Microsoft's SkyDrive now hosts over one billion Office documents

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; outline: none;"><img alt="microsoft, office, cloud, skydrive, dropbox, office 365, google dri" src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/thumbs/2013-02-08-teaser17c.jpg" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Earlier today Microsoft <a href="http://blogs.windows.com/skydrive/b/skydrive/archive/2013/02/08/a-billion-office-documents-on-skydrive-now-with-easier-collaboration.aspx" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">revealed</a> that its cloud-based SkyDrive service now plays host to more than <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2415248,00.asp" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">1 billion documents</a>. There’s little doubt that the service saw a massive increase in use thanks to its tie-in with the recently released <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51475-office-2013-and-office-365-now-available-subscriptions-start-at-999.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;">Office 365</a>.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Microsoft also used the occasion to announce a new feature in SkyDrive and the Office Web Apps. Up to this point, anyone that wanted to edit a document would first have to sign into a Microsoft account. As you can imagine or may have firsthand experience with, this can be rather frustrating if you need to simply make a quick edit.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Sarah Filman, Microsoft’s lead program manager for SkyDrive, points outs out that this has been one piece of feedback that they have consistently heard about, especially from students. That’s no longer a concern as anyone can click a link and begin the editing process without signing in. Of course, the person sharing the document can still require a login in the event that privacy or security is a concern.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">As PC Mag points out, surpassing 1 billion documents is a significant milestone but until we know how many documents are hosted on major competing services like Google Drive or Dropbox, there’s really no real way to gauge the impact of Microsoft’s achievement.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51590-microsofts-skydrive-now-hosts-over-one-billion-office-documents.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Microsoft's SkyDrive now hosts over one billion Office documents

Earlier today Microsoft  revealed  that its cloud-based SkyDrive service now plays host to more than  1 billion documents . There’s little d...

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Alleged iPhone 5S photos from inside Foxconn leak online

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">A new batch of alleged next generation <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/hardware/Leaked-First-iPhone-5S-photos-surface-online/articleshow/18441739.cms" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">iPhone photos</a> have found their way online courtesy of a <a href="http://sjbbs.zol.com.cn/2/30_11361.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Chinese website</a>. The pre-production images appear to have been taken inside a manufacturing facility – said to be Foxconn – and show the front and rear panels of a device that looks very similar to the iPhone 5.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Details are lacking at this hour but based on <a href="http://www.slashgear.com/iphone-6-tipped-to-team-with-iphone-5s-inside-2013-08268633/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">rumors</a> circulating last week, we could see not one but two new iPhones launch later this year. The iPhone 5S would be much like what the iPhone 4S was when it was released – a handset with beefier internals inside an identical outer shell. That’s almost a given when you look back at Apple’s past releases following an entirely new design the year before.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none; text-align: center;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-02-11-image-1.jpg" style="outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The more interesting of the two handsets would be the iPhone 6 which is rumored to have a larger screen somewhere between 4.8-inches and 5-inches. All of this comes from a Chinese blog that claims to have an inside source that saw both handsets. As you can imagine, all of this should be taken with a healthy dose of salt.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none; text-align: center;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-02-11-image-2.jpg" style="outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Either way, we’re all but certain that Apple will release some version of the iPhone this year as they have done every year since 2007. Aside from what phone we will see, the other big unknown is when will the new handset(s) arrive? The past two releases have come later in the year while the first several were geared more towards Q2 and early Q3.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51599-alleged-iphone-5s-photos-from-inside-foxconn-leak-online.html" target="_blank">Read More....</a></div></div>

Alleged iPhone 5S photos from inside Foxconn leak online

A new batch of alleged next generation  iPhone photos  have found their way online courtesy of a  Chinese website . The pre-production image...

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Weekend Open Forum: At what age did you get your first cell phone?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">I grew up in a time when landlines were the primary means of voice communication. Sure there were cell phones in the early ‘90s but they were typically reserved for business executives and the wealthy. The pager (or beeper) was the go-to device for getting in touch with people on the go through most of my teenage years.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">My first cell phone was a Nokia 5110 that I got when I was 18, arguably the most popular handset at the time due to the fact that you could buy aftermarket faceplates, frames, batteries and antennas to create a look that was uniquely your own – something that seemed immensely important in high school. What’s more, few people my age had mobile phones at the time which made owning one that much more attractive.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none; text-align: center;"><img src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2013-02-09-image-1.jpg" style="outline: none;" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">With this week’s open forum, we want to know how old you were when you got your first cell phone and what kind of phone it was (if you remember).</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51594-weekend-open-forum-at-what-age-did-you-get-your-first-cell-phone.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

Weekend Open Forum: At what age did you get your first cell phone?

