How Has Apple Changed Under CEO Tim Cook?

This Saturday, Aug. 24, marks two years since Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO. In that time, the company has been on a roller coaster ride of highs and lows.

Over the last two years, Cook has watched Apple become the world's most valuable company — and then watched the company's stock price tumble more than $200 a share.
While Apple still finds success whenever it releases a new device, the public (and even Apple's board of directors) have noted concerns about the company's pace of innovation. While the tech industry has become more competitive and innovative, the public still expects the most cutting-edge releases from Apple, which came to be standard under Steve Jobs.

Hacker Leaks Details of 15,000 Twitter Accounts

An Islamist hacker says he gained access to "the entire database of users on Twitter" and has already leaked the login details of more then 15,000 accounts online.

A hacker under the name Mauritania Attacker, who claims to be from the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a country in West Africa — shared details on Tuesday about the leak via file-sharing site Zippyshare, according to a GigaOm report. The account information compromised includes every account's Twitter name, ID and authentication tokens associated with third-party apps that have access to the account (for example, Instagram or HootSuite).
Twitter has not yet responded to a request for comment, but the news comes after Twitter sent an email late Monday to verified users urging them to use two-step authentication to keep accounts secure.

Samsung's 12-Inch Tablet Coming in October

News out of Korea suggests Samsung will launch its widely publicized 12-inch tablet with a hi-res display in October.
Citing unnamed industry sources, The Korean Economic Daily reports that the tablet will use a "higher than Full HD resolution" display from Samsung Display and claims that the model will be launched sometime in October.

41% of Teens Ask Parents for Online Privacy Advice

As teens continue to share personal information about their lives on the web, a new study suggests America's youth cares about their online privacy and is taking steps to make sure they are protected.

Data conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that although teens ages 12 to 17 tend to manage their privacy settings themselves, the majority (71%) have sought outside help at some point about how to do so.

7 Ways Teachers Use Social Media in the Classroom

1. Encourage students to share work socially.
Anna Divinsky created an iTunes U class at Penn State University called Art 10: Introduction to Visual Studies, which she then adapted into a massive open online course (MOOC) on Coursera. The MOOC, called Introduction to Art: Concepts and Techniques, amassed more than 58,000 students.

For each class assignment, students were responsible for evaluating each other's work. Because the class was online, social media played an essential role in connecting students and creating an online community.

Students shared their work on a variety of platforms. On Flickr, they tagged their artwork with "artmooc." On Twitter, they included the #artmooc hashtag. Others posted to Facebook, and continue to do so to this day, even though the course has been over for quite sometime.
"It was fascinating to see learners from all over the world wanting to connect with one another in order to build a sense of community," Divinsky says.

But what was even more surprising was how social media allows students to self-organize into smaller, independent groups. These groups were based on commonalities like age, language and art proficiency levels. By allowing students to share on the site of their choosing, social sharing will come more naturally.

What to Do When Your iPhone Freezes

1. Restart Your Phone

This one’s a no-brainer, but it might work. Turn off your phone by holding on the Sleep/Wake button (top left). If nothing happens, try a hard reset by holding in the Home Button and the Sleep/Wake button at the same time for at least 10 seconds or until you see an Apple logo appear onscreen.

Restarting your phone will complete updates or downloads of your recently installed apps (similar to how your computer restarts every time it updates iTunes). Periodic restarts will keep your phone from wasting computing power on almost-finished installs.

5 ways your smartphone's ‘smarts’ have become more important than the ‘phone’

It’s been headline news this week that smartphones outsold feature phones for the first time. Huzzah!

My first thought was, “They still sell non-smartphones?” My second thought was “Why do we even still call it a ‘phone’?” I mean, a PC is basically an evolution of a calculator, but we don’t get excited about whether or not PCs outsell calculators, and we don’t call PCs “supercalculators.”

If you think about it, making and receiving voice calls is one of the more minor functions of a smartphone. Sure, the devices we use today evolved from a basic mobile phone, and they’ve gotten “smarter” with new features and capabilities and a seemingly endless array of apps. But the term “smartphone” is a bit of a misnomer that doesn’t accurately describe what the device is.

Play Xbox LIVE games on your Windows Phone

Overview

The Windows Phone Marketplace or Store has many Xbox LIVE games that you can download and play on your phone. Tap Marketplace or Store on your phone to find and install games.

View your gamer profile

You can view your Xbox LIVE profile, achievements, friends and messages, and edit your avatar on your Windows Phone. Here’s how:

On your Windows Phone, tap Games.

Flick left until you see your avatar, and then tap your gamertag.

