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Google Dashboard Monitors Status of Google Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64942
In the wake of service outages earlier this week, Google is making good on a commitment to increase transparency and communication with Google Apps customers.
On Wednesday, Google launched the Google Apps Status Dashboard. As its name suggests, the new tool lets customers check the status of services such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, Google Sites, and Google Video for business.
"The Google Apps Status Dashboard represents an additional layer of transparency that we believe will be particularly useful for our business users, and it's also relevant to users of our consumer products," said Tessa Prescott of the Google Apps sales team. "The status dashboard is the best place to check for information on service availability for Google Apps anywhere in the world."
The launch of the dashboard is timely. Google received a one-two punch earlier this week when a data-center malfunction caused Gmail to go down for hours in conjunction with routine maintenance at a European site.
Google explained that Gmail accounts are typically served out of another data center during maintenance, but some coding issues caused an overload that cascaded from one data center to another for about an hour before Google engineers corrected the issue.
While Google was scrambling to fix the problem, attackers launched phishing campaigns in the Google Talk chat service. When users clicked a link to "check out" a video, they were sent to a site called ViddyHo and asked for their Gmail username and password. Users who anted up the information set off a chain reaction that sent a similar message to their online contacts. Google has blacklisted the site and blocked the link.
With this week's drama behind it, Google appears to have moved quickly to make good on its promise of transparency. Greg Sterling, principal analyst at...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Yahoo Signals It's Open To a Microsoft Search Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64941
The Microsoft-Yahoo drama isn't over yet. There's a possible deal to be done in the form of Yahoo outsourcing or selling its search business to Microsoft.
At the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen gave the audience reason to believe the search company is still open to negotiation.
"Key to any deal we might do would be full access to the data for intent," Jorgensen said. "We're not opposed to doing a deal that would maximize the business one way or the other, be it a partnership or a sale."
On Thursday, a Yahoo filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Jorgensen is leaving the company. Yahoo said it has begun a search for a new chief financial officer.
Yahoo execs aren't the only ones leaving the door open. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Tuesday indicated that his company is open to discussions about a search deal. Microsoft views Yahoo's search assets as a way to accelerate its position in the marketplace and better compete with Google.
But Yahoo does have some concerns. "It is extremely difficult to draw a line down the middle of the organization and split it into two pieces," Jorgensen told the conference. He referred to the impact of extracting Yahoo's search business from the rest of its assets, which include a strong display-advertising business on a wide network of high-traffic consumer sites.
Yahoo has been pushing forward with search innovations. Earlier this month, Yahoo launched a rich-media offering that plays video in search results. And on Tuesday the company rolled out three new targeting products -- Search Retargeting, Enhanced Retargeting, and Enhanced Targeting -- for brand and performance marketers to help them reach the online audiences that matter most.
Search Retargeting is a customized display targeting solution...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Apple's Board Says Steve Jobs Obligations Met
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64938
Apple's board wasted no time Wednesday in defending CEO Steve Jobs' health disclosures and his absence from the annual shareholder meeting in the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
Shareholders expected to hear business details, but the real question on many minds was Jobs' health and whether the company has a succession plan in place. Board members dodged questions from shareholders on Jobs' health and what plans they have.
Arthur Levinson, chief executive of Genentech and a board member, said he believed Apple had met all disclosure obligations and told the audience that nothing had changed. "Succession planning is something the board takes up regularly," he said, according to Dow Jones. "You can assume we will do that responsibly."
Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who took over for Jobs at the meeting, said he is confident about the future of the company.
"From what I've seen, there was not a whole lot or news or action, nor was anything expected," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at Interpret. "It was marked by Mr. Jobs' absence, and that was not a surprise. As expected, there was at least one question from the audience about Mr. Jobs' health. They responded by saying he's on a medical leave absence and will be back in June."
"My opinion has not changed, and that is that Steve Jobs' health is a private matter for Steve Jobs and his family," Gartenberg added. "At this point he has recused himself from that role, and obviously people will be looking to see if he returns in June to full capacity."
"It comes back to the fact that if Jobs is back at the company in the capacity of CEO, that is the end of the story, and Apple said that is what it plans on happening,"...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Microsoft Fixes Problems in IE8 for Windows 7 Beta
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64937
While the world waits for a Windows Vista successor, Microsoft is readying Internet Explorer 8 for the next round of browser wars. Microsoft on Tuesday released an update that aims to improve IE's reliability for users running the Windows 7 beta.
Microsoft set the tone for the update when Herman Ng, a program manager on the IE8 team, said the company is using the term "reliability" to broadly encompass all types of stability problems. That covers crashes, hangs, memory leaks, and other aggravating issues.
Microsoft is attempting to back up its reliability claims with information on how it conducts its testing. The company said it measures reliability based primarily on
instrumentation built into Internet Explorer 8 and Windows 7. Shortly after the Windows 7 beta became available, Microsoft began gathering feedback.
"After a week of monitoring this feedback we felt that we had reached a representative sampling of our customers," Ng said. "We found that approximately 10 percent of customers who had downloaded the Windows 7 beta had experienced some type of reliability problem in IE8."
The IE8 team also found that a small number of users were experiencing crashes on a more regular basis and that about 1.5 percent of all Internet Explorer sessions had encountered a crash. Ng called this "relatively good" for a prerelease version of Internet Explorer running on a beta operating system. Microsoft was also pleased to see that the new IE8 Crash Recovery feature was successfully helping customers recover from crashes 94 percent of the time.
"One of the approaches that we use to analyze this data is called a failure curve. A failure curve is essentially a bar chart where each bar represents a unique failure," Ng said. "The height of the bar represents the number of occurrences in the last 30 days."
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Google Backs Opera's EU Complaint on Internet Explorer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64932
Google has joined Mozilla in backing a complaint before the European Commission in which Opera Systems has accused Microsoft of using its dominant OS market position to promote Internet Explorer at the expense of rival Web browsers.
Google said Tuesday that the browser market is largely uncompetitive because Internet Explorer is directly tied to Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system, giving it an unfair advantage.
"The value of competition for users -- even in the limited form we see today -- is clear: tabbed browsing, faster downloads, private browsing features, and more," noted Google Vice President of Product Development Sundar Pichai. "Even greater competition will drive more innovation within browsers themselves -- as well as in Web design, enabling sites to load faster and offer new kinds of interactive tools and applications."
On Jan. 17, the EC sent Microsoft a statement of objections in which European antitrust authorities set forth the evidence they had gathered about Opera's complaint. The document also presented a preliminary determination that Microsoft's method of linking IE to Windows "harms competition between Web browsers, undermines product innovation, and ultimately reduces consumer choice."
Microsoft has until mid-March to formally respond to the charges, at which time it can also request a hearing. But Mozilla Chairperson Mitchell Baker said there is absolutely no doubt that the Eco's preliminary determination is correct.
Whether there is "a good remedy, and what that remedy might be" remains subject to debate, Baker said. But this does "not change the essential fact" that "Microsoft's business practices have fundamentally diminished -- in fact, came very close to eliminating -- competition, choice and innovation in how people access the Internet," she said.
Some industry observers point to the market-share gains that Mozilla's Firefox has made during the past year as evidence that competition had finally returned to...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
HP Will Offer Sun's Solaris on ProLiant Servers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64930
Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems on Wednesday announced a deal that will let HP distribute and provide software support for Sun's Solaris 10 operating system on its ProLiant server and blade system platforms.
Under terms of the deal, Sun becomes a strategic HP ProLiant OS distribution partner, and Solaris is now included in the lineup of key operating environments for the ProLiant platform.
HP and Sun said providing a single point of purchase, contact and accountability for Solaris on HP ProLiant improves the overall customer experience. The companies are also working to reduce operating costs and deliver usability and management enhancements by collaborating on the integration of Solaris 10 and HP Insight software on HP ProLiant servers.
Mark Potter, senior vice president and general manager for HP's BladeSystem and Insight Software group, said the company is responding to customers who have asked for expanded HP ProLiant operating environment support to address their diverse application requirements.
"The combination of Solaris and HP ProLiant delivers superior performance, scalability and virtualization capabilities on x86 servers," Potter said. "Backed by industry-leading HP Technology Services, the agreement gives our joint customers complete confidence to grow their businesses while also controlling costs."
As Sun sees it, HP's Solaris endorsement dramatically expands the available market for Solaris on x86 servers. Sun Solaris boasts the largest installed base of any commercial UNIX distribution. And, according to IDC, HP ProLiant led the x86 server market at 38.2 percent factory revenue share in last year's fourth quarter.
"The growing demand and ecosystem around Solaris helps to further propel its adoption, along with breakthrough technologies like ZFS and DTrace, and outstanding operational economics and market-leading support for thousands of ISVs and applications," said John Fowler, executive vice president of systems for Sun.
"This deal makes HP the fifth and final major vendor to...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Social Networking Linked To 'Infantilized Lifestyle'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64928
In case you've run out of things to worry about, a British scientist has raised concerns about whether social-networking sites could be harmful to your social health. But other reports indicate new ways that social networking can expand relationships.
Oxford University neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, in a debate in the House of Lords, asked if such pastimes are changing the way brains function, shortening attention spans, and possibly even contributing to the rise of autism. Greenfield is a member of the House of Lords, where she holds the title of baroness.
"Perhaps given the brain is so impressionable," Greenfield said, it's possible that "screen life" is creating a more "infantilized lifestyle," adding that Facebook and similar sites might create short attention spans. She acknowledged, however, that she did not possess any scientific research to back up her musings, and that it was "based on a little bit of neuroscience, observations, a bit of clinical evidence."
Greenfield noted that "there is no one single or conclusive killer fact," although she did report that a teacher acquaintance has noticed a decline in her students' ability to relate to others.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Greenfield grouped Facebook, MySpace and similar sites with fast-paced TV shows and video games. "My fear," she told the newspaper, "is that these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention and who live for the moment." She told the House of Lords that this kind of behavior, once recognized, can be described as attention deficit disorder.
A spokesperson for Facebook told news media that the company had not seen any scientific research to back up Greenfield's musings.
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with Current Analysis, described her warnings as based on...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Microsoft Fears Fine By EU Over Browser
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64918
The European Commission is threatening a "significant fine" against Microsoft for bundling its Web browser into Windows and may require the company to offer a range of competing browsers in all new PCs.
This disclosure is related to the commission's antitrust investigation into Microsoft and was revealed in a note to investors on Jan. 22. The software maker has until March 12 to respond to the commission's objections to Internet Explorer, which Microsoft has bundled into Windows since 1996.
The commission, which is the executive arm of the European Union, opened the case in January 2008 after receiving a complaint from Opera, a browser maker in Norway.
In its note to investors, Microsoft said that computer users and makers were already free to run any Web browser in Windows. Still, the company said, the commission may seek a "significant fine."
Referring to original equipment manufacturers, Microsoft told shareholders: "The commission is considering ordering Microsoft and OEMs to obligate users to choose a particular browser when setting up a new PC. Such a remedy might include a requirement that OEMs distribute multiple browsers on new Windows-based PCs."
Microsoft said the commission might require consumers logging on to a new PC to choose a default browser from a range of browsers provided by Microsoft and the computer maker. Microsoft said it might also be required to deactivate Internet Explorer on devices where consumers choose another browser.
Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, said Microsoft might be required to offer software from its competitors with Windows if the concerns outlined in the commis
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Music Industry Takes Stand in Pirate Bay Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64916
The music industry has lost more than 30 percent in sales since 2001 because of illegal downloading, a top industry official said Wednesday, giving evidence in a Swedish trial.
John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, told the Stockholm District Court that Swedish site The Pirate Bay had become "the No. 1 source of illegal music," following court actions against two other popular file-sharing sites, Grokster and Kazaa.
"Over a period of time, piracy has done immense damage to the music industry," Kennedy said, adding that illegal Internet downloads had caused industry sales to tumble from $27 billion in 2001 to $18 billion in 2008.
Kennedy testified on behalf of a handful of record companies, including Sony BMG and EMI, which together with movie companies such as Universal and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are seeking 117 million kronor ($13.2 million) in compensation and damages.
"I believe they are justified and may even be conservative because the damage is immense," he said of the claim.
Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 28, Peter Sunde, 30, Fredrik Neij, 30, and Carl Lundstrom, 48, are accused of breaking Swedish copyright law by helping millions of Internet users download protected music, movies and computer games for free through The Pirate Bay. They have pleaded not guilty.
According to IFPI, the Pirate Bay is the biggest site of its kind in the world, with 22 million users.
The defendants say their site doesn't violate any laws because it does not host any copyrighted material. Instead, it directs users to other file-sharers, with whom they connect through so-called torrent files to download content. If convicted the four would each face up to two years in prison.
After his testimony, Kennedy told The Associated Press that the defendants were "hiding" behind their torrent technology, saying they still contribute in making copyright-protected works...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
What Sells Online? Unsexy Newsletters
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64915
We San Franciscans think New York isn't quite as Web savvy are we are. No offense to my BusinessWeek overlords and Silicon Alley pals, but we're convinced that the smartest, most innovative ideas for using the Internet emanate from this coast, not yours. Heard of Google, anyone?
Here's the shocker. As the ad recession deepens, it's a handful of Silicon Alley Web companies that are getting one thing right that many Bay Area companies abandoned years ago: the e-mail newsletter. That's right. The East Coast is leading the way in showing how to make money from those electronic digests of a site's content, delivered regularly to your already cluttered in-box.
The most noted success story is DailyCandy.com, purchased by Comcast just before all hell broke loose in the economy last fall. Reportedly, it fetched $125 million. Not exactly a home run in Web terms, but a big win nonetheless.
DailyCandy.com has done well enough that its investors at Pilot Group Ventures in Boston have backed several companies that also use e-mail newsletters, among them the newsletter-for-dudes-who-read-newsletters Thrillist, which is launching in its 10th city, Philadelphia, this month. The co
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Adobe Flash Flaw Could Give Attackers Full Control
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64910
Less than a week after security researchers warned of a vulnerability in two Adobe programs that could allow hackers to compromise a PC comes yet another critical exploit that could hijack your desktop.
This time, attackers have targeted Adobe's Flash animation software. According to iDefense Labs, remote exploitation of the vulnerability in the Flash player could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with full user privileges. That means anything you could do with your PC, the attacker could, too.
"To exploit this vulnerability, a targeted user must load a malicious Shockwave Flash file created by an attacker," iDefense Labs said. "An attacker typically accomplishes this via social engineering or injecting content into a compromised, trusted site."
Adobe already has a black eye because of a zero-day vulnerability in Acrobat Reader that has attracted a lot of attention in the press and the security community, according to Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle. The network security and compliance automation firm works with companies like Safeway, U.S. Cellular, and Archer Daniels Midland.
"Some people are asking why is it taking Adobe so long to release a patch for the Acrobat bug when third-party companies have already released mitigation steps and a few have even released their own Acrobat patches," Storms said. "Meanwhile, apart from a simple security notice on its Web site, Adobe has been conspicuous by their silence."
The optimistic view is that Adobe has been busy working on a Flash update and ensuring a high level of quality in its Acrobat patch. Storms said we have little choice but to take the optimistic view because anything else would further degrade Adobe's reputation with an information-security community already surprised by its lack of response.
"At this point, Adobe needs to do two things in a hurry," Storms said. "First, they need to...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
Why IP Address Management Is Key
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64759
Effective management of the IP network requires a set of disciplined processes and tools to plan, deploy and manage converged IP services. A key component among this set of tools and processes is IP address management (IPAM), which is employed to track and manage IP address space and supporting network services.
IPAM involves the creation and tracking of an IP address plan to accurately model IP address and subnet assignments. This plan serves as the foundation upon which IP address moves, adds and changes can be applied. The IP address plan also serves as the definitive source of configuration information supporting network services, namely, dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) and domain name system (DNS). DHCP and DNS network services provide automated IP address assignment and host name lookup services, respectively, and are critical to providing efficient and easy-to-use converged services.
Implementation of an IPAM system to administer the IP address plan and associated DHCP and DNS configurations can streamline and improve overall management performance of multiservice IP networks.
An IPAM tool can integrate the IP address plan with automated configuration of distributed DHCP and DNS servers. A centralized IPAM solution enables the entry of IP information once, leveraging this information across integrated IP inventory, DHCP and DNS configuration functions.
An IPAM solution can also buttress a disciplined enterprise-wide network-management approach. Depending on the scale and structure of the approach, IPAM functions can be performed independently using a standalone IPAM system or assimilate workflow using an IPAM system integrated within a documented process framework such as ITIL. Regardless of the approach, the following key IPAM functions should be performed.
Implement a hierarchical address plan matching the routing topology. This can help model address aggregation and streamline allocations. For example, each IP service may require its own addressing hierarchy due to differing routing treatment of voice...
Thu, 26 Feb 09
How To Optimize Network Performance
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64756
The character of an enterprise network, as well as the sophistication of available network-analysis tools, has changed radically since the first use of Ethernet. Today, companies use the Internet for disseminating information and for e-commerce, affecting the amount of resources a corporation devotes to its network, as well as the importance the organization places on keeping its network running properly.
Along with the growth of network usage, there has been a corresponding increase in the availability of network-analysis and management tools. This is seen in the fragmented nature of the network-management industry; freeware analyzers, enterprise-class appliances and everything that falls in between are each jockeying for a place in the IT manager's tool kit.
Yet, enterprise networks are more complex today than ever, and the data these networks transport has expanded to include peer to peer, voice over IP (VoIP), storage, Internet and a myriad of other applications. The meantime-to-resolution measurement (how long is necessary to fix a networking problem once it has occurred), a key statistic used by some organizations, has remained essentially unchanged, however.
There are online cost calculators that help estimate what an hour's worth of network downtime might cost an organization. Typical considerations include lost productivity, missed sales opportunities and the possibility of losing an important customer account.
One estimate puts the cost of downtime at about $42,000 an hour for an average large business. Thus, if a business' network availability was 99 percent for the entire year, it would still have experienced three days of downtime; this works out to a cost of more than $3 million.
In order to prevent these problems from occurring in the first place, corporate management should decide what specific tools are required and how much of the IT budget should be spent on equipment such as network tools. For example, an organization might budget...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Ballmer Says Microsoft Will Focus on R&D Amid Gloom
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64905
The news last month that Microsoft was issuing its first large-scale layoffs was a clear sign that the economic downturn is being felt even in Redmond, Wash. In a conference call with financial analysts Tuesday, CEO Steve Ballmer made it clear that the software giant doesn't expect things to improve anytime soon.
The global economy, Ballmer suggested, is going through an "economic reset," in which financial resources are removed from the system, the economy finds a new level, "and then productivity and sort of innovation can then again drive economic growth."
