| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
A release of Google Glass for the general public may take place early next year. Executive chairman Eric Schmidt suggested that the version of Glass that will be provided to customers is "probably a year-ish away," which could give time for developers to create applications using the now-shipping Explorer edition.
Google would like Apple to return to Google Maps in a future version of iOS, chairman Eric Schmidt said today at an AllThingsD conference. "We would still really like them to use our maps," said Schmidt. "It would be easy for them to take the app in the store and put it as their basic one." The executive declined to comment on why Apple went with a proprietary system instead of continuing to use Google code and data, or whether the two companies are in talks.
Google has seen Android activations increase to hit 1.5 million every day, and could reach 1 billion total activations by the end of this year, according to executive chairman Eric Schmidt. The level of activations have gone up from the 1.3 million seen in September last year, the 900,000 reported in June, and the 700,000 in December 2011.
Google will endeavor to keep Chrome OS and Android separate, though they could still have some overlap. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed that the two operating systems are to "remain separate for a very long time, because they solve different problems", in the wake of the company's management reshuffle.
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt will be selling two-fifths of his stake in the company in exchange for a significant amount of cash. The former CEO will earn around $2.51 billion from the transaction, the intention for which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission after hours on Friday.
Android is winning the platform war versus Apple's iOS, claims Google chairman Eric Schmidt. He made comments during a recent interview with Bloomberg. "This is a huge platform change; this is of the scale of 20 years ago -- Microsoft versus Apple," Schmidt argues. "We’re winning that war pretty clearly now."
Apple and Google should work through their ongoing differences in a state-like, "adult" manner, according to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt. Schmidt, in a recent interview, brushed aside much of the media's coverage of the struggle between the two tech giants, arguing that the two companies will opt for "the adult way to run a business" instead of the "sort of teenage model of competition" he says the press hopes for. Schmidt says that "conversations are going on all the time" between the two companies, though he declined to say whether a grand resolution is in the foreseeable future.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has told a small group of reporters in Japan that Google has not yet submitted a stand-alone version of its Google Maps app for iOS, reports Reuters. Schmidt was speaking at the Japanese launch event for the Nexus 7 tablet, where Google also took the opportunity to show off a flashy new gyroscope-enabled map feature for its Google Maps app for Android, rubbing further salt into the wounds of iPhone fans. On the matter of an eagerly awaited revamped Google Maps app for iOS, Schmidt told the reporters “We have not done anything yet.”
Google has reportedly offered to engage in settlement talks with European Union regulators, in an attempt to avoid a formal legal dispute over lingering antitrust issues. The search giant's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, is said to have sent a letter to EU antitrust commissioner Joaqu Almunia, addressing several concerns that remain focal points in an investigation that could lead to penalties.
The New York Times is looking to make a big move toward the Internet, and Google's Eric Schmidt is near the top of the list of leaders the self-styled "newspaper of record" is considering to guide it in that direction. According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the paper's internal operations have revealed that the Google chief is among a number of candidates in consideration for the Times, a publication with strong ties to both the digital and print world, lurching toward the former even as it is rooted in the latter.
Google beat expectations for its results on Thursday and simultaneously set out plans to create a new kind of stock to keep its management in place. The company saw its mostly ad-based revenue up 24 percent, to nearly $10.7 billion, and its net profit even higher, up 61 percent to $2.89 billion. While the company didn't delve into specific factors, it was thriving both on its core business and on the "momentum from the big bets" on Android, Chrome, and YouTube, CEO Larry Page said.
An unredacted letter from Steve Jobs to Google head Eric Schmidt in March of 2007 reveals that Google was attempting to recruit an Apple engineer, which resulted in swift repercussions after Schmidt was notified. The letter is part of a court case that alleges that informal "no poaching" agreements between Apple, Google and five other tech companies amounted to a conspiracy to limit opportunities and keep compensation low.
