Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Dell Buyout Could Include Microsoft Investment

Dell Buyout Could Include Microsoft Investment
last week it was announced that Dell was participating in buyout talks that could take the company private. Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell were both name-dropped as potential investors in the buyout.
Today, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft may be willing to toss a few billion dollars into the deal. According to “a person familiar with the deal deliberations,” Microsoft hasn’t made a commitment yet, though it could invest “in the range of a couple of billion dollars.” According to the report, Silver Lake has been shopping for banks or other co-investors to fund the buyout.
Microsoft hasn’t commented on a possible deal, and the Journal’s unnamed source hasn’t provided any possible motivation for Microsoft’s intrest in Dell. It isn’t hard to speculate, however.
With the debut of the Surface tablet last year, Microsoft signaled a shift toward making mobile devices on its own, rather than letting OEMs decide how to best use Microsoft software. The growing integration between Windows 8 PCs, tablets, hybrid PC/tablets, and the Xbox Console demonstrated that Microsoft is serious about creating an Apple-like ecosystem for Windows 8. Dell’s development and manufacturing capabilities would be valuable resources during such a transition.
In the same vein, Dell may hold any number of valuable patents. With the number of patent lawsuits currently in courts around the world, the patent wars show no signs of abating.


About Sean Patterson
Sean is a staff writer for WebProNews. Follow Sean on Google+: +Sean Patterson and Twitter: @St_Patt

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Googler Talks About Not Reindexing Pages


Googler Talks About Not Reindexing Pages
Ever had a problem with Google indexing your pages? If there’s no real content on them, then that’s probably why.
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to a Google Webmaster Central help thread, where one person says they had over 2,000 pages indexed on Webmaster Tools, but that the number went down to 60, and eventually back up to 116.
“When I google: ‘site:www.gamez4you.com’ I see all the indexed pages correctly,” the webmaster says. “I suspect that is the reson my Adsense CPC went down by 60-70%.”
Google’s Gary Illyes responded, indicating that it was a lack of content on the pages that was the problem. Here’s his full response:
As we improve our algorithms, they may decide to not reindex pages that are likely to be not useful for the users. I took a look on the pages that were once indexed but currently aren’t and it appears there are quite a few that have no real content; for example http://www.gamez4you.com/car-games/play-crazy-mustang seems to be a soft error page, which means that even though it comes back with 200 HTTP status code, it is in fact an error page that shouldn’t be indexed. Another example would be http://www.gamez4you.com/all-games/page-71 which seems to be an empty page.
Another reason you may see the number of pages dropping in the Webmaster Tools’ Sitemaps module is that your Sitemap is referencing URLs that are not canonical. For example in your Sitemap you reference
however the currently canonical URL of that particular URL is
To fix the indexed urls count, I would recommend fixing canonicalization of the URLs one your site and to set your server to return proper status codes (e.g. 404) for inexistent URLs. You can read more about canonicalization at http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=139394 and about soft error pages at http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=181708
Hope this helps
Another webmaster in the thread indicates that he had a similar problem to the Sitemap referencing URLs that aren’t canonical issue.

About Chris Crum
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Follow Chris on Twitter, on StumbleUpon, on Pinterest and/or on Google: +Chris Crum.

Doodle 4 Google Asks Kids to Draw Their “Best Day Ever”


Google has just opened up the 2013 Doodle 4 Google competition, and are currently accepting submissions. This is the 6th year that Google has held the contest.
Each year, Google asks student aged K-12 to create their own Google Doodle. The winners are broken into grade brackets, and national finalists receive a small prize. The grand prize winner always receives tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, grants, and other cool swag.
This year’s prompt is “My Best Day Ever…”
“The judging starts with Googlers and a panel of guest judges. This year our judges include journalist and TV personality Katie Couric; music maestro Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots; Chris Sanders, writer and director of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon; and Pendleton Ward, creator of Adventure Time; among other great creative minds,” says Google.
On May 1st, once the state winners have been selected, the public vote will open. Winners will be announced on May 22nd.
The winner of this year’s contest will win a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology grant for their school, and will see their doodle appear on the Google homepage for a day. Pretty sweet deal.
Below is last year’s winner; Second-grader Dylan Hoffman’s response to the “If I could travel in time I’d visit” theme.

You can visit the official Doodle 4 Google site for entry info.

