to take leverage of new Windows 8.1 (previously codenamed “Blue”) technologies. Microsoft is reportedly hoping to have the Windows 8 part of “Gemini” ready for a public preview by this year’s BUILD conference, where the new Office Metro applications will be showcased for the very first time.
iOS and Android users will reportedly have to wait a bit longer to get their fair share of an Office fix as Microsoft is reportedly not planning on announcing or releasing these versions of “Gemini” until late 2014 at the earliest. Microsoft might also be planning on releasing an updated Office for Mac suite sometime in 2014, which would make sense given their past release schedules, however we have nothing specific to report on that at the moment.
Finally, a real XCode competitor for Android
Google announces new “Android Studio” development environment
In one of the best kept secrets of this year’s I/O Developer Conference, Google has just announced a new tool exactly zero people were probably expecting – Android Studio, a brand new development environment similar to Apple’s XCode and Microsoft’s Visual Studio, entirely for Android applications. Android Studio comes with some pretty unique (and extraordinarily useful sounding) features, including live code updates, live graphical user interface rendering, support for differences between international versions of applications in one binary, and the ability to check and see what your application looks like on any of Google’s flagship Nexus devices before ever even hitting the “compile” button.
Google says that they have “big plans” for Android Studio going forward – it isn’t yet a complete replacement for whatever you’re using now, but Google promises that they’ll be adding functionality and features quickly as time goes on to make it your one stop shop for Android development.
Source: The Verge
Is an inexpensive Windows Phone worth it?
Video: Lumia 521 Review
Our secondary writer gets a Nokia Lumia 521 and attempts to review it the moment he gets it out of the
box. What does he think of it, and would he recommend it? Everything is explained in the above video.
Additions/Errata
- Adding to things I don’t like about the 521, I do not like how you have to have fingernails to pull the back case off.
- I played the wrong game in the game test portion – Galaga was fine, but when I tried playing Fruit Ninja there was a noticeable performance drop. It was not enough to prevent playing of Fruit Ninja, however.
- The phone is actually capable of running on AT&T as it supports their bands. The 521 must be SIM unlocked, which T-Mobile will do.
Apple doesn't appear interested
Microsoft desperately wants iTunes for Windows 8 to come
I’m going to let you in on a little secret – The iTunes ecosystem is the most massive and influential media ecosystem in the world. Whether a person has an iPod, an iPhone, a Mac, an AppleTV, and these days even just your run of the mill Windows PC – they’re very likely connected in some way to Apple and iTunes. For this reason, it shouldn’t be at all a surprise that, according to Windows CFO Tami Reller, Microsoft has been actively trying to convince Apple to release a version of iTunes native to Windows 8′s new “Metro” (or Modern or whatever you want to call it) environment. In an interview with CNN Money, Reller says that “iTunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It’s not for lack of trying.”
However, it appears that Apple is reluctant to embrace Microsoft’s new Metro filled future, apparently denying Microsoft’s requests for a Windows 8 native version. Apple may not be yet convinced that allocating resources to a product makes sense – Windows RT tablets have been under performing badly, and the traditional iTunes for Windows app works fine on Windows 8 on the classic “Desktop” interface.
Make company front and center, not your food
Don’t Instagram that: Researcher claims Instagram’ing your food can lead to real issues
If you’re anything like me, you seldom go out to a fancy restaurant and order a delicious dinner anymore without snapping at least one photo of your food. Instagram has largely been parodied by many as the social network for those who just want to show off their dinner, and – as much as we’d all hate to admit it – there certainly does seem to be a large amount of truth in that. But apparently this is cause for concern – according to Dr. Valerie Taylor, chief of psychiatry at Women’s College Hospital at the University of Toronto, posting photos of your food on Instagram isn’t just a little weird, it can also be a sign of larger social and dietary issues.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Dr. Taylor warns that when we take focus on taking photos of our food, everything else becomes disturbingly secondary. Once upon a time, a family would sit around the dinner table together at the end of a long day and be able to enjoy each other’s company, letting off some much needed steam and boding with those around us. But now that experience could potentially be in danger. “We take pictures of things that are important to us, and for some people, the food itself becomes central and the rest -– the venue, the company, et cetera — is background.”
And because food becomes the primary focus of interest for us, that can lead to some troubling issues with weight gain and healthy eating habits. “I see clients for whom food has become problematic, and they struggle to go out and not have food be the key element of all social interaction”, she says. “What they eat, when they ate, when they are going to eat again.” And the findings are there to back her up – recent studies have indicated that when you obsess over food, you eat more food; and when you eat more food, you gain more weight. Dietary issues arise when portion control becomes secondary.
