Business

Recently, it was announced that Facebook users would see more advertising promotions in the weeks to come. One of the first companies to come aboard is Microsoft, which will have its Bing search engine page embedded on the logout page of Facebook's ... site. It's reported that after users log out of Facebook, they will be greeted with an interactive Bing advertisement complete with wallpaper and an active search box. Typing a query into the search box will open up a results page in a separate tab. "Logout advertisements" like these are said to be among the newest changes coming to Facebook. ... (view more)

Microsoft is reporting success in its campaign to reduce graymail, which are defined as email messages that fall short of being labeled as 'spam'. Though definitions vary, most sources agree that true spam messages are sent without any permission ... from the recipient. Happily, spam filtering is now keeping spam to only three percent of the messages reaching an average user's inbox, Microsoft reports. (Source: liveside.net ) Legitimate Messages May Be Unwanted However, a lot of other emails, like promotional mailings, still get through. Often, the recipient has either lost interest in the ... (view more)

Foxconn Technology, the major international electronics manufacturer based in Chengdu, China, has recently revealed that it will increase employee wages by as much as 25 per cent. The news comes as Foxconn and its many clients, including Dell, ... Hewlett-Packard (HP), Microsoft, Samsung and Apple, face increasing pressure from the international media for some of the ways workers at Foxconn plants appear to be treated. Several weeks ago, after an eye-opening report by US media outlet CNN, testimonials from Foxconn workers went global. Worker Accounts for Brutal 60 Hour Work Week, Low Pay In one ... (view more)

Microsoft has finally unveiled the first publicly available edition of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system (OS). While this version of the new OS is far from complete, it does give users a solid idea of what Microsoft has done to update its ... flagship product for use with mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones. "It's an even better Windows than Windows 7," Microsoft Windows director Steven Sinofsky said at a recent demonstration of the new OS, which took place at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. "It's incredibly fast and fluid to just navigate this UI (user interface ... (view more)

France's National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) claims Google's new privacy policy violates European Union law. CNIL is an agency charged with protecting citizens' private information, and reporting to the European Commission. ... Last January, Google announced its new privacy plan, scheduled to take effect this Thursday, March 1, 2012. The plan claims to allow for more convenient tracking of its privacy initiatives across Gmail, Google Docs, and about 60 other online services, while clarifying those policies for its users. Critics Say Advertising, Monetization Drives ... (view more)

The former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Symantec Corp., known for antivirus software like Norton 360, has been appointed to Microsoft's board of directors. The addition increases the company's number of board members to ten. As ... Symantec CEO, John Thompson helped transform that company from a middle-of-the-road antivirus firm to an industry leader. When he became chief executive in 1999, the company's annual revenue was $632 million. By 2009, the year he stepped down as CEO, the firm's annual revenue was an impressive $6.2 billion. (Source: foxbusiness.com ) Thompson Brings ... (view more)

Microsoft's popular cloud computing service, SkyDrive, is reported to be getting a major overhaul soon. Included in the upgrade will be a number of visual improvements, the addition of a drag-and-drop feature, and a new tool that allows users to ... access files stored on their home computers from anywhere, securely, via the SkyDrive site. With about 17 million customers, Microsoft's SkyDrive service is one of the more popular cloud storage applications. However, that popularity hasn't discouraged Microsoft from giving the platform a major upgrade that it hopes will help drive the service to the ... (view more)

Symantec has unveiled three new versions of its popular security software, Norton 360. The three releases include Norton 360 Version 6 (compatible with the upcoming Windows 8 beta), Norton 360 Everywhere, and Norton One. Each of the three versions ... offer something different. For example, Symantec boasts that Norton 360 Version 6 will provide a download option to support the Windows 8 beta edition whenever that new operating system becomes available to the public, which is reportedly due this summer . Compatibility with Windows 8 Beta a "Priority," Symantec Says "We're making it a ... (view more)

Microsoft says that it will patch more than twenty security problems this Valentine's Day (February 14), coinciding with its regular "Patch Tuesday." Microsoft will be offering fixes for a wide range of flaws affecting the company's Internet ... Explorer (IE) web browser, every version of its Windows operating system (OS), as well as Microsoft Office. The total of 21 fixes will be spread across nine different security bulletins, four of which Microsoft has labeled "critical," which is the company's highest security warning. The rest of the bulletins are all marked "important," which is ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced that a special "Consumer Preview" edition of Windows 8 will be available from February 29, 2012. It's believed that this version of the upcoming operating system (OS) will boast more features designed for mobile devices. ... Though Microsoft isn't using this term, the release appears to be a beta edition , a version of in-development software that is complete, but not considered ready for final release and still open to revisions. The next stage after that, likely coming in the summer, is a Release Candidate , which is where the developer considers the product finished and ... (view more)