About Josh Wolford
Josh Wolford is a Writer for WebProNews. He likes beer, Sriracha and movies that make him feel weird afterward. Mostly beer. Follow him on Twitter: @joshgwolf Google+: Joshua Wolford StumbleUpon: joshgwolf

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Facebook Celebrates Poke App with New Menlo Park Sign


Out with the “like,” in with the “poke?”
Facebook is promoting their brand new standalone app for ephemeral communications, Poke, by revamping their sign the sits in front of their Menlo Park headquarters.
Facebook launched Poke last month, a rebranding of their longstanding but forgotten “poke” function. The Poke app allows users to send short-lived photo and video messages to friends – lasting either 1, 3, 5, or 10 seconds. Once the time is up, the messages vanish. Poke users are notified if recipients attempt to save a piece of the message with a screenshot. At launch, it was seen as a clear response to the popular Snapchat app, which allows users pretty much the same functionality.
“To celebrate the launch of our new Poke app, designers Sharon Hwang, Tim Belonax, Ben Barry and Mike Matas—together with the team at New Bohemia Signs—had a little fun changing the sign in front of our Menlo Park HQ,” says Facebook.
From “like”:
Facebook like sign menlo park
…to “Poke”:

Snapchat, and subsequently Poke, are seen by some as a “sexting” apps, since they allow for discreet communications that hold no staying power. If you want to send your boyfriend a boob pic, Poke is a way to ensure that the image won’t wind up on reddit after you break up.
Of course, Facebook isn’t marketing Poke like this. They say that it’s simply a fun and easy way to let your friends in on what you’re doing, at that exact moment in time – to share brief, impermanent communications from everyday life. Poke is in the early stages of its life, so we don’t really have any hard figures on its adoption. The NY Times’ Bits blog ran a piece calling it a “head-scratcher,” and the author claimed the in his unscientific determination, only 31 of his 500+ friends were currently using the app.
Out of my 600+ friends, only one is currently using Poke.
Nevertheless, Facebook is celebrating its launch. Do you think Poke will find a place among messengers?



About Josh Wolford
Josh Wolford is a Writer for WebProNews. He likes beer, Sriracha and movies that make him feel weird afterward. Mostly beer. Follow him on Twitter: @joshgwolf Google+: Joshua Wolford StumbleUpon: joshgwolf

iPhone 5S Rumor: Apple Planning Low Cost iPhone For Emerging Markets


iPhone 5S Rumor: Apple Planning Low Cost iPhone For Emerging Markets
Just like the iPhone 5 before it, details on the iPhone 5S are already being leaked months ahead of its expected reveal later this year. The latest rumors concern the theory that Apple may be planning to release two iPhone models this year.
A report from Digitimes on Tuesday says that Apple will release a low-cost version of the iPhone for emerging markets, like China, where consumers are increasingly demanding cheaper devices. Digitimes’ sources said that low-cost device would be radically different from any iPhone before it:
Some sources claimed that they have seen the sample of the low-cost iPhone, which will come with a larger display, meeting the prevailing trend for the adoption of 5-inch displays for high-end models. They added that the low-priced iPhone will also have a brand new exterior design.
The sources also report that the recent introduction of cheap Qualcomm processors for entry-level to mid-range smartphones “may pave the way for Apple bringing out the low-cost iPhone.” It wouldn’t be that hard for Apple to design a low-cost chip that still provides a fair bit of power, but the company may also opt to go the iPad Mini route by powering its rumored low-cost iPhone with an older processor from a previous device, like the A5.
Speaking of the iPad Mini, Digitimes suggests that Apple may be looking at releasing a cheaper iPhone after seeing the relative success of the iPad Mini. It’s no secret that a lower price attracts more consumers, but Apple has proven that a high price point doesn’t stop it from selling millions of units in a weekend. A lower priced device would, however, help the company see increased success in emerging markets, like India or South America, where brand loyalty isn’t as strong.


About Zach Walton
Zach Walton is a Writer for WebProNews. He specializes in gaming and technology. Follow him on Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Google+ +Zach Walton

Microsoft Has Now Sold 60 Million Windows 8 Licenses


Microsoft Has Now Sold 60 Million Windows 8 Licenses
It was announced back in November that Microsoft had sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in one month. It was a pretty impressive figure at the time, and Microsoft was plenty proud of its early success. Now it’s been a little over two months since the launch of Microsoft’s touch-friendly OS. Is Windows 8 still doing well?
Microsoft announced at CES 2013 that Windows 8 has sold 60 million licenses to date. Before you get too excited, that number includes both upgrades and sales to OEMs. The company didn’t offer any more details on how its 60 million license figure breaks down, but it’s safe to say that OEMs are probably buying the bulk of licenses.
In other good news for the company, Microsoft said that there are now “more than 1,700 certified systems for Windows 8 and Windows RT.” The number of apps on the Windows Store has also quadrupled since launch, and the store just recently surpassed 100 million app downloads.
Microsoft seems pleased with the success of Windows 8 with Reller saying that the OS is “on a similar sales trajectory that [they] saw with Windows 7.” It’s a far different tone compared to a study released early this month that said Windows 8 adoption was behind that of Windows Vista.
Of course, you can’t really compare sales with adoption as the licenses purchased by OEMs may not have made their way into the hands of consumers yet. Until Microsoft or a trusted third party gives us some solid adoption numbers, we’ll continue to just hear about sales instead of adoption. The latter of which is arguably more important in the long run.
About Zach Walton
Zach Walton is a Writer for WebProNews. He specializes in gaming and technology. Follow him on Twitter, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and Google+ +Zach Walton