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Brazil, India Join Appeals of OOXML Approval
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60051
Despite the approval of Microsoft's Open Office XML standard by two international standards bodies, the document format is not yet on stable ground. India and Brazil have joined South Africa in contesting the approval, standards officials revealed.
"By the deadline last night (Thursday), we had received three appeals, from Brazil, India and South Africa," said Jonathan Buck, spokesperson for the International Electrotechnical Commission. The IEC, along with the International Organization for Standardisation, is responsible for the technical committee that approved OOXML.
"The (Brazilian) appeal was not lodged in the correct procedure -- it was not sent to the CEOs of the two organizations -- but nonetheless it has been received," Buck said, adding that it will be treated in the same way as the Brazilian and South African appeals.
The process in which the Joint Technical Committee approved OOXML has been roundly criticized, especially by countries with strong open-source communities. OOXML was approved in a "fast track" process in which a ballot-resolution meeting is called when a proposal is rejected on the technical merits. At that meeting, the criticisms are discussed and improvements made.
At the February ballot-resolution meeting, delegates had just five days to address more than 1,000 complaints about the proposed standard. The changes were voted on without discussion, but since that rushed approval the JTC has delayed publishing the approved spec. Now, a month after the deadline, the final draft is still not published.
Technology lawyer Andy Updegrove, who writes about standards on the Standards Blog, reported that Brazil and South Africa are both objecting to the failure to publish the reconciliation draft. "Despite the fact that this release has been requested by many different parties representing multiple viewpoints, no public or private explanation has thus far been given for the failure to follow rules calling for the release of...
Sat, 31 May 08
Intel, Micron Ready to Make SSDs with Higher Capacities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60047
Intel and Micron Technology announced Thursday that they have developed the first under-40-nanometer NAND flash-memory device, which could make possible smaller, higher-capacity solid-state drives.
At 34nm, the 32-gigabit multilevel chip is the smallest NAND available. The companies said the new NAND chip is the only monolithic device of this density that will fit into a standard 48-lead thin, small-outline package (TSOP), which means it could provide higher densities for existing devices.
The new chips will be manufactured on 300-millimeter wafers, which each yield about 1.6 terabytes of NAND each. The chip was developed and will be manufactured by IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture of Micron and Intel. The two companies announced in February a new flash-memory technology that offered data-transfer speeds as much as 500 percent greater than conventional NAND technology.
Customer samples will begin shipping in June, and the chips will begin mass production later this year.
Pete Hazen, directory of marketing at Intel NAND Products, said the new chip and the introduction of 34nm technology "will expand the value proposition and accelerate the adoption of solid-state drive (SSD) solutions in computing platforms."
The new chip, less than the size of an average thumbnail, can enable high-density solid-state storage in small form factors. A 32Gbit chip, for instance, could hold more than 2,000 high-resolution digital photos or up to 1,000 songs on a portable music player. If utilized in two, eight-die stacked packages, the storage could reach 64GB, enough space to record up to 40 hours of high-definition, digital video.
The new chip was specifically designed for SSDs, whose disadvantages compared to conventional hard-disk drives have included a higher per-gigabyte cost and lower overall storage capacity.
With the 34nm 32Gbit chip, Intel and Micron said more cost-effective SSDs are possible, with storage capacities that could double the current...
Sat, 31 May 08
Via Launches More-Powerful Nano Processor Family
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60046
Via Technologies has introduced a new VIA Nano processor family that offers as much as four times the performance within the same power range over the company's previous-generation C7 processor lineup.
In particular, Nano paves the way for notebook manufacturers to deploy Via's chips in computer designs optimized for Blu-ray Disc video playback and more demanding PC games. Moreover, Nano offers aggressive power and thermal management capabilities that Via Technologies CEO Wenchi Chen said are critical requirements for OEMs designing thin and light laptops as well as mini-notebooks.
"'Small is Beautiful' is more than a design strategy; it's our vision of where the PC market is heading, and our new processors will help the market realize that dream," Chen said. "Via Nano processors represent the next generation of x86 technology, providing the fundamental building blocks for a new genre of optimized computing solutions."
The new Nano processors are pin-compatible with existing VIA C7 processors, which means they will provide OEMs an easy upgrade path, noted Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst at research firm iSuppli.
"That's certainly an advantage for OEMs in terms of the motherboard design and the layout," Wilkins noted. "It cuts down on the amount of effort that some of Via's OEM partners in Taiwan will have to make to bring new products more quickly to market."
Wilkins also said it is significant that Via is targeting lower power consumption with the launch of its latest chip family. "It fits in very well with the low-cost PCs that are getting a lot of attention right now," he said.
For example, Asus now offers a mobile computer called the Eee PC that is quite significantly lower in price than other similar products. "It has received enthusiastic reception with the press and tends to sell out very quickly in...
Sat, 31 May 08
Android Innovations Make a Splash at Google I/O
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60045
An Android demonstration took center stage this week at the Google I/O event in San Francisco attended by 2,900 developers. The latest version of the mobile platform was introduced amid nearly 100 in-depth technical sessions about Google's developer products and general Web application development.
"The demo was very impressive in terms of showing off yet again a completely new user interface than what we've seen previously," said Avi Greengart, a wireless analyst at Current Analysis. "There are some nice innovations, such as a bar at the top which could be expanded to give you control over the notifications. You can touch the notification bar and jump to whatever you were being notified about."
The Open Handset Alliance promises Android will deliver a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. The alliance's 34 companies first released an Android software development kit last November.
The alliance is betting Android will better position developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. The end result, the group pledged, will be a mobile platform that makes way for wireless operators and manufacturers to give their customers better, more personal and more flexible mobile experiences.
One of the platform innovations that could live up to that promise is a new way to unlock phones by drawing a specific shape on the touchscreen. That would do away with the need to enter a password. Android also makes room for bookmarks for favorite Web sites on the device's home page. And a compass tool automatically roams with the phone's user.
"For all practical purposes they showed a live view of the mapping engine tied to what direction you are actually standing in, and that was really cool," Greengart said....
Sat, 31 May 08
Comcast Hijackers Expose Flaws in Internet's DNS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60039
Teenage hackers temporarily hijacked and defaced several Comcast Web sites and redirected user e-mail in an exploit that appears to expose fundamental weaknesses in the Internet's Domain Name System. The hackers, known as Defiant and EBK, apparently used "social engineering" -- persuading insiders to hand over account information -- to break into Comcast's account at domain registrar Network Solutions.
Comcast.net -- Comcast's main Web site -- was down for more than two hours, sporting a pink-on-white message that "KYROGENIX Defiant and EBK RoXed COMCAST sHouTz To VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven."
In addition, the WHOIS database of domain ownership spewed out a stream of obscenities when queried for information on Comcast sites.
Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, explained the nature of the exploit in an e-mail. "While we haven't seen all the details on exactly what did transpire, more than likely the hackers performed what would be considered a well-known and understood attack called domain hijacking," Storms said.
"The persons who maintain control over the centrally housed domain-name information with a registrar have the ability to control the DNS information for that domain. Once you have control over DNS, it's quite simple to propagate information into the Internet, telling computers where a Web site can be found."
In essence, the hackers could reroute the proper IP address for comcast.net to some other IP address -- and every time Comcast corrected the information, the hackers were able to reroute the domain.
It doesn't appear that the hackers did much more than deface Comcast's Web site and interrupt users' access to e-mail. With the level of control they had, "they could have done a lot worse," Storms said. "Instead of displaying a defacement, they could have just as easily used their control to set up a fake Webmail site...
Sat, 31 May 08
FCC Considers Free Internet, Revised D-Block Auction
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60028
Having successfully completed the much-publicized 700-MHz wireless spectrum auction, the Federal Communications Commission is now planning its next auctions.
According to a story in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, one of those plans includes a free wireless Internet. The winner of the auction for those frequencies would make broadband wireless Internet available to most of the U.S. Although details of the plan have not been worked out, there are reports that the FCC plan would mandate that the frequencies could not transmit everything the wildly diverse Internet could offer, such as pornography.
Another plan for a new auction would be directed at getting a winning bid for the D Block. That group of frequencies was not sold at the last auction, as the minimum bid of $1.3 billion was not reached. Under FCC rules, the buyer would need to allow part of the spectrum to be used by public-safety agencies.
As a run-up to the D-Block reauction, the FCC has been taking comments from industry, public safety, and academics on how the rules for the D Block might be revised to attract higher bids. According to news reports, many public-safety groups, such as the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International and the National Emergency Number Association, as well as some members of Congress are suggesting that the FCC keep the same public-private partnership as previously required.
This requirement seeks to guarantee that broadband communications between government agencies have national coverage and interoperability by requiring the commercial operator to make the frequencies available in the event of emergencies.
Some observers are suggesting that the D-Block price was too high, while others are suggesting that the private-public partnership requirements were not clearly defined. Bill Ho, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the basic issue needs to be addressed -- that bidders...
Sat, 31 May 08
Is Microsoft Repeating Vista Mistakes with Windows 7?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60027
In the world of technology, success is linked to perceptions. Microsoft demonstrated its multi-touch technology in a Windows 7 demo at the D: All Things Digital conference this week, and the software giant may have hoped to overcome the perception that Apple owns touchscreen interfaces. Instead, some observers are wondering if Microsoft is making the same mistakes that now plague Windows Vista.
"We are always looking for new ways to deliver great experiences for our customers," Chris Flores wrote on the Windows Vista blog. "This is especially true of Windows -- where we're constantly examining trends in hardware, software and services to ensure that we continue to drive the innovation."
But Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch, is among those who are scratching their heads about Microsoft's moves this week. He has one overarching question after viewing the demo: Is Redmond making the mistakes it made with Vista all over again?
"Some of the mistakes Microsoft made with Vista were talking up the next version of Windows way too early, showing off features out of context with the rest of the operating system," Gartenberg said. "The second mistake was focusing so much on multi-touch."
Apple didn't invent touchscreen technology. In fact, Microsoft was working on the concept long before Apple publicly demonstrated its efforts. However, touchscreen technology has become almost synonymous with Apple and the iPhone, Gartenberg said, and he wonders why Microsoft is showing off a feature that makes the company appear as if it is copying Apple instead of innovating on its own.
"Yes, Microsoft wants to recapture the notion that Apple didn't invent multi-touch, that they have their own implementation of it, but is that really the right way to go about this?" Gartenberg asked. "It's a perception issue. It makes Microsoft look like it is chasing after Apple. Microsoft probably...
Sat, 31 May 08
'Sniff' Out Acquaintances, Wherever They Are
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60021
One of texting's most common messages -- "Where r u?" -- may become a quaint phrase of the past with a new program that lets your friends and associates find out for themselves.
The program Sniff, which stands for "social network integrated friend finder," will track down anyone who has signed up and agreed to be "Sniffed."
Generally for less than $1, Sniff produces a rough address and map for any participant using the same technology rescuers employ to find wayward hikers who call 911 by cell phone -- triangulating the caller's location based on which cell phone towers are nearby.
If you're lost, you can Sniff yourself.
About 180,000 users in Scandinavia are doing it, and the program recently launched in the United Kingdom, where Sniff searches go for 50 pence.
Denver-based Useful Networks, owned by Liberty Media Corp., says the program is handy for finding friends on the way to happy hour, and it expects at least two major U.S. wireless carriers -- CEO Brian Levin wouldn't say which -- to start offering Sniff within weeks through Facebook and http://www.sniffu.com.
The startup Loopt offers a similar service that automatically updates users' friends' locations. And Google Inc.'s Dodgeball will tell all your friends where you are when you sends Dodgeball a message updating your location.
Paula Hammond, executive director of the domestic violence program Project Safeguard in Colorado, worries that Sniff can't verify whether the person who registers a cell phone to participate actually owns the phone. That loophole could enable a stalker, for instance, to track a victim without her knowing, Hammond says.
Sniff says its periodic reminders to users should tip off people who have been registered without their knowledge, and users can make themselves "invisible" to certain Sniffers.
The company's also working on giving faux locations to stalkers -- and to bosses looking for employees...
Sat, 31 May 08
Intel CEO Otellini: New Gadgets Will Expand the Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60020
Intel Corp.'s push to create and boost new categories of small, cheap Internet-connected devices is taking the world's largest chip maker in some unusual directions.
It's investing in wireless networks, or even buying them outright. It's relying on software that isn't from Microsoft. And it's looking at making processors cheaper and smaller rather than faster and faster.
To Chief Executive Paul Otellini, it's all part of bringing the Internet to new places and people, and computer makers are responding.
"I've not seen energy like this from our customers in a long, long time," Otellini told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Everyone views this as being sort of hyperexpansive to the existing market."
A centerpiece of the strategy is the Atom processor, which packs the power of a PC-class processor from six years ago into the smallest space yet -- 25 Atoms will fit on a square inch. It's intended for Mobile Internet Devices -- iPhone-like tablets that provide a "full" Internet experience, better than that available on cell phones.
Somewhat larger than the MID is what Intel calls the "netbook," a small, cheap laptop. Taiwan's AsusTek has had a breakout hit in this category with its Eee PC, which starts at $300 (EU191) and uses an Intel chip. Other manufacturers, like Hewlett-Packard Co., are entering the space too, though HP is using a chip from Via Technologies Inc.
Otellini isn't concerned that low-power processors could "cannibalize," or steal, sales from Intel's high-end, high-margin products.
"If a higher-priced notebook isn't substantially better and doesn't offer more utility, shame on us," he said. "If there's cannibalization, I'd rather be the cannibal than someone else."
Bill Hughes, an analyst at the research firm In-Stat, noted that a relatively small group is behind the demand for netbooks, which some stores have had trouble keeping in stock.
"It's growing fast because it's very small,"...
Sat, 31 May 08
Digital Printers Pursuing More of World's Pages
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60016
Commercial printing, where traditional offset still reigns, could be transformed with the introduction of a bevy of versatile, high-speed digital presses.
One of the most talked-about models being unveiled Thursday at Drupa 2008 -- a showcase for the graphic communications industry held every four years in Dusseldorf, Germany -- is Stream, a continuous-feed inkjet color press from Eastman Kodak Co.
It can print more than 2,500 pages -- or 500 feet -- of customized catalogs, brochures, books, magazines, credit-card bills or direct mail each minute. And it may be able to narrow cost, quality and speed gaps that have kept digital printers from capturing more than 10 percent of the world's high-end commercial market.
Current full-color digital presses -- Xerox Corp.'s iGen, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Indigo and Kodak's NexPress -- top out around 120 pages a minute at a cost of 5 cents to 6 cents per page, analysts say. Output from the Stream is closer to analog-world prices of a penny or less per page, a dramatic improvement that makes the newer technology much more competitive.
"It's a step-function improvement in speed and cost," said Citigroup analyst Matthew Troy. "And it gives the printer the ability to do variable data printing at a quality level that is close to traditional offset. And that is massive."
Photography icon Kodak expects to bring Stream to market in early 2009.
Seeing its film and photofinishing businesses nose-dive, Kodak has tapped its inkjet expertise and splurged $2.6 billion on a string of acquisitions since 2004 in hopes of grabbing a stake in a fertile market where Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, Xerox, and Fuji also are doing fierce battle.
Over the next two weeks at Drupa 2008 -- which could draw more than 400,000 people -- the industry's major players will put their latest commercial printing wares on display and introduce "the first generation...
Sat, 31 May 08
Germany Probes Deutsche Telekom Over Monitored Calls
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60010
German prosecutors said Thursday that they have launched an investigation into allegations that Deutsche Telekom AG monitored managers' call records to track possible leaks of information to media.
Joerg Schindler, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office in Bonn, where Telekom is based, confirmed that an investigation had been launched.
He later said that former CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke and former supervisory board chief Klaus Zumwinkel were under investigation, but did not give further details.
A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that offices at the firm's Bonn headquarters were searched Thursday morning. Prosecutors refused to comment on that.
The telecommunications company has pledged a thorough investigation of the allegations, which were made public last weekend in the weekly Der Spiegel. On Saturday, it acknowledged that "there were cases of misuse of call records at Deutsche Telekom in 2005 and, according to latest allegations, also in 2006."
Deutsche Telekom has stressed that there is no suggestion that calls were tapped, but rather that call records detailing the time, participants and duration of calls were improperly monitored.
Telekom has said that it investigated an individual case last summer, which led to a restructuring of its security department.
It says that, on April 28, the management board received "new, broader and more serious allegations" from "an external party who had apparently been involved in the incidents and who had been commissioned by a member of the group security department." It called in prosecutors in mid-May.
The German Finance Ministry this week welcomed Deutsche Telekom's commitment to investigate the allegations and reiterated its confidence in CEO Rene Obermann, who took over the top job in late 2006.
The government holds a 14.8 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom, a former state-owned monopoly, and an indirect stake of another 16.9 percent through the state-owned KfW bank.
Schindler said...
Sat, 31 May 08
Review: Lightweight Laptops Do a Delicate Balancing Act
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60008
Those of us who carry laptops have different tastes and needs, of course, so it's unlikely computer makers will ever agree on the ideal compact. It always comes down to a balancing act over size, weight, price, features and ease of use.
That's evident in the four subnotebooks I've been testing -- the Asus Eee PC 900, HP Mini-Note 2133, Intel Classmate PC, and Lenovo IdeaPad U110. None will break your back at an airport or on campus. They generally won't break your budget, either. But they'll likely have you begging for more.
Here's a closer look:
Taiwanese upstart Asus made a name for itself last year with the itty-bitty 2-pound, Linux-based $299 Eee PC, popular with techies but hamstrung in a few ways. Asus recently unveiled a welcome newcomer, the Eee PC 900. While keeping the petite form factor pretty much intact, the latest model ups the size of the screen from 7 inches to 8.9 inches, boosting the resolution along the way. Alas, the price is also considerably larger: $550, up from $299.
You can order it with Linux or Windows XP, the model I tested. The Linux version has greater storage: 20 gigabytes vs. 12GB, both modest sums. You can add storage via an SD card slot. Though the new Asus still runs on a fairly wimpy Intel Celeron processor, it now has 1GB of RAM (up from 512 megabytes), three USB ports and a 1.3-megapixel camera.
My main beef: It is a challenge to type on, especially if you have thick fingers. The slightly larger touchpad can recognize "gestures" -- letting you, for example, pinch with your fingers to enlarge a photo. Battery life was so-so. With power-saving measures turned off, I got about two hours and 40 minutes off the battery, doing a combination of typing and...
Fri, 30 May 08
Sony Electronics Inks Interactive Cable-TV Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60026
Six cable-TV operators that serve more than 82 percent of U.S. cable households have inked an agreement with Sony Electronics that will soon make it possible for cable subscribers to forego the use of stand-alone set-top boxes. The enabling Tru2way technology, based on Sun Microsystems' Java runtime environment, enables interactive capabilities in TV sets, gaming consoles, portable media players, and even mobile phones.
Sony executives say the agreement with Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner will pave the way for TV sets equipped with Tru2way software to access digital video-recording capabilities, video on demand and interactive programming guides.
"This marketplace agreement is good news for consumers," said Edgar Tu, senior vice president of Sony Electronics. "A national plug-and-play digital cable standard for interactive TV receivers, recorders and other products that is transferable and viable wherever you live is ideal for today's mobile society."
Samsung Electronics recently unveiled several new Tru2way-capable products, including HD-DVR and set-top devices. Even better, Samsung's launch of an LCD TV with Tru2way built into the box signals that the venerable set-top box could begin sliding toward oblivion as soon as this year's holiday shopping season.
Sony's agreement with the nation's top cable giants, which together serve more than 105 million U.S. homes, will eliminate cable set-top box deployment headaches and maintenance costs for cable-TV operators. Another perk: The deal will end those pesky monthly set-top rental fees that many consumers hate.
"The goals of Tru2way are to provide a universal, national platform that will enable consumers to receive cable's interactive services without a set-top box," noted Joy Sims, a spokesperson for the National Cable TV Association. "And the same national platform will allow content creators to develop new applications that can be deployed to all systems [with] Tru2way, using...
Fri, 30 May 08
Questions Abound About Windows 7 Touchscreen Demo
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60025
Is the hoopla around Microsoft Windows 7 much ado about nothing? We won't really know until the operating system is released in 2010.
Ever since Microsoft Vice President Julie Larson-Green demonstrated Windows 7 technology at the D: All Things Digital conference earlier this week, the technology world has been buzzing about the possibilities. But some analysts say the hype is premature.
Windows 7 will tout multi-touch technology that lets fingers draw rudimentary images. During the demo, Larson-Green drew a landscape on a Dell laptop. The demo also included navigating an online map to find a nearby Starbucks. Microsoft figures the technology is a natural for image editing and navigation.
Of course, this isn't the first time the industry has previewed Microsoft's touchscreen technology. Microsoft demonstrated its tabletop and kiosk-like displays at last year's D: All Things Digital conference. Still, some analysts are cautious.
Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, said he doesn't count demos
done by senior executives as big news, particularly demos which are so short and in which the company will not address questions about underlying technology.
"I look at the demo as interesting, but you still aren't showing me why I absolutely have to have it. I still don't know what kind of hardware I might need to buy to use it. And I still don't know if applications have to be modified to take advantage of it," Cherry said. "So I am not prepared to sit on the edge of my seat for the entire time hoping it is something I will like."
Nonetheless, the buzz is building, Chris Flores, a Microsoft product director, wrote on the official Windows Vista blog, about the possibilities of touchscreen technology on a PC.
"What becomes even more compelling is when this experience is delivered to the PC -- on a wide...
Fri, 30 May 08
MySpace Adopts Google's Gears To Search Messages
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60024
Google Gears --the search giant's open-source system for allowing offline access to Web applications -- celebrated its one-year anniversary Wednesday with an announcement by MySpace. The social-networking site, owned by News Corp., will use Gears to search and sort user messages. This is the largest implementation of the Gears technology.
MySpace users will be invited to download Gears when they visit their mailbox, said Allen Hurff, MySpace's senior vice president of engineering, at the Google I/O conference. While Google has promoted the chief benefit of Gears as allowing users to access their data even when offline -- a critical feature, since Internet access is far from ubiquitous in the U.S. -- MySpace is not yet taking advantage of that capability.
The chief benefit right now is dramatically improving performance for MySpace's messaging system and enabling functions like search and sorting that the current system is unable to provide. Another benefit is the cost savings of moving all those client-server communications and processing to users' machines.
With Gears -- Google also announced it has dropped the corporate branding from the name, presumably to beef up its open-source credentials -- programmers can use JavaScript to exploit three core functions: a local database, a local server for caching objects, and a thread pool that allows actions and events to take place in the background. MySpace takes advantage of all of these features to dramatically improve performance and offer new capabilities.
On the TechCrunch blog, Michael Arrington explained the difference between the old and new systems. "Instead of scrolling through pages and pages of messages, users can now sort by date, from, status (read/unread), or subject. And, more importantly, users can also search the full text of messages. The results are shown instantly (think Outlook), without page refreshes."
In addition to the improved user experience,...
Fri, 30 May 08
U.S. Files Complaint Over European Tech Tariffs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60023
The United States filed a complaint Wednesday with the World Trade Organization over European tariffs on three categories of high-tech goods, including flat-panel computer monitors and some printers.
The duties, which are as high as 14 percent, make U.S. exports less competitive in the European Union, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade association. The group's members include Hewlett-Packard Co., Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.
The complaint, strongly supported by the U.S. high-tech industry, charges that the EU's duties violate a 1996 WTO agreement that eliminated tariffs on information technology equipment.
"The EU is effectively taxing innovation," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said. "We wanted to make sure that the commitments to give duty-free treatment to these products would be maintained in the face of the evolution of technology."
The EU has said it can charge duties on the goods, which include cable and satellite boxes that can access the Internet and printers that can also scan, fax and copy, because they include new technologies developed since the agreement was signed.
Total worldwide exports of the products included in the complaint totaled $70 billion in 2007.
The WTO confirmed Wednesday that it received the U.S. complaint, which initiates a 60-day consultation period with the European Union. After that, the U.S. may ask a WTO panel to rule on the dispute. WTO panels can take 12 to 18 months to resolve disputes.
The European Commission said in a statement that it was willing to renegotiate the 1996 Information Technology Agreement to cover new products, but the United States has refused to do so.
"Both the spirit and explicit provisions in the ITA make it clear that extension to new products to reflect technological change would not be automatic, but based on periodic review by signatories," the commission said.
The EU said that the flat-panel screens cited by...
Fri, 30 May 08
Yahoo CEO Yang: Company Is Not 'Under Siege'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60013
Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang rejected the image of his company as "under siege," telling conference goers that executives are rallying to streamline Yahoo's offerings and make it more relevant to consumers and to advertisers.
Yahoo faces the threat of mutiny from shareholders unhappy with the way its board handled a takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. that was ultimately withdrawn this month.
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference Wednesday, Yang stood by his handling of the deal and painted a bright future for the Internet pioneer he co-founded.
"The perception of us being a company under siege is just not accurate," said Yang, who deflected repeated questions about what lies ahead for the company, where he returned as CEO last year.
Yang and Yahoo President Susan Decker said the company was reorganizing around four pillars: home page, search, mail and mobile services.
"The essence of Yahoo is being defined today," Yang said. "We have to be incredibly relevant to the consumer. We want you to start your day at Yahoo."
Later, he pleaded for time to turn around the slumping company.
"I know people want to see results," he said. "But I think we're starting to show Yahoo can be on this path to being a different entity."
Yang faces a looming showdown with activist investor Carl Icahn for control of Yahoo's board. Icahn, hoping to channel shareholder discontent, has nominated a slate of candidates to replace the current board of directors -- a process known as a proxy fight -- in an effort to arrange the marriage between Microsoft and Yahoo.
The Redmond, Washington-based software giant withdrew its $47.5 billion (EU30.3 billion) bid earlier this month. Yang has said he and other board members wanted $37 (EU23) per share, or about $52 billion (EU33 billion).
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said Wednesday night that...
Fri, 30 May 08
Apple Releases Mac OS X and Security Updates
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60006
Apple's Leopard has some new spots, in the form of the latest version of the Mac OS X Leopard operating system, as well as a security update.
The security update, released Thursday, is also included in the latest Leopard 10.5.3 version, released Wednesday. The releases come as the Apple developer world prepares for the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco the week of June 9.
The 10.5.3 release deals with a variety of compatibility issues, including some in the Time Capsule backup device and in Apple's work-flow application for photographers, Aperture 2. Updates to the virtual-desktop application, Spaces, corrects a bug in which application windows were reordered when switching desktops and then switching back. Mail also received updates, including stability issues related to large attachments and mailbox changes made while offline.
Fixes in iChat enhance reliability while users are screen sharing, and they also fix a bug where group chats are not indexed in Spotlight. Enhancements to improve reliability have also been made for Automator, AirPort, Address Book, Parental Controls, and VoiceOver.
The separate Security Update 2008-003/Mac OS X 10.5.3 update is designed to address more than 40 vulnerabilities. In a posting on its support site, Apple said the update includes operating-system improvements to "enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac."
Apple is strongly recommending the 10.5.3 security update for all users of OS X 10.5, 10.5.1, and 10.5.2, if they choose not to upgrade to the newest OS. It can be downloaded through Software Update or from Apple Downloads.
The vulnerabilities include application terminations and arbitrary code executions for Apple Pixlet Video, ATS, CoreGraphics, Help Viewer, iCal, AppKit, AFP Server, Core Foundation, Time Machine, and the Flash Player Plug-in, among others. The common Flash plug-in had multiple issues, according to Apple, and the most...
Fri, 30 May 08
TiVo Will Offer Disney Movies, TV Critic as Downloads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60005
On the heels of The Netflix Player by Roku announcement and in the face of rumors about Blockbuster preparing to announce its own set-top box for streaming videos, TiVo is inking some deals of its own.
TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from the Walt Disney Studios to broadband-connected TiVo DVRs directly from the TV. Subscribers will also be able to receive recommendations for TV shows from the Chicago Tribune and have them automatically recorded.
TiVo will make Disney titles available to rent through an agreement with Disney-ABC
and CinemaNow. The companies will offer the movies for a 24-hour period in standard definition, with many also available in high definition.
"Adding Disney movies really delivers on TiVo's promise to offer the best television entertainment experience with unlimited content choices that are easy to navigate across broadcast, cable, and broadband using one device, one remote, and one user interface," said Tara Maitra, vice president and general manager of content services at TiVo.
The service will be available to all broadband-connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers later this year. TiVo offers more than 30,000 titles through Amazon Unbox, Music Choice and more than 50 other content providers. The company recently announced that TiVo subscribers will be able to access YouTube videos directly on a TV via the TiVo DVR this summer.
TiVo this week also announced a partnership with the Chicago Tribune to deliver the recommendations of the newspaper's TV critic, Maureen Ryan, directly to subscribers' televisions while TiVo automatically records the recommended shows listed in the newspaper's TV grids.
Ryan's authoritative and popular print and online column, The Watcher, has made her, according to the entertainment trade publication Variety, one of the TV industry's "favorite (or most feared)" newspaper TV critics. TiVo subscribers will also be able to download...
Fri, 30 May 08
Zinio Puts Hundreds of Magazines a Click Away
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59998
The future of magazine publishing increasingly is appearing on a digital display -- not just a newsstand.
Advancements in software and hardware are making it easier for a growing faction of consumers -- including coveted younger readers called screen-agers -- to read their favorite publications on the Internet or download and read them later offline.
"It's not Jetsons. It's real," says Richard Maggiotto, CEO of Zinio, one of a dozen or so companies that specialize in creating digital editions of magazines and newspapers.
"We aren't trying to erode print systems, but give publishers another way to redistribute their content," he says. "It gives readers what they want in media formats they are increasingly using, such as iPhone, iPod, PCs."
The San Francisco-based Zinio and similar ventures could be a lifeline for the magazine and newspaper industries as readers -- especially younger ones -- migrate to the Internet and electronic devices to get their news.
Potentially, more may follow, with developments in "e-paper" technology. E Ink and Plastic Logic are developing flexible screen technology that will let consumers read content in color while on the move, says David Renard, senior analyst at market researcher MediaIdeas. By 2020, e-paper will be a $25 billion industry, he says. Amazon.com and Sony are among those that have created wireless reading devices. Amazon's Kindle lets people buy books and access other content over Sprint's wireless broadband network.
Digital versions of magazines "are a far superior reading experience in that the Web site is endless. There are billions of pages, where you can drift on tangents stemming from each story," says Bo Sacks, publisher of consultant Precision Media Group.
The growing popularity of virtual magazines could be a panacea for foreign publishers -- many of whom want to crack the U.S. market but are hindered by distance and mailing costs -- and it...
Fri, 30 May 08
Microchipped Olympic Tickets Cause Privacy Concerns
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59993
China has ratcheted up surveillance and security in every phase of the Beijing Olympics -- even the tickets.
In a move unprecedented for the Olympics, tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are embedded with a microchip containing the bearer's photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail and telephone numbers.
The intent is to keep potential troublemakers from the 91,000-seat National Stadium for the high-profile ceremonies. Along with terrorists, China's authoritarian government fears protesters might unfurl Tibet flags, anti-China banners or even T-shirts adorned with political messages.
Tickets for the Aug. 8 opening ceremony are the most expensive of the games -- a top price of $720 -- and many are in the hands of dignitaries and friends.
The inclusion of such personal data on the microchips had raised concerns about privacy and potential identity theft, as well as threatening chaos at the turnstiles as officials try to match to tickets to attendees, creating bad publicity on opening night.
"They should be concentrating on sniffing out the kinds of dangerous stuff rather than worrying about the identity of the people with the tickets," said Roger Clarke, an Australian security expert. His Xamax Consultancy in Canberra advises businesses in online security and identity authentication.
"The way in which you recognize an evildoer, somebody who wants to throw a bomb, somebody who wants to unfurl a Tibet flag is not on the basis of their identity," Clarke added. "It's the act that they perform and it's the materials they carry with them."
China was toughened visa restrictions and increased checks at hotels and entertainment areas -- all designed to keep track of foreigners as the games approach. Several large public gatherings have been canceled. Thousands of closed-circuit TV cameras will be deployed in and around the venues. Organizers have acknowledged that some security officials will be dressed in volunteer uniforms. Passengers...
Fri, 30 May 08
XBRL Spells New Tool for Data Miners
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59991
Professors have long been friends to U.S. securities regulators, uncovering suspicious trading and accounting patterns that have led to multimillion-dollar settlements.
These researchers are about to get a new tool to help them find a treasure trove of easily accessible information to comb through, and which could lead to more enforcement actions against companies in the United States.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed a timetable requiring about 500 of the largest public companies to begin filing their financial data in extensible business reporting language, known as XBRL, in early 2009. Smaller companies would get an extra year or two to get ready.
XBRL tags are like bar codes attached to each piece of financial data. The data can be downloaded to spreadsheets or accessed with an online viewer that allows users to easily find and compare crucial company data.
Corey Booth, chief information officer for the SEC, said that analysis of the XBRL data of companies could uncover suspicious activities.
"It stands to reason that when you have that much more data available, it will produce more insight and some very interesting findings pertinent to us," Booth said.
Recent high-profile SEC cases involving the backdating of stock options were set off by academic researchers examining corporate data.
Professors at the University of Iowa and Indiana University spent months poring over data from SEC documents and found that many options grants were timed to exploit marketwide price depressions that not even insiders could predict, indicating that at least some of the grants must have been backdated.
As a result, hundreds of companies were investigated by the SEC or conducted their own internal inquiries.
Marvell Technology and Broadcom agreed this year to pay $10 million and $12 million, respectively, to settle backdating cases.
Randy Heron, a finance professor at Indiana University who co-authored the research, said the new...
Fri, 30 May 08
Judge Says Dell Misled Customers with False Advertising
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59988
A New York judge concluded Tuesday that Dell Inc. engaged in repeated false and deceptive advertising of its promotional credit financing and warranties.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi ordered the computer retailer to more clearly disclose that most customers don't qualify for free financing or get "next day" repair service.
"It appears likely that there are many more New York consumers who are entitled to restitution who are not included in the complaints," Teresi wrote.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell last year. Teresi gave him until Dec. 1 to identify all consumer claims for third-party repairs, new computers or higher-interest payments than they would have paid otherwise.
"For too long at Dell the promise of customer service was a bait and switch that left thousands of people paying for essentially no service at all," Cuomo said. "This decision sends an important message that all corporations will be held accountable for the promises they make to consumers."
The attorney general's office had 700 complaints against Dell when the lawsuit was filed in May 2007 and has received more than 1,000 since, spokesman John Milgrim said.
Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn said the company, based in Round Rock, Texas, disagreed with the judge's decision and would be putting up a vigorous defense of its position, although it had not decided yet whether it would appeal.
"We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected," Blackburn said.
The company noted earlier that it had 6 million transactions in New York between 2003 and 2006, with alleged complaints representing only a tiny fraction. Dell also told the court that it has started selective recording and auditing of sales representatives to avoid misrepresentations and has invested millions of dollars in customer service and...
Fri, 30 May 08
Microsoft and Apple Cozy Up for Office 2008 for Mac
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59987
Microsoft's relationship with Apple never has been cozy, but the release of Office 2008 seems to have solidified the two -- and their working relationship -- for the foreseeable future.
Office has become the ubiquitous word processing and spreadsheet application out there, and nearly all corporate presentations are made in PowerPoint as well. Apple is trying to make inroads with its new iWork version, but it has some limitations. The word processor is fine for most users, and Keynote, the presentation software, is quite elegant if you are assured you are going to be making the presentation with Apple hardware. (The Apple spreadsheet is not ready for corporate use, however.)
With Office 2008 for Mac, however, Microsoft has upped the ante. Office 2004, the former version, had been getting long in the tooth, and the new one has arrived just in time. The most striking thing to me is how much Office 2008 has adopted the look and feel of OS X and how much it feels like an Apple product instead of a Microsoft product ported to Apple hardware.
Many new features, like the Formatting Palette in Word, puts a lot of great stuff right at your mouse click. Styles, bullets, alignment -- it's all there. The best feature for students is the new Citations Palette that makes management of citations and bibliographies in research papers. Word also features a great new "Publishing Layout View" that makes desktop publishing a snap (finally!) with Word. This clearly is a response to Apple's clearly better "Pages" application, but Office 2008 delivers. If you want a simple newsletter or school report creator, this is your baby.
Excel adds the Formula Builder panel and numerous design improvements, but there wasn't a whole lot to improve, frankly. If you're into numbers, Excel is your baby. I find the...
Fri, 30 May 08
South Africa Protests Approval of Microsoft File Format
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59984
South Africa has lodged an appeal against the decision to make Microsoft Corp.'s Open XML format an internationally recognized standard for electronic documents, officials said Wednesday.
The South African Bureau of Standards sent a letter of protest to two Geneva-based organizations that held a worldwide ballot on Microsoft's application last month, complaining that the process was poorly conducted and rushed.
SABS Chief Executive Martin Kuscus sent the letter to the International Standards Organization and the International Electrotechnical Commission. The letter is dated May 22.
"We challenge the validity of a process that, from beginning to end, required all parties to analyze far too much information in far too little time," Kuscus said.
Supporters of the rival format ODF have claimed that Microsoft used strong-arm tactics to win approval from the national committees that voted on the new standard last month.
"It is our opinion that the process followed during all stages of this fast track has harmed the reputations of both ISO and IEC," Kuscus said, adding that "negative publicity has, in turn, also harmed the reputation of all member bodies of ISO and IEC."
The appeal means Microsoft will have to wait at least another month before knowing for sure whether the file format -- known as OOXML -- is approved as an open standard. Many lucrative government contracts require the use of open formats.
Microsoft argues that it has opened up the once-proprietary technology used by its Office 2007 software to work smoothly with competing programs. But opponents say OOXML still locks out competitors and gives Microsoft customers no choice but to keep buying its programs forever.
Microsoft declined to comment on the complaint Wednesday.
"This is an issue between ISO/IEC and the South African member standards body, so it would not be appropriate for us to comment on this specific situation," the Redmond-based software giant said...
Thu, 29 May 08
Other Copyright Holders Sue Google and YouTube
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60004
For all the talk about Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube, there are also copyright holders who have filed a class-action suit. This class claims YouTube violated intellectual-property rights by posting video clips without permission.
In other words, while Viacom, the entertainment titan that owns Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, and other entertainment properties, is suing Google's YouTube for the posting of some 160,000 unauthorized video clips, Viacom isn't the only party claiming damages.
Lou Solomon at Proskauer Rose LLP represents the international sports leagues and music publishers in a copyright-infringement suit. His clients, he insisted, are going to get structural relief.
"Google says they are never going to give structural relief," Solomon said. "To me it sounds like the case is going to have to be tried and decided. That's fine. We welcome that."
Google maintains it respects intellectual-property rights and goes "above and beyond" the law's mandates. If Google successfully defends itself against copyright holders' claims that YouTube does not qualify for safe-harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it could have a dramatic impact on the way information is consumed online.
As Solomon sees it, YouTube's control of its Web site has become crystal clear with its advertising machinations. YouTube can pinpoint the right kind of song and the right kind of ad, he said, and that's the type of control the DMCA says you can't have to be a safe harbor. Solomon said there are means available to protect copyright holders, and YouTube is not using them. Google was not immediately available for comment.
"Google is going to be directed to employ available means to ensure that copyrighted material stays off the site," Solomon argued. "This copyrighted material can be fingerprinted in advance. YouTube has to be responsible for not allowing it up on the site to begin...
Thu, 29 May 08
Belgian Papers Resume Copyright Battle with Google
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60003
In an ongoing legal battle, a group of Belgian newspapers want Google to pay millions of dollars for publishing and storing copyrighted content. Copiepresse, the newspaper copyright group representing the French-language publishers, has summoned Google to appear before a Brussels court on Sept. 18. The group hopes judges will decide the search company should pay between $51.7 million and $77.5 million in damages for infringing on newspaper copyrights.
Copiepresse is also calling for Google to pay a provisional amount of $6.3 million, though it has publicly stated it is still willing to settle.
Google could not immediately be reached for comment, but has consistently said it has not infringed on Belgian newspaper copyrights. The search giant appealed a court ruling last year that said Google could not reproduce excerpts from the papers on its sites.
"I can see why Google would want to appeal. Google is trying to walk a tightrope. Obviously, Google doesn't want to litigate against every newspaper outlet or copyright holder that comes after them. And they can't be seen as folding," said Michael G. Kelber, a member of the Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg law firm's intellectual-property group.
As Kelber sees it, Google has to work to protect the fair-use doctrine and establish that copyright holders won't be successful in litigation against the search king. On the other hand, if Google can devise a business solution where it can pay a nominal fee, or otherwise come to agreeable terms with Copiepresse, it may be cleaner to settle the case than to litigate in a foreign court.
Either way, Google could see additional suits from copyright holders around the world -- and that could turn into a nightmare for the company, which is already embroiled in a $1 billion copyright lawsuit with Viacom over its YouTube property. "The...
Thu, 29 May 08
Intel Delays Next-Generation Centrino 2 Mobile Platform
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60002
Intel has pushed back the scheduled delivery date for the chipmaker's next-generation Centrino 2 mobile chip platform. Intel now intends to introduce the new platform's Core and Extreme mobile processors on July 14, at which time it will also "begin initial shipments of some of our chipsets," said Intel spokesperson Connie Brown.
"We expect to ship our complete line of chipsets and wireless chips in high volume a couple of weeks later, the first week of August," Brown said.
Dadi Perlmutter, general manager of Intel's mobility group, told Intel Developer Forum attendees last month that the chipmaker would deliver its next-generation mobile chip technology by June. But Brown explained that a combination of issues forced Intel to push back the rollout date.
"We are taking the extra days to address two issues that require us to rescreen our chipsets with integrated graphics and attend to some 'Ts' and 'Cs' (terms and conditions) mistakes while filing and testing our wireless antennas," she explained.
Intel's announcement comes as notebook manufacturers are gearing up to meet demand during the back-to-school shopping period. According to Brown, Intel's decision to begin shipping the processors and at least some of its chipsets the week of July 14 will enable "OEMs to meet their back-to-school selling season."
Making a big splash in the notebook space this year is an important part of Intel's plan to take advantage of accelerating demand for laptops at the expense of desktop PCs. "We believe that the shipment crossover of desktop PCs to mobile PCs will now happen this year and not next year, as we originally anticipated," Intel CEO Paul Otellini told investors recently.
Featuring components that are approximately 40 percent smaller, Intel's new mobile chip platform will be capable of spanning the entire range...
Thu, 29 May 08
VIA Releases OpenBook Laptop with Open-Source Design
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60001
Taiwan-based VIA Technologies has released a new hardware design for a low-cost laptop computer, making it available under an open-source license. Called the OpenBook, the company said its design "introduces a host of new innovations," including more advanced computing and multimedia features, an 8.9-inch screen, and video-playback support.
Screen resolutions up to 1,024x600 are supported, as is the high-performance VIA Chrome9 3-D graphics processor. There is also video acceleration for the MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9, VC-1, and DiVX video formats; an HD-capable video processor and eight-channel HD audio; three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, and audio-in/audio-out jacks; and a 2-megapixel dual-headed camera and a four-in-one card reader.
The design is based on the VIA C7-M ULV processor and a new, all-in-one VIA VX800 digital-media IGP chipset. Supported operating systems include Windows Vista Basic, Windows XP, and various Linux distributions. The platform has up to 2GB DDR2 DRAM, with a variety of hard disk drives and solid-state storage possibilities.
The OpenBook also has what the company called "a flexible internal interface" for high-speed wireless connectivity that offers WiMAX, HSDPA, or EV-DO/W-CDMA. There's also support for a full keyboard and a four-cell battery with up to three hours of power.
Richard Brown, VIA's vice president of corporate marketing, said the OpenBook "builds on the great success of the VIA NanoBook reference design launched last year," which has been adopted worldwide.
