Articles by Mark Hawver
Alibaba preps IPO while making some big tech investments
Chinese e-retailer Alibaba is getting ready for its initial public offering and simultaneously investing money in U.S. tech and e-commerce firms. Alibaba already owns the Chinese e-commerce market, the fastest growing online retail market in the world.
TWC chief accentuates financial positives, dismisses negatives
Time Warner Cable missed revenue and profit expectations in its just-released report for the second quarter. But CEO Rob Marcus focused on increased average revenue per customer and an even bigger increase in revenue per broadband customer as positive takeaways from the report.
Hyundai recall expands, 420K vehicles added to the list
Another recall for Hyundai, as over 420,000 Santa Fe, Veracruz and Sonata models have some issues that need addressing. It was just yesterday, we recall, the company called back almost 900,000 Sonatas.
Judge: Microsoft must hand over Dublin data for crime investigation
Can tech companies store data in overseas cloud servers without driving U.S. investigators crazy? Microsoft says yes, but a U.S. judge says that location doesn't provide immunity from extradition since Microsoft is a U.S. corporation subject to U.S. law, regardless of where it keeps its stuff.
Harley-Davidson powers up Road Glides, adds some slick tech
Harley-Davidson continues to reap dividends from its crowd-sourced 'what-if' Project Rushmore, with several concepts making it into the re-release of the company's Road Glide models for 2015. The newest Road Glide will offer increased power, comfort, safety and interactive features.
Will security be BlackBerry's ticket back into the enterprise smartphone battle?
BlackBerry's acquisition of Secusmart, a German mobile voice and data encryption company, casts the spotlight on the company's plans. BlackBerry intends to burnish its already impressive security credentials to win back the hearts of corporate IT departments everywhere.
T-Mobile touts 1.5M new subscribers, healthy earnings
Wireless carrier T-Mobile announced its second quarter results, and the news was pretty, pretty, pretty good. Industry-leading revenue growth, 1.5 million new subscribers, record low 'churn' rate, and the announcement of nationwide VoLTE coverage were some of the highlights.
Facebook app brings free Internet to Zambia
Facebook is launching a free app, Internet.org, that will help users in areas of the world that lack Internet access connect with the Web. It will provide free access to health, employment, information and communication services.
Apple to 200 Beats staffers: Beat it
As many as 200 Beats Electronics employees will get the beatdown from Apple as a result of the $3 billion merger announced in May. Employees at risk -- most through redundancies -- are given through January 2015 to find other positions within Apple.
Hyundai Sonata shifted onto recall list, 883K vehicles may feature a gear glitch
Close to 900,000 Hyundai Sonatas are being recalled for gear shift problems. A cable in the transmission could separate from the gear shift, leading to unwanted vehicle movement or failure to start.
Sprint enjoys income, revenue spike but subscriber retention disappoints
Sprint, still looking to regain solid footing in the mobile communications market, just released its first-quarter fiscal report. Notably, the company reported positive net income after nearly seven consecutive years of losses.
Driverless cars hitting UK roadways come January
Driverless cars that are guided by fully autonomous technology are said to be the wave of the future. The UK government wants to be at the forefront of this technology and will allow self-driving vehicles to access public roads in January 2015.
OKCupid looking like OKStupid as backlash hits over social experiments
OkCupid admitted to playing games with and misleading users in social experiments that purportedly were designed to improve the dating site's algorithms and help in understanding human nature. The mislead users and some third-party observers were less than thrilled.
Android Fake ID flaw puts smartphones, tablets at risk
A design flaw in Android OS versions 2.1 through 4.4 could allow malware to steal financial data, private information and generally take over operation of an Android-based mobile device. Google has a patch, but getting the word out to owners of nearly every Android device since 2010 is problematic.
Recall review: It's been a summer of discontent for car makers
Forty million cars and trucks have been recalled by the world's automakers already this year, eclipsing the all-time record for a single year. The avalanche of recalls this year can be mostly traced to one company's automotive Waterloo, while many of the other recalls can be traced to an overabundance of caution.
BlackBerry battens down mobile security with Secusmart acquisition
BlackBerry, on the comeback trail, acquires a German firm specializing in mobile data security and encryption. With this deal, BlackBerry hopes to re-establish its security bona fides with the business community.
OkCupid: Yes, we experimented on users and we're not sorry
Online dating and matchmaking site OkCupid has admitted to administering social engineering tests on unwitting users. Although some of the tests were innocuous, the company states it is not easing back on experiments any time soon.
2015 Volkswagen GTI wins top cheap speed award
The brand new, freshly updated Volkswagen Golf GTI was declared the winner of Cars.com's $30,000 Cheap Speed Challenge. It competed with similar offerings from Kia, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Scion, Honda, Cooper, Nissan and Subaru.
Microsoft China offices get unexpected visit from regulators
China is miffed at Microsoft. Whether it is justified, just business or political posturing, there's nothing inscrutable about the scrutiny the company is facing from government regulators.
Windows Phone 8.1 update: Smart cases, support for big screens
The Windows Phone 8.1 update will bring Smart Cases and Smart Cover features and support for larger phablet and tablet screens, bringing the OS level with newer Android features. Additional support for folder on Windows Phones will also be included.
Apple spending $30M to buy Swell talk radio app, claims report
Apple is about to purchase Swell, a talk radio app that works very much like Pandora, but no music. With the acquisition, Apple would continue boost its bonafides in streaming radio, video and podcast content.
Captain Kirk is no fan of Facebook Mentions app
Facebook Mentions: The Final Frontier. William Shatner's feelings about the new app for the elite are definitely not in the Neutral Zone.
Xerox profit dips, but still beats analyst expectations
Xerox's second-quarter earnings report is pretty much a copy of its 2013 second-quarter report. Although growth is stymied, the company's stock price hit a year-to-date high last week.
Facebook taunt to cops leads to quick arrest
A man wanted by the police for probation violations used his Facebook page to brag about how the police were never going to catch him. They did - the man's Facebook profile picture will probably have numbers under his face shortly.
Facebook delivers $1.6B to Zuckerberg in one day
After a shaky start to its IPO, Facebook's effective advertising sales innovations and strategic acquisitions have propelled it to spectacular growth. Benefiting directly from this is founder Mark Zuckerberg, who pocketed a $1.6 billion paycheck in one day.
Ford shaking up leadership ranks to drive luxury line forward
Lincoln, Ford Motor Company's luxury line of vehicles, has lost ground to competitors such as Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. Management changes within the brand brings hope for revitalization.
GM profit tanks thanks to recall costs, $400M victim payout looms
General Motors released its second-quarter earnings report, which reported only a $200 million profit due to $1.2 billion in recall costs. The report also notes that a special charge of $400 million has been set aside to cover victim compensation for recall claimants.
Apple mulling mobile payment feature for iPhone 6
Apple may finally be prepping a mobile payment system for introduction on the iPhone 6. Since the technology will require both software and hardware integration, it will probably not be backwards-compatible with previous iPhones.
Apple OS X Yosemite arrives, proving Apple is trying to be more open
Apple has just made the beta release of its next major operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, available as a free download for the computing public. The release is limited to the first 1 million participants.
Chrysler recall update: Ignition switch flaw saga just won't end
In what seems like déjà vu all over again, Chrysler is recalling 792,000 Jeeps for an ignition switch that can all too easily be persuaded to shut off the engine while in motion. If the ignition key is 'jostled' it can move into the off position.
