Smartphone makers should help stem the tide of iPhones being swiped in the state, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said today.

Schneiderman sent letters to the heads of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung asking them to help prevent theft and questioning why phones aren’t better protected from being resold on the black market.

He cited a rise in violent street crimes including phone thefts, often called “Apple picking.”

“I would like to know what Apple is doing to combat this growing public safety problem,” Schneiderman wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

He asked why “companies that can develop sophisticated handheld electronics, such as the products manufactured by Apple, cannot also create technology to render stolen devices inoperable and thereby eliminate the expanding black market.”

The NYPD has reported that smartphone thefts are increasingly on the rise in the city, even as other crime declines.

Thieves often swipe them from their owners’ hands – the subway is a frequent setting, just before doors close or on a platform – then wipe the devices and resell them for hundreds in cash.

According to Schneiderman’s office, between January and September of last year, 11,447 smartphones were reported swiped, an increase of 3,280 from the year before.

And too many of these robberies are violent, Schneiderman said.

This month, a woman was mugged at gunpoint in Crown Heights for her Android phone. In February, three people were stabbed on a Queens subway platform in a fight over the phone, and last April, a 26-year-old Museum of Modern Art chef was killed for his phone in the Bronx.

Schneiderman asked the companies to give information about what they tell consumers regarding safety. He also requested whether they financially benefit when customers have to shell out cash to replace stolen phones.

“Cracking down on violent and dangerous cell phone thefts is important for New Yorkers,” Schneiderman said. “The companies that dominate this industry have a responsibility to their customers to fulfill their promises to ensure safety and security.”

The post A.G. asks smartphone companies to help stop ‘Apple picking’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Social media giants lead the way on April Fool’s Day

Social media and search engine giants led the way with April Fool’s Day spoofs this morning as Google, Youtube and Twitter all got in on the act.

Youtube released a video Sunday evening saying that as of midnight it was closing down the service and choosing a winner for the best video ever posted on the site in its eight year history.

Tom Liston, communications director at YouTube, says in a video: “We are so close to the end. Tonight at midnight, YouTube.com will no longer be accepting entries. After eight amazing years, it’s finally time to review everything that has been uploaded to our site and begin the process of selecting a winner.”

The video features cameos from YouTube celebrities such as Antoine Dodson, David After Dentist and Charlie and his brother (from the video “Charlie Bit My Finger” video), all talking about their efforts to be named best clip on the website.

Twitter said that as of April 1 it was launching a two-tier service: a basic, free Twitter account that did not include vowels, and one that did, for a fee of $5 a month. The aim was to encourage more ‘dense’ forms of communication, said Twitter, although the letter ‘y’ could always be used for free.

Google launched its latest feature – treasure maps. Users were encouraged to go to Google maps and click an icon on the top right hand corner marked ‘Treasure’. The new ‘service’, said Google, used a spyglass in the Street View feature to reveal pirate-style treasure maps.

Elsewhere Sir Richard Branson revealed plans for the world’s first glass-bottomed plane; and the UK’s achingly right-on Guardian newspaper announced the launch of ‘augmented reality’ glasses that, when worn by its readers, would automatically filter out bigoted views.

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Fortune recently released a list of the Top 100 companies to work for. At the top of the list was Google, followed by the analytic software company SAS and CHG Healthcare Services in Salt Lake City. Each organization varies greatly in size and product, yet they are all developing a positive, successful environment.  Looking closer, it appears these companies are doing many of the same things right.

Fun and freedom are a common thread for the companies on Fortune’s list. “If it isn’t fun, no one is going to be there for very long. Team outings, ping pong tournaments — whatever fits your culture — create opportunities to laugh and to see each other outside of just your day-to-day professional titles,” explains Nick Worswick, corporate vice president and general manager, at Seamless.com.

CHG Healthcare, number three on the list, keeps things lively with employee talent shows and trivia tournaments. Casual get-togethers and friendly competition often aid in talent recognition and team-building.

These tactics keep employees happy, which is vital in the hospitality business. Coming in at No. 28 on Fortune’s list was Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, owners of Philadelphia’s Hotel Palomar and Hotel Monaco. “At Kimpton, fostering a culture of care with a focus on fun has proven to be a recipe for success,” explains Mike Depatie, CEO, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. “Our employees are our brand, which is why we place an incredible amount of emphasis on making them feel their best at work.”

