National Post Tech Desk

GATINEAU, Que. — Canada’s telecom watchdog is regulating the wholesale roaming rates the Big Three providers can charge smaller carriers — a
move it says is designed to keep a lid on costs and improve services and competition across the country.

In a highly anticipated decision, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Tuesday ruled that Bell Mobility, Rogers
Communications and Telus Corp. must file their final wholesale rate structures by Nov. 4, 2015.

Those rates, however, will be retroactive to Tuesday and will be part of a new five-year fee structure to be announced by the CRTC sometime next
year. Companies that have higher rates than the level to be set the regulator will be required to make up the cost difference.

Also as of Tuesday, the federal government’s interim cap on retail rates is being set aside.

“The measures we are putting in place at the wholesale level will result in a more competitive retail market — a market in which Canadians  can
choose from a wide-range of innovative wireless services offered at reasonable prices,” CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais told reporters
following Tuesday’s decision.

“What’s more, they can use this market power to hold back competition. They have the ability and the incentive to maintain rates and impose
terms and conditions that would not be sustainable in a competitive market.”

Related

• Coming changes to wholesale rules could impact fees Canadians pay for wireless roaming
• Canada’s wireless quality could take a hit if CRTC intervenes in roaming rates, Telus says

Ottawa legislated its cap last year on how much carriers can charge their domestic rivals to use their network for voice, text messaging and data
services.

Both CRTC and the federal government have been focusing their efforts on the Big Three to set market-wide standards for rates and services.

“Today’s decision is about finding the right balance,” Blais said.

“We want sustainable competition that increases choice for Canadians. But we always need to make sure that wireless companies continue to invest in innovative and high-quality networks,” he told reporters.

“And we want to ensure that smaller companies can complete on a fair playing field with other, larger, competitors so they too can offer
innovative products and services.”

The CRTC said Tuesday it is also aiming to reduce market barriers by reducing some restrictions in wholesale roaming agreement.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Quebecor said the company “will look closely at the decisions implied” but will make no comment for now.

Microsoft Corp. is evaluating a bid for Salesforce.com Inc., after the cloud software provider was approached by another would-be buyer, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Salesforce, which has a market value of $47 billion, is working with two investment banks to determine a response to approaches, two of the people said. The San Francisco-based company’s options could include rebuffing any buyer, or working out a sale, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg last week.

Microsoft isn’t in talks with Salesforce, and no deal is imminent, the people said. Still, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has long expected it might compete for Salesforce if it was for sale, one of the people said. Another company was in talks with Salesforce as recently as April, spurring Microsoft’s actions, two people said.

Related

• Salesforce.com expanding its Canadian footprint with two new data centres
• Software giant Salesforce.com Inc taps bankers to handle takeover offers after being approached

For any buyer, Salesforce offers a leading position in customer relationship management, or CRM, software, as well as cloud computing — the delivery of business software and services via the Internet.

Microsoft and Salesforce reached an agreement last year to make the companies’ software work better together. Microsoft, which sells its own customer-management software, lags behind Salesforce. Last week Microsoft set a goal of reaching a $20 billion revenue run rate for its commercial cloud business by the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018.

Tony Imperati, a spokesman for Microsoft, and Chi Hea Cho, a spokeswoman for Salesforce, declined to comment.

Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz said last week an acquisition of Salesforce would create disruption in the software market. She declined to comment on whether Oracle was interested in buying Salesforce.

Salesforce was involved in strategic-alliance discussions with SAP SE last year, people with knowledge of the matter said last week. SAP said it’s not considering a bid for Salesforce.

Bloomberg.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s influential search engine has hit a tipping point in technology’s shift to smartphones. More search requests are now being made on mobile devices than on personal computers in the U.S. and many other parts of the world.

The milestone announced at a digital advertising conference Tuesday serves as another reminder of how dramatically online behaviour has changed since 2007. That’s when Apple released the first iPhone, leading to a wave of similar devices that have made it easier for people to stay connected to the Internet wherever they go.

The upheaval has rocked PC makers and other tech companies such as Microsoft with businesses tied to sales of desktop and laptop computers. Google has been able to adapt better than most companies, partly because its search engine and other services are embedded in the popular Android mobile operating system, but it hasn’t been totally unscathed.

Google’s average ad prices have been declining for the past three-and-half years, partly because marketers so far have been unwilling to pay as much for the commercial message displayed on the smaller screens of smartphones. The company, though, says mobile ad prices have been steadily climbing and will continue to do so as marketers recognize the value of being able to connect with prospective customers at the precise moment that they are looking for someplace to eat, or comparing products on a smartphone while standing in a store.

“The future of mobile is now,” says Jerry Dischler, a Google Inc. vice-president in charge of the company’s “AdWords” service for creating online marketing campaigns.

Besides in the U.S., Google’s mobile search requests are outstripping requests in nine other countries. Japan is the only other country that Google is identifying.

The Mountain View, California, company isn’t specifying just how many mobile search requests it is getting. Google processes more than 100 billion search requests worldwide each month, including queries on PCs.

As part of the mobile transition, Google last month overhauled its search-recommendation system to favourwebsites that are easier to read and load on smartphones. That change, known as “Mobilegeddon,” prodded millions of websites to make changes to ensure they work well on smartphones to avoid being demoted in Google’s search results.

Google also has been introducing advertising formats that tend to work better on mobile devices. For instance, rooms can now be booked within hotel ads, and car ads can now be swiped across a screen to make it easier to comparison shop.

In addition to announcing the milestone in mobile search, Google also introduced on Tuesday a service for comparing mortgage rates in the U.S. The mortgage product expands upon a similar service for auto insurance policies that Google unveiled in California in March. Google is adding three more states — Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania — to the auto insurance service.

Ottawa has unveiled its plans intended to make Internet and television services less expensive for people in rural areas.

Industry Minister James Moore said Tuesday the government aims to reduce regulatory fees charged to satellite companies that provide service to communities outside the reach of the large telecom networks in urban and suburban centres.

The move would make Canada more competitive and attract new investments from companies that want to expand or improve their services, he said.

Rural Canadians depend on satellite companies to deliver wireless, TV and Internet services through high-frequency spectrum, a valuable radio frequency that transmits large quantities of data quickly.

“By putting in place the right market conditions that support greater investment in the satellite sector, our government is supporting Canadian consumers by providing them with more choice, lower prices and better service,” said Moore in a statement.

Related

• Ottawa’s wireless spectrum auction won’t create fourth carrier because of ‘ridiculous’ rules, expert says
• Rogers Communications Inc, BCE Inc nearly shut out of wireless spectrum auction because of cap rules

The lower fees are scheduled to come into effect by April 1, 2016.

Access to the airwaves in rural communities has been an area of contention for operators for several years.

In 2012, Chatham Internet Access in southwestern Ontario said it was struggling to provide enough bandwidth to its thousands of customers, while Xplornet Communications said the high cost of buying more spectrum meant more rural Canadians would be forced back onto dial-up connections.

Industry Canada responded by making changes designed to simplify the process of acquiring spectrum and the way that providers could gain access to additional bandwidth.

The federal government outlined plans in the 2014 budget that would set aside $305 million over five years specifically to expand rural and northern broadband Internet service.

Shomi, the streaming service offered by Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., as well as Bell’ Media’s CraveTV, have reached agreements with Apple to bring dedicated apps to its popular set-top box after months of negotiations.

The apps, which launch today, will still be tethered to a traditional cable subscription, and have an aesthetic similar to other Apple TV streaming apps such as Netflix. Chromecast support was also recently added to CraveTV’s iOS and Android applications. Apple AirPlay support has been a CraveTV feature since launch, a feature Shomi lacks.

