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Wikipedia Blocks Church of Scientology Postings
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66883
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows users to post neutral information, has blocked several Church of Scientology IP addresses from posting content after the group allegedly posted content pushing its agenda.
The Web site, which is run by the Wikipedia Foundation and touts itself as being a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, has taken editing tools away from the controversial religious group sometimes referred to as a brainwashing cult.
Wikipedia's action is the first of its kind, according to the U.K.-based publication, The Register, which first broke the story.
Wikipedia administrators found multiple persons editing Scientology-related content from church machines and coordinating their work. What remains unclear is whether one person or several are using multiple Wikipedia accounts.
The Wikipedia arbitration committee voted to block the group, with 10 supporting the ban and none opposing it. One member of the committee abstained.
"All IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates, broadly interpreted, are to be blocked as if they were open proxies. Individual editors may request IP block exemption if they wish to contribute from the blocked IP addresses," said a statement on Wikipedia's site.
Wikipedia explained its action in an effort to maintain neutrality and because the posters were slanting postings in a particular way.
Wikipedia has already started to get backlash from some observers who say the Web site isn't staying open to edits.
The Center for Democracy and Technology, however, said the process, not the outcome, is what is significant.
"As an abstract matter, certainly we can understand where Wikipedia might need to take action to block a particular poster," said John Morris, the center's director of Internet standards. "If someone continues to put up hateful content, it seems to be within Wikipedia's right to take this action. The idea of this...
Sat, 30 May 09
HDMI 1.4 Will Support Ethernet and 3-D Formats
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66882
The licensing arm for the HDMI standard governing the wired transfer of high-definition multimedia content between consumer electronics devices said an upgrade to the spec will be ready for industry-wide adoption by the end of next month.
Called HDMI 1.4, the upgrade represents an important milestone because of the additional enhancements to the high-definition content experience that it will bring to PCs and home consumer electronics, HDMI Licensing President Steve Venuti said.
"The 1.4 specification will support some of the most exciting and powerful near-term innovations, such as Ethernet connectivity and 3-D formats," Venuti said. "Additionally, we are going to broaden our solution by providing a smaller connector for portable devices and a connection system specified for automobiles, as we see both more and different devices adopting the HDMI technology."
As the industry's first all-digital interface to deliver digital video, multichannel surround sound and advanced control data over a single cable, HDMI has already proven its worth as a global standard for connecting a variety of high-definition devices. The upgraded HDMI 1.4 spec will push the evolution of the spec one step further by enabling high-speed bidirectional communication between multiple devices at 100Mb/sec Ethernet speeds.
Any HDMI 1.4-enabled device will be able share its Internet connection with other compatible entertainment-system components -- as well as share content between multiple devices -- without requiring the use of an extra Ethernet cable. Even better, HDMI 1.4 will offer support for HD resolutions that are four times greater than the maximum 1080p resolution of today's HDTV sets, which is comparable to what is achieved in many digital theaters.
Other new capabilities that have been added to the HDMI upgrade include the delivery of 3-D video content to compatible home-entertainment systems via dual-content streams at 1080p resolution. Moreover, HDMI 1.4 incorporates...
Sat, 30 May 09
Sprint Flogs Palm Pre as Verizon, AT&T Wait Their Turn
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66881
With all the anticipation surrounding the Palm Pre smartphone, which is scheduled to be launched exclusively through Sprint Nextel on June 6, other carriers are scrambling to let potential smartphone buyers know they will eventually have the Palm Pre on hand.
Verizon Wireless this week said it will soon offer several new smartphones, including the Palm Pre, the next-generation BlackBerry Storm, and several Android-based phones. On Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said his company would like to see the Palm Pre added to its lineup, which includes Apple's iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold, and the HTC Fuze.
The announcement by Stephenson during the D: All Things Digital conference and by Verizon executive Lowell McAdam during a conference call has prompted Sprint to provide more details about its exclusive agreement with Palm.
Sprint's deal is short in comparison to Apple and AT&T's deal for the iPhone. The agreement with Palm that lets Sprint offer the Palm Pre for $199 with a rebate and a two-year contract is over at the end of this year. That gives the carrier a six-month jump on selling the device, and Sprint has increased its marketing. Callers to Sprint are greeted with a message that says: "Sprint is proud to announce it will be the launch partner for the new Palm Pre."
Since last fall, there has been a buzz about the Palm Pre and its new webOS. Some analysts have predicted Palm's failure, while others have said the Pre will put Palm back on the competitive map.
While the analysts have been debating, Palm has focused on getting the device and its OS right the first time and out the door with the best features and a lot of marketing. The Pre will give users a mix of features that can be used for professional and personal...
Sat, 30 May 09
Obama Makes Cybersecurity a National Security Priority
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66880
President Barack Obama cited the disorganized response to the widespread Conficker worm Friday as he declared cybersecurity a priority for national security. He promised to personally select a cybersecurity coordinator to head a new White House office.
He said the Internet "is a world that we depend on every single day. It's our hardware and our software, our desktops and laptops and cell phones and Blackberries that have become woven into every aspect of our lives." Consequently, he added, cyber threats are "one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation."
"Millions of Americans have been victimized, their privacy violated, their identities stolen, their lives upended, and their wallets emptied," the president said. "According to one survey, in the past two years alone cybercrime has cost Americans more than $8 billion."
Because "No single official oversees cybersecurity policy across the federal government, and no single agency has the responsibility or authority to match the scope and scale of the challenge," he said, his appointee will coordinate all cybersecurity polices for the federal government. He added that the coordinator will work closely with the Office of Management and Budget to set priorities and will head the U.S. response in case of a computer attack.
The president's action was one of the recommendations from a two-month review of the government's cybersecurity efforts led by Melissa Hathaway. Another recommendation that will be implemented is a national campaign to promote awareness of cybersecurity.
Obama promised that his administration will not monitor Internet traffic or "dictate security standards for private companies. On the contrary, we will collaborate with industry to find technology solutions that ensure our security and promote prosperity."
Support for the president's effort came from Google, where policy council Harry Wingo wrote in a blog, "Government agencies are in a unique position to...
Sat, 30 May 09
Hulu Desktop Makes It Harder To Avoid TV Shows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66879
The evolution of video on the Web from a curious experiment to a cornucopia of channels took another step Thursday as Hulu.com released a beta of a downloadable application that allows viewing its collection from the desktop.
Eric Feng, Hulu CTO, wrote on the company blog that Hulu Desktop enables users to "find and enjoy your favorite Hulu videos in a rich, full-screen computer window that you can control with your mouse or keyboard or any six-button PC or Mac remote control."
Feng said the application is the result of a small engineering team asking themselves how to make it easier for users to "immerse themselves" in Hulu's TV shows and movies. The answer, he said, was to create Hulu Desktop so users can "step outside of their browser."
In a step toward TV-like viewing, users can control the video with Apple and Windows Media Center remotes.
A user can log in to Hulu Desktop and get access to personal history and preferences for such things as playback quality and closed captioning. However, profile details, privacy settings, and friends are not accessible from the Hulu Desktop app.
The minimum required setup for using the app are Flash 9 and an Intel Pentium Core Duo processor running at 1.8 GHz with Microsoft Windows XP or later. For a Mac, the processor needs to run at 2.4 GHz with Mac OS 10.4 or later. Both also need a two Mbps or greater Internet connection and two gigabytes of RAM.
James McQuivey, a vice president and principal analyst at industry research firm Forrester, said the new application "is an acknowledgment that, when watching TV shows, people ultimately want to have a TV-like experience, even if they watch on the PC."
But, he added, the new app is "also a way for Hulu to subtly permit the...
Sat, 30 May 09
Bing 'Decision Engine' Is a Major Gamble for Microsoft
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66871
Bing. Microsoft is calling the successor to Windows Live Search a "decision engine" that lets users move beyond search to make faster, more informed decisions.
Bing does this by building on today's search-engine technology, but offering a new user experience and tools to accomplish any one of four goals: Making a purchase, planning a trip, researching a health condition, or finding a local business.
Microsoft pointed to the explosive growth of online content and promises Bing will help users more easily navigate the information overload so the 30 percent of searches that comScore reports are unsatisfactory can have a better outcome. Bing will officially roll out on June 3.
"Bing is an important first step forward in our long-term effort to deliver innovations in search that enable people to find information quickly and use the information they've found to accomplish tasks and make smart decisions," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
When users log on to Bing, perhaps the first thing they'll notice is a more organized search experience. According to a report from Ipsos Mendelsohn, more people are regularly spending time with search engines, engaging in complex, multi-query and multi-session searches. Respondents said an organized search experience would be twice as useful in finding information and accomplishing tasks faster.
Bing offers navigation and search tools on the left side of the page, a related-searches scheme, and a table of contents for different categories of search results, among other features. Bing also aims to help users simplify tasks and provide insight into results.
Microsoft's research identified shopping, travel, local business and information, and health-related research as areas in which people wanted more assistance in making key decisions, and it optimized Bing accordingly.
For example, while a consumer is using Bing to shop online, the Sentiment Extraction feature searches the Internet for...
Sat, 30 May 09
Google Wave Could Transform Net Communications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66861
What do you get when you use e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, wikis and other collaboration tools as a starting point for an entirely new communications model? The answer is Google Wave.
Google previewed its latest Web-based application at the Google I/O developer's conference this week. The Google Maps team, lead by Lars and Jens Rasmussen, developed the application to allow people to communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps and other tools.
Wave is the Rasmussens' answer to questions like: Could a single communications model span all or most of the systems in use on the Web today, in one smooth continuum? And what if we tried designing a communications system that took advantage of computers' current abilities, rather than imitating nonelectronic forms? It took the brothers two years to come up with some answers that take the form of Wave.
In Google Wave you create a wave, which often starts with instant messaging, and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets and even feeds from other sources on the Web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly.
"It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave," said Lars Rasmussen, a software engineering manager at Google. "That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content -- it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use 'playback' to rewind the wave and see how it evolved."
Wave is an HTML 5 app, but it can also be considered a platform with a rich set of open APIs that allow developers to embed waves in other Web services, and to build new extensions that work inside waves. The...
Sat, 30 May 09
HP Chief Cautious About Return of Pent-Up Demand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66846
While other big technology vendors have said they have seen demand bottom out and show signs of recovery, Hewlett-Packard Co. has stayed cautious, warning it's too soon to tell when its business will improve.
HP's CEO, Mark Hurd, reinforced that outlook Thursday. He told investors and financial analysts at a meeting in New York that he is confident HP can hit its profit forecast, but he wouldn't speculate on the timing of a turnaround in tech spending.
The recession has created a lot of pent-up demand, because it has disrupted the normal cycle of tech upgrades, Hurd said, and when that will get back on track is unclear.
"The buildup now of 4-year-old desktops, 4-year-old notebooks, 4-year-old servers, this is creating quite a bubble," Hurd said at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.'s "Strategic Decisions" conference. "There's going to be a time when there's going to be some real opportunity here."
Hurd said there is "a little more stability" in the market, particularly in China and U.S. consumer sales. That echoed his comments from HP's quarterly results last week, when the Palo Alto-based company reported a 17 percent drop in profit to $1.72 billion, a 3 percent decline in sales to $27.4 billion, and more layoffs.
Hurd has been more reserved than the CEOs of Intel Corp., the world's biggest semiconductor company, and Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 computer networking supplier. Both of those companies have said their orders appear to have bottomed out.
HP is the top personal-computer maker, and in the last quarter dethroned Dell Inc. in the U.S. Dell was scheduled to report its quarterly numbers after the market closed Thursday.
HP shares were down 2 cents at $34.32 in morning trading Thursday.
Sat, 30 May 09
Strong Passwords Keep Your Data Safe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66842
In this digital, password-protected world, just how many passwords do you have to remember at any given time? While it's not a good idea to use the same password for all your accounts or to leave a list of your passwords posted on your computer terminal (yes, it happens all the time), here are a few guidelines from Nick Forcier, CEO of Large Software (www.largesoftware.com), to keep passwords, as well as the data they are designed to protect, safe.
* Make it impersonal. Don't use personal information, such as the names of your pets, relatives, or birthdays, to create a username, login, or password. Identity thieves are experts at sifting though data on the web to find such details. While selecting (and remembering) new passwords may be more difficult to do, it's far easier than trying to fix a stolen identity.
* One size doesn't fit all. In a nutshell, diversify. Don't use the same login and password across several sites, cards, and accounts. Forcier says once a thief gains access to such a golden password, access to data will be like a house of cards, allowing thieves to access your entire financial portfolio one by one.
* Longer is better. Studies have shown that it's easy to guess many user-chosen passwords automatically. Short passwords are also more susceptible to commercial tools that can recover passwords. Such software is capable of testing 200,000 passwords per second, says Forcier. To improve the strength of your password, go longer: Select a minimum of eight characters with uppercase and lowercase letters and include a mix of letters, numerals, and symbols. Be creative: Don't use words found in the English dictionary.
* Make it tough. Don't use a simple password such as "12345678," "222222," or "abcdefg." Avoid sequential passwords or using passwords that use adjacent letters on a...
Sat, 30 May 09
Aetna Offers Credit Monitoring After Site Breached
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66836
Aetna Inc. will offer free credit monitoring for a year to about 65,000 people after some e-mails were copied from the health insurer's job application Web site.
Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna said Social Security numbers of current and former employees and people who received job offers from the company were stored on the Web site, which was maintained by an outside vendor.
Most of the information was from current and former employees. For people who received job offers, the site also stored phone numbers, addresses and employment histories.
Aetna has no reports that this information or the Social Security numbers were copied, spokeswoman Cynthia Michener said.
"We know for certain that the e-mails were accessed, we don't know whether or not anything else was accessed," she said. "But we're erring on the side of caution, we want people to know."
The site held e-mail addresses for about 450,000 people who had applied for jobs or submitted resumes to the company, but Michener said they don't know how many were copied. Some people left their e-mails on the site so they could be notified if an opening came up that matched their skills.
Michener said some of these e-mails were copied from the site and then used to contact applicants. She said Aetna hired an outside company to perform a "thorough forensic review" of the site, but they haven't been able to pinpoint how the breach happened.
The managed care company first heard about the problem in early May, when it received complaints from applicants who received phony e-mails that told them they had a job offer or asked for personal information like addresses and telephone numbers.
Aetna immediately shut down the Web site and started investigating, Michener said. It posted a warning on its main Web site, http://www.aetna.com, that the e-mails were not coming from the health insurer.
The...
Sat, 30 May 09
Yahoo Open To Microsoft Deal Under the Right Terms
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66835
Yahoo Inc.'s chief executive said Wednesday that she is open to joining forces with Microsoft Corp. so both companies can better compete in Internet search, but a deal would need a specific set of terms -- including "boatloads of money."
An alliance in Internet search would have to enrich Yahoo, give Yahoo access to the "right data" and bring strong technology, Carol Bartz said at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference. In the past, Yahoo has insisted it needs data culled from search requests to sell the most effective ads and tailor other services to suit its users' interests.
Asked if she would consider selling all of Yahoo, she said, "Oh, they'd have to have BIG boatloads of money."
Yahoo already has walked away from what would seem to be a boatload. Microsoft offered as much as $47.5 billion for the company last year. Jerry Yang's, Yahoo's co-founder, was chief executive at the time and saw Yahoo lose two-thirds of its market value after rejecting Microsoft. He stepped down in November and was replaced in January by Bartz, who came from Autodesk Inc. Yahoo's market value now stands at $21 billion, with its shares falling 34 cents to $14.94 Wednesday.
Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer, who appears at the conference Thursday and is widely expected to talk about his company's new search engine, has said he would still be interested in a search-related deal with Yahoo that could help them threaten Google Inc.'s leadership.
Bartz was asked whether Yahoo continues to talk with Microsoft.
"Yeah, a little bit," she said.
Bartz said it would be unfair to shareholders to rule out selling the company and she needled the founders of privately held Twitter Inc. for saying Tuesday that they intended to keep the young, rapidly growing online communication service independent.
"Never's a long time," she...
Sat, 30 May 09
MySpace's New CEO Promises Innovation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66834
The new leaders of News Corp.'s MySpace said Wednesday they need to innovate to rejuvenate the social networking site, which has suffered from stalled user growth.
Owen Van Natta didn't detail specifics but indicated that the ability to make changes to the site was a reason he took the job of MySpace chief executive last month.
"When I look at MySpace there's just so much opportunity to build," Van Natta said at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference. "I took the job because there's a lot more that can be done around innovation."
Though praised for its substantial entertainment content, MySpace has been criticized for falling behind rival Facebook when it comes to technology. Its worldwide user base has also stagnated at about 130 million, compared with Facebook's 200 million.
"Certainly we're not the darling of the press right now, I think that's pretty clear," he said.
Van Natta, a former Facebook executive, said success would require trial and error, with failures along the way. He said it's starting from a strong place with millions of users.
MySpace, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., has distinguished itself from Facebook by allowing users to be "super-creative" in designing their pages, Van Natta said.
"I'm a big believer in personalization," he said. "Our job is to make MySpace really, really great for everybody, and that means that the experience has to be different for everybody."
Van Natta fielded questions for nearly an hour with Jonathan Miller, a former chief executive at AOL who was recently named chief digital officer of News Corp., the New York-based media conglomerate that also owns the Journal.
Miller acknowledged Facebook is a rival but that the growth in social networking leaves plenty of room for both.
"Yes, I think Facebook is a competitor but it's also fine to have competitors," Miller said. "I don't think...
Sat, 30 May 09
Low Turnout Mars Hawaii's Digital Vote
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66833
They built a new digital voting system, but the voters didn't come.
There was some disagreement Wednesday over why only 6.3 percent of eligible voters used a new, first-in-the-nation digital voting procedure to cast ballots for Honolulu neighborhood board seats via the Internet or by touch-tone phone.
But officials at both the Neighborhood Commission, which oversees the neighborhood board elections, and the San Diego, Calif.-based company that created the voting system, insist that digital voting is probably the wave of the future.
"The technology side, it works," said Joan Manke, executive secretary of the commission. "But it's a whole new arena. It's something that's removed from your traditional paper ballots, which has been done for years and years.
"So my sense is because it's a change, it's something totally new, it takes time. I think, for people to buy into it, to want to actually try it," she added.
But the head of Everyone Counts, the firm that put the system together, said the low turnout announced with the results Tuesday had little to do with the technology. Instead, many voters may just have felt little inspiration to cast ballots, said Chief Executive Officer Lori Steele.
"Our systems aren't really about turnout. They're more about accessibility to participation," said Steele. "I think in local elections you'll find that -- well, probably in all elections -- turnout really depends on the candidates and the political parties and the election officials and their marketing campaigns."
In the 2007 neighborhood elections, turnout was 28 percent with voters choosing either paper or online ballots.
The commission did try to get the word out this year. Manke said she participated in numerous radio interviews, and the agency bought ads in local newspapers.
Web voting, which produces no paper record, cannot be used in city or state elections because state law bars voting systems that...
Fri, 29 May 09
It's Official -- Bing Goes the Microsoft Search Engine
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66860
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer put days of speculation to rest Thursday by announcing the software giant's new search engine, named Bing as expected. The engine will replace Windows Live Search as it begins rolling out in the next few days, with full deployment by June 3.
Ballmer made the announcement at the D: All Things Digital conference. When it fully launches, users will be able to go to www.bing.com, type in a search word and use tools to narrow the focus in four areas -- purchase decisions, trip planning, researching a health condition, or finding a local business.
"Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don't do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find," Ballmer said. "When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web."
He added that Bing is the first step in a long-term effort to help people find information more quickly and use that information.
To emphasize problems with current search engines, Microsoft pointed to a report by Ipsos Mendelsohn that found 66 percent of Internet visitors use searches to make complex choices. Another report by comScore showed 30 percent of searches are abandoned without a satisfactory result. These problems led Microsoft to focus on a "decision engine."
Bing uses features such as Best Match to find the best answer for a search, Deep Links to give searchers information on what a Web site offers, and Quick Preview, an additional window that expands over a search caption to give users more information about the site's relevancy.
The search engine also incorporates Instant Answers, a feature designed to provide information within the body of the search-results page.
Internet search...
Fri, 29 May 09
Sony Ericsson Offers Nintendo-Like Gaming Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66859
Sony Ericsson took a step closer to integrating with parent Sony on Thursday by announcing the Aino, a touchscreen mobile phone that synchronizes with Sony PlayStation 3 video-game consoles.
The Aino comes with an eight-megapixel camera and connects to the PlayStation through an included charging stand. It offers wireless connectivity through GSM, UMTA, HSPA and Wi-Fi. The phone also has a microSD card slot.
The handset maker also showed off the Satio mobile phone, which it had previously announced as the Idou. The Satio has an unusual 12-megapixel high-resolution camera and a 3.5-inch touchscreen. It will be the first Sony Ericsson smartphone to use the Symbian Foundation operating system.
Also introduced at an event in London was the Yari, a 4.1-ounce mobile phone built for gaming. It has a slider keyboard and an accelerometer so the user can wave it like a Nintendo Wii controller to interact with games. The phone also has a five-megapixel camera and GPS. It can use GSM, UMTS and HSPA wireless services.
All three phones are expected to become available in the third quarter. Prices were not given.
Fri, 29 May 09
Spotify App Streams Music To Android-Based Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66849
A new music application from European music service Spotify is attracting attention at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. The app, for devices using Google's Android open-source mobile platform, allows a user to search, browse and stream music.
Spotify released a video at the conference and on YouTube that displays the app, which enables a user to wirelessly sync playlists on an Android device with a PC and listen to cached music offline.
The popular Spotify service is reportedly preparing to launch the service in the U.S., as well as into a variety of devices -- including connected game machines. On its Web site, it describes the service as "a new way to enjoy music," offering "no restrictions in terms of what you can listen to or when." The service offers legal and free access to a large music library, backed by advertising. Many of the songs can also be purchased by users in the U.K., France and Spain.
Sonal Gandhi, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said the music service "is surprisingly very successful in the U.K." One reason, she said, is that the proposition is simple for people to understand.
Third-party music applications for phones have been steadily emerging, Gandhi pointed out, of which Pandora's is the best known. Others include Imeem, Last.fm and Clear Channel. As they proliferate, she noted, more users are listening to music from their phones.
The availability of the Spotify application for Google's Android could affect Apple's reign as the leading music provider over the Internet. Meanwhile, the pace of Android adoption is picking up. Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, told the I/O conference that 18-20 Android phones will be on the market this year, beyond the two currently available, both made by device maker HTC.
And as more...
Fri, 29 May 09
Even iTunes Sync May Not Save Palm Pre and Sprint
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66847
With the much-anticipated Palm Pre debuting on Sprint Nextel's network in about a week, there is plenty of speculation about the device, how it will impact the market, and what it means for wireless carrier competition.
Will the device sync with Apple's iTunes Store? Will it help Sprint Nextel retain customers? Will AT&T vie to pick up the smartphone after Sprint's exclusive expires at the end of the year? Is Palm too late to the game with its latest effort?
It's too soon to offer definite answers to those questions, but analysts are making thoughtful predictions.
"My attitude about the Palm Pre has not changed," said Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group. "It is a too-late-to-market offering from a company that has abandoned its customer base. Mobile operators had to give away Palm's last Windows Mobile handset because nobody wanted to take it. Everybody thought Palm was going out of business."
Meantime, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said his company will offer the Palm Pre and a new version of the BlackBerry Storm in about six months when Sprint's exclusive contract expires. The news sent Palm's stock up and Sprint's stock down.
There are reports that the Palm Pre will sync with the iTunes Store. That could make the device more attractive and stem the tide of Sprint customers moving to AT&T to tap into the music-playing benefits of Apple's iPhone. The only problem is, it can't handle old copy-protected songs.
Disabato isn't overly impressed with the iTunes capability. Although many are calling the Pre an iPhone-killer, he said that's not a realistic expectation. Disabato characterizes the Pre as a device from a handset maker whose future is uncertain running on a wireless carrier whose future is uncertain. The combination doesn't make for a winning run.
"Verizon is killing Sprint...
Fri, 29 May 09
Android Devices Likely To Flood Market By Year's End
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66839
Prepare for the Android onslaught. On Wednesday, Google said there will be at least 18 -- and as many as 20 -- Android-based mobile phones on the market by the end of the year.
That news came from Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms for Google, at the Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco. He said eight or nine handset makers are manufacturing the nearly two dozen Android-based devices Google knows about, though he declined to reveal the manufacturers or the wireless carriers that will offer them.
Why the sudden flood of Android devices?
"Everybody was wondering if Android was a fluke or if it would be popular. What they are finding out is that Android is not a fluke and it is popular," said Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group. "Now everybody is scrambling to create something that can compete with the iPhone. I would guess that over time we are going to see a lot more Android phones. This is going to be a problem for Apple."
Disabato's guess is based on sound reasoning. Apple only has one handset to choose from, and current plans don't call for a clamshell or slider phone with a QWERTY keyboard. There are even rumors that the new version 3 iPhone won't look any different than the current iPhone 3G. Disabato said that could give Google an edge.
"Google is licensing the software. That's how they are making their money on this deal," Disabato said. "I would guess handset manufacturers are going to make different size and form-factor handsets to hit different ends of the market."
Disabato said there is still a misconception in the marketplace that an Android handset has to look like an iPhone with a big screen -- but it doesn't. Android is an operating system....
Fri, 29 May 09
Time Warner To Spin Off AOL, Ending Ill-Fated Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66832
Time Warner Inc. is dumping AOL after spending nearly a decade trying to build a new-age media empire only to wind up in a weaker position than when the marriage began.
The divorce, announced Thursday, will spin out AOL as a separate company run by former Google Inc. advertising executive Tim Armstrong. He was hired in March to try to restore the luster to a brand once known as America Online.
Although AOL has been eclipsed by Google and other Internet stars, Armstrong still can try to build on a wide-reaching online ad network as well as AOL's Web sites, which remain a relatively big draw.
Time Warner owns 95 percent of AOL and will buy out Google's 5 percent stake during the third quarter for an undisclosed amount. From there, AOL -- which has about 7,000 employees -- will be spun off into a separate publicly traded company around the end of the year.
"For AOL, becoming a standalone company will give it more focus and strategic flexibility," Time Warner's chief executive, Jeff Bewkes, said at Time Warner's annual shareholder meeting Thursday in New York.
Meanwhile, with AOL jettisoned, Time Warner will focus on movies, cable TV networks such as HBO and CNN, and publishing magazines such as Time, People and Sports Illustrated.
The $147 billion deal in which AOL bought Time Warner in 2001 epitomized the mind-boggling wealth created during the dot-com boom and quickly became one of the worst corporate combinations in history. In 2002 and 2003, Time Warner absorbed nearly $100 billion in charges to account for the rapidly diminishing value of the combined company. Time Warner even dropped AOL from its corporate name.
AOL once defined the Web for millions of people. But much of its original revenue came from providing dial-up access, a business that peaked for AOL in 2002 at...
Fri, 29 May 09
Optimistic Apple Offers More Value To Mac Buyers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66831
Apple announced plans Thursday to upgrade 100 of its retail stores this year. Apple Senior Vice President Ron Johnson told USAToday that the stores will have bigger display cases and larger Genius Bars.
We know that a lot of people are cutting back, but we're doing the opposite," Johnson said. "We're investing in the downturn."
Apple also plans to open 25 new stores worldwide, including in Paris, Germany, Italy and a fourth store in Manhattan.
Johnson said Apple will change its $99 personal training service for Macs, limiting enrollments to Mac purchasers. People who already have Macs will be able to renew their subscriptions.
Apple is offering a rebate to college students, parents and faculty members who buy an iPod touch along with a new Mac through Sept. 8. The rebate is also available to school-board and PTA officials.
The iPod touch must be purchased at the same time as a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac and the amount is limited to $229, the price of an 8GB iPod touch. If buyers prefer a less-costly iPod, Apple will rebate the purchase price.
Buyers have until Oct. 8 to redeem the rebate coupon. Apple also offers an education discount of as much as $200.
Apple's lowest-priced laptop, the white MacBook, has been upgraded with a faster 2.13-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 160GB hard drive. The memory is also faster -- 2GB of 800-MHz DDR2 SDRAM. The price for the white Mac remains the same in the U.S. at $999, but has risen in the United Kingdom to £749 (U.S.$1,198.21) from £719 (U.S.$1,150.22) amid less-favorable exchange rates.
Fri, 29 May 09
Review: AAA iPhone App Offers Member Discounts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66810
An organization rooted in 20th century car culture is joining 21st century smartphone culture. AAA has introduced a free iPhone application called AAA Discounts, which uses GPS technology to instantly identify nearby businesses offering deals for AAA members.
p
AAA, which has more than 51 million members, is best-known for providing roadside help when your car breaks down. But most members know the card can also be used for discounts. If you're like me, though, it's too much trouble to plan travel based on where discounts are offered, and I rarely remember to ask if my card can get me in somewhere cheaper.
p
The AAA app makes it easier. In map mode, businesses offering the discounts nearby are marked. Or, you can scroll across town or across the country to look for opportunities to save with your card.
p
It can be a bit easier to go into list mode, where you'll find the business name, address and actual distance from you. Tap the business you like, and then you can see it on the map, or even get directions there.
p
I found the map didn't always recognize my finger tap to open information about a business. And some areas show a virtual thicket of flags for businesses with discounts. It's hard to tap the right one, so you find yourself zooming in and out on the map frequently.
p
I also found that a large proportion of the listings seemed to be pharmacies offering prescription discounts. The average age of a AAA member is 50, but app users of any age uninterested in drug store locations can turn off the health listings by clicking the more button, which allows you to filter categories.
p
Altogether, the AAA Discounts app covers 110,000 locations in North America. Many of these are hotels -- clearly of interest to any traveler. The app...
Fri, 29 May 09
Twitter Cofounders Are Mum on Revenue Plans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66808
Twitter Inc.'s co-founders say the rapidly growing online communications company will eventually charge fees for its services, but it's unclear which ones and what will drive revenue.
p
There will be a moment when you can fill out a form or something and give us money, said Evan Williams, co-founder and chief executive officer.
p
We're working on it right now, Williams said at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference.
p
Williams and Twitter co-founder Biz Stone mentioned possible revenue-generators, including a service that would authenticate the source of information. For example, Dunkin' Donuts could pay to make sure that impostors don't send messages under its name.
p
Still, after nearly one hour of questions from journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher and from the audience, the co-founders gave no clear picture of Twitter's business model. Stone demurred when asked what would be the company's key revenue driver in two years.
p
Williams said he wasn't opposed to banner advertising but was unenthusiastic.
p
I think it's probably the least interesting thing we could do, he said.
p
Williams said one of his top priorities was hiring more people to help grow the company but he didn't give a headcount target. San Francisco-based Twitter has 43 employees, he said, double its count in January.
p
Twitter allows anyone to write about what they're doing or what's on their mind in messages sent through the Web or cell phones, also known as tweets, which are limited to 140 characters. The unconventional, free service has attracted millions of users.
p
The co-founders said they know the hype surrounding Twitter won't last forever.
p
If you pay attention to it too much, you can run yourself off the rails, Stone said. He added, Pretty soon, everybody's going to hate us.
p
The privately held company has been a subject of buyout speculation by a big technology company, but Williams said he...
Fri, 29 May 09
New Web Site To Amplify Debate on Google Book Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66805
Caroline Vanderlip believes the escalating debate over Google Inc.'s plans for a vast Internet library of copyright-protected literature will yield enough compelling material to fill a book.
p
That's one reason why SharedBook Inc., a 5-year-old company run by Vanderlip, has set up a Web site so the supporters and opponents of Google's digital book project can more easily post their opinions about a legal settlement that will help fulfill or possibly derail the Internet search leader's ambitions.
p
The site, http://www.gbs.sharedbook.com, is set to debut Thursday.
p
Using SharedBook's annotation tools, anyone will be able to comment on the complex settlement and other key court documents in a class-action lawsuit filed four years ago by authors and publishers. New York-based SharedBook plans to turn the dissertation into a book that will be sold at cost, Vanderlip said.
p
We think this debate is a very important for the publishing industry, she said. There are enormous number of people discussing the pros and cons of this settlement.
p
If the settlement wins federal court approval this fall, Google will emerge with the right to make digital copies of millions of copyright books no longer in print.
p
While Google and its backers argue the settlement will help the publishing industry and society by making obscure books more accessible, critics contend it will concentrate too much power with a single company.
p
The misgivings about the settlement have piqued the interest of the U.S. Justice Department, which is examining whether Google's expanded control of digital books would thwart competition.
p
Spurred by the protests about Google's book settlement, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York has extended the deadline for objecting until Sept. 7. A hearing to approve the settlement is scheduled for Oct. 12.
Fri, 29 May 09
Telecommuting Offers Flexibility, But Needs Balance
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66804
Marie Howerton works for a business information and market analysis company with offices in London and New York. In between phone calls and meetings, she can put a load of laundry to wash or pick up her children from school.
p
In the age of smart phones and laptop computers, Howerton's double shift of work and parenting may become a thing of the past. But it means that she's always on the clock.
p
Just this morning, I dropped my kids off at 7:50 a.m., then went and got a coffee at PJ's and five minutes later, I was on a conference call in the parking lot, Howerton said. With technology, there's no getting away from (work) now.
p
Howerton is among the emerging telecommuter work force of 34 million Americans, according to estimates by Forrester Research Inc.
p
Working remotely means Howerton doesn't have to uproot from her hometown. For her employer, it means they can pay her a salary based on Louisiana's cost of living rather than New York's, and they don't have to provide her premium office space in Manhattan.
p
Louisiana Technology Council President Mark Lewis said all of his employees are able to remotely log in to the company's system.
p
I used to come in on Saturdays, Lewis said. Now instead of coming in from my home in Metairie, I can log on and it's as if I'm there sitting at my desk, Lewis said, adding, I do that quite often, probably more than I should.
p
Although the technology has the potential to make employees more efficient, Lewis said there is also the possibility that less-committed workers will slip through the cracks.
p
It puts more responsibility on the employee to make sure the work gets done because they don't have somebody looking over their shoulder, he said.
p
Ron Zornes, president of the New Orleans chapter of the Human Resource...
Fri, 29 May 09
Identity Theft: Don't Get Scared, But Be Prepared
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66803
Every time I watch the news, it seems a new frightening event is occurring. Swine flu, economy, identity theft and gun-carrying coworkers weren't things I used to worry about. How do you keep yourself safe in an increasingly chaotic world?
p
As I frequently tell my clients, I want you to be prepared, not just scared, about events you can't control.
p
I interviewed a security specialist, Christopher Falkenberg, for tips on workplace safety. He's worked as a secret service agent and lawyer before starting Insite Security.
p
Falkenberg surprised me by pointing out that our risk for identity theft has gone down. He said the big problem now is identity impersonations. Apparently, Facebook and LinkedIn can be useful but dangerous because they can give the wrong people too much information.
p
I asked Falkenberg what he would advise readers to do. His hot tips included:
p
1. Reduce the information available about you in the public domain. Data you provide on the Internet lasts forever and can assist someone in assuming your identity or targeting you for a crime.
p
2. Keep personal information out of business profiles. Where you live, who you know, and what you do with spare time makes you an interesting person but an easy target.
p
3. Be wary of calls you get at work. Falkenberg said criminals are masters at pretending to be a close friend of someone they stalk. If in doubt, don't give out information about coworkers.
p
4. If a caller pressures you to cough up confidential corporate information, be suspicious. Falkenberg said con artists may use bits of information and pressure tactics to get what they want. Check out the identity of callers.
p
I was surprised to learn there's actually research on who survives a crisis. Turns out that pessimists fare better than optimists. Having a survival mindset means you have to imagine worst- case scenarios....
Fri, 29 May 09
Complex Merger Talks for Bharti Airtel and MTN
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66802
What does the CEO of a company do when its best growth years are behind him? If you're Sunil Mittal, who runs Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel, you go shopping.
p
Airtel, which runs cell-phone networks across India, and South Africa's MTN, the largest cell-phone operator in Africa, made a brief statement to shareholders on May 25 that they were hammering out a complex deal which would merge the companies. If successful, the deal would likely give Mittal control of a telecom behemoth that would have the third-largest number of subscribers in the world, after U.K.-based Vodafone and China Mobile, with annual revenues in excess of $20 billion. As expected, Airtel shares plunged and MTN shares climbed.
p
But the negotiations so far have resulted in a deal that only an investment banker would love -- complex enough that retail investors will get headaches trying to figure out exactly what's happening. It's so convoluted because there are so many different stakeholders to keep in mind, says Yash Rana, a Hong Kong-based partner at Goodwin Proctor who specializes in Indian mergers and acquisitions. Ultimately they are working towards a merger where Bharti will control, but until that happens, MTN wants to show that they are an independent company with independent motives.
p
Mittal has had his eye on MTN for a while, having tried in May 2008 to complete a union. Those talks fell apart, as did subsequent talks that MTN had with Airtel rival Reliance Communications, run by billionaire Anil Ambani, the younger of two squabbling brothers who run a bunch of India's most valuable companies.
p
subhead
MTN's Access to Growth Markets
/subhead
p
MTN is a prize catch for Airtel, if it can reel it in. Airtel celebrated its 100 millionth customer earlier this month -- a meteoric rise for a company that's barely a decade old. But the next...
Thu, 28 May 09
AT&T Promises To Give Poky iPhones Some Zip
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66830
AT&T is investing $17 billion to $18 billion to speed up its wireless 3G network. The Texas-based carrier also said Wednesday that it will upgrade its 3G network starting this year and finishing in 2011.
HSPA 7.2 technology will be added to the network for a better user experience. Since offering 3G service in 350 U.S. metropolitan areas, AT&T has added more than twice the number of smartphone users as its competitors. The increased demand has resulted in complaints for the exclusive provider of Apple iPhone service in the U.S.
Later this year, AT&T plans to boost the speed of its broadband network and offer additional devices, including HSPA 7.2-compatible laptop cards and smartphones. AT&T said it began certifying 7.2-Mbps devices on its two test networks last month.
AT&T and its competitors also plan to begin Long-Term Evolution (LTE) next year. LTE is the expected successor to UMTS 3G technology and is expected to provide faster data rates for both downloading and uploading. AT&T said it will use its 700-MHz and advanced wireless spectrum to launch LTE.
AT&T's upgrades are necessary as both the carrier and Apple have been under fire for misleading consumers about the iPhone network. Both have been sued for delivering data to the iPhone at slower speeds than promised in their marketing.
Lawsuits against the companies have been brought in Florida; San Jose and San Diego in California; and Alabama.
Along with the increase in speed, AT&T said it also plans to double the wireless spectrum focused on 3G in most metropolitan areas for more network capacity. The carrier is also adding thousands of new cellular connections to support the higher broadband speeds of HSPA 7.2 and LTE.
"AT&T's network infrastructure gives us a tremendous advantage in that we're able to deliver upgrades in mobile broadband speed and...
Thu, 28 May 09
Developers Urged To Shift From Desktop To the Web
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66829
Google CEO Eric Schmidt urged developers at the company's Google I/O conference to develop browser-based applications for the Web instead of desktop programs.
He told the 4,000 attendees on Wednesday, "It's time to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that's before us" in Internet programming because "People are frustrated. They're tired of the complexity." He added, "This is the beginning of the real win of cloud computing."
Google is advocating a simplified approach to Web programming. As an example, the company introduced Web Elements, which lets Web sites add Google applications from a menu at http://www.google.com/webelements/.
Online applications can be made as powerful as desktop applications with HTML 5, Google Vice President Vic Gundotra said. He noted that developers can take the load off Web servers by shifting 3-D rendering to the user's computer through the browser.
Google also announced that users of mobile phones running its Android operating system have downloaded an average of about 40 apps each from the Android Market. The recently launched store has 4,900 apps, less than the 35,000 on Apple's App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch.
In addition, Google said, seven months after Android's release, 10 wireless carriers are supporting the mobile platform in 12 countries. The search giant told the developers that the next Android update, code-named Donut, will have more powerful search abilities along with text-to-speech capabilities.
Gundotra offered the conference attendees a free Android-based mobile phone with unlimited 3G service for 30 days. "I always wanted an Oprah moment," he said in reference to TV host Oprah Winfrey's giveaways.
Thu, 28 May 09
Nehalem-EX Likely To Boost Intel x86 in Enterprises
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66818
Nehalem-EX. That's the code name of the new Intel Xeon processor that Intel previewed this week.
The chips will go into production later this year and target server consolidation, virtualized applications, enterprise applications, and technical computing environments.
Intel is betting heavily on its chipset, calling it the heart of the next generation of intelligent and expandable high-end Intel server platforms. Those platforms promise technical advancements to boost enterprise computing.
"The capabilities of Nehalem-EX, especially in highly virtualized environments, offer a clear jump on performance over previous generations of Xeon," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "What they are talking about with EX is a two-and-a-half times jump in performance over EP. That's pretty impressive."
Specifically, Nehalem-EX will feature up to eight cores inside a single chip supporting 16 threads and 24MB of cache. That marks a dramatic performance increase that posts the highest-ever jump from a previous-generation processor.
The new processor will offer nine times the memory bandwidth of the previous-generation Intel Xeon 7400 platform. Nehalem-EX will also double the memory capacity with up to 16 memory slots per processor socket, and offer four high-bandwidth QuickPath Interconnect links.
On the scalability front, Nehalem-EX offers a range that includes large-memory two-socket systems through eight-socket systems capable of processing 128 threads simultaneously. Enterprises will be able to add scalability options such as greater socket counts through third-party vendors.
Intel said Nehalem-EX will add new reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, including Machine Check Architecture (MCA) recovery, traditionally found in the company's Intel Itanium processor family. The company expects its high-end processors to hasten the transition from more expensive, proprietary RISC-processor based systems by delivering a lower total cost of ownership, higher performance, lower electricity bills, and the ability to standardize on a flexible IT environment.
"For the better part of...
Thu, 28 May 09
Zune HD Will Challenge iPod Touch with OLED, Xbox Ties
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66811
Microsoft's Zune is evolving, the company said Tuesday. One branch of that evolution is a new generation of the portable media player, Zune HD, which will incorporate a built-in HD radio receiver, high-definition video output, an organic light-emitting (OLED) touchscreen, Wi-Fi and a Web browser. The new model will be available in the fall.
The other evolutionary branch is that Zune will become a "a premium partner" in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace. Microsoft said the first slot in the user interface of the marketplace will be Zune's, with a catalog of TV shows and films.
Zune HD offers higher-quality sound than regular radio and, in some HD broadcasts, additional channels and metadata about songs and artists. The OLED touchscreen features a 16x9 widescreen format in 480x272 resolution, and a user can also watch HD video files on a 720p TV through an HDMI connection.