The perks of being an employee

It’s safe to say we all want work to be fun, but fun isn’t the only thing that makes for happy employees.

“While perks like free cappuccino, rock-climbing walls and nap rooms are very nice, they remain perks,” says Doug Claffey, CEO of employee survey company, Workplace Dynamics. “What we have found is that while these benefits are nice to have, they don’t drive true employee satisfaction.” According to a 2012 Workplace Dynamics survey of 1.7 million workers, people most desire the chance to be heard as well as a “visionary and inspirational leader that employees are confident in.” It probably doesn’t hurt, though, if that leader wants to put in a foosball table.

The post They wouldn’t call it work if it was supposed to be fun, right? appeared first on Metro.us.

Mozilla, makers of the popular Firefox Internet browser, is preparing to challenge Google and Apple’s grip on smartphone software.

A new Firefox operating system for mobile devices is set for a July release after winning the backing of 13 wireless service providers around the globe, including Spain’s Telefonica, China Unicom and America Movil.

Mozilla is betting there’s room for a software developer-friendly mobile platform alongside Apple’s and Google’s Android, which together power the majority of mobile devices on the planet.

The new software is based on open Web standards and is capable of operating on devices with much lower hardware requirements than today’s existing crop of smarpthones, according to Mozilla.

Because the Firefox OS is open-source and Web-based, third-party developers will be free to sell mobile applications without needing to share revenue with Apple or Google.

“There’s a strategic imperative for the industry to have another OS that really is open and supports choice and competition,” said Mozilla’s Senior Vice President of Products, Jay Sullivan.

Mozilla will showcase some of the first hardware devices based on that software at the Mobile World Congress, taking place in Barcelona this week. Among the brands that have signed on to make devices based on Firefox OS are South Korea’s LG, China’s ZTE and Huawei.

Unlike Google and Apple’s operating systems, which are built from proprietary technology, Firefox OS uses the HTML5 standard that Web services are built with. That means anyone familiar with Web programming can create Firefox OS apps.

Whether a smartphone built on Web standards can deliver the kind of performance that consumers expect remains to be seen. Facebook famously stopped using HTML5 to develop its iPhone app last year, with Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg saying the technology couldn’t deliver acceptable quality and calling a decision to use HTML5 for its app one of Facebook’s “biggest mistakes.”

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The search giant and the non-profit Chelsea Improvement Co are making Internet access available outdoors in Chelsea, which is home to Google’s New York offices and several technology start-ups.

The neighborhood is also home to many students, as well as residents of one of the city’s public housing developments.

Google does not plan to extend the program, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

The company also provides free Internet access to the city of Mountain View, California, where its main campus is located.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer helped unveil the initiative.

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“We’ve reimagined Windows and we’ve reimagined the whole PC industry,” Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told Reuters Television early Thursday ahead of the launch.

Windows 8 devices and the company’s new Surface tablet, which aims to challenge Apple’s popular iPad head on, go on sale at midnight on Thursday.

Steven Sinofsky, head of Microsoft’s Windows unit and the driving force behind Windows 8, opened the launch event in New York in front about 1,000 media and PC industry partners.

He showed off Windows 8′s new look, but stressed that the system was built upon the base of Windows 7, Microsoft’s best-selling software that recently passed 670 million license sales.

The new design of Windows, which dispenses with the Start button and features square tiles for apps, may surprise some users. Initial demand appeared solid, but customers were wary.

Early reviews of the Surface tablet were mixed, with praise for its slick hardware, but concerns about battery life and limited software and applications available.

“We’ve seen steady pre-order sales on Windows 8 devices from early adopters,” said Merle McIntosh, senior vice president of product management at online electronics retailer Newegg. “However, we expect that most average consumers are waiting until after launch to make a purchase decision.”

Investors were uncertain about the prospects for success of Windows 8, but many feel a solid launch could help Microsoft’s stock, which has languished between $20 and $30 for much of the last decade.

Apple’s shares have significantly outperformed Microsoft’s over the past 10 years, and its market value is now more than double Microsoft’s. Microsoft was little changed at $27.87; Apple fell 0.7 percent at $612.73.

“This really is about debunking the notion that Microsoft is a dinosaur and they are relevant in a new climate of tablets and mobile,” said Todd Lowenstein, portfolio manager at HighMark Capital Management, which holds Microsoft shares.

