D.C. Navy Yard Shooter Had Ties to HP Contractor

The suspected gunman in the shooting incident at the Washington, D.C., Navy Yard that has left 12 people dead had worked for a contractor to Hewlett-Packard, the company says.

I just received a statement from an HP spokesman confirming that Aaron Alexis (pictured in a handout from the FBI), who authorities have identified as the perpetrator in today's attacks, was employed by an HP subcontractor working on a tech project for the Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

Here's the statement in full:

"We are deeply saddened by today's tragic events at the Washington Navy Yard. Our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who have been affected. Aaron Alexis was an employee of a company called "The Experts," a subcontractor to an HP Enterprise Services contract to refresh equipment used on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) network. HP is cooperating fully with law enforcement as requested."

As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier, Alexis was a 34-year former Naval Reservist who had ties both to Fort Worth, Texas, and to Queens, N.Y. He died in a shootout with police.

He had joined the Navy in 2007, but was kicked out in 2011 as a result of charges relating to an incident in Fort Worth in which he was said to have fired a gun through the ceiling of his apartment into the apartment above his, after complaining about noise.

No apparent motive has yet emerged for the shooting.

HP Touchpad and Touchstone dock: first video look

After returning from a Vegas vacation, I found one last jackpot on my doorstep: An HP Touchpad and Touchstone wireless charging dock. Both are review units sent from HP, and the devices went on sale last week. This model is the 32 GB unit, which costs $599, while the optional Touchstone dock is an additional $79. In this video overview of the hardware, you can see similarities to Apple's iPad; although the Touchpad is thicker and weighs slightly more, it uses the same 9.7-inch capacitive touchscreen display as Apple's tablet.

When it comes to software, you might be reminded of Android tablets and the BlackBerry Playbook. But webOS stands on its own as well. The multi-pane email view is useful and I really like the Flipboard-like layout available in the Facebook application. Consumers interested in the Touchpad will have to make a software decision however: How long can they wait for a wide variety of third-party apps or are there enough top-tier titles to justify the Touchpad?

Oracle Taps Adrian Jones to Head Asian Operations (Read the Memo)

Software giant Oracle named Adrian Jones to head its operations in Asia. The move was announced in an internal email from Oracle president Mark Hurd, obtained by AllThingsD.

If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Jones (pictured) is a former Hewlett-Packard exec who was sued by that company in 2011. HP had alleged that Jones stole trade secrets and shared them with Oracle. The suit dates back to one of the more rancorous periods in the relationship between those companies, and the aftermath of the days when Hurd, who was for five years the CEO of HP, joined Oracle following his surprise resignation in 2010. (That situation, you'll recall, spurred its own legal merry-go-round.)

In a lawsuit filed in the California Superior Court in Santa Clara County, HP had accused Jones of copying sensitive files concerning its strategic and financial plans, plus other information, to a USB drive, and not returning them when he resigned from the company. Among other things, lawyers for HP had sought to examine every electronic device Jones owned, including phones and iPads belonging to his girlfriend.

It later turned out that the copying of the files in question didn't take place at the time that HP originally said it did, but during a period when the computer Jones used was in the hands of HP's corporate security office. Talk about awkward.

Since then, the case has been forgotten. HP was eventually forced to withdraw the case against Jones entirely, according to people familiar with how it all turned out. Neither HP nor Oracle would confirm that, however. Entries in the case-record file on the court's website make vague mentions of a dismissal that occurred on July 30, 2012.

The case against Jones was one of many HP filed during a period when Michael Holston was its general counsel. Remembered as a key aide to Hurd during the years he was running HP, Holston remained HP's general counsel during the 11-month tenure of former CEO L o Apotheker, but was among the first members of HP's executive council to leave the company after Meg Whitman became CEO.

Anyway, enough with the legal footnotes. Here's the memo announcing Jones' promotion:

From: Mark Hurd
Date: July 24, 2013, 2:00:02 AM PDT
To: Oracle Asia Pacific Sales

The business across Asia Pacific represents a significant opportunity for Oracle. We continue to invest in this region and it is poised for growth.

I am pleased to announce Adrian Jones to the position of General Manager and Senior Vice President, Oracle Asia Pacific. Adrian will lead the region for hardware and software, and be responsible for accelerating market share, revenue, and margin growth.

Adrian has strengthened our Systems business and has held senior leadership positions across the IT industry for more than 20 years. Before joining Oracle, he held the position of Senior Vice President of Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking for HP Asia Pacific and Japan. He has in-depth knowledge of these markets.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Steve Au Yeung for his contributions to Oracle. Steve is leaving Oracle, and we thank him for his five years of leadership and wish him the best in the future.

Mark

HP, Shareholder Settlement Is Latest Chapter In Autonomy Saga

HP Webcam HD 5210 lets you Skype in HD

If there's one thing great about technology, it's the ability to keep in touch with the people we care about even though they're thousands of miles away. We've come a long way since the introduction of 320 x 240 webcams (remember those days?) and now HD video calling is slowly becoming the standard. HP's latest entry to the webcam market, the HP Webcam HD 5210 is one such camera.

It allows 720p video streaming or recording in full 1080p HD (for you aspiring YouTube stars), so you can be sure that your videos will look top notch. An auto-focus lens and HP's TrueVision auto light exposure also help in that department. With software to help you perform one-click uploads to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr, sharing your videos isn't going to be a problem.

