Source: Reuters Microsoft’s US$8.5-billion acquisition of Skype is likely to boost videoconferencing from workers’ desktops, posing further risks to video technology providers such as Polycom and Logitech. The cheaper end of the US$3-billion videoconferencing equipment market is already suffering from inroads that Skype and other video applications are making in the market, historically controlled by...

Source: Reuters Sony, a laggard in the booming tablet market, has launched its first tablet computers in an ambitious attempt to grab the second spot in the market created and dominated by Apple’s iPad. The gadgets will use an operating system based on Google’s Android 3.0, said Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of the consumer products...

Source: Reuters Research In Motion’s (RIM) PlayBook tablet has bombed with influential technology reviewers who call the new iPad competitor a rushed job that would not even provide RIM’s vaunted e-mail service unless it is hooked up to a BlackBerry. “RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do e-mail. It must be skating...

by Jared Heng While many Singapore-based professionals are happy to connect with their colleagues on social networking websites, nearly 50 per cent have seen social media hurt workplace relationships, according to a recent survey. Recruitment firm Robert Half’s latest workplace survey found that 68 per cent of Singaporean respondents were comfortable extending their relationships with...

by Jared Heng While cloud computing adoption in Asia does not lag behind the US and Europe, the way it is adopted in the region is different, according to Uwe Schlager, Managing Director of T-Systems Singapore. In a phone interview with Biz Daily, Schlager said demand for cloud computing is increasing in Asia, particularly for...

Source: Reuters Google Inc has begun allowing users to personally endorse search results and web pages, its latest attempt to stave off rival Facebook Inc while trying to jump onboard a social networking boom. The so-called “+1” button started to appear alongside Google search results for select users recently, letting people recommend specific search results...

Source: Reuters Google Inc is delaying widespread access to the new version of its Android software, saying it has more work to do before the product is ready for certain types of devices. Google unveiled Android 3.0, known as Honeycomb, earlier this year, billing it as the first version of its Android operating system designed...

Source: Reuters From Apple’s new iPad to Chevrolet pick-ups, concern is spreading down the global manufacturing supply chain about the impact of Japan’s recent earthquake. Plant shutdowns across Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis threaten supplies of everything from semiconductors to car parts for manufacturers across the globe. Even where factories in Japan...

Source: Reuters Warner Bros will make some of its films available on Facebook, open- ing up a new revenue source for the internet social network and signalling new competition for online entertainment companies. Consumers can pay for the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used mainly in social games on the site,...

by Jared Heng Apple has topped Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list again, following Fortune’s latest survey that asked business professionals to vote for the companies that they admired most. Google and Berkshire Hathaway ranked second and third respec- tively on the list. Apple has kept standards high for all technology companies with its blitz of...

Source: Reuters China’s Huawei Technologies Co has challenged the United States to launch a formal investigation into its business, in an attempt by one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment makers to clear its name from allegations that have blocked US deals. The highly unusual call follows the outcome of a recent US government foreign...

Source: Reuters Prices of smartphones using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software platform will fall fast, Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop said on Friday. Last week, Nokia, the world’s largest phone maker by volume, said it would adopt Microsoft’s software across its smartphones, raising fears the firm would miss out during the transition on surging demand for...