Apple CEO Tim Cook may be about to vastly increase his personal wealth, notes an executive compensation tracking firm, Equilar. Parts of two separate restricted stock unit grants belonging to Cook are vesting in the current quarter. Based on Apple's closing stock price on December 30th, the shares are estimated to be worth about $96.2 million.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt in a Korean media event promised that Android would stay free to license. In spite of pressure for patent licenses from Microsoft and Oracle, partners wouldn't be charged directly by Google as Microsoft does with Windows Phone. He didn't say, however, whether Google would provide any help to companies being made to pay higher royalties in patent disputes that touch on Android itself, not their specific software additions.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt will be in Seoul this week to meet with executives from South Korea's leading telecom and personal electronics companies. According to a source at The Korean Times, Schmidt will announce a number of significant investments in Korea, including a possible local Internet Data Center. Until recently, Google has struggled to establish itself in the market against Korean search companies Naver and Daum.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt has told a U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee that Apple’s Siri personal assistant is a potential threat to its core search business. The admission reverses a statement that Schmidt made in September last year where he had said that Apple did not pose a ‘competitive threat.’ Schmidt argued that the arrival of Siri is a ‘significant threat’ and even cited two publications that have called the voice recognition app a ‘Google killer.’
Google chairman Eric Schmidt in his Senate testimony over possible antitrust abuses denied that Android was anti-competitive. When asked if Android could be modified to artificially hinder third-party apps, he contended that Android's purportedly open nature wouldn't allow it. Taking a dig at Microsoft, he noted that strictly closed-source code was where antitrust issues could happen, since it was only there that a firm could hide unfair limitations.
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt in a speech at his company's Mobile Revolution conference in Tokyo claimed that lawsuits and trade disputes from Apple and Microsoft were just the result of jealousy. The two were mad at the rapid growth of Android, now up to 550,000 activations a day, and were only trying to slow it down. Google had "not done anything wrong" in spite of ITC findings of patent violations, and competitors were just envious of Android features.
Nokia may have experimented with Android on the Nokia N9 as an alternative to MeeGo, according to a source. Photos sent to Engadget appear to show an N9 running a stock Gingerbread install. The phone may have been part of Google chief Eric Schmidt's effort to convince Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to use Android as an alternative to MeeGo.
Google may be planning to expand its photo sharing beyond just Picasa. The company obtained a trademark for "Photovine" on June 7 and used proxy firm MarkMonitor to acquire Photovine.com just a week later. Few clues exist as to what it would involve, although the trademark bills it as "transmission of visual images and data by telecommunications networks" and "on-line social networking services."
Google chief Eric Schmidt at the first D9 interview on Tuesday night shot down rumors of Apple ending their map deal. Describing the interrelationships between Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google as the "gang of four" growing the fastest in the tech industry, he revealed that Google had "just renewed" its map partnership with Apple. He would have been surprised if Apple decided to jump ship just after making a deal.
The e-G8 summit in Paris brought pressure on French president Nicolas Sarkozy for his comments on technology. Having argued for "minimum rules" that would have prevented sites like WikiLeaks from getting hosting and previously backed France's infamous three-strikes law, he was followed by a panel that rejected his calls for tighter regulation. Google executive president recapped a previous stance and said he was looking for a "technological solution" to make both sides happy before turning to laws, noting it was virtually impossible for government to understand change as quickly.
Despite Google executive Eric Schmidt's recent comments cautioning against the use of facial recognition systems, several patent filings suggest the search giant has worked to develop such technology. As noted in an Atlantic report, one of the filings, titled "Facial Recognition with Social Networking Aiding," was submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization on August 6, 2010.
Despite Steve Jobs' presence at the top of Barron's latest list of 'Most Valuable' CEOs, the Apple co-founder has slipped behind Google head Eric Schmidt in terms of CEO approval ratings. The Glassdoor survey, which includes data from company employees, suggests that Jobs still holds a 95 percent approval rating for the year spanning from March 2010 to March 2011, down from 98 percent the previous year.
Numerous rumors have pinpointed Google's soon-to-be-outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt as a candidate for Secretary of Commerce. President Obama is reportedly close to picking the executive and could make the decision public within two weeks. SAI in picking up on discussions didn't name alternative candidates.
Several major US technology executives have been officially photographed with President Obama at a dinner meeting on Thursday night. As expected, three people on the guest list included Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google's Eric Schmidt, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Jobs and Zuckerberg were notably given the most prominent positions during the dinner, seated directly to the left and right of the President.
