Fri, 23/07/2010
Microsoft has reported record financial results for the quarter ending June 30, and the big money maker was Windows. Despite attempts at Jedi mind trickery involving cloud services, the company remains firmly wedded to the earth-bound PC. Sales of Windows jumped 43 per cent during the company's fiscal fourth quarter, to $4.54bn. Revenue for the Windows group came in at $3bn, up 58 per cent – a record, Microsoft said. Windows helped nudge Microsoft's overall revenue performance up 23 per cent to $16bn for the quarter, with income growing 48 per cent to $4.5bn.
Via The Register
MySpace halves UK audience
MySpace has halved its UK audience within the last 12 months, according to new ComScore data. The new figures reveal that MySpace’s audience numbers dropped by 49 per cent over the last year, falling from 6.5 million visitors in May 2009, to just 3.3 million in May 2010. The news comes hot on the heels of the site’s major rival, Facebook, hitting 500 million registered users.
Via The Telegraph
UK better than US for broadband, report shows
Broadband services in the UK are better than those offered to customers in the US, according to a new report. However, neither country can boast about their broadband services after being ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively by the new study. Market research firm Strategy Analytics recently launched its new report series, which rates 57 countries according to household penetration, speed, affordability, value for money and urbanicity.
Via BCS
Email more popular than social networking
More people still use the internet mainly for emailing (20 per cent), putting the activity ahead of social networking (11 per cent), consuming media (two per cent) and work (16 per cent), according to a national survey. The findings come from the third bi-annual IPA TouchPoints Survey which looks at a week in the life of an adult in the UK. And email is holding onto the top spot, despite the fact that social-networking use has risen by 113 per cent since the last survey took place in 2008.
Via Webuser
Nokia profits slump 40% in second quarter
Profits at Finnish mobile phone handset company Nokia slumped by 40% in the second quarter compared with the previous year. The firm announced profits of a mere 227m euros ($291m; £191m) for the three months ending in June. Nokia warned last month that it expected its sales and profits figures to fall short of earlier forecasts. The company has struggled to compete since Apple and Google entered the market with their new smartphones.
Via BBC
India develops world's cheapest "laptop" at $35
India's Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal this week unveiled the low-cost computing device that is designed for students, saying his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production. "We have reached a (developmental) stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything," he told a news conference. He said the touchscreen gadget was packed with Internet browsers, PDF reader and video conferencing facilities but its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorporate new components according to user requirement.
Via Reuters