“Extreme pessimism and almost utter failure is priced into the shares, so any kind of positive delivery on units, customer perception, would be really beneficial to the stock.”

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The 7.9 inch “iPad mini” marks Apple’s first foray into the smaller-tablet segment. Apple also announced a fourth-generation full-sized iPad with improvements in graphics and processing speeds, just two days before Microsoft is due to show off its own “Surface” tablet.

Apple hopes to beat back their charge onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in the larger 10-inch tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate.

Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off Tuesday’s event, held at the opulent California Theater in San Jose, by touting the just-launched iPhone 5 as the fastest-selling smartphone in history. He added that there are now 200 million devices running iOS6, the fastest upgrade rate he has seen since the mobile software was launched about a month ago.

Amazon’s Kindle and Google’s Nexus 7 have grabbed a chunk of the lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists. That has forced Apple into a space it has avoided and at times derided, analysts say.

A smaller tablet would mark the first device to be added to Apple’s compact portfolio under Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs just before his death.

“Apple sensed early that they had a real winner with the iPad and that has proven to be correct,” said Lars Albright, co-founder of mobile advertising startup SessionM and a former Apple ad executive. “They have a large market share, and to protect that market share they have got to be innovative.”

In a rarity for a company that tightly controls events, Apple live-streamed its invitation-only presentation – where it is expected to unveil the mini tablet – to Apple devices such as the iPad and Macintosh computers.

Apple Inc will sell its new 7.9-inch “iPad mini” for $329 and up, higher than some industry observers had expected.

The company said online sales will begin on Friday and shipments start a week later.

Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple was planning a less expensive version of the iPad to take on cheaper competing devices, a move they say might hurt its margins but prevent its rivals from dominating an increasingly important segment.

The post Apple unwraps mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google; will go on sale Friday appeared first on Metro.us.

The clip, based on a longer film, depicts the prophet as a fraud and philanderer and has been blamed for sparking violence at U.S. embassies in Cairo and Benghazi. The U.S. Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other American diplomats were killed in an attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi on Tuesday.

“This video – which is widely available on the Web – is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube,” Google said in a statement. “However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt, we have temporarily restricted access in both countries. Our hearts are with the families of the people murdered in yesterday’s attack in Libya.”

The 14-minute clip is a trailer for a film called the “Innocence of Muslims,” produced by a man who described himself as a California-based Israeli Jew named Sam Bacile.

Google has generally adopted a hands-off approach to political speech, although its “community guidelines” prohibit “hate speech,” including speech that attacks or demeans a group based on religion. The guidelines can be viewed here.

“We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions,” Google said in its statement. “This can be a challenge because what’s OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere.”

In the past, Google has selectively filtered videos that violate local laws.

On Wednesday, Afghanistan’s general director of Information Technology at the Ministry of Communications, Aimal Marjan, told Reuters, “We have been told to shut down YouTube to the Afghan public until the video is taken down.”

The post VIDEO: Google blocks YouTube clip of Muhammad film in Egypt, Libya; keeps it online appeared first on Metro.us.

Upon further observation, though, we are terrified. Is the future of this world really going to be everyone walking around with Geordi La Forge-style eye wear, unable to escape technology for a mere moment because it is literally attached to your face?! Worse, what if glasses are just not your most flattering look?!

If you’re thinking, “Well, you can always just take them off. Then it will be over,” consider how difficult it already is to put down your cell phone for more than a few minutes, or push yourself away from your laptop.

If Google glasses are the future, you can bet we’ll all be jumping on the high-tech four-eyed bandwagon faster than the speed of DSL — especially if we’re using the glasses for things like playing music and making calls, like the video suggests. There will be no escaping it, it will spread to all of us eventually (Just like Facebook — remember your old college friend who vowed to never join that “pointless” social network? Yeah, well he just signed your wall).

While arguably frightening, the concept is also extremely intriguing. Take a look at the video below and judge for yourself. Would you wear Google glasses?

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– CNN’s Tom Foreman is a regular on “AC360°”/www.ac360.com and “T

The post Google privacy: Spies in the back of my head appeared first on Metro.us.

It’s not the first time Google has been able to obtain personal information, but the new policy will allow the tech giant to get your search history or other shared information through any Google account (Google+, Gmail, Google Chrome, YouTube) and use it to expose you to ads that might be tailored towards your personal preferences. As you could imagine, it might get pretty embarrassing for some people, considering search history alone.  

There are some measures to take, though, to avoid having your information accessed by Google for advertising purposes. Consider taking these steps, posted by the American Civil Liberties Union:

– Sign into your Google account

– Click the dropdown menu next to your name at the top of the screen. Choose account settings.

– Find the services section. Under services, choose “view, enable, disable web history.” Then click “Go to Web History.” Choose “Remove all web history.”  

You’ll then see a box that says “Web history is paused.” This means Google can still see your search history and information, but it will not be associated with your accounts, preventing any targeted advertising to you.

Google has angered thousands of its users with the policy. The ACLU has an online petition against information sharing by companies like Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

“As stewards of our digital lives, companies like Google should be the first line of defense when it comes to keeping your private information private,” the ACLU said on its site.

The post What to do before Google’s new privacy policy starts Thursday appeared first on Metro.us.

In a fierce food age, where mainstream home-style dishes are forced to compete with the likes of trendy, stylish edamame, how has green bean casserole managed to hold its own, remaining as a staple on our holiday dinner tables?

You tell us! None of us eat it! (Seriously, readers: We are mystified by this dish’s popularity. Please someone explain it to us. When we see people make it, it just looks like gloop.)

If you are one of those perverted green-bean advocates, we’ve included one of our favorite recipes from Food.com, just for you. Enjoy it, seriously:

Green bean casserole

– 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

The post Why is green bean casserole so popular at this very moment, or at all? appeared first on Metro.us.

She’ll be waiting for a while.

According to a recent study by Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries Project, students are turning more to internet search engines and less to physical research.

The three-year study consisted of interviews with librarians, students and other campus faculty at five universities. They found that students often don’t know where to turn when it comes to doing real research within the library. In fact, students prefer to just enter a few key words into a search engine rather than pour through academic journals and encyclopedias. Does that really surprise anyone?

The concept of using a librarian for academic assistance is apparently foreign to the modern student, researchers told USA Today. Not good, especially since the study found that students were completely lost when it comes to using library research materials.  

The researchers said they were surprised by “the extent to which students appeared to lack even some of the most basic information literacy skills that we assumed they would have mastered in high school.”

Ouch.

But it’s just so easy to Google stuff!! Who needs books!? Apparently, students mentioned Google 115 times during the interviews for the study, more than twice as many times as any other research method.

Students aren’t completely to blame, though, for their lack of library prowess. Researchers also point the finger at librarians for overestimating students’ knowledge of research techniques, often resulting in conversations that leave students feeling intimidated.

Silly librarians! Where ever did you get the idea that students would know how to use a card catalog?

In a realization that shocks us all, Google isn’t the answer to everything (gasp!). The absence of real research knowledge among students could, in fact, hinder their future careers.

One of the researchers told the Australian news website The Conversation, “This isn’t just about doing academic research, but also about being a savvy, reflective, and critical consumers of information.”

Hear that, kids? You can’t just Google things for the rest of your life! Well, you probably can. But you should still hit the books anyway.

For more about researching your way to college success, visit EducationOption.

The post Study: Has Google replaced the library? appeared first on Metro.us.

The company aims to make about 20 purchases in 2011, up from 10 last year and one in 2009, Vaughan Smith, Facebook’s director of corporate development, said in an interview.

Facebook is betting that a focus on design will entice people to spend more time on the site, while adding mobile services that can cater to the growing number using handheld devices. As it grapples with competition from Google and Twitter, Facebook also must bolster its system so the site runs smoothly amid rapid growth. The company has made 13 acquisitions so far this year, including adding a mobile group-messaging service it rolled out to users this month.

Facebook makes money from advertising and by taking a commission when software developers sell virtual goods on the site. As a closely held company, Facebook doesn’t disclose financials. A person with knowledge of the matter said in May that the company is likely to generate more than $2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization this year.

The post Saving Facebook: The social netwar appeared first on Metro.us.

Google’s biggest foray into hardware comes weeks after a failed attempt to buy patents from bankrupt Nortel, and gives it an intellectual property library in wireless telephony to wage war on Apple and Microsoft.

But in buying Motorola, the Internet giant risks alienating the hardware partners that license its free Android software. Google CEO Larry Page sought to calm the jitters by stressing yesterday that Android will remain open to all.