The computer-assisted design, or CAD, files of the reference design are being made available for OEMs, system integrators and broadband service providers under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license. Computer makers can create their own external look and feel, as befits the needs of their markets. Under the terms of the license, the CAD files can be copied, shared and modified without financial obligations to VIA.
However, the design would need to...
Thu, 29 May 08
Apple Seeks Patent for Solar-Powered Mobile Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59983
Solar-powered Apples may on the horizon. According to news reports, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has filed a patent for utilizing solar cells in portable devices.
The patent specifies putting the solar panels under the display, since much of the remaining surface area of a handheld device is occupied by buttons and similar components. Devices described in the application include both handheld and portable computers.
Even though such Apple products as the iPhone have a screen that is exceptionally large for a portable device, the more surface area, the better for catching solar rays. According to the patent, the solar panel would be stacked behind the LCD display, absorbing light rays that pass through the display. Both the iPod and the iPhone could be candidates.
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst for JupiterResearch, noted that some small devices, such as wristwatches or calculators, are solar-powered, but otherwise the potential has only recently emerged for larger portable devices to be energized by the sun. One possibility, he suggested, is that solar power, at least in the short term, may be employed for short-term recharging or in other supplementary ways, rather than as the exclusive power source.
Other portable-device makers are also beginning to think of the sun as more than just a free source of device illumination. Last month, for instance, Vodafone said its plans to dramatically cut its greenhouse-gas emissions included solar-powered phone chargers.
Motorola has received a patent, originally filed in 2001, for a screen that lets more light through than other designs. Previous approaches, said the Motorola patent, have resulted in small amounts of power being generated that only added an incremental boost to a power-hungry cell phone or personal digital assistant.
In many devices, the LCD is a fairly reflective screen, and Motorola said only six percent of light rays pass through....
Thu, 29 May 08
Google Upgrades Toolkit To Boost Web Computing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59982
At the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco this week, the search giant announced a new version of its Web development kit and opened up its hosted Google App Engine to more developers.
Web applications written with Google Web Toolkit 1.5, which now supports Java 5, will run 1.2 to two times faster, said Bruce Johnson, Google's engineering manager. The toolkit is a step toward making the Web -- not Windows, Mac or Linux -- the computing layer that developers are concerned with.
"There's no question any more whether you're going to target the browser or a desktop app," Johnson said. "For almost any new exciting app, you're going to target the browser."
For a certain class of programs, Johnson said, the Web is "already better than what you can do on the desktop." He added: "For extremely low-latency applications, like video editing, I think we're still a couple years out."
Such statements are nothing less than a shot across Microsoft's bow -- and while establishing the Web as a competitor to Windows is still an uphill battle, Google should not be underestimated here, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group.
"There is little doubt the browser is the best common denominator for new applications," Enderle said, "but the problem is that most people don't have network connections that are fast enough to live on it." That kind of connectivity likely won't come for a decade, which gives Microsoft a sizable window of time to fight back, he added.
"This is still Microsoft's market to lose, but to beat Google they have to lead and not follow to this new capability -- and they have lost focus on their core defenses to this attack: Windows, Office and IE," Enderle said. "Google can't do this without...
Thu, 29 May 08
With Windows 7, You'll Be Able To Get Touchy-Feely
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59981
If you like the way you can handle your iPhone by deft finger maneuvers, you're going to love the future of Windows. The next version of Windows -- currently named Windows 7 -- will drive all kinds of devices with a similar technology.
Microsoft demonstrated its multi-touch technology at the D: All Things Digital conference, sponsored by The Wall Street Journal, where Microsoft Vice President Julie Larson-Green used her fingers to draw a rudimentary landscape on a Dell laptop.
"You are going to see this in all different sizes and shapes of computers," she said.
The technology should be a natural for image editing and navigating online maps, Microsoft said. Larson-Green demonstrated manipulating an online map to find a nearby Starbucks.
Microsoft actually demonstrated the technology at last year's D conference as a way to deploy touch in tabletops and kiosk-like displays. In that context, Microsoft is calling the technology Surface. And while Larson-Green's demo focused on manipulating a traditional PC, Microsoft envisions touchscreens implemented in all kinds of ways, Chris Flores, a Microsoft product director, wrote on the official Windows Vista blog.
"Surface harnesses touch and multi-touch capabilities to provide users with a natural way to interact directly with computing devices," Flores wrote. "Expect to see the table-like Surface devices in hotels, retail establishments, restaurants and public entertainment venues."
Apple's iPhone may be the most obvious mainstream device sporting multi-touch, but touch-based interfaces are everywhere, including laptop touch pads, cell phones, remote controls and GPS devices, Flores said. "What becomes even more compelling is when this experience is delivered to the PC -- on a wide variety of Windows notebooks, in all-in-one PCs, as well as in external monitors. In working with our broad ecosystem of hardware and software manufactures, we're excited to be showing some of the great work and...
Thu, 29 May 08
Cloud Computing's Promise: A Power Grid for the Net
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59974
Cloud computing is the flavor of the moment in the technology industry. Google, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo are just some of the big companies touting the concept, and a bunch of smaller ones are, too.
What, you may be thinking, is cloud computing? Basically, it means obtaining computing resources -- processing, storage, messaging, databases and so on -- from someplace outside your own four walls, and paying only for what you use.
The term is a mushy one being applied loosely to many things on the Web. Salesforce.com is now called a cloud application -- after all, companies let it store their sales data, rather than running it on their own systems. Facebook, too, is a cloud platform, because software developers write applications for the site and distribute them on it.
Then there is the infrastructure cloud, where companies offer up their servers, storage and other technology to anyone who can pay for it. Previously, that was called grid or utility computing, because you tapped into it as you needed it, as you would with the power grid, and paid only for what you used. In the early days of computing, it was called time-sharing.
Thus, the concepts themselves are not new. "It's true that we did not invent storage, databases, computers or database functionality," said Andrew Jassy, senior vice president of Amazon Web Services, a unit of Amazon.com that started in 2006 and was a pioneer in this new round of pay-as-you-go infrastructure services. Amazon, though, does not call its cloud a cloud, except for one service called the Elastic Compute Cloud.
What looks to be new is the way high-speed Internet access and almost limitless supplies of storage and processing power can now be pulled together.
A vivid example of cloud power comes from Animoto, an 18-month-old company in New York that...
Thu, 29 May 08
Browser Competition Heats Up with Innovations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59968
The browser, that porthole onto the broad horizon of the Web, is about to get some fancy new window dressing.
Next month, after three years of development and six months of public testing, Mozilla, the insurgent browser developer that rose from the ashes of Netscape, will release Firefox 3.0. It will feature a few tricks that could change the way people organize and
find the sites they visit most frequently.
Not to be outdone, Microsoft recently took the wraps off the first public test version of the latest edition of Internet Explorer, which is used by about 75 percent of all computer owners, according to Net Applications, a market share tracking firm. The finished version of Internet Explorer 8 could be released by the end of the year and is expected to have additional features.
Even Apple, which once politely kept its Safari browser within the confines of its own devices, is making a somewhat controversial push to get it onto the computers of people who use Windows PCs.
In other words, the browser war -- the skirmish that landed Microsoft in antitrust trouble in the '90s -- is heating up again.
"The typical browser for today's consumer doesn't look all that different than it did 10 years ago," said Larry Cheng, a partner at Fidelity Ventures, one of the firms that invested in Flock, a browser startup. "That is an unsustainable trend that is the launching point for the second browser war, which will not be won by monopolistic muscle but by innovation."
Browsers have always been viewed as crucial on-ramps to the Web. Nevertheless, after vanquishing Netscape, the first commercial browser developer, Microsoft waited five years before releasing the sixth version of Internet Explorer in 2006. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Microsoft's Internet Explorer group, says the company was focused on plugging security...
Thu, 29 May 08
Computer Shopping 101: What's a Clueless Buyer To Do?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59964
Lori Jantulovich stands in the middle of Best Buy's computer section, flagging down a sales clerk. She's trying to buy a laptop for her nephew. "I have no clue," she says.
Jantulovich, 51, is surrounded by displays touting the merits of dozens of similar-looking PCs. "Superior performance with 3GB of system memory," one says. "Powerful discrete graphics," another advertises. "Blazing fast performance with a next-generation Intel Core 2 Duo Processor." "On-the-go multi-tasking." "Limitless performance and response."
"For the average person, this is a lot to dissect," she says.
Computer buying used to be relatively easy. Shoppers generally bought the PC with the fastest processor, or computer "brain," they could afford. That wasn't tough, since most were numbered. (A 486 was faster than a 386.)
Now, "The story has changed," says tech analyst Richard Shim at researcher IDC. Processors aren't numbered like that, and other components, such as memory and graphics cards, have become far more important. "It's definitely hard now" for non-technologists to identify the desktop or laptop that best meets their needs, says Glenn Jystad, a senior manager at PC maker Gateway.
That's a big problem for the PC industry, which faces stagnating growth in its core, mature markets. U.S. PC sales rose a paltry 3 percent in the first quarter of the year compared with the previous year, says researcher Gartner. Most American families already have at least one PC, so computer makers must entice shoppers to upgrade -- a tough prospect if they're too confused to understand the merits of doing so.
The industry is aware of the problem. Hewlett-Packard just overhauled its Web site to identify PCs by their most likely use, such as "mobility" or "entertainment." It plans to roll out the change in retail stores in the next few months. Gateway is working on a similar initiative. Chipmaker Advanced Micro...
Thu, 29 May 08
Kleiner's Pick for the Killer iPhone App: Whrrl
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59963
Apple won't crank up the hype machine about all the new things an iPhone can do until its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 9, but here's a small taste of what's in store: finding things to do in the neighborhood when you're at a loss.
That's the idea behind Pelago, the first company funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as part of the $100 million iFund the venture capital firm announced in March at Apple's last big iPhone event. Pelago's software, called Whrrl, ties the mapping capabilities of the iPhone and other smartphones with the ability to find information about places where you, your friends, or anyone has been.
Say you're lost in Las Vegas and need a restaurant recommendation. With iPhone in hand, you can scan the locations of nearby restaurants, just Italian restaurants, or just those recommended by foodie friends. Or you could search for the highest-rated bars or kid-friendly activities recommended by friends from your social network. There's going to be a "what's going on around me right now" button, says Kleiner Perkins partner Matt Murphy. "You're always one button away from that immediate context."
Given the iPhone's unique capabilities and the flexible software tools that Apple released for the device in March, it could be difficult for any Web 2.0 startup to stand out from the crowd of applications on the way. For example, the iPhone's accelerometer means programmers have been free to dream up interesting ways to take advantage of the iPhone's ability to respond to motion, much like Nintendo's Wii video game console. Cisco Systems, for example, recently demonstrated a vision for one possible use during an annual conference for business partners: the ability to transfer a call from an iPhone to another device, such as a laptop or one of Cisco's Internet-based office phones,...
Thu, 29 May 08
The New Push for the Paperless Office
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59962
Thirty-three years ago this month the phrase "paperless office" entered the business lexicon in a BusinessWeek article titled "The Office of the Future." In the article, George Pake, the legendary head of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center [PARC], foresaw technology that by 1995 would let computer users summon on-screen documents "by pressing a button," eliminating the need for much if not all the printed paper cluttering workspaces.
Pake's vision was half-right. Offices brim with network-linked computers, loaded with software that lets users create, read, duplicate, and distribute digital documents. But the dream of a workplace where all that technology would eliminate the need for printed documents remains just that -- a dream.
Indeed, some of the very machinery that makes paper theoretically obsolete has helped make it all the more ubiquitous. Devices that scan and convert documents to a digital format double as printers and copiers -- and they've become so small, cheap, and easy to use that they're on -- or near -- every desktop. "The decision to print has gotten much closer to the owner of the document," says David Pineault, a paper economist and analyst at consulting firm InfoTrends. According to RISI, a research firm that tracks forest products, in 1975 the average U.S. office worker used 62 pounds of paper a year. By 1999, that figure peaked at 143 pounds, but in 2006 it was still at 127 pounds.
Three decades on, the financial and environmental imperative to reduce paper use is all the more real. Last year, U.S. companies printed 1.5 trillion pages, according to research firm IDC. That's a 95,000-mile-high stack of paper, or the equivalent of 15 million to 20 million trees. RISI analyst John Maine estimates that companies will spend about $8 billion this year on paper alone; that doesn't include costs...
Wed, 28 May 08
Via Offers Reference Design for Mini-Notebooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59980
Via Technologies has unleashed a new OpenBook reference design for low-cost notebooks that will enable computer makers to bring low-cost ultra-portable products to market beginning in the third quarter.
The new design platform, based on Via's power-efficient, cool-running C7-M microprocessor, offers designers an "open approach to case-design customization and wireless connectivity flexibility," said Vice President Richard Brown.
OpenBook lives up to its "open" moniker by offering all the computer-assisted design (CAD) files required for turning out a finished mini-notebook product. "Making the actual raw CAD files available under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license is a brilliant first step that clearly and legally allows others to build upon Via's open innovation," said Jon Phillips, business and community manager for Creative Commons.
Designers will be able to modify Via's CAD designs to alter their final product's overall look and feel. Even better, having access to a pre-engineered clamshell form factor should help smaller startups -- and even ambitious entrepreneurs -- dramatically reduce the cost of creating a stylish design.
OpenBook is based around Via's C7-M ULV processor, which features a maximum power draw of just 3.5 watts and is available in speeds of 1.0 to 1.6GHz. It also integrates three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, a four-in-one memory-card reader and a two megapixel dual-headed Web camera.
Via's platform supports a range of operating systems, including Windows Vista Basic, Windows XP and various Linux distributions. Moreover, the package is designed to be powered by a four-cell lithium-ion battery reportedly capable of delivering three hours of operation from a single charge.
Tipping the scales at 1kg, the final product will sport a 8.9-inch display with screen resolutions of up to 1024 x 600 pixels as well as support for high-performance 3D graphics through the company's VX800 chipset. Advanced acceleration is also on...
Wed, 28 May 08
Adobe Posts Beta Downloads from Creative Suite 4
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59979
Adobe Systems released beta versions of three key applications from its upcoming Creative Suite 4 package of graphic, Web and multimedia software on Tuesday. Preview versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Southbound are available for download.
Adobe did not say when beta versions of Photoshop and Illustrator may be available. David Burkett, vice president of product management for Creative Suite, suggested Photoshop and Illustrator will not be released as beta previews like the other three applications. "Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Soundbooth are the major applications we're unveiling as public betas before the next release of Creative Suite," he said.
Current customers of CS3 can use the beta software until the final CS4 package ships. New users will only have 48 hours to try out the new programs. The final version of CS4 is expected in the last quarter of 2008 or the first quarter of 2009.
CS4 has "radical work-flow enhancements," Burkett said, "as we redefine how designers and developers collaborate to deliver standout digital experiences."
The new version of Dreamweaver emphasizes integrating design and development functions, reflecting the reality that modern Web pages are dynamically built from database-stored content and features from remote servers. "Dreamweaver no longer acts like an old-style HTML editor with modern features tacked on," a PC World reviewer said.
For instance, the new Dreamweaver features a "related files" toolbar and a code navigator that lets authors access linked CSS files, JavaScript documents and integrated XML data. A new properties panel allows users to toggle between controlling HTML tags and controlling CSS tags. "For me, this makes Dreamweaver finally usable as a day-to-day Web-site editor, because CSS is at the heart of every web page I edit," Edward Mendelson wrote for PC World.
Another key Dreamweaver feature is called Live View Mode, which is based on the...
Wed, 28 May 08
Google Says Viacom Suit Threatens Social Networking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59978
Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube could mean the end of social networking as we know it, Google has told a U.S. court.
Google, which owns YouTube, said making carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression."
Viacom, the entertainment titan that owns Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks, and other entertainment properties, is suing YouTube for the posting of some 160,000 unauthorized video clips.
In a statement in conjunction with filing its $1 billion federal copyright lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Viacom called YouTube a "significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google."
Viacom has taken the gloves off in a digital-age boxing match between two technology champions. While YouTube has made deals with other broadcasters, Viacom is not backing down.
Google's response to Viacom's copyright-infringement lawsuit is stirring a debate about Internet freedom. If Google successfully defends itself against Viacom's claims that YouTube does not qualify for safe-harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), it could have a dramatic impact on the way information is consumed online.
"The whole lawsuit is cutting edge in the sense that the DMCA, which is what Google and YouTube are relying upon as a defense, provides safe harbor for ISPs and Web-site operators like YouTube. The problem comes when the ISP or the Web operator
makes money on infringing content," said Melvin Avanzado, a partner at the law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.
Google maintains that it respects intellectual-property rights and goes "above and beyond" the law's mandates. Viacom says YouTube knows about infringing material on its...
Wed, 28 May 08
Samsung Previews Fast 256GB Solid-State Drive
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59977
Samsung Electronics told customers attending this month's Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum in Taipei that it has developed the world's fastest, 2.5-inch, 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) for use in laptops and other consumer electronics gear.
Based on multi-level cell (MLC) technology with the ability to store more than a single bit of information per cell, the new SSD will effectively eliminate density as a barrier to SSD adoption in laptops and other consumer products, Samsung executives say.
"With development of the 256GB SSD, the notebook PC is on the brink of a second stage of evolution," said Samsung Semiconductor Vice President Jim Elliott. "This change is comparable to the evolution from the Sony Walkman to NAND memory-based MP3 players, representing an initial step in the shift to thinner, smaller SSD-based notebooks with significantly improved performance and more than ample storage."
Samsung has not released pricing information for its forthcoming 256GB drive as well as a smaller 1.8-inch SSD due out in the fourth quarter of this year. But Samsung Semiconductor Senior Marketing Manager Steve Weinger thinks the historic price declines for flash memory provide a good indicator.
"Price declines have been occurring at a 40 to 45 percent year-over-year clip for the last 10-plus years pretty steadily," Weinger noted. "And now we have the first drives based on the technology leading that decline."
One benefit of MLC is lower cost, Weinger observed. "Today at the gigabyte level, the cost of an MLC chip is less than two times that of an SLC (single-level cell) of comparable density," he said. "Having MLC at a higher-density price point is opening up that consumer market for us."
Samsung's forthcoming 128GB SSD will hit the density level that Weinger thinks best fits the full spectrum of business uses for the technology. "The 256GB SSD...
Wed, 28 May 08
Microsoft Expects Explosive Growth for Windows Mobile
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59976
Microsoft expects its Windows Mobile software to grow by at least 50 percent worldwide in this and the next fiscal years. According to a report by Reuters news service, Eddie Wu, Microsoft's managing director of OEM embedded devices in Asia, projected the software giant will sell 20 million units with Windows Mobile in the fiscal year ending in June. In the last fiscal year, it sold more than 11 million units.
He added that growth of Windows Mobile devices is greatest in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Brazil, Russia and India. Windows Mobile is featured on a wide array of devices from Samsung, Motorola, High Tech Computer, Asus and others. Its main competitors include Symbian-based operating systems, such as those on devices by LG Electronics, as well as mobile operating systems on Apple, Research in Motion (RIM), and Palm products.
In a recent quarterly report, Microsoft said its Windows Mobile sales are due to increased market demand for "phone-enabled devices and Windows-embedded operating systems."
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, called the sales projection "bold, but not out of the question."
He noted that Windows Mobile is being used by an increasing numbers of licensees, and in an increasing number of form factors. It's also being featured in new product lines, such as the Xperia line from Sony Ericsson.
In "classic productivity" devices, Greengart said, Windows Mobile is very strong, adding that we're also seeing Windows Mobile devices in high-end multimedia smartphones.
He pointed out that a key driver in the growth of Windows Mobile is the "explosion" in entry-level smartphones, especially in the U.S., but abroad as well. Customers are finding that, for a somewhat higher price than what they were expecting to pay, they can get a smartphone to track e-mail and do other...
Wed, 28 May 08
Cyber Terrorism Threat Growing, EU Agency Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59975
The European Union has a long way to go in safeguarding Internet businesses, according to the European Network and Information Security Agency. ENISA cited the possibility of a "digital 9/11."
Specifically, ENISA underlined the importance of network and information security, especially in regard to i2010, the EU's umbrella strategy for developing technology. ENISA looked at social networking, spam and online fraud, among other identified threats.
"Europe must take security threats more seriously and invest more resources in network and information security," said Andrea Pirotti, executive director of ENISA. He urged the EU to require "reporting on security breaches and incidents for business, just as the U.S. has already done."
ENISA said 30 percent of global trade is "digitally dependent" and cited estimates that spam cost businesses about EU64.5 billion (US$101.43 billion) in 2007, double the 2005 figure. With only 6 percent of spam reaching mailboxes, ENISA said, the problem is perceived to be under control. However, it is growing in quantity, size and bandwidth and remains a costly problem.
According to ENISA, computer emergency response teams (CERTs) are key components in combating cyber attacks and spam. ENISA estimated there are six million hijacked computers, or botnets, used worldwide by organized criminals to send spam and commit online fraud. In 2005, only eight EU member states had CERTs, but today there are 14, with 10 more planned.
However, Pirotti said, "The member states should undertake concerted efforts to reduce the imbalances in security levels, with more cross-border cooperation."
ENISA stressed the risks of social-networking sites and recommended a review of the regulatory framework of Directive 2002/58 on privacy and electronic communications. ENISA has also produced a feasibility study on a European information sharing and alert system for citizens and small and midsize businesses, which make up two-thirds of the...
Wed, 28 May 08
GameStop Stops Selling Microsoft's Zune in Its Stores
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59959
Retailer GameStop has decided to stop selling Microsoft's Zune media player. According to news reports, the decision was actually made about a month ago but was only recently made public.
A GameStop spokesperson told news media that the company decided to "exit the Zune category" because it did not have the anticipated appeal and "did not fit with our product mix."
GameStop primarily sells video games, which is why David Card, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said he wasn't sure "it was a natural fit" anyway. But the chain has several hundred stores in the U.S. and many of its customers are fans of Microsoft's Xbox 360 video-game console, so the Zune could potentially have benefited from cross-marketing.
GameStop had been selling the device since October 2006, when it began taking preorders a month before Zune was launched. The retailer said it would sell its remaining Zune inventory online.
Forrester's James McQuivey agrees with Card. Since Zune is not a gaming platform, he said, "it's not a surprise that this attempt to distribute the Zune to its target audience would struggle."
He added that this doesn't necessarily sign the death certificate for the Zune. As long as it continues to hit its "conservative sales goals," he noted, "Microsoft will continue to look at the long-term benefits of having a competitor to the iPod in the market, even if that competitor only has single-digit market share."
Microsoft didn't express much concern. On Friday, it released a statement noting it has a "strong presence" with such major retailers as Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and others. Adam Sohn, Zune's director of marketing, added that the Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will "continue to invest in retail partnerships" and online stores.
Since its release in November 2006, Microsoft has reported selling about two million of the...
Wed, 28 May 08
Despite Bill Gates' Comments, Windows 7 Due in 2010
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59958
This spring, as the technology industry raised ever-louder complaints about Windows Vista, Bill Gates amped up expectations for the next version of the operating system, referred to simply as Windows 7. Speaking in Miami in April, the Microsoft chairman said, "Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version," and then went on to extol the virtues of Windows 7, including "the ability to be lower-power, take less memory, be more efficient, and have lots more connections."
Gates talked about Windows 7 as being a much-improved platform for gaming, connecting to mobile devices, interacting with the Internet and synchronizing files between computers. All that led to speculation that businesses could sit out Vista -- and wait until the release of Windows 7.
While it's still not clear what Gates meant by his "next year" comment, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky told CNET that the release is scheduled for January 2010, putting the new version on a three-year development track, compared to the six years it took to release Vista.
Asked directly about Gates' comments, Sinofsky refused to bite, simply reiterating the 2010 time frame: "We've been very clear, and will continue to say, that the next release of Windows, Windows 7, is about three years after the general availability of Windows Vista, and we're committed to that, and we've signed up publicly to do that."
While Microsoft has traditionally talked up Windows versions far before their actual release, the Windows group has been far quieter under Sinofsky's rule than under predecessor Jim Allchin. That's not unrelated to the experience with Windows, he said.
"The reactions that we've had to some of the lessons learned in Windows Vista are really playing into our strategy of getting together a great plan for Windows 7, and working with all the partners in...
Wed, 28 May 08
Next-Gen Internet Access May Create a New Digital Divide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59947
The lack of high-speed Internet access in some areas of the U.S. has been hotly debated, even as that digital divide has narrowed. But a new, wider gap is being created by technology that will make today's broadband feel as slow as a dial-up connection.
Much like broadband enabled downloads of music, video and work files that weren't practical over dial-up, the next generation of Internet connections will allow for vivid, lifelike video conferencing and new kinds of interactive games.
But while access to cable and phone-line broadband has spread to cover perhaps 90 percent of the U.S. in the space of a decade, next-generation Internet access looks set to create a much smaller group of "haves" and a larger group of "have nots."
The most promising route to superfast home broadband is to extend the fiber-optic lines that already form the Internet's backbone all the way to homes. Existing fiber-to-the-home, or FTTH, connections are already 10 times faster than vanilla broadband provided over phone or cable lines. With relatively easy upgrades, the speeds could be a hundred times faster.
In the U.S., the buildout of FTTH is under way, but it's highly concentrated in the 17-state service area of Verizon Communications Inc., which is the only major U.S. phone company that is replacing its copper lines with fiber. Its FiOS service accounts for more than 1.8 million of the 2.9 million U.S. homes that are connected to fiber according to RVA LLC, a research firm that specializes in the field.
FTTH is also offered by some small phone companies, cooperatives and municipalities, like Chattanooga, Tenn. The other major phone companies, like AT&T Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc., are laying FTTH in "greenfield" developments, but aren't pulling fiber to existing homes. Some cable companies are doing the same.
Graham Finnie, chief analyst for the telecom...
Wed, 28 May 08
Review: WiiWare Games Are Disappointing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59945
One of the best features of Nintendo's Wii is the Virtual Console, a downloadable library of more than 200 classic games. It's a great resource for young gamers who want to see what they missed, and for geezers who wonder if old favorites were as great as they remember.
What the Virtual Console lacks is anything new. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade and (to a lesser extent) Sony's PlayStation Network have delivered a consistent supply of fresh software. Such games -- usually, casual titles like Uno or Lumines Live! -- may not warrant a full commercial release but can be well worth a $10 (EU6.40) download.
WiiWare is Nintendo's attempt to deliver brand new games online. None of the six games in the WiiWare launch lineup is as addictive as, say, Puzzle Quest or Geometry Wars, but there are many more offerings on the way.
* Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King (Square Enix, $15;EU9.60): For all the baroque mythology that's built up around Final Fantasy, the games share one essential element: fighting monsters. Take that away and you get My Life as a King, a flat management sim in which a very young ruler is trying to rebuild his kingdom.
You can build a few houses to start, but then you have to send your subjects out to gather resources. They do all the dungeon-exploring while you stay home and chat with the citizenry. You can build a respectable town fairly quickly, and if you get hooked, you can buy more content online. But it's hard to escape the feeling that all the real fun is happening offstage. Two stars out of four.
* LostWinds (Frontier, $10;EU6.40): In this 2-D adventure, you wave the Wii remote to control gusts of wind. The breezes help your character jump higher and farther, or...
Wed, 28 May 08
China Takes First Step in Restructuring Telecom Industry
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59939
China's biggest mobile phone company will take over a smaller fixed-line carrier, a state news agency said Friday, in what was expected to be the start of a sweeping industry restructuring.
China Mobile Communications Corp. will acquire China Railway Communication, also known as Tietong, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing information from state-owned China Mobile.
Regulators are believed to be preparing a series of mergers that will link up China's fast-growing mobile carriers with fixed-line partners to invigorate competition. Fixed-line carriers have seen demand slump as new customers opt for mobile service.
"The long-awaited restructuring of the Chinese telecoms market appears closer than ever before," Jing Li, a China telecoms analyst for the consulting firm Global Insight, said in a report to clients.
An industry-wide plan might be released as early as this weekend, Li said.
"A successful restructuring will undoubtedly spur competition in the market as the resultant telecoms players square up to each other," Li said.
The overhaul also is expected to affect China's biggest fixed-line carrier, China Telecom Corp., and its smaller rival, China Netcom Group Corp., as well as No. 2 mobile operator China Unicom Ltd.
In Hong Kong, trading in China Netcom and China Unicom shares was suspended pending a "price-sensitive" announcement. Trading in China Unicom shares was suspended in Shanghai.
There was no indication how long the suspensions would last.
China has the world's biggest population of mobile phone users, with some 520 million accounts, and the government says that should reach 600 million soon.
Mobile carriers say their numbers of new accounts are growing at double-digit rates, while fixed-line carriers say their subscriber numbers are flat or falling.
China Telecom and China Netcom have tried to boost revenues by promoting broadband Internet, Web-based cable TV and other services but earnings still are growing more slowly than at mobile carriers.
Beijing is preparing to roll out...
Wed, 28 May 08
FBI Warns Wi-Fi Users To Watch Out for Hackers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59936
As more Americans use wireless networks everywhere from coffee shops and airports to libraries, the FBI has begun warning that hackers are increasingly lurking nearby to steal identities and pilfer bank accounts through unsecured Wi-Fi systems.
Unlike wired systems, which use cables to transport information through the Internet, Wi-Fi uses radio waves that industry leaders say are inherently more vulnerable.
And with an estimated 68,000 Wi-Fi "hot spots" in the United States now, and many more on their way, users are unaware that some of those sites, including entire cities and towns, might be unsecured.
While there are no exact numbers of individuals who might have fallen victim to such scams, the FBI is warning that information exchanged over those waves can be intercepted. And that means cyberthieves will be waiting to pounce.
"Make sure you're connecting to the town and not a guy who happens to be in town," Bryan Duchene, an FBI cybercrimes supervisor in Los Angeles, said of towns offering free Wi-Fi service.
After setting up shop at or near Wi-Fi hot spots, criminals can access personal information from users of unsecured servers who don't have adequate safeguards on their computers.
Another ploy takes advantage of the fact that some laptops, by default, will log on to the strongest signal when searching for a wireless connection. For a laptop user sitting at Starbucks, that signal might belong to a legitimate-looking, but bogus, server operated by a hacker, Duchene said.
"If the bad guy happens to be sitting two tables over and he's broadcasting a (stronger) signal, it'll override what you're trying to get to," he said.
Once in, a hacker can steal passwords and credit-card information and install viruses, worms and other malicious software or malware on a computer that can spread to other systems you run.
Duchene recommends that Wi-Fi users change their settings so...
Wed, 28 May 08
Apple Wants More Music Available for iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59935
As part of Apple's effort to rectify the shortcomings of its iPhone, the company has approached major music labels to try to expand the variety of ringtones and other musical features available on the device, according to several executives at the record companies. The negotiations are very active and a final deal has not been reached, said the executives, who requested anonymity so as not to disrupt the talks.
"They want a big launch in June," said one label executive familiar with the talks. That executive said a deal might come after June 9, when Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, speaks at the company's developers' conference, a logical date for the introduction of the next generation of iPhone. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Ringtones are a very profitable corner of the music business because the price for a short segment of a song is higher than for the full song. In the United States, for instance, Apple offers ringtones as a 99-cent upgrade to its regular 99-cent music tracks, but not all tracks can be converted into ringtones. Apple is looking to expand its inventory, the executives said.
The company is also hoping to add answer tones, also known as ring-back tones -- songs that a caller hears instead of the "ring ring" sound while waiting for someone to answer. In some cases, these command an even higher wholesale price from the record labels than ringtones do.
Also under discussion is whether Apple can sell songs from its iTunes Store directly to iPhones using new, faster mobile broadband networks, supplementing current sales over Wi-Fi and fixed Internet connections. The next generation of phones is expected to use so- called third generation, or 3G, technology, which has long permitted mobile song downloads in Europe and Asia. Here, too, music labels argue that they should...
Tue, 27 May 08
Yahoo Postpones Annual Meeting, Battle with Icahn
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59944
Yahoo Inc. on Thursday postponed a looming showdown for control of its board, giving itself more time to prepare a defense -- or negotiate a sale to Microsoft Corp. that would cause activist investor Carl Icahn to call off the mutiny.
The showdown pitting the slumping Internet pioneer's board against Icahn and other unhappy shareholders was supposed to come to a head at the Sunnyvale-based company's July 3 annual meeting.
But Yahoo is dragging out the drama by pushing the meeting back to an undetermined date in late July, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is the second time Yahoo has postponed its annual meeting, usually held in May or June. The previous delay, announced in March, gave Yahoo more time to explore alternatives to Microsoft's unsolicited takeover bid, which was withdrawn this month in a pricing disagreement.
Spurred by shareholders upset with Yahoo's board's handling of Microsoft's last offer of $47.5 billion, Icahn has nominated a slate of candidates to replace the current directors -- a process known as a proxy contest.
Two other unidentified shareholders intend to nominate themselves to become Yahoo directors, the company disclosed Thursday. A third shareholder plans to submit another opposing sale of directors, according to Yahoo. The company said it believes these three shareholders haven't met the rules for nominating alternate candidates, meaning they could be disqualified at the annual meeting.
Yahoo already has lost one director with the resignation of Arthur Kozel, whose departure was disclosed Thursday in a separate SEC filing.
Kozel, a former Cisco Systems Inc. executive who was on Yahoo's board for eight years, had been planning to step down since February so he could move his family to Europe, the SEC filing said. Yahoo doesn't plan to replace Kozel, leaving its board with nine members.
The postponement of Yahoo's annual meeting...
Tue, 27 May 08
Google Tries To Head Off Antitrust Concerns
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59942
How can Google, the Internet search and advertising giant, contend that teaming up with Yahoo in search ads would not invite an antitrust challenge?
Under a proposed partnership, Google would let Yahoo use its more sophisticated ad technology to deliver ads next to some Yahoo search results. By some estimates this could bring Yahoo $1 billion a year in added cash.
If they strike a deal, Yahoo, the No. 2 company in search ads, would hand over some of its business to Google, the No. 1 company in that market. When asked about the issues this would raise in a meeting with reporters this month, Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, offered only a cryptic reply: "We would anticipate structuring a deal to address antitrust concerns."
People involved in shaping Google's approach say the deal under consideration would be a straightforward supplier arrangement, similar to ones in the markets for computer printers, appliances and cell phone service.
The printer industry, they say, is a perfect example. Canon supplies printer engines to about 80 percent of the laser printer market, including its rival Hewlett-Packard. They point to many others, including Whirlpool's making of appliances for Sears, AT&T's licensing of its mobile network to Virgin Atlantic and other small carriers, Toyota's selling of hybrid engines to General Motors and Microsoft's tailoring of its Office software for Apple computers.
But some antitrust experts say the planned partnership does raise concerns. Whether this pact is completed or not, they add, it points to the kind of antitrust issues that will increasingly surround Google as a dominant company in the Internet economy, which can quickly magnify the market power of corporate winners.
"Up to now, Google has been very careful to avoid predatory behavior," said Christine Varney, a partner at the law firm Hogan & Hartson and a former member of...
Tue, 27 May 08
Debt Collection Gets a Polite Indian Touch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59501
In a glass tower on the outskirts of New Delhi, dozens of young Indians are on the telephone, calling out-of-work, forgetful and debt-stricken Americans to ask for cash.
"Are you sure that's all you can afford?" one operator in a row of cubicles inquires politely.
"Well, how do you take care of your everyday expenses?" presses another.
Americans are used to receiving calls from India for insurance claims and credit card sales. But debt collection represents a growing business for outsourcing companies, especially as the U.S. economy slows and its consumers struggle to pay for their purchases.
Armed with a sophisticated automated system that dials tens of thousands of Americans every hour, and puts confidential information like Social Security numbers, addresses and credit history at the fingertips of operators, this new cadre of collectors is chasing down late car payments, overdue credit card debt and lapsed installment loans. Debt collectors in India often cost about one-quarter the price of their American counterparts, and are often better at the job, debt collection company executives say.
"India will be the only place we grow this year," said J. Brandon Black, the chief executive of Encore Capital Group, a debt collection company based in San Diego. India is Encore's largest operating area, with about half the company's collection force of more than 300.
Although the stereotype of a collector may be "some guy with chains and a cut-off shirt," Black said, collectors in India are "very polite, very respectful, and they don't raise their voice."
"People respond to that," he added.
Companies like Encore buy bad loans from banks and credit card issuers for pennies on the dollar and pocket the cash they collect. The delinquent borrowers often owe at least a thousand dollars.
So far just a tiny fraction, maybe 5 percent, of U.S. debt collection is done outside...
Mon, 26 May 08
New York Commits to Open Formats
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59953
It's been a good week for open standards. Microsoft has announced it will directly support a range of standards-based document formats in a future update to its Office suite, and New York's chief information officer issued a report calling for the state to embrace an open document policy.
The New-York report, called "A Strategy for Openness: Enhancing E-Records Access in New York State," was cosponsored by CIO Melodie Mayberry-Stewart and state archivist Christine Ward and recommends legislative and executive action to support the state's stated policy of "conduct(ing) its business in an open, interoperable and transparent manner."
New York law requires officials to study how "electronic documents . . . can be created, maintained, exchanged and preserved." The law also requires officials to take into account other states' policies, guidelines for the state archives, the needs for public access, expected storage life, costs of implementation and potential savings.
Unlike the firestorm created in 2005 when Massachusetts promulgated regulations standardizing on the open source Open Document Format (ODF), New York's recommendations are likely to cast it as a peace-maker, Peter O'Kelly, research director for the Burton Group, said.
"This is a very politically charged domain and a contentious debate," O'Kelly said in a telephone interview. "The good news is there is a key shift is from proprietary and binary file formats to standards-based XML file formats," he said. "That opens up a lot of new opportunities for people to unencumber themselves from vendor tie-ins."
The CIO's report specifically cautioned against nominating specific technologies as state document standards. "The State Legislature should not mandate in statute the use of any specific document creation and preservation technologies, as technologies can easily become outdated," the report said.
The report noted that, "In the office suite format debate, there currently is no compelling solution for the State's...
Sun, 25 May 08
Could Netflix by Roku Change All the Rules?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59956
While some industry pundits debate the viability of installing yet another set top box on the television, others are discussing what could be a groundbreaking business model for the future of movie watching: subscription-based streaming video.
The debate comes in light of Netflix's announcement earlier this week. In partnership with Roku, a digital media-streaming company, Netflix on Tuesday announced The Netflix Player by Roku.
The device allows Netflix subscribers to instantly stream the movie-rental service's library of 10,000 movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs. The player is available for purchase for $99.99 at Roku's Web site. Netflix has unlimited rental plays starting at $8.99 a month.
"The price point is where it needs to be. It needs to be below $100 or even free for the service to work. The fact that Netflix was able to get the price down so low is a dramatic improvement over the competing boxes," said Mike Greeson, CEO of The Diffusion Group. "Apple TV and Vudu are more expensive, but those are storage-enabled boxes and they are downloads only. Netflix is streaming."
The player is about the size of a paperback book and is designed to integrate into any home-entertainment system. According to Netflix, all it takes is connecting the player to a TV and to the Internet. For homes with wireless Internet connectivity, the player is Wi-Fi enabled.
Here's how it works: From the Netflix Web site, members add movies and TV episodes to their instant queues, and those choices are then displayed on the TV and available to watch instantly.
With the player's accompanying remote control, members can browse and make selections on the TV screen and also read synopses and rate movies. Viewers also have the option of fast-forwarding and rewinding the video stream. Netflix's goal was to develop a user interface that creates...
Sun, 25 May 08
LifeLock Sees Class Action Lawsuit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59954
LifeLock CEO Todd Davis has become famous for his commercials where he offers his social security number to demonstrate how confident he is in his company's identity theft protection program.
However, recently, his identity protection program has come under attack -- not from identity thieves, but from trial lawyers. Consumers in four states are suing Davis and his company for false advertising and deceptive trade practices. At the heart of the matter is LifeLock's $1 million service guarantee to restore the identity and pay all direct costs and expenses resulting from the identity theft.
"My identity has been completely protected by LifeLock and I am as confident as ever about the LifeLock service," Davis said in a statement. "It is shocking that completely untrue statements about our company, the protection we provide and my personal identity are being repeated from a trial lawyer looking to create a case that clearly is not in the best interest of consumers."
Recent claims have suggested that Davis' social security number has been used at least 20 times to obtain drivers licenses and other credit. Davis explained that these claims are completely untrue and reflect total inexperience and lack of understanding of how credit files and identities work.
"While there have been more than 100 attempts to use my identity information, none of these recorded in the credit files resulted in any loss for me. However, a check cashing company failed to properly follow procedures and verify the identity of a thief in 2007, resulting in a person being able to cash a check for $500," Davis argued. "The LifeLock guarantee served me as it serves all LifeLock members, what identity theft LifeLock can't prevent, it will fix at LifeLock's expense up to 1 million dollars."
Davis pointed out that there have been only four...
Sun, 25 May 08
Google Co-Founder Pitches 'White Spaces' in DC
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59933
On Thursday, Google co-founder Larry Page visited Washington, D.C. to talk up his company's proposal for a new generation of wireless devices that can run on "white spaces."
"White spaces" are the unused wireless spectrum between broadcast TV channels. Google and others have been lobbying for this spectrum to be made available to the public for free, unlicensed use, like Wi-Fi networks.
But there has a great deal of opposition, including cellular companies that want the spectrum sold and wireless microphone makers, commercial TV broadcasters, and even medical technology companies that think use of white spaces will cause interference.
In February of next year, TV broadcasters in the U.S. will be moving from their current frequencies to new ones, as they transition from analog to digital TV. Devices using the white spaces would utilize a new class of Wi-Fi, and advocates contend that users could have access speeds in the billions of bits per second.
A ruling by the FCC is expected by late summer. Page's visit to D.C. included meetings with federal legislators and with officials at the FCC.
Page told one group that he thought white spaces transmission would "make a huge difference to everybody." Google has been joined in advocating this approach by a coalition of technology companies, including Microsoft, Dell, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and the North American unit of Philips Electronics.
But there are still substantial technical hurdles. The FCC has been conducting tests about whether transmission in the white spaces would interfere with commercial use of adjacent bands. Some reports have indicated that the agency has encountered problems with the transmission scheme in its tests, but Page and others have said those technical problems can be solved.
The National Association of Broadcasters, among others, isn't buying it. In a statement to news media, Executive Vice President...
Sat, 24 May 08
Apple's iCal Security Flaw Exposed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59932
A security firm has identified serious vulnerabilities in Apple's iCal calendar application. Core Security Technologies reports that it discovered three vulnerabilities in the application, which could enable an attacker to execute arbitrary code or launch a denial of service attack.
The most serious of the vulnerabilities stems from "potential memory corruption" from a bug that attackers can take advantage of with a specially crafted malformed .ics calendar file, Core said.
The other two vulnerabilities lead to crashes of iCal due to "null-pointer dereference bugs triggered while parsing a malformed .ics files," the firm said. Core researched but did not ultimately prove that it was possible to inject arbitrary code onto vulnerable systems using these methods.
"Exploitation of these vulnerabilities in a client-side attack scenario is possible with user assistance by opening or clicking on specially crafted .ics file sent over email or hosted on a malicious web server; or without direct user assistance if a would-be attacker has the ability to legitimately add or modify calendar files on a CalDAV server," Core said.
The security posting includes a long log file of Core's interactions with Apple over this security issue. Apple requested several extensions of the publication date of the report and Core evinced frustration with delays. Core first notified Apple of the flaws in January and the companies debated the severity of the flaws in a series of messages over several months. Apple said that it would release a security fix on May 19 but as that date passed without a release, Core published its report on Wednesday.
It's not uncommon for security firms to be frustrated with vendors, said Andrews Storms, director of security operations for nCircle Network Security.