"I don't think," Ballmer said, "and certainly the earnings reports we see from everybody, I don't think anybody is able to cut costs fast enough in any industry to maintain the profits of yesteryear. So you've got to ask, what does the business reset look like that goes along with the economic reset?"
Ballmer told analysts that as part of its effort to understand the current economic climate, Microsoft asked some of its employees to read various company annual reports from 1927 through 1938. The goal, he said, was to find out who had done a good job handling the Great Depression.
"RCA, god rest them in peace, RCA become our role model," Ballmer said. "They actually kept investing in R&D through the Depression period, and in the post-Depression they dominated TV technology because they were really the only guys who had invested."
During his presentation, Ballmer listed the company's various R&D initiatives. Among other things, he said, Microsoft is committing $7.6 billion in R&D funds to Office, the company's flagship productivity suite. However, Ballmer added, the next version of the program, Office 14, will not be available this year as expected, but will be "generally available" in 2010.
Ballmer framed much of his strategy analysis on Microsoft's relative...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Consumers Spend More on Apps Than on Smartphones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64904
Watching their investment and retirement portfolios shrink and facing the recession has not stopped mobile-phone users from spending big on apps. More than 15 percent of 235 smartphone users who installed apps on their devices last year spent nearly $100. And 16.5 percent spent between $100 and $500 in the last 12 months.
ABI Research, which conducted the survey, found that iPhone users aren't holding back when it comes to buying low-cost apps from Apple's App Store.
"That's significant," said Jeff Orr, senior analyst for mobile content for ABI. "Given the unrest in the economy, I'm a bit surprised to see that mark hit when it did. I would not have expected it in 2008. Single digits was more my expectation."
"This is the first time in the mobile market where people are spending more on the applications than they are on the device and arguably the service," Orr said.
Prices for apps in the App Store ranging from $1 to $25, but mostly on the lower end, are the core of ABI's study. Once Apple is taken out of the app equation, however, costs for applications run $7 to $25 each, according to Orr.
Apple is somewhat hurting the market with its App Store because it's driving down prices, according to Orr.
"I don't think it was ever Apple's intent to see prices go to that level; it was a side effect from using the model of iTunes," Orr said. "It has driven developers to compete. How many types of a particular application can there be before you have saturation, and what other way to compete than price? I expect this year one of their motivations will be to try to reverse that trend and encourage developers to price products based on what the markets will bear."
He said...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Yahoo Offers Advertisers Tools To Target Audiences
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64903
In today's struggling economy, every dollar counts, particularly in the volatile field of online advertising. Like most of the major search engines, Yahoo has seen its advertising revenues decline, putting additional pressure on a company already rocked by leadership changes and a falling market share.
In an effort to help companies get more value for their online advertising dollars, Yahoo announced Tuesday that it is offering three new targeting tools: Search Retargeting, Enhanced Retargeting, and Enhanced Targeting.
"As the economy continues to put pressure on advertising budgets, marketers are looking for increased accountability for every dollar they spend. Yahoo's new targeting products significantly improve the ability for search and display advertisers to reach their target audience, providing increased efficiency and accountability," said Michael Walrath, senior vice president of Yahoo's Advertising Marketplaces Group.
The Enhanced Targeting tool is the most straightforward. Scheduled to start next month, the program will enable advertisers to choose the date, time and audience for their ad campaigns with much finer precision. According to Yahoo, "Advertisers will be able to vary their bids for different segments in order to increase their ability to reach the desired audience."
Yahoo's other tools function by taking a much closer look at what people are doing online, both within the Yahoo network and beyond. For instance, Search Retargeting is designed to target consumer activity within Yahoo's own network. If an individual searches for a specific product using Yahoo's search engine, Yahoo will serve up display ads relevant to the search term. The ad program is similar to Google's Adwords, although that program is currently limited to text ads.
Enhanced Retargeting goes further by offering advertisers the opportunity to link activity on their Web sites with ads in the Yahoo network. In the example offered by Yahoo, a user who searched for a specific...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
VUDU Offers Download-To-Own HD Movies
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64896
Digital on-demand movie provider VUDU has begun allowing consumers to own some of the high-definition movies and documentaries downloaded from the company's online store.
Until now, consumers could only rent selections from VUDU's 1,400 HD movies. The company has unwrapped a collection of more than 50 HD titles that consumers can download to own.
"Consumers are clamoring for the ability to own digitally delivered titles in high definition," said VUDU Executive Vice President Edward Lichty. "We are excited to be the first in the industry to meet this consumer need."
VUDU's download-to-own HD collection is currently restricted to releases from independent studios such as FirstLook Studios, Kino and Magnolia Pictures, which have all agreed to make their films available for purchase. "The emerging digital platform that reaches consumers in their homes directly on their HDTVs via VUDU is an important new channel for us," said FirstLook Studios Chief Operating Officer Dean Wilson.
Lichty described the deal as a "watershed event" for the industry that signals the studios' recognition of, and confidence in, digital delivery as an increasingly important part of their business. "We expect to see a continuing expansion of digital rights in the coming months," he said.
Still, so far none of the major Hollywood studios have signaled a desire to make their blockbuster releases available under a download-to-own model. Until that happens, VUDU intends to continue renting, but not selling, their latest HD movie releases.
VUDU's collection of download-to-own HD titles, priced from $13.99 to $23.99, can be stored on the consumer's Internet movie player. Alternatively, customers may elect to store their purchases online using a free storage service that the company calls the VUDU Vault. Additionally, VUDU offers a $499 home theater that can store as many as 500 movie titles.
Earlier this month, VUDU halved...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Kindle 2 Becomes Available Earlier Than Expected
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64893
Just weeks after announcing it would release a new, refined version of its electronic book reader, Amazon.com has not only held true to its promise, but is offering the device earlier than previously announced. Amazon.com made the Kindle 2 e-reader available to consumers Monday through its retail Web site, one day earlier than expected.
"The response from customers to Kindle 2 has been tremendous," said Cinthia Portugal, a spokesperson for Amazon.com. "In order to ensure we ship Kindle 2 by the original ship day of Feb. 24, we started shipping one day early."
Kindle 2 is a new, souped-up version of the old Kindle. The device has a 25 percent longer battery life, weighs 10.2 ounces, and is thinner than the old version. It comes with a five-way controller enabling the consumer to navigate through content and highlight text.
The Kindle 2 also includes wireless coverage for no fee. Users can download newspapers, books and other content using Amazon.com's coverage, which has recently been expanded.
The Kindle 2 holds more than 1,500 books, and users can choose from more than 240,000 different titles, according to Amazon.com. The device also comes with a text-to-speech feature which enables users to listen to the book if their hands are full or when they are driving.
The "Read-to-Me" feature has stirred some controversy in the publishing community about audio rights versus e-reader rights. Amazon.com told USA Today that providing software that reads the text aloud is not breaking the law. The software is Realspeak Solo by Nuance Communications.
Portugal said Kindle's software is similar to text-to-speech applications currently in use on PCs, Macs and other devices. Audiobooks, however, are different. "Audiobooks, such as the 30,000 professionally produced audiobooks available from audible.com and also playable on Kindle 2, are individually recorded spoken-word productions carefully produced and recorded...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Where's My E-Mail? Google's Gmail Goes Down for Hours
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64880
Google and its e-mail users had a rude awakening Tuesday morning, with Gmail suffering a major outage between about 1 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. EST. The BBC reported the service returned for many users after about four hours, which would make it one of the longest e-mail outages for the search giant.
Although it occurred in the middle of the night, an outage of that length is significant because Gmail's users are estimated at about 113 million. This makes it the third most popular e-mail service in the world, behind Hotmail's 280 million users and Yahoo's 274 million.
Google Apps, a suite of business applications that includes Gmail, is used by more than a million businesses worldwide. One of those businesses is Google itself, which was unable to reply via e-mail to journalists during the outage.
The service agreement for businesses specifies that Gmail and Google's other services will be 99.9 percent operational each month. If the uptime is lower than 99.9 percent, paying customers may be eligible for a refund.
On The Official Google Blog, Gmail Site Reliability Manager Acacio Cruz posted a notice at 4:28 a.m. acknowledging the company had "some problems." Later he wrote, "our monitoring systems alerted us that Gmail consumer and businesses accounts worldwide could not get access to their e-mail."
He apologized for the inconvenience, and noted that, at the time of the posting, users in the U.S. and U.K. who "have enabled Gmail offline through Gmail Labs should be able to access their inbox, although they won't be able to send or receive emails."
A posting on the Google Apps support site also noted the problem and offered an apology. "The problem," the notice said, "is now resolved and users have had access restored." The company takes "issues like this very...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Motorola Sells Good Tech So Visto Can Target RIM
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64878
A struggling Motorola has sold some mobile-messaging assets. The handset maker on Tuesday announced it's selling Good Technology to Visto, a mobile push-synchronization platform. Visto has its sights set on competing with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, but analysts are skeptical about its chances in an entrenched market.
Good Technology offers wireless messaging, mobile VPN data access, device management, and handheld security for enterprise customers. Visto says adding Good's service suite in the U.S., Europe and Asia will allow the company to offer a broader range of solutions.
Visto CEO Brian Bogosian said the transaction marks an important milestone in the company's emergence as a leader for mobile access to applications and content, especially messaging and collaboration data.
"Good's robust enterprise and government solution will complement Visto's strong operator presence in business and consumer markets," Bogosian said. "As a result of this transaction, Visto will now provide customers in over 100 countries an open, robust and secure mobile experience for enterprise customers, on over 400 different mobile devices."
Visto has inked deals with AT&T, TELUS, T-Mobile and Vodafone, among others. Through its relationships with U.S. mobile carriers, Good has implementations with thousands of enterprises, including many of the Fortune 500, with a high concentration in the Fortune 50.
So why is Motorola shedding the technology -- and the customers that go with it? Because it's in the best interest of its customers, employees and shareholders, according to Gene Delaney, president of enterprise mobility solutions at Motorola.
"Visto's acquisition of Good will allow Motorola to continue to concentrate on providing best-in-class business-critical applications, secure management platforms, and mobility services that empower the individual with the right information at the right time to streamline business processes and improve results," Delaney said.
Motorola acquired Good Technology in November 2006 for an undisclosed amount....
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Apple Debuts Safari 4 Beta for Mac and Windows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64877
The browser wars are starting again. Apple on Tuesday launched the public beta of Safari 4. The maker of the Mac is billing its latest browser version as the world's fastest and most innovative for both Mac and Windows PCs. Analysts said Apple is right to brag about its latest innovations.
The Safari 4 beta comes with a slew of new features that aim to make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable. Top Sites, for example, offers a visual preview of
frequently visited pages. Full History Search lets you search through titles, Web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages. And Cover Flow lets you flip through Web history or bookmarks much the same way you flip through your album covers on the iPod.
"Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into Web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. "Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 Web standards that enables the next generation of interactive Web applications."
According to Apple, the Nitro JavaScript engine in Safari 4 is the world's most advanced browser technology. The claims are impressive. Apple said Nitro runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, up to 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Apple also said Safari loads HTML Web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.
"It's hard to innovate on the browsing experience these days. It's simple. It's familiar. It works. But Apple really has done some nice stuff with the Safari 4 beta," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Even Google Seems Uneasy As It Overwhelms Its Rivals
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64856
The popularity of the Google search engine in the United States just grows and grows. In the past three years, its market-share gains have even been accelerating, making some people wonder whether the company will eventually obliterate what remains of its competition in search.
Certainly, antitrust scrutiny is a growing worry at the Googleplex, the nickname for the company's headquarters. Last year, the company abandoned a proposed advertising pact with Yahoo when the U.S. Justice Department said it would file an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. Last week, a small Web site operator, TradeComet.com, filed an antitrust suit accusing Google of unfairly manipulating its advertising system to harm a potential competitor.
And when I asked to speak with Google's chief economist about why its market-share gains were accelerating, the press office also gave me, unrequested, a second, separate appointment with Dana Wagner, the company's "competition counsel" -- that is, its point person on antitrust issues.
Google maintains that its lead in the Web search market is tenuous, and that a user's loyalty could evaporate with a simple click of a mouse.
But consider this: As recently as July 2005, Google was ahead of Yahoo in market share by just 6 percentage points, 36.5 percent to 30.5 percent, according to comScore, the market research company. Today, that advantage stands at 63 percent to 21 percent.
"You almost feel sorry for Google," said Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land. "They're doing a good job, and people are turning to them. But when they pass 70 percent share, people are going to be uncomfortable about Google becoming a monopoly."
Google does not register gains every month. The comScore numbers for January reflect a 0.5 percent drop in its share from December and a 0.5 percent gain for Yahoo. But according to Hitwise, another online...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Budget PCs Could Help Taiwanese Firms in Downturn
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64854
Thinking small might help Taiwan's computer industry emerge from the global downturn as an even bigger global player.
While the worldwide computer market is suffering through its worst sales in years, one bright spot is coming from the mini-laptops known as "netbooks," which appeal to the budget-conscious in tough times.
Several research groups have forecast that global demand for the thin, light machines could double this year -- and the category is dominated by Taiwanese brands and Taiwanese contract manufacturers.
With the island's $2.5 billion in electronics exports accounting for one-fifth of Taiwan's overall exports in January, Taiwanese government planners hope netbooks can boost an economy that is struggling.
At 5 percent, unemployment is moderate by worldwide standards but at a five-year high here. And with exports registering two consecutive monthly drops of more than 40 percent year-over-year, economists are predicting a 3 to 6 percent contraction in the Taiwanese economy for 2009.
Taiwan-made mini-laptops burst onto the world's electronics scene with an estimated 11 million units sold last year. This year, sales could hit 22 million units, according to several analysts. In comparison, 120 million standard laptops are expected to be churned out this year.
With screens of 9 to 10 inches -- or smaller -- and prices generally between $350 and $700, netbooks have relatively scant memory, and specialize in accessing the Internet and checking e-mail. Their low price is meant to appeal to the budget-conscious, but netbooks' small size also makes them convenient for business travelers.
"It is small but has enough functions for my personal and office use," said Taipei insurance company employee Winnie Tsai, who bought a 10-inch netbook for 16,000 New Taiwan dollars ($476), about one-third of what her old standard laptop cost.
Growth in netbooks could be well timed for Taiwanese contract manufacturers, which need to keep their assembly lines busy...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Avoid Deadbeat Clients with BusinessBeware.biz
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64850
Over lunch last spring, as Robert Bodi listened to a buddy complain about a customer who refused to pay for irrigation work on her property, he knew something sounded familiar about the story. Bodi, an independent irrigation contractor in Venice, Fla., realized the same woman had stiffed him after he fixed some wires in her irrigation system following a lightning strike. "And it turned out, there was a third guy in our business who said she never paid him for putting in a new pump for her," recalls Bodi, a 30-year-veteran of the contracting business, who runs Rainmaster LLC. "Some people you just can't please."
With the help of his daughter Ashley, Bodi responded by establishing BusinessBeware.biz, a Web site where contractors share stories about deadbeats and those infamous, impossible-to-please customers. The site also names names, to help business owners avoid toxic clients. Since it began operating, in June 2008, the Web site has acquired about 650 members and received 20,000 page hits. BusinessBeware.biz has become something of a reverse Better Business Bureau [BBB], a resource that many small business owners look to for guidance -- especially in a depressed economic environment in which few can afford to let customers ignore invoices.
"When it comes to work contractors do, they invest a lot of money, so it's only natural for them to get nervous about not being paid," says Alison Southwick, a spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau.
Like the BBB, Bodi, 48, and his daughter are taking pains to ensure their site's legitimacy so that it doesn't turn into a repository for general nastiness or diatribes from folks seeking to rant for the sake of ranting. "The first couple of months we had to delete stuff like crazy. I was worried about lawsuits," Bodi says. "Then we started...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
Review: Verizon Hub Breathes Life into Home Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64831
Some companies are still trying to reinvent the basic home telephone.
The latest attempt comes from Verizon Wireless, which recently began offering the Hub. Although the Hub won't go so far as to replace your computer, the Hub can make your home phone into a bulletin board, entertainment center -- even a child tracker.
But all this will cost you -- the device itself is $200 after a $50 rebate, and it requires a two-year, $35 monthly contract that includes unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada and unlimited texts.
In recent months I've tested the Hub and the HomeManager, which is AT&T Inc.'s version of a smarter home phone. The HomeManager retails for $349, but it can be had for $149 if you have AT&T home service and a two-year contract for DSL service.
I liked the Hub better -- it offers many more options. It's also for sale nationwide, while the HomeManager is available in select markets.
Both these phones would have been more compelling before the rise of "smart" mobile phones, which already offer many of the same features as the Hub or the HomeManager. But unlike smaller smart phones, these new devices present a large touch screen for manipulating calling functions and Internet content.
The Hub starts with a simple setup: Once you have a Verizon Wireless account, plug the phone into an electrical outlet and connect it to your home Internet service over Wi-Fi or with an Ethernet cable. It took me less than 10 minutes.
I wasn't blown away by the quality and clarity of the phone calls, which use voice-over-Internet technology. I picked up a static undercurrent a few times.
But the draw of the Hub is by far the Internet-infused range of options.
From the touch-screen home page, it's a quick leap to a menu with telephone directories and features that...
Wed, 25 Feb 09
New Gadgets Signal New Trends in Mobile
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64826
The new crop of mobile phones was thin [at] the industry's big event, the Mobile World Congress [in Barcelona]. But despite scaled-down promotion, empty hotel rooms and a murky future, a few trends appeared to emerge.
A subtle but unmistakable move this year was the demise of the flip mobile phone, also known as the clamshell design. Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG all had models on display at the show, but none were center stage.
Its departure from the scene would leave consumers with two basic design formats -- the sliding handset and the "bar" design innovated by LG and Apple, said Bill Morelli, director of mobile technology at IMS Research.
"We have seen a complete shift away from the flip and clamshell handsets," Morelli said. "The focus is solely on bar phones and maximizing screen size."
But minimalist bars can start to look alike. That is one reason Samsung developed the Blue Earth, which it called the first mass-market, solar-powered mobile phone. The phone, whose back is a grid of solar cells, is made from recycled plastic and was one of several models that makers at the show promoted for their green credentials.
A Samsung spokesman, Roger Fonteller, said the phone needed 10 to 14 hours of sunlight to charge completely and would be available worldwide during the second half of the year.
Samsung may be on to a second trend. It got together with Texas Instruments to introduce a mobile phone, the Samsung Optoma, with an embedded projector that can show videos, business presentations and e-mail messages on any flat surface.
To do so, Texas Instruments shrunk its DLP Pico projection chip, used in rear projection televisions. Christian Thevot, a spokesman for the company, said the phone, which could operate for two hours on battery, was being sold in South Korea and...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Microsoft Demands Money Back From Laid-Off Workers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64876
There's bad corporate PR, and there's REALLY bad corporate PR. The accounting department of software giant Microsoft offered a textbook example of the latter.
