5by5 | The News #42: Thursday, April 11, 2013

Exclusive: Microsoft's next Xbox will take over your TV, interact with your cable box | The Verge

Microsoft is investing in TV in a big way with its next Xbox console as part of a fight for the living room. Multiple sources familiar with the company's Xbox plans have revealed to The Verge that Microsoft will introduce a feature that lets its next-generation console take over a TV and set-top box in a similar way to Google TV. The Verge understands that the next Xbox will require an online connection to use the entertainment services, allowing them to be always-on for streaming and access to TV signals.

Next-generation Xbox launch titles include 'Ryse' and a new 'Forza' | The Verge

Microsoft is working on a number of launch titles for its new Xbox console. One of the first games to launch on the next Xbox will be Ryse, according to multiple sources familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans. Microsoft originally unveiled Ryse at E3 2011, promising an exclusive Xbox 360 release with Kinect functionality. A release has never materialized for Xbox 360 and the company has remained fairly silent about the title's progress, noting that it was still in development in mid-2012 and again earlier this year. The Verge understands that Crytek, along with Microsoft Studios, has been rewriting the game to take advantage of its next-generation console, due later this year.

Why Apple Pulled AppGratis From the App Store - John Paczkowski - Mobile - AllThingsD

Sources familiar with Apple?s thinking tell AllThingsD that AppGratis? ouster was a first step in a broader enforcement action generally targeted at app-discovery apps that run afoul of clauses 2.25 and 5.6 which forbid apps that promote apps other than a developer?s own, and prohibit developers from using push notifications to deliver marketing messages.

Well, That Was Fast: Twitter Already Shut Down Ribbon?s Newly Launched In-Stream Payments Feature | TechCrunch

This morning, payments startup Ribbon announced support for ?in-stream? payments on Twitter.com, allowing users to click a button directly within a tweet in order to make a purchase without having to leave the Twitter.com website. However, it appears that Twitter has already shut this feature down ? almost immediately after its public debut.Ribbon Co-founder?Hany Rashwan has confirmed that Twitter has indeed shut them down, and the company is now in the process of trying to contact Twitter to discuss. It?s possible that the way Ribbon implemented the in-stream payments using Twitter Cards (via the Player Card model) was a violation of Twitter?s Terms of Service.

IDC: Global PC Shipments Drop 13.9% in First Quarter - WSJ.com

Worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 13.9% in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC, in the biggest decline since the firm began issuing quarterly numbers in 1994.

The grim estimate of 76.3 million units shipped is the latest sign that consumers are shifting their dollars to smartphones and tablets rather than PCs, while responses such as convertible laptops and Microsoft Corp.'s touch-oriented Windows 8 operating system haven't stemmed the cannibalization.

Dropbox For Teams Gets Dropped In Re-Branding To Reflect ?Business? Focus | TechCrunch

Dropbox is renaming Dropbox Teams to better reflect its change in business focus. The move comes in tandem with Dropbox?s new support for single sign on (SSO) and partnerships with Okta and other identity providers.Dropbox for Business will replace the old name, reflecting the company?s change in focus to be more on larger business customers than teams within organizations.In particular, this means support for Active Directory (AD), the traditional mechanism companies use to authenticate and manage an employee?s corporate identity.

In Midst of Mobile Pivot, Mozilla CEO Kovacs to Step Down - Kara Swisher - Mobile - AllThingsD

Gary Kovacs, who has been CEO of Mozilla for just over two years, will be stepping down later this year, the company announced Wednesday to employees. The Mountain View, Calif.-based open source software nonprofit foundation (which is also a for-profit company) said it will be searching for a new leader immediately to replace Kovacs, who will remain on the board of Mozilla.?After three years of a lot of change to move the organization faster forward, I wanted to move back to something more commercial,? said Kovacs in an interview yesterday, in which he outlined the many changes made at Mozilla since he arrived, including adding staff, opening global offices and, most of all, doubling down in mobile. ?It is really a different Mozilla.?

Bitcoin Plunges - Business Insider

It's shaping up to be a pretty ugly day for Bitcoin.After soaring past $250 earlier, it's tumbled all the way down to current levels around $150.Bitcoin is now 44 percent off its intraday high of $266.

Japanese city accidentally tweets North Korean missile launch | The Verge

Residents in the Japanese city of Yokohama came in for a shock earlier today after city officials mistakenly posted a tweet stating that North Korea had launched a missile. According to ABC News, the city posted the tweet around noon local time, exclaiming "North Korea has launched a missile," sharing it with @yokohama_saigai's 40,000 followers for around 20 minutes.

Google forms the Glass Collective to invest in eye technology entrepreneurs

Google believes that it's naive to build a wearable technology like Google Glass and expect successful businesses to simply materialize from thin air; those firms will need a financial nudge, too. Accordingly, Google is forming the Glass Collective to invest in projects centering on its eyewear. The partnership will see Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers unite on seed funding for those US-based startups which show promise in areas like communication and navigation. The group hasn't named any targets for its cash, but it's obviously very early days for both Glass and the Collective -- Google needs more developers in the field before it can shower companies with support.

Postal Service withdraws plan to end Saturday mail delivery

The U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that?it would cancel plans to end Saturday mail delivery this summer, saying the new stopgap budget that Congress recently passed would prohibit the move.The postal service?s board of governors made the decision Tuesday, according to a statement from the agency.?The board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time,? the board said in the statement. ?The board also wants to ensure that customers of the Postal Service are not unduly burdened by ongoing uncertainties and are able to adjust their business plans accordingly.?

Reddit Co-Founder Wants Google, Facebook and Twitter to Fight CISPA

As lawmakers prepare to discuss the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, Internet freedom activists are ramping up their campaign against it. On Wednesday, the advocacy group Fight for the Future published a video of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian calling for online giants to speak up and fight against CISPA.

Obama budget makes cybersecurity a growing U.S. priority | Reuters

President Barack Obama proposed on Wednesday increased spending to protect U.S. computer networks from Internet-based attacks in a sign that the government aims to put more resources into the emerging global cyber arms race.Obama's budget proposal for the 2014 fiscal year, which begins October 1, calls for more military "hackers" to head off escalating cyber threats from China, Iran, Russia and other countries. It would also bolster defenses for government and private-sector computer networks.Intelligence officials said last month that cyber attacks and espionage have supplanted terrorism as the top security threat facing the United States, and military officials sounded the alarm as well.

Samsung announces 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega smartphones | Android Central

After a couple of weeks of rumors, Samsung has today officially confirmed the Galaxy Mega series -- a line of big-screen smartphones aimed to straddle the space between the traditional phone and tablet markets. The official names, as rumored, are Galaxy Mega 5.8 and Galaxy Mega 6.3.

What's cooler than a million dollars? Winklevoss twins claim to own 1 percent of all Bitcoin | The Verge

They may not have invented Facebook, but twin tech entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss ? better known to the world as the Winklevoss twins, or Winkelvii ? are deep into the next big online trend. The brothers claim to have amassed one of the largest portfolios of Bitcoin in the world, worth around $1.3 million, or about 1 percent of the entire currency's dollar value equivalent, as the New York Times Dealbook reports.That staggering amount comes in a little less than a year, as the brothers are only reported to have begun "dabbling" in Bitcoin starting last summer. ?We have elected to put our money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error,? Tyler Winklevoss told Dealbook.

Source: http://5by5.tv/news/42

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