Microsoft Debuts Word Flow Keyboard

Microsoft Surfaces the Word Flow Keyboard On iOS in US.

According to a recent report by Mac Rumors, it has been confirmed that Microsoft Corporation has come up with Word Flow Windows Phone Keyboard in the form of an iOS app.  This app can be bought from the US version of the App Store. Initially, the app was designed solely for the Windows Phone devices but now the app has surfaced to the iOS users in the United States.

The software has various core features such as the “next word prediction”. Along with that the keyboard also flaunts an “Arc mode” which is designed in a manner that makes typing from one hand easier. The mode in discussion allows the user to type on a curve, a minimally circular keyboard and then tilting the keys on the typing hand of the user. There are numerous settings for the keyboard which can be enabled such as letting users keep a note of their typing speeds.  This also helps in keeping tabs on the use and then continues to practice typing through an intriguing swipe to type mechanism.

Moreover users also get the option of customizing their keyboard. The Windows giant has given the option to put a user’s image as the background which will make the input device more personalized. Moreover, users can also choose from a broad range of themes as per their preference and then giving the Flow keyboard an extremely personal feel.

At this point of time, MSFT recent addition to the keyboard devices is just limited to the United States. However, it will soon surface in the European region as well. it needs to be taken into consideration that Garage division of the tech giant has succeeded in coming up with a successful product that belongs to the experimental development platform. it is also being assumed that there is high probability that MSFT may have purposely decided to just launch the product in the United States so that they can get a feedback on the product and then later it is surfaced across the globe.

When one traces the company’s acquisition of Swiftkey for $250 million back in February, it looks like the word prediction functionality is majorly inspired by the initial keyboard maker’s present capabilities. Microsoft also made a decision to integrate the technology of Swiftkeys in its own products, thus the company’s range of iOS keyboards will make the competition extremely stringent for competition. It is also said that they might just become direct rivals to Apple’s keyboard offerings.

Many analysts are of the view that the decision by Microsoft to come up with a modern keyboard for iOS is driven by the success of the initially experimented keyboard devices such as Hub to attract the Apple variants. Through this endeavor, the company might be able to tap on a larger consumer base by making sure that the Word Flow is suitable with other third party applications. The move is strategic and will help the company expand its consumer base in the long run.

Boeing Offers Buyouts Options To South Carolina Workers

Boeing is offering voluntary resignations to its engineering unit in South Carolina.

Boeing Corporation has made several job cuts this year to save extra costs and lower down the costs of its products in order to compete efficiently with its rivals in the market. The airplane maker is now offering voluntary layoff to its employees in the engineering unit in North Charleston. It even has plans to make almost 4,000 job cuts by the end of June this year.

The aerospace company plans to start the voluntary cuts from Thursday to at least 200 of it employees at its center in South Carolina that produces the 787 Dreamliner and even extra parts for the 737 MAX. A spokeswoman for the company, Elizabeth Merida confirmed these reports through an emailed statement but she did not give any details about the exact number of employees that will be laid off. The employees will be notified of the organizations plans according to the officials and will be given 30 days to make a decision and even a five-day buffer if they wish to change their decision.

Boeing Co. announced its plans of making 4000 job cuts in its commercial unit, thus this recent announcement does not come as surprise. The officials of the company are going to evaluate who needs to be cut off after the employees submit their own decisions. If lesser workers decide to quit voluntarily, the aerospace giant is planning to make the job cuts against the workers will as that is going to be its last option.

Workers should consider this offer as it is giving them a package of one week of payments for every year with the company till at least 26 weeks. This offer only stands for workers who have worked with Boeing for over a year. 

An official of the airplane maker said that the company is not happy about making these job cuts and it is a difficult decision, this option will allow it to make the job cuts easily its many units in order to continue with its business strategy. The voluntary layoff program is going to help the organization make the job cuts in a better manner rather than letting employees go against their will. 

Boeing's commercial airplanes are going to cost lesser once the company is able to achieve its goal of making 4,000 job cuts and save extra costs. The job cuts include manager and even executives, which indicates that employees of all position are being looked at the same and should look for other alternatives before it’s too late and they are unemployed. Boeing did not make any comments if more job cuts are going to be made in the same facility in the future or not.

