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New Time Capsule Expands Terabyte Storage Trend
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68125
Once the exclusive purview of enterprises, terabyte storage drives with advanced capabilities are fast becoming an affordable option for consumers in need of massive amounts of memory to preserve and transport multimedia content.
This week, Apple rolled out a new two-terabyte Time Capsule for $499 that doubles the capacity of its consumer storage lineup. Moreover, the company slashed the cost of its older 1TB model from $499 to just $299.
Both models, which integrate wireless Airport Extreme base station capabilities, are designed to run seamlessly on Mac computers using Apple's Mac OS X Leopard. However, computing devices running the Windows and Mac OS X Tiger operating systems also can access either Time Capsule directly from the wireless network, Apple said.
Apple's Time Capsules integrate dual-band wireless routers with network attached storage (NAS) capabilities for delivering file-based data storage services to devices running on a home network. The two machines' 802.11n capability delivers the fastest possible wireless data transfers, while the addition of the 802.11g flavor of Wi-Fi means that the Time Capsule can be accessed by mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch.
Time Capsules sport three gigabit Ethernet ports as well as a USB port for connecting additional storage or adding a shared printer to the network. Both devices operate in the 2.4-GHz and five-GHz bands simultaneously to ensure the best possible performance and range for all Wi-Fi-enabled devices running on a home network, Apple said.
MobileMe members using a Mac running Leopard can even access their home Time Capsules remotely over the Internet. All users need to do is register their drives with their MobileMe accounts, Apple said, and the device will appear in each user's Finder sidebar on the Mac, just like any other attached drive.
On the other hand, 1TB drives are now...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
T-Mobile Will Offer HTC Touch Pro2 with Windows Mobile
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68124
HTC is priming the pump for sales of its latest Windows Mobile device in the U.S. The HTC Touch Pro2 will be available from T-Mobile with a touchscreen and user interface that aims to help customers streamline their communication and mobile Internet experiences. The device will be available on Aug. 12.
"This summer, many people are balancing summer vacations and time away from the office with the pressures of the workplace," said Travis Warren, director of product marketing for T-Mobile USA. "We are pleased to announce the HTC Touch Pro2, a uniquely designed device that will help customers manage their day-to-day activities, whether they are in the office or working from an airport, the local playground, or the car."
The HTC Touch Pro2 will run on T-Mobile's 3G network and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g). The device has a 3.6-inch color WVGA touchscreen that slides back and tilts up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The device comes equipped with a Web browser, built-in GPS and location-based services, and a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus for photos and video.
A single contact view displays an individual's conversation history regardless of whether voice, text or e-mail was used. The HTC Touch Pro2 also includes Straight Talk technology, an integrated e-mail, voice and speakerphone experience that provides a way to respond to e-mail via a call and allows organizing conference calls from group e-mail. Straight Talk delivers a high-fidelity voice and sound experience enhanced by asymmetric speakers and advanced noise suppression with full-duplex acoustics.
HTC's latest TouchFLO 3D interface is integrated into a customized version of Windows Mobile 6.1 to deliver maximum consistency throughout Windows Mobile applications and menus. This is designed to make it easier for customers to view, edit and update Microsoft documents, access calendars, and manage to-do lists. Access to Microsoft Voice Command aims to...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Senate Will Investigate Yahoo-Microsoft Search Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68123
Before the dust even settles on the news that Microsoft and Yahoo will partner on Internet searches and advertising, the U.S. government has announced plans to scrutinize the deal. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights will investigate. He is chairman of the subcommittee.
"The deal between Yahoo and Microsoft -- industry giants and direct competitors in Internet advertising and search markets -- warrants our careful scrutiny," Kohl said. "Our subcommittee is concerned about competition issues in these markets because of the potentially far-reaching consequences for consumers and advertisers, and our concern about dampening the innovation we have come to expect from a competitive high-tech industry. The implications of this proposed joint agreement will be closely reviewed by my subcommittee."
Yahoo and Microsoft on Wednesday announced a 10-year search partnership in which Microsoft's Bing search technology will power Yahoo search and Yahoo will become the worldwide sales arm for both companies' premium search advertisers.
Under terms of the deal, Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo's core search technologies and have the ability to integrate Yahoo search technologies into its existing Web search platforms.
Microsoft's Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo sites. Yahoo will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business, such as enhancing display-advertising technology.
Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft's AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter's automated auction process. Each company will maintain its own display-advertising business and sales force.
"This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo to remain the world's leading online media company and (CEO) Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo board behind this deal," said...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Success for The Pirate Bay Close -- or Maybe Not
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68122
File-sharing company The Pirate Bay, whose four owners were sentenced by a Swedish court to a year in prison and a hefty fine for breaking copyright law, will officially be acquired next month. On Thursday, Global Gaming Factory broke its silence about the 60 million Swedish Kronor (US$8.1 million) acquisition of the company, saying it expects the purchase to be completed on Aug. 27.
"The Pirate Bay is back," said Hans Pandeya, CEO of Global Gaming. "We look forward to a successful completion of the acquisition of The Pirate Bay, one of the world's top 100 sites, and its listing on the stock market."
The new owners plan to tap into the 20 million visitors to The Pirate Bay and more than one billion searches per month, according to the company.
Once the acquisition is complete, Global Gaming plans to create a new business model that will compensate both copyright owners and content providers for downloads from The Pirate Bay Web site, according to the company.
Information on the legalization of The Pirate Bay will be available to shareholders two weeks before a meeting, according to Global Gaming executives. The company said it is also in final negotiations with a global player on an agreement that is expected to serve as a model for the entertainment industry.
The new owners plan to keep the company's name because it is a "global brand and has great potential," and they plan to collaborate with industry partners to bring in revenue.
The former crew of The Private Bay said the timing is right to invite more people into the project in a way that is secure and safe for everybody.
"We need that or the site will die," Peter Sunde posted on the official TPB blog when word of the acquisition first leaked. "And letting...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Intel Executive Expects Faster Adoption of Windows 7
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68119
Will Windows 7 succeed where Vista did not? An Intel executive thinks so.
Sean Maloney, chief sales and marketing officer for the chipmaker, said Wednesday that the upcoming Microsoft operating system will find a greater reception among consumers and business users than its predecessor.
Speaking at the Intel Technology Summit in San Francisco, Maloney said "this time" the adoption of the new OS will "go faster."
Intel, whose success has in part been driven by the success of the Windows platform, might be expected to cheerlead the new OS. But the giant chipmaker was one of many businesses that did not move en masse to Vista from XP. According to an article last month in The New York Times, Intel decided against installing Vista on the computers of its 80,000 employees because of an internal analysis of the costs versus potential benefits of upgrading.
The Times article quoted an unnamed person "who has been briefed on the situation." The source told the newspaper that "Intel information-technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista." Reportedly, Intel has used Vista in certain departments, but not company-wide.
Laura DiDio, an analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp., agreed that Windows 7 "is poised to do well." She said the "early word" she has received from beta testers "seems to be 'This is what Vista should have been.'"
DiDio said Microsoft has clearly indicated to her that it understands the problems Vista had, including backward compatibility with various applications and peripherals, and it has been working to make sure Windows 7 addresses compatibility and other issues.
"They know," she said, "that this time they have to get this right."
The new and booming category of netbooks also was on Maloney's mind as the company's Atom processor is at the heart of most...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
China To Ban Violent Online Games
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68089
China has banned Web sites from advertising or linking to games that glamorize violence, another step in China's censorship campaign aimed at ensuring social stability ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule on Oct. 1.
A notice posted on the Culture Ministry Web site on Monday said games that promote drug use, obscenities, gambling, or crimes such as rape, vandalism and theft are "against public morality and the nation's fine cultural traditions."
"Such online games promote the glorification of mafia life ... and are a serious threat to the moral standards of society causing vulnerable young people to be adversely affected," the notice said. The ban on the Web sites starts immediately.
No details were given on how the law would be implemented, but the notice called for law enforcement bodies to ensure Web sites adhere to the new law.
China has the world's largest population of Internet users, more than 298 million, and the world's most extensive system of Web monitoring and censorship.
While the government claims the main targets of its Web censorship are pornography, online gambling, and other sites deemed harmful to society, critics say that often acts as cover for detecting and blocking sensitive political content that can be found on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube, which are all blocked in China.
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Viacom: Ad Outlook Good Despite 2Q Drop in Profits
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68088
Viacom Inc. struck a hopeful note on advertising for the rest of the year even as the media conglomerate controlled by Sumner Redstone saw second-quarter profit plunge on weak ad markets, video game sales and box-office returns.
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said the company, which owns the BET and MTV cable TV networks, was "very pleased" with the nearly completed bidding in the so-called "upfronts," in which media buyers bid on commercial time ahead of the coming TV season.
Advertisers no longer count on dramatic reductions in prices "as we see signs of recovery," Dauman told analysts on a conference call.
Analysts remain wary, however. David Bank of RBC Capital Markets said Viacom's comments on advertising were more bullish than he expected but might only be posturing as the bidding for ad time continues.
"I think the upfronts are in a really odd state of flux right now," Bank said. "They're going to turn out better than everyone thought three or four months ago, but no one knows exactly how these negotiations are going."
