Business Tech

Microsoft hires former Clinton adviser Penn as corporate VP

Microsoft has hired a new vice president with strong ties to Washington and public relations.

Mark Penn will join the company as corporate vice president for strategic and special projects. Leading a small team focused on "key consumer initiatives," Penn will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft will rely on its new hire's experience in "strategic development, branding, and positioning" to come up with "breakthrough" ideas designed to meet consumers' changing needs, the company said today.

Dubbed "one of the best-known political and campaign strategists in Washington" according to The … Read more

iPad still a destination for fun and games, study finds

Apple's iPad can do an awful lot. But most iPad owners would prefer to stick to Web surfing and entertainment, according to a new study.

Research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners today released the results of a study it conducted of more than 1,000 iPad buyers between December 2011 and April 2012. CIRP asked those recent buyers what they're most likely to do with their slate and found that 40 percent of respondents indicated they surf the Web on the iPad, leading all possible activities.

Watching video, looking at photos, or listening to music, lumped together as &… Read more

Marissa Mayer hinted at what she'll do at Yahoo -- in 2010

Yahoo's new CEO Marissa Mayer might have tipped her hand back in 2010 on what she has planned for her new employer.

At that time, Mayer, then a Google executive, sat down for an interview with TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. During that interview, Arrington asked her what she would do if she were running Yahoo. Her first response? It would be a "difficult job."

From there, Mayer dug into Yahoo's decisions at the time, saying that then-CEO Carol Bartz's idea to ink a search deal with Microsoft "was smart in many ways," though … Read more

Nokia promises 'something amazing' on Sept. 7

Photos snapped outside Nokia's currently-closed Helsinki store proclaim that "something amazing" will happen on Sept. 7. The message seems to indicate that the store itself will reopen for business on that date. But the implication is that Nokia will unveil something much bigger.

Other images posted by blogging site My Nokia Blog tell customers to "prepare to be amazed at all the new things in your Nokia store." The company is also inviting people to visit the Web site NokiaGraffiti.me next week to discover more. The site is currently unavailable.

The timing of this … Read more

As cash runs low, WikiLeaks finds way to accept plastic again

Following a concerted effort to starve Wikileaks of cash by cutting off its sources of funding, the controversial publisher of government and corporate secrets has found a way to once again accept donations via credit cards.

WikiLeaks yesterday announced that it has launched "a new payment gateway" that relies upon the French credit card system Carte Bleue. That system, which works globally with the Visa/MasterCard system that's currently blockading WikiLeaks, is "contractually barred from directly cutting off merchants," according to the organization. A French not-for-profit has taken advantage of that loophole and helped WikiLeaks … Read more

This is not the future of Windows 8 convertibles

In case you missed it (which is likely), Fujitsu has entered the Windows 8-ready fray with a convertible "tablet PC."

You probably don't remember tablet PCs because they weren't big with consumers. Nor businesses for that matter.

But they've been around for at least a decade. For instance, there's the Compaq-branded Tablet PC TC1000 that Hewlett-Packard launched in 2002.

Or the more recent -- relatively speaking -- HP EliteBook Tablet PC series.

So now, in 2012, in the age of the svelte, 903g Microsoft Surface tablet, we have the 13-inch Fujitsu Lifebook T902 (PDF). … Read more

Buying an ultrabook? Consider the Windows 8 Metro factor

An ultrabook six months from now will make today's designs seem so last year. You can thank Windows 8 and the Metro interface for that.

The next Windows operating system -- which we now know is slated for release October 26 -- will bring touch screens to laptops. So, the standard ultrabook today sans a touch screen may seem a bit frumpy by comparison when new designs hit for the holiday season.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said yesterday that "more than 40" touch-enabled Windows 8-based ultrabooks are in the pipeline. That would include designs like the Acer Aspire S7.… Read more