China blames hacking attack for recent Internet problems

File photo of people at an internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province, September 15, 2011.

/Stringer

- A hacking attack using malware from overseas servers was to blame for Internet problems in China earlier this week that prevented users accessing a number of popular foreign websites, an official state-run newspaper said on Friday. Social media users first reported on Sunday that they were being sent to software website wpkg.org and travel website ptraveler.com when trying to access news websites like cnn.com, news portal yahoo.co.jp, and games website runescape.com, among others.The incident was the latest in a series of challenges businesses and individuals have faced going online in the world's second-largest economy.The English-language China Daily, citing the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Centre, an agency that monitors China's Internet safety, said the redirection happened because some servers in China were "contaminated" by malware from overseas servers."Experts said it will be difficult to trace the source of the attack because it is technically possible to carry it out by remotely controlling the servers," the newspaper said."No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack," it said.A senior staff member at the center told the newspaper that it was not currently possible to estimate the damage caused."It was a rather strange case because the hackers were directly targeting the telecom carriers' servers. It has rarely happened before," the unidentified official said.Developers from wpkg.org had said they were unsure why traffic from inside China was being redirected to their site.Access to the internet – both speed and stability – have long been a major issue especially among foreign businesses and individuals. This is especially the case when attempting to access overseas online services, which are regularly plagued by disruptions and blockages.Internet services operated by Facebook Inc, Google Inc and Twitter Inc, to name a few, are unusable in China. The country operates the world's most sophisticated censorship mechanism in order to quell sources of information the Communist Party sees as potentially destabilizing or undermining its rule. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait)

Free medical for in-laws helps Indian tech start-ups woo talent back from America

- After losing top engineering talent for years to America's tech heartland of Silicon Valley, India is luring them back as an e-commerce boom sparks a thriving start-up culture, unprecedented pay, and perks including free healthcare for in-laws. India's IT industry has long been seen as a back-office backwater, even by its own engineers who started moving abroad in their droves in the 1970s. That is now changing.The e-commerce sector, led by companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, attracted more than $5 billion of investment last year, Morgan Stanley says, compared with less than $2 billion in 2013.That growth is fuelling the hunt for talent to drive the next stage of expansion - for many, an initial public offering or a push into overseas markets."The appetite for finding engineering talent ... is great," said George Kaszacs of Silicon Valley-based headhunters Riviera Partners, who helps Indian startups scout for potential hires.The number of returnees is small, but they represent a sign of the early emergence on the global stage of Indian upstarts. Indian companies such as Snapdeal, Inmobi and Zomato each say they have hired between a handful to as many as 20 people from Silicon Valley in the past five years.India's biggest e-commerce company, Flipkart, recently hired two senior executives from Google Inc in California, both engineers of Indian origin, for its headquarters in Bengaluru in southern India.Flipkart did not disclose their pay, but headhunters say remuneration packages can reach $1 million over 3-4 years.Headhunter Kaszacs said several factors are drawing Indians back home, including the chance to join a fast-growing start-up. Joining bonuses, stock options and other perks were also helping.The chance to live close to parents and other relatives is another factor drawing Indian executives back home - an important consideration in India's close knit family system.For Tanmay Saksena, who heads online ordering at restaurant review website Zomato, similarities between the Indian and Silicon Valley start-up culture helped him decide to return after eight years away."Of course your base pay is not the main driver, it is equity and you join a start-up because you think it will do well," Saksena said.Other executives moved for similar reasons, saying the chance to work for a thriving start-up offset the challenges of everyday living in India's chaotic cities.In return, companies are going all out to make settling back as easy as can be.InMobi, a mobile phone advertising platform, provides summer camps for kids and meetings where spouses can socialize with one another. It offers health insurance not just for employees and their spouse, but their in-laws too, which Abhay Singhal says is a big hit."One thing that unfortunately India does not have great answers to yet is the quality of living outside of work," Singhal, one of the founders of the company, said."The professional still has his days to spend in the office but the spouse and kids... that becomes a very big issue."Snapdeal said in a couple of instances the company had even helped spouses search for jobs."There will be systemic issues everywhere," Punit Soni, who joined Flipkart from Google as its chief product officer, told in March."I took up the job because it was the most interesting thing I could do."(This version of the story fixes the spelling in paragraph 8) (Editing by Christopher Cushing and Neil Fullick)

Free medical for in-laws helps Indian tech start-ups woo talent back from America

- After losing top engineering talent for years to America's tech heartland of Silicon Valley, India is luring them back as an e-commerce boom sparks a thriving start-up culture, unprecedented pay, and perks including free healthcare for in-laws. India's IT industry has long been seen as a back-office backwater, even by its own engineers who started moving abroad in their droves in the 1970s. That is now changing.The e-commerce sector, led by companies such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, attracted more than $5 billion of investment last year, Morgan Stanley says, compared with less than $2 billion in 2013.That growth is fuelling the hunt for talent to drive the next stage of expansion - for many, an initial public offering or a push into overseas markets."The appetite for finding engineering talent ... is great," said George Kaszacs of Silicon Valley-based headhunters Riviera Partners, who helps Indian startups scout for potential hires.The number of returnees is small, but they represent a sign of the early emergence on the global stage of Indian upstarts. Indian companies such as Snapdeal, Inmobi and Zomato each say they have hired between a handful to as many as 20 people from Silicon Valley in the past five years.India's biggest e-commerce company, Flipkart, recently hired two senior executives from Google Inc in California, both engineers of Indian origin, for its headquarters in Bengaluru in southern India.Flipkart did not disclose their pay, but headhunters say renumeration packages can reach $1 million over 3-4 years.Headhunter Kaszacs said several factors are drawing Indians back home, including the chance to join a fast-growing start-up. Joining bonuses, stock options and other perks were also helping.The chance to live close to parents and other relatives is another factor drawing Indian executives back home - an important consideration in India's close knit family system.For Tanmay Saksena, who heads online ordering at restaurant review website Zomato, similarities between the Indian and Silicon Valley start-up culture helped him decide to return after eight years away."Of course your base pay is not the main driver, it is equity and you join a start-up because you think it will do well," Saksena said.Other executives moved for similar reasons, saying the chance to work for a thriving start-up offset the challenges of everyday living in India's chaotic cities.In return, companies are going all out to make settling back as easy as can be.InMobi, a mobile phone advertising platform, provides summer camps for kids and meetings where spouses can socialize with one another. It offers health insurance not just for employees and their spouse, but their in-laws too, which Abhay Singhal says is a big hit."One thing that unfortunately India does not have great answers to yet is the quality of living outside of work," Singhal, one of the founders of the company, said."The professional still has his days to spend in the office but the spouse and kids... that becomes a very big issue."Snapdeal said in a couple of instances the company had even helped spouses search for jobs."There will be systemic issues everywhere," Punit Soni, who joined Flipkart from Google as its chief product officer, told in March."I took up the job because it was the most interesting thing I could do." (Editing by Christopher Cushing and Neil Fullick)

FireEye revenue beats as demand for cybersecurity products rises

The FireEye logo is seen outside the company's offices in Milpitas, California, December 29, 2014.

/Beck Diefenbach

- Cybersecurity company FireEye Inc reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue, helped by increasing spending by governments and businesses to protect their networks from sophisticated cyber attacks. Shares of FireEye, which also raised its full-year revenue forecast, rose 4 percent in extended trading on Thursday.Recent high-profile cyber attacks, such as those on Anthem Inc and Sony Corp, have forced companies and governments to beef up their online security.FireEye uses cloud-based technologies to help businesses and government departments fight off computer viruses that evade old-school antivirus software. The global cybersecurity market is estimated to grow to $155.74 billion by 2019 from $95.60 billion in 2014, according to market research firm MarketsandMarket.FireEye raised its revenue forecast for 2015 to $615 million-$635 million from $605 million-$625 million.Analysts on average were expecting $619.8 million, according to Thomson I/B/E/S.FireEye's net loss attributable to shareholders widened to $134.0 million, or 88 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31 from $101.2 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.Excluding items, the company had a loss of 48 cents per share.Revenue jumped 69.5 percent to $125.4 million as subscription and services revenue, which accounts for about 58 percent of its total revenue, jumped 71 percent.Analysts on average had expected a loss of 51 cents per share and revenue of $120.6 million.FireEye shares were trading at $42.85 after the bell. (This version of the story adds the forecast, details and shares) (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

LinkedIn revenue rises 34.8 percent on hiring business

The logo for LinkedIn Corporation, a social networking networking website for people in professional occupations, is shown in Mountain View, California February 6, 2013.

