jacobs

Qualcomm walks fine line between privacy, connected devices

NEW YORK--Qualcomm is walking a fine line between enabling the "Internet of Things" and protecting users' privacy, the chipmaker's chief executive said Tuesday.

Paul Jacobs, speaking at the Wired Business Conference in New York, said that nearly everything people interact with will be connected to the Internet in the future, but that also means companies have to figure out a way to make such technology less intrusive.

For example, department stores or restaurants can detect when someone is walking by and send them coupons, but not all people may want to receive those offers. So Qualcomm and … Read more

All the New York Times news that's fit to print -- in haiku

Not long ago, The New York Times published an article exploring the likelihood of a solar storm hitting Earth. I didn't get around to reading it, but I probably don't need to now that I've discovered Times Haiku.

The site recasts Times stories in the traditional short poetry form of three phrases containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables. It offers this poetic summary of the solar-storm article: Only rarely does/a giant solar blast fly/directly at Earth. Well, phew.

Jacob Harris, a Times senior software architect, created the site between his more serious endeavors -- building news-driven sites for events like the November election. His original algorithm checks the paper's home page every few minutes for new articles, then scans each sentence looking for complete sentences that fit the haiku pattern. The software does this using a list of words and their syllable counts; if it spots a word it doesn't know, it skips to the next sentence and logs the unknown words to a database. … Read more

Samsung hires judge who ruled against Apple as legal expert

A judge who favored Samsung in a recent court case is now working for the company. But apparently that's perfectly OK in the U.K.

U.K. Judge Robin Jacob served on the bench last year in a case that forced Apple to publish an apology notice asserting that Samsung did not infringe on the design of the iPad for its own tablet.

Though Jacob had retired a year earlier, U.K. law allows for ex-judges to still sit on the bench.

The case itself was notable for going several rounds.

First, Samsung objected to the notice that Apple … Read more

Qualcomm CEO details a 'born mobile' world at 2013 CES

LAS VEGAS--Qualcomm Chief Executive Paul Jacobs today detailed a world where everything and everyone is "born mobile."

Being born mobile means being connected via mobile device, anytime and anywhere, Jacobs said, and he spent nearly two hours at the Consumer Electronics Show today detailing how his company is helping enable that trend. Qualcomm, which supplies them wireless chips for the majority of the world's cellphones, is more than happy to provide the processors that power everything from wearable health monitors to smartphones to automobiles.

"We're all part of what we're calling 'Gen M' now, … Read more

Qualcomm's keynote at 2013 CES: Join us Monday, 6:30 p.m. PT (live blog)

Qualcomm isn't exactly a household name, but the wireless chipmaker should be a little more familiar after CEO Paul Jacobs' keynote at the 2013 CES at 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET) on Monday, Jan. 7.

CNET will be there to cover it live with a live video stream and blog with news updates as they happen.

You can catch the live blog and video stream here:

CNET's live coverage of Qualcomm's 2013 CES keynote.

Jacobs nabbed his speaking slot from longtime CES participant Microsoft, which declared 2012 to be its last show. … Read more

Qualcomm CEO discusses CES during Charlie Rose interview

Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs recently checked in with Charlie Rose over at PBS, discussing the wireless giant's predictions and strategies for the future of mobile technologies.

Some of the key topics in the 30-minute interview included Qualcomm's partnership with Apple, Qualcomm's licensing business and the money it brings in, broadband policies, and the ever-increasing demand for data.

Here's a preview of the interview, which will air in its entirety on PBS tonight. Check your local listings for show times.

The interview also serves as a glimpse into what Jacobs will be discussing at his keynote address … Read more

Qualcomm CEO says Windows legacy apps have to go touch

Older Windows programs will have to be updated to incorporate touch capabilities, Qualcomm's chief executive said. And that's something that should help adoption of the newest version of the operating system.

Paul Jacobs, speaking today during a small press roundtable in New York before tomorrow's Windows 8 launch, said there will be "FUD" -- fear, uncertainty, and doubt -- around legacy applications when Windows RT first launches, but the capabilities offered by the new system will ultimately win over consumers.

He noted that older applications will have to be updated to take advantage of the … Read more

San Diego's own Mystery Spot: 'Fallen Star'

LA JOLLA, Calif.--Cottages shouldn't stick out way over the edge of buildings, but when they've been picked up by mysterious forces and dropped out of the sky, that's exactly what can happen.

Welcome to Korean artist Do Ho Suh's "Fallen Star," a small, New England-style house that was unveiled in June atop -- and well out beyond the roof of -- the Jacobs Engineering School building at the University of California at San Diego here.

I've come to explore "Fallen Star" as part of Road Trip 2012, and though I'… Read more

Xerox PARC founder Jacob Goldman dies at 90

The famed Xerox PARC has lost its founder.

Jacob Goldman, a physicist who started Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, died on Tuesday in Westport, Conn., at the age of 90.

Goldman was lauded in a New York Times obituary as a "dynamic leader and ardent supporter of innovative technologies."

Launched in 1970, Xerox PARC is known in computer history as the hub that developed many of the technologies we take for granted today. Its scientists and researchers teamed up to design the Alto, the first modern personal computer; laser printing; the graphical user interface; the first WYSIWYG (… Read more

Justice Department ramps up WikiLeaks e-mail probe

The U.S. Department of Justice has expanded its investigation of WikiLeaks-related accounts to encompass Google and Internet provider Sonic.net.

Both companies received secret court orders directing them to turn over information from the e-mail account of Jacob Appelbaum, a hacker and human rights activist who has been affiliated with WikiLeaks, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

CNET has learned that the secret court order is what's called a 2703(d) order. It's not as privacy-protective as a traditional search warrant, and some courts have ruled that such orders are unconstitutional when used to read a suspect'… Read more