Daily Cuppa: iPhone too secure, Google culls Motorola staff
Wake up, sleepy head. It's time for your daily cup of tech news.
Apparently, Apple's iPhone is so secure, even the US Department of Justice is having trouble cracking it during criminal investigations.
A department official described the phone as one of law enforcement's worst nightmares.
Google will be culling 4000 jobs at Motorola, after disappointing financial results. Google snapped up Motorola last year, mainly for the mobility company's patents, but now it wants to turn a profit from the acquisition.
Last week, it was revealed Google only paid a meagre £6 million (US$9.4m) worth of tax in the UK, when its total revenue in the region was about £395 million (US$619m) last year. That works out to be around 1.5 per cent in tax.
Apparently, the UK Government has some questions about the tricky ways in which Google avoids coughing up more money in taxes. The company could be facing questions in parliament before Easter, next year.
It looks like Facebook is facing some government-related woes, as well. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has found that the social networking site was rather lax in its reviewing and verifying process for applications.
Developers were paying Facebook up to US$95,000 to get software security approved for user experience in a now defunct verified apps scheme. The FTC found that the company failed to do so and, therefore, "deceived" developers over security ratings.
Former MegaUpload chief Kim Dotcom is planning to launch a disruptive music service, Megabox, later this year, according to his Twitter page.
Earlier this year, Dotcom's New Zealand home was raided by local police on charges of copyright infringement, filed in the US. He's still in hot water for that, but it doesn't seem to have deterred him from launching Megabox.
One of the world's largest independent IT process automation software provider, UC4, has been bought for US$270 million by private equity firm EQT.
UC4 is an Austrian company, and its growth has been considered "highly attractive" by EQT.
IBM has opened its first African research lab in Nairobi, Kenya. The facility will focus on building IT for the continent.