/Robert Galbraith

- Corporate networking site LinkedIn Corp reported a 34.8 percent rise in quarterly revenue, driven by strength in its hiring business. The company's net loss attributable to shareholders widened to $42.5 million, or 34 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31 from $13.4 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.Revenue rose to $637.7 million from $473.2 million. (Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Exclusive: Intel's standstill with Altera expires in June: sources

The sign hanging outside the Intel booth is seen at the International Consumer Electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada January 6, 2015.

/Rick Wilking

- Intel Corp (INTC.O) signed a standstill agreement earlier this year with Altera Corp (ALTR.O) that expires on June 1, giving the world's largest chipmaker the option to launch a hostile bid after that, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agreement, disclosed to by the sources this week, explains why Intel has refrained from launching a tender offer for Altera's shares once their negotiations broke down. It also underscores the risk Altera faces of such a hostile bid.Earlier this month, Altera rejected an unsolicited $54 per share offer from Intel following months of negotiations, the sources said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. They said Altera agreed to engage in these talks on the basis that Intel would not go public with any offer until June. In February, Intel discussed offering $58 per share for Altera, based on publicly available information it reviewed at the time, according to the people. After signing a non-disclosure agreement and combing through non-public information, including the company's outlook, it ended up revising down its offer, they said. Last week, Altera posted a sequential 9 percent decline in revenue for the first quarter and said it also expects weakness in its second-quarter guidance, particularly around its wireless business.It is unclear whether Intel would take its proposal directly to shareholders, the sources said, but it remains an option available to it. Intel and Altera both declined to comment.The acquisition of Altera, which makes programmable chips widely used in cellphone towers and industrial applications and by the military, would underscore Intel Chief Executive Officer Brian Krzanich's determination to expand into new markets as the personal computer industry loses steam.TIG Advisors LLC, an investment firm that holds shares in Altera, challenged a nomination to the company's board of directors on Monday over Altera's refusal to engage with Intel about a potential merger. (Additional reporting by Liana Baker; Editing by Ted Botha)

Bid to end mass collection of phone data advances in Congress

A computer with a series of numbers is seen in this picture illustration taken in Frankfurt October 28, 2013.

/Kai Pfaffenbach

- A bill to end spy agencies' bulk collection of Americans' telephone data advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, setting up a potential showdown over the program, which expires on June 1. The House Judiciary Committee voted 25-2 to approve the "USA Freedom Act," seeking to tighten control of a program publicly exposed two years ago by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.The bill would bar the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act and other intelligence authorities, and it would increase transparency and accountability in surveillance programs.A similar bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.The bills are supported by privacy groups but will run into opposition in Congress and at the White House.Democratic President Barack Obama and many lawmakers want to retain the mass data-collection program as a national security tool, although they are open to changes.A vote on the bill could take place in the House as soon as next month. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Bid to end mass collection of phone data advances in U.S. Congress

- A bill to end spy agencies' bulk collection of Americans' telephone data advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday, setting up a potential showdown over the program, which expires on June 1. The House Judiciary Committee voted 25-2 to approve the "USA Freedom Act," seeking to tighten control of a program publicly exposed two years ago by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.The bill would bar the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records under Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act and other intelligence authorities, and it would increase transparency and accountability in surveillance programs.A similar bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.The bills are supported by privacy groups but will run into opposition in Congress and at the White House.Democratic President Barack Obama and many lawmakers want to retain the mass data-collection program as a national security tool, although they are open to changes.A vote on the bill could take place in the House as soon as next month. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Tesla hunts for new revenue in home storage batteries

A Tesla Motors logo is shown on a Tesla Model S at a Tesla Motors dealership at Corte Madera Village, an outdoor retail mall, in Corte Madera, California May 8, 2014.

/Robert Galbraith

- Tesla Motors Inc shares slipped Thursday after a month-long surge ahead of Chief Executive Elon Musk's expected announcement that the money-losing electric luxury car maker will seek new revenues from batteries for storing electricity at homes and businesses. Musk and other Tesla officials have dropped a series of broad hints over the past month about the topic of the announcement, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. Pacific time Thursday at a Tesla facility near Los Angeles. Tesla shares are up about 20 percent since March 30, when Musk tweeted that the company would unveil a "major new Tesla product line - not a car." Tesla shares were down about 1.7 percent Thursday hours ahead of the announcement in a broadly lower market.Investor enthusiasm for Tesla's potential entry into the stationary electricity storage business is driven by projections that selling Tesla batteries for homes and businesses to use as backup power systems could be important to building a sustainable future for Tesla's car-making side, analysts say.Deutsche Bank estimates sales of stationary battery storage systems for homes and commercial uses could yield as much as $4.5 billion in revenue for Tesla. Analysts expect Tesla will build stationary storage systems around the same basic batteries it will produce for its vehicles at a large factory the company is building in Nevada.Stationary storage systems could be part of a fossil-fuel free lifestyle in which an individual has solar panels on the roof, generating electricity that can power home appliances and recharge batteries in a Tesla Model S sedan parked in the garage.Government subsidies and a dramatic drop in the price of lithium ion batteries are drawing more companies into the home electricity storage business.Tesla has so far received $1.1 million from California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program. Tesla has received or is poised to receive state funding for about 600 storage projects in California, according to data from the state.Though valued at just $200 million in 2012, the energy storage industry is expected to grow to $19 billion by 2017, according to research firm IHS CERA.Tesla and SolarCity will face competition for subsidy money. Coda Energy, which rose from the ashes of a failed EV maker and is now owned by Fortress Investment, and startups backed by the likes of Total, GE and Siemens are going after shares of the stationary storage market. (Editing by Joseph White and Andrew Hay)

Apple Watch has lowest hardware cost to price: IHS

A customer presents his Apple Watch after buying it at a store in Paris, France, April 24, 2015.

/Benoit Tessier

- Apple Inc's Watch has the lowest ratio of hardware costs to retail price across any Apple product, according to a preliminary estimate by research firm IHS after a teardown study. The hardware cost of an Apple Watch Sport model was about 24 percent of the suggested retail price compared with 29-38 percent for the iPhone maker's other products, IHS said on Thursday. (bit.ly/1zuOZMq)The Apple Watch Sport 38 mm costs $349 and the teardown shows a bill of materials of $81.20 with the cost of production rising to $83.70 when $2.50 in manufacturing expense is added, IHS said. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

U.S. firms lead EU lobbying league

- U.S. companies, including tech rivals Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google (GOOGL.O), were among leading spenders on corporate lobbying in Brussels last year, a review of new data showed (table below). Companies had until Thursday to update public entries in the European Union's newly revamped Transparency Register following a tightening of rules in January that obliges firms to register if they want to meet EU commissioners and senior staff.Oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) of the United States and Anglo-Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) shared the top spot with Microsoft, with reported spending in their last financial years of between 4.5 and 4.5 million euros ($5.0-5.6 million). Those figures were broadly in line with the trio's spending in previous filings recorded in January by researchers at anti-corruption group Transparency International -- the Commission itself does not provide comparative data with previous years.However, some of the other big spenders recorded sharp increases, including Google and Germany's Deutsche Bank, which doubled their expenditure, U.S. chemicals group Dow, which recorded four times the level of spending as its previous entry.None of the companies listed offered comment.Google, subject of a high-profile antitrust case launched by the Commission two weeks ago after a five-year investigation, spent 3.0-3.5 million euros ($3.4-3.9 million), the same as Dow (DOW.N). Microsoft, which has itself been fined heavily in the past by EU antitrust authorities, has been prominent among those pursuing complaints against its American rival Google.Two German companies were among those which spent 3 million euros or more last year. Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) was the fourth biggest spender, reporting lobbying activity worth 3.96 million euros, and engineer Siemens (SIEGn.DE) spent 3.23 million.China's tech leader Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] reported spending of 3.0 million euros in 2014. That was the same as it had previously reported as spending in its 2012 fiscal year.DATA QUALITY IMPROVINGAlso reporting spending of 3.0 million was paij GmbH, a German company that sells a mobile payments app and which put itself on the Register for the first time in March. Officials at the company could not immediately be reached for comment.U.S. engineering firm General Electric (GE.N) reported lobby spending in the EU of 3.25-3.50 million euros for 2013. No 2014 data appeared on its page on the Transparency Register.Transparency International's Daniel Freund said some changes in data filed appeared to reflect a recognition among companies that the Register now set more rigorous reporting requirements. Over 1,000 organizations registered for the first time after Jan. 27, when it became a condition for access to officials."The data quality seems to be getting better," Freund said, while noting that the Register only went some way to clarifying how much effort was going in to lobbying in Brussels and saying that the Commission appeared to have so far put only limited staff resources into scrutiny of the accuracy of entries.Other organizations, including non-governmental pressure groups, must also declare spending. Environmental lobby Greenpeace, for example, declared 1.0-1.25 million euros in 2013.A second element of transparency introduced under European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker since he took office in November is a register of contacts by commissioners and senior staff with companies, lobby groups and their representatives.Transparency International research found U.S. firms Google, Microsoft and General Electric, as well as European planemaker Airbus, were among the most active in visiting top EU officials since such meetings first had to made public in December. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald; @macdonaldrtr; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

As sensors shrink, watch as 'wearables' disappear

A woman uses Apple Watch that is on display at an electronics store in Omotasando in Tokyo April 24, 2015.