Last month, Microsoft announced its first-ever mass layoff, with 1,400 employees being asked to leave immediately and another 3,600 on the chopping block for job cuts. That was unpleasant enough, but just last week an unknown number of pink-slipped employees got another shock: A letter from Microsoft telling them that their severance package had been miscalculated and they had been paid too much money. A smaller group of employees reportedly got good news, that their severance payment was actually too small.
According to a copy of the letter obtained and posted online by the blog TechCrunch, Microsoft asked its former employees to repay the money promptly.
"Please make your check or money order payable to "Microsoft Corporation" within fourteen (14) days for the full [figure] (Net) amount identified above and mail it to the following address: Microsoft Corporation, Attn: Payroll Department -- Repayments."
The accounting error rapidly turned into a public-relations nightmare for Microsoft, with news of the demand spreading like wildfire throughout the technology press. Articles about the mix-up have also attracted large numbers of sarcastic comments from readers, ranging from the predictable "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" to "They must have been running Vista on the machine that goofed up ... LOL!"
Interpret Vice President Michael Gartenberg said that while Microsoft may have a legitimate claim, the cost of recovering it may simply be too high.
"Yes, the money was given in error and does belong to Microsoft," Gartenberg said, "but at this point it's a question of taking a PR hit at the expense of the money it feels is owed them. It's hard to imagine that Microsoft didn't realize that this might become public, and now it clearly has....
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Carol Bartz Reported Preparing for Yahoo Shake-Up
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64872
New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is reportedly planning a significant reorganization of the Internet search-engine and media portal. News of the rumored management shake-up was first reported Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
While details are still being finalized, one leading proposal is for Yahoo's chief technology officer, Aristotle Balogh, to take on new responsibilities as head of products for the company. Operations for various geographic regions would be consolidated under single executives, and a more top-down, streamlined approach would be implemented for certain business functions which are currently scattered throughout the company.
The Journal also reported that Bartz has launched searches to fill various slots in Yahoo's management structure and plans to "streamline" the company's senior vice presidents and vice presidents.
The rumored moves were praised by Karsten Weide, an industry analyst with the market intelligence firm IDC.
"I think it's great," Weide said. "I think so far Ms. Bartz has done everything right. She is focusing on cleaning up the huge overhead that Yahoo has in middle management. There are literally hundreds of VPs still at Yahoo, although some have recently left. The company will save money, and it will make decisions faster."
Weide also praised Bartz for not immediately outsourcing Yahoo's search function and for recognizing the importance of Asian assets to the company's future.
Bartz wasn't an obvious choice to replace former CEO and Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, who left the position after the collapse of a high-profile ad-sharing agreement with Google. Although she had a successful 14-year stint as CEO of Autodesk, Bartz came to Yahoo without significant experience in either Internet enterprises or new media.
Some analysts predicted it would take months for her to get up to speed on Yahoo's complicated structure and warned that the company could experience an extended period of drift.
But Weide thinks...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Steve Jobs Will Miss Apple's Shareholder Meeting
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64871
For a decade, Steve Jobs has been at the helm of the company he cofounded more than 30 years ago. But this year will mark a first for Apple and its CEO, who will miss the annual shareholder meeting for the first time since returning to the company in 1997.
Jobs is on medical leave until June, battling an illness that made him look frail from losing weight in the past year. His hormonal imbalance stirred a controversy that began when Apple announced that this year was its last at Macworld and that Jobs would not deliver the keynote.
Rumors that Jobs was losing his battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer hurt Apple's stock as investors sought information about his health and a succession plan. Apple and Jobs have remained tight-lipped other than Jobs posting a note on Apple's Web site on Jan. 5 explaining that his weight loss came from a hormonal imbalance and telling the Apple community that he would continue to run Apple.
Despite Jobs' note, only nine days later, on Jan. 14, Apple announced that he would take a leave of absence and that his medical problems were more complex. Jobs is reportedly considering a liver transplant after complications stemming from treatment of his cancer, according to Bloomberg.
"Why don't you guys just leave me alone -- why is this so important?" Jobs told Bloomberg when asked for a comment about his health.
The leave started a new flurry of rumors about his health and prompted a debate between Jobs' right to privacy and Apple's fiduciary duties. The situation also prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to probe Apple's disclosures surrounding Jobs and his health, Bloomberg reported last month.
Things remained quiet as Jobs reportedly worked on getting healthy -- until now.
When Jobs decided...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Cable Networks Plot Online TV Strategy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64870
Time Warner Cable and Comcast reportedly have been holding separate talks with the owners of major cable-TV networks with the goal of finding ways to give cable subscribers online access to much of the programming that cable has to offer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, cable's discussions with TV network owners Viacom, Time Warner and NBC Universal, among others, have been ongoing for months and could result in the launch of new online services later this year. Even better, Comcast subsidiary thePlatform confirmed that it would be providing the video infrastructure for Comcast's forthcoming online service, according to a report published by The New York Times.
"The main point is that this is additive to the rich universe of online video," wrote thePlatform CEO Ian Blaine in a blog. "It is good for consumers because they get access to more content in more places." Moreover, it is "good for cable networks because it doesn't put subscription fees at risk" and gives them the ability to deliver the experience their audiences "want and expect."
Though viewing of TV programs online remains a relatively small market today, it is growing rapidly and reaching new heights. "The American fascination with television and other video content is not easing up, as consumers keep turning to TV, Internet and mobile at record levels," said Susan Whiting, Nielsen's vice chair.
The average American watches more than 151 hours of TV per month, Nielsen reports. However, Americans who watch video over the Internet consume another three hours of online video per month, and those who use mobile video watch nearly four hours per month on phones and other devices.
"Viewers appear to be choosing the best screen available for their video consumption, weighing a variety of factors, including convenience, quality and access," Whiting noted. "It...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Microsoft Entices Gamers To Go for the Gold
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64869
Microsoft is offering a shiny new deal for its Xbox LIVE Gold subscribers -- a little something extra to boost the game console's value.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company is now offering a Deal of the Week to its Gold members in the form of weekly sales deals. To launch the new promotion for Gold members, Microsoft is offering its Braid game for 800 points or $10, a 33 percent discount from the normal cost.
Every gamer wins with Braid, according to Microsoft, because Braid is a 2-D game where the player never dies and never loses. Instead, the user faces difficult challenges by having to solve puzzles.
Microsoft Xbox LIVE Gold is a premium membership that allows users to play games with others online. The membership, which costs $49.99 per year, gives users access to multiplayer games, gaming parties, feedback on performance, and a skill-matching feature that connects the best game and level for a gamer's skill. It also offers Gold members who are users of Netflix access to movies.
Another feature of the Gold membership is early and exclusive access to add-ons, demos and trailers. The Deal of the Week promotion is an extension of this offering.
The software behemoth is pushing the idea of savings to its members, promising that its Deal of the Week promotions will be on Microsoft's hottest titles, add-ons, Xbox originals, songs and other content.
Microsoft is using its Deal of the Week promotion to get gamers with a Silver membership to upgrade to Gold and to get new subscribers to sign up.
"With all the awesome, exclusive Gold-only benefits, do you really need any convincing?" Microsoft writes on its Xbox.com Web site. "Sign up for Gold and dig all that fun for a little over $4 a month for a 12-month subscription."
"This all plays into basic marketing...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Citrix Offers Management for XenServer and Hyper-V
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64865
Citrix Systems is working with Microsoft in the enterprise virtualization market with Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Hyper-V.
The new product adds advanced management and automation functions to the Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms. The goal is to help customers transform virtualized data centers into "more dynamic delivery centers." The capabilities use all the virtualization buzzwords, like lab automation, dynamic provisioning, work flow orchestration, and storage-system integration.
With three-quarters of servers still not virtualized and customer choices increasing, the virtualization market is still wide open, according to Peter Levine, senior vice president and general manager of the virtualization management division at Citrix.
"We believe XenServer and Hyper-V will be the two fastest-growing virtualization platforms in this space going forward, each appealing broadly to different segments," Levine said. "Citrix is aligning its server-virtualization strategy around adding significant value to these two high-growth platforms, helping customers achieve more manageable, scalable and agile data centers in a way that leverages their existing investments in the most efficient way possible."
Citrix said its new product line is designed to address the growing share of Citrix and Microsoft virtualization environments in corporate data centers. The products also aim to enable easy interaction with servers that have been virtualized with other products.
As data centers become increasingly virtualized, customers need hypervisor-agnostic management solutions that go beyond general virtual machine administration, said Chris Wolf, a senior analyst at Burton Group. That includes automating and streamlining virtualization throughout the application life cycle, delivering workloads across a mix of physical and virtual machines, and simplifying integration with storage systems.
"Vendors that provide practical, heterogeneous virtualization-management solutions that address not just the virtual infrastructure, but also provide a framework for third-party innovation within and beyond the virtual infrastructure, are best positioned for long-term success," Wolf said.
The latest announcement...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Kyte's iPhone Delivery Platform Gets First Customer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64864
A turnkey platform for delivering content on the iPhone and iPod touch will soon be delivering interactive content from its first customer, a major record company.
On Monday, Kyte launched its iPhone Apps Framework, which enables content partners to create and deliver video, chat, RSS and Twitter feeds, as well as advertising, without having to develop the delivery platform. The first content provider to use this platform is the Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) record company, part of the Universal Music Group.
IGA's first applications for the platform will promote five bands -- The All American Rejects, Keri Hilson, Lady Gaga, The Pussycat Dolls, and Soulja Boy Tell 'Em. Other functionalities include user custom branding, comments, ratings and sharing.
The videos are produced for the acts, the RSS feed will contain news about the artists, and the built-in chat and sharing promotes social marketing. Although free, the artist applications will contain advertising links to each act's songs in Apple's iTunes Store.
Kyte has indicated that it's up to the licensing content partner how monetization will occur. Some partners might charge for the app and forego advertising, for instance. The apps for each act will also be available in the Apps Store.
Kyte's business model calls for media companies like IGA to license the platform so they can deliver their content without building and hosting their own platform. The artist apps don't provide the full songs, but promote the purchase of the songs by offering exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes videos, chatting and snippets of songs.
Daniel Graf, Kyte CEO, said, "IGA artists are using Kyte to produce authentic, raw video content every day, which keeps fans coming back again and again to see what's new and interact with each other." By utilizing its mobile Apps Framework, Graf added, companies have a "powerful, cost-effective...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Microsoft Seeks To Elevate America with Tech Training
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64847
Elevate America. That's what Microsoft is trying to do with a new initiative that aims to provide up to two million people over the next three years with the technology training needed to succeed in the 21st-century economy.
Elevate America is Microsoft's way of providing support in response to the economic crisis. It's a public-private partnership that offers a Web site to help individuals understand the types of technical skills required for available jobs and the resources to help acquire these skills, including grants and vouchers.
"Millions of Americans don't have the technology skills needed in today's economy. Through Elevate America, we want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed," said Pamela Passman, corporate vice president of Microsoft Global Corporate Affairs. "We are also providing a full range of workforce development resources for state and local governments so they can offer specialized training for their workers."
The Elevate America Web site offers access to several Microsoft online training programs, including how to use the Internet, send e-mail, and create a resume, as well as more advanced programs on using specific Microsoft applications.
Taking it a step further, Microsoft is also partnering with state and local governments, which in turn will make these resources available to their citizens. Florida, New York and Washington are the first states to provide Elevate America to their residents.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said the success of the Elevate Miami program in his state is proof that public-private partnerships can work and benefit citizens. "We have worked with Microsoft for years in Miami to bring technology training to underserved populations," he said. "Now, with Elevate America, we have the opportunity to bring these important skills to even more people, at a time when they are needed more than ever."
More than half of...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Solar-Charging and Socially Connected Gadgets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64832
And the winner of the GSMA's best handset of the year award ... surprisingly was not a smart phone.
A panel of judges for the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Awards chose the INQ1, a pretty normal slider 3G phone, citing for the way it integrates social networking applications like Facebook, Live Messenger and Skype. The INQ1 (pronounced ink-one) was launched last November in Britain through the telecoms operator 3.
The runners up were none other than the Nokia's hot E71 and T-Mobile's G1, the first phone with Google's Android to hit the market.
"The importance of this announcement is we wanted to give a message to the market that it is not about technology any more. It's about services. It is about user experience," said Francisco Jeronimo, one of the judges.
Jeronimo said what is special about the INQ1 is that all the applications are integrated around the contacts, so when a user browses the contacts they get the different items without having to open other applications. "I can see if someone is online on Skype or Messenger," Geronimo said.
Anyone who has lost sight of their small child in a crowded store for even a few minutes -- or worried when an older child was late coming home -- will immediately grasp the utility of this gadget.
The iNanny, designed by a small German startup Leoworx, is a small assisted GPS locator weighing less than 50 grams slipped into a child's pocket or bag that allows parents or minders to quickly locate a lost child.
"Let's say a child gets lost. Five, six, seven hours mean everything," said Leoworx CEO Rolf Kiehne.
Among the options: the user can define an area where the child habitually goes -- say a route to school and back -- and if the child strays from that predefined area or route, the...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Suit Over Vista Marketing No Longer Class Action
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64830
A lawsuit claiming people were fleeced by the way Microsoft Corp. advertised some Windows XP computers as capable of running the new Vista operating system is no longer a class action, a federal judge has ruled.
The lawsuit, certified last February as a class action, argued that Microsoft's designation of some PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to support all of Vista's features, including the sleeker "Aero" user interface.
U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman reversed course and decertified the class late Wednesday. In her decision, she wrote that the people who brought the lawsuit did not prove Microsoft artificially inflated demand for PCs that could run only the stripped-down version of Vista.
They also failed to prove Microsoft was unjustly enriched by sales of "Vista Capable" computers, Pechman wrote.
The judge did leave the door open for individuals to pursue similar lawsuits against Microsoft, however.
Over the last year, the case has made public reams of e-mails between Microsoft, PC makers and chipmakers that show top executives questioning Microsoft's marketing plan for the months preceding Vista's January 2007 launch. In part to keep PC demand from dropping off during the important holiday season, Microsoft and computer makers stuck the "Vista Capable" labels on some computers, while marking other, more powerful machines as "Premium Ready," or able to run a full-fledged version of Vista.
Some e-mails also indicated Microsoft lowered its standards for "Vista Capable" computers to include a certain line of Intel Corp. chips.
While Pechman did not find enough support for the class action suit, she didn't indulge Microsoft's request to end the matter with a ruling in its favor. She wrote that the e-mails raised enough questions about Microsoft's marketing decisions -- and their potential to deceive shoppers -- to leave individuals the option...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Does Google Inspire Sharing or Not?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64829
The grand vision of the Internet is as a compendium of human knowledge (rather than, say, a good resource of pet videos, pornography and will.i.am).
In this view, the Internet is a kind of climax in human evolution. Long past the days of telling stories over camp fires, we are now much more efficiently gathering our information and learned wisdom in one place.
Google's stated mission, after all, is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
This makes it seem like we've become much better at sharing. We share our music (as long as the Recording Industry Association of America doesn't sue us), we blog our thoughts, we pass videos to one another with the ease of a link.
But at the same time, we have no patience when it comes to sharing this information personally. The Internet has essentially made questions from one person to another beginning "Do you know ... ?" somewhat obsolete.
Who needs a smart buddy when you've got Google, the Internet Movie Database and (gulp) Wikipedia?
Exemplifying this is the site Let Me Google That For You: http://lmgtfy.com.
It describes itself as "for all those people that find it more convenient to bother you with their questions rather than google it for themselves."
It's a simple concept. Say a co-worker asks you what the capital of Vermont is. You might wonder how they missed third grade and sigh, "Montpelier, duh" (that is, if you still use decade-old slang -- which, hopefully, you do).
Or you might be annoyed that your co-worker didn't use the same amount of time to google the answer on their computer. So if you want to be coy about expressing this annoyance, you can plug the question in on lmgtfy.com.
The site generates a link that can be passed on as the answer. Opening the link,...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Citi Latest Bank To Replace Cards Following Breach
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64828
Citigroup Inc. has started sending replacement credit cards to its customers, apparently in response to a massive security breach at a payment processing company.
Heartland Payment Systems Inc. revealed on Jan. 20 that its system used to process Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Card transactions was breached late last year.
The Princeton, New Jersey, company said the breach did not involve merchant data, cardholders' Social Security numbers, unencrypted personal identification numbers, addresses or telephone numbers.
Although a Citi spokeswoman said the bank had no new reports of data breaches since Heartland, she could not immediately confirm if the replacement cards recently sent out were in fact related to the Heartland case. The New York-based bank does not reveal how many of its customers are involved when data security breaches are reported, so it is unclear how many cards were sent out.
Those that were mailed came with a notice labeled "Important Security Message" that explains the "account number may have been illegally obtained as a result of a merchant database compromise and could be at risk for unauthorized use."
Citi has more than 150 million credit card accounts worldwide.
Dozens of banks across the nation have said their customers were involved in the Heartland breach and have issued new cards to consumers. A handful of others have told The Associated Press they are monitoring their systems for unusual activity to detect fraud.
No major new data breaches have been reported to federal officials in recent weeks.
Last year, the number of identity theft cases jumped 22 percent to 9.9 million, according to a study released last week by Javelin Strategy & Research. The fraud price tag totaled $48 million, the study said.
Laws in 44 states require organizations holding consumer data to tell people when their information has leaked, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Heartland...
Tue, 24 Feb 09
Sprint Nextel: The Canary in Wireless's Coal Mine?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64824
"Economic uncertainty" was the phrase of the day for Sprint Nextel. During a Feb. 19 conference call, executives of the No. 3 U.S. wireless service provider used the two words liberally to describe the company's fourth-quarter results. In the three months ended in December, sales fell, losses ballooned, and customers jumped ship. There was so little visibility into the future that the company declined to make a forecast for the current quarter.
Usually when Sprint reports a bad quarter, it's easy to blame challenges specific to the company, including subpar customer service and network performance. But this time around, Sprint's woes augur a rough year for the entire industry.
Sprint Nextel's results are an early indication that the tough economic times engulfing construction, banking, and other industries are catching up with wireless carriers. Already, the downturn has pushed equipment maker Nortel into bankruptcy and ravaged sales of phone manufacturers like Motorola. Now it's the service providers' turn. "I don't think there's any sector that's been untouched," says Brent Iadarola, a global research director for consultant Frost & Sullivan. "The wireless sector is not immune."
