BlackBerry Priv wins plaudits, but price tag questioned

By Euan Rocha TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry Ltd launched its first Android-based device on Friday, with the future of the company's hardware business riding on a slick smartphone called Priv that boasts an impressive array of features and a hefty price tag. The company is betting the Priv's large curved screen, full array of Android apps from the Google Play store and blend of productivity and security features will help it rebuild its share of the smartphone market, which has slid to under one percent. With hacking and data theft issues becoming a bigger concern these days, BlackBerry expects keen interest in its pre-loaded DTEK feature that alerts users every time any app attempts to access data, or turn on the phone's microphone or camera

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Google offering free Apps for Work to some customers

By Deborah Todd SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc announced on Monday that it will offer its Apps for Work suite free to businesses currently locked into agreements with other office software vendors. Normally, businesses pay $5 per user per month for a basic version of Apps for Work or $10 per user per month for one with more advanced features, such as increased storage and an email archive. Google will give businesses access to the suite, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs and other programs, at no cost through the remainder of their current agreements

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Twitter unveils new tools to measure ad effectiveness

(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said in a blog it would provide its advertisers with custom data-driven reports to help them gauge the impact of their ad campaigns on their profits. The effectiveness of an ad campaign will be measured by dividing an advertiser's target audience into two groups – one that sees the ads and another that doesn't – and comparing conversions across the two test groups. Twitter's ad revenue per monthly average user has been declining and to stem this it has launched new advertising products, notably its app install ads

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Internet gap hinders small firms in poor countries, study shows

By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – A study of small and medium-sized businesses around the world has found that one of the main reasons they underperform – especially in poorer countries – is that they make too little use of the Internet. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil are three times less productive than big firms there while those in India are 10 times less productive

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Exclusive: Uber checks connections between hacker and Lyft

By Dan Levine and Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Eight months after disclosing a major data breach, ride service Uber [UBER.UL] is focusing its legal efforts on learning more about an internet address that it has persuaded a court could lead to identifying the hacker. In February, Uber revealed that as many as 50,000 of its drivers' names and license numbers had been improperly downloaded, and the company filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court in an attempt to unmask the perpetrator. Uber's court papers claim that an unidentified person using a Comcast IP address had access to a security key used in the breach.

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Square could take hit on IPO with Jack Dorsey leading Twitter

By Heather Somerville SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The much anticipated initial public offering from Silicon Valley payments company Square could take a price hit if its chief executive, Jack Dorsey, takes a second and possibly more demanding job: running Twitter. “Management and management focus are the single most determining factor of the success or lack thereof of a company pursuing an IPO,” said Lise Buyer, an IPO consultant with Class V Group in Silicon Valley who also helped guide Google Inc's IPO

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EU antitrust chief says Apple, Google cases show no U.S. bias

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe's antitrust chief dismissed on Friday accusations of anti-U.S. bias over her decision to go after Google for abusing its Internet search dominance and Apple over an Irish tax deal, saying such talk was a fallacy

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As Twitter, Square interests converge, CEO Dorsey risks conflicts

By Yasmeen Abutaleb SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – If Jack Dorsey becomes permanent CEO of both Twitter Inc and mobile payments company Square, he could struggle with conflicts of interest in the business that is key to both companies' futures: e-commerce. Corporate governance experts and some investors have already expressed concern that Dorsey faced tough choices in his role as interim Twitter chief and head of Square

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