Related

• Shomi, CraveTV ‘unduly prefer’ telcos’ own subscribers, consumer groups complain to CRTC
• Bell Media’s CraveTV announces four new distributors including in Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories
• CraveTV: Is Bell Media’s Netflix competitor worth $4 a month?

When Shomi launched last year, the streaming service was only available as a web-based app and on Xbox 360.

Moving to Apple TV marks the first time CraveTV has been available though an app. Both services, Shomi and CraveTV, still have not launched applications on current-generation gaming consoles Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Apple may reveal a new set-top Apple TV box at its annual World Wide Developers Conference in June, according to some industry watchers. It’s unclear if Shomi and CraveTV have plans to create apps for other popular set-top boxes such as the Roku, Google’s Android TV devices, or even unconfirmed future Apple streaming boxes. Rogers has repeatedly said that expanding the reach of its streaming applications is a top priority.

CraveTV is priced at $4 a month and is available to all Bell subscribers as well as other partnered television provider subscribers. Shomi is priced at $8.99 a month.

The Apple TV remote is getting a major redesign when the latest version of the Cupertino company’s TV box is introduced this summer, The New York Times reports.

Apple is set to unveil a new version of its Apple TV service in June, at its annual developers conference WWDC.

The new remote is going to have a touchpad similar to those found on the company’s MacBooks, as well as two buttons, according to the Times — further streamlining the remote’s already simple design.

This is how today’s Apple TV remote looks. It’s sleek and minimalist, but its reliance on buttons goes against Apple’s trend toward trackpads and touch screens.

Simon Yeo/Flickr (CC)

And here is a touchpad on the newest MacBook.

Maurizo Pesce/Flickr (CC)Coming soon to a TV remote near you.

In addition to a touchpad to control the Internet video box, the new remote is also going to be thicker than its current iteration. It will apparently be similar in size to the remote for the Amazon Echo wireless speaker.

For reference, here’s a YouTube reviewer holding up the Amazon Echo remote (on the left).

Qbking77/YouTubeA YouTube reviewer holds up the Amazon Echo remote (on the left).

At Apple’s internal training course “Apple University,” the Google TV remote is reportedly compared with the Apple TV remote as a case study. It is used “to show how the company’s product designers started out with an idea and debated until they had just what was needed for the device to be usable and easy to understand,” the Times reports.

In contrast, the Google TV remote has a staggering 76 buttons.

Blake Patterson/Flickr (CC)

NOW WATCH: Here’s how to get HBO Now on your TV without Apple TV

GATINEAU, Que. — Canada’s telecom regulator will issue a decision Tuesday that could affect the fees charged to consumers when they roam with their wireless devices outside of their home network areas.

The ruling from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission comes seven months after hearings were launched into the health of the country’s wholesale wireless market, considered the backbone of Canada’s mobile services sector.

Budget measures adopted by the Harper government last year set a cap on wholesale roaming costs — the rates that mobile carriers charge their competitors to use their wireless infrastructure — at no more than what carriers charge their retail customers.

The government-imposed cap was intended as a temporary measure that the CRTC could choose to keep, kill or amend. But CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has noted that the government did not take regional differences into account in its legislation.

The CRTC heard that the wholesale rate caps were actually hurting smaller players, and thereby stifling competition, particularly where the major service providers had no firm foothold.

Regional carriers asked the CRTC to “fine tune” wholesale rates to ensure they aren’t forced to offer Telus Corp., Rogers Communications Inc., and BCE Inc. use of their networks at a discount.

The Competition Bureau also called for new wholesale roaming regulations, arguing that rate caps alone will not foster greater competition.

Related

• Ottawa’s wireless spectrum auction won’t create fourth carrier because of ‘ridiculous’ rules, expert says
• Rogers Communications Inc, BCE Inc nearly shut out of wireless spectrum auction because of cap rules
• Wind Mobile Corp’s new CEO recruits two former teammates from Public Mobile

The bureau predicted during the fall hearings that expanded mobile wireless penetration in Canada could drive down retail wireless prices by about two per cent.

But Rogers, BCE and Telus maintained that further regulation would hinder their ability to invest in improvements to their own wireless networks.

Montreal-based Cogeco Cable Inc., which is hoping to offer wireless services without building its own cell tower network, asked the CRTC to adopt new rules to allow for the creation of what are known as mobile virtual networks (MVNOs), which would effectively give smaller carriers access to large players’ spectrum and cell towers.

Cogeco warned that, without regulations, the big players will continue to muscle smaller competitors out of existence.

Times are tough for local television in Canada, with a new report showing private stations saw a significant decrease in advertising revenue in 2014.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission released financial information for local television on Monday, underlining the financial squeeze stations are facing in an age of increased competition from online video providers like Netflix Inc. Private stations suffered a 7.2 per cent revenue drop in 2014 to $1.8 billion from $1.94 billion the previous year, largely because advertisers spent $117.1 million less on local television.

Greg MacDonald, a telecom analyst with Macquarie Capital Markets Canada Ltd., said it’s unlikely those numbers will improve.

“I think the trend will stay the same or get worse for companies that don’t have something unique that can be sold beyond the existing platform,” he said. “Companies that have broadcast assets that don’t have ownership of their content will be the ones that will be most at risk.”

Surprisingly, in a year when local private stations suffered, the CBC saw a big revenue bump. The CBC and Radio-Canada brought in $474.6 million in advertising revenues in 2014, 43 per cent more than the previous year.

Related

• CRTC relaxes content rules to help Canadian TV broadcasters compete with digital media
• Shomi, CraveTV ‘unduly prefer’ telcos’ own subscribers, consumer groups complain to CRTC

The CBC had better enjoy the windfall while it lasts, however. The big bump in advertising dollars can largely be attributed to the fact the network had a full National Hockey League season to broadcast that year in addition to the Sochi winter Olympics and the Brazil FIFA World Cup, bringing in many more advertising dollars than the CBC was able to attract during the previous year’s lockout.

The CBC has since lost NHL advertising revenues to Rogers Communications Inc., which signed a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal for English-language professional hockey rights starting with the 2014-15 season.

The CRTC is making sweeping changes to broadcast regulations after a fall hearing into the future of television, dubbed Let’s Talk TV. Many of those changes, such as allowing consumers to pick and pay for the channels they want and ending the practice of protecting genre specialty channels from competition, are expected to further harm the bottom lines of Canada’s major broadcasters.

At the hearing, former Bell Media president Kevin Crull said the company is running out of ways to keep its local news operations afloat.

“I don’t have a Plan B,” he said. “I think we’re out of cost ideas that don’t dramatically damage the delivery of the product. We in this space need a second revenue stream.”

At its annual conference last month in San Francisco, RSA, the security division of EMC, made two major product announcements.

First, it announced a family of smart identity solutions designed to protect users from the endpoint to the cloud. Dubbed “Via”, it consists of five components: RSA Via Access, RSA Via Lifecycle and RSA Via Governance as well as the existing RSA SecurID and RSA Adaptive Authentication products.

“We’ve always believed that identity is the foundation of any effective security program, and its importance grows every day,” said Amit Yoran, president of RSA. “Via represents an entirely new way to manage identity for the needs of today.”

Via Access is a cloud-based service that uses context as well as credentials to connect users to their resources, regardless of device or location. It evaluates user attributes/roles in the identity directory as well as application risk and sensitivity and real-time network, session and device information to create flexible authentication policy for different security requirements. It is compatible with existing RSA SecurID two-factor authentication solutions.

Via Governance controls who has access to what. It allows administrators to build security policies appropriate for the user’s role, as well as the devices he or she connects on, providing a single view of identities and security.

Via Lifecycle manages user identities from the moment they join an organization to the moment they leave, ensuring everyone has appropriate privileges even if their job changes.