New York-based Viacom declined to give specifics on the volume or pricing of ad time it has sold so far.
Viacom, which also owns the Paramount Pictures movie studio and the "Rock Band" video game franchise, said it earned $277 million, or 46 cents per share, in the most recent quarter, a 32 percent drop from $407 million, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding 3 cents per share in severance charges, adjusted earnings were 49 cents per share. On that basis, earnings beat analyst expectations by a penny per share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.
Revenue slipped 14 percent to $3.3 billion, missing analysts' estimate of $3.5 billion.
Revenue at the company's media networks segment, which includes BET and MTV Networks and the "Rock Band" games published by MTV Games, slid...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Nintendo Sees Strong Second Half on New Titles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68085
Japanese video game and console maker Nintendo Co. reports fiscal first quarter earnings on Thursday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: Nintendo has weathered the global recession in relatively good shape, and as President Satoru Iwata often says, his company is more resilient than most during economic downturns.
Still, the Kyoto-based maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games is feeling the squeeze from slumping consumer demand and intensifying competition from rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. Sales of the Wii game console and DS handheld device are down sharply from last year.
In June sales of game hardware, software and accessories plunged 31 percent from the same month last year to $1.17 billion, according to market researcher NPD Group. It was the largest year-over-year decline the industry has seen in nearly nine years.
Nintendo also faces concerns about competition after last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo, where both Sony and Microsoft unveiled prototype motion-control devices for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Nintendo's Wii was the first console to employ a motion-detecting controller when it debuted in 2006.
Nintendo showcased the Wii MotionPlus, an attachment that uses sensors to more precisely mimic gamers' hand movements on screen. The only new apparatus it debuted this year was the Wii Vitality Sensor, which can check a player's pulse. That prompted some to wonder if Nintendo had run out of ideas.
BY THE NUMBERS: Nintendo continues to be bullish about the future, forecasting a 7.5 percent rise in net profit to 300 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2010. But it expects sales to edge down 2.1 percent to 1.8 trillion yen, and operating profit to drop 11.8 percent to 490 billion yen.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, expect fiscal year profit of 317.9 billion yen.
Nintendo expects...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Corporate Espionage Surges in Tough Times
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68081
Marla Suttenberg had a sinking feeling that a corporate spy was shadowing her.
In March 2008, the owner of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Sapphire Marketing was preparing to give a longtime client a generous price cut on $134,000 worth of audio/videoconferencing equipment.
But before her sales rep could extend the offer, her chief rival, David Goldenberg, then regional vice president of sales for AMX, a Dallas-based conferencing systems maker, sent the client an e-mail disparaging Sapphire and offering a steeper AMX discount.
"I felt sick to my stomach," Suttenberg recalls. To pull that off, someone had to have infiltrated Sapphire's internal e-mail, she thought at the time.
She was right. A few days later, Goldenberg, 48, of Oceanside, N.Y., was arrested. He subsequently pleaded guilty to felony wiretapping for tampering with Sapphire's e-mail. He was sentenced last month to three months probation and ordered to undergo counseling. "There was nothing sophisticated about me getting into their e-mail," he said in an interview. "Honestly, I had no idea that it was illegal."
Corporate espionage using very simple tactics -- much of it carried out by trusted insiders, familiar business acquaintances, even janitors -- is surging. That's because businesses large and small are collecting and storing more data than ever before. What's more, companies are blithely allowing broad access to this data via nifty Internet services and cool digital devices.
"Having more sensitive information being seen by more people and accessed on more devices drives up risk significantly," says Kurt Johnson, vice president at Courion, a supplier of identity management systems.
The slumping economy doesn't help. "Mass layoffs have increased internal threat levels dramatically," says Grant Evans, CEO of ActivIdentity, which makes smart cards and security tokens.
Employees worried about job security face rising temptations to seek out and hoard proprietary data that could help boost their job performance, or at...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
Sprint-Virgin: More Wireless Deals To Come?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68079
Sprint Nextel has a new approach to reversing subscriber losses: If you can't keep customers, buy them. On July 28, Sprint Nextel said it was acquiring Virgin Mobile USA for $483 million in equity, including its existing 13.1 percent stake in Virgin. Sprint will also assume more than $200 million in debt.
The announcement came the day before Sprint is due to release results showing that the company lost another 1 million subscribers on traditional wireless plans during the second quarter. That would bring to 5.7 million the number of subscribers lost by Sprint since late 2007. As of the end of the first quarter, Sprint had 49.1 million wireless customers.
Buying Virgin is certainly a quick way to pick up 5.25 million customers. It may also be relatively cheap. Wireless carriers typically fall back on a combination of snazzy phones, catchy marketing, and a reputation for customer service and network coverage to attract customers. Sprint's reputation for coverage and service has suffered, making it harder for the company to keep customers. It takes $200 to $400 in marketing and other costs to sign up a new wireless customer. In Virgin, Sprint has paid about $140 per customer, according to FBR Capital Markets. Part of the reason Virgin went for so little is that it, too, has struggled to keep customers amid competition. In the first quarter, Virgin lost 133,292 users. "From Sprint's perspective, this makes infinite sense," says Rich Nespola, CEO of consultancy TMNG Global.
Virgin is also partly owned by Korean telco SK Telecom and conglomerate Virgin Group. When the deal closes in late 2009 or early 2010, Virgin CEO Dan Schulman will lead Sprint's new prepaid division, comprised of Virgin and Boost Mobile, a division added when Sprint acquired Nextel. Shares of Sprint rose 1 percent,...
Fri, 31 Jul 09
IBM Deal Could Spark More Tech Deal-Making
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68078
The premium paid by IBM for software maker SPSS likely presages richer prices for tech-company deals as the pace of computer industry consolidation picks up.
IBM said on July 28 it's paying $1.2 billion in cash for SPSS, a maker of data-analysis and statistical software. The deal values SPSS at 42 percent higher than its July 27 closing price, and 2.6 times its expected sales for this year. "That's a pretty attractive multiple compared with what we've been seeing in the software space," says Jereme LeBlanc, a principal at investment bank TM Capital. The value IBM placed on SPSS could set a precedent for coming tech mergers and acquisitions, he says. "There's no question we're starting to see a thawing in M&A for technology companies."
Corporate boards are freeing more money for acquisitions as the outlook for a recovery improves, while stock prices remain far below historic peaks. IBM also announced on July 28 it paid an undisclosed amount for privately held Ounce Labs, a maker of software that helps companies analyze their programming code for data security risks.
IBM's mini buying spree follows a spate of deals by other tech bellwethers. Oracle said July 23 it bought privately held GoldenGate Software for an undisclosed sum, and is closing its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Intel on July 17 closed its $884 million acquisition of embedded-device software maker Wind River Systems.
The SPSS deal reflects the eagerness of big tech companies to expand in the market for data analysis software, an area that's growing even as sales in many other software categories decline. Tech companies are chasing growth through mergers and acquisitions as the recession forces customers to tighten information technology budgets and alternative avenues for growth constrict.
Several software vendors are trying to keep pace with Oracle, which has expanded in...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Barnes & Noble Offers Free Wi-Fi To Sell E-Books
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68098
Barnes & Noble has inked a strategic agreement with AT&T under which the wireless carrier will provide free in-store Wi-Fi access to customers visiting any of the book retailer's outlets nationwide.
Customers opting in to a new Barnes & Noble program will be able to receive discount coupons and personalized messages over Wi-Fi as they enter the retailer's stores, the company said. However, the primary goal behind the offering of free Wi-Fi is to encourage customers to download and preview any of the 700,000 e-book titles that Barnes & Noble began offering online last week.
"This is a natural progression of our digital strategy to provide customers with more choices in how, when and where they want to read," said Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio.
Customers visiting Barnes & Noble stores initially will be able to wirelessly access e-book content via free apps for the iPhone and other Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as smartphones, laptops and even the iPod touch. The book retailer's big move into the e-book space won't come until next year, when partner Plastic Logic releases a dedicated e-reader device.
Like Amazon's Kindle lineup, the Plastic Logic eReader will feature 3G wireless capabilities. Forrester Research Analyst Sarah Rotman Epps thinks that cellular connectivity -- not just Wi-Fi, which isn't available everywhere -- is a key element for Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble to have any hope of competing with Amazon.
"Consumers value the seamless connectivity of the Kindle's Whispernet service, which lets them download a book in 60 seconds using Sprint's network," Rotman Epps said. "Especially since Plastic Logic will be focused on newspapers -- USA Today and the Financial Times are also partners -- having the device be able to connect and refresh content anytime, anywhere, will be crucial for...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Microsoft Will Open First Stores Near Apple Locations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68095
Microsoft plans to open two retail stores in markets where rival Apple has already established a retail presence. The first Microsoft stores will be in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Mission Viejo, Calif.
Microsoft's placement of stores is strategic as the company moves to locate some of its stores close to Apple retail stores. It has reportedly hired former Apple real-estate guru George Blankenship to handle the job as a consultant.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant first made its store plans known in February when it hired former Wal-Mart veteran David Porter to lead the effort to launch the retail stores.