I grew up in a time when landlines were the primary means of voice communication. Sure there were cell phones in the early ‘90s but they wer...

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Dead Space 3 PC Graphics Test

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><img alt="Dead Space 3 PC Graphics Test" height="238" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/dead-space-3-benchmarks.jpg" width="640" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The third installment in the Dead Space series was released this month, and considering the game made our list of <a href="http://www.techspot.com/guides/634-hot-pc-games-of-2013/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;">2013's most anticipated PC games</a> we thought we would check it out to see how it looked and performed. Dead Space 3 is the direct sequel to the January 2011 release of Dead Space 2.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Like the first two games, Dead Space 3 <a class="pf_widget_small " href="http://www.techspot.com/products/pc-games/dead-space-3.85317/" style="color: #05408f; display: inline-block; outline: none; text-decoration: initial; zoom: 1;" target="_blank" title="Dead Space 3 - Score: 79 from 5 reviews"><span class="pf_score pf_good" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px; background-color: #075bc0; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; box-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px -1px 0px; color: white; display: inline-block; float: none; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; outline: none; padding: 0px 5px; text-align: center; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 1px 1px; zoom: 1;">79</span></a> is a survival horror third-person shooter. In addition to drop-in/drop-out co-op, Dead Space 3 introduces several new gameplay mechanics, such as the ability to roll for more responsive control and an organic, automatic cover system that doesn't require you to press a button to duck behind something.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Like its predecessor, Dead Space 3 has been developed in-house by Visceral Games using their own Visceral Engine. With this we anticipate to see just subtle improvements in terms of visual quality over Dead Space 2 which was a DirectX 9-only title.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><img border="0" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/1.jpg" style="outline: none;" /></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The reason for this is simple, Dead Space 3 has been developed for consoles and then ported directly to PC. Although it is possible to turn some settings up a little higher on the PC, modern features that are part of DirectX 11 or high-resolution textures are not supported out of the box.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">This is a real shame, but not at all surprising as this is how most cross-platform games end up on PC. Normally we'd skip console ports, as we did with Dead Space 2, however Dead Space 3 was already being heralded as "one of the best games of this generation" by <a href="http://www.gameinformer.com/games/dead_space_3/b/ps3/archive/2013/02/05/chewed-up-spit-out-and-back-for-more.aspx" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">Game Informer</a> just days after its release and therefore we felt it was worth checking out.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The game seems to be receiving higher praises on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 <a href="http://www.techspot.com/products/pc-games/dead-space-3.85317/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;">when compared to PC</a>, and as expected PC fans of franchise are not impressed with the lack of visual features. Visceral has been copping some heat, however executive producer Steve Papoutsis is a bit baffled as to why...</div><blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;">"It's confusing to me that this question even comes up, it’s by no means any less important to us and it gets a lot of attention. The PC is a very different platform. As developers, you want to deliver an experience that's as similar as possible on different platforms. In Dead Space 2, I felt we made some great strides in terms of controls, responsiveness and even the visual improvements we got into it. We continue to evolve our games as we develop them, but we certainly don't target PC as something that's going to be significantly different. We aren't trying to create disparity in the experience that our gamers enjoy; we want to make sure everyone's having that same experience.”</blockquote><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">We believe Steve Papoutsis is missing the point. Dead Space 3 on PC is competing in a market where other developers at least go to some effort to play to the system’s strengths and games such as Battlefield 3 and Crysis 3 are perfect examples of that. Keep in mind gamers are also paying top dollar for Dead Space 3, so the fact that it doesn’t support DirectX 11 features as offered by most other AAA ports should not cause Visceral's Papoutsis any confusion.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><img border="0" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/2.jpg" style="outline: none;" /></center><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #05408f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 10px 0px;">Testing Methodology</h3><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Normally we test new games with over two dozen graphics cards and use multiple platforms to measure CPU performance. However this time, knowing in advance Dead Space 3 wasn't going to be overly demanding we decided to run a more concise test of 11 graphics cards on a single platform.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">CPU performance didn't seem too relevant as any processor supporting 4 threads is providing playable performance. For virtually the same reason we are only testing a range of current generation GPUs covering all price brackets.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">As always the latest drivers will be used for both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, and every card will be paired with an Intel Core i7-3770K processor. We're using Fraps to measure frame rates during 90 seconds of gameplay footage from Dead Space 3’s first chapter, Isaac’s Apartment.</div><table border="0" style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin: -15px -8px; outline: none; width: 100%px;"><tbody style="outline: none;"><tr style="outline: none;"><td style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; outline: none;" valign="top" width="50%"><ul style="list-style-type: square; outline: none;"><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 7770 (1024MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 7750 (1024MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">HIS Radeon HD 6850 (1024MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti (2048MB)</li><li style="outline: none;">Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1024MB)</li></ul></td><td style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px; outline: none;" valign="top" width="50%"><ul style="list-style-type: square; outline: none;"><li style="outline: none;">Intel Core i7-3770K (3.50GHz)</li><li style="outline: none;">x2 8GB Crucial DDR3-1866 (CL 9-9-9)</li><li style="outline: none;">Asrock Z77 Extreme11 (Intel Z77)</li><li style="outline: none;">OCZ ZX Series 1250w</li><li style="outline: none;">Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s)</li><li style="outline: none;">Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 64-bit</li><li style="outline: none;">Nvidia Forceware 310.70</li><li style="outline: none;">AMD Catalyst 12.11 (Beta 11 CAP 2)</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"></div><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none;"><table style="outline: none;"><tbody style="outline: none;"><tr style="outline: none;"><td style="outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1658461837330835216" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/Setting_01T.jpg" style="border: 0px; outline: none;" width="300" /></a></td><td style="outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1658461837330835216" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/Setting_02T.jpg" style="border: 0px; outline: none;" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr style="outline: none;"><td style="outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1658461837330835216" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/Setting_03T.jpg" style="border: 0px; outline: none;" width="300" /></a></td><td style="outline: none;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1658461837330835216" style="color: #05408f; outline: none;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/638/images/Setting_04T.jpg" style="border: 0px; outline: none;" width="300" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table></center><center style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/638-dead-space-3-graphics/" target="_blank">Read More...</a></center></div>