Related

• Security industry ‘losing contest’ against adversaries, RSA president says

RSA also said that, as part of its realignment, it plans to cease selling its encryption products separately, instead just using the technology in its other offerings. Existing customers will be supported throughout their contracts.

The second major announcement involved enhancements to RSA Security Analytics that bring its functionality to the cloud. The new release also is built to offer visibility into attacks that target critical customer-facing web and mobile applications, and introduces data privacy capabilities. In addition to extending its reach into the cloud, RSA Security Analytics is now being offered with new pricing and packaging options including throughput-based pricing that better aligns the investment to the scale of the customer deployment for better cost efficiency. Customers will also be able to leverage their own storage investments.

The new data privacy capabilities offer the ability to share valuable insight to security analysts without exposing them to their organization’s or employees’ most sensitive data, like PII. The ability to redact specific information will allow users to focus on safeguarding their organization without violating data privacy guidelines.

“As the threat landscape grows in complexity and more advanced attacks emerge, organizations can no longer rely solely on a log-centric approach to security,” said Grant Geyer, senior vice president, products, RSA. “RSA Security Analytics is what SIEM was meant to be by giving enterprises the ability to detect attacks missed by other tools and respond before attackers can do damage. By integrating a wide range of inputs from packets, to logs, to endpoints, RSA Security Analytics exposes attacks that would otherwise go unnoticed. ”

These new capabilities for RSA Security Analytics are all available this quarter.

 

 

What a difference a year makes. At the company’s conference last year, Art Coviello, the now-retired executive chairman of RSA, the security division of EMC, walked onto the stage in full damage control mode, facing a decidedly chilly reception after allegations (which the company denied) that RSA had used a known flawed encryption algorithm in its security products at the behest of the NSA. And while the atmosphere perceptibly thawed as he addressed the allegations, it was an uncomfortable start.

In contrast, at the 2015 conference, held last week in San Francisco, there was no sniff of scandal marring the festivities, and the record 33,000 attendees were in a decidedly happier mood. As a result, RSA president Amit Yoran’s keynote was able to focus on industry issues. He chose to tell the audience that, in effect, security problems are all in our minds.

No, they’re not hallucinations – they’re very real. But, he said, the security industry’s mindset is hampering its effectiveness. “2014 was yet another reminder that we are losing this contest,” he said. “The adversaries are out-maneuvering the industry, out-gunning the industry, and winning by every measure.”

The culprit, he explained, is the legacy mindset which thinks that employing strategies and solutions that no longer map to the threat environment will actually work. Today’s tools are like the incomplete maps early explorers used on the high seas, and we have sailed off the edge.

Related

• CIO security roundup: Oracle patches, Microsoft security updates, and Simda Botnet
• Epson DS-40 review: A portable scanner for the mobile professional’s tech arsenal

Instead of blindly following maps that don’t match the terrain, Yoran suggested five steps that could lead us to better results.

First, he said, “Let’s stop believing that even advanced protections work.  They do, but surely they fail too.” Many of the most successful and damaging breaches last year didn’t even use malware as a primary tactic.

Second, we need to have a full understanding of what’s going on in our networks – which systems are communicating with which, why, any related communications, their length, frequency and volume, and what content is involved. “These aren’t nice to haves, they are fundamental core requirements of any modern security program,” Yoran said. “If you don’t have that level of visibility and agility in place, you’re only pretending to do security.”

Furthermore, he went on, it’s critical, when under attack, to gain a full understanding of exactly what the adversaries are up to; many launch multiple campaigns, and detecting and remediating only one of them just tells the attacker which tactics are most effective. Said Yoran, “The single most common and most catastrophic mistake made by security teams today is under scoping an incident and rushing to clean up compromised systems before understanding the broader campaign.”

Third, identity and authentication are key defenses in the war against attackers. Many of today’s attacks begin with compromised credentials.

Fourth, make use of external threat intelligence. It should be machine-readable and automated for fast response. That will help analysts evaluate and prioritize threats.

Fifth, understand which assets are most important to your business. “This asset categorization isn’t the sexy part of security,” Yoran noted, “but it is critical to helping you prioritize the deployment of limited security resources for the greatest possible impact.”

“These ideas can work,” he said. “They do work.  We’ve seen the difference it makes when organizations take these approaches to security.”

To address this new paradigm, Yoran said that RSA as a company is re-inventing itself. “This time next year, we won’t be the same RSA you have known for decades,” he said. “As an industry, we are on a journey that will continue to evolve in the years to come through the efforts of all of us.”

Cisco Systems Inc. said Chuck Robbins will succeed John Chambers as chief executive officer, appointing a salesman with experience in global operations to revive growth as competition from upstart software makers gets more intense.

Robbins will take his new post on July 26, the San Jose, California-based company said Monday. Chambers will become executive chairman. Chambers, 65, had said he would step down by the end of the fiscal year that ends in July 2016.

Chambers had identified Robbins as among 10 possible candidates for the CEO post as early as 2012.

Robbins, 49, joined the computer-networking company in 1997. He most recently served as senior vice president of worldwide operations, leading the global sales and partners team, which Cisco said generates US$47 billion in business. He also helped develop the company’s strategy for its corporate segment, which represents 25 per cent of Cisco’s total business. Robbins was elected to the board effective May 1.

Chambers follows other executives handing over the reins after running tech bellwethers for long stretches. Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison last year was succeeded by Safra Catz and Mark Hurd after more than 35 years at the helm. Satya Nadella last year took over from Steve Ballmer, who was CEO of Microsoft Corp. for more than a decade.

Related

• ‘A living lab': Cisco’s new Canadian HQ is a lesson in smart technology
• Microsoft, Cisco top Citi’s list of 17 best mega cap stocks

Internet Boom

As CEO of Cisco for two decades, Chambers was one of the most prominent spokesmen for the boom that transformed the Internet into a network that redefined how we work, communicate and get entertainment.

He charted the rise that briefly made Cisco the world’s most valuable company and later navigated it through the dot-com bust, the financial crisis and the advent of a fresh crop of competitors that are creating less-expensive ways to design and manage computer networks.

“I think Chambers has done a good job against an increasingly difficult position,” said Alex Henderson, an analyst at Needham & Co. “But I also think Cisco has serious challenges longer term.”

Chambers has had to replenish senior leadership ranks in recent years after overhauling a management structure that, according to investors and former employees, slowed decision- making and drove out would-be successors.

Deep Cuts

Chambers announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs, roughly 4 per cent of the company, starting in 2014 after disappointing sales. In August 2014, Cisco said it would dismiss another 6,000 people, or 8 percent of its workforce. Chambers’s compensation dropped 22 per cent to US$16.5 million for fiscal 2014, after the company fell short of revenue and operating income targets.

Robbins said in a video posted on Cisco’s website that he would spend his first 90 days in the job talking with employees, the leadership team, customers and partners. He will “aggregate” his own ideas with theirs to build a plan for the coming years, Robbins said, alongside Chambers.

“We’re going to drive a level of operational rigour that’s maybe even a bit tougher than what you did, John,” Robbins said. Digital changes in work processes, including the so-called Internet of Things, “will represent an opportunity that will dwarf what we saw in the 1990s,” he said.

Cisco shares rose less than 1 per cent to US$29.28 at 10:35 a.m. New York time. Through Friday, the stock had added 4.7 per cent this year.

–With assistance from Carol Hymowitz in New York.

Bloomberg News

David Goldberg, chief executive officer of SurveyMonkey.com and husband of Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook Inc., has died. He was 47.

He died unexpectedly Friday night, his brother, Robert Goldberg, wrote in a Facebook post. No other details were given.