"When researchers publicly disclose their timelines and communications with
vendors on security issues, rarely do we find compassion for the vendor," Storms wrote...
Sat, 24 May 08
Wireless Carriers To Cut Termination Fees
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59931
Consumer advocates have long argued that the steep early termination fees (ETF) that the U.S. wireless operators typically charge for an early cellular contract exit have made it difficult for consumers to change service providers. But that's about to change.
The major carriers are all moving to less onerous service agreements that reduce the financial burden on unhappy subscribers bent on making a switch. Beginning later this month, AT&T will move to an early termination policy under which the fee will be progressively lowered each and every month over the entire contract period. Moreover, Sprint and T-Mobile say they will move to prorated plans of their own by mid-year. (Verizon Wireless began prorating its ETF in late 2006.)
Raising customer satisfaction is certainly one reason behind the change of heart. However, the carriers appear to be far more concerned about incurring future financial damage from new regulations at the state level as well as several pending class action lawsuits.
According to the Associated Press, Verizon Wireless has begun pushing the FCC to adopt a rule under which the states would be prevented from regulating their ETF policies. In exchange, the carriers would be required to prorate their termination fees as well as give new customers a 30-day grace period to cancel service contracts without penalty.
Its not much of a tradeoff given that at least some wireless customers already receive just such a deal. For example, Sprint currently waives its $200 per line ETF for cancellations that occur within the first 30 days of a contract.
The carriers also would like the FCC to step in to the fray because its increased scrutiny of the matter would help fend off new legislation at the federal level. At least some members of the U.S. Congress have long been eyeing the...
Sat, 24 May 08
Nokia Turns to Orange for Strategic Alliance
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59929
As part of its ongoing effort to place its services with network operators, telecommunications giant Nokia said today that it had formed a strategic international partnership for content and services with France Telecom's Orange.
The agreement extends a deal first signed by the companies in February of this year, expanding it into a three-year partnership. It will include the addition of ten new Nokia handsets to the Orange Signature range, as well as the addition of music, games, advertising, maps, and location-based services.
The two companies said they would launch integrated multimedia services on the new handsets across nine major markets, part of a joint effort to increase adoption of mobile digital entertainment. Customers will be able to directly access the Orange Music Store, both Orange and NGage games, and Nokia Maps. All of the services will become part of the Orange Signature offering, and will have one click access.
Olaf Swantee, Executive Vice President of Orange's Personal Communications Services, said that this joint effort demonstrates that Orange believes "Nokia's devices and Ovi platform will make a powerful environment" for a wide range of services. Nokia's Ovi features a variety of mobile services, information, and entertainment.
Nokia has been announcing collaboration with other telecommunications companies on a regular basis. The deal with Orange is the latest in a series of collaborations with carriers, including Telefonica, Vodafone, Telecom Italia, and Deutsche Telekom.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said that "Nokia has had a lot more success in bringing Ovi" to its deals with other companies than some observers would have predicted.
He added that, while Ovi's mobile services are not being adopted "lock, stock, and barrel" by all of Nokia's major partners, the Finnish company has been successful in getting various components adopted.
Orange is the...
Sat, 24 May 08
Users, Developers Get Used to Facebook Redesign
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59928
Facebook was once known for its simple, streamlined presentation. It stood in marked contrast with the crazy, psychedelic mishmash that was a typical MySpace page. But as Facebook has grown -- with hundreds of third-party applications, as well as advertising, Facebook promotions and other features -- the site design has lost focus.
That's the issue the company is striving to address with a new redesign announced Wednesday. The new site features a tabbed interface for profile pages instead of all content being dumped into a single page.
Such features as feed, information, photos and applications will each have separate tabs -- and users will a substantial amount of flexibility to customize their profiles. For instance, users will be able to move specific applications to their own tabs, and can specify content to be displayed on the main profile page.
"We need to take a step forward with respect to the user experience and the UI that we present to the consumer because the amount of information that's being created both passively and proactively is increasing," said Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's vice president of product marketing, at a company presentation.
Some of that information was noninformation -- spam, says Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group. "Facebook needed to do something -- it was generating way too much spam and really starting to get annoying," Enderle said. "Part of the redesign does appear to address the spam issue."
Even a seemingly design improvement is fraught with danger for Facebook, which has faced user pushback on a number of features it has introduced over the past year. Most controversial was the Beacon ad program, which broadcast online shopping behavior to a user's Facebook friends. Facebook ultimately had to severely scale back that program.
There's not much here for users to complain about,...
Sat, 24 May 08
Indiana Jones and the Computer-Generated Jungle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59919
In these hallowed halls, Indiana Jones almost seems out of place.
A banner with a two-dimensional cutout of the swashbuckling archaeologist swings through the lobby of Industrial Light and Magic, where life-size replicas of Darth Vader and Bobba Fett from Star Wars stand guard.
The home of George Lucas' visual effects company is a high-tech temple to everything from the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park to the talking robots in Transformers. But Indy can't take credit for the digital wizardry for which ILM has become famous over the last couple of decades.
Not yet, anyway. That's because he hasn't been around for 19 years, a time in which special effects has mostly migrated from soundstage to server.
The first three Indy films were gritty, sweaty and tactile affairs, largely because everything onscreen physically existed somewhere. Not so with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- though that was almost the case.
When first approaching the latest Indy, director Steven Spielberg considered dusting off his old-school approach.
"He thought maybe we should just go back to the way we did things before, like matte paintings on glass and things like that," said visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman. "We entertained that idea for a little bit, but we realized we could serve the story better by using our digital tools."
That decision ultimately led to a filmmaking innovation that brings the random reactions of a virtual world to the big screen, giving more control to ILM's computers than ever before.
To the children romping outside at ILM's in-house daycare located just past the lobby, the notion of a digital "environment" being responsible for much of what's onscreen will probably seem quaint someday. But to the adult audiences who've glimpsed the latest Indy escapade, it's a big part of the reason this one looks so different from Jones' last...
Sat, 24 May 08
Samsung Electronics Announces Consolidation Plans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59917
Samsung Electronics said Thursday it was consolidating some of its key businesses a week after announcing a new executive lineup.
Samsung that it would merge its home theater, DVD and Blu-ray player businesses with its global No. 1 TV business as part of what it called a restructuring plan.
It will also move its digital music player, laptop computer and set-top box businesses from its digital media business to the telecommunications network business.
Set-top boxes bring Internet movie downloads to TV sets.
"By bringing its computing and mobile technology together, the company hopes to create new markets and take the lead in the rapidly changing industry," Samsung said in the statement.
Samsung last week announced an executive reshuffle, which included the naming of Lee Yoon-woo, its former external relations chief, as chief executive officer and vice chairman, replacing long-serving Yun Jong-yong.
The move was seen as speeding up decision-making at Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest seller of computer memory chips, televisions and liquid crystal displays. The company ranks No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland's Nokia Corp.
Samsung also said that Lee Jae-yong, the 39-year-old son of former chairman Lee Kun-hee, was taking on new duties to develop businesses in emerging markets, including China, India, Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union.
Lee Kun-hee announced his resignation last month after being indicted on charges of allegedly evading taxes. The indictment followed a high-profile probe by special prosecutors into the family controlled Samsung Group conglomerate, of which Samsung Electronics is the flagship.
Lee Jae-yong, who stepped down last month from his duties as Samsung's chief customer officer while retaining the title of senior vice president, will carry out his new duties from a base in China, said James Chung, a Samsung spokesman.
"He'll move to China as soon as possible," Chung said of Lee, a Chinese speaker...
Sat, 24 May 08
The Sad State of the United States Broadband Industry
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59914
Although the Internet was started here, the U.S. can't seem to catch up with other developed nations when it comes to giving citizens access to high-speed connections.
For the second year running, the U.S. ranked 15th among the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development in terms of broadband availability. Denmark ranked first again in the annual OECD survey, followed by a host of European and Asian nations. Indeed, while the number of Americans with access to broadband service rose 20 percent last year, to nearly 70 million people, the most in the OECD, that amounted to just 23 of every 100 residents. By contrast, the top five countries in the OECD ranking all sport per-capita penetration rates of better than 30 percent.
Why isn't the U.S. up to speed online? The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is quick to point out differences in population and geography that have made it more difficult for the nation to catch up with smaller countries. It is easier, after all, to deliver broadband in densely populated areas where the same cables can serve hundreds, if not thousands, of subscribers, giving phone and cable TV companies the financial incentive to upgrade their networks. The U.S. has rural areas where the revenue to be made from laying down fiber-optic cables to reach scattered households hasn't proven alluring to many providers. "It's easier to achieve a high penetration in Manhattan than Mississippi," said FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate in an Apr. 30 speech at the Broadband Properties Summit in Dallas.
But challenges of wiring remote communities don't tell the whole story. The OECD also found that U.S. broadband providers charge more than those in many developed nations. Broken down by megabit per second of download speed, U.S. rates ranged from $2.83 to $38.41 in late 2007....
Sat, 24 May 08
HP Recycles Plastics from Discarded Printer Cartridges
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59913
Hewlett-Packard Co. is putting old plastic to new use.
Recycled plastics are going into the company's new inkjet print cartridges. It's the outgrowth of a small but significant research effort at the Palo Alto-based company, which reported sales of $104 billion in 2007.
Company engineers and subcontractors say they have found a way to put shredded plastic from old printer cartridges, as well as resin from used plastic beverage bottles, together with other additives to make new plastic.
HP is still toying with the possibilities of this recycled material, and part of the work is going on behind closed doors at its Rancho Bernardo plant.
Company officials declined to give details of the design and development effort.
They said they would rather talk about a success in making printer cartridges from the recycled material. By now, HP estimates it has diverted enough plastic to fill more than 200 big-rig trailers.
Research and development on the cartridges was a five-year project.
"We went through hundreds of engineering hours and dozens of trials to get it right," said Scott Canonico, who works at HP's Corvallis, Ore. plant as environmental program manager for HP Supplies.
The company shipped prototype cartridges in 2005 and production "hit its stride" last year, the executive said. HP used more than 5 million pounds of recycled plastic in inkjet cartridges in 2007, and plans to use 10 million pounds this year.
A key part of the process was developing a material that had the same positive properties as virgin plastic. It had to be durable and colorfast. It had to stand up to hot and cold temperatures during shipping, and in the printer.
"They did not want to develop a substandard material," said Canonico.
Doug Smock, a contributing editor to Reed Business Information's Design News, said manufacturers have to take extra care when developing engineering plastics -as opposed...
Fri, 23 May 08
Europe To Investigate Microsoft's Integration with ODF
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59926
The European Commission (EC) said today that it would investigate whether Microsoft will adequately provide for interoperability with the rival OpenDocument Format (ODF) in its Office suite.
The EC said it "has taken note" of Microsoft's announcement yesterday that it would support ODF in the Microsoft Office suite, which is the dominant set of office applications for desktop and notebook computers. ODF has been supported by Sun Microsystems, IBM, and other companies and organizations, and is tied to the OpenOffice.org suite of office applications, an open-source offering that provides an alternative to Microsoft Office.
In a statement to news media, the Commission said it would "welcome any step that Microsoft took toward genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in."
Erich Andersen, Microsoft vice-president and associate general counsel, said his company understood that regulators see support for ODF in Office to be a way to promote interoperability, and that Microsoft was making efforts to help address "regulatory concerns."
In April, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved OOXML as an international standard. ISO is a global network of standards-based bodies from more than 150 countries, and the IEC is the leading international standards organization for electronic technology.
The Open Office XML Specification was developed by Microsooft. It was first approved by the information-technology industry association Ecma International, and then submitted by Ecma to ISO/IEC under the fast-track procedure. Originally, it was rejected under fast-track, but the rules allowed for a vote at a meeting, and it was eventually approved.
The European Committee for Interoperable Systems, which represents IBM, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and others, told news media that Microsoft was "playing for time" by saying it would not be implementing ODF support in its Office 2007 service pack 2 until early 2009. The intent,...
Fri, 23 May 08
Microsoft's Live Search Risk Is Consumers' Gain
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59911
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced a concept it hopes will give it the edge in the search engine wars: ad-funded cash rebates for customers who find and purchase products.
Dubbed Microsoft Live Search cashback, the new program partners with brands like eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears and Zappos.com . The complete Live Search cashback product portfolio includes more than 10 million product offers from more than 700 merchants, including more than 13 of the top 40 U.S. retailers.
Live Search cashback is built on technology and partnerships acquired through Microsoft's October 2007 purchase of comparison shopping site Jellyfish. The company also announced it has delivered a new Live Search travel destination, Live Search Farecast, making it easy for searchers to find the best travel deals on the Web.
"We believe search can offer much more value to consumers and advertisers than it does today, and we see Live Search cashback as an important opportunity to deliver additional value," Gates said. "Our goal is to make Live Search the most rewarding commercial search destination on the Web. Live Search cashback will help advertisers drive more online sales while giving consumers a new way to stretch their dollars."
During his keynote address, Gates outlined three areas of focus for the company's broad search vision: relevancy and selection, rewarding advertisers and consumers for engagement and expanding the role of search around the set of tasks like commerce, entertainment, navigation and reference through improvements in its user experience, intelligent tools and access across devices.
The opportunity to reach consumers via search advertising is enormous and growing. According to eMarketer Inc., U.S. online retail is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012, and today 68 percent of all those retail transactions begin at a search engine. This translates to 3.7 billion commerce-related queries a...
Fri, 23 May 08
Calling All Mobile Providers, Can You Hear Us Now?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59903
Consumer grievances against wireless companies are taking on a new dimension. For more than a decade, mobile-phone customers have griped vociferously about what they consider unfair billing and inadequate wireless voice calling. But the advent of mobile data services -- from texting to gaming to social networking to Web surfing -- has given subscribers a whole host of new beefs to complain about.
In the past few months, users have filed class actions against AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, and many smaller wireless service providers. The complaints cover a multitude of alleged sins, from excessive roaming charges to text-message spam. One filed in April says Verizon Wireless should pay damages for harm suffered by a 14-year-old girl after she was sexually assaulted by an adult male who contacted her through an Internet profile she created using her cell phone. Another attempts to hold Verizon Wireless and third-party content providers responsible for illegal gambling by users. Verizon Wireless declined to comment.
What these seemingly different lawsuits have in common is that they reflect users' discontent with a wave of new services, many of them Web-focused, that are crucial to the wireless industry. Though slow to take off in the U.S., especially in comparison with the rest of the world, text messaging, wireless music, and video services are finally entering the mainstream. AT&T received 21.5 percent of its wireless revenues from data services in the first quarter, up from 16 percent a year earlier. Industry revenue from the larger category of wireless data, which includes mobile content and Web access, rose 53 percent, to $23 billion, in 2007, according to industry group CTIA. With increased usage comes new frustrations.
Damian Fernandez tapped into that rising ill will when he launched a class action on behalf of users of Apple's iPhone. The...
Fri, 23 May 08
Wells Fargo Announces Digital Document Vault
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59898
Everyone has them -- ancient files, boxes of records saved for reasons barely remembered and binders filled with important documents that somehow get stacked at the top of the closet shelf or tucked away in a garage. The list of essential personal and financial items one must keep on hand, and in a safe place, grows with one's fortunes. But there is a way to protect your documents and keep them somewhere safe -- the Internet.
Several online companies such as Google and Microsoft already offer cyberspace document storage. Now, Wells Fargo & Co. is introducing the vSafe, an online storage unit that allows customers to upload materials that can be digitized, such as tax returns, marriage and death certificates, passports, wills and digital pictures. The vSafe is accessible from any computer with Internet access worldwide, said Stephanie Smith, senior vice president of Wells Fargo's Internet Services Group. Smith said the company is the first financial institution providing this service to retail banking customers.
"It's a 21st century equivalent of a safe," said Smith, who added the idea to create the vSafe came out of market research that showed customers needed help managing their financial lives.
Wells Fargo customers can scan in any type of file format -- PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc. -- from their work or home computers and can get help online or through Wells Fargo's telephone customer service number. Wells Fargo has already made vSafe available to 159,800 of its employees. It will be available for customers in select states this summer and then to everyone by the end of the year, Smith said.
For the vSafe, customers will pay a monthly fee depending on the size of space needed: $4.95 for 1 gigabyte; $9.95 for 3 gigabytes; and, $14.95 for 6 gigabytes. For unlimited backup space, competitor sites,...
Fri, 23 May 08
HP's Rosy Outlook May Not Be Enough to Ease Worries
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59895
Hewlett-Packard Co. cashed in on rising international demand again in its second quarter, but that performance may not be enough to ease worries about the company's exposure to the ailing U.S. economy as it prepares to digest the second largest acquisition in its 69-year history.
The results released Tuesday came as no surprise because HP provided a snapshot of its latest quarterly numbers and outlook last week when the Palo Alto-based company jolted investors with the news about its plans to buy technology services provider Electronic Data Systems Corp. for $13.2 billion (EU8.4 billion).
The deal has raised concerns that Plano, Texas-based EDS will compound the headaches that HP may be facing if U.S. demand for its personal computers, printers and other products and services remains flat or slumps as consumer struggle to cover high gasoline and food costs while businesses also clamp down on spending.
Among other challenges, HP will likely have to make substantial layoffs from a combined work force of 210,000 employees while trying to blend two different corporate cultures after the EDS deal closes late this year.
HP is counting on EDS to boost the demand for its services and computers among major companies and government agencies while improving its competitive position against IBM Corp., the leading seller of technology services.
Echoing remarks from a week ago, Hurd assured reporters Tuesday that the acquisition will pay off.
"Make no mistake about it: We will get the cost right and we will create value for shareholders," Hurd said during a conference call.
In a separate call with analysts, Hurd acknowledged the difficulty facing HP in the United States, where the company's second-quarter sales were unchanged from a year ago.
"The best thing that I can tell you about the U.S. is that it's a very spotty market and we try to maintain caution around it,"...
Fri, 23 May 08
Opinion: Icahn Asks Yahoo for One Thing, Wants Another
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59893
About a month and a half ago, Carl Icahn and I went to dinner at Tse Yang, an upscale Chinese restaurant in New York. Icahn, the corporate raider turned activist investor, came blustering through the dimly lit restaurant about 20 minutes late, grabbed one of the waiters -- they all know him -- and ordered a martini.
"It's been a very long day," Icahn sighed as he slumped into his chair.
It is tough being the Superman of Shareholders, rescuing investors from villainous corporate boards. Or at least that's the way Icahn, who is 72, sees himself these days.
"It's awful the way all these entrenched boards act," he grumbled in his raspy voice as he slurped shark fin soup. "Someone's got to stand up and say something. That's what I do. And maybe I'll make a little money at it."
If we had been having dinner last week, he might have been talking about his latest mark: Yahoo.
Icahn, who doesn't even use a personal computer, jumped headfirst into the Microsoft-Yahoo saga by mounting a proxy contest to oust the board members of Yahoo. He has proposed replacing them with his new pals, including Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Lucian Bebchuk, a professor at Harvard Law School who wrote the book "Pay Without Performance"; and Frank Biondi Jr., the former chief executive of Viacom and Universal Studios whom Icahn unsuccessfully tried to install as Time Warner's chief executive two years ago.
But make no mistake: Icahn, who has been called a "savior" and "sinner" in the same breath, does not want actually to win the proxy contest he has started -- not if winning means taking seats on the board.
He has no intention of running Yahoo himself. His intention was to bring Microsoft, which withdrew its $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo,...
Fri, 23 May 08
Cell Phone Users May Get a Break on Fees
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59890
The government is quietly negotiating to help cell phone customers avoid expensive fees when they cancel contracts with wireless companies, The Associated Press has learned.
Cell phone companies routinely charge customers $175 or more for quitting their service early. Under a proposal to the Federal Communications Commission, the wireless industry would give consumers the opportunity to cancel service without any penalty for up to 30 days after they sign a cell phone contract or until 10 days after they receive their first bill.
The proposal also would cap such fees and reduce them month by month over the course of a contract based on how long customers have left, according to people familiar with the offer speaking on condition of anonymity because the FCC has not accepted it. The plan would not abolish cancellation fees entirely and would not refund such fees to anyone who paid them.
In exchange for the government's approval, the agreement would let cell phone companies off the hook in state courts where they are being sued for billions of dollars by angry customers. If approved by the FCC, the proposal also would take away the authority of states to regulate the charges, known as early termination fees.
Lawyers representing customers who are suing over the fees are strongly opposed.
"It's Christmas in May for the companies," said Pamela Gilbert, an attorney with Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, a Washington D.C.-based law firm working on one of the class action lawsuits against the industry. She said if the FCC agreed to the proposal, it would save cell phone companies hundreds of millions of dollars.
"The people left holding the bag are the millions of people who paid illegal ETFs (termination fees) and now will never get their money back," she said.
The nation's No. 2 wireless company, Verizon Wireless, offered the proposal to the...
Fri, 23 May 08
EMC Unveils New Disk-Based Backup Offerings
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59877
EMC has introduced new disk-based backup and data-recovery offerings for enterprises facing an ever-expanding digital information glut. The range of new low-power disk-drive offerings will help enterprises improve their data-center operations by deploying EMC's latest data deduplication, drive spin-down, and power-saving technologies, said Mark Sorenson, senior vice president of EMC's Information Management Software Group.
"By adding key features like data deduplication across our portfolio, customers can eliminate redundant data, move more easily to disk backup, and strengthen the management of their backup infrastructures," Sorenson explained. "This differentiates EMC from other vendors who must 'force fit' a single product across a range of deduplication use cases."
EMC's latest local area network backup-to-disk systems, dubbed the EMC Disk Library 3D 1500 and 3000, are squarely aimed at midsize businesses in need of policy-based data backup and the "five-9s" (99.999 percent) of storage availability. "Basically, by replacing the tape target, you can get all the benefits of backup-to-disk along with the power of data deduplication (3-D)," noted Philip Fote, EMC senior product marketing manager.
The new offerings for LAN applications will enable enterprises to save a significant amount of money through reduced handling costs, as well as the elimination of issues associated with tapes that struggle with growing environments, Fote observed. Replication is also on tap for data backups formed over an IP network, which reduces the amount of backup data while meeting off-site protection requirements and without needing the physical transportation of tapes, he said.
"The fact that you are using less tape means that you can streamline your operations, get better utilization out of your labor force and your staff, and at the same time get the power and benefits of backup-to-disk," Fote explained. "The third benefit is the low-cost replication that you get with 3-D technologies."
The EMC...
Thu, 22 May 08
Greenpeace Pushes for Greener Video Game Consoles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59909
Greenpeace has released the results of its investigation into hazardous materials in next-generation video game consoles. The study reveals that the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 Elite and Microsoft Xbox 360 have all tested positive for hazardous chemicals.
The analysis of these toxic materials -- polyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium and bromine, which is indicative of brominated flame retardants -- are contained in the organization's new report, entitled "Playing Dirty," and show that all three manufacturers failed the green-electronics test established by Greenpeace.
"Whether game consoles are classified as toys or not, they can still contain hazardous chemicals and materials that could harm humans," said Dr. Kevin Brigden of the Greenpeace Science Unit. "The technology is available for the manufacturers to design out toxins and produce greener game consoles now."
The report reveals that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 contained very high levels of phthalates that are not permitted in components of toys or childcare products sold in the European Union. One of the phthalates, DEHP, is known to interfere with sexual development in mammals -- including humans, and especially males. The other phthalate, DINP, found only in the Xbox 360, is prohibited from use in toys and childcare products in the European Union if children can place them in their mouths.
All game consoles tested positive for various hazardous chemicals. For example, high levels of bromine were found in the components of all three, with the highest by weight levels in the PS3 and the Wii. But the tests also showed that each of the manufacturers avoided or reduced the use of individual hazardous substances in certain materials within their consoles.
In the Nintendo Wii, beryllium alloys were not identified in electrical contacts, and the use of PVC and phthalates was determined to be limited. At the same...
Thu, 22 May 08
Rights Group Says Cisco Helps China Repression
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59908
The last time Congress put a spotlight on an Internet company collaborating with China's policies of censorship and repression, it was on Yahoo and CEO Jerry Yang. Tuesday, it was Cisco's turn.
At a hearing before a Senate subcommittee that focuses on human rights and the Internet, Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) focused on a PowerPoint presentation that discussed China's "combat" of "evil religious groups," such as Falun Gong, which the Chinese government has banned since 1999.
Shiyu Zhou, deputy director of the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, testified that it had obtained the presentation titled Cisco Opportunities [in the Golden Shield Project], which showed Cisco working closely with the government on an elaborate scheme to control what information is available on the Internet in China.
"Cisco offers much more than just routers; it offers planning, construction, technical training, and operations maintenance for the Golden Shield," Zhou said. "Our research shows that the infrastructure of China's Great Firewall coincides with the layouts in Cisco (China)'s PowerPoint document."
Zhou charged that "Cisco can no longer assure Congress that Cisco (China) has not been and is not now an accomplice and partner in China's Internet repression and, whether directly or indirectly, in its persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other peaceful citizens in China."
Cisco general counsel Mark Chandler said he was "appalled" to see the reference to Falun Gong in the slide presentation and asserted that Cisco merely sells generic network equipment to China without customizing it to work with the Golden Shield.
"We disavow the implication that this (presentation) in any way reflects Cisco's views," Chandler said. He added that "employees who would customize our products in such a way as to undermine human rights" would violate the company's "extensive code of conduct."
The industry has been working for two years on a...
Thu, 22 May 08
One Laptop Per Child Unveils Plans for Next-Gen Device
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59906
The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organization has announced it is already hard at work on the development of a successor to its XO laptop, which is currently providing many impoverished students in developing countries with their first direct access to computing technology.
"Based on feedback from governments, educators and, most important, from the children themselves, we are aggressively working to lower the cost, power and size of the XO laptop so that it is more affordable and usable by the world's poorest children," said OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte.
Since the XO's launch in November 2007, approximately 600,000 units have shipped at an average price of $188 each, Negroponte noted. "The delivery of the first-generation XO laptop has sparked tremendous global interest in the project and provided valuable input on how to make the XO laptop an even better learning tool moving forward."
OLPC is committed to achieving an XO-2 target price of $75 when the next-generation device launches in 2010. To make the device far more affordable for purchase by developing nations, the organization says it will be employing the latest developments in display and processor technologies, together with new software empowered by the Linux operating system.
Gartner Research Vice President Leslie Fiering notes that the latest OLPC announcement is representative of Negroponte's usual modus operandi -- to create as much media attention as possible, and then let the details sort themselves out over time. "Negroponte originally was talking about a $100 laptop, and this quickly went to $200," Fiering recalled. On the other hand, "he has been relentless in making the right deals to keep the price down, so I am sure he will be able to get some innovative things done."
The XO-2 laptop is expected to be about the same size as a...
Thu, 22 May 08
Apple Has 66 Percent of U.S. Market for $1,000 Computers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59905
Apple rules the high end. That's the conclusion of a recent report by the NPD Group that found the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has 66 percent of the U.S. retail market for all computers priced about $1,000.
For desktop computers over $1,000, Apple's retail share was 70 percent. For notebooks in that price range, it was 64 percent. The figures reflect sales in the first three months of this year, and they only account for store sales, not online.
According to news reports, the NPD study also found that Apple's overall U.S. retail market share is 14 percent, with Apple notebooks having 50 to 60 percent growth year-over-year, and Windows notebooks having zero percent. The 14 percent retail share applied to all computers, as well as to just desktops or notebooks.
All of Apple's computer product line is priced at more than $1,000, except for the Mac Mini. Some observers have suggested that features and lower pricing may not be the highest priorities to some computer shoppers, because they are willing to pay more for a premium experience.
Stephen Baker, NPD vice president of industry analysis, has told news media that Apple also appeals to such segments as multiple-computer households. He added that, for those customers buying an additional computer, ease of use may be their priority.
There are also several key market advantages that Apple continues to enjoy. One is the hesitant reception that Microsoft Vista has received, an edge that Apple has begun to push overtly in its most recent "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" commercials.
Another advantage is the highly successful chain of Apple retail stores, as well as distribution through selected non-Apple retailers such as Best Buy. When a potential customer goes into an Apple store, there are no competing computers, so that popular channel is highly effective.
Because...
Thu, 22 May 08
Netflix by Roku Faces Several Adoption Barriers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59886
Many movie buffs are celebrating this week at the thought of streaming their favorite movies straight to the TV, but some analysts are concerned the excitement may burst when the reality of installing yet another set-top box sets in.
Netflix, a pioneer in online movie rentals, introduced The Netflix Player by Roku. Netflix partnered with streaming-technology company Roku to offer the device that lets subscribers instantly stream the movie-rental service's library of 10,000 movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs.
The player is available for $99.99 at Roku's Web site. Netflix has unlimited rental plays starting at $8.99 a month. But will the hassle of installing one more device be too much to make the mainstream?
"There's a battle for the living room and which devices will be connected to the TV set. Netflix hopes it can provide the movie content to that screen," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "The problem with the device is that it is too limited in its current carnation."
Gartenberg sees two major barriers to adoption. First, he said, the Netflix screening catalog is still small. Second, he noted, consumers have to set up the device on their home network, and that may meet resistance.
"There's only a limited number of boxes consumers will hook up to their TV," Gartenberg said. "It eliminates the need to ship little discs in the mail. But this functionality should probably be built into another device, like an Xbox or a Wii or a DVD player, as opposed to this stand-alone functionality."
For these reasons, he argued, The Netflix Player by Roku is more of a geek toy than mainstream technology. But, he added, the concept does point the way to the future -- more content delivered directly over the Internet to the screen.
Netflix is...
Thu, 22 May 08
Nanotube Workers Could Face Same Risk as Asbestos
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59885
Nanotubes -- the super-small, high-strength carbon fibers increasingly being deployed as static charge conductors in computers, strengtheners in composites for auto bodies, and electrical brushes -- are potentially as dangerous as asbestos, a team of scientists warned Tuesday.
Injected into mice, nanotubes triggered the kind of cellular reaction that typically leads to the fatal cancer mesothelioma, the study, published online in the journal Nature, found. The scientists found that only longer strands of nanofibers have that effect and further research on the impact of inhaling nanotubes is called for, the scientists said.
The risk of inhaling nanotubes is so great that the government needs to aggressively do follow-up tests and issue guidance for factory workers, the scientists said. Indeed, nanotubes are likely a latter-day version of asbestos -- a mineral with long, thin fibrous crystals that was widely used in industry and which causes mesothelioma. The cost of asbestos litigation is currently estimated at $250 billion.
"The problem of asbestos was caused when it was released into the air, if it was handled inappropriately or incorrectly," said Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and one of the study's authors. "Carbon nanotubes could do the same."
In light of this study, "we should assume the worst," Maynard said, until further research provides grounds to "relax that point of view."
The good news is that we have a solid understanding of the dangers relatively early in the industrialization of nanotubes, said study contributor Anthony Seaton of the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland. "In a sense, we are forewarned and forearmed now with respect to nanotubes," he said. "We know that some of them probably have the potential to cause mesothelioma. So those sorts of materials need to be handled very carefully."
While scientists are warning that nanotube workers should...
Thu, 22 May 08
3G iPhone Likely To Appear Sooner Than Expected
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59884
A report pegs the much-awaited announcement of the 3G version of Apple's iPhone for June 9. According to technology blog Gizmodo, a source "very, very close" to the launch has confirmed that the second-generation iPhone will be announced during the keynote address of the Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on that date.
The keynote will made by Apple CEO Steve Jobs and other company executives.
The report also says the device will be available immediately following the announcement. One example predicted is that the grand opening of the Telefonica megastore in Madrid on June 18 will feature the 3G iPhone for sale, with nationwide availability in Spain immediately or by the next day.
In terms of pricing, the source also indicates that the device will not be pegged at a fixed price in some countries, but will be discounted in carrier-based packages.
The Gizmodo report also meshes with a recent report by investment bank Piper Jaffray, which surveyed Apple stores earlier this month. It found that the iPhone is not available at half of the Apple retail stores, that both the 8GB and 16GB models were unavailable from the online store, and that shortages have been reported recently in the United Kingdom.
This sell-down of inventory would typically happen right before a new product launch. Additionally, some observers have noted that Apple has been adding carrier partners in other countries at a rapid pace. Last week, for instance, Apple announced deals with carriers in Singapore, the Philippines, Australia and India. The week before, it said a deal had been reached with Vodafone for the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.
June is also the one-year anniversary of the iPhone's launch, as well as the month in which a software update for all iPhones will be...
Thu, 22 May 08
Backing Up a Hard Drive with an iPod
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59874
I always say that it pays to back up your computer and hurts like heck when you don't.
And when purchasing any computer -- desktop or laptop -- budget for not one, but two backup hard drives. And keep those backups current. In addition, it doesn't hurt to back up family photos and other essentials to CDs or DVDs. Too many backups never hurt anybody.
If only I followed my own advice.
Our main computer at home is a Macintosh iBook G4 laptop given to us by my Mac-loving mother five years ago. Yep, my graphic-designing mom is now in her 70s and has been using Macs since the SE days (that's the late '80s to you and me).
I've only had a backup strategy for the past year, and that strategy consists of one of my favorite el-cheapo hacks: backing up to an iPod.
Yes, an iPod can serve as a backup drive. I have plenty of room on my music player's 30-gigabyte drive to store all of our iBook's user files.
I never back up the iBook's system files. They take up too much room and are easily restored from the original discs in the event of a hardware failure.
So how do you back up a computer to an iPod? It's easy. You plug the iPod into the computer, click open the iPod icon like any other hard drive, make a folder for your files and drag them into it.
It's better to use a regular USB-connected hard drive and not an iPod, but a backup is a backup. Only my backup wasn't exactly up to date. It's maybe a month old. A daily or weekly backup would've been much better.
And when the iBook started acting up -- stalling and showing me the "spinning beachball" that...
Thu, 22 May 08
Using a Fake Name on the Internet Could Be Illegal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59873
Think twice before you sign up for an online service using a fake name or e-mail address. You could be committing a federal crime.
Federal prosecutors turned to a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user.
Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers.
Legal experts warned Friday that such an interpretation could criminalize routine behavior on the Internet. After all, people regularly create accounts or post information under aliases for many legitimate reasons, including parody, spam avoidance and a desire to maintain their anonymity or privacy online or that of a child.
This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force of a law: Violations of a Web site's user agreement could now lead to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a site.
"I think the danger of applying a statute in this way is that it could have unintended consequences," said John Palfrey, a Harvard law professor who leads a MySpace-convened task force on Internet safety. "An application of a general statute like this might result in chilling a great deal of online speech and other freedom."
Drew, of O'Fallon, Mo., was indicted Thursday on charges of perpetrating a hoax on the popular online hangout MySpace. Prosecutors say Drew helped create a fake MySpace account to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.
Drew, who has denied creating the account or sending messages to Megan,...
Thu, 22 May 08
New Web Sites Make It Easier to Spy on Friends
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59871
If you are still relying on Google to snoop on your friends, you are behind the curve.
Armed with new and established Web sites, people are uncovering surprising details about colleagues, lovers and strangers that often don't turn up in a simple Internet search. Though none of these sites can reveal anything that isn't already available publicly, they can make it much easier to find. And most of them are free.
ZabaSearch.com turns up public records such as criminal history and birth dates. Spock.com and Wink.com are "people-search engines" that specialize in digging up personal pages, such as social-networking profiles, buried deep in the Web. Spokeo.com is a startup search site that lets users see what their friends are doing on other Web sites. Zillow.com estimates the value of people's homes, while the Huffington Post's Fundrace feature tracks their campaign donations. Jigsaw.com, meanwhile, lets people share details with each other from business cards they've collected -- a sort of gray market for Rolodex data.
Some people have come across dirt on their loved ones without even looking for it. Doug Orlyk, a 42-year-old librarian in Bensenville, Ill., recently turned to Zaba-Search to find his new boyfriend's address so he could send him a card. Instead, he found out that the boyfriend had been lying about his age -- he was 43, not 35 as he had claimed on the dating site where Orlyk had met him. "I thought, 'You're a liar! You're older than I am!" Orlyk recalled. His new relationship ended soon thereafter.
Others rely on the Web to gather information on the job. Art Feagles, a technology specialist at the Cate School, a private high school in Carpinteria, Calif., runs the computer system for the alumni and development office. But his colleagues, who raise money for the school, keep tapping...
Thu, 22 May 08
Google Makes Health Service Publicly Available
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59866
Google's online filing cabinet for medical records opened to the public Monday, giving users instant electronic access to their health histories and worrying a privacy advocate.
Called Google Health, the service lets users link information from a handful of pharmacies and care providers, including Quest Diagnostics labs. Google plans to add more.
Similar offerings include Microsoft Corp.'s HealthVault and Revolution Health, which is backed by AOL co-founder Steve Case.
Google Health differentiates itself from the pack through its user interface and things like the public availability of its application program interface, or API, said Marissa Mayer, the Google executive overseeing the service.
Mary Adams, 45, a Cleveland Clinic patient who participated in the Google Health pilot, said that she was initially concerned about the privacy of her medical information.
Still, she felt safe enough to enroll and has been using the service for about six months, linking it with an online health management tool from the Cleveland Clinic and adding information on prescriptions and doctors to her online profile.
"I hate pieces of paper lying around my house, so I love the fact that i can log on with my normal Google login info and see everything at a glance," she said, adding that with its public availability she'll try to get her sister to use it.
The service, still a non-final "beta" version, does not include ads. But Mayer said Google doesn't plan to start placing them to support the site. A search box on Google Health pages leads to standard Google search results pages, where there are advertisements.
Besides importing records from providers, users can enhance their password-protected profiles with details such as allergies and medications, they can search for doctors and they can locate Web-based health-related tools.
Mountain View-based Google Inc. views its expansion into health records management as logical because its search engine already processes...
Thu, 22 May 08
Colonel Suggests Using Hackers' Tool Against Them
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59803
Hackers often harness the combined power of thousands of virus-infected personal computers to pump out spam e-mail or disable targeted servers by overwhelming them with Internet traffic.
Now an Air Force colonel is suggesting the U.S. military build its own "botnet," or network of remotely controlled computers, to be ready to attack the computer networks of foreign enemies.
The proposal Col. Charles Williamson III outlined in the May edition of the Armed Forces Journal highlights the creative cyberwarfare strategies being hashed out by the military as hackers abroad step up their attacks on U.S. government computer networks and others around the world.
"The days of the fortress are gone, even in cyberspace," wrote Williamson, staff judge advocate for Air Force Intelligence in the Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. "While America must harden itself in cyberspace, we cannot afford to let adversaries maneuver in that domain uncontested."
The government wouldn't build its botnet by infecting innocent people's computers like criminal hackers, Williamson wrote. Instead, the military could use PCs it was going to throw away. And it could expand that botnet's computing horsepower by implanting its code on other government computers.
Williamson's commentary has ignited a debate in the computer security community about the wisdom of building a military botnet -- and the government's ability to control it. The tactic he suggests is called a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack.
It's what was used last year by hackers in a three-week assault that crippled government and corporate computer networks in the small Baltic nation of Estonia, which is highly computer-savvy.
It's frequently used by organized criminals to extort Web site owners, who end up paying up to keep their sites online, and by botnet operators to disrupt rivals.
Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, which operates the Internet Storm Center,...
Thu, 22 May 08
Rethinking Your E-mail Protection Strategies
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=57681
How safe is your incoming e-mail? With phishing, viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, spam, data storage challenges, disruption and downtime risks, data loss and leakage concerns and a host of other potential e-mail obstacles (is your head spinning yet?), it could be time to rethink your e-mail protection strategy.
The bottom line: you must safeguard your network in order to adhere to compliance mandates.
Amateur hour is over. Just when malware design seemed to have reached a plateau, new attack techniques have burst forth. Some are so complex they could have only been designed by means of sophisticated research and development.
We spoke about the challenges this type of malware presents with experts at a number of software security and threat-management companies, including Sophos, AppRiver, and IronPort Systems, now part of Cisco Systems.
For a time, one expert pointed out, security controls designed to manage malware were working. But, as a result of this success, the threats they protected against were forced to change. In 2007, many of these threats underwent significant adaptation. Malware went stealth, and its sophistication increased. E-mail is a primary vector.
"E-mail is a challenge from a security perspective because everybody's doors are open," said Pat Peterson, vice president of Technology at IronPort Systems. "Anybody who wants to deliver mail to your server and ultimately to the desktop can do so as long as the get through your anti-spam and anti-virus scans. That's one of the fundamental and unique problems with e-mail compared to the Web or the telephone."
End users still fall for social engineering gimmicks that compel them to click on a link promising something interesting. That links ushers them to a Web site that downloads malicious payloads. It's the network administrator's responsibility to make sure that payload can't make its way to the desktop and subsequently...
Wed, 21 May 08
Aster Lets You Crunch Terabytes of Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59882
On Tuesday, Aster Data Systems announced a solution that aims to address the needs of fast-growing data environments with a new approach to analytics database systems.
Dubbed Aster nCluster, the solution promises to transform off-the-shelf, commodity hardware into self-managing scalable analytic databases. The company announced MySpace as the marquee customer of what it calls "a revolutionary platform that drives deep insights from massive data to help organizations better understand customer behavior, monetize new opportunities, and control risk."
Aster may be on to something. Richard Winter, president of WinterCorp, an independent data-management-systems consulting firm, predicted the growth factors for data at between 10 and 100 times in the next five years. That, he said, calls for a fundamentally new approach to large-scale analytics.
"As systems scale, the network increasingly becomes the bottleneck. Aster has announced a product that aims to address this and provide the engine for a host of new analytical applications, requiring larger scale and higher complexity than we have seen in the past," Winter said. "Organizations would then be able to get insights into the behavior and preferences of users that are not possible with traditional approaches."
MySpace has deployed Aster nCluster with more than 100 nodes and the capability of loading millions of rows per second, according to Aster. The social-networking site's executives are reporting strong results.
"With Aster, MySpace has the analytic horsepower and necessary scalability to meet our needs," said Jim Benedetto, senior vice president of technology at MySpace. "The platform easily scales with our traffic growth and helps us better understand our users and improve their experience."
Aster said the key to its nCluster architecture is a series of patent-pending algorithms and processes that control the placement, partitioning, balancing, replication and querying across clusters of intelligent nodes.
Aster has combined three distinct disciplines --...
Wed, 21 May 08
Report Has Apple's 3G iPhone Available in Mid-June
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59881
Apple's 3G iPhone will be available immediately after CEO Steve Jobs announces it at the WorldWide Developers Conference on June 9, a confidential source has told the popular Web site Gizmodo.
"Someone very, very close to the launch" informed the site that availability of the new phone won't be delayed until year's end, as some rumors had speculated. The new phone will be available for purchase worldwide by mid-June, Gizmodo reported.
The site says the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica will sell the phone at the launch of its new megastore in a historic building in Madrid's Gran Via. The 3G iPhone will be available throughout Spain within a day of the opening.
Other European countries will see similar launches of the new iPhone in the mid-June time frame. If the report is accurate, American consumers should be able to buy the phone within that period, if not before.
Compatibility with 3G networks isn't the only thing new about the new iPhones, Gizmodo said. According to the Web site, carriers in some countries will no longer be selling the phone at a fixed price. Gizmodo said the change is a "logical step" because carriers in the highly competitive European market need to use the popular iPhone to attract customers.
The new iPhone will be integrated into carriers' usual pricing policies, with point-based trade-ups, discounts for carrier switchers and other service-based packages, Gizmodo said.
Delivering a 3G version of the phone is important for Apple in Europe but the company still faces an uphill climb, said Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Research, in a telephone interview. "It's an essential competitive feature, but they've had tougher going in Europe in part because of the entrenchment of Nokia in Europe," he said. "In contrast to the U.S., people are fairly happy with...