Dead Space 3 PC Graphics Test

The third installment in the Dead Space series was released this month, and considering the game made our list of  2013's most anticipat...

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A third of PC owners are shifting tasks to mobile devices

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; outline: none;"><img alt="notebooks, mobile devices, desktops, npd group, computers, post pc e" src="http://static.techspot.com/images2/news/thumbs/2013-02-07-teasercd1.jpg" /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">A new <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/one-third-of-pc-users-shifting-activities-to-post-pc-devices-report-7000010988/" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">report</a> from <a href="https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/37-percent-of-pc-users-migrate-activities-to-mobile-devices-according-to-the-npd-group" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;">NPD Group</a> further drives home the notion that the PC industry has a serious problem on its hands. As we all know, the problem in question is mobile devices – they continue to chip away at an industry that most probably never imagined could fall on such hard times.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">The report notes that 37 percent of consumers that used to access content from a computer have now switched to using tablets and smartphones to accomplish the same tasks. Unsurprisingly, accessing Facebook and surfing the web were named as the two most popular mobile activities in the rapidly approaching post-PC era.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Similarly, 27 percent of smartphone owners polled said they have decreased Facebook usage and web surfing on their desktop and notebook computers. For tablet owners, 20 percent said they are using Facebook less on the PC while 27 percent surf the Internet less frequently from a traditional computer.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">Having said that, the PC still reigns supreme in a number of tasks. For example, 75 percent of computer owners use it to surf the web compared to just 61 percent of smartphone owners who use their device for the same task. Only 53 percent of tablet owners use their slates to navigate the web.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;">We’re still at the infancy of mobile and already, it’s had a tremendous impact on the entire industry. A number of companies are now reevaluating their roadmaps to include mobile while companies like <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51502-facebook-profits-tumble-due-to-heavy-mobile-spending.html" style="color: #05408f; outline: none; text-decoration: initial;">Facebook</a> are looking to capitalize on advertising revenue from portables as quickly as possible. Either way you cut it, the landscape as a whole is changing.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none;"><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51583-a-third-of-pc-owners-are-shifting-tasks-to-mobile-devices.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div></div>

A third of PC owners are shifting tasks to mobile devices

A new  report  from  NPD Group  further drives home the notion that the PC industry has a serious problem on its hands. As we all know, the ...