Samsung Brings Safety Screen App For Children Who Use Phones Excessively

Kids can now use phones as much as they like without worrying about eyesight hazards thanks to Samsung's new app, Safety screen.

Samsung Electronics Corporation Limited has proved that it does not just bring the best smartphones and other gadgets in the market, but cares about the effect they put on people as well. The same cannot be said for all the companies out there. The smartphone maker has now launched a new application called Safety Screen that will protect children’s eyes when they are playing video games on their phones. 

The South Korean tech giant new application will help in stopping vision damage of any kind from prolong use of tablets and mobile phones. It comes as a surprise to many older people when they see the rising number of children wearing spectacles, which is a result of excessive use of electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Parents are always concerned about the eyesight of their children when they see them using phones and tablets excessively. Samsung has come up with a solution for this via their new application. 

Safety screen works by using facial recognition, which helps it to verify the distance of the user's eyes from the phone or the tablet. If the application detects that the user’s eyes are dangerously close to the screen of the device, it will shut the device down automatically with a pop up of a tiny alien’s picture on it, informing the user that the device they are using is too close and that they should use it with proper distance. The application is going to run in the background throughout and will prevent teens and children from damaging their eyes. Since it is going to be in the background, none of the normal usage of the user will be affected by the application.

It does not stop here, if children try to disable the application, parents can even set a password and a username, which would prevent children from being able to stop the application from working. The Galaxy maker’s application is a handy tool for parents, who have been concerned for far too long, and can now be downloaded from Google Play Store. The app is only available for Android; sadly, the IOS users will have to stick to the old ways for now. The distance is going to be different for all the devices according to their shapes and sizes. The recommended safe distance is 25cm. 

Samsung clearly does not hesitate when it comes to giving its users the best possible application out there today. Samsung Pay App, after proving to be huge success, is now being launched in several other countries including Singapore.

Amazon Prime Video Rolls Out Monthly Subscription

Amazon finally separates its video streaming service from the annual bundled subscription.

Amazon Inc. is moving forward in speed and in recent years, it has surpassed all the traditional and online retailers to become one of the biggest retailers in the world. The primary reason of its immense success in the past three to four years is its loyalty program called Prime. Over the years, the company has brought in several changes in its plan and introduced numerous features and advantages for the customers. The company officials vowed initially that Prime would be worth every penny if a customer intends to spend on it.

Amazon Prime was a $99 per year subscription in which a customer could avail services such as free two-day shipping, lightning deals, amazing discounts, music, and video streaming service etc. The video streaming service known as Prime Video is in direct competition with the market leader Netflix. Both work on a different model. Netflix is a service based on monthly subscription where as Prime Video only comes with the Prime annual membership free. This might hold off the customers to get access to Prime Video even if they wanted to.

For that matter, Amazon has decided to go monthly starting from Sunday in order to take on the streaming giant Netflix. Previously, the subscription offer was for the bundled Prime service and it was subscription on annual basis. Now it is reported that Amazon will go monthly but only for its Prime Video division. For customers who only want the subscription for movies and TV shows will be thrilled. It is a fact that not all can afford to spend $99 at once even if they do not have to spend for the rest of the year. There might be another part of the customer base who would not want other services such as free shipping etc. but just the streaming service.

On previous occasions, Amazon never made Prime Video available to customers as a standalone product until now. Since the beginning, it remained part of the Prime membership. There might be a possibility that the online retailer might be monitoring the competition rising between Prime Video and other streaming services. This move came as a part of taking on its competitors Netflix and Hulu.

According to the director of multiplay and media at CCS Insight, Paolo Pescatore, said in a statement “This significant move underlines the company's commitment to video and we firmly believe that the next step is to launch the new service overseas. Its closest rival, Netflix, has done a phenomenal job of launching in many new markets within a short period of time and as a result, has a far greater reach and can benefit more from scale and of course early mover advantage.”

