Microsoft acquires Ray Ozzie's team communication startup Talko, will integrate tech into Skype | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Jordan Novet

Microsoft acquires Ray Ozzie's team communication startup Talko, will integrate tech into Skype | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Jordan Novet Part of Talko’s appeal was that former Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie was at the helm. Ozzie himself invested in the startup, as did Greylock Partners, Kapor Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz.

The app brings together talk, texting, and conferencing. It’s been available on iOS and Android.

It's a mixture of Mozart and Bach, I call it mach!

Powa Technologies enters China with UnionPay joint venture - Business Insider

Powa Technologies enters China with UnionPay joint venture - Business Insider British payments startup Powa Technologies has signed a 10-year deal with China's state-owned payments company to bring its mobile payment app to the country.

This is where US foreign policy intersects high technology. To understand it, read about the UK's involvement in the Asian Infrastructure Bank.

Cult of Android - Evernote is killing Skitch, Clearly and its Pebble app

Cult of Android - Evernote is killing Skitch, Clearly and its Pebble app Evernote’s efforts to streamline its business will see it chop a number of apps from its lineup, including the popular annotation app Skitch. Clearly, a browser extension for Google Chrome, is also getting the boot — as is Evernote’s Pebble app.

I love it when companies that have an initial first success realize how difficult it is to replicate success in the apps market over and over again.

Apple assigns App Store oversight to Phil Schiller in apparent nod to developer issues

Apple assigns App Store oversight to Phil Schiller in apparent nod to developer issues Apple's decision to split its App Stores out of Eddy Cue's iTunes and iCloud oversight and instead assign them to Phil Schiller, its head of worldwide marketing, appears to based on an effort to differentiate platform management of developers' interactive apps from the reselling of static content from media holders, and to handle each appropriately.

Help us, Obi-Phil, you're our only hope.

Apple rolls out revamped Mac in Business webpage with focus on success stories

Apple rolls out revamped Mac in Business webpage with focus on success stories Apple launched a redesigned Mac in Business webpage on Wednesday to better target its growing presence in enterprise, highlighting corporate success stories, a special section detailing its partnership with IBM and reworked marketing literature focusing on individual productivity apps.

Guarded yay! Yay.

If you'd bought Apple stock instead of an Apple III, you'd be a millionaire

If you'd bought Apple stock instead of an Apple III, you'd be a millionaire In December 1980, Apple’s newest computer was an Apple III, with a starting price tag of $4340. Today, you’d be lucky to get that much for it — despite the relative rarity of that particular model.

Apple’s official IPO anniversary is actually tomorrow, December 12. At the time, the Wall Street Journal noted that, “Not since Eve has an Apple posed such a temptation.” It wasn’t wrong. The company’s public offering turned out to be the biggest since the Ford Motor Company in 1956.

Steve Jobs, just 25 years old at the time, ended the day valued at $217 million.

While you're at it, you should travel back in time and invent plastic.

Cook says Apple won't race Google to bottom of education market, calls Chromebooks 'test machines'

Cook says Apple won't race Google to bottom of education market, calls Chromebooks 'test machines' At an Hour of Code educational coding session in New York on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said his company is interested in building powerful, meaningful products for students and teachers, not inexpensive "test machines" like Google's Chromebook.

Not sure that I'm a fan of Chromebooks, either, but at least on a Chromebook you can write code that powers a Chromebook (Javascript, Chrome extensions, etc). On an iPad, if you want to learn how to write apps for it, you need a Mac. Nothing wrong with that, but I think that means the iPad is not really a machine for launching new coders into the next era. I think the Raspberry PI is the Apple ][ of this generation. I suppose you could write an Apache Cordova application on an iPad. Also, MAD LOGO is interesting.

Twitter's Periscope claims App of the Year in Apple's 2015 App Store picks

Twitter's Periscope claims App of the Year in Apple's 2015 App Store picks Periscope, the Twitter-owned live streaming app, was chosen as the overall favorite among Apple editors. Close behind were Lightricks' Enlight photo editor, and Robinhood, an app for free stock trading.

Still think twitter is going down? I think not!

In Steve Jobs biopic sweepstakes, Ashton Kutcher is surprising box office winner over Aaron Sorkin | VentureBeat | Business | by Chris O'Brien

In Steve Jobs biopic sweepstakes, Ashton Kutcher is surprising box office winner over Aaron Sorkin | VentureBeat | Business | by Chris O'Brien Perhaps only someone like Steve Jobs could inspire two people as different as Ashton “Dude, where’s my car?” Kutcher and Aaron “blablahblahblahmeister” Sorkin to create separate biopics within only four years of his passing.

I think Kutcher was a fairly realistic "Jobs" I believe Kutcher dropped out of engineering school to become an actor.