Survey consumers want to talk to Apple Sony Microsoft: related news

Survey: consumers want to talk to Apple, Sony, Microsoft

imageFifty-five percent of consumers want an ongoing dialogue with brands, according to a recent survey conducted by ExpoTV, a video-based social network specifically created for consumers. The survey explored how direct consumer engagement creates brand advocacy.

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Psystar Will Countersue Apple

An anonymous reader sends us to CNet for news that Apple clone maker Pystar plans to countersue Apple. We discussed Apple's suit last month. "Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices. Miami-based Psystar... will sue Apple under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple's tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is 'an anticompetitive restraint of trade,' according to [an] attorney... Psystar is requesting that the court find Apple's EULA void, and is asking for unspecified damages."

Two Black Hat Talks On Apple Security Cancelled

An anonymous reader writes "Two separate Apple security talks have been nixed at the last minute from next week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The Washington Post's Security Fix blog reports that Apple researcher Charles Edge was to present on flaws in Apple's FileVault encryption plan, but asked Black Hat to cancel the talk, citing confidentiality agreements with Apple. Then on Friday, Apple pulled its security engineering team out of a planned public discussion on the company's security practices — which would have been a first for Apple. 'Marketing got wind of it, and nobody at Apple is ever allowed to speak publicly about anything without marketing approval,' a Black Hat spokesman said."

Microsoft's Annual Report Reveals OSS Mistakes

mjasay writes "Microsoft's most recent annual report suggests that the company is increasingly coming to grips with open source, yet also seems determined to perpetuate myths about open source that poorly serve it and its shareholders. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has suggested before that 'free software means no free soda' for Microsoft employees; but this is perhaps the first time that Microsoft has managed to enshrine its ignorance in a public document. In the annual report, Microsoft makes two primary false claims about open source: 1) Open source companies don't invest in research and development and instead largely free-ride on Microsoft's patents and copyrights; and 2) Open source projects don't innovate and instead mimic Microsoft's products.

Microsoft and Apache - What's the Angle?

A week ago, we discussed Microsoft's contribution to the Apache Foundation. Now, Bruce Perens has written an analysis "exploring the new relationship of Microsoft and the Apache project, how it works as an anti-Linux move on Microsoft's part, and what some of the Open Sourcers are going to do about having Microsoft as a rather untrustworthy partner." In particular, he notes: "...Microsoft can still influence how things go from here on. If they have to live with open source, the Apache project is Microsoft's preferred direction. Apache doesn't use the dreaded GPL and its enforced sharing of source-code. Instead, the Apache license is practically a no-strings gift, with a weak provision against patent lawsuits as its most relevant term. Microsoft can take Apache software and embrace and enhance, providing their own versions of the project's

Apple's Market Cap Exceeds Google

Lawrence Person writes "Mac Daily News was one of many Apple-followers to note that Apple Inc.'s market capitalization exceeded Google today. That means that the combined value of all Apple's outstanding shares of stock exceeded the combined value of all Google's outstanding shares of stock. Apple's stock is worth $157 billion and change vs. Google's $156 billion. Other companies Apple has surpassed in market cap include Cisco, HP, and Intel. Also, Apple is now worth 3 times the value of Dell Computer, despite Dell's founder and CEO declaring over a decade ago that if he ran Apple, he'd 'shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.'"

FSF's "Defective By Design" Targets Apple Genius Bars

mjasay writes "At OSCON this year, MySQL's Brian Aker made this bold statement: 'Microsoft is irrelevant ... We're more worried about Apple.' The Free Software Foundation appears to have caught the hint, and has turned its attention to all-things-Apple with a 'denial of service' attack on the Apple Genius Bars. The idea is to completely book all Genius Bars and then ask the 'geniuses,' over and over again, a few questions about Apple's proprietary ways (while, apparently, real customers with support issues are left to flounder). Lost in this anti-Apple fervor, however, is the Free Software Foundation's complete and conscious failure to protect the web. Richard Stallman has long felt that software that doesn't sit on his desktop doesn't affect his freedom, but isn't the opposite true? Why is the FSF focused on Apple when the bigger concern

Apple Not Selling iPhones in Canadian Apple Stores on Launch Day

Apple's apparently so fed up with the high pricing that Rogers is shoving into Canadian iPhone owners' faces that there will be no iPhone 3Gs sold at Apple Stores in Canada this Friday. This follows up Apple's previous action of diverting stock from Canada to Europe, and really sets the tone that they're unhappy with Rogers' $60 for 150 minutes, 75 SMS messages and 400MB data plan. So what's the deal? Canadians who still want one will have to line up early to get one of the 10-20 units per store that Rogers is getting. If we were you, we'd stay home and wait for Rogers to admit defeat, stop slapping its customers in the face and lower its prices. [Apple Insider]

Greenpeace ranks 'greenies' anew: Sony Ericsson tops survey; Nicrosoft and Nintendo scores still down

Jul. 7--Swedish cellular phone maker Sony Ericsson tops the 8th edition of Greenpeace "Guide to Greener Electronics," the environmental group said Friday even as other companies who previously scored high in the quarterly survey have seen their ranking plummet. In a press conference in Makati on Thursday, Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau Baconguis said that aside from Sony Ericsson, Japanese electronics giant Sony also scored high in the latest survey.

Browser: Sony, Apple do well in survey; Kodak surprises in 1 category

Aug. 3--Apple and Sony found their way to the top of a number of categories in PC Magazine's 21st annual readers' choice survey, which was released online last week.

