A lot was happening in the technology world this week. From Verizon announce its Share Everything line of family plans, which gave family plans more flexibility by allowing every component of the plan to be shared among the rest of the family, to the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which sold out in one hour and 43 minutes, the tech buzz continued all week. Here are the top stories from TechZone360.
The week started off with the WWDC, in which Apple (News - Alert) revealed a new MacBook Pro and that MacBook Air is getting the new Intel processor, “Ivy Bridge,” which means up to 60 percent faster graphics and up to 512 GB of flash storage. Among other announcements were Facetime is no longer just for WiFi (News - Alert) but can be used via a cellular, the introduction of Apple Maps and the announcement of iOS 6.
Facebook had a slow week…literally. Its user growth has hit the brakes and the turnout to vote on the privacy policy was low. Research firm comScore revealed that the number of unique visitors in the U.S. to the website was up just five percent over a year, the slowest increase in the past four years. In April last year, Facebook (News - Alert) experienced a 24 percent growth and 89 percent in April 2010.
Lenovo, a mobile broadband provider, launched “Lenovo Mobile Access” this week, a no-contract 3G mobile broadband service powered by Macheen. The service is now embedded across select models of the ThinkPad product line and available immediately in the U.S and nine European countries. Lenovo allows users to buy a “Time Pass” for as little as $1.95 for 30 minutes or $8.95 for one day.
In today’s economy, we hear more and more news about companies that have to turn to layoffs. Nokia’s (News - Alert) latest report reveals plans to cut 10,000 more jobs worldwide and is expected to close several more plants, all by the end of 2013. The European tech company previously agreed to layoffs in Germany, engineered between the company and that country’s labor unions. The plan was expected to be a way for those employees to have a software landing, and a better chance of coming back to work should the situation improve. This time around, the goals are for the company to cut costs and streamline the company to jumpstart revenues.
Just because Facebook’s user growth has slowed doesn’t mean the company’s plans are too. The social network has a plan to get advertisers back in the paying ranks with an advertising exchange, dubbed as Facebook Exchange. It’s set to launch sometime in the next few weeks, and will give large companies an opportunity to deliver ads to Facebook users who have recently browsed those companies’ websites.
Last but not least, Microsoft (News - Alert) is reportedly set to unveil a tablet this Monday, June 18, that will mark its entry into the tablet industry. As young as the tablet business is, segments already are developing, ranging from the smaller seven-inch form factors better suited for e-reading, to Apple’s market-leading segment. But a user’s choice of a tablet might hinge on the lead apps that a user wants to engage with.
For more technology news and updates, check back to TechZone360 each week!