James McQuivey, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, called Microsoft's integration with Xbox Live "a smart move." Instead of trying "to build a new Zune music following," he said, the company is "opting to simply build on the millions of Xbox 360 Live users."
McQuivey noted that this effort might not "rescue the fortunes of the device itself, but it could if they can create a seamless media experience between the Xbox and the Zune media player."
The bottom line, he added, is that this move gives Zune "a solid footing from which to climb higher, but whether the device comes along for the ride or not depends on how well it can complement the Xbox experience."
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said in the short term Zune becoming part of Xbox Live is "going to be a re-branding," and at the moment it is a separate initiative from...
Thu, 28 May 09
Does $200M Deal Indicate Problems at Facebook?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66801
A Russian investment group on Tuesday paid $200 million for 1.96 percent of Facebook, valuing the social-networking giant at $10 billion. Digital Sky Technologies, which also has stakes in Eastern European and Russian Internet businesses, acquired preferred stock.
DST also plans to offer to purchase at least $100 million of Facebook common stock from existing stockholders. DST executives will not take a seat on Facebook's board or hold special observer rights.
"This investment demonstrates Facebook's ongoing success at creating a global network for people to share and connect," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "We've worked hard to bring more than 200 million people -- 70 percent outside of the U.S. -- onto Facebook to share with friends, family and coworkers. A number of firms approached us, but DST stood out because of the global perspective they bring -- backed up by the impressive growth and financial achievements of their Internet investments. We're looking forward to working with the DST team."
Based in London and Moscow, DST holds significant interests in Internet companies such as Mail.ru, Forticom and vKontakte. DST's assets account for more than 70 percent of all page views in the Russian-speaking Internet. What's more, its social networks are the market leaders in more than 13 countries, addressing a combined population of more than 350 million.
"Our investment experience in other regions reveals the tremendous value social-networking companies create as they redefine how people communicate and interact," said Yuri Milner, CEO of DST. "By every important metric -- user growth and engagement, technological innovation, and financial performance -- Facebook is on a similar trajectory, though on a much more global scale."
Facebook was founded in 2004 and has yet to turn a profit. The company expects to see positive cash flow sometime next year. From a valuation standpoint, it's noteworthy that...
Thu, 28 May 09
Microsoft Ready To Bing the Search-Engine Competition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66800
Microsoft may call its new search engine Bing as it gets ready to replace Windows Live Search. The company has registered the domain names bing.com and bing.net, along with bing variations outside the U.S., including bing.com.au and bing.co.uk.
The new search engine, known by the code-name Kumo, has been tested internally by Microsoft employees. The software giant hopes the new engine will let it challenge Google's dominance of the search-advertising market. Microsoft is currently a distant third in that market, behind Google and Yahoo.
Kumo, or Bing, is expected to use the semantic-search technology from Powerset, which Microsoft acquired last summer. The technology tries to understand the meaning of phrases used in search, and the search engine will reportedly let people refine queries in a "table of contents" with multiple options.
Microsoft is widely expected to show the new search engine at the "D: All Things Digital" conference this week. CEO Steve Ballmer is scheduled to speak.
Advertising Age has reported that Microsoft plans to spend $80 to $100 million on ads for the new search engine -- more than for most consumer product launches. In comparison, the trade magazine said that last year, Google spent just $25 million on its own advertising promotions.
Thu, 28 May 09
Craigslist Fuels Online Classified-Ad Surge
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66789
Use of online classified ads is surging, thanks mainly to Craigslist. Almost half of all adults who use the Internet in the U.S. now rely on classified sites, according to a study released May 22 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That number has more than doubled since 2005, when only 22 percent used online classifieds, and has increased faster than almost every other online activity covered by the researcher, including online banking, travel booking, and shopping on e-commerce sites like Amazon.com.
Craigslist gets the vast majority, or 93 percent, of traffic to classified listings sites, with about 46.5 million visitors in April, according to comScore. The next largest competitor, eBay-owned Kijiji, had only 3.9 million visitors that month. San Jose-based eBay owns part of Craigslist. Pew found that 62 percent of 25-to-44-year-olds have used Craigslist and similar sites, more than any other age group. Internet users with a college education and a household income of at least $50,000 are most likely to use online classified sites.
Fresh evidence of the surging popularity of Craigslist revives questions about the company's reluctance to make money from online ads -- say, by charging ordinary users fees for classified ad placement. It also provides context for the friction between minority owner eBay and Craigslist over increasing competition between the two companies and Craigslist's unwillingness to have eBay exert greater board control.
More people are using Craigslist in part because the site has stepped up its expansion beyond major metropolitan areas such as San Francisco. While city and suburb dwellers are most common on Craigslist, according to Pew, the site has more than tripled the number of regions it supports since 2005. There are now nearly 350 U.S. cities or regions with their own local listings, up from around 90 four years...
Thu, 28 May 09
Police Use GPS To Track Suspects Despite Murky Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66784
Investigators were tipped that habitual criminal Bernardo Garcia was back to making and dealing methamphetamine in 2005 but they needed more evidence to nail him.
So they secretly installed a GPS to his borrowed Ford Tempo. The technology showed Garcia often drove to land in northwestern Wisconsin, where investigators found a stash of meth-making equipment.
Garcia, who once bragged he could make meth across from a police station without getting caught, drove to the scene while investigators were there. He was arrested, convicted and sent to prison.
Across the nation, investigators are using GPS to catch drug dealers, burglars, stalkers and other criminals. Police say the devices, which rely on satellites to determine locations, are similar to trailing a suspect with officers but more effective.
"It's been a very good investigative tool," said Craig Klyve of the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation, whose agents install GPS on cars up to 75 times a year. "The technology allows you to track and maintain a history of movements of a vehicle over a period of time in a way that your surveillance doesn't get burned and is much less manpower-intensive. It's a way to work smarter."
Privacy advocates and criminal defense lawyers beg to differ. They say the technology goes beyond surveillance and could be used to create a detailed, around-the-clock profile of one's movements. Because the trackers are so affordable, they view them as a privacy threat that could reveal one's political, religious and personal associations to law enforcement.
Courts are now grappling with how to balance privacy rights against an investigative technique hailed by state and local police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI.
"We're seeing more and more cases," said Jennifer Granick, civil liberties director at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The law is struggling to understand the way in which these kinds of sophisticated...
Thu, 28 May 09
New Google Puzzles Target Net Fraudsters
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66782
Rogue programs try their best to register at Web sites and then wreak havoc, but a clever puzzle often bars them from entry: a set of distorted, squiggly letters and numbers that people can decipher and type correctly for admission, but that machines still can't.
Well, at least for the moment.
Now, to stay one jump ahead of fraudsters and their automated programs, researchers are devising more versions of the puzzles, called captchas, to help sites block abuse that includes spam e- mail, illegal postings and skewed online voting.
Researchers at Google are testing a new captcha that requires people to turn upright randomly rotated images, like that of a parrot perched temporarily upside-down on a leafy branch. The task is a breeze for people -- using a cell phone touchscreen, for example, to flip the image -- but hard for machines.
The new puzzles could be built around a site's theme -- for instance, cartoons at a Disney site, or objects for sale at eBay, said Rich Gossweiler, a senior research scientist at Google who led the team that developed the system. It lends itself to rapid implementation, he said, and has an almost limitless supply of images. "Our technique expands the vocabulary of captchas" beyond obfuscated characters, he said. "And it might make the process less of a chore. It's fun to solve a puzzle."
The program rejects images like those for human faces that computers have already learned to recognize. "We first remove all those images that computers can turn upright, and then the ones that humans have trouble with," Dr. Gossweiler said.
People may have trouble orienting abstract art, but they can quickly distinguish a parrot's image, for example, even if it is shown amid objects like leaves. "We can see it needs to be upright," he said, "but it's more difficult...
Thu, 28 May 09
Small Steps to Big Energy Gains in the Data Center
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66779
When master improvement programs are developed for data centers, the recommendations often target ways to improve reliability and detail a plan to implement current industry best practices. Today, master improvement plans are being broadened to address energy efficiency as well. That approach makes sense. Steps to improve energy efficiency can also bolster reliability -- for example, when evaluating and optimizing air distribution.
A case in point is a 30,000-square-foot data center for a Fortune 500 retailer. The data center, located in the Southeast, does not have a Tier certification, but it would fall between a Tier II and Tier III facility, approaching the latter. Facility executives and their engineering team looked for energy efficiency opportunities among systems, equipment, controls and GG equipment most common to many data center operations. The goal was to find improvements with a payback of three years or less.
The starring point was a top-to-bottom review of central plant control strategies. That analysis produced a range of strategies, including:
* Identifying optimum locations for thermostats serving existing computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units.
* Converting a constant chilled water pumping scheme to a variable flow scheme.
* Replacing existing CRAC units with more efficient equipment, including deployment of dual-fed units and variable frequency drive fans.
* Airside and waterside control strategies to improve the ability to deliver cool air to critical loads or extend existing capacities to allow greater load densities.
* Replacing the legacy building management system with a newer, more robust system that would facilitate better integration of trended data.
* Replacing existing rooftop units with newer, more efficient dedicated outside air units selected to meet the most stringent requirement of minimum ventilation air and pressurization and humidity control.
* Investigating maintenance of underfloor pressure and how it could be improved by sealing openings.
In addition, the raised floor perforated tile arrangement and quantities...
Thu, 28 May 09
With Ex-Google Exec, AOL Seeks Another Fresh Start
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66776
Shortly before taking over as head of AOL in April, Tim Armstrong ripped out some office doors.
The doors -- made of glass and requiring a company key card to pass through -- stood in AOL's New York headquarters, separating the offices of executives like former CEO Randy Falco and his No. 2, Ron Grant, from the rank and file.
The doors' departure is emblematic of a shift under way at AOL. Armstrong, 38, was recently hired away from Google Inc. and asked to give the long-suffering Internet unit of Time Warner Inc. yet another shot at salvaging its future after what seems like a lost decade.
If nothing else, Armstrong's arrival has thrilled employees who were unhappy under his predecessors, who were widely considered out of touch and out of place.
But Armstrong's more approachable style won't be enough to restore AOL's luster. AOL's legacy business, its dial-up Internet service, continues to dwindle while its newer online advertising service is not yet picking up all the slack. AOL's operations still make money, but that profit has been falling.
Armstrong's ability to find the right formula could be especially put to the test if Time Warner formally separates itself from AOL by spinning the Internet division off into a standalone business, as the company is exploring. That move would finally undo the $147 billion deal in which AOL bought Time Warner in 2001, which became one of the worst corporate combinations in history.
AOL would not make Armstrong available for comment. But current and former employees said his open management style, which he tried to show by taking out the doors, already has marked a stark change from Falco and Grant, who had snippy nicknames at AOL like "Rondy," a combination of their first names.
Falco and Grant joined AOL in late 2006 as part of a...
Thu, 28 May 09
EU Pushes Music Industry To Open Up Online Rights
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66773
EU antitrust regulators told the music industry Tuesday to move quickly and change licenses that currently restrict online music stores such as iTunes from offering the same songs for sale across Europe.
Internet music downloads in Europe lag behind those in the United States, pulling in just a fraction of revenues the record industry is losing from falling CD sales.
Part of the problem in Europe is that music rights are sold separately in each country, which has prevented Apple Inc.'s iTunes from setting up a single store to service all of Europe. Instead, it has to seek licenses from each EU member state where it wishes to sell and to set up separate national stores with different music selections.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said regulators' talks with the music industry mean that French collecting society SACEM and record label EMI were now willing to license their music to rights managers across Europe.
Apple told the EU executive that it would offer music tracks to all European customers if it was able to license EU-wide rights.
It says the small market size in some EU nations does not currently justify the expense and effort needed to open up a store and it would consider opening online stores in eastern Europe if it was easier to clear music rights.
ITunes is not available to customers in the 12 mostly eastern European states that have joined the EU since 2004.
Kroes said there was now "a clear willingness" from major players in the online music market to tackle these problems. She urged publishers and music copyright groups -- also called collecting societies -- "to move quickly to adapt their licensing solutions to the online environment," saying she would review progress.
This carries more than a hint of a threat. The European Commission told collecting societies last July to end...
Thu, 28 May 09
University Puts Cisco Mobility To Work
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66767
At the University of British Columbia (UBC), the wireless network spans 100 hectares with multiple campuses -- and it continues to grow to support more than 55,000 students, professors and staff for learning and research.
Like most major universities, UBC relies on technology to help it deliver educational services to its students and keep its faculty on the cutting edge of research and development. When UBC needed a solution that would scale with its growth and allow mobile workspaces anywhere on campus, it turned to Cisco.
"Cisco's new technologies allow for a faster connection and increased density for lecture theatres that hold hundreds of students, allowing them to simultaneously use throughput-intensive course materials such as streaming media," said Marilyn Hay, manager of the University of British Columbia's Network Management Centre.
"These new technologies from Cisco create a truly mobile and collaborative environment for learning and research, helping to maintain UBC's position as one of the top 35 research-intensive universities in the world."
The new Cisco technologies Hay is referring to are part of the Collaboration in Motion initiative. The new initiative draws from products and services from the Cisco WebEx, Cisco Unified Communications, Cisco Unified Wireless Network and Cisco Advanced Services product lines to drive collaboration in the mobile workspace.
Cisco has invested in new products and services in five areas: the workspace experience, the wireless network platform, third-party applications, technology partners and professional services. Cisco's goal is to bridge the gaps between an on-premises wired network, off-premises cellular network and a high performance Wi-Fi network so workers can work from anywhere.
"Cisco's approach with Collaboration in Motion harnesses the power of the network to connect the devices to the network, to people and to systems, to collaborate in a borderless organization," said Ray Smets, vice president and general manager for the Cisco Wireless...
Wed, 27 May 09
Star Wars Battlefront Coming to a Handheld Near You
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66799
The battle will begin this fall for Star Wars game fans when Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, a multiplayer game for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable handhelds, will be released, according to LucasArts, a division of Lucasfilm Entertainment.
The San Francisco-based publisher is boasting that the Star Wars Battlefront game, based on the Star Wars film series, is the first time players will be able to fight on multi-level battlefronts, in space and on the ground. The game allows players to begin the fight on foot, drive a vehicle through the battleground, or have dogfights in space. Each player's move -- including shots fired and enemies defeated -- determines future outcomes on the battlefield.
The game supports 16-player multiplayer on the PSP and includes tracking and four-player skirmishes on the DS. On the DS, the game is rated Everyone 10+, and includes fantasy violence; on the PSP, the game is rated Teen with fantasy violence.
Despite a 23 percent decrease in sales of video games from $660.1 million in April 2008 to $510.7 million in April 2009, and despite the challenging economic environment, NPD Group consumer-spending indicators still show video games as the category in which consumers say they are least likely to cut their spending in the coming months, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier.
"I can say that Star Wars is one of the top 10 video-game properties of all time, so anytime there is a Star Wars release we can look for it to chalk up some substantial sales," Frazier said.
In Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron, gamers take on the identity of X2, a clone trooper created from the DNA of a Jedi Master. The X2 trooper joins the Rebellion, crossing paths with his evil clone brother X1, leading to a battle that...
Wed, 27 May 09
Lenovo Netbook with Nvidia Ion Runs PC Games in HD
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66798
Lenovo and Nvidia have teamed up to add advanced graphics capabilities -- including the playback of high-definition 1080p video and Blu-ray discs -- to the China-based PC maker's latest mini-laptop.
Through the addition of Nvidia's energy-efficient Ion graphics technology, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 will be the first netbook to harness enough graphics horsepower to fully support high-definition PC games, many of which will not run on today's low-cost small PCs, noted Nvidia Senior Vice President Jeff Fisher.
"The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 with Nvidia Ion graphics is a game-changer for the industry," Fisher said. "It's a powerful testament to what a small PC can do if it's optimized with Ion."
Less than one inch thick and tipping the scales at three pounds, Lenovo's latest netbook sports a full-sized keyboard and a 12-inch screen. The IdeaPad S12 also offers up to six hours of operating time off a single charge when the buyer chooses the optional six-cell battery instead of the standard three-cell unit.
"We've heard from consumers loud and clear about the need for affordable and extremely portable computing devices," said Lenovo Vice President Dion Weisler. "And we've responded by introducing our third netbook with a completely new form factor, making mini-computing more usable and redefining value in today's market."
The IdeaPad S12 will offer Wi-Fi connectivity and includes an ExpressCard slot that will give users the ability to add 3G connectivity if required.
The machine can either be equipped with Intel's Atom microprocessor and companion graphics technology or an Intel Atom processor capable of running in tandem with Nvidia's Ion technology. The Nvidia system is capable of transforming small, low-power PCs into computing systems capable of achieving up to a tenfold graphics performance boost in comparison with other machines, said Nvidia Notebook GPU General Manager Rene Haas.
"Nvidia Ion graphics help...
Wed, 27 May 09
Analyst Doesn't Expect Microsoft To Control Netbooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66797
Bigger is not necessarily better anymore. Lugging around a heavy notebook is becoming a thing of the past as users lean toward lighter, smaller netbooks.
But Microsoft and others could control the netbook market by changing the specifications and pricing. Depending who provides the specs, a netbook has a screen size as large as 13 inches or as small as five inches, weighs two to three pounds, and has a 160GB hard drive, or 32BG if it's a solid-state drive, to 250GB and 64GB for a SSD.
Deloitte, a research and consulting firm, early this year defined a netbook as a mobile computer with a low-powered x86-compatible processor, a screen no larger than 10 inches, and a small keyboard. To meet the definition, the device had to be equipped with wireless connectivity, weigh less than three pounds, and have no optical disk drive.
Speculation has surfaced on the Internet that Microsoft may join with Intel to keep netbook screen sizes at 10.2 inches or less. Companies making netbooks with a larger screen might not be eligible for the lowest licensing rates when Windows 7 is released, the rumors say. As a result, devices with a larger screen might cost more.
Despite a weakening of PC sales this year, 10 million netbooks were shipped globally last year, according to IDC. Microsoft dominated that market, with 90 percent of the netbooks shipped as of January running Windows XP, and it likely wants that to continue with Windows 7.
When netbooks first arrived, Linux was a popular choice, something Microsoft could not allow to happen, according to Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner analyst.
"They were afraid of losing their share in the market," she said. "So they decided to put XP Home edition at a really significant price for the netbook segment, but we really don't know...
Wed, 27 May 09
Apple OKs Rejected App as Rumors See 32GB iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66796
The controversy -- and the rumors -- are swirling around Apple again this week. In a reversal of last week, Apple approved the Eucalyptus application for the iPhone and iPod touch, an e-book reader that was rejected for giving users access to the Kama Sutra.
Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, had predicted the rejection was an error and the application would be allowed into the App Store in short order -- and he was right. Apple didn't disclose the reason for its turnabout, but the application is now available.
"Earlier today I received a phone call from an Apple representative. He was very complimentary about Eucalyptus," said developer James Montgomerie. "We talked about the confusion surrounding its App Store rejections, which I am happy to say is now fully resolved. He invited me to rebuild and submit a version of Eucalyptus with no filters for immediate approval, and that full version is now available on the iPhone App Store."
In more App Store drama, watchmaker Cartier filed suit against Apple on Friday for trademark infringement -- then withdrew the suit almost as fast. The suit alleged two applications built for the iPhone infringed on the luxury watch brand's trademark for Tank watches.
This wasn't the first complaint Apple has had on its App Store. Last month, the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation, an organization dedicated to children suffering from brain injuries, announced a national demonstration against Apple and AT&T in 15 cities across the country because of the Baby Shaker game by Sikalosoft, which features a drawing of a crying baby.
The object of the game is to get the baby to stop crying. This is accomplished by shaking the iPhone until red X's appear over the baby's eyes. Several other App Store dramas have since unfolded.
Beyond the controversies,...
Wed, 27 May 09
Nokia's Ovi Store Debuts and Stumbles Under High Traffic
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66793
Apple and Research in Motion got some competition for smartphone applications Tuesday as Nokia opened its Ovi Store. There were early reports of problems accessing the store, which Nokia attributed to high traffic starting about 2 a.m. Eastern time. The company said it added servers to the store's site for intermittent performance improvements.
Nokia described the Ovi Store as an evolving media service that consolidates the handset maker's existing content services into a one-stop online shop for free and paid items. Nokia said thousands of the industry's biggest content providers, along with independent application developers. are distributing media, applications and games through the store. The company didn't offer specifics about how revenue is split with developers.
The Ovi Store is open to the approximately 50 million Nokia owners who use more than 50 Nokia devices. Customers can visit the store through their Nokia device browser to download and personalize applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, and Web and location-based services.
"Ovi Store is open for business and we've stocked the shelves with both local and global content for a broad range of Nokia devices," said Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president of Nokia services. "Ovi Store makes shopping for content and applications easy and fun for feature phone and smartphone owners alike."
Ojanpera didn't mention Apple's App Store or RIM's App World for BlackBerry devices in the announcement. Both companies have a head start on the Ovi Store. But Nokia has a large user base that analysts expect will welcome the applications, despite the handset maker's late entry to the app-store party. Nokia is the world's leading manufacturer of mobile devices and has the largest market share.
The Ovi Store's software uses many of the languages of the countries in which Nokia does business, including English, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. The...
Wed, 27 May 09
Android Will Spread To China with HTC Magic
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66792
The slow but steady march of Android devices across the planet continued with news Tuesday that HTC will offer a version of its Magic smartphone next month in China. According to an interview in The Wall Street Journal, HTC CEO Peter Chou said his company will be working with China Mobile, the largest mobile-phone operator in the world.
As the only major vendor that has so far released Android-based phones, the move by Taiwan-based HTC into the world's largest market could have a substantial impact on the growth of the Google-backed open-source platform. It might also alter the vector of Android's evolution, since China Mobile has indicated it will brand the Magic model as an OPhone and utilize a version of Android called the Open Mobile System that will run the carrier's applications.
Some observers have suggested that China Mobile will attempt to position the OPhone against an eventual release of Apple's iPhone into that market. There have been reports that earlier negotiations between Apple and China Mobile were discontinued, and that the iPhone will be sold in China through China Unicorn.
The Journal estimated that the adapted Magic smartphone will sell for about 5,000 yuan (US$731.26), although no final price has been announced. Earlier this month there were reports that HTC plans to release the Magic in Singapore as well, with a rollout to other Asian countries by the end of the second quarter.
Meanwhile, other news of Android's step-by-step growth are popping up. For instance, there are reports on the Web that, according to company internal documents, AT&T is getting ready to release another HTC Android device, called Lancaster. It's reportedly similar to the Magic in its use of a slide-out keyboard.
Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, said HTC's plans in the world's largest mobile-device market are...
Wed, 27 May 09
Cisco Puts Collaboration in Motion
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66766
Cisco is making its move in the mobile work space world. Last week, at the Interop show in Las Vegas, the networking giant announced a new initiative called Collaboration in Motion, that draws from a number of its product lines to facilitate collaboration in the mobile work space. Products and services tied to the initiative include Cisco WebEx, Cisco Unified Communications, Cisco Unified Wireless Network, and Cisco Advanced Services.
"Together, the transformational power of collaboration combined with the power of the network as the platform can enable businesses to thrive," said Ray Smets, VP and general manager for the Cisco Wireless Networking business unit. "Evolving modern businesses are comprised of workspaces that are rarely physically connected, and critical business information is collected and shared with mobile devices such as laptops and smartphones."
As part of Collaboration in Motion, Cisco has invested in new products and services in five areas: the work space experience, the wireless network platform, third-party applications, technology partners, and professional services. Cisco's goal is to bridge the gaps between an on-premises wired network, off-premises cellular network, and a high-performance Wi-Fi network so workers can work from anywhere.
On the work space experience front, Cisco has expanded its network-delivery services to include the WebEx Meeting Center version 1.2 application on the iPhone. This allows the host to schedule meetings and invite attendees before and during the meeting using an iPhone.
Turning to the wireless network platform, Cisco is delivering an 802.11n solution that incorporates access points, controllers and management, and the ability to expose network information and services through an open API. For example, the new Cisco 5500 Series Wireless Controller is optimized for 802.11n networks. The new Cisco OfficeExtend solution complements the Cisco Virtual Office portfolio of teleworking solutions. And the new Cisco 3310 Mobility Services Engine supports...
Wed, 27 May 09
Cut Costs with Free Business Software
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66757
In these tough times we all need as many tips as we can get to save a few dollars.
The cost of buying a new desktop or laptop box is just the start. The price can double when you have to add in the software costs of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint), antivirus, and image editing software such as Adobe Acrobat.
Below are only a few free software options that are available to be downloaded from the Internet.
One of the most expensive pieces of software you will buy is Microsoft Office. Google has a dulled-down online version called Google Docs (www.docs.google.com) that provides word processing and spreadsheet programs. The advantages of Google are that you can share your files with anyone with an Internet connection, your files are securely backed up and you can set up a Gmail email account.
OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org) is more of a comprehensive version of Microsoft Office. It includes word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing software. OpenOffice doesn't have all the fancy features that a power user would require and requires a bit of set up.
An excellent free utility is SyncBack (www.2brightsparks.com/syncback). This offers many back-up features you require like scheduling automatic back-ups, specifying the files you want to back- up and only backing up changes you make since the last one you ran.
And if you want to create a PDF document then you can't go past www.primopdf.com.
Every computer should have antivirus software. The best-known free antivirus program is AVG (www.free.avg.com).
However, in my opinion you can't go past the paid version of NOD32. It is updated quicker to counter new viruses and offers a more comprehensive protection package. Since AVG's free version doesn't come with an antispyware feature you should also install MalwareBytes (www.malwarebytes.org). Spyware secretly collects and distributes information about you while adware displays advertisements...
Wed, 27 May 09
Health-Site Hacker's Identity Still Unknown
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66750
The FBI has not discovered the hacker who broke into the Virginia Department of Health Professions' computer, nor has it discovered what private information was retrieved, Virginia's Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn B. Tavenner said yesterday. Questioned intensely by members of the House Appropriations Committee, Tavenner said the FBI believes it will take another two weeks to complete its investigation.
"They said it was like looking for a needle in the haystack, but they have ways to find the needle," she said.
Someone broke into the department's database of addictive prescription drugs, such as OxyContin, morphine and methadone. The data are kept to monitor who is using the drugs. The user's name and address, the date of birth and the substance are in the database.
The department recognized an unauthorized message posted on the Web site on April 30. The computer systems were shut down and state authorities were notified. All data had been properly backed up and the backup files had been secured, Tavenner said.
Tavenner said computer security at the department was judged to be among the top 5 percent of state computer systems. She acknowledged, however, that she knows of no other state where security had been breached.
She said pharmacists and other drug providers are being alerted to be on the lookout for suspicious behavior in the event someone was using stolen material to buy drugs.
The FBI was called in as the lead investigator because the security breach was accompanied by a demand for ransom, Tavenner said.
Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, worried that terrorists could break into other Virginia computer systems, such as those of Virginia's universities, and obtain important proprietary information.
Lemuel C. Stewart Jr., chief information officer for the state, suggested that organized crime could have breached the system.
Wed, 27 May 09
Acer Eyes Japan Growth with New Cheap Laptop
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66748
Acer Inc. of Taiwan said Friday it plans solid growth in the previously hard-to-crack Japanese market with a new slim, lightweight laptop that boasts an eight-hour battery life and a cheap price.
Japan has long been dominated by its own big-name electronics makers, and outsiders have had a relatively hard time making headway, even Acer, the world's third-largest vendor of PCs after Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc.
But that's gradually changing as Japanese consumers look for bargains amid a deep recession, and become less brand-conscious about some products. For years, Japanese had a reputation for favoring pricey luxury brands for status and perceived quality.
Bob Sen, managing director of Acer Japan Corp., said Acer hopes to jump from No. 6 in market share to No. 5 in Japan, with the June 5 introduction of its Aspire Timeline series.
The laptop starts at under 90,000 yen ($960) -- about half the price of rival offerings.
Acer now trails Japanese makers NEC Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Dell and Toshiba Corp., and Hewlett-Packard of the U.S. in market share here. But even the top makers control only at most a fifth of what is an intensely competitive market.
Acer's Aspire Timeline, already on sale in the U.S., China and Europe, promises an eight-hour battery life, is under an inch thick and is relatively light at 1.6 kilograms. It also doesn't get hot because it uses Intel Corp. cooling technology for jet engines, according to Acer.
"We have big ambitions for the Japanese market," Sen said at a Tokyo hotel. "We hope that we can not only boost market share in Japan but also help revive the PC market that has been hit by the recession."
Acer Chief Executive J.T. Wang said Acer plans to grow in China, Japan and the U.S., despite the recession.
"We think we have a good opportunity to grow,"...
Wed, 27 May 09
Lebanon Spy Cases Show Mideast Tech Espionage
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66747
The Middle East's espionage wars are heating up after Lebanon's arrest of more than a dozen alleged Israeli spies, and dire warnings from Jerusalem that Arab groups are trying to use the Internet to infiltrate the Jewish state.
Officials in Beirut say they struck a strategic blow against Israel with the recent arrests of 15 people -- 13 Lebanese and two Palestinians -- who they contend were gathering intelligence on Hezbollah positions, leaders' movements and infrastructure targets. Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces fought an inconclusive war in 2006 along the Lebanese-Israeli border and both sides have since been preparing for the possibility of another.
Although Israel and its Arab neighbors have for years spied on each other, the recent announcements have highlighted the secret war of espionage and the depth of the infiltration. Lebanese officials say the spies arrested there included a math teacher and housewife, and that they were equipped with sophisticated electronics.
Lebanon holds elections June 7 but the recent arrest announcements did not seem intended to influence those.
In Israel, meanwhile, the Shin Bet internal intelligence service this week urged people to be careful when using social networking sites such as Facebook, contending Arab groups are using them to recruit and hire spies. In one instance, Israeli intelligence said an Israeli Facebook user was contacted by a man who introduced himself as a Lebanese agent and offered money for information.
Israeli officials have said Hezbollah has also used the illegal drug trade to lure Israelis into working for them. Over the past decade, two Israeli drug officers and two military trackers were sent to jail for passing information to Lebanese drug dealers.
In 2007, Azmi Bishara, a fiery Israeli Arab lawmaker, fled the country a few weeks before he was accused of relaying sensitive information to Hezbollah during the war. He now...
Wed, 27 May 09
Homeowners Turn to Online Home-Trading Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66745
Diane Peek needed to move from Georgia to central Florida, but for six months no one even showed interest in the house she and her husband built outside Atlanta.
In suburban Orlando, Andrew Bou needed to sell his family home to move to Atlanta, but also no luck. Peek and Bou each joined a Web site that matches people willing to trade their homes. They punched in their needs, their likes and dislikes and like two singles finding love on a dating site, they became a match. About seven months later, they swapped homes.
Peek and Bou are part of a small but growing number of homeowners who are turning to the Internet to swap properties. The sites -- there are about a dozen -- allow interested homeowners to browse potential swaps narrowed by giving preferences like price range, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and city of choice. The homeowner also creates an account with the same information for others to browse.
"It was a wonderful experience for us," Peek said. "To me it's just a great thing with the housing market the way it is right now. It's a great way to hold on to your equity if you have to move."
But some experts say they don't expect online house trading to become a major trend because in most cases it's usually simpler to sell one's home, move to the other city and house hunt. Swapping also limits choices because the traders have to be swapping regions.
"I definitely know it's a growing market and certainly there are opportunities," said Paul Habibi, real estate professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. "I think these are still going to be one-off transactions and not the norm."
Brian Stroka, owner of onlinehousetrading.com, the site Peek used to swap her home, said the swaps aren't pure...
Wed, 27 May 09
Tracking Every Move, by Cell Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66729
I'm tracking my wife, Karen. I never know where she goes during the day, and I've had enough.
Using Glympse, a new application that's embedded on a phone she's carrying in her purse, I can watch her every movement from my mobile or desktop computer.
As I write this, a map shows her driving through our neighborhood on the way to make her rounds as a visiting nurse. Wait. She just entered the highway. She's speeding.
Really?
"Now I'm not," she said, from her mobile. "I'm getting off the exit."
I checked again. "Right."
Mobile phone companies have for years marketed "location sharing" services, where people can track your physical movements whenever you have the device turned on.
If it strikes you as strange that anyone would want to broadcast that information all the time, or even much of the time, you've just touched on a chief reason why, like a lot of people, I've generally avoided these apps.
And even if you like sharing your location with a viewing audience, your viewers must first sign up for the same service and hope their phone is compatible.
Glympse solves the creepiness issue. So far it is available only for the G1 phone, T-Mobile's offering in the United States and 11 European countries that is based on Google's Android operating system. The app is coming soon to iPhones and BlackBerrys and devices based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile system, and it is promising enough that such folks should keep it on their radar.
You can find Glympse in the Android Market. After downloading the app and quickly registering, you can send your whereabouts to anyone who can receive text or e-mail messages. Any Web-enabled phone or PC can receive and display your location information.
When you want someone to know where you are -- say, if you're on your way to a meeting...
Sat, 23 May 09
Google Upgrades Chrome with Stability, New Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66742
Google has automatically upgraded some users of its Chrome browser to a new version that is more stable and significantly faster than its predecessor. Chrome 2.0 also now includes several new features that were noticeably absent from the previous browser release, including full screen mode, form auto-fill, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the browser's most-visited New Tab page.
"Making the Web faster continues to be our main area of focus," said Darin Fisher, a member of the Google Chrome team. "Thanks to a new version of WebKit and an update to our JavaScript engine, V8, JavaScript-heavy Web pages will now run about 30 percent faster."
The scalability designed into Chrome's V8 engine is important, noted Google Chrome software engineers Mads Ager and Kasper Lund. The growing complexity of Web applications means that the browser must handle an ever-growing amount of JavaScript code and objects, they observed.
"An increased number of objects puts additional stress on the memory-management system of the JavaScript engine, which has to scale to deal efficiently with object allocation and reclamation," Ager and Lund explained. "If engines do not scale to handle large object heaps, performance will suffer when running large Web applications."
To keep track of how well V8 scales to handle large object heaps, the Google Chrome team has developed a new Splay scalability benchmark based on a JavaScript log-processing module used by the V8 profiler.
"It effectively measures how fast the JavaScript engine can allocate nodes and reclaim unused memory" and "shows that V8 scales well to large object heaps," Ager and Lund said. Even when "increasing the working set by more than a factor of seven," the performance drop "is less than 17 percent," they added.
The Google Chrome team also said it has devoted a significant amount of work to make the...
Sat, 23 May 09
University Hopes To Teach Some iJournalism
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66736
Gadgets such as the Apple iPhone and the iPod Touch are mainstays on college campuses -- largely for the devices' ability to help students escape the pressures of the classroom.
Now the nation's oldest journalism school is asking students to buy those or similar devices. Not to listen to shoe-gazing indie rock, or watch clips from "The Daily Show," but to download classroom lectures or confirm facts on the Web while reporting from the scene of a plane crash or town council meeting.
The new rule for incoming freshmen at the University of Missouri School of Journalism appears to mark the first time an American university is requiring specific portable electronic devices. The policy has spurred a debate about the limits and possibilities of technology as well as corporate influence in academia.
Skeptics say the school is getting too cozy with Apple Inc., though administrators point out that they earn no financial benefit from the new policy. The university gets a 10 percent discount on Apple computers it buys, but other vendors such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. offer the same deal.
"It's like asking an engineer to buy a calculator," said Brian Brooks, associate dean for undergraduate studies. "We are doing this requirement solely to benefit our students' learning."
A description about the program on the school's Web site notes that "at least 50 colleges and universities nationwide make use of iPods in their programs." But it's not clear that any of those schools make it mandatory -- and at student expense. Private colleges such as Duke and Abilene Christian have given the devices out for free.
Brooks points out that an estimated 85 percent to 90 percent of the university's 30,200 undergraduates already own portable music players, with 85 percent of those devices being iPods.
Even so, graduating senior Maureen Scarpelli -- an admitted...
Sat, 23 May 09
Twitter's Latest Star Is a Microblogging Cat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66733
He's one of the most popular users on Twitter. More than 500,000 follow his growing celebrity, his every adventure and, well, his cat naps.
Meet Sockington. Twitter's latest star is a microblogging cat who regales more than half a million with his musings on meal time, personal hygiene and the view from the top of the stairs.
Sockington, or "Socks" for short, is the cat of Jason Scott, a 38-year-old computer historian and computer administrator from Waltham, Mass. Since late 2007, Scott has been tweeting from Sockington's perspective -- and finding a "Socks Army" of followers. (Many of his followers are pets, too.)
Dogs and cats in social media isn't anything new. Many have made Facebook pages (there are applications for both "Dogbook" and "Catbook") and Web sites for their pets.
The difference on Twitter is that the running thread of Sockington's feline commentary takes on the dimension of a comic strip. Scott has created a character with a particular voice by tweeting messages from Sockington's point of view like: "I must say no comment to the whole dining room incident. No questions please."
"He's kind of functioning like a 'Garfield' comic," says Scott. "He's like the 21st century Garfield."
There's the risk that a tweeting cat will only further the impression that Twitter is a flash-in-the-pan success in a sea of online time-wasters. But in a way, Sockington is a parody of Twitter, where even a kitty cat's life -- his daily trips to the litter box, his insignificant household travails -- is beamed out to the world.
"Everybody wants this social media bubble. They want something where we're all chattering so much that we all get rich," says Scott. "And this cat makes everybody look like fools because he's got hundreds of thousands of followers. And he doesn't tend to follow anyone but other animals."
Scott's...
Sat, 23 May 09
Technology Makes You a Part of History in Obama Book
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66732
Electronic readers, custom online photo books, print on demand ... somewhere, Gutenberg is marveling at how publishing continues to evolve.
The Obama Time Capsule, which goes on sale exclusively at Amazon today, represents another novel approach to custom, print-on-demand publishing. Every single copy sold can be personalized. I added a couple of pictures and (very) limited prose to make my book unique.
This 200-page wide hardcover coffee-table book, selling for $35, chronicles a two-year span during President Obama's election campaign and his first 100 days in office.
Time Capsule is not a photo book per se, though it sports brilliant images from more than 140 professional photographers and is the brainchild of Rick Smolan, creator of the best-selling Day in the Life photography series. It also includes essays from Colin Powell, Joe Klein, Auma Obama (his half-sister) and Arianna Huffington, among others.
But what really sets it apart is the tech hook.
After ordering the book at Amazon, you'll receive an e-mail with a link that takes you to the Time Capsule Web site. You'll have 10 days to customize the book there or it will get shipped as is. You get to write a dedication, and your name appears on the cover (and an inside page) as one of the authors, next to Smolan and co-project director Jennifer Erwitt.
You can upload one image to appear on the back cover and another that will appear on a page next to pictures of Sean Penn, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities. There's also a place-holder for your kid's Obama-related artwork.
The whole drill can be done in less than five minutes, provided it doesn't take long to browse for the images you want to include (2 megapixels or greater for the best results). You can resize photos and preview how they'll look on the page. You...
Sat, 23 May 09
Germany to Google: Erase Raw Street-Level Images
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66727
A data protection official for Germany said Wednesday that Google had yet to meet a key request that photos gathered for its panoramic mapping service be erased after they are sent to the United States for processing.
Johannes Caspar, the head of the Hamburg regional office for data protection, said that although Google Inc. made a 13-page response to other requests, the U.S. company didn't make a guarantee on deleting the raw images after the faces, license plates and other information are scrambled or otherwise rendered unrecognizable.
"We consider this to be highly problematic," Caspar said in a telephone interview.
Google Germany spokesman Stefan Keuchel said the company, based in Mountain View, Calif., would continue to work toward an understanding with data authorities.
"We are looking forward to further discussions and to explaining the technical requirements that we need or how street view works and what we're doing with the data," Keuchel said.
Google's Street View mapping service offers detailed street-level images. Since launching in 2007, it has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide but has faced privacy complaints from many individuals and institutions that have been photographed.
Greece's Data Protection Authority recently rejected Google's bid to roam Greek streets with cameras mounted on vehicles, while the Pentagon barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases for the service. Residents of a small English village formed a human chain last month to stop one of Google's camera vans.
And residents in Japan complained that the service provided a view over the fences around their homes, prompting Google to agree to reshoot all photos in the country.
Google has assured that it would blur faces and vehicle license plates when displaying the images online and that it would promptly respond to removal requests.
The latest objections from Germany revolve around what happens to the original images. Germany fears use of...
Sat, 23 May 09
NebuAd Closing Doors After Internet Privacy Woes
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66725
NebuAd Inc., a company that sought to target ads to consumers based on their online behavior, is going out of business after facing scrutiny over whether its technology infringed on the privacy of Internet surfers.
In court filings this week, NebuAd said it has been winding down its business since last year. It laid off virtually all its employees in July and August, closing its office in Redwood City, Calif., in September. NebuAd once employed over 60 people.
NebuAd has "essentially ceased to exist," according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
NebuAd's clients -- Internet service providers who wanted to share the ad revenue with NebuAd -- started dropping out after Congress held hearings last July on the technology, which examined consumers' Internet traffic to determine their interests. Although individual Web sites routinely target advertising, privacy advocates argued that NebuAd's all-encompassing approach went too far, and said consumers' overall Web surfing should be tracked only if they opted into the system.
Among the cable and phone operators that abandoned interest in NebuAd were Charter Communications Inc., Bresnan Communications LLC, The Washington Post Co.'s Cable One Inc. and Embarq Corp.
In Britain, a similar company called Phorm Inc. has also faced complaints since it struck partnerships with three access providers reaching 70 percent of Britain's broadband market -- BT Group PLC, Virgin Media Inc. and Carphone Warehouse Group PLC's TalkTalk.
But Phorm spokesman Justin Griffiths said the company has retained its partners. BT has completed its trial of Phorm's ad-targeting service and expects to deploy it this year.
Griffiths said Phorm asks consumers upfront after they log on whether they want to receive targeted ads. Griffiths added that the company has received assurances from the British government that its technology "can be operated in a lawful manner."
Even so, Richard Clayton...
Sat, 23 May 09
New French Law on Internet Piracy Meets Skepticism
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66722
President Nicolas Sarkozy's governing party rejoiced when it muscled one of his pet projects through the French parliament: an unprecedented law to cut the Internet connections of people who repeatedly download music and movies illegally.
Sarkozy's victory last week, however, has not won France leadership in Europe's fight against Internet piracy. The government controls needed to enforce the law have unnerved other European nations while legal challenges at home and opposition in the European Parliament could derail it.
Music, film and other industry groups welcomed the French law; John Kennedy, chairman and CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, says it represents a "sea change."
Critics, however, worry about potential invasive state monitoring of citizens.
"We should be careful about interfering with the freedom of exchange of information," said Wolfgang Zankl, professor at the University of Vienna and president of the European Center for E-Commerce. "This is a constitutional right which no one should be barred from."