While Microsoft is known for selling software to businesses, it has also focused on direct-to-consumer selling with its popular Xbox 360 gaming unit and its Zune digital media player.
Along with displaying and selling new products in its stores, Microsoft will now have a way to reach out and connect with consumers. A slide show of Microsoft's plans has surfaced with the name of retail consulting firm Lippincott on it, but the company is being tight-lipped.
"I'm afraid we're not at liberty to confirm or deny that we work with Microsoft," said Lippincott partner Kathleen Hatfield.
Lippincott's Web site, however, shows it worked with Microsoft on the relaunch of its MSN portal by creating the display to be seen in 5,000 Radio Shack retail stores nationwide.
Whether real or doctored, the slide show indicates Microsoft's effort to connect with consumers.
The plans show wall-sized screens with messages from the company and a guru bar or answer bar similar to Apple's Genius Bar with employees available to answer technical questions. The stores will also feature areas dedicated to consumers wishing to custom-build a PC.
Establishing the stores will be another avenue in which Microsoft can display its Xbox gaming units, software...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Out-of-Cycle Patches May Make IE Vulnerabilities Worse
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68093
Microsoft on Tuesday released two out-of-cycle patches to fix vulnerabilities found in Active Template Library, a set of software developer tools used in the creation of COM and ActiveX modules. ActiveX modules are commonly used in Microsoft Internet Explorer and are traditional targets for hackers.
Existing zero-day vulnerabilities are being exploited and are the main reason Microsoft released these unexpected patches, according to Don Leatham, senior director of solutions and strategy for Lumension. The critical-rated MS09-034 and moderate-rated MS09 patches aim to plug the holes.
"This pair of patches are part of what Microsoft is calling a 'defense in depth strategy,' which essentially boils down to a patch to stop exploits actively attacking Microsoft IE and a patch that fixes the development tools that can produce compromised code," Leatham said. "Microsoft is asking the development community to quickly update their tools and reissue any COM, OLE or ActiveX components that may be affected."
Although Microsoft has protected against the kill-bit bypass and patched the public ATL vulnerabilities, there has been no mention or reference to fixing the issue in msvidctl.dll itself, according to Tyler Reguly, a senior security researcher with nCircle. Microsoft has stated that MS09-034 will "help protect against exploitation," but the company has not officially stated that a proper patch is available or will be made available.
"One has to question what the release of the ATL patch (MS09-035) means for other software vendors. We also have to wonder if they are now more vulnerable than they were previously. They now have to obtain this patch and recompile and release their tools," Reguly said. "This means until that process can occur, malicious individuals can reverse the patches to pinpoint each of the vulnerabilities and target third-party software. It's a race to see who will get there first,...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Vudu Moving To Embed Online Video Service Into TVs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68076
The gap between watching movies on your TV and watching them on your computer continues to narrow with news that the Vudu online video service is releasing a second-generation platform "optimized for Internet-capable smart TVs."
Vudu CEO Alain Rossmann said his company will "embed the new Vudu service directly into the TV, eliminating the expense and hassle of purchasing, installing or connecting another device to the TV."
The first participating consumer electronics company will be LG, beginning next month. The functionality of the Vudu BX100 set-top box will be embedded into LG Netcast models, giving access to Vudu's library of more than 14,000 movies and TV shows. This includes access to more than 2,000 on-demand, 1080p high-definition movies with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound.
Rossmann said the second-generation platform includes such features as instant fast forward and rewind, instant start, and a "faster and more refined user interface."
There will no monthly fee for the service. Customers will be able to instantly rent or buy movies, and Vudu said new titles from major studios are available the same day as their DVD release.
The move represents a strategic turning point for Vudu, which has been and will continue selling set-top boxes in stores. With its new platform, the service is concentrating on offering its embedded service through consumer devices such as TVs and set-top boxes.
The availability of TV sets with sufficient processor power and Internet connections comes not a moment too soon for Vudu, which laid off 15 percent of its staff in January, following a 15 percent reduction last fall. CEO Mark Jung left the company and was replaced by cofounder and Chairman Rossman.
The marriage of Vudu and LG is part of a trend to embed functionality for online videos into hardware. In May, Vudu announced that...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Microsoft, Yahoo Combine Search, Advertising Muscles
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68075
Yahoo and Microsoft on Wednesday announced a long-awaited search partnership. Microsoft will power Yahoo search and Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers.
The 10-year deal combines both companies' strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with a greater scale to fuel development in search and search advertising. The companies are promising more relevant answers for consumers, more value for advertisers, better results for Web publishers, and even increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet.
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said the agreement comes with "boatloads of value" for Yahoo, its users, and the search industry. She believes it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development.
"Users will continue to experience search as a vital part of their Yahoo experiences and will enjoy increased innovation, thanks to the scale and resources this deal provides," Bartz said. "Advertisers will also benefit from scale and enjoy greater ease of use and efficiencies working with a single platform and sales team for premium advertisers. Finally, this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities, and mobile experiences."
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo's core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo search technologies into its existing Web search platforms.
Microsoft's Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo sites. Yahoo will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business, such as enhancing display-advertising technology.
Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft's AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter's automated auction process. Each company will maintain its own display advertising business and...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Product Tracking Is on Everyone's Radar
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68061
Dawn Pabst hates the wait for a pizza delivery. So after she orders a pepperoni pizza from the Domino's Web site, she never waits.
She tracks.
The Air Force technician from Las Vegas tracks the second-by-second status of her pizza via colorful, thermometer-like gauges at Dominos.com. She's one of millions of customers who monitor everything from order accuracy to the moment their pizza is prepped, baked, boxed or sent for delivery. Pabst says she even tracks the name of the person who bakes her pizza.
"I've never been known to be the most patient person in the world," says Pabst, who has used Domino's Pizza Tracker six times over the past four months. "It's nice to be able to call back and say, 'So-and-so made my pizza, and it's all messed up.' "
America is becoming a nation of track-a-holics. We want to go online and track the whereabouts of everything we order -- or do. It's sometimes because we need to know, but often it's simply because we want to know.
Marketers are keenly hip to this growing consumer demand. In the early days of online package tracking, UPS had just 100,000 online tracking requests in December 1995. By last December, that number was 27.3 million requests a day. And they know that the marketers that track best, win.
"Data is money," says Patricia Martin, author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business. "The more information you have, the more interesting you are."
That's why Domino's rolled out Pizza Tracker last year. It's why UPS and FedEx will send constant updates to consumers who want to know the whereabouts of their packages. Web site FlightAware lets folks track the status of virtually any domestic flight. The Chicago Transit Authority Bus Tracker online system lets commuters track the...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Bill Gates' Fix for India's Ills: Technology
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68060
It may seem a bit far-fetched and naive, but Bill Gates thinks he has the solutions for India's biggest challenges. How can the country solve its health-care problems, the nightmare of distributing vaccines, and the shortage of doctors? Technology, he says. Alleviate poverty and streamline public distribution of food rations? Try technology, he suggests. How about providing the urban poor with jobs? You guessed it: technology.
The idea that low-cost technological innovations could transform the lives of the poor has long been the Holy Grail of India's information technology and scientific boffins. With their country boasting nearly 7 million people working in one of the most modern IT industries in the world, Indians seem convinced that one of these days a technology-based solution will help the country vault over decades of government neglect. "India is taking its self-confidence, [the realization] that it is very innovative, and now saying let's invest in ourselves," says Microsoft Chairman and former CEO Bill Gates, speaking at a business forum on July 23 in New Delhi before picking up an award from the Indian government. "In spite of the tough times, this country hasn't said let's pull back on investing in the future."
To some extent, India has been a bit of a proving ground for cheap technology. Motorola tried producing a $14 cell phone with a screen that resembled that of older alarm clocks. It flopped. The Indian government's attempts to wire the countryside were also a bust. It tried to bring the Internet to rural areas, but with unreliable electricity, irregular phone lines, and widespread illiteracy, that project folded two years ago. "For whatever reason -- the idea came too early, it cost too much, or it tried too much -- these technology solutions have been mostly distractions," says Anand Tiwari, a professor at the...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
China's Baidu, Discovery Channel Launch Web Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68055
Baidu Inc., which runs China's leading search engine, and the Discovery Channel launched a Web site Tuesday to carry nature and science features, adding to rivalry in China's competitive Internet market.
The site -- discovery.baidu.com -- will raise the Discovery Channel's profile in China, which restricts foreign access to its vast television audience. It will give Baidu a new asset as it competes with U.S.-based search giant Google Inc.
"Discovery's popularity in China will be increased," said Xuyang Ren, Baidu's vice president for marketing and business development, at a ceremony to launch the site. "Baidu's knowledge platform will be strengthened, and this also will bring us more clicks."
The site will carry translated material -- mostly articles and photos, with some short videos -- developed for Discovery Channel Web sites in the United States and Europe, said Tom Keaveney, the channel's executive vice president for Asia. He said topics would include nature, science, wildlife, engineering and world culture.
The companies will share advertising and other revenue, Keaveney said.
"This is the first time we've done something on this scale with a partner," he said.
The communist Beijing government's media restrictions and the country's rising incomes and fast-growing Internet market have led to a series of alliances between Chinese Web services and foreign suppliers of music, entertainment and other content.
