which has given itself a year to do its work

Ballmer's grand design - unveiled just six weeks before Friday's surprise announcement that he would retire within a year - calls for 'One Microsoft' to pull together and forge a future based on hardware and cloud-based services.

But poor sales of the new Surface tablet, on top of Microsoft's years-long failure to make money out of online search or smartphones, have cast doubt on that approach.

For years, investors have called on Microsoft to redirect cash spent on money-losing or peripheral projects to shareholders, while limiting its focus to the vastly profitable Windows, Office and server franchises.

Activist investor ValueAct Capital Management LP, whose recent lobbying of the company may have played a role in Ballmer's decision to retire earlier than he planned, is thought to favor such an approach.

In the last two years alone, Microsoft has lost almost $3 billion on its Bing search engine and other Internet projects, not counting a $6 billion write-off for its failed purchase of online advertising agency aQuantive. It took a $900 million charge for its poor-selling Surface tablet last quarter.

For now at least, Microsoft seems intent on pursuing Ballmer's vision. John Thompson, Microsoft's lead independent director who is also heading the committee to appoint a new CEO, said on Friday the board is "committed" to Ballmer's transformation plan.

The eventual choice of that committee - which has given itself a year to do its work - should provide a clue to how committed the board really is, and how open to outside advice.

"Taking an internal candidate like Satya Nadella - the guy nurturing servers - or some of the other people on the Windows team, that makes sense to keep a steady hand through this reorganization and strategic shift," said Norman Young, an analyst at Morningstar.

"But a strong case could be made that the company needs a breath of fresh air, someone who can execute on the strategy but also bring an outsider perspective," he added.

That could mean selling the Xbox and abandoning Bing, or cutting short efforts to make tablets or other computers.

Throughout the last decade, as Microsoft's share price has remained flat, shareholders have called for bigger dividends and share buybacks to beef up their returns.

Microsoft obliged with a one-time $3 a share special dividend in 2004 and has trebled its quarterly dividend to 23 cents since then.

But shareholders still want a bigger slice of Microsoft's $77 billion cash hoard, $70 billion of which is held overseas.

Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura, believes that if the retirement of Ballmer means the company is listening to ValueAct and its supporters, then action on the dividend and share buyback could perhaps happen as early as September 19, when Microsoft hosts its annual get-together with analysts and is expected announce its latest dividend.

"The momentum of shareholder activism is well underway and likely to benefit shareholders even though the process of how this unfolds is not certain," said Sherlund.

The lackluster performance of Microsoft's stock has long been the stick that shareholders beat Ballmer with, and it has looked all the worse compared with the staggering gains made by Apple Inc under Steve Jobs.

Yet Ballmer - who owns just under 4 percent of the company - never showed any doubts about his intention to stay in the job. His old friend and ally Bill Gates, who still owns 4.8 percent of the company, never wavered in his public support.

The first public signs of dissent on Microsoft's board came in 2010, when Ballmer's bonus was trimmed explicitly for the flop of the infamous Kin 'social' phone and a failure to match Apple's iPad, according to regulatory filings.

It was around that time, women shoes factory though not necessarily connected, that the board started considering how it would manage a succession, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ballmer and the board began talking to both internal and external candidates.

About 18 months to two years ago, Ballmer started thinking seriously about a succession plan, the internal source said.

The time since was not marked with glory for Ballmer, with a tepid launch of Windows 8, the disappointment of the Surface tablet, and a $731 million fine by European regulators for forgetting to offer a choice of browsers to Windows users.

Two to three months ago, Ballmer started thinking seriously about his retirement and concluded it was the "right time to start the process," the source said. That was shortly after ValueAct took a $2 billion stake in Microsoft.

July's gloomy earnings, which offered no immediate hope of quick improvement, may have sealed the decision. Ballmer said Friday he made the choice in the few days prior, and informed the board on Wednesday. Whether the board urged Ballmer to leave is not known.

The impending exit of Ballmer leaves a difficult and perhaps impossible choice to his successor - pushing a large and insular behemoth through a highly risky transformation to the mobile world, or clinging to an island of profitable but PC-centric businesses.

"I'm not sure there is someone who can do Steve's job 'better'. It's an incredibly difficult job, perhaps intractable," said Brad Silverberg, a former senior Windows executive and co-founder of Seattle venture capital firm Ignition Partners. "Perhaps the way the job is defined needs to change, and this is the harbinger of bigger changes to come."
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I resisted the urge of iPhone

I was a Windows using, Apple hating, Android Fanboy and I was proud of it.