/Thomas Peter

- Forget 'wearables', and even 'hearables'. The next big thing in mobile devices: 'disappearables'. Even as the new Apple Watch piques consumer interest in wrist-worn devices, the pace of innovation and the tumbling cost, and size, of components will make wearables smaller - so small, some in the industry say, that no one will see them.Within five years, wearables like the Watch could be overtaken by hearables - devices with tiny chips and sensors that can fit inside your ear. They, in turn, could be superseded by disappearables - technology tucked inside your clothing, or even inside your body."In five years, when we look back, everything we see (now) will absolutely be classified as toys, as the first very basic steps of getting this right," says Nikolaj Hviid, the man behind smart earbuds called the Dash.Developed by Munich-based Bragi GmbH, the Dash is a wireless in-ear headphone that looks like a discreet hearing aid. Packed inside is a music player, 4 gigabytes of storage, a microphone to take phone calls - just nod your head to accept - and sensors that monitor your position, heart rate and body temperature.Nick Hunn, a consultant who lays claim to the term 'hearables', reckons the Dash is just the start. He predicts smartwatches will dominate wearable sales for the next three years, hearables will then overtake and, by 2020, will account for more than half of a $30 billion wearable device market.This rapid shift is being driven, he says, by a new generation of chipsets using Bluetooth wireless communication and using far less power than their predecessors. Designers now realize "the ear has potential beyond listening to music - it's an ideal site for measuring a variety of vital signs," Hunn wrote in a recent report.EYEBALL POWERA parallel revolution in sensors is making this possible.Kow Ping, whose Hong Kong company Well Being Digital Ltd provides algorithms and reference designs on wearable sensing to companies like Philips, Motorola, Haier and Parrot, says chipmakers have invested heavily in reducing the power consumption and size of sensors.An accelerometer, which measures things like position, motion and orientation, for example, is now 1 square millimeter. "A few years ago," he says, "it was two or three times as big and two or three times less refined."When they can harvest energy from the body's heat or motion they'll be even smaller, autonomous and ubiquitous. Andrew Sheehy of Generator Research calculates that, for example, the heat in a human eyeball could power a 5 milliwatt transmitter - more than enough, he says, to power a connection from a smart contact lens to a smartphone or other controlling device.And Ping's company is working with a top Asian university to add sensors to a sports bra which could harvest energy from relative motion. In five years, he says, "there will be people building sensors into every existing wearable device or apparel."BUTLER FEEDBACKBragi's Hviid calls these 'disappearables'. And while medical and fitness top the list of what these devices might measure, he and others are looking beyond that. A dozen sensors in your pants, he suggests, could advise on how to improve your posture or gait when trying to impress a suitor."It's more like a butler ... they do some basic stuff that you really want, but there are deeper experiences in there," Hviid says.Sheehy points beyond the personal, as parallel advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence "come together and lead to some remarkable use cases:" a politician's contact lens, for example, might provide real-time feedback from a sample of voters, allowing for a speech to be tweaked on the fly.A lot of this technology is already here. Google is working with Novartis on a contact lens to measure glucose levels in tears. The healthcare group has also invested in Proteus Digital Health, a biotech start-up which promises edible embedded microchips, the size of a grain of sand, which are powered by stomach juices and transmit data via Bluetooth."We're looking at a major technological revolution of a similar magnitude to the mobile revolution," says Sheehy."VERY TRICKY"Not everyone agrees that disappearables are necessarily just around the corner. Wearables still need to gain widespread acceptance - remember Google Glass - and the technology still needs to finessed.While Bragi has raised more than $3 million from crowdfunding website Kickstarter and another $10 million from angel investors, Hviid says communication problems between the left and right earbuds have delayed launch of the Dash until September. It was originally due out late last year.Ping's company has been working since 2006 on wearables, and owns more than a dozen patents, but he says bringing all the technical parts together, understanding the consumer and mastering manufacturing pose a real challenge."It's very tricky," he says. (Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Obama's BRAIN Initiative yields first study results

U.S. President Barack Obama walks off stage after announcing his administration's BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) initiative at the White House in Washington, April 2, 2013.

/Jason Reed

- The mouse walked, the mouse stopped; the mouse ignored a bowl of food, then scampered back and gobbled it up, and it was all controlled by neuroscientists, researchers reported on Thursday. The study, describing a way to manipulate a lab animal's brain circuitry accurately enough to turn behaviors both on and off, is the first to be published under President Barack Obama's 2013 BRAIN Initiative, which aims to advance neuroscience and develop therapies for brain disorders.The point of the remote-control mouse is not to create an army of robo-rodents. Instead, neuroscientists hope to perfect a technique for identifying brain wiring underlying any behavior, and control that behavior by activating and deactivating neurons.If scientists are able do that for the circuitry involved in psychiatric or neurological disorders, it may lead to therapies. That approach reflects a shift away from linking such illnesses to "chemical imbalances" in the brain, instead tracing them to miswiring and misfiring in neuronal circuits."This tool sharpens the cutting edge of research aimed at improving our understanding of brain circuit disorders, such as schizophrenia and addictive behaviors," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the $1 million study.The technique used to control neurons is called DREADDs (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs).Brain neurons are genetically engineered to produce a custom-made - "designer" - receptor. When the receptor gathers in a manmade molecule that fits like a key in a lock, the neuron is activated.Because the receptor does not respond to other molecules, including natural ones in the brain, the only way to activate the neurons is via the manmade one. DREADDs allow scientists to manipulate neurons without implanting anything in the brain.DREADDs, invented about a decade ago, had been used to turn neurons on or off, but not both. DREADDs 2.0 are the first to do that, scientists led by Bryan Roth of the University of North Carolina reported in Neuron.Targeting hunger-promoting neurons, the scientists made mice ignore food bowls or dive into them. Targeting movement neurons, they made mice scamper or stop.In a competing remote-control technique called optogenetics, engineered neurons are activated upon receiving a pulse of light. That turns them on and off more quickly than with DREADDs, but the hardware required for delivering light to a spot in the brain is invasive and cumbersome. (Reporting by Sharon Begley; editing by Gunna Dickson)

Jeff Bezos' rocket company test-flies suborbital spaceship

Amazon President, Chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at the Business Insider's ''Ignition Future of Digital'' conference in New York City December 2, 2014.

