Dish boss: We're English-speaking Americans, hire us!
Ignore those Japanese foreigners, they just get 'personal'
Dish Network chair Charlie Ergen has offered a pointed response to Japan's SoftBank after it made what he called "personal attacks" in its bidding war with the US company over US mobile network Sprint. The exec said yesterday that Dish is the better bet because its employees are Americans who speak English.
Ergen pointed out …
DreamWorks spends millions on teen YouTube network
Animation studio looking for online swamp for Shrek
DreamWorks Animation has inked a deal to slurp teen YouTube network AwesomenessTV for up to $150m.
The firm said it will hand over $33m in cash straight up for the network and make additional cash payments of up to $117m if certain agreed earnings targets are met in 2014 and 2015.
Both DreamWorks and AwesomenessTV hinted that …
Lehman Brothers sues Intel over a billion dollar deal
Bankrupt bank claims tech firm breached swap agreement
Bankrupt investment firm Lehman Brothers is suing Intel over accusations that it had seized $1bn in collateral in breach of a swap agreement.
The bank synonymous with the global financial meltdown told New York's bankruptcy court in a filing that Intel had taken more than its fair share out of its subsidiary Lehman Brothers OTC …
Picture this: Kodak could get out of bankruptcy as early as July
Camera biz to become printing'n'imaging service
Eastman Kodak has said that it's hoping to get out of bankruptcy as early as July this year, as it turns itself into a commercial imaging firm under the control of its creditors.
The one-time camera company told the US bankruptcy court in Manhattan that it expects to issue new stock, with most of it going to folks it owes money …
Taxi app Uber's $1bn uber price tag: CEO speaks out
Bigwig puts record straight
Travis Kalanick, the chief of taxi service app Uber, has denied that his company is about to open a new funding round that would value it at over a billion dollars.
Kalanick tweeted that the company hadn't spoken to a single investor about raising new cash injections since November 2011, after reports suggested that Uber was …
Yahoo! scuppered! in! Dailymotion! buyout! attempt!
French gov cries 'Non!' to $300m video slurp
Yahoo! has had to give up its attempt to take a controlling stake in French video startup Dailymotion after the government intervened, according to media reports.
The Purple Palace was forced to abandon its pursuit of a 75 per cent stake in the online video site when French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, part of the ruling …
Google 'will be pulled back in front of MPs' on its UK tax affairs
London Googlers 'aren't sales people', claims ad giant
Enormous advertising firm Google has said that any suggestion that its veep Matt Brittin was less than accurate when testifying to Parliament on the firm's UK corporation tax affairs is "wilfully misleading".
The Chocolate Factory told The Register that it has written to parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret …
Alibaba splurges half a billion on a slice of 'Chinese Twitter'
E-tailer sees commercial opportunity in Weibo
Alibaba has moved into social media with a $586m splurge on an 18 per cent stake in China's Twitter, Weibo.
The Chinese e-tailer nabbed the microblogging site stake from Sina on Monday, valuing Weibo at more than $3.2bn. The companies reckon that their alliance will generate $380m in advertising and other revenue for Weibo in …
Intel supremo backs biz pal SoftBank's billion-dollar bid for Sprint
Otellini: Japanese have made a 'very compelling' offer
Intel chief Paul Otellini has told a US regulator that he backs SoftBank's bid for Sprint rather than Dish Network's counter-offer.
Otellini said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, seen by Reuters, that the $20.1bn offer from Japan's SoftBank for the US's third largest cell network operator would be good for …
Judge sets the date for Patent Smackdown 2: The Damages
Apple and Samsung go toe-to-toe again in November
US Judge Lucy Koh has told Apple and Samsung they'll be back in court in November to try to decide whether the fruity firm deserves an extra $450m damages for alleged patent infringement.
The judge has set trial dates for the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th of the month in front of eight new jurors, after a previous jury found …
Yahoo! tries! to! tempt! TV! crowd! with! tiny! dick!
Original comedy telly and sex-talking celebs coming to the Purple Palace
Yahoo! is taking a leaf out of Netflix and Amazon's books and beefing up its media offerings with six original TV shows, including one about a bite-sized private detective. It has also partnered up with pro-wrestling outfit WWE in a bid to lure in internet TV watchers.
Just a week after bagging the exclusive rights to stream …
Is this the first ever web page? If not, CERN would like to know
Eggheads recreate what could be the original website
Boffinry nerve-centre CERN has attempted to recreate the very first website to mark 20 years since the official launch of the World Wide Web.
It is feared the first ever web page is lost to the sands of time as it was changed daily and any backups are few and far between. However the team has pulled up a snapshot of the very …
'Your infernal cable pipes come up from Hell, Virgin!'
Quotw Plus: 'I suspect some DDoS skid on his Mum's Windows box'
This was the week when Virgin Media was forced to grovel publicly after a deceased man's family posted the firm's demand for a £10 "late payment" when his direct debit was denied because of his death.
The new bill clearly states that the direct debit was denied because the payer was deceased, but that didn't stop Virgin from …
Zynga banks fluke profit - won't happen again, says CEO
Gimme more time, says chief in Q2 woe forecast
Top dogs at Zynga say the online gaming firm just needs a little more time to turn around its losing streak - after forecasting worse losses than expected for this year's second quarter.
The struggling FarmVille maker managed to scrape together a surprise profit for the first three months of this year after cutting costs, but it …
Kindlevision? Amazon reportedly developing set-top tellybox
Hey guys, maybe we could do watches too!
Amazon will be the latest tech biz to release a set-top TV box later this year, according to the rumour mill, incorporating its video-on-demand services.
The box will plug into users' tellies and bring along the LoveFilm and Instant Video services already available on connected TVs, Xboxes and Playstations, sources whispered to …
Ginni blasts 'slow' IBM staff after poor Q1 results
Rometty tells Big Blue sales bods to move faster to close deals
IBM chief Virginia Rometty has issued a company-wide dressing-down to staff who are "too slow", after the firm's disappointing first quarter results.
Rometty sent off a five-minute internal video message to IBMers, seen by the Wall Street Journal, where she blamed the company's sales staff for the results, saying they failed to …
Google snaps up Wavii for $30m - report
Choc Factory said to have nabbed machine-learning social network
Google is getting ready to announce the acquisition of natural language processing firm Wavii for around $30m, familiar people have been muttering.
Sources told the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and others that the Chocolate Factory had snapped up the Seattle startup, which specialises in programming computers to understand human …
Microsoft hoists ZTE onto the Android patent bandwagon
Huawei and Googorola still holding out on licensing deals
China's ZTE has become the latest firm to sign a licensing deal with Microsoft for its Android and Chrome patent portfolio.
The firm, which is one of the world's biggest smartphone makers, has agreed to stump up royalties to MS for Android and Chrome stuff just a week after Hon Hai's Foxconn signed a similar deal.
"The ZTE and …
Brutally efficient galaxy SPITS OUT STARS at 'maximum rate'
Burns through its gas supply, making Milky Way look slooow
Astroboffins have spotted a brutally efficient galaxy, busily converting almost all available fuel into birthing new stars.
Brutally efficient star-making galaxy
The "green" galaxy, spotted by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Hubble as well as the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer in the French Alps, …
White House backs US web sales tax - eBay hits panic alarm
Think about what you're doing here, wails net bazaar
The White House has backed a bill that would give US states the ability to demand sales tax from online retailers, while the Senate clears the law for formal voting.
The senators voted 74 to 20, with six abstaining, to limit debate on the Marketplace Fairness Act and get on with final vote on the legislation.
The MFA, proposed …
Yelling at mobes while driving just as bad as texting
GODDAMMIT I JUST WANT TO WRITE 'ROUNDABOUT'
Using voice-to-text tech to send messages while driving is just as dangerous as regular texting, a new study has found.
Drivers' response times doubled regardless of whether they were speaking or typing their messages, compared to when they weren't texting, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University said.
The …
Twitter signs ad deal for MEELLIONS with marketing bods
Telly-watching tweeters targeted by dosh-generating deal
Twitter is well on its way to becoming an advertising giant after signing one of its biggest deals so far with media agency Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG).
The partnership, which could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars over several years, will give SMG clients like Microsoft and Coca-Cola preferred advertising slots on …
Apple fanbois' accidental bonking ruled too obvious by watchdog
Googorola touchscreen fumble patent cry rejected by ITC
A US trade watchdog says Apple iPhones do not infringe a patent that described the detection of fanbois accidentally touching the screen.
The ITC agreed with a judge who ruled that the technology, patented by Google-owned Motorola Mobility, was too obvious. Specifically, the patent covered the accidental pressing of one's head …
Turn off the mic: Nokia gets injunction on 'key' HTC One component
Dutch court stops Taiwanese firm from using microphones
Nokia has said it bagged a court injunction in Amsterdam that effectively prevents HTC from using the microphones that are a "key" component of its HTC One smartphone.
The Finnish phone maker won a preliminary ban on the mikes, made by ST Microelectronics, stopping the firm from selling them on to HTC or anyone else.
"In its …
Google's teeny UK tax bill 'just not right', thunders senior MP
Hodge on Schmidt: Aiding the economy and paying corp tax is NOT an 'either/or'
Top Labour MP Margaret Hodge has told The Register that it's "just not right" for Google to get away with paying so little corporation tax in the UK.
Hodge, who heads up Parliament's influential Public Accounts Select Committee, rejected the advertising giant's executive chairman Eric Schmidt's defence of his company's tax …
Weak iPad, iPhone demand hits LG Display in the wallet
Apple shares below $400 for first time in 2 years
LG Display's profits have been hit by falling demand from Apple, forcing the firm to turn in its smallest profit since clawing its way out of debt in Q2 2012.
Apple shares are trading steadily under $400 for the first time since December 2011 (following a brief blip earlier this month) as investors sense a shift in the firm's …
And they're off: Hubble, Herschel race for hot pics of space filly
Pics Scopes trot out new snaps of Horsehead Nebula
Orbiting space telescopes Herschel and Hubble have both snapped new infrared images of interstellar spectacle the Horsehead Nebula.
Orion B molecular cloud The Herschel far-infrared snap of the Orion B cloud - look closely for the Horsehead
The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory captured the famous dark nebula …
Eric Schmidt defends Google's teeny UK tax payouts - again
Brit firms in US do the same, sniffs Choc Factory chief
Eric Schmidt has once again said that it was totally fine for Google to pay just £6m in UK corporation tax - even though it's a multi-billion dollar company.
Google was one of several big multinationals, including Starbucks and Amazon, that were singled out for criticism over how little tax they pay in Blighty.
With regular …
YouTube beats off $1bn Viacom copyright case once AGAIN
Judge still reckons video site is a 'safe harbour'
The courts have once more sided with YouTube in the copyright case brought against it by Viacom and others.
The billion-dollar lawsuit was first filed way back in 2007, not long after Google snapped up the video streaming service. Viacom alleged that YouTube was knowingly allowing copyright-infringing material to be posted onto …
Google's Page drops the A-bomb: Google Glass runs Android
Chief Googler confirms choice of techno-goggle OS
Google chief exec Larry Page has confirmed his company's techno-spectacles Google Glass will run some form of Android.
During an earnings call yesterday for Google's first-quarter 2013 financial numbers, Page revealed the choice of operating system when asked about the new product and how it would fit in the existing Google …
Euro states stick fingers in ears to Huawei, ZTE tech 'dump' claims
La, la, la. We can't hear you
A number of EU countries aren't keen on backing the European Commission's bid for a formal investigation of Chinese telecoms manufacturers Huawei and ZTE, Sweden has said.
The commission's trade watchdog has been collecting evidence on alleged subsidies and "dumping" - selling products below cost to undercut European rivals - …
Blackstone gives up on $25bn bid to snatch Dell from Mr Dell
You know what? Knock yourself out, Michael
Private-equity fund Blackstone has reportedly given up its efforts to splurge $25bn on whipping Dell out from under Michael Dell's nose.
Blackstone, which is a Dell shareholder, and activist investor Carl Icahn had hoped to together make a rival bid for the Texan computer giant, but are now unconvinced that it is worth more than …
'He's F**KED with the wrong nerd ... I warned I'd go public'
Quotw Plus: 'You have to be a complete Facebook junkee to use Home'
This was the week when head hypocrite honcho at Google Eric Schmidt gave the world his two cents on the privacy concerns surrounding unauthorised photos taken of people and their homes. The photos taken by civilian drones of course, not those taken from cars with "Street View" emblazoned on them.
He said:
How would you feel if …
The Reg puts Vulture inside the Large Hadron Collider
Pics No sign of any superpowers yet ...
It's probably the greatest scientific experiment of our time (or at least the biggest), a 27km round tunnel that fires trillions of protons in opposite directions over 11,000 times a second at 99.9999991 per cent of the speed of light lying under the Alps in Europe.
LHCb entrance The entrance to the Large Hadron Collider beauty …
White House threatens to veto redrafted Cyber Intelligence act
Still too evil, insist presidential viziers
The White House has threatened to veto the re-animated Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) over privacy concerns.
It's deja vu all over again, as President Barack Obama's administration said that the bill needed to better protect civilians' privacy and reduce the protection from liability the new legislation …
US to hand out wads of green (cards) in bid to staff tech industry
Microsoft alone desperate to hire 3000 brains on top pay
The US government has yielded to industry bosses on some Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skilled-immigration issues, but less on others in a new bill meant to reform the existing immigration system.
A bipartisan "Gang of Eight" senators released the highlights of the bill yesterday, after months of pressure …
EU trade chief looks to reboot anti-dumping case against Huawei, ZTE
Commission looks to ministers after firms refuse to complain
The EU's top trade investigator is going to try to get permission to probe Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE, despite the fact that European firms like Ericsson refuse to complain about them.
The European Commission, like US government officials, have been looking into Huawei and ZTE over alleged state subsidies that let them …
EU trade chief looks to reboot anti-dumping case against Huawei, ZTE
Commission looks to ministers after firms refuse to complain
The EU's top trade investigator is going to try to get permission to probe Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE, despite the fact that European firms like Ericsson refuse to complain about them.
The European Commission, like US government officials, have been looking into Huawei and ZTE over alleged state subsidies that let them …
Moist iPhone fanbois tempted with golden Apple shower offer
Brouhaha over water-sniffing warranty tech 'settled for $53m'
Apple has reportedly agreed to shake $53m (£35m) in change out of its pockets to settle a lawsuit accusing it of wriggling out of gadget warranties using a water-detecting tool.
Fanbois who brought their busted iPhones and iPods into Apple Stores for repair watched employees check the status of a Liquid Contact Indicator - which …
Nasdaq chief's large package shrinks after terrible Facebook blow
IPOcalypse slashes CEO's bonus, still takes home $1.3m in extra dosh
Nasdaq OMX has brutally slashed its chief's 2012 bonus by over half a million dollars because of the Facebook IPOcalypse.
The market said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Robert Greifeld's bonus for last year would be shaved by 62 per cent, although naturally that still leaves him with a not- …
Winklevoss twins claim to have enormo $11m Bitcoin stash
Zuck's arch-nemeses say they keep virtual coinage in, er, the bank
The Winklevoss twins are claiming that they own one per cent of all the Bitcoins in circulation - which, if true, would be one of the largest portfolios of the e-currency.
Mark Zuckerberg's former arch-nemeses told the New York Times Dealbook that they hold nearly $11m worth of the digital money in the first publicly disclosed …
'Sorry, I don't get the drama around having an always-on console'
Quotw Plus: 'I buy my lunch with after-tax dollars'
This was the week when former British Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher died, setting the Twitosphere alight with opposing deluges of vitriol and veneration. The passing of the woman the media insists on referring to as "divisive" inspired a whole slew of people to post "Ding dong the witch is dead" tweets, while others …
Obama boosts military, 'black' and spook cyber forces
Tanks? Feds? Pah! I want NERDS
US President Barack Obama wants to increase spending on cyber security in his proposed budget for the fiscal year 2014, which starts in October.
Obama said that he wanted to increase the military cyber forces led by the US Cyber Command and bump up funding for cyber security information sharing in the Department of Defense (DoD …
Google asks Blighty to slave over its Maps for FREE
OK, OK, it's a crowd-sourced map-editing tool
Google is extending its Map Maker editing tool to users in Blighty, so they can help the Chocolate Factory get its maps right.
Googlers in the US, France, Australia and over a dozen other countries have been able to add detail to Maps on the browser-based software for as long as five years now, as the tool has spread since its …
Dell shareholder: 'Rush' is because Michael D wants to buy
Pell-mell Dell sell = 'Like hell' yell from SAM
Dell shareholder Southeastern Asset Management has said that the board's assessment of the buyout deal offered by Michael Dell and Silver Lake is flawed and it's only rushing to sell because Michael Dell wants to buy.
The shareholder published an open letter accusing the board of focusing disproportionately on the computing …
Yahoo! chats! up! Apple! for! lots! more! iPhone! lovin'!
Seen the scrolling Y! Finance bar in iOS? Purple Palace wants more of that
Yahoo! and Apple are reportedly in secret talks to take their relationship to the next level with more iThing integration.
Industry sources muttered to the Wall Street Journal that the two tech firms have been chatting about how Yahoo! gear could be more prominent on iPhones and iPads.
The pair already have some integration …
UK ad-slingers spent TWICE as much smearing sales-bluster on mobes in 2012
Google and other ad firms laugh and laugh and laugh
The amount of cash splurged on mobile advertising in Blighty more than doubled last year to £526m, as the global recession continues to have little effect on the eagerness of marketers to fill folks' every screen with ads.
According to beancounters at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who totted up the numbers for the Internet Advertising …
US Air Force reclassifies 6 cyber tools as weapons
What, these? These are guns. Can we have some money now?
The US Air Force has classified six cyber tools as weapons to help them compete for scarce funding from the Pentagon's budget, an official has said.
Lieutenant General John Hyten, vice commander of Air Force Space Command, didn't give any details on the new cyber weapons, but said that redesignation would help the military's …
WhatsApp exec: Google takeover? It's news to me
Choc Factory not chucking rumoured $1bn at messaging app
WhatsApp's business development head Neeraj Arora has squashed rumours that Google was keen to spend $1bn on popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp.
Arora spoke to All Things D after furious speculation that the Chocolate Factory had been negotiating with the cross-platform messaging app. The gossip was sparked by tech blog …
Microsoft leads charge against Google's Android in EU antitrust complaint
'Failure to act will only embolden Google'
Microsoft and Nokia have added Google's Android operating system to their list of antitrust grievances against the ad giant, and have filed a formal complaint with European regulators.
According to analysts, Android is currently the dominant smartphone operating system and Google also takes the biggest slice of mobile search …
