Hasta La Gadget!

Apple was quick to invite developers to the iWork for iCloud beta in the aftermath of WWDC, but us commoners have had to settle for watching from afar. The company is quickly opening things up, however — it just started sending out beta invitations to ordinary iCloud users, including some Engadget readers. While this isn’t likely to represent Apple’s promised public beta, it’s clear that we’re now much closer to the day when everyone can give the web-based iWork a try.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Internet, Apple

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Via: MacRumors

Source: iCloud.com

For the last several months Google’s stock price has been surging, getting increasingly close to the $1,000 mark. And when monstrous revenues like this keep rolling in, it’s easy to see why. In Q2 of 2013, the internet giant pulled in $14.11 billion in revenue, an increase of 19 percent year-over-year. Of that massive haul, all most all of it (93 percent) was generated directly by Google properties, most notably massive advertising networks — $12.1 billion of its gross was thanks to advertising. Motorola’s efforts equate to just less than $1 billion in revenues, but the $998 million it pulled in is not an inconsequential improvement over Q2 2012’s $843 million. Even with that modest increase, however, Moto still posted an operating loss of $342 million. That’s notably worse than the $199 million lost during the same quarter last year. While this wasn’t a record setting quarter for Google, it’s certainly not far off from its Q4 2012 mark of $14.46 billion, and marks a small increase sequentially.

Net income also remained strong, with the Mountain View team pocketing $3.23 billion. Again, not a record high, but not far off from the $3.55 billion in Q1, and a pretty impressive jump year-over-year from $2.79 billion. While a significant chunk of Google’s cash is generated here in the good ol’ US of A, the international markets are still treating the company quite well. In fact, a full 55 percent of revenues ($7.2 billion) were earned overseas. While cost-per-click continued to decline for the company, by 6 percent from last year, the number of paid clicks was up more than enough to compensate — an impressive 23 percent. And, should Google’s fortunes suddenly turn, it has a war chest of $54.4 billion stashed away for a rainy day.

We’re listening in to the earnings call at 4:30 PM ET today and you’ll find updates from that after the break.

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Google

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Source: Google

Just a few days after Google and Twitter pushed for the government to reveal the number of security-related requests, the Obama administration and Congress have just received another salvo backed by even more tech heavyweights — 63, to be exact. A letter signed by many of the giants covered by PRISM — including Apple, Facebook and Google, among other major companies — requests greater transparency in data requests, and demands permission to publish regular reports indicating what information is collected. In addition to pushing for greater transparency among companies, the memo urges Congress to enact similar requirements for the US government. The letter adds:

This information about how and how often the government is using these legal authorities is important to the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of those authorities and their use, and to international users of US-based service providers who are concerned about the privacy and security of their communications.

Those words were backed by several non-profit groups such as the Wikimedia Foundation in addition to a long roster of companies and investors, making this letter one of the loudest responses to the NSA’s data-collecting program to date. Click through to read the full text.

Filed under: Internet, Apple, Google, Facebook

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Via: The Next Web

Sweetening the deal on its cloud-based Office 365 suite, Microsoft will start bundling a year of Xbox Live Gold with any purchases of Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University made before September 28th. You’ll then pick up an Xbox Live code as you sign in during the initial Office setup. Unfortunately, US customers aren’t eligible for this promotion, but the majority of Europe, plus Australia, Canada and parts of Asia are all included. Alongside the recent promise of two free games a month, Microsoft’s made this bundled subscription a pretty tempting proposition.

Update: Turns out that this offer is available in the US after all. Thanks to tipster David for spotting, and sending that in. Details can be found at the More Coverage link.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, Microsoft

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Via: TNW

Source: Microsoft Office, Microsoft (German)

Having a hard time finding something on the internet? You’re probably doing it wrong — at least that seems to be Microsoft’s supposition. The company has recently revised its Bing autosuggest categories to help users find the correct search parameters for the content they’re looking for. The idea is to eliminate erroneous results by suggesting more specific search terms up front. Asking Bing for information on Harry Potter, for instance, presents users with a number of options separated by category: the films, the character itself or the literary series that kicked off the franchise. Selecting one amends the original search with more specific parameters: selecting the book adds “wikipedia” to the end of the string, while selecting a film from the series tweaks adds the movie’s full name to the search heading. A simple tweak? Absolutely, but one that could help vague Bing users get off of Microsoft’s landing page and on with their lives.

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

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