/Mike Segar

- Blue Origin, a startup space company owned by Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos, launched an experimental suborbital spaceship from Texas, the first in a series of test flights to develop commercial unmanned and passenger spaceflight services, the company said on Thursday. The New Shepard vehicle blasted off on Wednesday from Blue Origin’s test facility near Van Horn, Texas, and rose to an altitude of 58 miles (93 km) before the capsule separated and parachuted back to Earth.“Any astronauts on board would have had a very nice journey into space and a smooth return,” Bezos said in a statement.The descent of the liquid hydrogen- and liquid oxygen-fueled rocket, however, was not successful.“We lost pressure in our hydraulic system on descent,” Bezos noted. “Fortunately, we’ve already been in work for some time on an improved hydraulic system ... We’ll be ready to fly again soon."Blue Origin is among a handful of companies developing privately owned spaceships to fly experiments, satellites and passengers into space. Like Virgin Galactic, a U.S. offshoot of Richard Branson’s London-based Virgin Group, and privately owned XCOR Aerospace, Blue Origin is eyeing suborbital spaceflights, which reach altitudes of about 62 miles (100 km), as a stepping stone to orbital flight. Virgin Galactic plans to resume test flights of its six-passenger, two-pilot SpaceShipTwo vehicle later this year, following a fatal accident in October. Mojave, Calif.-based XCOR plans to begin test flights of its two-person Lynx space plane in late 2015 as well.Boeing and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, both of which have financial support from NASA, are skipping suborbital flight and building space taxis to ferry crews to and from the International Space Station, which flies about 250 miles (418 km) above Earth.Blue Origin also is working on a more powerful, methane-burning rocket engine that has attracted the backing of United Launch Alliance, the Lockheed-Martin/Boeing partnership that currently flies nearly all of the U.S. military’s satellites.Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are all developing reusable launch systems in an effort to cut costs.Blue Origin expects to fly New Shepard dozens of times unmanned before test pilots are aboard, company President Rob Meyerson told reporters during an April 7 conference call. The capsule is designed to fly three people and/or a mix of passengers and payloads to suborbital space. Blue Origin has not yet released pricing information. (Editing by Ted Bothaf)

Apple, IBM announce partnership with Japan Post to improve elderly care

- Apple Inc and International Business Machine Corp have teamed up with Japan Post Holdings Co to improve caregiver and monitoring services for the elderly in Japan, the companies announced on Thursday. IBM will work with Japan Post to develop iPad software that will enable Japan's national Post Office Watch service to better monitor elderly clients. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and Japan Post Holdings President Taizo Nishimuro announced the initiative at a joint news conference at IBM's Watson New York City headquarters. Cook touted iPhone and iPad sales in Japan but notably made little mention of the Apple Watch, his first new product since taking over the company after Steve Jobs' death in 2011. He touted the iPad as an integral tool for improving care of elderly family members and patients, and said Apple has seen a "significant uptake" of the iPhone and iPad in Japan. (Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Peter Galloway)

OmniVision to be bought by Chinese investors in $1.9 billion deal

- OmniVision Technologies Inc, a maker of chips for smartphone and tablet cameras, agreed to be taken private by a group of Chinese investors for about $1.9 billion in cash. Chinese private equity firms Hua Capital Management Co Ltd, CITIC Capital Holdings Ltd and GoldStone Investment Co Ltd will pay $29.75 per share for the company, a premium of 12 percent to the stock's Wednesday close on the Nasadaq. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)

Nokia's network profits drop, raise concerns over Alcatel deal

A view of Nokia's head offices in Espoo, Finland, April 15, 2015.

/Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva

- Finland's Nokia (NOK1V.HE) reported quarterly profits well below market forecasts at its telecom network equipment business, sending its stock tumbling 9 percent and raising concerns over its planned takeover of smaller rival Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA). With Nokia shares now trading about 20 percent lower than before the Alcatel deal was announced, significant divergence in the performance of both companies could call into question the terms of the offer valuing Alcatel-Lucent at 15.6 billion euros ($17.5 billion), analysts said.Shares in Alcatel-Lucent, which reports quarterly earnings on May 7, also dropped 6.6 percent at 10:14 GMT.Alexander Peterc, an analyst from Exane BNP Paribas, said it would arguably be better for the deal's prospects if Alcatel also posted a weak first quarter."Otherwise disgruntled shareholders deploring what they describe as low exchange parities in Nokia's all-share bid for Alcatel might start campaigning for an upward revision of Nokia's bid."Similar pressures recently imperilled the cement industry's mega-merger between Holcim and Lafarge before new terms were reached, and could affect Shell's planned buy of BG.Nokia's overall network revenue in the first quarter was slightly ahead of expectations, but profits dropped 61 percent from a year ago due to the mix of products sold, specifically less high-margin software and more low-margin mobile gear in China, as well as higher research and development costs.Investors will want to know whether the weaker profitability is a blip or a new reality, a year after Nokia doubled down on network equipment as it sold its flagship handset business to Microsoft (MSFT.O).Nokia on Thursday also tweaked its operating margin profit goal for the year, pointedly aiming for the middle of an earlier range of 8 to 11 percent and further spooking investors who had hoped for the top of the range.Chief Executive Rajeev Suri defended the terms of the Alcatel-Lucent deal, although he declined to say whether they could be revisited."We've met many investors in the last couple weeks, and there's very strong, good feedback," he said, adding that both boards had already approved the terms.Odey Asset Management, Alcatel's second-largest shareholder with 5 percent, said in a letter to investors that it would not tender its shares in the takeover as the price of the deal was too low, according to the Financial Times.Suri said that some of the negative factors contributing to Nokia's weak first quarter would ease in the second half of the year. "The capex conditions are challenging at this point, and there is a little bit more competitive activity overall," Suri said, referring to capital spending by network operators to upgrade mobile networks in key markets around the globe.The network unit, where Nokia competes with Swedish market leader Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Chinese low-cost powerhouse Huawei [HWT.UL], saw its core operating profit fall to 85 million euros ($94 million), or 3.2 percent of sales, compared with analysts' average forecast of 226 million euros.The Alcatel takeover aims to boost scale to better compete with Ericsson and Huawei, as well as wringing out cost savings of 900 million euros by 2019 amid weak growth prospects for the industry."The networks business has performed well in the past two years, so this drop in profits is a real surprise and a disappointment," said Mikael Rautanen of Inderes Equity Research."Estimates will be cut hard, and this raises concern whether this was a turning point for the worse for the unit."In addition to the network equipment business, Nokia also owns a mapping business called HERE, which it has put up for sale, and a smartphone patent portfolio.HERE, which analysts value at 5 to 7 billion euros, has attracted interest from several bidders including tech companies Facebook and Uber, as well as private equity firms. Suri declined to comment on how the sale process was going, saying only that Nokia was not a forced seller and noted that the profit outlook had improved for the business.($1 = 0.8925 euros) (Additional reporting by Anna Ercanbrack; Editing by Eric Auchard and Vincent Baby)

Obama to announce free e-books for low-income kids

U.S. President Barack Obama walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington after visiting the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, April 29, 2015.

/Yuri Gripas

- President Barack Obama will go to a public library in one of Washington's poorest neighborhoods on Thursday to talk about a plan to give low-income children access to 10,000 e-books. Working with publishers and libraries, the White House sees the modest plan as part of a strategy to address inner city problems by increasing educational opportunities for kids - woes brought into focus with recent riots in nearby Baltimore."If we're serious about living up to what our country is about, then we have to consider what we can do to provide opportunities in every community, not just when they're on the front page, but every day," said Jeff Zients, Obama's top economic adviser, in a briefing with reporters.Zients cited research showing 80 percent of low-income children lag below their grade level in reading skills and lack books at home. The president will be visiting Anacostia Library in Southeast Washington, DC.The plan includes $250 million in e-book commitments from publishers, including from the five major publishing houses: Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH's Macmillan, CBS Corp's Simon & Schuster Inc, Penguin Random House, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group Inc, and News Corp's HarperCollins Publishers LLC.The New York Public Library is developing an app to connect low-income kids with the books, and Obama will urge more communities to find ways to get kids into libraries.Kids will need computers and devices to read the e-books. Zients noted the White House had previously announced programs to upgrade Internet services for schools and libraries, with private sector help from companies including Apple, which pledged $100 million in devices to low-income schools."It's very different than for our generation," said Cecilia Munoz, Obama's domestic policy adviser. "More and more, you're going to be seeing kids using devices, and what we're doing is making sure that there's more books available on those devices," Munoz told reporters. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bernard Orr)

China issues details on new resource tax structure for rare earth, metals

A labourer operates a bulldozer at a site of a rare earth metals mine at Nancheng county, Jiangxi province March 14, 2012.

/Stringer

- China issued details on a new resource tax structure for rare earth and metals that will be based on prices instead of volumes, effective from May 1, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. The country will levy price-based resource tax for light rare earth at between 7.5 percent to 11.5 percent depending on the areas of productions. For medium and heavy rare earth, the tax will be 27 percent.The government also set tungsten resource tax at 6.5 percent and for molybdenum at 11.0 percent, the ministry said on its website. (www.mof.gov.cn) (Reporting by Judy Hua and Chen Aizhu)

Property portal Zoopla buys price comparison site uSwitch

- British property search website Zoopla said it was buying price comparison service uSwitch for 160 million pounds ($247 million), to offer deals on home energy to the millions of customers that visit its websites and mobile apps. Alex Chesterman, Zoopla's founder and chief executive, said the deal bought together two of Britain's fastest-growing digital brands in home services."We currently offer a great service that helps consumers research the market and find their next home, now consumers will be able to use us to cut their energy deals, get a better broadband deal, find better home insurance and much more," Chesterman said on Thursday.Shares in Zoopla rose to a six-month high and were trading up 14 percent at 210 pence at 0821 GMT, as analysts said it was a sensible deal at a good price."It's a good fit with the existing Zoopla business, with the aim of creating a single resource where consumers can research, find and manage their home", analysts at Numis said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by David Holmes)

Sony sees FY profit surging on camera sensor sales, cost cuts

Sony Mobile Communications Inc President and CEO Hiroki Totoki speaks during a news conference to announce Sony's new Xperia Z4 smartphone in Tokyo April 20, 2015.