China has the world's biggest television audience, with more than 400 million viewers, but bars most of its cable systems from carrying foreign channels. The country has the biggest online population, with 338 million Web users.
Baidu and Google have added entertainment offerings to their search services to compete for traffic with popular Chinese sites that offer games, music and other content.
Baidu has about 60 percent of China's search market, but No. 2 Google is gaining share, from about 20 percent in 2006 to about 30 percent this year,...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Taiwan's Foxconn Agrees on Suicide Compensation
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68054
The Taiwanese employer of a young Chinese man who killed himself after being interrogated over a missing iPhone prototype has agreed to pay compensation to his family, a company official said Tuesday.
Sun Danyong, 25, jumped from his high-rise apartment in southern China last week after officials of Foxconn Technology Group questioned him about the whereabouts of the iPhone model that was in his possession.
Sun was responsible for sending the device to U.S.-based Apple Inc., which contracts with Foxconn, the world's biggest contract manufacturer of electronics.
Sun alleged he was beaten and abused by Foxconn security personnel, who denied it.
Sun's suicide cast unwelcome attention on Apple's notorious culture of secrecy, which tries to create a big pre-launch buzz about the company's products and upgrades. Apple is also a constant target of prying journalists, rabidly faithful customers and competitors who want an early peek at its latest gadgets.
A Foxconn official in Taipei said Tuesday the company would pay Sun's parents a lump sum of 360,000 yuan ($52,600), plus 30,000 yuan ($4,385) every year as long as either of them remains alive.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to deal with the press.
Earlier, Foxconn apologized for the incident and suspended the local security chief who headed up the Sun investigation.
Gu Qinming, the suspended security chief, admitted he grabbed Sun once by the shoulder but denied beating him.
Thu, 30 Jul 09
Sprint Focuses on Prepaid With Virgin Mobile Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68052
Sprint Nextel Corp. is intensifying its focus on the fast-growing market for prepaid cell phone service with a $483 million deal to buy Virgin Mobile USA Inc.
The acquisition announced Tuesday calls for Sprint to pay $5.50 in stock for each Virgin Mobile share. Sprint already owned 13.1 percent of Virgin Mobile, which uses Sprint's network to offer service.
The offer is a 31 percent premium to Virgin Mobile's closing share price Monday of $4.21. In early trading Tuesday, the shares rose $1.05, or 25 percent, to $5.26.
Virgin Mobile resells access to Sprint's wireless network for people who lack the credit or income to sign monthly plans. It has 5.2 million subscribers who pay an average of $20 per month. Sprint has 49.1 million subscribers, including those using the network through wholesalers like Virgin Mobile.
The deal reinforces this year's main trend in wireless: The top two carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc., are grabbing the high-value contract customers, while Nos. 3 and 4, Sprint and T-Mobile USA, are left to compete for prepaying customers with smaller upstarts like MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc.
Sprint roiled the industry by introducing a $50-per-month prepaid unlimited plan in January under its Boost brand. That made for an awkward relationship with its customer Virgin Mobile, which had a $80-a-month plan. In April, Virgin Mobile was able to introduce its own $50 plan after negotiations with Sprint.
Virgin Mobile's stock started the year at 84 cents, but news of the unlimited plan sent it zooming, and it continued its climb after the carrier posted a rare profit for the first quarter, even though it lost subscribers.
Sprint said it would keep the Virgin Mobile brand. Dan Schulman, Virgin Mobile USA's CEO, will run Sprint's prepaid business when the deal closes late this year or early next.
Sprint plans...
Thu, 30 Jul 09
British Government Tells Civil Servants To Tweet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68051
The British government has told civil servants: Go forth and tweet.
The government published guidelines Tuesday for its departments on using the microblogging service Twitter.
In contrast to Twitter's limit of 140 characters per message, the document runs 20 pages, or more than 5,000 words.
It tells civil servants their tweets should be "human and credible" and written in "informal spoken English."
It advises government departments to produce between two and 10 tweets a day, with a gap of at least 30 minutes between each "to avoid flooding our followers' Twitter streams."
The advice says Twitter can be used for everything from announcements to insights from ministers, and in a crisis could be a "primary channel" for communicating with the electorate.
The document warns against using Twitter simply to convey campaign messages, but notes that "while tweets may occasionally be 'fun,'" they should be in line with government objectives.
It also says departments should not follow any Twitter users who are not following them, as this could be interpreted as "Big Brother" behavior.
The guidelines are the British government's latest attempt to embrace the Internet and social media -- efforts that have been both praised and mocked.
Stolid, unglamorous Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been memorably called "an analog politician in a digital age" by the leader of the opposition. A YouTube appearance in April amid a scandal over lawmakers' expenses backfired when Brown seemed to be stiff, insincere and smiling inappropriately.
The Twitter document said the government must "accept that there will be some criticism" of its efforts.
Twitter, launched in 2006, has already proved a powerful tool for mobilizing causes and protest movements, in post-election demonstrations from Iran to Moldova, where activists used Twitter to rally support after cell phone networks went down.
Governments around the world are also starting to use it to keep voters and constituents informed, with...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Greenpeace Vandals Target PC Maker in a Big Way
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68072
The international environmental group Greenpeace grabbed the attention of Hewlett-Packard executives and the public Tuesday in Palo Alto, Calif., with the message "Hazardous Materials" drawn with children's finger paint over 11,500 square feet.
Employees Tuesday were greeted with the oversized message on HP's rooftop as Greenpeace charged that HP broke a promise to remove polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVCs) and brominated fire retardants (BFRs) from its manufacturing process and products. Along with the painted message, employees received automated-message calls from actor William Shatner asking the company to phase out the hazardous materials.
"You, HP, promised me a toxic-free computer by 2009. Now my friends at Greenpeace tell me I have to wait until 2011. What is up with that?" Shatner's message said. "Please ask your leader, Mark Hurd, to make computers free of toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants just as Apple has done."
BFRs are flame retardants used in products to inhibit ignition and slow their combustion rate. BFRs and PVCs have toxic properties.
"This was to communicate to them that we will not sit around while they backtrack on their public promise to eliminate the chemicals," said Daniel Kessler, a Greenpeace spokesperson. He referred to an HP promise in 2007 that it would eliminate use of the chemicals by 2009.
HP had said previously it hasn't been able to deliver on its promise because of the lack of suitable alternatives.
In the last decade, HP has eliminated most uses of PVCs and BFRs from products, but still uses specific BFRs in printed circuit boards because other alternatives are not available, according to the company.
"They say it is too hard and, unlike Apple, they make more products and have a variety of excuses," Kessler said. "As the largest player in the industry, they need to lead by example."
Greenpeace...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Games May Help Microsoft Resolve Search Problems
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68071
Microsoft hopes to harness some of the time and energy that consumers devote to games to solve computational search problems that otherwise are difficult for researchers to tackle, according to the authors of a new paper presented at last week's SIGIR 2009 conference in Boston.
The goal of a new online game called Page Hunt is to elicit data from online players that "can be used to provide metadata for pages, provide query alterations for use in query refinement, and identify ranking issues," wrote a Microsoft Research team led by Raman Chandrasekar and Chris Quirk.
Microsoft Research has already launched an online demo version of Page Hunt that gives gaming aficionados an opportunity to take it for a test drive. Here's how it works:
Players are shown a random Web page without the URL and are asked to submit one or more words as the most likely query for the site. The game obtains the top search results for the query from Bing and displays them in order. Points are awarded to players landing in the top five query slots, with 300 points being the top score per search.
The primary goal of Microsoft's Page Hunt effort is to generate Web user responses that search-engine designers can use to fine-tune their search algorithms in ways that best mirror the human search experience. At each step of the game, the researchers record the player's screen name or an anonymous id; the Web page URL; the query; whether it was successful and, if so, at what rank position; the time; and the points the player got for this query.
"The player's query behaves as a tag or label for the page," the report's authors observed. "When the player gets it right, this is valuable; but even when it is wrong,...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Verizon Wireless Confirms Palm Pre for 'Early Next Year'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68068
Verizon Wireless has reaffirmed that it will be offering the Palm Pre early next year, which would end Sprint's exclusivity for the new smartphone.
On Monday, according to news reports, Verizon Chief Operating Officer Dennis Strigl confirmed in a conference call with analysts that the company will release the Pre sometime in the first part of 2010. There were no details about price or a specific launch date.
Verizon hopes the new phone can help overcome its just-reported second quarter, in which its profit dropped 21 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Among other steps, the company is cutting more than 8,000 personnel by the end of the year. While profits were down, the company's total wireless revenues increased about 27 percent.
In addition to the Pre, Strigl also indicated Verizon will be offering a new version of the BlackBerry Storm and a device running on Google's open-source Android operating system.
Verizon's announcement is seen as significant by some industry observers because two of the most publicized exclusivity deals in the industry -- Apple's iPhone deal with AT&T and Palm's with Sprint for the Pre -- are ending.
When Verizon said in late spring that it would offer the Pre, Sprint executives bristled because the company had inked an exclusive arrangement with Palm for an undisclosed length of time. In June, Sprint said the exclusivity was more than six months but, if Verizon offers the Pre by early 2010, the deal may not have been for much more than that. Sprint and Verizon use the same wireless standard.
