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AP Technology NewsBrief at 9:26 a.m. EST(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Microsoft retools Office for touch screen, Web useSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Microsoft's retooled version of its Office software is hitting the market as the company tries to extend one of its key franchises beyond personal computers. Tuesday's debut comes six months after Microsoft previewed the new-look Office, which includes popular word processing, spreadsheets and email programs. Yahoo's 4Q report shows more signs of progressSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Yahoo got a little healthier during the last three months of 2012 as the long-suffering Internet company took advantage of higher ad prices and more money coming in from overseas investments to deliver numbers that exceeded analyst forecasts. The results announced Monday covered Yahoo's first full quarter under CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo Inc. lured Mayer away from Google Inc. in mid-July in its latest attempt to snap out of a funk that had depressed its revenue and stock price. Crucial, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrivesTORONTO (AP) _ The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedier device, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone. It's the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will show off the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. A marketing campaign that includes a Super Bowl ad will accompany the long-anticipated debut. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple's trend-setting iPhone and Google's Android-driven devices. Canada, Holland: WhatsApp violates privacy normsLONDON (AP) _ Regulators in the Netherlands and Canada say the popular messaging application WhatsApp is violating internationally accepted privacy norms by stockpiling phone numbers belonging to people who don't even use the service. Officials in both countries say WhatsApp Inc. is going through its users' address books and copying every single phone number before transmitting them to the Mountain View, California-based company's servers. Philips loss shrinks in Q4; sheds divisionAMSTERDAM (AP) _ Royal Philips Electronics NV Tuesday said it will sell the entertainment division which contains many of the consumer products for which it is best known, such as audio and video equipment, to Funai Electric Co., Ltd., of Japan for (EURO)150 million ($202 million) plus licensing fees. Funai will assume responsibility for the manufacturing of the Philips products but license and sell them under the Philips brand for five years. It has an option to renew. Ahead of the Bell: Amazon.com to post 4Q resultsNEW YORK (AP) _ Amazon.com Inc. is expected to post strong revenue growth from the holidays when it reports fourth-quarter results after the market closes Tuesday, though profit margins will likely be squeezed by investments in the company's distribution network. On average, analysts polled by FactSet are expecting earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $22.26 billion, according to a poll by FactSet. In October, Amazon forecast revenue of $20.25 billion to $22.75 billion for the quarter. Apple updates iPhone, iPad softwareNEW YORK (AP) _ Apple has released a software update for iPhones and iPads that speeds up data downloads on some major overseas telecom networks and a handful of small U.S. carriers. Apple says iOS version 6.1 adds the ability to access the "LTE" networks of 36 additional iPhone carriers. Those include Alaska Communications, Bluegrass Cellular of Kentucky and C Spire of Mississippi. Internationally, they include major carriers in Italy, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Corning 4Q net income falls, but beats predictionsCORNING, N.Y. (AP) _ Revenue surged at Corning during the fourth quarter on strong demand for its Gorilla Glass, which is used in many smartphones and computer tablets. Sales in the company's specialty materials division, which makes the glass, surged 68 percent in the final months of the year, and 10 percent above the previous quarter. Google sued in UK over Safari trackingLONDON (AP) _ A British law firm says that about a dozen Apple customers are suing Internet search leader Google in the U.K. over its alleged secret tracking of their Internet browsing habits. London-based law firm Olswang said that 12 Apple users were taking the Internet search leader to court over small pieces of tracking code _ known as cookies _ surreptitiously installed on computers and smartphones. 2 science projects win up to $1.3 billion eachBRUSSELS (AP) _ Two European science projects _ one to map the intricacies of the human brain, the other to explore the extraordinary carbon-based material graphene _ won an EU technology contest Monday, getting up to (EURO)1 billion ($1.34 billion) each over the next decade. The projects were selected from 26 proposals. (c) 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |