Business Tech

IE10 almost ready for Windows 7

The first Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview for Windows 7 has arrived, gifting many of its improvements to the older OS as Microsoft prepares to keep IE current beyond the gates of Windows 8.

"There's a long alphabet soup of new abilities that we've built into Internet Explorer 10" for Windows 7, Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's general manager for IE, said during an interview last week at CNET's San Francisco office. In addition to porting over the new IE10 Chakra and JavaScript engines, IE 10 on Windows 7 also gets the Touch API innovations that … Read more

BofA takes aim at Square with new mobile-pay service

Bank of America is the latest company to take on Square in the mobile-payments market.

The banking giant today announced a new service for merchants, called Mobile Pay on Demand. The offering includes a card reader that attaches to a smartphone, and allows merchants to handle transactions from the device. According to Bank of America, its service works with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. The service will charge merchants 2.7 percent per swipe.

Square popularized mobile payments with its own card-reader-and-software combination. Square charges 2.75 percent on all transactions.

Bank of America has entered an already-competitive market … Read more

Microsoft shares down 3 percent in early trading

Microsoft shareholders appear to be at least a little concerned about Steven Sinofsky's departure.

In their first chance to chime in on the news this morning, Microsoft shareholders cut 3 percent from the software giant's stock price, dropping it to $27.10. Considering Microsoft closed the day yesterday at $28.22, that's not a major drop, but a notable one, nonetheless.

Microsoft announced Sinofsky's departure last night. In an e-mail to employees, the Windows boss said that after 23 years at the company, he's leaving Microsoft to "seek new opportunities." In his own e-mail to the troops, … Read more

PCs 'could decline for years,' analyst warns in cutting outlook

It's no secret that the PC market is in trouble, but its future appears to be dimmer than previously thought.

Warning that sales of "PCs could decline for many years to come," Barclays Capital's hardware analyst Ben Reitzes cut his outlook for the sector through 2016. Reitzes blamed a variety of factors for the expected decline, including surging interest in tablets and confusion over Microsoft's recently released Windows 8.

"We are lowering our 2012-2016 PC forecasts due to weak macro conditions, confusion around Windows 8, ongoing cannibalization from tablets, and an elongation in replacement … Read more

Microsoft Surface edges out Samsung in display tests

Microsoft's Surface RT tablet topped Samsung's Galaxy tablet in a "shoot-out" done by display testing firm DisplayMate Technologies.

The Surface RT's display outperformed all of the standard resolution full size 10-inch tablets that DisplayMate has tested to date in its Shoot-Out series, Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, said in a research note today.

"On-screen text is significantly sharper, it has a better factory display calibration, and also significantly lower screen reflectance than the iPad 2 and all full size 1,280x800 Android tablets," Soneira said in a statement.

For example, it bested … Read more

Intel's 60-core chip ships; elites like Hawking get it first

Intel's first 60-core chip is here, but only elite institutions like Cambridge University will get early access.

The chip, generally called Phi, isn't your typical Intel processor. It's less like a central processing unit (CPU) -- which is the chipmaker's bread and butter -- and more akin to a graphics processing unit (GPU) that works in conjunction with the CPU.

In fact, Intel tried to bring out a consumer GPU card called "Larrabee" based on the technology but canceled the project in 2009.

But the company still needs the technology to compete with Nvidia … Read more

France says Amazon owes $252 million in back taxes

The French government says that Amazon owes it $252 million in back taxes. The sum includes interest and penalties. Amazon was not immediately available for comment but Reuters quoted a company filing saying that Amazon would fight the claim, which it said was connected to calendar years 2006 through 2010.

Amazon's sales are run out of Luxembourg. Like many other companies operating in Europe, Amazon takes advantage of an EU provision letting it base itself in a member state with low tax rates. Separately, Andrew Cecil, the company's director of public policy confirmed the French government's tax … Read more

Apple predicted to generate up to $280 million a year in HTC deal

Apple's patent-licensing settlement with HTC might actually net the company some more cash.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said in a note to researchers today that he has spoken with industry sources who told him that Apple will generate about $6 to $8 in licensing fees for each smartphone HTC ships in 2013. Based on his estimate of 30 million to 35 million shipments, Wu believes that Apple will generate $180 million to $280 million in licensing fees.

Apple and HTC announced yesterday that they had inked a 10-year licensing deal to settle patent disputes. The companies said that … Read more

Titan steals No. 1 spot on Top500 supercomputer list

Predictions that Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Titan supercomputer had become the most powerful machine in the world have turned out to be right.

The machine, powered by Nvidia graphics processors and Advanced Micro Devices computer chips, stole the No. 1 spot on the Top500's list from another U.S. machine, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Sequoia.

Sequoia, which uses processors from IBM, became the top computer in June with a performance of 16.32 petaflops a second. Titan beat that showing, sending Sequoia to second place on the list, with a result of 17.59 petaflops per second. … Read more