exchange

Facebook said to be launching platform for real-time ad bidding

Facebook is planning to debut a service, Facebook Exchange, that will allow the company to more effectively target ads to customers, Bloomberg reported today.

The service, which is expected to deploy in the coming weeks, provides real-time bidding on ads, which means advertisers can reach users based on their browsing history, Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta told Bloomberg. This is similar to what other Web companies, like Google, use to target their ads, and could give a substantial boost to Facebook's ability to increase its display ad revenue and sell-through rates on its inventory.

Facebook confirmed to CNET that the … Read more

Microsoft gets reprieve in Motorola suit on Exchange ActiveSync

Score one for Microsoft.

Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court in Germany today ruled that a complaint Motorola has brought against Microsoft related to data-sync technology in Exchange ActiveSync will not be decided on anytime soon. According to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller, who was first to report on the news and has acknowledged being a paid consultant for Microsoft, the judge instead decided to reopen the case. The move could push back a final ruling several months, according to Mueller.

"We are pleased the Mannheim court is looking even more closely at this case and remain confident … Read more

Set the dinner table for Skype

The tablecloth was fresh, the juice was chilled. Francina Richardson and her family were ready for company. But instead of waiting for the doorbell to ring, this Sonoma, Calif., grandmother was listening for the distinctive trill of a Skype phone call. And her guests were joining her as part of a pioneering new initiative called the Virtual Dinner Guest Project.

Right on time, a group of youth in Cairo took a "seat" at the breakfast table. Introductions were made on both sides of the computer screen, and then, a natural conversation began. The young Egyptians, most of them … Read more

Samsung is getting into the mobile-ad market

Samsung wants to make it easier and more lucrative for app developers to offer advertising to Samsung mobile phone subscribers.

The company announced Tuesday that it has formed a partnership with OpenX Technologies, a leading provider of digital advertising technologies. Through the partnership Samsung and OpenX will create an exchange that will allow advertisers to purchase mobile ad space directly from mobile developers and Samsung. This closed marketplace should allow advertisers to reach a more targeted audience.

The deal with OpenX is an expansion of Samsung's existing strategy to enable advertising on its products. Earlier this year, Samsung established … Read more

Pandora shares clobbered in morning trading

It wasn't as if Pandora investors needed much to send them stampeding out of the stock.

Pandora shares are trading this morning at $10.82, down more $3.43 or 24 percent, a day after the company failed to meet analyst expectations for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended January 31.

Skepticism has dogged this company ever since it announced plans to go public a year ago. Any misstep was bound to spook Wall Street.

Pandora's revenue for the period fell short of estimates while the company's losses grew from the same time a year earlier. Fourth-quarter … Read more

Hotmail hops onto Kindle Fire

Microsoft is carving out a new niche for itself on the Amazon Kindle Fire.

A free mobile app for the company's Hotmail service is now available in the Kindle store for all Fire tablet owners.

Microsoft already offers an app for Google Android devices, which is up for grabs in the Android Market. But some tweaks were needed to make the software compatible with the Fire since Amazon uses its own customized version of Android.

The Hotmail app for the Fire boasts at least one advantage over the tablet's native e-mail app, according to a Microsoft blog. The … Read more

Middle East cyberwar hits Israeli banks, stock exchange, airline

Hackers in Israel and other Middle Eastern countries are in the middle of a cyberwar that has led to disruptions of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, several Israeli banks, and an airline. As a result, some Israeli banks have blocked or are threatening to block international access to their sites to avoid attack.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks Monday that crippled the Web sites of the Tel Aviv bourse Web site and El Al Airlines, as well as the marketing sites of the First International Bank of Israel (Fibi), Massad bank, and Otzar Hahayal bank, according to … Read more

Track changes to critical enterprise doc with Workshare Professional

Workshare Professional is an enterprise-class solution to the problem of tracking and managing changes to critical documents. Working with Microsoft Word, it can compare, convert, and verify content between documents. It converts PDFs to Word documents, compares PDFs with PDFs or Word docs, identifies confidential information in documents, and creates PDFs from any Office file format without requiring Acrobat or other PDF software. It maintains master copies of e-mailed documents, and its metadata search and removal feature removes entire sets of comments, revisions, and other changes.

During the installation process, Workshare automatically selected the appropriate modules to install and gave … Read more

RIM unveils cloud service for Microsoft Office 365 users

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has launched a new service that not only extends access to Microsoft Office 365 but lets businesses better manage their BlackBerry devices.

Currently available as a beta for Microsoft Office 365 customers, BlackBerry's Business Cloud Services offers four key benefits to potential customers, according to RIM:

Access to Microsoft Exchange online email, calendar, and organizer data from BlackBerry smartphones. BlackBerry Balance technology, which lets users see both personal and work-related content on their phones but keeps the two separate from each other. Online access to smartphone security features where users can remotely lock or … Read more