Some Internet experts say the law will be technically impossible to apply. It denies accused pirates the chance to contest charges before their Web connections are severed, and legal experts say it will not stand up in court.
The measure's first short-term test comes in the next 30 days. On Tuesday, the opposition Socialists took the law before the Constitutional Council, the body that ensures the constitutionality of French legislation. The council has a month to issue a ruling.
If the council decides the law does not violate the constitution, it could take effect by summer.
The key provisions would be graduated reprisals against alleged offenders. If a suspected pirate fails to heed e-mail and written warnings, Internet access could be cut for a period of two months to a year -- while the user keeps paying for the service under the contract's terms.
Christine Albanel, the French culture minister,...
Fri, 22 May 09
JetPack Promises Customized Experience in Firefox
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66740
Mozilla Labs has launched a new browser project that promises to give developers the ability to explore new ways to help Web-site visitors customize and personalize the surfing experience.
Featuring support for status bars, tabs, content scripts, and animations, Jetpack is an application programming interface (API) for enabling Web designers to write browser add-ons using technologies they already know, such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. The goal is to allow "anyone who can build a Web site to participate in making the Web a better place to work, communicate and play," said members of the Jetpack development team in a blog.
From the user perspective, Jetpack should enable new features to be added to Firefox without requiring Web surfers to restart the browser or have to deal with add-on compatibility issues. "Like the rest of the Web, Jetpack features are just user apps, so they are immediately available in the browser window without restarting," said Aza Raskin at Mozilla Labs.
Though Gartner Research Director Ray Valdes doesn't think Jetpack is a browser game changer, he does see it as allowing Mozilla to build on its strengths. "It helps the Firefox browser leverage its community of developers and extend that because it makes it easier to customize the browser and create small focused solutions for very specific scenarios," Valdes said.
For example, Jetpack will make it easier and quicker for developers to extend the Firefox browser's utility over a wider range of uses, Valdes observed. "It remains to be seen what kind of creative things that developers will do with it, but it reduces the learning curve," Valdes said.
Another likely attraction of Jetpack is the power it potentially has to disrupt the Web's current status quo. For example, Raskin shows in an online video how easy it can...
Fri, 22 May 09
Craigslist Sues South Carolina as Prostitution Arrests Made
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66737
The drama around Craigslist continued Thursday in two states. Seven people have been indicted on charges of operating a prostitution ring in Queens -- and they allegedly found their clients through Craigslist. The defendants are being charged with enterprise corruption, conspiracy and money laundering.
"Until Craigslist gets serious about putting real protections in place, it will continue to be an environment where criminal operations thrive with impunity," said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. "Even after so-called reform of the Web site last fall, this prostitution ring easily gamed the system and allegedly used Craigslist to spread its illegal operation throughout all five boroughs and beyond. Today's arrests underscore the inherent risks posed by Craigslist and, most importantly, the need for protections that are full-fledged, not half-baked."
Meanwhile, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster is claiming victory in his fight to force Craigslist to take down the "erotic services" section of its site.
"Unfortunately, we had to inform them of possible state criminal violations concerning their past practices to produce a serious response. We trust they will now adhere to the higher standards they have promised," McMaster said. "This office and the law-enforcement agencies of South Carolina will continue to monitor the site to make certain that our laws are respected."
Two weeks ago, McMaster had said if Craigslist didn't comply, the company might be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution. But it may be Craigslist who wins the victory in a South Carolina federal court if McMaster doesn't back down.
Craigslist on Wednesday filed suit against McMaster, seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he threatened to bring against Craigslist and its executives. Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said McMaster's charges are unwarranted and represent an unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech clearly barred by federal...
Fri, 22 May 09
Analyst Says Apple Is Preparing To Release a Netbook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66735
Apple may be planning to expand from its smartphone, MacBook and music players by bringing its own netbook into the market. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company is preparing to release a netbook, a small portable laptop computer designed for wireless communication and Internet access, according to one vocal Piper Jaffray managing director and senior research analyst, Gene Munster.
Netbooks, as of this year, are categorized as notebook computers with a low-powered x86-compatible processor, small screens no larger than 10 inches, a small keyboard, equipped with wireless connectivity, under three pounds, and low cost.
Piper Jaffray, which is known for predictions that often spark debate, is predicting that Apple plans to release a seven-to-10-inch tablet PC in 2010. The computer would include a touchscreen, a proprietary CPU, and be priced at $500 to $700.
Munster is known for extreme predictions and recently sparked debate when he predicted Apple was planning two major news-grabbing events at the end of June, the return of CEO Steve Jobs from sick leave and the unveiling of a newly designed iPhone. Munster predicted the iPhone would debut at a special event at the end of June rather than at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in early June.
Analysts used several different factors to get their predictions. Jaffray considered various indications from component contacts in Asia, recent patents related to multi-touch sensitivity for complex computing devices, comments from Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi last year, and the hiring of chip experts.
Analysts aren't the only ones predicting Apple's intentions. After Apple hired former IBM executive Mark Papermaster, a chip expert, IBM filed a lawsuit against the executive. The lawsuit was based on several factors, but the greatest sticking point, according to IBM, was Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi, a direct IBM competitor.
Because of Apple's...
Fri, 22 May 09
With Kumo Search Ready, Microsoft Renews Yahoo Talks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66721
Microsoft is making search-engine headlines this week on two significant fronts. First, the software giant is readying the launch of the successor to Windows Live Search. Second, the company is reported to be in talks with Yahoo yet again on a search collaboration that would help both companies better compete with Google.
The upgrade to Live Search, code-named Kumo, will be demonstrated at next week's D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif. Kumo is expected to be the most dramatic shift in Microsoft's search strategy in years.
At the core of the improvements is a left-hand navigation scheme that breaks searches down into a number of related queries. The results also serve up information organized by category. A search for Pepsi would list details about facts surrounding the soda brand first, then offer general Web results, followed by results by category.
Professor N. Venkat Venkatraman, chairman of the Information Systems Department at Boston University's School of Management, said it's encouraging to see Microsoft persevering with the search engine for several reasons.
Search is an essential building block for many online services, and Microsoft is in the midst of transforming its business model to include online and cloud-based services, he said. The company cannot let Google control the gateway, he added.
Second, Venkatraman said, mobile search is still in its infancy. There is room for Microsoft to compete aggressively, and the stakes are high.
Finally, he said, search within social networks like Facebook and Twitter is still very immature. That represents yet another opportunity for Microsoft to gain a stronghold.
"Microsoft's current low market share, while discouraging, should not deter Microsoft if they can come up with a more effective search engine that yields relevant, context-specific and timely results," Venkatraman said.
Microsoft is apparently also looking for whatever advantage it can get in...
Fri, 22 May 09
Smartphones Advance, with 'Exciting Stuff' Ahead
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66720
The bad news for the mobile-device industry is that its sales in the first quarter were horrible. The good news is that smartphone sales are showing strength.
Those are some of the takeaways from a report by industry researcher Gartner released Wednesday. The report indicated that worldwide mobile-phone sales in the first quarter of this year were down 8.6 percent to 269.1 million units compared to the same quarter last year. But smartphone sales, which were 13.5 percent of all mobile-device sales, were up 12.7 percent.
Gartner also indicated that a recovery will not happen until the second half of next year, at the earliest.
While noting some "signs of a recovery" in North America and China, Carolina Milanesi, a research director for mobile devices, said that "overall sales in the first quarter of 2009 registered the biggest quarter-on-quarter contraction since Gartner began monitoring the market on a quarterly basis in 2001."
The Reuters news service, in a poll of 34 analysts, found a cumulative assessment that handset sales in the current April-June quarter would drop 14.5 percent, and sales for the year would slump 10.3 percent.
But "several companies and analysts" told Reuters that the worst may be over, because the first-quarter decline was due in part to selling old inventory. Gartner said about 25 million devices were sold from inventory last quarter.
Gartner also found that Nokia continues to lead the mobile-phone market, but its market share has dropped from 39.1 percent to 36.2 percent, quarter over quarter. The next four leaders, in order, were Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.
The report also noted that, led by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and iPhone maker Apple, services and applications are now a key factor in the success of smartphones, particularly those built around music, e-mail and Internet browsing.
Fri, 22 May 09
Google Won't Buy a Newspaper, CEO Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66719
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the search giant has considered buying a newspaper, but decided it wants to maintain a line between newspaper content and Google's technology.
Besides, he told the Financial Times, potential newspaper targets are too expensive or have too much liability. Observers have speculated that Google might be looking at The New York Times, where it reportedly was offered a 20 percent stake.
Schmidt said Google helps newspapers most by driving traffic to their ad-supported Web sites. He said Google is not monetizing news content, so there's no revenue to share with the newspapers.
A subscription model might work for some specialized newspaper content, but not for easily available general news, Schmidt told the Times.
He confirmed talks with The Washington Post about generating advertising through online news. But he called mixing news and profits "uncomfortable" and said Google's foundation is unlikely to add a newspaper as a nonprofit business "without some massive, massive set of corporate bankruptcies."
Just because Google has $18 billion in cash doesn't mean it's going on a shopping spree, he said, but he wouldn't comment about a possible Twitter acquisition.
A member of the board at Apple, Schmidt said he has avoided discussions about the iPhone because Google backs the Android mobile platform. Many handset makers have announced plans for Android-powered devices, and Apple is rumored ready to announce a new iPhone design.
Fri, 22 May 09
Intel's Moblin Accelerates OS Battle for Netbooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66712
The new and flourishing category of netbooks is also becoming a breeding ground for new computer operating systems. The Google-backed, Linux-based open-source Android mobile platform has been moving into netbooks from smartphones, and on Tuesday Intel announced a new beta version of its Linux-based Moblin operating system for netbooks and other mobile devices.
Moblin 2.0 features a new user interface called M-Zone, or My Zone, which includes ready access to IMs, social networks like Facebook or Twitter, and e-mail, and it features its own media player. The user interface can be customized by hardware makers, meaning that different models could have their own characteristics.
Support for Moblin is beginning to build. Novell recently announced its support for the OS, saying it would encourage OEMs to adopt the platform, and China-based IVT announced last month the first Bluetooth 3.0 commercial stack for Moblin.
The huge growth in the netbook category is creating a new front in the suddenly hot operating-system wars. Android is migrating from several smartphone models to netbooks, and Windows 7 is expected to be a big player.
"The netbook market is exploding," said Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, "and it's definitely to Intel's advantage to move into this as quickly as possible, before the advent of Windows 7."
Moblin could migrate from netbooks to smartphones, the opposite of Android's path. Earlier this month, Intel and Nokia said they had launched an open-source project called oFono to build a mobile telephony stack using Moblin. Nokia's Maemo platform is used on the company's tablet computers.
The Moblin platform is optimized for use on netbooks and other devices using Intel's line of Atom chips. Later this year, Intel is expected to release the newest Atom processor, called Pineview. On Tuesday, the company released some information about the new version, which...
Fri, 22 May 09
Protecting Portable Electronic Devices from Attacks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66707
It's an unfortunate reality, but attackers can wreak havoc with your cell phone or PDA by taking advantage of the very features that make your life more convenient.
For example, attackers can spam you with text messages that may result in extra charges or infect your devices with malicious code that allows them to use your service. Attackers who gain control of your service may use your device to attack others.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (www.us-cert.gov) recommends the following steps to protect your portable devices:
Just as you do with your computer, follow the guidelines to secure your cell phone and PDA.
Exercise caution in posting your cell phone number and e-mail addresses because attackers often use software that browses Web sites for this information to use in attacks. Limit your risk of becoming a victim by limiting the number of people who have access to this information.
Avoid using links sent in unsolicited e-mail or text messages because they may direct you to a malicious Web site.
Take advantage of the security features offered on your device.
If you decide to download software from a site that is supposedly secure, look for a Web site certification. Another option is to save the file on your computer and scan it for viruses before opening it.
Fri, 22 May 09
Hello, an Avatar Is Now Calling You
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66705
Internet phone calls aren't just for telecommuters and grandparents anymore. In the coming months online games and virtual worlds, including Linden Lab's Second Life and Sony's Star Wars, plan to start charging players to call one another over the Web -- even when they're not immersed in a game.
The idea is to forge tighter bonds between the virtual communities and the people who inhabit them by helping players make real-world connections from their phones. On May 20, Second Life operator Linden Lab will announce plans to introduce features to connect its 650,000 active members via land lines, cell phones, and PCs. One service, called "Dial an Avatar," lets players call other characters in the virtual world, or dial into a virtual meeting from their cell phone -- even when they're not sitting in front of their browser. The company plans to roll out new features throughout the year and may charge subscriptions to make calls into Second Life.
Linden Lab isn't the only online world operator experimenting with paid Web calling. Sony Online Entertainment plans to introduce new Internet calling services this summer for its online fantasy role-playing games, EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies. "It's a community-forming feature," says Russ Shanks, chief operating officer of Sony Online Entertainment. One service would let users talk with friends, no matter what Sony game they're playing.
PC maker Lenovo has plans to launch a new virtual world called the "Lenovo eLounge," designed to boost sales of its machines. The lounge features Web phone calling software from Nortel.
For online worlds and games, such Internet phone features could provide new sources of revenue in a Web world whose users are increasingly being asked to shell out for virtual products. Facebook and MySpace recently began testing virtual currencies that let users buy digital goods...
Fri, 22 May 09
Micron Enters Market for Tiny Display Screens
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66704
Memory chipmaker Micron Technology is being buffeted by price swings in the low-margin computer memory market. So the company is turning to a healthier sector of the tech field for future growth -- tiny projectors that may one day enlarge the text and graphics more users consume on ever-more sophisticated smartphones.
On May 20, Micron plans to announce that it has acquired DisplayTech, which makes small display screens used as viewfinders in digital cameras and other products, for an undisclosed amount. The deal would get Micron into the business of building miniature screens and tiny projectors that within a few years could begin showing up in wireless phones and other consumer electronics devices, the companies say. Micron closed the deal last week.
By acquiring DisplayTech's technology, Micron could create projectors so small that they could be built into a device like Apple's iPod or Research in Motion's BlackBerry. DisplayTech uses a technology called ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon, or FLCOS, that takes in an image from a digital device and turns it into projected light. Micron plans to announce the acquisition as part of the launch of a new micro-display product.
Micron's interest stems primarily from a new technology DisplayTech has been developing called "pico projection," which can produce crisp images from small devices. But Micron will compete with Texas Instruments and others to sell the technology to device makers.
If Micron's road map for the technology unfolds as planned, the role of smartphones in society could begin to shift. By projecting videos or other images in high quality onto a wall, the devices could quickly change roles from informing or entertaining a single person to imparting information to all the people in a room. BlackBerry users could beam a business presentation without lugging a laptop and full-sized projector.
Micron, which...
Fri, 22 May 09
I'm Running Late. Wait, My Phone Already Told You!
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66703
I'm running late. I'm stuck in traffic. I'm stopping by the market for a bottle of wine. I'm circling for a parking space. I'm just down the block. I'm right outside.
Today, people trade these little updates with a string of cell phone calls and text messages. But companies including Google Inc. are betting that will change as more smart phones come with GPS technology built in.
Glympse Inc., a Seattle-area startup, is the latest in the field. Its application, also called Glympse, lets smart phone users send a message and a link to a map marking their location to anyone in their address book.
On a computer, recipients can watch in real time as the sender circles the block looking for an open parking space. (On a mobile browser, recipients would have to hit refresh.)
Glympse users can save oft-repeated messages, like Dad's daily confirmation that he's picked up his daughter from day care and is on the way home. Glympses can be set to expire, preventing recipients from tracking senders' moves for longer than desired.
The startup, founded last year by three Microsoft Corp. veterans, Bryan Trussel, Jeremy Mercer and Steve Miller, hopes to set itself apart from similar programs like Loopt and Google Latitude by not requiring Glympse users to set up a new social network. Recipients don't even need to download the program, though they get a slicker interface if they do.
By contrast, Google's program only works if everyone uses its Gmail service, and Loopt requires all users to download the application and set up a network of friends.
Glympse launched a free "beta" test version of the service Tuesday for T-Mobile's G1 Android phone. Trussel, the chief executive officer, said Glympse hopes to support the free service with location-sensitive advertising at some point.
The company said versions for iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile...
Fri, 22 May 09
Yahoo Searching for Ways To Show Fewer Web Links
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66702
Yahoo Inc. is pruning Web links from its Internet search results as it strives to provide more immediate gratification and lure traffic away from the market leader, Google Inc.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company previewed some of the upcoming improvements Tuesday as it updated reporters and bloggers on its two-year effort to gain a better understanding of what users really want when they make certain requests.
It's a challenging mission because the same search request can mean different things for different people. For instance, one person entering "Paris Hilton" may be looking for the latest dirt about the rollicking socialite, while another may simply want to make hotel reservations for an upcoming trip to France.
Yahoo thinks it is doing a better job, largely because it is able to track the search patterns and interests derived from requests made on the same computer.
The same kind of surveillance is helping to improve the results at Yahoo's primary competition in the lucrative search market, Google and Microsoft Corp.
Yahoo is hoping it can differentiate itself from its rivals by packaging its results so just about everything users want is on the first page of listings.
As part of that process, Yahoo has been phasing out the blue links that have traditionally filled up search result pages. In their place, Yahoo is showing more capsules of vital information that include images, video and even sound bites.
"We need to move away from a Web of pages to a Web of objects," said Prabhakar Ragahavan, who oversees Yahoo's search strategy.
Some of Yahoo's upgrades were made months ago and are probably already familiar to the search engine's millions of loyal users.
For instance, searches for restaurants already include the address, phone number and maps on the main search page while requests about baseball players return their current statistics. Searches of singers often feature...
Fri, 22 May 09
Toshiba To Stop Making Mobile Phones in Japan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66699
Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba Corp. said Wednesday it will end production of mobile phones in Japan due to plummeting demand amid an economic slump.
The company said its only domestic plant for mobile phones will halt operations in October. Toshiba's revenue for mobile phone business nearly halved to 140 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 2009.
"Consumers are reluctant to buy new mobile phone handsets amid an economic downturn. The Japanese mobile phone market was really hit hard by the ongoing economic slump," Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara said.
Toshiba's global shipments of mobile phones plunged to 3 million units in the last fiscal year from 6 million units the previous year. Toshiba said most of its cell phones were sold in Japan.
The company said it will continue to make cell phones at its plant in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. It will also outsource its mobile phone production, but declined to give further details.
Toshiba said the move to end Japanese mobile phone production will not result in job losses as workers will be assigned to different jobs.
Hit by sinking global demand, Toshiba's net loss swelled to a record 343.6 billion yen for the fiscal year to March, compared with a net profit of 127.4 billion yen in the previous year.
It was Toshiba's biggest loss ever and its first annual net loss in seven years.
Toshiba's annual sales dropped 13 percent to 6.65 trillion yen due to faltering business in semiconductors as well as digital equipment and home electronics.
Toshiba said its mobile phone business only accounts for 3 percent of its total operations.
Shares of Toshiba fell 1.9 percent Wednesday to close at 355 yen.
Thu, 21 May 09
Smartphones Advance as Overall Phone Sales Drop
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66711
Global mobile handset sales fell 9.4 percent year on year to 269.1 million units in the first quarter, even as smartphone sales rose 12.7 percent to 36.4 million units, according to Gartner.
Overall, the mobile-device market recorded its biggest quarter-to-quarter contraction since the research firm began monitoring the market on a quarterly basis in 2001, said Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi. "This was also the first time the market contracted year over year during the first quarter, a period traditionally helped by strong seasonality in the Asia/Pacific market," she said.
Still, there were some early signs of a potential recovery in markets such as North America and China, Milanesi observed.
"North America actually grew, and since the United States was hit first by the economic crisis, then we have to wonder if things are starting to stabilize a bit in the mobile space," Milanesi said. On the other hand, recent growth in western Europe may be attributable more to how bad sales were "there last year in comparison to this year."
Milanesi also expects the China market to bounce back in the second half of this year. "The subsidies and incentives that the Chinese government has given vendors have helped to reinvigorate the market and the excitement around 3G rollouts," Milanesi said. "It is starting to drive the attention, and we expect that to be the case in the second half."
Gartner analysts said the continuing rise in sales racked up by smartphone vendors such as BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and iPhone maker Apple is testimony to just how instrumental the merging of touchscreen capabilities with services and applications has become.
"'Touch for the sake of touch' was enough of a driver in the mid-tier space," said Roberta Cozza, a principal analyst at Gartner. "But tighter integration with applications and...
Thu, 21 May 09
Sprint CEO Expects Palm Pre Shortages for a While
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66709
Sprint Nextel expects strong Palm Pre sales when it debuts on June 6, so much that CEO Dan Hesse has warned investors that there may be shortages.
"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while," Hesse said. "We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."
Sprint will be the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the Palm Pre through the end of the year. The first smartphone to use Palm's webOS is expected to help Sprint stop customer losses and let Palm wrest more of the smartphone market from Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry.
Sprint will offer the Palm Pre for $199.99 after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year service agreement that appears less costly than AT&T's iPhone plan. Without a service plan, the Palm Pre will cost $549. Best Buy says it will offer the Pre for $199.99 with a two-year Sprint plan without the need to mail in a rebate. Radio Shack and Wal-Mart will also carry the Pre.
Palm's stock price fell Tuesday as some investors expressed disappointment that the $199.99 price only matches AT&T's price for the 8GB iPhone rather than undercut it. Shares in Palm were trading around $10.70 at noon Eastern time Wednesday after rising from $3.30 in January in anticipation of the Pre's debut.
The Palm Pre will launch just two days before Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, where announcements are expected to include a new iPhone and a lower price for AT&T's iPhone service, possibly from $69 to $59 a month, but with limited service.
Sprint's rates for a two-year Palm Pre plan are similar to AT&T's, but with text messaging included. AT&T charges extra for text.
Ultimately,...
Thu, 21 May 09
HP's Profit Drops, More Layoffs Looming
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66701
As a gauge of how personal computer sales are faring, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s quarterly results clouded the issue rather than provided clarity.
HP's profit dropped 17 percent to $1.72 billion and sales fell 3 percent to $27.4 billion in its fiscal second quarter, dragged down by lighter sales in two key areas -- PCs and printer ink.
The company also announced more layoffs: some 6,400 workers, or 2 percent of HP's global staff of 321,000, will lose their jobs over the next year as the company shrinks its product divisions. HP, whose products include PCs, printers, computer servers, ink and toner cartridges, didn't provide more detail on those cuts.
The layoffs come on top of the 24,600 jobs HP was already dumping as part of its acquisition of Electronic Data Systems, a technology services provider HP bought for $13.9 billion last year to mount a bigger challenge to IBM Corp.
HP's results did provide some insight into how the recession is affecting PC makers. A revealing thing happened to HP's PC business in the latest quarter: HP moved about as many PCs in the February-April period as it did in the same period last year, but pulled in far less money from those sales.
Revenue in HP's PC segment slumped 19 percent to $8.2 billion, even as HP stole market share and dethroned Dell Inc. as the top PC seller in the U.S.
The discrepancy points to a trend playing out across the industry: as retailers cut prices on PCs to lure shoppers, and consumers gravitate toward a new category of machines called "netbooks," which are mini-laptops that cost less and carry lower profit margins than regular laptops, PC makers are still moving units -- but fewer dollars are flowing back to them from those sales.
HP's numbers were also dampened by currency fluctuations and the stronger dollar,...
Thu, 21 May 09
GPS Satellites Need Attention Fast, Report Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66696
The future of GPS is as unlimited as your imagination, according to one aerospace company that says GPS satellites, like stars in the sky, will guide us well into the future.
But the U.S. Government Accountability Office says the Global Positioning System is at risk of an interruption if the Air Force, which controls the satellite system, doesn't act fast.
The Air Force currently provides free GPS and plans to invest $5.8 billion in the system over the next five years. Completed in 1994, GPS has helped not only the military, but companies, first responders, and civilians.
In the past few years the Air Force has struggled to build GPS satellites, blaming the delay on schedules and cost. Technological challenges, including difficulty in synchronization of next-generation satellites with ground control and user equipment, have also caused delays.
All the challenges have caused the Air Force's IFF satellite program to be $870 million over budget and three years behind schedule.
"It is uncertain whether the Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to maintain current GPS service without interruption," said Cristina Chaplain, director of GAO acquisition and sourcing management. "If not, some military operations and some civilian users could be adversely affected."
So the convenience of having TomToms, Garmins and even handheld GPS systems on mobile phones could be something people will have to do without. First responders, airline companies, ships and others who rely on GPS will be faced with an even greater challenge, since they use GPS for more than just finding a trendy restaurant.
Chaplain said military users face a delay in using new GPS capabilities, including improved resistance to jamming, because of poor synchronization of satellites with ground control and user devices.
If the Air Force doesn't meet its schedule to develop GPS IIIA satellites, it's likely...
Thu, 21 May 09
Microsoft Ready To Challenge Google in Search
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66695
Microsoft is getting ready to launch a new version of its Internet search engine. The software giant will roll out its latest effort next week, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Microsoft plans to offer its first public demonstration of the new search engine at the D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, Calif. The Journal organizes that annual conference.
"Microsoft will demo the new engine and the new brand will be known by the D conference," confirmed Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "But the engine probably won't be live for the public until somewhat later, perhaps the first week of June. This is my speculation, not official timing notification."
The Journal reports Microsoft has been testing the new search engine, code-named Kumo, internally for months. It aims to organize search results better so consumers can spend less time clicking around Web pages looking for answers.
Details about Kumo emerged in an internal memo that was leaked in March. Satya Nadella, head of research at Microsoft's online services division, sent the memo via e-mail with the subject line "Internal Search Test Experience."
Nadella's memo contained with some compelling statistics. According to his research, in spite of the progress made by search engines, 40 percent of queries go unanswered. What's more, he reported, half of queries are about searchers returning to previous tasks and 46 percent of search sessions are longer than 20 minutes. His conclusion: Customers often don't find what they need from search.
"We believe we can provide a better and more useful search experience that helps you not just search but accomplish tasks. During the test, features will vary by country, but you'll see results organized in a way that saves you more time," Nadella wrote. "An explorer pane on the left side of results pages will give you...
Thu, 21 May 09
Vatican To Unveil Pope's Profile on Facebook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66688
In the latest bid to broaden Pope Benedict XVI's appeal among computer savvy, younger generations, the Vatican is to post the pontiff's profile on popular online social networking site, Facebook, officials said Monday.
"The pope has a great interest in these things," Archbishop Claudio Celli said in an interview with television news channel Sky TG24.
Celli pointed to how the 82-year-old pontiff similarly backed the creation earlier this year of a Vatican site on Youtube, the video sharing Internet channel, where clips featuring Benedict's activities regularly appear.
"The pope is inviting us to promote a culture of dialogue, of respect and friendship," especially among young people," said Celli, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
"We think this pontifical council itself has to use new technologies to promote new relationships around the world," he said, adding that "we must take advantage of what the new technologies are offering us at this very moment."
The Facebook initiative is sponsored by the Vatican, headed by Celli, and is being developed as part of a new Vatican Web site, www.pope2you.net scheduled to go live on the Catholic Church's World Communications day on May 24.
Titled "The Pope Meets You on Facebook," the new application allows people to send and receive "virtual postcards" of Pope Benedict along with inspiring text culled from the pope's various speeches and messages.
Celli said some 20 different postcards would be initially available, but that the choice may be expanded later so that people can "spread around the messages and insights from the Gospel."
The new site was designed by Italian priest, Paolo Padrini, who has spearheaded recent Vatican forays into cyberspace, including development of the iBreviary, an application that allows Catholics to access Church liturgy on iPhone mobile phones.
The site also allows viewers to receive news about the Vatican and the pope through their...
Thu, 21 May 09
Google CEO Urges Grads: 'Turn Off Your Computer'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66685
The head of the world's most popular search engine urged college graduates on Monday to step away from the virtual world and make human connections.
Speaking at the University of Pennsylvania's commencement, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt told about 6,000 graduates that they need to find out what is most important to them -- by living analog for a while.
"Turn off your computer. You're actually going to have to turn off your phone and discover all that is human around us," Schmidt said. "Nothing beats holding the hand of your grandchild as he walks his first steps."
Schmidt, who holds a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley, also received an honorary doctor of science degree at the ceremony. Penn President Amy Gutmann cited Schmidt's "manifold contributions to putting the world at humanity's fingertips."
"You have devoted your career to heralding a new age of learning empowered by technology," Gutmann said.
It was Schmidt's second honorary degree in as many days. On Sunday, he received one at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he delivered a similar speech.
At Penn, Schmidt noted the Ivy League school played a key role in the technological industry by creating ENIAC, one of the world's first electronic computers, in 1946.
"Literally everything that you see -- every computer, every mobile phone, every device -- descends from the principles that were invented right here," Schmidt said.
In the next 10 years, he predicted, technology will advance to the point where it will be possible to have 85 years worth of video on the equivalent of iPod.
He also urged graduates not to lay out a rigid path for themselves. Rewards will gravitate to those who make mistakes and learn from them, Schmidt said.
"You can't plan innovation or inspiration, but you can be ready for it, and when you see it you...
Thu, 21 May 09
Senator Touts E-Medical Data Despite Hacker Attack
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66684
A hacker's theft of millions of Virginia's most sensitive prescription drug records isn't slowing Democratic Sen. Mark Warner's push for electronic medical records.
The former governor convened a conference in Richmond Monday about the medical and cost-saving benefits of digitizing hundreds of millions of patient records nationally.
"We've been talking about this subject, policymakers have, for decades: how can we make sure that we can bring the power of information technology to our health care system," Warner told reporters at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Warner, who made a fortune as an early investor in cell phones and information technology, was among the earliest apostles of e-medical records. The federal economic stimulus package that Warner supported provides nearly $20 billion to begin the process of digitizing medical records and sharing them over secure networks.
Having such data instantly available to doctors anywhere would eliminate the need for expensive tests patients have already had and allow doctors to make smarter, faster treatment decisions, advocates say.
"Every Virginian has been frustrated when you go to the hospital and you get asked exactly the same question 10 different times in the first few hours you're there," Warner said before addressing the conference of several hundred medical professionals, hospital and health care interests and educators.
Just 2 1/2 weeks earlier, a hacker broke into what the Virginia Department of Health Professions believed was a secure computer database for the Prescription Monitoring Program.
The hacker accessed millions of individual prescription records about such powerful and closely controlled drugs as Oxycodone, morphine, Vicodin and Valium. The intruder also left a taunting note on the DHP Web site demanding a $10 million ransom for the return of the data. State officials said the information was fully backed up and never lost. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said there will be no payments.
The FBI and Virginia State Police...
Thu, 21 May 09
Sentencing Delayed for Woman in MySpace Hoax
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66682
A federal judge on Monday questioned whether prosecutors were correct in bringing charges against a Missouri mother who was involved in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor who ended up committing suicide.
U.S. District Judge George Wu had been scheduled to sentence Lori Drew on three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. However, Wu delayed sentencing until July 2, saying he wanted to review the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.
Wu squared off with Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause for more than an hour about a defense motion seeking to dismiss Drew's conviction. The judge wondered whether Drew should have been indicted under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which in the past has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.
"Using this particular statute is so weird," Wu said.
He also was concerned that sentencing Drew for violating a Web site's service terms might set a dangerous precedent. He said millions of people either don't read service terms, as happened in Drew's case, or give false information.
"Wouldn't that constitute a misdemeanor if the court adopts the government's position in this case?" Wu asked.
Much attention has been paid to Drew's case, primarily because it was the nation's first cyberbullying trial.
Prosecutors said Drew sought to humiliate Megan Meier by helping create a fictitious teen boy with the help of her then-13-year-old daughter Sarah and business assistant Ashley Grills on MySpace and sending flirtatious messages to the girl in his name.
The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later in October 2006.
Prosecutors believe Drew and her daughter, who was friends with Megan, created the profile to find out if Megan was spreading rumors about Sarah. Grills testified she received a message from Megan in mid-2006, calling...
Thu, 21 May 09
Nokia To Lay Off 170 Workers Worldwide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66676
Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it will lay off 170 workers worldwide to further cut costs as the global downturn continues to weaken demand in the mobile phone industry.
The job cuts, in production and logistics for mobile devices, will not affect production employees at Nokia's mobile device manufacturing facilities, the world's biggest handset maker said.
Nokia said it will also offer buyouts to 320 employees at its manufacturing plant in Salo plant in Finland after a similar program for 1,000 global Nokia employees proved popular.
"The earlier voluntary resignation package ... raised a lot of interest among production employees, who were excluded from this particular global program," said Ville Valtonen, from Nokia's personnel department in Finland. "We now want to offer this opportunity to our production employees in Salo, as we continue to adjust capacity according to market demand."
Nokia stock closed up 4.3 percent at euro11.19 ($15.23) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
Earlier this year, Nokia announced more than 2,400 job cuts globally and temporary layoffs of 2,500 workers in Finland.
The company aims to slash costs at its handset unit by euro700 million ($920 million) annually, and on Tuesday said it will continue "to seek savings in operational expenses, looking at all areas and activities across the company."
In April, Nokia reported that first-quarter net profit plummeted 90 percent to euro576 million and sales fell 27 percent as the world economic downturn continued to hit the mobile industry.
Nokia employs 124,000 people worldwide. Last year, it sold 468 million handsets, up 7 percent on 2007.
Thu, 21 May 09
Dell Gets Creative with High-End Servers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66673
A couple of years ago, Dell looked equal parts laggard and self-defeating Intel loyalist when it ended up as the last big server maker to add popular chips from Advanced Micro Devices as options for customers. Now, a revamped Dell has shown flashes of creativity and an adventurous spirit by becoming the first hardware heavyweight to pop chips from the Taiwan manufacturer Via into its servers.
This week, Dell is revealing a rather original system design that places 12 full servers running on Via's Nano chip in a case 3.5 inches, or about 9 centimeters, high. That's three times as many servers as Dell usually squeezes into similar, compact systems. Equally important, each server will consume 15 watts to 30 watts, or about one-tenth the power of a standard server.
It's beyond unusual to find the Via chips in a major-league server. The Nano product has mostly been aimed at cheaper computers like small laptops.
Beyond that, Intel and AMD have had the entire x86 server chip market to themselves for years. It seems they will now find some competition.
"This one is a big, major win for us," Epan Wu, senior director of chip marketing at Via, said about the Dell system.
The crafty Dell design may buy some leeway for the company's lack of marketing inspiration. The new server is called the XS11-VX8. As the bland name indicates, the product is not meant for mass consumption. Rather, it's a specialized system aimed at companies that buy hundreds and even thousands of servers to host Web sites.
Running at just 1.3 gigahertz or 1.6 gigahertz, the Via chips sit very low on the performance totem pole when it comes to server chips. But the chips' lower speed and other architecture tweaks help it to keep power consumption and costs low. For example, the new Dell...
Thu, 21 May 09
Cell-Phone Makers Hope for a Blockbuster Summer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66671
The hype machine started months ago. Opening weekends are upon us. High up in executive suites, the hope is that this summer's new releases will cause lines to snake around the block.
The cell phone industry in the United States -- one of the world's largest markets -- looks a lot like the movie industry nowadays. Some highly anticipated phones -- including the Palm Pre, an updated iPhone and new phones using the Android operating system from Google -- have focused the industry's efforts on the crucial months between the Memorial Day (May 25) and Labor Day (Sept. 7) holidays.
In the past, "nobody gave a darn about mobile phones -- they weren't headline grabbers," said Charles Wolf, a cell phone industry analyst with Needham & Co. "This summer will be really interesting. It could be potentially the most exciting time in this market."
The season's releases began last week, when T-Mobile announced the introduction of the Sidekick LX and AT& T unveiled the Samsung Jack, ballyhooing it as "another hit crossover smartphone in the tradition of the Blackjack and Blackjack II."
But the season's most compelling phone drama will start the first week in June, when Sprint will begin selling the Palm Pre, people briefed on the company's plans said.
Palm, a once-iconic device maker that has fallen on hard times, has been hyping the Pre for months as an iPhone killer, but the company has given few peeks to analysts and reviewers. Analysts say the stakes are high for Sprint Nextel, which has exclusive rights to the phone in the United States, but even higher for Palm, which is based in Silicon Valley.
"This is make or break for Palm," said Mr. Wolf, noting that Palm, also the maker of Treo and Centro phones, lost about $98 million in the last quarter, consistent with...
Wed, 20 May 09
Apple Asks iPhone Developers To Test Push Notifications
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66691
Apple is relying on iPhone developers to test one of the features in iPhone OS 3.0. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company asked developers in an e-mail to test its push-notification technology, which allows apps to receive updates.
Apple will use an Associated Press application to test the push process. "We have selected a prerelease version of the Associated Press app for iPhone OS 3.0 to create a high-volume test environment for our servers," the e-mail said.
Apple will take the stress off developers' servers by having information sent to its servers, and then a text or instant message will go to developers' iPhones. So if the Associated Press has a breaking news story, it will first go to Apple's servers. Then Apple will send a message to developers.
The iPhone 3.0 push-notification technology is believed to use the same technology as Apple's push system for MobileMe, according to AppleInsider.
Not all developers have received Apple's request for help. But those who participate are required to use iPhone OS 3.0 beta five, which will run for the next seven days before expiring, according to the company.
"I am sure that Apple has been testing the service with thousands of requests and they now want to open it up to hundred of thousands," said Alex Sokirynsky, the iPhone developer behind the Podcaster and RSS Player apps.
Regardless of how the push-notification test goes, there won't be much time to make changes. "Nothing they can do if they find a problem at this stage," Sokirynsky said. "We are less than three weeks away from the iPhone 3.0 announcement."
But one change Apple can make if it runs into an issue is to add additional servers. "I am surprised that Apple has not made this available earlier," Sokirynsky added.
"Apple initially said that we would have push...
Wed, 20 May 09
Google Searches Grow as Long Queries Reduce Ads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66690
U.S. consumers may not be spending as much, but they are searching more. Americans conducted 14.8 billion searches in April, according to comScore. That's a three percent hike over March, and Google continues to dominate the search market.
Nearly 65 percent of the searches conducted in April were on Google. Yahoo placed second in the monthly rankings at 20.4 percent, while Microsoft came in a distant third with 8.2 percent. Beyond the top three, IAC/Interactive's Ask.com and Time Warner's AOL ranked fourth and fifth with under five percent of the total searches in April.
Google also grew more than rival search engines. Google saw 9.5 billion searches in April, compared to Yahoo's three billion and Microsoft's 1.2 billion. That puts Google's growth at four percent. Yahoo saw a two percent increase and Microsoft saw a one percent increase from March. Ask broke out with a three percent boost. Apparently, some of the growth came at AOL's expense. AOL posted a six percent decline in searches.
"Search continues to prove itself the central tool of the Internet, and Google remains firmly in control of that market," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "However, given the market's relative maturity and the recession, revenue growth is much more difficult to deliver."
Indeed, although the number of search-engine queries is up a strong 68 percent over the past two years, comScore reports the growth rate of paid clicks is only 18 percent. That disparity caused Gian Fulgoni, chairman and cofounder of comScore, to ask: Why have paid clicks grown three times slower than the total number of queries?
From assessing the data, Fulgoni believes he has an answer: Because the ad coverage -- the percentage of search-results pages with a paid ad -- has dropped from 64 percent to 51 percent of searches....
Wed, 20 May 09
Facebook Now Accepts OpenIDs From Other Sites
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66689
You've logged onto Gmail, and then you go over to Facebook -- where you're already logged in and your Gmail personal information is automatically available. That kind of portable identity became possible Monday as Facebook announced it has become a "relying party" for the OpenID user-identity framework.
Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and Microsoft also support OpenID. But while others are "issuing parties," Facebook is now a relying party. Issuing parties let you use their OpenID log-in elsewhere, but they don't necessarily accept it from other sites, as relying parties do.
This means you can log in to Gmail and then go to Facebook and find yourself already on board. But you can't log in to Yahoo, for example, and find yourself already logged in to Gmail.
These kinds of one-way streets can lead to confusion about OpenID, and observers have suggested that the standard needs more uniformity before it becomes easy to understand.
In theory, OpenID not only allows data like your profile information to be available on all OpenID-compatible sites, but it also minimizes the number of usernames and passwords a Web user needs to remember.
Facebook already has its own portable-identity service, called Facebook Connect, and it allows users to log in to other sites with their Facebook identities. With support for OpenID, the two competing protocols are now closer to unification, opening up the possibility of a single log-in and portable identity across many sites.
As the largest social-networking site with about 200 million members, Facebook's participation is a big step in that direction.
The company has been a member of the OpenID Foundation since the winter, and has hosted a summit conference about OpenID. On the company's developers blog, Facebook's Luke Shepard wrote Monday that the company has been using its experience in...
Wed, 20 May 09
Napster Rises Again with $5 Music Subscriptions
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Napster moved to transform itself again on Monday. The digital-music company slashed the price of its online streaming music service to less than half price.
Napster now charges $5 a month for unlimited access to its streaming-music service, down from $12.95. The company also sweetened the deal by giving members five unrestricted MP3 downloads a month in an effort to woo music lovers from Apple's iTunes Store.
"A decade ago, Napster revolutionized the way people discovered and enjoyed music," said Julie Owen, senior vice president of entertainment for Best Buy. "The brand that started it all is shaking things up again with this new service that provides music lovers continued access to the entertainment experience they've come to expect of Napster and Best Buy."
Many remember Napster as the controversial music-sharing service launched in 1999. The technology let music fans copy and share MP3 files with each other, and quickly ran into lawsuits from copyright holders. Napster's original model was shut down by the courts, but the company stands as a pioneer in peer-to-peer distribution sites.
Adult-entertainment company Private Media Group bought Napster for $2.43 million in 2002, but couldn't keep the brand from going bankrupt. Next, Roxio acquired the rights to Napster's logos and branding and relaunched the service as Napster 2.0. Finally, last September Best Buy purchased the Internet property for $121 million.
Today, Napster has a catalog of more than seven million tracks. It also offers personalized recommendation tools that let its members discover new music and artists and listen to top hits from more than 50 years of the Billboard charts. Members can listen to their tracks on any compatible player, including iPods, iPhones and music-enabled mobile phones.
"The irony here is that if Napster had done this 10 years ago, they probably could have saved...
Wed, 20 May 09
Palm Pre Will Match iPhone's $199.99 Price After Rebate
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66663
The eagerly awaited Palm Pre smartphone will be available on Saturday, June 6, in the U.S. for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year service contract with Sprint Nextel.
Besides Sprint stores, the Palm Pre will be sold online and at Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. Buyers will have a choice of Sprint's Simply Everything unlimited plan for $99.99 a month, an $89.99 plan with 900 minutes, or $69.99 for 450 minutes. Palm will also offer a wireless Touchstone charger kit for $69.99.