Flick left to see your achievements, friends and messages.
Invite friends to play a turn-based game

If an Xbox LIVE game is turn-based, you can invite other players to play on their Windows Phone or on the web. In turn-based games, players take turns playing the game. During gameplay, you are notified when it’s your turn.

How Samsung can save Windows 8 tablets

Windows 8 tablets aren’t in good shape: Microsoft’s OS gets plenty of hate for its desktop functionality, and many people aren’t willing to pay premium prices for the ability to run Office—and not much else—on what amounts to be keyboard-less PCs.

Indeed, with Windows 8 and Windows RT making up just 7.5 percent of the total tablet market, many manufacturers are fleeing what they perceive to be a sinking platform. It looks really bad, right? Not so fast. At Thursday’s big Samsung event, the Korean tech giant might have just thrown Microsoft the life-preserver it needs to help keep Windows tablets in the game.

Microsoft’s Socl network steps up its game with animated GIFs, meme generator

Microsoft has been playing around with the idea of a social network for a few years, but its lab-grown Socl has been slow to catch on with the kids. On Tuesday, Microsoft is introducing a handful of new features to pump up the volume on what it now calls its "social network for creatives.” And what better path to Internet domination than cat GIFs and pictures with funny words on them?

A meme generator and GIF creator are two brand-new tools Socl users will see on Tuesday. Picotale is a strange name for a feature that lets you enter a phrase and browse photos that would fit the meme. Blink is the animated GIF creator that comes in the form of a stand-alone app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. The app, also released on Tuesday, lets you start with an image blast, which you can then animate, turn into a looping reel (sort of like Vine), or simply choose the best image to post.

Microsoft backtracks on Xbox One sharing policies

Reacting to "feedback from the Xbox community," Microsoft is appearing to reverse course and change two key components to policies for its new Xbox One video game console.
All disc-based games can be played without ever connecting online, and the 24-hour connection requirement has been dropped, according to an update to a May post concerning questions about the new device, due to be released this fall.
Additionally, there will be no limitations to using and sharing games, Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business division, says in the post. People will be able to share, trade or resell their games in the same way they do for Xbox 360 games.

Microsoft goes 'Windows Everywhere' with Best Buy takeovers, new ad

The theme of Microsoft’s latest ads is “Windows Everywhere”—and if you visit a Best Buy store in the near future, you’ll certainly understand why.

Best Buy will be partnering with the software giant to add stores-within-a-store to 500 selected locations within the United States, plus another 100 more within Future Shop and Best Buy locations in Canada. And the size will be in your face as well: 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, on par with the size of the homes into which those PCs will be installed.

Inside each “store” will be a mixture of Microsoft devices: Windows-based tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, the Xbox console, and more. Microsoft said that each space will also include examples of how Windows services straddle those devices, and showcase the latest ultramobile Windows-based PCs, both from third parties as well as its own Surface. The Best Buy stores will be installed from late June through September.

Office Mobile for iPhone: What's really at stake for Microsoft and Apple?

Few people actually open and edit documents on their smartphones, let alone actually create them there. From a short-term perspective, then, placing a version of Microsoft Office on Apple's iPhone shouldn’t dramatically change the world.

Microsoft announced Office Mobile for iPhone on Friday morning, ending months of speculation.

The “free” Office Mobile for iPhone app only works with an Office 365 subscription, however, so users will have to pay to edit Office documents, whether it be an Office 365 subscription or Apple’s own $9.99 productivity apps, iWork. And, for now, Office Mobile is specifically formatted for the iPhone, so iPad users won’t be able to use it.

Xbox One coming in November for $500

Xbox One will drop in 21 countries this November, with a price of $499.99 in the U.S., £429 in the U.K., and €499 in Europe.

Gamers can reserve their Xbox One Day One edition for those prices at major retailers—the list, including Amazon, Target, GameStop, and more, is at
The commemorative Day One package includes a console with 500GB hard drive and Blu-ray player, wrapped in special Day One black packaging. You also get a new Kinect, one limited edition Xbox One Day One wireless controller, and a 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold. Microsoft will even throw in a "unique commemorative Day One Achievement," so all your Xbox Live friends will know you are a total ninja at buying things.

Microsoft’s E3 press conference wrap-up

Microsoft kicked off the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo bright and early Monday morning with a torrent of exclusive games, explosions, and bass drops for their upcoming Xbox One console, which we now know will arrive in November 2013 for $499.99 U.S. (€499 in Europe and £429 in the U.K.).

Now on the third iteration of the Xbox console, Microsoft has a lot of ground to make up after the tepid response to the unveiling event in May. However, the company just earned some serious public acclaim with an E3 press conference jam-packed with new games.