He adds that offering Prime Video separately in as this would further limit the online retailer to get its service out in the new markets.

Verizon FiOS Network To Hit Boston

Verizon FiOS Network will surface in Boston offering high speed television and Internet services.

Verizon Communications Inc. has revealed its plans to expand its FiOS network to Boston. The company is already operating in various small cities close to Boston but now they are finally hitting a new destination which has been on their list since a long time.

The network will be offer faster television and Internet service to the region. The installation process will commence from summers and the mobile carrier stated that it would allot around $300 million for the expansion of the venture over a six year period. The expansion will help in improving the wireless network as well as the fiber optic cables will regulate the traffic from the cellular towers.

According to Martin J. Walsh, the mayor of Boston, the wireless network carrier entry in the region will make it one of the technologically advanced regions throughout United States. Expressing his glee on the deal, Mr. Boston stated, “Boston is moving faster than our current infrastructure that can support, and a modern fiber-optic communications platform will make us a next-level city.”

Boston is immune to technological changes and tends to accept them with grace. Back in 2010, Boston was the first city to deploy the Verizon 4G LTE network. Right after this, the company established its Waltham Innovation Center so that it could launch 4G LTE across the board and initiate the testing and development of the 5G wireless technology.

The agreement signed with the regulatory bodies gives Verizon the permission to expand in Boston similar to what Alphabet Inc. has been doing in Boston with Google Fiber. They will target those regions first that have high demands and gradually cover the entire city.

Via this expansion almost all of the Northeastern Boston will get access to VZ’s FiOS network.  The company launched the FiOS network almost ten years back. Since that time, they have covered above 12 states where they have spent almost $23 billion on the infrastructure.

Most of us are aware of the fact that Verizon’s two labor unions in Northeast are on a strike that is representing almost 40,000 workers. Most of the workers on strike belong to the wireline department of the company. Since last August, these union workers have been rendering their services without a contract.

The unions are now asking for better job security, retirement benefits and healthcare. This might become a hindrance for the to expand in Boston as the carrier needs a lot of help at this point to successfully deploy the FiOS network. One of the demands of the union is to implement FiOS networks in other cities of the United State as well.

But as per the company, it already has a backup where non-union workers will take over the responsibilities of union workers who are on a strike. They also do not have any plan to launch fiber optics in other regions of Boston. It is still uncertain if this venture will pave for new jobs but it will help in retaining the present ones whatsoever.

No More Wraps In McDonald's Menu

McDonald's bids farewell to its wraps range to curb on prep time.

McDonald Corporation has finally bid farewell to wraps from its menu. They have now abandoned a core menu offering that was initially derived initially to appeal to the taste buds of healthy, young eaters.

Last summer, the fast food behemoth came up with snack sized and large wraps at its outlets in the United States as per Ms. Lisa McComb, the spokeswoman of the company. Some of the outlets are still retailing the snack wrap’s chicken ranch variant but the sandwiches have now been replaced mostly by the company.

This initiative is a representation of the company’s strategy which has now been reversed. The idea was to appeal the millennials who are said to be weight watchers through this product line but now things have changed. In contrast to the signature burgers prepared by MCD, the McWraps were said to have more vegetables and lesser calorie account. They took almost a time span of two years to surface. This range was also coined as “Subway buster” that meant that the company wished to curb competition from its rival.

However, the wraps turned out to be a headache. These were mostly time consuming requiring more assembly time and were never popular amongst the McDonald’s fan claimed an analyst from Edward Jones, Mr. Jack Russo. In 2006, the company came up with snack sized wraps which have also lost its charm.

 “A lot of people who eat at restaurants aren’t interested in health and wellness,” he stated. “You’ve got to give the people what they want.”

The thing which killed the charm of wraps was the launch of an all-day breakfast menu in the United States. The company started to offer its breakfast menu throughout the day in October which turned out to be a game changer for them. Other than that the two for $5 offering as well as the decrease in the prices of chicken and beef was beneficial as well. This in return helped them to overcome the sales slump that was taking place for seven consecutive quarters.