Obviously, a person’s personality and habits create the cause for concern, not the photos. Instagram itself is just a photo sharing service, and photos of food are just photos of food. But when we begin to obsess over posting these photos on the service, or any other photography service; when we begin to prioritize rapid consumption of food over social bonding, that’s when things begin to go awry.
Source: The Huffington Post
Advertising campaign to focus on photography
Nokia advertises Lumia 928, a phone they have yet to announce, on their official website
Here’s an interesting one – despite the fact that Nokia is clearly launching at least one new handset at their upcoming press event, the Finnish based mobile company has apparently decided to jump the gun and has put up a promotional site advertising an as of yet unannounced Nokia Lumia 928 handset, complete with an image of the device. While we’re currently light on details, the phone itself physically seems to look a whole lot like the Nokia Lumia 920 we all know and love – no surprise there, given that recent leaks have indicated that the device is more or less just a 920 with a small spec bump and CDMA support, making it ready for a Verizon launch.
Nokia’s advert also appears to focus heavy on the camera, with the image portraying a Lumia 928 taking a high quality photo in a lower light situation. The promo reads “Capture the Highlights” before teasing us to “stay tuned” for more about the as of yet unannounced (or does this count as an announcement?) handset.
We’ll almost certainly know more about the Lumia 928 at Nokia’s May 14th press event, so keep an eye out for further news as we hear it.
Source: Nokia
Seems way too soon
“Surface 2″ announcement coming this June?
Here’s an interesting one – we’ve long expected a 7″ Microsoft Surface running Windows 8.1 to be making its way sometime this summer, but now DigiTimes, who has had a decent track record in the past, is claiming that Microsoft will be announcing both a 7″ Surface and second-generation Surface (both RT and Pro) tablets as soon as this June. The report indicates that Microsoft is planning on making this one of the major announcements at the company’s annual BUILD developer conference, which would make sense.
The Surface Pro will reportedly be getting a spec bump with Intel’s latest and greatest chips, Haswell, which has already been shown to perform very admirably when compared with the current generation Intel chips shoved inside today’s Surface Pro. The second generation Surface RT and upcoming 7″ Surface could easily use an updated mobile ARM SoC, as the Tegra 3 that the current Surface RT uses is quite old at this point; the most straightforward and expected update would probably be NVidia’s new Tegra 4.
Making a repeat performance
Tim Cook to headline the All Things Digital Conference 2013
The Wall Street Journal‘s Walt Mossberg has today announced that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook will be headlining the All Things Digital Conference again this year, offering his second interview in two years. Cook spoke about everything from the Mac, to the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, to Apple’s rumored entry into the television hardware market and beyond at last year’s conference. Though we wouldn’t expect Cook to make any significant product announcements or plans at the event, the interview should reveal some fascinating insight into the inner workings of a very secretive company, as well as Tim Cook himself.
Tim Cook rarely makes public appearances or does interviews, however he seems to be taking to the All Things Digital Conference just as his predecessor, Steve Jobs, had. Jobs spoke at All Things D six times in the last decade prior to his death in 2011.
Source: Walt Mossberg (Twitter)
Image Source: Engadget
Path eeks towards the dark side
Path accesses people’s address books, spams contacts at ungodly hours
Path, a small but growing social network in the same vein as Facebook located in the Bay Area, has been in the news before – back when the whole “should apps be able to access people’s address books without notifying the user?” debate was going on a good while ago, Path was at the center of the debate for doing exactly that. In response, Apple gave users the option to allow or disallow applications on a case-by-case basis access to their address books, which pleased most people on both sides of the debate. Now Path is in the news again for doing something equally sketchy with address books – contacting your friends and family at ungodly hours of the night with annoying and spam-y advertisements.
Path user Stephen Kenwright was notified by his some of his contacts this morning that they’d received some pretty sketchy text messages and calls from Path saying that they’ve “got photos to share” on the network, including two calls to Kenwright’s grandparents. The kicker? Kenwright had only installed Path the night before, and the app was only on the phone for a quick half an hour before he uninstalled it. But 30 minutes was all it took for the damage to be done.
Kenwright has posted on his Twitter that Path has been in contact with him after just a couple of hours in the media, which can only be a good sign. But still, this brings to light a huge breach in expectations and trust that users’ have in the services they use. I personally would not feel safe giving Path access to my address book after this, and I will certainly think twice about giving other apps I user the ability to search through it as well.
Via: TheNextWeb
Source: Branded3
Where will you be?
Microsoft to announce the next XBox on May 21st
Microsoft has reportedly just sent out invitations revealing that they will be announcing the next generation XBox console at a media event scheduled for May 21st. Though details are currently short, we can expect to hear about the specifications and functionality of the new XBox before more details are revealed at E3 this summer.
Image Source: The Verge
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