Yahoo telecommute ban is much ado about nothing: Silicon Valley

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's decision to ban telecommuting sparked outrage around the country, but left many in Silicon Valley wondering what the fuss was all about. Working from home is common enough in the Valley, but that is in addition to - not instead of - the 40-plus hours spent working in the office. Despite the area's image as a freewheeling...

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Apple CEO says he feels shareholders' pain, urges long view

CUPERTINO, California (Reuters) - Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook acknowledged widespread disappointment in the company's sagging share price but shared few details about its secretive product pipeline or a raging debate about how to best reward shareholders. The world's most valuable technology company headed into its annual shareholders' meeting at its headquarters on Wednesday on shakier ground...

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HP sells webOS operating system to LG Electronics

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said on Monday it will sell the webOS operating system to South Korea's LG Electronics Inc, unloading the smartphone software it acquired through a $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm in 2010. LG will use the operating software, used in now-defunct Palm smartphones years ago, for its "smart" or Internet-connected TVs. The Asian electronics company...

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Analysis: The near impossible battle against hackers everywhere

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dire warnings from Washington about a "cyber Pearl Harbor" envision a single surprise strike from a formidable enemy that could destroy power plants nationwide, disable the financial system or cripple the U.S. government. But those on the front lines say it isn't all about protecting U.S. government and corporate networks from a single sudden attack. They report...

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Einhorn scores legal victory versus Apple in cash scuffle

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with Apple Inc on Friday, blocking the iPhone maker from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan granted a motion by Einhorn's Greenlight Capital...

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Nevada legalizes first interstate online poker

(Reuters) - Nevada has become the first U.S. state to legalize interstate online poker and allow state-to-state gaming agreements, beating New Jersey to the punch and putting in place a potential nationwide framework for Internet wagering. Republican Governor Brian Sandoval signed the landmark bipartisan bill into law on Thursday, authorizing his office to enter into agreements with other...

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Sony seeks head start over Microsoft with new PlayStation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp said it will launch its next-generation PlayStation this year, hoping its first video game console in seven years will give it a much-needed head start over the next version of Microsoft's Xbox and help revive its stumbling electronics business. The new console will have a revamped interface, let users stream and play video games hosted on servers, and allow...

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Twitter begins integrating advertising software

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Twitter Inc said on Wednesday it is opening up its platform to third-party advertising management software, taking another step to establish its ad-based business model ahead of an initial public offering. The ads application programming interface, or API, would allow advertisers to connect their existing ad management software to their Twitter account to automate...

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Exclusive: Apple, Macs hit by hackers who targeted Facebook

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date. Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers...

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Huawei denies work in field linked to U.S. death in Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Chinese telecommunications company Huawei said on Monday it had not worked with an institute in Singapore on any projects in the specialist field of an American engineer who died mysteriously last year shortly after leaving the institute. Britain's Financial Times said on Saturday that Shane Todd had been working on "what was apparently a joint project" between Singapore's...

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Intel Israel more than doubles exports, mulls new investment

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Intel's Israeli subsidiary more than doubled its exports in 2012 to $4.6 billion and is seeking to bring manufacturing of the company's next generation of chips to Israel. Intel's exports, which rose 109 percent from $2.2 billion in 2011, were boosted by the start of production of chips using 22 nanometer technology at its Kiryat Gat plant in southern Israel, which...

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Facebook hacked, social media company says

(Reuters) - Facebook said on Friday that it been the target of a series of attacks by an unidentified hacker group, but it had found no evidence that user data was compromised. "Last month, Facebook security discovered that our systems had been targeted in a sophisticated attack," the company said in a blog post. "The attack occurred when a handful of employees visited a mobile developer...

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Big hedge funds fueled fourth-quarter dive in Apple shares

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the biggest hedge funds that helped make Apple Inc a stock market darling lost faith and dumped their stakes in the fourth quarter, fueling the massive drop in the iPhone maker's share price. Noted stock pickers including Leon Cooperman, Eric Mindich and Thomas Steyer unloaded billions of dollars of Apple shares between September 30 and December 31, according...

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Big hedge funds fueled Apple's fourth-quarter share plunge

BOSTON (Reuters) - Some of the biggest hedge funds that helped make Apple Inc a stock market darling lost faith and dumped their stakes in the fourth quarter, fueling the massive drop in the iPhone maker's share price. Noted stock pickers including Leon Cooperman and Thomas Steyer unloaded billions of dollars of Apple shares between September 30 and December 31, according to disclosure...

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Europol breaks up multi-million euro Internet fraud gang

MADRID (Reuters) - A network of online fraudsters who masqueraded as European crime-fighting agency Europol and collected millions of euros in fake fines has been broken up - by Europol. The group, which worked across 30 countries over the past two years, paralyzed computers with a virus and left messages purporting to be from organizations like Europol and the police, saying users could...

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Apple CEO calls Einhorn lawsuit a "sideshow"

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook called David Einhorn's lawsuit against his company a "silly sideshow" but said the board is carefully considering the star hedge fund manager's proposal to issue preferred stock, calling it "creative." Waving aside Einhorn's assertion that Apple is clinging to a "Depression-era" mentality, Cook said on Tuesday the board is in...

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Australia to grill Apple, others on pricing

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Apple Inc has been ordered to appear before Australia's parliament with fellow technology giants Microsoft Inc and Adobe Systems Inc to explain why local consumers pay so much for their products, despite the strong Aussie dollar. Broadening a row between the world's most valuable company and Australian lawmakers over corporate taxes paid on Apple's operations, Apple...

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Insight: Apple and Samsung, frenemies for life

SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - It was the late Steve Jobs' worst nightmare. A powerful Asian manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, uses Google Inc's Android software to create smartphones and tablets that closely resemble the iPhone and the iPad. Samsung starts gaining market share, hurting Apple Inc's margins and stock price and threatening its reign as the king of cool in consumer electronics....

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Google's Schmidt to sell roughly 42 percent of stake

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is selling roughly 42 percent of his stake in the Internet search company, a move that could potentially net the former chief executive a $2.51 billion windfall. Schmidt, 57, will sell 3.2 million shares of Class A common stock through a stock trading plan, Google said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...

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