Month: August 2016

(credit: Kham Tran)

Verizon Wireless is reportedly trying to add more bloatware to Android phones by installing apps from other companies in exchange for payment. "The wireless carrier has offered to install big brands' apps on its subscribers' home screens, potentially delivering millions of downloads, according to agency executives who have considered making such deals for their clients," Advertising Age reported yesterday. "But that reach would come at a cost: Verizon was seeking between $1 and $2 for each device affected, executives said."

Bloatware has been a problem on Android phones for years, and this wouldn't be the first time Verizon Wireless was the culprit. But the company's latest moves sound like they have the potential to make things worse.

Verizon started pitching the app installs to retail and finance companies, among others, late last year, according to Advertising Age. Verizon only makes the offer for Android phones since carriers don't have the same access to Apple's iPhone.

Google’s appeal against an antitrust ruling over its Android operating system in Russia was tossed out by Moscow’s ninth arbitration court on Wednesday.

The ad giant was fined 438 million rubles (£5.25 million, $6.85 million) by the country’s competition watchdog, the Federation Antimonopoly Service (FAS) last week. FAS found that Google had imposed restrictive contracts on mobile phone manufacturers who want to use its Android operating system, forcing them to pre-install other Google services, while blocking those of rivals.

As well as the fine, FAS ordered Google to mend its ways and floated the possibility of an out of court settlement. However, the two sides failed to strike such a deal, FAS said on Tuesday. Today, the court rejected Google’s appeal against binding obligations to resolve the case.

Cisco Systems is reportedly considering shedding its global workforce by nearly 20 percent with the lose of up to 14,000 jobs.

According to multiple rumours, it's been claimed that the network kit giant is preparing to announce cuts to between 9,000 and 14,000 employees within the next few weeks, while early retirement packages are apparently already being offered to many staff.

It comes as Cisco is expected to report its fourth quarter financial results on Wednesday.

COLOGNE, Germany—While common wisdom suggests that your average gamer would prefer a smaller PC over a larger one—see Nvidia shrinking down its desktop graphics cards to fit inside laptops—HP is bucking the trend with its imposing Omen X PC.

While it only houses a micro-ATX motherboard, the Omen X's tilted cube design with separate compartments for motherboard, power supply, and storage, makes it far larger than your average micro-ATX PC. Inside the motherboard compartment there's space for up to two full-length graphics cards, and three 120mm fans that can be used together to fit in a 360mm radiator or all-in-one watercooler. There's room in the PSU compartment for monster 1500W units, while the storage compartment houses four neat hot swap hard drive bays that'll take 3.5- or 2.5-inch drives.

Unusually for a PC from an OEM, the Omen X is designed to be taken apart by users. On the back of the case is an eject button that pops off the side cover with little effort, revealing the internals. On the front, behind one of the four squares outlined by customisable RGB LED lighting (because everything has to have RGB lighting these days) is a tool kit containing a screwdriver and extra screws. That's particularly handy given that the Omen X will be sold both as a complete PC, with prices starting at €2299 (~£2000), and as a standalone chassis for an extremely pricey €599 (~£500).