As expected, Microsoft on Thursday announced a huge round of layoffs that will see roughly 18,000 employees lose their jobs. Of these layoffs, 12,500 will come from Microsoft’s Nokia devices division, representing yet another major blow to the one-time mobile phone giant. In his announcement of the layoffs, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that they were necessary as part of “starting to evolve our organization and culture.”
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Apple suppliers that will provide various iPhone 6 parts are apparently “facing technological difficulties maintaining or hiking yield rates” for various components, Digitimes reports, including panels, chassis and battery packs. Supply chain sources talking to the publication said that iPhone 6-related orders will contribute to revenues, but will not help increase gross margins because of the challenges they had or have to face.
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The Moto 360 smartwatch is not available to buyers yet, unlike other Android Wear devices from LG and Samsung, but that doesn’t mean some people don’t get to use them in the wild already. Such is the case with a Motorola employee in Chicago, who was spotted by a savvy tech enthusiast on two consecutive train rides.
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It’s safe to say that Netflix is still really not a fan of the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to possibly allow for Internet “fast lanes” where ISPs can charge content companies more to get their traffic delivered more quickly than on the “standard” Internet. The Verge has spotted Netflix’s official filing with the FCC discussing its proposed new net neutrality rules and the company basically says that it would be better if the FCC just did nothing instead of making things worse with its current proposal.
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Android smartphone buyers who fell in love with LG’s newly launched G3 but would like something smaller yet similar, should know that an LG G3 S is in the making – or a G3 mini. Phone Arena reports that the LG G3 S user manual has been found online, providing more details about the unreleased phone, including pictures, but also specs and features.
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When we try to justify the price we pay for a game console, we rarely think back past the last generation. At just $400, the PlayStation 4 is a steal compared to its $600 predecessor, yet Microsoft has received plenty of flak for launching the Xbox One at $500. What’s interesting is that when we step back just a few generations further, prices suddenly plummet to $300 or less.
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You know all the time and trouble you put into making and memorizing unique strong passwords for every website you visit? Well, Microsoft says a lot of that was likely misspent energy. The Guardian informs us that new research from Microsoft (PDF) shows that we probably shouldn’t use strong passwords for all our websites and that having weak passwords will suffice in many circumstances.
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Chattanooga, Tennessee’s municipal broadband network offers affordable broadband service that just happens to deliver the same 1Gbps peak speeds as Google Fiber. Given this apparent success story, you would think that state government officials would be happy to see other municipalities experiment with building their own fiber networks or to at least let Chattanooga expand its fiber service to more areas. But you’d be wrong.
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Self-driving cars, such as Google’s experimental vehicles, will be available to buyers in coming years, but the FBI is not particularly thrilled about their arrival, The Guardian has learned from a restricted report obtained under a public records requests.
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Google’s social network is now much more troll-friendly than it was when it launched three years ago, as the company is finally ready to offer users the one feature they have been asking for: choosing whatever username they desire for Google+. The company announced in a post on Google+ that, henceforward, it will let users select their desired username, which doesn’t have to be their real name, as it was the case before.
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