Apple's exclusive arrangement with AT&T is expected to expire next year, and there has been speculation that Verizon may be competing to pick up the popular iPhone.
Avi Greengart, an analyst for industry research firm Current Analysis, said he...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Apple Boots Rival Google Voice From Its App Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68067
In its latest apparent move to control applications it considers threatening to its bottom line, Apple has blocked Google Voice from the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. The Google app lets users arrange one telephone number to manage all calls and text messages, according to Sara Jew-Lim, a Google spokesperson.
Rather than decide whether to reach someone at home, at work, or on a cell phone, callers can use the person's Google Voice number. The service, which is currently available by invitation only, also allows a user to manage how he or she can be reached by different callers.
Apple's rejection of Google Voice, submitted six weeks ago, blocks features that compete with or duplicate iPhone features, and potential users are not happy. Allowing the Google app could take money out of Apple's and wireless carrier AT&T's pockets.
"We work hard to bring Google applications to a number of mobile platforms, including the iPhone," said Jew-Lim. "We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users -- for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers."
Developer Sean Kovacs also had his GV Mobile app rejected. "Looks like Apple/AT&T pissed off a lot of people," Kovacs wrote on his blog Tuesday.
He wrote that Richard Chipman from Apple called him on Monday and said Apple was removing GV Mobile from the App Store because it duplicated iPhone features. He said Chipman didn't specify which features were rejected, but assumes the entire app was rejected.
Users of the Google service are not happy, including a poster named Yuusharo who said Apple's move stifles innovation on the iPhone.
"Everyone is so pissed off at AT&T, but let's be real for a moment. Apple was the one who pulled the application, not AT&T," Yuusharo wrote. "Many people somehow think that Apple...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Twitter Posting About Mold Prompts Landlord To Sue
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68066
Chicago resident Amanda Bonnen told her 15 Twitter followers about mold in her apartment. Now she's being sued by her landlord, Horizon Group Management, which wants $50,000 in damages.
She said in her May 12 tweet, "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon Realty thinks it's okay."
That prompted Horizon to sue for publishing false and defamatory information.
Jeffrey Michael, whose family owns Horizon, said the libel suit failed Monday seeks to uphold the company's reputation. He told the Chicago Sun-Times, "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization."
So it looks like Twitter users need to watch what they say, or they might have to pay a lot for each word.
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Study: Ban Driver Texting To Avoid 'Crash Epidemic'
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68045
A new study using cameras and instrumentation has concluded that dialing or texting on a cell phone by a driver leads to "a substantial increase in the risk of being involved" in a crash or near-miss.
The study, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), noted that "driving is a visual task." It urged that texting be banned in all moving vehicles for all drivers, and that all cell-phone use be banned for teenagers who have recently gotten their licenses.
If texting continues to grow in popularity and as kids who are now heavy texters reach driving age, the study concluded, there could be a "true crash epidemic."
The report, which noted several recent trucking and transit crashes directly linked to texting, used analyses of where drivers' eyes were while performing cell-phone tasks. Texting, in particular, created a risk for drivers more than 20 times worse than drivers who weren't using a phone. VTTI found the average time a texting driver takes his or her eyes off the road is the equivalent of traveling a football field at 55 mph, or 4.6 seconds over a six-second interval.
By contrast, talking or listening to a cell-phone conversation allowed the driver to watch the road, according to VTTI.
However, it noted that studies from other organizations, using driving simulators, indicated that talking and listening can be as dangerous as mobile-device functions that involve manual tasks. The study used real-world driving conditions, not a driving simulator, and pointed out that simulators don't always match with actual driving studies.
VTTI found that "cognitively intense" tasks, such as emotional conversations over a mobile device or listening to audio books, have an effect that can be measured, but the driving risk is much lower compared to tasks such as texting and dialing.
In response to...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Sun Shows that Innovation Isn't Just for Startups
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68034
We can all picture the scene: A couple of guys toiling away in a cluttered garage, perfecting the next innovation that will shake an entire industry. Meanwhile, the big corporate players in the market stand oblivious -- fat, dumb, happy, and too bogged down by bureaucracy and conservatism to be innovative themselves.
It's a great image -- one that has long persisted. There's just one problem with it: It's false. "The all but universal belief that large businesses do not and cannot innovate is not even a half-truth," Peter Drucker wrote in his 1985 classic Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Yet what is true, Drucker added, is that "it takes special effort for the existing business" to get beyond the temptation "to feed yesterday and to starve tomorrow."
I was reminded recently of the wisdom in Drucker's words when I had a chance to chat with Mike Shapiro, engineering director and chief technology officer for Sun Microsystem's Open Storage operation. As much as any story I've heard, Shapiro's demonstrates that, as Drucker put it, "innovation can be achieved by any business" -- even the largest. But what Shapiro and his colleagues have accomplished also serves as a textbook example of Drucker's other insight: A major company must follow specific practices if it's to convert breakthrough ideas into real results.
Shapiro, his partner, Bryan Cantrill, and their small team are the brains behind a family of data-storage systems -- the 7000 line -- that Sun introduced late last year. It features oodles of capacity, a "killer app" that uses real-time graphics so that customers can observe and understand what their storage system is doing, and a pricing model that appears to blow away the competition. I'm more of a Luddite than a techie myself, but I can tell you that reviews in the trade press have...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
'Nettops' Are an Alternative to the Desktop PC
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68033
A nettop PC -- a small, mini desktop computer -- can function as an alternative to the classic desktop PC. These devices are compact and inexpensive, making them well suited for use as a simple workstation. They also consume relatively little power.
A nettop, like a netbook, is an inexpensive PC intended primarily for accessing the Internet, explains Christof Windeck from the German computer magazine c't.
"That essentially means they're perfectly suited for using as a web browser, an e-mail client, and perhaps a simple photo editor for uploading images," says Windeck.
Designing these computers for light-duty work keeps them inexpensive and thrifty, yet also compact and quite reliable.
Nettops typically sell for around $300, says Michael Schmelzle from Germany's PC-Welt magazine. They tend to pack less processing power than standard PCs, but are much more energy efficient and quieter that their bigger cousins.
The hardware at work in these little machines also permits more compact case designs. That includes the "1-litre PC" category, with models like the Acer Aspire R3600 Revo and the Asus EEE Box.
Devices that come with Windows preinstalled typically feature a special version of Windows XP Home Edition. Vista comes with higher system requirements, making it ill suited for nettops.
One major plus for nettop PCs is their low power consumption. The Atom processor and graphic unit integrated into the chipset require between one tenth and one thirtieth of the energy of standard desktop processors.
A nettop requires approximately 30 to 40 watts, while a standard PC requires 100 to 120 watts, Schmelzle explains.
Because they are less powerful than modern PCs, nettop computers are best suited for simple tasks. These include word processing, data backup, or Internet surfing, explains Joerg Wissing, product manager at hardware maker Asus.
Those requiring more power for complicated office software, accounting, or 3D and graphics applications are better served...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Report Sees Recovery for Global Tech Firms
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68028
The global technology industry may have passed a turning point, showing a marked recovery in recent weeks after an extraordinarily deep downturn, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Production of semiconductors, computers, mobile phones and other electronic equipment is still considerably below pre-crisis levels but has rebounded strongly from the end of 2008 and early 2009, the organization says in a report set for publication this week.
"Even a few weeks ago, we didn't see the bounce-back in the data," said Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, an O.E.C.D. economist. "We were still grappling with the size of the downturn. Now, this could be the turning point."
The slump was even deeper than previously thought, Mr. Wunsch-Vincent said, particularly in Asia. In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, production of information technology products at its trough was down around 40 percent from a year earlier, according to the O.E.C.D. data, which were compiled from national statistics offices.
After suffering the steepest fall, Asia has also recovered the most rapidly, with South Korea leading the way, the report shows. There, output in May was down only 3 percent year-on-year.
Other big Asian electronics manufacturers, like Japan, have also shown recovery, along with European countries like Germany, France and Britain. Through June, there was no recovery yet in the United States, though the previous decline was less steep than in Asia, according to the O.E.C.D. figures; in June, U.S. production was down around 15 percent year-on-year, but stable from the previous month.
Other gauges of the health of the information technology business have also shown improvement of late. Gartner, a research firm, says that global shipments of PCs fell 5 percent in the second quarter, but the drop-off was only half as big as it had expected. For the full year, Gartner forecasts a 6 percent drop, with a 10...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Agency Mulls Curbs on Cybersquatters
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68025
The Internet's key oversight agency is considering a centralized database of trademark holders to cut down on questionable registrations of new Internet addresses.
Officials say the mechanism won't preclude a new Web site from being created at, say, "www.apple.farm" by someone outside Apple Inc. But it would create hurdles. Backers of the idea say it is needed so trademark holders won't have to spend thousands of dollars registering domain names defensively to block someone from registering them and trying to profit -- a practice known as "cybersquatting."
The proposed trademark database comes as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, is trying to widely expand the number of Internet domains, which include ".com," for the first time since the 1980s.
New names could start appearing next year.