But it all changed when I took a job in Graphic design and began using a Mac and bought a used white Macbook for my personal use to get familiar with OS X.

I fell In love and soon after bought a brand new Macbook Pro and later after that, sold my Android tablet and purchased an iPad.

There was just one more piece of the Apple puzzle I was missing… the iPhone.

This all changed when wholesale fashion shoes finally announced they would begin selling it.

I love T-Mobile’s service in Cincinnati and couldn’t leave it and also found myself pretty aligned with the Android ecosystem and operating system.

For almost 5 years, I resisted the urge of iPhone and purchased well over 15 Android devices, on my search for the perfect one.

As it turns out, the perfect device was the one I never considered: The iPhone 5.

I’ve been using it for about a week now and many rabid Android fanboys told me I’d be back to my Nexus 4 in a week.

But thats just not the case, in Fact, Just 2 days after owning the iPhone, I sold my Nexus 4 and my wife’s Galaxy Nexus in one fell swoop.

I was sad that I was selling an Android device without replacing it with a newer device like I did so many times in the last 5 years.

I’m not sad because I’ll miss the greatness of Android but rather just because I believed in the platform far longer than a lot of people did.

I remember trying to convince everyone that the T-Mobile G1 wasn’t ugly and that Android was functionally better than iOS, but looking back, the iPhone 3G was a far superior device.

So what made me change? Well its not about what Android lacks but rather what iOS has gained that really pushed me towards the platform.

It doesn’t hurt that I use a Mac at both home and work and my wife uses an iPad as her only computing device (outside of iPhone).

iOS has always been more appealing to my eyes than Android and while Android has continually gotten faster and smoother over time, it still lacks the polish of iOS.

3 or 4 years ago, I couldn’t even consider the iPhone. The Notification system was horrible.

The Gmail experience was sub par. The maps app lacked turn by turn and early on it lacked any type of copy and paste.
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when the company stops making them

Don’t confuse a few corporate miscues with companies turning the page on tablets.

Industry revenues for computer tablets are expected to surpass $37 billion this year, up from $31 billion in 2012, based on figures from the Consumer Electronics Association. Given that, shoppers can expect the devices to remain a staple at stores.

So, the question becomes which tablets will remain in display cases at a time when Hewlett-Packard Co., Barnes & Noble Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others have had to abandon or alter their tablet strategy.

HP’s TouchPad is probably the most notable misfire. When it debuted in February 2011 the company had high hopes, but they were dashed just six months later as poor consumer reception resulted in a fire sale.

The discontinued device’s starting price fell from $399 to $99.

Something similar is taking place at Barnes & Noble with its line of tablets. When the Nook arrived in 2009 it was a modest e-reader, but last September the company unveiled the Nook HD+, a 9-inch full-fledged tablet for $269.

After lackluster holiday sales, however, the gadget received a hefty price cut this summer and now costs $149. Barnes & Noble will continue to sell Nooks, but reportedly is seeking a partner to produce them.

Last summer,wholesale fashion shoes Microsoft attempted to make a splash with its Surface RT tablet, which starts at $499. In July, the company shaved $150 off the price in an attempt to compete with other tablets.

Ever since Apple Inc. began selling its iconic tablet three years ago, other companies have been playing follow the leader, said Purdue University business expert Logan Jordan.

“The Kindle Fire has the power of Amazon behind it and the Android devices have Google apps, but some of the other tablets out there are having a hard time keeping up,” said Jordan, associate dean at the Krannert Graduate School of Management at the college. “It depends on what type of ecosystem you have, and for Apple it already had its own app store in place.”

The International Data Corp. last week reported tablet shipments slipped about 10 percent to 45.1 million units in the April-June period, compared with the first three months of the year.

The IDC says once Apple launches an updated iPad it will provide a shot in the arm for the industry, which still had a nearly 60 percent increase in shipments in the second quarter, compared to a year ago during the same period.

“A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors,” Tom Mainelli, IDC research director, said in a statement. “With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that’s likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market.”

Huntington resident Tara Davis got a Samsung 7-inch tablet for a Christmas gift and though the 29-year-old loves the Android device, she makes no secret about what’s really on her wish list.

“I use it mostly for the Internet, playing games and reading articles,” she said. “I like it, but I want an iPad. I’m waiting for the next one to come out.”