After being shut out of Nortel deal, Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond wrote a blog post accusing Microsoft, Apple and Oracle of colluding to buy up patents and curtail growth of its Android mobile operating system. Page says Motorola’s strong patent portfolio will protect Android from “anti-competitive threats.”

The post Google gets hands on Motorola cell patents appeared first on Metro.us.

The steps

Here are three things you can do right now to start building your personal brand on Google+.

1. Complete your Google profile. Google profiles have been around for a long time, but most people disregarded them.  Now with Google+, your profile plays a more important role in defining who you are on Google’s social network. Fill out all of your information completely and make sure it is consistent with the rest of your Web presence.

2. Create your Circles to distinguish your contacts. It’s important that you separate your professional contacts from your personal contacts, so that when you publish content the right people are receiving information you’re comfortable sharing — and it’s more relevant to them.

3. Use the “Sparks” feature to start discussions around your expertise. Add your interests based on the types of content you typically monitor. Then, when you click on each “Spark,” you will have the latest news that you can share with different Circles. Think of Sparks as a real-time search engine built on your interests. By sharing niche content through Sparks, you can build your brand as a subject-matter expert in your field.

– Dan Schawbel is the author of “Me 2.0,” the Managing Partner of Millennial Branding, LLC and a personal branding expert.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages.

The post How to make Google+ work for your career appeared first on Metro.us.

Chad Miller, a Columbia University alumnus who utilizes social media in both his academic and extracurricular pursuit, says Google+ might find its home in the classroom. “A professor can create a Circle composed of his/her students. Within five minutes, everyone can be sharing links, posting pictures, embedding videos…all related to the topic at hand. You simply drag items into your status box, and they are ready to be shared.”

The Hangout feature in Google+ could be the future of extra help or tutoring. It allows up to 10 people to meet in a video chatroom. Even the laziest of college students will no longer have an excuse to avoid seeking homework help.

Miller says, “If a professor senses that many students are having the same difficulty with a specific part of an assignment/project, or if a certain response would benefit a larger amount of students, the professor can simply let students know that there will be a ‘hangout’ study group at a specific time.”

The Sparks feature is another way students can connect about classes and projects. Classmates can share information with just a click within circles of peers who might share the same majors, fraternities, teams or clubs.

It’s those kinds of options that could entice professors to use Google+ over Facebook. If Google+ is where students are logging on to connect with classmates and find information about projects, they could be more inclined to stay there to socialize, too. Hold on, Facebook users- if the word “dislike” automatically pops in to your head, don’t worry. Miller doesn’t foresee people saying TTYL to Facebook just yet. Instead, he predicts they will be able to co-exist. After all, Pepsi and Coke do it. Chevy and Ford do it. Even Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan do it. Still, the question remains… can there only be one social media mogul?  

The post Could Google+ be students’ new hangout? appeared first on Metro.us.

“On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the propaganda bureau of the State Council, you are welcome at Baidu’s headquarters,” ironically proclaims Kaiser Kuo, a former member of Chinese heavy metal band Tang Dynasty and now Baidu’s director for international communications.

“I know a lot of foreign journalists like you who assume wrongly that we are ruled by the Party. How come?” asks the suited 40-something — who still sports a silky, rocker-style mane of hair. “Remember that we are listed on the NASDAQ exchange and the great majority of our shareholders are from western countries.”

Baidu, China’s most popular search engine, has a strong reputation for heavily censoring its search results when it comes to politics, human rights or even organ trafficking. Yet the company, which controls some 75 percent of searches in the world’s biggest Internet market, encourages its users to download books and MP3s for free via its dedicated platforms. Last March, forty Chinese novelists published an open letter to denounce Baidu’s attitude toward intellectual property.

But for the Chinese, Baidu has the hallmarks of an organization worth working for. Every morning at 9:30, 10,000 young geeks rush to the search engine’s headquarters in northwest Beijing, many proudly carrying their Baidu backpacks offered at the last corporate party.

Inside the Beijing HQ, Baidu’s ground floor reminds us of fashion designer Pierre Cardin’s uber-
futuristic “bubble house” in southern France: five big white round rooms dedicated to relaxation or training lessons.

