“Tying two rocks together doesn’t make them float.” That was one industry expert’s comment on Nokia and Microsoft partnering to create Windows phones. But the two can help each other: Nokia has a loyal mobile customer base and Microsoft has a lot of money and clout, though little success thus far in the mobile arena. READ MORE
Weebly is a four-year-old company that helps consumers make websites. VC Steve Anderson, who invested in Weebly, described its huge success in a TechCrunch interview Tuesday: One in ten sites created last year were created with the service, and it just got some hefty funding from Sequoia Capital. READ MORE
One of the biggest barriers for Google+ adoption for many folks was Google’s insistence on real names rather than pseudonyms. For some, it’s a matter of privacy. For others, it was how they are recognized online, their brand. Well, Google will now allow pseudonyms. READ MORE
Last year, security firms identified Stuxnet, a disabling virus that appeared aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities but then spread around the world. Stuxnet pointed up a well-known vulnerability in industrial control systems, which often have little or no security. READ MORE
The global economy looks bad, but this is still a time of great growth for Internet and mobile Internet companies, according to Mary Meeker, partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. READ MORE
Google may own Motorola, but it will think of it as just another handset company. That’s the word from Android chief Andy Rubin who told AllThingsD, “This is going to be an arm’s-length thing…Motorola isn’t going to get any special treatment.” READ MORE
Herman Cain might be singing “Imagine there’s no pizza,” but in the next 40 years, we might be singing “Imagine there’s no CEO,” says Nigel Rayner an analyst at Gartner. In a “maverick” presentation he argues that machines are better able to perform analytic tasks than humans and will eclipse human decision-making in the near future. READ MORE
After you screw up, you apologize. To sweeten the deal, you might give a gift. That’s how Research in Motion is playing it, after millions of customers lost e-mail and BlackBerry Messenger service last week. RIM will make the apps available for free over the next few weeks in the BlackBerry App World. Worth about $100 together, the apps will be available until the end of the year. READ MORE
Airlines are gearing up for a fight with companies that enable consumers to manage frequent-flier miles online for multiple accounts. The past year alone, Southwest and American airlines have sent “cease and desist” letters to companies that track airline loyalty programs. Each airline points out a different reason for its objection: American’s complaint is about data “scraping,” while Southwest says the process threatens customer security. Delta Air Lines, which hasn’t yet joined the fray, is also not a fan of the sites. READ MORE
It took two years, but Microsoft has finally managed to convince a (slim) majority of Windows users that the newest version might just be better than the one that is nearly a decade old. READ MORE