/Toru Hanai

- Japanese consumer electronics maker Sony Corp said it expects operating profit to more than quadruple this fiscal year, boosted by strong sales of camera sensors and cost cuts as it seeks to turn around its loss-making mobile phone business. Sony said on Thursday it estimates operating profit will grow in the year ending March 2016 to 320 billion yen ($2.7 billion) from 68.5 billion in the previous year. Results for the past year were roughly in line with a forecast announced earlier this month.Though below the average analyst estimate of 408 billion yen, according to Thomson , this year's target would still be Sony's biggest annual operating profit in seven years. That would mark another milestone in Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai's long haul to pull the Tokyo-based firm out of years of heavy losses in mass consumer electronics, squeezed by cheaper and more nimble rivals.Under Hirai's direction, Sony has axed thousands of jobs and reshaped itself to target expansion in lucrative areas such as sensors used in cameras for popular handsets like Apple Inc's iPhones. That strategy has vexed influential former executives who have called on the CEO to boost innovation in Sony's own products rather than focus on cost-cutting.Despite the behind-the-scenes grumbling by Sony 'old boys', investors have welcomed signs of progress at one of Japan's most iconic technology firms. Shares have risen more than 30 percent so far in 2015, and year-on-year, the stock has nearly doubled, hitting 3,827.50 yen earlier this month, its highest since 2008. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

Tattoo snafu irks inked Apple Watch wearers

journalist Matt Siegel inputs his passcode onto his Apple Watch as his tattoos prevent the device's sensors from correctly detecting his skin, in Sydney, Australia, April 30, 2015.

/Jason Reed

- Early adopters of the Apple Watch, Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) first new product in five years, are complaining that a number of its key functions are disrupted by their tattoos. Owners of Apple Watch - including this reporter, who bought a 42mm version with stainless steel case and black classic buckle for A$1,029 ($822) - have found that their inked skin confuses the sensors on the underside of the device.Users of the watch, which went on sale last week, took to social media on Thursday under the hashtag #tattoogate to air their frustration with the flaw from Apple's renowned design house.One anonymous user on Reddit, an entertainment, social networking, and user-generated news website, said the device's locking mechanism, which should disengage when the watch detects it is being worn, failed to work on decorated skin."My hand isn't tattooed and the Watch stayed unlocked. Once I put it back on the area that is tattooed with black ink, the watch would automatically lock again," the user wrote.This reporter, who has a black tattoo on his left arm, also found that the watch locks on tattooed skin and does not deliver the soft pings that alert a user to incoming messages. The heart rate readings were also significantly different on the tattooed and untattooed wrists.An Apple support article says the watch uses green LED lights paired with light-sensitive photodiodes to detect the amount of blood flowing through the wrist and calculate the frequency of heart beats. A website support page from the company says tattoos can interfere with readings from the heart rate monitor, but does not mention interference with other functions."Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact heart rate sensor performance. The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings," it said.A spokesman for Apple in Sydney declined to comment on Thursday, but three Apple employees at its flagship Sydney store, including a senior advisor from its tech support line, said they were unaware of any issue."To be honest, you're my first caller about the Apple Watch at all," the senior advisor told .The tattoo issue follows a report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that some taptic engines, which produce the sensation of being tapped on the wrist, started to break down over time, a flaw that was slowing the rollout of the item.The report said the problem had been detected in some of the parts supplied by AAC Technologies Holdings Inc (2018.HK), based in Shenzhen, China. Shares in AAC Technologies dropped 8 percent on Thursday morning after the report. The company did not respond to requests for comment.A Taipei-based technology analyst, who is in regular contact with AAC, said he was not aware of the tattoo problem, but did not expect it would have a significant impact on production."We have been hearing suppliers encountering some bottleneck issues for Apple Watch’s production such as problems with its displays, haptics or assembly," he told , adding that those issues were quite common for new products. ($1 = 1.2517 Australian dollars) (Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Teipei; Editing by Will Waterman)

Nokia downplays shareholder opposition to Alcatel-Lucent deal

The Nokia company logo is pictured at its headquarters in Espoo January 29, 2015.

/Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva

- Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri defended the terms of its pending acquisition of smaller telecom gear maker Alcatel-Lucent after a shareholder criticized them as unacceptable. Odey Asset Management, Alcatel-Lucent's second-largest shareholder with 5 percent, said in a letter to investors that it would not tender its shares in the Nokia takeover because the 15.6 billion euro price in the all-share deal was too low, according to the Financial Times newspaper."We've met many investors in the last couple weeks, and there's very strong, good feedback," Suri said on a call after first-quarter results.He declined to say whether the terms of the deal would be altered, adding only that both boards had already approved them."Fundamentally this is a good deal with attractive upside in long-term and upfront."Alcatel-Lucent shareholders do not need to vote to ratify the deal since it will go through as long as 51 percent of shares are tendered. (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Leila Abboud)

Abe, seeking new spark for Japan high-tech, heads to Silicon Valley

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 29, 2015.

/Gary Cameron

- In the 1980s when Sony and Toshiba were setting the agenda in the global TV and memory chip markets Japan was bristling with confidence as a hub of technological innovation. Three decades later, with Japan's electronics industry in decline, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is heading to Silicon Valley - the first sitting Japanese leader to do so - in the hopes of rekindling that innovative spark.Facebook Inc founder Mark Zuckerberg and Yahoo Inc cofounder Jerry Yang are among those Abe is scheduled to meet during a swing through the West Coast that follows a summit with President Barack Obama earlier this week. "Japan will change. Let's create a country where innovation is constantly happening, giving birth to new industries to lead the world," Abe told a business lobby of IT-related companies this month, according to Japanese media."When I visit Silicon Valley I want to think about how we can take Silicon Valley's ways and make them work in Japan."Critics dismiss such talk as wishful thinking. Japan's once-dominant technology companies have long fallen behind the likes of Samsung Electronics of South Korea and Apple Inc. Sony Corp, which invented the Walkman portable audio player, is struggling to come up with hit products. Sharp Corp, a pioneer in the flat-screen TV market, is seeking its second big bailout in three years.Japanese venture capital investments came to $1.2 billion last year, according to the Tokyo-based Venture Enterprise Center, a small fraction of the $48 billion spent by venture capitalists in the United States, a separate survey based on Thomson data shows. Much of Japan's innovation is happening within the confines of large companies that tend to be plodding and risk-averse.But Abe's supporters are optimistic the visit will have an impact simply by way of the message it sends. Abe has already stoked risk-taking by investors with massive monetary easing and government stimulus, the first two "arrows" of his "Abenomics" strategy, which helped to push Japanese share prices to 15-year highs. Promoting entrepreneurship is one target of the third arrow meant to unlock growth through structural reforms.William Saito, an adviser to Abe's government who is accompanying the prime minister on his trip to the United States, said Abe has become more concerned about sparking innovation at home."I have seen an evolution in his thinking," Saito said. "We just didn't keep up with global standards. Something is not clicking."Abe's schedule includes chances to rub elbows with Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, Microsoft Chairman John Thompson and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, among others. He will also meet California Governor Jerry Brown, where he will talk up Japan's high-speed train technology, eyeing a possible project in the state. Brown has made building an 800-mile high-speed rail system in the state a priority.Nicholas Benes, who chairs a committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan that proposes growth strategies to the government, said Abe could be doing more to promote new businesses.Benes said that could include making it easier to hire and fire workers - a reform of Japan's rigid labor market that Abe has so far failed to tackle.Even so, Benes believes Abe's trip to Silicon Valley could go far in promoting risk-taking in Japan, where most university graduates covet a stable job with a big company and only a small number think about starting their own business."The most important thing is to simply change the social perception of entrepreneurship from being something where the dropouts have to go, to something that you might want to do fresh out of Todai," he said, referring to the prestigious Tokyo University by its Japanese name. (Additional reporting by Tim Kelly, Teppei Kasai and Katsuro Kitamatsu in Tokyo; Editing by David Storey, Leslie Adler and Edmund Klamann)