Retail staffers aren’t surprised by iPad’s continued popularity. Michael Widenhofer is an electronics retail specialist at Target at Glenbrook Square. He said despite the Nook’s price cut, Apple’s iPad still outsells it by a 4-to-1 ratio at his store.

“Initially, it was a very large response for the Nook when the price dropped, but sales have tapered off,” Widenhofer said. “Some might say the iPad puts the Nook and Kindle both at a disadvantage because they came late to the game and are still trying to catch up.”

Barnes & Noble manager Brad Cook doesn’t agree. He said since the price cut – and the company’s partnership with Google – sales of the Nook have been strong.

In May, Barnes & Noble announced an agreement to bring Google’s more than 700,000 applications to the Nook, which previously only had 10,000 options available at the B&N app store. The Google pairing also allows Nook users to buy and download music.

“I’d say sales are up 35 percent to 40 percent since all this happened,” said Cook, who oversees the Glenbrook Square store.

“Even when the company stops making them, we will continue to sell them.”

Since Microsoft invested $300 million in the Nook last year, industry analysts have speculated that a deal could be in the works to acquire the tablet business.

“Whatever happens, we expect it to continue to sell well,” Cook said. “We should have enough stock through the Christmas season.”
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how to leave home without it?

Many of my holiday rites now centre around my IT toys. They are the last things I pack into my bag, because I use them to the very last minute. Also, I must ensure they’re all charged up, so I don’t have to suffer the agony of a juiceless phone during my journey. I’m extra careful not to forget all relevant cables and wires — I can think of no greater nightmare than being cordless in Cornwall. On my train ride to Penzance I checked my mobile scores of times, sometimes just to see if it was there. Nestled in my rucksack among coiled cables that resembled mouse tails, my phone seemed like a family pet.

As for the internet — how to leave home without it? The places I venture to and stay in are influenced by TripAdvisor. My tickets and reservations are made online, with barcodes and booking numbers that I show to various receptionists by waving my more-vivid-than-life high-pixel-density mobile screen in their faces. At my holiday spot I spend a lot of time bent over Google Maps, sometimes first glimpsing a street on StreetView while actually already walking on that street. I get about with the help of blinking virtual arrows rather than engaging with a local, or taking the risk of losing my way and coming across something unexpected. The joys of getting lost are lost forever.

Perhaps next time I’ll just check into the world’s first Twitter-themed hotel, Sol Wave House in Majorca, where guests are urged to communicate with the staff and each other with tweets. Chirrup!

The summer makes our year-round obsession with technology especially obvious. It’s OK to be reliant on gadgets when you’re at the office, but when you’re lying on a beach in your bathers and you feel an unbearable urge to check your Twitter feed, it feels far weirder. Walking along the beach in Cornwall it was astonishing how many people were stooped over their iPhones, cyber-surfing when they could be surfing, scrolling when they could stroll.

The fact is, our beings are now split in two — one occupies the physical world, the other the world wide web, and while the real-world self may be on holiday, the web-self is not. Or at least not until the holiday photos are posted online.

This is true of all of us these days, but it is especially true of our children and their children, the ones who grew up online, ‘digital natives’. It’s no longer enough to be somewhere lovely: it’s not quite real until the photos have been thumbsed-up,ladies shoes wholesale retweeted or liked. It’s as though if nobody online witnesses us next to the Empire State Building or the leaning tower of Pisa, then we weren’t really there.

Why are we so hooked? A cognitive scientist called Tom Stafford at the University of Sheffield has a convincing explanation. He reckons we’re hardwired to like low-risk activities with unpredictable payoffs. We refresh our email inboxes, our Twitter and Facebook feeds every few minutes the same way we keep pulling on the lever of a -casino slot machine: something fantastic may land in our laps, if not a heap of coins then a hyperlink to an interesting article, or a text from that bloke you rather fancy, or a poke from a friend we haven’t met in years.

And on the bright side, this particular addiction isn’t likely to destroy our minds, in fact it might even enhance them. There’s evidence to suggest that all the flicking to and from different devices and conversations helps you think faster, more flexibly and more creatively. While your teenager seems inert on her beach towel, staring at a touchscreen, she is in fact teaching her brain to multi-task.