Wed, 21 May 08
Greenpeace: Game Consoles Contain Toxic Hazards
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59880
Greenpeace said Tuesday the world's most popular electronic game consoles contain high levels of toxic chemicals, though they are not an immediate danger for gamers.
A report by the environmental watchdog said Nintendo's Wii, the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 use varying degrees of bromine, PVCs and other potentially harmful chemicals, including phthalates which can affect human hormones.
Greenpeace acknowledged the level of toxic material did not violate European regulations, although some are banned from use in toys meant for small children. Though not harmful in the amounts used, some chemicals are released into household dust, inhaled and pile up in the body over time.
"Nobody will drop dead tomorrow," said Greenpeace campaigner Zeina AlHajj. "But these products are used by kids. ... They are persistent and they are accumulating through our life."
The companies did not immediately respond to e-mail requests for comment.
Microsoft has said in response to earlier Greenpeace criticism that it is "committed to making ongoing progress on environmental issues while ensuring our continued commitment to product durability, safety and performance."
Greenpeace said some consoles made by the three companies use chemicals that others avoid or use in small amounts, meaning that each of them could easily produce safe products.
Nintendo, for example, does not use beryllium alloys in its electrical contacts, while Microsoft and Sony do. Playstation 3 uses bromine-free circuit boards, and Xbox 360 had lower levels of brominated materials than the others, the report said.
Greenpeace said the three companies have pledged to phase out toxic chemicals within a few years, but urged them to move faster.
"Our campaign focuses on challenging the electronics industry to go beyond legislation," AlHajj said.
The machines are most dangerous after they have been thrown away and become electronic waste. They join hundreds of thousands of mobile phones, outdated computers and other electronic goods dumped...
Wed, 21 May 08
Cisco Systems Denies Online Censorship Role in China
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59879
A Cisco Systems Inc. executive told a Senate subcommittee Tuesday that comments in an internal document about China's goal to "combat" a religious group did not reflect the company's views on censorship.
The PowerPoint presentation, which described China's technology status, included a slide that referred to goals to stop network-related crimes, guarantee the security and services of a public network and "combat 'Falun Gong' evil religion and other hostiles." Falun Gong is a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government, which considers it a dangerous cult.
"In no case does the document propose that any Cisco products be provided to facilitate the political goals of the government and no reference to applications of our products to the goals of censorship or monitoring," Cisco general counsel Mark Chandler told the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on human rights and the law.
The subcommittee heard testimony from Cisco, Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. executives about how U.S. Internet and technology companies do business with certain governments that censor and suppress the free speech of their citizens.
Chandler said that Cisco regrets that comments from a Chinese government official were included in the 2002 presentation, which also mentioned other technology projects.
However, Shiyu Zhou, deputy director of the humans rights group Global Internet Freedom Consortium, said Cisco's presentation offered planning, construction, technical training and other services to help China improve law enforcement and security network operations.
"Cisco can no longer assure Congress that Cisco China had not been and is not now an accomplice in partnering with China's Internet repression," he said during the hearing. "And, whether directly or indirectly, in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and other peaceful citizens in China."
U.S. companies have come under an enormous amount of scrutiny and criticism as they do business in countries, such as China, that actively limit citizen access to information on...
Wed, 21 May 08
Senator Wants YouTube Terrorism Videos Removed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59876
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has called on Google to remove Internet video content produced by terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda from YouTube.
The videos show assassinations, deaths of U.S. soldiers and civilians, weapons training, incendiary speeches by al-Qaeda leadership, and other material intended to encourage violence against the West, according to Lieberman.
"Islamist terrorist organizations use YouTube to disseminate their propaganda, enlist followers, and provide weapons training," the senator said Monday in an open letter to Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. "YouTube also, unwittingly, permits Islamist terrorist groups to maintain an active, pervasive, and amplified voice, despite military setbacks or successful operations by the law-enforcement and intelligence communities."
The videos are branded with al-Qaeda logos -- a practice detailed in a recent committee staff report entitled Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat.
These logos are easily recognizable, according to Lieberman, making it easy for Google to remove them. Lieberman called on Google to enforce its own community standards against videos that show gratuitous violence or people getting "hurt, attacked or humiliated."
"Protecting our citizens from terrorist attacks is a top priority for our government. The private sector can help us do that," he continued. "By taking action to curtail the use of YouTube to disseminate the goals and methods of those who wish to kill innocent civilians, Google will make a singularly important contribution to this important national effort."
Paul Davis, author of God vs. Religion, has a different take. From the perspective of Homeland Security, he said, such terrorist videos serve to further notify law enforcement of future al-Qaeda operatives. Terrorists, he added, cut their own throats and minimize their effectiveness by unveiling their plans and evil deeds to the world by video.
"Such evildoers and fanatics, by reason of...
Wed, 21 May 08
Jawbone 2 Headset Uses Military Noise Technology
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59861
A new fashionable Bluetooth headset is built on technology developed by the Pentagon. Aliph's Jawbone 2 uses NoiseAssassin background-filtering technology
originally developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
NoiseAssassin lets jet fighter pilots on an aircraft carrier deck -- or, say, moms in a busy grocery store -- hear clearly even when background noise is horrendous. According to Aliph, it decides which sound is your voice, and then separates that from other noise.
But technology is not the only reason this new headset is causing a buzz. Jawbone 2 comes in several stylish designs that more closely resemble earrings or other jewelry than a Bluetooth-friendly electronic device. It's about half the size of the first Jawbone headset; weighs about 10 grams; will be available in black, silver, and gold; and has a retail price of about $130. Battery life is four hours of talk time or eight days of standby.
As with the first Jawbone, Jawbone 2's fashionable look was designed by noted industrial designer Yves Behar. The emphasis on style has also affected its functional design, with Jawbone 2 featuring an "invisible button" approach to accomplish a clutter-free look. The user, for instance, operates switches on the phone by lightly pressing the outside shield, which has touch-surface technology.
A small white rubber nub touches the user's cheek, providing a voice-activity sensor that detects vibrations as the user speaks. Aliph said it eliminates real-world noise better than any other headset because it is the only one that can accurately separate speech from ambient noise. The noise-suppression algorithms created by DARPA were required to operate in battlefields, helicopters, and other environments that are among the most extreme noise backgrounds for communication.
According to its maker, Jawbone determines how and when a person is speaking via two microphones and the voice-activity sensor,...
Wed, 21 May 08
Napster Launches 'World's Largest' MP3 Online Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59860
Napster is looking to shake up the online music scene once more. On Tuesday, the digital-music pioneer announced the launch of what it described as "the world's largest and most comprehensive MP3 store." All downloads will be free of digital-rights management (DRM) restrictions.
The store is more than 50 percent larger than any other MP3 store, according to the company, and has the largest library of independent music anywhere -- reportedly, more than six million tracks. The MP3 format can be used on virtually all MP3 players and music phones. Since this includes the iPod and the iPhone, some industry observers see this newest venture as a possible major competitor to the dominant online music site, Apple's iTunes Store.
Napster said it is the first music-subscription service with major-label music that offers all its catalog for MP3 downloads. Pricing for downloads is 99 cents for one MP3 song and $9.95 for most albums. Napster previously focused on an "all you can eat" monthly subscription.
Most of the catalog's music is available at a high-quality 256 Kbps, and high-resolution album art is included. Users can still subscribe to the site's Web-based, on-demand streaming service, and the streams can be heard on any Net-connected computer without the need to download software.
Napster Chairman and CEO Chris Gorog said there is a clear need for music fans to have "the convenience, ease of use and broad interoperability of the DRM-free MP3 format," with both major-label artists and independent music in one place.
James McQuivey, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said if he were Napster, he would also launch an MP3 store. But the primary competitive target, he added, isn't the iTunes Store but Amazon, which also has a large MP3 store. iTunes has about 70 percent of the U.S. market,...
Wed, 21 May 08
Netflix Can Stream Movies Directly to Your TV Set
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59859
Apple TV just got some new competition. Netflix, which brought online movie rentals to the masses, is introducing a new concept. In partnership with Roku, a digital media-streaming company, Netflix on Tuesday announced The Netflix Player by Roku.
The device allows Netflix subscribers to instantly stream the movie-rental service's library of 10,000 movies and TV episodes directly to their TVs. The player is available for purchase for $99.99 at Roku's Web site. Netflix has unlimited rental plays starting at $8.99 a month.
"Now streaming video isn't limited to people sitting in front of the PC; it's ready for the TV in the living room," said Anthony Wood, CEO and founder of Roku. The Netflix Player by Roku is the first Netflix-ready device on the market.
The player is about the size of a paperback book and is designed to integrate into any home-entertainment system. According to Netflix, all it takes is connecting the player to a TV and to the Internet. For homes with wireless Internet connectivity, the player is Wi-Fi enabled.
Reed Hastings, Netflix chairman and CEO, cited the device's simplicity and cost. First, he said, it allows consumers to choose movies for an instant queue, and then automatically displays only those choices on the TV screen.
"That's a major improvement versus the clutter of trying to choose from 10,000 films on the TV," Hastings said. "There are no extra charges and no viewing restrictions. For a one-time purchase of $99, Netflix members can watch as much as they want and as often as they want without paying more or impacting the number of DVDs they receive."
Here's how it works: From the Netflix Web site, members add movies and TV episodes to their instant queues, and those choices are then displayed on the TV and available to watch instantly....
Wed, 21 May 08
Lawmakers Concerned About Charter's Web Tracking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59850
Cable TV, phone and Internet service provider Charter Communications drew concern Friday from two congressmen and a privacy advocate over its plan to experiment with tracking its customers' Web use in collaboration with an online advertising firm.
Charter has told its high-speed Internet customers in four markets about the pilot, which will produce enough information for Web advertisers to target online advertising for individual customers based on their habits.
The ads "will better reflect the interests you express through your Web-surfing activity," Charter senior vice president Joe Stackhouse told the affected subscribers in a letter. "You will not see more ads -- just ads that are more relevant to you."
In response to the announcement, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) asked Charter President and Chief Executive Neil Smit to put the plan on hold until the three can confer.
The tracking is set to begin in June in Ft. Worth, Texas; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Oxford, Mass.; and Newtown, Conn.
Jeff Chester of the consumer rights organization Center for Digital Democracy criticized the plan and said it would be the first of its kind among major Internet service providers.
"Charter has moved into the front lines in the battle over ensuring privacy online," Chester said. "There is a huge concern about Web sites and search engine companies tracking what people do."
Stackhouse told customers their personal information will remain confidential.
Subscribers can opt out of the tracking, though they must provide their name and address to install an opt-out cookie on their computer.
Chester said Charter should instead offer subscribers the ability to opt in if they want to participate.
Online ad firm NebuAd is partnering with St. Louis-based Charter to do the tracking. Charter, the nation's fourth-largest cable TV company, is controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
NebuAd, based in Redwood City, Calif., wouldn't say last...
Wed, 21 May 08
Researchers Teach Second Life Avatar To Think
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59849
Edd Hifeng barely merits a second glance in Second Life. A steel-gray robot with lanky limbs and linebacker shoulders, he looks like a typical avatar in the popular virtual world.
But Edd is different.
His actions are animated not by a person at a keyboard but by a computer. Edd is a creation of artificial intelligence, or AI, by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who endowed him with a limited ability to converse and reason. It turns out Second Life is more than a place where pixelated avatars chat, interact and fly about. It's also a frontier in AI research because it's a controllable environment where testing intelligent creations is easier.
"It's a very inexpensive way to test out our technologies right now," said Selmer Bringsjord, director of the Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning Laboratory.
Bringsjord sees Edd as a forerunner to more sophisticated creations that could interact with people inside three-dimensional projections of settings like subway stops or city streets. He said the holographic illusions could be used to train emergency workers or solve mysteries.
But first, a virtual reality check.
Edd is not running rampant through the cyber streets of Second Life. He goes only where Bringsjord and his graduate students place him for tests. He can answer questions like "Where are you from?" but understands only English that has previously been translated into mathematical logic.
Second Life is attractive to researchers in part because virtual reality is less messy than plain-old reality. Researchers don't have to worry about wind, rain or coffee spills.
And virtual worlds can push along AI research without forcing scientists to solve the most difficult problems -- like, say, creating a virtual human -- right away, said Michael Mateas, a computer science professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Researching in virtual realities has become increasingly popular the past couple...
Wed, 21 May 08
Little Alltel Stands Strong as Big Rivals Gobble Spectrum
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59840
It's tough enough for David to take on Goliath.
Now imagine Goliath countering David's slingshot with a cannon.
That's roughly the challenge facing Alltel, the No.5 cell phone carrier, as it battles its two largest national competitors, AT&T and Verizon Wireless.
In a recent federal auction of wireless airwaves, AT&T and Verizon combined for $16 billion of the record $19.6 billion in winning bids as they stockpiled more spectrum to improve coverage and turbocharge their broadband services.
"The big guys got bigger," says Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast, noting the top two carriers widened their lead in spectrum.
Alltel, which was taken private in a $27.7 billion buyout last year, is the auction's most notable loser. It bid hundreds of millions of dollars for airwaves in prospective and existing markets but came away empty-handed. Sprint and T-Mobile didn't participate.
The outcome raises a pointed question: Can a scrappy second-tier carrier survive in an increasingly saturated cell phone market when it's losing ground in the race for airwaves -- the most vital building block of a wireless network?
"At a certain price, enhancing our spectrum holdings would have been a reasonable thing to do," says Alltel Chief Operating Officer Jeff Fox. But he adds, "I feel like we're in position to continue to execute our business plan for our customers."
Fox's confidence is borne of Alltel's success in leveraging its underdog status. With 13 million subscribers, Alltel is a hybrid: Its footprint largely encompasses rural and midsize markets, but it also serves cities such as Tampa, Phoenix, Cleveland and Charlotte.
The company has stayed competitive in bigger markets by having innovative calling plans, offbeat advertising that pokes fun at its larger rivals and attentive service that taps deep consumer frustrations with wireless carriers.
Alltel said last week it notched record customer growth in the first quarter. Its churn, customers who quit...
Wed, 21 May 08
GPS Has New Function: Helping Police Track Criminals
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59801
Electronic surveillance technology is changing the way the authorities in the United States monitor repeat offenders. Its advocates say the new technology can save lives. Its detractors fear a widening breach of civil liberties and an illusory sense of protection.
Coast to coast, the authorities are expanding electronic monitoring to fight crime. They are moving beyond its early use in tracking movements of sex offenders to include gang members who have been released on probation, people accused of repeated violence against women and even truant students at schools.
At the heart of the surveillance is a technology best-known for helping people on the road: the Global Positioning System, or GPS. Other countries are watching closely. GPS monitoring is already established in parts of Europe but applied more narrowly, and it is growing fast in Latin America, said Jeff Durski, spokesman for iSECUREtrac, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and makes the devices and leases them to the police and courts.
Massachusetts, one of the first states to employ it in 2006, has about 700 people fitted with electronic bracelets that send signals via satellite to computer servers if they go places they should not -- "exclusion zones."
The Massachusetts law, which allows judges to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of a restraining order, has become a model for other states. The Oklahoma Senate voted 47 to 0 in April to enlist GPS technology to protect victims of domestic violence. The Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed similar surveillance legislation last month.
Part of the appeal is the cost savings. GPS is a cost-effective alternative to prison, said Paul Lucci, deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Probation Service, pointing to a chart taped to his office wall showing a state-wide surge in use of GPS, mostly to track sex offenders but also for others. "These people...
Tue, 20 May 08
Firefox 3 Release Candidate Rolls Out To Testers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59857
Mozilla has rolled out Firefox 3 release candidate 1 to testers in advance of a full release in the weeks ahead. According to the program's developers, RC1 features more than 14,000 updates, "including some major re-architecting to provide improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability."
Though the latest Firefox release has been dubbed a "public preview," it is primarily aimed at the developer community. So anyone who downloads RC1 should expect a few glitches.
For example, some Firefox 2 plug-ins are not compatible with RC1. Moreover, when Yahoo pages are loaded, images and other page elements are replaced by generic icons. On the other hand, the browser displays pristine pages from popular sites such as The New York Times portal.
Firefox 3's new auto-complete feature enables users to access a list of the matches gleaned from their recent Web-surfing history and bookmarked pages. The browser matches "what you're typing -- even multiple words -- against the URLs, page titles, and tags in your bookmarks and history, returning results sorted by 'frecency' -- an algorithm combining frequency + recency," noted Mozilla blogger Deb Richardson.
Firefox 3 also introduces three new bookmark features called stars, tags and smart folders. "Bookmark stars are a quick and easy way to bookmark a page with a single click," Richardson wrote. "If you click the star again, it opens the Bookmark dialog," giving users the ability to edit the title, add tags, file the bookmark in a folder, or delete the bookmark.
By contrast, the new tags feature enables users to add extra information to a bookmark. "Where folders let you organize bookmarks in a way, they're limited in that you can only put each bookmark in a single folder," Richardson explained. "Not so with tags -- you can add as many tags...
Tue, 20 May 08
U.S. Charges 38 in International Phishing Scheme
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59856
Thirty-eight people were charged Monday with stealing names, Social Security identification numbers, credit card data and other personal information from unsuspecting Internet users as part of a global crime ring.
The Romanian-based scams sought to rip off thousands of American consumers and hundreds of financial institutions, according to indictments unsealed in Los Angeles, California, and New Haven, Connecticut.
More than half the people charged are Romanian, although the alleged scam also operated from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. The cases were linked by two Romanians who participated in both schemes, authorities said.
The two cases marked the latest example of what the Justice Department describes as a growing worldwide threat posed by organized crime.
"International organized crime poses a serious threat not only to the United States and Romania but to all nations," Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip said in a statement from Bucharest, where he announced the charges. "Criminals who exploit the power and convenience of the Internet do not recognize national borders; therefore our efforts to prevent their attacks cannot end at our borders either."
The practice, known as phishing, typically involves sending fraudulent e-mails that include links directing recipients to fake Web sites where they are asked to provide sensitive data. Phishers also may include attachments that, when clicked, secretly install "spyware" that can capture personal information and send it to third parties over the Internet.
In Los Angeles, 33 people faced 65 counts on a bevy of charges, including racketeering, bank fraud and identity theft. Prosecutors say scam artists based in Romania snagged information about thousands of credit and debit card accounts and other personal data from people who answered spam e-mail. The data then were sent to the United States and encoded on magnetic cards that could be used to withdraw money from bank accounts.
One encoder in the...
Tue, 20 May 08
Supreme Court Upholds Law on Child Pornography
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59855
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld criminal penalties Monday for the promotion of child pornography, ignoring arguments that the law could apply to mainstream movies that depict adolescent sex, classic literature or even innocent e-mails that describe pictures of grandchildren.
The ruling upheld part of a 2003 law that also prohibits possession of child porn. It replaced an earlier law against child pornography that the court struck down as unconstitutional.
The law sets a five-year mandatory prison term for promoting or pandering child porn and does not require that someone possess child pornography. Opponents have said that could make the law apply to movies such as Titanic or Traffic, which depict adolescent sex. Both movies won "best picture" Academy Awards, Titanic in 1997 and Traffic in 2000.
Justice Antonin Scalia, in his opinion for the court, said the law does not deal with movie sex. There is no "possibility that virtual child pornography or sex between youthful-looking adult actors might be covered by the term 'simulated sexual intercourse,'" Scalia said.
Likewise, Scalia said, free speech protections in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution do not apply to "offers to provide or requests to obtain child pornography."
Justice David Souter, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissented. Souter said promotion of images that are not real children engaging in pornography still could be the basis for prosecution under the law. Possession of those images, on the other hand, might not be prosecuted, Souter said.
"I believe that maintaining the First Amendment protection of expression we have previously held to cover fake child pornography requires a limit to the law's criminalization of pandering proposals," Souter said.
The 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals struck down the provision. The Atlanta-based court said it makes a crime out of merely talking about illegal images or possessing innocent materials that someone else might...
Tue, 20 May 08
Apple, Music Labels Discuss 3G iPhone Possibilities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59854
Apple is in talks with major music labels to beef up its ringtones and offer over-the-air music downloads on its upcoming 3G iPhone, according to The New York Times.
The Times cited label executives who leaked reports of "very active" negotiations. While a final deal has not yet been inked, the paper quoted a "label executive familiar with the matter" as saying that Apple wants a big launch in June.
Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference begins June 9, and many expect to see the introduction of the 3G iPhone during the event.
IDC expects that mobile entertainment will account for 5.1 percent of the $800 billion global wireless services revenue and 23 percent of all mobile data revenue by 2011.
Ringtones and ring-back tones (answer tones) are expected to lead the way, along with mobile television and video services. Ring-back tones should overtake ringtones by 2010 to become the single largest revenue source in the mobile entertainment category by 2010, IDC reported.
"I'm surprised Apple hasn't done more around ringtones. Right now, iPhone users can't buy AT&T ringtones, which is rather curious. I have suggested that Apple has its own walled garden of content, if you will," said Lewis Ward, an analyst at IDC. "Ringtones have been one of the success stories around mobile entertainment services in the past five years, growing from nothing to $1.2 billion in the U.S. this year."
Apple is reportedly looking to add ringtones, ring-back tones and songs downloaded over-the-air directly from its iTunes Store over a cell phone broadband network. The music labels are reportedly arguing that hey should be paid more for an over-the-air download than a track bought over the Internet.
"Some of these ringtones from the carriers can cost $2 or $3 per unit; it costs twice as much for...
Tue, 20 May 08
AMD Logos Aim To Simplify Selecting a Gaming PC
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59853
Hoping to create a new benchmark for PC gaming, Advanced Micro Devices announced its AMD Game logo on Monday. The company said the AMD Game logo is "designed to help consumers select perfectly suited PCs for high-definition gaming."
A PC platform with an AMD Game logo will have what AMD called a "powerful balance" of multi-core processors, high-definition digital media, and high-powered graphics processing.
Acer, Alienware, Logitech and Microsoft are some of the companies that will support the AMD Game logo, so users can buy PCs that are ready, out of the box, for high-end gaming and entertainment. Nigel Dessau, AMD senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said the new standard "ensures consumers don't need an enthusiast-level knowledge of PC hardware for the optimal gaming system."
He added that the PC industry owes consumers "the same predictability, simplicity and affordability in finding a PC for gaming" that is offered in finding a video-game console. The company cited a study by Jon Peddie Research that found two-thirds of all desktop and notebook PCs sold last year had only the most basic capabilities and did not have the technology needed for a "great gaming experience."
The AMD Game logo seeks to identify matched and tested components that meet high-end gaming needs, including the power to get through the most demanding moments of gaming action or high-definition entertainment without a lag in performance. The company said machines with the logo will let users know they can expect an "exceptional gaming experience."
Systems with the logo will utilize such AMD technology as "true multi-core processing" with Phenom processors, the upcoming Turion Ultra processors, Athlon processors, ATI Radeon HD 3000 series graphic cards, and AMD chipsets, as well as Microsoft Direct X 10.1 graphics and support for...
Tue, 20 May 08
Facebook-Google Clash May Be About Piracy, Not Privacy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59852
The tension between privacy and control reached a high-water mark in the social-networking world last week as Facebook and Google traded barbs about which company is more protective of user privacy.
On Thursday, Facebook fired a shot across the bow when it blocked Google's new Friend Connect service, which allows Web sites to deploy content from social networks like Facebook and MySpace.
Friend Connect "redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users' knowledge, which doesn't respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our terms of service," Facebook developer Charlie Cheever wrote on a corporate blog.
"Just as we've been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we've had to suspend Friend Connect's access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance. We've reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose," Cheever wrote.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a more conciliatory tone at a news conference in Tokyo during the weekend. "We want to talk to Google about this and see if there's a way we can make it work," he said. He reiterated concerns that Google can't be trusted with the data.
"Part of the issue with Google's Friend Connect is that when users grant access to Google's product, Google might share their information with another application, or some part of it, maybe not all of it, without that user knowing," Zuckerberg said. "And part of what makes our system work is that people know exactly who they are sharing all their information with."
So this is all about privacy? Joe...
Tue, 20 May 08
Wii Fit Aims To Get You Off the Couch with a Video Game
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59839
Staying fit by playing a video game. That dream of humankind, possibly second only to losing weight by eating, is the object of Nintendo's U.S. launch Monday of the Wii Fit exercise game.
Nintendo said its new product "combines fun and fitness in ways that will have people getting up off their couches," maybe even "breaking a sweat."
With a suggested retail price of about $90, Wii Fit includes a balance board accessory and software. The board connects wirelessly to a Wii console, and it senses weight as well as shifts in movement and balance. More than 40 activities offer challenges in yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance.
The Wii Fit begins the exercise program by measuring an adult user's BMI, or Body Mass Index. This is a common measurement of body fat based on height and weight.
The board can also be used as a platform for twirling a virtual hula hoop, "shredding" on a virtual snowboard, doing leg extensions, or undertaking a down-facing dog yoga pose. As a user progresses and as proficiency increases, his or her Wii caricature, which every user can create, reflects fitness levels.
If you slack off during an exercise routine, virtual trainers can talk you through different exercises and make suggestions for improvement. Users' progress can be tracked via scores.
Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales and marketing, said the new product "will get you moving whether you've been playing video games for years or this is your first time." To help with its launch in the U.S., Nintendo was to have "an interactive release party" in the southwest corner of New York City's Central Park, with celebrity trainer Ashley Borden on hand to have attendees "get on board."
In Japan, more than two million customers have gotten...
Tue, 20 May 08
Now Microsoft Wants To Partner with Yahoo on Searches
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59838
A boardroom showdown between Yahoo directors and billionaire investor Carl Icahn may turn out to be irrelevant if Microsoft's latest move succeeds. That could see Microsoft and Yahoo join forces against Google.
Microsoft walked away from its $47.5 billion bid to acquire Yahoo two weeks ago. But on Sunday, Microsoft proposed a new deal to Yahoo. Instead of outright acquiring Yahoo, Redmond has proposed alternatives to improve its online services and advertising by partnering with the search giant.
Microsoft confirmed it is not proposing a new bid to acquire Yahoo, though is reserving the right to consider that alternative pending future developments and discussions with Yahoo, its shareholders or other third parties.
"Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo, but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo," Microsoft said. "There of course can be no assurance that any transaction will result from these discussions."
Yahoo promptly responded to Microsoft, issuing a statement of its own and confirming that acquisition talks are off the table -- at least for now.
"Yahoo and its board of directors continue to consider a number of value-maximizing strategic alternatives for Yahoo, and we remain open to pursuing any transaction which is in the best interest of our stockholders," the company said. "Yahoo's board of directors will evaluate each of our alternatives, including any Microsoft proposal, consistent with its fiduciary duties, with a focus on maximizing stockholder value."
Greg Sterling, principal analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence, admitted he was a little surprised at the latest development in the Microhoo soap opera. The latest spin demonstrates that Microsoft still thinks it needs Yahoo, Sterling said, or at least its search share.
"Microsoft's statement is fairly vague and Yahoo's response was relatively bland in reaction. We can confidently speculate...
Tue, 20 May 08
Interpol: Colombia Recovered Real Rebel Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59827
Interpol said Thursday it found no evidence of tampering in computers seized from a slain leftist rebel, discrediting Venezuela's assertions that the files are bogus and giving Colombia the international backing it sought.
Interpol's findings are sure to increase pressure on Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, to explain documents indicating his government was financing and arming the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. And more revelations are likely to emerge, since Interpol also turned over to Colombia 983 files it decrypted.
"No one can ever question whether or not the Colombian government tampered with the seized FARC computers," said Interpol's secretary general, Ronald Noble, adding: "We are absolutely certain that the computer exhibits that our experts examined came from a FARC terrorist camp."
Colombian commandos recovered the three Toshiba Satellite laptop computers, two external hard drives and three USB memory sticks after destroying the rebel camp just across the border in Ecuador. FARC foreign minister Raul Reyes and 24 others were killed in the March 1 raid.
Chavez has called the documents fakes, mocking Colombia's revelations about "the supposed computer of Raul Reyes" and questioning how a computer could survive a bombardment. He denies arming or funding the FARC, though he openly sympathizes with Latin America's most powerful rebel army.
Venezuela's embassy in Washington accused U.S. and Colombian officials of using the Interpol report to "spread the most reckless and irresponsible accusations" in a coordinated campaign that "closely resembles the steps usually taken by the Bush administration in order to generate ... instability and wars in other countries."
But Interpol was emphatic that the documents are authentic, and said the computers were found in metal cases that protected them during the raid.
"Mr. Reyes is now dead. But they were definitely his computers, his disks, his hardware," Noble said.
Interpol also gave Colombia a major bonus after...
Tue, 20 May 08
Japan Convicts Computer Virus-Spreading Student
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59826
A student who had allegedly spread a computer virus was convicted Friday of copyright infringement charges in a case that has highlighted the lack of laws in Japan to police malicious programs in cyberspace.
Masato Nakatsuji, 24, a graduate student at Osaka Electro-Communication University, was suspected of spreading a virus by embedding it in an image from a Japanese animation film that he illegally copied and distributed over the Internet.
The virus he allegedly used, the "Harada virus," is one of Japan's "Big Three" viruses, and Nakatsuji's arrest, in January, was the first in Japan involving the making or spreading of viruses.
Nakatsuji was found guilty in Kyoto District Court Friday and sentenced on the same day to two years in prison, suspended for three years, said a court official who requested anonymity because he was speaking for the court.
The suspended sentence means Nakatsuji won't serve time in prison.
Although computer viruses have wreaked havoc around the world for more than two decades, Japan has been slow to pass legislation to crack down on people that make and spread the potentially destructive programs.
In the latest case, police considered other charges, including damage to property and obstructing business, before deciding that copyright violation charges would hold up best in court.
Nakatsuji did not contest the charge that he had spread the virus, police say.
His lawyers had argued he should get off with a fine, saying it was unfair that he was being more heavily penalized because a virus was involved in the alleged copyright violations, Japanese daily newspaper Mainichi reported.
Downloading the Harada virus with the animated image destroyed data and spread on the Internet information stored in computers hit by the virus, according to police.
Tue, 20 May 08
New Boston Apple Store Is Model for Global Expansion
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59824
Apple has seen the future, and it is about customer service.
On Thursday, Apple opened its largest U.S. store, a building in Boston with a glass and steel facade that a senior company executive said reflected Apple's plan to expand retail its ventures at home and abroad.
Sandwiched between aging brick buildings on Boylston Street, the store features a ground floor with more than 100 Mac computers, a second level for iPod music players and iPhones and a third entirely for service. The store is Apple's second-largest, after the one on Regent Street in London.
Ron Johnson, an Apple vice president and head of retailing, said the service center was designed to handle 1,000 customer inquiries a day. The Boston store also features a glass spiral staircase from the ground floor to the third.
Most other retailers would go broke offering this level of service, said J.P. Gownder, senior analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, because they normally sell many different brands.
"They're selling so many disparate brands," Gownder said of other electronics retailers. "They can't really push any brand over any other brand."
The Boston store also offers a glimpse into the latest retail thinking at the company, which is based in Cupertino, California, as it prepares to continue its international expansion with a new store in Beijing this summer.
The effort comes amid increased competition for Apple. Research In Motion said Monday that it was introducing a new high-end version of the BlackBerry, the Bold, or 9000. The company said it intended it for its core base of business users but also hoped that it would catch on in the broader retail market. The new model has twice the screen resolution of the current Curve BlackBerry model. It matches the resolution of the iPhone, whose screen is larger.
At the Apple store in Boston, "concierges"...
Tue, 20 May 08
Software Piracy Rises -- But Crackdowns Do, Too
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59799
Software piracy cost global businesses $47.8 billion in lost revenue last year, up 20 percent from 2006, according to a new study by an industry trade group. But the rate of unauthorized copying actually declined in more than half the countries measured, including some previous pirate havens like Russia, as the authorities took steps to crack down.
The report, prepared for the Business Software Alliance, a group based in Washington whose members include most of the world's large software makers, said the biggest country for software piracy in dollar terms remained the United States, where software valued at $8 billion was pirated last year, up from $7.3 billion in 2006.
Robert Holleyman, the alliance's president and chief executive, attributed the mounting global losses to faster economic growth in developing markets, thus bringing more personal computers and unlicensed software onto the market.
"The majority of illegal copying is being done by businesses, usually small and midsize businesses," Holleyman said in an interview in advance of the report's release Wednesday. "Although we have seen a decline in the piracy rate in most countries we studied, in those few, very large markets, there is still very fast economic growth, especially among small businesses."
While the volume of losses from software piracy was highest in the United States, the rate of software piracy, estimated to be 20 percent, was the lowest of countries measured in the study. China remained the world's second-biggest location for illegal copying, with an estimated $6.7 billion in pirated software in 2007, up from $5.4 billion a year earlier. According to the report, China's piracy rate was 82 percent, unchanged from a year earlier.
Russia was third in the study, with piracy losses estimated at $4.1 billion, up from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Despite the rise, Russia's piracy rate declined to...
Tue, 20 May 08
Customer Service Suffering for Certain Contact Centers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59646
Customer service departments often get a bad rap. While most are put in place to actually improve the customer experience, many fail to do so by ignoring processes or taking a complacent approach to customer deliverables.
For those that really focus on improving the overall customer experience, the standards continue to rise as consumers become more demanding. In a recent Ouch Point study from Opinion Research Corporation, one in five U.S. respondents, or 20 percent, cited hard-to-understand representatives with thick accents as their biggest frustration in dealing with customer service departments. Coming in at a close second (17 percent) was the length
of time it takes to get through to a representative.
"Customer service representatives are the 'face' of any service organization, and therefore need to be understood by their customers," said Linda G. Shea, senior vice president and global managing director of customer strategies at Opinion Research
Corporation.
"Issues such as the time it takes to reach a representative, a lack of familiarity with the company's products and services, and being transferred to the wrong person or department, when not identified and remedied, can cause significant damage to a company's reputation and future business," she added.
The study also found that 14 percent cited frustration with representatives who are not knowledgeable about their organization's products, services or processes. Another 13 percent were frustrated with being transferred to the wrong person or the wrong department.
Another nine percent of respondents were frustrated with representatives who promise to follow through and don't, while eight percent were frustrated over representatives who are not empowered to handle a situation. Another seven percent cited agents who did not understand the situation and three percent were frustrated with agents who preferred to debate the situation.
ORC's "Ouch Point" series is a monthly survey examining tolerance thresholds in a variety of common...
Sat, 17 May 08
Yahoo Lashes Back at Carl Icahn's Proxy Fight Threat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59835
Yahoo is fighting back against Carl Icahn. Saying Yahoo's current board, led by CEO Jerry Yang, "completely botched" negotiations with Microsoft, the infamous corporate raider on Thursday filed an alternative slate of directors to run the company. Yahoo shareholders will have the opportunity to choose between the current board and Icahn's slate at the company's annual meeting on July 3.
Yang took his case directly to employees in an e-mail late Thursday, boasting about the company's "solid results" in the first quarter. "Yahoo is a great company with a truly unique set of highly valuable assets that is growing, profitable and executing well on its strategic plan to enhance our leadership position in online advertising," Yang said in the e-mail, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Our solid results for the first quarter of 2008 are a testament to this."
Icahn made it clear that the purpose of the proxy fight is to restart an acquisition deal with Microsoft. In his letter to the board, Icahn said, "The board of directors of Yahoo has acted irrationally and lost the faith of shareholders and Microsoft; I sincerely hope you heed the wishes of your shareholders and move expeditiously to negotiate a merger with Microsoft, thereby making a proxy fight unnecessary."
Icahn proposed a slate of directors that includes Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and former Viacom CEO Frank Biondi.
Yahoo also released a formal response to Icahn from Chairman Roy Bostock. Icahn, Bostock's letter said, suffers from a "significant misunderstanding" of how hard Yahoo worked on the Microsoft proposal. Yang and the current board "remain the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo stockholders," Bostock said.
"From the beginning of the process with Microsoft, Yahoo's independent directors focused on one central goal: how best...
Fri, 16 May 08
One Laptop Per Child Embraces Windows XP
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59818
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has entered into an agreement with Microsoft governing the installation of Windows XP on the nonprofit organization's low-cost XO laptops for use by impoverished children around the world.
The partners, which are scheduled to begin conducting pilot programs in emerging markets next month, expect the Windows-powered XO laptop to be ready for full-scale deployment in August or September, said James Utzschneider, manager of Microsoft's developing-markets unit.
"Initially it will only be available in emerging-market countries where governments or NGOs are subsidizing the purchase of a large number of PCs for students," Utzschneider said. "But there is the possibility of making this available for other customers through a broader set of channels at a later point in time."
Microsoft announced last month that it would extend the life of Windows XP through the development of an abbreviated version to meet the needs of an emerging new class of mobile-computing devices known as ultra-low-cost PCs (ULCPC), which typically have smaller screen sizes and lower-powered processors than more expensive laptops. The XO laptop, in particular, posed a number of technical constraints that took a year for Microsoft to overcome.
"Windows was too big to fit on the 1GB non-flash module on the motherboard, so we are using a 2GB SD memory card," explained Bohdan Raciborski, group program manager for Microsoft. "So we had to first create a BIOS, because at that time there were no PC BIOSs that supported SD cards."
In a 2GB volume, Raciborski noted, it becomes possible have a complete Windows and Office experience running on the XO laptop. Moreover, it takes about 50 seconds for Windows XP to boot up on the XO, he said.
"We haven't modified Windows or Office in any way -- we haven't removed any components to have them run...
Fri, 16 May 08
MySpace Hoaxster Indicted After Teen Commits Suicide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59817
On Thursday, a Missouri woman was indicted on federal charges for fraudulently using an account on MySpace. The woman posed as a teenage boy who feigned romantic interest in a 13-year-old girl, Megan Meier, who later committed suicide after the "boy" spurned her and told her, among other things, that the world would be a better place without her.
Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Mo., was named in a four-count indictment returned Thursday morning by a federal grand jury. The indictment charges one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress on the girl who, because of juvenile privacy rules, is referred to in the indictment only as M.T.M.
"This adult woman allegedly used the Internet to target a young teenage girl, with horrendous ramifications," U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said. "After a thorough investigation, we have charged Ms. Drew with criminally accessing MySpace and violating rules established to protect young, vulnerable people. Any adult who uses the Internet or a social-gathering Web site to bully or harass another person, particularly a young teenage girl, needs to realize that their actions can have serious consequences."
The indictment alleges that Drew, along with others, registered as a member of MySpace under the name "Josh Evans." Drew and her co-conspirators then used the Josh Evans account to contact M.T.M. and began what the girl believed was an online romance with a 16-year-old boy.
In taking those actions, the indictment alleges, Drew and her co-conspirators violated MySpace's terms of service that prohibit users from, among other things, using fraudulent registration information, using accounts to obtain personal information about juvenile members, and using the MySpace communication services to harass, abuse or harm other members.
After approximately four weeks of flirtatious communications between "Josh Evans" and...
Fri, 16 May 08
Verizon's Decision a Setback for Google's Android Plans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59816
Verizon Wireless' decision to join Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile as members of a Linux-based mobile initiative appears to have dealt a setback to Google's ambitions for its Android mobile platform. A Verizon spokesperson told the Chicago Tribune that the company joined the rival LiMo Foundation because "of LiMo's approach to providing a truly open OS that isn't simply an extension of a for-profit company's business model."
The stakes are indisputably high. According to ABI Research, 20 percent of mid- to high-end mobile phones will be running some form of the Linux operating system by 2013.
The success that Google has enjoyed to date is based on the relative openness of Internet browsers, and now Google wants to bring that same format to mobile devices, said IDC Senior Analyst Chris Hazelton.
"Google is interested in pushing the Web onto mobile devices and, in doing so, increase the number of Internet users, and thus increase the number of Google users worldwide," Hazelton explained. "The trouble is that Google's mobile strategy poses a threat to the offerings of Verizon and the other wireless carriers."
When mobile subscribers go to the Google search engine, Google does not share any of the click-though ad revenues with the wireless carriers unless a sharing agreement is already in place, Hazelton observed. "What the carriers really want is the ability to partner with other search-engine companies that offer 'white label' search offerings that will enable them to share in that revenue," he said.
Other industry observers find it somewhat ironic that Google has been challenging Verizon's commitment to open standards when its own Android platform falls short of being totally transparent.
"The closed nature of Google's development effort has limited the ability for both parties to have meaningful information exchange," noted Andrew Shikiar, director of...
Fri, 16 May 08
Nintendo Loses $21 Million Patent-Infringement Lawsuit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59815
Nintendo of America was hit with a judgment for $21 million in a patent-infringement case brought by a company that claims to be a small Texas game developer. A U.S. District Court jury found that Nintendo's designs for its Wii, WaveBird and GameCube controllers infringed on patents held by Anascape Ltd.
A Nintendo spokesman said the company will appeal the decision and expects the award to be "significantly" reduced, the Associated Press reported.
Anascape also sued over the motion-sensing technology that has made the Wii such a hit, enabling "active games" such as tennis and boxing, but the jury found no infringement on that technology.
The company also sued Microsoft for infringements on game-controller patents, but Redmond settled on May 1, just before trial. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
The jury found that Nintendo violated 12 Anascape patents filed in 2000. The patents had names like "Remote Controller with Analog Button," "3D Controller With Vibration," and "Game Controller with Analog Pressure Sensor."
Many game fans were outraged by the verdict. On GamesAreFun.com, Brandon Carlson wrote, "Patent-infringement lawsuits are commonplace in the gaming industry. When one company makes it big and hits the jackpot, there's plenty of people lined up to take a stab at making some quick settlement cash."
Engadget writer Thomas Ricker called Anascape a "patent troll" -- a company that buys up intellectual property for the sole purpose of extracting licensing fees or suing big companies. Indeed, the company does not have a Web site at Anascape.com, and a Google search of the company's name turned up only references to its suits against Nintendo and Microsoft.
Alexander Sliwinksi at the Joystiq blog chimed in: "Remember, kids, if you want to stick it to some big corporation in the future and cash in, just make patents for everything imaginable."
Sky-high jury verdicts...
Fri, 16 May 08
EU Concerned About Google's Street View Images
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59813
If you've wondered whether those Google photos of your street could compromise your privacy, you're not alone. On Thursday, the European Union's data-protection agency raised concerns about the ground-level, 360-degree views that Google's Street View offers.
European Union Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx told news media that "making pictures everywhere is certainly going to create some problems." He works with national authorities in Europe to establish policies for data protection and privacy, and added that he thinks Google will take the EU's concerns into account in future versions, perhaps limiting the kinds of images available online.
If Google does compromise, it won't be the first time it has modified its attempts to photograph the Earth to accommodate a government agency. In March, it was asked by the U.S. Defense Department to remove some images of U.S. military bases.
Google's Street View service, first introduced last year, is not yet available outside the U.S., so the EU's concerns are preventive. The images are obtained from specially equipped vehicles that capture panoramic images of streets.
In addition to the Europeans and the U.S. military, privacy advocates such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have asked for a little less information. According to news reports, Google will comply with some of those requests, such as beginning this week to blur faces according to a facial-recognition algorithm. New York City will be the first to get this anonymity, and then it will be expanded to the other 40 cities in Street View.
The rollout of the blur machine will take a few months. This is fortunate, since Google spokesperson Larry Yu has noted that the algorithm is not yet at the level of perfection Google expects when it is deliberately smudging photos of daily life.
The software tends to go overboard, so to speak, and blurs too...
Fri, 16 May 08
Microsoft Is First to Sell 10 Million Game Consoles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59811
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that its Xbox 360 video-game and entertainment system has sold more than 10 million units in the U.S., making it the first current-generation gaming console to break that mark. The U.S. installed base contributes to global sales of more than 19 million.
"This year will be the largest in the history of the video-game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad," said Don Mattrick, senior vice president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. "History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry."