Microsoft opens door to Android, Apple phone apps

- Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is making it easier for apps written for rival Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) Android and Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iOS systems to work on Windows phones, in a bid to attract users to its unpopular mobile devices, the company's operating systems chief said on Wednesday. The move marks a radical shift in strategy for the world's biggest software company, which still dominates the personal computer market but has failed to get any real traction on tablets and phones, partly because of a lack of apps.Microsoft has found itself in a circular trap, as many developers will not build apps for Windows phones which have few users, and few people want the phones which have fewer apps than Android or Apple phones.Getting apps built for Android and iOS onto its phones and tablets could be a shortcut to breaking out of that trap. "Microsoft is making a major play to win back developers," said Forrester analyst Michael Facemire. "They’ve opened up the once-impenetrable castle walls."Speaking at Microsoft's developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Executive Vice President Terry Myerson said developers will be able to use the vast majority of their Android code to turn their apps into Windows-compatible versions, which will work on Windows phones running a special subsystem. The apps will technically be Windows apps and available only through Microsoft's online app store. The apps would automatically use Microsoft's services such as Bing maps, rather than Google's services, as an app would on an Android phone. That is a crucial distinction because Google gets revenue from ads on services rather than from the Android system itself. Myerson also announced a surprise move to make it easier for iOS developers to make Windows apps, saying that Microsoft's developer software will be compatible with Objective C, the main programming language used by Apple. Google declined to comment. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Microsoft, which bought Nokia's handset business last year, has only 3 percent of the global smartphone market. By contrast, Android phones, led by Samsung (005930.KS), control 81 percent of the market and Apple 15 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.Microsoft is scheduled to release its new Windows 10 operating system this summer, which for the first time will run across PCs, tablets and phones. It said on Wednesday it is aiming for one billion devices running Windows 10 in two to three years time.Its new browser will arrive as Microsoft Edge, replacing the waning Internet Explorer, when Windows 10 is released, the company said. (Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Richard Chang)

Amaya spin-out Innova's IPO prices below targeted range

- Canadian gaming company Innova Gaming Group Inc said on Wednesday its initial public offering priced below its targeted range and it will raise C$49.08 million ($40.9 million). Last month, Amaya Inc, the owner of online gambling sites PokerStars and Full Tilt, announced plans to spin out and list its Diamond Game subsidiary into a new entity dubbed Innova Gaming. Diamond Game designs, develops and markets games mainly for the North American lottery industry.The offering priced at C$4 a share, below the targeted range of C$4.50 to C$5. Innova will get gross proceeds of C$15 million from the offering. Amaya, which is selling some of its stake in a parallel secondary offering, will take home C$34.08 million.Amaya had initially planned to raise C$48.2 million via its secondary offering and retain a 33 percent stake in the company. In regulatory filings on Wednesday though, Innova indicated that Amaya will now retain a roughly 40 percent stake in Innova. Montreal-based Amaya has already more than recovered its bet on the business. It bought Diamond Game just over a year ago for $25 million (C$30 million) and has since grown the unit substantially. In addition to the roughly C$34.08 million it is making from the secondary share offering, Amaya's remaining stake in Innova based on the IPO price is valued at a further C$32.7 million. Amaya, which transformed itself last year following its $4.9 billion takeover of Rational Group, has been selling or spinning-out non-core assets over the last few months. The company, which has pivoted to focus on the business-to-consumer market from the business-to-business segment, last month agreed to sell its Cadillac Jack unit that makes slot machines and electronic bingo games for casinos to an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC for C$476 million.Shares in Amaya closed 3.6 percent lower at C$29.12 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Kenneth Maxwell)

Bitcoin brokerage Circle gets $50 million investment

A bitcoin sticker is seen in the window of the 'Vape Lab' cafe, where it is possible to both use and purchase the bitcoin currency, in London March 24, 2015.

/Peter Nicholls

- Bitcoin brokerage Circle Internet Financial Inc said it closed a $50 million investment round led by Goldman Sachs and IDG Capital Partners. The company also said it will start giving customers the ability to hold, send, and receive U.S. dollars. Circle, a startup founded in 2013 by Brightcove Inc founder Jeremy Allaire and Sean Neville, allows customers to hold, transfer and receive the digital currency, Bitcoin.The company said if its users choose to keep dollars instead of bitcoin in their accounts, they can pay any person or merchant who accepts bitcoin without ever holding bitcoin themselves. Circle will handle instant conversion from dollars to bitcoins and vice-versa. The feature will be initially available to select customers and the company will offer it to more users every week.Goldman Sachs and China-based IDG Capital were joined by all of Circle's existing investors. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru)

China search giant Baidu posts slowest revenue growth since 2008

Baidu's company logo is seen at its headquarters in Beijing December 17, 2014.

/Kim Kyung-Hoon

- China's dominant Internet search engine Baidu Inc on Thursday posted its slowest revenue growth rate in almost seven years in the first quarter of 2015, as customers spent less money on its core online marketing business. The company's bid to create new avenues of income from mobile in China, the world's biggest smartphone market, also took their toll. Baidu's profit margins sank to their lowest in a decade, or 19 percent, as promotional costs for new businesses and research and development expenses skyrocketed. Baidu is still grappling with the effects of a shift from personal computers to mobile, where it made half of its revenues. However, customers pay less for advertising on computers compared with smartphones, an issue with which U.S. peer Google Inc is also struggling.The number of Baidu's active online marketing customers remained relatively steady from the previous quarter at 524,000. Despite this, those clients spent on average 9.8 percent less.Larger rivals like social networking and online entertainment company Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which rules China's e-commerce industry, also pose fierce competition.The search company's bid to promote new mobile-centric businesses like food delivery to compete with Tencent and Alibaba saw selling, general and administrative expenses rocket 47.2 percent to $477 million from a year ago.Revenues of 12.73 billion yuan ($2.05 billion) came in below forecasts of 12.9 billion yuan, according to a Thomson SmartEstimate poll of 16 analysts.Coupled with a 3.4 percent decline in net profit from the previous year, this prompted shares to slide 2.6 percent in trading after market close in New York.Baidu said it expected second-quarter revenue to be between 16.37 billion yuan and 16.75 billion yuan.A hiring spree for research and development also pushed the department's expenses up 79.1 percent to $368.8 million.Baidu's net income, its lowest in two years, was 2.4 billion yuan for the first three months of 2015. Profit margins of 19 percent were the lowest in almost a decade. (Editing by Stephen Coates)

Eyeing exports, China steps up research into military drones

- China is stepping up research into military drones as its arms industry looks to increase export volumes, hoping to gain traction with cheaper technology and a willingness to sell to countries Western states are reluctant to. While its technology lags the United States and Israel, the biggest vendors of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), China is attracting a growing list of foreign buyers including Nigeria, Pakistan and Egypt. China has previously had limited success exporting manned military aircraft but is hoping to do better with UAVs given they are cheaper and easier to manufacture. "Research and development on drones in our country has now entered a phase of high-speed progress," said Xu Guangyu, a retired major general in the People's Liberation Army. "We have some distance to catch up with developed countries — that's certain — but the export market is growing." Market researcher Forecast International pegged the value of production for military drones worldwide at $942 million last year. It will grow to $2.3 billion by 2023, the firm said. China's biggest drone maker, Aviation Industry Corp of China (Avic), is predicted by Forecast to become the world's largest maker of military drones by 2023.Its Wing Loong drone sells for just $1 million according to Chinese media reports. The U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper, to which it has sometimes been compared, is priced at around $30 million.The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)estimates China became the second country in the world to openly export armed drones when it delivered five of them to Nigeria in 2014. Nigeria, which had vainly sought UAV from the U.S., has used them against the militant group Boko Haram.The U.S. has only exported armed drones to Britain and says it considers a series of factors when agreeing to foreign sales including human rights and the regional power balance. Though China is discreet about its weapons exports, it has sold various types of military drones to at least nine countries, according to state media reports, including Pakistan, Egypt and Nigeria. SOUGHT AFTER TECHNOLOGYChina's weapons exports jumped 143 percent in the five years to 2014 compared to the previous five, though it still only accounts for around 5 percent of the global arms market according to SIPRI. Military drones provide an opportunity for the country to gain more market share given dozens of governments are trying to gain access to the technology while the U.S. has strict export curbs on them. The U.S. State Department said in February it would allow exports of armed U.S. military drones under strict conditions, including that sales must be made through government programs, and that recipient nations must agree to certain "end-use assurances". China's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the country's policy on drone exports. Last month the ministry said China was "extremely cautious and responsible" with its weapons exports, and followed the principle of aiding countries that bought their weapons in building reasonable self-defence capabilities.The growth of the market is proving a boon for Chinese arms makers. Yun Jianfei, the Beijing-based chief of Beijing Heweiyongtai Science and Technology Co. Ltd., a private firm that sells police equipment, including drones, to domestic and foreign customers, said he had already sold surveillance UAVs to countries in the Middle East and Africa, without specifying which ones. "We're placing high importance on them," said Yun. "Demand for all of our products has shot up -- it's simply because the world has become more chaotic," he said. Ma Hangzhong, director of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.'s Unmanned Aircraft Research Institute, told the official China Daily this month that many of China's defense giants, including his own, are allocating "significant resources" to drone development."The industry has a very low entry threshold," he said, adding his company is focusing on military drones that can play a role in counter-terrorism and riot control operations.Many defense firms also make and sell missiles and rockets to arm drones, heightening the appeal for international buyers, analysts said."Admittedly our technology is not first-rate compared with developed countries, but we don't want to be left behind," said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Siva Govindasamy in SINGAPORE and Katharine Houreld in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)