Google over Microsoft: Consumers rank Corporate America's reputation in Harris survey of 60 most visible companies

Google over Microsoft: Consumers rank Corporate America's reputation in Harris survey of 60 most visible companies

Apple After Jobs

recoiledsnake writes "The connection between Apple and Steve Jobs is unlike any other brand and CEO relationship in corporate America, maybe the world. While Bill Gates has successfully transitioned himself away from his day job at Microsoft, can Apple do without Jobs at all? Once word started circulating that Jobs may be ill, Apple stock took a considerable hit, dropping more than $10 a share. And when Mr. Jobs was absent from last week's quarterly earnings conference call, the questions started again — and the stock fell again. What does this mean for corporate users of Apple for whom switching costs are high? Can Apple continue innovating in Job's absence?"

Apple (AAPL) 'No Comment' on iPhone 3G Issues

It looks a like a week's worth of bad press has finally worn down Apple (AAPL: sentiment, chart, options) bulls, as the shares are poised to close today with a loss of nearly 2%. Meanwhile, the media's full-court press isn't letting up. In the latest report to seek answers in regard to the company's response to growing concerns about the iPhone 3G's connection issues, all ABC News was able to get from Apple was "No comment." What's more, the issues are starting to take a toll on die-hard Apple fans, with ABC quoting one loyal user as saying, "I am a true Apple fan, so this is nothing to make Apple look bad. ... I think Apple should come out and tell people what's going on with these phones."

Is Piracy Apple's Biggest Problem With The IPhone In China?

A couple of stories have come out recently discussing Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) chance of success in China, concluding that the biggest problem is the large extent of piracy in China and its quasi-support by the government. MacNewsWorld writes that Apple chases pirates just as seriously as—for example—Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), but is a lot quieter about it. I’m not going to talk about the Mac business, only the iPhone because that’s our focus. It’s suggested that one iPhone clone, the Meizu M8, has been around for more than a year but the company seems to be struggling to release it… “I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t something going on behind the scenes with Apple,” according to writer Mike Elgan. Possibly, but this shows Apple to have more leverage than a lot of other big companies.

Microsoft To Put Office Online as Equipt for Consumers

Microsoft will put its Microsoft Office suite online as Microsoft Equipt, joining Windows Live Mail, Messenger, OneCare and Photo Gallery. A one-year subscription for three home computers will cost $69.99. The Microsoft Equipt license bars business use and the Equipt suite does not include Outlook, which is popular among small businesses.

Some Developers Leaving Google For Microsoft

recoiledsnake writes "We have heard about lots of talented developers jumping ship from Microsoft to Google, but is the trend beginning to turn? Dare Obasanjo (a Microsoft employee) writes about a few high-profile people picking Microsoft over Google — either making the jump directly, or choosing Microsoft after receiving offers at both. Sergey Solyanik is back to Microsoft and he primarily gripes about the culture and lack of career development at Google. He writes, 'Everything is pretty much run by [engineering] — PMs and testers are conspicuously absent from the process. Google as an organization is not geared — culturally — to delivering enterprise class reliability to its user applications.' Danny Thorpe, who was the key architect of Google Gears, is back at Microsoft for his second stint working on developer technologies rel

Technology Communism and How Microsoft Could Proceed in a Post-iPhone World

Technology communism is here, and the charge has been led by Apple with its tight control on software, hardware, approved accessories, and third-party applications that have been certified for use on its machines. In fact, the control that Apple exerts on its ecosystem is so strong that I would deem it technology communism. It regulates what applications get approved through the application store, and who can use its mark with the "Made for iPod" certification. The integration between software and hardware, focus on industrial design, and developing for the user experience has been a successful strategy for Apple, a strategy that Microsoft has followed with its Zune portable media players. In fact, Microsoft has been alluding to Apple's success without mentioning the fruit company and its notorious products in its 10K filing with the Secu

Microsoft starts to talk: Engineering Windows 7 blog is live (Updated)

Microsoft has thus far been very tight-lipped on Windows 7; everything that we know about Vista's successor—which is very, very little—has been carefully disclosed to us by Microsoft. The software giant has already been heavily criticized for not having any public channels of communication open. Even Microsoft's own partners have complained that the company isn't telling them much, and they're the ones that really have to know the details so they can align their products accordingly. Anyway, it seems that the stance over at Microsoft is changing, but very slowly: the Engineering Windows 7 blog (E7 for short) is now live.

Sony T700 & the 15mm thick Sony T77 - two new Cyber-shot cameras for release next month

It's all about the cameras today with Sony leading out two new compact piccie grabbers from their photographic stables. Part of the Cyber-shot range, they go by the names of the Sony Cyber-shot T700 and the Sony Cyber-shot T77 and just to confuse matters even more, Sony Ericsson brought out the their new T700 mobile today. Yeah, that caused a little fun for a while.

Hackers 'jailbreak' the iPhone 3G

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Sony PS3 Update Locks Consoles, Web Site Attacked

Sony has taken its PlayStation 3 firmware update offline after some users reported it locked their PS3 consoles. Sony says the problem only affected a few consumers, but the publicity could hurt. Also affecting Sony's image is an SQL-injection attack on Sony's popular PS3 Web site that offers a fake computer scan.

Sony PS3 Update Locks Consoles

Sony has taken its PlayStation 3 firmware update offline after some users reported it locked their PS3 consoles. Sony says the problem only affected a few consumers, but the publicity could hurt. Also affecting Sony's image is an SQL-injection attack on Sony's popular PS3 Web site that offers a fake computer scan.

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