Sprint Nextel may be feeling the pinch from businesses earliest because, among the top wireless carriers, it has the largest proportion of corporate customers. Sprint reported a "sizable" increase in turnover among corporate customers, which account for more than 25 percent of its user base. Companies are eliminating employees and canceling contracts for Research In Motion BlackBerrys and other business-friendly devices that run on the Sprint Nextel network. "We can watch unemployment [rise] and see a direct impact on our enterprise business," Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse says in an interview with BusinessWeek.
Though Sprint is the largest national provider of wireless service to businesses, the enterprise exodus may also affect the top two mobile-phone service providers: AT&T...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
ISP Bill Would Lengthen Data-Retention Requirements
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64842
Two leading Republican lawmakers from Texas, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Lamar Smith, have filed identical legislation in their houses of Congress that would require a broad range of Internet service providers to maintain logs of user data for up to two years.
The bills, known as the Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act (or Internet SAFETY Act), are designed to enhance the federal government's fight against the producers and distributors of child pornography. In addition to the data-retention policies, the act would establish new penalties of 10 years for people who set up Web servers to distribute child pornography and 20 years for those who fund such activities. The act would also double the funds for the FBI's anti-child pornography initiative, Innocent Images.
At a press conference with Smith and law-enforcement agents, Cornyn urged support for the legislation. "While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate and do business," Cornyn said, "its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm innocent children. Keeping our children safe requires cooperation on the local, state, federal and family level."
But critics are already raising concerns about the bill's broad language, particularly with respect to the definition of Internet service provider. The bill applies to any "provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service," which could conceivably be interpreted to include everyone from the largest ISP down to an individual who has set up a Wi-Fi network at home.
While most national or regional ISPs have the capability to collect and store IP address information associated with specific users, such record-keeping may be beyond the capability of smaller access providers, like coffee shops with free Wi-Fi. Homeowners might have an even more difficult time complying.
In an op-ed piece...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Internet Accelerates Results, as Facebook Saga Shows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64841
One of the most commonly quoted phrases of the electronic age is author Marshall McLuhan's observation that "the medium is the message." The primary focus of his comment was television and the remarkable changes it brought to American society.
Thirty-five years after McLuhan coined that phrase, the relationship between medium and message is tighter than ever before. A perfect example is this week's firestorm regarding the changes to the Facebook terms of service. The genesis of the controversy, the speed with which it spread around the world, and its resolution all help to underscore not only the ways that media is changing but society itself.
Remarkably, Facebook announced its changes to the site's terms barely two weeks ago in a blog posting by Facebook's corporate counsel for commercial transactions, Suzie White. The announcement attracted relatively little attention in the traditional mainstream media or even the technology press. CIO Today included a brief mention of the changes in a longer article about Facebook, but the change went entirely unremarked by newspapers, radio or television outlets.
That changed this week when the blog Consumerist posted its trenchant analysis of the new Facebook terms: "We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever." The post was incendiary enough by itself to attract attention, but it was the post-blog fallout that really made a splash. When a handful of legal wonks are grumpy about some fine print, that's an anecdote; when hundreds of thousands of people join protest groups and threaten to leave Facebook, that's a story.
And one of the real signs of change was on Wednesday, at the height of the Facebook controversy, when NBC Nightly News invited Consumerist coeditor Ben Popken for a brief interview. "They just basically had a major PR flameout on their hands," Popken told NBC, "and...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Cloud Computing Brings Challenges, Opportunities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64840
IBM gave the cloud-computing industry a big boost last week when it validated the technology by partnering with Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment. And despite -- or even because of -- the current economic recession, research firm IDC expects spending on IT cloud services to grow almost threefold, reaching $42 billion by 2012 and accounting for nine percent of revenues in five key market segments.
"For organizations eager to delay, reduce or eliminate capital spending, the pay-as-you go cloud computing model is proving to be attractive," says Joseph Tobolski, the director of cloud computing at Accenture. But as is the case with other earlier technological advances, "Cloud computing brings major challenges as well as big opportunities," noted Tobolski, who delivered the opening address at Thursday's IDC Cloud Computing Forum in San Francisco.
Despite being a hot technology topic, cloud computing can be downright nebulous when it comes to precisely defining itself. "As with many popular new technology trends, there are probably as many definitions out there as there are different analysts and vendors," said Marie Wieck, vice president of middleware services at IBM. "In IBM's view it's really a fundamental extension of the Internet computing model, and it is a platform that provides the ability for companies to access services and resources much more quickly."
Another industry problem is that cloud computing is still in a relatively early stage of development. Gartner believes that it will require several years and many changes in the market before cloud computing becomes a mainstream IT effort. "As cloud computing matures during the next several years, Gartner foresees three distinct, but slightly overlapping, phases of evolution," said Mark Driver, a vice president at the research firm.
Gartner expects the market phase currently underway -- which is being led by the industry's "pioneers and...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Palm Pre May Be a Sprint Exclusive Through 2009
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64839
Sprint Nextel has exclusive U.S. rights to sell Palm's Pre smartphone until the end of 2009, according to news reports. CNBC cited an anonymous source.
The Palm Pre, which would offer Sprint a chance to better compete in the smartphone market, is set to go on sale before June. Neither Sprint nor Palm was immediately available for comment.
The Pre features a rounded ergonomic design and a physical keyboard that slides out only when needed. Palm said it engineered the phone to feel natural in the hand and comfortably small in the pocket. The phone offers Web browsing, music, photos and videos, e-mail and text messaging. It has a curved slider and gesture-controlled touch interface.
Despite the CNBC story, Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis for Interpret, is not ready to confirm the report. Sprint does have an exclusive on the Palm Pre for some period of time, he said, but what that period is remains to be seen.
To Gartenberg's point, Palm has said the Pre will support a variety of Sprint services, including Sprint TV. Sprint Navigation will provide GPS-enabled audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, one-click traffic rerouting, and more than 10 million local listings. Sprint will also offer more than a dozen streaming-radio applications, including Sprint Radio, with more than 150 channels.
"The Pre is great for Sprint. Clearly, each carrier wants to offer an iconic device that represents their differentiation in the market," Gartenberg said. "For Verizon it's the BlackBerry Storm. For AT&T it's the Apple iPhone. For T-Mobile it's the G1. So for Sprint to have some period of exclusivity with the Palm Pre is very good for them."
The exclusive deal means consumers who want the Pre will have to do business with Sprint. Sprint has enjoyed other exclusive deals with Palm in the...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Microsoft Tests Vista SP2, Readies Windows 7 Updates
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64834
Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 is reportedly being released to testers, and updates to Windows 7 beta are slated for next week.
Although Microsoft is being relatively mum on the subject, a variety of Web sites are reporting that a release candidate build of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008 has been released to Microsoft Connect testers. The build, according to the sites, is 6002.16670.090130.
Ars Technica, for instance, has reported that SP2 is available to testers through Windows Update, adding that Microsoft -- as it usually does -- is recommending that regular users wait until the final release to download it.
SP2 adds a variety of improvements. In terms of hardware, for instance, there is integration of the Feature Pack for Wireless, with support for the most recent Bluetooth, version 2.1, and the Windows Connect Now Wi-Fi configuration. Wi-Fi performance after waking from sleep mode is improved, as are RSS feeds and the ability to record data onto Blu-ray discs.
In operating-system enhancements, Search 4.0 is updated to improve indexing, relevance, and finding or previewing documents, e-mail, music files and photos. SP2 also offers improved content protection for TV in the Windows Media Center.
For the enterprise, the Hyper-V virtualization environment is provided in SP2 as an integrated part of Server 2008.
Microsoft said it is looking for additional feedback from its testers, and it will "track customer and partner feedback from the beta program before setting a final date for distribution." Microsoft added that it will "have more to share" on SP2 "soon," and that final delivery is targeted for the second quarter. Some observers have speculated the release might be in April, which has also been rumored as the target for the release candidate for Windows 7.
The...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Adobe Reader, Acrobat Vulnerable To Attack
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64833
Security companies are warning of a vulnerability in two Adobe programs that could allow hackers to compromise your PC. Attackers are actively exploiting the flaw, although security researchers say the onslaught isn't yet widespread. Versions 9 and 8.x of Adobe Reader and Acrobat are affected.
According to Adobe, this vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Adobe categorizes this as a critical issue and recommends that users update their virus definitions and exercise caution when opening files from untrusted sources.
"Adobe is planning to release updates to Adobe Reader and Acrobat to resolve the relevant security issue. Adobe expects to make available an update for Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 by March 11th, 2009," Adobe said in its security advisory. "Updates for Adobe Reader 8 and Acrobat 8 will follow soon after, with Adobe Reader 7 and Acrobat 7 updates to follow."
In the meantime, Adobe said it is in contact with antivirus vendors, including McAfee and Symantec. According to the Shadowserver Foundation, there are several different variations of the attack, and it's only a matter of time before the vulnerability ends up in every exploit pack on the Internet. Zero-day attacks are the preferred choice of cybercriminals because victims are less able to defend against them.
"At the turn of 2009, malicious PDF documents were discovered to be exploiting a zero-day vulnerability affecting Adobe Reader 8.x and 9.x. In parsing a specially crafted embedded object, a bug in the reader allowed the attacker to overwrite memory at an arbitrary location," said McAfee's Geok Meng Ong. "The attacks, found in the field, use the infamous 'HeapSpray' method via JavaScript to achieve control of code execution."
When successful, the attack installs a backdoor for remote control and monitoring of infected...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Netbooks Hurt Mac Sales, But Satisfaction Is High
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64823
Coming off a boffo financial performance last year, Mac computer sales in January took some of the shine off Apple -- but Mac owners continue to be very satisfied.
Those are the takeaways from two new industry reports. Earlier this week, the NPD Group released figures showing Mac retail sales have slowed, declining six percent compared with the same month a year ago. This is the first monthly drop Apple has had in about three years, and the NPD report also showed that monthly sales for Windows PCs jumped about 16 percent in January over the same month last year. The PC figures were pumped by the rise in netbook sales.
Additionally, NPD found that Apple's retail market share, which had grown to 16.4 percent, also dropped in January, to 13.7 percent. The research firm said Apple's premium pricing is causing cost-conscious consumers to think twice.
A recent survey by consumer research firm ChangeWave also indicated a drop in overall computer sales, as well as in planned purchases. In the next 90 days, ChangeWave said, only four percent of respondents plan to buy a desktop, a point less than the results from its previous monthly survey. Only six percent have plans to spend for a laptop, about the same as the previous report.
But Apple still scores best in consumer satisfaction, according to ChangeWave. Eighty-one percent of those who purchased a Mac in the last 90 days were described as very satisfied, compared to 67 percent for ASUS, 61 percent for Acer, 55 percent for Dell, and 52 percent for Hewlett-Packard.
The survey, conducted Feb. 2 through Feb. 9 among 3,115 consumers, found planned personal-computer buying to be "at the lowest level ever recorded in a ChangeWave survey."
One category of computer, however, did have a sunny month. Netbooks, which are low-cost sub-notebooks, will be...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Dell Takes on Psion in Netbook Trademark Battle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64822
Netbooks are all the rage -- and Dell doesn't want any one company to have the right to use the term to describe the miniature notebook computers. On Wednesday Dell filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel Psion Teklogix's registered trademark for the term Netbook.
Dell is taking on the battle against Psion for the entire PC industry. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Sony, Samsung, LG, Fujitsu, Acer and ASUS are among the top netbook makers and there's plenty at stake. Even as laptop and PC sales decline, netbooks are seeing growth.
Also called mini-notebooks, netbooks are on pace to reach 5.2 million units in 2008 and eight million units in 2009, according to Gartner. The market is expected to experience strong growth, with as many as 50 million mini-notebooks shipped in 2012. Several factors will drive the demand for netbooks, including a small form factor and small screen, light weight, price, ease of use, and basic but sufficient PC functionality.
Psion is a Canadian mobile-computer manufacturer that sells a product called Netbook. Late last year, Psion sent cease-and-desist letters to netbook manufacturers, retailers, bloggers and journalists demanding they stop using the term by the end of March. Psion wants the world to "transition to a different descriptive term."
Psion first trademarked the term Netbook in December 1996, long before the industry had a clue that it could manufacture mini-laptops that would take the mobile-PC industry by storm. But Dell doesn't intend to stop using the term without a fight. The PC maker's legal action accuses Psion of not defending its trademark, not using the term on its current products, and not being truthful.
Specifically, Dell asserts that Psion has not been selling laptop computers under the trademark Netbook since 1999 as it has claimed, nor is Psion currently offering laptop...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Prepaid Cell Phones Help Dial Up Lower Costs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64797
Marty Focazio knew his cell phone calls were costing him a lot, but it was still a bit of a shock when he did the math and learned just how much it was per minute.
Using a spreadsheet to tally up the total monthly charges including taxes for all his voice minutes and text messages, he discovered he was paying as much as 42 cents each for his 400 to 500 minutes a month. Not exactly what the provider had touted.
"You see the ad that says $59 a month, but then you add it up and you realize, 'Holy crap, my phone bill is $120 a month!'" and sometimes much higher, said Focazio, of Upper Black Eddy, Pa.
So he did the budgeting equivalent of dialing 911: He turned in his smartphone and got a prepaid model from TracFone without all the bells and whistles. Now he has spent $160 total on it in the five months since.
"It's nice to just have an extra 50 or 100 bucks a month," said Focazio, 44, a strategist at a digital media agency in New York.
Prepaid phones, which provide a set number of minutes, are becoming a more appealing financial option as careful household budgeting becomes paramount in a tight economy.
Cell phone users who switch to them can cut their monthly spending significantly -- particularly those who talk 300 minutes or less a month, says the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
That, of course, is precisely why service providers prefer long-term contracts instead. Most don't advertise prepaid plans widely, instead targeting them largely at low-income users. But all major carriers offer prepaid phone plans, and consumers are increasingly signing up.
The number of U.S. prepaid wireless subscribers is estimated to have grown by some 19 percent as the economy slowed last year, a...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Delay Expected in Bids for New Internet Addresses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64795
Bids for new Internet addresses to rival ".com" and other suffixes will likely be delayed until the end of the year as a key oversight agency grapples with trademark and security issues.
Draft guidelines for the new suffixes generated so much comment that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, needs more time to sort out what it terms "overarching issues."
Those include whether trademark owners could wind up having to register thousands of new domain names simply to protect their intellectual-property rights. For instance, the $185,000 application fee would likely deter casual bidders from seeking, say, a ".disney" Web suffix, but the Walt Disney Co. might feel pressured to register "disney.nyc," "disney.bank" and scores of others under each of the new names, simply to keep them away from others.
Other concerns include whether new suffixes could encourage more scams involving fake Web sites that look legitimate, and whether new suffixes would even get much use.
Some of the forthcoming discussions should address concerns raised by the U.S. Commerce Department, which has significant sway because ICANN gets its powers through a government contract. ICANN cannot add any domain names without approval from the department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
ICANN had wanted to start taking applications for new names early this year, but the timetable proved too ambitious given the extent of the feedback. ICANN now expects to open bids around December.
"It is very important to take the time to resolve these overarching issues," said Paul Twomey, ICANN's chief executive.
ICANN plans to post a new draft by Thursday clarifying and expanding on some of the proposed guidelines. Among the changes, a new foundation would be set up to collect any money raised through auctions that are planned for resolving conflicts when more than one applicant seeks the same domain name. The foundation...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Eight Technology-Etiquette Tips for Job-Seekers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64794
If there's any small solace when starting a job search in this recession, it's the proliferation of digital technology to help you re-enter the working world.
Web sites like Indeed.com and LinkedIn.com have multiplied the number of job openings you can track and the professional contacts you can make. E-mail and smart phones make it easier to pitch yourself and set up appointments.
But think twice before picking up that BlackBerry and thumb-typing a message to the hiring manager whose e-mail address you so slyly uncovered online. In the end, landing the right job hinges on old-world skills.
"The electronic piece usually just gets your foot in the door," said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a tech industry recruiting division of Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing consultant Robert Half International.
"But you still have to present yourself well face-to-face in an interview, and you have to have good references," he said. "I think some job candidates lose sight of that because of all the technology options and capabilities that get your name out there."
Willmer and Kate Wendleton, president of The Five O'Clock Club, a New York-based career counseling company, advise that job seekers -- especially the young and tech-savvy -- frequently misuse electronic gadgets and the Web and run roughshod over professional etiquette.
Some of their advice:
1. AVOID E-MAIL BLASTS: Resist the temptation to respond to each online job listing in your field, and focus on those that fit the best. Only about 6 percent of jobs are filled by candidates recruited through advertisements, said Wendleton, whose firm also conducts career research. If you can use personal contacts to learn about an opening that's not widely publicized, your chances of landing the job increase because you've got fewer rivals.
Instead of blast e-mailing, use the Web to research potential employers and put yourself in...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Alcatel-Lucent Chief Betting on Wireless Markets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64790
Just four months into the job, Ben Verwaayen, the chief executive of the struggling telephone equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent, said he had had enough of the naysayers.
And they have been plentiful.
Competitors have questioned Verwaayen's decision to remain in the wireless equipment business, the fastest-growing part of the industry, where Alcatel-Lucent, the fixed-line leader, trails Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks.
Investors have been underwhelmed by a reorganization announced in December that will eliminate 1,000 management jobs and 5,000 contract workers from a 77,000-member global work force.
And former employees say that a clash between French and American workstyles -- Alcatel was based in Paris, Lucent in New Jersey -- has cost Alcatel-Lucent business as the economy sours.
One former employee, who left for a competitor last year and asked that he not be identified, called the company "an Amtrak-TGV train crash."
Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Verwaayen, a feisty 57-year-old Dutchman fluent in English, said he was "very grateful for their concerns and their love and care for us, which is really very heartwarming." During a wide-ranging interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the wireless industry's biggest convention, Verwaayen insisted that he was "confident that you will find a company that is alive and kicking, a company that is a force."
Verwaayen said Alcatel-Lucent was poised to regain market share after stumbling for two years following its $13 billion merger. Since the merger, in November 2006, the company has posted euro 9.4 billion, or $11.8 billion, in losses and euro 7.9 billion in write-downs.
Although the company expects global demand for telecommunications equipment to fall by 10 percent this year, Verwaayen said Alcatel-Lucent's comeback would begin in vast, lucrative markets like China, where the company is bidding to supply the three largest operators with their first high-speed wireless networks.
"We are among the top four wireless...
Sun, 22 Feb 09
Low-Tech, Home Remedies for High-Tech Glitches
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64789
Behind the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco, Sam Azar swipes a customer's credit card to ring up a purchase of Turkish cigarettes. The store's card reader fails to scan the card's magnetic strip. Azar swipes again, and again.
No luck.
As impatient customers begin to line up, he reaches beneath the counter for a small black plastic grocery bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and swipes it again. Success. The sale is rung up.