“It’s with incredible shock and sadness that I’m letting our friends and family know that my amazing brother, Dave Goldberg, beloved husband of Sheryl Sandberg, father of two wonderful children, and son of Paula Goldberg, passed away suddenly last night,” his brother wrote.

The best decision I ever made was to marry Dave

Goldberg sold his first startup, Launch Media, to Yahoo Inc. and joined SurveyMonkey in 2009. He and Sandberg met in 1996 while they were both working in Los Angeles, according to a 2013 interview with the Los Angeles Times.

Sandberg, author of the best-selling book “Lean In,” frequently wrote and talked about how Goldberg was a crucial partner in her career, supporting her in small ways — like doing the laundry — and large, such as persuading her to join Facebook even though they had a 6-month-old daughter at the time.

“I wrote in Lean In that the most important decision a woman makes is if she has a life partner and who that life partner will be. The best decision I ever made was to marry Dave,” Sandberg wrote in a March 5 Facebook post.

Related

• 11 tricks Elon Musk, Sheryl Sandberg and other successful execs use to run meetings
• Why Sheryl Sandberg isn’t helping when it comes to gender equality in the workplace
• Facebook Inc’s Sheryl Sandberg just said something that should terrify TV executives

Minneapolis Youth

David Bruce Goldberg was born on Oct. 2, 1967, in Minneapolis to Mel and Paula Goldberg. His mother is co-founder and executive director of the Pacer Center, a Minnesota nonprofit group that assists parents of disabled children and young adults, according to the centre’s website. His father was an associate dean and professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.

Goldberg graduated from Harvard University in 1989 and lived with Sandberg and their children in Menlo Park, California.

“Dave Goldberg was an amazing person and I am glad I got to know him,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. “My thoughts and prayers are with Sheryl and her family.”

Earlier in his career, Goldberg worked as a director of business development at Capitol Records in Los Angeles. He founded Launch Media, which delivered music and music-related content online, in 1994, and sold it to Yahoo amid the dot-com bust of 2001. Billboard magazine named him one of the top “power players” in digital music in 2006.

Jim Wilson/The New York Times via APIn this Feb. 1, 2013 photo, David Goldberg, the CEO of Survey Monkey poses at their headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

Venture Financing

SurveyMonkey, an online questionnaire service, raised US$250 million in venture capital funding in December. The financing was intended to help the company pursue acquisitions and let employees and existing shareholders sell some of their stock. The Palo Alto, California-based company is profitable and has more than 20 million customers.

Its employees were heartbroken to learn of Mr. Goldberg’s passing.

“Dave’s genius, courage and leadership were overshadowed only by his compassion, friendship and heart,” the company said in a statement. “His greatest love was for his family. Our sympathy goes out to them and to all who were touched by this extraordinary man.”

Goldberg’s Facebook page quickly filled up with anecdotes and condolences from executives and entrepreneurs including David Golden, a veteran Silicon Valley banker and managing partner at Revolution Ventures, and Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co.

“Dave was a class act,” Iger wrote. “Everything he did was done with enthusiasm, commitment, and a warm and humble touch that we all loved and we will all remember.”

On Twitter, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called Mr. Goldberg the “kindest, most generous, loving father, loyal husband, great CEO & sweetest friend.” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman called him “caring and kind.” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky called him “a great mentor and role model.”

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo called the news “heartbreaking” in a tweet, and described Mr. Goldberg as “one of the truly great people on the planet … of almost unimaginably remarkable character.”

— With assistance from Charles W. Stevens in New York and Cory Johnson, Brad Stone and Emily Chang in San Francisco.

Bloomberg.com, with files from The New York Times News Service

Last year Microsoft released the Surface Pro 3, but strangely, unlike its previous Surface laptop/computer hybrids such as the original Surface Pro and the Surface 2 Pro, the company didn’t reveal a non-pro lower-end version of its hybrid device. This led some to wonder if the company decided to discontinue the downgraded, but more affordable iteration of its laptop-tablet hybrid device.

But in early 2015 Microsoft finally pulled the curtain away showing off its less-powerful but still impressive Surface 3, a device that seems designed to compete directly with Apple’s expensive, but extremely sleek-looking, new Macbook.

Related

• Apple Inc’s new MacBook isn’t as amazing as it seems
• Apple Inc’s new MacBook isn’t as amazing as it seems
• Apple Watch game review roundup: Lifeline, Rules!, Trivia Crack, Spy_Watch, Battle Camp, and more

So how does it fare against the Surface 2 and other competing laptop-tablet hybrids? Extremely well, and for one significant reason – it comes equipped with the full version of Windows 8.1 and is also Windows 10-ready.

Familiar but different (and more affordable)

The Surface 3 will look familiar to anyone who has used one of the devices before. It features a similar grey metal body to the Surface Pro 3’s, and the same three position kickstand. It’s also 2mm thinner and 54g lighter than its predecessor, measuring in at 8.7mm thick and 622g in weight. But if you compare these numbers to most other tablets, Surface 3 feels large and heavy. For instance, the iPad Air 2 is only 6.1mm thick and weighs 437g. In comparison the full version Surface Pro 3 is 9.1mm thick and weighs 800g.

Patrick O'Rourke/National PostUnfortunately the Surface Pro 3's Type Cover is still sold separately.

The device’s screen is also smaller than the Surface Pro 3’s – 10.8 inches compared to a more comfortable 12 inches – but still maintains the same 3:2 aspect ratio as its more expensive and powerful counterpart. For the most part the smaller size isn’t an issue, but if you’re switching from a full-size laptop or even the larger Surface Pro 3, the transition to using the Surface 3’s screen might be cumbersome for some people.

Also, because the Surface 3’s screen size is smaller, its Type Cover has also been reduced in size. While I eventually became used to the Surface 3’s smaller Type Cover, my hands often felt cramped while using the device. Also, unfortunately the Type Cover still isn’t included with the Surface 3 and costs an additional $159. The Surface Pen comes at an extra $49.99 price tag as well. Both of these accessories are required to use the Surface 3 to its full capabilities and it’s a shame Microsoft has again opted not to bundle them with the device.

Unfortunately the Surface 3 doesn’t boast the same pixel density as competing devices such as the iPad Air 2, Galaxy Tab S and even less popular hybrids like Dell’s XPS 13. However, it’s important to keep in mind Surface 3 is a full-featured tablet/laptop hybrid and has many of the same capabilities as a standard PC or Windows-based laptop – the same can’t be said about other similar devices.

It’s not as powerful as the Surface Pro 3, but that’s okay

Patrick O'Rourke/National PostThe Surface 3's back features the same brushed metal design as the Surface 3 Pro.

The most appealing aspect of the Surface 3 is its affordable price tag, making it ideal for mobile professionals on a tight budget and even students, since the device starts at just $639, a price significantly under the new Macbook’s astounding $1,549 price point and most other tablet/laptop hybrids. The lowest end $639 Surface 3 comes equipped with 64GB of storage and 2GB of RAM.

The Pro 3 is powered by an Intel Atom X7 1.6Ghz quad-core processor, giving the tablet excellent battery life and decent performance. Intel’s Atom processors have come a significant way from the lacklustre chips featured in late 2000s netbooks, and this is immediately apparent in the Surface 3.

Still, if you’re purchasing the Surface 3 and hoping it will become your go-to computer for resource-intensive projects involving Photoshop or Premiere, this isn’t the device for you. Its Atom mobile processor is great on battery life but has difficulty handling many of the programs and applications people might use on a traditional, more powerful laptop.