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HP rumored to be considering company "break up"

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="rumor, pcs, hp, revenue, investment, meg whitman, leo apotheker, hewlett packard, stocks, profits, business, investors, pc industry, computers, company break-" src="http://static.techspot.com/images/teaser/hp%20story.jpg" /></div><br />In 2011, former CEO Leo Apotheker <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/45151-hp-halts-webos-business-possible-pc-unit-spin-off-more.html">proposed</a> jettisoning HP's iconic PC business -- a division which suffers from notoriously <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/18/hps_pc_sales_lead_industry_but_5_7_operating_margins_are_dwarfed_by_apple" target="_blank">anemic profit margins</a> -- in an attempt to return HP to greater profitability. Although Apotheker's successor, Meg Whitman, <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/46049-hp-wont-sell-its-pc-business-after-all.html">canned</a> that idea, unnamed sources "familiar with the matter" claim HP may once again be mulling over breaking the company apart. This time around though, it <a href="http://qz.com/50045/hp-board-is-studying-whether-to-break-up-the-company/" target="_blank">could be more than just its PC unit</a>.<br /> In December's 10-K SEC filing, HP <a href="http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC/Document.Service?id=P3VybD1hSFIwY0RvdkwyRndhUzUwWlc1cmQybDZZWEprTG1OdmJTOWtiM2R1Ykc5aFpDNXdhSEEvWVdOMGFXOXVQVkJFUmlacGNHRm5aVDA0TmpJNE1EYzNKbk4xWW5OcFpEMDFOdz09JnR5cGU9MiZmbj1IZXdsZXR0UGFja2FyZF8xMEtfMjAxMjEyMjcucGRm" target="_blank">stated</a> (pdf) it had been considering the "<em>disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our objectives.</em>" Assuming HP's bottom line is one of those objectives, the company has likely had its corporate meat cleaver standing by for months. According to one of the report's sources though, HP <em>wants </em>to avoid further diverging the company's businesses; nonetheless, it appears the "break up" option remains on the table.<br /> Last year, analysts projected that if HP were to cut up its business, some of its <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/08/why-hp-should-be-broken-up/" target="_blank">individual properties would be worth substantially more</a> than the company as a whole, possibly valuing more than $25 per share. HP has been trading around $16-$17 in recent days.<br /> HP announced last year it would <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/48729-hp-cutting-27000-jobs-through-fiscal-year-2014-q2-profit-down-31.html">slowly cut about 30,000 jobs</a> during restructuring efforts which continue until 2014. This drastic measure was fueled in part by its acquisition of Autonomy which turned out to be a <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/50862-hp-takes-88-billion-charge-on-autonomy-purchase-blames-shady-accounting.html">disastrously expensive $20 billion mistake</a>.<br /> Whitman warned in October that HP would be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hp-tanks-after-warning-profits-will-come-up-way-short-of-expectations-2012-10" target="_blank">facing tough times in 2013</a>. She referred to 2013 as a "fix and rebuild" year and warned that profits would fall way short of expectations. Investors rewarded Whitman's candor by fleeing the company -- HP's stock price hit a nine-year low that month.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51555-hp-rumored-to-be-considering-company-break-up.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div>

HP rumored to be considering company "break up"

In 2011, former CEO Leo Apotheker proposed jettisoning HP's iconic PC business -- a division which suffers from notoriously anemic prof...

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Microsoft 'Blue' to encompass Windows 8, Phone, Services and RT

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="microsoft, windows, windows phone, windows 8, updates, services, bl" src="http://static.techspot.com/images/teaser/windows%20blue%20story.jpg" /></div><br />Microsoft is currently working on a feature pack update for Windows 8, codenamed Blue, that’s expected sometime this summer or fall. This isn’t the first time we have heard about <a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/50937-next-windows-may-be-free-yearly-upgrades-possible-2013-launch.html">Blue</a> as early rumors suggested it could be the follow-up operating system to Windows 8 but now, we’re hearing a different plan courtesy of Mary Jo Foley from <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-blue-wave-is-coming-to-more-than-just-windows-7000010998/" target="_blank">ZDNet</a>.<br />The journalist claims a trusted source told her that Blue not only represents updates to Windows 8 but instead, all Windows Phone, Windows Services (think SkyDrive, Hotmail, etc.), and Windows RT updates. That of course doesn’t mean that all platforms will see simultaneous updates but they will probably be ready around the same time. We can, however, expect to see yearly updates to each platform.<br />For Windows, Blue represents a major shift in the way Microsoft has been doing things for years. Foley points out that instead of Microsoft releasing a RTM every three or four years and hoping OEMs have time to get everything tested for a new release months later, Redmond wants to get the OS out much faster. Her source said they could possibly use the Windows Store to do so.<br />In the interim, users can expect to see the same old minor updates released as they are ready. Things like firmware updates and bug fixes all fall under this umbrella, including the Windows Phone update known as Portico that’s already installed on some handsets.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51577-microsoft-blue-to-encompass-windows-8-phone-services-and-rt.html" target="_blank">Read More...</a></div>

Microsoft 'Blue' to encompass Windows 8, Phone, Services and RT

Microsoft is currently working on a feature pack update for Windows 8, codenamed Blue, that’s expected sometime this summer or fall. This is...

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