The Palm Pre is the first phone to run on Palm's new webOS and will include Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV. Sprint will be the exclusive Pre provider through the end of the year. In Canada, Bell Mobility will offer the Pre.
Palm, once a tech powerhouse with its Palm PDA devices, has fallen on hard times in recent years and needs the Pre launch to be successful. Barclays Capital is betting on the Pre's success and has raised its performance estimates for Palm, seeing sales of almost $2 billion for the year. But launch costs and other problems the company faces could temper profits.
The Pre's launch on a Saturday appears timed to overshadow the possible announcement of a new iPhone at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, which begins Monday, June 8. That gives buyers two days to succumb to the hoopla and get used to the Pre before any Apple announcement. Analysts expect Apple to offer a new iPhone, and AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S., may reduce the cost for iPhone service.
AT&T's charges are widely viewed as a barrier to increasing the iPhone's share of the smartphone market, and Sprint's pricing appears designed to exploit that problem. Currently AT&T charges $69 a month for iPhone service, which includes an unlimited data plan,...
Wed, 20 May 09
Craigslist CEO Asks SC AG To Apologize for Threat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66659
Craigslist's chief executive demanded an apology from South Carolina's attorney general Monday, saying the prosecutor's threat to file prostitution charges against the company was unreasonable and unfair.
Attorney General Henry McMaster threatened last week to prosecute Craigslist executives for aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the Web site leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina. The prosecutor has said his office is investigating the ads, but so far no charges have been brought.
The San Francisco-based Craigslist has come under closer scrutiny for its "erotic services" category after a Boston-area man was accused of killing a masseuse he met through the Web site. The company has promised eliminate the category and replace it with a new "adult services" section, where ads will be screened before they are posted.
"Many prominent companies, including AT&T, Microsoft, and Village Voice Media, not to mention major newspapers and other upstanding South Carolina businesses feature more 'adult services' ads than does craigslist, some of a very graphic nature," Buckmaster wrote in a company blog.
He included Internet links to listings for escort services throughout South Carolina. "Are you really prepared to condemn the executives of each of the mainstream companies linked above, and all the others that feature such ads, as criminals?"
McMaster, a Republican who plans to run for governor of South Carolina in 2010, declined to comment on Buckmaster's latest blog. His campaign also was a topic in Buckmaster's posting.
"craigslist may not matter in your world view, despite our popularity among your constituents, but mightn't you want an endorsement from any of the SC newspapers for your gubenatorial campaign, whose publishers you've just labeled as criminals?" Buckmaster wrote.
Craigslist came under fire last month after Philip Markoff was accused of killing a New York City masseuse he met through the Web site. Police have also accused...
Wed, 20 May 09
Got an Unusual Name? Facebook May Think It's Fake
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66652
Alicia Istanbul woke up one recent Wednesday to find herself locked out of the Facebook account she opened in 2007, one Facebook suddenly deemed fake.
The stay-at-home mom was cut off not only from her 330 friends, including many she had no other way of contacting, but also from the pages she had set up for the jewelry design business she runs from her Atlanta-area home.
Although Istanbul understands why Facebook insists on having real people behind real names for every account, she wonders why the online hangout didn't simply ask before acting.
"They should at least give you a warning, or at least give you the benefit of the doubt," she said. "I was on it all day. I had built my entire social network around it. That's what Facebook wants you to do."
Facebook's effort to purge its site of fake accounts, in the process knocking out some real people with unusual names, marks yet another challenge for the 5-year-old social network.
As Facebook becomes a bigger part of the lives of its more than 200 million users, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company is finding that the huge diversity and the vast size of its audience are making it increasingly difficult to enforce rules it set when its membership was smaller and more homogenous.
Having grown from a closed network available only to college students to a global social hub used by multiple generations, Facebook has worked over the years to shape its guidelines and features to fit its changing audience. But requiring people to sign up under their real name is part of what makes Facebook Facebook.
To make sure people can't set up accounts with fake names, the site has a long, constantly updated "blacklist" of names that people can't use.
Those could either be ones that sound fake, like Batman, or names tied...
Wed, 20 May 09
Foodies Flock to Twitter-Savvy Food Trucks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66645
For some foodies, Tweets lead to great eats.
Twitter recently became the communique of choice for the almost cultishly popular Kogi BBQ trucks, roving Korean-style taco vendors in Los Angeles that use the 140-character, cell phone-friendly missives to alert customers to their whereabouts and menu items.
And the trend is spreading to other wheel meals as more food trucks -- a fast-growing food phenomenon in major cities, especially in the West -- are using the social networking site to draw customers.
While it's not clear which truck Tweeted first, the Kogi folks have shown themselves to be adept at turning those mini missives into a hugely successful marketing machine, says Jane Goldman, editor-in-chief of CHOW Magazine.
"Kogi special at the trucks and the Alibi! Grilled asparagus with Yellow Nectarines and Sesame Seeds!" read one recent Kogi Tweet.
The decision to Twitter was a practical one, says Kogi brand manager Mike Prasad. He says Kogi -- which has become famous for its Korean-Mexican fusion -- needed a way to inspire repeat business while solving "the problems of being a moveable venue."
"Then they find Twitter, something that's separate from the venue itself that creates a virtual home," says Prasad. "It was perfect."
Kogi's food is cheap and unique, but there's another payoff to securing this moving meal: the thrill of the chase.
Since Kogi's launch in November, hungry herds of have been following the pair of white trucks that rove the city selling tacos, burritos and other gourmet tidbits steeped in traditional Korean flavors.
In short order, the Kogi name has become recognizable to foodies around the country. No small accomplishment for a pair of taco trucks, says Kate Krader, restaurant editor for Food & Wine magazine. "That's 90 percent thanks to Twitter."
And she thinks the success of food truck Tweets likely will inspire a broader use of Twitter across...
Wed, 20 May 09
Court Case Reveals Ugly Infighting at Motorola
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66643
It's a white-collar worker's nightmare: giving a presentation that gets you fired.
It happened to the chief financial officer of Motorola Inc. this year. And the lawsuit he filed afterward provides a rare peek into dysfunctional relationships at the top of a major company.
Motorola has gone so far as to claim it fired the CFO "for cause" -- a term often reserved for suspected embezzlers -- while the former executive says he was canned for blowing the whistle on major problems.
The case represents more trouble for the cell phone maker, which has been struggling with billion-dollar losses and laying off thousands of workers.
Paul Liska, 53, walked into a board subcommittee meeting Jan. 28 and fired a broadside at the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company's ailing cell phone division. Liska said a board member told him the next morning that the presentation "sure did poke a stick into the hornet's nest."
That was probably Liska's intent. But the hornets that flew out from that nest went for him, not his intended target -- the head of Motorola's cell phone division.
Not all of Liska's presentation can be seen in the public records accompanying his lawsuit. Some parts have been blotted out by Motorola so as not to reveal business secrets. Liska and the company declined to comment for this story, citing the litigation.
But in the revealed parts of the presentation, Liska pointed out to Motorola directors that the cell phone unit, Mobile Devices, missed its sales projection for the preceding three months. Then, he said, the projections for the current year were based on rosy assumptions. In addition, he attacked the unit for lacking a forecast for 2010.
He finished by warning that with each passing day, Mobile Devices was making commitments and decisions "that will be increasingly costly to unwind should the board later...
Wed, 20 May 09
As Google Grows Larger, So Will Antitrust Scrutiny
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66640
For decades, the biggest U.S. antitrust cases have centered on technology companies. And they have all been efforts by the government to deal with powerful companies with far-reaching influence, like AT&T, the telephone monopoly; IBM, the mainframe computer giant; and Microsoft, the powerhouse of personal computer software.
Last week, the administration of Barack Obama declared a sharp break with the George W. Bush years, vowing to toughen antitrust enforcement, especially for dominant companies, bringing U.S. policy more in step with the European Union. And the stakes, it seems, are highest for Google, the rising power of the Internet economy.
The new antitrust leadership, legal experts say, is likely to scrutinize technology-enabled "networks," with an eye toward requiring dominant companies to share information and to deal with competitors. The advantages for the companies that control such networks snowball as they attract more users, advertisers or software developers.
Internet search and search advertising, like personal computer operating software, is an example, said Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust expert at the University of Iowa law school. "Google is a dominant network, as is Microsoft," Mr. Hovenkamp said. "Networks become competitive only if everyone has the same chance."
Google's corporate behavior is already being closely monitored. Last year, Google abandoned a planned search advertising partnership with Yahoo, after the U.S. Justice Department said it intended to file suit to block the agreement on antitrust grounds. Google has 64 percent of the Internet search market in America, while Yahoo has 21 percent and Microsoft trails with 8 percent, according to comScore, a market research firm.
In recent weeks, the U.S. antitrust officials have opened two inquiries. The Justice Department is looking into Google's settlement with authors and publishers for its book-search service to see if it violates antitrust laws. And the Federal Trade Commission is examining whether Google's sharing two board...
Wed, 20 May 09
Remote Access to the Home Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66638
Computers, cell phones, and personal electronics are all increasingly tied in to home networks. Billions were spent in 2008 on routers and similar peripherals, reports BITKOM, a German industry association. The next step is accessing the home network via the Internet.
There are various ways to go online and access data stored on computers or network attached storage. One of the easiest is File Transfer Protocol, or ftp for short. With ftp, the computer providing the data for download functions as a server. This type of data transfer is easy on PCs, since a simple program suffices. There are a variety of free programs available for Windows XP, Vista, Mac, and Linux, such as Filezilla. Many network attached storage units also include a ftp server function.
To access an ftp server from another computer, you'll need client software. All standard browsers already include ftp functionality: simply type the address of the server into the browser's navigation bar, preceded by "ftp://."
You normally can't access your own ftp server over the Internet itself. This is because your Internet Server Provider typically assigns the router and hence the network a new IP address for each session, and at other times too. IP addresses are also difficult to remember.
A fixed hostname can help, such as those available from the cost-free service www.dyndns.org. With dyndns, you create an account and then select a host name for the network, such as myhomenetwork.dyndns.com. The name is then entered into the router's configuration menu under the "Dynamic DNS" function.
Thereafter the router passes on the current IP address to dyndns.org automatically. From then on the host name functions as the IP address for the home network. The dyndns service forwards requests automatically to the router and through it to the home network.
The downside: ftp is not secure. VPN offers much more...
Tue, 19 May 09
Expectations for Palm Rise as Pre Smartphone Nears
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66662
Barclays Capital has raised its expectations for Palm, predicting that its Pre smartphone will launch next month with solid demand. It estimated Palm's sales could be almost $2 billion for the year.
However, analyst Amir Rozwadowski cautioned that rising costs and problems with older products could affect profits. Palm has had six consecutive quarters of losses and has had to raise cash for the Pre's launch.
The Palm Pre will be the first phone to use Palm's webOS system and will be offered exclusively in the U.S. by Sprint Nextel through the end of the year. The Pre will be offered exclusively in Canada by Bell Mobility's 3G network.
Palm has been working on webOS for years and CEO Ed Colligan has been touting its ease of use for developers. Colligan has said that if a developer can write XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and Ajax, he can write code for the webOS platform.
Getting it right the first time is crucial, especially with more companies moving from offering pure mobile phones to smartphones. While mobile-phone makers are dealing with a 15.8 percent drop in shipments in the first quarter, converged mobile phones known as smartphones continue to grow year on year, according to a recent report by IDC.
"Some of the big operators in mature markets have shifted product portfolios and some have smartphones accounting for as much as 50 percent of the entire handset offering," said Ryan Reith, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Tracker. "We believe this strategy will continue, along with an increase in devices that are media- and messaging-centric, to help operators maintain revenues."
The Palm Pre will have EVDO, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth stereo, 8GB of storage, and a fast processor. It will have a thin, curvy 3.1-inch touchscreen; a three-megapixel camera with flash; a removable battery; and USB 2 connectivity. If...
Tue, 19 May 09
New Acer Netbooks Have Touchpad, Full-Size Keyboard
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66661
Netbooks are popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain, with two new models announced Monday from Acer -- the 11.6-inch Aspire One A0751h and the 10.1-inch Aspire One AOD250.
The A0751h is the first netbook of this size from Acer, the world's third-largest PC maker. Its WXGA screen is a backlit, high-definition, CrystalBrite 16:9 TFT LCD with 1364x768 resolution. Like many other netbooks, this model is built around the Intel Atom processor, in this case either the N270 or the Z520.
The A0D250's 10.1-inch screen, also a 16:9 TFT LCD, is WSVGA with 1024x600 resolution, and the processor is the N270 Atom. Both machines have full-sized keyboards -- a treat for netbook users -- as well as a gigabyte of memory and a 160GB hard drive.
The netbooks have a Crystal Eye webcam, built-in stereo speakers, and a built-in digital microphone enable video conferencing, and there are three USB ports, VGA out, an Ethernet port, Bluetooth, and a multiple digital-card reader. Windows XP Home is available on either machine, and the A0751h has a dedicated SD card slot.
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g is offered on both machines, as is an option for 3G connectivity. The A0751h has an extended six-cell battery for uptime of as much as eight hours, or a three-cell battery offers four hours. On the AO250, the six-cell and three-cell battery offer six hours and three hours, respectively.
As with other netbooks, style and ease of use are being emphasized. The new Aspire Ones are one inch thick, come in a choice of four colors, and feature a multi-gesture touchpad for pinching, flicking or swirling fingers to control the viewing of photos, videos, documents or Web sites.
Sumit Agnihotry, Acer America's vice president of product management, said his company predicts "the larger display and keyboard will be a...
Tue, 19 May 09
EMC's Atmos Online Puts Data in Cloud or Firewall
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66660
EMC is previewing a new cloud-computing service that aims to fulfill the needs of any large business looking for cost-effective options for storing, distributing and managing huge amounts of information.
Called Atmos Online, the new EMC service is an outgrowth of the policy-based Atmos information management platform the company rolled out last November. The latest technology, which EMC says can be globally scaled, advances the Atmos platform by adding an internal-to-external federation capability that allows businesses to decide whether specific types of data reside in the cloud or behind the corporate firewall.
"By introducing the ability to federate data from on-premise to online, EMC's Atmos is providing a differentiated approach to cloud storage while delivering the choice, control, flexibility and cost efficiencies of cloud that are required by today's IT organization," said IDC Vice President Benjamin Woo.
AT&T is already a believer. On Monday the communications giant said it intends to launch a new online storage service based on EMC's Atmos platform.
AT&T noted that businesses with fluctuating data-storage requirements will be able to use its offering to extend the retention of data no longer needed for transactions, and often at a fraction of the cost of managing data over a dedicated storage area network. "The data can be retrieved at any time, to any customer location, including a third-party data center, using a variety of devices such as laptops, smartphones or other Web-enabled handheld devices," the company said.
The new storage-on-demand offering, which will be jointly managed and marketed by AT&T and EMC, also will provide business customers with control over the storage, distribution and retrieval of their data, noted AT&T Senior Vice President Roman Pacewicz. "AT&T Synaptic Storage helps enterprises get a handle on these increasingly complex storage environments, while controlling costs and improving service levels," Pacewicz...
Tue, 19 May 09
Wolfram Knowledge Engine Begins Computing Answers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66654
The world's information may be more digestible, following the launch over the weekend of Wolfram Alpha, the "computational knowledge engine" from Wolfram Research.
"Our goal," read a statement on the Web site, "is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on." A search-engine interface enables the user to use "free-form input" -- that is, natural-language queries -- to search expert-level knowledge and to compute "whatever can be computed about anything."
The engine was built by Wolfram Research, the Illinois-based company of scientist Stephen Wolfram, whose best-known products include the Mathematica software tool and A New Kind of Science, a best-selling book and approach to scientific problems using a set of basic formulas.
On its company blog, Wolfram Alpha said it received almost 10,000 messages over its launch weekend from feedback forms. Many were comments about other information that needed to be added to answers. For instance, one poster had input just "piano," and complained that it only returned characters from the movie, The Piano. The Wolfram Alpha team responded that it intends to add musical instruments.
Praise around the Web for the computational engine has been strong, but there were also some complaints. Some have said the tool doesn't follow Web-standard accessibility guidelines, and others have noted that a number of inquiries resulted in the engine saying it didn't understand the question, or that the process by which an answer was "curated" is too obscure.
Wolfram Alpha contains more than 10 trillion pieces of data, as well as 50,000 types of algorithms and models. The engine was built using Mathematica, consists of more than five million lines of code, and runs on supercomputer-class clusters. The knowledge base, according to news reports, is being built...
Tue, 19 May 09
Scribd Lets Authors Upload and Sell Works To E-Readers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66647
Riding on the momentum of Amazon's Kindle, Scribd has launched an e-book store where authors can upload and sell their written works to a readership of 60 million. The company also plans to further extend its reach with an iPhone application to give buyers access to documents across multiple platforms.
The beta version of the Scribd Store expands the social-publishing company's library of free original documents to include for-purchase works. Publishers set their own prices and receive 80 percent of the revenue.
Prices for content currently range from $1 for a graphic novel to $5,000 for an in-depth China market-research report. Sellers can also choose Scribd's automatic pricing option, which bases costs on an analysis of similar items in the store.
"Our goal has always been to democratize the publishing process for everyday people who have so many great ideas to share," said Trip Adler, Scribd CEO and cofounder. "Adding e-commerce capability gives all our users -- professional and nonprofessional publishers -- even more options in recessionary times, when every dollar counts."
A wide range of written works is already available on Scribd, including recipes, articles, novels and research reports. At launch, the Scribd Store includes works such as never-before-released novels from best-selling authors Tamim Ansary, Joe Quirk and Kemble Scott, and Tim O'Reilly. It also includes an available-before-print edition of Sarah Milstein's The Twitter Book and books from the World Bank and Lonely Planet, among many others.
Sellers can decide to sell whole documents, a chapter, an exact selection of pages, or installments. They can also choose whether to serialize their books for $1 per chapter. For example, instead of having to purchase a country guide, travelers can buy a stand-alone city chapter from Lonely Planet. Documents can be read on Scribd.com, downloaded to a PC, printed or made...
Tue, 19 May 09
AT&T May Reduce Price for iPhone Data Plan by $10
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66646
Expectations that AT&T will lower the cost of wireless service for Apple's iPhone are growing. A $20-a-month data plan with limited access is a possibility for the exclusive U.S. iPhone service provider.
AT&T's monthly plan for the iPhone is currently $69 plus taxes and fees and includes a $30 unlimited data plan. A comScore study found that 43 percent of current iPhone users have incomes above $100,000, so AT&T needs a lower price for it and Apple to grab a larger share of the smartphone market.
As we reported earlier this month, Cote Collaborative analyst Michael Cote expects AT&T to cut the monthly iPhone plan by $10, to $59 a month, a savings of $240 off the $1,656 cost of a two-year plan. Other reports have speculated that Apple may offer a lower-priced version of the iPhone, particularly since the cost for the touchscreen component has dropped.
As the three-year anniversary for the iPhone nears, competition is rising, with the BlackBerry Curve and the Palm Pre getting good notices. In addition, more devices powered by the Google-backed Android mobile operating system are coming, and the platform is expected to grow fast.
Apple has an advantage over other smartphone makers in its App Store, which has started carrying more business-oriented apps for the iPhone, including a USAA Mobile App that arrived last week and lets customers handle banking, insurance and investment accounts securely on the iPhone. As we have reported, the App Store may not make much money for Apple, but it helps drive sales of the iPhone and iPod touch.
While its competitors are copying Apple's App Store model with their own online stores, including App World for the BlackBerry and the Android Market, more than one billion apps have already been downloaded from the App Store.
Apple has offered iPhone deals through...
Tue, 19 May 09
Windows 7: Small Improvements Make Big Splash
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66622
Microsoft has all but admitted that Windows Vista was a flop. So why not start using its successor right now? You can, simply by downloading the free release candidate of Windows 7 (http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/Windows-7/download.aspx). Fully functioning, robust, and stable, Windows 7 RC (release candidate) has been available for a week now, and its usage has already jumped 22 percent, according to Microsoft.
The headline features of Windows 7 -- greater compatibility, speed, interface enhancements, and less annoyance from user account control -- are really designed to say to users: "We know Vista disappointed you; this version will not." But Microsoft has done more than just make amends with the forthcoming Windows. It has also slipped in a lot of useful enhancements and features. Here are a few.
--- Sticky notes
You work all day at the computer, and you need somewhere to place sticky notes to remind yourself to pick up some milk, make a doctor's appointment, or call the plumber, right? In the past, you probably stuck such notes on your computer monitor -- or put them on scraps of paper scattered around your desk. Thanks to the new Windows 7 applet called Sticky Notes, you can get rid of all of those annoying pieces of paper.
Sticky Notes are just what they sound like: little virtual notes that resemble real-world sticky notes. These, however, you can place anywhere on your Windows desktop. And they stay stuck to the desktop for as long you want -- even after rebooting.
The default sticky note is yellow -- but you can change the color simply by right-clicking your sticky note.
--- Snipping Tool
Another nifty little Windows 7 tool that falls into the category of "why didn't they think of this earlier" is called Snipping Tool. Available directly from the Start menu, Snipping Tool allows you to select and...
Tue, 19 May 09
Gumblar Attacks Continue To Threaten Web Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66621
A new attack known as Gumblar is continuing to blow all previous web-based malware out of the water, with a new infected web page found every 4.5 seconds, according to Sophos.
The security company said that Troj/JSRedir-R is now found six times more often than its nearest rival Mal/Iframe-F; and is responsible for almost half of all malicious infections found on Web sites over the past seven days.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: "No one should be in any doubt that the web is still the main vector of attack for cybercriminals, and this new threat suggests this situation isn't going to change anytime soon.
"The problem is that too many computer users still think there's no danger in surfing the web, but with legitimate sites often falling victim to these attacks, it's time to wake up. Hackers won't stop targeting the web as it's proving a successful way for them to spread their infections. To combat this, it's essential to scan every Web site for malicious code before visiting it."
JSRedir-R, which has been found on high traffic legitimate Web sites, loads malicious content from third-party sites (including one called Gumblar.cn, inspiring some security vendors to dub the threat 'Gumblar') without users' knowledge. The malware can then be used to steal sensitive information for financial gain, to commit identity theft or to meddle with search-engine results.
Sophos advises users of other anti-malware solutions to check their products are updated and offering protection.
Tue, 19 May 09
NYC Officials Break Up International ID Theft Scam
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66620
New York City officials busted an international credit card and identity theft ring that ensnared more than 6,000 customers around the world and caused about $15 million in losses, police and prosecutors said Thursday.
The ring was based in New York with roots in Nigeria, and suspects were accused of shipping stolen or illegally-obtained credit cards to buyers around the world.
More than 35 people have been indicted on enterprise corruption charges. So far, at least 22 suspects pleaded not guilty to enterprise corruption and other charges in state Supreme Court in Queens. Most of the suspects were Nigerian nationals living in New York.
Wole "Shola" Ogunewen lead the largest ring, and three others, Charles Femi Adoyele, Ayanwale Ganiyu and Abdul Razack Yusuf, operated smaller rings, prosecutors said. Some of the ringleaders, including Ogunewen and Ganiyu, were still at large, prosecutors said. At least one was believed to be in Nigeria.
Adoyele's lawyer, Marvyn Kornberg, said his client was among those who pleaded not guilty and would save any comments for the trial. A message left with Yusuf's attorney was not immediately returned.
Investigators were tipped off in September 2007 after the owner of a Queens real estate office opened a package meant for an employee and discovered 60 valid credit cards in various names, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The yearlong investigation used surveillance and wiretaps on 81 cell phones. Investigators translated thousands of calls into English, and executed search warrants that netted thousands of dollars in cash, machines used to make fake IDs and dozens of computers.
Kelly and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the ring was made up of three enterprises working together. Legitimate cards meant for Citibank, Chase and Capital One customers were somehow diverted into the hands of thieves who used them to withdraw thousands in cash. They would also...
Tue, 19 May 09
Hackers, Complacency Threaten Privacy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66615
In recent days, visitors to the Virginia Department of Health Professions' Web site have been greeted with a note explaining that the agency "is currently experiencing technical difficulties." It's a bit of an understatement.
On April 30, a hacker posted a taunting message on the site, claiming to have stolen prescription records. The records are part of a supposedly secure database set up for access by doctors and pharmacists to thwart the abuse of controlled substances such as OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Ambien. The hacker's message included a $10 million ransom demand.
State officials aren't providing many details about the attack, which remains under investigation. The Web site contains links to a news release about a "potential security breach" and a Q&A for consumers outlining what sort of information the database contains.
According to the department, it's unlikely that the info -- if it really is in the possession of a hacker -- could be used to steal the identities of consumers. But some pharmacists may have used customers' Social Security numbers to enter data, so Virginians are being advised to monitor bank accounts and credit reports.
Marilyn B. Tavenner, the state's secretary of health and human resources, told a legislative committee this week that the state still has the information on the database -- contrary to what the hacker's message claimed.
This much is clear: An intrusion occurred. State officials need to follow through, swiftly, on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's pledge to tighten security, not only at this department's site but at other agencies'. The protective measures should include further restrictions on the use of Social Security numbers in databases for identification when other means are available.
Several dozen states besides Virginia operate prescription databases, along with other limited-access sites that contain sensitive information.
In addition, the Obama administration is pushing for widespread computerization and linkage...
Tue, 19 May 09
Nintendo Prepares To Set New Wii Gizmo Into Motion
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66613
There's nothing all that charming about Nintendo's latest gadget.
It's not as zany as a zapper or as sexy as a steering wheel. It doesn't even tell you whether you're losing weight. However, the game maker is hoping a small cube-shaped device called Wii MotionPlus will take the Wii's motion-sensing controls to a new level of precision.
It's no secret the wrist-flicking Wii Remote's lack of accuracy has long been the console's clunky downfall. The Wii MotionPlus, available beginning June 8, successfully defeats that dilemma by using gyroscopic sensors to exactly mimic gamers' hand movements, making such activities as sword fighting, disc throwing and golfing look seamless on screen.
"The great thing about this particular new technology, which isn't always true for other new technologies, is that we immediately saw the benefits of it," said "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" senior producer Jason Shenkman. "Before I even touched it or got my hands on it, I knew exactly what having a gyroscope in our possession would do for this game."
Electronic Arts' "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10" will be the first game bundled with the Wii MotionPlus. Shenkman insists the increased sensitivity doesn't boost difficulty because instant feedback helps gamers before their shots.
Nintendo has been pairing cute peripheral gadgets with games since launching the Wii, such as the Wii Wheel, Wii Zapper and Wii Balance Board, the scale-ish device packaged with "Wii Fit." Just how Nintendo plans to market the obscure Wii MotionPlus accessory is unclear. Nintendo executives declined to be interviewed for this story.
Only five games have so far been confirmed to employ the new functionality. The most prominent is Nintendo's own "Wii Sports Resort," a beachy follow up to the popular "Wii Sports." Besides "Tiger Woods," the other games are Electronic Arts' "Grand Slam Tennis," Capcom's "Virtua Tennis 2009" and Ubisoft's slice-and-shoot-'em-up...
Tue, 19 May 09
Microsoft, China's Hangzhou Set 'Model City' Pact
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66612
Microsoft Corp. announced a partnership aimed at helping make the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou a model for innovation and protection of intellectual property, in the company's latest attempt to combat rampant software piracy.
A three-year agreement signed Friday calls for setting up two new centers in Hangzhou to focus on developing the local technology industry. Microsoft will provide curriculum support, technology and training for teachers at Hangzhou Normal University through an institute set up to nurture local innovation.
"Partnering with leading IT companies like Microsoft will greatly boost Hangzhou's innovative capabilities and help us build a model information technology city in China," Cai Qi, Hangzhou's mayor, said in a statement.
No dollar figure was announced for the plan. Spending will be above the roughly $1 billion the company pledged in November to spend on research and development in China over the following three years.
The deal came after Hangzhou pledged to improve its enforcement of anti-piracy laws and promote the use of legitimate, non-pirated software by individuals, government offices and companies based in the city, which is west of Shanghai.
Software, movie and music makers, among many industries, say they lose billions of dollars each year to counterfeited and pirated products.
The deal calls for the two sides to set up a working team from both sides that will hold regular meetings to assess progress in that area, Alec Cooper, general manager of Microsoft Greater China's "Genuine Software Initiative," told reporters in a conference call.
"There is some degree of piracy in virtually every country around the world. We said, here's what we think are the best practices and here's what we think will work in China, and make it a more positive approach," Cooper said.
He said the partnership will focus on educating local people and businesses on the importance of fighting piracy of software and...
Tue, 19 May 09
Making Relationships Matter: LinkedIn's CRM Elements
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=65230
Social networking site LinkedIn is one of the few firms benefiting from the recession. The most obvious metric? Membership, which, at 34 million, is up from 8 million just two years ago. And as unemployment looms, LinkedIn users are apparently ramping up their networking efforts -- the number of member recommendations on the site reportedly surged 14 percent between September and January.
Amid the flurry of activity, it becomes vital for the site to uphold its reputation as the social networking destination of choice for businesspeople. In addition to opportunities for recruitment and human resources, investors and partners are beginning to take notice as well -- and beginning to connect to the CRM scene. In late October, SAP revealed it was part of a group that had made a $22.7 million investment in LinkedIn, but only had general comments on its plan for the stake: "LinkedIn is one of the leading Internet companies in the world that targets business users," said an SAP spokesperson. "When Web 2.0 technologies are smartly applied to the enterprise, they can produce significant efficiencies for small, medium, and large companies, and we believe in LinkedIn's pioneering approach."
SAP's not alone in seeing operational value. BusinessWeek, for example, is one of several media outlets tied into LinkedIn content. Thanks to one of what LinkedIn calls its "Intelligence Applications," when a visitor to the magazine's Web site hovers over a company name within a story, a list of her LinkedIn contacts at that company comes into view. In addition to Intelligence Applications, LinkedIn now offers 10 third-party applications on its site since opening up its application programming interface (API) in October.
Brad Shimmin, research analyst with Current Analysis, says that opening up the API will help LinkedIn in its retention efforts, thanks to an expanding breadth of usage -- and...
Sat, 16 May 09
Clearwire Racing Toward 4G Rollouts To Beat Rivals
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66629
Clearwire says it remains on track to launch its Clear-branded WiMAX 4G service in Atlanta next month, with Las Vegas slated for a late summer launch and Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas/Fort Worth scheduled for rollouts later in the year.
"We have been readying Atlanta distribution channels, building up six retail outlets, hiring and training sales teams, and engaging national players, including Best Buy and Radio Shack," and have "many local indirect retailers on board," said Clearwire CEO William Morrow. "And this month we are wrapping up our final operational readiness testing and advanced some store openings, advertising and promotion opportunities."
Clearwire sees Atlanta as a tremendous opportunity to boost its subscriber base. Its current high-water mark is 500,000.
"In June we will be expanding to Atlanta, adding nearly three million people to the Clear coverage footprint and a city that will be our largest market to date," Morrow said. "With the network covering upward of twelve hundred square miles, we will have validated that we can design and deliver large-scale markets with our low-cost network architecture."
But Morrow admits that Clearwire will be facing heightened competition from the incumbent 3G wireless carriers.
"They, too, see the opportunity and firsthand the current strain on their existing networks, but we start with a different heritage," Morrow said. "Incumbents are mobile voice companies adding a narrow pipe for data," whereas "we are a mobile broadband data company and are adding applications, including voice."
Additionally, Morrow noted that Clearwire doesn't need to unseat the incumbent wireless carriers to build a successful business. "As we do not have the same business model, we can achieve good returns even at a relatively low level of market penetration," Morrow said. "We do not have a legacy network or the need to defend past investments."
But Gartner Research...
Sat, 16 May 09
Google Pulls Trademark Restrictions for U.S. Ads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66628
Google is loosening its grip on trademarks included in advertisements through its AdWords service. The search giant said Thursday it will allow companies to place the terms of a trademark in the copy of text advertisements.
"Under this policy change, advertisers will be able to create more specific, less generic ad copy targeted to narrowly tailored landing pages," said Deanna Yick, a Google spokesperson. "Users and consumers shopping online will have more options and relevant choices."
The move will bring Google's policy on the use of trademarks in ad text more in line with the industry standard, according to Dan Friedman, a representative from Google's Inside AdWords team, in an official blog post.
Companies with certain criteria will be able to use trademark terms in ad text in the U.S. even if the company doesn't own the trademark or doesn't have approval from the trademark owner.
"For example, under our old policy, a site that sells several brands of athletic shoes may not have been able to highlight the actual brands that they sell in their ad text," Friedman said. "However, under our new policy, that advertiser can create specific ads for each of the brands that they sell."
While Google says it's doing companies and users a favor, brand advertisers may think otherwise.
Google's move may land the company in more hot water and put the company on the defense against potential trademark lawsuits similar to one already filed against the company.
On Monday, FPX LLC, also known as Firepond, filed a class-action complaint against Google for using trademarks it owns, including Firepond and Firepond CSQ.
In court documents, Firepond says it has suffered and has been injured in its business and property and the damage it has suffered is both economic and non-economic in nature.
"Google's change in policy is further indication...
Sat, 16 May 09
Video-Game Statistics Plunge After Boom in 2008
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66627
Sales of video games, consoles and accessories fell 17 percent in April, to $1 billion versus $1.2 billion in the same period last year, according to NPD Group. Year-to-date sales also saw a drop. Sales for the year were $5.28 billion, down from $5.48 billion.
The decrease for April may be steep, but analysts say there's no need to worry.
"While April sales might appear soft on the surface, it's important to remember that April is being compared against a month (April 2008) that realized nearly 50 percent growth over April 2007," said Anita Frazier, a video-game and toy analyst with NPD. "This year's performance still represents the second-best performance for the industry in the month of April, besting April 2007, which is the previous second-place holder, by 26 percent."
Sales of portable game systems have increased because of Nintendo's release of the DSi. The Nintendo DS category accounted for 31 percent of total sales in April, according to NPD. Despite the portables' success, there will be a weakness in sales for other platforms this month with a year-over-year decrease in Wii hardware sales.
"Taking that into account, Wii unit sales are still very strong and only followed the DS this month in terms of dollar and unit sales contribution to total industry sales," Frazier said.
Video-game software took the hardest hit in comparison to hardware and accessories. Software sales in April were down 23 percent from April 2008, dropping from $660.1 billion to $510.7 billion
"The number of new releases this month is fairly comparable to what was introduced last April, but GTA IV -- on both PS3 and the 360 -- sold nearly one million more units last April than the entire top 10 list did this year," Frazier said.
April 2008 also included the release of Mario Kart...
Sat, 16 May 09
Apple's Popular App Store May Not Make Much Money
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66625
Apple's iPhone App Store, which has set the model for online phone stores with more than a billion apps downloaded, is actually not making much money. That's the conclusion of several industry observers, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, an early-stage technology venture-capital firm based in California's Silicon Valley.
In a posting earlier this week on the company blog, Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew took a few pieces of publicly available data and estimated that Apple's revenue, after paying third-party developers, is between $12 million to $27 million on the low end and $20 million to $45 million on the high end.
Liew first took industry estimates for the ratio of paid to free applications, which ranged from 1:15 to 1:40, and calculated that 25 million to 60 million of the App Store's one billion downloads were sold. He noted that the mean price, according to research and publications company O'Reilly, was about $2.65.
That yields a total revenue of between $70 million and $160 million, he noted, and Apple gets 30 percent, which results in the low-end/high-end estimates.
Another estimate using somewhat different assumptions by Christian Zibreg at Geek.com comes up with $110 million in annual revenue for Apple. Zibreg projects that this isn't enough for Apple to break even, although the store could become a moneymaker in the future.
Some observers have also noted that Apple collects fees for developer licenses. With about 50,000 individual and corporate developers and annual licenses ranging from $99 to $299, the developer fees are a significant addition to Apple's bottom line.
On April 23, Apple announced that the App Store had delivered a billion downloads in its first nine months, and a 13-year Connecticut boy won the prizes the company offered to the person who downloaded the record-breaking app. The downloads and the revenue estimates highlight the...
Sat, 16 May 09
Facebook Phishing Attack Could Threaten Business Data
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66624
Another Facebook phishing attack was under way Thursday. Phishers hijacked Facebook messages and inserted fake links that take users to a bogus site where they were instructed to log in to Facebook again. If they did, the phishers captured the username and password information.
One version of the e-mail reads: "Susan sent you a message. Subject: Hello. Check 121.im," with "121.im" as a link. Compromised accounts help spread the malicious links rapidly across the network.
Facebook identified and blocked the e-mails with the fake link within a few hours of the attack's execution, but many members received the bogus message before the popular social-networking site acted. Facebook changes the passwords on victims' accounts to foil the phishers, but it hasn't divulged how many of its 200 million members were affected.
The latest attack comes as no surprise to Sophos. Just two weeks ago, the company revealed the results of its latest research into cybercrime's new frontier: Social networking.
A recent Sophos poll revealed 63 percent of system administrators worry that employees share too much personal information via their social-networking profiles, putting their corporate infrastructure -- and the sensitive data stored on it -- at risk. The findings also indicate that a quarter of businesses have been the victim of spam, phishing or malware attacks via sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace.
With social networking now part of many computer users' daily routine, unprecedented amounts of information are updated every minute, Sophos said. Frequent use of social-networking sites makes them a prime target for cybercriminals intent on stealing identities, spreading malware, or bombarding users with spam.
In Thursday's scam, hackers sent convincing messages to compromised members' friends and family, potentially stealing their credentials and opening them up to the danger of malicious Web sites or spam advertisements, according to...
Sat, 16 May 09
Panasonic Loss Wipes Out Last Year's Record Profit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66623
Panasonic has joined Sony in reporting a steep loss for its fiscal year. The Japanese electronics maker and world's largest plasma-TV maker lost 378.96 billion yen (US$3.99 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March. It was Panasonic's first loss in seven years.
The loss more than wiped out Panasonic's record profit of 281.9 billion yen (US$2.97 billion) posted in the year-ago period.
Like Sony, which reported a loss of 98.9 billion yen (US$1.03 billion) for its fiscal year, Pansonic sees a rough year ahead. It predicted a loss of 195 billion yen (US$2.05 billion) for the current fiscal year, compared to Sony's expected loss of 120 billion yen (US$1.25 billion).
"Panasonic expects that the economic environment in fiscal 2010 will be more severe than the past fiscal year, as the global recession and shrinking demand triggered by the financial crisis coincide with changes in market structure, including the expansion of emerging markets and a shift to lower-priced products," the company said.
Panasonic's sales for the year fell 14.4 percent to 7.77 trillion yen (US$81.8 billion) from the year-ago period. Sony's sales were down 12.9 percent to 7.73 trillion yen (US$80.8 billion).
Panasonic promised "drastic" reforms to recover. The company plans to lay off about 15,000 workers worldwide, five percent of its workforce, and shutter 40 facilities worldwide in the current fiscal year.
The company blamed most of its loss on restructuring costs of 367.4 billion yen (US$3.9 billion).
While Panasonic focuses primarily on Japan, Sony has seen its primary market outside Japan eroded by rival consumer electronics and video-game console makers. Apple has taken the lead in the portable music player market, where Sony's Walkman was once dominant. And Nintendo has taken the lead from Sony in video-game consoles, with Nintendo's Wii outselling Sony's PlayStation 3.
Sat, 16 May 09
Pressure Builds on Google as Server Problems Continue
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66610
Google News was down again Friday morning, signaling an apparent ripple effect through its servers that continues to affect users.
Google has apologized for Thursday's glitch, calling it a "traffic jam" that caused many users to experience slow service and service interruptions on Google.com, Gmail and Google News. The sites, as well as Google Docs, AdSense, YouTube, Google Analytics, and Blogger, were unavailable to some users for about an hour.
Specifically, Google said the trouble stemmed from a glitch that routed too much of its traffic through computers in Asia. This glitch translated to 14 percent of its users feeling the pain of an overwhelmed Google server.
"For so many users on PCs, it's the gateway to the Internet," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "While technical problems occur from time to time, people essentially expect perfection from Google. In addition to any frustration caused to ordinary users, there's also a big PR cost to downtime for Google because of its visibility."
This is hardly the first issue Google has had with reliability. Google experienced a one-two punch in February 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 gave the information set off a chain reaction that sent a similar message to their...
Sat, 16 May 09
Rambus Says FTC Has Dropped Antitrust Claims
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66605
Rambus Inc. said Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission has dropped its claim that the memory chip company violated antitrust laws in patenting technologies that were eventually incorporated into industry standards.
The company's shares jumped 12 percent in midday trading Thursday.
Rambus has fought several legal battles over chip patents, which generate most of its revenue. Chip manufacturers forced to pay royalties to Rambus have accused the company of quietly seeking rights to memory chip technology in the early 1990s even as it participated in an industry standards-setting body, thereby profiting from the body's decisions.
Los Altos, California-based Rambus has consistently denied wrongdoing. The company's general counsel, Thomas Lavelle, said in a statement Thursday, "We are pleased to have finally put this matter behind us."
The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The agency ruled in 2006 that Rambus had violated antitrust laws. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the decision in 2008 and sent the case back to the FTC, saying the agency had not come up with enough evidence to prove that Rambus had sought a monopoly or hurt competition.
Just weeks earlier, a federal jury in San Jose, California, had cleared Rambus of antitrust charges brought by chip makers Micron Technology Inc. of Boise, Idaho, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of Icheon, South Korea, and Nanya Technology Corp. of Kueishan, Taiwan.
Like the FTC, those companies charged Rambus with deliberately withholding information from the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, or JEDEC, which counted Rambus as a member as it established guidelines for the computer memory industry.
A federal judge affirmed the jury's decision this March, saying Rambus had no clear obligation to disclose pending or future patent applications while it held a spot on the council.
Dan Prywes, an outside lawyer representing JEDEC in the FTC's case,...
Sat, 16 May 09
Pint-Sized PCs Put Focus on Wireless Providers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66595
For professionals tired of lugging around clunky laptops -- which at their beefiest can top 10 pounds -- salvation may be at hand. Big laptops on the road can deliver comparable performance to desktop computers at the office, but innovations are making it easier to access vital software and business data for less money without the need for the fastest computer on the street.
Cloud computing, third-party data storage, and mobile Web access through netbooks are combining to form a less-expensive way to meet certain business IT needs.
Bruce Simon, director of data sales for the New York metro region at Verizon Wireless, said the environment is ripe for more users to tap software on the go. Netbooks -- mini-laptops with scaled-down features -- rely on Web access to put programs in users' hands. Typically priced under $500, netbooks offer a compromise between cost and functionality.
Simon said netbooks fit somewhere between smartphones and traditional laptops for users' mobile data needs. "The average netbook session may last 30 minutes, versus the average smartphone session at three minutes," he said.