Steve Easterbrook, the Chief Executive Officer of the company has taken charge since a year back. His strategy is to make the McDonald’s menu simple and pace up things in the kitchen. This is not it but the company has also put an end to the jalapeno McDouble, grilled onion cheddar burgers, and the McChicken buffalo ranch sandwiches.

The premium wraps are not really easy to make. It takes around 20 seconds to heat the tortilla. After that, the remaining ingredients need to be stuffed, chopped, rolled and fixed inside a sleek cardboard packaging. So with the launch of the all-day breakfast, the company was forced to reduce the preparation time and make the menu simpler. This is the reason why owners of almost 90% of the McDonald outlets in US decided to get rid of the wraps.

 “When you add all-day breakfast, you’re making things more complicated,” claimed Russo. “You’re just adding in more product choices, and something’s got to go.”

Boeing Secures Contract For F/A-18 Fighter Jet

Boeing has received a contract worth $94 million from the US Navy for fighter jet, F/A-18.

Boeing Corporation has managed to win a contract worth $93.8 million from the navy of the United States for its F/A-18 fighter jets. The Navy is aiming to maintain and keep its fleet of F/A 18 and even get maintenance for its currents jets.

According to this contract, Boeing Co. is going to conduct High Flight Hour inspections of all categories, such as recurring and supplementary. The work is expected to reach completion by December this year and will take place in Jacksonville, according to the announcement on Monday. The engineers of the airplane manufacturer are going to carry out the HFH inspections for the F/A 18.

The contract is also going to be covering all maintenance work for the EA-18G jet, which is mostly used in wars and other warfare operations. The officials of the navy are expecting this maintenance work to be complete by December. These required jets were built and designed by McDonnell-Douglas, prior the merger with the aerospace company. Fighter jet works in all kinds of weather with high speed and is double engine.

This is not the only contract Boeing has managed to get; it has received several contracts from the US Department of Defense. It managed to win two major contracts that are worth almost $510 million in total on April 5. $275 million will be utilized in the research and engineering tech of ground capabilities.

The US Navy recently even received the 100^th of Boeings EA-18G, which was right on schedule, luckily for both the parties. This jets provides tactical jamming and protection for the US Force and is used in combat missions by the navy, it is expected to stay in service till 2040. The production of this plane brought almost 60,000 jobs in the country with 800 supplies in 44 states.

Boeing is getting numerous orders from the US military according to the evidence of major orders and deliveries. This also is an indication that the Pentagon is making efforts to protect its satellites. It has a good reputation when it comes to its war products such as fighter jets and many other, which is why the military still looks up to it for renewal and changes in its fleet. This is beneficial for the business of the US airplane maker. This will play a positive role in the quarterly earnings.

The company is not just sticking to the US but is also conducting open meeting with airlines in Iran in order to win contracts and get order from clients, however many of its competitors are also doing the same.

Ford Shows Impressive Result in China

Ford has posted impressive sales figures in China.

Ford has recently released its impressive sales figures in China. Months ago, the company reported its strong sale figures in the region. Many analysts were skeptical that such strong sales figures were “one-timer.” However, the latest results have proved that the organization’s performance in the region is quite good.

The chief “trigger” for such healthy sales is the tax incentive of the region. China’s decision of slashing the vehicle tax in half is what has been powering the sales during 2016’s first quarter and the tax incentive will remain active throughout the year too. In comparison with the previous year, in March, the Blue Oval’s sales in China jumped 5% to 114,788 units. Stronger sales in January and March conveniently balanced the sharp steep sales had in February due to Chinese New Year, which halted the sales and production.

For the whole quarter, the sales in the region sprung up 14% and the final figure rests at 314,500 units. CEO and chairman of Ford Motors China, John Lawler cited that the company is quite happy with the persisted and consistent growth. Additionally, the Chinese customers are giving positive product feedback to the business. He added, “We remain committed to offering a great portfolio of vehicles and providing world class service to our valued customers.”