Microsoft's announcement comes on the heels of one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, Grand Theft Auto IV, on April 29. Microsoft said gamers eager to experience GTA IV online helped boost Xbox Live global members to more than 12 million this month. Xbox Live members have doubled in only one year's time.
"Reaching an installed base of 10 million consoles in the U.S. is a significant achievement and an essential milestone on the road to market leadership," said Billy Pidgeon, research manager at IDC. "Perhaps more important is the Xbox 360 worldwide online base -- 12 million Xbox Live gamers is the largest community in the connected console-games sector, which represents the greatest growth opportunity in the console market and where Microsoft has been the leader for two generations."
Beyond hitting the 10 million mark first, the Xbox 360 also leads with the industry's highest software rate, more than any other console this generation. Xbox 360 is home to more than 16 platinum titles that have sold one million units or more, including hits such as Halo 3, Madden NFL 07, Madden NFL 08, and Gears...
Fri, 16 May 08
Game Web Site Wants Users To Make Smarter Computers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59810
Carnegie Mellon University researchers hope Web surfers will spend their free time playing Internet-based games to help other people's and businesses' computers get smarter.
On Wednesday, the researchers launched http://www.gwap.com with five games designed to help computers with tasks they can't automatically do.
"There are a lot of things that computers cannot do, but we'd somehow like to get them done," said Luis von Ahn, an assistant professor of computer science. "So what we're doing is getting humans to do it for us."
The tasks include improving computer searches for images or audio clips. For example, if you search on the Web for "sad songs," a search engine will generally show you links to audio files that have the word sad in the filename. But by getting people to describe audio clips as sad in online games like "Tag a Tune," researchers can improve searches for audio files.
Users older than 13 are matched with other players on five games, with others to be added later. Among the games are:
-ESP, in which opposing players are shown a picture and try to guess what words the other player will use to describe the image. The game's goal is to help improve image searches on the Internet by creating descriptions of uncaptioned images. The game has already been licensed by Google as Google Image Labeler.
-Matchin, in which opposing players are shown the two images and asked to choose which one they like best. The more the players choose the same image, the more points they rack up. The goal is to help computers recognize what images people would prefer to see when they are searching for pictures on the Web.
-Squigl, where two players are given a word describing part of an image and must trace what the word is describing. Points are awarded based on how...
Fri, 16 May 08
Car Navigator Remotely Manages Web-Enabled Home
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59809
Drivers in Japan can check on their pets, turn lights and air conditioning on and off and lock their front doors -- all from inside their cars -- with a new navigation system from Panasonic.
In addition to guiding drivers to destinations as regular global positioning system navigation gadgets do, the $3,400 Strada F-Class will link to the home through any Internet-capable mobile phone.
Users could use the phone itself to communicate with your Web-enabled home, but Panasonic says it's easier while driving to use the Strada F-Class.
Users just touch icons on the navigation system's screen that read "turn off the light" or "lock the door." They can make it look as though they're home -- to ward off burglars -- by turning lights off and then on, all while they're away, said Naohisa Morimoto, an official with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which puts out Panasonic brand products.
The catch is that they need a Web-enabled camera, front door and other devices. Only about 2,000 homes in Japan have such Net-linking systems, Morimoto said. But Panasonic offers home servers for about $1,900 in Japan, and cheaper ones are available.
Panasonic hopes to sell about 8,000 of the Strada F-Class monthly in Japan after they go on sale June 13. There are no overseas sales plans.
Fri, 16 May 08
Google Sites No. 1 in comScore's Monthly Web Rankings
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59806
Google has surpassed Yahoo to become the most popular Web site in the United States, according to comScore Inc.'s rankings by the number of unique monthly visitors.
Google Inc. has long been the Internet's leader in search, but its audience has trailed Yahoo Inc.'s when counting other services such as e-mail and photo sharing.
April's numbers, which Internet tracking firm comScore plans to formally release Thursday, show Google on top for the first time.
The lead is tiny -- 466,000 visitors out of about 141 million apiece. And while such measures are good as a gauge, they aren't known for precision. In fact, rival rankings from Nielsen Online already had Google as the top Web brand.
Still, comScore's finding is one more hint of Google's dominance over Internet pioneer Yahoo.
Jack Flanagan, comScore's executive vice president, said Google's dominance in search creates "a halo effect" that can boost its other services.
Google now has the Picasa online photo-sharing service, competing with Flickr from Yahoo. Google also has launched a site on finance, while its Gmail e-mail service keeps growing -- and competing with Yahoo.
Google's $1.76 billion purchase of YouTube in November 2006 gave it the leading video-sharing Web site.
According to comScore, Google's unique U.S. audience in April was 141.1 million, an 18 percent increase from the same month in 2007. Yahoo's audience grew 7 percent, to 140.6 million. Microsoft Corp. was third at about 121 million.
That said, Yahoo still leads in page views, meaning visitors spend more time there or return more often. Many Google users make a simple search request and quickly go elsewhere based on the results. Yahoo had 33.6 billion page views to Google's 28.7 billion.
The comScore data come from its Media Metrix panel, recruited primarily using random phone-based techniques.
ComScore recently took heat for its data on paid search clicks, which come from...
Fri, 16 May 08
VeriSign Wins Patent for Internet Typo Redirection
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59805
The company that runs many of the Internet's core directory systems has won a patent for its controversial service that helps Internet users find sites even when they mistype addresses.
VeriSign Inc. said it has no intentions of resurrecting the Site Finder service, but it declined further comment on its plans for the patent, including bloggers' speculation that it could now demand licensing fees from EarthLink Inc. and other companies that have since started similar efforts.
Normally, when you mistype a Web address, perhaps switching two letters, a generic error message often appears.
Site Finder sought to help guide surfers mistyping ".com" or ".net" names -- which VeriSign runs -- by offering a list of likely alternatives, including pay-for-placement listings for which VeriSign got a share of revenues when users clicked on one.
Although Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser and others already offered similar services, VeriSign was criticized when it launched Site Finder in 2003 because of the influence the company already had as the keeper of the traffic-control directories containing all ".com" and ".net" names.
VeriSign agreed to suspend the service under mounting pressure. Despite the March 4 patent approval, the company says it "does not intend to relaunch related services."
If VeriSign tries to demand licensing fees from others, patent lawyers could claim that similar services existed before VeriSign's was patented. In fact, VeriSign had cited those pre-existing services in justifying Site Finder.
Time Warner Cable Inc.'s Road Runner and Verizon Communications Inc. are among the service providers that have launched or tested such services to tap the growth in search advertising. OpenDNS also offers it to users of its free directory services crucial for translating a Web site's domain name into its actual numeric Internet address.
EarthLink was recently criticized after security researchers discovered a vulnerability with its U.K.-based service partner,...
Fri, 16 May 08
Ask.com Acquires Dictionary.com, Other References
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59797
Ask.com has bought a stable of Internet reference sites that includes Dictionary.com in its latest effort to distinguish itself from online search leader Google Inc. and other much larger rivals.
Besides Dictionary.com, Ask is picking up Thesaurus.com and Reference.com in its acquisition of Lexico Publishing Group LLC. Terms of the deal, set to be announced Thursday, aren't being disclosed.
With the addition of the widely used reference tools, Ask hopes to make more money showing ads to people looking for answers to basic questions. "We want to 'super serve' those people," said Jim Safka, who runs Ask for its corporate parent, IAC/InterActiveCorp.
More than 30 percent of the search requests entered on Ask are seeking reference material, Safka said.
The sharper focus on reference tools doesn't mean Ask is abandoning its role as a "general, multipurpose search engine," Safka said. "This (acquisition) isn't all we are going to do. It's the first tangible piece of the puzzle."
Without providing specifics, Safka indicated Oakland-based Ask also will take measures to highlight more information about entertainment and health issues.
When Ask trimmed its work force by about 8 percent in March as part of a shake-up, the company's officials indicated the search engine had decided to would return to its roots as answering straightforward questions. Ask officials also said the search engine would start catering to its core audience of women.
In a Wednesday interview, Safka said The Associated Press and other media misinterpreted the search engine's intent. He said it would be "myopic and inaccurate" to think of Ask as a specialty search engine.
Ask plans to plant some of its search engine results on the reference sites in an effort to expose its technology to an even wider audience.
Dictionary.com is the most popular of the newly acquired reference sites, drawing 22.1 million visitors worldwide in March, according to...
Fri, 16 May 08
Study Says Cox, Comcast Internet Subscribers Blocked
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59795
Cox Communications appears to be interfering with file-sharing by its Internet subscribers in the same manner that has landed Comcast Corp. in hot water with regulators, according to research obtained by The Associated Press.
A study based on the participation of 8,175 Internet users around the world found conclusive signs of blocked file-sharing connections only at three Internet service providers: Comcast and Cox in the U.S. and StarHub in Singapore.
Of the 788 Comcast subscribers who participated in the study, 491, or 62 percent, had their connections blocked. At Cox, 82 out of 151 subscribers, or 54 percent, were blocked, according to Krishna Gummadi at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Saarbruecken, Germany.
Philadelphia-based Comcast is the country's second-largest ISP, with 14.1 million subscribers. Atlanta-based Cox Communications is the fourth-largest, with 3.8 million. It is part of privately held Cox Enterprises Inc.
Comcast's practice of interfering with traffic was brought to light by user reports last year and confirmed by an AP investigation in October.
Consumer advocate groups and legal scholars criticized the interference, saying that letting an ISP selectively block some connections makes it a gatekeeper to the Internet. Their complaints prompted the Federal Communications Commission to launch an investigation, which is ongoing.
Legislation also has been introduced in Congress to guarantee "Net Neutrality," or equal treatment of traffic by Internet service providers.
Comcast maintained that the intervention was necessary to ensure that non-file-sharing traffic would not be impeded by a few heavy users of file-sharing programs like BitTorrent. But in February, it said it would stop selectively targeting file-sharing later this year.
Much of the FCC's attention to the matter has been focused on Comcast's secrecy -- before the AP's investigation, it acknowledged only in the most general terms that it was managing traffic.
At least since 2006, Cox's subscriber agreement has noted that the...
Fri, 16 May 08
Comcast Buys Plaxo Social-Networking Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59792
Cable company Comcast is becoming more sociable with Wednesday's announcement that it will buy social-networking site Plaxo. Terms were not disclosed, although there are reports that the price could be up to $175 million, based on performance targets over the next few years.
"Comcast has an exciting vision to bring the social-media experience to mainstream consumers," Plaxo said as its site announced the acquisition. The announcement said Plaxo will remain an independent operation in Silicon Valley, and will be part of Comcast Interactive Media (CIM).
The 50-employee Plaxo also said it will continue to develop its networked address book service, as well as its "next-generation social network," called Pulse. Pulse allows users to connect based on shared interests, as indicated by what they say about themselves or about the photos, video and music they share.
The two companies have been working together over the last year on such initiatives as providing Plaxo's address-book service for Comcast's upcoming SmartZone communications center, and Plaxo has been hosting the address-book accounts for Comcast Webmail users. SmartZone is an e-mail and voice-mail service for the 14 million Comcast high-speed Net subscribers and four million digital-phone subscribers.
By working with Comcast, Plaxo said, it has doubled its network. It is also working with Comcast to socially enable Comcast's portal site at Comcast.net, and CIM's interactive entertainment properties, Fancast and Fandango, as well as its video-publishing company, thePlatform.
The companies said they share a common vision of how social media could become a natural part of the lives of regular people, not just early adopters. These social activities would include being able to securely upload family photos in the Pulse service and make them viewable by anyone in the family via computer, mobile device, even a TV.
Comcast, the number-one cable-TV company in the U.S., has increasingly...
Thu, 15 May 08
EarthLink Backs Out of Philly Wi-Fi Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59791
EarthLink has notified its Wi-Fi customers in Philadelphia that the broadband service provider will soon be terminating its metropolitan Wi-Fi service in the city. The company, which stopped accepting new customers to the network in early May, said it would provide its Philly customers with a 30-day grace period through June 12 to transfer to another provider.
EarthLink incoming CEO Rolla Huff decided last November that there was no money to be made from metropolitan Wi-Fi. "After thorough review and analysis of our municipal wireless business," he said, "we have decided that making significant further investments in this business could be inconsistent with our objective of maximizing shareholder value."
Houston subsequently elected to allow EarthLink to back out of its deal with the city, and the broadband provider is currently in negotiations to ease out of its contract with Anaheim, Calif. However, finding a graceful way of out its agreement with Philadelphia has been problematic.
EarthLink says it has been trying to reach an agreement for months on a free transfer of its entire $17 million Wi-Fi network in Philadelphia. Moreover, the company said it had even offered to sweeten the deal with cash payments and the donation of new equipment.
"Unfortunately, our hope that we could transfer our network to a nonprofit organization that had planned to offer free Wi-Fi throughout Philadelphia will not be realized," Huff said. "Since we have exhausted our efforts to find a new owner of the network, our only responsible alternative now is to remove our network at our cost, and assist our Wi-Fi customers with alternative ways to access the Internet."
EarthLink has filed a proceeding in federal court seeking a declaration that EarthLink may remove its equipment from the city's streetlights. The lawsuit also attempts to limit EarthLink's potential liability in Philadelphia...
Thu, 15 May 08
WorldWide Telescope Brings the Universe to Your Desktop
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59790
Where is Saturn in relation to the moon? Does the Milky Way really have a supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy? Microsoft has some answers.
Indeed, Microsoft likes to think the final frontier got a little closer this week with its public beta launch of the WorldWide Telescope software.
WorldWide Telescope is a rich Web application that brings together images from ground- and space-based observatories across the world to allow people to explore the night sky through their computers.
"The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said. "By combining terabytes of incredible imagery and data with easy-to-use software for viewing and moving through all that information, the WorldWide Telescope opens the door to new ways to see and experience the wonders of space."
Microsoft Research blended software and Web 2.0 services to create the high-performance Microsoft Visual Experience Engine. This engine allows users to pan and zoom around the heavens. WorldWide Telescope stitches together terabytes of high-resolution images of celestial bodies and displays them in a way that relates to their position in the sky.
The service goes beyond simple browsing of images. Users can choose which telescope they want to look through, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope, or others. They can view the locations of planets in the night sky -- in the past, present or future. They can view the universe through different wavelengths of light to reveal hidden structures in other parts of the galaxy. Taken as a whole, the application provides a top-to-bottom view of the science of astronomy.
Users have two options. They can freely browse through the solar system, galaxy and beyond, or take a guided...
Thu, 15 May 08
Steve Jobs Keynote Heightens Expectations for 3G iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59789
Apple's announcement Tuesday that CEO Steve Jobs will keynote the company's Worldwide Developers Conference is fueling speculation that Apple will announce a 3G version of the iPhone. Jobs will speak on Monday, June 9, at 10 a.m. The conference runs June 9-13 in San Francisco.
The timing is certainly right. Rumors have been circulating for most of the year that Apple would release a 3G iPhone in the second half of the year. Those rumors have been stoked by reports that Apple is winding down inventory of the current version. Both the U.S. and British versions of the online Apple Store list the iPhone as currently unavailable.
And sales representatives at Apple retail stores across the country reported the iPhone out of stock. "The iPhone is sold out companywide," a sales representative at the Apple Store in Braintree, Mass., told Computerworld.
"On its own, this means nothing, but we all know that there could never be a major product announcement without Jobs on the stage," Charlie Sorrel wrote on Wired's news site, predicting Jobs would unveil a "proper update to the MacBook Pro line" as well.
The rumor mill has suggested that the price of the new iPhone could be substantially less than the current version's $399 cost.
While the possibility of a 3G iPhone announcement is pure speculation at this point, what is known is that Apple will release version 2.0 of the iPhone software, the final version of the iPhone software developers kit and the App Store, where developers can publish and users can wirelessly download third-party applications.
"I do expect to see a lot of developer focus on the platform and if it weren't for the problems with the lines last time, I'd be certain there would be lines for the phones again this time," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst...
Thu, 15 May 08
European Commission Clears TomTom's Bid for Tele Atlas
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59788
The European Commission has granted antitrust approval to personal navigation device maker TomTom's proposed acquisition of Tele Atlas, one of two providers of navigable digital maps on a worldwide basis. The deal received U.S. antitrust approval last October.
"After thorough investigation, I am now satisfied that the innovation and competition we have seen in [satellite navigation technology] until now will continue after this merger, and that consumers will continue to benefit from new and innovative products," said EC Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.
The EC's ruling "is the best possible outcome for TomTom and Tele Atlas, allowing the new combination to go ahead with the full execution of its strategy" for speeding up and enriching the digital-mapmaking process, the two companies said.
The production process at Tele Atlas right now is both lengthy and expensive, with several months often passing before a new map version with corrected data is released. Once the merger closes, however, Tele Atlas will be able to speed up the process by making full use of incremental mapping data gathered by TomTom.
"TomTom has developed unique technologies to collect and process map-related data from our user base of over 15 million GPS navigation devices," explained TomTom Chief Executive Harold Goddijn. "This information will be delivered to Tele Atlas after the proposed merger to allow Tele Atlas to substantially improve its map creation, enrichment and maintenance process."
TomTom's sales of navigation devices are rising rapidly due to steep price reductions. The company said last month that device sales grew 50 percent year over year to two million units in the first quarter at an average selling price of $181.
Goddijn believes the navigation industry will change significantly in the next few years as customers give ever-increasing importance to intelligent routing and up-to-date maps. "We are already seeing an...
Wed, 14 May 08
MySpace Wins Record $234 Million Spam Judgment
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59771
Spammers, beware. MySpace said Tuesday it has won a record-setting $234 million legal judgment against two well-known spammers who didn't even bother to show up for their court date.
According to news reports, the decision in a Los Angeles U.S. District Court in favor of MySpace was rendered after the popular social-networking site filed suit against Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines because of junk e-mail they sent to MySpace members. The judgment is considered the largest ever against purveyors of unwanted, commercial e-mail, which is flooding inboxes everywhere. The court also issued injunctions against similar activities in the future.
MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam told the Associated Press that "anybody who's been thinking about engaging in spam is going to say, 'Wow, I better not go there.'" But some observers have noted that the fact it's a default judgment may indicate that MySpace doesn't know where Wallace and Rines are.
According to the lawsuit, Wallace and Rines created fake MySpace accounts or took control of existing ones by stealing passwords, and then they sent spam from these accounts. To many MySpace members, it looked as if the junk e-mails -- which often asked the reader to visit a Web site or watch a video -- were coming from friends.
The e-mails, which MySpace said numbered more than 735,000, were intended to make money by selling things such as ringtones when someone went to a site or a video, or make money based on hits. MySpace said some of the sites contained pornographic materials, and the spam generated hundreds of complaints and cost the social-networking site money.
Under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, each violation can result in $100 in damages, which are tripled if the e-mail can be shown to have been sent "willfully."
Peter Firstbrook, an analyst with industry...
Wed, 14 May 08
Apple's 3G iPhone Faces Challenges Overseas
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59767
Apple's red-hot iPhone is currently unavailable from the company's online stores in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, fueling speculation that the company is reducing its inventory in advance of the rollout of a new 3G model. Some industry observers speculate that the slowdown is intended to help Apple avoid customer complaints about buying an older model just before the new 3G iPhone hits store shelves.
According to Fortune, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 9 will feature a presentation by CEO Steve Jobs. His keynote address would allow Apple to time the 3G iPhone's release to coincide with the anniversary of the product line's introduction in late June 2007, the media outlet said.
The 3G iPhone could potentially reap big sales in overseas markets, especially in Western Europe, where operators are desperate to move their installed base to 3G, noted Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi.
"First they want to get people interested in using more data, and 3G delivers a better user experience," she said. "Operators also want to move people to 3G on the voice side, where they have more capacity and can offer their services at a lower cost."
Gartner forecasts that 3G shipments in Western Europe will rise from about 92 million units this year to more than 112.5 million units in 2011. But Apple will have to work hard to achieve wide-scale penetration -- especially in Western Europe, where handset prices will remain "a bit of an issue," Milanesi observed.
"Customers in Europe are not used to buying unsubsidized phones on a contract," Milanesi said. "For example, you can get an $800 Nokia N95 for free on a contract when you sign up for 24 to 36 months at about $70 per month," she said. "Right now, Apple's iPhone costs about...
Wed, 14 May 08
Troubled AMD Shakes Up Management Team
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59766
AMD announced a major executive shake-up Monday as it tries to rebuild its ailing business. President and COO Dirk Meyer said the company is accelerating a transformation by bolstering its management team for the x86 microprocessor and graphics businesses. But some analysts said it may be too little, too late.
"Placing experienced leaders in new, more focused roles will enhance our execution and progress toward sustained profitability and long-term success," Meyer said. "The creation of a centralized engineering organization aligns and focuses AMD's world-class engineers and intellectual-property portfolio on the strong business opportunities in front of us."
As part of the shuffle, 24-year AMD veteran Randy Allen is changing hats. Allen was most recently responsible for AMD's server and workstation division and previously oversaw microprocessor engineering, including the successful introductions of the AMD Opteron and AMD Athlon 64 processors.
In his new role as senior vice president of the computing solutions group, Allen reports directly to Meyer and is responsible for the development and management of AMD's portfolio of consumer and commercial microprocessor solutions and platforms. Mario Rivas, formerly executive vice president of computing solutions, has left the company to pursue other opportunities, according to AMD.
"AMD is in a precarious situation right now from a business standpoint and it has to take some drastic measures," said Brian Matus, vice president of market research at IC Insights. "I am surprised there haven't been more moves. I think AMD had to take some cost-cutting measures and other measures that put them in a position to restructure the business and possibly even set it up for a potential sale in the future."
Meanwhile, the newly formed central engineering organization will be co-led by Chekib Akrout, who is joining AMD, and Jeff VerHeul, corporate vice president of design engineering at AMD....
Wed, 14 May 08
Businesses Are Avoiding Microsoft's Windows Vista
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59764
General Motors may take a detour around Vista, the latest computer operating system from Microsoft. The automaker has encountered so many speed bumps getting Vista to work on its machines that it may just wait for the next version of Windows, due in 2010 or 2011. "We're considering bypassing Vista and going straight to Windows 7," says GM's Chief Systems & Technology Officer Fred Killeen.
Vista taxes all but the most modern PCs with hefty processing and memory requirements. Many of GM's PCs can't even run the system. "By the time we'd replace them, Windows 7 might be ready anyway," Killeen says. Then there are compatibility problems with all the software that needs to run on Windows. GM's software vendors still haven't ensured all their programs will run on Vista trouble-free. So the company is sticking with Windows XP for now. Killeen figures GM could install Windows 7 in three or four years.
Many of Killeen's counterparts across Corporate America are finding themselves similarly vexed by Vista. The resulting delay or rejection of Microsoft's flagship product is stepping up pressure on the company to expand other areas of its business, including online software. Vista was first released in late 2006, but the dismay with it has come into sharper focus as slower-than-expected uptake affects Microsoft's bottom line, Google spiffs up its own free versions of competing software, and corporate tech managers move to put more Apple Macs on employee desks.
Microsoft says it has sold 140 million copies of Vista as of Mar. 31, about the same percentage of all PCs as ran Windows XP at this point in its lifetime. The 140 million includes consumers who have to take the latest version when they buy a new PC as well as businesses that are entitled to Vista rights...
Wed, 14 May 08
Office for Mac Sales Soar, VBA Support To Return
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59761
Apple is selling more Macintosh computers than ever before -- and that's having unexpected benefits for Microsoft. Sales of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac are triple the volume for the previous 2004 version of the productivity software and are the highest in the product's history, Microsoft announced Tuesday.
"The response has been amazing -- since we launched in January, the velocity of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times what we saw after the launch of Office 2004," said Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac business unit at Microsoft. The 2008 version launched at the MacWorld show this year.
"As we set our course for future versions, we are working closely with customers and will also expand our staff to ensure that Office for Mac remains the most powerful and compatible productivity suite for Mac customers," Eisler said.
Microsoft also released Service Pack 1 for the Mac Office suite, featuring "suitewide updates for increased stability, increased security and overall performance improvements."
SP1 addresses compatibility issues between the Mac and Windows versions of Excel; improves Entourage support for Exchange Server, including the ability to remove attachments from Exchange messages and synchronizing to the server; and provides minor improvements for Word and PowerPoint.
Bloggers said the most notable addition in SP1 is support for Excel chart-formatting options that were available in previous versions of Office.
Microsoft also said it will bring back Visual Basic for Applications support to the Mac in the next version of Office for Mac. A press release said Microsoft "recognizes that VBA language support is important to a select group of customers who rely on sharing macros across platforms." The prior version supported AppleScript and the Automator scripting tool.
The removal of VB was not due to any of the "conspiracy theories" floated around, such as that...
Wed, 14 May 08
Three Charged in Dave & Buster's Restaurant Hacking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59757
Three men were charged Monday with hacking into a national restaurant chain's computerized cash registers and stealing credit card information from customers.
Eleven Dave & Buster's restaurants at various locations around the United States were hit in the scheme, including one in Islandia, on Long Island, where information was stolen on 5,000 credit and debit cards, causing at least $600,000 (EU390,000) in losses, federal prosecutors said.
The extent of the losses from the other branches was not immediately known.
Maksym Yastremskiy, of Kharkov, Ukraine, and Aleksandr Suvorov, of Sillamae, Estonia, were charged in a 27-count indictment with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, conspiracy to possess unauthorized access devices, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud and interception of electronic communications.
The indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip. Separately, a one-count complaint unsealed in Central Islip on Monday charged Albert Gonzalez of Miami with wire fraud conspiracy.
"Operating from locations in the United States and abroad, these defendants hacked into computer systems and stole credit and debit card data from unsuspecting victims for their personal enrichment," assistant attorney general Alice S. Fisher said in a statement from Washington.
Prosecutors say the trio hacked into the cash register terminals in order to acquire "track 2" credit and debit card information. Track 2 data includes the customer's account number and expiration date, but not the cardholder's name or other personally identifiable information, prosecutors said.
The men then sold the stolen data to others who made fraudulent purchases, prosecutors said.
Yastremskiy and Suvorov are accused of gaining unauthorized access to the terminals and installing so-called "packet sniffers," which are computer software codes designed to capture communications between two or more computer systems on a single network. Gonzalez supplied the computer software used in the scheme, prosecutors said.
Yastremskiy was arrested in Turkey in...
Wed, 14 May 08
Disney To Create High-Tech Ad-Testing Lab
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59755
Will people remember three-second video ads on their mobile phones? Do high-definition commercials on big screens get people's hearts racing more than other pitches? Is the sports ticker crawl distracting or does it add value to the 30-second TV spot?
A laboratory in Austin, Texas, to be founded by The Walt Disney Co. by the end of the year aims to answer these questions and more by testing the biometric reactions of a pool of up to 4,000 people to advertising that takes advantage of the latest technology.
In a controlled living room setting, scientists will measure heart rate and skin conductivity and track the gaze of participants who are exposed to new ad models over the Internet, mobile devices and TV screens.
The first results are expected by early 2009.
The media giant, which owns ABC and ESPN, is seeking to learn whether consumers are more engaged by new and interactive ads and ultimately if the company can charge more for them.
Disney planned to announce the formation of the lab to advertisers attending its upfront sales pitch for the coming TV season in New York on Tuesday.
"One of the reasons for engaging in an initiative like this is to determine, once and for all, if there is additional value," Artie Bulgrin, senior vice president of research and sales development for ESPN, told The Associated Press.
The sports media juggernaut says subscribers to its premium high-definition channels were economically better off and considers them more attractive to advertisers. Now, it will clinically test whether HD ads have more impact, Bulgrin said.
The lab will be headed by Duane Varan, executive director of the Interactive Television Research Institute at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.
Varan said biometric testing helps cut to the heart of audience reactions to visual ads, which can sometimes be missed by focus group surveys.
"TV...
Wed, 14 May 08
NATO Allies To Sign Deal on Cyber Defense Center
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59750
Estonia and six NATO allies sign a deal this week to provide staff and funds for a new research center designed to boost the alliance's defenses against cyber terrorism.
The agreement to be signed in Brussels on Wednesday comes a year after the small Baltic nation was exposed to an unprecedented wave of cyber attacks that crippled government and corporate computer networks.
The attacks lasted three weeks and followed deadly riots sparked by the relocation of a Soviet war memorial. Many Estonians suspect the Kremlin was behind the virtual strikes but Moscow has denied involvement.
The attacks showed how vulnerable individual countries are to cyber warfare and underscored the need for a joint NATO response, said Estonian Maj. Raul Rikk, who heads the center.
"The attacks against Estonia last year were cyber terrorism to say the least," Rikk told The Associated Press in a tour of the facility in Tallinn. "The job of the center is to create new capabilities to fight against new threats."
Despite tight security, the low-key appearance of the center makes it look like the offices of an IT company rather than a site where cyber war games are simulated. Rows of computers are lined up in classroom-like offices separated by a long corridor.
The defense ministers of NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, Spain and Slovakia are to sign Wednesday's agreement that will ensure funds and staff for the center's operations. The United States will join the project as an observer, Rikk said.
The center will be operational in August, although the formal opening is planned for 2009. A staff of 30 specialists will conduct research and training on cyber warfare. They will also be ready to help NATO members respond to any future attacks against computer networks.
Rikk said the experts will be recruited from various NATO member states and fields...
Wed, 14 May 08
Microsoft's OOXML Faces New EU Challenge
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59748
A British watchdog agency said Tuesday it had complained to European Union regulators that Microsoft Corp.'s new file format for storing documents discouraged competition.
Britain's agency for education and information technology said it wanted to feed information into an investigation the EU launched in January. That investigation is looking at whether the software giant deliberately withheld information from rivals that the rivals wanted so they could make their products compatible with Microsoft software.
This comes on the heels of EU antitrust action against Microsoft Corp. that has already resulted in US$2.63 billion (EU1.7 billion) in fines.
The watchdog, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, said it had told the European Commission that barriers to interoperability -- which would allow different software products work smoothly with each other -- hurt students and teachers.
"Impediments to interoperability limit choice," the agency said. "In the context of the education system, this can result in higher prices and a range of other unsatisfactory effects."
In an e-mailed statement, Microsoft spokeswoman Anne-Sophie de Brancion said the corporation would cooperate with both the British watchdog agency and the European Commission.
"Microsoft is deeply committed to education and interoperability," the statement said. "We believe that more and more schools are upgrading to Windows Vista and Office 2007 as they increasingly recognize the benefits of embracing technology to transform teaching and learning. We have funded the development of tools to promote interoperability between Office 2007 and products based on the ODF (OpenDocument Format) file format."
The watchdog agency was passing on to the European Commission -- the EU executive -- a complaint it initially filed in October with Britain's Office of Fair Trading. That complaint objected to "the existence of impediments to effective interoperability in relation to Microsoft's 2007 product."
This referred Microsoft's new file format, Office Open XML, which stores Word, Excel and PowerPoint...
Wed, 14 May 08
Chile Probes Data Theft and Posting by Hacker
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59725
A hacker who identified himself as "Anonymous Coward" stole personal data of 6 million Chileans -- reportedly including a daughter of the president -- and posted it briefly on the Internet, authorities said Sunday.
"This is a serious and delicate issue," said presidential spokesman Francisco Vidal.
Police Chief Jaime Jara confirmed that authorities were investigating the theft of the leaked data, which he said included identity card numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, e-mails and academic background.
The data was taken early Friday from servers at the Education Ministry, the electoral service and the military, Jara said. It was not clear when it appeared on the Internet, but it was first reported to police early Saturday by Leo Prieto, the administrator of a local technology-oriented Internet site who discovered links to the information online.
It did not immediately appear that any banking or financial data had been compromised, and the information had been removed by Saturday morning, Jara said.
The incident was first reported Sunday by the daily newspaper El Mercurio.
Among the data was a list of students who receive preferential public transportation rates, including one of President Michelle Bachelet's two daughters, Prieto told Santiago's Radio Cooperativa.
The transportation passes include a photo and the name of the students' schools, but do not contain any other sensitive information.
Despite the information's prompt removal from the Internet, some people may have downloaded it "and it may still be around on the Internet," Prieto said.
El Mercurio reported that it had access to some of the data, including a file in which the hacker said he intended "to demonstrate how poorly protected the data in Chile is, and how nobody works to protect it."
The paper said the hacker identified himself as "Anonymous Coward."
Tue, 13 May 08
iPhone Spreads to Carriers in Asia and Australia
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59760
Apple's iPhone continues its march around the world, with new announcements of deals with carriers in the Asia region and Australia.
The agreements are with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel) for that country, and with three of SingTel's affiliates in India, the Philippines, and Australia. The iPhone will be released in the four countries later this year.
India's leading mobile carrier, Bharti Airtel Ltd., is 30 percent owned by SingTel and has more than 260 million mobile users in what is now the world's fastest-growing market for wireless devices and services. Optus, owned by SingTel, will make the iPhone available in Australia, and Globe Telecom, co-owned by SingTel and Ayala Corp., will be the carrier in the Philippines.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said Apple very carefully made a few carrier announcements in the first stages of the iPhone's release. "First, it was just AT&T, then a few European carriers," he said, adding that "now, every time you turn around they're adding a few more." He suggested this flurry of partner announcements could herald new product launches.
Apple said Monday that its online stores in the U.S. and the United Kingdom are sold out of iPhones. Selling out current inventory could also be a sign of new products on the way.
Greengart also noted that Apple seems to be changing its strategy of demanding exclusive arrangements in each country.
Last week, for example, Apple announced an agreement with Vodafone to sell the iPhone in the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey, as well as in Australia and India, which are also covered by SingTel companies. Similarly, Apple has announced that it will be selling the iPhone in Italy through Telecom Italia in addition to Vodafone.
Some observers have noted that in developing...
Tue, 13 May 08
HP Acquires EDS for $13.9B and Targets IBM Services
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59745
Hewlett Packard will acquire computer consulting firm Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. The purchase moves HP closer to head-to-head competition with IBM in the IT-services business.
The acquisition -- the largest since HP acquired Compaq under the leadership of Carly Fiorina -- marks a huge expansion in HP's services business. Combined, HP and EDS did $38 billion in services business in 2007, double HP's current business. HP will pay $25 for each share of EDS common stock.
The new services group will maintain the EDS branding. It will be called "EDS -- An HP Company" and be based in EDS's current headquarters in Plano, Texas. EDS CEO Ronald A. Rittenmeyer will continue to lead the company.
"This makes HP a lot more competitive by having a whole lot more services personnel," said Roger Kay, principal analyst with Endpoint Technologies, in a telephone interview. "IBM is the gold standard. This gives them a better shot at it."
HP's roots in services go back to Fiorina's hotly contested acquisition in 2002 of Compaq, which itself bought Digital Equipment in 1998. "They have a pretty good services group, but they wanted to compete with IBM," Kay said. "This puts them closer to that goal."
The only question is how well the companies will integrate, but Kay doesn't expect many problems on that front. HP CEO Mark Hurd is "known as good at integrating," Kay said.
The acquisition "will create a leading force in global IT services," Hurd said. "Together, we will be a stronger business partner, delivering customers the broadest, most competitive portfolio of products and services in the industry. This
reinforces our commitment to help customers manage and transform their technology to
achieve better results."
Rittenmeyer said the deal represent a "great transaction" for EDS stockholders in the form of a...
Tue, 13 May 08
HBO Programs Will Be Sold on Apple's iTunes Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59744
On Tuesday, Apple and HBO struck a deal to offer popular cable programs for purchase and download at Apple's iTunes Store.
New HBO programs on iTunes include the Emmy Award-winning programs The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood and Rome, as well as other hits like Flight of the Conchords and The Wire.
"We're thrilled to bring this incredible lineup of programming from HBO to the iTunes Store," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "These are some of the most talked-about television shows ever, as well as some of the most requested by our customers."
That last statement is telling. It reveals that Apple is listening to its customers -- and so is HBO. And the timing is also no accident. Sex and the City: The Movie premieres in theaters on May 30, and in preparation for the movie's debut fans can choose any or all 94 episodes from the entire six seasons of the program.
HBO's deal with Apple is a marketing opportunity that could pay dividends on the big screen and the small screen. Television shows can be viewed on a Mac or a PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth-generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV.
iTunes customers can choose to purchase individual episodes or entire seasons of their favorite HBO programs, which are now in iTunes' catalog with more than 200,000 episodes of more than 800 shows. iTunes has sold more than 150 million episodes of television programs to date. What's different in this deal is that HBO's programs will be available at the same time DVDs of television shows are released, according to news reports. Apple could not immediately be reached to confirm the distribution timing.
The pricing paradigm is of interest in the HBO deal. While...
Tue, 13 May 08
Apple Says iPhone Sold Out Online, as 3G Speculation Grows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59743
Apple Inc. said Monday its online stores in the U.S. and U.K. are sold out of the iPhone, a sign supplies are being winnowed ahead of the launch of the device's next generation featuring faster Internet surfing speeds.
The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined to comment on reasons for the shortage and on Apple's plans for an update to the device, which is widely expected to be unveiled in June at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The paucity of iPhones for sale in some markets comes as Apple is hustling to meet its goal of selling 10 million of the hybrid iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing gadgets by the end of 2008. So far, Apple has sold 5.4 million iPhones, according to the latest data as of the end of March.
One way Apple's expanding the iPhone's reach is by inking deals with wireless carriers around the world, even breaking with its pattern of requiring exclusivity to sell in a certain country.
On Monday, four mobile providers in the Asia-Pacific region announced partnerships with Apple to bring the iPhone to their regions later this year.
SingTel will sell the gadget in Singapore, Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India, Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines and Optus in Australia, the companies said in a brief joint statement, without giving details.
SingTel owns Optus and holds a 30.5 percent stake in Bharti and 44.5 percent in Globe.
SingTel has about 2.3 million mobile subscribers in Singapore and around 7 million in Australia, according to data as of Dec. 31, 2007. Bharti currently has about 64 million subscribers, while Globe reported a 21.3 million mobile subscriber base for the quarter ended March...
Tue, 13 May 08
MIT Glimpses Future of Google's Cell Phone Operating System
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59740
What do you want your cell phone to be able to do?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Hal Abelson put that question to about 20 computer science students this semester when he gave them one assignment: Design a software program for cell phones that use Google Inc.'s upcoming Android mobile operating system.
In the process, they revealed the power of an open system like Android to shake up the mobile phone industry, where wireless companies are being pressured to loosen the control they have maintained over what devices do. If the brainstorms of these MIT students are an indication, phones will soon challenge the Internet as a source of innovation.
For these students at least, cell phones should be all about location, location, location. Most of the projects produced by the seven teams of students involved programs that let phones track people's physical place -- or that of their friends -- to help them do things and meet up.
One project named GeoLife gives users a way to set to-do lists and get reminders on their phones. Walk by the market, and the device might buzz with a message that you're supposed to pick up milk. Another effort, named Flare, was designed to help small businesses like pizza shops cheaply track their drivers.
Then there was Locale, which lets users configure their phones to automatically adjust their settings when the devices detect themselves in certain zones. So you might set your phone to automatically go into vibrate mode in the office and silent mode at the movie theater, and ring everywhere else.
The class had about three months to build software for an Android phone. The idea had to have a solid business case, a probable way of making money.
Some of that required conjecture, because there are no Android phones yet. A group called the Open...
Tue, 13 May 08
Windows XP SP3 Woes Especially Affect AMD Systems
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59739
Users who thought the Windows XP operating system would be more reliable than its younger sibling Vista are being buffeted by reports that the latest update for XP, Service Pack 3, has its own problems.
A variety of complaints about SP3 are being posted on the Web, with users complaining about system crashes, spontaneous reboots, and other issues. On the Windows XP forum at Microsoft.com, for instance, a poster named Doug W. said that, after installing SP3, he had to use system restore "after three attempts, with different configurations each time." He mentioned that his system has an Athlon chip from Advanced Micro Devices, and other users have reported similar problems with SP3 on AMD machines.
According to news reports, a Microsoft document lays the blame for the endless reboot problem after installing SP3 on some computer makers. The issue, the document said, is when the XP disc image is created on an Intel-based computer and then run on a non-Intel-based machine, such as an AMD one.
Jesper Johansson, who used to work for Microsoft, noted on his blog that Microsoft identified the same problem with Service Pack 2 for XP, and that the particular problem is unique to Hewlett-Packard AMD-based desktop machines.
He quoted the company as saying in an article written following the XP SP2 problem that it did not support using a computer with one kind of processor to run an operating system based on an image created on a computer with another kind of processor. The article described how to modify the Windows registry to correct the problem.
SP3 was released to broad distribution by Microsoft last Wednesday, and is available from Windows Update service or from the company's Download Center. It offers a variety of fixes and enhancements to XP, which Microsoft has said it will...
Tue, 13 May 08
AMD Introduces Energy-Efficient Server Chips
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59735
Advanced Micro Devices has taken the wraps off its first energy-efficient x86 server chips featuring four processing cores and a low 55-watt thermal envelope. The five new Opteron HE processors for blade and rack systems are all targeted at the enterprise data center, noted Randy Allen, AMD's server and workstation division manager.
"These new processors, which feature AMD's advanced power management and virtualization innovations, offer a compelling platform for power-conscious data center managers who are changing the way they think about performance" and "see power consumption and virtualization as the keys to solving their overall performance equation," Allen said.
AMD's new energy-efficient quad-core chips are available for two-, four- and eight-way rack servers and blades. According to company executives, the chips have already set new performance records among comparable x86 energy-efficient processors.
Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst at semiconductor research firm iSuppli, noted that energy efficiency has become an important metric of any microprocessor, regardless of whether it is used in a desktop PC, notebook or server. "For example, having a power-efficient multicore processor in a notebook PC ultimately equates to longer battery life, which vastly improves the laptop's value proposition," Wilkins said.
Last month AMD introduced two 45-watt Athlon processors for desktop PCs. The company's latest quad-core server chips round out the chipmaker's microprocessor lineup to cover all three of its power-efficient computing bases.
"Data centers consume an awful lot of energy -- not only in terms of the servers themselves, but also because of the associated cooling infrastructure," Wilkins said. "All of these energy costs can add up to a lot of money, so anything that can be done to reduce the costs of running a data center is certainly a very worthwhile development."
Both Intel and AMD are committed to advancing multi-core technology. Earlier this month, AMD updated...
Tue, 13 May 08
Google Friend Connect Turns Sites Into Social Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59733
Social networks provide powerful mechanisms for connecting people and information, but their benefits are limited to those who sign up with one service or another. For example, a Facebook user can't use her content or friends on LinkedIn or any other network.
That may change soon with top social networks Facebook and MySpace -- as well as Google -- all promising to enable data portability. Google announced Monday a preview release of Friend Connect, a technology that allows regular Web sites to join the social-networking trend.
Sites that add a code snippet become Friend Connect-enabled, giving them the ability to add user registration, invitations, a member's gallery, message posting and reviews, as well as third-party applications built with Google's OpenSocial technology, the company said.
"Google Friend Connect is about helping the 'long tail' of sites become more social," said David Glazer, a director of engineering at Google. "Many sites aren't explicitly social and don't necessarily want to be social networks, but they still benefit from letting their visitors interact with each other."
Google's announcement comes immediately following news that Facebook will launch a portability technology called Facebook Connect. An extension of Facebook's third-party development platform, Facebook Connect will "allow users to connect their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site," according to a blog posting by Dave Morin, Facebook senior platform manager.
On Thursday, MySpace announced a "Data Availability" initiative to allow partners to access MySpace data and combine it with their own user data in new ways. The program launched with just four partners -- eBay, Yahoo, Twitter and MySpace's own Photobucket.
Despite all the talk of open platforms and portability, it's clear the companies are competing hard for what could become a massive part of the overall Web. "Social networking right now is...
Tue, 13 May 08
Powerset Does Semantic Searches of Wikipedia
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59732
Powerset is offering a new way to search Wikipedia -- with natural-language technology and conversational phrasing instead of keywords like Google uses.