On the dark side, a few natives may, well, go wild. In South Korea, where 65 per cent of teens have smartphones (up from 21 per cent two years ago), there have been cases of ‘digital dementia’ — early-onset dementia due to intense exposure to the internet. In China there are addiction camps for children and teens, where attendees are weaned off their digital obsession, sometimes in drastic ways such as being forced to do push-ups. There’s a nightmare holiday for you.
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Licensing SEPs on FRAND terms is an important

"This decision is based on my review of the various policy considerations ... as they relate to the effect on competitive conditions in the US economy and the effect on US consumers," Froman said in his letter.

The ITC ruled that Apple had infringed on a standard-essential patent owned by Samsung for '3G' wireless technology. Froman said that the decision by the Obama administration to disapprove of the sales ban order on certain Apple device models did not signal any view on the ITC's findings in relation to infringement and said it was open to Samsung to "continue to pursue its rights through the courts".

Standards are agreed technical specifications to ensure that a single technology is used across an industry, often with the goal of achieving interoperability of products regardless of the manufacturer. Companies can opt to send experts to help develop standards but, in return, most standards setting organisations insist that companies agree to license any intellectual property they own that is essential to implementation of that standard on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

Froman said that concerns both in the relation to the possibility of SEP holders asserting their rights to 'hold-up' the launch of rival products to market and with the practice of SEP users refusing to enter into negotiations for a FRAND licence or pay a pre-determined FRAND royalty had been considered before the decision to overturn the ITC's sales ban was made. He called on the ITC to review "thoroughly and carefully on its own initiative" whether potential remedies to SEP-infringement cases are in the public interest in future cases.

"The Administration is committed to promoting innovation and economic progress, including through providing adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights," Froman said. "Relief available to the owners of intellectual property rights [under US law] is an important facet of achieving that objective. At the same time, standards, and particularly voluntary consensus-bases standards set by SDOs, have come to play an increasingly important role in the US economy."

"Important policy considerations arise in the enforcement of those patents incorporated into technical standards without which such standards cannot be implemented as designed,ladies shoes wholesale,when the patent holder has made a voluntary commitment to offer to license these SEPs on FRAND terms. Licensing SEPs on FRAND terms is an important element of the Administration's policy of promoting innovation and economic progress and reflects the positive linkages between patent rights and standards setting," the Ambassador added.

The Defense Department may be a small player in the global mobile device market, but its clout with companies like Google and Apple is rising.

Not because these companies are driven by the promise of big federal business. Rather, by meeting DoD security standards, companies see an opportunity to expand their business into other security-conscious sectors.

“If they can get to our level of security, then they can market out to the corporate world for health, banking [and] financial, ... and you’re starting to see that,” said Greg Youst, mobility lead for the Defense Information Systems Agency, at a cybersecurity event last month.

“The drivers for these devices ... is the commercial market,” Youst said. “We’re a drop in the bucket.” But “the market is listening to us,” he said. “Industry is coming to us.”

In sit-down meetings with Defense officials, these companies are asking how they can build devices and operating systems that meet department standards. DoD began talks with Samsung more than a year ago and gave the company guidelines for developing its Android-based Samsung KNOX, Youst said. Samsung KNOX devices were approved for department use in May.

Android-based smartphones make up 80 percent of the global market share, according to data released last week by research firm Strategy Analytics.

But that business is largely driven by consumers not large organizations like federal agencies, banks and hospitals. In a recent overview document about its KNOX product, Samsung cited a 2012 Gartner survey that found less than 10 percent of organizations planned on buying Android devices in the following year because of a “perceived lack of security.”

Samsung is playing up the fact that it submitted KNOX to the government for a compliance review “to enable its use in government and other highly regulated enterprise environments” like health care and finance.

KNOX includes security features developed by the National Security Agency that can separate data and apps on the phone into different domains to contain damage caused by a malicious or flawed app.

Youst said he was contacted by Google and given a week to create a wish list of DoD’s mobile security needs; he has had similar discussions with Apple about security.

“I went nuts,” he said of the Google conversation. He worked with the military services to develop a wish list, which included security requirements for verifying a user’s identity before the user can access a device. “How do we make sure that you are who you are?” he said.

Apple also has taken steps to meet federal security standards. Apple’s iOS 6 operating system meets National Institute of Standards and Technology standards required to encrypt data on mobile devices used in government. This is often referred to as Federal Information Processing Standards certification.

“In many ways, security is migrating from a post-award cost to a competitive advantage,” for companies, said George Holland, a vice president at Juniper Networks.