Several major tech CEOs will be meeting with President Obama at a San Francisco event this evening, sources tell ABC News. Amongst the business heads attending the event will allegedly be Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Google's Eric Schmidt, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. A White House official explains that the assembly will talk about "promoting American innovation," as well as the Obama administration's interests in funding education, clean energy, and research and development.
Google chairman Eric Schmidt is sidestepping discussion of whether he might become the next Apple CEO. "In the first place, it's not appropriate. Steve [Jobs] is still the CEO and I hope he continues forever," Schmidt told CNBC in a Monday interview. In response to whether or not Apple has approached him to make an offer, however, Schmidt would neither confirm or deny the suggestion. "I'm not going to talk about private conversations with anybody," the chairman is quoted as saying.
Google engineering VP Vic Gundotra and Apple marketing VP Phil Schiller came into intense conflict over Google Maps in 2008, according to sources cited by Bloomberg and 9to5Mac. A Bloomberg article remarks that as Android first became a threat to the iPhone, Apple began resisting Google claims to location data accumulated whenever an iPhone owner uses Google Maps. Negotiations became so hot, two sources say, that the CEOs of Apple and Google had to step in and resolve the situation.
Financial publication Fast Company has published a new ranking of possible replacements for Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The magazine notes that even if Jobs does return from his current medical leave, the company will eventually have to find a replacement. The top potential candidate is argued to be Apple's senior VP of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. He is "young, possesses the right kind of technical knowledge and dynamism, and has become an increasingly important figure in key Apple product decisions," according to the magazine.
In a surprise move, Google chief Eric Schmidt said alongside his company's financial results that he was stepping down from his position. Company co-founder Larry Page will take the top position as of April 4 while fellow founder Sergey Brin will be titled as a Co-Founder. Schmidt will stay on only as Executive Chairman.
Gmail's core developer Paul Buchheit today said in a prediction that he expected Chrome OS to die in 2011. The former Google employee and FriendFeed creator expected that it would either be ended outright or else "merged" with Android. In a defense on FriendFeed, he noted that there was no point to Chrome OS and argued that even the Cr-48 netbook was a mistake.
An updated list of CEO approval ratings from Glassdoor has shown a wide disparity between some technology firms' executives. Apple's Steve Jobs, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Eric Schmidt lead the group, all claiming 96 to 97 percent approval from their staff on the site. Rivals were much lower, however, and saw MySpace president Mike Jones at 60 percent, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz at 56 and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer at a particularly low 49 percent.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt took time at the Web 2.0 summit to clarify his company's strategy for Chrome OS devices. The executive reaffirmed that Google designed Chrome OS around devices that provide a hardware keyboard for input, rather than the touch-only configuration common to most tablets on the market.
According to a new Bloomberg documentary called Game Changers, Google founders Larry Paige and Sergey Brin visited Apple’s Cupertino campus for a meeting with Steve Jobs where they offered him the position of Google CEO. In all, the pair reportedly interviewed around thirteen candidates. Ultimately, Page and Brin settled on current Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Apple has reportedly extended its search agreement with Google, the search giant's CEO, Eric Schmidt, told BusinessWeek in an interview. The executive downplayed suggestions of animosity from Steve Jobs, following Schmidt's departure last year from Apple's board of directors as Google continued its push into the mobile arena.
Google chief Eric Schmidt in an interview posted today (video below) from from the Zeitgeist conference provided contradictory answers on why the company refuses to require an option for unaltered Android on smartphones. He insisted to Search Engine Land that the company couldn't make carriers or phone designers give the choice since it would be "violating the principle of open source." The principle demands that everyone have control, even if it means options being locked out for end users.
Google chief Eric Schmidt floated the possibility today of a subscription news service for Android. When asked whether Android could be a significant money generator, the executive was confident the OS could make $10 billion a year by adding paid access to online newspapers. As 160,000 phones are sold each day, it would only take a small subscription to immediately generate a a large amount of revenue.
