Line between devices and cloud services fades as online storage allows users to switch without losing data by Craig Timberg for the Washington Post
After security researcher Jeffrey Paul upgraded the operating system on his MacBook Pro last week, he discovered that several of his personal files had found a new home – on the cloud. The computer had saved the files
Google’s on a mission to reinvent email. Its weapon: Inbox, a standalone app that launched last week. Inbox aims to make email more useful with several new tools. It surfaces relevant content (photos, for example) and information from within individual messages so you don’t have to open anything to get at what you really want. Bundles sort your messages for you, letting you find important messages faster. Plus you can add your own reminders that work with Google Now. But there’s something important that Inbox isn’t: Gmail. Although the whole…
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The diverse and robust pool of female founders and tech execs at Fortune’s 40 under 40 party proves positive for Silicon Valley’s future. Editing Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list is, every year, an education in ambition, disruption and extraordinary achievement. The process takes months of reporting, lots of debate and discussion and a healthy amount of handwringing as our deadline looms. And then comes the fun. Every year, we hold a giant party for the 40 Under 40 and a few hundred other movers and shakers in the San Francisco…
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Unauthorized cloud-based software is proliferating in the workplace, causing regulatory and security challenges for companies that often don’t even know their employees are using it. Some of the services are well known, such as Dropbox, for file sharing, and the multipurpose social-media site Facebook . But at some companies, employees are tapping hundreds of cloud-based apps to perform functions ranging from Web conferencing to conducting surveys to sharing photos. Skyhigh Networks, a provider of services that track and control cloud apps, surveyed more than 350 large companies this year and…
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Russia and China look set to sign a bilateral cyber security agreement next month in a move which could further isolate the US on the world stage. Russian newspaper Kommersant, whose owner has ties to Vladamir Putin, cited sources “close to the Kremlin” as saying the “two-sided agreement” would probably be ready by November 10, when the president will be in Beijing to attend the APEC summit. Putin and China’s president Xi Jinping are also expected to hold a joint address on information security during the visit, the report said. The…
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Facebook has been blocked by Chinese authorities for over five years, but company founder Mark Zuckerberg appears to be on a new charm offensive to crack the massive market. In a move that has sent tongues wagging across China and around the globe, Zuckerberg on Wednesday showed off his nascent Chinese language skills in Beijing by participating in a 30-minute question-and-answer session conducted entirely in Mandarin. When asked about Facebook’s plans in China, Zuckerberg said the company already has a presence in the country, focused on helping Chinese companies grow in…
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For now, Luckey admits, the video game industry is the best place for pioneers to work on VR. “It’s the only industry with the talent to create 3D environments,” he says. Oculus Rift’s Palmer Luckey Wants Virtual Reality To Disrupt Your Industry Too Palmer Luckey is a guy with a definite vision, one of virtual reality transforming not only how video games are played in the living room—but also changing the way teachers conduct their classroom, how doctors perform surgeries at a hospital. Consider, Luckey says, the opportunity of allowing every…
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NEW YORK (AP) — It’s not just big businesses like JPMorgan Chase, Target and Home Depot that get hacked. Small companies suffer from intrusions into their computer systems, too. The costs associated with computer and website attacks can run well into the thousands and even millions of dollars for a small company. Many small businesses have been attacked — 44%, according to a 2013 survey by the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group. Those companies had costs averaging $8,700. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said the attack on its computer servers…
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BERLIN: Google boss Eric Schmidt said on Monday his company’s biggest competition as a search engine came from e-commerce giant Amazon, not from its traditional rivals. In remarks prepared for delivery in Berlin, Schmidt hit back at accusations that Google as the world’s biggest search engine enjoyed unchallenged market dominance, saying that the sector was targeting the company on several fronts. “Many people think our main competition is Bing or Yahoo. But, really, our biggest search competitor is Amazon,” he said. “People don’t think of Amazon as search, but if…
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President Obama said late Thursday that he was “unequivocally committed” to net neutrality and firmly opposed to any proposal that would let companies buy an Internet fast lane to deliver their content more quickly to consumers. The statements, at a town-hall meeting in Santa Monica, Calif., on innovation, gave a strong signal to Mr. Obama’s Democratic appointees on the Federal Communications Commission that he wants them to heed the overwhelming public sentiment expressed in 3.7 million comments sent to the commission in recent months concerning a set of rules proposed…
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