Trademark holders have already had first dibs when new domain suffixes are created, but many companies fear that if ICANN suddenly adds 500 suffixes to the system, they'd have to register their brands in each domain. Administrative costs could balloon if those suffixes all have different rules for trademark claims.
So a central database, dubbed an IP Clearinghouse, would unify those rules. And someone's attempt to register a trademark under a new suffix would be automatically blocked, until the applicant could prove that its use is legitimate.
ICANN has long grappled with trademark complaints, and many of its critics say the existing system favors trademark holders over individuals and groups with legitimate needs for a name -- for example, to set up a Web site critical of a company.
ICANN might not decide on the idea until December.
Wed, 29 Jul 09
De-Clutter Your PC for Maximum Performance
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68024
The best way to keep a Windows-based PC running smoothly is to keep unnecessary or unwanted applications off of it. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.
Sooner or later -- through installing trial software, freebies, or even many commercial packages -- most of us end up with lots of applications we never use.
The result, too often, is a PC that boots slowly, performs sluggishly, and perhaps even crashes periodically for no apparent reason.
The good news is that with the right plan and a little know-how, you can keep your PC running smoothly, with just the applications you need and nothing more. Here's how.
Rule number one for keeping your PC speedy and clean is always to be sure that you can revert to a previous state before you install a new program.
The best way to ensure that you can do this is to make liberal use of Windows' System Restore utility, found in XP's Start menu under Programs, Accessories, System Tools, or in Vista's Start menu simply by typing "restore."
Through the creation of a "restore point," System Restore essentially takes a snapshot of the contents of your hard drive and the Windows registry.
If you should begin installing a program only to find that it crashes half way through the installation, you can use System Restore to revert your PC to the state it was in before the botched installation.
Creating a restore point typically does not take much time -- a minute or two in most situations. Restoring your computer to a previous state using System Restore takes a little longer, but the time spent is far preferable to having to live forever with a system that has either been cluttered or crippled by a bad application.
You should make regular trips to Windows' Add/Remove Programs applet, available through the Control...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
Review: The Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68019
The Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T belongs to the class of thin and light notebook computers first made popular by Apple's MacBook Air. At its thinnest, it's just 24 millimeters thick, rising 5mm at its highest.
Since it's made so slim, like earlier ultra-portable PCs, it doesn't have an optical drive.
And like ultra-portables, it uses Intel's new Consumer Ultra Low Voltage platform, which generates little heat.
It has a long battery life, too. Acer claims eight hours of use at a single charge, but you will need to reduce the screen brightness and turn off some functions.
You can manage battery performance by choosing a power plan provided by the Power Options feature. It's fair to say you can get at least five hours of good performance on a single charge.
To cool the notebook during long hours of use, Acer's Laminar Wall Jet cooling technology redirects cooling air along the bottom side of the machine.
The 3810T comes packed with regular features such as a large keyboard, memory and hard drive capacity.
Its grey and black aluminum finish makes a good first impression. The display, based on Acer CineCrystal with a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels, offers good color and contrast. But the lid can't be pushed back far, limiting viewing angle when the notebook is on your lap.
Those who work on the go will appreciate its large, well-spaced keys. Just above the keyboard on the right is a row of touch-sensitive quick-launch buttons that control the Wi-Fi antenna, built-in backup program and Power Smart preset, which extends battery life.
The touchpad supports finger gestures such as pinching (to zoom in and out), swiping (to flick through photos or Web pages) and swirling (to scroll).
The single bar, which replaces the standard left and right mouse buttons, is disappointing. It's a little too rigid and works only...
Wed, 29 Jul 09
A Push for Book-Search Privacy
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68017
Three advocacy groups have asked Google to commit to protect the privacy of readers in its book search service, which is poised for a major expansion under a pending class-action settlement.
Three advocacy groups have asked Google to commit to protect the privacy of readers in its book search service, which is poised for a major expansion under a pending class-action settlement.
The groups -- the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley -- have asked Google to limit the data it collects about users' reading habits, to commit to protect reader records by handing them over only in response to subpoenas or court orders and to put into effect measures giving users control of their data.
The groups made the requests in a letter to Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive. In an accompanying blog post, the groups are urging people to send e-mail messages to Mr. Schmidt demanding privacy protections.
"We've asked that Google only respond to legitimate warrants when the government comes calling, for example, and we've asked that they not share your private reading data with third parties without your permission, among other things," the groups wrote.
On its public policy blog, Google said it shared many of the privacy goals raised by the advocacy groups. But Google also said that its expanded book search service would not be built until a landmark settlement of a copyright class action filed by authors and publishers was approved by a court. (That settlement, which will allow Google to build an expansive digital library, has attracted criticism and is currently being scrutinized by the Justice Department for possible antitrust problems.) Because the service has yet to be built, it is premature to draft a detailed privacy policy about...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
AT&T Opens Can of Worms with Blocking of 4Chan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68041
AT&T revived the issue of network neutrality over the weekend by blocking the 4Chan message board. On Sunday, 4Chan founder Christopher Poole posted a notice that AT&T was "filtering/blocking img.4chan.org (/b/ & /r9k/)" for AT&T customers.
AT&T confirmed the blocking, but said it was because of a denial-of-service attack on 4Chan that began on Friday. It said access was blocked temporarily to prevent the attack from impacting its other customers, and "was in no way related to the content at img.4chan.org."
It added, "Overnight Sunday, after we determined the denial-of-service threat no longer existed, AT&T removed the block on the IP addresses in question. We will continue to monitor for denial-of-service activity and any malicious traffic to protect our customers." DDoS attacks brought down the 4Chan site twice in June.
Poole appeared to confirm AT&T's statement in a blog posting. "This wasn't a sinister act of censorship, but rather a bit of a mistake and a poorly executed, disproportionate response on AT&T's part," he wrote. "Whoever pulled the trigger on blackholing the site probably didn't anticipate (nor intend) the consequences of doing so."
While the block was in effect, some 4Chan members moved to retaliate, reportedly posting the phone number and e-mail address of AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. A report that Stephenson had died appeared on CNN's user-generated iReport Web site but was quickly removed.
Reactions across the Web indicated a fear of 4Chan's users. "AT&T has just opened perhaps the most vindictive, messy can of worms it could have possibly found," said TechCrunch. "Blocking any site is an extreme breach of user trust, but the decision to block 4chan in particular just seems stupid. Expect the Web equivalent of rioting if this doesn't change soon."
Amid the fuss, the DDoS attack on 4Chan continued, slowing the site and bouncing back millions of...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Verizon Will Add Palm Pre, Praises Apple's iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68040
Verizon said Monday that revenue in its second business quarter rose 11 percent year over year to $26.9 billion. Still, earnings per share only amounted to 52 cents in the quarter, versus 66 cents in the same period last year.
Verizon Chief Operating Officer Denny Strigl admitted a noticeable "uptick" in customer exit rates in the last couple of weeks of June due to AT&T's launch of the iPhone 3GS. But he insisted that Verizon isn't losing too many customers due to its lack of an iPhone offering. Strigl also credited Apple's red-hot device for expanding the smartphone market overall.
"When you think about what Apple has done in bringing the iPhone into the marketplace, it truly has accelerated innovation," Strigl said. "And as we talk to all of our manufacturers, everybody has come out with their own iconic device and I think that this has been very good overall for our customers."
Strigl's praise lends some credibility to recent industry reports that Verizon is engaged in talks with Apple about obtaining a CDMA version of the iPhone once AT&T's exclusive agreement ends. During last week's Fortune Brainstorm conference, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said his company's exclusive iPhone deal with Apple would not last forever.
Having the iPhone would doubtlessly help Verizon attract new subscribers as well as help encourage existing voice customers to upgrade to more lucrative data plans. AT&T CFO Richard Lindner said last week that 35 percent of the carrier's iPhone 3GS buyers "were customers new to AT&T" and more than 50 percent "did not previously have a data plan."
But even without an Apple iPhone, Verizon expects to continue to attract new wireless customers by refreshing its smartphone lineup.
"You can expect to see a steady stream of attractive devices coming," Strigl said. "We plan to refresh...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Apple's Tablet Computer Could Bring Back Music Albums
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68023
The on-again, off-again rumors of an Apple tablet computer are on again, thanks to a report Monday in the Financial Times.
The publication said Apple is "racing to offer a portable, full-featured, tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season." The Times said the larger-screen iPod touch is part of an effort to create "a new revolution" in the entertainment industry, notably by reviving album sales.
The Times said the upcoming device's larger touchscreen of up to 10 inches diagonally offers new publishing possibilities. It reported that Apple has been working with the four largest music labels -- EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music, and Universal Music Group -- to create a 21st-century version of the music album, whose sales have fallen as consumers have been able to cherry-pick individual songs from Apple's iTunes Store and other online music stories.
Albums offer higher margins, and sales in 2008 fell 14 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The new album form will include an interactive booklet, video clips, lyric sheets, liner notes, and other interactive features, and music will be playable from within the interactive album. The article indicates that the tablet will be launched in conjunction with a marketing effort to promote the new album form.
The Times quoted an unnamed executive "familiar with the plans" as saying the labels want to recreate the heyday of the album, when friends would pass around the album cover while listening to the music. The project, according to the newspaper, is code-named Cocktail.