Baidu’s staff look pretty happy and laid-back. Take Xiao Wong, a gifted 25-year-old senior Web pro­gram­mer who has recently been awarded employee of the week. Last year, he was junior programmer at Chinese microblog Sina Weibo. Why did he quit?

“Less pressure and more money here,” he says. A Western-style cafeteria and a sophisticated gym with TV screens playing dating shows are just a handful of perks that lured him to the company.

Even if Baidu won’t let Google expand in China (only the Hong Kong version is available for Chinese), its headquarters obviously tries to look as cool as the Googleplex, Google’s corporate hub in California.

“We love them, they have a good brand and good values,” seems to be the only answer allowed among Baidu’s legions.

My journey in China’s dream factory stops here as I am not authorized to visit the censorship department, nor allowed to speak to any of the seven Baidu guys who can change search algorithms. In the main hall, a huge LCD screen displays millions of search requests in real time. I am not allowed to photograph it, as I am told “some people will think we’re watching our Internet users.”

Before we leave, we are introduced to Shuoba, the company’s latest Twitter-like platform, on top of Baidu’s popular 3-D mapping, shopping, news, audio or picture services. Surprisingly, complete ID details are required to log in.  

Is it imposed by law?

“Not yet,” Kuo says. “But we think the public security bureau may need this information if they want to identify harmful chatters.”  

After 10 days of traffic loss, Baidu eventually gave up the ID idea. Totalitarian ideas are not always good for business.

Is Baidu dating Facebook?

Facebook is still blocked in China, but reports are rife that the company is teaming up with Baidu to release a similar social networking website in China.

In April, several meetings with Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and Baidu CEO Robin Li have indicated negotiations to create a Chinese Facebook, though no start date has been established.

Tapping into the Chinese market will not be easy given the country’s stringent Internet laws. Websites that do not adhere to China’s self-censorship rules, such as YouTube, are immediately blocked from the country’s ever-growing Internet users. 

The post How do you say ‘Google’ in Chinese? Try Baidu appeared first on Metro.us.

One short decade after the dot-com bubble, is another bubble in the making? “If there’s a new dotcom bubble, it’s a lot different from the original,” says Harry McCracken, Silicon Valley’s leading blogger. “In the old days, companies went public before they proved they had a viable business, and then went bankrupt when it turned out they didn’t. LinkedIn has been around for eight years, so its IPO is hardly premature, whatever you think of the valuation.”

But don’t expect Silicon Valley’s new dot-com entrepreneurs to collectively imitate LinkedIn. “It’s more likely that they’re acquired by a larger company,”?McCracken predicts. “And here there may well be a bubble effect. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and others are buying companies for a lot of money. It’s not always clear how they intend to recoup their investments.”

In other tech news

IBM surged past old rival Microsoft in market value for the first
time since April 1996, marking the latest twist in the fluctuating
fortunes of two of the world’s most storied
technology companies.

IBM ruled the computer industry for decades until it hired the
tiny, unknown Microsoft to provide an operating system for its new range
of personal computers in the early 1980s.

Bill Gates parlayed that breakthrough into industry dominance,
proving his theory that software would be more valuable than hardware.
reuters

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The iPhone- and iPad-maker’s brand is now worth $153 billion, almost half Apple’s market capitalization, says the annual BrandZ study of the world’s top 100 brands.

Apple’s portfolio of coveted consumer goods propelled it past Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company last year.

Peter Walshe, global brands director of Millward Brown, says Apple’s meticulous attention to detail, along with an increasing presence of its gadgets in corporate environments, have allowed it to behave differently from other consumer-electronics makers.

“Apple is breaking the rules in terms of its pricing model,” he told Reuters. “It’s doing what luxury brands do, where the higher price the brand is, the more it seems to underpin and reinforce the desire.”

Facebook entered the top 100 at number 35 with a brand valued at $19.1 billion.

The post Take that, Google: Apple now world’s most prized brand appeared first on Metro.us.

Yahoo said yesterday it will cut 1 percent of a global work force that stood at about 14,100 at the end of the third quarter, just weeks after announcing it would lay off about 4 percent, or roughly 600 people, from its work force.

In an official blog post yesterday, Google said that 2011 will set a record in terms of hiring — surpassing 2007, when it added more than 6,000 people to its roster, and last year, when it tacked on about 4,500.

The post Google hires, but Yahoo fires appeared first on Metro.us.