The camera's mount allows it to swivel up to 270 degrees, and two premium noise-cancelling stereo microphones onboard ensure your voice is heard. The HD 5210 can also take still photos with at 13-megapixels, and has 5x digital zoom in the event the need ever arises. The HP Webcam HD 5210 will be available on September 21^st with a price tag of $99.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntmFWLjcXIM

HP Posts Modest FQ1 Beat With Revenue Of $28.2B, Adjusted EPS Of $0.90

HP Makes a Comeback in the Tablet Market, Launches $169 Android-Based ‘Slate 7′

A few years back, HP acquired Palm, the makers of WebOS, to compete with Apple and other Android manufacturers in the smartphone and tablet market. Since then a lot has changed - HP’s WebOS based tablet flopped and so did the Pre 3. Following this disaster, the company decided to abandon further WebOS based product development and dumped WebOS in the open source territory.

The ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona brings a few interesting updates to HP’s long and largely unsuccessful saga in the Post-PC era.

HP Announced $169 Android Based Slate 7

After failing in the tablet space with two different operating systems, Windows and WebOS, HP is up for another shot, this time with a 7-inch “slate” running Android. Set to release in April, the Slate 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, has an ARM dual-core 1.6GHz CPU, 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. The device measures 7 inches diagonally with a 1024 x 600 resolution and weighs 13 ounces (~350 grams). It has a 3MP rear and VGA front cam for video calling, Beats Audio processing for better sound and boasts video playback of upto 5 hours.

This is just the first of HP’s Android based tablets, as the company highlights its broader intentions of becoming the largest “computer vendor” in the world.

For more details on the Slate 7, head over to the device’s product page on HP’s website.

WebOS sold to LG

While quite a few folks expected a tech company to take over the remains of HP’s WebOS and build a product on top of it, LG, a long-time Android manufacturer, wasn’t one to figure in that list. What’s even more surprising is that LG, at least initially, doesn’t want to use WebOS for what is has been known for - smartphones and tablets - but for its smart TV product line. This is what an LG exec said after the acquisition:

“It creates a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and Internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices. In the short term, we’ll apply this to the TV only. But in the future, wherever our plans take us, we’ll consider an extension to other devices.”

Notably, the acquisition covers the WebOS source code and the talented team behind the client side of WebOS.

Via: HP, Verge

HP’s Android-Powered Slate 7 Tablet Is Cheap And It Works, But Is That Really Enough?

HP surprised more than a few people earlier tonight when it officially revealed the Slate 7, a $169 Android tablet that’s set to ship in the U.S. for $169 in April. It struck me as a safe move for HP, especially after it whiffed so profoundly with its ill-fated TouchPad. After all, people are buying plenty of Nexus 7s, so clearly there must be a market for a cheap, small tablet.

I got the chance to muck around with the Slate 7 at Pepcom earlier tonight though, and to be quite honest, I'm not convinced HP has a winner on its hands.

One of the first things you'll notice about the Slate 7 is its elongated 16:9 display, and the thick black bezel that runs around it. It's actually rather reminiscent of Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2.0, another underwhelming Android tab that banked on its price tag to sell. The screen itself (running at 1024 x 600) was decent enough - it was generally very bright, but the colors displayed seemed dull and lifeless.

The Slate 7 seems to have been designed to be as inoffensive as possible. That's not completely a bad thing - the stainless chassis and the soft-touch plastic that the Slate's rear is swathed in are rather nice - but there are precious few other design niceties to be found here. Those looking for a little splash of color may be interested to know that a red version will also be available. The Slate 7 is also apparently loaded up with Beats Audio support, a trait it shares with its notebook cousins, but I couldn't get a feel for it amid all of the noise of Pepcom.

As far as performance goes, what else is there to say? It works just about as well as you would expect a $169 tablet to: not that great. Swiping between home screens could be a little jerky (if it worked at all; quick swipes didn't always get the job done), and there was a bit of delay as I went to fire up new apps - though some non-final software probably has something to do with that. The Slate 7 has a dual-core 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of RAM to work with, which is usually enough to tackle stock, unfettered Android 4.1 without too many hiccups, but I'm willing to chalk all this jerkiness up to a pre-production lack of polish for now.

Click to view slideshow.

While we're talking about performance, HP's booth representatives didn't have many specifics on the dual-core processor, but a quick look at the settings revealed an option called "Rockchip system updates," proving nicely that HP sourced the processor from China's illustrious Fuzhou Rockchips Electronics company. Now I couldn't care less who the chip came from if it does the job admirably, but the internals here don't do much to wow. When asked about how HP was able to produce such an inexpensive tablet, HP's pitchman pointed to economies of scale - order enough parts and the end product shouldn't cost too much - but opting to go with a SoC from a largely unknown Chinese company probably didn't hurt either.

What almost certainly will hurt HP, though, is the crowded playing field it's diving into. There's the Nexus 7 to compete with of course, but don't forget devices like the Kindle Fire HD and the Nook HD. Each of them brings higher resolution displays into the mix, as well as tight access with each of their respective media environments for only $30 more out of pocket. That's not to say that HP won’t work to solidify the ties between its new tablet and the rest of the HP ecosystem - the Slate 7 comes with the ability to wireless print to compatible HP printers.

For better or worse (my money's on the latter), HP just doesn't seem concerned with trying to differentiate the Slate 7 from any other Android tablet out there. To its credit, HP isn't trying to position the Slate 7 as anything other than what it is: a very cheap mass-market play. I'm not convinced that this thing is going to be able to pull away from the pack just by undercutting the competition on price, but I could be wrong - the Slate 7 may be the right tablet with the right price tag at the right time.