Sales of these tiny computers are growing rapidly. DisplaySearch, in Austin, a subsidiary of the research company NPD Group, released a report on April 1 forecasting year-over-year growth of more than 65 percent for netbook sales in 2009, which would top 27 million units.
ABI Research, in New York, forecasts 35 million shipments of netbooks worldwide in 2009, with 139 million expected to sell in 2013.
As netbooks grow in popularity, wireless providers are eager to feed the demand. Because of their spartan features, netbooks require Web access to handle even basic tasks, which can translate into a new set of data customers for wireless providers. "Data revenues are over 25 percent of our total revenue," Simon said.
AT&T began selling subsidized netbooks to its wireless subscribers last...
Sat, 16 May 09
MasterCard Is Pushing Mobile Money
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66591
MasterCard is promoting a tempting new offer: Instead of using checks or wire transfers to send money, U.S. customers can soon text the funds directly to another person through their cell phones. Dubbed MoneySend, the new service promises to "make it faster, simpler, and more convenient for people to send money to each other using the MasterCard network," according to Art Kranzley, chief emerging-technology officer at the Purchase [N.Y.] company. The question is whether it will finally conquer consumer resistance to mobile banking.
While an estimated 350 million people worldwide now use their cell phones to shop, bank, or transfer money, according to consultancy Edgar, Dunn, Americans have been slow to adopt the technology. One reason is the need for special software on handsets. Another is a persistent worry about the security of moving money around in the wireless realm. "Person-to-person payments are a huge unexploited market in America," says Edgar Dunn director Samee Zafar.
MasterCard is trying to assuage such concerns by using a system that's similar to PayPal, which revolutionized e-commerce in 1998 by creating a password-protected site to transfer funds online. With MoneySend, announced on May 13 and launching later this month, customers will use their credit card, debit card, or bank account to sign up for a prepaid account online. They can then transfer funds by sending a text message to a recipient, who must then register to choose which account they want the funds deposited in. The service will work on any phone, thanks to a partnership with Obopay, a Redwood City [Calif.] company that specializes in money-transfer technology. In its initial launch phase, consumers will be able to transfer anywhere from $1 to $500 for a small fee. MasterCard expects some partner banks may waive those fees as an inducement for customers to sign up.
Sat, 16 May 09
MiFi Lets You Take Your Own Wi-Fi Hot Spot With You
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66590
Hunting down a wireless Internet connection is priority No. 1 for many travelers. But while Wi-Fi hot spots are common at airports, hotels, coffeehouses and conference centers, it'd be way more convenient if a hot spot could somehow follow you around. And also be available to the family members, friends or colleagues hanging out with you.
That's precisely the allure behind the MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot I've been testing. This credit-card-size, 2-ounce cellular modem -- it's just a tad thicker than a pencil -- arrives Sunday from Novatel Wireless and Verizon Wireless. It costs $100 after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year data plan. Sprint plans to bring out its own MiFi version at the end of the month.
By tapping into Verizon's 3G Mobile broadband network, the version I tested creates a personal Wi-Fi "cloud" to a theoretical range of up to 50 feet. You could use it on your commute (bus, train or car), vacation (lake house, beach) or working in a wayward location.
MiFi could be faster at times. It could have a longer-lasting battery. But considering the hassles often associated with wireless networking, MiFi is a winner.
The first obvious question is how MiFi differs from all those USB cellular modems that connect to cyberspace, or the wireless modems built into some laptops. The biggest and most important difference is that MiFi can be shared by up to five computers and/or other Wi-Fi-capable devices, including smartphones, digital cameras and portable game machines.
A USB modem, by contrast, is tethered to a given machine, and is often awkward; the Verizon Pantech 3G modem I own has an antenna that juts out precariously, an accident waiting to happen.
MiFi is an attractive little thing you can conceal in your pocket. You don't hook it up to anything. It has a single on/off...
Sat, 16 May 09
Landline Number Move Should Take One Day
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66586
The Federal Communications Commission voted Wednesday to force landline phone companies to act faster when their subscribers want to move their phone number to a rival service.
The commission will require companies to transfer, or "port," landline phone numbers within one business day, down from the current four-day requirement.
Wireless numbers are currently ported within one day -- in many cases within hours -- and the commission said landline companies should be just as fast.
Landline numbers can be transferred to competing landline services, such as those from cable or Internet calling companies, or to cell phones.
The shortened porting period should take effect in about a year.
The FCC told the North American Numbering Council, which coordinates number issues for the carriers, to develop new procedures within about three months. The carriers will then have nine months to comply. Smaller carriers will get an extra six months, for a total of about a year and a half.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin said the order is likely to benefit wireless carriers and cable companies, while imposing new costs on smaller, rural phone companies like Little Rock, Ark.-based Windstream Corp. and Monroe, La.-based CenturyTel Inc. Such companies have fewer customers over which to spread costs.
Phone industry association USTelecom said it supports the FCC's efforts to reduce porting times, but said that given the complexities of the transfer process, the group needs "to carefully review the order to determine its practicality and its effect on our members."
Acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said the commission has been encouraging the industry for years to shorten its porting intervals, and that the time had come to force action.
Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell joined the two Democratic commissioners for a unanimous vote. The commission has two empty seats.
The FCC also voted to required Internet calling companies to notify their customers and the...
Sat, 16 May 09
Review: Flaws in Web's Much-Touted WolframAlpha
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66585
When a free Web service called WolframAlpha launches in the coming days, the general public will get to try a "computational knowledge engine" that has had technology insiders buzzing because of its oracle-like ability to spit out answers and make calculations.
Which has a bigger gross domestic product, Spain or Canada? What was New York City's population in 1900? When did the sun rise in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 1973? How far is the moon right now? If I eat an apple and an orange, how much protein would I get?
WolframAlpha will tell you -- without making you comb through links as a search engine would. It also will graphically illustrate answers when merited. So if you query "GDP Spain Canada" you'd see a chart indicating that Spain's economy was smaller than Canada's most of the time since 1970 and recently pulled ahead.
That's pretty clever.
Yet after testing the service for a few weeks, I think WolframAlpha is unlikely to become a household name -- and not just because of the gauze-in-the-mouth logjam of two "f" sounds in the title. While WolframAlpha is brilliant at times and elegant in its display, there aren't many ways everyday Web users would benefit from using it over other resources.
In the interest of full disclosure, I'll admit that I'm troubled by the potential for WolframAlpha. I fear the implications of an information butler that is considered so smart and so widely applicable that people turn to it without question, by default, whenever they want to know something.
What's that, you say? We already have such a service?
Well, for all the fears that Google is making us stupid by making it too easy to look up information, at least Google and its rivals enable the critical thinking that comes from scoping out multiple sources.
Unlike search engines that...
Fri, 15 May 09
Google Routing Error Through Asia Disrupts Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66609
Google Search, Gmail, AdSense and several other Google services, including YouTube, were slow for a while Thursday and, in some instances, completely down. Google acknowledged the outage, said it was working on the matter, and the issue was resolved by midafternoon Eastern time.
Google explained the outage in a blog post comparing it to an airplane flight.
"Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia," said Urs Hoelzle, senior vice president of operations at Google. "And a bunch of other planes were sent that way, too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took so much longer than expected."
That's basically what happened to some Google users, according to the company, beginning at 10:48 a.m. Eastern time.
"An error in one of our systems caused us to direct some of our Web traffic through Asia, which created a traffic jam," Hoelzle said. "As a result, about 14 percent of our users experienced slow services or even interruptions."
The error messages began with Google News but didn't end there. Google's Apps Status dashboard then reported several service disruptions with Google Sites, Gmail and Calendar. Google said the glitch was embarrassing and apologized.
Outages and interruptions in services have plagued the Internet search giant before. Just three months ago Google's Gmail service was down. Google addressed the issue in an official blog post, saying the company was alerted by its monitoring systems that Gmail consumer and business accounts worldwide could not get access to their e-mail.
While the outage wasn't long-lasting, its timing could be considered comical as just the day before Google was urging e-mail users to switch from their old accounts to Gmail.
Chad Parry, a Gmail engineer, tried convincing reluctant e-mail account holders...
Fri, 15 May 09
Verizon Challenges AT&T with Its Own Netbook Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66608
Verizon Wireless is preparing to challenge AT&T by introducing its own netbook with a two-year broadband plan. On Sunday, it will begin selling Hewlett-Packard's Mini 1151NR for $200 after a $50 rebate.
The 3G netbook uses a 1.6-GHz Atom N270 processor and comes with 1GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and a 10.1-inch widescreen display. It has Ethernet, Bluetooth and 802.11b/g connectivity and a 92 percent keyboard. It weighs in at 2.45 pounds and runs Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 3. The three-cell battery is expected to provide two to three hours of power per charge.
On Sunday, Verizon will boost its $39.99-a-month data plan to allow 250MB of data each month, with a charge of 10 cents for each additional megabyte. Verizon also offers a $59.99 plan with 5GB and a five-cent overuse charge, and a day pass for $15.
Verizon said the netbook comes with a Qualcomm Gobi chip for access to its CDMA and GSM networks. If a customer selects the $129.99-a-month Global Access plan, a SIM card is provided.
AT&T offers the 3G Acer Aspire One netbook for $99.99 with a service contract. The 2.44-pound netbook comes with 1GB of RAM, a 160MB hard drive and 802.11b/g connectivity. It has a 10.1-inch screen.
A 3G Acer netbook with an 8.9-inch screen is also offered on the Radio Shack Web site for $49.99 with a two-year AT&T contract at $60 a month. It features an Atom processor, 1024x600 resolution, a camera, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP Home Edition. It comes with a card reader and a three-cell battery for about 2.5 hours of power.
Fri, 15 May 09
Study: Greedy Gadgets Suck Global Resources
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66607
A new study from the International Energy Agency predicts that by 2030, the energy demands of gadgets globally will collectively drain an amount of electricity equivalent to the total power consumption of two of the world's largest developed countries.
According to the intergovernmental organization, consumer gear currently accounts for 15 percent of household electricity consumption, and its share of the total is rapidly rising. Without new policies, noted IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka, the energy consumed by high-tech gear will double by 2022 and increase threefold by 2030.
"This increase up to 1700 TWh is equivalent to the current combined total residential electricity consumption of the United States and Japan," Tanaka said. "It would also cost households around the world $200 billion in electricity bills and require the addition of approximately 280 gigawatts of new generating capacity between now and 2030."
The good news is that higher-efficiency technologies are already available that could cut this demand in half, Tanaka noted. "Many mobile devices are already far more efficient in their use of power than other devices which run off a main electricity supply. Because extending the battery life of a mobile device is a selling point, manufacturers place an emphasis on designing products which require very little power."
However, Tanaka believes that little will be accomplished in the area of world energy consumption reductions without government intervention. "Without new policies, the projected energy demand from information and communications technologies and consumer electronics will undermine our energy security and climate change mitigation," Tanaka said.
Government intervention is needed because consumers currently are not well informed about the problem and have little personal economic incentive to reduce gadget power consumption when their individual use is so small, Tanaka noted. Moreover, the entire gadget supply chain is currently geared toward delivering products with...
Fri, 15 May 09
Rumors Focus on New iPhone as App Store Grows
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66606
It wouldn't be an Apple conference without a debate and speculation about new software, new products, or CEO Steve Jobs' health. This week the debate focuses on a redesigned iPhone and whether it will debut at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June at San Francisco's Moscone Center.
The event has already sold out and analysts and observers are weighing in on whether a redesigned device featuring the new iPhone OS 3.0 will appear.
One analyst said the device won't launch at WWDC and instead will be launched at a special Apple-hosted event, while others say Apple will use the WWDC to debut a redesigned device, as it did when launching the first iPhone.
Ramon Llamas, an IDC senior research analyst, said an introduction at WWDC is most likely.
Those who say WWDC is the place for the debut are citing competition. They think Apple, after all its marketing and success surrounding the iPhone and its App Store, won't allow Palm -- which is expected to launch the Palm Pre smartphone just days before WWDC -- to take away the spotlight.
Waiting until after the Pre is launched is a more strategic move for Apple, they say, because an iPhone announcement at WWDC 2009 would steal the spotlight from Palm and the Pre.
Apple's App Store recorded one billion apps downloaded this month and new ones are still coming. On Thursday, Citrix launched the Citrix Receiver app, a free download. In addition to running desktop Windows apps, Receiver also supports Silverlight, Flash and Flex-based applications.
Citrix Receiver includes a new feature called Doc Finder that runs on XenApp but provides an iPhone experience to allow users to easily find, view, edit and send documents, according to Chris Fleck, vice president of solutions development and community evangelism at Citrix. "Because the documents are hosted securely in the...
Fri, 15 May 09
Asus Sends $420 Seashell Netbook To U.S. Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66603
The booming species of computer called the netbook is getting a new member -- the Asus Eee PC 1008HA, also known by the easier-to-remember name of Seashell. The $420 machine, being compared in some quarters to Apple's MacBook laptop, was recently released in the United Kingdom and is now heading for the U.S. market.
The Seashell features an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth v2.1, 802.11n, a 10.1-inch LED-backlit WSVGA 1024x600 screen, a built-in 1.3-megapixel camera, and a digital-array microphone composed of two mikes to reduce background noises and echoes. Maker ASUSTeK Computer also offers 10GB of online storage that is complimentary for the first 18 months of ownership.
This petite model weighs only 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds) and is "ultra-slim" at a depth of one inch. There's a "92 percent" keyboard, a touch keypad, an Ethernet and two USB ports, a SD card reader, and a hidden, pop-out VGA adapter dongle that's available when needed for using a larger screen. Asus said the model's Super Hybrid Engine's increased power efficiency delivers six hours of battery life.
The Seashell is getting high marks for its pricing, petite size and style, but netbooks are a fast-moving category. For instance, Dell recently released a $299 Mini 10v, also based on an Atom CPU -- the N270--and also with 1GB Ram, plus a 120GB hard drive. And the pricing center of gravity for netbooks is rapidly moving downward, with visions of netbooks under $200 with phone-company contracts.
Richard Shim, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, agreed that the netbook market is "heating up." He pointed out, however, that the actual number of units sold is "limited," while the growth rate is high.
The netbook market is rapidly evolving, Shim noted. "We're seeing more and more...
Fri, 15 May 09
Amazon Launches Blog Subscriptions for Kindle
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66602
After optimizing the Kindle bookstore for the iPhone and acquiring the popular iPhone e-book reader Stanza, Amazon is now turning the page on its next Kindle innovation: Blog subscriptions.
Amazon on Wednesday unveiled a beta program to pay bloggers for Kindle subscriptions to their posts. Although Kindle comes equipped with a simple browser that allows consumers to pull up their blogs of choice, Amazon has decided to remove a step from the process and push blog content to the device's home screen. Subscriptions run 99 cents to $2 a month.
Amazon pays registered bloggers 30 percent of the subscription fee and keeps 70 percent for internal costs. Bloggers don't have to pay any fees to join the program, but Amazon sets the price of the content based on what it deems a fair value for customers. The new program opens the door for bloggers to gain new readers and cash.
"This blogging program shows the diversity of content available for Kindle. For some blogs it could very well become their vehicle and their way of breaking away from the pack," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret.
"More importantly, it shows Amazon continues to evolve Kindle as a device and
as a platform. Amazon is establishing the Kindle not as an e-book reader, but rather a content reader. I can get my blogs, my newspapers, my magazines, and, of course, my books."
With multiple Kindle devices and multiple platforms to read Kindle content, Amazon appears prepared to continue its rush toward digital content and digital distribution where others have tried and failed.
Microsoft, for example, once had a vision for electronic books that showcased the digital content on a PC. Adobe has made moves to push e-book publishing through its PDF format. Sony has its e-book reader, but it hasn't gained traction....
Fri, 15 May 09
Sony Reels From $1.03B Loss Amid Falling Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66601
In a sign of the times for the consumer electronics industry, Sony on Thursday posted its first annual loss in 14 years. It predicted a bleak year ahead.
Sony's loss was 98.9 billion yen (US$1.03 billion) for its fiscal year just ended, and it expects a net loss of 120 billion yen (US$1.25 billion) for its fiscal year ending in March 2010. Despite the dismal report, Sony beat analyst's expectations, thanks to a one-time gain from Japanese tax-law changes.
Sony blamed the economic downturn and a strong yen for its poor earnings and plans to close three factories in Japan to slash production costs. But analysts suggested the problem might be something more.
"Like Apple products, Sony products often carry a bit of a cache and are considered premium products," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "The key difference is that Apple has managed to portray itself as a premium product that carries value. Sony hasn't gone to the trouble to establish the value behind the premium offerings."
Drilling down into the report, Sony's sales for fiscal 2009 fell 12.9 percent from the year-ago period to 7.73 trillion yen (US$80.8 billion). Sony saw the greatest losses in the fourth quarter, where sales plummeted 22 percent to 1.52 trillion yen (US$15.9 billion).
Sony has seen its market share eroded by rival consumer electronics and video-game console makers, including Apple and Nintendo. Once dominant with the Walkman brand, Sony has given up its portable music player market lead to Apple. For video-game consoles, Nintendo has regained its market share from Sony, with the Wii outselling the PlayStation 3 by a wide margin.
"The Wii has been a problem for the PS3 since almost day one, and Sony has not been able to effectively respond," Gartenberg said. "Most recently, Apple has been pushing...
Fri, 15 May 09
Vodafone Announces App Store with New Features
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66569
On May 12, Vodafone unveiled plans to launch an online mobile applications store that will let the network operator's customers around the world easily download a rich assortment of software programs onto their cell phones. By joining the ranks of other companies such as Apple, Nokia, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion that have also launched "app stores," Vodafone is aiming to stay in the game -- and to best rivals with distinctive features.
Starting this summer, Vodafone -- the world's top mobile service provider by revenues -- will release to outside developers a software toolkit that lets them write programs for the Vodafone app store. By yearend, apps will be available for download in eight European countries: Britain, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. The service eventually will be available to all 289 million Vodafone customers in the 27 countries where the company operates, and later could be offered through some of Vodafone's 40 worldwide network partners, potentially including Verizon Wireless in the U.S., of which it is half-owner.
Vodafone is just the latest entrant in the race to grab a piece of the fast-growing market for mobile phone apps, which range from nifty little utilities and games to blogging tools and online shopping services. Since the debut of Apple's wildly popular App Store in July 2008, rivals have piled into the business, including handset makers Nokia, RIM, and Palm; mobile operators such as France's Telecom's Orange unit; and software companies Google and Microsoft.
British-based Vodafone claims that its big advantage over handset and software company rivals will be its ownership and control of the mobile network. Unlike app-store providers such as Nokia or Apple, that means Vodafone will be able to pinpoint the whereabouts of customers when they're using programs on their phones, which should allow...
Fri, 15 May 09
Helping Cybersleuths Untangle Web's Clues
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66567
For old-fashioned detectives, the problem was always acquiring information. For the modern cybersleuth, hunting evidence in the data tangle of the Internet, the problem is different.
"The holy grail is how can you distinguish between information which is garbage and information which is valuable?" said Rafal Rohozinski, a social scientist trained at the University of Cambridge and involved in computer security issues.
Beginning eight years ago he co-founded two groups, Information Warfare Monitor and Citizen Lab, which have headquarters at the University of Toronto, with Ronald Diebert, a University of Toronto political scientist. In pursuit of that grail, these groups strive to put investigative tools normally reserved for law enforcement agencies and computer security investigators at the service of groups that do not have such resources.
"We thought that civil society groups lacked an intelligence capacity," Mr. Diebert said.
They have had some important successes. Last year Nart Villeneuve, an international relations researcher who works for the two groups, found that a Chinese version of Skype software was being used for eavesdropping by one of the major Chinese wireless carriers, probably on behalf of Chinese law enforcement agencies.
This year, Mr. Villeneuve helped uncover a spy system -- he and his fellow researchers dubbed it Ghostnet -- which looked like a Chinese government-run operation looking at mostly South Asian government-owned computers around the world.
Both discoveries were the result of a new genre of detective work, and they illustrate the strengths and the limits of detective work in cyberspace.
The researchers were not able to determine with certainty who controlled the system. It could have been created by so-called patriotic hackers, independent computer activists in China whose actions are closely aligned with, but independent from, the Chinese government. Or it could have been created and run by Internet spies in a third country.
Indeed, the discovery raised as...
Fri, 15 May 09
Can Boxee's Web Software Capture More TV Screens?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66565
Like many people who own a PC, Avner Ronen found himself watching more and more video online. But he wanted to view it on the TV in his living room as well as on his laptop. "I got together with a bunch of my friends and we realized we were watching streaming video on the Web a lot more and using our TVs a lot less," Ronen says.
But they couldn't find technology that did a good job of bridging the gap between the PC in the home office and the TV in the living room. So they created the software themselves. "We just wanted to build something that we would use," says Ronen, who emigrated to the U.S. from Israel in 1999.
The result is Boxee TV, software that grabs video and music downloaded onto a PC and then houses it in a single, easy-to-navigate location. It also lets users pull together content from a range of online video and music sources, from CBS's CBS.com and Last.fm to Viacom's Comedy Central and Time Warner's CNN. Better still, when the PC is connected to a TV set with a cable that can be had for $10, Boxee lets users enjoy programming on a big TV that they'd otherwise view on an often-tiny computer screen. Ronen says 80 percent of users make the connection between their PCs and TVs.
Boxee was first released in mid-2008 to users of Apple Macintosh computers and machines running the Linux operating system. Already the software has developed a large, devoted following of almost a half million users. At the same time, Ronen and his pals have sprinted past where tech companies large and small have sputtered for the better part of a decade. For instance, Microsoft created the Media Center PC concept in 2002;...
Fri, 15 May 09
Dell Bans E-Waste Export to Developing Countries
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66561
PC maker Dell Inc. on Tuesday formally banned the export of broken computers, monitors and parts to developing countries amid complaints that lax enforcement of environmental and worker-safety regulations have allowed an informal and often hazardous electronic-waste recycling industry to emerge.
Although Dell's announcement does not mark a significant change in the PC maker's behavior, environmental groups hope that by making its standards public, Dell will raise the bar for other electronics makers.
In the absence of U.S. regulations, those groups are banking on competitive pressure to make companies improve their e-waste practices.
"This is very significant announcement," said Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics Takeback Coalition, which has long pressured Dell and other electronics makers to improve their recycling programs. "It may seem like nuance, but what Dell's doing is drawing a very sharp and clear line and saying they won't cross it, in a way that is just much brighter and clearer than the way anyone else does it."
Environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Basel Action Network have tracked shipments of e-waste intended for recycling to countries such as China, Ghana and Nigeria and found computers, TVs and other electronics being dismantled by smashing or burning, exposing people to mercury, lead and other toxic chemicals.
No one knows exactly how much of the electronics turned over to recyclers ends up in such conditions, but Greenpeace and others say it could be 50 percent to 80 percent of the items collected in the U.S. for recycling.
That's despite broad acceptance of the Basel Convention, an international treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste across borders. The U.S., which has no federal law against sending such e-waste to scrap dealers overseas, has yet to ratify the Basel Convention.
Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, said it had already required contractors to keep e-waste out...
Fri, 15 May 09
Google To Reshoot Street Views of Japanese Cities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66557
Google said Wednesday it will reshoot all photos in Japan for its Street View service after residents complained the 360-degree panoramic images provided a view over the fences around their homes.
The Internet giant's service has triggered privacy complaints around the world, including most recently in Greece, where it was banned Tuesday.
The photos currently on the Web site were taken by cameras mounted on a stick attached to a car roof. Google Japan said it would lower the cameras after many residents said they were high enough to look over fences around their homes, company product manager Keiichi Kawai said in a statement.
Others have previously complained that images on the service recorded vehicle license plates and laundry hanging in backyards. Rights groups have also demanded Google suspend the service.
Kawai said Google's decision to lower the cameras is designed to address concerns in Japan, where many neighborhoods are crowded and privacy is tightly guarded.
Google also has blurred vehicle license plates in the images.
Google, which has covered 12 major Japanese cities, including Tokyo and Osaka, will continue filming in the country.
"We admit that there were concerns about the service. ... People said we might have neglected the privacy issue," he wrote. "We took their opinions seriously and made careful considerations."
But Kawai stressed the service has many benefits, including saving many from getting lost.
Since it was launched in 2007, Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide. But it has drawn complaints from individuals and institutions that have been photographed, including the Pentagon, which barred Google last year from photographing U.S. military bases for Street View.
On Tuesday, a privacy watchdog in Greece banned Google from gathering images in the country for its Street View service until it provides more privacy guarantees than the current proposal to blur faces and vehicle license plates....
Thu, 14 May 09
iPhone SlingPlayer App Available, But Only with Wi-Fi
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66579
Since the iPhone was first launched, consumers have been eagerly waiting for one application to appear in Apple's App Store. That is SlingPlayer Mobile, and it became available for download on Wednesday.
The app allows users connected to a Slingbox SOLO, PRO or PRO-HD to access anything they can watch at home -- on an iPhone or an iPod touch. The app, however, was missing one significant piece, access to AT&T's 3G network.
SlingPlayer's developer, Sling Media, made the app available for $30 in the App Store but had to block its access to AT&T's 3G network after the carrier objected. Apple and AT&T voiced concerns about the application allowing users access over the AT&T 3G network, but there are streaming video sites accessible with the iPhone and a similar application, Orb, which allows streaming to the iPhone, didn't draw AT&T objections.
"I think if you look at the application it still provides a lot of value if you use it around the house on a Wi-Fi connection," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "Does it provide the same set of features that the client has on other devices like Windows Mobile or BlackBerry? No."
SlingPlayer, which has been in limbo for some time, is now available, but will consumers be willing to pay $30 without 3G access?
"At $30 it is on the high end, but cheaper than Sling on other platforms, which is $39," Gartenberg said. "But as a portable TV you can use around your house or at Starbucks, it is still a pretty good value if you have a Sling box."
Sling and Apple will be watching the purchases closely. "My guess is there are probably any number of conversations on this particular subject between carriers, developers and Apple," Gartenberg added.
Already, potential users are voicing opinions, saying...
Thu, 14 May 09
Clearwire Taps Cisco to Provide 4G Network Infrastructure
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66578
Clearwire has tapped Cisco Systems to provide the wireless infrastructure for its new 4G network. Cisco, based in San Jose, Calif., has been tasked with building new mobile WiMAX devices for Clearwire's network for small and midsize business markets, Clearwire announced Wednesday.
Clearwire currently provides mobile WiMAX services in Baltimore, Md., and Portland, Ore., and plans to bring its 4G service to more than 80 markets in the U.S. by the end of next year, according to the company.
Cisco is the primary Next Generation Networking provider for Clearwire. Already Clearwire is testing and certifying Cisco's IP NGN architecture, which includes Cisco 7600 Series routers, Cisco ASA Firewalls, and the Cisco Service and Application Module.
"By teaming with Cisco, one of the world's most forward-looking IP network infrastructure providers, we're building a robust and cost-efficient next-generation network that's designed specifically for delivering rich broadband services," said Scott Richardson, chief strategy officer for Clearwire. "In addition, Cisco plans to develop WiMAX technology for end-user devices, which will give consumers and businesses more compelling ways to stay connected through our CLEAR 4G service."
"In addition, incorporating WiMAX into our products will help enable people to move freely throughout the United States, while maintaining continuous connectivity to personalized applications and services," said Ned Hooper, senior vice president of the consumer business group at Cisco.
Clearwire has an existing relationship with Cisco. Together, the companies are developing the WiMAX Innovation Network, a 20-square-mile beta network being set up in Silicon Valley to bring 4G wireless service to the campuses of Intel and Google, according to Clearwire.
Cisco will provide core IP NGN infrastructure equipment for the network. The service is expected to be available to developers by late summer, giving the companies a head start on the commercial service launching in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010.
Because...
Thu, 14 May 09
Oracle Will Add Virtual Iron To Virtualization Array
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66577
Oracle said Wednesday it will buy Virtual Iron Software of Lowell, Mass., whose virtualization software supports Intel VT and AMD-V hardware virtualization. Virtual Iron is privately held and Oracle did not disclose the financial details.
Virtualization is driving modern data centers as companies consolidate multiple servers onto fewer hardware systems to reduce costs and power requirements.
"Industry trends are driving demand for virtualization as a way to reduce operating expenses and support green IT strategies without sacrificing quality of service," said Wim Coekaerts, Oracle vice president of Linux and virtualization engineering. "With the addition of Virtual Iron, Oracle expects to enable customers to more dynamically manage their server capacity and optimize their power consumption. The acquisition is consistent with Oracle's strategy to provide comprehensive enterprise software management and will facilitate more efficient management of application service levels."
Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle already offers Oracle VM to support virtualization environments. The company said adding Virtual Iron's technology is expected to provide more comprehensive and dynamic resource management, including better capacity utilization and control.
Oracle will also gain other virtualization products, including xVM Server, from its $7.4 million acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The additions are expected to make it more competitive with market leaders Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft and EMC.
Virtual Iron has focused on virtualization software for small and midsize businesses, in contrast to Oracle and Sun's focus on the larger enterprise market. The company, founded in 2003, has 80 employees and raised about $65 million in venture funding. Intel is an investor.
Technology news reports indicate Virtual Iron's software provides capabilities comparable to VMware at less cost. Where VMware uses a proprietary hypervisor, Virtual Iron uses the open-source virtualization manager Xen, which Oracle VM also uses. Sun's virtualization products are also based on Xen.
The Virtual Iron acquisition is expected to close this summer.
Thu, 14 May 09
Intel Will Appeal EC's Record $1.44 Billion Fine
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66576
On Wednesday, the European Commission fined Intel a record 1.06 billion Euros (US$1.44 billion) for anticompetitive behavior. Intel said it will appeal.
The EC said the U.S.-based chipmaker gave discounts and payments to European computer manufacturers to use Intel's processors and prevent them from going to archrival Advanced Micro Devices. The investigation began in 2000.
Intel general counsel Bruce Sewell told Dow Jones Newswires, "We completely disagree" with the EU's findings. Intel denied paying manufacturers not to buy AMD products or require them not to buy AMD chips to obtain a rebate.
"There's been an evolution in antitrust law and how rebates are to be conducted by dominant companies. We see a line of thought coming mainly from the European Commission -- but also in Korea and Japan -- that rebates can be anticompetitive," Sewell told journalists. "Antitrust agencies are testing the boundaries of the law."
South Korea and Japan have also cited Intel for its marketing methods. Intel is appealing a $25 million fine in Korea and Sewell said the company has settled with Japanese officials.
An appeal of the EC decision could take several years.
The EC said Intel's rebates were conditional on a computer manufacturer buying Intel chips nearly exclusively. It also said it had proof that Intel paid European manufacturers to postpone the launch of computers with AMD chips.
Sewell insisted Intel only provides one kind of rebate.
Antitrust lawyer Thomas Vinje of Clifford Chance in Brussels, Belgium, said the EC stuck closely to existing case law against rebates used to lock in market share. He added that the only way Intel can win is if the EC is wrong about the facts.
Thomas Graf of Cleary, Steen & Hamilton LLP noted that Intel has generated large revenues in the European market, setting the stage for the record fine. He added that the...
Thu, 14 May 09
Under Pressure, Craigslist Nixes Erotic Services Section
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66575
Feeling immense pressure from lawmakers in several states, Craigslist has agreed to remove its erotic services section from the Web site.
The office of Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced Wednesday that the online classified advertising Web site has agreed stop allowing erotic ad postings.
"Craigslist is heeding our clear call for conscience and common sense, sending a strong signal that Internet sites must police themselves to protect others," said Blumenthal. "As head of the multistate attorney general task force, I was informed by Craigslist late last night that it will eliminate the erotic services section within seven days, create a new section called adult services, and manually review every ad posted there to bar flagrant prostitution and pornography."
The removal of the erotic postings section comes after representatives from both sides of the table met to discuss requests from various states' attorneys general, including Illinois, Rhode Island and South Carolina, to do away with the ads after one woman was attacked and another murdered.
Attorneys have argued that the incidents could have been avoided if Craigslist had not allowed the women to advertise erotic services on the Web site.
"Craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site," Illinois Attorney General Chris Koster protested last week. "It is blatant. It is irresponsible. It is illegal."
Before Wednesday, Craigslist had stood behind its efforts and business practices. In November 2008, the company signed an agreement with the more than 40 attorneys general to put into place various steps to deal with prostitution. One step to thwart the erotic ads was by charging a fee to post the ads; another way was to require posters to submit a working telephone number.
While Craigslist founders believed they were already extending a hand in an effort to work with authorities, various states said...
Thu, 14 May 09
Google Adds 'Slice and Dice' To Search Results
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66573
Google moved closer Tuesday to its highly ambitious goal of organizing the world's information as it announced new options for its popular search engine.
Search options, according to a posting on The Official Google Blog, "are a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier." The blog announcement noted that the options will help users solve a basic problem in searching -- what question should I be asking?
"Show options" is a link on search-result pages, offering such filters as videos, forums, and reviews. Clicking on reviews after searching for a product name brings up all the results that Google thinks are reviews, and reviews can be filtered by time.
One example given by Google was that of a user who wanted to see recent forum discussions about a specific product. With search options, filters can be applied to product-name search results, such as removing anything but forum sites and setting the time window to only include results from the past week.
A new time line option lets a user group results by when they appeared and drill down to specific points in time. For instance, if a student is writing a paper about green energy, she can see how the results have evolved over time.
A "wonder wheel" option graphically groups results in a wheel formation, with the searched topic in the center and linked, related subjects on the spokes. Clicking on a related topic brings up its own wonder wheel, with its own related topics.
The results themselves will also get richer. Google calls each set of information in each result a "snippet," and they will now become "richer snippets."
A result for a restaurant, for instance, will show an average review score, the price range, and...
Thu, 14 May 09
Apple and Adobe Patches Correct Security Holes
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66556
Patch Tuesday is a Microsoft institution, but competing software companies are stealing some of the attention this week with security issues of their own. On Tuesday, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.7, an update for its operating system that aims to improve application performance and stability -- and fix 68 security issues.
"Who would have thought that OS X was so insecure? Nearly every component of Apple's OS and its applications are touched by security-related fixes in the latest massive update from Apple," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle. "This is a real wake-up call for everyone that has been touting the Mac OS as more secure than Windows."
As is the recent trend with Apple, Storms said a fair number of the updates are for the open-source applications bundled with its operating system rather than issues with the core of Apple's software products.
"As we have seen in the past with both OS X and the iPhone, attackers utilize public disclosure of open-source application vulnerabilities to find holes in Apple products," Storms said. "Now that Apple has let the security cat out of the bag, users are encouraged to update as soon as possible because exploits will be written very quickly."
The update is available through Apple's Software Update control panel or from the downloads Web page. The update adds RAW image support for several new digital-camera models; improves the reliability and accuracy of the Unit Converter, Stocks, Weather and Movies widgets; improves video playback and cursor movement for Macs with Nvidia graphics; fixes Yahoo contact-sync issues; Gmail log-in issues; and improves the search results for Finder. The update also resolves issues with Apple's iCal and Mail applications, parental controls, and a few printing issues.
Perhaps more pressing than the Apple updates -- or even...
Thu, 14 May 09
Patch Tuesday Addresses PowerPoint Vulnerabilities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66555
In a notable Patch Tuesday, Microsoft issued a single security bulletin to address 14 vulnerabilities, 11 of them rated critical. All of this month's patches relate to various versions of Microsoft PowerPoint.
May's Patch Tuesday is only the fourth time in four years Microsoft has issued just one security bulletin, but that one bulletin addresses the most vulnerabilities of any release in Microsoft history.
Most of this month's fixes have to do with opening older, or legacy, PowerPoint file formats. However, security research firm Symantec pointed to exploit code for CVE-2009-0556 publicly available that could give attackers remote access to the machine. At this stage, only a limited number of exploits have been seen in the wild, but the zero-day vulnerability is cause for concern among security researchers.
"Because taking advantage of these vulnerabilities requires a user to open a maliciously crafted PowerPoint file, e-mail is likely the most probable method attackers would use to try and exploit these," said Alfred Huger, vice president of Symantec Security Response. "Another possibility is for an attacker to lure a victim into downloading the file from a misleading or compromised Web site. At that point, the attacker would then have complete control over everything the user's account has permission to do on the system."
Given the large amount of bugs Microsoft and Oracle fixed last month, this light Microsoft release will give enterprises a much-needed opportunity to catch up, noted Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle.
"For the last two months users have been battling Microsoft Office zero-day attacks. The first set in February was in Microsoft Excel. The second set, announced on April 2nd, made users afraid of opening PowerPoint files," Storms said. "Forty days from bug to bug fix is a decent turnaround for Microsoft, given the vast number of Microsoft...
Thu, 14 May 09
AirTran To Offer Wi-Fi on All Flights
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66543
In a bid to win over Internet-savvy travelers, AirTran Airways this summer will become the first large U.S. airline to offer wireless Internet access on every flight nationwide.
AirTran plans to have all 136 of its Boeing 737 and 717 jets equipped with in-flight wireless service by late July, CEO Bob Fornaro said Monday.
For a fee, the Orlando-based, low-fare carrier will offer Wi-Fi for passengers' wireless-enabled laptops, smartphones and personal digital assistants. The airline plans to make the announcement today.
AirTran began equipping its jets last month at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, its largest hub airport. Fornaro would not divulge the size of AirTran's investment or the revenue it could generate from the service.
"We think this is going to become a necessity" for airlines, Fornaro said. "Some carriers have it on some flights. We're going to offer passengers certainty, and I think that will give us a leg up."
Airborne wireless service is gaining traction across the airline industry, which is going from experimentation to installation as it searches for new sources of revenue and a competitive edge.
AirTran's decision to put it in fleetwide could accelerate adoption of the new service, which lets fliers access the Web from a handheld device or laptop for $7.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on the device and the length of the flight.
According to Aircell, the Chicago-based provider of the Gogo wireless service, more than 1,000 jets from several North American carriers will be Wi-Fi-equipped by year's end, up from about 30 at the end of 2008.
"That will be a huge sea change," says Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein.
He says a typical narrow-body jet can be equipped with the 125 pounds of necessary equipment and fiber-optic cable during an overnight stay at an airport for about $100,000.
Once it's installed, air passengers will see a pop-up on their laptop, smartphone or...
Thu, 14 May 09
Banks Jump on the Social-Networking Bandwagon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66542
Social networking is becoming an increasingly popular way for banks to reach consumers amid the economic downturn.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America have begun to "tweet" -- post messages of 140 characters or less on Twitter.com -- with customers about everything from bank fees to product features. Discover Financial, American Express and Citigroup have launched Facebook or MySpace pages. Some banks even put marketing videos on YouTube.
"Social media is a whole new world, and you cannot afford to not be a part of it," says Pamela Blase, a spokeswoman for UMB Financial of Kansas City, Mo., which tweets about everything from the bank's financial stability to the industry's prospects.
Banks say they're establishing presences on social-networking sites to tap into a growing demographic and to control the conversation about their brands. Yet the economic turmoil, some say, makes it even more important to reach out to customers any way they can.
"There's a lot of worry out there," says Ed Terpening, vice president of social media at Wells Fargo, one of the first banks with a group of employees dedicated to social networking. "That means that we have to stay close to our customers."
The appeal of social networking, according to Steve Furman, Discover's director of e-commerce, is that it provides "pure, instant" communication with customers.
In general, banks and card issuers have been slower to embrace social networking than other industries have. But social networking has become popular enough that, for many institutions, it's not a question of if but when to establish a presence on these sites, says James McGovern of Corporate Insight, a financial-services research firm.
Yet as a growing number of banks become proficient in the social-networking world, the norms of customer service are being upended. Increasingly, today's online interactions between banks and consumers are peppered with shorthand, typos and even...
Thu, 14 May 09
Doing What Google Can't: A New Approach to Search
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66540
Every new online search service must face the inevitable question: "Is it better than Google?"
WolframAlpha, a powerful new service that can answer a broad range of queries, has become one of the most anticipated Web products of the year. But its creator, Stephen Wolfram, wants to make something clear: Despite the online chatter comparing it to Google, his service is not intended to dethrone the king of search engines.
"I am not keen on the hype," said Mr. Wolfram, a well-known scientist and entrepreneur and the founder of Wolfram Research, a company in Champaign, Illinois, that he has financed and that has been quietly developing WolframAlpha.
Mr. Wolfram's service does not search through Web pages, and it won't help with movie times or camera shopping. Instead it computes the answers to queries using enormous collections of data the company has amassed. It can quickly spit out facts like the average body mass index of a 40-year-old male, whether the Eiffel Tower is taller than the Space Needle in Seattle, and whether it is high tide in Miami right now.
What's more, WolframAlpha, which is expected to be available to the public at WolframAlpha.com in the coming week, is not a finished product. It is an early working version of a project that has been years in the making and will continue to evolve over years, if not decades. As such, there is much it cannot answer now.
But even as he dismisses the Google comparisons, Mr. Wolfram, a former child prodigy who published his first research paper on particle physics at age 15 and is best know for creating the math- formula software Mathematica, is happy to add fuel to the simmering expectations surrounding his service.
"I think WolframAlpha has the potential to be quite important," he said.
The goal of creating a computer system that...
Thu, 14 May 09
Apple's Popular Electronic Playground
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66537
Apple announced recently that iPhone and iPod users had downloaded an impressive one billion programs from the company's online App Store in a mere nine months. Meanwhile, 15 of the 20 most popular paid downloads since the service opened have been games.
These two facts are not unrelated. Apple hasn't been this relevant in video games -- and video games have not been so relevant to Apple -- since the early 1980s, when the Apple II was a major platform for computer games.
It is about time. Even as Apple has spent most of the past 25 years trying to cast itself as the creative, youthful alternative to dour, dowdy Microsoft, it is Microsoft that has become a dominant power in video games, through both the Xbox and Windows. By contrast, Apple has historically acted as if it were embarrassed to be associated with gamers.
I should know, because I was a Macintosh loyalist who tried to hold out as top game after top game went to PCs, only arriving on the Mac months or years later, if ever. I finally capitulated about 10 years ago and bought my first Windows computer.
So when I heard last summer that Apple was extolling the iPhone's new ability to download games, I was skeptical, skittish and fearful of being burned by Apple again. Yet by this spring, the buzz in the industry about the potential for iPhone games had become so strong -- with some evangelists for Apple claiming that the iPhone is a better game machine than even Nintendo's hugely popular DS line -- that I submitted to the hype and got an iPhone.
After carrying it around for several weeks, a few things are clear. At its best, the iPhone delivers a casual, often delightful, frequently whimsical gaming experience. Most of the best iPhone games,...
Thu, 14 May 09
U.S. Adapts to War in the Digital Age
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66535
The U.S. Army forces were under attack. Communications were down, and the chain of command was broken.
