Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's 'farewell' causes traffic jam in Seattle

SEATTLE: Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer took his farewell bow before thousands of applauding employees with a typically loud and emotional performance at his last companywide meeting, talking up the software giant's prospects and taking swipes at rivals. 

The CEO, whose screeching and dancing at company events is the stuff of YouTube legend, stormed the stage to "Can't Hold Us" by Seattle rap/producer duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and kept up his usual high tempo, according to several people present at the employee-only meeting. 

He departed to the strains of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," the song played at Microsoft's first employee meeting in 1983, followed by "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from the finale of "Dirty Dancing," getting a standing ovation from the 13,000 or so Microsoft full-time employees in attendance. 

Google's Motorola eyes BlackBerry employees

TORONTO: With Blackberry shedding staff in its hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, other tech companies, including Google's Motorola Mobility unit, are moving to take advantage of a growing pool of local talent. 
Motorola Mobility said it plans to set up a new hub in Waterloo, located about an hour's drive west of Toronto. 
"We have a small space right now and we're looking to grow considerably," said Derek Phillips, engineering director for Motorola Canada. 
He declined to specify the number of new hires expected, but said the company was seeking computer science and engineering talent. 
Google acquired Motorola Mobility last year in a $12.5 billion deal that gave it ownership of a large portfolio of communications patents. It has since moved to revamp the company's money-losing mobile phone business. 

Nokia Lumia 1020: First impressions

NEW DELHI: Nokia has unveiled the Lumia 1020 smartphone in India though it is yet to announce the price tag. The manufacturer showed off many of the camera features and technologies that go into the phone at a media event on Thursday, but refused to divulge the price. While potential customers will be able to buy the smartphone on October 11, we got to spend some time with it at the event. Here are our first impressions of the Nokia Lumia 1020:

The latest top-end Lumia phone in India has a 41MP camera at the back. While its megapixel count is huge, the design is not as absurd as that of Galaxy S4 zoom (16MP rear camera). However, the phone's design does not have the understated elegance of Sony Xperia Z1 (20.7MP camera). At 158gram, Nokia Lumia 1020 is still heavy and you can feel the weight in your hands as soon as you hold it.

Gtalk glitch sends chats to wrong recipients

NEW DELHI: Sent a message to someone on Gtalk and it got delivered to someone else? Wondering what happened? Hold, you are not the only one experiencing this bug. Many other users of Google's free instant messaging service Google Talk too have reported that messages are being delivered to unintended recipients on Gtalk.

In some cases the unintended recipients are multiple. Also, some Gtalk users have also complained of messages being delivered to people outside their contact lists.
Acknowledging the issue, Google said, "Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 9/26/13 4:30pm with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience. At this time Google Talk is not functioning correctly and we are continuing to work to restore full functionality."

iPhone 5S production costs $191: Study

NEW YORK: While the iPhone 5S includes a handful of new features that set it apart from Apple's previous model, the actual cost to make the phone hasn't changed very much, according to a new study. 
An IHS teardown of the new smartphone found that the components that make up a 16GB iPhone 5S cost $190.70. Manufacturing costs add another $8, bringing the total production cost to $198.70. 
In comparison, the iPhone 5, which hit the market a year ago, cost $197 to make. 
Andrew Rassweiler, IHS' senior director for cost benchmarking services, noted that the 5S includes features new to the smartphone world, such as a 64-bit apps processor and a fingerprint identification sensor, without a significant jump in costs. 
The research firm also dissected a 16-gigabyte iPhone 5C, a cheaper version of the 5S, and put its total production cost at $173.45, including $7 in manufacturing costs. 
Rassweiler said the 5C is basically an iPhone 5 wrapped in plastic, noting that it has basically the same features, but benefits from typical component price drops, along with its cheaper plastic enclosure.