There are indications that this new form of album may come in at least two formats -- one that is proprietary to Apple, and one that has been developed by the labels for distribution through Amazon and other stores.
The new tablet will have Wi-Fi access, according to the article, but not...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Western Digital Offers Largest Laptop Hard Drives
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68022
Western Digital on Monday expanded the size of laptop hard-drive choices. It offered Scorpio Blue drives with capacities of 750 gigabytes and one terabyte. Until now, the largest laptop drive available was 500GB.
The new 2.5-inch drives are the first to use 333GB-per-platter technology. While the new drives support SATA2, they are 12.5 millimeters thick, which means they won't fit in all laptops.
Western Digital says the new drives are perfect for portable storage. Both drives will be available in Western Digital's new My Passport Essential SE Portable USB drive.
The new drives will come with Western Digital's WhisperDrive technology for quiet operation. They also will have ShockGuard for drop resistance, and SecurePark, which keeps the recording heads off the disk surface.
Both drives will have an 8MB buffer and a speed of 5,200 rpm.
The 750MB drive costs $189.99 and is available now. Currently, the 1TB drive is only available as part of the My Passport USB drive for $299.99.
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Despite Downturn, AMD Supplier Starts $4.2B Plant
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67996
Work on a $4.2 billion chip plant supplying Advanced Micro Devices Inc. starts Friday in a woodsy patch of upstate New York -- across the Atlantic from AMD's sister factories and in the middle of a recession.
Even as the United States continues to bleed manufacturing jobs, AMD spinoff GlobalFoundries Inc. and its competitors in the chip industry are sinking billions into U.S. factories.
Analysts say the investments are required for technology companies to be poised for an economic upturn. And the chip industry has found U.S. sites especially important because the government restricts what kind of microprocessor work can be done overseas. Perhaps most crucially, companies rely on the willingness of governments to lure factories with massive incentives. New York committed $1.2 billion to land GlobalFoundries' factory in Malta.
"It's kind of like competing for baseball stadiums these days. Cities around the world, regions around the world, are competing for all sorts of manufacturing activity, and semiconductors are high-tech, high-human capital and high wage," said JoAnne Feeney, senior analyst at FTN Equity Capital Markets.
The United States can be more attractive to chip makers than Europe when it comes to labor laws and environmental regulations, said Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist for market researcher In-Stat. Intel has seven U.S. factories: three in Oregon, two in Arizona and one each in Massachusetts and New Mexico. Even South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. makes chips in Austin, Texas.
GlobalFoundries Chairman Hector Ruiz said the state incentives and the company's desire for a U.S. presence helped lure the chip maker to an industrial park 150 miles north of New York City. Ruiz noted that the chip factory, known as a fab, will be near two research partners: the state-run College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany, and IBM Corp., which has a facility farther down the Hudson...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
AP Setting Up Tracking System for Web Content
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67994
The Associated Press is moving ahead with plans for a system to detect unlicensed use of its content and potentially create new ways for the 163-year-old news cooperative and other media to make more money on the Internet.
As part of a strategy approved Thursday by the AP's board, the cooperative will start by bundling its text stories in an "informational wrapper" that will include a built-in beacon to monitor where stories go on the Internet.
The beacon is meant to be a policing device aimed at deterring Web sites from posting AP content without paying licensing fees. The AP and its member newspapers contend unlicensed use of their material is costing them tens of millions of dollars in potential ad revenue.
"This is a pivotal step in the fight to ensure that quality journalism can be funded in the digital era," Tom Curley, AP's chief executive, said in an interview. "We have stood by too long and watched other people make money off the hard work of our journalists. We have decided to draw a line in concrete."
The AP calls the project a "news registry," and it is set to debut in November, beginning first with text stories and later expanding to videos and photos. Starting next year, newspapers that own the cooperative will be able to put their material into the registry as well.
The AP hasn't determined how it will make money from its registry, but believes there will be plenty of opportunities. "If you can stop the unlicensed use, the value of the content goes up," said Jane Seagrave, the AP's senior vice president of global product development.
The registry will track electronic tags applied to the stories, including ones that let media organizations specify how their content is to be used. AP said the technology should provide detailed measurements on...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Amazon.com's Earnings Miss a Beat
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67985
Those who had hoped Amazon.com could completely avoid the problems plaguing other retailers got a reality check on July 23, when the company missed Wall Street forecasts for sales and posted its first year-over-year profit decline in two years.
The Seattle retailer posted net income of $142 million in the second quarter, a 10 percent drop from the same period in 2008 and the first such decline since December 2006. Sales improved 14 percent, to $4.65 billion, but narrowly missed Wall Street's expectation of $4.7 billion.
Amazon's stock, which has surged more than 80 percent since the beginning of the year, fell 6.6 percent in after-hours trading, to 93.87. "Any time you've had a stock at this high a valuation, you expect to see everything right," says Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter.
In a call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Szkutak said the profit decline was due to a $52 million settlement the company paid in June to resolve a dispute with Toys "R" Us. The retailer had claimed Amazon violated a partnership by neglecting to keep its products in stock and allowing other toymakers to sell on the site. Without the payment, Amazon's profits would have increased. "It was a good quarter but not a great one, and the huge legal settlement to Toys 'R' Us really made a big difference," says Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray.
Amazon has weathered the financial crisis better than most retailers. With the drop in housing prices and stocks, consumers have cut back on their spending on a wide variety of products. Several prominent traditional retailers have filed for bankruptcy protection, including Circuit City, Sharper Image, KB Toys, and Linens 'N Things. The National Retail Federation expects total retail sales this year to shrink by 0.5 percent, to $2.27 trillion,...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Demand Media's Inside-Out Path to Clicks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67982
Nearly every print media company is struggling to find the right business model in a world where ad revenue is rapidly evaporating and readers are flocking to the Web at an alarming rate. (Full disclosure: Our parent company, McGraw-Hill, is evaluating "strategic options" for BusinessWeek.) But one serial entrepreneur seems to have found a successful model in an industry badly in need of one. Unfortunately for a lot of hardcore journalists, it may not be the one they envisioned when they were starting out as cub reporters.
Demand Media is a three-year-old company started by Richard Rosenblatt, who launched the e-commerce site iMall in 1999 and is most famous for his stint as CEO of MySpace's parent company -- and for priming the social network for sale to News Corp. in 2005. As the name of his new company implies, Rosenblatt has turned the traditional journalism model inside out. Instead of editors telling the reader what's important, Rosenblatt has created a media company that produces only what consumers want -- articles on such mundane topics as how to stop a runny nose, or videos on how to skateboard, that are then posted on Web sites his company has created. To make it all work, Rosenblatt uses proprietary software that culls search engines to determine the information people are most often requesting -- say, on how to make a great margarita (an article Rosenblatt wrote himself).
This isn't The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. Rather, Demand Media competes with the crush of specialized magazines that cater to those interested in articles on healthy living, lifestyle, humor, and sports. The company has a handful of topic-specific sites, such as those on how to improve your golf game or camp in the wild. It also owns how-to Web site eHow.com and science...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
A College Degree To Work in a Contact Center?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67700
The other day I came across a contact center expansion story where the employer, whose name will not be revealed to save them from being singled out, preferred to have applicants for its contact center agent positions to have college degrees.
My jaw dropped. Isn't this overkill? This is contact center work we are talking about, where nice people answer and make contacts, not highly skilled and demanding accounting, engineering, finance, HR, IT, management, marketing, media/PR and teaching/training.
Unfortunately, seeking workers with college degrees sets these contact centers and others up for another round of escalating turnover and higher costs that risk leading to more local employment -- killing offshoring and self-service in the near future. For once the economy turns around these individuals will be out the doors faster than they can type or click 'job board'.
Being an agent requites a reasonable level of comprehension along with average reading, writing, and speaking abilities coupled with competences in soft and hard skills such as empathy, sales, collections, and support depending on the job. It is an important, demanding, and responsible position, requiring commitment, patience, a positive attitude (and a thick skin), quick thinking, and a strong work ethic, but it isn't rocket science. It is also not a role that has much advancement potential.
Then again, given too many reports about how poor the American -- and to a lesser extent the Canadian -- public education system is, such employers may sadly be onto something. That is because, based on chats with industry professionals over the years, that high schools have largely failed to carry out their publicly financed job of equipping young people with basic skills. They and their parents have also flunked in inculcating strong work ethics. Consequently too many of the applicants lack both and when they are hired by...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Zultys: An IP Contact Center Solution
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67698
This month's Supplier Survey is focusing on IP contact center solutions. After reviewing the responses to questions on market, product, and vendor trends, we have selected one firm to be published here, in excerpted form. All of the replies will [appear] in their entirety on TMCnet.com.
The featured company is Zultys (www.zultys.com). Responding for Zultys is Pierre Kerbage, vice president, sales and marketing.
More companies today more than ever are considering optimizing their processes and adding ACD and inbound contact center to their existing functionality. Inbound contact center software allows a company to serve a larger base of inbound calls, without necessarily increasing its head count. This is done by effectively distributing the calls based on agents' skills, and routing them based on wait time in the queue or calls in the queue. Zultys has developed an extensive Advanced ACD Package that responds to the client's needs without the need to add file servers. This includes the ability to record conversation for training purposes, call monitor, real time reporting and batch reporting and call accounting.