Microsoft talks games at E3

Microsoft took the wraps off its Xbox One last month. But while the May unveiling might have been the first word on the company’s forthcoming gaming console, it’s certainly not the last word. News about what content will be available when the Xbox One arrives later this year was noticeably absent from Microsoft’s launch event; instead, we were told to expect more information at the E3 gaming expo.

Well, E3 is upon us. And Microsoft is hosting a Monday press conference in which we’re expecting to hear even more about the Xbox One. Join us at 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET for our live coverage from Los Angeles.

Android security is sadly lacking, researchers reveal

Android smartphones and tablets are under attack, and the most popular tools developed to protect them are easily circumvented, according to new research from Northwestern University and the University of North Carolina.

The researchers created technology called DroidChamelon that can be used to perform common obfuscation techniques (simple switches in a virus' binary code or file name, for instance) to blow by security products. It tested DroidChamelon with products from the likes of AVG, Kaspersky, ESET, Symantec and Webroot.

Details about the research can be seen in a paper titled "Evaluating Android Anti-Malware Against Transformation Attacks."

Former CIA assistant Edward Snowden outs himself as NSA whistleblower

You've seen the inflammatory NSA slides, and now you can attach a name to the paperwork: His name is Edward Snowden, he has a 10-year history in government defense and intelligence gathering, and now, he tells The Guardian, he's leaked classified documents because he thinks current NSA surveillance techniques pose "an existential threat to democracy."

"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them," he told Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald in an interview conducted in Hong Kong.
Snowden is a former CIA technical assistant, and a current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, where he has worked for less than three months according to the company. For the last four years, Snowden has done contract work for the NSA as an employee of various outside firms. In 2003, Snowden enlisted in the U.S. Army to join the Special Forces, but broke both his legs during a training mission, and was discharged. From there, the Guardian reports, Snowden took a job as a security guard for the NSA, and then later joined the CIA to work in IT security before returning to the NSA as a contractor, including his current position as an infrastructure analyst.

Tiny Windows 8 tablets will ship with Office 2013 baked-in

Windows tablets are about to get a whole lot more Office-y. Mere moments after announcing that Windows RT tablets are receiving a version of Outlook 2013 with the Windows 8.1 update, Windows CFO Tami Reller also said that all small-screen Windows 8 tablets will ship with a free copy of Office Home & Student 2013, starting with the recently announced 8-inch Acer Iconia W3.

Diminutive Windows 8 tablets won't be receiving Outlook, but they will include Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote. The news isn't exactly a surprise: For months, rumors have swirled that Microsoft was offering manufacturers deep discounts on Windows and Office licenses destined for small screen, touchscreen Windows 8 devices.

Forget Haswell: Why tablet processors mean more to Intel at Computex

Intel’s Haswell processor line may have gotten all the glory at Computex this weekend, but ten years down the line, we may just remember Computex 2013 as the year that Intel’s most portable CPUs were finally embraced by mobile manufacturers.

Intel’s portable technology has made waves before, of course—remember those x86 smartphone processors from 2012? But for the first time ever, it’s looking as though all of Intel’s pie-in-the-sky promises are truly turning into real-world hardware wins. The prospect already has ARM bristling to defend its turf.

“Intel has made some dramatic improvements in the mobile market, and I think what we’re starting to see now are the fruits of their hard work and labor.”
“If Intel continues on its trajectory, we’re going to look back on [Computex 2013] and say not necessarily that it’s where Intel’s mobile push started, but that it’s where it started to gain traction,” says Patrick Moorhead, founder and principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.
Let’s take a peek at that traction in action, starting with honest-to-goodness Android tablets with Intel Inside.

Sea change in Microsoft's focus may force restructure of leadership

Microsoft reportedly is headed for a major organizational restructuring as the company continues its march toward becoming a devices-and-services company.

If the latest rumors are any indication, Microsoft will focus on at least three major categories in the coming years: cloud-connected services, online communications, and all things Xbox.

AllThingsD reported on Monday that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is hard at work on a significant reorganization for the company that will boost at least three execs into “more prominent roles.” The reorganization report comes on the heels of the news that Microsoft CIO Tony Scott has left the company.

Ballmer last October famously said in his annual letter to shareholders that Microsoft was transitioning from a traditional software company into a devices-and-services business. “This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves—as a devices-and-services company,” Ballmer wrote. “It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses.”

Windows Blue hides 4K display support, tons of new features, developer says

For all the controversy surrounding Windows 8, it's a solid OS under the hood. And based on a list of API clues discovered by a former Nokia and Silverlight developer, it should only get better with the Windows Blue update.

