Tech News 2Night 139 (Transcript)

[Top TN2 Animation ] Tonight! Twitter revenue and stock take a big bounce, China's monopoly investigation of Microsoft, and Instagram soft-launches Bolt Tech News 2Night is Next! [TWiT Open] [Main TN2 Open] This is Tech News 2Night Episode #139, for TUESDAY July 29, 2014 "This episode of Tech News 2Night is brought to you by NatureBox. Order great-tasting, healthy snacks delivered right to your door. Forget the vending machine, and get in shape with healthy, delicious treats like Baked Cheddar Potato Fries! To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. " I'm Sarah Lane, Let's get right to the Tech Feed! Twitter reported its second quarter financial performance today, which had shareholders dancing in the streets - revenue of $312 million, and earnings per share of $0.02 well above what anaysts had expected - a loss of a penny per share on revenue of $283.07 million. Revenue was up 124% from the year-ago period, and 81% of Twitter’s ad revenue came from mobile advertising. The company reports it now has 271 million monthly active users, which is up 24 percent, year-over-year. In after-hours trading, Twitter stock was up almost 30 percent. / China has opened an anti-monopoly probe into Microsoft over the company's Windows and Office software, after conducting surprise raids of the company’s China offices yesterday. China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce has been investigating Microsoft since an industry complaint in June 2013 alleged that Windows and Office are not fully open, resulting in compatibility, bundling and document verification issues. Copies were taken of Microsoft contracts and financial statements, along with PC and server storage containing internal emails. The China market is a major one for Microsoft, where Windows OS is the top PC operating system. However, back in May, a Chinese government agency began banning purchases of Windows 8 systems. Microsoft ending official support for Windows XP, which exposed the OS to security risks, has been cited as at least one reason by China’s state-controlled press. / As expected, today US Senator Patrick Leahy introduced legislation, called the USA Freedom Act, to ban the government's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records and Internet data, and limit how much information it can seek in a search. The bill has White House backing, and goes further than a version passed in May by the U.S. House of Representatives in reducing bulk collection. Congress leaves for a five-week break on Friday, and it's unclear if lawmakers will address the legislation before November elections, but the bill would end the bulk business-records collection of phone records authorized by Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, and instead would would authorize searches for call records "two hops" from a search term, and limit the types of search terms. The records indicate connections and duration of calls but do not include content. / Inspur Group, A Chinese company that once made computer accessories is seeking to rival IBM as a top provider computer servers in China. And its thanking Edward snowden. Since the worldwide National Security Agency controversy began, Inspur, which started out in the 1960s making computer accessories, has seen its domestic server sales soar, overtaking Dell, China's Huawei, and H-P in the first quarter to top China's charts for server shipments, according to data from Gartner. The boom in China has also lifted Inspur to the No. 5 spot globally. U.S. vendors Dell, H-P and IBM have all seen market-share declines in China and globally. / Shared-car service Uber has focused up until now on giving rides to consumers. But the company recognizes that many rides are work-related, and a new feature called Uber for Business lets employees bill their Uber trips directly to their company. A centralized billing system sends trip details back to people or departments at the company, so the employee doesn’t have to collect receipts. For employees who already have Uber accounts, an option to join a work account pops up on their private account. The company says users will be able to easily toggle between their work and personal payment options, which means business travel is automatically expensed and personal trips stay separate. / coming up, Flickr wants your photos to be discovered and make money and next I'll chat with Josh Ong from The Next Web about Instagram's new photo-sharing app Bolt [AD] "Everyone loves to snack - and we’re doing a lot more of it these days. That’s why you should try Nature Box Nature Box snacks have ZERO trans fats, ZERO high fructose corn syrup -- and NOTHING artificial. Nature Box sends great tasting snacks right to your door with free shipping anywhere in the U.S. Here’s how it works: Click on the “Continue” button to choose between 3 subscription options. Then place your order. Once you’re a member, you can select which snacks you’d like in your monthly box. You can select by dietary needs and you can also select by taste. The next time you get hungry and are ready to eat anything, remember Nature Box. Snack guilt free with Honey Dijon Pretzels, Blueberry Nom Noms and over 100 more healthy snacks! [[Offer/ Call to Action]] To get 50% off your first box go to naturebox.com/twit. And we thank Nature Box for their support of Tech News 2Night." [Segment #2] "Josh Ong U.S. Editor, The Next Web Wrote the article today: ""Instagram prepares to launch its Bolt messaging app, but only in 3 countries"" - how does it work? - why did they release it in only a few countries-- and which ones? - since Instagram is part of Facebook does it use your current Facebook or Instagram contacts? - there are other similar compeditors like TapTalk, Mirage and Snapchat. Why is Facebook launching Bolt? - There is a bit of controversy over the name. It's not the first time Facebook has done this. //Thanks Josh Ong U.S. Editor, The Next Web" [Kicker!] Finally, you still using photo storage and sharing site Flickr? How bout making a little money off your sets and collections? Flickr has announced a new licensing program for the service’s members who are looking to have their work discovered, and featured on news sites, including parent compay Yahoo’s own properties, as well as generate additional income through commercial licensing. Some photographers may receive a message from Flickr’s curators via Flickr Mail inviting them to the program, while others can sign up to to be considered. It’s not yet clear what sort of licensing fees will be provided with Yahoo’s new program, or if it'll be up to the individual photographer to negotiate. [good bye] That's it for this edition of Tech News 2Night. Subscribe to this show at Twit.tv/tn2, and write us at tn2@twit.tv Don't miss our morning news program, Tech News Today, tomorrow and every weekday at 10am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. I'm Sarah Lane, thanks for watching.