There were few bright spots of the sales in the region with a slightly lighter decline. The highlights of the sales were Ford’s SUV that had healthy sales in China. In addition to it, the combined sales of the latter with Edge, Ecosport, Everest, Explorer, and Kuga (Escape) totaled around 80,000 units in the first quarter. This accumulated to be massive 38% gain in comparison to last year’s same period. In March alone, the $50 billion business sold around 26,000 units or more, which was an increase of 29% in comparison with last year’s March.

In addition, the strong sales of the SUV, Ford’s passenger car joint venture, Changan Ford Automobile (CAF) sales elevated up by 23% in comparison with last year’s same period and, during first quarter, totaled 244,411 units. Ford’s most popular Mustang sales also jumped up by massive 75% and the company’s performance-oriented Focus ST posted an increase of 23%, during the first quarter.

Quite surprisingly, Jiangling Motors Corporation – which is the company’s commercial vehicle in China – posted around 11% decline in comparison to the prior year and sold around 60,306 units in the first quarter. The decline in the sales is quite appalling as its commercial vehicles have an instant and strong growth in the European and the U.S. markets. The investors have to wait for a couple of years to find out whether Ford commercial vehicles’ success can be exported in the Asian region.

Lastly, during the first quarter, Lincoln sold around 5,500 units marking a threefold increase in comparison to last year. Since Lincoln was new in China, therefore the sales figure may not be giving fair picture but the organization intends to import more Lincoln in the region. The company is also planning to open Lincoln dealership in China. The region has immense importance if the company plans to sell 300,000 Lincoln units across the globe by 2020.

Ford sales have given the company a positive image and impressive financial results can be expected in the first-quarter earnings call.

Johnson & Johnson Plans Expansion In South Africa

Through expansion in South Africa, the company will work on distribution and development of drugs in the region.

Johnson & Johnson, the U.S. based healthcare titan, has an expansion plan for its R&D presence and business in Africa. The company envisions that the African market is likely to strengthen company’s medications sales over time.

This week, on Wednesday, the drug company inaugurated a new office in Cape Town, South Africa, which became part of a new global public health unit. Although the step is taken with a vision to support drugs distribution and development in Africa for all kind of diseases, which has put the citizens of Africa in excessive distress, including the treatments of HIV/AIDS however, CEO Alex Gorsky honestly expressed with the Wall Street Journal that the initiative does have a strategic angle annexed to it too.

He opined, “Part of it is building those kinds of relationships, those kinds of capabilities that over the long term are going to result in a very significant market opportunity for us.”

Through this step, the health care giant will work with government organizations as well as with the NGOs in order to set up a coherent drug supply chain. For example, the health care behemoth will work on expanding the distribution of drug to healthcare practitioners and local clinics and then subsequently coach them the basics of medical testing and the storage of the medicines.

Additionally, the health care titan anticipates setting up more offices in the countries like Kenya and Ghana as it has created in South Africa.

In the year 2015, the company’s infectious disease unit garnered the humungous $3.5 billion in sales across the globe. Therefore, Johnson & Johnson is actively involved in creating few new medications, which includes an injectable drug for HIV that is being operated alongside the competitor, ViiV Healthcare –which is an AIDS therapy joint effort by the drug giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.

In other news, on Wednesday, the health care giant announced of a future investment of $50 million in Tesaro Inc. and subsequently authorizing a prostate cancer treatment from the pharmaceutical company.

The health care giant’s subsidiary Janssen Biotech Inc. will be responsible for the development and the later commercialization of Tesaro Niraparib for the prostate cancer treatment. The said drug is once-daily oral treatment that, for the time being, is in the late phase of clinical trials for testing its efficiency in breast and ovarian cancer.

Under the umbrella of the deal, the health care giant will be liable of paying an upfront fee of $35 million to Tesaro and is likely to end up in paying around $415 million if certain commercial, development, and regulatory milestones are achieved, according to the news release of the company.

Moreover, Janssen is likely to be funding all the activities relating to the commercialization and development for the consumption of Niraparib in prostate cancer. Additionally, Johnson & Johnson has also been reported to have made an equity investment of $50 million in Tesaro.

