News - Business Tech

Google Translate says 'Hola!' to Chrome

Not only is Google Translate not dead, its powers of mildly accurate, often-amusing, and on-the-fly translations are in the process of being gifted to Chrome 28 Beta for Android.

If you load a foreign language Web site in the beta, which landed in the Google Play Store on Thursday, a bar will appear at the bottom of the screen with a button to translate the site. Tap the button, and voila! It will appear in a different language.

The accuracy of the translation is another issue. However, Google spokeswoman Roya Soleimani said, "Google Translate works through statistical machine translation. … Read more

Cause of PC malaise? Designs not 'compelling,' says Intel

PC designs have been lackluster, offering no good reason to upgrade, according to an Intel executive speaking at the company's Spring Analyst Summit in London.

Navin Shenoy, vice president and general manager of the Mobile Client Platform division, was responding to a question from an analyst when he said the following on Thursday:

We think the usage patterns aren't the driver for elongation [of the PC upgrade cycle]. It's more that we haven't had products in the marketplace that were compelling in any way to the existing product, either from a form factor point of view, … Read more

In risky new tack, Microsoft stacks Surface against iPad

Microsoft's "iPad vs. Windows" campaign now includes iPad vs. Surface RT. Is Microsoft picking the right fight?

On the back of new ads that zero on the iPad's (purported) weaknesses, Microsoft has thrown up a comparison page that stacks the iPad against four Windows 8 tablets.

Microsoft isn't using the Surface RT in the anti-iPad ads. Rather, the Asus VivoTab is its weapon of choice.

But Surface RT is front and center on the comparison page. One small problem: the (highly-selective) Microsoft feature chart doesn't necessarily portray Surface RT as the clear winner (see … Read more

EU plans $6.4 billion effort to boost chip manufacturing

The European Commission announced plans to spend 5 billion euros ($6.4 million) over the next seven years to try to spur microprocessor manufacturing in the European Union.

The funds, which the EC said will be matched by the same amount coming from the private sector, are designed to enable Europe to double its share of chip manufacturing and thereby help other industrial sectors that are embracing electronics.

"I want to double our chip production to around 20 percent of global production. I want Europe to produce more chips in Europe than the United States produces domestically," said … Read more

Broadcom unveils new 5G Wi-Fi chips for PCs, tablets, phones

Broadcom is ramping up more chips designed to support 5G Wi-Fi, aka 802.11ac.

The chipmaker today announced its first 5G Wi-Fi combo chips designed specifically for entry-level consumer devices, meaning PCs, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones. Combo chips offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and FM radio all in one package. This second generation of 5G Wi-Fi chips includes the same features as Broadcom's current lineup but integrates more components to keep costs down.

"This 1x1 design lowers cost while still delivering dramatic speed, power and performance, empowering a broad new user base to effortlessly stream HD video, and significantly increase … Read more

Lenovo scores record sales amidst PC industry slump

Lenovo seems to be the only top PC vendor bucking the trend of sour sales.

The Hong Kong-based company today reported record results for its fiscal year that ended March 31. For the year, Lenovo captured sales of $34 billion, a 15 percent increase from the prior year. Earnings hit $635 million, up 34 percent. And its PC shipments grew by 10.2 percent, compared with an overall industry drop of 8.1 percent.

Lenovo's 15.5 percent market share for the year put it in within reach of stealing the top spot from Hewlett-Packard. A recent report from … Read more

Tesla repays government loan early, a boost for electric cars

In what could be viewed as a shot in the arm for U.S.-made electric cars, Tesla Motors has repaid a government loan nine years early.

"Today, Tesla Automotive repaid the entire remaining balance on a $465 million loan from the Department of Energy nine years earlier than originally required," the U.S. Department of Energy said in a statement Wednesday.

That clean-energy loan was made in 2010.

And the U.S. energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, seemed to address critics of clean energy loans while trumpeting the success of Tesla.

"When you're talking about cutting-edge … Read more

HP CEO talks Android, not Windows 8

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman had a lot more to say about the company's new Android products than she did about Windows 8 during HP's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Whitman's remarks hinted at HP's newfound affinity for new operating systems, which includes Android of course.

"Using multiple operating systems, multiple architectures, and multiple form factors, we are moving quickly to product the devices that customers want," she said.

Then she proceeded to talk about new Android devices, with no mention of Windows 8.

"Following the launch of our first Chromebook in February, we launched … Read more

HP's Q2 revenue slips, but Whitman looks ahead

Leading up to Hewlett-Packard's second-quarter earnings report after the bell on Wednesday, analysts were expecting a mixed bag.

They got one.

The tech giant reported earnings of $1.1 billion, or 55 cents per share. Non-GAAP earnings were 87 cents per share on a revenue of $27.6 billion.

Wall Street was expecting earnings of 81 cents a share on revenue of $28 billion for the second quarter.

Out of the six core segments highlighted in the second quarter report, only the software group posted a positive revenue mark as the support team was up by 12 percent annually. … Read more