Gemalto reports 19 percent rise in Q1 revenue

The shadow of an attendee is cast below a logo of Franco-Dutch technology firm Gemalto during a news conference in Paris February 25, 2015.

/Gonzalo Fuentes

- Mobile chip and smart card maker Gemalto (GTO.AS) reported a 19 percent rise in first-quarter sales on constant exchange rates, its first release of results since finalizing the acquisition of U.S. data security company SafeNet in January. First quarter revenue rose to 686 million euros ($762.49 million) compared to 532 million euros in the previous year.The company beat analysts' expectations of 675 million euros in quarterly revenue.Gemalto, which makes smart chips for mobile phones, bank cards and biometric passports, said Payment & Identity segment's revenue was 369 million euros for the first quarter, an increase of 35 percent compared to the previous year, helped by the SafeNet acquisition. The mobile segment posted revenue of 316 mln euros, up 7 percent at constant exchange rates compared to the previous year. The Franco-Dutch company did not give annual profit from operations guidance for 2015 but said it anticipates steady expansion in the year, on course towards its upgraded target of more than 660 million euros for 2017.The company acknowledged in January that U.S. and British spies were likely to have hacked its technology in an attempt to steal codes that protect the privacy of mobile phone users. Shares of Gemalto are up 22.6 percent this year. They closed at 81.20 euros on Wednesday, outperforming a 14.4 percent rise in the European technology index .SX8P. The group has a market value of 7.35 billion euros, and shares are approaching a 2014 high of about 87 euros. (Reporting by Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru and Leila Abboud in Paris; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Tencent pushes further in U.S. gaming with Glu Mobile stake buy

Visitors use their smarts phones underneath the logo of Tencent at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing May 6, 2014.

/Kim Kyung-Hoon

- Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK), the dominant social networking and online entertainment company in China, has agreed to buy 14.6 percent of mobile game developer Glu Mobile Inc (GLUU.O) for $126 million to expand in the U.S. gaming market. Shares of Glu Mobile, which developed Deer Hunter and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood games, rose about 24 percent in extended trading on Wednesday. Tencent, known for investing in game developers through partnerships and minority stakes, owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and has a stake in Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI.O), the owner of the Call of Duty franchise.Glu Mobile reported a better-than-expected profit for the eighth straight quarter on Wednesday, helped by strong demand for games such as Racing Rivals, Deer Hunter 2014 and Contract Killer: Sniper.The company plans to launch a mobile game with pop star Britney Spears in the first half of 2016.Tencent has been aggressively taking on Chinese giants such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and Xiaomi Inc [XTC.UL] in the technology industry. Tencent launched on Tuesday an operating system for internet-connected devices such as TVs and watches that is open to all developers.The Chinese company will pay $6 per share for its stake in Glu Mobile. The price represents a premium of about 11 percent to the stock's Wednesday close.Tencent will buy the shares in two tranches: 12.5 million shares on Wednesday followed by a further 8.5 million some time in the second quarter.Cowen and Co LLC provided a fairness opinion to Glu Mobile's board in connection with the deal.Glu Mobile's shares were trading at $6.69 after the bell. (Additional reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Robin Paxton and Kirti Pandey)

Microsoft targets $20 billion in annual cloud revenue by 2018

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers his keynote address at Microsoft Build in San Francisco, California April 29, 2015.

/Robert Galbraith

- Microsoft Corp is targeting $20 billion in annual revenue from its cloud-computing businesses by the end of fiscal 2018, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said on Wednesday, signaling a tripling of such revenue in three years. The world's largest software company is one of the leaders in the cloud, essentially providing computing power and storage to customers through its network of data centers. Microsoft said last week that its total commercial cloud revenue, which includes online versions of its Office and Dynamics applications, is running at $6.3 billion per year.Its closest rival in the cloud, Amazon.com Inc, said last week its competing Amazon Web Services operation took in $1.57 billion in revenue in the quarter, which would also equal an annual rate of $6.3 billion. (Reporting by Bill Rigby. Editing by Andre Grenon)

Apple finds defects with Apple watch: WSJ

A customer opens the package containing his Apple Watch after buying it at a store in Paris, France, April 24, 2015.

/Benoit Tessier

- Apple Inc has found defects with the Apple watch, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. A Chinese-made component of the Apple Watch was found to be defective, causing the company to limit availability of the watch, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.Apple was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting By Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru)

Innova IPO prices below targeted range; Amaya takes haircut

- Canadian gaming company Innova Gaming Group Inc said on Wednesday its initial public offering priced below its targeted range and it will raise C$49.08 million ($40.9 million). Last month, Amaya Inc, the owner of online gambling sites PokerStars and Full Tilt, announced plans to spin out and list its Diamond Game subsidiary into a new entity dubbed Innova Gaming. Diamond Game designs, develops and markets games mainly for the North American lottery industry.The offering priced at C$4 a share, below the targeted range of C$4.50 to C$5. Innova will get gross proceeds of C$15 million from the offering. Amaya, which is selling some of its stake in a parallel secondary offering, will take home C$34.08 million.Amaya had initially planned to raise C$48.2 million via its secondary offering and retain a 33 percent stake in the company. In regulatory filings on Wednesday though, Innova indicated that Amaya will now retain a roughly 40 percent stake in Innova. Shares in Amaya were trading 3.7 percent lower at C$29.07 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.Amaya, which transformed itself last year following its $4.9 billion takeover of Rational Group, has been selling or spinning-out non-core assets over the last few months. The company, which has pivoted to focus on the business-to-consumer market from the business-to-business segment, last month agreed to sell its Cadillac Jack unit that makes slot machines and electronic bingo games for casinos to an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC for C$476 million. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Salesforce working to field takeover offers: Bloomberg

A Salesforce sign is seen as attendees make their way through Moscone Center during the company's annual Dreamforce event, in San Francisco,

/Robert Galbraith

- Cloud software company Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N) is working with financial advisers to help it field takeover offers after being approached by a potential acquirer, Bloomberg said, citing people with knowledge of the matter. There is no certainty any deal will transpire, Bloomberg said, without identifying the potential acquirer. Salesforce, which has a market value of about $44 billion as of Tuesday's close, couldn't be immediately reached for comment. (Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Apple says EU probe of Irish tax policy could be 'material'

The Apple logo is seen at the flagship Apple retail store in San Francisco, California April 27, 2015.

