Bloomberg Global Tech Today January 14, 2015: Military Hack Is No Joke, Uber Learns to Share, Apple's GoPro Killer?.

GLOBALTECH TODAY Covering the 57 million square miles outside Silicon Valley.

January 14, 2015 For more, visit Bloomberg.com/global-tech >>

The @CENTCOM Hack Was No Joke By Jordan Robertson Monday's hacking of the U.S. Central Command's Twitter account was more damaging to the military's reputation than to national security. But that's not nothing. The hackers posted pro-Islamic State messages, such as "American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back. ISIS," and government documents purporting to contain sensitive information. In fact, the docs were innocuous and already in the public domain. The FBI is investigating; so far the government has given no indication that the Centcom network itself was compromised. A Pentagon spokeswoman described the attack as a "prank." Still, for the Defense Department arm that oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an institution that traffics in shock and awe, it was kind of shocking and awful. Taking someone's Twitter credentials typically requires a lot less effort than breaking into a government network, but as we've seen when celebrities and companies appear to start tweeting unusual things, it's an efficient vehicle for damaging reputations. Read the rest of this story.

BEST OF BWEST Instacart Battles Dot-Com Ghosts  Fresh off of a $210 billion funding round, Instacart is the latest company to join the billion-dollar valuation club. The site is making a go at the grocery delivery business despite competition from Amazon and the ghosts of dot-com busts. Watch the video >>

GET SMART Obama Chooses Well-Wired Iowa Town to Tout Web Access Plan The president, touching on a theme of Internet access ahead of next week's State of the Union address, will travel to the well-wired city of Cedar Falls, Iowa, to push for sweeping away laws that impede municipal broadband.  Accused 'Dread Pirate' Says He's Fall Guy in Bitcoin Drug Case Ross William Ulbricht, the former Eagle Scout accused of running the $1.2 billion Silk Road online drug bazaar, is a "fall guy" set up to take the punishment for an Internet site he created and then left after a few months, his lawyer told a jury. GoPro Plunges After Apple Gains Remote Camera PatentThe camera maker's shares plummeted 12 percent, their steepest decline since August, after Apple was granted a patent for a remote-control camera system.. Musk Sees Seattle-Made Satellites in Race to Mars The world according to Elon Musk is about to get more ambitious -- ranging from a Seattle engineering office to develop and launch satellites to the on-time delivery of electric sport-utility vehicles that appeal to women. Uber Agrees to Share Usage Data With Boston The mobile car-booking application said it will start sharing data about its rides with the city of Boston. The information, which will be anonymized to strip out individuals' identifying characteristics, could help Boston with issues such as traffic congestion, public transportation expansion and urban growth. Read more news at Bloomberg Global Tech >>

BIG DATUM 15M Spotify subscribers worldwide.

INSIDE U.S. TECH 80% of Success is Showing Up Amazon said director Woody Allen will create his first television series for the online retailer, enlisting an accomplished yet controversial filmmaker to add video-streaming content and extend clout in Hollywood. Read the full story >>

GLOBALTECH is brought to you from the desk of: Marcus Chan Technology Editor for Bloomberg.com mchan239@bloomberg.net @mchan Mark Milian Technology Writer/Editor for Bloomberg.com mmilian@bloomberg.net @markmilian Jordan Robertson Technology Reporter for Bloomberg.com jrobertson40@bloomberg.net @jordanr1000

Bloomberg Global Tech Today - January 12, 2015: Big Data's Premonitions, Jack Ma's Insult, Sony's Break-Even Film.

GLOBALTECH TODAY Covering the 57 million square miles outside Silicon Valley.

January 12, 2015 For more, visit Bloomberg.com/global-tech >>

Big Data Knows When You're Going to Quit Before You Do By Jack Clark Good bosses have an uncanny ability to sense when employees are unhappy and work with them to fix problems in the office before it's too late. At VMware in Silicon Valley, they let the machines figure it out. VMware has been testing a new prediction technology from Workday, which makes software for human resources departments. The system delivers notifications about when employees might be getting ready to quit, and allows managers to intervene before it's too late. It looks for trends within employee activity, when promotions were last handed out, regional factors, changes in the industry and other data to make its predictions. The recommendations can improve over time as employers train the system. Read the rest of this story. Related: U.S. Job Gains Cap Best Year Since 1999.