While DoD is reaping the benefits of security features being built into mobile devices, these upgrades haven’t solved all of the department’s mobile problems.

One of DoD’s main challenges today is that the only way to verify the identity of its mobile users is with a Common Access Card and an additional device that can hold the CAC card in place, connect the card to the device and allow users to access the device. DoD is exploring options for storing the digital identities found on CAC cards inside smartphones on a Subscriber Identity Module card or microSD card or other secure locations that vary depending on the mobile device, said Ben Andreas, vice president of sales for security software company Intercede. Companies like Intercede are working with DoD to explore secure and standard ways of doing this.

Britain has proposed tax breaks for fracking companies

Louisa Delpy had never protested before, but when she heard that shale gas extraction might begin in her leafy part of the English countryside, she was so furious that she took to the streets.

The 36-year-old mother went with two friends and a home-made sign to the lonely site where test drilling for oil and gas has begun, close to her upmarket village of Balcombe in West Sussex, a fifty-minute train ride from central London.

Three weeks later, the gaggle of demonstrators has mushroomed into a protest camp of hundreds, becoming the focus of a national campaign against the controversial extraction technique known as "fracking".

Protesters from around Britain have set up dozens of tents, loudspeakers and banners, while crowds surge forward with yells of fury to try to block each truck that drives towards the drilling site.

"I've never protested against anything in my life, but look where we are now," Delpy said.

Waving signs with slogans such as "Frack off!" and "Balcombe's not for shale", the campers say they will stay as long as it takes for Cuadrilla, the firm that has pioneered fracking in Britain, to reconsider its involvement.

A prosperous commuter area in the home territory of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, Balcombe is an unlikely birthplace for a rowdy protest movement.

But many residents say that having objected unsuccessfully through official channels, they feel forced into direct action.

"All the normal forms of democracy seem to have been ignored," said Stephen White, 59, a filmmaker from a nearby village. "It's like the Wild West."

Cuadrilla -- whose chairman is former BP chief John Browne -- has tried to pacify the locals, holding open days and promising not to "ruin the countryside".

It also says it is merely carrying out test drilling, which could lead to standard oil extraction, fracking, or nothing at all. The plan is to drill a 3,000-foot (915-metre) vertical well in a project lasting up to three months.

But Cuadrilla's involvement elsewhere with fracking, or hydraulic fracturing -- using huge amounts of pressurised water mixed with chemicals to crack open rock and release natural gas -- has fuelled suspicion.

Protesters bowed their heads for a minute's silence on Friday when news arrived that drilling had begun.

"It's a sad day for Balcombe -- but we will win!" declared 52-year-old Glayzer Frackman from Lancashire in the north, who turned activist and changed his name after his house was damaged by minor earthquakes blamed on test drilling.

Like the other protesters, he also worries about potential chemical contamination of the air and water, and possible water shortages.

The entertainer and DJ is one of dozens to arrive from Lancashire, a key testing area since the Conservative-led government took a strong stance in favour of fracking, which has led to a shale gas bonanza in the United States.

Britain has proposed tax breaks for fracking companies, hoping to boost jobs and tax revenues while increasing energy security, although the technique has been banned in France and halted in Germany.

Last week a Conservative member of parliament's House of Lords, David Howell, infuriated swathes of Britain when he suggested the "desolate" northeast as a good place to frack.

He then corrected himself -- to say he had meant the "unloved" northwest.

Balcombe's protest camp now has a kitchen, portable toilets and a children's play area. Demonstrators hold meditation sessions and concerts, and passing cars honk their horns in support.

Dozens of police vans surround the camp, manned by up to 70 officers.

There have been more than 30 arrests, amid scuffles with police and protest stunts including a group who locked themselves to an antique fire engine, blocking access to the site for six hours.

Celebrity campaigners such as Bianca Jagger, ex-wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger,wholesale fashion shoes have made appearances.

The camp also includes well-heeled professionals, with some protesters brandishing academic studies on the dangers of fracking.

In Balcombe itself, a village of immaculate brick houses, staff at the pub said they were "remaining neutral" while rumours circulated of a mystery thief taking down anti-fracking posters from local tea rooms.

But it is hard to find anyone there who says they oppose the camp.

"It's polarising people a little bit," said trainee nutritionist Nancy Towers, 47. "But I think it's wonderful. They're very peaceful people."

One 80-year-old villager, who asked not to be named, said she would protest on Saturday.
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