However, if you’re using the Pro 3 for web browsing or word processor purposes, its performance is snappy and responsive. Unlike Apple, Microsoft has opted to not include a USB-C port in the Surface 3, which depending on how you feel about the technology, might be a good thing. Instead, it features a standard USB 3.0 plug, which makes connecting almost any accessory easy. Rather than the proprietary magnetic charging system featured in past Surface models, including the Surface Pro 3, with the Surface 3, Microsoft has opted for a standard micro-USB port, allowing the device to be charged by any USB charger. While the magnet charging system featured in past Surfaces was great, the ability to use any micro-USB plug with the device is a convenient and welcome change.

Patrick O'Rourke/National PostThe Surface 3's stylus pen also comes at an additional cost.

The Pro 3 is also completely fan-less, remaining silent even when using it for an extended period of time. However, its lack of a fan means it occasionally gets pretty hot.

A great device, if you’re using it for the right purpose

The Surface 3 is the best tablet/laptop hybrid out there next to the Surface Pro 3, but a number of issues many people (including myself) experience with the Surface Pro 3 still remain with this cheaper alternative. It’s awkward to use on your lap and battery life is less than stellar (Surface 3’s battery comes in at about 7 hours with intensive use).

Still, if you’re looking for a tablet/laptop hybrid device and are interested in doing quick word processing on-the-go, or browsing the Internet during your morning commute, than Microsoft’s Surface 3 is the best and most affordable option around right now, especially since it uses the full version of Windows 8.1, unlike past Surfaces.

A $249 docking station is also available that turns the Surface 3 into a decent web browsing-focused desktop.

Manufacturer: Microsoft Surface 3

Price: Starts at $639

Release Date: May 5, 2015

Score: 8/10

Online music streaming service Grooveshark, admitting “very serious mistakes,” shut down its operations as part of a settlement with major record labels, joining the ranks of several now-defunct peers sued over copyright infringement.

In a message posted to its website on Thursday, Grooveshark said that “despite (the) best of intentions, we made very serious mistakes. We failed to secure licenses from rights holders for the vast amount of music on the service.”

The settlement ends a four-year legal battle and came as Grooveshark’s parent company, Escape Media Group, was facing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in a trial set to begin in federal court in Manhattan on May 4.

Grooveshark will wipe clean all of the record companies’ copyrighted works and hand over ownership of its website, mobile apps and intellectual property, including patents and copyrights, the company said.

Nine record companies, including Arista Music, Sony Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings, and Warner Bros Records, sued Escape Media Group for infringement in 2011.

In court papers, they called Grooveshark a “linear descendant” of Grokster, LimeWire and Napster, all of which were shut down because of copyright infringement.

The labels on Friday referred to a statement by the Record Industry Association of America, which called the deal “an important victory for artists and the entire music industry.”

The RIAA said that Escape founders Joshua Greenberg and Samuel Tarantino agreed to “significant financial penalties” if the terms of the settlement were breached. A spokesman for Grooveshark declined to comment.

Gainesville, Florida-based Grooveshark was thriving with more than 30 million users. The company said it had a policy to honor copyright holders’ “takedown” requests that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa ruled last week that its infringement of nearly 5,000 recordings by artists such as Madonna, Jay-Z and Bob Marley was “willful” and made “in bad faith,” potentially putting Escape on the hook for more than US$736 million in damages.

Related

• Jay Z’s music streaming service Tidal flops, dropping out of iTunes’ top 700 U.S. apps chart
• Apple Inc music streaming platform may debut in June: reports

© Thomson Reuters 2015

I’m both confounded and disappointed with the second act of Double Fine’s Kickstarter-funded adventure game Broken Age.

After raking in nearly $4 million in crowd funding, the acclaimed American indie game maker delivered a wonderful first half in its fanciful home-grown point-and-click adventure. Beautiful, funny, and wonderfully clever, Broken Age began as the story of an independent young woman taking a stand and a mollycoddled boy trying to mature into a man. It was a pleasure to play, even if its puzzles weren’t all that interesting.

Players ended up waiting a surprising long 15 months to get the second half of the tale, but, like many, I assumed that time was being put to good use.

Apparently it was not.

The second half of the game shamelessly regurgitates locations and characters, lacks much of the smart subtext and meaning we were able to draw from the first game, and cranks up puzzle difficulty to unfair and un-fun extremes.

In case it needs saying, I didn’t much enjoy it.

Double Fine Productions

When you boot Broken Age up and press continue you’ll see the last few moments of the first act play out again.

(SPOILER ALERT – if you haven’t played the first act and plan to, stop reading now.)

The brave young Vella falls into to the monster-cum-ship she just destroyed as a confused Shay stumbles out onto the beach upon which it crashed. The two heroes switch places, setting up some interesting possibilities.

That’s where we left off. The rush of excitement re-experiencing this terrific twist came rushing back. The stylized, hand-crafted world was just as inviting as I’d remembered, and our two protagonists seemed ripe to continue their fantastical adventure. I was ready to dive in.

Then things quickly began to bog down.

Shay walks up the beach and into a town, then climbs a hill where he meets Alex, the guy who helped Vella shoot down the monster in the first act. After a funny little introduction he gives Shay a list of stuff he needs to get his ship working again, and Shay spends pretty much the rest of his time in the game collecting these items by going back to places Vella had already explored and talking to characters Vella had already met.

On the one hand, these are some great characters. Voiced by the likes of Will Wheaton and Jack Black, they’re bursting with personality. And the writing – particularly a couple bits that involve telling jokes to an easily offended tree and trying to properly describe the shape of a knot – is as charming and knowing as ever.

But – and I can’t emphasize this strongly enough – we’ve seen all of these places and people before. This dogged retreading sucks almost all of the originality and creativity out of the experience. Exploration is simply non-existant.

Compounding matters, the puzzles – once just minor distractions – have transformed into exasperating exercises in trial and error.

The connections between the items you collect and how and where you’re intended to use them are frequently unknowable. I literally spent hours just going from one character to the next and dragging and dropping items in my inventory on them until something happened.

And when something did happen, I often found myself thinking – angrily – that there was no logical reason why I should have known that it would.

Double Fine Productions

During the most frustrating moments of Shay’s quest I simply quit his story and jumped over to Vella – a nice trick happily carried forward from the first act.

Vella’s puzzles aren’t any less frustrating, but at least the ship she finds herself on is a little bit different than we remembered it through Shay, abused as it was by the crash landing.

Her goal in the second act is simply to learn a little more about the monster’s provenance and continue her quest to stop it – and others like it – from terrorizing her world. In order to do that she needs to take control of the ship, which lifts off soon after she enters it and begins rapidly flying away from the town.

Her initial exploration serves as a useful survey of the ship’s newly busted up condition, but I quickly became confounded by perhaps the most irritating puzzle in the game. It involves using the ship’s body-modifying teleporter to grow Vella’s head to such a size that her voice noticeably changes. Problem is, you need to go through the teleporters in an unspecified order in order to get her head to just the right size, and that means running all the way across the ship multiple times in different directions as you experiment.

I was so flummoxed by this conundrum that I eventually just looked up a walkthrough on YouTube – only to find the guy who recorded it getting just as frustrated as I was. He actually quit his recording session to look up how to do it on notes sent to him by the developer, hopped back on, and got stuck again.

I might have found it comical if it wasn’t 2:00 in the morning and I hadn’t been baffled by the puzzle myself for the last 45 minutes.

Double Fine Productions

But while the recycled assets and downright unfair puzzles are letdowns, perhaps the biggest disappointment in Broken Age‘s concluding chapter is simply that, unlike its precursor, it has so little to say.

The first half of the game challenged traditional conceptions of both female and male characters, celebrated individualism, and gleefully suggested that rules are made to be broken. It was refreshingly cynical.

As I played through the second act I kept waiting for similar subversiveness. I was sure that at any moment Shay would subtly comment on what a world beyond and without motherly protection is really like, or that Vella’s righteousness would be slyly tempered by the realities of the world. Or something. Anything.