Based on an extensive examination of the software APIs found within Windows Blue (now offically called Windows 8.1 by Microsoft), developer Justin Angel compiled a lengthy list of more than 25 features that he says will be included in the updated OS: the possibility of ultra-HD "4K" screen support, lock-screen calls, HDR photo support, better multi-screen formatting, and much more.

Angel teased out the new features by examining the APIs he found in the leaked build of Windows 8.1 (version 9385), which appeared online at the beginning of May. Other Microsoft watchers have installed and played around with the leaked OS—Paul Thurrott published a thorough examination of its forward-facing features—but Angel's API deep-dive reveals even more hidden secrets.

Microsoft representatives declined to comment on what they called rumors and speculation. Angel is no stranger to diving deep into Microsoft products. Last December, he made news when he discovered a method to pirate Windows Store downloads by turning trial versions into full-version apps.

Assuming Angel's latest findings bear out, the new APIs reveal a number of undisclosed capabilities in Windows 8.1, which is expected to be officially unveiled at Microsoft's BUILD conference in San Francisco. The developer release, expected on June 26, will include changes based on customer feedback, including the possible return of the Start button from Windows 7 (though Angel's API analysis doesn't confirm that detail).

It should be noted that Angel confined his examination to Windows 8.1 RT, and not the more conventional Windows 8.1. Windows RT, of course, hasn't had the warmest of welcomes.

How to prepare your business for Windows 8

Windows 8, released to the wild last October, seems stuck in a no-win situation.

On the one hand, it is not catching on with Android- and iOS-loving consumers turned off by the Windows 8 tile-based interface and the Windows App Store, which by Android and Apple standards, is anemic and disorganized. And these days, consumer technology is frequently a precursor to enterprise technology as shown by the BYOD (bring your own device) phenomenon.

On the other hand, the situation for Windows 8 isn't any better in the enterprise. IT decision-makers interviewed for a new Forrester report don't see the Windows 8 experience as an improvement over the stable and well-liked Windows 7, mostly due to confusing behavior between applications running in the "Metro" touch interface and those running in the traditional desktop mode.

Microsoft Names First Female Finance Chief

Microsoft named Amy Hood, an executive at the company, as its chief financial officer, the first woman to hold the top finance job at Microsoft.

Ms. Hood, 41, joined Microsoft in late 2002 and was most recently the chief financial officer of Microsoft’s business division, the unit that oversees its lucrative Office suite of applications. She replaces Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer who announced recently that he was resigning to spend more time with his family.

How to uninstall apps in Windows 8

If you're new to Windows 8, I suspect you're finding certain things confusing. (Never mind the lack of a Start button; that's been covered to death.)

For example, if you're using the Metro UI (i.e. the new Start screen with all the tiles), you've undoubtedly installed some apps. That's half the fun, right?

Okay, but what happens when you want to remove an app? It's not immediately obvious. If you pull up the Charms Bar and tap Settings, no help there. If you tap the Change PC settings link, you'll find no uninstaller there either.

Hands on with Facebook Home and the HTC First smartphone

After spending some time with Facebook Home and the HTC First smartphone, I now have a better understanding at what Facebook is trying to build with its new app designed to replace your phone's home screen.

In a nutshell, Facebook Home and the HTC First, both announced Thursday at an event by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chairman and chief executive, are aimed at people who live their entire lives online—the “social butterflies”—if you will.
So, Home puts Facebook front and center, doing away with the traditional Android interface in favor of a simplified home screen that displays your friends' photos and status updates.
It's all very slick. Home makes Android look and feel much less intimidating by hiding things like the app drawer and notification shade. You can still access these features using simple gestures, but the app drawer is modified to let you quickly update your Facebook status, post a photo, or check in to a location.

Facebook Software Puts It Front and Center on Android Phones

Cellphones have long been Facebook’s Achilles’ heel. With its users flocking to mobile phones by the millions — and many of its newest users never accessing the services on computers at all — the company has struggled to catch up to them.

On Thursday, Facebook unveiled its latest, most ambitious effort to crack the challenge: a package of mobile software called Facebook Home that is designed to draw more users and nudge them to be more active on the social network.

The new suite of applications effectively turns the Facebook news feed into the screen saver of a smartphone, updating it constantly and seamlessly with Facebook posts and messages.

In so doing, Facebook has cleverly, perhaps also dangerously, exploited technology owned by one of its leading rivals, Google. Facebook Home works on Google’s Android operating system, which has become the most popular underlying software for smartphones in the world.