BetaNews Staff

Google will continue to dominate search ad market in 2015

Google is looking at another dominant year in the search ad market, with estimated spending to reach $81.59 billion in 2015 according to research firm eMarketer.

Holding a solid 54.7 percent of the search ad market in 2014, Google will drop 0.2 percent of the total search ad revenue. This does not mean a decrease in revenue though, going from $38.42 billion to $44.46 billion in one year.

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HP wants to replace data centers with The Machine

The Machine is the name of a project HP is developing for data centers based on several novel technologies. At this distance, The Machine seems like a fantasy as it’s still at least two years from its launch as a unified product.

If the project is successful, it may replace what we consider computers now; the promised changes to server power draw alone would be revolutionary. It’s initially intended for data centre use, but established, expensive technologies tend to trickle down to individual consumers eventually. Examples of the trickle down effect of technologies first widely implemented on a business level are numerous, and include tech such as solid state disks, 64 bit operating systems, and multiple cores. It may be that the technologies HP is developing will become ubiquitous in the industry for both consumers and businesses.

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The risk cloud partners pose to enterprises

Cloud security firm Skyhigh Networks has released its Cloud Adoption and Risk Report for Q1 2015, with some unsettling findings in terms of the risks businesses are taking.

The report is compiled by analyzing real-world cloud usage over some 17 million employees, and for the first time in this sixth report, it delved into the risk to enterprises posed by business partners connected via the cloud. This follows a spate of recent data breaches which have been the fault of a third-party, of course.

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Smart homes: Consumers are ready to start living like the Jetsons

Consumers clearly see the benefits offered by home automation but they also have very specific requirements that need to be met before they’d consider investing, a new survey has shown.

The survey, which asked US, UK and German consumers their attitudes towards the smart home, showed that almost half (46 percent) of consumers think smart home devices will become mainstream within five years and revealed a strong preference for smart home solutions that offer tangible benefits.

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British Airways frequent flyer Executive Club accounts compromised

Tens of thousands of British Airways frequent flyer accounts have been compromised in a cyberattack, forcing the company to freeze the accounts and issue an apology, the media have reported.

British Airways sporadically responded to tweets from concerned customers, The Register reports. In one such exchange it said:

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How to overcome the challenges and difficulties of parenting in a digital age

In reviewing the daily news stream it is impossible to miss the escalating frequency of incidents coming out of schools all across the country which relate directly to social media, texting, or apps used by kids.

Sexting, cyber-bullying, sextortion, and intimidation seem to be on the rise. Sexting, in particular, seems to be proliferating and is now surpassing cyber-bulling in frequency and intensity. Consequences for online misbehavior of children can range from embarrassment or shame up to criminal prosecution. Depending on which state you live in, consequences can vary widely. It seems schools and parents struggle to grapple with the realities of a general lack of effective policies, rules, or legislation to address these problems head on.

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Internet of Things brings a sense of purpose to cloud, mobile and Big Data

Since Cloud, Mobile and Big Data technologies started to go mainstream, individual strategies to support each of these technologies have been evolving and remain separate strategies today.

However the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the strategic agenda very quickly. IoT as a 'collective & strategic' term has caught the interest of the enterprise and the consumer alike. IoT allows companies to effectively define one strategy that potentially embraces elements of cloud, mobile and Big Data. In short, IoT has brought a stronger sense of purpose to cloud, mobile and Big Data.

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Chinese tech CEO compares Apple to the Nazi Party

China is not known for its subtle language, as recently displayed by Chinese CEO and billionaire Jia Yueting, who compared Apple to the Nazi Party through a cartoon-style image.

In a weibo post, Yueting compares the attributes of the Android and iOS ecosystems as "Crowdsourced, freedom vs arrogance, tyranny", painting Apple as the villain.

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Apple Watch will benefit traditional watch companies

It’s been six months since Apple officially announced its Apple Watch, which is currently one of the most anticipated releases of the year.

Apple will be joining tech giants Samsung and LG in the smartwatch market, but those aren’t the only companies they will be competing with. Last week at the Baselworld 2015 jewelry trade show in Switzerland, several traditional watch companies revealed smartwatches of their own.

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How custom software streamlines business processes, and three common problems

When you think about streamlining your organization's business processes, your thoughts may turn quickly to automation. With all of the buzz around business automation -- and the benefits that are supposed to go along with it -- that makes sense. But as is so often the case, the real story behind streamlined processes isn't as simple as automating every possible task.

In fact, one of the keys to building better processes through custom software is to understand that some tasks are better suited to human beings, while others are ideal for computers. A human can react quickly to new and unexpected contexts and make complicated decisions on the fly. Software, on the other hand, excels at sophisticated number crunching and repetitive tasks governed by consistent rules.

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Fitness tracker market could double in value by 2019

The fitness tracking market might boom to $5 billion by 2019, according to tech analyst group Parks Associates.

That would be double the current value at $2 billion, but correlates with the current growth rate quite nicely, bearing in mind the surge in interest thanks to the Apple Watch and other smartwatch vendors.

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Forget wearables, cyborg tech is the future

The primary goal of technology should be to improve our lives in some way. So far that has seen us embrace computers, the Internet, smartphones and most recently wearable gadgets. However, many are predicting that the future will not see us hold or wear technology, but have it directly implanted into our bodies.

Already, the transhumanism movement is seeing technology implants gain greater acceptance, but many still feel uneasy about the ethics involved when we attempt to improve our bodies artificially. In response to the advances made in body modification technology, we’ve looked at five high-profile examples below.

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Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak warns of the dangers of artificial intelligence

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has warned the dangers of artificial intelligence could seep into jobs and our life, potentially creating robot leaders and CEOs capable of running a country or company more efficiently than humans.

Wozniak shares the opinion of Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and scientist Stephen Hawking that unregulated artificial intelligence could have catastrophic consequences for humanity.

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Fitbit Surge gains cycling and multi-device support

Fitbit has announced new cycling features will be added in the next major update, alongside multi-device support. It is the first major update for the Fitbit Surge, the watch-styled fitness band launched earlier this year.

The new cycling support offers better metrics when on a bicycle, allowing the user to track distance, duration, calories burned, average speed, heart-rate (using the heart-rate monitor) and other stats -- all synced up to a companion smartphone.

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Google Glass is far from dead

If you thought Google Glass was dead, well, it isn’t – the big G still has plans for its wearable, even though the Explorer Program was shelved earlier this year, and any consumer plans seemed to ditch in flames with this move.

However, Google’s outspoken Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, has been talking to the Wall Street Journal and saying that Glass is far from lying shattered on the floor.

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