Steve Ballmer got only $550,000 of his predicted $700,000 bonus check, because Microsoft woefully overestimated how many Surface tablets it would sell. Microsoft was forced to take $900 million hit to its earnings due to awful Surface sales. Ballmer got also last year a smaller bonus than planned. Last year Microsoft failed to provide a browser choice screen on European PCs running Windows, as required by an 2009 antitrust settlement. Ballmer will retire by the end of next summer and he won’t get a retirement payout from Microsoft, but he owns ca. 333 million shares of Microsoft. And this stake is worth almost $11,3 billion. Continue reading »

BMW turns 100 in 2016 and it will probably launch a hardcore coupe version of the upcoming M4 sports car, similar to 2009’s M3 GTS model. This hardcore coupe will feature 430hp, 369 pound-feed of torque, turbocharged straight-six engine and weigh less than 3,300 pounds. It will come with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch box. M4’s cabin will be stripped of most luxury amenities, only a pair of racing bucket seats, possibly a roll cage, carbon fiber and Alcantara trim. In the gallery below you can see the upcoming M4 sports car. Continue reading »

Apple has hires a new expert, an ex senior VP of technology development at the CableLabs, with backgrounds such as developing TV apps, Internet voice, video technologies… In 2011 Mule led development of a Wi-Fi app designed to connect users to the best possible hotspot. Apple has been building ties to the pay TV business and it’s also reportedly working with Time Warner Cable to bring the cable operator’s TWC TV app to the device. Continue reading »

Three weeks ago Twitter had filed for a public stock market offering and wants to raise $1bn in its stock market debut. Documents that were filed with US regulators revealed that Twitter has 218 million monthly users and 500 million tweets are sent daily. This will be the largest Silicon Valley stock offering since Facebook’s in 2012. The social networking company plans to list under the stock symbol TWTR, but it didn’t reveal which stock exchange (NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange) it had chosen. Goldman Sachs is the lead bank taking the company public but also Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities and CODE Advisors will be helping with the offering. Continue reading »

Princeton Technology has announced release date for its new remote control for iPhone/iPad/iPod touch cameras the PIP-CR1 and it will be compatible with Apple’s devices that feature iOS 5.0 or later. This device will be released on October 18^th. PIP-CR1 has two parts: smaller part is receiver, that you use by inserted into touch earphone jack and when you take a photo, you use the other part as a remote control. Continue reading »

Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell claims that Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook isn’t the next Steve Jobs. Bushnell met Steve Jobs in 1974, when Jobs showed up at Atari in sandals and demanded a job interview. Atari employed him as a $5-an-hour developer. In his opinion, Cook probably thinks he’s innovating, when in fact it’s just micro-evolution. “If I were to choose somebody to run international manufacturing and processing and keep the wheels on the bus, Tim Cook is about as good as anybody can get,” said Bushnell. He is more impressed with Google’s approach, which focuses on testing new products and ideas even when some might fail. Continue reading »