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.