"I don't know how it works -- it just does," said Azar, who learned the trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the store's card reader, will not confirm or deny that the plastic-bag trick works. But it is one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that people without engineering degrees have discovered -- often out of desperation -- and shared with one another.
A shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks.
"In postwar Japan, the economy wasn't doing so great, so you couldn't get everyday-use items like household cleaners," said Lisa Katayama, author of "Urawaza," a book whose name uses the Japanese term for clever lifestyle tips and tricks. "So people looked for ways to do with what they had."
Popular urawaza include picking up broken glass from the kitchen floor by wiping it with a slice of bread, and placing house plants on a water-soaked diaper to keep them watered during a vacation trip.
Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing misbehaving gadgets with supplies as simple as paper and adhesive tape. Some, like Azar's plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they work, or whether they really work at all. But many home remedies for technical problems can be explained with a little science.
Your cell phone...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Amazon.com to Offer Kindle E-Books on Mobile Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64540
Amazon.com is seizing on the popularity of its electronic book reader Kindle to reach a new market. On Friday the online retailer said it will make Kindle e-books available on a variety of mobile phones, but the company is not saying which books would be available or on which phones, according to the Associated Press.
Amazon.com currently has 230,000 book titles available for Kindle.
The news comes one day after Google launched its Google Book Search project, a controversial project that brings books to Apple's iPhone and T-Mobile's G1 Android-based phone. The project, started three years ago, landed Google in court when it was sued by the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers, but the case has since been settled.
Amazon.com said it has not been able to keep up with the demand for Kindle, which costs $359, and as of last week had run out. To deal with the demand, Amazon.com has encouraged buyers to reserve a Kindle by ordering in advance.
In the future, however, readers will also be able to read Kindle e-books on mobile phones.
While books and newspapers continue to be the dominant platform for reading, there is a shift toward mobile devices. Consumers continue to embrace change, such as newspaper readers who get their daily news online and hard-copy book readers who are beginning to see convenience in reading a book electronically.
"This is clearly a wave of the future," said Michael Gartenberg, a technology analyst. "For some people you will want a dedicated e-book reader; for others it is about the screens that they are carrying around in their pockets. It makes great sense for Amazon to not only want Kindle to be a device, but software as well."
Will consumers be receptive to using Kindle e-books on cell phones? Gartenberg said yes. "It's...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Windows Support Automated with 'Fix it' Steps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64539
Microsoft has developed its version of an IT technician. The automated help on Microsoft's support site is called "Fix it" and is designed to help users solve problems with Windows and other Microsoft products.
The feature automates the steps in Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and Windows Error Reporting solutions so users only have to click a button to resolve a problem. The team at Microsoft has been working with several computer manufacturers to automate their biggest issues and is working on additional automated fixes.
Before this tool, users would have to deal with problems by manually following steps spelled out in Microsoft's online support guide, which sometimes included many pages of steps to take. The process could be daunting for a layman.
"When you find a Fix it solution, you have a safe and trusted way to apply automated fixes, configuration settings, and workaround steps just as you would find in the manual steps section of support content assets," the company says on its support Web site.
Users can find Fix it answers on the Web site or in content such as the Windows Error Reporting solution. Already there is a list of Fix it solutions for home entertainment, including games for Windows, IE, Outlook Express, and a slew of others. For server and business products, Microsoft also includes a list of Fix it articles on Windows, Exchange Server, and Microsoft Business Solutions.
Each Fix-it solution is a separate download of a Windows installer that automates the manual steps listed in a Knowledge Base article.
Just a short time after Microsoft announced the Fix it solution, users are accepting it with open arms and cheers on the "Fix it for me" blog. One poster to the Fix it group on Facebook congratulated the team on hitting a major milestone with...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Privacy Watchdog Sees Misuse of Google Latitude
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64538
Privacy advocates are already concerned about Google Latitude -- a free service launched earlier this week that allows smartphone users to share information about their locations. Users of Google Gears and Google Chrome also can choose to automatically share laptop or desktop locations with no handset required, the search giant said.
However, London-based Privacy International says it has identified several potential methods for covertly tracking the locations of mobile devices without the knowledge or consent of their users.
"Many people will see Latitude as a cool product, but the reality is that Google has yet again failed to deliver strong privacy and security," said Privacy International Director Simon Davies. "The company has a long way to go before it can capture the trust of phone users."
Google sees Latitude as a boon for individuals who want to provide family members, friends and business associates with up-to-date information on their locations. To address privacy concerns, the search giant said it has adopted an opt-in policy under which both the mobile-phone user and the tracker must grant consent.
Google also said it has taken great care to build "fine-grained privacy controls" into the application. "Everything about Latitude is opt-in," said Vic Gundotra, a vice president of engineering on the Google mobile team. "You not only control exactly who gets to see your location, but you also decide the location that they see."
Furthermore, the Google Latitude privacy menu gives the user the ability to either detect and share the handset's location automatically, set the device's location manually, hide its location, or turn off Latitude altogether. Still, Privacy International sees several holes in Google's privacy strategy.
For example, the privacy watchdog said enterprises could provide their workers with phones on which Google Latitude has already been enabled, allowing the movements of staff members to be tracked by...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Wozniak To Help Guide Solid-State Storage Company
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64522
Steve Wozniak, half of the famed duo that founded Apple Computer, is taking a new job. On Thursday, solid-state storage company Fusion-io announced Wozniak will be chief scientist.
The company said Woz, as he is known to his fans, will act as a key technical adviser to the research and development group and work with the executive team "in formulating a company strategy that will accelerate the expansion of major global accounts."
One of the major pioneers behind the home computer revolution, Wozniak said the marketplace "has not seen such capacity for innovation and radical transformation since the mainframe computer was replaced by the home computer." He added that Fusion-io's technology is "extremely useful" for a variety of applications and virtually all servers.
Wozniak, who developed the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s, is also known as the Wonderful Wizard of Woz and The Other Steve, with Apple cofounder and CEO Steve Jobs. When Apple was founded in 1976, Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became the company's head of research and development.
Over the next few years, Wozniak added a floppy-disk drive controller, a disk operating system, and much of the software for Apple's early models. When Apple went public in 1980, Jobs and Wozniak became multimillionaires. Since then, Wozniak has returned to the University of California at Berkeley to earn his undergraduate degree, sponsored technology-related events, founded a company that created one of the first universal remotes for TVs, taught grade school, and even returned for a while to Apple to work in product development.
Fusion-io's products include the ioDrive, which it described as the first direct-attached, solid-state technology on a PCI Express bus. The company said the drive's I/O performance is hundreds of times that of mechanical disks.
Two other products from Fusion-io have also been...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Microsoft Denies Phone, But Sync Service Rumored
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64521
The rumor mill is focusing on Microsoft this week, with renewed chatter about the software giant releasing a smartphone at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month and news about imitating Apple's MobileMe service.
The rumored Microsoft phone could include Nvidia's Tegra processor and Qualcomm's telecommunications baseband chip, according to Doug Freedman, a researcher at Broadpoint AmTech.
"We believe the HTC ramp in '09 is the more material of the two, as we have some concerns on the channel for Microsoft's handset distribution, given the lack of prior carrier relationships/handset qualification history," Freedman wrote in a report Thursday. "It could turn out to be ... a reference design Microsoft has used. That could be possible. But we've also picked up that Microsoft is working on a phone themselves."
Neither Nvidia nor Qualcomm was immediately available for comment, but Microsoft has moved to squash the rumors. According to Scott Rockfeld, Microsoft's director of Windows Mobile, the company has no plans to make a phone.
"Our core focus has been and will continue to be providing software plus services and working with our partners to deliver great phones. Our partners have been integral in our success to date, and we are excited about the innovation we are bringing to the market together," he said. "We continue to collaborate with Nvidia on the delivery of innovative solutions that move the smartphone industry and the consumer experience forward."
Still, Freedman seems to know something others don't. He said a phone could turn up within the next six months. Although there's plenty of room in the market for additional phones, Michael Gartenberg, an independent technology analyst, insists the speculation about a Microsoft phone is off base.
"The last thing Microsoft wants to do at this point is to alienate all of its partners in the...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Google Brings Books To iPhone, Android Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64520
Apple put thousands of songs in music lovers' pockets with its market-changing iPod. Now Google is offering users of Apple's iPhone and Android-powered mobile devices a way to access millions of books through an initiative that brings Google Book Search to the mobile world.
Google on Thursday made available more than 1.5 million public-domain books in the U.S. -- and more than 500,000 outside the U.S. -- for mobile users to browse anytime at no cost.
"One of the great things about an iPhone or Android phone is being able to play Pac-Man while stuck in line at the post office," wrote Viresh Ratnakar, Guillaume Poncin, Brandon Badger, and Frances Haugen of the mobile book team on the Google blog. "Sometimes, though, we yearn for something more than just playing games or watching videos."
Thanks to Google, mobile users can access some of literature's greatest works, such as Emma and The Jungle Book, right from their phone. The content, which is already available on Google Book Search, has been optimized for reading on a small screen.
"Our solution to make these books accessible is to extract the text from the page images so it can flow on your mobile browser just like any other Web page. This extraction process is known as optical character recognition, or OCR for short," Google's team wrote. "Getting this right allows us to render the book in a way that follows the format of the original book."
Google's goal is to move toward universal access to books. Google is starting with 1.5 million books, but what they aren't saying is these are books most people wouldn't want to read unless a college professor forces them, quipped Michael Gartenberg, an independent technology analyst.
"This is browser-based. You can't read these books offline. So I don't know how important...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Windows 7 UAC Vulnerability Fixed, Microsoft Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64519
Microsoft on Thursday elaborated on plans for the six versions of Windows 7 and said it fixed vulnerabilities in the User Account Control security feature. The software giant said the UAC problem has been fixed in post-beta builds not yet released.
Of the six versions, Microsoft said Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional will meet most customers' needs. Home Premium provides basic functionality, while Professional is meant for people who work from home, but neither will have some security features found in an IT or business environment.
Those security features include Applocker, BranchCache, BitLocker and DirectAccess. Applocker lets IT professionals decide what is allowed to run on a user's desktop, and BranchCache caches HTTP and Server Message Block content. BitLocker helps prevent data loss, and DirectAccess secures remote connections.
"Some of these features are really enterprise features," said Michael Silver, a Gartner analyst. "Really, the one that's most debatable is BitLocker," a drive-encryption technology introduced in Windows Vista.
"At a conference once, [Microsoft CEO] Steve Ballmer even mentioned BitLocker as something that could be beneficial for everyone," Silver said. "These features are available to consumers in Ultimate, but that SKU is likely to be even less common under Windows 7 than it is today."
Microsoft, however, said only a small set of customers want everything Windows 7 has to offer, which are all available in the Windows 7 Ultimate edition. Ultimate comes with BitLocker, which is also found in the Windows 7 Enterprise edition.
"If they want full volume security, they would have two choices -- upgrade to Ultimate or buy a third-party encryption product," Silver said. "Buying a third-party product may make more sense, may be cheaper, and more consumer-oriented in terms of key recovery."
Microsoft hasn't announced pricing and isn't ready to offer any guidance on which PCs are best...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Circuit City Ripples Go Beyond Vacancies, Layoffs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64511
Circuit City will finally flicker out when its last 567 stores close this year, but the bankruptcy of the nation's second-largest electronics retailer will ripple across the U.S. economy for years.
In its wake will be 18.71 million square feet of vacant space in a faltering real estate market. More than 40,000 workers will be jobless, including 7,000 laid off last year.
Shopping centers will lose rental income. Suppliers will lose display space. Newspapers already struggling with falling ad revenues will have one less glossy insert in their Sunday editions.
Circuit City is bigger by far than any other retailer that has gone under in the current recession. The job outlook for its workers is far worse. The prospects for suppliers finding other customers is grim, and a larger pool of creditors are likely to go unpaid.
"The situation today is so different than" during other downturns, said Jerry Mozian, a restructuring expert at Tatum LLC. "It wasn't the whole economy. Here, we've got a worldwide recession."
Other big retail bankruptcies, like Macy's in 1992 and Kmart's in 2002, ended in reorganizations or buyouts rather than liquidation.
Circuit City initially hoped to reorganize when it filed for Chapter 11 protection in November. It was sagging under the weight of $2.32 billion in debt and dismal sales as consumers cut back. But the 60-year-old company couldn't work out a sale or secure new financing, and on Jan. 16 announced it would close for good.
The chain owes nearly $625 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors -- mostly vendors who supply the DVDs, flat-screen TVs and headphones on Circuit City shelves. They must wait to be paid until secured creditors such as bank lenders are satisfied.
That's hitting electronics makers when they can least afford it. Hewlett-Packard, which is shedding 8 percent of its work force after a big...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Time Warner Cable To Expand Trial of Internet Caps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64509
Time Warner Cable Inc. last year became the first major U.S. Internet service provider to charge customers extra if they exceeded a certain amount of data traffic every month. That trial run apparently went well, because the company said Wednesday that it will expand the test to other cities.
Many ISPs have imposed caps on how much their subscribers can download each month. Time Warner Cable broke from the pack by setting relatively low limits -- for instance, 5 gigabytes for subscribers paying $30 a month -- and then charging $1 for each gigabyte over that limit.
It takes thousands of e-mails and Web pages to reach a gigabyte of usage, but video and software downloads consume much more data. A DVD-quality movie is roughly 1.5 gigabytes.
Consumer advocates have criticized the caps, saying they could discourage people from using the Internet and could stifle online video as a competitor to cable TV.
Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley said his company's trial, in Beaumont, Texas, had shown that the system is capable of metering and billing accurately. It will soon be expanded to four more markets, for now undisclosed, to give the company a better understanding of how the system works.
The intent behind charging by the gigabyte is to have subscribers who use the Internet more pay for the upgrades necessary for the company to keep up with increasing traffic, Dudley said.
"It's clear to us that customers want online video, which requires substantial investment in the network," Dudley said. "We're willing to make that, and we're trying to find an equitable way to distribute the cost of that investment."
Dudley said a "small but vocal percentage" of users in Beaumont were unhappy with the amount of data they could use (the top tier is 40 gigabytes per month). The company plans to address that...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Pranks Involving Electronic Road Signs Stir Worry
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64508
Pranksters in at least three states are messing with electronic road signs meant to warn motorists of possible traffic problems by putting drivers on notice about Nazi zombies and raptors. And highway safety officials aren't amused.
The latest breach came Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Illinois, where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."
A day earlier in Indiana's Hamilton County, the electronic message on a board in Carmel's construction zone warned drivers of "RAPTORS AHEAD -- CAUTION."
And signs in Austin, Texas, recently flashed: "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!" and "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN."
Officials in Illinois are concerned the rewritten signs distract motorists from heeding legitimate hazards down the road. The hacked sign on Tuesday originally warned drivers of crews replacing guardrails.
"We understood it was a hoax, but at the same time those boards are there for a reason," said Joe Gasaway, an Illinois Department of Transportation supervisory field engineer. "We don't want (drivers) being distracted by a funny sign."
Authorities haven't figured out how pranksters access the signs. Gasaway believes the Illinois sign was changed remotely, and Austin Public Works spokeswoman Sara Hartley suspected the hackers there cut a padlock to get into the signs' computers.
Some Web sites, such as Jalopnik.com, have published tutorials titled "How to Hack an Electronic Road Sign" as a way to alert security holes to traffic-safety officials. Jalopnik urges its readership of 2.6 million a month not to put its lesson to practice.
"Hacking generally is about showing where there are holes in security systems, and I think this is a great example of that," the site's editor-in-chief, Ray Wert, told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday. "I'm sure there are all sorts of ways to use that information in a way that's inappropriate, but we're trying to...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Review: With Upgrade, Skype Takes Leap Forward
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64504
When AT&T demonstrated its video telephone at the 1964 World's Fair, everyone -- including AT&T -- pretty much figured that it would be the future. People wouldn't just hear each other over the phone -- they'd see each other, too.
What everyone forgot, of course, was a little factor called human nature. People don't want to be watched on the phone. You don't want to have to make yourself presentable, to perform or to give up the freedom of multitasking. In the absence of video, you can walk around cleaning, perform small acts of personal grooming, maybe roll your eyes at a stupid comment.
And so here we are, 45 years later, still making audio-only phone calls. Not because of technological limits, but human ones.
So what about Skype?
If you're under 30 or so, you probably know all about Skype. It's a free program for Mac, Windows or Linux that connects you to other people who have Skype. You can type instant messages back and forth, make crystal-clear audio calls, and, yes, even make video calls, provided your computers have webcams or built-in cameras -- all without paying a penny.
No wonder more than 300 million people have tried Skype. It's a natural for the college crowd, in particular; free calls are especially attractive when you're young and broke and far from friends and family. Of course, plenty of other programs do the same things: iChat, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, SightSpeed and Oovoo. But because of its simplicity, its quality and its early start, Skype is the one whose name has become a verb.
On Tuesday, after a year of public testing, the Skype team, now owned by eBay, released Skype 4.0 for Windows, which the company calls "the biggest new release in Skype's history."
The first change strikes you immediately -- and...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
PC Maker Lenovo Announces Loss, CEO Resigns
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64503
PC maker Lenovo Group announced a $96.7 million quarterly loss Thursday as sales dropped in the global economic turmoil and said CEO William J. Amelio resigned in a management reshuffle.
Amelio will be succeeded as chief executive by Chairman Yang Yuanqing, Beijing-based Lenovo announced.
Yang said the company, the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer, will try to increase its dominance in its home market but denied that Amelio's departure means it is pulling back from ambitions to compete globally.
"I still want this company to be a global company. Absolutely we will focus not only on China but on global business," Yang said in a conference call with reporters.
Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi will return as chairman, succeeding Yang.
Sales fell 20 percent in the three months ending Dec. 31 from the same period of 2007. Shipments in China fell 7 percent.
Amelio said the company was hurt by slower Chinese sales growth and reliance on corporate customers, who have cut spending during the economic downturn.
"The fact that these markets, which are our sweet spots, have been hit hardest by the global economic conditions means that our financial performance has been impacted more profoundly than others in the industry," Amelio said on the conference call.
Lenovo warned in January that it expected a quarterly loss due to a restructuring that would cut 11 percent of its work force, or about 2,500 jobs. The overhaul was launched after profits plunged in the previous quarter.
Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming said the company expects to record a $120 million restructuring charge, probably in the current quarter.
Wong said the PC market will "remain challenging" and he declined to say when Lenovo might return to profitability. However, he said, "I can assure you the management is very confident that the next fiscal year will be better than the current fiscal year."
Analysts have...
Sat, 7 Feb 09
Android: One Multitasking Operating System
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64502
When Google and its partners first unveiled plans for the Android operating system, they billed it as software that would run mobile phones. That mission was accomplished the following year with the late 2008 release of T-Mobile's G1 phone. More Android-enabled handsets are on the way.