Google during its time at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley media conference said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs' claims about Android being a response to iPhone were spin. Co-founder Larry Page argued that Jobs' view of Android coming afterwards was a "little bit of rewriting history" and reminded guests that Google had been developing Android for a "very long time" before the iPhone was introduced in early 2007. The company had always wanted an Internet-aware phone with strong web browsing, according to Page.
Steve Jobs at his D8 session made it clear that Apple didn't plan to take on Google in the search space. He stated bluntly that Apple had "no" plans to drop Google or its apps from the iPhone and that there wouldn't be retaliation by competing directly with Google's core search engines. The conversation recalled Jobs' well-known townhall meeting, where the executive accused Google of competing against Apple without warning but implied he wouldn't retaliate on a one-for-one level.
A discovery today in the iPhone 4.0 beta has shown that Apple has removed a reference to Google in mobile Safari. When searching in the browser, the auto-complete button in the on-screen keyboard has changed from "Google" to simply "Search." The actual search feature still uses Google.
Google chief Eric Schmidt was genuinely shocked when he was berated by Steve Jobs for the first time over Android, an alleged tell-all supposedly revealed today. While headed to the 2007 Burning Man festival, Schmidt is said to have received a "ferocious" call from the Apple co-founder, who attacked him for establishing Android and allegedly deceiving Apple about his smartphone plans while sitting on the iPhone creator's board of directors. The dialogue was enough to have made the normally calm Schmidt upset and produce a "weird" expression on his face.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has won the title of Mobile Personality of the Year at the 2010 Global Mobile Awards, which were held this Tuesday as part of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Mobile Personality award was created for the 15th anniversary of the GMAs, and is said to reflect "the contributions of individuals, established names, new thinkers, and rising starts, across the global industry and leaders of other industries that have contributed to the growth and convergence of mobile during the last year." Other nominees included Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who has helped to spearhead the Android mobile platform.
It would be a serious mistake for Apple to contemplate switching to Bing as the default search service on the iPhone, say Oppenheimer analysts. News emerged today that Apple may be in talks with Microsoft, looking to make the switch as a means of distancing itself from Google. Google has its own phone platform, Android, and still earns money from the ads displayed in iPhone search results.
Apple's Steve Jobs has placed first in a CEO list compiled by the INSEAD business school. Set to be published in the next issue of the Harvard Business Review, the list is based on a collection of about 2,000 CEOs, and does not measure people by popularity or ethics but simply their financial importance to a company and its shareholders. Ranking is determined by a combination of change in market cap, industry-adjusted total shareholder return (TSR) and country-adjusted TSR.
Apple's board of directors will meet on Tuesday in order to suggest replacements for Google CEO Eric Schmidt, claims a source contacted by the Wall Street Journal. Schmidt resigned from the Apple board earlier this month amidst growing conflicts of interest, which were ultimately capped by the announcement of Chrome OS. The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating links between Apple and Google's boards, which go beyond Schmidt to Genentech chairman Arthur Levinson.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt declined to take normal pay during his tenure on the Apple board of directors, according to SEC documents. Apple proxy filings submitted between 2007 and 2009 show that Schmidt took home only $8,712 in Apple products, plus a "commemorative gift" worth $7,580. To compensate for tax penalties on the gift, he was given another $14,631.
The resignation of Eric Schmidt from Apple's board of directors will not put to rest a Federal Trade Commission investigation, says the group's Bureau of Competition director, Richard Feinstein. Apple announced Schmidt's departure early Monday morning, citing the existence of Chrome OS as a potential conflict of interest. It is illegal for two US companies to share directors when they are also nominally competing in the same field.
No plans exist to resign from Apple's board of directors, in spite of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, says Eric Schmidt. The Google CEO spoke to reporters in advance of the company's shareholders meeting, the Associated Press writes, defending himself against suggestions that his participation in Apple may violate antitrust laws. The Clayton Antitrust Act prevents someone from serving on two boards if it may hinder competition.
The Federal Trade Commission has initiated an investigation surrounding ties between board members at Apple and Google, according to the New York Times. Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson hold positions as simultaneous board members of both companies. Unnamed sources familiar with the matter claim Apple and Google have been notified by the commission that an antitrust inquiry has begun.
