Google’s (GOOGL) new computer doesn’t look much like one. In addition to the debut of its new Chromebooks Tuesday, the Internet giant unveiled a thumb-sized dongle that can transform any TV or monitor display into a full-fledged computer with Chrome OS. As big as a streaming stick or USB drive, the Asus Chromebit features a Rockchip RK3288 processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a USB port, plus Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. It plugs into any
Google (GOOGL) will again dominate global search ad revenue this year, says eMarketer, but Baidu is growing faster as more Chinese citizens shop online. The research firm says Google’s share of global search ad revenue will slip this year, but barely, to 54.5% from 54.7%. This is despite some solid growth in mobile search. Google’s ban in China is boosting Baidu (BIDU), China’s No. 1 search firm. Baidu will capture 8.8% of worldwide search ad
Apple (AAPL) could see an extra 5 cents per share in earnings in the March quarter from a patent sale last month, Well Fargo Securities said in a research report Tuesday. An entity called Rockstar Consortium on Feb. 3 completed the sale of more than 4,000 patents to RPX for $900 million. RPX is a San Francisco-based patent clearinghouse. Rockstar was formed in 2011 by Apple and five other companies to bid — successfully, as it turned out — against Google (GOOGL) for some 6,000 patents held by bankrupt Nortel Networks. The consortium kept 2,000 patents and put the other 4,000 in Rockstar. Many of the patents dealt with smartphone technologies. Buying the patents ended some lawsuits involving companies that made smartphones that ran on Google’s open-source Android operating system. The sale of the patents was announced in December, as reported by media outlets including the Wall Street Journal….