The Powerset tools unveiled Sunday are available in beta and based on patents licensed from PARC and Powerset's proprietary research. The technology, which can be applied to any topic and any domain, reads and extracts meaning from every sentence in Wikipedia.
Unlike traditional search engines, which look for words, Powerset matches the meaning of the user's query to the meaning of sentences. Powerset proclaimed the release is the first step in changing the way users search and use Web content.
"Powerset's understanding of content on pages and the way they are presenting results is interesting. Powerset is organizing context and content in helpful ways," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "But it only applies to Wikipedia -- Powerset is not indexing the broader Internet. So you can't really get an apples-to-apples comparison with broader search tools."
While a direct comparison with Google may not be possible, Powerset offers some statistics to consider. The tool searches content from leading free-content providers, including more than 2.5 million Wikipedia topics in English. For many questions, Powerset returns answers from Freebase, an open, shared database of the world's information.
Powerset's search-results page includes a cadre of features, including Factz, dossiers, answers, semantic highlighting and a minibrowser. When users enter a topic query, Powerset assembles a summary of Factz extracted from pages across Wikipedia. Powerset also creates a summary of information found in Freebase and Wikipedia to give users a quick overview about a topic.
The most relevant search results are highlighted based on the meaning of a user's question, and a result can be expanded in a minibrowser to show the snippet in the context of the full Wikipedia article.
If...
Tue, 13 May 08
Next Generation of Business Software Could Be More Fun
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59726
Once upon a time, people bonded with their co-workers on office softball teams and traded gossip at the watercooler.
OK, so those days aren't gone yet. But as big companies parcel Information Age work to people in widely dispersed locations, it's getting harder for colleagues to develop the camaraderie that comes from being in the same place. Beyond making work less fun, feeling disconnected from comrades might be a drag on productivity.
Now technology researchers are trying to replicate old-fashioned office interactions by transforming everyday business software for the new era of work. The historically dry-as-sawdust products are borrowing elements from video games and social-networking Web sites.
You can tell just from looking at the Beehive program under development at IBM Corp. that something is different. Beehive's color scheme is bright yellow, not IBM's standard blue. The cheerfulness reflects the fact that Beehive is meant to encourage far-flung co-workers to like each other more.
Beehive is an online portal for employees to describe their expertise, so valuable knowledge doesn't get lost inside the bureaucracy. Those kinds of tools are common, but Beehive adds an unusual dose of Facebook or MySpace. The 27,000 IBMers using Beehive can post pictures, video and one-sentence updates about themselves. They can share lists of "things I can't live without."
Such personal touches often are missing when people work at a distance from one another, says Joan Morris DiMicco, an IBM researcher developing Beehive. Co-workers in different locales can't wander into each other's offices and see family pictures on the desk. They don't shop at the same places or have children in the same schools.
These tidbits, DiMicco believes, help people understand each other better. And the usual communication tools like e-mail, instant messaging, phones and even videoconferencing do only so much to fill the gap.
This problem isn't confined to IBM, whose...
Tue, 13 May 08
Between Laptop and Palm, a New Category Emerges
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59723
Thirty-six years ago, Alan Kay, a computer scientist, published a rough sketch of his Dynabook portable computer, establishing the ideal of ever more intimate personal computers.
During the next decade, Kay's tablet design, at 9 inches by 12 inches by 3/4-inch, or 23 centimeters by 31 centimeters by 2 centimeters, evolved into its now-ubiquitous form-factor -- the term used by electronics specialists to describe the size of a particular
gadget.
Since then, there has been a proliferation of gadgets of every size and shape, but to date only one other form-factor has established itself as a generic one: the palm-size or handheld device that began as the Palm Pilot personal digital assistant designed by the Palm Computing co-founders Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky. An endless array of popular products, from BlackBerrys to iPhones, are descended from the Palm.
This portable world is now neatly broken into gadgets that fit comfortably in your pocket and devices that snuggle equally comfortably on your lap.
Is there room for a third category? Perhaps a new class of consumer gadgets that fits somewhere between handheld and laptop? For want of a better description, I propose that we label this form-factor the iMoleskine, after the Hemingway-esque notebooks favored by writers.
To date, the best example of the proto-iMoleskine future is the Amazon Kindle book reader, which is the size of a trade paperback book. A quirky first-generation effort, the device has been criticized as having an odd user interface design and a flickering display. Because of the company's endless front-page promotional efforts on its Web store, however, the Kindle seems headed for nichedom.
Intel certainly wants us to believe there is more room in the middle.
Last month, at a splashy forum in China for developers, the company initiated its effort to create a category for mobile Internet devices, or MID's,...
Tue, 13 May 08
Sprint Nextel Faces Widening Deficit, Customer Exodus
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59720
Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. said Monday it had a larger first-quarter deficit as revenue fell, it lost more than a million subscribers and it absorbed charges for severance and other costs.
Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint said its loss totaled $505 million, or 18 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31 compared with a loss of $211 million, or 7 per share, during the first quarter of last year.
Not including a number of one-time charges, including $231 million for severance and asset impairment and $86 million in deal-related costs, the company said it earned 4 cents per share, compared to 18 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue fell 7.5 percent to $9.3 billion from $10.1 billion a year earlier.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 2 cents per share on $9.4 billion in sales.
Its shares rose 21 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $9.73 in morning trading after falling almost 3 percent earlier in the session.
Sprint, which has struggled since buying Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005, said its total subscriber base fell by 1.09 million to 52.8 million, including the loss of 1.07 million post-paid customers who pay a monthly bill.
That was actually smaller than the 1.2 million in post-paid losses the company had forecast last quarter.
Post-paid churn, or the measure of customers dropping service, was 2.45 percent during the quarter, an increase from the first quarter of 2007 and last quarter. Average revenue generated per post-paid user fell 6 percent from last year to $56.
"As expected, our wireless business delivered weak financial results," Sprint Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse said. "While the business will continue to face challenges in the short term, we are making progress in methodically attacking the sources of our performance issues."
During the first quarter, the company introduced a $99.99 plan that...
Tue, 13 May 08
Can Social-Networking Sites Turn Tons of Fans into Cash?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59718
It is the burning question in tech circles, and Mike Murphy answers it before it is completed.
"I hear it every time I'm on a (tech) panel," Murphy, Facebook's vice president of media sales, says with a wry smile.
He's referring to the inevitable question on when Facebook and other social-networking sites will turn their steep market valuations into mounds of currency. (Invariably, Murphy answers that Facebook has a long list of major advertisers.)
Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites have been the rage of the tech industry for more than a year. Following investments by Microsoft and News Corp., the companies are valued in the billions of dollars and are considered blueprints for how to build a Web site. Yet a deeper question lingers: How are they going to consistently produce profits to match their soaring valuations?
It is a parlor game that has Silicon Valley buzzing. With online ad spending booming into a nearly $50 billion market this year, there is plenty of money to be had. Big-name advertisers are drooling over millions of young, affluent consumers who are spending more time on their online profiles than in front of TV and movie screens. They are particularly smitten with the prospect of tailoring ads to people's specific interests.
But Google commands a sizable chunk of the market -- especially in the USA -- leaving dozens of social-networking sites to scramble for a piece of the advertising pie. Plus, there is the ticklish task of sites and advertisers pitching products without trampling the privacy of consumers.
Short of striking it rich with online ads or creating a new revenue stream, how can so many sites leverage their vast audiences? In many respects, it is the same query that dogged portal companies in the mid-1990s and search engines in the early '90s. Some were sold. Some...
Sat, 10 May 08
Congress Ponders Differing Net-Neutrality Bills
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59711
The Internet neutrality issue has once again taken center stage in Congress, where two bills are under scrutiny. During a hearing to discuss pending legislation, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet noted that commercial success for many Internet-based companies depends on an open Internet.
"The question is whether, in the name of network management, policy-makers permit carriers to act in unreasonable, anticompetitive fashion," Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) said. The choice before Congress is between permitting network operators "to fundamentally alter how the Internet has historically functioned," or retaining "a level playing field" that allows entrepreneurial entry, he explained.
The Internet Freedom Preservation Act co-sponsored by Markey and Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS) establishes principles, rather than regulations, to guide policy in this area. "Then it requests an examination of the market and current practices, requires the FCC to hold several broadband summits around the country to solicit suggestions and opinion, and finally, tasks the FCC with reporting the results and any recommendations back to Congress," Markey said.
However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) want a bill with more teeth. They are co-sponsoring a bill that builds upon the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, which expanded upon the pioneering Sherman Antitrust Act outlawing monopolies and cartels by prohibiting conduct considered harmful to consumers.
"The Internet was designed without centralized control, without gatekeepers for content and services," Conyers said in a statement reported by The New York Times. "If we allow companies with monopoly or duopoly power to control how the Internet operates, network providers could have the power to choose what content is available."
Public-interest groups such as Free Press and Public Knowledge applauded Conyers and Lofgren for their commitment and leadership on what they perceive to...
Sat, 10 May 08
Apple Lags in Climate-Conscious Computing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59710
The nonprofit Climate Counts organization, funded by organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, has released its second annual scorecard rating companies' efforts to combat climate change. While the organization reports solid gains across industries, one technology company stands out as a green laggard -- Apple Inc.
Climate Counts rates companies on a scale of 0 to 100, using 22 criteria to determine if companies have measured their climate footprint, reduced their impact, supported policy change, and clearly disclosed their climate-related actions.
In the electronics field, IBM ranked highest with a score of 77 and Apple ranked lowest at 11. Apple, the scorecard found, posted no information on its efforts to measure its impact on global warming and has not supported climate-change legislation, though the company has made a few comments on its efforts to address global warming and has engaged the issue to some extent with employees and other companies.
Even so, Apple's score this year was nine points higher than last year. The organization called Apple "A choice to avoid for the climate-conscious consumer. This company is not yet taking meaningful action on climate change."
While Apple has not been hurt by criticism of its environmental practices, the issue is likely to cause the company -- and its most famous board member -- significant pain, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group. "With [former Vice President] Al Gore on the board, this becomes a significant embarrassment, making him look disingenuous," Enderle said. "Increasingly I expect folks to point that out, which will hurt Gore's own [environmental] efforts."
The situation also "erodes the Apple brand as people focus on this topic -- and this topic is a popular one this year," Enderle said. "It does seem inconsistent with [CEO] Steve Jobs' Buddhist beliefs and makes him look hypocritical, which...
Sat, 10 May 08
GTA IV May Be Driving Sales of Gaming Consoles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59709
While Grand Theft Auto IV is racking up sales records, console makers are vying for bragging rights of their own, and Microsoft seems to be the victor.
GTA IV was released April 29 and global sales totaled more than $500 million in the first week alone. The first day the latest addition to the hit Rockstar Games series hit retail store shelves, sales were $310 million. More than six million copies have been sold.
The only question is, which console is the game being played on? GTA IV was developed by Rockstar North on two platforms -- the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. Both manufacturers are reporting higher console sales as a result.
According to news reports that claim to have the inside scoop on Microsoft's sales data, Redmond is the big winner. Reportedly Xbox 360 console sales jumped 54 percent. Other reports estimate more than 60 percent of GTA IV games went to Xboxers, leaving less than 40 percent for PlayStation 3 gamers.
Microsoft and Sony could not immediately be reached for comment.
Brian O'Rourke, a video-game analyst with In-Stat, said GTA IV may have sold some consoles. But he senses that many GTA IV players are hard-core gamers who probably bought next-generation consoles long before game's release.
"The GTA IV release might help sell consoles on the margins. If people were on the edge about buying a next-generation console and they wanted GTA IV, this could have pushed them off the fence and convinced them to buy either an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3," O'Rourke said. "But I don't think this game release is going to have a huge influence on console sales overall."
Microsoft may have an advantage, thanks to its Xbox Live Arcade and its exclusive relationship with GTA IV online....
Sat, 10 May 08
Microsoft Telescope Will Bring Universe to the Desktop
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59707
Having conquered much of planet Earth, Microsoft is turning at least some of its attention to the sky. WorldWide Telescope (WWT), a free tool that allows users to explore images of the night sky, will become available at the end of this month.
WWT, developed by Microsoft Research Labs using the company's Visual Experience Engine, enables a home PC to become an engine for exploring the galaxies. It utilizes terabytes of images and data from telescopes worldwide and from the Hubble orbiting telescope.
In a speech at a conference in Jakarta Friday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told news media that the software "takes very complex data gathered over many years from many telescopes" and makes it accessible to a desktop user. He described it as "an observatory on your desktop."
The WWT project was designed to be ready for 2009, which is the 400th anniversary of Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei's first public observations of space, using a simple telescope.
According to news reports, the project holds information on more than 300 million stellar systems. Some astronomers have said they expect the project to have as much of an impact on the way we view the universe as did the view conveyed by Galileo. For instance, schoolchildren will be able to devise their own visual tours of the universe as classroom projects.
Much of the interaction will make disparate images seem as if they are part of a single set of images. According to news reports, the user can zoom into sections of the sky by clicking on the images, which come from some of the largest Earth-bound telescopes as well as spacecraft. The software stitches together the images into a virtual sky.
There will also be commentaries, such as downloadable podcasts from leading astronomers and researchers that expand on the...
Sat, 10 May 08
MySpace Makes Data Portable to Other Web Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59693
The move toward data portability for denizens of social-networking sites gained more momentum Thursday with MySpace's announcement of its Data Availability project.
MySpace described the initiative as empowering "the global MySpace community to share their public profile data to Web sites of their choice throughout the Internet." CEO and cofounder Chris DeWolfe said that "the walls around the garden are coming down" and his company and several partners are pioneering ways for sharing "social experiences Web-wide."
The partners at the launch were Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket and Twitter. MySpace said its partners will complement its efforts in a variety of ways. For instance, if a MySpace user has Yahoo Instant Messenger, that user's MySpace default photo, interests and favorite music could be shown through the IM client. MySpace data can also be shown in Yahoo's universal profile or through Yahoo Mail's inbox.
On eBay, profiles can have MySpace data and media, and on Photobucket users can see their photos across various sites and can, if they choose, show their MySpace profile data in Photobucket albums. Twitter profiles can also be populated with MySpace data, blogs and photos.
Information that can be shared includes publicly available basic profile data, photos, videos and friend networks. Users can control what information is shared and with whom. A centralized location on MySpace will provide a kind of control panel, and the initiative will roll out within coming weeks. According to news reports, non-MySpace sites will not store or cache the data, and permission to use the data can be revoked by a MySpace user at any time.
The initiative will make it easier to distribute news like a new job to friends. A MySpace user could update a profile and dynamically share the new information to other sites where his or her data also resides.
The wave...
Sat, 10 May 08
Facebook Strikes Deal To Beat Bad Guys, Keep Kids Safe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59692
Facebook announced Thursday an agreement with 49 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia to implement new steps against sexual predators. Only the Texas attorney general refused to sign the agreement.
As huge communities of primarily young people and details about millions of kids, social-networking Web sites have also attracted pedophiles and bullies.
Under the agreement, Facebook will improve the technology it uses to filter out what it considers inappropriate behavior and add procedures to make it harder for adults to befriend minors. The site also agreed to continue developing age-verification technology and to keep track of bullying or inappropriate content.
Chris Kelley, Facebook's chief privacy officer, told news media that his company is committed to "keeping kids safe online" and many of the procedures already in place will be enhanced. The site, which claims more than 70 million active members, offers membership to anyone over 13 with an e-mail address. More than half of the users are outside the U.S., and the new procedures will apply to international users as well.
In January, there was a similar agreement with MySpace, which says it has deleted nearly 30,000 convicted sex offenders from the site.
In addition to not agreeing to the Facebook deal, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also skipped the MySpace agreement in January. At the time, he told news media that social-networking sites "do not adequately protect young users" until "an age verification system is effectively developed and implemented." MySpace representatives have said more research and development is needed.
Last October, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo agreed to a settlement with Facebook after undercover child-safety tests showed gaps in the site's security for younger users. State investigators posed as teenagers and, within a short time, were the recipients of unwanted sexual advances.
Investigators...
Sat, 10 May 08
SMBs Remain Bullish Despite Weak Economy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59691
Small businesses are confident that bleak economic conditions will pass without their being adversely affected by the economic downturn, according to a new study of 250 small-business owners. Or, at the very least, they're keeping a stiff upper lip about the downturn and the prospects for a speedy recovery.
A survey from Opinion Research Corporation, a market-research firm, found that there was a general feeling among small businesses that the economy is in rough shape, but there was near-unanimous agreement that future prospects were bright.
Wayne Russum, senior vice president at Opinion Research, said that nearly two-thirds of the small businesses interviewed felt that current economic conditions were having a negative effect on their businesses. "The current economic crisis is not just hitting big business," he said. "It is having a strong negative impact on the entrepreneurs whose unique contributions have a significant impact on our overall economic success."
Even though six in 10 businesses felt that the nation's current economic woes were negatively impacting their business, respondents were certain that bad times would pass quickly, with 88 percent saying they felt their businesses would do well in the future. And, as Russum pointed out, if almost 60 percent are seeing problems arising from the weak economy, more than a third of respondents are not.
Small professional-services companies that include IT-based businesses were "the most optimistic group" about the future of their businesses, Russum told us, noting that some 40 percent of this group saw the economic downturn "as having no impact on their specific business." Russum saw a "bright spot" among the small businesses surveyed, noting that restaurants, gas stations and grocery stores seemed to be doing remarkably well.
He added that other sectors were taking a more serious beating. "The findings emphasize that the current economic...
Sat, 10 May 08
Bleeding a Stone: TorrentSpy Loses $110M Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59690
In what the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is calling a significant victory for the major Hollywood studios, a federal judge in Los Angeles has issued a $110 million judgment against file-sharing Web site TorrentSpy for infringing on the copyrights for thousands of popular movies and television shows.
The worldwide motion-picture industry, including foreign and domestic producers,
distributors, theaters, video stores and pay-per-view operators, loses more than $18 billion annually as a result of movie theft. More than $7 billion in losses are attributed to illegal Internet distribution, while $11 billion is from illegal copying and bootlegging.
"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of
these sites," said Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the MPAA. "The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders."
The court rendered its judgment against Valence Media, the company operating
TorrentSpy, for willful inducement of copyright infringement, contributory infringement and vicarious copyright infringement. Specifically, Valence was charged $30,000 per violation for nearly 3,700 illegal television program and movie downloads.
The court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting TorrentSpy from further infringing any of the studios' copyrighted works. The permanent injunction prohibits Valence from engaging in any activity that encourages, promotes or solicits, or knowingly facilitates, enables or assists, copyright infringement.
The ruling marks the second decisive defeat for TorrentSpy in the case. Late last year the same federal court entered a default order and found the TorrentSpy operators liable for copyright infringement. The TorrentSpy Web site shut down on March 24, 2008. Valence has reportedly filed for bankruptcy protection in a United Kingdom court and has requested the judgment be stayed.
Led by the United States,...
Sat, 10 May 08
JavaFX Set To Jazz Up Mobile Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59689
Anyone who still doubts there is a bright future for technologies that create hybrid, online/offline applications need only consider Sun's JavaFX announcement at JavaOne this week. The Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:JAVA) event demonstrates that JavaFX, which was announced last year, is closing in on, or at least gunning for Adobe's AIR and Microsoft's Silverlight, as a developer's tool for producing new applications.
But while AIR and Silverlight are oriented toward PCs, Sun hopes to leverage Java's broad adoption in mobile and embedded systems.
"We're focused on connecting business systems with people," Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said. "If you're a bank, you want to reach customers on set-top boxes, car navigation systems, mobile phones. You want to reach them with your business systems to update them with their savings (account details) or credit-card bill. What's happening on the Internet today is, all these systems are being connected to one another."
Java runs on 2.2 billion mobile devices and the majority of PCs.
But in a presentation at JavaOne, Rich Green, Sun's executive vice president for software, stuck to a desktop demo. He showed a JavaFX application sporting Twitter and Flickr feeds running in Facebook. He then dragged the application out of the Web browser and onto the desktop. The same app also runs Java-enabled phones, thanks to a mobile version called JavaFX Mobile.
One of the JavaFX sessions was called the "return of the Applet," attendee Michael Levin noted on his blog. "Detachable applets can live outside the browser. This is a cool technology. Basically, you can drag an applet from your browser onto your desktop and leave it there, even after the browser is closed. This reminds me of widgets and gadgets. It's yet another move in a Web-centric direction."
A key part of making JavaFX ready for prime time is JavaFX Script,...
Sat, 10 May 08
Hackers' Posts on Epilepsy Forum Cause Migraines, Seizures
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59681
Computer attacks typically don't inflict physical pain on their victims.
But in a rare example of an attack apparently motivated by malice rather than money, hackers recently bombarded the Epilepsy Foundation's Web site with hundreds of pictures and links to pages with rapidly flashing images.
The breach triggered severe migraines and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed the images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get seizures when they're exposed to flickering images, a response also caused by some video games and cartoons.
The attack happened when hackers exploited a security hole in the foundation's publishing software that allowed them to quickly make numerous posts and overwhelm the site's support forums.
Within the hackers' posts were small flashing pictures and links -- masquerading as helpful -- to pages that exploded with kaleidoscopic images pulsating with different colors.
"They were out to create seizures," said Ken Lowenberg, senior director of Web and print publishing for the foundation.
He said legitimate users are no longer able to post animated images to the support forum or create direct links to other sites, and it is now moderated around the clock. He said the FBI is investigating the breach.
Security experts said the attack highlights the dangers of Web sites giving visitors great freedom to post content to different parts of the site.
In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Sen. Barack Obama's Web site to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's official campaign site.
The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site didn't appear to care about profit. The harmful pages didn't appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance.
"I count this in the same category of teenagers who think it's funny to put a cat in...
Sat, 10 May 08
Apple Inks Latin American Partnership Deal for iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59679
In another step in the worldwide march of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America said Wednesday that it has inked a deal to bring the multimedia gadget to more than a dozen countries starting later this year.
America Movil SAB, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, said it plans to bring the iPhone to all of its Latin American operations but didn't offer more details about the arrangement, including whether it would be the exclusive iPhone provider in the targeted countries.
Apple has so far struck exclusive deals for the iPhone with AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom's Orange wireless arm in France.
The company plans further expansion later this year through the partnership with Mexico City-based America Movil, which boasts 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
A spokeswoman for America Movil said the company had no further comment beyond the short press release announcing the partnership.
In the past couple of weeks, Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell the device in Canada; Milan-based Telecom Italia SpA to sell the iPhone in Italy; and Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest mobile company by sales, to sell it in a total of 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.
The announcements are all important steps for Cupertino-based Apple as it looks to expand sales of the iPhone, the combination iPod-cell phone-Internet device that went on sale last June in the U.S.
But many consumers in countries where Apple has not struck iPhone deals with mobile operators are using them already. They're using "unlocked" iPhones that have been modified to work over any cellular network, a sign of the growing worldwide demand for the phones that has also irked Apple, which has...
Sat, 10 May 08
Google Looking Golden Again After Challenging Stretch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59677
It's hard to believe Google Inc. actually looked vulnerable just two months ago. The Internet search leader's stock had plummeted 45 percent from its peak. And its two biggest rivals, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., appeared poised to combine forces and launch a double-barreled attack.
But as Google holds its annual shareholders meeting Thursday, the company looks stronger than ever. Its stock is hot again and Microsoft has scrapped its plans to buy Yahoo, with Google playing the spoiler's role.
"Google is winning again. What a surprise," said Canaccord Adams analyst Colin Gillis. "If you want to invest in the Internet space, where else do you want to be but Google?"
More investors have been coming to that conclusion since last month, when Google's stellar first-quarter results cast aside concerns that the drooping U.S. economy would depress the online advertising spending that generates most of the company's profit.
Google shares have surged 29 percent since the first-quarter report, regaining a little more than half of the $100 billion in shareholder wealth that evaporated as the stock plunged from an all-time high of $747 last November to a 52-week low of $412 in mid-March.
Meanwhile, Microsoft and Yahoo are again trying to figure out how to lessen Google's dominance of Internet search and advertising.
Microsoft hoped to throw Google for a loop by buying Yahoo for $47.5 billion. Unnerved by the threat, Google worked behind the scenes with Yahoo to thwart Microsoft's unsolicited takeover attempt.
The counterattack now has Yahoo considering a deal that would allow Google to sell some of the ads displayed alongside the search results on Yahoo's Web site. The alliance, which has already been tested in a two-week trial, will likely hinge on whether the two companies can persuade antitrust regulators the partnership wouldn't undermine competition in the ad market.
Even if a Google-Yahoo pact...
Sat, 10 May 08
In Wi-Fi Arena, a Middle Ground Emerges on Free and Paid
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59666
The battle between free and paid wireless Internet access is starting to look like a draw. Or more accurately, a third variation is winning: a combination of the two.
Travelers want to log on everywhere at no charge, while hotels, airports and coffee shops are looking for a way to pay for their Wi-Fi networks as visitors increasingly use greater amounts of bandwidth.
The compromise that is emerging is to offer both free and paid options, with the free services increasingly requiring something in return, like viewing an advertisement or signing up for a loyalty program.
"Our position is, give the user a choice," said David Blumenfeld, a senior vice president with JiWire, which publishes an online directory of free hot spots but also sells ads displayed on public Wi-Fi networks. "It's not an argument about free versus paid," he said. "It's free and paid."
Starbucks is probably the biggest example of that model. In February, the company announced plans to switch to AT&T from T-Mobile as the Internet provider in its U.S. stores.
When AT&T takes over, customers who use their Starbucks card once a month will get two hours of free Wi-Fi access each day. Otherwise, that same time period will cost $3.99, or $19.99 for a monthly unlimited access plan.
Sanja Gould, a spokeswoman for Starbucks, said its Wi-Fi users typically spent an hour logged on. So, she said, the company views two hours of free access as a "meaningful benefit" for customers who buy a Starbucks card.
In other words, loyalty has its benefits, and these days, free Internet access is one of them.
Omni Hotels, which used to offer free Wi-Fi, switched to a dual pricing model about 18 months ago. Now, guests at the U.S. chain can get free in-room wireless access by signing up for Omni's Select Guest program, an option...
Fri, 9 May 08
Intel Has a Lot Riding on Clearwire WiMAX Gamble
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59688
The joint WiMAX effort of Clearwire and Sprint Nextel that floundered last year has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, thanks to a $3.2 billion cash infusion from Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks.
Intel Vice President Sriram Viswanathan, who runs the wireless investment program at Intel Capital, said the joint investment is a "pretty dramatic" development because it had been the subject of intense speculation within the industry for months. "This removes a lot of the uncertainty that has been talked about for some time in the media concerning the future of WiMAX in the U.S.," Viswanathan observed.
Counting previous investments Intel made in Clearwater in 2004 and 2006, the chipmaker's cash commitment to a revitalized Clearwire represents the biggest gamble among the outside supporters. "We already had a $600 million investment through a prior investment and $20 million before that," Viswanathan explained. "So we have a very substantial position in the company alongside the other partners."
The timing of the deal is important because WiMAX only has a few years to become established as the high-speed mobile broadband technology of choice before the launch of a competing technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE) championed by Qualcomm, Ericsson and other mobile-technology vendors. "We don't expect LTE to be a significant mobile issue in the U.S. until 2011 at the earliest," said Forrester Research Vice President Lisa Pierce.
However, Pierce has a different perspective on WiMAX's potential, placing more emphasis on opportunities beyond the conventional mobile-network arena.
"I have been more interested in WiMAX as a way to help smaller business locations to be able to cut the cord on their T1 access," Pierce explained. "I think that sort of potential has very long legs, but it would take a significant effort...
Fri, 9 May 08
T-Mobile's 3G Rollout Lags Behind Competitors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59686
T-Mobile USA is now joining the 3G club. Earlier this week, the telecommunications company announced that it has begun the commercial rollout of its third-generation wireless network, starting with New York City.
T-Mobile said it will continue to roll out the high-speed data network to major metropolitan markets, and by the end of this year it expects to cover those cities where most of its subscribers use data services.
Cole Brodman, T-Mobile USA chief development officer, said his company's data and messaging services are among the highest in the industry. He added that T-Mobile benefits from the "extensive commercial experience of 3G in our European markets," where the technology is more prevalent.
3G service means faster speeds for using the Web or downloading content. Some T-Mobile handsets can operate on the UMTS portion of its 3G network, and they will automatically connect to the best available network in a given location -- either 3G or the older 2G GSM/GPRS/EDGE network.
The T-Mobile 3G network is UMTS/HSDPA, and the company said it will launch its first HSDPA device "in the coming months." Some users of other networks have reported that HSDPA generally provides speeds twice that of UMTS.
Sean Ryan, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, said that T-Mobile USA is "playing catch-up" with the other major carriers in the U.S. who already have 3G to some degree, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Alltel.
Current Analysis' Avi Greengart noted that the delay was caused, at least in part, by the U.S. government, which "stymied T-Mobile time and time again by holding onto the AWS spectrum" that is being used for the 3G network.
But even with a late start, he noted, the rollout is "an incredibly slow staggered release." Greengart also pointed out that T-Mobile is not announcing any 3G-specific data services,...
Fri, 9 May 08
Internet Archive Challenges FBI Data Demand and Wins
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59685
In November 2007, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle received an unwelcome letter with a return address for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It was a national security letter (NSL) -- a secret government demand for documents permitted by the Patriot Act -- and it demanded that the archive turn over personal information on one user. The FBI asked for the person's name, address and all electronic transactional records.
Kahle, a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, discussed the matter with EFF lawyers and decided to fight. Instead of providing the requested information, the archive submitted only publicly available documents -- and filed a lawsuit challenging the letter.
Wednesday, the FBI and the archive settled the case. The FBI has withdrawn the NSL and lifted a gag order that prevented Kahle or his lawyers at EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union from speaking about the matter.
"The free flow of information is at the heart of every library's work. That's why Congress passed a law limiting the FBI's power to issue NSLs to America's libraries," Kahle said. "While it's never easy standing up to the government -- particularly when I was barred from discussing it with anyone -- I knew I had to challenge something that was clearly wrong. I'm grateful that I am able now to talk about what happened to me, so that other libraries can learn how they can fight back from these overreaching demands."
Since the passage of the Patriot Act, which sharply reduced limitations on the FBI's use of NSLs, the use of the letters has skyrocketed. The FBI issued close to 200,000 letters between 2003 and 2006, the EFF said. The cyberlaw organization said it has uncovered "multiple" misuses of NSL, including one to North Carolina State University.
"This is a great victory for...
Fri, 9 May 08
Dell Launches New Optimized Virtualization Servers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59674
Dell on Wednesday launched two dedicated virtualization servers, the PowerEdge R805 and R905. The PowerEdge R805 offers twice the memory and input/output capacity of Dell's previous generation of two-socket servers. The Dell PowerEdge R900 and R905 can deliver four-socket virtualization.
Dell is offering a choice of VMware ESXi 3.5 or Citrix XenServer Dell Express Edition integrated hypervisors. With either option, Dell said the PowerEdge R805 and R905 are optimal for virtualized environments.
"Virtualization is quickly moving beyond hypervisors and hardware consolidation," said Rick Becker, Dell vice president of software and solutions. "Enterprises are looking for a broad array of servers, storage and services designed specifically for virtualized environments."
Dell says its virtualization performance is higher and the cost is lower than the HP ProLiant DL580 G5, the IBM System x3850, and the Sun Fire X44501. Dell's competitors could not immediately be reached for comment.
On the storage front, Dell EqualLogic storage arrays offer new SAN-aware integration with VMware Site Recovery Manager for data protection and disaster recovery for virtualized environments. Meanwhile, Dell and Egenera are making virtualization and data-center automation a reality beyond the blade chassis.
The Dell PAN system aims to deliver rapid provisioning and redeployment in minutes, not weeks, Dell said. The PAN system is built on PowerEdge 1950 and 2950 servers and Dell/EMC storage, with Citrix XenServer. The system is factory integrated to consolidate and virtualize server resources into an entire Processor Area Network to be managed like hard drives in a SAN.
Dell has also expanded its virtualization services to include a simplification workshop, virtualization operational assessment of virtualized environments, a virtualization health check, and ProSupport Remote Advisory Services, among others, through its Dell Global Infrastructure Consulting Services group.
Dell's new solutions and services demonstrate how one company is approaching virtualization challenges, according to Charles King, a...
Fri, 9 May 08
Google Shows Off Strategic Muscle with Death of Microhoo
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59664
Microsoft and Yahoo were pushed to the brink of a multibillion-dollar marriage and then to a sudden breakup this past weekend by the same player.
It was Google, in the odd dual role as both unwitting matchmaker and self-interested spoiler.
Google's phenomenal rise, after all, prodded Microsoft, the dominant technology company for more than two decades, to court Yahoo. And Google's success also weakened Yahoo enough to give Microsoft the sense that it could buy the company at a good price.
A combined Microsoft-Yahoo would create a powerful competitor, and Google early on indicated that it would fight the merger on antitrust grounds in Washington and Brussels.
But Google played a part in killing the deal, for now at least, by acting more as friend than foe. It offered to let Yahoo use its more sophisticated search advertising technology, which by some estimates would have meant $1 billion more revenue a year for Yahoo. The partnership would also bring Google more revenue.
The prospect of such a partnership emboldened Yahoo's board to demand more money for the company and eventually caused Microsoft to rethink its strategy.
Steven Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, cited the proposed Google partnership as the main reason for not pursuing a hostile bid and instead walking away Saturday.
"Such an arrangement with the dominant search provider would make an acquisition of Yahoo undesirable to us," he wrote Jerry Yang, Yahoo's chief executive, in a letter, and cited five specific reasons Google would be bad for Yahoo.
Yahoo may well pursue the partnerships with Google, its main rival, to bolster its depressed stock price. Yahoo shares dropped 15 percent Monday, to close at $24.37. The two companies refused to comment.
Not surprisingly, analysts are saying the Microsoft-Yahoo saga has one clear winner: Google. And its stock price reflected that thinking Monday. More than $4 billion was added...
Fri, 9 May 08
Apple Readies 3G Debut of iPhone in Europe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59663
Apple plans to begin selling the long-awaited, faster 3G version of its best-selling iPhone by the August summer holidays in some European countries, a person close to the situation said, as part of an expanded rollout of the device to 10 countries around the world that was announced Tuesday.
Apple, which since October has been selling a version of the iPhone that works on Europe's ubiquitous but slower GSM networks in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria, plans to sell the 3G version in Italy through Vodafone and Telecom Italia, according to the person.
By selling the handset in Italy through two mobile operators, Vodafone and Telecom Italia TIM, Apple is modifying its strategy of selling the device exclusively through a single operator in each country, in exchange for a share of the data revenue that iPhone users pay to their mobile operators.
Vodafone, based in Newbury, England, is the world's largest mobile operator, with 252 million customers. It said Tuesday that it would begin selling the iPhone in the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy and Portugal in Europe, as well as in India, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey, later this year.
In a separate statement Tuesday, Telecom Italia, whose TIM Telecom Italia Mobile wireless network is the Italian market leader, said it would also sell the iPhone in Italy later this year. Apple announced last week that the iPhone, the fastest-selling handset in the United States, would go on sale this year in Canada.
According to the person, who declined to be identified because of a confidentiality agreement, Apple wants to start selling the 3G version of the iPhone in Europe before August, the time when most Europeans go on vacation and would presumably have a greater need for the device's advanced Internet browser function.
An Apple spokesman in London, Alan Hely,...
Fri, 9 May 08
Sources Give Inside Look at Microsoft's Yahoo Bid
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59661
Just how serious was Microsoft Corp. about raising its bid to $47.5 billion for slumping Internet pioneer Yahoo Inc.?
The answer is taking on greater importance as more outraged Yahoo shareholders threaten to sue the company's board -- or try to replace the 10 directors -- for the way they responded to Microsoft's sweetened offer.
With shareholders up in arms, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo has been trying to raise doubts about the legitimacy of Microsoft's last bid of $33 a share by pointing out that it wasn't submitted in writing.
There is even a theory circulating that Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer dangled the new offer before his Yahoo counterpart, Jerry Yang, fully knowing that it would be spurned and open a window for him to flee a deal that was starting to look like a potential albatross.
Yahoo shares fell 37 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $25.35 as trading opened Monday, while Microsoft shares rose 6 cents to $29.76.
In Tokyo, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday the company isn't pursuing other deals. He said the company put "a lot of effort" in the talks with Yahoo and has decided the two should pursue "independent paths."
Since the talks unraveled, The Associated Press contacted people familiar with the deal to piece together how the final days of negotiations unfolded. These people asked not to be identified because the talks were confidential.
While they differed on some details, the people agreed Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft didn't spell out the $47.5 billion offer in writing. Instead, it was orally presented by both Ballmer and Brad Smith, the software maker's general counsel.
In contrast, Microsoft's initial bid of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share, was sent to Yahoo's board in a Jan. 31 letter that contained specific financing terms.
Although raising a takeover bid orally isn't ideal, it's acceptable when two sides like Microsoft...
Fri, 9 May 08
'Crimeserver' Discovered with Treasure Trove of Stolen Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59653
Cybercriminals collect a treasure trove of data from Web surfers whose computers are infected with Trojans. That's all-too-common news these days, but a recent case shows that the problem is getting worse. Finjan Inc., which makes secure Web gateway products, discovered a server in Malaysia being used by hackers to store more than 1.4 gigabytes of stolen data. What surprised the Finjan researchers was that the data was stolen from businesses as well as individuals -- and it was amassed in just three weeks.
Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Finjan's chief technology officer, told us that there were other surprises from the discovery of the Malaysian-based "crimeserver" that was being used as a command-and-control center for the Trojans installed on infected PCs around the world.
"Quite often we see end-user online banking information being logged, but on this server we found a lot of business-related data, such as e-mail communications, patient medical histories, and even screenshots of Outlook," he said. This compromised information could lead to a host of problems for an organization, from violations of federal regulations about patient privacy to the loss of critical business information.
Ben-Itzhak said the crimeserver was left totally open so that data could be accessed by anyone. The Finjan report about the attack surmised that crimeware is evolving with a new and alarming customer-service focus.
"Crimeware has reached a new level of sophistication. After the birth of sophisticated crimeware toolkits, closely followed by Crimeware-as-a-Service (CaaS), we now see the availability of user data as a 'customer' service by granting open access to the crimeware server with the harvested data."
Finjan researchers noted that the Malaysian server had changed hosting locations a number of times between late last year and the time the crimeserver was discovered, "likely to prevent it from being closed down...
Fri, 9 May 08
Why Many Wireless Resellers Are Going Under
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59628
A few years ago, organizations from Disney to 7-Eleven to the local pinochle club were jumping into the cell phone business, leveraging their brands to appeal to niches untapped by the big carriers.
Now, many are digesting a hard reality: Running a wireless company isn't as easy as it seemed.
Many resellers of cell phone service -- which lease the networks of national carriers -- are closing, going bankrupt or struggling.
"Most of these people came in with a gold rush mentality," says Roger Entner, senior vice president of IAG Research. "Let me show up, and millions will flock my way."
The latest casualty is Sonopia, which helped clubs and organizations set up their own mobile services. The company is shutting down, says Greg Beltzer, a spokesman for Sevin Rosen Funds, a Sonopia investor.
Earlier this year, Hispanic-focused Movida Communications and high-end boutique Voce filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While Voce shut down, Movida was quickly snapped up by Paul Greene, CEO of gear provider APC Wireless.
In the past 18 months, ESPN Mobile, Disney Mobile and youth-targeted Amp'd Mobile have all flamed out. All told, about 10 wireless resellers have closed shop, leaving about 55, says consultant Alex Besen of the Besen Group.
Others are struggling. Even Virgin Mobile, the No.2 reseller, said Monday that first-quarter earnings fell 75 percent vs. a year ago. That followed a $14.7 million fourth-quarter loss. The company largely blames the sluggish economy.
Resellers, also known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), are being tripped up by:
*Fresh competition from the major carriers. With U.S. cell phone penetration reaching 84%, the big carriers are targeting the faster-growing youth and lower-income prepaid markets that had been the province of MVNOs such as Virgin, say Entner and Yankee Group analyst Chris Collins.
*Failure to offer a distinctive service. ESPN, Amp'd Mobile and Helio coveted the same...
Thu, 8 May 08
HTC's Touch Diamond Won't Touch iPhone 2.0
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59673
Consumers wanting a touch-screen, Web-browsing, 3G-capable phone don't have to wait for the rumored 3G iPhone. HTC's new Touch Diamond matches -- some would say "copies" -- the features on Apple's breakthrough device while offering the speedy connections of 3G networks.
Apple is expected to release a 3G version of the iPhone in 2008, perhaps as soon as the third quarter. As Apple remains silent on the timing, features or even existence of the 3G iPhone, the Apple rumor blogs have gone wild with speculation that the new phone will have a plastic case, boast a sensor (possibly for a video camera), support handwriting recognition and sell for a mere $200.
In the face of that breathless anticipation comes HTC with a phone that features a 2.8-inch VGA touch screen with the ability to change orientation as the user rotates the phone, a YouTube application for watching video, a version of Google Maps, and many other features of the current iPhone.
"This is going to be the biggest product of my life," said HTC's CEO Peter Chou.
But even with 3G and all those copycat features, the new HTC phone isn't even relevant to Apple's plans, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies.
"While the new HTC phone is important to the smart-phone industry in general, it will have almost no impact on Apple," Bajarin said. "Apple's iPhone is unique in that it is based on a full operating system -- Mac OS X -- and has a full browser. And with the new apps that are coming out soon, it will be more like having a real PC in your pocket, not just a phone."
Apple recently released a kit for third-party developers and has promised to deliver version 2.0 of the iPhone operating system by June. Apple will...
Thu, 8 May 08
Sun Unveils JavaFX for Rich Internet Applications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59672
Sun Microsystems gave developers at its JavaOne conference their first glimpse of JavaFX -- a family of products it announced last year that promise to enable developers to create rich Internet applications that run on a variety of platforms.
"JavaFX is a powerful client technology for creating rich Internet applications with immersive media and content across the multiple screens of an individual's life," said Sun Microsystems Executive Vice President Rich Green. "Java technology is now ready for the new creative audiences that have emerged in response to consumer demand for rich content."
Built on Java Standard Edition -- the Java platform already running on many desktop computers -- JavaFX is designed to unite billions of Java SE and Java Micro Edition devices, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said when the technology was first announced last year. "It will allow any consumer electronics manufacturer to accelerate the delivery of Java/Linux-based devices -- from phones to set tops and dashboards and everything else imaginable and without fear of format lock-in or disintermediation from a competitor," he said.
In particular, Sun's new suite introduces a new high-performance declarative scripting language known as JavaFX Script. Like the rest of the Java platform, the product will be made available under the standard GPL license.
Among other things, JavaFX Script will enable the binding of applications to various data sources, Sun said, enabling developers to create compelling mashup offerings. Moreover, JavaFX Script is designed to deliver a rich end-to-end experience for developers and users alike through its close integration with other standard Java application and infrastructure components.
The scripters, social-application creators, designers, content authors and consumers who elect to join the Java ecosystem of more than six million developers will "take Java technology in exciting new directions," Green said.
Green said Sun's Java runtime...
Thu, 8 May 08
Yahoo Teams with McAfee for Safer, More Secure Searching
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59671
Web searching can expose users to a whole range of malicious sites, so Yahoo is now teaming up with security vendor McAfee to make its search experience more secure for users.
On Tuesday, the two companies announced a partnership that they said will "deliver a safer Web-search experience" through the beta launch of a new SearchScan feature. Built on McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology, SearchScan alerts Yahoo Search users when they're visiting risky sites.
Those suspect sites could be hiding spyware, adware or other software that is less than friendly to your PC. SearchScan also knows about sites with bad e-mail practices, such as ones that send out spam.