Pacing a makeshift bunker whose entrance was camouflaged with netting, the young man in battle fatigues barked at his comrades: "They are flooding the e-mail server. Block it. I'll take the heat for it."
These are the war games at West Point, at least last month, when a team of cadets spent four days struggling around the clock to establish a computer network and keep it operating while hackers from the National Security Agency in Maryland tried to infiltrate it with methods that an enemy might use. The NSA made the cadets' task more difficult by planting viruses on some of the equipment, just as real-world hackers have done on millions of computers around the world.
The competition was a final exam of sorts for a senior elective class. The cadets, who were computer science and information technology majors, competed against teams from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine as well as the Naval Postgraduate Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology. Each team was judged on how well it subdued the threats from the NSA.
The cyberwar games at West Point are just one example of a heightened awareness across the military that it must treat the threat of a computer attack as seriously as it does an attack carried out by a bomber or combat brigade. There is hardly a U.S. military unit or headquarters that has not been ordered to analyze the risk of cyberattacks to its mission -- and to train to counter them. If the hackers were to succeed, they could change information on the network and cripple Internet communications.
In the desert outside Las Vegas, in a series of inconspicuous trailers, some of the most highly motivated...
Wed, 13 May 09
Intel Faces Hefty Fine from European Commission
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66551
Intel may be facing a hefty fine and a change in business practices. The chipmaker was accused of being anticompetitive after allegedly offering discounts to European computer manufacturers who purchased Intel's processors instead of chips from archrival Advanced Micro Devices.
The executive arm of the European Union, the European Commission, is expected to approve a $1.36 billion fine against Intel Wednesday and issue a cease-and-desist order stopping Intel from continuing with the alleged business practices.
The investigation has been going on since 2000," said Chuck Mulloy, Intel's spokesperson. "We've seen the rumors and speculation regarding an impending decision from Brussels. Unfortunately, we have nothing official from the commission, so we can't comment at this stage."
Mulloy did, however, comment on the allegations against the company, "We've said many times we believe our business practices are fair and lawful to the benefit of consumers."
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD's first allegations about Intel's practices came in 2000, but it wasn't until summer 2007 that Intel was officially fined for its discounts.
AMD has a good case against Intel, according to an antitrust lawyer in Brussels, Belgium.
"Yes, I think all the indications we have seen suggests that there will be a significant fine for Intel's infringement, and that is the fact of a number of things," said Thomas Graf of Cleary, Steen & Hamilton LLP, the law firm representing several companies required to provide information to the commission. "One is the infringement the commission has identified has been long-lasting and the market, which is at issue here, is a market where Intel generates a large revenue. This creates the basis for very high fines."
What is interesting, according to Graf, is that the commission for the first time is applying a more ethics-based approach to discounts.
In the past the commission has treated discounts as infringement and...
Wed, 13 May 09
App Store Fuss Deepens as Apple Rejects Jesus App
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66549
Many people have rejected Jesus in the past 2,000 years. Now one technology company is coming under fire for rejecting a Jesus-themed application.
Apple this week found itself in the middle of yet another controversy about its App Store vetting practices after rejecting the Me So Holy app. Apple called the iPhone application "objectionable."
Developed by Benjamin Kahle, the application let iPhone users choose their religion, take a picture of themselves, and insert their face into a messianic image, among other religious scenes. Users could also add a message and e-mail their personalized Jesus to friends or upload it to Facebook. Hindu figures, priests and nuns were also available.
Kahle posted Apple's objection to the Me So Holy app on the Web site that carries the same name. According to Apple, the application violates Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK agreement, which states:
"Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple's reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users."
Kahle said a battle of values has emerged for iPhone apps. The battle, he said, is about what users can or cannot view on their screens. Kahle pointed to recent controversies for the Baby Shaker app and the Nine Inch Nails apps. His question: Is religion really to be placed in the same category as these violent apps?
"Sex, urine and defecation don't seem to be off-limits, yet a totally nonviolent, religion-based app is," Kahle said. "We feel that Apple is being too sensitive to its perceived user group and are disappointed that this otherwise creative, freethinking company would reject such a positive and fun application. The message to developers is that they should think inside the box,...
Wed, 13 May 09
Microsoft Takes Shots at iTunes To Promote Zune
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66548
Apple has taken several shots at Microsoft in its series of I'm a Mac and I'm a PC commercials where the person acting as a PC is always complaining about Windows Vista and its problems and challenges well into the future. The Mac, however, is always happy and content and running perfectly.
Now Microsoft is firing back with its own shots aimed at Apple's music engine, iTunes. The software giant is touting its Zune Pass as a better alternative for users downloading applications from Apple's iTunes Store.
In the advertisement Wes Moss, a certified financial planner and former Donald Trump apprentice candidate, tells the world that it costs $30,000 to fill a 120GB iPod to capacity with music from the iTunes Store. Moss says at a buck a song, users will run out of money faster than they run out of space on their iPod.
Moss said he tells iTunes users to switch to Microsoft's Zune Pass for $14.99 a month. Users can download an unlimited number of songs. "One costs a lot and one costs a little," Moss says.
While Moss isn't fibbing about the $30,000 to fill the latest iPod to capacity, he isn't factoring in other things, such as users who download free songs through promotions or those who download an entire album for an amount less than the cost to download each individual song.
Of course, if a user downloads each song at 99 cents each, Moss is on target. On the other hand, Zune Pass users are out $14.99 whether or not they download any songs in a given month.
Microsoft's attacks against Apple's iTunes and its promotion of Zune Pass subscriptions come just as Twitter users began receiving purported promo messages from Microsoft's 2010 team that may have been a hoax.
One tweet said: "New product launch, that's all...
Wed, 13 May 09
Software Piracy Continues To Rise Worldwide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66545
The worldwide PC software piracy rate rose for the second year in a row, from 38 percent to 41 percent, according to a new study from the Business Software Alliance. The BSA attributed the trend to fast-growing PC shipments in high-piracy countries such as China and India, as well as stalled progress in the U.S.
Worldwide losses grew 11 percent to $53 billion, although half of that growth was the result of the falling U.S. dollar. Setting aside the impact of exchange rates, losses grew by five percent to $50.2 billion. This compares to a legitimate PC software market of $88 billion in 2008, and a personal computer market of $244 billion.
Beyond the U.S., the lowest piracy countries are Japan, New Zealand, and Luxembourg, all near 20 percent. The highest piracy countries are Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia and Zimbabwe, all more than 90 percent.
"We are continuing to make progress against PC software piracy in many countries, which helps people working in the U.S.-led global software industry. That's the good news," said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. "The bad news is that PC software piracy remains so prevalent in the United States and all over the world. It undermines local IT service firms, gives illegal software users an unfair advantage in business, and spreads security risks. We should not and cannot tolerate a $9 billion hit on the software industry at a time of economic stress."
According to the BSA, the impacts of software piracy go well beyond the global software industry, impacting jobs, cybercrime and tax revenues. For every $1 of software sold in a country, the BSA noted, there is another $3 to $4 of revenue for local IT service and distribution firms. On the job front, a 2008 IDC study predicted that lowering PC software piracy by...
Wed, 13 May 09
Android Smartphones Expected To Gallop Up Fast
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66544
A new report indicates that Android may be on the verge of a popularity explosion. According to Strategy Analytics, sales of smartphones using the Google-backed open-source mobile operating system will grow an astounding 900 percent this year.
By comparison, the report said the next fastest-growing smartphone OS, Apple's iPhone, will grow 79 percent.
Strategy Analytics Senior Analyst Tom Kang said Android "gained early traction during the second half of 2008" and is gradually spreading throughout Europe and Asia. Of course, Android is starting from a relatively low base of one million to two million sold to this point, compared to nearly 40 million iPhones.
The research firm said the drivers of Android's growth are a "relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google's support for cloud services." These factors, plus support from operators and developers, are encouraging hardware manufacturers to release products for the platform.
An increasingly important factor in smartphone sales are the third-party applications available for a device. Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst at Forrester, said he sees "a race among the various mobile platforms to offer the lowest barriers to entry" for developers.
Right now, he said, Apple is still leading, but Android, Palm, Nokia, Microsoft and others are dramatically increasing their emphasis on third-party application development. Hammond noted that Android has in place "the building blocks to do a better job" in attracting developers.
And there is some discontent among iPhone developers. Recently, some iPhone developers have complained about the financial arrangements for even successful apps on that platform, as well as the difficulty of competing with so many free apps.
Even so, said Current Analysis' Avi Greengart, there is still "a tremendously long road ahead" for Android. He pointed out that Apple already has about 40,000 apps in its App Store, versus a few hundred for Android...
Wed, 13 May 09
Facebook Acts Against Some Holocaust Deniers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66538
Responding to widespread indignation, social-networking site Facebook appeared Monday to have taken down several Holocaust denial sites, though several others were still viewable.
The move came after a Facebook spokesman had earlier declined to shut down the Holocaust denial groups with names like Holocaust: A Series of Lies, Holohoax, and Holocaust is a Myth.
While these sites were still live on Monday, others were deleted, including: Based on the facts ... there was no Holocaust, and Holocaust is a Holohoax.
The sites were often linked to Neonazi message boards and anti-Semitic statements. But Facebook had declined to remove them.
"We abhor Nazi ideals and find Holocaust denial repulsive and ignorant," a spokesman said over the weekend. "Just being offensive or objectionable doesn't get it taken off Facebook. However, we believe people have a right to discuss these ideas, and we want Facebook to be a place where ideas, even controversial ideas, can be discussed."
Dallas lawyer Brian Cuban went public with Facebook's policy late last week, prompting outraged responses from across the Internet.
Many people pointed out that earlier this year the site had in fact used its power to ban pictures of breastfeeding.
"Jew-haters welcome at Facebook as long as they aren't lactating," the influential blog techCrunch noted in a headline.
Wed, 13 May 09
Sensitive Data Found on Second-Hand Hard Drives
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66501
The launch procedures for a U.S. military missile air defense system were found on a second-hand hard drive bought on eBay, researchers [have] revealed.
More than 300 hard disks were studied and researchers uncovered other sensitive information including bank account details, medical records, confidential business plans, financial company data, personal ID numbers and job descriptions.
The drives were bought from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia through computer auctions, computer fairs and eBay.
The exercise was carried out by BT's Security Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the U.S.
A spokesman for BT said they found 34 percent of the hard disks scrutinized contained "information of either personal data that could be identified to an individual or commercial data identifying a company or organization".
The researchers concluded that a "surprisingly large range and quantity of information that could have a potentially commercially damaging impact or pose a threat to the identity and privacy of the individuals involved was recovered as a result of the survey." Perhaps most surprising was the discovery of a disk bought on eBay that revealed details of test launch procedures for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) ground to air missile defense system, used to shoot down Scud missiles in Iraq.
The disk also contained security policies, blueprints of facilities and personal information on employees, including social security numbers, belonging to technology company Lockheed Martin -- which designed and built the system.
Two disks appear to have been formerly used by Lanarkshire NHS Trust to hold information from the Monklands and Hairmyres hospitals, including patient medical records, images of X-rays, medical staff shifts and sensitive and confidential staff letters.
In Australia, one disk came from a nursing home and contained pictures of patients and their wounds.
Confidential material including network data...
Wed, 13 May 09
Wi-Fi Slow To Become Ubiquitous Onboard Airlines
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66494
Major airlines are scrounging for every dollar now that fewer people are flying amid the economic downturn, yet the carriers have been slow to install in-flight wireless Internet access across their fleets that could generate millions in fees.
Cost, technology and passengers' willingness to pay for the service are issues some of the carriers are dealing with. Others say it simply takes time to install the necessary equipment to allow fliers to surf the Internet and send e-mail from their laptops and PDAs from the comfort of their seats.
"They're trying to appeal to customers who they think will choose an airline based on the ubiquitous use of Wi-Fi onboard aircraft," said Robert Mann, an aviation consultant in Port Washington, New York. "The risk in making these product announcements is that you're not going to have the product."
Delta Air Lines Inc. and American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp., have both stated plans to install Wi-Fi onboard 300 or more aircraft, though Delta has installed it on roughly 130 aircraft as of Friday and won't reach its original goal of having the remaining domestic mainline planes retrofitted by the end of June. American has the service on 15 aircraft and its plan calls for the work on the remaining planes to be spread over a couple years.
United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp., currently doesn't have Wi-Fi available on any of its aircraft, a spokeswoman said. It plans to have the service available on 13 aircraft in the second half of this year.
"Hopefully, we'll get really good at it (the installation process) and it will be faster, but I don't think anyone wanted to make a boastful date promise like some others have done," American spokesman Tim Smith said.
Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said her carrier's "initial ramp up was a little slower...
Wed, 13 May 09
Evidence Piling Up that Worst of Recession Is Over
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66493
Evidence is piling up that the worst part of the recession has ended. But that doesn't mean the pain is over.
A better-than-expected unemployment report Friday -- job losses declined to the lowest level in six months -- capped a week of encouraging news, including firmer home sales, a revival in consumer spending and fresh optimism about the biggest U.S. banks.
The economy remains vulnerable to further shocks, and 13.7 million people are unemployed. The jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent in the new report and still seems headed for a stinging 10 percent.
Yet confidence is building that the recession, the longest since the Great Depression, will end this summer or fall, setting the stage for a slow recovery.
Pointing to recent improvements, President Barack Obama said Friday "the gears of our economic engine do seem to be slowly turning once again."
By some measures, the darkest months have passed. The plunges in economic activity and rising waves of layoffs, seen from the end of 2008 through the start of this year, seem to have subsided.
"The winds are still howling, but I think we can see the sunlight on the distant horizon," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Clearly, the job losses are moderating."
Wall Street investors could see the sunlight, too. The Dow Jones industrials gained nearly 165 points and finished 4.4 percent higher for the week. It was the eighth gain for the index in nine weeks.
The economy probably is still shrinking in the current quarter but only at about half the pace -- around 3 percent -- that it had in the prior six months, the worst in 50 years. Businesses are expected to be cutting back far less on things like home building, commercial construction, equipment and software. And factories could then boost production to replenish razor-thin stockpiles of...
Wed, 13 May 09
Lawmaker Calls for Probe into Phone Spam
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66489
Unsolicited calls to home and cell phones warning of a final notice and an expiring vehicle warranty are a nuisance and harassment and should be the subject of a federal investigation, a U.S. senator said Sunday.
More and more Americans are receiving calls with a computerized voice saying, "This is the final notice. The factory warranty on your vehicle is about to expire," or something similar, several times a day on their cell or land lines. The calls come even if a person has signed up for the national "do not call" registry.
Now, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York wants a federal investigation into the "robo-dialer harassment."
"Not only are these calls a nuisance, but they tie up land lines and can eat up a user's cell phone minutes, possibly leading to a higher cell phone bill due to overage charges," said Schumer, D-N.Y.
Meanwhile, officials in 40 states are investigating the companies behind the car-warranty calls.
Michelle Corey, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau in St. Louis, Mo., said the industry is based largely in the St. Louis area and generates thousands of complaints a year.
She said a group of companies began operating in Missouri in the mid-1990s that offered extended repair warranties to people whose manufacturer-issued warranties were about to expire. Within a few years, about 35 firms were offering similar services.
"It's a very lucrative industry," Corey said.
The companies offer contracts akin to insurance policies, pledging to pay for car repairs in exchange for fees paid up front.
The companies call numbers randomly and leave messages telling people that their auto warranties are about to expire -- whether or not they own a car.
Some companies also send out cards that mislead recipients into thinking that their vehicle has been subject to a safety recall, Corey said.
If people call back and agree...
Wed, 13 May 09
Asking a Machine To Spot Threats Human Eyes Miss
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66487
The surveillance cameras at Big Y, a Massachusetts grocery chain, are not just passively recording customers and staff. They're studying checkout lines for signs of "sweethearting."
That's when cashiers use subtle tricks to pass free goods to friends: obscuring the bar code, slipping an item behind the scanner, passing two items at a time but charging for one.
There simply aren't enough watchful human eyes to keep it from happening. So Big Y is using technology to block it -- with implications far beyond dishonest cashiers.
Mathematical algorithms embedded in the stores' new security system pick out sweethearting on their own. There's no need for a security guard watching banks of video monitors or reviewing hours of grainy footage. When the system thinks it's spotted evidence, it alerts management on a computer screen and offers up the footage.
The possibilities that researchers envision for this kind of technology have the ring of science fiction. Think of systems that spot abandoned packages on a train platform or alert an airline crew to a potential terrorist on board. Already, cities like Chicago have invested in "anomaly detection" cameras around town, linked to emergency headquarters. The city plans to announce this week that it is using the technology at Navy Pier, one of Chicago's best-known attractions.
But just how smart have these cameras really become?
"Some of the claims that are made are just ridiculous," says Oliver Vellacott, the chief executive of IndigoVision, a British company that makes video-analysis technology. "That you're going to spot suspicious behavior in people about to stab someone on the street."
Big Y's security system comes from a Cambridge, Mass.-based company called StopLift Inc. The technology works by scouring video pixels for various gestures and deciding whether they add up to a normal transaction at the register or not.
In the middle of a six-month trial,...
Wed, 13 May 09
AT&T To Buy Territories from Verizon for $2.35B
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66486
AT&T Inc. said Friday it will buy the assets of Verizon Wireless in 79 mainly rural areas for $2.35 billion, a deal that will affect more than 1 million subscribers.
Verizon Wireless was forced to sell the service areas, which are spread over 18 states, to satisfy regulatory conditions of its purchase of Alltel Corp. The areas are mainly Alltel territories that overlap with Verizon's own coverage, but also some Verizon territories and areas covered by Rural Cellular, another carrier Verizon bought last year.
Dallas-based AT&T, the country's largest telecommunications company, was the expected winner of the auction for the assets.
AT&T is getting spectrum licenses, cell towers and 1.5 million subscribers in the deal. Since AT&T phones aren't compatible with Alltel or Verizon phones, these subscribers will need new phones to use AT&T's network.
AT&T said the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. After that, it will take less than a year to convert the areas to its own network technology, which will require about $400 million in investment.
The states with areas included in the deal are Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
AT&T also said it had agreed to sell five Centennial Communications Corp. service areas in Louisiana and Mississippi to Verizon Wireless for $240 million. AT&T announced plans to acquire Centennial in November 2008, and the deal is awaiting regulatory approval. AT&T said it expects that the sale of Centennial service areas that overlap with its own will boost the of approval.
Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. of New York and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.
Wed, 13 May 09
Game News: R.I.P. Duke Nukem Forever
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66484
Real news from the virtual world:
Neil Young, like his more famous namesake, was a rock star of sorts. As an executive at Electronic Arts, he was involved in some of the company's biggest franchises, including "The Sims" and "Spore." Then he surprised just about everyone in the industry last year by leaving the mighty EA to make cell phone games.
The phone in question, though, was Apple's iPhone, which has become (among other things) the hottest game-playing device on the market. Young's company, ngmoco ("next generation mobile company"), has become one of the iPhone's most reliable app developers, thanks to hits like "Rolando," "Topple" and "WordFu."
"The iPhone removes a lot of obstacles," such as manufacturing and retailing, Young says. "We're selling directly to customers. Apple has trained millions of people to download games."
Apple's download-only model gives ngmoco the chance to continually improve its games. "Rolando" launched in December with 36 levels for $10. Since then, ngmoco has added 20 free levels and has another 36 paid levels (again, for $10) on the way. "For less money, that's twice as much content as a Nintendo DS cartridge," says Young. "And it's all built on feedback from players, taking advantage of all that knowledge." And "Rolando 2," coming this summer, should take that further.
Young says it can be tough to get attention among the thousands of games available at the App Store. "It's a very crowded marketplace with a lot of pricing pressure," he says. His company has managed to cut through the clutter with a mix of public relations, fan outreach and cross-promotion. Still, he says, "our job is to connect consumers with games. These are challenges we have to solve as an industry."
The most ridiculous saga in the history of video games has to be the development of...
Tue, 12 May 09
Kindle Store Optimized for iPhone and iPod Touch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66520
Online retailer Amazon opened its Kindle Store on Monday, optimized for the iPhone and available through Apple's App Store. When Kindle for iPhone users click on the option to "get books," the Kindle Store opens in Apple's Safari browser.
A new page on the app allows users to find titles by author, name and category and has been designed for the size and shape of iPhone and iPod touch screens.
"The most common feedback we heard from customers was that they wanted a better experience for purchasing new Kindle books from their iPhones," said Ian Freed, vice president of Amazon Kindle. "We've been working hard to respond to that feedback with a new Web site optimized for Safari on iPhone, and we're excited to do that today."
Since releasing the Kindle, the online retailer has been busy making updates and marketing its popular electronic reader. The Kindle for iPhone app was released in early March, allowing users to purchase thousands of books on the Kindle electronic reader and transfer them to an iPhone or iPod touch. With the app, iPhone owners can also access a library of previously purchased books, adjust the text size of books, and add bookmarks.
Last week, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced the Kindle DX, a large-screen version of the original e-reader. The DX has a display screen two and a half times the size of the original display and costs $489. The 9.7-inch display lets users read PDFs without having to pan, scroll or zoom, according to the company.
"People who swore they would never read books on computers are reading books on Kindle in numbers far greater than what we expected," Bezos said. "And they are starting to ask, if I can carry my whole library around on my Kindle, how about I...
Tue, 12 May 09
Microsoft Readies Windows 7 for 2009 Holiday Release
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66517
It's official: Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 7 will go on sale in time for the 2009 holiday shopping season.
After making the Windows 7 release candidate available earlier this month, a Microsoft executive on Monday said the latest version of its operating system -- a version that follows the dismal reception of Windows Vista -- will hit store shelves later this year.
"Windows 7 is tracking well for holiday availability," said Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows business, at the TechEd NorthAmerica 2009 conference in Los Angeles. Veghte based estimates on feedback the company has received, as well as Redmond's internal testing. However, Veghte emphasized that Windows 7 will not ship until it meets Microsoft's quality standards.
The Windows 7 release is important for Microsoft as the company looks to shake the stigma of Vista in the midst of a troubled economy. Although Microsoft is a diverse company with many divisions, Windows is its flagship product and makes up about $60 billion of its annual sales. Releasing Windows 7 in time for the holidays could cause a welcome revenue boost and make Vista a distant memory.
"If the telemetry we receive from the Windows 7 RC meets our expectations in terms of quality, then we expect to hit RTM [Release to Manufacturing] in three months or so," said Brandon LeBlanc of the Windows 7 team. "If this happens, it looks like we'll be able to have Windows 7 done in time for the holidays. I want to underscore that our top priority remains quality. This guidance does not alter that principle."
Although Microsoft Windows boasts about 90 percent of the world's operating-system market share, the company is seeing threats emerge from various directions that make timeliness and excellence keys to holding on to its market dominance.
Microsoft will find...
Tue, 12 May 09
Mozilla Lab's Prism Beta Puts Web Apps on the Desktop
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66515
Mozilla Labs has unleashed its first beta release of Prism -- an experimental program that enables users to break out Web applications from the browser and run them directly from the desktop, even if the browser crashes or stalls.
Through Prism, Mozilla Labs aims to harness the increasing power and ubiquity of Web applications and put them to work directly on the desktop in their own separate windows like normal applications. The organization said this will reduce browser loading, leading to improved browser performance and stability.
After more than a year of receiving feedback from early experiment participants such as Yahoo, Zimbra and DesignLinks International, Mozilla Labs says it's ready to take Prism one step further down the road to commercial adoption.
"The initial version of Prism was more of a prototype, a foundation on which to build out additional features to improve Web-app usability," said Matthew Gertner, a member of the Prism development team at Mozilla Labs. "With the release of Prism 1.0 beta, we are ready to start fostering an ecosystem that makes it easier for developers to create and distribute compelling Web app bundles."
Any Web application that runs in a modern standards-compliant browser can also run in Prism irrespective of whether the computing platform is based on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux. On Windows PCs, Prism apps are launched from the Start menu and become accessible in the task bar, Mozilla Labs said. On Macs, they are launched and accessed from the OS X applications folder.
Prism 1.0 beta is now available in two user-selectable downloads: a stand-alone program and a Firefox browser extension. Users of the new plug-in will be able to convert sites running Web applications into Prism apps by selecting 'Convert Web site to Application' in the Tools menu.
By contrast, the stand-alone...
Tue, 12 May 09
Nokia Opens App Store with Social Networking for Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66514
Nokia is attempting to make a splash this summer with a new phone and a new app store to go with it. Executives from the Finnish phone maker have been teasing about an application store dubbed Ovi for some time, but this week Niklas Savander, Nokia's executive vice president of services, told Forbes it will launch as the largest app store to date, boasting 20,000 apps.
Similar to Apple's App Store model, Ovi Store developers will receive 70 percent of the revenue for applications and content sold through the store. Ovi, which is the Finnish word for door, was created to stand out from competitors, including Apple's store, Microsoft's Marketplace, and Google's Android Market, through its focus on personalization.
"It's the open gateway to all of your music, photos, maps and games, as well as your social networks and communities," according to Nokia's Web site describing Ovi. "You can access it on your Mac or PC, on a Nokia device and on any other connected mobile device."
The user's shopping experience can be customized using social-networking information, including purchases their friends have made. "I think that the personalization approach is the right way to go and certainly a differentiation at the moment," said Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner analyst.
"As far as competition, I think Nokia is putting in place a wider offering with OVI that will have more to give than an app store-only offering, as is the case for Blackberry, for instance," Milanesi said. "The number of users Nokia is targeting with its devices is of course very appealing to developers."
"However, we need to also take into account that people that use S60 devices might not be power users in the same way iPhone users or Nseries users are," Milanesi added.
While Nokia aims to offer Ovi services to more phones than...
Tue, 12 May 09
Wolfram Aims To Compute Answers To New Questions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66496
You want to know the current distance between the Earth and the moon, given that the moon's orbit is elliptical. Into a single field, you type the question as you would ask it of a human being -- and you get the answer. That's the vision of Wolfram Alpha, a new and potentially revolutionary "computational knowledge engine" that goes public next week.
Details are emerging about this latest creation from Stephen Wolfram, the Champaign, Ill.-based scientist whose Wolfram Research is best known for its Mathematica software and for A New Kind of Science (NKS), a best-selling book and approach to scientific problems using a set of basic formulas.
On his company's blog, Wolfram has said his new answer tool was built using Mathematica's "symbolic language to represent anything," its "algorithmic power to do any kind of computation," and on NKS' "paradigm for understanding how all sorts of complexity could arise from simple rules."
Currently, he wrote, search engines are efficient in answering questions that have been asked before because they retrieve existing knowledge. But how do you ask a question about something that hasn't been answered before?
One way, according to Wolfram, could be the emerging semantic Web, where information is tagged as to its meaning. But another way, the approach taken in Wolfram Alpha, is using algorithms to "explicitly curate all data so that it is immediately computable."
If knowledge is computable, he said, natural-language inquiries don't need to be understood. They need to be represented in "a precise form that fits into the computations one can do."
In interviews with The New York Times and others, Wolfram is downplaying reports that Wolfram Alpha's target is search-engine king Google. As he has pointed out, his new tool doesn't search Web pages, but uses logic rules to interpret a huge knowledge...
Tue, 12 May 09
Hackers Breach UC Berkeley Computer Database
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66492
University of California, Berkeley, officials said Friday that hackers infiltrated restricted computer databases, putting at risk health and other personal information on 160,000 students, alumni and others.
The university said data include Social Security numbers, birth dates, health insurance information and some medical records dating back to 1999. Personal medical records -- such as patient diagnoses, treatments and therapies -- were not compromised, officials said.
The databases also included personal information of parents, spouses and Mills College students who used or were eligible for Berkeley's health services.
In all, 97,000 Social Security numbers were stolen, said Shelton Waggener, UC Berkeley's associate vice chancellor for information technology and its chief information officer.
Social Security numbers can be used by identity thieves to access a person's current credit history, or bank and credit card accounts, according to the California Office of Privacy Protection. The numbers can also be used to open new bank and credit accounts, or even get a driver's license in the victim's name, privacy-protection officials warn.
The school has identified 160,000 total names in the database and contacted everyone regardless of whether their Social Security number also was compromised.
The server breach occurred on Oct. 6, 2008, and lasted until April 9, when campus staff performing routine maintenance found messages the school said were left by the hackers.
"The indications are that the hackers left messages to the system administrator taunting the system administrator that they had broken in," Waggener said. "It's a common hacker approach for identifying themselves."
The school said it had traced the hackers' computers to a number of overseas locations, including China, and turned that information over to the FBI and campus police. An outside Internet security firm has also been hired to conduct an audit of the school's systems and its information security measures.
Although the breach was discovered April 9, former and...
Tue, 12 May 09
3Com Challenges Cisco with 'Flex-Chassis' Switches
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66479
In a move to compete with Cisco Systems, 3Com on Monday added a "flex-chassis" family of network switches to its H3C portfolio. The H3C S5800 Series offers up to 192 10-Gigabit ports or 640 gigabit Ethernet ports and supports embedded extensible application services, including security, wireless and monitoring.
With its latest product launch, 3Com is positioning its enterprise switches as a way to improve network reliability, lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and improve application delivery.
"The H3C S5800 is the industry's most cost-effective and innovative platform for meeting enterprise customers' networking needs today and in the future," said Saar Gillai, senior vice president of worldwide products and solutions at 3Com. "Our H3C portfolio is the most modern in the industry -- developed over the past four years -- so it delivers unmatched price and performance advantages."
With the S5800, 3Com is working to establish a new category of enterprise switches. The S5800 functions as a modular chassis as well as a fixed-form stackable switch. 3Com said its latest innovation allows enterprises to deploy the switch at any layer of the network -- from the edge to the aggregation layer to the core, as well as top-of-rack in the data center -- without compromising performance and functionality.
The S5800 is based on open standards, 3Com said, so customers can extend platforms to accommodate future innovations. On the energy-usage front, the H3C portfolio features low-power chipsets. 3Com said this modern approach makes it possible for enterprise customers to save on the cost of the switch and the power to run them. Specifically, 3Com estimates customers will reduce TCO by an average of 33 percent using its H3C solutions.
"The H3C S5800 is simply a tour de force of switching and is -- hands down -- a true no-compromise solution," said Dave...
Tue, 12 May 09
Despite Earnings Report, Has Nintendo Peaked?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66465
The global recession doesn't seem to have slowed Nintendo's momentum much. On May 7, Nintendo reported a 14 percent gain in operating profits, to $5.6 billion, for the fiscal year through March, and a 10 percent rise in sales, to $18.6 billion. Both figures shattered the previous year's all-time highs and were in line with what analysts had expected for the Japanese video game maker.
Nintendo has been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal Japanese tech sector. Its Wii living-room console and newly released portable DSi have been a big draw for both nongamers and hard-core gamers. In the past year the company has racked up a return on equity of around 22 percent and operating-profit margins of 29 percent -- well ahead of other Japanese tech and video game makers, analysts figure.
But the company's latest record-breaking figures could be its last for a while. In fact, Nintendo's own not-so-optimistic forecasts have analysts and investors wondering whether the company is helpless to keep its streak from ending. For the fiscal year ending next March, Nintendo expects a 12 percent pullback in operating profit -- its first in four years -- and a 2.1 percent slide in revenues. That's not bad given how the sudden slowdown has slammed other sectors. Still, the skepticism partly explains the drop in the value of Nintendo's stock by half since last June, and its 21 percent fall since early January. [The benchmark Nikkei average has rebounded 6 percent so far this year.] Following the announcement, the company's shares fell 0.1 percent, compared to the Nikkei's 4.6 percent rise.
The bearish investor sentiment is putting more pressure on Nintendo President Satoru Iwata to come up with more hit games or services. In Europe and the U.S., the company has continued to rack up big gains....
Tue, 12 May 09
Hacking of Rx Database Could Lead to Headaches
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66464
The possible breach of a state electronic prescription drug database could have an ironic effect: promotion of prescription drug fraud and abuse, the very thing the system was set up to deter.
That suggestion came from outside experts Thursday as the FBI and State Police continued investigating last week's unauthorized intrusion on the Web site of the Virginia Prescription Monitoring Program.
According to WikiLeaks, an open-government Web site, the intruder was a hacker claiming to have gained access to more than 35 million prescription records and demanding a $10 million ransom.
The statewide database was established in 2006 to combat prescription drug abuse, which is increasingly recognized as a national public health issue. Overdose deaths from prescription drugs now exceed those from illegal drugs.
The database contains records of every prescription dispensed by Virginia pharmacies of certain drugs with a high potential for abuse, such as OxyContin, Vicodin and Ambien. Until it was shut down in the wake of the hacker attack, the system allowed doctors and pharmacists to track those prescriptions and watch for patterns of abuse.
If the database is now in the hands of a hacker, Virginians whose prescription records were stolen are "at risk of medical identity theft," said Rob Douglas, editor of the Web site www.IdentityTheft.info.
The records include the patient's name, address and date of birth, the name and quantity of the drug prescribed, and identifying numbers for the prescriber and dispenser.
"With that information, it is plausible that a medical identity thief could contact the pharmacist and initiate a refill of that medication," Douglas said. "These are highly sought-after drugs, easily converted to cash on the street in sales to addicts.
"If I were the state, I would be very concerned that their system has now been compromised."
In addition, he said, individual Virginians have reason for concern. If their records are...
Tue, 12 May 09
Savvy Business Travelers Now Follow Tweets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66463
In sailors' parlance, it is called local knowledge -- the invaluable and detailed insights into a location's prevailing winds, hidden shoals and tricky tides and currents, accumulated through firsthand experience. Without it, visiting mariners can find themselves in peril.
Business travelers, whether they are government workers, small-business owners, entrepreneurs or professionals, need to tap into specific and timely intelligence as well. They are increasingly doing so through social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Yelp, using the expertise and wisdom of the residents of places they visit to help them find their way around.
Whether they are heading to Bangor or Bangkok in search of an obscure boutique hotel, a vegan restaurant or professional contacts, business travelers say social networking offers benefits that no travel agent, tourist Web site or guidebook can match.
"I find social media invaluable," said Ruth Clark, who designs and sews custom clothing for wheelchair users and runs her business from Kamloops, British Columbia. "It enables me to meet people from around the world who have an interest in my work."
Thanks to social networking, on a trip to California she found out about an evening lecture at Stanford University and through online contacts was invited to the program and the dinner beforehand.
While attending a conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, for six days, Ms. Clark stayed with three hosts she had met through the Web site CouchSurfing.org and said she planned to do business with two of them.
For Daniel Winslow, a law partner with Duane Morris in Boston, entertaining current and potential clients demands detailed knowledge of cities from Hanoi to Miami. He travels one week a month and has been using Yelp for a year, typically twice a week to set up appointments and to research the best places to meet.
"I got hooked on Yelp as a way to...
Tue, 12 May 09
Microsoft's Defense: Attack Your Rival First
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66461
Microsoft will argue that a European Commission proposal that it promote competing browsers in its Windows operating system would strengthen the dominance of its rival Google in the global search-advertising market.
The company will make the argument at a June hearing in Brussels as part of an antitrust inquiry about the packaging of its Internet Explorer browser with Windows, which powers more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers.
A person with direct knowledge of Microsoft's legal defense said that Microsoft would use the hearing to outline what it saw as the damaging effects to the search-advertising industry of incorporating competing browsers -- like the Firefox from Mozilla or Chrome from Google -- into Windows.
Some browser makers, like Mozilla, derive the bulk of their income from the fees they receive from Google and other companies for driving Web traffic to its search engine, which is where Google makes the bulk of its revenue with targeted advertising.
"Not only would Google's browser Chrome suddenly be on all Windows PCs, but it would strengthen Google's dominance in search advertising," said the person, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
Google, in a statement, did not directly respond to Microsoft's argument.
"We believe more competition will mean greater innovation on the Web and a better user experience for people everywhere," William Echikson, a Google spokesman in Brussels, said.
By targeting its rival, Microsoft is underscoring the stakes for both U.S. giants, which are increasingly clashing as personal computing moves from software to the Web. Aside from competing in e-mail, online advertising and search, Google now gives away online word processing and business applications which compete with Microsoft products that generate much of the company's income.
The new European complaint over browsers, like the previous nine- year antitrust case centering on...
Tue, 12 May 09
Google CEO Doesn't See Problem with His Apple Role
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66458
Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt is taking a government inquiry into his role on Apple Inc.'s board in stride, expressing confidence that the probe won't find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and other technology fields.
In a media session held Thursday before Google's shareholders meeting in Mountain View, Schmidt said he hasn't considered stepping down from Apple's board because he doesn't view the maker of the iPhone, iPod and computers as a "primary competitor." He echoed that sentiment when a shareholder later asked him to step down from Apple's board to avoid further government scrutiny.
Google attorney Kent Walker confirmed the Mountain View-based company is in talks with the Federal Trade Commission about whether its overlapping board relationships with Apple violates federal antitrust laws. The inquiry was reported by The New York Times earlier this week.
Both Schmidt and former Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson are directors at Google and Apple.
Walker told reporters that Google is "comfortable" that it doesn't generate enough revenue in the same markets as Apple for Schmidt's and Levinson's dual roles on the companies' boards to violate antitrust law.
Google makes most of its money from online advertising driven by its market-leading search engine. But it is the chief architect of an operating system called "Android" that already runs some mobile devices similar to the iPhone. Android also is going to be in some low-cost computers, called "netbooks," later this year.
Schmidt, who joined Apple's board in 2006, told reporters he always recuses himself from all Apple board discussions involving the iPhone, but doesn't avoid talks about any other subject.
Cupertino-based Apple and Google also both make Web browsers that are vying to lure users away from Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox. As its YouTube video site expands, Google also...
Tue, 12 May 09
Japan's Top Chipmaker Toshiba Posts Record Loss
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66456
Japan's top chipmaker Toshiba Corp. tumbled to a record annual loss amid sinking global demand that has forced it to cut thousands of jobs.
Toshiba reported Friday a 343.6 billion yen ($3.5 billion) net loss for the fiscal year ended March, compared with a 127.4 billion yen profit a year earlier. It was the company's biggest loss ever and its first annual net loss in seven years.
The Tokyo-based company's annual sales declined 13 percent to 6.65 trillion yen ($67.2 billion) largely due to faltering business in semiconductors as well as digital equipment and home electronics.
For the January-March quarter alone, the company suffered a net loss of 184.0 billion yen ($1.9 billion) on sales totaling 1.67 trillion yen ($185.7 billion).
Toshiba projects a net loss of 50 billion yen ($505 million) for the current fiscal year through March 2010. It forecasts sales to rise modestly, to 6.8 trillion yen ($68.7 billion) on an improvement in the mobile phone and chip businesses, as well as home appliances.
Toshiba said last month that it was expecting a net loss of 350 billion yen for the just-ended fiscal year -- up from its earlier forecast of a 280 billion yen loss -- due to writing off 85 billion yen in deferred tax assets.
But Japan's top chipmaker said its operating loss was a smaller-than-expected 250.2 billion yen ($2.53 billion) versus 246.4 billion-yen profit a year earlier, cushioned by the stabilization of prices of flash memory chips used for music players and digital cameras.
Hit by a plunge in demand amid the global economic slump, Toshiba said in January it would cut 4,500 contract workers and delay or cancel investments in new chip plants.
In March, Toshiba picked a new president, Norio Sasaki, 59, who will take the helm in June following approval at a meeting of shareholders.
In a bid to...
Sun, 10 May 09
Google Dogged by Antitrust, YouTube Concerns
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66477
Google told media outlets on Thursday that the Federal Trade Commission is eying CEO Eric Schmidt's dual membership on the board of Directors for Google and Apple as a potential violation of the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914. Though initially not rivals, the two companies are poised to become competitors once more handsets running Google's Android platform become available to challenge Apple's iPhone.
Though the search-engine giant is coming under increased government scrutiny in several areas, this is only natural given the company's explosive growth, said Adam Kovacevich, senior manager of global communications and public affairs at Google.
"We believe that Google promotes competition and openness online, but we haven't always done a good job telling our story," Kovacevich said. "That's why we have recently been meeting with policy-makers, think-tank representatives, academics, journalists, ad agencies, and trade associations -- in the U.S. and Europe."
Schmidt said Google has a heightened awareness that every move it makes is going to be intensely scrutinized. For this reason, Google recently took steps to slow the process of reaching final agreement on its book-search settlement after three library associations raised concerns that the deal could raise costs and violate readers' right to privacy.
"We are more careful about when and how we do things that will raise concerns from any party, but it hasn't prevented us from doing anything," the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Schmidt as saying.
However, Schmidt draws the line when people begin comparing Google to Microsoft in the years leading up to the software giant's antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
"They obviously don't remember the old Microsoft," said Schmidt, the Chronicle reported. "Go back to 1997 and look at the business tactics that Microsoft used."
The irony is that Microsoft intends to cite Google as an antitrust example...
Sat, 9 May 09
Market for Amazon's Kindle DX Remains Uncertain
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66476
Despite the excitement for Amazon's new 9.7-inch Kindle DX, there's still some uncertainty about which segment of the book-reading market is most likely to drop nearly $500 on the electronic reader. A number of different possibilities have been suggested, including the elderly (large print is easier to do on the Kindle), newspaper readers (unlikely), and, perhaps most promisingly, college students.
College textbooks ring up a cool $10 billion per year in sales, and Amazon no doubt would love to get a piece of that action. But while the college and university crowd may be more receptive to the idea of an e-reader (and have the disposable cash to buy one in the first place), it's still not a slam dunk.
One way in which Amazon is trying to make the Kindle DX more compelling to students and institutions is by pitching the device's environmental aspects. Six colleges and universities -- including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' alma mater, Princeton -- have signed up to participate in a pilot program to test the Kindle DX on campus. Students at each school will be able to sign up for one of three courses and receive a Kindle for testing electronic textbooks. The other participants include Pace University, Case Western Reserve University, Reed College, Arizona State University, and the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
According to the The Daily Princetonian, Princeton's student newspaper, the university printed more than 10 million pages from so-called cluster printers. The hope is that Kindle-equipped students won't need to print out articles or chapters, but instead download them and read them electronically. Even a small decrease in printing would result in a substantial savings for the school.
Both Amazon and the universities suggest that over time, the Kindle will reduce the number of outdated textbooks that wind up in...
Sat, 9 May 09
Strong Financials Have Activision Exploring New Genres
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66473
In a press release issued late Thursday, video-game maker Activision announced its revenues for the first quarter were much better than expected. The company's booming sales and strong performance are heightening speculation that some of its leading game franchises may wind up on a screen near you in the not-too-distant future.
Activision reported its gross revenues for the first three months of the year were $981 million, three times the amount earned during the same period the year before. Net income, driven in part by the company's merger last year with Vivendi Games, rose substantially from $43 million to $198 million.
