News Byte

Yahoo CEO Mayer Now Requiring Remote Employees to Not Be (Remote)

According to numerous sources, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has instituted a HR plan today to require Yahoo employees who work remotely to relocate to company facilities. The move will apparently impact several hundred employees, who must either comply without exception or presumably quit. It impacts workers such as customer service reps, who perhaps work from home or an office in another city where Yahoo does not have one. Many such staffers who wrote me today are angry, because they felt they were initially hired with the assumption that they could work more flexibly. Not so, as it turns out. A Yahoo spokesperson said the company does not comment on internal matters.

New Roomba Is Fully Loaded, But It Won’t Do All Your Dirty Work

IRobot’s newest robotic vacuum cleaner comes with bells and whistles, but leaves some dust in its wake.

News Byte

iRobot Adds Wireless Command Center to New $700 Roomba Vacuum

IRobot, maker of defense and maritime robotics — it also makes the Roomba vacuum cleaner — has released a new vacuum as part of its Roomba 700 series. The Roomba 790 is an upgraded version of the 780, featuring a redesigned faceplate and a wireless remote that allows for room-to-room navigation. It costs $700 — $100 more than the Roomba 780, and about the same price as this hefty Oreck (non-robotic) vacuum.

Swivl, the Swiveling Smartphone Dock, Slashes Price

A new version of the crowdfunded swiveling smartphone dock will cost $50 less than the original.

Apple’s TV Remote of the Future? It’s Already Here, In Your Hands.

Apple’s plans for a super-duper TV remote involve the iPhone or iPad you’re already using.

A Swiveling Dock for Shooting Hands-Free Smartphone Videos

Consumers who shoot a lot of home movies with their phones or who like to video chat will appreciate the Swivl. But its price point could be a big deterrent for some.

News Byte

Still Waiting on Office for iPad? OnLive’s New Subscription Service Has Office, Flash and More.

For those of you still holding your breath while you wait for an official Microsoft Office app to come to iPad, here’s something that might help in the interim: OnLive Desktop Plus, a premium, $4.99-a-month version of the OnLive Desktop app for iPad and other tablet devices. The newest version of the app offers a cloud-based Internet Explorer 9, Adobe Flash, and PDF capabilities, in addition to the full Office suite and the “accelerated browsing experience” that OnLive created for fast pushing and pulling of data on a remote-access desktop.

How Touchscreens Are Forcing the Reinvention of Keyboards

New technologies are making touchscreen typing easier — but is a tactile keyboard still the best solution?

Iridium Makes Satellite Connections as Easy as Wi-Fi

Long known as a vendor of the phone service of last resort for use in the world’s remotest locations, Iridium is pushing its data business with a new Wi-Fi device and a new handset.

Apple TV: Streaming and Renting From Devices

The revamped $99 Apple TV streams content from online, computers and portable devices, and allows you to rent TV shows and movies, but has a very limited selection of Internet video sources.

Big Apple