Suspected risky sites show up with a red warning sign and text in the search-results page, thus cautioning users with a visual indicator. For instance, a risky site would receive the warning sign -- a red triangle -- under it, as well as red text that reads: "Warning: Dangerous Downloads, Unsolicited E-mails."
The SearchScan beta is available to users of Yahoo Search in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. The Yahoo-McAfee arrangement is a global agreement to work together on other fronts as well, such as bringing Yahoo Search to McAfee users.
Risky browsing resulting from search engines is a concern for 65 percent of Americans online, according to Yahoo -- even more than neighborhood crime, getting a wallet stolen, or an e-mail-based scam. As an online safety issue, it is second in importance only to children's safety on the Net.
According to McAfee Vice President Tim Dowling, "Research indicates four out of five Web site visits start with a search," and that SearchScan's new, advance warning can be one of the strongest weapons against online threats.
McAfee said that...
Thu, 8 May 08
Grand Theft Auto IV Sells Six Million Units in First Week
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59670
It's official. Take-Two Interactive Software said Wednesday that Grand Theft Auto IV surpassed all-time entertainment records for day-one and week-one sales by dollar value.
Released on April 29, GTA IV had global sales of six million units with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. On opening day, GTA IV sales were approximately 3.6 million units with a retail value of $310 million globally.
"The dollar amount is not particularly relevant. The unit numbers are what matters and six million is a great number," said Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. "Take-Two should be extremely proud. I expected greatness and they delivered. It doesn't change the value of the company at all."
"We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player's experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary game play and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now it has broken sales and rating records as well," Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said.
GTA IV's first-week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and Zelnick believes these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date, though some industry analysts have criticized such comparisons.
Performance figures aside, the goal is to make each new title in the GTA franchise better than those that preceded it, and GTA IV is a smashing success on that score, according to Ben Feder, Take-Two CEO.
"Grand Theft Auto IV makes full use of the power of next-generation technology and offers players an experience unique in the interactive entertainment medium," Feder said. "This game sets a new standard in the industry, with critics hailing it as both an artistic and technological masterpiece."
GTA IV is rated...
Thu, 8 May 08
Bill Gates Says Microsoft Will Make its Own Advances
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59669
Microsoft will pursue independent paths as it figures out how to compete with Google in the aftermath of its failed bid for Yahoo. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Chairman Bill Gates said Microsoft is committed to making its own advances in search and online advertising.
"We will make the advances that give people the great choice there," he said.
While not ruling out deals with other top-tier players, Gates emphasized the current plan is to build new capabilities internally. "The key decisions on (other acquisitions) will be made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who took a look at Yahoo and decided that, on our own, he likes the stuff that we're doing," Gates said. "I wouldn't rule out some partnerships, but we don't have anything imminent there."
Despite Ballmer's decision to walk away from a Yahoo takeover and Gates' supportive comments, many analysts think Microsoft will be back later this summer if Yahoo's stock price slides to pre-offer levels.
"If Yahoo misses its forecasts and the stock takes a hit, Microsoft would definitely look to step back in," Ross Sandler, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, told the San Franciso Chronicle.
While that may be, Gates' comments likely reflect the thinking in Redmond, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, in an e-mail. "I believe Microsoft learned a lot through this Yahoo bid and most likely ended up giving a great deal of thought about what they need to do to compete if the Yahoo deal did not go through," he said. "I think Gates' comments reflect this and at the moment they seem prepared to go it alone."
Even so, "you cannot rule out the potential of Microsoft at some point entertaining another Yahoo bid if their stock and market value goes down and they could get it...
Thu, 8 May 08
Twist for Google: Savior of Yahoo as Deal Spoiler
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59635
Shortly after Microsoft announced its hostile bid for Yahoo, Google objected and raised the prospect that it would take its opposition to the merger to U.S. government regulators.
As it turned out, Google was very much the spoiler in the deal, which fell through when Microsoft withdrew its offer, worth $47.5 billion, this weekend. But Google's most effective weapon was not coercion or threats, but the very effective, and unconventional, use of its own checkbook.
Google and Yahoo recently conducted a two-week test in which Google delivered ads on a small portion of Yahoo searches. The test, which both companies described as successful, was intended to show how much more Yahoo could earn by outsourcing some of its search ads to Google, whose technology and large base of advertisers allow it to extract more revenue on average for every search.
Microsoft's chief executive, Steven Ballmer, said that the prospect of such a deal, which would deprive Microsoft of the ability of selling all the search ads on Yahoo, made proceeding with a hostile takeover less attractive. For Yahoo, the promise of a big check each quarter from Google could placate enough shareholders to head off a revolt over its decision to turn down Microsoft's offer, worth $33 a share.
On Monday, investors sent Yahoo shares tumbling by as much as 20 percent in early trading before they recovered somewhat. In afternoon trading Monday, shares of Yahoo were down $4.47, or 15.6 percent, to $24.20. Microsoft's shares were up 0.5 percent while Google's rose 1.7 percent.
Even though Google is far and away the leader in search advertising, it is rare for a company to help its biggest rival this way. Google's offer is all the more unusual because it does not neutralize Yahoo as a potential future competitor.
Yahoo's stated plan is to take that...
Wed, 7 May 08
Microsoft Adds Sociability to its Zune Brand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59655
Microsoft placed a bigger bet on Zune this week, as it announced enhancements it hopes will solidify Zune as "the company's all-in-one digital entertainment brand." The Zune brand includes digital audio players, software, and an online music store.
One approach the company is using to battle Apple's market-dominating iPhone is to add more social value. Christ Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Zune, said that "consumers want more than the traditional transactional model of an online music store plus portable device." Instead, he said, they want a "new experience centered on music discovery," which helps expose them to music they may not have tried and offers a variety of ways to buy.
According to a recent study commissioned by Microsoft, more than half of consumers said they didn't have enough time or didn't know where to look to find new music and, as a consequence, ended up wasting money on music they didn't really like. But 89 percent said they would trust a recommendation by a friend or a family member.
As part of the solution to this dilemma, Microsoft is adding more functionality to its Zune online music community. In the past, for instance, members have received a free, customizable Zune Card, which contains a brief listing of their favorite songs that they can share with friends.
In previous incarnations, the card has lived on the Web, but with newly released software updates the cards are now portable and can be more easily shared. With a Zune Pass subscription, for instance, users can now listen to their friends' favorites, with no commitment other than the monthly subscription fee of $14.99 monthly.
New updates to the Zune online music community also include syncing Zune Cards to a Zune device, which allows them to get updates on what their friends are listening...
Wed, 7 May 08
Sprint, Clearwire To Power $14.5 Billion WiMAX Initiative
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59654
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire on Wednesday announced a $14.5 billion initiative to combine their wireless broadband businesses and form a new wireless communications company.
Named Clearwire, the new company will focus on expediting deployment of the first nationwide WiMAX network to provide widespread mobile broadband.
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is designed to provide wireless connections over long distances and is faster than today's 3G networks. With embedded WiMAX chipsets in laptops, phones, PDAs, mobile Internet devices and consumer electronics equipment, WiMAX is expected to allow users to wirelessly access a range of multimedia applications such as live videoconferencing, recorded video, games, large data files, and more -- anywhere in the network coverage area.
Sprint and Clearwire also announced that Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks have agreed to invest $3.2 billion into the new Clearwire.
Sprint will have the largest stake in the new company at 51 percent. Current Clearwire shareholders will own approximately 27 percent, and the investors will have approximately 22 percent as a group.
The new Clearwire expects to offer mobile wireless Internet services on new devices that integrate WiMAX chipsets and an open architecture.
"We've made an excellent start developing XOHM WiMAX services. Contributing those advances to a strongly backed new company -- in which we'll hold the largest interest -- provides Sprint with additional financial flexibility and allows Sprint management to leverage and focus on our core business," said Dan Hesse, president and CEO of Sprint.
Hesse said the agreements allow the new company and its investors to bundle and resell Sprint's third-generation wireless services, strengthening distribution while reducing complexity and enhancing cable relationships.
The new Clearwire has enviable support from its partners. Google will work with the new company on an open Internet business protocol for mobile...
Wed, 7 May 08
Google Asks FCC To Verify Verizon's Open-Access Stand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59652
Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission to verify Verizon's intent to fully honor the FCC's open-access rule before issuing licenses to the wireless carrier for its winning auction bids in the C block of the 700-MHz spectrum. Failure to do so now will only foster uncertainty and delay, rather than innovation and investment, Google's petition warns.
"Action now is especially necessary given the long lead time typically required for software applications developers and device manufacturers to design, develop and deploy their products to the public, as well as the uncertainty Verizon has introduced publicly regarding its compliance with the open-access obligations," Google's attorneys explained.
In testimony before Congress last month, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin reaffirmed the intent of the open-access rule governing one-third of the spectrum offered during the FCC's auction.
"Consumers will be able to use the wireless device of their choice on those networks and download whatever legal software or applications they choose onto it," Martin told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. "It will spur the next phase of wireless broadband innovation -- innovation that can make us more productive, keep us entertained, and improve our quality of life."
However, Google is clearly worried that Verizon may have other plans. Google's petition cites a letter that Verizon reportedly submitted to FCC secretary Marlene Dortch in September that stakes out an entirely different position.
"The commission should not force C Block licensees to allow any and all lawful applications to be downloaded to any devices that licensees provide, including devices that are not configured to accommodate any and all applications," Verizon's letter said.
If allowed to stand, Verizon's position would reverse the meaning of the rule in such a way that the open-access condition would apply to none of Verizon's customers, Google's lawyers maintained.
"The commission will...
Wed, 7 May 08
Global Piracy Rampant -- But You Can Fight Back
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59640
Piracy is running rampant, according to a report from the U.S. government. Not the kind of pirates with eye patches and parrots on their shoulders, but rather the kind that downloads content illegally from the Internet, counterfeits products, and generally hijacks the profits of pharmaceuticals, electronics, software, and other goods. China and Russia were singled out in particular for their weak protections of intellectual property rights (IPR).
The report, known as Special 301, is conducted annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to examine the global state of IPR in accordance with the Special 301 provisions of the Trade Act of 1974. This year, the USTR designated 46 countries in one of three "watch list" categories. China and Russia -- which were both given kudos for improved measures against pirates and counterfeiters -- made their way to the top of the list, followed by other trading partners, including Argentina, Israel, Pakistan and Thailand.
Belize and Lithuania both were removed from the Watch List thanks to "heightened engagement" with the United States. Other countries, including Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, made their way off the dreaded Priority Watch List and on to the less serious Watch List, thanks to improvements made on IPR. (Spain and Greece are new Watch List members as well.) The USTR wields power against friend and foe; even Canada is on the Watch List, cited in part for its "weak border measures [that] continue to be a serious concern for IP owners."
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which represents a group of seven trade associations concerned with copyright, hailed the report (it had requested that Canada be put on the Watch List) and issued a matrix of estimated trade losses due to copyright piracy. It estimated that China's piracy cost businesses...
Wed, 7 May 08
Like Windows XP Over Vista? You're Safe a Few More Years
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59634
The internal battle between Windows XP and Windows Vista continued last week with the release of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, which will extend the life of the venerable XP for another few years.
The 300-plus megabyte patch, which was released April 29, includes more than 1,000 patches and cumulative updates for XP, which are eagerly awaited by corporate customers because of the ease at which all of the patches can be applied to desktops and laptops. It basically includes all patches and updates released since 2004, plus a few new ones, in one giant update.
This is the last service pack for XP, which Microsoft plans to stop selling in June if all goes according to plan. However, there is a growing outcry from customers to keep XP available after June. Already some PC manufacturers, including HP and Dell, plan to offer a "downgrade" option from Vista to XP for business customers who request it -- and many plan to, especially corporate clients, which have been very slow to adopt Vista.
The battle between XP and Vista has been fascinating, actually. The lack of adoption of Windows Vista in the corporate world, mainly because of incompatibilities, lack of drivers for legacy printers and other devices and the need for additional RAM and processing power has put Microsoft in a terrible bind. It has already extended its June 30 deadline for the end of XP once; if it does it again, it tacitly admits the failure of Vista in the enterprise. If it doesn't, it ignores the cries of the installed base of its customers, many of whom at least want the choice of XP when it comes to operating systems.
As for the Service Pack, I have applied it to a half-dozen systems and found it flawlessly installed in about 30 minutes...
Wed, 7 May 08
Bill Gates Talks Technology With South Korea's President
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59632
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak discussed information technology investments and the future of the Internet on Tuesday during a brief visit by the software mogul and philanthropist.
"We're approaching the second decade of (the) digital age," Gates told Lee at the start of their meeting at the presidential Blue House, according to a media pool report. Press access at Lee's residence was limited.
"The Internet has been operating now for 10 years," said Gates, who mentioned he was making his first trip to South Korea since 2001. "The second 10 years will be very different."
The Blue House said in a statement that Microsoft, the South Korean government and South Korean companies will invest a total of US$313 million (EU202 million) in information technology for vehicles, games and education.
Earlier, Microsoft Corp. and automakers Hyundai Motor Inc. and Kia Motors Corp. announced a deal whereby the South Korean companies will use Microsoft's in-car software, which allows people to control personal music players and telephones with voice commands.
The company has a one-year exclusivity deal on the software with Ford Motor Co. in the U.S., but that expires in November. Fiat also has been selling cars with the software.
"We're doing some very interesting work on automobile software," Gates said after having dinner with Lee. "That's a really wide open area where some very exiting things will come out of."
Lee, a conservative former construction CEO, swept into office in February with a vow to boost economic growth through deregulation and increased foreign investment.
The deals announced during Gates' visit would boost South Korea's economic growth by as much as 7 trillion won (US$6.9 billion; EU4.4 billion) over the next five years, the Blue House statement quoted Gates as saying.
Besides meeting Lee, Gates later delivered a speech at an event sponsored by South Korean...
Wed, 7 May 08
Why Germany's Deutsche Telekom Wants Sprint Nextel
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59629
Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier, has been struggling since 2004 when Sprint and Nextel merged. The $35 billion deal is widely seen as a disaster, due to higher-than-expected costs and problems integrating the two companies' different networks and technologies. Sprint Nextel now suffers the highest churn rate of any U.S. operator, and its stock has slumped 40 percent this year.
In the past week, Sprint Nextel got some more bad news: Its credit rating was cut to junk by Standard & Poor's, and a federal appeals court affirmed the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's decision to force the company to vacate 800 megahertz of frequencies by June 26 to eliminate interference with public safety radio systems -- a blow that could cost the struggling company $3.4 billion.
The most recent woes make Sprint Nextel, which posted a $29.6 billion loss in 2007, more vulnerable than ever to a takeover, analysts say. So it's no surprise that rumors Germany's Deutsche Telekom is interested in buying the company, which first surfaced in March, are once again back in the headlines. Sprint is worth about $22 billion. Neither company would comment on May 5 about the renewed takeover speculation.
The combination of the two carriers would give Deutsche Telekom the No. 1 mobile share in the U.S. in subscriber terms, ahead of both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint currently has just over 20 percent of the market, while Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA unit is ranked No. 4, with roughly 11 percent share. Being swallowed by a larger outfit like Deutsche Telekom is just one of various possible fates that may await Sprint Nextel. All of them promise to reshape the telecom landscape in the U.S.
There is already significant speculation about potential scenarios. Press reports on May 5, for instance, said...
Wed, 7 May 08
Angry Investors Sue Yahoo and CEO Jerry Yang
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59627
Jerry Yang wanted nothing more than for Microsoft to leave him and Yahoo alone. Now that Yahoo's CEO has his wish, he may be suffering a case of non-seller's remorse.
For one thing, there's the lawsuits. Yahoo's value dropped 14 percent over the weekend, when Microsoft released a letter from CEO Steve Ballmer to Yang. Shareholders are now suing Yang and the Yahoo board, accusing them of neglecting their duties to shareholders.
"Right now, the way we see it, the board's failure to control Jerry Yang has cost shareholders billions of dollars in value," said Mark Lebovich, lead partner at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, which is amending an existing class action against the board. "If there's some master plan that's going to create greater shareholder value than Microsoft may have offered, the market hasn't seen it. And we'd like to see it."
Meanwhile Yang told Reuters that he was open to continuing discussions with Microsoft. "We were negotiating a way to find common ground, and then on Saturday they chose to walk away," he said. "They started it and they walked away." Yang was due to meet with employees Tuesday.
"They chose to walk away after we put a price on the table, and they didn't want to negotiate," Yang told The New York Times. "From my perspective, we were open all along to selling to Microsoft. We just feel Yahoo, either stand-alone or with Microsoft, is worth more than what they put on the table."
Last week, Microsoft's board approved raising the company's offer to $33 a share, up from an initial bid of $31. It was reported that Yang was holding out for $37, prompting Ballmer to call a halt to the negotiations.
The failed talks angered large, powerful shareholders and could endanger the reelection of some...
Wed, 7 May 08
Yahoo Searches Will Use McAfee for Security Alerts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59626
On Tuesday, Yahoo and McAfee announced a partnership to make the Yahoo Search experience safer. Launched in beta, the new SearchScan feature, powered by McAfee SiteAdvisor technology, offers always-on alerts for sites with security concerns involving spyware, adware and other malicious software. McAfee SiteAdvisor tests and rates nearly every trafficked site on the Internet.
SearchScan also identifies sites that have shown bad e-mail practices, flooding user inboxes with spam. SearchScan is available for Yahoo Search users in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Spain.
"The new SearchScan feature from Yahoo Search makes searching the Web even safer than ever before," said Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search. "No other search engine today offers this level of warning before visiting sites that can damage or infect a user's PC and cost them valuable time and money."
Here's how it works: By integrating McAfee's technology into Yahoo Search, sites that may harm a user's computer just by visiting them will be eliminated from appearing in Yahoo Search results. SearchScan also alerts users to potentially risky sites with a red warning sign in search results, allowing users to proceed with caution. During this beta period, SearchScan displays McAfee alerts optimal for the Yahoo Search user and does not include all McAfee SiteAdvisor red ratings.
After children's safety, 65 percent of Americans online are more worried about clicking unsecured search listings than the threat of neighborhood crime, getting one's wallet stolen or e-mail scams, according to a Decipher Inc Online Security & Web Search consumer survey conducted in March.
"Research indicates that four out of five Web-site visits start with a search, and consumers who use Yahoo Search will now be alerted to high-risk Web sites," said Tim Dowling, McAfee vice president, Web Security...
Wed, 7 May 08
Apple's Technical Support Is the Best, Survey Finds
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59625
Calling computer tech support is generally not a happy way to spend an afternoon. Except, apparently, when calling Apple.
Consumer Reports' annual reliability survey put Apple's tech support head and shoulders above the rest of the consumer PC industry. Apple solved desktop woes 81 percent of the time and laptop problems 83 percent of the time.
"Apple is again at the top of the heap with tech support," said Donna Tapellini, an associate editor at the magazine. The survey, conducted from September 2006 to January 2008, represents more than 10,000 desktops and laptops.
Those numbers are massively better than Apple's PC competitors. Dell was a distant number two for desktop problems with 56 percent satisfaction, followed closely by Gateway at 54 percent, and HP and its Compaq brand at 47 percent.
On the laptop side, the PC makers did better, with Lenovo following Apple with 66 percent satisfaction, followed by Dell at 60 percent, Toshiba at 55 percent, Gateway at 54 percent, Sony at 51 percent and HP at 48 percent.
Apple retail strategy appears to be a key factor in its customer satisfaction success. Apple's "Genius Bar," where employees provide walk-in support, resulted in satisfied customers 90 percent of the time, the survey found. Unlike many other companies' policies, where consumers can't even talk to tech support if they are out of warranty or they don't have an extended support plan, any Apple customer can bring a machine into the store and get a free diagnosis. Customers must, of course, pay for repairs if they haven't purchased the AppleCare extended warranty.
And unlike most other extended warranty plans, AppleCare is worth it, Consumer Reports said, especially since Apple only offers a 90-day warranty on new purchases. The fact that Apple computers are more expensive also factors into that decision....
Wed, 7 May 08
Vodafone Will Sell Apple's iPhone in 10 Countries
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59624
The march of Apple's iPhone around the world is picking up steam. Vodafone announced Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with the Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to sell the device in 10 markets.
The markets are Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa, and Turkey. Customers in those countries will be able to purchase the iPhone by the end of this year.
While there have been rumors that Apple would come out with a 3G model sometime this year, Vodafone's announcement makes no mention of whether it will be selling the 3G version or the current model.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted this is the first deal between Vodafone and Apple, and that it "tremendously expands the worldwide distribution of the iPhone." Up to now, that distribution has been limited to a few countries besides the U.S.
He said the announcement was as notable for what it didn't say as for what it did. He pointed out there was no mention of availability or pricing, in addition to no mention about whether it would be the 3G version. Greengart said his "personal speculation" is that the 3G model will be announced very soon, because Apple wants it out in time for the holiday season.
The coming of the 3G iPhone has been the subject of various rumors and reports, such as a report in March from a Bank of America analyst that the device would be coming this month.
IDC analyst Chris Hazelton agreed that the 3G iPhone will probably be announced in the near future, although he said he "wouldn't be surprised" if it started shipping as soon as it was announced -- meaning it could be made public right up to the edge of...
Wed, 7 May 08
How To Avoid Cons that Can Lead to Identity Theft
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59607
When most people think about Internet security problems, they focus on viruses and spyware -- technological attacks that usually can be mitigated by technological defenses. But the most insidious Internet security problems today rely on human gullibility, not tricky software. Although technological defenses can help you fend off these newer types of attacks, your best weapons against them are common sense, alertness, and careful e-mail and Web-surfing practices.
These newer types of attacks are called "social engineering," and they are used by criminals to steal your money and identity and to plant malicious software on your computer that can be used to rip you off. Social engineering is the online equivalent of an old-fashioned con game, in which a crook frightens people with false warnings, or tempts them with false promises, and then robs them.
The most common form of social engineering is called phishing, a one-two punch using both e-mail and Web browsing to trick people into typing confidential information into Web sites that look like the sites of real companies, especially financial institutions. But these phishing sites are actually skillfully designed fakes that transmit your sensitive data to criminals, often in distant countries. Once these creeps have your passwords and account numbers, they can loot your funds and steal your identity.
Here are some tips to help you avoid being the victim of social engineering.
1. Never, ever click on a link embedded in an e-mail that appears to come from a financial institution, even if it's your own bank or brokerage and even if it looks official right down to the logo. The same goes for payment or auction services, such as PayPal or eBay.
Don't do this even if the e-mail asserts that your account has a problem or that the bank has to verify your information. And certainly...
Wed, 7 May 08
Staying One Step Ahead of Password Thieves
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59606
Creating and remembering strong passwords -- like backing up our computers' contents -- is something many of us know we should do, but don't.
And can you blame us? Having to come up with user names and passwords for virtually everything we do on a computer is enough to make anyone use "Magic123" over and over. I've even heard of people who keep lists of passwords taped to their computer screens.
With a little time and some discipline, you can create strong passwords and do a better job managing them.
Of course, no matter how many precautions you take, no password is ever 100 percent secure. By the same token, you don't have to follow all the advice in this column to avoid password theft.
By now most people know that you shouldn't use personal information such as your name, birth date or address in a password. It's also not a good idea to use something obvious such as "1234" or "password."
Passwords should be at least seven or eight characters in length. The longer the password, the stronger it is.
Next, choose a password that would appear as nothing more than a random list of characters to someone else. Use both uppercase and lowercase letters and, if possible, use punctuation marks from all over the keyboard. One technique is to take a phrase that means something to you or a line from a favorite song and create a password by taking the first letter of each word of that phrase or line. Make sure to add in some symbols. For instance, you could replace an "a" with "," but use this technique sparingly in your password.
Although you should never use the same password to secure highly sensitive information on more than one site, it's probably OK to use the same password for low-risk...
Tue, 6 May 08
T-Mobile Begins Roll Out of 3G Network in New York
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59619
T-Mobile has launched its third-generation UMTS/HSDPA network in New York City and plans to roll it out across major metropolitan areas through the year.
"The launch of our 3G network comes at a time when 3G phones and services are more affordable, capable and appealing to our consumer marketplace than ever before," said Cole Brodman, chief development officer for T-Mobile USA. "We benefit not only from the economic scale of 3G, but also from the extensive commercial experience of 3G in our European markets." He said T-Mobile USA will deliver a "rich portfolio of new and meaningful services to enrich our customers' lives."
T-Mobile has yet to unveil any of the new services that will run on its network, however. Neither did it unveil any new phones that take advantage of 3G. T-Mobile offers four handsets -- two Nokia models and two Samsung models -- that run on the midspeed UMTS technology, but none of them have full Web browsers.
In fact, PC World reports, users are forbidden from installing the Opera Mini browser on the phones. The phones automatically connect to the best available network, either the 3G network or the GSM/GPRS/EDGE network.
T-Mobile said a new phone capable of taking advantage of the speedy HSDPA technology will be released "in the coming months," along with "new and compelling data-centric, all-in-one devices."
One reason for the launch in New York ahead of fancy new phones or data services may be voice-quality issues. Sasha Segan, writing in PC Magazine, said T-Mobile has struggled with dropped calls and other quality issues due to the slim slice of spectrum it has for its current networks.
For its 3G network, T-Mobile is on a new spectrum known as AWS, "effectively doubling T-Mobile USA's spectrum position, and laying the foundation for...
Tue, 6 May 08
Sun Challenges Linux Vendors With OpenSolaris
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59618
Sun Microsystems on Monday released the OpenSolaris operating system. Some industry analysts are suggesting the community-developed platform based on Sun's Solaris kernel could give Linux a new challenge.
OpenSolaris combines the foundation of Solaris technologies and tools with desktop features and applications developed by open-source communities such as GNOME, Mozilla and the Free Software Foundation. The OS will also be available through Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).
Stephen Lau, an OpenSolaris Governing Board member, called the software a "massive advancement for OS development and deployment."
"OpenSolaris provides an ideal environment for students, developers and early adopters looking to learn and gain experience with innovative technologies like ZFS, Zones and DTrace," Lau said. "And yes, it uses bash by default."
The OpenSolaris OS was designed to enable developers to develop, test, troubleshoot and deploy Web services, high-performance computing and network applications. LiveCD installation and the new network-based OpenSolaris Image Packaging System (IPS) aim to simplify and speed installation and integration with third-party applications.
According to Rich Green, executive vice president of Sun's software business, the "network economy" has ushered in new, dramatically different business models that have changed both the pace and approach with which individuals, communities and companies compete and succeed. "It is critical," he said, "for the participants in this new market to have the right tools and technologies to meet these challenges."
OpenSolaris features ZFS as its default file system, which protects work with instant rollback and continual check-summing capabilities to allow users to test ideas. Meanwhile, Solaris Containers let developers build virtualization-aware applications that can be deployed on more than 1,000 systems, from single machines through multi-CPU and multi-core systems.
OpenSolaris creates interesting opportunities and challenges for Sun, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT Research. Sun, he said, is attempting to leverage the open-source...
Tue, 6 May 08
FCC Caps Fund Payments to Telecom Carriers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59617
The Federal Communications Commission has introduced an interim cap on payments to competitive eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) organizations under the Universal Service Fund (USF) established by Congress in 1996. The fund currently provides subsidizes for the development and operation of telecom services for rural Americans, schools, libraries and hospitals.
Consumers currently pay more than 11 percent in USF fees on their monthly landline, mobile-phone and Internet bills. The FCC notes that USF payments to ETCs have ballooned from approximately $1.5 million in 2000 to more than $1 billion last year -- to the benefit of wireless carriers, primarily.
The FCC's decision is intended to stem the explosive growth of the fund while it pursues comprehensive reform of the program. If left unchecked, the fund's staggering growth would threaten the sustainability of the USF program and force consumers to pay excessive and ever-increasing contributions, FCC commissioner Robert McDowell said.
"Like an unabated fever, expenditures from this fund continue to spike out of control," McDowell said. "Ultimately, it is consumers who pay for these unbridled escalations."
However, only three of the FCC's five commissioners voted in favor of the funding cap. Though the majority believe the decision will enable the FCC to move forward on comprehensive reform of both the USF program and inter-carrier compensation, commissioner Michael Copps called the cap an "illusory band-aid."
"It is supposed to contain costs but, in reality, imposes the much heavier cost of lost opportunity to reform universal service and put America back in the vanguard of advanced telecommunications," Copps said.
The U.S. continues to lag in many international broadband rankings, Copps noted. And even as consumers and competitors around the world are receiving high-speed and high-value services, Americans in urban and rural areas and on tribal lands are falling further behind.
Moreover, the...
Tue, 6 May 08
Xobni Mines E-Mail Inboxes for Social Relationships
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59616
Would you like an e-mail account that is aware of your social relationships? Xobni, a San Francisco-based startup, is betting you would.
On Monday, Xobni launched a public beta of its Microsoft Outlook add-on. The company, whose name is "inbox" spelled backward, said its add-on "helps users quickly find and understand what's in their inbox" through organization by relationships.
Those relationships include how you've communicated with your contacts, how they've interacted with each other, and what files have been exchanged. Xobni said analyzing these relationships "exposes the social architecture buried in every inbox."
This social architecture is "incredibly valuable," said Xobni cofounder Matt Brezina, adding that e-mail software, designed 20 years ago, leaves the network of relationships unconnected.
"We connect the dots to draw a clearer picture of every aspect of your life that flows through e-mail," he said.
Although there has been an explosion of social-networking sites, the company noted that most social interaction on the Internet involves e-mail. Incoming e-mail can thus be sorted by the relationships between the inbox owner and the sender, for instance, instead of such parameters as chronology. The idea is that the messages from the people most important to you rise to the top.
Among other things, the product's features also include threaded conversations, "lightning fast" e-mail search, "people-centic" navigation, and an ability for a user to understand their contacts' e-mail habits. You can readily navigate your inbox by people or find attachments from past e-mails.
Xobni can also automatically extract phone numbers from the address book and previous e-mail conversations, with contact details popping to a sidebar. It also offers one-click scheduling, and e-mail analytics such as rankings, graphs and statistics about how you and your contacts use e-mail, and there is an integrated search of the Web from within Microsoft Outlook.
Xobni launched...
Tue, 6 May 08
Blu-ray Sales Stagnant, Unlikely To Improve in 2008
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59615
What if they called a war and no one showed up? Industry heavyweights may have fought hard on either side of the next-generation DVD battle, but consumers apparently have decided to take a pass.
A report on DVD player adoption finds that Blu-ray, which won a hard-fought format war with HD DVD, made negligible gains from the demise of the rival format. Sales of Blu-ray players fell 40 percent between January and February, but as it won the format war, it picked up only two percent in sales. HD DVD fell 13 percent between January and February, and then fell off the charts as production slowed and inventory disappeared.
"That stand-alone Blu-ray players haven't picked up significantly from HD DVD's loss shows that few consumers were dissuaded primarily by the 'format war,'" said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD Group.
"When we surveyed consumers late last year, an overwhelming number of them said they weren't investing in a new next-generation player because their old DVD player worked well and next-generation players were too expensive," Rubin said. "It's clear from retail sales that those consumer sentiments are still holding true."
In a report issued last week, ABI Research said the high-definition DVD market will not "kick into gear" for 12 to 18 months, when manufacturers release full-featured players and drop prices to the $200 level.
"Most current players do not support all the functions that studios place on the discs," said Steve Wilson, a research principal at ABI. "Lacking support for -- or upgradability to -- BD-Live or Bonus View (picture in picture), consumers cannot utilize all the available options. Manufacturers would rather sell more fully featured models."
And as the U.S. economy descends into recession, few consumers will be rushing to Best Buy to pay $400 for a new DVD...
Tue, 6 May 08
Microsoft Walks From Yahoo, But Pressures Continue
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59602
After months of playing cat and mouse, it appears the Microsoft-Yahoo merger is dead. Microsoft walked away from the Yahoo acquisition over the weekend, and Yahoo's stock is feeling the impact. But is this really the end of the saga?
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he still believes the proposed acquisition made sense for both companies and the market as a whole. Microsoft's goal in pursuing Yahoo, he said, was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for stockholders and employees.
"Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo has not moved toward accepting our offer," Ballmer said. "After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal."
The news didn't seem to faze Yahoo. Chairman Roy Bostock responded with the same message he has been sending since Microsoft's initial $44.6 billion bid: It's still not enough. Even with the additional $5 billion offered, Bostock said Yahoo's board and management believe Microsoft's offer undervalues the company.
"Yahoo is profitable, growing and executing well on its strategic plan to capture the large opportunities in the relatively young online advertising market," Bostock said. "Our solid results for the first quarter of 2008 and increased full year 2008 operating cash-flow outlook reflect the progress the company is making."
Bostock pointed out that Yahoo has a refined strategy to drive new volume and yield, has reorganized to focus on its most promising products and services, has invested in innovations to revolutionize display advertising and close the competitive gap in search, and has enhanced expense and resource management for improved profitability.
Yahoo cofounder and CEO Jerry Yang said he is proud of...
Tue, 6 May 08
T-Mobile and Nokia Offer Joint Mobile Services in Europe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59601
T-Mobile and Nokia are joining to offer new Internet services and social communities on mobile devices in Europe. The mobile-technology giants said their efforts will offer all their European customers access to T-Mobile's web'n'walk as well as Nokia's Ovi Internet services.
The companies said users' access to mobile social networks will be enhanced by offering T-Mobile's community-oriented MyFaves service, fronted by Nokia's user experience. The alliance will also enable what they describe as "widget cooperation" between the mini-programs offered by both companies.
Nokia will customize its devices to optimize them for a dedicated suite of services from T-Mobile, and T-Mobile customers can similarly get enhanced access to Nokia services.
Christopher Schlaffer of Deustche Telekom -- which owns T-Mobile -- said his company's MyFaves and web'n'walk were complementary to Nokia service offerings such as maps or games. Similarly, Nokia Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki described T-Mobile's services as "a prefect match" for Ovi.
Asked if the alliance between Nokia and T-Mobile in Europe could impact the U.S. market, Avi Greengart of industry research firm Current Analysis quipped that "what happens in Europe stays in Europe."
He noted that T-Mobile in Europe is essentially run as a separate company from its American counterpart. Deutsche Telekom, however, does see its mobile communications companies as having a worldwide service. In its announcement with Nokia, for instance, it emphasized that its companies use the GSM standard, making "T-Mobile the only mobile communications provider with a seamless transatlantic service."
Greengart sees the big winner from this alliance as Nokia, since this is "another major European carrier who has signed on to their Ovi services in one form or another." Greengart noted that Nokia has "managed to create a suite of services in Ovi and to get a number of European operators onboard," including Vodafone.
Eventually, said IDC's Chris Hazelton,...
Tue, 6 May 08
Vovici Launches New Enterprise Feedback Tools
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59599
How do you ensure that you're listening to your customers? Do you rely on random phone surveys and questionnaires? If so, does the information you gather give you an accurate picture of how your customers feel and how loyal they are?
Vovici, which provides enterprise feedback management (EFM) software, is providing a new module for its EFM products called Community Builder that aims to gather these types of data directly from customers by leveraging the product's survey capabilities.
Dean Wiltse, chairman and CEO of Vovici, told us that both EFM and Community Builder integrate with Salesforce.com's Ideas platform. Companies collect qualitative feedback using Ideas, he said. "We can add a component to them that allows them to collect quantitative feedback by deploying surveys. The real power is then being able to marry the profile data and transactional data and offline data that you may have in your CRM system into our EFM solution," he said.
Community Builder will give companies the ability to include forums, suggestion boxes, knowledge bases, Facebook-style social interaction, and other resources that will make it easier to gain insight into customer sentiment and satisfaction. "When you can take the transactional data and put that together with quantitative survey data, it really gives a completely new, very rich set of information that hasn't been easily implemented in the past," Wiltse said.
Wiltse said one large technology manufacturer that utilizes the Ideas platform will add a "Join Our Advisory Panel" link directly from the Ideas portal. The reward for doing so is getting to see new products before they come out and having the opportunity to provide feedback.
Creating a more respectful survey environment is critical, Wiltse said. "Part of building the relationship is making sure the survey process is one that respects...
Tue, 6 May 08
Two Services Make Online Data Backups a Breeze
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59594
You've been through this before. A smart-aleck technology columnist tells you to back up your computer files or else. Sure enough, you choose "or else," because making spare copies of your files is too much bother.
You don't want to spend $100 or more on an external hard drive or figure out how to install the automatic backup software. Besides, if your house is robbed or burned down, there goes your computer and your precious backup, too.
Unless your backed-up data wasn't home when disaster struck.
These days you can copy your files over the Internet, and store them at a high-security data center, with help from an online data backup service.
Not many consumers presently use online backup -- only about 1.5 percent, according to a survey taken last year by research firm IDC Corp. in Framingham, Mass. But lots of companies offer online storage for small amounts of data, often at no charge. Two firms promise to store every file you've got for as little as $50 a year.
Both of them have a Massachusetts connection. Last year, EMC Corp. in Hopkinton purchased Berkeley Data Systems, a Utah company that offers Mozy, an online backup service for consumers and businesses. Meanwhile, in Boston, a homegrown outfit called Carbonite has offered online backup since 2006. Based on our tests, you can't go wrong with either Mozy or Carbonite, but we'd give Carbonite the edge, thanks to its brain-dead simplicity and slightly lower price.
Carbonite costs $49.95 a year or $89.95 for two years of service. Mozy's consumer service, MozyHome, charges $4.95 a month, or $59.40 a year -- but you get a free month's service if you pay for a year in advance. In exchange, both companies say you can back up as much data as you wish. Mozy also offers a free service that's...
Tue, 6 May 08
How IT Clients Can Avoid Costly Mistakes
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59592
Thinking of doing business with my company? You should proceed with caution. I've made mistakes, and some of my clients have suffered because of them.
My 10-person firm sells popular business software and then provides services such as consulting, training, support, and customizations. We have more than 500 clients. Most are happy, but some are not. The unhappy ones are not to blame. Their dissatisfaction is almost always my fault. In the effort to get a sale, and sometimes long after the sale, I've made errors in judgment. I didn't take the high road when I should have. I took the easy way out. I'm pretty sure that other information technology professionals have done the same. But this is about me, not them.
Am I kidding here? No. To prove it, here are a few real-life examples, with names changed, of how I messed up and failed my clients. I've tried to learn from these mistakes, and you should be on the lookout for warning signs such as these before you give the green light to any IT project.
1. I sold cars to unlicensed drivers.
To this day, I'm amazed by the number of people who will spend a ton of money on software for their entire business after a single demonstration. I spend more time picking out a pair of sneakers than some clients have spent evaluating a business application.
Barr Landscaping turned to my firm to put in a help-desk system so they could track service issues from the time a ticket is opened to the completion of a customer survey. After one demonstration of our product, Alan Barr, the owner, gave me a thumbs-up and said enthusiastically: "This looks great. Let's get started!" Buying new software should require product research, multiple demos, on-site testing, reference checking, and planning. None of which...
Tue, 6 May 08
Alliances To Tap Benefits of Multicore Computer Chips
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59584
In the computer world's equivalent of The Amazing Race television show, three rival teams of computer researchers are working on new types of software needed to better use computer chips that can process many tasks at the same time.
Stanford University and six computer and chipmakers plan to announce Friday the creation of the Pervasive Parallelism Lab. Besides Stanford, the backers are Sun Microsystems, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Intel.
Last month, Intel and Microsoft announced they were jointly financing new labs at the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to tackle the same problem.
All three efforts are in response to a growing awareness that the software industry is not ready for the coming availability of microprocessors with 8 or 16 or more cores, or processing units, on a single chip. Computer and chipmakers are concerned that if software cannot use the new hardware efficiently, customers will have little reason to upgrade.
The Stanford lab, which will cost $6 million over three years, will be led by Kunle Olukotun, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science. Olukotun helped pioneer the idea of multicore microprocessors, which have since gained rapid popularity in both corporate and consumer computer hardware.
The most advanced corporate server microprocessor, as well as processors for video game machines, have up to eight cores. While operating systems -- the basic layer of software that runs a computer -- can work with this type of hardware, software engineers widely acknowledge that most applications, ranging from corporate productivity software to multimedia programs, are not designed for efficient use of the dozens or hundreds of processors expected in future computers.
The separate university efforts will share some approaches, but will also try different experiments, including new programming languages and hardware innovations.
They will also rethink operating systems and compilers,...
Tue, 6 May 08
The Inside Story of eBay's Quest for Craigslist
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59583
Online classified ad site Craigslist is none too happy with having e-commerce giant eBay hold a stake in its business. And eBay isn't taking kindly to Craigslist's efforts to diminish that ownership. The extent of both sides' displeasure was made plain in court papers unsealed in Delaware on Apr. 30.
The documents uncover years of wrangling as Craigslist became increasingly uncomfortable with eBay's minority ownership and resisted the larger company's acquisition overtures. The tussle reflects eBay's determination to maintain at least partial control of a successful, expanding company as growth in its own core business slows and its share value declines.
EBay kicked off the legal battle with an Apr. 22 lawsuit accusing Craigslist of illegally reducing its ownership. According to the lawsuit, Craigslist diluted eBay's holding, initially at 28.4 percent, to less than 25 percent, thereby negating eBay's right to elect a director to Craigslist's board. Founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, Craigslist is worth "several billion dollars, thereby making eBay's minority stake highly valuable," according to the lawsuit.
Craigslist is so valuable, in fact, that eBay indicated it would like to buy the portion it didn't already own. The Delaware Chancery Court released a copy of eBay's suit that reveals a series of e-mails sent last year between former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster. "We would welcome the opportunity to acquire the remainder" of Craigslist whenever its owners "feel it would be appropriate," Whitman wrote in an e-mail dated July 23, according to the papers.
The desire to buy Craigslist is consistent with eBay's strategy under Whitman and new CEO John Donahoe, who took over Apr. 1, to move beyond its traditional online auction business into other areas of e-commerce, including payments and Web-based communications. Purchases include online payments pioneer PayPal, Internet phone company Skype,...
Tue, 6 May 08
Travel for Work Gets an Adjustment as Gas Prices Rise
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59511
Even though he drives a fuel-efficient car, real estate agent Harlan Comee of Yorba Linda, Calif., says that unrelenting gas-price increases are forcing him to rethink his sales strategy.
He's narrowed his geographic focus when looking for new homes to represent. And when with clients, he tries to show as many properties in one area as possible to curb some of the back-and-forth trips he used to make. "Now, I try to say, 'We're going to concentrate on the north today,'" he says.
Soaring gas prices are forcing employees -- and employers -- to adjust the way they plan and execute business trips within the USA.
A typical 100-mile sales call costs about $3 more than a year ago, says Lee Czarapata of Runzheimer International, a management consulting firm that tracks travel costs. (The $3 figure assumes the sales representative is driving a midsize, four-door sedan partly in the city and partly on the freeway and gets about 21.5 miles per gallon.) "That doesn't seem like a lot," he says. "But when you've got hundreds or thousands of drivers out there doing it every day, it adds up."
More companies are buying smaller vehicles -- a four-cylinder sedan instead of a six-cylinder one, for instance -- and more are asking about hybrid vehicles that run partly on electricity, says Gregory Corrigan, a vice president of PHH Arval, a Baltimore-based company that manages corporate fleets.
"They're trying to turn every rock they can to cut fuel costs," he says.
Some companies are also postponing the replacement of fleet vehicles because they're spending more money on operations, says Ruth Alfson, a fleet manager at Serco, which manages corporate and government fleets.
But most business travelers are making smaller adjustments to their routines, such as consolidating trips, replacing some visits with e-mails or conference calls, or driving out of their...
Sun, 4 May 08
Integration Missteps at AOL Lead to Flat Ad Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59563
AOL made key mistakes that pushed down display-advertising sales and resulted in the Time Warner Inc. unit's first quarter of flat ad revenue since it began staking its future on the boom in online ads, executives said Wednesday.