BEST OF BWEST The Challenges Facing Hong Kong Startups  Steven Lam Hoi-yuen, co-founder of GoGoVan, and Hong Kong Venture Capital Association's Melissa Guzy discuss the challenges facing Hong Kong startups. Watch the video >>

GET SMART Jack Ma Calls Tencent Move 'Stupid,' Apologizes for JD Insults Billionaire Jack Ma apologized for calling Chinese e-commerce rival JD.com a "tragedy," saying he was sorry for causing the company trouble by "putting it all out there."  GoPro CEO Woodman Sees Stock Grant Swell to $270 Million GoPro, the world's dominant maker of wearable video cameras used by surfers and others to record their exploits, has thrilled its investors with a 150 percent climb since its initial public offering last June. Corporate governance advisers are less sanguine. Sony Expects to Break Even on 'The Interview'"The Interview," the comedy that Sony Pictures temporarily pulled from theaters, is doing well enough from online sales and rentals to recoup the millions of dollars spent on the film, a person close to the studio said. Box Seeks Valuation of as Much as $1.6 Billion in U.S. IPO Box, the cloud-storage provider that first filed for an initial public offering last March, is proceeding with the share sale after several delays. Uber Says China's Endorsement of Licensed Car-Sharing Boosts AppUber said a Chinese Ministry of Transportation statement endorsing online taxi services that use licensed vehicles and drivers showed government support for car-hailing apps like its own.  Read more news at Bloomberg Global Tech >>

BIG DATUM $12K The ransom amount hackers want for stolen data from a Swiss bank.

INSIDE U.S. TECH Pay Me Back Amazon is known for its efforts to woo consumers with fast deliveries and vast product selection. It turns out the Web retailer is just as assertive when it comes to refunds for returned merchandise. Read the full story >>

GLOBALTECH is brought to you from the desk of: Marcus Chan Technology Editor for Bloomberg.com mchan239@bloomberg.net @mchan Mark Milian Technology Writer/Editor for Bloomberg.com mmilian@bloomberg.net @markmilian Jordan Robertson Technology Reporter for Bloomberg.com jrobertson40@bloomberg.net @jordanr1000

Bloomberg Global Tech Today January 28, 2014: Who Has the Fastest Internet?

GLOBALTECH TODAY Covering the 57 million square miles outside Silicon Valley. Sick of Slow Downloads? Move to Asia By Mark Milian ADVERTISEMENT AROUND THE WORLD Malone's Liberty Global to Buy Ziggo Bitcoin Seen as Safe Haven in Brazil Israel to Ease Cyber-Security Export Curbs Apple IPhone Sales Trail Estimates Read more news at Bloomberg Global Tech >> Asia is solidifying its place as the  world's epicenter for top-speed Internet access, according to the latest research from Akamai Technologies expected to be published later today. The top four places, ranked by their average peak connection speeds, were in Asia. Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Singapore had the speediest broadband, in that order, according to the study that looked at traffic flowing through Akamai's global network from July through September. With Taiwan ranking No. 8, regions or countries in Asia made up half of the top 10. Nearly all of the major Asia-Pacific markets tracked by Akamai improved their peak connection speeds by at least 12 percent compared with the previous year. Indonesia was the only one that dropped - a 30 percent decrease year-over-year to 9.7 megabits per second, putting the country at 115th on the list. India is the only major market in Asia that came in behind Indonesia, with an average peak speed of 9 Mbps. China's 11.3 Mbps average wasn't enough to break into the top 100, either. People in Asia are certainly taking advantage of the fast connections. Singapore, Japan and South Korea were among the top five countries with the highest mobile-broadband penetration in 2012, according to a report from the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations. Each of those countries exceeded 100 mobile-data connections per 100 inhabitants, which suggests people are using multiple connected devices. The concentration of high-speed Internet in Asia could have positive economic effects that reverberate throughout the region. Read  the rest of this story and Where to Find the World's Fastest Internet: Top 20. BEST OF BWEST Reaction to Perkins's Nazi Comparison The media world responds to comments by Tom Perkins, founding partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who equated treatment of the top 1 percent in the U.S. to Nazi Germany.  And don't miss Perkins's response on "Bloomberg West." Watch the video >> GET SMART Foxconn in Talks With U.S. States to Build FactoriesFoxconn, the maker of Apple's iPhone, is in talks with U.S. states including Arizona and Colorado to build advanced manufacturing facilities as part of plans to set up factories closer to its clients. Read the full story Sony Cut to Junk by Moody's as Mobile Devices Lure BuyersSony had its credit rating cut to junk by Moody's Investors Service as Japan's biggest television maker struggles to capture consumer demand for smartphones and tablet computers. Read the full story Read more news at Bloomberg Global Tech >> BIG DATUM $59M The amount of LG's surprise net loss. INSIDE THE VALLEY Tom Perkins Explains Holocaust Remark The venture capital pioneer said he was sorry (watch the video) for comparing today's treatment of wealthy Americans to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, though he stood by his message around class warfare.Read the full story >> GLOBALTECH is brought to you from the desk of: Marcus Chan Technology Editor for Bloomberg.com mchan239@bloomberg.net @mchan Mark Milian Technology Writer/Editor for Bloomberg.com mmilian@bloomberg.net @markmilian Jordan Robertson Technology Reporter for Bloomberg.com jrobertson40@bloomberg.net @jordanr1000