But there’s nothing. Both heroes sail blithely and unchangingly along their set paths toward what turns out to be a decidedly traditional good-guys-versus-bad-guys finale. They simply face down an utterly conventional enemy in predictable fashion, exploiting none of the dynamic possibilities built up within their characters in the first act.

Double Fine Productions

After beginning with such promise, the second half of Broken Age feels like the product of abandonment and neglect. It’s as though Double Fine simply went through the motions, investing none of the passion or creativity that made the first act so special.

The question is why.

The more cynical side of me imagines that it could be because there was little money in it. After all, people already paid for the second act when they bought the first. But I don’t want to believe that.

A slightly less pessimistic (yet hardly soothing) answer could be that Double Fine simply became busy with other projects. After all, the studio did release five unrelated games between Broken Age‘s first and second acts. That would help explain the massive span of development time the second act consumed, despite its clear lack of new assets or fresh ideas.

It’s easy to imagine our favourite game makers as infallible, but they are, after all, only human and quite capable of mistakes.

The second act of Broken Age is unfortunate evidence that Double Fine’s crap stinks just like anyone else’s.

Double Fine Productions

Toronto’s annual TOJam challenges amateur and professional designers to build a complete game in just three days.

It’s become one of the biggest and most respected events of its kind anywhere in the world, in part because of how seriously it’s taken by its participants.

The people who register and attend TOJam want to make real, playable games. Polished games. Fun games. Games that, in some cases, end up evolving far beyond their humble origins at a weekend game-making event.

Related

• Now in its 10th year, TOJam shows no sign of slowing

More than a dozen acclaimed and recognizable games – including Capybara Games’ iOS cult classic Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and the viral father-daughter project Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure – began their journey at TOJams past.

As the 10th annual T.O.Jam gets underway at George Brown College’s downtown Toronto campus May 1st through 3rd, Post Arcade chatted with a couple of game designers who are currently working on transforming games originally conceived at previous jams into full-fledged – and fully marketable – pieces of interactive entertainment that you’ll soon be able to purchase and play yourself.

MK UltraKnight & Damsel

Toronto-based MK Ultra’s Mathew Kumar, a Scottish expatriate who made the province’s capital his home in large part because of its bustling, highly networked indie game scene, is currently working on Knight & Damsel, a game that got its start a couple of years ago at TOJam 8.

“It’s an ‘uncooperative’ two-player puzzle platformer that features a Knight and a ‘Damsel’ that are trying to rescue each other without realizing that what they’re doing isn’t actually very helpful,” Kumar explained of his game, which has also been described in the press as a “competitive two-player feminist puzzle platformer.”

“It was fun and people really liked it. So we decided to flesh it out.”

An Ouya edition of Knight & Damsel entered production not long after the game debuted at the jam. Kumar and the MK Ultra team have since expanded and refined the project with the help of other Toronto area designers, including members of the not-for-profit Dames Making Games collective.

“Getting amazing input from people like that would be a lot harder to come by anywhere other than a city like Toronto,” Kumar said.

Like other TOJam participants, Kumar sees the event as being as much work as it is play; an opportunity to observe, learn, and challenge oneself.

“There’s a great sense of community, and the thrill of being surrounded by people firing on all cylinders,” he said. “It pumps you up, and you end up surprising yourself with what you can accomplish. And that bleeds into the rest of your life.”

Juicy BeastToto Temple Deluxe

Montreal-based Juicy Beast is another studio currently working on bringing a TOJam-spawned game to the masses.

Toto Temple Deluxe pits four players against each other in a contest to capture and hold on to a goat in order to earn points. It earned rave reviews from other jam participants and ended up being selected for the 2013 TOJam Retrospective, where some of the jam’s best games are put on display. It was also playable at that year’s Gamercamp, another Toronto-based indie game showcase.

“We kept fine tuning the game for each event, but we never actually got to add more content,” explained Juicy Beast co-founder Yowan Langlais. “Then the great folks at Ouya reached out and offered us help to make the game bigger for a full-fledged release on their platform.”

Juicy Beast’s game launched on Ouya last year to warm reviews, prompting Langlais and his team to start working on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Wii U, and Steam editions, all slated for release this summer.

After Toto Temple‘s success, Langlais and his team became regular TOJam attendees.

“For us it’s a way to escape from whatever we’ve been doing and just have fun for a couple of days,” he said. “We try to come up with something that we could potentially bring back to the office and keep working on to release as a bigger game later. It’s a really good way to test new ideas. If they have potential, we just found gold. If they don’t, we had fun and didn’t lose that much time in the process. We always win.”

Inspired by the success of participants like Langlais and Kumar, each annual TOJam sees an influx of new designers interested in filling a few of the coveted seats in the event’s limited two-floor workspace. It’s too late to get in on the jam this year, but both Kumar and Langlais have some advice for up-and-coming designers who are considering participating in 2016.

“Just do it!” said Langlais. “You have nothing to lose in a game jam, except maybe a bit of your time. It’s a good opportunity to meet other folks and test out their games.”

“Get sandwiches at the Blue Sky Sandwich place nearby,” Kumar added, noting that participants aren’t mandated to take breaks from their laptops during the three-day event, though it’s definitely recommended.

“They are so good.”

FOSTER CITY, Calif. — Tesla CEO Elon Musk is trying to steer his electric car company’s battery technology into homes and businesses as part of an elaborate plan to reshape the power grid with millions of small power plants made of solar panels on roofs and batteries in garages.

Musk announced Tesla’s expansion into the home battery market amid a party atmosphere at the company’s design studio near Los Angeles International Airport. The festive scene attended by a drink-toting crowd of enthusiasts seemed fitting for a flashy billionaire renowned for pursuing far-out projects. For instance, colonizing Mars is one of Musk’s goals at Space X, a rocket maker that he also runs.

Now, he is setting out on another ambitious mission. “Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy,” Musk told reporters gathered in Hawthorne, California.

Related

• Google Inc almost bought Tesla Motors Inc in 2013 when the automaker was on the verge of bankruptcy
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to land a rocket on a floating, unmanned barge
• Tesla Motors goes after BMW, Mercedes buyers by boosting range, model and price of low end Model S

Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesElon Musk unveiled the home battery named Powerwall with a selling price of $3,500 for 10kWh and $3,000 for 7kWh and very large utility pack called Powerpack.

Although Tesla will make the battery called “Powerwall,” it will be sold by a variety of other companies. The list of partners includes SolarCity, a solar installer founded by Musk’s cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive. Musk is SolarCity’s chairman and largest shareholder.

As with Tesla’s electric cars, which start around $70,000, the battery might be too expensive for most consumers. The system will carry a suggested price of $3,000 to $3,500, depending on the desired capacity. That could discourage widespread adoption, especially for a product that may only have limited use.

“I don’t believe this product in its first incarnation will be interesting to the average person,” conceded Peter Rive, SolarCity’s chief technology officer. Rive, though, still expects there to be enough demand to substantially increase the number of batteries in homes.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesThe long-term goal is to reduce the world’s reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels while creating regional networks of home batteries that could be controlled as if they were a power plant.

Musk is so encouraged by the initial demand that he believes Tesla and other future entrants in the market will be able to sell 2 billion battery packs around the world — roughly the same number of vehicles already on roads. Although that may sound like a “super crazy” goal, Musk insisted it “is within the power of humanity to do.”

It will take a long time to get there. Tesla hopes to begin shipping a limited number of Powerwall batteries this summer in the U.S. before expanding internationally next year.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesA Powerpack system is on display after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla unveiled suit of batteries for homes, businesses, and utilities at Tesla Design Studio Thursday in Hawthorne, California.