But before long, you may be seeing Android in a lot of other electronic devices.
Just ask Mark Hamblin, who helped design the original touch screen for the Apple iPhone. Now the CEO of Touch Revolution, Hamblin is tinkering with Android so it can work in a slew of gadgets other than wireless phones. In late 2009, Touch Revolution plans to introduce a remote control and a touch-screen land-line home phone that will be powered by Android. Also in the works from Hamblin's company: touch-screen menus for restaurants, Android-based medical devices, and a 15-in. kitchen computer where family members can leave messages for one another.
Android everywhere would come as good news to Google and chipmakers such as Qualcomm and Texas Instruments that have invested in its development and would welcome the chance to sell semiconductors in new markets. But Android ubiquity could cause headaches for Microsoft, which would rather see its own software on a wider range of electronic devices.
Where will Android end up next? A handful of electronics manufacturers plan to unveil Android-based mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, and stripped-down computers known as netbooks at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, scheduled for later this month in Barcelona. "Nine months ago it was a lot of people who were curious" about using Android, says John Bruggeman, chief marketing officer at WindRiver Systems, a consulting firm that's working with several Asia-based manufacturers on the products. "Now they are starting to build designs" that effectively bypass Windows altogether, he says. Bruggeman declines to name...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
T-Mobile G1 Will Get Update, But It's Not Cupcake
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64498
T-Mobile USA is readying a firmware update for the T-Mobile G1 Android smartphone. Firmware version 1.1/RC33 was released to a small number of users on Monday and will be sent to all G1 users over the next two weeks. The update includes several bug fixes and features some enhancements.
T-Mobile stressed that this isn't the much-anticipated Cupcake release. Cupcake is expected to come with a slew of new features, including the ability to save attachments and pictures, view applications and processes that are running, and search for text within the browser.
Initially expected in mid-January, Cupcake also promises an updated Webkit browser, the ability to copy and paste text within the browser by holding down the Shift key and sliding a finger across the desired text, and a new SquirrelFish JavaScript engine.
If that's not enough, Cupcake will also offer stereo Bluetooth support, an on-screen keyboard for typing, thumbnails for video playback, and a new kernel based on Linux 2. Many bug fixes are also promised, including relaxed POP3 parser rules so it works with noncompliant e-mail servers.
But instead of Cupcake, T-Mobile is only issuing a fix for a few bugs and possible enhancements like voice search from Google. With voice search, users speak into the application and let the voice-recognition software do the work.
"At the end of the day, this fixes bugs. It's something that's going to get pushed out over the air. G1 users don't have to do anything," Gartenberg said. "But it doesn't seem like this is something major that's going to breathe a whole lot of new interest into the platform."
Although it's good to see T-Mobile making efforts to update the first smartphone based on the Android mobile operating system, he said it would be nice to see more. Even with the voice-search update, for example,...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Yahoo Launches Search Tool Like One Google Killed
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64496
Yahoo Inc. is panning for gold in waters that Google Inc. abandoned.
Yahoo said in a blog post on Wednesday that it was testing a new tool to help people better organize the bounty of information that crops up while doing research on the Web.
Search Pad is similar in concept to Google Notebook -- a product the Web-search leader opted to halt development on last month.
But the fact that Google threw in the towel on a product does not mean Yahoo is wasting its time, say some analysts. The companies' differing financial and competitive positions mean what is right for one might not make sense for the other.
Google, which controls roughly 63 percent of the U.S. search market, is taking a hard look at its operating expenses to preserve its operating margin in a slowing economy, including the slew of non-essential projects it traditionally supported.
Yahoo, whose 2008 revenue rose 3 percent to $7.2 billion, is in dire need of a new growth strategy, say analysts.
Investors might be more tolerant of projects that pressure profit margins at Yahoo if there is a chance of a payoff, said Sandeep Aggarwal an analyst at Collins Stewart, speaking in general terms and not of Search Pad specifically.
"Yahoo cannot give up on other projects," he said.
Yahoo, which recently hired Carol Bartz as chief executive to revive its fortunes, is in a "transformation phase" after turning down a $47.5 billion buyout offer from Microsoft Corp. last year and seeing a search advertising partnership with Google fall apart under antitrust scrutiny.
Search Pad predates Bartz's arrival, said Yahoo Search Senior Director of Product Management Tom Chi.
It stems from a realization that Web surfers use search engines not just to find the link to a particular site, but to conduct research on everything from buying a new car to learning...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Asustek, Garmin Join in GPS Phone-Market Foray
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64495
Positioning device maker Garmin has dropped plans to enter the cell phone market on its own and instead teamed up with Taiwan's low-cost PC maker Asustek, the companies said on Wednesday.
The move to jointly offer navigation phones -- often called GPS phones, because they can determine a person's exact location -- builds on an existing manufacturing deal between the companies, and comes as the phones continue to gain in popularity among handset users.
The new partnership plans to roll out its first co-branded smartphones this year under the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone brand, including a model to be launched later this month at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, the companies said in a statement.
"We hope this alliance will lift Garmin and Asustek to the top of the smartphone business," Asustek Chairman Jonney Shih told reporters at a media event in Taipei.
The world's top smartphone makers include Nokia, the world's top cell phone maker, and more niche companies such as Apple, maker of the iPhone, Taiwan's HTC and Research in Motion, maker of BlackBerry phones.
Garmin and Asustek said the new co-brand will replace their existing own-branded phones. The alliance is the extension of a one-year tie-up between the companies, which saw Asustek originally making cell phones for Garmin on a contract basis.
Garmin planned to enter the cell phone market last year, but delayed its phone launch plans into 2009.
"Garmin has, however, not much choice as people are moving more and more from personal navigation devices to phones as their navigation device of choice," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.
The move marks a fresh push to cell phones for Asustek, known more for its PCs, reflecting a trend as Taiwan's Acer gets set to launch smartphones in Barcelona and Dell is rumored to be considering a move into the space.
"The boundaries between...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Panasonic Forecasts $4.25 Billion Loss for Year
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64494
Panasonic said its operating profit fell 84 percent year over year in its third fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31. Panasonic also forecast a net loss of 380 billion yen (US$4.25 billion) for the fiscal year -- a dramatic reversal of its previous outlook for a net profit of 30 billion yen (US$335 million).
Panasonic attributed the poor financial performance to the rapid appreciation of the Japanese yen and sluggish consumer spending worldwide. "Under these severe circumstances, aiming at getting out of this difficult situation and getting growth back on original track, Panasonic is implementing initiatives for achieving further progress and strengthening management structure," the company said.
In the first nine months of Panasonic's fiscal year, flat-panel TV sales rose nine percent in comparison with a year earlier. Moreover, the company's DVD recorder sales rose seven percent.
However, global sales of Panasonic's digital cameras in the last nine months of 2008 slid 11 percent year over year. Sluggish sales of computing gear and automotive electronics also led to a 13 percent decrease in the sale of information and communications equipment.
Sales at Panasonic's digital audio-visual unit fell seven percent compared to the last nine months of 2007. Global sales of electronic components and devices fell 14 percent year over year, while home-appliance sales fell four percent.
In response, Panasonic plans job cuts of 15,000 employees in its global workforce through March 2010, which suggests the company does not expect a recovery this year. Panasonic also expects to close 13 plants in Japan, shutter 14 other manufacturing sites at overseas locations, and withdraw from unspecified business activities.
The world's largest plasma TV maker received more bad news this week when DisplaySearch reported that shipments in the global plasma display panel industry fell 12 percent year over...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Windows 7 Will Come in Six Flavors, with Two Favored
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64493
Microsoft on Tuesday announced plans to offer six versions of its Windows 7 operating system. But in an effort to make selecting the right version simpler, Microsoft recommends two primary editions: Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Professional.
The company said those two editions should meet the needs of most users. Microsoft will continue to offer other versions, including Home Basic, Starter, Enterprise and Ultimate.
"We've received great feedback from customers and partners through Windows XP and Windows Vista, and have learned a lot about how to communicate what's available in different editions of the operating system," said Windows General Manager Mike Ybrarra. "At the same time, we have a customer base of over one billion along with many partners, so it's important to make sure the right edition of Windows with the right feature set is available for them."
Microsoft recommends Windows 7 Home Premium for consumers and Windows 7 Professional for small businesses and people who work at home but have to operate in an IT-managed or business environment where security and productivity are critical. For those running Windows Vista Business, Microsoft said Windows 7 Professional is a logical move.
"For our biggest enterprise customers, we'll continue to have an Enterprise edition. And we will work to make sure there continues to be strong value in Enterprise edition for our annuity customers with software-assurance agreements," Ybrarra said. "This edition will not be available at retail or by OEMs for preinstallation on a new PC."
Microsoft said Windows 7 Enterprise will offer advanced data protection, lower cost compliance, and IT tools to streamline PC management and help save costs while enabling access to information from anywhere. On the other end of the spectrum, emerging markets don't need such robust features. Microsoft will offer those consumers the Windows...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
MySpace: 90,000 Sex Offenders Removed from Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64477
About 90,000 sex offenders have been identified and removed from the social networking Web site MySpace, company and law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
The number was nearly double what MySpace officials originally estimated last year, said North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who along with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has led efforts to make social networking Web sites safer for young users.
Cooper said he wasn't surprised by the updated numbers, and demanded that MySpace and rival online networking site Facebook -- which claim to have more than 280 million users combined -- do more to protect children and teenagers.
"These sites were created for young people to communicate with each other. Predators are going to troll in these areas where they know children are going to be," Cooper said. "That's why these social networking sites have the responsibility to make their sites safe for children."
The attorneys general received agreements last year from MySpace and Facebook to push toward making their sites safer. Both sites implemented dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify user's ages, banning convicted sex offenders from using the sites and limiting the ability of older users to search members under 18.
Blumenthal, who received MySpace's updated numbers Tuesday through a subpoena, said the information "provides compelling proof that social networking sites remain rife with sexual predators." A preliminary number of sex offenders found on Facebook was "substantial," but he said the company has yet to respond to a recent subpoena.
MySpace executives said they were confident in the technology they use to find, remove and block registered sex offenders. The company uses Sentinel SAFE, a database it created in 2006 with the names, physical descriptions and other identifiable characteristics of sex offenders that cross-references against MySpace members.
"Sentinel SAFE is the best industry solution to ensure these offenders are...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Google Latitude Adds Location To Social Networking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64472
Google seems to be everywhere. First around the world with Google Earth. Then under the sea. Now into your social life.
On Wednesday Google launched a new service that lets you find out where your friends are and what they are up to. Call it a sophisticated spin on the concept of presence, where you can see if your friends are on their instant messenger or posting to their favorite social network.
Dubbed Google Latitude, the new Google Maps feature works on mobile devices and on PCs through the iGoogle gadget. After opting into Latitude, users can see the approximate location of their friends and family who are sharing information.
Here's the social-networking twist: Not only can you see where your friends are on Google Maps, you can also get in touch with them through text messaging, Google Talk, Gmail or by updating your status message. In true social-media fashion, Latitude also lets you upload a new profile photo any time.
"So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one's flight landed safely, despite bad weather," said Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering for Google's mobile team.
Latitude is available in 27 countries, and Google hopes to add more soon. Latitude is available on Blackberry, S60 and Windows Mobile smartphones, and will be available on Android devices. "We expect it will be coming to the iPhone, through Google Mobile App, very soon," Gundotra said.
Anticipating that privacy advocates might take issue with Latitude based on its ability to share sensitive location data, Google said it built fine-grained privacy controls into the application. For starters, everything about Latitude is opt-in. That means...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
AOL Picks Former Yahoo Executive To Lead Ad Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64471
In a move to expand display-ad sales, AOL on Tuesday named Greg Coleman president of its Platform A advertising unit. Coleman brings more than 25 years of sales and media experience to the industry's largest online advertising platform.
According to AOL Chairman and CEO Randy Falco, Coleman is perfectly suited to build on Platform A's foundation and drive branded display sales across AOL's MediaGlow programming network.
"Greg's a seasoned sales pro who understands that online brand building is the next frontier in digital advertising, and that whoever can deliver marketers measurably improved branding online will be positioned for long-term success," Falco said. "I'm confident Greg will help us create branding solutions that leverage the strong success of MediaGlow and the upcoming launches at People Networks."
Coleman said he thought hard about jumping back into the media and sales world before accepting AOL's offer. He said he was drawn by Platform A's ability to deliver what advertisers need most -- productive, efficient and measurable ways to reach increasingly fragmented audiences with brand messages.
"Platform A's reach, combined with the incredible growth of AOL's MediaGlow and the potential of its social-media business, gives us a strong platform for advertisers to build brands that really perform online," said Coleman, who replaces Lynda Clarizio.
Clarizio was formerly the president of Advertising.com and led the integration of Platform A. She oversaw the consolidation of the seven companies that make up Platform A into a single organization that includes sales, technology, publisher services, and research and development. Platform A expanded overseas into nine countries in the past year.
Before signing on with Platform A, Coleman served as president and CEO of NetSeer, a start-up company focused on next-generation search and ad targeting. Before that, he was executive vice president of global sales at Yahoo, where he was responsible...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Can Obama Keep IT Jobs in the U.S.?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64467
Corporate America's drive to cut costs by moving jobs offshore has hit Robert Poulk hard. A veteran of the defense, aerospace, and computer industries, Poulk never had trouble finding work -- until 2003. That year, his job as a senior troubleshooter for a major software manufacturer was moved offshore to Bangalore, India. During a yearlong period of unemployment, Poulk sent out five to seven resumes a week and got only four responses. Eventually, he was hired by a temp agency and assigned a job at his old company, which he asked not be identified, where he now works as a contractor for about 30 percent less money and no benefits.
Having tapped his savings to make mortgage payments during his period of unemployment, Poulk is now concerned he won't have enough money for retirement. "I'm still waiting for the new prosperity that globalization was supposed to bring," he says.
Poulk's hopes, and those of other U.S. workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas, now rest with President Barack Obama, who has pledged to keep more jobs in the U.S. On Jan. 16, just days before his inauguration, Obama told workers in Ohio, "We're not looking to create just any kind of jobs here; we're looking to create good jobs that pay well and can't be shipped overseas."
Keeping jobs within U.S. borders proved a tall order for Obama's predecessor and may be comparably vexing for the current Administration. Poulk's job was part of an early wave of IT jobs headed offshore, but the trend has only accelerated since 2003. U.S. corporations will move at least 140,000 jobs offshore in 2009 and 2010, and more than 50 percent of those jobs will be in IT, according to a December 2008 report by the Hackett Group, a global strategic advisory firm that...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Revenues for Taiwan Laptop Makers May Drop in 2009
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64458
Taiwanese contract computer makers are expected to equal last year's production of 110 million laptops in 2009, but earn as much as 5 percent less in total revenues, a market research organization said Tuesday.
Total revenue for the contract makers reached an estimated $57.3 billion in 2008, the semiofficial Institute for Information Industry said in a report.
However, it said, the figure could drop between 3-5 percent this year as makers cut prices because of the global economic downturn.
Taiwanese contract makers produce 90 percent of the world's laptops.
They produce laptops for leading foreign makers, such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Toshiba, as well as Taiwanese computer firms including Acer Inc. The makers use their extensive assembly lines in mainland China to cut production costs.
"It will be a tough year for the Taiwanese contract makers," said Wei Chuan-chian, an analyst with the institute. "Computer firms from Japan to the U.S. have turned conservative amid the recession."
The Taiwanese companies will strive to further cut costs or improve their technological expertise, Wei said.
Quanta Computer Inc., the world's largest contract laptop maker, is expected to churn out more computers for industrial use as its customized products render higher profit margins, Wei said.
In addition to the standard laptops, the makers will also produce the low-cost laptops, known as netbooks, to keep their assembly lines busy, he said.
The institute's figures do not take netbooks into account.
Total netbook output is expected to reach 22 million this year, double the 2008 total, the institute predicted.
With relative scant memory, netbooks are built largely to access the Internet or allow users to check e-mails.
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Tech Firms Ask Where the Angels Have Gone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64457
Technology entrepreneurs are having a devil of a time finding angels.
In the midst of a punishing economic downturn that is sparing few companies, angel investors, the optimistic financiers who give entrepreneurs their crucial first infusions of cash, are cutting back on their bets and threatening the very foundation of the technology economy.
Unlike venture capitalists, angels invest small amounts of their own money -- as little as $10,000 and usually less than $1 million - in very young companies. But like all investors, many angels were drenched with losses when the market plunged last fall.
That has left them skittish, investing in fewer technology start- ups and demanding more of those they do consider, leaving founders struggling to find money at the stage they need it most. The slowdown, entrepreneurs and investors say, could stunt the growth of new companies and have long-term effects on innovation.
"Crashes make liquidity vanish, and venture investing - especially angel investing -- runs on liquidity," said Steven McGeady, an angel investor and former executive at Intel. "When the markets go wonky, everyone sits on cash until the situation resolves itself. This makes capital hard to find, and if a company is caught unprepared or at the wrong time, that can be the end."
For Two Smart Dogs, an Internet start-up in Los Angeles that was building an online hub for adult education classes, the sudden pullback was disastrous.
In 2007, the company raised $715,000 from eight investors in its first round of angel financing. When the co-founders approached current and new investors for more capital in September, they were met with silence. "There was real interest," said Rose Ors, the company founder. "But the economic meltdown ended all conversation."
Unable to raise money, Ors and her partners decided to shut down the company and look for new jobs.
The angels who...
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Analyst Estimates Amazon Sold 500K Kindles in 2008
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64453
Amazon.com has kept its Kindle electronic book reader shrouded in some mystery. The online retailer has said the device is out of stock, but it hasn't said how many were sold.
On Tuesday, Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney offered an educated guess -- that Amazon sold 500,000 Kindles last year. That is higher than his previous expectation of 380,000.
Mahaney bases his latest estimate in part on a regulatory filing from Sprint Nextel Corp., which is a key player since the Kindle downloads books wirelessly over Sprint's network. The filing notes that 210,000 of "certain wholesale devices" were activated on Sprint's network during the July-September period by "wholesale partners prior to selling the device to the end customer."
Mahaney said in an interview that this is the first time Sprint has disclosed such a figure, and he believes it refers directly to the number of Kindles that were purchased during that three-month period. Sprint spokesman James Fisher said the company had no comment.
Amazon has not released sales figures for the $359 Kindle -- which debuted late in 2007 -- though it said last fall that it had sold out of the devices after an endorsement by Oprah Winfrey. In the fourth quarter, the company made another 45,000 book titles available for the Kindle, bringing the total to 230,000.
The company is widely believed to be releasing a new version soon.