"Our better-than-expected first-quarter results were driven by strong global consumer response to the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero franchises and Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft, despite challenging economic times," said Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "For the quarter, we were the number-one third-party console and handheld publisher in North America and the number-one third-party publisher for the Nintendo Wii platform worldwide, according to the NPD Group, Charttrack and GFK."
The positive financial news came on the heels of several announcements by Activision of planned game releases later this year. In early fall, music gamers will have their choice of Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, and Band Hero. The company also confirmed development of Guitar Hero: Van Halen, although no date for release of that game has been set.
"During the remainder of the year," Kotick said, "we plan to release our strongest video-game slate, based on some of the industry's most profitable franchises. We are raising our calendar year 2009 financial outlook. Our high-quality franchise portfolio, industry-leading operational capabilities, and solid balance sheet should enable us to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by the expanding interactive entertainment market and enable us to deliver continued superior returns to...
Sat, 9 May 09
Microsoft Brings Facebook To Windows Mobile Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66472
Mobile-phone users with Microsoft Windows Mobile devices and who have a Facebook account can keep up with what their friends are doing, thanks to a new Microsoft application. The software giant made Facebook for Windows Mobile available for download on its Web site.
Users of Windows Mobile 6.0 or higher can use the Facebook application to call or send messages to any of the people on their friends list; take photos and videos, then upload them to Facebook; and manage their profile.
"Now your status updates can be up-to-the moment accounts of what you're doing," Microsoft's Web site said. "Show your friends what you're up to while you're out and about."
Windows Mobile 6 is powered by Windows CE 5.0 and is linked to Windows Live and Exchange 2007 products. The standard was meant to be similar in design to Windows Vista. The functionality of Windows 6 works much like Windows Mobile 5, but is much more stable.
Facebook as a mobile application isn't new, but more companies and carriers are making Facebook available on the phone.
"As an app, yes, {Microsoft} is late to the party considering that (Research in Motion's)BlackBerry and (Apple's) iPhone already have it, and, in some cases, the Facebook app is on its later editions to those platforms," said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst of the mobile devices technology trends team at IDC.
Already, Facebook boasts 5.3 million monthly active users on the application for BlackBerry devices. Last July, Facebook made Facebook for iPhone available through Apple's App Store.
"But keep in mind that Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile devices would have allowed users access to the Facebook Web site anyway," Llamas added. "The fact that this is a stand-alone application will be a value add for customers who visit the site frequently."
While Microsoft is behind...
Sat, 9 May 09
iPhone OS 3.0 Means More Investment for Developers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66470
Developers received a bit of a surprise from Apple on Thursday. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company told developers in an e-mail that millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers will move to iPhone OS 3.0 this summer and, as a result, it has changed its application review policy.
"Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0," wrote Apple in its e-mail. "If your app submission is not compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved."
Apple suggested developers begin testing apps now, since iPhone SDK 3.0 beta 5 is now available on the iPhone developer Web site.
Because Apple hasn't given developers a release date for iPhone 3.0, some developers reported feeling left in the dark because they must develop applications that operate on 3.0 but don't use 3.0 features. Currently, developers cannot submit a 3.0-only application since it must run on 2.0.
But Alex Sokirynsky, the developer behind Podcaster and RSS Player, said he wasn't surprised and neither should any other developer.
"I have been testing RSS Player with the new firmware since 3.0 Beta 1 came out," Sokirynsky said. "My developer friends and I are all really excited about 3.0. Any good developer should have been planning for this from the initial announcement several months ago."
On the flip side, Sokirynsky said developers may be stressing over the time it will take to learn the new operating system. "Apple did add a huge amount of new APIs, so this is going to take some time to learn," he said.
The changes may also force developers to invest more in technology to test new apps running on 3.0, and that could be a hardship for small-development shops.
"Currently, I have a small server setup to serve search results to users," Sokirynsky said....
Sat, 9 May 09
BigPark Gaming Company Will Be Acquired By Microsoft
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66468
Microsoft announced Thursday that it will buy the interactive online gaming company BigPark, folding it into Microsoft's Game Studios. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based shop was founded in 2007 by veterans of Electronic Arts Canada and Distinctive Software who were involved in the production of such ongoing franchise games as Need for Speed, FIFA Soccer, NBA Street, and SSX.
The price for the 50-person company was not announced. A spokesperson for Microsoft told news media that BigPark is a small company and the price was minor for a company of Microsoft's size.
BigPark's big project has been the development of an Xbox 360-exclusive game on which both companies have already collaborated over the last year.
Microsoft Game Studios general manager Phil Spencer described the team at BigPark as being "composed of some of the most experienced and creative minds working in the industry today," adding that they are looking forward to showing the new Xbox game at the E3 Expo next month.
The founders of BigPark include Don Mattrick, who later became senior vice president of the interactive entertainment business at Microsoft. In the announcement, Microsoft noted that "Mattrick's role as an investor in BigPark was fully disclosed to Microsoft before he joined the company," and his role at BigPark was consistent with the Microsoft Standards of Business Conduct.
Microsoft also said Mattrick had not been part of BigPark's day-to-day management. According to news reports, Mattrick is a minority shareholder in BigPark.
Mattrick founded Distinctive Software at the tender age of 17. In 1991, it was purchased by Electronic Arts and became EA Canada. At EA, he was president of the company's worldwide studios.
He first began working with Microsoft as an external adviser to the entertainment and devices division two years ago, and he officially joined the team a few...
Sat, 9 May 09
Hacker Demands $10M for Your Prescriptions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66442
A week after a hacker claimed to have stolen sensitive patient information from a [Virginia] state Web site that tracks prescription drug use, state officials say they don't know whether the information was compromised.
Officials confirmed Wednesday that an unauthorized message was posted on the Prescription Monitoring Program Web site last Thursday. According to Wiki-Leaks, an open-government Web site, the message was a ransom note claiming that the entire database, containing more than 35 million prescription records, had been stolen by a hacker.
The hacker claimed to have deleted the original database and created an encrypted backup copy.
"For $10 million, I will gladly send along the password," the message read. "You have 7 days to decide. If by the end of 7 days, you decide not to pony up, I'll go ahead and put this baby out on the market and accept the highest bid."
The hacker included an e-mail address with the user name "hackingforprofit."
The FBI and the State Police are investigating. The Web site, operated by the state Department of Health Professions, has been shut down since last week for security reasons.
The Prescription Monitoring Program collects information about every prescription for certain federally controlled drugs dispensed by Virginia pharmacies. The list includes drugs with a high risk of abuse, such as morphine, OxyContin and Ritalin.
The database was set up as a pilot program in southwestern Virginia in 2003 and expanded statewide in 2006. Its purpose is to combat drug abuse by allowing health professionals to track prescriptions.
Access to the database is restricted to about 2,500 registered users, mostly doctors and pharmacists.
Emily Wingfield, chief deputy director of the Department of Health Professions, said the database contained 31.3 million prescription records as of Jan. 1 and about 1 million records are added every month. That lends some credibility to the hacker's claim to...
Sat, 9 May 09
Cisco Earnings Signal Hope for Tech
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66441
Cisco Systems' quarterly earnings tumbled 21 percent but beat Wall Street forecasts and could be the latest sign that the tech sector is emerging from a deep slump.
The news propelled Cisco shares up 2.2 percent to $20.05 in after-hours trading Wednesday. The company announced results after markets closed. Shares closed at $19.61 in regular trading and are down 41% from their 52-week high of $27.72 in June.
The networking equipment maker's earnings were $1.4 billion, or 23 cents a share, during its fiscal third quarter which ended April 25. That's down from the $1.8 billion, or 29 cents a share, that Cisco earned in the same quarter a year ago.
Excluding one-time charges, Cisco earned 30 cents a share, which is 5 cents a share above the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue tumbled 17 percent to $8.16 billion from the year-ago quarter. Analysts expected $8.15 billion.
The tech bellwether's reasonably stable results come three weeks after Intel posted encouraging financial results and said PC sales bottomed in February.
"It looks like the (tech) free fall has ended," says Simona Jankowski, an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Nonetheless, Cisco continues to feel the effects of a downturn in tech spending.
It cautioned that fiscal fourth-quarter sales will decrease 17 percent to 20 percent from a year earlier -- in line with Wall Street's projections.
Cisco is vulnerable to economic downturns because its routers and switches, which direct traffic over the Internet, each can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's the kind of big expense that companies try to cut when times get tough, Jankowski says.
Still, Cisco is well positioned in growing markets, such as high-end videoconferencing and wireless home networks, Cisco Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni said in an interview.
Sat, 9 May 09
EU Parliament Rejects Law Allowing Internet Cutoff
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66438
The European Parliament rejected Wednesday attempts by EU governments to crackdown on illegal downloaders of music and film.
The measures were part of proposals to update Europe-wide telecommunications rules.
The EU assembly voted 407 to 57 to throw out a compromise reached with EU governments a few weeks ago that would have allowed France to cut off Internet access to people who download illegal copies of movies or records.
Lawmakers reinstated an earlier demand that "no restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of ... users, without prior ruling by the judicial authorities."
Viviane Reding, the EU's Telecoms Commissioner said the move was "an important restatement of the fundamental rights of EU citizens."
The vote blocks the approval of a wide-ranging package reforming telecommunications in the 27-nation European Union. The package includes efforts to bolster privacy and consumer rights and to increase competition for Internet and phone services.
Wednesday's move will force new negotiations with EU governments, officials said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing a 'three strikes and you're out' bill under which Internet use would be tracked, and users caught downloading illegal copies would be warned twice before their Internet access would be cut off for a year.
The French parliament rejected the proposal in April but is discussing it again.
Film and record labels are looking for better enforcement of copyright rules to protect profits that are shrinking in the face of online file-sharing, in which people swap music files without paying.
German Social Democrat parliamentarian Erika Mann said the Parliament had "clearly spoken out against Sarkozy's Internet blocking policy."
Consumer groups also welcomed the move.
"The rejection ... is an important signal sent to consumers," said Monique Goyens, head of the European Consumers' Organization BEUC. She said giving governments a free hand to cut off Internet access would be "unacceptable."
"This clearly would have been a...
Sat, 9 May 09
Air Traffic Systems Vulnerable to Attack
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66433
America's air traffic control systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks, and support systems have been breached in recent months to allow hackers access to personnel records and network servers, a new report says.
The audit done by the Department of Transportation's inspector general concluded that although most of the attacks disrupted only support systems, they could spread to the operational systems that control communications, surveillance and flight information used to separate aircraft.
The report noted several recent cyber attacks, including a February incident, in which hackers gained access to personal information on about 48,000 current and former FAA employees, and an attack in 2008 when hackers took control of some FAA network servers.
Auditors said the Federal Aviation Administration is not able to detect potential cyber security attacks adequately, and it must secure its systems better against hackers and other intruders.
"In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC (air traffic control) systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations," the auditors said.
In response to the findings, FAA officials stressed that the support systems and traffic control networks are separated. They agreed, however, that more aggressive action should be taken to secure the networks and secure high-risk vulnerabilities.
According to the report, the FAA received 800 cyber incident alerts during the budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2008, and more than 150 were not resolved before the calendar year was over. Fifty of those, the auditors said, had been open for more than 3 months, "including critical incidents in which hackers may have taken over control" of some computers.
Officials tested Internet-based systems that are used to provide information to the public such as communications frequencies for pilots, as well as internal FAA computer systems. The tests found almost 4,000 "vulnerabilities,"...
Sat, 9 May 09
Feds Want Prison for MySpace Hoax Mom
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66431
A Missouri mother should serve three years in prison for her role in a MySpace hoax on a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide, federal prosecutors said in court documents filed Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause outlined the government's position while requesting the maximum sentence for Lori Drew. Probation officials have recommended Drew receive a year of probation and a $5,000 fine.
Krause argued that Drew "coldly conceived of a scheme to humiliate" Megan Meier, a neighbor in a St. Louis suburb, by helping create a fictitious teenage boy on the social networking site and sending flirtatious messages in his name to the girl.
The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later.
Drew used her then-13-year-old daughter and a business assistant in the scheme, which played on Megan's insecurities, Krause said.
"Both the callousness of defendant's criminal conduct and the extraordinary harm it caused mandate a sentence of more than probation," Krause wrote.
Drew was convicted in November of three counts of accessing computers without authorization. Besides up to three years in prison, she could face a $300,000 fine at sentencing set for May 18.
Drew's attorney, Dean Steward, has asked U.S. District Court Judge George Wu to throw out the verdicts.
Steward said his client couldn't afford the $5,000 fine recommended by probation officials because she no longer draws income from the coupon book business she had for nine years.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Drew violated MySpace rules by setting up the phony profile for a boy named "Josh Evans." Jurors decided Drew was not guilty of the more serious felonies of intentionally causing emotional harm while accessing computers without authorization.
The jury could not reach an unanimous verdict on a felony conspiracy charge.
Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan's...
Fri, 8 May 09
Activision Will Release Guitar Hero 5 and Other Games
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66455
After weeks of anticipation, video-game publisher Activision confirmed Thursday it will release three new game titles this fall, including a new version of the popular Guitar Hero title. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision is releasing Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and DJ Hero sometime this fall.
Guitar Hero 5 includes rock-and-roll artists along with classic rock bands and gives players more control of the game with the ability to drop in and out of songs and change band members, instruments and levels of difficulty.
"Guitar Hero has made music social again and has become one of the most popular ways to experience music," said Dan Rosensweig, president and chief executive of the Guitar Hero franchise. "Today's fans enjoy a variety of music and are looking for more ways to engage with their favorite songs, artists and fellow fans."
While the titles are expected to ship in the fall, Activision hasn't released information on interoperability or pricing.
Activision's DJ Hero is an extension of Guitar Hero's social-gaming focus but includes diverse music genres, including R&B, Motown and hip-hop.
The game comes with a turntable controller, allowing users to play the role of DJ and make mixes of popular songs and music.
Band Hero, which is the franchise's first E10+ (Everyone 10 years of age and older)-rated console game, is a collection of music, including top-40 hits. Band Hero was designed for family play so each member can play a different role in the band, including drummer, guitarist and singer. And the game comes with music for a broader audience.
Observers believe this title will go head-to-head with LEGO Rock Band, a game developed by TT Games and Harmonix and geared to a younger demographic. The game, expected this holiday season for the Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS, will be...
Fri, 8 May 09
Kindle DX Is Not Likely To Help Newspapers in Crisis
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66451
In the initial hyperventilated media coverage of the new Kindle DX, a common theme was that the large-screen e-reader would rescue newspapers from decline. But for a variety of reasons, it's doubtful the latest version of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' electronic reader will do much to shore up the fortunes of the Fourth Estate. Ironically, it's a combination of too little, too late, and too much, too soon.
It takes time for most new content-delivery platforms to gain a critical mass (the Apple iPhone is a notable exception), and despite Amazon's best efforts, the Kindle has yet to hit its stride in the marketplace. A significant impediment is cost -- the smaller, six-inch Kindle retails for $359, while the 9.7-inch Kindle DX rings in at $489. That's three years of newspapers at the local newsstand.
That's not to say that the new Kindle won't appeal to consumers. The Wall Street Journal cites a number of analysts who believe the Kindle will quickly become a significant part of Amazon's cash flow. According to one estimate, the Kindle and Kindle DX could generate $3.7 billion in revenues in 2012, with gross profits as high as $840 million.
Already, the Journal said, sales of Kindle electronic editions accounted for more than 10 percent of books sold in the U.S. in the first quarter, roughly four million units out of 38 million sold. And as Bezos said during the introduction of the Kindle DX, when a Kindle edition of a book is available, it typically accounts for 35 percent of the book's sales.
Consumers aren't the only ones questioning the economics of the Kindle DX. If early reports are correct, the device is no bargain for newspapers, either. During testimony before the U.S. Senate, Dallas Morning News President James Moroney outlined the...
Fri, 8 May 09
AT&T Reported Considering Price Cut for iPhone Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66450
Over the last two years, Apple and AT&T have collaborated on one of the most successful product launches in recent history, using a wave of positive press to help sell more than 17 million iPhones.
But the three-year anniversary of the iPhone is fast approaching, and as phone manufacturer Motorola can attest, few high-tech devices remain shiny and compelling forever. The seemingly endless number of apps available for the iPhone may help delay consumer ennui, but Apple -- and particularly AT&T -- are clearly worried about the rising buzz for new entrants in the smartphone category.
The Blackberry Curve, for instance, has earned some rave reviews, as has the Palm Pre. Android-driven phones are slowly gaining market share, aided by a surprisingly quick upgrade of Android to version 1.5. And Nokia, which has long been absent from the high end of the smartphone market, is reportedly set to introduce three different touchscreen models this summer.
Given the rising competition among smartphones, it's not surprising that analysts are speculating about an AT&T price cut. Cote Collaborative analyst and pricing strategist Michael Cote told TheStreet.com Thursday that he thinks AT&T will cut the cost of the iPhone's monthly service plan by $10, from its current $69 per month to $59.
If AT&T does so, it will cut $240 off the $1,656 cost for a two-year service plan for the iPhone. Cote argues that the cut is necessary for AT&T to extend the reach of the iPhone beyond early adopters and Apple fans to more price-conscious mainstream consumers. Cote, who wasn't available for comment, told TheStreet.com that the high cost of the service plan "does not address the whole market."
Cote's reasoning is based in part on Apple's experience with offering its iPhone at Wal-Mart, where sales haven't met expectations, and the reaction of...
Fri, 8 May 09
Multifunction Xerox Color Printer Uses Solid Ink
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66449
Xerox is aiming to attract the interest of midsize to large enterprises with a new multifunction machine that the company said cuts the cost of printing color pages by up to 62 percent compared to traditional color lasers, without any compromise in print quality.
The new ColorQube 9200 Series employs a decades-old Xerox color-process technology based on crayon-like ink sticks. However, Xerox says it has completely redesigned the process to achieve faster speeds and higher print volumes.
"Our customers are looking for ways to achieve more with less," said Xerox President Ursula Burns. "With ColorQube we are unlocking the benefits of color by taking the cost barrier out of the equation."
At the heart of the new ColorQube 9200 are four ganged printheads that function as an integrated unit to channel ink through more than 3,500 nozzles. Each half the width of a human hair, the nozzles deliver 150 million ink drops per second, said Xerox Vice President Don Titterington.
"There is more than three times as much ink coming through this device in a square inch, for instance, than in our legacy products, so this device is way higher-speed than any that we have ever shipped before," Titterington said. "The base mode for this product is 15 pages per minute and it can print as high as 85 ppm."
Analysts say the new machine, which is designed to scan, print and copy documents, should help increase the penetration of color in the office. "The new platform is probably what we would describe as groundbreaking," said Matt Marshall, program director for European printers, multifunctional peripherals, and imaging solutions at IDC.
"It opens up a whole new opportunity for customers in terms of functionality and price points," Marshall said. "In terms of ink quality, I think solid ink is equal to, and in...
Fri, 8 May 09
WiGig Working on In-Home Wireless for Huge Files
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66448
Seventeen tech companies are joining forces to develop an in-home wireless standard for transferring mega-files within a home. Dell, Intel, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Samsung and Panasonic are among the board members of the new Wireless Gigabit, or WiGig, Alliance. WiGig is working on a unified specification using 60-Gigahertz wireless band.
"Our member companies are leaders in the wireless, CE, PC and handheld markets. They have the technical acumen and business experience to make the 60-GHz wireless technology a reality for both the home and enterprise," said Dr. Ali Sadri, president and chairman of the alliance. "To help bring this technology to market, we welcome new member companies to join our group."
WiGig aims to address what it sees as a need for faster wireless connectivity than current standards support for instant file transfers, wireless display and docking, and streaming high-definition media on a variety of devices like TV set-top boxes, cell phones, and video cameras. The group said 60-GHz technology makes this possible for digital-media consumers.
WiGig said its specification will allow devices to communicate without wires at gigabit speeds within a typical room. The group's vision is to create a global ecosystem of interoperable products based on this specification to unify the next generation of entertainment, computing and communications devices at speeds more than 10 times faster than today's wireless LANs.
To accomplish this goal, WiGig assembled a diverse group of wireless semiconductor, PC, consumer electronics, and handheld device manufacturers. Atheros Communications, Broadcom, Marvell International, MediaTek, NEC Nokia, and Wilocity are part of the alliance.
"We're now at the point where the last barrier to wireless being able to do everything that wire can has fallen," said Craig Mathias of the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group. "In both the residence and the enterprise, more capacity...
Fri, 8 May 09
Not-for-Sale Twitter Is Expanding Search Functionality
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66447
In recent days the spotlight has been on Twitter and rumored acquisitions of the micro-blogging company by contenders such as Apple, Google and Microsoft. Twitter's founders, however, have pulled the plug on the speculation, saying the San Francisco-based company is not for sale.
"No. We are not for sale," Biz Stone, Twitter's cofounder, told ABC's The View host Barbara Walters after she asked about the acquisition rumors.
While Stone and cofounder Evan Williams put the acquisition rumors to rest, Twitter Vice President Santosh Jayaram discussed Twitter Search and its future.
Twitter Search will be used to crawl information from links by Twitters to analyze and then index the content for future use, Jayaram, a former vice president for search quality at Google, told Webware. Currently Twitter Search is only used to search words included in tweets, but not words in links.
Along with its new crawling functionality, Twitter Search will also get a ranking system. When users do a search on trending topics -- the top-10 topics people tweet about, which get their own link on the Twitter sidebar -- Twitter will analyze the reputation of the tweet writer and rank search results partially based on that.
Updates to Twitter's search functionality were expected, since Twitter has access to a lot of data and needs to find a way to get revenue. Twitter's founders also hinted about such functionality when they first announced Twitter Search.
"Twitter teaches us new and amazing things every day, and a big lesson learned is that search is so much more than a box and a button," according to an official Twitter blog post. "As public tweets fly in from around the globe, we analyze them to detect when certain words or phrases occur with higher frequency."
The company added that the trending phrases surfaced on the Twitter home page...
Fri, 8 May 09
Windows 7 Takes a New Approach To Fighting Piracy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66446
Microsoft is taking a slightly different approach to combating piracy in Windows 7, which will offer new ways to protect consumers and ensure Microsoft's intellectual-property rights aren't violated.
When customers choose to activate Windows 7 later instead of immediately on installation, they will see a dialog box that highlights how activation helps identify whether their copy of Windows is genuine. If customers choose not to validate immediately, they can proceed without a 15-second delay.
"The guiding principle is to enable the customer to know when the software they are using is genuine and licensed and help them to do something about it if it's not," said Joe Williams, general manager of worldwide genuine Windows at Microsoft. "We also spent time thinking about how we could make activation and validation easier for enterprises."
Why so much focus about activation? Because software piracy is a pervasive problem that costs the world economy more than $45 billion each year, according to the Business Software Alliance. Software piracy ushers in unwanted issues such as identity theft, system failures, and data loss. IDC estimates the cost of compromised data in business environments at tens of thousands of dollars per incident.
"We think IT professionals will appreciate support in Windows 7 for virtualized images and volume-activation technologies. When Windows Vista was being developed, virtualization was primarily a server scenario, but today many companies have it in their production environment on both the server and the client," Williams said. "We listened and adapted our management tool for organizations by making them more easily available."
Despite the seemingly relaxed rules, Williams said ensuring that customers know they have genuine software or when they might be victims of software piracy remains a priority. With Windows Vista, Microsoft reported significant strides in reducing the threat pirated copies posed to customers, its partners,...
Fri, 8 May 09
Android Phones Are Beginning To Bloom Worldwide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66437
It's spring, and Android phones are beginning to blossom around the world. In Canada, Rogers Communications announced Thursday that it will be the exclusive carrier for the HTC Dream and HTC Magic, beginning in June. These will be the first Android devices in that country.
NTT DoCoMo recently confirmed to news media that it will launch the first Android device in Japan -- the HTC Magic, which will be released as the HT-03A.
And Africa-based MTN Group has announced that it's releasing the HTC Dream in South Africa and 22 other countries.
The HTC Dream was dubbed the G1 when it was initially released late last year as the first Android device, offered by T-Mobile USA. The G stands for Google, the backer of the open-source Android mobile operating system and the provider of services available on Android phones. The HTC Magic was recently released in several European countries by Vodafone.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said the surprise wasn't that Android devices are moving into other markets, but that "it took a relatively long period of time" to do so.
He described the Dream as "definitely a hit," since T-Mobile USA has sold more than a million units. Greengart said this is all the more impressive because "it's the first iteration of a new OS and the hardware form factor is a bit clunky."
At this point, he's waiting to see when Android devices will be released by makers other than HTC. Several hardware makers have announced intentions to release Androids later this year or in 2010. Samsung, Greengart noted, has shown its i7500 smartphone, which he said has a "spectacular AMOLED display." The Samsung device is expected in Europe next month.
The other thing Greengart said is needed for Android to flourish is additional software....
Fri, 8 May 09
A Fifth of U.S. Homes Have Cell Phones, no Landlines
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66418
For the first time, the number of U.S. households opting for only cell phones outnumber those that just have traditional landlines in a high-tech shift accelerated by the recession.
In the freshest evidence of the growing appeal of cell phones, 20 percent of households had only cells during the last half of 2008, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey released Wednesday. That was an increase of nearly 3 percentage points over the first half of the year, the largest six-month increase since the government started gathering such data in 2003.
The 20 percent of homes with only cell phones compared to 17 percent with landlines but no cells.
That ratio has changed starkly in recent years: In the first six months of 2003, just 3 percent of households were wireless only, while 43 percent stuck to landlines.
Stephen Blumberg, senior scientist at the CDC and an author of the report, attributed the growing number of cell-only households in part to a recession that has forced many families to scour their budgets for savings.
"We do expect that with the recession, we'd see an increase in the prevalence of wireless only households, above what we might have expected had there been no recession," Blumberg said.
Further underscoring the public's shrinking reliance on landline phones, 15 percent of households have both landlines and cells but take few or no calls on their landlines, often because they are wired into computers. Combined with wireless only homes, that means that 35 percent of households -- more than one in three -- are basically reachable only on cells.
The changes are important for pollsters, who for years relied on reaching people on their landline telephones. Growing numbers of surveys now include calls to people on their cells, which is more expensive partly because federal laws forbid pollsters from...
Fri, 8 May 09
Details Thin on Stimulus Contracts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66413
Although President Obama has vowed that citizens will be able to track "every dime" of the $787 billion stimulus bill, a government Web site dedicated to the spending won't have details on contracts and grants until October and may not be complete until next spring -- halfway through the program, administration officials said.
Recovery.gov now lists programs being funded by the stimulus money, but provides no details on who received the grants and contracts. Agencies won't report that data until Oct. 10, according to Earl Devaney, chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which manages the Web site.
Devaney told a House subcommittee Tuesday that it will be a challenge to have the site ready to present spending data in five months. He said after the hearing that the board doesn't have enough data storage capacity, for example.
Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, a Republican serving on the House Science and Technology subcommittee, criticized the administration's decision to require reporting of only the first two recipients of stimulus spending. Broun said that means if the money goes to a state and then a city, the identities of the city's contractors will be unavailable.
Devaney said that after the first data become available in October, the board will wait six to nine months for the White House Office of Management and Budget to issue new guidance on how far down the spending chain the money must be tracked. "I'm going to push them for as much data as possible," he said.
Devaney's spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, said the Web site may not be completed until next spring.
The board solicited ideas for the site last week during an online "national dialogue" that drew 542 ideas and 1,330 comments. The suggestions included adding mapping tools and other software to allow users to search the data.
People accustomed to getting...
Fri, 8 May 09
Recession Emboldens Internet Scam Artists
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66412
With the tough economy, people seem to be falling for Internet scams more and more these days. Most of those deal with e-mail where a company asks you to send them money for the promise of more money and quite possibly a job.
"That can be anything from a lottery or sweepstakes scam to issues involving work-at-home or part time employment," said Neil Frederiksen, deputy press secretary with the Pennsylvania State Attorney General's Office.
He said the tough economy has people naturally looking for ways to make money, only to fall victim to an Internet scam artist.
"We've seen an increase in the number of people who are victimized and also an increase in the number or people who are simply passing along information," he said. "There's no doubt the financial related scams are looking for money whether its easy money or people who are looking for part time employment to supplement their income."
However, Frederiksen says these scams--and scam artists--are really nothing new, adding that they've existed for years.
"These are fairly traditional scams," he said. "We simply see an increase in their marketing because they know people are facing tough financial times."
Frederiksen said seniors are being targeted as are people who are low-income.
"They are also targeting people who are naive and they are targeting folks who may be desperate," he said.
Frederiksen said [one] recent scam was tied to the Superbowl in the form of a sweepstakes prize that targeted people in western Pennsylvania. He said the scam came via e-mail (on what looked to be official NFL letterhead) and was promising a $100,000 prize and two tickets to see the Steelers in the Superbowl.
"It's a fairly typical scam," said Frederiksen. "Many of them give consumers a check and instruct them to wire transfer money."
He says people are free to contact the state AG's...
Thu, 7 May 09
Swedish Hacker Indicted for Computer Break-Ins
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66426
A 21-year-old Swedish man named Philip Gabriel Pettersson, aka Stakkato, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California on three counts of illegal intrusion and two counts of trade-secret theft, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
The indictment alleges that on two occasions, Pettersson unlawfully gained access to computers at the Ames Research Center and the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division at Moffett Field, Calif. It also asserts that the defendant broke into the network of Cisco Systems of San Jose, Calif., and stole some Cisco Internetwork Operating System code.
Reports vary on what precisely Pettersson stole from Cisco, but according to the DOJ statement, the company does "not believe that any customer information, partner information, or financial systems were affected."
If convicted, Pettersson could face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine up to $250,000 on each charge. The prosecution is being handled by the DOJ's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Officials were unavailable for comment.
It's not clear, however, whether Stakkato will ever face a jury in the United States. Sweden rarely permits the extradition of its citizens to face foreign criminal charges, so Pettersson could avoid prosecution as long as he stays in his home country.
If he leaves Sweden, however, then U.S. authorities could arrest him and transport him to California for trial. Another possibility, although somewhat less likely, is that the U.S. charges could be used as the basis for a prosecution of Pettersson in the Swedish courts. The DOJ said "it will continue to work cooperatively with the Swedish authorities on the case."
This isn't Stakkato's first run-in with the law. Two years ago, he was convicted and fined $25,000 for invading the computer networks of three Swedish universities.
The Stakkato intrusions are merely one...
Thu, 7 May 09
Intel Ad Campaign Focuses on Tomorrow's Innovations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66422
Intel is launching a new corporate advertising campaign in the midst of a global recession that dampened profits for the hard-hit IT industry. The campaign will stresses the chipmaker's role in innovation rather than focusing on any specific products, and takes a multimedia approach in print, broadcast and across the Internet.
The slogan is Sponsors of Tomorrow. The ambitious campaign conveys the message that gigantic advances of the digital age have been made possible by silicon -- the key ingredient in microprocessors -- and the vast majority of this silicon has come from Intel.
"For more than 40 years, Intel has been delivering tomorrow's 'normal,' and our new marketing campaign is a way for the world to be made aware of this fact," said Deborah Conrad, Intel vice president and general manager of the company's corporate marketing group. "We're hoping to convey that we're not just a microprocessor company, but a move-society-forward-by-quantum-leaps company."
Representing Intel's biggest marketing campaign in nearly three years, Sponsors of Tomorrow will launch May 11 in the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom with limited teaser ads starting online Wednesday. Over the next month the campaign will expand to more than two dozen countries, with Brazil and Japan rounding out the planned markets in the third quarter.
Intel has had its share of catchy advertising campaigns. Many still remember the Intel Inside ads from the 1990s. The company's move to focus on its innovation rather than specific chipsets comes at a time when consumers are rallying around brand-name products like Apple iPhones and Nintendo Wiis with a coolness factor regardless of what's inside.
"Our image, our brand are far too powerful to just be a microprocessor when, in fact, the greatest strength of the Intel brand will always be what is still to come. What Intel develops...
Thu, 7 May 09
Windows 7 XP Mode Won't Run on All Intel and AMD chips
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66421
Though Microsoft's new Windows XP mode for Windows 7 is designed to enable users to run both operating systems on the same machine, some business and consumer users may be frustrated that they won't be able to take advantage of the option.
"All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP mode, which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC," wrote Scott Woodgate last month in an official Microsoft blog. The problem is that the user's machine must be equipped with an Intel or AMD processor featuring integrated support for virtualization technology.
"When running any sort of virtualized environment, there is a necessary level of hardware performance required to run the virtualized environment simultaneously with the regular operating environment," said Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst at iSuppli. "If that level of performance is not met in the underlying hardware, then the performance of both the regular and virtualized environments can suffer."
Intel, which began putting virtualization technology on some of its processors in 2005, says it has shipped more than 100 million chips with the enhancement, known as Intel VT. Though not every microprocessor the company offers integrates Intel VT, the chipmaker noted that Windows XP mode was never intended to be for everybody.
"Windows XP mode is targeted for business customers," said Intel spokesperson George Alfs. "It is available on the mid- to higher-end versions of Windows 7 and is supported in hardware by many Intel processors."
According to Intel's most up-to-date reference chart, Intel VT is available on all i7 and Core 2 Extreme chips as well as most Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad models. It also is integrated into the Pentium E6300 and Xeon series processors, but is not available on Celeron or Atom chips -- at...
Thu, 7 May 09
Sony Gets Ghostbusters Exclusive Outside North America
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66420
"Dibs on Europe (and much of Africa and Asia as well)!" That was apparently the rallying cry at Sony headquarters Tuesday as the company announced a deal for exclusive rights to distribute the eagerly awaited video-game version of Ghostbusters outside North America.
The game is scheduled to hit the streets June 19 alongside the Blu-Ray edition of the classic movie.
"We're committed to bringing the PlayStation family the biggest and best gaming experiences first," said Mark Hardy, European product marketing manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), "and it doesn't get any bigger and better than this blockbuster title."
The game features the images and voices of original Ghostbusters stars Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis along with third-party game play throughout a supernaturally infected New York City.
The news was clearly frustrating to Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 owners outside North America, who flooded video-game sites to express disapproval. As publisher Atari made clear in a hastily issued press release, the game will be released in North America on June 16 on all major platforms: Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PC and Nintendo DS.
"Ghostbusters: The Video Game is one of our most significant worldwide releases this summer," said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari. "Through Atari's North America publishing business and alongside our partners at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we have a strategically diversified approach to maximize a title of this magnitude on a global basis."
There is a Cinderella provision in the arrangement -- at some unspecified time, Sony's exclusivity will end and Atari will be able to release the game to other gaming platforms outside North America. ABI Research analyst Zippy Aima, who follows the gaming industry, said she thinks Sony's exclusive rights will stop sometime before the end of the year.
However, she added, the deal will give...
Thu, 7 May 09
Bell Mobility Will Have Palm Pre Exclusively in Canada
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66419
Palm's new smartphone, which was expected to hit the market this month, has finally made its debut, sort of. The Palm Pre, the first phone to run on Palm's webOS, will be offered in Canada exclusively on Bell Mobility's 3G network, according to the company.
This is the second carrier to carry the Pre. After Palm first introduced the smartphone at the Consumer Electronics Show, it announced an exclusive agreement in January with Sprint Nextel to offer the Pre in the U.S.
"Bell is excited to be only the second carrier in the world to announce the 3G Pre," said Adel Bazerghi, senior vice president of products for Bell Mobility. "With the unique user experience of the world's first webOS phone, running on the country's largest 3G network, we're confident that Canadians will embrace Pre as the phone for their lives today."
While the handheld will be available in the next month, the company is being tight-lipped about an exact date and price.
"Not too surprised about the exclusivity deal," said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst with IDC. "Sprint seems to have exclusive rights to the Pre over Verizon. Plus, I'm sure Palm's track record with Bell speaks to the exclusivity as well."
With many industry observers and rivals watching Palm's every move, the company needs to get this one right.
Palm for several quarters has had to take some drastic measures to keep the company going and getting the Pre and the webOS right. Palm has been working on the webOS for years and CEO Ed Colligan has been touting its ease of use for developers. Colligan has said that if a developer can write XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and Ajax, he or she can write code for the webOS platform.
Getting it right the first time is crucial, especially with more companies...
Thu, 7 May 09
Larger Kindle DX Released with Newspaper Backing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66417
In the future history of e-readers, Wednesday could be a red-letter day as Amazon introduced the Kindle DX, an e-reader with a larger screen than the company's two previous models. The Kindle DX is optimized for textbooks and newspapers.
The device sports a 9.7-inch screen, a PDF reader, 3G wireless connectivity, and a 3.3-gigabyte memory for as many as 3,500 e-books. "Cookbooks, computer books, and textbooks -- anything highly formatted -- also shine on the Kindle DX," said Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
With a display 2.5 times as large as the Kindle 2, Amazon is promoting its use to help newspapers overcome the current crisis. At a press conference at Pace University, the company said The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe will offer the Kindle DX at a reduced price to readers in areas where home delivery isn't available.
The offer only comes as part of a long-term newspaper subscription. The regular price for the Kindle DX is $489.
Besides newspapers and other periodicals, the DX is also targeted at the textbook market. Amazon announced that, beginning in the summer, publishers Cengage Learning, Pearson and Wiley will offer e-textbooks through the Kindle Store.
Trial textbook programs are being launched at Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Princeton University, Reed College, and the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. Hundreds of Kindle DXs will be distributed to students on those campuses, and the trials will seek out advantages that e-textbooks might offer over printed ones.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst with industry research firm Forrester, said, "Amazon is smart to go after the textbook market, which is much bigger than the e-book market."
She said Forrester estimates a U.S. market for e-books of about five million customers, each of whom loves to...
Thu, 7 May 09
South Carolina Goes After Craigslist Advertising
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66415
Craigslist and its president, Jim Buckmaster, continue to be under fire from state law-enforcement authorities after recent attacks and a murder that occurred after classified ads appeared on the popular Web site.
South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has asked Buckmaster to remove any ads soliciting prostitution or pornographic materials involving South Carolina.
The request comes just weeks after an attack at a Massachusetts hotel and another attack in neighboring Rhode Island that ended in murder. The attacks have led authorities to pressure Craigslist.
McMaster has given the company until May 15 at 5 p.m. Eastern time to remove the ads or be subject to possible prosecution, according to his letter to Buckmaster.
"We look forward to speaking directly with Attorney General McMaster about his concerns, and finding ways to address them without compromising the utility of Craigslist for South Carolinians, or anyone's constitutional rights," Buckmaster said on his blog. "However, we see no legal basis whatsoever for filing a lawsuit against Craigslist or its principals and hope that the attorney general will realize this upon further reflection."
After coming under fire last year for enabling prostitution, Craigslist worked with and signed an agreement with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and state attorneys general to add safeguards to the site and deal with unlawful activity.
As a result of the November agreement, Craigslist required posters of "erotic services" ads to include a phone number and pay a fee to be donated to charity. The agreement was expected to reduce illegal posts and help law-enforcement officials track illegal activity.
Craigslist also includes a long list in its frequently asked questions page stating what is not permitted on the site. Number one on the list is obscene material or child pornography. Listed second is solicitation for illegal prostitution.
"Craigslist has been working closely with law...
Thu, 7 May 09
Virtual Currencies Gain in Popularity
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66409
Make way, Zambian kwacha. There's a hot new exotic currency on the market, only it's not from any country on earth -- at least not one in the material world. This currency is called the Project Entropia Dollar [PED] and it's used to buy and sell goods on the planet Calypso, in an online gaming world called Entropia Universe.
The PED is among a growing number of alternative currencies changing hands in virtual worlds, social networks, and other Web sites eager to make it easier for users to spend money and carry out other transactions while online. "We'll try to make the link between real and virtual world as close as possible," says Hans Andersson, who in March was granted a license from the Swedish government to open Mind Bank, which will exchange Swedish kronor for PEDs. The game's 1 million users now buy and sell land, minerals, and tools by depositing U.S. dollars or Swedish kronor directly into the game. Once Mind Bank opens in January, users will be able to link real-world checking and savings accounts to the virtual world. Eventually they'll be able to take out PED loans.
Andersson hopes that as it becomes simpler to transfer funds from real-world financial institutions to those that exist on the Internet, site users will spend more time and money online. The difficulty of paying for goods in virtual worlds, online games, social networks, and even dating sites has long stymied growth in what analysts see as a burgeoning market. China's virtual goods economy, the largest in the world, is worth $800 million and growing 30 percent a year, estimates Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group. In Second Life, one of the biggest U.S.-based virtual economies, transaction volume is expected to rise 39 percent, to $500 million this year,...
Thu, 7 May 09
Group Says 131K Fewer Online Job Ads Posted
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66406
Online job advertisements fell by 131,000 in April and the drop has resulted in a decline of more than 1.32 million advertised vacancies in the last six months.
The national report by The Conference Board follows a dip of 100,000 ads in March, but is well below the record declines of 507,000 and 506,000 in December and January.
Online job ads have decreased 30 percent since November.
Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board, said that while the decline in labor demand may be slowing and April and May are when businesses typically step up hiring efforts, that was not the case this April.
"This year, that bounce may be more evident next month," Levanon said in a news release. "With the April drop, the gap between labor demand and supply will widen further ... In March, there were 10 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies."
The Conference Board's monthly Help-Wanted Online Data Series measures the number of new online jobs and openings reposted from the previous month on more than 1,200 major Internet job boards and smaller Web sites that serve niche markets.
The downward trend in employer demand coupled with the monthly increases in unemployment is making it increasingly difficult for the unemployed to find jobs, the group said.
There were about 3.11 million online ads in April, a drop from the 4.3 million online job ads in November 2008 and 3.6 million the previous April.
Michigan had more than eight unemployed people for every advertised vacancy, followed by Mississippi and Indiana with a little over seven unemployed people for every advertised vacancy and Kentucky and North Carolina with just under seven. For the second straight month, no state had fewer unemployed people than advertised vacancies.
All of the most populous states in the Midwest and the West continued to post ad declines and 49...
Thu, 7 May 09
Citrix Dazzle Creates IT Self-Service Storefront for Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66397
Citrix Systems set out to dazzle attendees at the Citrix Synergy 2009 conference this week with a slew of announcements that focus on the possibilities of virtualization, networking and application delivery.
One announcement that turned the heads of CIOs is Citrix Dazzle. Citrix is positioning Dazzle as the first self-service storefront for enterprise applications. Citrix said Dazzle gives users on-demand access to apps and IT services and brings the economics of the Web to enterprise IT.
"Every day, employees are presented with an amazing array of exciting apps and services on the Web that spark their imagination and put them in full control of their experience. Then they come to work, and their IT experience is mandated by a bland 'general issue' sameness that threatens to drive every ounce of productivity and innovation out of them," said Mark Templeton, president and CEO of Citrix.
