Business

For the first time in almost a year, the price of a share of Apple Inc. has slipped below $500. The reason: the Cupertino, California-based firm recently cut back on its orders for components of its latest iPhone. Apple recently reduced the number ... of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens it wants manufactured for its iPhone 5 smartphone, which launched in September, 2012 . iPhone Suppliers to Cut Production in Half Originally, Apple had requested its suppliers provide approximately 65 million of the iPhone screens. Now, it appears the firm requires only half that many. These manufacturing ... (view more)

A hacker has figured out how to run Windows 8 software on the Windows RT operating system, installed on Microsoft's Surface and other tablet computers. According to the hacker, any differences between Windows RT and Windows 8 are entirely artificial ... and for marketing purposes only. Windows RT is described as similar to Windows 8 but is supposedly designed exclusively for portable devices built around ARM processors. These chips can greatly extend battery life, but are said to lack the computing power needed for a robust operating system like Windows 8. Users of Windows RT notice one major ... (view more)

Microsoft says it has now sold more than 60 million licenses for its new Windows 8 operating system (OS). However, some observers still contend consumers are receiving the new OS more slowly than they did Windows 7. Windows Chief Marketing Officer ... and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller recently made her announcement about sales of the new OS at a J.P. Morgan Tech Forum that was part of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Reller claimed the 60 million Windows 8 licenses include those sold directly to home and business users, as well as upgrades and bulk sales to computer ... (view more)

People looking for proof that Microsoft is having a hard time convincing consumers to choose its Surface tablet over the Apple iPad can point to the recent actions of a California cat burglar, who broke into a Microsoft Silicon Valley office and ... stole only Apple products. According to reports, the burglar entered Microsoft's Mountain View, California, research and development center sometime during the company's Christmas break (December 19 to December 26, 2012) and stole five Apple iPads worth a total of $3,000. Reports indicate the thief took two iPad 2s, two iPad 3s, and one iPad 4. The ... (view more)

After spending more than a year investigating allegations that Google favored its own products when producing search results, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has decided against imposing any serious punishment on the search giant. In response, ... Google is both celebrating the decision and also using the FTC report for its own benefit. The FTC decision is in line with earlier reports that suggested government officials simply didn't have much proof of any wrongdoing by Google. In what appears to be an agreed-upon outcome, Google has promised that for the next five years it will make it easier ... (view more)

Microsoft's January 8, 2013 Patch Tuesday includes a total of seven patches, two of which Microsoft is labeling 'critical,' the firm's highest security rating. Notably absent from the lineup of fixes will be a patch for a recently-outed Internet ... Explorer security flaw. This Patch Tuesday's critical fixes address security vulnerabilities that, like so many other previously patched vulnerabilities, could potentially allow a hacker to remotely execute malicious files and take control of an unpatched computer. As usual, hackers could do this by convincing a computer user to visit a malicious ... (view more)

New reports suggest that Apple has started testing the next version of its popular iPhone. If these early reports prove accurate, both the iPhone 6 smartphone and Apple iOS 7 mobile operating system could arrive in the U.S. market a lot sooner than ... previously anticipated. Rumors of the new offerings first emerged after application developers identified traces of a new iPhone in their app usage logs. The iPhone 5 would be recognized in such logs with identifiers like "iPhone 5,1" and "iPhone 5.2". iPhone 6, iOS 7 Identifiers Spotted As tech blog The Next Web speculates, "the app requests ... (view more)

A new PC peripheral offers users of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system (OS) the ability to control their computers using only their eyeballs. Produced by the Swedish tech firm Tobii, it's called the Rex, and it connects to a Windows 8 ... computer's standard USB port. Tobii's eye-controlled technology was first unveiled at last year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Today, it has evolved into an eye-tracking hardware tool that uses Tobii's own 'Gaze' user interface software to interact with a Windows 8 PC. Look Your Way Around Windows 8 The Tobii Rex hardware connects to a USB port, and ... (view more)

Google says it's preparing to challenge Microsoft in the corporate market by offering more accessible business programs than Microsoft's highly popular Office suite of productivity software. However, Microsoft executives say they're not worried ... about Google stealing the software giant's enterprise customers any day soon. They're apparently responding to a recent interview in which Google vice president Amit Singh said his company intends to lure business users away from Microsoft Office. To do that, Singh indicated that Google will offer business software that is easier to use than Microsoft' ... (view more)

A newly-discovered flaw in Microsoft's popular Internet Explorer (IE) web browser could allow hackers to take control of a Windows-based computer. The Redmond, Washington-based firm has acknowledged that the problem exists and that it affects older ... versions of IE. The firm has also released a temporary fix for the problem. Microsoft Advises: Avoid Suspicious Links "Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks that attempt to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer 8," Microsoft said in a security advisory issued on Sunday, December 30, 2012. Microsoft says the remote code ... (view more)