In his note to clients, Mahaney estimated that revenue from the Kindle could rise to $1.2 billion by 2010 -- which he thinks would be 4 percent of Amazon's revenue for that year.
An Amazon spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment.
Thu, 5 Feb 09
Mobile Security: Is Anyone Listening?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64437
Mobile computing has become a cornerstone of business productivity. All of the conveniences and benefits associated with mobile computing are obvious to practically everyone. Envision a world without wireless Internet, smart phones and remote access. It is hard to imagine how we could get by without it.
Now that's the rose-colored glasses perspective -- but there is a dark side to mobile computing that very few in business want to talk about or address. It is the flip side to all of those conveniences and benefits: the threats lurking, awaiting their turn to exploit the weaknesses inherent in every mobile device.
From the so-easy-a-monkey-can-do-it functionality of iPhones to extravagant laptop "comforts," there is seemingly nothing we cannot do with our mobile systems. Functionality is advancing faster than IT operations can deploy the technologies that are supposed to take the pain out of our day-to-day work. Therein lies a big part of the problem -- your users have business tools that all too many IT shops have not had the time to learn the basics of, much less secure.
The underlying issue with mobile computing is that more effort is going into enabling it than securing it -- it is that simple. The security of laptops and smart phones is just not being treated with the same importance and it is creating business risks that many security professionals have never known before.
Mobile security is the elephant in the room. Is it because IT and security staff are too busy? What about users? Given their "Don't touch it, it's mine" approach, are they responsible? Is mobile security completely off their radar? I think it is a combination of these issues and a whole lot more. Mobile computing has become one of the most difficult areas of security to manage given the complexity...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Google Backs Singularity University Vision for Leaders
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64470
After a year of working behind the scenes, technology veteran Ray Kurzweil has taken his research on singularity to the next level. Kurzweil, along with NASA's Peter Diamandis and a team of other top technologists, will launch Singularity University for leaders from all backgrounds to study singularity -- the theory that artificial intelligence will someday surpass human intelligence.
Others joining Kurzweil and Diamandis are Pete Worden, director of NASA Ames, Dr. Robert Richards, cofounder of the International Space University, and Google's Dr. Michael Simpson.
"Human society is nearing the precipice of a technological roller coaster that we aren't ready to ride," said Richards. "The Singularity University, a concept first introduced at ideaCity08, will help educate and prepare humanity's future leaders for a world of accelerating technological change and the profound challenges it will bring to our social, legal and moral precepts."
The school, modeled after the International Space University in France, will expose graduate students and top-level executives to cross-disciplinary subjects, including nanotechnology, biotechnology, IT and artificial intelligence. Courses will be offered in bioinformatics, genetics, law, health and several other topics.
Similar to how the ISU develops future leaders of world space, the focus behind Singularity University is to bring people together to consider solutions to real-world issues. At the group's founding meeting Sept. 20 at the NASA Ames Research Center, the team was able to get Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to help with planning.
"ISU formed an incredibly important case study and model on which to build the SU concept," Richards said. "Our SU key visionary and Chancellor Ray Kurzweil became a fan of ISU's 3i approach ... and this became the model needed to properly deal with the vast scope of the singularity concept."
"The grand challenges facing humanity are driven most by growing population pressures on our societies...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Internet Explorer Usage Hits Record Low
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64469
Internet Explorer's share of the global browser market continued to trend downward in January, according to Web-tracking firm Net Applications. Microsoft's popular Web browser fell from a 68.15 percent market share in December to 67.55 percent in January, and has declined by more than seven percent since March 2008.
IE also suffered share losses in November and December, but Net Applications noted late last year that the holiday season strongly favors residential over business use and predicted this would increase "the relative usage share of Mac, Firefox, Safari and other products that have relatively high residential usage." However, January's market-share numbers show that IE's slide has reached its lowest level since the Web metrics tracker began quantifying browser usage in 2005.
Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari browsers reaped incremental gains in January in comparison with the previous month and have grown their respective market shares by more than four percent and three percent during the past 12 months. Even Chrome's market share grew from 1.04 percent in December to 1.12 percent in January, Net Applications noted.
By contrast, Opera's market share has remained stuck around the 0.7 percent mark for more than a year, according to the latest data. Nevertheless, Opera Software intends to continue pursuing its strategy of producing "a great browsing experience," noted Tor Odland, Opera's communications director.
"We are not planning to do something radically different, but will stick to our plans and have new products and services out later this year," Odland said. "One of the potential opportunities is to do advertising in the future, but has not been confirmed yet."
Odland said Net Applications' statistics may be accurate when it comes to Opera's use in the United States, but don't reflect Opera's growth overseas. "And we certainly do expect to see more growth worldwide in the...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Toshiba Ready to Release First Snapdragon Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64468
Toshiba is reportedly set to launch an "iPhone killer" at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month.
The Toshiba TG01 is the mobile industry's first Qualcomm Snapdragon device. The handset is only 9.9mm thick, but boasts a 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen, GPS, Wi-Fi, HSDPA, a microSD slot, and an overlay on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system that gives it a unique-looking user interface.
"There are a lot of Windows Mobile touchscreen phones on the market. This is the first phone based on the Snapdragon [architecture]. There's no doubt this is going to compete against the HTC Touch and the iPhone and anything else with a big touchscreen," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "The Snapdragon platform is fast."
Qualcomm has received widespread industry support for Snapdragon, with more than 30 devices in development using Snapdragon chipsets. Snapdragon promises the best of the smartphone and laptop computing experiences for robust mobile Internet capabilities.
The Snapdragon architecture includes chipsets that feature a custom gigahertz microprocessor core paired with Qualcomm's sixth-generation DSP core running at 600 MHz and dedicated to applications. The result is fast processing.
The Snapdragon architecture also features integrated cellular broadband as well as support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mobile TV, high-definition video recording and playback, sophisticated positioning with Assisted GPS, hardware-accelerated 3-D graphics, and industry-leading integration to enable smaller, sleeker devices.
"Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon to encourage the industry to think outside the box and design devices that fill the niche between the portable communications capabilities of mobile handsets and the computing capabilities of laptops," said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of marketing and product management for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "Many of the customers we are now working with are new to Qualcomm and are looking to Snapdragon to help them succeed in the mobile space."
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Google Earth Allows Exploration of Oceans, Mars
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64456
Google Inc. on Monday launched a new version of Google Earth that allows users to explore the oceans, view images of Mars and watch regions of the Earth change over time.
The new features mark a significant upgrade to Google Earth, a popular software program that provides access to the world's geographical information through digital maps, satellite imagery and the company's search tools.
Google Earth 5.0 was unveiled at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where former Vice President Al Gore, singer Jimmy Buffet and others spoke about its capacity to educate the public about global warming, ocean acidification and other threats to the planet.
"This is an extremely powerful educational tool," said Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work raising awareness about climate change. "One of my fondest hopes is that people around the world will use Google Earth to see for themselves the reality of what's happening because of the climate crisis."
Google Earth has been downloaded more than 500 million times since it was launched in 2005. The software is available for free on Google's Web site. Researchers and organizations can purchase a more powerful version for $400.
John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, said the idea of adding oceans came three years ago when a scientist pointed out that the software was missing the water that covers almost three-quarters of the Earth's surface.
Google Earth users can now plunge beneath the ocean's surface, explore three-dimensional images of the underwater terrain and view articles and videos about marine science contributed by scientists and organizations such as the National Geographic Society.
The Historical Imagery feature lets users see archive satellite images of individual locations to see how the region has evolved over time as a result of climate change and other forces. For example, viewers can observe how...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Microsoft Reaches Out To Partners with New Program
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64451
Microsoft on Monday sought to avoid past mistakes by releasing the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Ecosystem Readiness Program. The program aims to help Microsoft's partners prepare for the next versions of its software.
Independent hardware and software vendors, original equipment and device manufacturers, and developers will be able to ensure their products are compatible and use the features of Microsoft's new software.
Mike Nash, corporate vice president of Windows product management, said Microsoft is engaging Windows 7 partners differently from the past. Previously, for example, Microsoft typically shared ideas that were final. Sometimes, he admitted, things would shift and make it difficult for partners to plan when they should begin developing products.
"We've learned a tremendous amount from these experiences. In response, we changed our approach to Windows 7, engaging with our partners early and planning with them in a more systematic way," Nash said. "We had the opportunity not only to watch how our partners were using and developing for Windows, but also to get their input on what was important to them."
Nash said the ecosystem program includes everything Microsoft's partners need to make their products compatible and take advantage of new features that can make their products more desirable.
"Many of the investments we made for Windows 7 started with the development of Windows Vista, which contained a number of architectural changes that made it more secure than Windows XP. As most people know, these investments posed challenges as we changed some of the interfaces that applications and devices used to interact with Windows XP, which resulted in early compatibility issues with Windows Vista," Nash said.
"The good news is that the great work by our partners has resulted in significant improvements in compatibility of applications and devices on Windows Vista. Additionally, the reliability and security investments we...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
IBM Will Build 20-petaFLOPS BlueGene Supercomputer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64450
Score another one for IBM's supercomputing aspirations. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) on Tuesday announced a contract with IBM to bring supercomputing systems to its Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
With the two new systems, IBM technology will play a role in continuing to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's aging nuclear deterrent.
"The longstanding partnership of NNSA, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and IBM is ushering in an era of multi-petaFLOPS computing," said NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino. "These powerful machines will provide NNSA with the capabilities needed to resolve time-urgent and complex scientific problems, ensuring the viability of the nation's nuclear deterrent into the future. This endeavor will also help maintain U.S. leadership in high-performance computing and promote scientific discovery."
IBM will deliver two systems. The first, called Dawn, a 500-teraFLOPS (trillion floating operations per second) BlueGene/P system, is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter. Dawn will lay the applications foundation for multi-petaFLOPS computing on Sequoia, the second system.
Sequoia, a 20-petaFLOPS (quadrillion floating operations per second) system based on future BlueGene technology, will be delivered starting in 2011 and deployed in 2012.
With a speed of 20 petaFLOPS, Sequoia is expected to be the most powerful supercomputer in the world and will be approximately more than 10 times faster than today's most powerful system. IBM puts it into perspective this way: If each of the 6.7 billion people on Earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 320 years to do what Sequoia will do in one hour.
Sequoia will have 1.6 petabytes of memory, 96 racks, 98,304 compute nodes, and 1.6 million cores. Though orders of magnitude more powerful than such predecessor systems as ASC Purple and BlueGene/L,...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Amid Loss, Android Won't Solve Motorola's Problems
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64449
Analysts aren't getting good vibes about Motorola's future in Android-powered smartphones. Just weeks after Motorola slashed 4,000 jobs, and months after it scaled back its software and mobile-device businesses, it still has a rough road ahead.
The mobile-phone maker is expected to offer a new Android-based smartphone with an iPhone-like touchscreen, a QWERTY keyboard, and focused on social networking. The phone is expected to reach the market in the second quarter.
But analysts fear that Motorola, which saw its profit plunge in 2008, will have a tough fight on its hands against competitors who are also embracing the Android market.
T-Mobile, Google and handset maker HTC have introduced the G1 Android-powered phone, which is similar to Apple's iPhone, has a three-megapixel camera, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Then there's Nokia, the leader in the smartphone market, Palm with its Palm Pre smartphone expected to reach the market this year, and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.
"There is always a chance, but Android is not a panacea for all of Motorola's problems, and that will be a challenge," said Michael Gartenberg, a technology analyst. "The challenge that they face is when you adopt something that is a commodity platform -- it's something everyone can use."
Motorola will have to find strong ways to differentiate itself from others both on the hardware and design side as well as the software side, according to Gartenberg. If Motorola does what it has done historically with its innovation behind the RAZR, MPx and Q devices, it stands more of a chance.
The skepticism on Motorola is based on the company's history of making basic mobile phones and weakness in the software arena. The skepticism is so great that it has driven Motorola's shares down 60 percent in the past year.
"I think Motorola has software skills as...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Music Deal Fails To Lift Sour Mood on Apple
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64435
Early last month, the music industry and Apple, long uneasy partners, seemed a picture of harmony when they agreed on new terms for pricing on iTunes, Apple's online music store.
Behind the scenes, however, the relationship remains as tense and antagonistic as ever.
The announcement, on Jan. 6, seemed to signal a rapprochement between the music industry and its biggest distributor: The industry gave up its demand for copyright protection, called digital rights management, and Apple allowed flexible pricing, allowing the labels
to charge more for new or popular tracks.
But according to one music industry executive involved in the negotiations, Apple's primary goal was securing distribution of music over its iPhone, as mobile phones are expected to become an increasingly important outlet for music.
Disagreements over the timing of the changes also resulted in particularly tense conversation on Christmas Eve between Steve Jobs, the chairman and chief executive of Apple, and Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, the chairman of Sony Music.
A spokesman for Apple declined to comment, as did a representative for Sony Music. But chatter about Jobs's combative tone on the call ricocheted around the music industry and was regarded as another exhibit of his tough bargaining tactics, made possible through Apple's position as the dominant seller of music.
Jobs recently announced that he would step away from his day-to-day duties because of an illness. While Jobs's health problems have raised questions about Apple's operations, music executives expect their tense relationship with the company to continue.
In interviews, several high-level music executives, who spoke on the condition that they not be named to avoid angering Apple, said they operated in fear of Apple pulling a label's music from the iTunes store over a disagreement, even though that has never happened. The labels do not have much leverage in negotiating with Apple.
"I think Steve has been smart, and...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
The New Elite Swaps E-Mail with Obama
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64431
Anthony Lake served as one of Barack Obama's principal counselors on foreign affairs during the campaign and exchanged e-mail messages with him regularly. But now that Obama is president, Lake no longer has his e-mail address.
"No," he said when asked whether he had it. "Did. Don't."
Neither does Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, nor Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, but they do not use e-mail much anyway.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, is a BlackBerry fiend, but he does not have Obama's address. Nor do many members of the cabinet, including Robert Gates, the defense secretary.
Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. has it, along with his own new super-secret BlackBerry and e-mail address. So do Obama's chief of staff, his top advisers and some of his oldest friends from Chicago.
Senator Richard Durbin, a fellow Illinois Democrat, probably has it, but he refuses to say. "We're not going to discuss it," said a spokesman, Joe Shoemaker. Asked why, he said, "That's pretty obvious, isn't it?"
It is now the ultimate status symbol in a town obsessed by status. Obama was spotted last week trying out his new BlackBerry -- or actually a more sophisticated, encrypted variation -- and aides say that he uses a computer in the study next to the Oval Office but that he has agreed to limit the number of people with whom he would exchange e-mail. In the process, he created a new measure for Washington to judge who really has the ear, or the thumb, of the president.
For decades, the capital scoured state dinner invitation lists and Camp David visitor logs for clues to who was in and who was out.
Former President Bill Clinton established a new class of insider with his Lincoln Bedroom sleepovers, although those usually came with an implicit price tag as...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
SWAT Teams Deployed in 911 Hacker Fraud
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64430
Doug Bates and his wife, Stacey, were in bed around 10 p.m., their 2-year-old daughters asleep in a nearby room. Suddenly they were shaken awake by the wail of police sirens and the rumble of a helicopter above their suburban Southern California home. A criminal must be on the loose, they thought.
Doug Bates got up to lock the doors and grabbed a knife. A beam from a flashlight hit him. He peeked into the backyard. A swarm of police, assault rifles drawn, ordered him out of the house. Bates emerged, frightened and with the knife in his hand, as his wife frantically dialed 911. They were handcuffed and ordered to the ground while officers stormed the house.
The scene of mayhem and carnage the officers expected was nowhere to be found. Neither the Bateses nor the officers knew that they were pawns in a dangerous game being played 1,200 miles away by a teenager bent on terrifying a random family of strangers.
They were victims of a new kind of telephone fraud that exploits a weakness in the way the 911 system handles calls from Internet-based phone services. The attacks -- called "swatting" because armed police SWAT teams usually respond -- are virtually unstoppable, and an Associated Press investigation found that budget-strapped 911 centers are essentially defenseless without an overhaul of their computer systems.
The AP examined hundreds of pages of court documents and law-enforcement transcripts, listened to audio of "swatting" calls, and interviewed two dozen security experts, investigators, defense lawyers, victims and perpetrators.
While Doug and Stacey Bates were cuffed on the ground that night in March 2007, 18-year-old Randal Ellis, living with his parents in Mukilteo, Wash., was nearly finished with the 27-minute yarn about a drug-fueled murder that brought the Orange County Sheriff's Department SWAT team to the Bateses' home.
In a...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Review: Gloves with Fancy Fingers for iPhone Use
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64394
Winter tests the patience of many iPhone users.
After all, Apple Inc.'s device, like other gadgets with touch-screen technology, will work only with the touch of an uncovered finger. So if you're wearing gloves, you have a dilemma: Bare your hands to use your beloved devices, or let calls, texts and e-mails go unanswered while you're braving the elements?
A company called 4sight Products Inc. has a solution: $40 gloves that have electrically conductive gold-colored material on the tip of the index finger and thumb. Apple must think it's a good idea as well -- it has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for gloves that would essentially do the same thing. (Apple didn't return a call seeking comment.)
The gloves, sold under the Tavo brand, aren't perfect. But they could be a welcome addition for people who need to answer a call in the cold, or can't wait to get to a warmer location before firing off a text message or e-mail.
My first encounter with using my iPhone 3G in very cold temperatures happened while I was visiting Chicago in late December. That presented challenges I usually don't encounter in my warmer home base, Virginia.
It hadn't crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to answer my phone with gloves on, but alas, as the iPhone rang, I tried sliding the button on the touch screen to answer. Unable to get a reaction from the phone, I frantically pulled off one of my gloves, just in time for the call to go to voice mail.
For the rest of the trip, taking off my gloves to use the phone became an unwelcome ritual.
So I took the Tavo gloves when I made my next trip: to the subzero temperatures of Montreal.
Walking along the snow-piled streets in my bomber hat, the...
Wed, 4 Feb 09
Free Calls Made Easier by Cell Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64378
For years, software companies have provided ways to make free calls from cell phones, and most of them even work. The problem is getting the software onto your phone.
It's not that carriers want to make it hard to load Skype, Fring and other free-calling applications onto phones, although the networks obviously bristle at the idea of giving their customers a way to make free calls (also known as voice-over-Internet protocol,
or VoIP, telephony). The bigger issue is that until recently, carriers have made it painfully hard to load anything onto your phone, whether it's sophisticated software or a simple ring tone.
But since Apple buried its spurs in the backside of the industry by creating an application store that actually works -- thereby compelling other companies to follow suit -- these free-calling applications are almost within the reach of the average smartphone user.