AOL's troubles integrating $1 billion worth of corporate acquisitions into a single "Platform-A" should serve as a warning for Microsoft Corp. as it pursues an unsolicited bid for Yahoo Inc. now worth more than $40 billion.
"If Microsoft does buy Yahoo, a much larger company to digest (than the ones AOL has acquired), it will be many quarters" before the units operate tightly, said David Hallerman, a senior analyst with the research group eMarketer. "It's so hard to make that kind of change, to really integrate, when there have been all these silos."
Overall, AOL revenues fell 23 percent in the three months ending March 31, compared with the same period in 2007, according to Time Warner. With advertising making up only half of AOL's revenue, the 1 percent growth in advertising was not enough to offset the 38 percent plunge in subscriptions.
The 1 percent increase at AOL also was low compared with its rivals. During the first quarter, Google Inc. saw a 40 percent increase in online ads, Microsoft a 39 percent jump and Yahoo 7 percent.
The company suffered from the loss of an exclusive partnership with a major advertising customer.
And even as AOL set audience records in March, display advertising on AOL-owned sites -- historically its revenue staple apart from its plummeting Internet access business -- declined 18 percent.
Time Warner blamed challenges merging Tacoda, Quigo and other acquisitions with its long-standing Advertising.com business.
"We didn't integrate our Platform-A acquisitions fast enough," said Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's chief executive. "That created a sales channel conflict."
In recent weeks, AOL has extended Tacoda's ad-targeting technologies across its...
Sat, 3 May 08
Adobe's Open Screen Project Could be Too Late
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59600
In the wake of Thursday's announcement by Adobe Systems that it is launching the Open Screen Project to make it easier for developers to use the company's Flash technology on a variety of devices, the lingering question is whether the move simply comes too late.
Over the last few years, the mobile market has burgeoned into a multibillion-dollar industry, but Adobe has struggled to match its desktop market share. Its Flash software is installed on an estimated 98 percent of desktop systems, but only on 30 percent or so of mobile devices.
Adobe hopes its Open Screen initiative, which will go live in mid-2009, will help it serve Flash software to as many as a billion mobile devices and produce a more consistent screen performance. Adobe is partnering on the project with a number of tech and mobile companies -- including Cisco, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson and Verizon Wireless -- as well as a number of content providers -- BBC, MTV and NBC Universal, to name a few.
"Adobe is spearheading the Open Screen Project with support from industry leaders who share a common vision to provide rich, interactive experiences across computers, devices and consumer electronics," said Shantanu Narayen, Adobe CEO. "A consistent, more open platform for developers will drive rapid innovation, vastly improving the user experience."
Part of the problem for Adobe is that not all industry leaders share its vision. Until recently, the slow growth of Flash on mobile devices probably did not trouble Adobe too much, since the capabilities of handsets have been notoriously slow to develop. But then Apple released first the iPhone and then the iPod touch, and together the devices introduced a new standard of mobile Web browsing. Significantly, Apple elected to release its devices without including support for Adobe Flash software, and has shown...
Sat, 3 May 08
U.S. Decline Puts Sun in Red Despite Global Progress
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59598
Sun Microsystems jolted financial analysts by posting a $34 million net loss for its third business quarter, which ended March 30. Company revenues also declined by a half percentage point from a year ago to $3.27 billion, missing the company's projections as well as expectations on Wall Street. The results were in stark contrast to the upbeat financial reports recently issued by industry bellwethers such as IBM and Google.
In particular, Sun's U.S. revenues decreased 10 percent year over year, with sales declines in both the computer systems and storage segments of the company's business.
"We saw a substantive change in U.S. sentiment, along with change in orders mix and closings, with purchase decisions postponed on the basis of macroeconomic uncertainty," said Sun's CEO Jonathan Schwartz. "I'm disappointed."
With the U.S. traditionally representing about 40 percent of Sun's business, the company found itself unable to use growth in the world's remaining geographies to offset its U.S.-based sales problems. "Collectively, the slowing had the most pronounced impact on the higher end of our system-product sales from high-end tape libraries to enterprise servers," Schwartz said.
The U.S. problems overshadowed the far better results the company achieved in other parts of the world. Sun delivered growth in 12 out of 16 selling geographies during the quarter, Schwartz noted, with double-digit performance in emerging markets within Europe, the Middle East and Africa; the Asia Pacific; and the Americas, excluding the U.S. market.
The company's Niagara-based platforms also grew billings by an impressive 110 percent year over year. Moreover, sales at the company's display storage business grew 6 percent. Even better, Sun saw outstanding growth in its blade server business, together with wins in high-performance computing.
"With the evolution of blades, you can get 48 blades in one rack and, at this...
Sat, 3 May 08
IBM, Google Will Collaborate on Cloud Computing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59597
Google and IBM committed to working more closely on cloud computing Thursday at IBM's Business Partnership Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. The companies said they were extending a joint research project that started last October.
"Cloud computing is the story of our lifetime," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said. "Eventually all devices will be on the network."
He was joined onstage by IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, who said the relationship marks a new avenue for Big Blue. "It is the first time we have taken something from the consumer arena and applied it to the enterprise," he said.
Especially through its Docs and Apps online applications, Google is pioneering a consumer-facing cloud in which applications run and data is saved on Google's servers. On the business side, software as a service and hosted business applications are gaining increasing support.
While IBM and Google are currently in fairly distinct markets, Schmidt said the boundaries are rapidly blurring. "There's not that much difference between the enterprise cloud and the consumer cloud," Schmidt said. There is one big difference, though. "The cloud has higher value in business; that's the secret to our collaboration," Schmidt added.
"It's a really intriguing partnership," said Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, in a telephone interview. Google, with its young cofounders, is perceived as defining the "next wave of IT attitude and solutions," King said, while IBM is the "oldest of the old wave." But the companies actually have a lot in common, "not the least of which is a dedication to innovation and building superior research groups."
One other thing the companies have in common is competition with Microsoft, although IBM works closely with Redmond in certain areas. "The key issue here is exactly what place does the operating system have in the future of desktop computing," King said. "As the...
Sat, 3 May 08
GTA IV Helps Boost Sales of Video-Game Consoles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59596
As most people are probably aware, 2008 is a presidential election year. One of the things political analysts will be looking at closely is whether the winning candidate has "coattails," or the ability to boost the vote totals of fellow party members running for the House and Senate.
One of the reasons Republicans are fond of Ronald Reagan, for instance, is that his coattails in 1980 were long enough to substantially reshape the Senate. By contrast, some Democrats are still grumpy because in 1996, Bill Clinton overwhelmed Bob Dole in the electoral college, but the party still lost two Senate seats.
The video-game industry has a similar view of new game releases. It's great for a title to sell a gazillion copies, but the real question is whether that game will boost the sales of related products -- in particular, the relatively expensive hardware needed to play it. On all fronts, the early returns for Grand Theft Auto IV look good.
GTA IV was released on two different platforms -- the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 -- and both manufacturers are reporting higher console sales as a result. The only disagreement is about which company is getting the biggest boost.
Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, told NextGen.biz that "we expect that GTA IV is definitely driving a lot of people to Xbox 360. ... The fact that we know that we're outselling [the PS3] two-to-one on the game is a pretty good sign that a lot of those games are going with a new console out the door."
That version of events was disputed by Sony Consumer Electronics, which said in a statement that "as expected, the demand for Grand Theft Auto IV drove sales of the PlayStation 3 entertainment system within the first...
Sat, 3 May 08
Microsoft Reported Ready to Go Hostile To Acquire Yahoo
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59595
Microsoft Corp. may go hostile in its bid for Yahoo Inc. as soon as Friday, according to a published report.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported early Friday that the world's largest software maker may be preparing to go straight to Internet pioneer Yahoo's shareholders.
An announcement was "likely" to come Friday, according to the report, though the newspaper said its sources cautioned that Microsoft may delay.
Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told employees in a company assembly Thursday that he knows how much he'd spend to buy Yahoo and accelerate his company's Internet play.
"We're willing to pay for that at some level, and beyond that level we're not willing to pay for it. I know exactly what I think Yahoo is worth to me," the executive said. "I won't go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it's worth if that gets the deal done."
But he didn't offer a figure, and he didn't say whether Microsoft is considering raising its unsolicited bid, worth $44.6 billion at the time it was made in early February.
The offer is currently worth about $42.4 billion, or $29.48 per share, based on Microsoft Corp.'s closing stock price Thursday. Yahoo Inc. has rejected the offer, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft's board has been considering whether to raise the bid to as much as $33 per share, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Ballmer didn't provide any new insight into the company's efforts to buy the Silicon Valley pioneer during the meeting at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, but he did indicate that an end to months of speculation was near.
"We ought to announce something in relatively short order," Ballmer told employees.
His comments were first reported by Silicon Alley Insider, an online technology news site, and confirmed by a Microsoft spokesman.
Ballmer...
Sat, 3 May 08
EMC Offers MozyHome for Macs Backup Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59577
Mac users looking for off-site backup can get it from EMC, which announced Thursday that its MozyHome for Mac is now available. EMC described it as "the industry's first unlimited online backup service" for Macs.
EMC said other versions of Mozy, including enterprise PCs, have about 700,000 users worldwide and about 6.2 billion files backed up.
Mac users can get two gigabytes of online backups free, or they can pay $4.95 per month for unlimited backups. The service automatically backs up data, and thus provides protection against hard-drive crashes, accidental deletion, natural disasters, or theft.
Mozy's security protection includes a 448-bit Blowfish encryption for files, and file transfers are protected by a 128-bit SSL connection. EMC said the transfer encryption is the same as that used for online banking.
Following a first backup, only incremental changes are backed up, making them faster. Mozy stores 30 days of older file versions as well as the most recent backup. For recovery, files can be downloaded from Mozy's Web site or ordered on a set of DVDs.
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that off-site automatic backup "caught on with enterprise a few years ago," and now it's becoming more popular among consumers.
He added that the MozyHome for Mac service is similar to a .Mac account available through the Mac OS. The difference, he said, is that the user is getting a secure connection and the storage is most likely in the same data center as Mozy's enterprise service.
EMC is a major provider of information infrastructure technology known for products such as EMC Retrospect. Mozy was acquired by EMC in 2007, when it bought Berkeley Data Systems, and it is part of the EMC Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division.
MozyHome for PCs is already available, and...
Sat, 3 May 08
Movie Fans Can Buy Releases Immediately From Apple
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59576
Consumers anxious to watch American Gangster or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly at home won't have wait in line at Blockbuster or see the dreaded "long wait" message in their Netflix queue. Those films are among the movies available for purchase on Apple's iTunes Store under a deal with movie studios that allows Apple to sell movies the same day they are released on DVD.
"We're thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We think movie fans will love being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios."
The deal covers DVD releases from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios. New releases are priced at $14.99.
Consumers can watch iTunes movies on an iPod, iPhone or computer -- and via AppleTV on a TV set.
"This is a game changer," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms.
Analysts hailed the deal as another boon for Apple, which is already the largest seller of music. Apple has sold four billion songs, surpassing even Wal-Mart's volume, the company said last month. "People want to watch a movie as soon as it comes out, and they don't want to have to wait," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "What Apple is doing is knocking down one more barrier for why you wouldn't want to buy a movie from them."
As with music, Apple's integration of iPods and the iTunes Store gives the company an "ideal platform that should give them a completive edge," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, in an e-mail.
"The Internet is a growing channel and...
Sat, 3 May 08
How Nokia Lets Users Help Drive Innovation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59573
Nokia researchers didn't quite know what to expect when, in March, 2007, they posted a mobile phone application called Sports Tracker on a company Web site that is open to the public. The program, still a work in progress, was designed to let runners and cyclists take advantage of the global positioning capability included in some Nokia models. Users can record workout data such as speed and distance, and can plot routes.
The response to Sports Tracker was overwhelming. Eventually more than 1 million people downloaded the program and used it for sports the developers never dreamed of, such as paragliding, hot-air ballooning, and motorcycle riding. More importantly, the users avidly provided criticism that Nokia then used to make improvements. Based on reader feedback, for example, developers added the capability to create online groups where users can share favorite routes and even photos they took along the way. "People were misusing the application in creative ways," says Jussi Kaasinen, a member of the team at Nokia Research Center in Helsinki that developed Sports Tracker.
You've heard of user-generated content? Sports Tracker is an example of how Nokia has begun experimenting with user-generated innovation. That's the premise behind Nokia Beta Labs, a Web site where the Finnish handset maker lets users test the latest smartphone software. Instead of people recording silly Web cam videos for YouTube or inventing frivolous advocacy groups on Facebook, they can help make the mobile Internet more useful.
For Nokia, which is obsessive about consumer research, the site is an alternative to the focus groups and surveys that are usually used to gauge consumer reaction to a new product. But, though the cost of managing the site is negligible, saving money is not the main motivation. "It's not the cost we're looking at, it's how we...
Sat, 3 May 08
How To Keep Your Virtual Servers Safe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59567
Servers use only a small percentage of their capacities to store data or run applications. Virtualization technology allows multiple applications to run side by side on the same machine. This allows companies to consolidate as many as 20 servers into one machine that could be running databases, e-commerce applications, and a Web server simultaneously.
The return on investment is clear just from hardware costs and lower electrical costs (an estimated 2.5 percent of all U.S. power consumption is for data centers). At the same time, virtualization allows new servers to be put into a production environment very quickly, helping to realize savings on time and manpower.
But virtualized environments face the same threats as physical environments, plus some unique challenges. Jason Yuan, group manager for product management at security firm McAfee, pointed out that companies looking to realize cost savings by storing data virtually need to be aware of these risks.
"One of the benefits of virtualization is being able to create a disaster-recovery backup," Yuan said. In fact, creating a backup can be done with nothing more than a right-click of the mouse. The backup image is typically stored offline on network-attached storage (NAS) or a storage-area network (SAN) until it's needed, then it's plugged directly into the production environment. That's where trouble lies.
"On the day of the backup there might not be a vulnerability, but six months later there may be some vulnerability that was uncovered in that operating environment or the applications that are running," Yuan explained. If that happens, the network becomes attackable the moment it's brought online. Yuan has seen it happen; a backup that had a vulnerability that didn't exist three months earlier was brought online, and was immediately infected by a worm that shut down thousands of machines.
"Virtualization requires the same security as...
Sat, 3 May 08
Analyst: HD DVD Demise Hasn't Meant Blu-ray Scramble
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59562
Sales of Blu-ray disc players haven't been helped by maker Toshiba's capitulation over producing the rival HD DVD format, research firm NPD Group said Wednesday.
Toshiba announced on Feb. 19 that it would stop making HD DVD players, already doomed by Warner Bros. Entertainment's announcement Jan. 4 that it was dropping HD DVD to focus on Blu-ray.
Sales of Blu-ray players, excluding PlayStation 3 game consoles, dropped 40 percent from January to February in the U.S., according to NPD. Sales grew only 2 percent from February to March. The firm didn't release numbers of players sold.
"When we surveyed consumers late last year, an overwhelming number of them said they weren't investing in a new next-generation player because their old DVD player worked well and next-generation players were too expensive," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD. "It's clear from retail sales that those consumer sentiments are still holding true."
While DVD players cost less than $100, Blu-ray players generally cost $400 or more.
Another factor that may be holding back sales of Blu-ray players is that anticipated models with Internet connectivity haven't hit the market yet. Current models can't be upgraded.
But sales of PS3s seem to be recovering, perhaps with help from their built-in Blu-ray players. Sony Corp. sold 257,120 units in the U.S. in March, nearly doubling last year's figure.
Another firm, ABI Research, estimates that PS3s will account for more than 85 percent of Blu-ray players in use this year and that the number of stand-alone players and Blu-ray-equipped PCs won't surpass them until 2013.
Sat, 3 May 08
Professional Criminal Hackers Try To 'Copyright' Malware
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59561
Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and they've come up with a method akin to copyrighting -- with an appropriate dash of Internet thuggery thrown in.
Professional virus writers are now selling a suite of software on the Internet with an unusual attachment: a detailed licensing agreement that promises penalties for redistributing the malicious code without permission.
"I just kind of chuckled -- it's kind of humorous," said Zulfikar Ramzan, senior principal security researcher with Symantec Corp.
Symantec researchers noticed a Russian-language example floating around the Internet and wrote about it on the company's official blog this week. They said it's the only example they've seen.
The software is used to infect computers and control them remotely. The zombie machines can be used to pump out spam, launch more attacks or steal personal information from their owners.
Networks of zombie machines -- known as "bot nets" -- can be extremely lucrative, sometimes bringing millions of dollars in profit for their authors and their distributors. To maximize that profit, the software analyzed by Symantec's researchers contained the following rules:
-The customer can't resell the product, examine its underlying coding, use it to control other bot nets or submit it to antivirus companies and agrees to pay the seller a fee for product updates.
-The threat: Violate the terms, and we'll report you ourselves to the antivirus companies by giving them information about how to dismantle your bot network or prevent it from growing bigger.
While not legally binding, the terms amount to a novel way to protect ill-gotten profits -- except that by ratting out their customers, malware authors risk drawing attention to their own enterprises and giving antivirus makers clues on combating them.
"We know they can't actually enforce it, and they probably wouldn't try," Ramzan said. "What's funny is they put more effort into their...
Sat, 3 May 08
Cable, Satellite -- and Sezmi? Startup Wants in on Pay TV
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59558
A startup is betting that people are tired enough of their cable and satellite bills to take a look at an alternative pay TV system that combines a number of different technologies to deliver programming.
Silicon Valley-based Sezmi Corp. has revealed a system that amounts to a way for phone companies and local TV broadcasters to team up for an end run around satellite and cable. Technical trials are starting shortly, with full-blown commercial trials in some markets, yet unnamed, later this year.
The carrot for consumers: monthly fees that are about half those of cable or satellite, according to Sezmi founder Buno Pati.
Sezmi's system takes some explaining. At its heart is a TV set-top box that receives video content in three different ways. Two are available through other means: digital over-the-air local broadcasts, the kind that are available to anyone with a digital TV and a rabbit-ear antenna; and Internet downloads through the home's broadband connection.
The third delivery method would be unique to Sezmi. It plans to have local TV stations use vacant portions of their airwaves to transmit basic cable channels like Nickelodeon and Discovery. Given the limited spectrum available, the stations won't be able to transmit a full lineup, and only some of it will be in high definition. Sezmi plans to mitigate that by having stations send out the most-watched shows and have the set-top boxes save them on their hard drives, making them available for viewing on demand.
None of these features are completely original. The set-top box combines the feature of a digital TV tuner, a TV-style digital video recorder and an Internet video box like the Apple TV. The additional over-the-air cable content is reminiscent of a service called MovieBeam, which was started by The Walt Disney Co. When it shut down in December after a...
Sat, 3 May 08
A Better Way To Handle Layoffs for Small Businesses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59553
With an economic downturn, downsizing often follows. Unfortunately, employers who trim their workforces may be vulnerable to wrongful termination litigation if they don't adopt fair employee practices and document termination procedures, says Aleicia Latimer, associate general counsel and human-resources services manager at AlphaStaffGroup of Fort Lauderdale. Latimer spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein about how planning and procedure can help small-business owners get through tough times. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:
No business owner wants to lay off employees. But if the process becomes inevitable, where does the small-business owner start?
Prior to doing any type of layoff or reduction in force, you want to establish a business reason and document what are you looking to accomplish with the layoff. Document what's put your company in this situation. Is it the economy? Is it your industry? Your regional location?
How formal do you make this document?
I would say you should be able to articulate your business reason for having to take this action in pretty formal fashion. The reason for this is, even if you carry out your layoff perfectly, there may be a chance that someone will say their job shouldn't have been eliminated and sue. If that happens, you want to have documentation of your reasoning, your process, and why the laid-off employees were chosen.
So you want to avoid any type of discriminatory issue, or even the appearance of one, in taking this action?
Yes. Make sure that before you launch into layoffs you've explored alternatives and documented them also. For instance, you might try limiting overtime, shortening work weeks, and reducing expenses. Ask people who want to retire to step forward, and provide them with a severance package. Your process should include proof that you tried other remedies before jumping right to layoffs.
How do you decide who...
Fri, 2 May 08
Adobe Builds Open Screen for a Consistent Web View
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59572
Adobe Systems, together with Intel, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, Verizon Wireless and others, is behind a new Open Screen Project that seeks to create a runtime environment capable of delivering a consistent Web experience across a variety of operating systems and consumer electronics devices.
Right now, the Web experience across this wide variety of different devices can be very frustrating, noted Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch. "It's very hard to deploy content and applications to these devices, and it's hard in some ways to even get content onto these devices," he said. "We'd really like to help to change that for users around the world."
The Adobe-led project expects to offer technology capable of delivering seamless updates to mobile devices. "When we deploy the technology across devices today, it gets burned into a ROM chip and may not be updateable," Lynch said. "This reduces its compatibility over time."
"Making the technology updateable, like it is in the PC world today, is something that we are looking to accomplish together," Lynch added. "It will require cooperation to make that happen, but I think it is critical."
The technology is also expected to remove several barriers for developers and designers as they push content and applications across a variety of consumer electronics devices. To make this happen, Adobe will offer the next major release of its Adobe Flash Player under a royalty-free license.
Content for Adobe Flash Player currently reaches more than 98 percent of Internet-enabled desktops and more than a half-billion handsets and mobile devices, Adobe said. The company expects more than one billion handsets and mobile devices to ship with Adobe Flash technology by 2009.
Adobe's forthcoming AIR runtime environment for the desktop, which supports HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash and...
Fri, 2 May 08
Microsoft May Increase Yahoo Bid, Maybe Not Enough
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59566
Microsoft's board met Wednesday but failed to decide on the next step to acquire Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal reported. Sources told the newspaper that the board authorized CEO Steve Ballmer to pursue hostile takeover maneuvers or to walk away from the deal.
The board also appears to have authorized increasing the company's bid for Yahoo as high as $33 per share. Sources expect Redmond to make an announcement about its intentions by the end of the week.
Microsoft's current offer for Yahoo, a combination of stock and cash, was valued at about $29, based on the current value of Microsoft stock. Major Yahoo shareholders and management have indicated they want to see a price in the mid- to high 30s. So an offer at $33 falls short of investors' low end but may be too close to refuse.
It would take more than $33 a share to pull off a friendly merger, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies, in an e-mail. Yahoo CEO "Jerry Yang believes that Microsoft is undervaluing the company and most likely would not even entertain any new discussions about this unless Microsoft's offer is in the $36-$38 range," Bajarin said. "He and his staff believe that they can build greater value for their shareholders as a stand-alone company and unless Microsoft ups their price, I believe they will aggressively reject Microsoft's current offer."
The Journal reports that Ballmer's contradictory statements last week reflect a deep-seated indecision about the acquisition. In a single speech in Madrid on Friday, he indicated a willingness to walk away from the deal and threatened to take the bid to shareholders. Ballmer's closest associates are said to be clueless as to which way he is leaning.
Those who know him well say the indecision reflects his personality. The Journal cited friends and...
Fri, 2 May 08
HP Lab Creates Revolutionary New Form of Memory
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59565
Computers that boot instantly to the exact place where you left off and mobile devices that don't need recharging for weeks. These are only some of the possibilities resulting from Hewlett-Packard research that proves the existence of what the company described as "the fourth fundamental circuit element in electrical engineering."
In a paper published in Wednesday's edition of Nature magazine, four researchers from HP's Information and Quantum System Labs discussed their creation of a mathematical model and physical example of what is called a "memristor," a conjoined word formed from "memory" and "resistor."
The researchers said memristors can lead to computer systems with memories that are not erased when power is lost, do not need to be booted up, are very low-power, and, in another encroachment on the uniqueness of humans, associate information "in a manner similar to that of the human brain."
The possibility of such an electronic component was first theorized nearly 40 years ago by Leon Chua, a professor in the electrical engineering and computer sciences department at the University of California, Berkeley.
Chua said there was a fourth fundamental circuit element, the memristor, to accompany the existing three -- resistor, capacitor and inductor. He also theorized that its properties could not be obtained by any combination of the other three. Like chemical elements, fundamental circuit elements cannot be created from the others.
R. Stanley Williams, head of the HP team, said the research will make it "possible for engineers to develop integrated circuit designs that could dramatically improve the performance and energy efficiency" for PCs and data centers.
The researchers also suggested that memristor-based computers could help the momentum toward "cloud computing," in which applications and data are stored throughout many servers in-house, or on the Internet. Memristors could mean much less power to drive that...
Fri, 2 May 08
MADD Wants Higher Adults-Only Rating for GTA IV
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59552
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, founded in 1980 to combat drunk driving, has urged the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to raise the rating for Grand Theft Auto IV from Mature (17+) to Adults-Only. MADD notes that GTA IV contains a module that allows players to simulate driving drunk.
"Each year nearly 13,500 people die in drunk-driving crashes and another half a million are injured in alcohol-related traffic crashes," MADD said. "Drunk driving is not a game and it is not a joke. Drunk driving is a choice, a violent crime and it is also 100 percent preventable."
MADD also wants the game's manufacturers, Rockstar North and its parent Take-Two, to consider halting distribution of the game, "if not out of responsibility to society, then out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving."
It's highly unlikely that Take-Two and Rockstar North will pull the game. Despite some reports of technical difficulties, GTA IV is shattering sales records. The Entertainment Leisure Software Publishers' Association reported Thursday that GTA IV sold more than 600,000 copies in its first 24 hours in the United Kingdom, a full 20 percent above the record set by Grand Theft: San Andreas in 2004.
In a statement to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Rockstar North dismissed the suggestion that the drunk-driving module would affect player behavior in the real world.
"We have a great deal of respect for MADD's mission," the company said, "but we believe the mature audience for Grand Theft Auto IV is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game's content." The company went on to say that GTA IV should not be judged "by a small aspect of the game."
The line between a Mature (17+) and an Adults-Only (AO) rating may not be much wider than a G-string, but it...
Fri, 2 May 08
Sun Offers Support, Tools to Expand OpenStorage
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59551
In its continuing efforts to build support for its OpenStorage system, Sun Microsystems announced that it will provide new software tools and expanded professional support to assist developers in building open-source storage solutions. With the new resources, Sun estimates the average developer will be able to set up an OpenSolaris server is about 10 minutes.
"This is one of the biggest revolutions to happen in computing in 20 years," said John Fowler, executive vice president of Sun Microsystems, on a town-hall-style webcast hosted on the Sun Open Storage Web site. What is occurring, Fowler said, is a major shift from proprietary storage systems to open-source technologies.
The announcement heralds an expansion of the OpenStorage program that Sun launched in April 2007, when the company first announced that it was donating storage software to the OpenSolaris project. "By contributing storage-related code to the OpenSolaris community," Nigel Dessau, a Sun senior vice president, said at the time, "Sun makes it easier than ever for customers to develop storage solutions that meet their needs."
The company is also offering developers how-to guides for building network attached storage (NAS) systems and OpenSolaris-based storage. The primary document, not surprisingly, is called "Building a OpenSolaris Storage Server," and offers step-by-step instructions on using OpenSolaris for a variety of storage tasks.
The other guide is called "Building a Network-Attached Storage (NAS) Appliance," again through the use of the OpenSolaris operating system. Both guides are available on the Sun Web site.
Although Sun promises that the how-to guides are simple and clear, the company is encouraging the development of other server storage applications by expanding its technical-support options. Developers can call to discuss a variety of storage-related questions, including how to work with OpenStorage systems or migrate data from proprietary systems. Sun is also expanding the scope of its...
Fri, 2 May 08
TV's CSI Sleuths Out Microsoft's Photosynth
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59545
A guidance counselor at a Manhattan prep school is murdered while the prom is taking place in the gymnasium.
Forensic scientists for the New York police attempt to recreate the crime scene by uploading hundreds of camera phone thumbnail photos snapped at the dance onto a computer.
The PC screen fills up in a concentric square pattern, revealing a wide shot of the gym at the center. Investigators can manipulate the images to show close-ups of the scene from every angle.
This episode of the CBS crime drama CSI: NY is fiction. But the technology at its core, Microsoft's Photosynth software, is real. It analyzes scores of images for similarities and stitches them into a three-dimensional reconstruction.
CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker first saw Photosynth, which is due later this year, in July during a tour of Microsoft's research labs in Redmond, Wash.
Zuiker makes regular visits to Redmond as part of an ongoing creative relationship between CSI and Microsoft.
"The partnership for us is very important," Zuiker says. "For us to be able to launch things that haven't quite been in the marketplace or are new, in terms of visual story-telling with technology -- to our fans, those bells and whistle are priceless."
Microsoft benefits too, of course, without having to spend money on a traditional 30-second TV commercial. There's dialogue right in the script. A detective tells a suspect, "It's a Microsoft world. I'm just living in it."
Viewers are treated to an early peek at the company's technology -- in the case of Photosynth, months prior to its expected year-end consumer launch. (Microsoft is previewing Photosynth at www.labs.live.com/photosynth/.)
"This is truly an example where branded integration can be as powerful, and potentially more powerful, than a 30-second ad," says Alan Gould, co-CEO of IAG Research, which measures the effectiveness of TV advertising. He speculates Microsoft may...
Fri, 2 May 08
Dell Plans Job Cuts in European Base of Ireland
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59541
Personal computer maker Dell Inc. announced Tuesday that it will lay off 250 workers in Ireland as part of its global cost-cutting plan, a decision economists said reflected the rising expense of doing business there.
The approximately 4,500 employees at Dell's two locations in Ireland were told of the layoffs when they arrived for work. The cuts are expected to begin in July.
Dell, the No. 2 computer maker worldwide and No. 1 in the U.S., is Ireland's largest exporter and its biggest technology company.
Since arriving in Ireland in 1990, the Round Rock, Texas-based company has developed its biggest European computer-assembly plant in the western city of Limerick and based its European sales and support base in the Dublin suburb of Clondalkin.
Most of the job cuts are expected to affect the Clondalkin facility, which includes sales and marketing staff, technical support and other administrative workers. Dell already has shifted most of its Irish-based telephone support staff to locations ranging from Scotland to India.
The new announced cutbacks are only the latest since Dell -- seeking to reclaim its status as the world's No. 1 computer maker -- unveiled plans in May 2007 to cut 8,800 jobs worldwide, and most of those jobs already are gone.
Dell announced plans this month to close a plant in Austin, Texas, eliminating 900 jobs, and to pursue more job cuts in hope of paring $3 billion in costs annually.
Politicians and economists said the Dell cutbacks demonstrate how Ireland -- long a favorite location for U.S. corporate investment in the European Union -- had grown too expensive.
Edward Walsh, president emeritus of the University of Limerick, which has a strategic partnership with Dell, said the rise in wages and energy in Ireland in the past decade is exacerbated by the U.S. dollar's decline against the euro.
"In the past when multinationals...
Fri, 2 May 08
Review: HP's Mini-Note Rivals Apple's MacBook Air
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59540
Did you hear the story about Steven Levy, the Newsweek writer who lost the MacBook Air that Apple loaned him?
It's so small and thin, he thinks it got thrown out with the trash.
It wouldn't be such big news if the MacBook Air didn't cost between $1,799 and $3,098. In my world, that kind of money buys a decent used car, not a computer. Sure, laptops are convenient, but they're also easy to break, easy to steal and hard to repair.
Luckily the rest of the action in these "subnotebooks" is on the low end. I'm talking about extremely small laptops like the ASUS Eee PC, the Everex Cloudbook and Intel's Classmate PC.
For me, the subnotebook became real only in the past couple of weeks with Hewlett-Packard's announcement that it will soon offer the HP 2100 Mini-Note PC starting at $499.
The Mini-Note weighs about 2 1/2 pounds, has an 8.9-inch screen and a keyboard described as being 92 percent of full size, something those typing on the tiny ASUS Eee keyboard are bound to appreciate.
The HP Mini-Note features a sturdy aluminum case, extra-durable keys, a mechanism that shuts down the hard drive during sudden movements -- like when it's being dropped -- plus built-in wireless and wired networking.
Did I forget to mention that it costs $499? One of the reasons HP can hit such a low price point for the Mini-Note is that the base configuration, like that of the wildly popular ASUS Eee, comes with 512 megabytes of RAM, a 4-gigabyte solid-state flash drive and Novell's SUSE Linux operating system.
Linux helps the HP Mini-Note, as it does the Eee and the Cloudbook, in two ways. The machines run splendidly with 512 MB of RAM, something a Microsoft Vista-equipped PC cannot do.
One thing missing, though, is a CD/DVD drive. With Linux,...
Fri, 2 May 08
Chipmaker SMIC To Stop Making DRAM Chips
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59535
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. said Wednesday it stopped making dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips in March.
The company plans to convert its production capacity for DRAM -- widely used in personal computers -- to more profitable logic chips used in mobile phones and digital cameras, said Chief Executive Richard Chang.
The DRAM market has been suffering its worst downturn since 2001, with the average spot price of mainstream DRAM chips plunging nearly 60 percent in the past year amid a supply glut.
SMIC is China's biggest contract chip manufacturer by capacity and makes DRAM chips based on other manufacturers' designs.
Chang's comments came after SMIC reported Tuesday it swung to a first-quarter net loss of US$119.1 million, reversing a net profit of US$8.8 million a year earlier. The earnings were bogged down by a US$44.5 million loss provision taken against its remaining DRAM inventories, SMIC said.
Revenue for the three months ended March 31 fell 6.7 percent to US$362.4 million from US$388.3 million. SMIC said it expects revenue to fall another 3-6 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter.
BNP Paribas Securities analyst Eric Chen said it was unclear whether SMIC might be able to turn a profit by the fourth quarter.
"The conversion of production capacity will lead to an increase in depreciation expenses. Another key question is whether SMIC can get enough new customers for its expanding logic business," said Chen.
SMIC said last month it was in talks with a strategic investor to sell a "significant" stake in itself.
Chang said Wednesday the company will make a final decision on a strategic investor "soon" and is evaluating proposals from interested parties.
He said the strategic investor would bring both cash and technology to the company.
Last month, SMIC said it was in "relatively advanced" negotiations to sell a chunk of shares to an...
Fri, 2 May 08
Novell Says SCO Group Owes It $20M; SCO Begs To Differ
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59533
Novell Corp. says SCO Group Inc. owes it nearly $20 million. SCO says it owes Novell virtually nothing.
Those two stances are the focus of a four-day trial that started Tuesday in federal court in Salt Lake City. The companies fighting over Lindon-based SCO's licensure of certain technologies in 2003 and 2004 and how much Novell should get from that licensing.
SCO sued Novell in 2004 after Novell claimed to own the Unix operating system and UnixWare software. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball last year ruled that Novell was indeed the owner of Unix copyrights, freeing Novell to file counterclaims seeking revenues that SCO had received from companies licensing certain technologies from SCO.
SCO, through its "SCOsource" initiative, received money from Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and other Fortune 1000 companies that used Linux, an open-source operating system that competed with Unix. SCO had sued International Business Machines Corp. in 2003, saying that IBM inappropriately inserted proprietary Unix code into Linux.
In opening arguments Tuesday before Kimball in the bench trial for the lawsuit against Novell, the two sides seemed to agree that SCOsource included licensing of Novell-owned technology, which is several versions of Unix System V collectively called "SVRX," and of SCO-controlled technology, which is UnixWare and OpenServer.
Kimball had ruled last August that Novell was entitled to SVRX licensing revenue. On Tuesday, Novell attorney Michael Jacobs said SCOsource's focus was the valuable SVRX, for which Novell should receive royalties. But SCO attorney Stuart Singer said the only a small part of the Microsoft and Sun agreements involved SVRX, and Novell's rights to that licensing money represent "no significant value."
Singer said SCO had the rights to license UnixWare technology and that SVRX may have "incidentally" been licensed with it. "UnixWare is System V technology," he said.
But Jacobs said Microsoft's licensing agreement featured 28...
Thu, 1 May 08
Messenger for Mac 7 Adds Enterprise Audio, Video Support
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59549
As Macintosh computers make some inroads into the enterprise, they are still behind in certain areas of corporate communications. On Tuesday, Microsoft took a step toward closing a bit of that gap by releasing its Messenger for Mac 7 with audio and video support, if users are connected via Office Communications Server 2007.
With Communications Server 2007 and the newest Messenger for Mac on a corporate system, users can have face-to-face instant messaging, audio/video meetings -- and even multi-party conferencing -- with others both inside and outside their office. This includes people using Windows PCs and users of the Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger services. It does not support communication with AOL Instant Messenger or people using .Mac accounts.
Messenger 7, which now supports the Bonjour service-discovery functionality that is built into the Mac operating system, is available as a free download. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.9, Windows Live ID for personal accounts, or Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for enterprise users.
The new offering also makes it easier for enterprise workers to search a corporate address book from within Messenger, or to find internal contacts. A user can see which contacts are connected to a local network and, for example, if you have two contacts named Sam, you can assign nicknames. Contacts can be located in large buddy lists via a search-as-you-type box. The company also said that communications have increased security within the corporate network.
New "presence" enhancements in Messenger also allow users to add a personal message to contact information, so that you can let others know when you're available for chatting. Mac users with a Windows Live account can also share files and other communications through Messenger 7.
On officeformac.com, the blog for Microsoft's Office for Mac team, a team...
Thu, 1 May 08
Time Warner Will Sell Cable Unit as AOL Income Drops
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59548
Time Warner has decided to sell its cable operation even as it struggles to correct its ailing America Online unit, CEO Jeff Bewkes announced in the company's quarterly earnings call Wednesday. On the positive side, income from the company's cable networks and film operations offset a whopping 23 percent decline at AOL.
"We've decided that a complete structural separation of Time Warner Cable, under the right circumstances, is in the best interests of both companies' shareholders," Bewkes said. "We feel these companies would be better off separated than they are together."
The move was not unexpected. In an open letter to shareholders, Bewkes previously tipped his hand, saying, "As the industry evolves, Time Warner Cable has increasingly different capital and financial needs than our other businesses."
Asked why the separation was taking so long, Bewkes said, "It's not taking long and there are tricky governance issues involved."
AOL, long ago the No. 1 Internet brand, saw revenues and profits plummet in the first quarter. Profits were down 25 percent and revenues decreased 23 percent. Bewkes promised to complete the restructuring necessary to separate AOL's dial-up and advertising businesses.
"We were not satisfied with the performance of display advertising on our owned and operated inventory," Bewkes said of AOL. He pointed to problems with integrating its Platform A advertising unit. "We didn't integrate Platform A fast enough, and that created a sales-channel conflict. We have moved quickly to resolve this," he said. "We are creating one sales team able and motivated to sell across all of Platform A."
The result will be continuing bad news from AOL until the restructuring is complete, he said. Essentially, AOL has several different sales forces in place from various acquisitions and has taken longer to integrate them all. "We had not put them together yet. We missed some opportunities...
Thu, 1 May 08
Court Ruling Could End P2P Music-Download Lawsuits
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59547
A federal court has dealt a body blow to the recording industry's efforts to sue people who use peer-to-peer software to download music from the Internet. In fact, says one copyright lawyer, the P2P decision could mean the end of the Recording Industry Association of America's litigation strategy.
In Atlantic Records v. Howell, U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake rejected the RIAA's theory that the defendants distributed music files merely by making them publicly available through the Kazaa P2P application. Contrary to the music industry's theory, "Merely making an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work available to the public does not violate a copyright holder's exclusive right of distribution," the judge wrote.
The facts of the case are fairly typical. MediaSentry, the private investigator that researches these matters for the RIAA, used Kazaa to identify 4,000 files available from the Howells' computer, with 54 of them copyrighted music files. MediaSentry took screenshots showing the files available and downloaded 12 of the songs.
The defendants, Jeffrey and Pamela Howell, say they made legitimate copies of their CDs for personal use and they didn't know Kazaa was making them public. Asked in a deposition if he was sharing music files online, Jeffrey Howell said, "I was not, no. The computer was, but I was not. The computer in some form ... made files that I did not know available on the Internet."
"This case harmonizes everything. It sets the gold standard," said Ray Beckerman, a copyright attorney with the New York firm of Vandenberg & Feliu and author of the Recording Industry v. The People blog, in a telephone interview. "Other district courts will follow it. Appeals courts will follow it."
In the Howell case, the recording industry now has to "show he actually disseminated to members of the public -- and that he did...
Thu, 1 May 08
AT&T Reported Ready To Offer 3G iPhone, Starting at $199
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59546
Fortune reports that AT&T expects to launch Apple's new 3G iPhone either on, or very near to, the June 27 anniversary of the original handset's 2007 launch. Citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter, the magazine said AT&T intends to heavily subsidize the new smartphone, giving anyone who signs up for a two-year contract a $200 discount on the iPhone's retail sticker price.
Currently the least expensive iPhone is the 8GB model for $399, which could make the price $199 with the subsidy.
AT&T's strategy, Fortune said, is to use a discounted 3G iPhone to entice subscribers away from rivals Verizon and Sprint. AT&T CFO Rick Lindner recently told investors that AT&T continues to see users flocking to the iPhone. "Over 40 percent of those customers are new to us," he said.
Lindner also said AT&T had not seen any slowdown in demand for the original iPhone in advance of the carrier's impending release of a 3G version. "Through the first quarter, it was pretty stable," he said.
According to Fortune, AT&T's introduction of a new 3G Blackberry from Research In Motion is being delayed by several months from its original June delivery date. This would appear to provide Apple with a potential opening to make inroads at AT&T in both the consumer and enterprise markets.
Still, some industry observers think Apple still has a long way to go before it can challenge the Blackberry's supremacy in the enterprise. "For enterprises, it's really about typing and the keyboard," said Brownlee Thomas, a principal analyst with Forrester Research.
"The iPhone gives a wonderful user experience for viewing photos or looking up a phone number," Thomas observed, but its touch-sensitive screen "is not something you can type a long e-mail on." And it will probably take Apple "a couple more generations before that...
Thu, 1 May 08
GTA IV Players Frustrated by Gaming Console Freezes
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59531
When you release a game that celebrates beatings, shootings, carjackings and other forms of social mayhem, it had better work properly. If the official forums for Grand Theft Auto IV are any indication, the programmers at Take-Two and Rockstar North should avoid lingering in dark alleys for the foreseeable future.
Dozens of disappointed GTA IV players have reported that their gaming consoles have frozen at various points in the game. Most of the reports are from PlayStation 3 owners, but some Xbox 360 units have also been affected.
"GTA4 Freezes all the time., Heeeeelp" is the morose heading of the largest forum thread, with more than 45 separate messages and more than 6,000 views. The thread was started by an Australian gamer on Monday and offers a typical complaint: "I got GTA on Sunday and it freezes and I have to restart the console it happens every hour or so, I thought it may be a dodgy disc, so I took the disc back to the shop and got a new one and almost 40 mins into the game and it froze on me again."
By all accounts, the Rockstar North support group is taking withering fire from angry and frustrated GTA IV buyers. Brian Crecente, senior editor of Kotaku, a major video-game blog and one of the first media outlets to report the freezing problems, spoke to an "obviously unhappy" company representative on Wednesday, but didn't learn anything substantive about possible fixes.
"He ended the call by saying that they really have no idea when a fix will be coming," Crecente wrote, "because they can't figure out what is exactly causing the problem and then once more apologized. 'I feel terrible about this.'"
The challenge for Rockstar North's technical crew is that the problem is somewhat erratic. The bulk of the problems have...
Thu, 1 May 08
Delay in XP SP3 Will Let Microsoft Put Up Dynamics Filter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=59530
Fans of the Windows XP operating system will have to wait for the latest -- and possibly last -- service pack update. Microsoft said Tuesday that further release of Service Pack 3, which had been made available through Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center the same day, was being delayed because of a recently revealed problem.
Microsoft cited a "compatibility issue" between SP3 and the Mic