Bloomberg Global Tech Today January 13, 2014: The Top 5 Stories in Global Tech.

GLOBALTECH TODAY Covering the 57 million square miles outside Silicon Valley.

January 13, 2014 For more, visit Bloomberg.com/global-tech >>

The Top 5 Stories in Global Tech By Bloomberg News ADVERTISEMENT AROUND THE WORLD China's Culture Watchdog Writing Game Rules Japan's Docomo Gets Big IPhone Boost Oracle Lawsuit Centers on Indian's Pay Offer Read more news at Bloomberg Global Tech >> Not to be outdone by the fingerprint reader on Apple's iPhone, Samsung Electronics said it's exploring eye scanning technology for its smartphones, Bloomberg's Jungah Lee reported. The South Korean company also said it plans to release its Galaxy S5 in April. That was Global Tech's most popular article last week. Here were the other top stories. For BlackBerry Addicts, Typo Keyboard for iPhone May Be Worth the Headaches What if you could get all the benefits of a BlackBerry-style keyboard without giving up your iPhone? That's the premise of a new accessory called the Typo iPhone Keyboard Case, a $99 product reviewed by Bloomberg's Nick Turner. The peripheral comes as BlackBerry, which sued Typo over its design, returns to its keyboard rootsunder CEO John Chen.   NSA Spying Sends Data Clients North of the Border The chilly temperatures that help keep computer servers from overheating are part of Canadian companies' sales pitch to businesses looking to store their data on the cheap. Now they're touting what they say is a new advantage: less snooping. Behind the Missing $13 Billion at CES 2014 The Consumer Electronics Show is as much a place to drum up hype for new gadgets as it is an annual celebration of all things tech. But the trade group that puts on the Las Vegas convention kind of killed the mood after saying that global spending on technology by consumers will drop this year to $1.06 trillion, a decrease of about $13 billion from last year. Why the drop? Samsung Eyes Auto Expansion as High-End Smartphones Slow Samsung Electronics, which sells almost one of every three smartphones, wants to parlay that technology into automotive navigation and entertainment systems for an industry that makes more than 80 million vehicles a year. See the Slideshow on CES.  Watch Bloomberg's Tech Videos.

BEST OF BWEST Measuring the Economy Without Samsung The South Korean government is working on developing economic indicators that strip out the effect of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, according to a report. Watch the Video>>

GET SMART Afghan Women Seek Internet's Veil Amid ThreatsOff a dusty, unpaved street near Kabul University, Roya Mahboob's software company is designing a Web platform to let Afghan women create content from home even if Taliban militants return to power and curb their rights. Read the full story The Best From the Consumer Electronics ShowIf CES was a blur for you, don't worry. Bloomberg.com has all the highlights and biggest news from the gadget show all in one spot. Here you'll find our expert analyses, blog posts, videos and slideshow. See the full coverage Read more news at Bloomberg.com/globaltech >>

BIG DATUM 30% How much of South Africa-based Telkom's workforce will be cut over 5 years.

INSIDE THE VALLEY HP Plans to Renominate Directors to Stabilize Board Hewlett-Packard plans to renominate its slate of directors, including activist investor and interim chairman Ralph Whitworth, seeking stability after years of board turmoil and turnover. Read the full story>>

GLOBALTECH is brought to you from the desk of: Marcus Chan Technology Editor for Bloomberg.com mchan239@bloomberg.net @mchan Mark Milian Technology Writer/Editor for Bloomberg.com mmilian@bloomberg.net @markmilian Jordan Robertson Technology Reporter for Bloomberg.com jrobertson40@bloomberg.net @jordanr1000