Boot up: Office on iPad downloads, Eich steps down, disabling Find My IPhone, and more

Plus Google's mystery stock, HTC One's US start, Bitcoin's worrying trend, 64-bit KitKat (from Intel), and more

The HTC One M8: Chitika has numbers on its US debut. Photograph: /The Guardian

 Aburst of 8 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Techblown team

Twitter / Office: More than 12 million downloads ... >> Microsoft Twitter account

Microsoft's Twitter account:

More than 12 million downloads of Word, Excel, PPT & OneNote for #iPad from the @AppStore <3 #OfficeforiPad

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Brendan Eich steps down as Mozilla CEO >> The Mozilla Blog

Mitchell Baker:

Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn't live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it's because we haven't stayed true to ourselves.
We didn't act like you'd expect Mozilla to act. We didn't move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We're sorry. We must do better.
Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He's made this decision for Mozilla and our community.

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Google shareholder votes can be worth less than zero >> Businessweek

What is the worth of a Google shareholder vote?
One correct answer has always been: not much. Since the company went public in 2004, its stock has come in two flavors: Class A shares, which come with one vote apiece; and Class B shares, which come with 10. The latter are held almost entirely by Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, giving them majority control of the company while owning just a fraction of it. If all the Class A shareholders voted against Page and Brin, they would still lose. So it might even be accurate to say that the value of those voting rights is tantamount to nothing.
Today we are learning that the answer can even be: literally less than nothing. Or, to put it differently, an investor will apparently pay you to take the burden of a Google vote off her hands.

The cause: a new C class of Google stock without a vote.

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iPhone iOS 7.1 bug allows thieves to disable Find My iPhone >> gottabemobile

YouTube user Miguel Alvarado has discovered a workaround that prevents thieves from having to enter in a password in order to disable Find My iPhone. The video below demonstrates how it's done: All you need to do is hit Delete Account and the Find My iPhone disable switch at the same time. Then, as you're prompted for the Apple ID password, turn the phone off and turn it back on, and you'll be able to dip into iCloud settings and go wild.

However, if you set a passcode on your phone (and SIM card - both of which you do, right?) you're as secure as the passcode. Always intrigued as to how much effort it takes to find subtle timing bugs like this. (Thanks @imaginarynumber for the link.)

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HTC status report: One users generate 40.6% of HTC smartphone web traffic >> Chitika Online Advertising Network

As the above graph shows, HTC One model users generate a plurality of total North American HTC smartphone Web traffic, with users of the One M8 accounting for 0.1% of the total. This is behind the adoption rate of the original HTC One in the first week following its April 2013 release, with the earlier model's usage share averaging to roughly 1% on the same scale. Despite the muted news for the week-old One M8, the combined HTC One usage share can reasonably be seen as good news for HTC in terms of transitioning its user base over to the latest generation of smartphones.

Note: HTC's US president points out that the phone doesn't fully launch for retail sales until 11 April and that "contrary to [that] report, we are very satisfied w/ initial results".

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Office "Touch" for Windows to outclass version for iPad >> SuperSite for Windows

Paul Thurrott:

During today's Build 2014 keynote, Mr. Koenigsbauer provided a very early look at PowerPoint "Touch"—what he called "a preview of a work in progress"—and it's not hard to see the differences between this and Office for iPad, even now. For example, here's the Home ribbon in both PowerPoint "Touch" (top) and PowerPoint for iPad (bottom)
Two things stand out here. First, this particular ribbon has more options available in the Windows version. And second, the Windows version has three ribbons, Design, Animations, and View, which are not present in the iPad version.

"More options" isn't necessarily a good thing if you might be trying to hit a touch point on an 8in screen. Also, this touch version for Windows seems to be some distance off - unlikely to arrive before at least autumn, if not later. Did an iPad version really take precedence?

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Bitcoin trends analysis: this is the most ominous Bitcoin trend >> BGR

Tero Kuittinen:

Last week, Bitcoin's value tumbled 9% in one day on news that China's central bank had ordered banks and payment companies to close trading accounts belonging to more than 10 exchanges. Since then, Bitcoin has crashed by nearly another 10%, now hovering around $480. It's a steep decline from the feverish highs above $1,100 last November.
Ominously, general interest in Bitcoin is declining sharply, regardless of the recent turbulence. Google Trends shows that even though you would expect the break below the $500 level to generate a lot of curiosity, the search volume for "Bitcoin" is actually far below where it was in late February, when the pseudo-currency dropped below $600.

Could just be dropping from the top of the hype cycle into the "trough of disillusionment". Question is whether it will become something generally useful on the other side.

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Intel outs 64-bit KitKat Android, 'Braswell' chip for Chromebooks >> CNET

Intel revealed a new processor dubbed "Braswell," the QVOD media box, and a 64-bit Android kernel, among other announcements at the second day of a China conference.
With China now the No. 1 PC market in the world, Intel is making a number of announcements there instead of the US. This year is no exception.
Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president at Intel, disclosed that a chip code-named Braswell will be the follow-on to a version of the Bay Trail processor now found in low-cost devices like Chromebooks and sub-$500 Windows PCs.

Also released an x86 version of Android KitKat 4.4. The ARM version is still 32-bit, of course.

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