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By the Blouin News Technology staff

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Monthly Archives: May 2013

Consumers don’t want a hijacked homepage after all

May 13, 2024 by Homa Zaryouni in Media Tech, Personal Tech.

A Facebook employee holds a phone that is running the new "Home" program. Getty/ Justin Sullivan

Rumors have surfaced that the collaboration between smartphone manufacturer HTC and Facebook is nearing an end.

U.N. brings back internet governance talks at WTPF

May 13, 2024 by Janice Yucel in Media Tech.

Hamadoun Toure, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), speaks during a press conference on the final day of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in Dubai, on December 14, 2012.

The topic of internet governance will rear its head again at the Fifth World Telecommunication/Information and Communications Technology Policy Forum (WTPF) in Geneva on May 14-16.

The reality of 5G wireless

May 13, 2024 by Juliana Kenny in Personal Tech.

HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND - FEBRUARY 21: One of the new ultra fast broadband towers is seen on a rural farm in Eureka on February 21, 2024 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Today Vodafone and the New Zealand Government switched on the first wave of newly built cell sites under the Rural Broadband Initiative (Photo by Sandra Mu/Getty Images)

Samsung’s development of 5G wireless technology could bring about significant changes to the tech world, but several obstacles face public access to such a network.

Google drops the physical Google Wallet card. (Good riddance.)

May 10, 2024 by Homa Zaryouni in Enterprise Tech.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt speaks during a news conference. AFP/ Getty/ Jung Yeon-Je

Sources at Google revealed on Friday that Google has abandoned its plan to introduce a physical credit card that would accompany Google Wallet.

Nokia plays both sides of smartphone spectrum

May 10, 2024 by Juliana Kenny in Personal Tech.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nokia Corporation Stephen Elop holds a Nokia Asha 501 cellular telephone as he addresses an unveiling ceremony in New Delhi on May 9, 2013. The Asha 501,with a three-inch screen, Wi-Fi, internet, camera is expected to go on sale in India and Europe in June, 2013 for approximately USD 99. AFP PHOTO/RAVEENDRAN (Photo credit should read RAVEENDRAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Nokia’s Lumia 928 and Asha 501 are priced similarly, but designed for two very different sections of the global smartphone market.

A more level playing field for big data

May 9, 2024 by Homa Zaryouni in Enterprise Tech, Media Tech.

President Barack Obama points to a picture of himself sitting in the White House Situation Room looking at a weather map. AFP/ Getty/ Saul Loeb

Barack Obama signed an executive order on Thursday that mandated all government data be made available to the public in machine-readable format.

Facebook’s next networking disruption

May 9, 2024 by Juliana Kenny in Enterprise Tech.

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 08: An ethernet cable is seen at a news conference where it was announced that free Wi-Fi will be provided by Google to the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea on January 8, 2024 in New York City. Google has teamed up with the Chelsea Improvement Project, a local New York City non-profit and the city government to provide free Wi-Fi to the historic neighborhood. The network will become the largest public outdoor service of its kind in New York, and the first neighborhood in the city with free WiFi. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Facebook’s foray into the hardware market signals a shake-up in the future design of data center technologies.

Hulu iffy bet for Yahoo

May 8, 2024 by Homa Zaryouni in Enterprise Tech, Media Tech.

President and CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer speaks at the WIRED Business Conference. Getty for WIRED/ Brad Barket

Reports surfaced on Tuesday about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer meeting with Hulu executives about a potential deal.

The changing face of mobile messaging

May 8, 2024 by Juliana Kenny in Personal Tech.

Austin Wierschke (L) and Kent Augustine (R) in the final round during the 6th Annual LG US National Texting Championship August 8, 2024 in New York's Times Square. A 16-year-old boy retained his title as America's fastest texter Wednesday in a duel of the thumbs staged before yelling fans on New York's Times Square. Weirschke took home $50,000 prize money for the second time in two years when he bested 10 other texting demons in feats of thumb speed, memory and fluency in texting shorthand. One round was performed with the remaining contestants blindfolded and having 45 seconds to type the verse: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky." The event, sponsored by LG Electronics and using the company's cell phones, took place on a traffic island in Times Square. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/GettyImages)

The growing popularity of OTT messaging is surpassing that of traditional SMS texts creating an uncertain future for global wireless carriers.

White House hires privacy negotiator

May 7, 2024 by Homa Zaryouni in Media Tech.

US President Barack Obama walks to Marine One from the Oval Office prior to departing from the South Lawn of the White House. AFP/ Getty/ Saul Loeb

The Obama Administration hired Twitter legal director Nicole Wong as the government’s first chief privacy officer on Tuesday.