Of the many free-calling applications that fit this niche, Fring, a start-up based in Israel, and Skype, the standard bearer of the free-calling realm, are among the more user-friendly. But even then, the applications are not yet worth the hassle unless you plan to make a fair number of international phone calls, and can put up with less-than-perfect call quality.
The first thing you need is a device that has Wi-Fi, since your call is going to be carried over the Internet, not through your carrier's pipes. As long as you are in a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can then make free calls directly to other members of the particular service -- Fring-to-Fring calls, say, or Skype-to-Skype, or you can call landlines through Skype.
When you use these services to dial someone's phone number instead of a Skype or Fring ID, the call is routed over phone lines, then to Skype's servers, which hand it off to a local carrier to connect...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Microsoft Will Halt Service-Pack Blockers for Vista, XP
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64447
System administrators handling Windows Vista and XP for small and midsize enterprise networks may have some work ahead, on the path to the inevitable-looking Windows 7 upgrade.
Microsoft gave a heads-up to enterprise IT professionals that the service-pack blocker tools for Vista SP1 and XP SP3 will expire on April 28 and May 19, respectively.
"I have some information for those of you who have installed the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows XP or Windows Vista," wrote Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger. "We are announcing the upcoming expiration dates for the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3."
LeBlanc gave the heads-up to administrators because Microsoft recognized the need for IT professionals to have information like this in advance and in order to be sure they are prepared to deploy the appropriate service packs when the blockers expire.
Released in December 2007, the blocker tools prevent service packs from reaching PCs via Microsoft's update service and through Windows Update. Service packs are usually issued when a company wants to strengthen the security and stability of the software.
Administrators are accustomed to Microsoft's issue of tools whenever the company launches major updates to its operating system and its browser, but knowing what to expect helps make the transition smoother.
Companies currently using the service-pack blocker tool for Vista or XP will be told to install Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3 as appropriate, according to LeBlanc. Companies that don't want to download Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3 don't have to, according to Microsoft.
"Service packs will not automatically install on a machine even after the Service Pack Blocker tool expires," LeBlanc said. "For service packs, you must accept the offering before installation will start."
Blocking tools are still available for organizations that want to temporarily...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Mac OS X Nears 10 Percent of Market as Windows Slips
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64446
While Microsoft's Windows 7 has been making tech news, Apple's Mac OS X has moved up the market-share ladder. Apple's operating system continued climbing for the third consecutive month, closing in on 10 percent of the operating-system market, according to Net Applications. Apple now claims 9.9 percent of the market.
At the same time, Microsoft's Windows operating system saw three consecutive months of decline. As of January, Microsoft Windows had 88.3 percent of the market, a .42 percent drop from December and a 2.2 percent decline in the last 90 days.
That's the largest slump in a three-month period in the four years Net Applications has been gathering operating-system data -- and it doubles the previous record, set from December 2006 to February 2007. During that 2006-2007 period, Windows fell 1.1 percent. Windows XP caused most of the loss.
After a dismal showing with Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft has much riding on the launch of Windows 7. Microsoft launched a beta version of Windows 7 in mid-January and it now has one-tenth of one percent of the operating-system market, according to Net Applications.
Net Applications gathers its data on operating-system usage from its Web analytics program.
"Similar to Windows Vista, Windows 7 usage share is showing a pattern of being much higher on weekends than on weekdays," the company said in a note on its Web site. "Beta users are taking the time and effort to install it on their home computers, since corporations generally prohibit beta operating systems to be used in production environments."
Microsoft has said it will put out a release candidate of Windows 7 as its next step -- there will be no second beta version -- but the company has not offered a release date.
According to Microsoft, Windows 7 was built around consumer feedback. Some of the...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Comcast Testing New Free Wi-Fi Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64442
Comcast Corp. is testing a free wireless Internet service for its cable subscribers in parts of New Jersey, following in the footsteps of a fellow cable operator.
Comcast shadowed Cablevision Systems Corp., which is offering Wi-Fi in its Long Island, Connecticut and Westchester markets and will complete the wireless rollout by early 2010.
The collaboration is meant to extend the reach of each cable operator's Wi-Fi; a Comcast customer can access his cable operator's Wi-Fi in certain Cablevision markets and vice versa.
Comcast spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook said Wi-Fi speeds will be 1.5 Megabits per second, comparable to DSL at home. Users will be asked for the username and password they use for Comcast's Internet service before they can access Wi-Fi.
If all goes well, Comcast could decide to roll out the free service nationwide, to be accessed by laptops and other Wi-Fi devices. But Westbrook cautioned that the trial is still in its very early stages.
Philadelphia-based Comcast said the Wi-Fi trial is separate from its mobile wireless joint venture with Clearwire Corp. and other companies using WiMax technology. Cablevision decided to go the Wi-Fi route, since it wasn't involved in the Clearwire deal.
So it won't lose customers to phone companies, cable operators have been looking to add wireless to their video, Internet and phone services.
Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, has set up equipment at about 100 New Jersey Transit commuter rail stations and parking lots.
They are in the Main-Bergen County area, Glen Rock, the Montclair-Boonton area, Morris, Essex, the North Jersey Coast, Pascack Valley, Raritan Valley and along the Northeast Corridor.
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Feds Allege Plot To Destroy Fannie Mae Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64440
A fired Fannie Mae contract worker pleaded not guilty Friday to a federal charge he planted a virus designed to destroy all the data on the mortgage giant's 4,000 computer servers nationwide.
Had the virus been released as planned on Saturday, the Justice Department said the disruption could have cost millions of dollars and shut down operations for a week at Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage finance company.
Rajendrasinh B. Makwana, 35, of Glen Allen, Virginia, pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to one count of computer intrusion, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Makwana's federal public defender, Christopher C. Nieto, didn't return calls seeking comment on the case.
The Associated Press was unable to reach Makwana in Glen Allen, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond. A search of public records found no address or telephone number for him there.
Makwana is an Indian citizen who has lived in the United States since at least 2001, according to public records.
He was fired Oct. 24 from his computer programming job at Fannie Mae's data center in Urbana, about 35 miles from the company's Washington headquarters, where he had worked since 2006, according to the Justice Department. He was fired for erroneously writing programming instructions two weeks earlier that changed the settings on the servers, according to an FBI affidavit.
Fannie Mae did not immediately terminate Makwana's computer access after telling him he was fired early on the afternoon of Oct. 24, the affidavit states. Before surrendering his badge and laptop computer about 3 1/2 hours later, the indictment accused Makwana of "intentionally and without authorization caused and attempted to cause damage to Fannie Mae's computer network by entering malicious code."
As first reported by The (Washington) Examiner, the code "would have resulted in destroying and altering all of the data on Fannie Mae servers," the indictment...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Data Breaches Cost U.S. Companies $6.65 Million
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64429
The Heartland data breach made headlines in January, exposing 250,000 companies to hackers. But Heartland is hardly the only company that suffered a data breach in 2008.
According to a new survey from the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research firm, data breaches cost U.S. companies $6.65 million last year. That's up from $6.3 million in 2007.
The firm's fourth annual U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study examined 43 organizations across 17 industry sectors to break down data-breach costs. The costs are rising, with incidents costing U.S. companies $202 per compromised customer record in 2008, compared to $197 in 2007.
The largest cost increase in 2008 was due to lost business created by customer turnover. Since 2005, the first year for the study, the churn rate cost has grown by more than $64, or 40 percent, on a per-victim basis.
"After four years of conducting this study, one thing remains constant: U.S. businesses continue to pay dearly for having a data breach," said Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. "As costs only continue to rise, companies must remain on guard or face losing valuable customers in this unpredictable economy."
The average churn rate was 3.5 percent, but health-care companies experienced 6.5 percent and financial-services companies 5.5 percent. According to Ponemon, that indicates the sensitivity of the data collected and customer expectations that the information will be protected.
Slicing the data another way reveals third-party organizations accounted for more than 44 percent of all cases in the 2008 study and cost the most due to additional investigation and consulting fees. More than 84 percent of 2008 cases involved organizations that had more than one data breach. Noteworthy is the fact that more than 88 percent of all cases involved insider negligence.
On the positive side, more than half the...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Adobe Working with Apple To Get Flash on iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64424
One of the biggest complaints about Apple's groundbreaking iPhone has been that it doesn't support Adobe's Flash for interactive animation and video. But late last week Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen said his company is working with Apple to make it happen.
"It's a hard technical challenge, and that's part of the reason that Adobe and Apple are collaborating," he told the Bloomberg News Service in an interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "The onus is on us to deliver."
Fans of the iPhone are taking the comments as both good news and bad news. The good news is that Apple and Adobe are working together. The bad news is that Flash on the iPhone probably won't be ready any time soon.
The Flash technology is installed on an estimated 98 percent of all personal computers, as well as on about 800 million handsets. A version of Flash already runs on handsets with the Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems, and a version for Android phones is being developed.
But Flash on the iPhone was panned last year by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who said regular Flash technology runs too slowly on the iPhone and Flash Lite wasn't robust enough.
One of the reasons to get Flash on the iPhone is that Apple has promoted the idea that the iPhone shows the whole Web, not a "dumbed-down" version. But, since Flash is so widely used, it's not possible to show the whole Web without it.
Some observers have suggested that the issues of Flash on the iPhone are not only technical, as difficult as those hurdles may be, but also business policy.
When Apple released its software development kit (SDK) last year for the iPhone, making third-party application development possible, Narayen said his company was...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Google Search Error Tags Web Sites as Malicious
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64423
Human error. That's the root issue of a major glitch at Google over the weekend.
If you tried to conduct a Google search between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST on Saturday, you probably were one of the untold numbers of searchers who got an unexpected message: "This site may harm your computer."
Google has confirmed that every search conducted during that time got that unsettling response. It was clearly an error, Google said, and the company has apologized for the inconvenience. But what happened?
Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products, offered an explanation on the Google blog. The short answer is that it was human error. The deeper explanation is that Google flags search results with the message "This site may harm your computer" if the site is known to install malicious software.
"We do this to protect our users against visiting sites that could harm their computers. We maintain a list of such sites through both manual and automated methods," Mayer said. "We work with a nonprofit called StopBadware.org to come up with criteria for maintaining this list, and to provide simple processes for webmasters to remove their site from the list."
Periodically, Google updates that list and released an update Saturday morning. But the URL field was mistakenly set as "/," which means all URLs. Google's on-call site reliability team fixed the problem quickly.
"Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes," Mayer said. "We will carefully investigate this incident and put more robust file checks in place to prevent it from happening again."
StopBadware.org got some problems of its own from...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
When You Watch These Ads, the Ads Check You Out
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64416
Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club or grocery store and there's a slim -- but growing -- chance the ad is watching you too.
Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it, tracking who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity -- and can change the ads accordingly.
That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.
And even if the ads don't shift based on which people are watching, the technology's ability to determine the viewers' demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they're reaching their target audience.
While the technology remains in limited use for now, advertising industry analysts say it is finally beginning to live up to its promise. The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 percent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.
The concept is reminiscent of the science-fiction movie "Minority Report," in which Tom Cruise's character enters a mall and finds that retinal scanners identify him and prompt personalized ads that greet him by name.
But this technology doesn't go nearly that far. It doesn't identify people individually -- it simply categorizes them by outward appearances.
So a video screen might show a motorcycle ad for a group of men, but switch to a minivan ad when women and children join them, said Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc., one of the leaders in developing the technology.
"This is proactive merchandising," Rabenou said. "You're targeting people with smart ads."
Because the tracking industry is still in its infancy, there isn't yet...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Temp Workers Lost in the Layoff Shuffle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64411
The massive layoffs piling up in corporate America paint a harrowing picture of a maimed economy, but the job-cut numbers reported by struggling companies are really just a snapshot of the recession's carnage.
As they hand out pink slips to thousands of full-time workers, major employers are also jettisoning temporary workers and outside contractors who handle a wide range of jobs -- everything from programming computers to scrubbing toilets.
Just how many temporary workers are getting swept out in corporate housecleanings is unclear, largely because regulators don't require the same disclosures as they typically do when at least 50 full-time workers are let go. (There were 21,137 of these mass layoffs recorded last year, up from 15,493 in 2007.)
The looser rules have allowed prominent employers like Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to trim contractors and temporary workers without quantifying how many people are being shown the door.
The phenomenon has happened in other downturns, but never to this extent, said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands.
The main reason: Employers have been relying increasingly more on temporary, or "contingent," workers during the past two decades to save money on payroll taxes and benefits. Analysts believe the trend will accelerate in the years ahead. If it does, even more people may be forced to accept temporary jobs even after the economy recovers.
Here are some questions and answers about the temporary work force and how the recession is affecting it.
Q: How many people go to work every week without being classified as a full-time worker?
A: Nearly one-third of the work force -- about 42.6 million people, according to a 2006 report from the U.S. General Accountability Office. About 21.5 million of these workers either specialized in temporary assignments, were independent contractors or were self-employed.
Q: How many of these contingent workers...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Justice Department Sends Hoax E-Mails to Workers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64410
The Justice Department doesn't have to look far to find a scam that preys on people whose retirement plans have been crippled by the global financial meltdown.
It designed one of its own. And e-mailed it to agency employees.
The bogus offer -- signed by "Thrift Savings Plan Account Coordinator" -- was sent two weeks ago and directed employees to a Web site and asked them to plug in account information by Jan. 31.
The hoax triggered a bout of anxiety and warnings among Justice Department employees.
One worker, identified only as a "national security specialist" at the U.S. attorney's office in Portland, Oregon, warned colleagues in a mass e-mail Tuesday night, "DO NOT respond to this message. DO NOT provide your user ID or password." The subject line read, "URGENT -- TSP hoax."
The Justice Department, which acknowledged Thursday that the e-mail was a hoax, is responsible for prosecuting similar computer hoaxes.
On Wednesday, a memo was circulated by Ted Shelkey, assistant director for information systems security, explaining that the savings plan e-mail was a hoax.
"We have learned that the messages are part of a hoax invented and distributed by DOJ to test employee security awareness," Shelkey wrote.
"The message and the site purported to be the bailout Web site are not malicious," Shelkey said in his memo. "There is no need to distribute warning messages to colleagues and law enforcement contacts. Please delete all such messages and associated alerts."
It was unclear who in the department authored and approved the hoax or how many employees received the bogus offer. Shelkey did not immediately respond to an e-mail or to messages left on his office phone Wednesday and Thursday.
The independent Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board administers the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees. It operates like a 401(k) plan, with employee and employer contributing money, and had...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Britain Plans To Bring Broadband to Every Home by 2012
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64408
The British government outlined plans Thursday to bring broadband to every home in Britain by 2012, and proposed new ways to support the music industry and other media businesses by cracking down on online piracy.
Stephen Carter, the communications minister, is eager for the media, telecommunications and technology sectors to pick up part of the slack as other important parts of the British economy, including financial services, go into reverse. By 2012, the government said in a report, 20 percent of all commerce in Britain will occur online.
"There is no sector, with the possible exception of energy, that the rest of the economy depends upon more than this one," Carter told reporters in London.
The government wants to make broadband a universal service like television, using fixed-line and wireless technologies to make this possible. Currently about 60 percent of British households have broadband.
The report makes frequent reference to President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, which includes billions of dollars in public money for expanding access to broadband. But the British report emphasizes the role of the private sector, calling for steps to remove barriers to further investments.
Matthew Howett, an analyst at Ovum, a telecommunications consulting firm, criticized the report for lacking details on how its goals might be achieved.
"The government must ensure that 'Digital Britain' doesn't become merely a series of reviews, reports and consultations," he said.
To try to curb unauthorized file-sharing, which the music industry blames for its woes, the report recommends requiring Internet service providers to send warning letters to persistent pirates.
Some British Internet providers have already sent such letters under a voluntary agreement. Under the proposal outlined Thursday, they would be required by law to do so. Internet providers would also be required to turn over personal details of repeat offenders to rights holders, like music companies, so that...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
Downturn Engulfs Japan's Electronics Giants
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64406
Some of the biggest names in consumer electronics and technology -- Sony, Toshiba, Nintendo and NEC Electronics -- reported miserable earnings and intensely gloomy outlooks Thursday, further proof that the economic slowdown had expanded well beyond big-ticket items like cars and houses, and revealing the extent of consumer pessimism around the globe.
Toshiba and NEC both joined the lengthening list of companies to warn of a full-year loss -- Sony had already done so last week -- and announced job cuts and other efforts to reduce costs.
Nintendo remains one of the few Japanese consumer electronics giants to still expect a handsome profit for the current business year. But even its hugely popular Wii game console is not recession-proof -- as many analysts had long expected. Nintendo lowered its earnings expectations on Thursday.
As the global economic downturn drags on, ordinary consumers around the globe, scared by mounting job losses and last year's historic stock market rout, have slowed spending to a trickle. Companies, too, have cut back investments on everything from factory machinery and research to photocopiers, computers, information technology upgrades and business travel.
"Demand does not seem to be getting any better from the fourth quarter on," Sony's senior vice president Naofumi Hara said at a news conference, according to Reuters.
As a result, companies in virtually every sector of the economy -- from the software giant SAP to automakers around the world -- have had to lay off workers, further depressing consumers' willingness to buy anything but the bare essentials.
On Thursday, Toshiba, whose products span from chips to household appliances, slashed its outlook for the year through March, saying it now expected a record net loss of yen280 billion, or $3.13 billion, rather than the yen70 billion profit it had forecast last September. That forecast was made before the collapse of...
Tue, 3 Feb 09
News Groups Urge Court Webcast in Music Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=64405
Fourteen news organizations, including The Associated Press and The New York Times Co., are urging a federal appeals court to allow online streaming of a hearing in a music downloading lawsuit the recording industry filed against a Boston University graduate student.
The brief filed Thursday in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that allowing webcasting of the Feb. 24 hearing is in the public interest, and is in keeping with camera access already granted in the courts.
The Recording Industry Association of America is appealing a Boston judge's decision to allow the webcast, which it says goes against federal court guidelines on cameras and threatens its ability to get a fair trial.
"It is hard to imagine a hearing more deserving of public scrutiny through the same technological medium that is at the heart of this litigation," the news organizations said in their brief to the appeals court.
The copyright infringement lawsuit is part an effort by the RIAA to stop online music sharing. Since 2003, it has filed civil lawsuits against about 35,000 people who allegedly swapped songs online.
Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law School professor representing Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, is challenging the constitutionality of the lawsuits.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner approved Nesson's request to allow a courtroom video service to transmit the hearing to Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, which would stream it unedited on its Web site with free access. Gertner has said the RIAA also can subscribe to the video feed and stream it on a Web site of its choosing under the same conditions.
New organizations argued in their brief there was "nothing inherently harmful" in camera access to oral arguments, and countered the RIAA's claim that online streaming could be manipulated, saying the potential to edit video is no different from the potential...