The End Of Pfizer-Allergen Merger Is Not The End, It Might Split

Pfizer is literally torn apart from failing to merge with Allergen and might just split its business now.

Things did not go according to Pfizer’s yearlong plans of acquiring the Ireland based Botox maker, Allergen Plc. This happened after the US Treasury notified it of the change in its rules and policies to stop tax inversions in the United States. The medicinal company will continue to pay the US 25% of corporate taxes and has plans to split up by the end of this year.

Pfizer Inc. might literally break up after it was denied of an inversion through a $160 billion merger with Allergen that would have changed its home address to Ireland instead. Ian Read has indicated that now the drug maker has plans of splitting itself up and selling off the lower margin unit of its older products that are facing tough generic competition in the market. This change is expected to be witnessed by the end of this year only.

The pharmaceutical company has apparently not taken this blow as well as people had hoped and is definitely not happy about walking away from the merger it had planning for a year, on Wednesday. It is blaming the US Treasury for this change of plans; if it had happened, this merger would have been the biggest healthcare takeover. The Treasury defended itself by saying that it was not targeting any company in specific but the CEO of Allergen disagrees.

The CEO of Allergen went as far as to say that the US did this just to stop this deal and has clearly been successful in doing so. Pfizer now is paying the Botox maker with $150 million, which was mentioned in the agreement – the party that decides to break up will have to pay this amount. Now the drug making organization might be split into two separate companies, which its management had been planning.

Both these parties involved in the merger might not be happy with this development expect the government of the United States, including the presidential candidates and a lawmakers. Hillary Clinton tweeted that she was glad the deal was off the table and suggested that any loopholes in the law that promote such deals from happening should be closed.

Pfizer will be splitting; one of the companies focuses on development of new drugs while the other focuses on selling the company’s older drug and medication. The Pharma giant’s new plans of splitting itself indicate that it has given up on acquisitions and is now concentrating on itself alone. Thus, the government no longer has to worry about inversion from this organization for now. 

Facebook WhatsApp To Offer End To End Encryption

WhatsApp to ensure the safety of users via encrypted messages.

Facebook Inc. WhatsApp has come up with end to end encryption for its users that are one billion in number. This will prevent the users to remain safe from authorities trying to spy on them as well as hackers and criminals. The service is immensely popular and is owned by Facebook since the fiscal year of 2014. It has been a month since the company is striving to come up with an encryption service.

Brian Acton and Jan Koum, the co-founders of WhatsApp mentioned in a blog post regarding the new features. The messaging platform grants exclusive permission to users who are conducting their conversations, to go through the messages by putting WhatsApp beyond the loop. To explain it simply, every message sent will be secured through its own lock and the key is present only between the receiver and sender. Thus, once a message is sent it will not be stored on the company’s servers.

The end to end encryption can be enabled by the users by browsing to the Settings in the Security tab. Some users have been encrypted automatically by the company and have been informed about it via a message. The upgrade has been rolled from the side of the company thus users are not required to upgrade the WhatsApp app. The only condition is that the user needs to have the latest version and the change will be updated on its own. Users can also send messages themselves to experiment with the feature.

The Co-founders mentioned in the blog post, "The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to.” They further added, “No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private—sort of like a face-to-face conversation.”

The company’s recent announcement has also shed light on the repercussions of not being encrypted. The ideology behind this endeavor is to ensure the safety of people. Ironically, the blog post mentioned about hackers, criminals and rogue states but did not talk about the role of governments whatsoever. The battles of Edward Snowden with the National Security Agency (NSA) to reveal about privacy encroaching methodologies that are powered by the state are an area of concern here.

Authorities tend to approach tech companies a lot but WhatsApp is safe now since it does not have any access to users that can fend them off easily. It is as simple as it gets, the app cannot reveal information because it does not have access to it.

The social media giant is striving hard to ensure the security of users. Since the San Bernardino incident that took place with Apple Inc. users are extremely concerned about their privacy and security. The tech giants are constantly pressurize to reveal information to authorities thus by encrypting WhatsApp, FB has smartly overcome the security barriers. The users need not worry about their security whilst using this platform.