Today's topics include improvements to the Core M processors and battery life in Apple MacBooks, IBM’s announcement of a series of new innovations for its Cloud Video unit, Google's own Transparency Report labels Google searches as “partially dangerous” and a new LinkedIn app is helping college students find employment.
Apple's MacBooks just got a round of key improvements, including the latest Intel Core M processors, faster graphics performance and flash storage along with as much as an hour of longer battery life. The updates, which also for the first time include a Rose Gold color finish on a MacBook, were unveiled by Apple in an announcement on April 19.
The latest MacBooks will now feature sixth-generation dual-core Intel Core M processors with up to 1.3GHz speeds and faster 1,866MHz memory. There are also new Intel HD Graphics 515 graphics processing units that deliver up to 25 percent faster graphics performance, according to Apple. In addition, the new MacBooks now offer improved battery life for up to 10 hours of Web browsing and up to 11 hours of movie playback.
IBM has extended the reach of its new Cloud Video units with a series of new customer wins and product innovations. One of the new customer wins is entertainment giant Lionsgate. New products include the Aspera software for streaming broadcast-quality video. Big Blue made these announcements at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas on Monday. Launched in January, IBM's Cloud Video group has been moving to solidify its offerings and reach out to enterprise customers with offerings that deliver consumer-quality video in the cloud.
In one of its latest Transparency Reports, Google.com gave itself a current rating of "partially dangerous" because of potential pitfalls for Web users. "Some pages on Google.com contain deceptive content right now."
Google's Safe Browsing technology scans Websites for potential risks to warn users before they visit unsafe sites. Google also warns users via Google.com and the sites linked in its index that, "Attackers on this site might try to trick you to download software or steal your information" including passwords, messages or credit card information, which is refreshingly honest at a time when many corporate citizens are at pains to hide flaws in their service quality.
LinkedIn has launched its first LinkedIn Students app that is custom-built to assist U.S.-based college students and new graduates in finding interesting jobs that they are qualified for based on their degrees, their skills and their experience. Available in versions for iOS and Android users, the LinkedIn Students app was created using insights from those gleaned from the site's 400 million business members who are posting their own resumes, job skills, experience and more. The app was announced in an April 18 post on the LinkedIn Blog.
"This new app is for students looking for their first job out of college. It's much more an exploratory app," Kenly Walker, manager of corporate communications for LinkedIn, told eWEEK.
- eWeek