/Robert Galbraith

- Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said the European Commission's investigation into Ireland's tax treatment of multinationals could have a "material" impact if it was determined that Dublin's tax policies represented unfair state aid. Apple said that if the EU's investigations concluded against Ireland, the company could be required to pay past taxes for up to 10 years "reflective of the disallowed state aid."The EU began a formal investigation against Ireland in June last year for alleged state aid to Apple.Apple said that as of March 28, it was unable to estimate the impact of having to pay these taxes. (bit.ly/1DWCgNC)"The company believes the European Commission’s assertions are without merit," Apple said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

3D printed splints help infants with airway disorder: U.S. researchers

- U.S. doctors treated three infants with an often-fatal airway disease by implanting a 3D printed medical device that improves breathing and changes shape as the children grow, the researchers reported on Wednesday. All three custom airway splint devices were designed to fit the anatomy of each child, researchers at the University of Michigan and colleagues reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.The splints were hollow, porous tubes that could be stitched over the affected airways, forming a scaffolding that helped support the weakened structures. They were made with a "bioabsorbable" material known as polycaprolactone that dissolves in the body over time. Researchers at the University of Michigan made the devices using 3D printing, in which materials are added in layers to create custom products. Such printers are already used in medicine to create a number of custom implants, creating new jaws, hips and hearing devices, for example."This is the first 3-D printed implant specifically designed to change shape over time to allow for a child's growth before finally reabsorbing as the disease is cured," said Dr. Glenn Green, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan, and one of the study's authors.All three children in the study suffered from tracheobronchomalacia, a typically fatal condition in which the walls of the trachea and bronchi are weakened, making them prone to collapse, leading to respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.Green said the first child who received the implant three years ago, a boy named Kaiba Gionfriddo, now appears to be cured of the disease, and the splint has been absorbed.Prior efforts to treat these children involved the use of fixed airway splints that needed to be frequently resized. "The device worked better than we could have ever imagined," Green said in a statement. Prior to the implants, all three children required heavy sedation and narcotics and the insertion of a breathing tube in their necks and were on artificial ventilators."Now these children are home with their families. Instead of lying on their backs for weeks, these children are now learning to stand and run," Green said.The researchers now plan to study the device further in a larger clinical trial. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

Microsoft to allow Android apps on Windows phones: sources

A shadow of a man using his mobile phone is cast near Microsoft logo at the 2014 Computex exhibition in Taipei June 4, 2014.

/Pichi Chuang

- Microsoft Corp is set to allow apps from rival Google Inc's Android system onto its own Windows phones later this year, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The move would mark a radical shift for Microsoft, which has struggled to attract users and has only 3 percent of the global smartphone market. By contrast, Android phones, led by Samsung, control 81 percent of the market and Apple Inc 15 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Microsoft is expected to make the announcement at its developer conference in San Francisco later on Wednesday. The world's biggest software company is scheduled to release its new Windows 10 operating system this summer, which for the first time will run across PCs, tablets and phones. Microsoft still dominates the PC market but has failed to get any real traction on tablets and phones, partly because of a lack of apps. Allowing Android apps onto its phones and tablets could be a shortcut to achieving that, but runs the risk of making Windows phones less attractive if they are merely seen as emulations of Android devices. Microsoft, however, may have no choice, according to analysts. "Their approach recognizes that code for a mobile app can start from any of a number of sources," said Al Hilwa, an analyst at tech research firm IDC. "The only approach to succeed today is to recognize the multiple developer ecosystems out there." Microsoft shares were down 0.5 percent at $48.91 in late morning trading on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Hacker claims to crack Master Lock combos under two minutes

- A hacker, known for unleashing a worm on the once-popular MySpace social network, said he has devised a technique to crack under two minutes any combination by Master Lock, a padlock company owned by Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. Samy Kamkar, best known for the 2005 "Samy" worm, posted a video on his Twitter page explaining the technique, which involves lifting up the locked shackle of a lock, and making multiple turns of it. The resultant readings are then entered on to a website set up by Kamkar. The algorithm in the site gives a number of possible combinations that can help unlock the lock. Kamkar told technology site Ars Technica, which first reported the news, that his Master Lock exploit started with a well-known vulnerability that allows combinations to be cracked in 100 or fewer tries. (Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)

Twitter's growth seen hinging on luring advertisers

The Twitter logo is shown on an LCD screen in front of a displayed stock graph in central Bosnian town of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in this April 29, 2015 photo illustration.

/Dado Ruvic

- Twitter Inc's (TWTR.N) slowing revenue and user growth has raised further doubts about its ability to entice advertisers to spend more on its platform - at least in the near term. Shares of the micro-blogging website operator, which warned on Tuesday that user growth was off to a slow start in April, fell 1 percent to $51.15 in early trading on Wednesday.Twitter's market value fell by a fifth, or about $5 billion, on Tuesday after its disappointing first-quarter results were released in error an hour ahead of schedule.At least 15 brokerages cut their price targets on the stock."...Simply put, advertisers aren't willing to bid up or spend as much with TWTR as expected," RBC analysts said in a research note, cutting their price target to $$47 from $54.Advertising has been seen as a growth driver for Twitter, but the RBC analysts said the company appears to have "hit an ROI (return on investment) wall with its advertisers."Twitter's ad revenue per monthly average user has now decelerated for three consecutive quarters, and its outlook implied a further slowdown in the second quarter.Analysts had expected the company's new advertising products, particularly its app install ads, to start driving growth in the latest quarter.That didn't happen as much as expected.Barclays Capital downgraded the stock to "equal weight" from "overweight" and Janney Capital to "neutral" from "buy."Barclays cuts its price target to $44 from $60, while Janney cut to $44 from $53. Stifel cut its price target from $38 to $36, the lowest among brokerages that cut their price targets.Twitter has been making big product changes to boost user growth, but user numbers grew by just 18 percent from a year earlier in the quarter - the slowest growth in five quarters."We have been optimistic, longer-term, on Twitter’s ability to monetize their logged-out user base and we continue to see that as an opportunity," Barclays analyst Paul Vogel wrote."All of these things, unfortunately, look like they may take some time."So far, Twitter's efforts to capture more revenue per user pale when compared with social media rival Facebook Inc (FB.O).Facebook reported last week that it had 1.44 billion monthly active users, generating revenue of $3.54 billion - about $2.46 per user. Twitter's 302 million users generated $436 million in revenue - or about $1.44 each."TWTR is several years behind FB in its monetization story ..." MKM Partners analyst Rob Sanderson wrote in a note. (Reporting by Tenzin Pema and Supantha Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)

Google launches security feature for Chrome web browser

A logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015.

/Arnd Wiegmann

- Google Inc on Wednesday announced a free extension for its Chrome web browser that better protects Google accounts, including email, against online attackers trying to steal passwords and other personal information. The extension, called Password Alert, can be downloaded on Google Chrome and warns users before they enter account information on "phishing" pages, or imitation sites designed to steal passwords and access personal information, such as emails or online bank accounts. Millions of phishing emails and websites are sent every day, Google said. Nearly 2 percent of messages sent through Gmail, Google's email service, are designed to steal passwords. "Right now, it's left up to the user to decide whether or not to enter their password," said Drew Hintz, the lead engineer for Password Alert. "We expect users to know the difference between these sites, and that's an unreasonable request to make of users." The new extension, which took about three years to create, is an addition to Google's other security measures, including safe browsing technology that warns users against potentially malicious sites and verification tools that help protect private accounts. (Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Alibaba's Ma says freezing hiring after growing 'too quickly': report

Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma makes a speech during the official opening of the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover March 15, 2015. The world's biggest computer and software fair will open to the public from March 16 to 20.

/Fabian Bimmer (GERMANY - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS TELECOMS) - RTR4TG52

- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is freezing hiring for the rest of the year because it has grown "too quickly", Executive Chairman Jack Ma told staff. "Alibaba has really developed too quickly ... this year our entire group headcount will not go up by one person," Ma said, according to a transcript of the April 23 speech carried on Alibaba's official messaging app Laiwang.He, however, said the company will replace employees who leave. "When one leaves, we'll bring one in," Ma added.The hiring freeze came to light about a week ahead of Alibaba is due to report March quarter earnings on May 7. In January, Alibaba, which handles more online commerce than Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc combined, reported slowing revenue growth. [ID:nL4N0V85W8]Headcount had been growing quickly at Alibaba. As of Dec. 31, 2014, the company had 34,081 employees, a 63 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said in January.As long as gross merchandise volume was under 10 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion), headcount should be below 50,000, Ma said. A headcount of "over 30,000" was already enough for now, he added.Gross merchandise volume in the quarter to Dec. 31, 2014, was 787 billion yuan, a 49 percent increase from the same quarter the year before. For the whole year, it totaled about 2.3 trillion yuan.Ma also that Alibaba would consolidate its businesses into seven segments - e-commerce, Ant Financial, Cainiao logistics, big data and cloud computing, advertising, cross-border trade and other internet services. ($1 = 6.2018 yuan) (Reporting by John Ruwitch and Paul Carsten; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Miral Fahmy)