The long-term goal is to reduce the world’s reliance on energy generated from fossil fuels while creating regional networks of home batteries that could be controlled as if they were a power plant. That would give utilities another way to ensure that they can provide power at times of peak demand.

For now, the battery primarily serves as an expensive backup system during blackouts for customers like David Cunningham, an aerospace engineer from Foster City, California. He installed a Tesla battery late last year to pair with his solar panels as part of a pilot program run by the California Public Utilities Commission to test home battery performance.

Although Cunningham’s home has not endured a blackout in the six months that he has had the battery, it’s capable of running critical home appliances like lights and refrigeration and can be recharged by solar panels during the day.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty ImagesGuests pose with the Powerwall unit after Elon Musk Thursday announced Tesla’s expansion into the home battery market amid a party atmosphere at the company’s design studio near Los Angeles International Airport.

“As long as a person has solar panels, it’s just a natural fit for the two to go together,” Cunningham, 77, said. “I consider it to be a whole power system right here in my home.”

Cunningham took advantage of state incentives that sharply reduced the battery’s $18,300 sticker price under the pilot program. He still paid $7,500.

“The value proposition now is around reliability and backup power more than it is around savings, but over time that may change,” said Shayle Kahn, an analyst at GTM Research.

The batteries are likely to become more useful if, as expected, more utilities and regulators allow power prices to change throughout the day based on market conditions. That way, the software that controls the solar and battery system will allow customers to use their home-generated power — and not expensive grid power — when grid prices spike.

Many commercial customers already buy power this way, and Tesla also announced battery systems designed for them, along with bigger battery packs that utilities can use to manage their grids. Analysts say these utility and commercial markets will probably be more promising for Tesla during the next few years than residential customers.

Several businesses, including Amazon.com and Target, plan to use Tesla’s battery storage system on a limited basis. Southern California Edison is already using Tesla batteries to store energy.

Tesla is building a giant factory in Nevada that will begin churning out batteries in 2017, so Musk needs to begin drumming up customers now. The spotlight may help Musk push policy makers and utilities to consider reshaping regulations so solar and battery storage could be more easily incorporated into the larger electric system, Kahn said.

Tesla’s ambitions already have intrigued homeowners like Mike Thielen, who installed one of the prototype batteries with SolarCity panels on his Redondo Beach, California, home last year. Although he hasn’t needed the backup power yet, he has embraced the concept.

“I think it’s brilliant,” he said. “I would consider upgrading to a more powerful home battery if they could figure out a way to get me totally off the grid.”

LinkedIn Corp. shares plunged as much as 27 per cent after the company forecast revenue that missed analysts’ estimates, citing the strong dollar and slower-than-projected growth.

Second-quarter revenue will be US$670 million to US$675 million, the company said in a statement Thursday. Analysts had predicted US$718.3 million, on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The social-networking site for professionals also trimmed its forecast for annual revenue to US$2.9 billion from between US$2.93 billion and US$2.95 billion.

“This is an extraordinary miss for a company that has by and large avoided any major blowups since going public,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The company’s shares were down 23 per cent in extended trading, after dropping 2 per cent to close at US$252.13. The stock had gained 9.7 per cent this year.

First-quarter revenue slowed in LinkedIn’s main business of serving recruiters, according to the company’s prepared statement for a conference call with investors. Assigning accounts to new sales representatives at the beginning of the year caused some customer loss, LinkedIn said.

Growth was also affected by currency-exchange rates, as LinkedIn generated 39 per cent of its revenue from outside the U.S. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a measure of the U.S. currency against 10 major peers, gained 6.2 per cent in the first quarter.

Related

• LinkedIn Corp is buying online learning firm Lynda.com for $1.5 billion to offer members courses
• LinkedIn’s billionaire founder shares his best networking advice: ‘Your company can’t thrive without it’

Expansion Spending

Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner has been spending to build the company’s business beyond its foundation as a portal for recruiters and job hunters, with tools that use the site’s user data for marketing and sales.

Those efforts aren’t translating to as much revenue growth as expected, Sweeney said. First-quarter revenue from marketing products rose 38% from a year earlier to US$119 million. Sales from services that companies use to recruit increased 36 per cent to US$396 million.

Earnings excluding some items was US$73 million, or 57 cents a share, matching analysts predictions.

LinkedIn’s net loss widened to US$42.5 million, or 34 cents a share, from US$13.4 million, or 11 cents a share.

Revenue rose 35 per cent to US$638 million. Analysts had projected US$637.8 million.

The site, based in Mountain View, California, continues to expand its services, moving into professional education with an agreement this month to acquire Lynda.com Inc. for US$1.5 billion.

Bloomberg.com

The Apple Watch is finally upon us and as expected a number of developers have attempted to figure out what kind of gaming experiences work well on the device with varying results. Most of the Apple Watch’s games are horrible, amounting to little more than companion apps that add little to their core gaming experience, which is expected given the device’s underwhelming processor (when compared to a smartphone), current reliance on the iPhone and the wearable’s tiny 312 by 390-pixel screen.

But a few Apple Watch games stand out from the crowd as enjoyable experiences, and one of them might be onto something, bringing a new kind of video game genre to Apple Inc’s first wearable that’s surprisingly perfectly suited to the Apple Watch’s limitations as a gaming device.

—

Lifeline | 3 Minute Games, LLC | 6/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMr5rxPBbFg&w=640&h=390]

Lifeline is essentially an interactive novel that plays out as a series of transmissions from a stranded space explorer. It’s an interesting concept that’s appropriate for the Apple Watch, but doesn’t feel like a game in the traditional sense. The player uses their Apple Watch to communicate with Lifeline‘s character, named Taylor, instructing him on what he should do next. The game’s $3.49 price also doesn’t feel appropriate given what the title offers the player – essentially a very basic choose your own adventure novel.

Still, Lifeline is clever and could be an indication of the type of games that will land on the Apple Watch in the future. However, if the idea of a text-based adventure appeals to you, another Apple Watch game called Spy_Watch is likely a better option since it offers a more interactive experience.

—

Rules! | TheCodingMonkeys | 7/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCIqtW7A85E&w=640&h=390]

Rules! is a more complicated version of the classic game Simon, tasking the player with remembering an ever-increasing sequence of basic rules. If you enjoy memorization games, you’ll like Rules! And if you dont? Rules! will be a painful experience.

The first few sequences involve tapping numbers in ascending or descending order, and are typically easy to remember, but when other parameters are thrown into the mix, such as only tapping mammals, or selecting odd numbers, all within a constantly counting down time limit, the game’s difficulty increases quickly and drastically. But still, as Apple Watch apps games and even apps go, Rules! is impressive.

Tapping the Apple Watch’s touch screen is usually responsive (although the game did lag on occasion) and you also don’t need to have the app open on your iPhone first to launch Rules!, an issue many other Apple Watch games suffer from.

Rules! costs $2.99.

—

Trivia Crack | Etermax | 4/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxoim1uLUnw&w=640&h=390]

Trivia Crack is fun but extremely glitchy. During my brief time with the game it crashed a number of times. It also requires the user to open the game on their iPhone before being paired with another player, defeating the purpose of the Apple Watch’s easy-to-access-focused existence and causing me to wonder why Trivia Crack wasn’t just an iPhone game.

In Trivia Crack the player spins a wheel and then is assigned a trivia category. You then select one of multiple choices, hoping you’ve picked the correct answer. This type of game is well-suited for the Apple Watch and can be played in short bursts, but unfortunately the fact you need to open the app’s iPhone counterpart first in order to launch it, is a huge issue. If this issue ends up getting solved, Trivia Crack will be much easier to recommend.

Trivia Crack is free.