Templeton said Citrix is giving IT a tool that helps them "dazzle" end users. The hidden reality, he said, is that by giving employees the choice, IT actually saves money and gains even more control over the things that really matter. Citrix did not indicate how much cost savings an enterprise might expect from Dazzle.
To select an application in Dazzle, users browse and search based on application name, description or type. Users can also choose applications based on IT-defined categories such as functional department or group name.
To select an application, users click an icon in Windows or drag it into the applications folder or the dock on a Mac. Users can also organize selected applications into user-defined playlists. Apps available for offline use are designated in the Dazzle console so laptop users who need to work while disconnected from the network can choose appropriate apps.
Underneath the Dazzle user interface sits Citrix...
Thu, 7 May 09
Jimmy Fallon, Trent Reznor Among Webby Winners
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66374
Jimmy Fallon's late-night show hasn't been on the air three months, but he's already got an award. The comedian was chosen as person of the year by the annual Webby awards for being "one of the most ardent online evangelists."
The 13th annual Webbys were announced Tuesday. A special achievement award was also given to Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, who released his 2008 album, "The Slip," as a free download.
Seth MacFarlane, the "Family Guy" creator, was honored as film and video person of the year for his Web franchise "Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy."
National Public Radio led winners with seven awards, including wins for its music division, mobile news and podcasts. The New York Times' online unit -- last year's Webby leader -- earned six awards, the same total that NBC.com also received.
Twitter, the fast-growing microblogging site, won the Webby for breakout of the year.
Two well-known comedians were also singled out.
Sarah Silverman was honored as best actress for her performance in the viral video "I'm ... Matt Damon" and for her contribution to a voting initiative video. Lisa Kudrow won for outstanding comedic performance as the star of the series "Web Therapy" on lstudio.com.
The awards will be presented in New York on June 8, hosted by Seth Meyers ("Saturday Night Live"). The Webbys are known for their brief acceptance speeches, where winners are limited to five words. (Stephen Colbert, a special achievement winner last year, said: "Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.")
Since "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" began in early March, the comedian has augmented his NBC broadcast with Web videos, blogging and tweeting on Twitter.
Reznor's online fervor was evident Sunday, when he posted in a Nine Inch Nails forum that he was frustrated with what he called Apple's inconsistent standards. He criticized the company for not making the band's album...
Thu, 7 May 09
Data Breaches Skyrocketed in 2008
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66371
The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) monitors five groups for data breaches annually. It found that the financial, banking, and credit industries have remained the most proactive groups in data protection over the past three years. Businesses accounted for about 37 percent of the breaches, the highest number of any of the five groups studied. The government/military category has dropped nearly 50 percent since 2006, moving from the highest number of breaches to the third highest.
Malware attacks, hacking, and insider theft accounted for about 30 percent of breaches. On its own, insider theft more than doubled between 2007 and 2008, the ITRC reported, accounting for more than 15 percent of breaches. But breaches related to data-in-motion and accidental exposure, which are categorized as human errors, declined in 2008 compared with 2007, though they still accounted for about 35 percent of incidents.
Only 2.4 percent of all breaches involved data when encryption or other strong protective measures were in place, and only 8.5 percent involved password protection, the ITRC reported. "It is obvious that the bulk of breached data was unprotected by either encryption or even passwords," the study states.
In all, the ITRC found about 36 million records were potentially breached in 2008, based on figures derived from the notification letters and information provided by breached entities. But almost 42 percent of the reported incidents did not include an estimated number of victims.
Given the statistics, the ITRC urges organizations to minimize the number of people who have access to personally identifiable information and require encryption for all mobile data storage devices that contain identifying information. In addition, organizations should limit the number of people who may take information out of the workplace and set safe procedures for data storage. Another critical practice is encrypting data and records before sending them from one...
Thu, 7 May 09
Control Spam with Disposable E-Mail Addresses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66370
Spam now accounts for over 90 percent of all e-mail received, according to a recent study by US-based Panda Labs, a company that makes Internet security products. But you probably don't need an official study or a company to tell you just how troublesome spam has become. All you need to do is look at your inbox -- or, if you employ some kind of anti-spam software, your Spam folder.
Most anti-spam software doesn't really get rid of the problem of spam, however. It just moves it out of your inbox. It's true that there are also solutions that deal with spam at the server level, wiping out suspected spam before you ever download it. But such approaches are too risky for most people because there's a good chance that legitimate messages may be inadvertently zapped.
To truly get rid of spam, you have to make sure that potential spammers don't get your primary e-mail address. And there's really only one way to do that: have one or more "disposable" e-mail addresses that you give out online to sources you don't know or trust. Luckily, there are a number of ways to create disposable e-mail addresses. Here's a rundown of the best.
Think about the number of times that you need to give our your e-mail address once -- and only once. It may be to gain access to a Web site, to sign up for a forum, or to download a file. If you're sure that you'll never need to communicate by e-mail with whatever resource you're accessing, there's no reason to provide an e-mail address that is in any way permanent. If you do, you're setting yourself up to receive gobs of spam.
The solution is a service such as Mailinator (http://www.mailinator.com). Mailinator is one of the original "disposable" e-mail services, and...
Wed, 6 May 09
Sprint Posts $594 Million Loss But Sees Signs of Progress
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66396
Sprint Nextel posted a $594 million loss in the first quarter -- substantially higher than the $505 million loss the nation's third-largest wireless carrier recorded in the final three months of 2008. The company also said revenue fell 12 percent to $8.2 billion.
Still, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse told investors that he sees signs of progress in the first-quarter results. "We achieved the largest sequential improvement in overall gross adds and net adds in Sprint Nextel history, reduced churn versus the prior year, and we generated more than enough cash in this quarter alone to pay all of our 2009 debt maturities," Hesse said.
Hess noted that challenging economic conditions have led to a new market dynamic in which there were as many prepaid as postpaid customer decisions in the U.S. during the quarter. He also thinks it's entirely possible that the prepaid share of the total market could increase in future quarters.
Sprint is benefiting from the trend, Hess said, through its February launch of a flat-rate prepaid plan that offers unlimited nationwide voice, text and multimedia messaging, Web and push-to-talk connectivity for just $50 per month.
"We are very encouraged by the success of the Boost Unlimited prepaid offer which we launched on the iDEN network," said Hesse. "It has been a very long time since we've reported the number of iDEN network subscribers actually increasing."
Sprint lost 1.25 million contract or postpaid customers in the first quarter and Hesse said the company needs to do better. However, Sprint's rate of subscriber defections to other carriers slowed from 1.27 million in the final three months of 2008 to just 182,000 subscribers in the first quarter, driven in major part by consumer uptake to the new Boost Unlimited plan.
Sprint's investments in customer care since Hesse became chief...
Wed, 6 May 09
Apple May Loosen Content Restrictions on App Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66394
Trent Reznor, the driving force behind the industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails (NIN), is reportedly a big fan of Apple's iPhone. So it's not terribly surprising that NIN recently released an iPhone app, nin: access, that is designed to provide fans with news and information about the band, including concert footage, scheduling updates, and music remixes. Like many other band apps, nin: access taps into the iPhone's GPS to help fans locate other fans nearby.
Unfortunately, however, NIN fans can't download the app -- at least not right away. According to a post by Reznor on the NIN online forum, the Apple App Store rejected nin: access for violating the store's terms of service.
"The objectionable content referenced in this e-mail," the anonymous App Store reviewer said, "is The Downward Spiral. Since the app is live on the App store, please make the necessary changes to the application as soon as possible, and resubmit your binary to iTunes Connect. Thank you."
The App Store's refusal to allow download of nin: access 1.0.3 underscored the somewhat capricious logic of Apple's vetting process (the same vetting process, as many pointed out, that initially approved the horrific Baby Shaker app). As Reznor pointed out, The Downward Spiral is not actually part of nin: access -- it's part of a podcast that users can download from the band's Web site.
Moreover, the entire song can be purchased and downloaded from Apple's iTunes Store for just 99 cents. "How does that make sense?" Reznor asked. "You can buy The Downward F***ing Spiral on iTunes, but you can't allow an iPhone app that may have a song with a bad word somewhere in it?"
The prohibition against possibly indecent apps seems even sillier given the fact that Apple included a Web browser in the standard software of the...
Wed, 6 May 09
Microsoft Begins Second Wave of Staff Layoffs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66393
Microsoft on Tuesday began notifying workers who won't make it through the second wave of layoffs. CEO Steve Ballmer announced the job cuts in a staff e-mail as part of the 5,000 job reductions announced in January.
The layoffs mark the first notable employment hiccup at Microsoft in its 34-year history and come in response to an economic downturn that has impacted the software giant's operations.
"As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor the impact of the economic downturn on the company and, if necessary, take further actions on our cost structure, including additional job eliminations," Ballmer said in his e-mail to employees.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Dow Jones that the company is eliminating positions across several areas, but didn't indicate which areas or how many jobs. Microsoft plans to cut about five percent of its 96,000 employees by June 2010 to save $1.5 billion a year.
Microsoft cut 1,400 jobs in January. Ballmer noted in his e-mail that Microsoft will be nearly done with layoffs after this round. That would indicate that thousands are about to receive pink slips. Microsoft said the second wave of layoffs will be spread across U.S. and international markets. The first wave was mostly concentrated in the U.S.
Microsoft is providing laid-off employees with severance packages of an undisclosed amount. In a bright spot, Microsoft said some of the terminated workers may be rehired as part of the 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs the company expects to create between now and June 2010.
Microsoft isn't alone in its layoffs. Tech companies have witnessed employment bloodbaths in the past two quarters. The outlook remains cloudy about a full economic recovery that would allow IT firms to begin delivering measurable, predictable sales and revenues.
"Much of what happens with Microsoft and other IT firms...
Wed, 6 May 09
FileMaker Adds Databases To the iPhone and iPod Touch
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66392
Engineers at FileMaker, the personal-database software company behind Bento, have outdone themselves. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, a subsidiary of Apple, on Tuesday launched a portable version of Bento for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch through Apple's App Store.
Bento for iPhone and iPod touch links users' contacts and keeps track of anything from business-related sales to recipes on personal databases. The $4.99 application allows users to organize recipes, to-do lists, projects and event planning, according to the company. For business users, it organizes expenses, inventories, time billing, and customer lists.
"Whether you are planning an alumni reunion, managing the membership list of a club, expense tracking, or logging exercise routines at the gym, Bento for iPhone and iPod touch can help you get it done while you are on the go quickly and easily," said Ryan Rosenberg, vice president of marketing at FileMaker. "With so many cool, ready-to-use templates, users are going to find Bento for iPhone and iPod touch irresistible,"
The application will provide real value for iPhone and iPod touch users, said Carl Howe, director of Yankee Group's consumer research group.
"I've got my list of maintenance receipts on my car and when is my next oil change, or a list of projects that I'm working on for the PTO," Howe said." Again, the whole argument is I can take those whole databases to go."
Information can be added into Bento's 25 templates, or users can create their own forms to organize any data on the iPhone or iPod touch, according to FileMaker.
"The way to think about it is it is a way to do more with contacts and mail on your phone and do them in ways you want to use them rather than ways others want you to use them," Howe said. "It's taking...
Wed, 6 May 09
Universities May Test Large Kindle with Textbooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66380
More details are emerging about the new, larger-screen Kindle e-reader from Amazon, which is widely expected to be launched during a press conference Wednesday. One development with potentially the biggest impact is the company's apparent intention to move into the textbook market, an area that some observers have said is ripe for e-readers.
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, large-screen Kindles will be distributed on a test basis to students at various universities. Students at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, for example, will receive the new Kindles with several textbooks already installed. The goal is to compare students' Kindle experiences to those of students using ordinary textbooks.
Other universities involved in testing textbooks on Kindle, according to the Journal, include Pace University, Princeton, Reed College, the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and Arizona State. Wednesday's press conference is being held at Pace, in New York City.
Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at the NPD Group, said that, while the details haven't emerged, a larger-format Kindle for textbooks is "certainly a step forward" for the e-book reader.
He noted that, unlike newspapers, there "is no real electronic ecosystem around textbooks," and therefore no real competition on the Web.
The possibility of widely available electronic textbooks on e-readers, Rubin said, could open up issues with college bookstores. But the "promise of carrying and referencing text from multiple classes in one device," he said, "is very appealing."
Rubin added that a lot will depend on pricing of the device and the textbooks, and universities will also want to see the textbooks working on competitive devices as well. One of the most publicized of expected competitors is an 8.5-by-11-inch e-reader coming this summer from Mountain View, Calif.-based Plastic Logic, in a trial with the Detroit...
Wed, 6 May 09
Now Rumors Say Apple Could Buy Twitter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66366
Facebook tried to buy Twitter, but was rejected. Google didn't buy Twitter, but acquisition plans were rumored. Will Apple be the winner in the Twitter acquisition game?
Speculation is building about Apple acquiring the micro-blogging service. News reports suggest Apple is in the final stages of Twitter acquisition talks that could see the Mac maker cough up $700 million for the company. That would be about $200 million more than Facebook reportedly offered.
Why so much ado about Twitter? It has emerged as the Web 2.0's latest phenomenon and Twitter members are growing by the millions. In fact, according to comScore Media Metrix, Twitter got 9.3 million visitors in March, a five million increase from February -- and that was before Oprah Winfrey started tweeting.
Twitter is seemingly rising faster than its social-media counterparts, thanks, in part, to media attention. News organizations like CNN and The New York Times are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. Companies like Salesforce.com are putting Twitter into their service offerings, and tech giants like Dell are generating hundreds of thousands of dollars tweeting special deals to followers.
The rumors about Google acquiring Twitter started after Google opened an account in February. In less than three days, Google attracted 28,000 followers and has nearly 600,000 now. Analysts said it would make sense for Google to acquire Twitter for its real-time search capabilities that have allowed citizen journalists to break new stories and report them on the micro-blogging service. But is Apple a probable suitor?
"I suppose while it's not totally inconceivable that Twitter could fit into Apple's MobileMe or iLife offerings, it's extremely unlikely that Apple is a serious potential buyer for Twitter," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "Twitter falls pretty far from Apple's product tree. Buying Twitter would take Apple in a very...
Wed, 6 May 09
AT&T Will Offer BlackBerry Curve 8900 'World Phone'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66365
AT&T has grabbed the spotlight from competitors before the summer rush. The wireless carrier will offer Research in Motion's BlackBerry Curve 8900 in early summer, it announced Monday.
The silver smartphone with black finish is the slimmest of the BlackBerry devices with QWERTY keyboards. Touted by AT&T as a "world phone" because it allows customers to access data in more than 170 countries and make calls in more than 200, the Curve 8900 has a 480x360 high-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera with auto focus, and an expandable MicroSD/SDHC memory-card slot supporting up to 16GB per card.
RIM's device, which has Wi-Fi and GPS, was launched in Europe last fall by T-Mobile.
AT&T hasn't announced a price for the phone, but T-Mobile offers the device for $149 after a $250 instant discount and a $100 mail-in rebate.
The smartphone has taken its time to reach AT&T, but the timing may be perfect.
Getting it out the door in time was a smart move for AT&T, especially with the anticipation of several other devices, including the Palm Pre and a next-generation iPhone.
"Part of this is going to relate to other devices being launched and go with the notion of a new iPhone coming this summer, so you want to space it out and don't want to release it too close to that," Llamas said.
AT&T also doesn't have to put a lot of advertising and marketing dollars behind the Curve 8900, as there has been a high volume of BlackBerry ads that are not focused on a specific carrier.
"You want to capitalize on the marketing of BlackBerry right...
Wed, 6 May 09
Social Media: The Ashton Kutcher Effect
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66352
Where celebrities go, fans follow. The truism applies as much in social media as in the real world, David Karp noticed after famous artists began using his blogging service Tumblr. As a result, encouraging celebrities to set up accounts on the site has become "absolutely part of our road map and our business plan," Karp says. In fact, he recently hired a full-time employee to help high-profile users design and manage their blogs.
It's no secret that well-recognized players in a host of fields -- from acting to athletics, music to politics -- are using social media sites to connect with fans and promote their brands. Celebrities used to seek out promotion "in People magazine or Vogue," says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a researcher that tracks the value of celebrity brands. "It's now become a necessity to have a Facebook page."
But the benefits go both ways. Sites benefit greatly from the online cavalcade of stars. Oprah Winfrey's recent debut on microblogging service Twitter sent visits to the site skyrocketing 43 percent over the previous week, according to analytics firm Hitwise. Facebook, Google's YouTube, Ning, and other Web 2.0 destinations have also seen swarms of activity around the profile pages of their famous members. And like Tumblr, social sites are going out of their way to keep the celebs happy and coming back.
On May 1 the Obama Administration said the White House is setting up profile pages on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. To accommodate 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, News Corp.'s MySpace agreed to build ad-free pages and equipped the profile to get automatic updates from the White House's official blog, MySpace says.
In some cases social networks give VIPs a heads-up on changes. Recently, Facebook worked with the handlers of select celebrity members, including CBS news anchor...
Wed, 6 May 09
LexisNexis Warns 32,000 People About Data Breach
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66348
The LexisNexis online information service told 32,000 people on Friday that their personal information may have been improperly accessed by former customers in a credit card fraud scheme that postal officials said had bilked hundreds.
"I am writing to inform you that sensitive, personally identifiable information about you may have been viewed by a few individuals who should not have access to such information," said the letter mailed Friday to people whose information is in LexisNexis databases.
A breach of the databases at New York-based LexisNexis and at a Santa Fe, New Mexico, company called Investigative Professionals, which conducts background checks including employee screenings, victimized about 300 people, U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Peter Rendina said.
The 300 people, all of whom have been contacted by postal authorities, had personal information used fraudulently, Rendina said. Suspects in the scheme had access to information on about 40,000 people but didn't use all of it, he said.
No suspects had been arrested as of Friday, although Rendina said authorities were wrapping up their investigation. He didn't say how the personal information was improperly used.
But LexisNexis said the information -- including names, birth dates and Social Security numbers -- was used to set up fake credit cards. The thieves, who operated businesses that were once LexisNexis customers, broke into mailboxes of businesses that contained LexisNexis database information, the letter said.
The information was obtained between June 2004 and October 2007, the letter said. There was no evidence of identity fraud in the investigation
Joe Hoover, who answered the telephone at Investigative Professionals on Friday, said he could not comment.
LexisNexis disclosed in 2005 that hackers had gotten access to personal information on as many as 32,000 Americans.
Database collector ChoicePoint Inc., a spinoff of credit agency Equifax, disclosed in 2005 that thieves posing as small business customers gained access to its...
Wed, 6 May 09
Old Japanese Maps on Google Earth Unveil Secrets
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66347
When Google Earth added historical maps of Japan to its online collection last year, the search giant didn't expect a backlash. The finely detailed woodblock prints have been around for centuries, they were already posted on another Web site, and a historical map of Tokyo put up in 2006 hadn't caused any problems.
But Google failed to judge how its offering would be received, as it has often done in Japan. The company is now facing inquiries from the Justice Ministry and angry accusations of prejudice because its maps detailed the locations of former low-caste communities.
The maps date back to the country's feudal era, when shoguns ruled and a strict caste system was in place. At the bottom of the hierarchy were a class called the "burakumin," ethnically identical to other Japanese but forced to live in isolation because they did jobs associated with death, such as working with leather, butchering animals and digging graves.
Castes have long since been abolished, and the old buraku villages have largely faded away or been swallowed by Japan's sprawling metropolises. Today, rights groups say the descendants of burakumin make up about 3 million of the country's 127 million people.
But they still face prejudice, based almost entirely on where they live or their ancestors lived. Moving is little help, because employers or parents of potential spouses can hire agencies to check for buraku ancestry through Japan's elaborate family records, which can span back over a hundred years.
An employee at a large, well-known Japanese company, who works in personnel and has direct knowledge of its hiring practices, said the company actively screens out burakumin job seekers.
"If we suspect that an applicant is a burakumin, we always do a background check to find out," she said. She agreed to discuss the practice only on condition that neither she...
Wed, 6 May 09
It's a Virtual Life for Swine Flu-Bound Mexicans
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66345
Churchgoers celebrate Mass via television. Congressional candidates campaign with real-time speeches on the Web. A magazine promises Internet tours through the real Mexico -- the one with open museums and pyramids. And rock bands plan online concerts.
Swine flu is creating a virtual Mexico.
With school canceled nationwide and many parents forbidding their kids to party, teenagers are logging a lot more time chatting on Facebook, Twittering and downloading music and movies from the Internet. So are many adults, especially after most business and government offices in Mexico City shut down Friday for five days.
Two rock bands are making a go at reaching shut-in fans, announcing a virtual concert for Tuesday. Los Estramboticos, a Mexico City group, and Pastilla, a Latino band from the United States, will perform in a studio and broadcast it online. At least they can get exposure while Mexico's ban on concerts lasts.
"Entrance is free and you can come without a surgical mask or fear of getting diseases," the bands proclaimed in a Web advertisement.
The problem is that even teenagers -- gasp! -- are starting to get bored of the virtual life.
"I'm like, sick of it," said Bibiana Perez, 16, a Mexico City high schooler whose daily routine has consisted of morning Facebook chats with her friends, watching movies in the afternoon, and evening Facebook chats with her friends.
"I've started to cook and do things I don't I normally do," she said. "I've never made brownies, so I made brownies. I tried lasagna, but it didn't turn out so good."
Alex Pradillo, 17, has reached his limit, too. Rugby practices that normally take up two hours of his day have been suspended. He tried to invite a few friends over but their parents forbade them to go. So he finds himself spending six to eight hours a day downloading...
Wed, 6 May 09
Sprint Nextel Loss Widens, Beats View
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66344
Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless service provider, on Monday reported a larger first-quarter loss on declining revenue and a charge for job cuts announced in January.
But its adjusted results narrowly beat estimates and its shares climbed 14 percent in morning trading.
Sprint continued to lose subscribers but far fewer than it did in the last three months of 2008. The improvement, however, reflected a sharp increase in prepaid customers while the number of subscribers who sign up for annual contracts and are more valuable to Sprint fell.
"Total subscriber sequential improvement performance was the best in Sprint Nextel history," Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse told analysts during a conference call. "But we are far from satisfied with our postpaid subscriber numbers."
The Overland Park, Kan.-based company said it lost $594 million, or 21 cents per share, during the three months ending March 31, versus a loss of $505 million, or 18 cents per share, a year ago.
Not including one-time charges for severance and other job-cutting costs, Sprint said it would have lost 3 cents per share, a penny less than analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted.
The company said it recorded a $327 million charge for severance and other costs connected with its announcement in January that is planned to cut 8,000 jobs.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported on Monday that Sprint was in final discussions to outsource management of its cellular network -- and transfer between 5,000 and 7,000 U.S. jobs -- to Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson.
In a telephone interview, Hesse said the company was looking at several cost-cutting ideas, including "analyzing the possibility of outsourcing certain parts of the management of our network assets but no decisions have been made and we don't comment on speculation."
Revenue declined 12 percent to $8.21 billion from $9.3 billion and below...
Wed, 6 May 09
Texting Delays Mar Popularity of $50 Boost Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66318
A new $50 unlimited-calling plan sold under the Boost brand has been a badly needed success story for Sprint Nextel Corp., luring hundreds of thousands of new customers, by industry estimates.
But dealers and customers report widespread problems with texting on the Boost network. Messages are frequently delayed by hours, in many cases reaching their recipients early in the morning.
"That kind of kills the point of using the text messaging feature," said Daniel Michael, a firefighter in Salisbury, N.C., who also works at a cell phone store. He and his wife signed up for Boost Mobile around the end of February, and use their phones to text their children, but often get delays of three or four hours.
"There's a huge deficiency in the text messaging and multimedia messaging," said John Kim, an independent dealer who has a Boost Mobile store in the Dallas area. He warns new customers about the problems, and tests the system by sending himself text messages.
"I got five text messages at 4 o'clock in the morning that I sent myself nine hours before," he said.
He's been signing up 10 to 12 new customers a day on the plan, three or four times the number that came in before the Boost Unlimited plan was introduced in January. But a lot of them come back, "very irritated" about the text messaging problems, he said.
"This trend of a lot of people signing up to Boost is going to disappear really quickly if they don't resolve the texting issue," Kim said.
The new Boost Mobile plan uses Sprint's Nextel network, which uses a different underlying technology than the main Sprint network. Nextel users have complained of occasionally delayed text messaging for years, but the network's main selling point has been the walkie-talkie-like "push to talk" capability, used by work crews and...
Mon, 4 May 09
Big Blue Woos Sun Customers with Migration Rewards
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66363
As the technology world waits to see what will become of Sun's hardware business in the wake of Oracle's acquisition, IBM is going on the offensive with a program to woo Sun server customers to its side.
Last week, Big Blue doubled its incentives under its Power Rewards migration program. IBM is offering customers $8,000 worth of software or services for every Sun SPARC processor they set aside for an IBM Power server through June 30. IBM was offering $4,000 per processor before Oracle announced the Sun acquisition.
IBM said the value of Power Rewards can lead to a significant reduction in migration costs. As an example, IBM offered a scenario in which a client who moves the workload from a 64-core Hewlett-Packard 9000 Superdome could earn 256,000 points. Those points can be redeemed for 680 hours of migration services.
IBM wasn't immediately available for comment, but industry analysts said the doubled incentive could be a reaction to the Oracle acquisition. Big Blue could be tapping into the uncertainty Sun customers have about what Oracle will do with Sun's hardware business.
"Rumors are rife about what Oracle is planning to do with Sun's assets after the acquisition is completed," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "Rumors are running around everything from Sun being operated as a relatively independent entity within Oracle to Oracle spinning off or outright selling bits and pieces of Sun's hardware assets to interested buyers."
Until Oracle clarifies its intentions, it's open season on Sun, King said, and no matter what Oracle decides, it's likely that Sun customers are going to face some significant changes. That said, IBM's move to double its incentives could be a play to continue the momentum it announced in April.
Last week, IBM announced that more than 100 companies worldwide chose IBM in the...
Mon, 4 May 09
BlackBerry Tops iPhone To Lead U.S. Smartphone Sales
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66362
NPD Group reports that an aggressive buy-one-get-one promotion helped the BlackBerry Curve move past Apple's iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the U.S. during the first quarter.
Blackberry maker Research In Motion increased its share of the U.S. smartphone market to 50 percent in the quarter -- up 15 percentage points from the previous three months, the research firm said. By contrast, the market shares of both Apple and Palm declined 10 percent.
RIM's success was largely due to Verizon's aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base, explained NPD Group Director Ross Rubin. "The more familiar, and less expensive, Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers," Rubin said.
Confronted with reduced consumer demand for replacement handsets, the nation's top wireless carriers have decided to put more emphasis on data-centric devices that can help drive revenue growth even in the midst of a recession. To prime the pump, Verizon and its rivals have become far more open to raising their handset subsidies in order to keep the initial purchase price as low as possible.
"The trend centers on both subsidies as well as the marketing of their data and messaging plans, and we are starting to see more options," said IDC Senior Research Analyst Ryan Reith. Though the carriers already have 'all you can eat' data plans, "a lot of consumers are still looking for the happy sweet spot in the middle," he explained.
Even as the overall market dropped 15.8 percent in the first quarter, smartphone shipments into North America grew four percent, Reith reported last month. "Creativity appears to be the key to success" for large mobile operators during this tough time...
Mon, 4 May 09
EU Wants ICANN To End Department of Commerce Ties
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66361
The European Commission is making its message to the U.S. Department of Commerce loud and clear. Viviane Reding, European Union information technology commissioner, wants the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to separate from the U.S. department and discontinue its contract with the government when it expires in September.
For the past decade, ICANN has been dealing with top-level domains and managing the Internet address system that connects 1.6 billion Internet users. It has been working under an agreement with the Department of Commerce.
Reding said the arrangement has so far been reasonable. But the EU has repeatedly asked for a system run by the private sector, without government interference.
"The Clinton administration's decision to progressively privatize the Internet's domain name and addressing system is the right one," Reding said in a video statement. "In the long run, it is not defendable that the government department of only one country has oversight of an Internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world."
Brad White, ICANN's director of media affairs, said as of publication time that the "powers that be are still studying the Reding statement."
Reding hopes that once ICANN's agreement with the U.S. government expires Sept. 30, ICANN will decide to be run privately -- but wonders who will take the reins. She is suggesting that a small, independent and international tribunal have the right to review ICANN decisions.
"All people, companies, bodies or organizations affected by ICANN decisions should have the right to request full judicial review of ICANN decisions," she said.
Currently US Courts in California handle all legal decisions affecting ICANN, and Reding believes that needs to change. "The Courts of California alone are certainly not the best place to handle legal challenges originating in all continents of...
Mon, 4 May 09
Amazon May Release Large-Screen Kindle Reader
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66354
Amazon, the online giant retailer that has threatened the existence of bookstores, may help save the newspaper industry. That is a possible benefit of a new, larger-screen version of its Kindle e-book reader, which The New York Times reported Sunday will be released soon.
The earlier two Kindles were intended for book reading, while a larger version would be designed specifically for larger-formatted periodicals, such as newspapers and books, and possibly textbooks.
Amazon hasn't confirmed the report, which the Times attributed to "people briefed on the online reader's plans." A press conference by Amazon has been scheduled for Wednesday, although the topic hasn't been announced.
But the Times may be in an unusually good position to know, since the newspaper itself is reported in its article as being involved in the introduction of the new Kindle.
Amazon isn't the only company considering a large-format reader. According to news reports, Plastic Logic of Mountain View, Calif., is working with News Corp. to release large-format e-readers by the end of the year. And Hearst has confirmed it is backing a startup called FirstPaper, which is rumored to be working on a near-tabloid-size e-reader that could have a color screen.
Newspapers and other print-based publications are in critical shape, hit by double whammies of a major recession and the rise of the Internet. The result is a newspaper and periodicals crisis that has been or could be fatal for some leading publications. For instance, The New York Times-owned Boston Globe, a major longtime fixture on the New England and national scene, is reportedly close to bankruptcy.
Sarah Rotman Epps, a media analyst at industry research firm Forrester, said larger-screen e-readers from a variety of device makers are "definitely" coming out later this year and in 2010.
But the key to whether the devices...
Mon, 4 May 09
Facebook Gives Developers Tools for an Open Platform
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66353
Facebook is looking for additional ways for its members to communicate and receive updates on the popular social-networking site. Outside developers are being encouraged to create more applications and give users more ways to access the applications.
"No one single company can have a Web site that people are sharing information in and have that be an open system," said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a recent video post announcing updates and features. "One of the things important to us and going forward is true open standard and operability."
One new feature for developers is the Facebook Open Stream API, which gives users the ability to interact with their stream anywhere. With the stream -- the instant updates of friends' photos, videos, conversations and comments -- developers can access stories published into the stream and display them on a desktop, to a Web site, or on a mobile device.
"As we've built out the Facebook platform, openness has always been a theme for us," said David Morin, senior platform manager at Facebook. "This is all about making one of our core product experiences open to innovate in ways never possible before."
Now users will not only be able to consume the stream, they will have the ability to publish back into it. "With Open Stream API you will now be able to do this on some of your favorite Web sites such as Plaxo or desktop software such as Seesmic," Morin said.
Facebook has also created two additional APIs, called stream.get and stream.publish, as well as Facebook Query Language tables allowing developers to directly access the stream.
Using the new APIs, developers can access the stream for a user and then display content in a way that is most relevant for the user, according to the company.
"You can filter, remix or display...
Mon, 4 May 09
RIM, HP To Develop Mobile Road Warrior Solutions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66343
Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion announced a strategic alliance Monday to deliver solutions for business mobility on the BlackBerry platform. The planned solutions focus on increasing service levels, reducing operations costs, and improving productivity for customers. Among the planned solutions is support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.
Specifically, HP and RIM plan to design and launch offerings that increase productivity for road warriors around the world and make way for businesses to extend their return on investment for global mobility services.
"RIM and HP are working together to deliver solutions to customers that weave mobility into their daily operations -- from innovative new services in the cloud to managed mobile services for the enterprise," said Jim Balsillie, RIM's co-chief executive officer. "Through our collaboration with HP, businesses will have access to an expanded set of applications and services for their BlackBerry smartphone deployments."
HP will demonstrate two new solutions -- HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry smartphones and HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server -- at this year's Wireless Symposium in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday.
HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry is a Web-based solution that lets users print e-mails, documents, photos and Web pages using a BlackBerry smartphone, whether they are at the office, at home, or on the road. HP and RIM plan to make CloudPrint available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers.
"As businesses look for new ways to increase service levels, reduce operational costs and improve productivity, they can meet these challenges by transforming how they manage the infrastructure that powers their mobile workforces," said Ann Livermore, executive vice president of HP's Technology Solutions Group. "Emerging models of communications and collaboration have created an opportunity for RIM and HP to provide service-based mobile solutions that deliver value to customers."
Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at The Burton...
Mon, 4 May 09
Report: Apple May Slice Prices on iMacs, MacBooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66338
These are somewhat unsettling days for Apple. Its iPhone has redefined the mobile market and its App Store just shipped its one-billionth product, but things are not entirely copacetic in Cupertino, Calif. CEO Steve Jobs has been on sick leave for months, the national and global economy has nudged Macs toward the "unnecessary luxury" category, and some of its advertising juju has been robbed by Microsoft's "You find it, you keep it" campaign.
So it's not surprising that rumors are flying that Apple is planning to announce price cuts on its two most popular lines of products, the MacBook and the iMac. The news first appeared on the AppleInsider Web site, which cited "people who've proven extremely reliable in predicting Apple's future business directions." There's no word yet, however, on how much the price cuts might be.
AppleInsider suggests that the lower prices could start showing up in late spring (which basically means next month), and could coincide with Apple's annual back-to-school promotion that launches in June and runs through Labor Day.
The real culprit, however, might be a class of machines that Apple so far has dismissed as not worth building -- the netbook. In a conference call last year, Jobs famously said that Apple could not build a sub-$500 computer "that is not a piece of junk," but that hasn't stopped consumers from snapping up increasingly large numbers of the devices.
The rising consumer interest in netbooks is playing out in financial reports. For the first time in nearly six years, Apple posted a quarterly decline in Mac sales. At the same time, netbook manufacturer Acer shipped 50 percent more units this past quarter than it did in the quarter before. Clearly, the netbook market is not waiting for Jobs and Apple to figure out how to build a high-quality, low-cost...
Mon, 4 May 09
Smart Ventures: The Quest to Make VoIP Safe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66329
When Harry Emerson thinks of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), he shakes his head thinking about the millions of telephone users who give up security for inexpensive calls. And once multimedia phones, which combine voice, video and web browsing, become popular, he thinks of the intensified crime waves hackers, cyber criminals and terrorists will bring to communications.
Emerson, however, is not standing on the sidelines waiting for all of this to happen. He is a technological super-hero in the making, hoping that his secure VoIP system, dubbed IronPipe, will address identity theft and the risks of spying, hacking and even service interruptions by integrating the secure, established public switched telephone network with the rich media content of the Internet.
With 25-years experience behind him -- working in various management and strategic planning capacities at AT&T -- Emerson and his company, Emerson Development LLC, are ready to convince the major telephone companies and equipment suppliers that IronPipe is what they need. "It's waiting there like an apple ready to be picked from a tree. They just need to understand the opportunity ... that's my goal, to create industry awareness."
When IronPipe handles a multimedia call, the set-up transaction uses digital messages between the caller and the local telephone company central office. It then goes across the private data network that connects all telephone central offices. "So the central office can send that (Internet Protocol) information to the central office of the remote party, and ask if the remote party has multimedia capabilities. If the answer is yes, then the central offices send messages to both devices causing them to establish multimedia communications over the Internet," says Emerson. "When an Internet connection is established, the system will encrypt the Internet portions of the call. However, all the key parts of it, all of the management...
Mon, 4 May 09
Let Workers Text and Twitter, Business Owners Say
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66327
When Marty Kotis looked at his company's monthly wireless bill, he found a stunning charge -- for 2,500 text messages on a single staffer's phone.
There was more: Another staffer had 800, and a third, 700.
But Kotis, who owns a real estate development firm in Greensboro, N.C., didn't reprimand his employees, although many of the messages were personal in nature. Instead, he put it all into perspective.
"The people that had the high text numbers are very good at their jobs," said Kotis, president of Kotis Properties. "They worked weekends, extra hours. I had them do a lot of things for me outside of general work hours."
Just a few years ago, owners were adjusting to workers spending time surfing the Internet. Now, it's texting friends or communicating via Facebook or Twitter. And bosses are learning that as long as the work is getting done, it makes sense to let employees take high-tech breaks.
As Kotis pointed out, many staffers are also working well outside of business hours. "There is blending of work and personal time going on," he said, and so it's fair for employees to take some time during the work day for personal matters.
He said of his own company, "we give them things like work cell phones and ask them to carry them at 8 at night to take calls."
Clamping down on texting, Twitter and the like can give your workplace an unpleasant atmosphere -- something that could ultimately hurt your productivity now, and make it hard for you to retain good employees, especially as the economy improves.
"You have to give an environment where people want to be," said Damian Bazadona, owner of Situation Interactive, a New York-based marketing firm. He also noted there's a quid-pro-quo in many businesses -- the same people who are texting are often eating lunch at...
Mon, 4 May 09
Pentagon Uses Facebook, Twitter To Spread Message
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66325
You don't often hear a three-star general using the word "friend" as a verb.
But for Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley and other Army brass, a new era has brought a new language -- and new tools like online social networks Twitter and Facebook -- for seeking out young recruits and spreading the military's message.
Freakley, who heads the Army command that oversees recruiting, says social networking sites offer another way to reach tomorrow's soldiers.
"They live in the virtual world," Freakley said. He cited Facebook as a key component in targeting 18-to 24-year-olds. "You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends."
Even Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, has a new Facebook page to answer questions about the mission in Iraq and spread the word about what the troops are accomplishing there.
The Army isn't the only branch of the military with Facebook friends or that has a following on Twitter. The Air Force has also established a Facebook page, Twitter feeds and a blog, while the Marine Corps is using various networking sites mainly for recruiting purposes. The Navy is "experimenting" with several forms of online media, and some of its commands are using Twitter, a spokesman said. Even the Coast Guard commandant regularly updates his Facebook status while traveling.
The Army has also added to its Web site video games, a virtual recruiter and clips that answer commonly asked questions about life in uniform.
Showing off the videos during an interview at his office at Fort Monroe, Freakley said some of the questions were surprising: Can I have a dog in the Army? Can I buy a truck in the Army? Can I be married in the Army?
The Army, Freakley said, wants to answer those questions.
Earlier this year, the Army established an online and social media division...
Mon, 4 May 09
Zillow.com Allows You To Make a House Call
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66322
Real estate site Zillow.com is making it easier for househunters on the go to research properties.
The Seattle-based technology company launched a free iPhone application on Wednesday that lets users access much of the home data available on the Zillow Web site, such as home valuations, property photos and assessors' data.
"Looking for a home is inherently mobile," spokeswoman Amy Bohutinsky said. "Zillow is something we always thought it would be a killer mobile app."
Zillow collects information on 88 million homes, or about 95 percent of the residential properties in the U.S. Included in its database are 3.4 million for-sale listings, many containing interior photos, submitted by homeowners or real estate agents.
The application works with the iPhone's GPS technology to pinpoint the location of the user, identified by a blue dot, on an aerial map.
Values of all of the surrounding homes are displayed on the map, along with information such as square footage, number of rooms, property taxes and price of the most recent sale.
For-sale properties are identified by red dots. Users can click on links to contact the homeowner or real estate agent.
Also identified on the map are "Make Me Move" properties in which homeowners submit to Zillow the price that would prompt them to sell, and the price of nearby properties that have sold in the last six months.
"If they're looking at a home, it's important to look at recent transaction activity in today's market, where things are changing very quickly," Bohutinsky said.
Zillow customers tell the company they often scribble down the address of a property they've driven past and go home to look it up on the Web site, Bohutinsky said. But it wasn't until the current generation of smart phones that the technology became available to put a version of Zillow on a miniature screen.
Users also can enter...
Mon, 4 May 09
Intel Faces Record EU Fine in Antitrust Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66320
European antitrust regulators could levy their largest fine ever in a market-dominance case against Intel, in what would be their latest shot at leveling the playing field in the global technology market.
The size of the penalty will be discussed by representatives from 27 EU governments in early May. The decision would follow landmark rulings by the European Commission against Microsoft, which also faces a continuing inquiry over its Internet Explorer browser, and a settlement with International Business Machines, which is also again the subject of a complaint.
To date, Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has faced the largest financial penalties for abusing its dominance, paying a fine in 2004 of euro 497 million, or $663 million at current exchange rates.
"I'd be surprised if the fine isn't as high or higher than in the Microsoft case," said Howard Cartlidge, the head of the EU and competition group at the law firm Olswang in London, referring to the Intel case. "Technology markets are where the European Commission has perceived particular problems due to dominant companies."
Some people in Brussels speculate that Intel's fine could reach levels double that of Microsoft, or about euro 1 billion, or $1.3 billion. A fine on that scale still would be dwarfed by Intel's annual sales, which were $37.6 billion in 2008.
Michael Reynolds, a partner in the international antitrust group in Brussels at the law firm Allen & Overy, said such a large fine would be more likely in a case involving cartel behavior, which is not at issue with Intel.
European regulators have also fined Microsoft euro 279 million and euro 899 million for failing to comply with EU orders in antitrust cases, but these were administrative levies.
The commission's investigation of Intel began in 2000 after a complaint by its archrival, Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, which like...
Mon, 4 May 09
Microsoft Defends Itself Against EU Antitrust Charges
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66319
Microsoft has submitted a lengthy defense in the latest European antitrust case it faces, saying its practice of bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with the Windows operating system did not violate European law.
Microsoft filed the response of roughly 250 pages to European competition authorities late Tuesday. It also asked regulators for a closed-door hearing in the case, according to a person with knowledge of the document.
The European Commission, acting on a complaint by Opera, a Norwegian Web browser maker, said in January that the practice violated European law. In its written response to the commission, Microsoft said that its share of the browser market had fallen and that the company was no longer as dominant.
Jesse Verstraete, a Microsoft spokesman in Brussels, declined to comment.
The Microsoft Windows operating system powers more than 90 percent of the world's computers, according to the research firm Gartner. Net Applications, another research firm, says Microsoft has a 66.8 percent share of the global browser market.
Lawyers for Opera say they will present other statistics showing that Microsoft's browser share in Europe is closer to 85 percent.
Opera filed the complaint with the European authorities in December 2007, months after Microsoft dropped its appeal of a 2004 European Commission ruling that it had violated E.U. law by bundling its Windows Media Player program with its operating system.