—

Battle Camp | PennyPop | 7/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnK18dCuNuE&w=640&h=390]

Battle Camp is a game I didn’t expect to enjoy, but there’s something nostalgically compelling about taking care of a virtual pet as an adult (the irony of doing so on $450+ smartwatch also wasn’t lost on me). Essentially, Battle Camp plays very similar to a retro 90s Tamagotchi (there’s also a more limited Tamagotchi companion app for the Apple Watch).

The game is basic, allowing the player to only feed, clean and play with their little monster, but the fact that your Apple Watch reminds you every once in awhile to feed your virtual pet, somehow makes playing the game fun. Once you’ve raised your monster to a certain level, it can be dropped into the world of Battle Camp‘s iPhone game.

Battle Camp is free.

—

Spy_Watch | Bossa Studios | 8/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIigbJlmx0E&w=640&h=390]

Spy_Watch is the best Apple Watch game available right now and will likely be the first in a slew of other similar titles released for the device. In Spy_Watch you play as a spy commander, calling the shots to agents in the field, giving them commands and telling your operative what to do next.

The app is actually very similar to Lifeline, but with a RPG twist, allowing the player to take on different missions, earn money that can then be used to buy new equipment, and also level-up. When you start a mission you’ll often give your agent a simple commend such as  “take out the doorman.” You then sit and wait for the results of that action, which can sometimes take up to an hour, or even multiple hours. Many missions can last as long as a real world day.

Spy_Watch is the type of passive experience you play over the course of a day or even multiple days, as the game reminds the player every once in awhile about what their operative is doing, making the game perfectly suited for the Apple Watch as a gaming platform.

Spy_Watch costs $1.99.

—

Runeblade | Everywhere Games | 2/10

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31pTC_sdqmU&w=640&h=390]

Runeblade is a game I desperately wanted to enjoy. The concept of playing a simple role-playing title on my Apple Watch seems very appealing at first, but unfortunately the game is bad, so much so that I wonder why it even exists. Your quest is to kill monsters by tapping a sword button, collecting gold in the process and then in turn upgrading your attack power and weapon.

But that’s it. There’s no point to Runeblade other than to continue tapping the screen. Monsters don’t even fight back in any way making for an extremely boring experience and causing me to wish I never played it in the first place. You can use your coins to purchase different weapons, but new items don’t seem to change how much damage you deal to your enemies and they still never fight back in any way.

Runeblade is free.

—

Cupcake Dungeon | WearGa | 6/10

HandoutIf you look beyond Cupcake Dungeon's cutesy exterior, you'll find a surprisingly deep RPG that's perfect for small bursts of play.

Cupcake Dungeon is similar to Runeblade in a variety of ways, except instead of monsters, the player slays hordes of pastries and candies with strange weapons. The game is from the same team as Pixel Miner on the Pebble smartwatch and is the kind of title you play for five seconds numerous times a day.

The cutesy treat filled aesthetic is a welcome change of pace from the typical role-playing game lore, and enemies actually fight back at the player, giving you a reason to push forward. Cupcake Dungeon is essentially everything RuneBlade isn’t, although it’s still repetitive, causing me to grow bored of the title after only a few short play sessions.

Cupcake Dungeon is currently free.

Billionaire Elon Musk thinks he can pave the way to a better energy future by turning the mattress-shaped batteries in Tesla’s electric car into upright pillars so they can be used to power homes, businesses and even utilities.

Musk will lift the veil Thursday on a new generation of batteries designed to store growing volumes of solar and wind energy. If he gets it right, Tesla Motors Inc. will have spun a significant second business off the technology originally designed for its electric vehicles — and will gain a toehold in a business projected to generate tens of billions of dollars in a decade.

Nobody in the power industry has yet been able to come up with a cost-effective way to store large volumes of energy for later distribution. Tesla is making a bet that its huge US$5 billion “gigafactory” currently under construction near Reno, Nevada, will enable the mass production needed to drive down the cost of batteries and make them competitive for a broad range of customers, including traditional suppliers of electricity.

Tesla has scheduled an event Thursday at its design studio in Hawthorne, California, to announce both a Tesla home battery and what it called last week in a note to investors “a very large utility-scale battery.”

Eagerly Awaiting

“Whatever Tesla announces on Thursday is just the beginning,” said Peter Rosegg, spokesman for Hawaiian Electric Co., where 12 per cent of the utility’s customers have rooftop solar panels. “Tesla doesn’t have to go after the market — the market will come to them. We’re very eager to see what they have to say.”

Tesla, based in Palo Alto, California, has its eye on a business that’s poised for tremendous growth. As homes, businesses and utilities use more renewable energy generated by sunshine and wind, the need to provide reliable power grows. Batteries can be used to store electricity during peak production times, and then dispense it later when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

Musk tweeted a teaser about the Thursday announcement: “For the future to be good, we need electric transport, solar power and (of course) … the missing piece,” he posted on Twitter Tuesday.

For the future to be good, we need electric transport, solar power and (of course) … pic.twitter.com/8mwVWukQDL

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2015

Global Growth

A January report from Navigant Research estimates that worldwide revenue from grid-scale energy storage may exceed US$68 billion by 2024 as renewable resources multiply and electricity grid operators seek to balance the mix of generation assets.

Tesla is already supplying batteries to homes and commercial businesses such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. through pilot projects and a supply agreement with SolarCity Corp., a relationship that generated US$2.7 million in revenue for Tesla in 2014, according to a recent regulatory filing. That’s less than 1/10 of 1 per cent of the automaker’s total for last year.

But Tesla is thinking much bigger, saying in job postings that its energy-storage business will soon grow to billions in sales. Musk plans to combine the strengths of the company’s patented lithium-ion batteries, which currently can run a car for about 426 kilometers a charge, with its expertise in power management software.

Green Trio

Musk’s green power ambitions involve three inter-connected enterprises: SolarCity, where he serves as chairman, the battery factory in Nevada, and the Tesla car business. With the move into energy storage, Tesla can help green the grid that fuels its cars while offering solar customers a way to store any excess electricity in batteries for use during hours of less sunlight and greater demand.

An even larger potential market will be utilities that have traditionally generated power with coal and natural gas.

“Tesla isn’t just going to sell batteries to SolarCity,” said Ben Kallo, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co. “They are going to sell to project developers, wind and solar developers, and directly to utilities. The residential product isn’t going to be a huge needle mover in the near term, but the numbers are very big on the utility side.”

Tesla will face competition from other battery makers such as Korea’s LG Chem Ltd., legacy U.S. power providers such as AES Corp. and startups such as JLM Energy Inc. It will have to navigate regulatory hurdles in a state-by-state market with varying degrees of subsidies and incentives for the technology.

Utilities, cautious by nature, have been slow to adopt storage on their own.

“Storage doesn’t neatly fit into transmission, distribution or generation categories so it can be tough for utilities to justify investing in storage projects,” said Brian Warshay, an analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “Some utilities, like the California investor-owned companies, are getting into storage because their regulator basically told them they have to.”

In Tesla’s home state, a groundbreaking energy-storage mandate requires PG&E Corp., Edison International’s Southern California Edison and Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric to collectively buy 1.3 gigawatts of energy storage capacity by the end of 2020. New York is also pushing utilities to use storage to relieve congestion on transmission lines and plans for the potential retirement of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Entergy Corp., owner of Indian Point, is applying for a federal license to keep its reactors open through the end of the next decade.

Utilities in California and New York are potential customers for Tesla. The automaker also has been in talks to provide its batteries to Oncor Electric Delivery Co., the largest power-line owner in Texas.

“Batteries really are kind of a panacea for the grid,” said Don Clevenger, senior vice president of strategic planning for Oncor. “They provide better reliability.”

Bloomberg.com