Clients are asking for conference bridges, webinars, collaborations, the ability to remotely take over another PC and the ability respond quicker and in a more engaging manner. To that end, Zultys has added MXmeeting to its functionality, which is an appliance that tightly integrates with ours that allows unlimited conferencing, webinars, remote support, and remote desktop control for one fixed price starting at $1,199 without recurring costs or trunk charges.
Zultys is a core provider of open standards SIP-based phone systems that conform with industry standards, which are quickly becoming de facto standards. Our core differentiator is that we bring about an outstanding suite of products and functionality that include our multiplatform CTI which works on PCs, MACs, Linux, and even 64Bit Vista. Our secure Linux-based appliance is only...
Tue, 28 Jul 09
Definition of Cloud Computing Comes Under Fire
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=66908
Cloud computing is taking the IT industry by storm -- at least conceptually -- as companies from various sectors of the industry scramble to get on board the latest buzz bandwagon. The only problem is that the industry doesn't agree on what the cloud is.
Can we blame it on Google? Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned cloud computing back in 2006 and it seems companies have been rushing to roll out cloud-like services ever since. Indeed, virtualization firms, networking giants, and e-commerce legends, among others, are jumping into the cloud head first. Yet basic questions about cloud computing remain.
"I have no idea what anyone is talking about," Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told financial analysts at a conference last September about the cloud. "It's really just complete gibberish. What is it?"
Those come as surprising words from one of the most eminent figures in the world of high technology. But Ellison raised a good point: We need to define cloud computing -- and how much of an impact is it making on enterprise IT. Of course, the answer will depend on who you ask.
Gartner defines cloud computing as "a style of computing where scalable and elastic IT capabilities are provided as a service to multiple customers using Internet technologies."
What does that mean? It means Gartner's definition includes advertising, e-commerce, payments, online HR services, and social-networking sites. That expanded view led Gartner to value cloud computing at $46 billion in 2008. The firm also predicts the cloud market will jump to $150 billion by 2013.
Recently though, Gartner's definition of the cloud has come under fire. John Treadway, principal of The Treadway Group, a technology consulting firm in Lexington, Mass., dared to challenge Gartner on its definition. In fact, Treadway adamantly insists Gartner is making a big mistake.
...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Microsoft Concedes, Offers Browser Ballot in Windows 7
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68001
Microsoft has retreated in the battle for Internet Explorer in Europe. On Friday, it offered to implement a browser ballot favored by the European Commission.
Countering charges that it forced Internet Explorer on users to the detriment of alternative browsers, Microsoft had planned to ship a special European version of Windows 7 without a browser. That would have created major headaches for users, who would have no means to download a browser, whether Internet Explorer or an alternative, and it would make an upgrade to Windows 7 more difficult.
"Under our new proposal, among other things, European consumers who buy a new Windows PC with Internet Explorer set as their default browser would be shown a 'ballot screen' from which they could, if they wished, easily install competing browsers from the Web," said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith. But he added, "PC manufacturers building machines for the European market will continue to be required to ship (browserless) versions of Windows 7 until such time that the commission fully reviews our proposals and determines whether they satisfy our obligations under European law."
The European Union had said Microsoft's plans for a browserless version of Windows might not be acceptable. Alternative browsers include Opera, Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome.
"Under the (new Microsoft) proposal, Windows 7 would include Internet Explorer, but the proposal recognizes the principle that consumers should be given a free and effective choice of Web browser, and sets out a means -- the ballot screen -- by which Microsoft believes that can be achieved," the commission said. "In addition, (manufacturers) would be able to install competing Web browsers, set those as default. and disable Internet Explorer should they so wish. The commission welcomes this proposal, and will now investigate its practical effectiveness in terms of ensuring genuine consumer choice."
Microsoft faces a separate...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Palm Issues webOS 1.1 To Foil Apple's iTunes Blockade
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=68000
Palm released a webOS update Thursday that effectively counters Apple's move last week to prevent Palm Pre smartphones from accessing its iTunes Store.
Palm Vice President John Traynor noted that the webOS 1.1 release brings several valuable additions to the Palm Pre. But for many Pre owners, the biggest improvement is the work-around that circumvents Apple's iTunes blockade.
"Palm webOS 1.1 re-enables Palm media sync," Traynor said. "That's right -- you once again can have seamless access to your music, photos and videos from the current version of iTunes."
Apple's release last week of iTunes 8.2.1 software initially blocked Palm Pres from direct access to its online music store. "iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple devices," Apple said.
Though Apple may continue to target Palm Pre handsets with later software updates, Palm's release of webOS 1.1 effectively demonstrates that Apple's rival is ready and willing to respond. "Palm believes that openness and interoperability offer better experiences for users by allowing them the freedom to use the content they own without interference across devices and services," the company said.
Palm also pointed out that webOS 1.1 makes the Palm Pre more business-friendly. For example, Palm webOS 1.1 "brings several additions to our support for Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), including remote wipe, PIN/password requirements, inactivity timeout, improved certificate handling, and more," Traynor said.
With webOS 1.1, IT administrators will be able to ensure that a password with a required minimum length has been assigned to each mobile enterprise phone. Moreover, inactive phones will be automatically placed in a locked state after an IT-specified timeout interval.
Additionally, IT administrators can now remotely erase all the data on any Palm Pre handset right from their Exchange consoles, as well as program the devices to automatically wipe their...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Amazon.com CEO Apologizes for Orwell Incident
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67992
Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeffrey P. Bezos has apologized to Kindle customers for deleting pirated copies of George Orwell novels "1984" and "Animal Farm" from their e-reader devices.
Kindle users were surprised last week to find that Orwell works they had purchased were removed from their readers and their money refunded.
Amazon said last Friday the books had been added to its catalog using the company's self-service platform by a third party who did not have the rights to the books. However, that explanation differed from what Kindle users had been told by Amazon's customer service department, which implied that the removal was the publisher's choice.
On Thursday, ahead of the company's quarterly earnings release, Bezos posted a message on Amazon's Kindle Community blog apologizing for the way Amazon handled the matter.
"Our 'solution' to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles," he said. "It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission."
Customers appeared to appreciate the statement, with many blogging their thanks.
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Bill Gates Blasts U.S. Policies on Privacy, Immigration
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67981
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates criticized U.S. policies on data privacy and immigration Friday in a speech to the Transforming India through Technology conference in New Delhi, India.
Microsoft will work with India on a national computer identity-card project, he said. He plans to meet with minister Nandan Nilekani, who helped build technology company Infosys.
Gates said the U.S. should have a national identity card or at least let some businesses, like health care, centralize information on individuals. "It has always come back to the idea that 'The computer knows too much about you,'" he said.
He noted that doctors cannot share records about patients and said a U.S. ban on virtual doctor visits "wastes a lot of money."
Gates also urged U.S. immigration exceptions for "smart people." He said Microsoft has created "a lot of jobs" in Canada because immigrants are allowed to work if offered a high-paying job.
The U.S. has an H-1B visa program that allows immigrants to enter for three years if they have advanced degrees or special skills. The visas can be renewed, but Congress has been critical of the program as displacing American workers. Many H-1B workers are from India, and Gates said stricter limits could jeopardize economic growth.
The gathering of government officials and information-technology executives was organized by Microsoft and The National Association of Software and Services Companies. Gates is expected to receive the Indira Gandhi International Peace Award from Indian President Prathiba Patil on Saturday.
Gates told the meeting, "Over the next decade, the entire way we interact" with computers will change. He predicted an Internet used for more than Web pages, computer voice recognition, and cell phones able to recognize people around them.
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Microsoft Reports Weak Windows Sales as Profits Plunge
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67980
Sales of the Windows operating system fell 29 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft reported Thursday. The news sent the company's stock down nearly nine percent at noon Eastern time Friday.
Microsoft said Windows sales for the quarter were $3.1 billion, down from $4.4 billion in the year-ago quarter. For the full fiscal year, Windows sales declined 13 percent, to $14.7 billion from $16.9 billion. Some businesses have avoided Windows Vista, and Microsoft will release Windows 7 in October.
The company reported earnings below analyst expectations, with profits down 29 percent to $3.05 billion, compared to $4.3 billion in its 2008 fourth quarter. Microsoft blamed weak demand for PCs and servers.
Per-share earnings fell 26 percent to 34 cents versus 46 cents a year ago. Revenue was down 17 percent to $13.1 billion from $15.83 billion in the 2008 fourth quarter. Analysts, who had expected earnings of 36 cents per share, called the results disappointing, and J.P. Morgan said it "doesn't sound like it will get much better any time soon."
"Our business continued to be negatively impacted by weakness in the global PC and server markets," said Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer. "In light of that environment, it was an excellent achievement to deliver over $750 million of operational savings compared to the prior year quarter."
Microsoft affirmed that job cuts will total 5,000, as it said in January. It said search advertising was "flat," while online advertising sales fell 14 percent for the quarter.
"While economic conditions presented challenges this year, we maintained our focus on delivering customer satisfaction and providing solutions to our customers to save money," said Microsoft COO Kevin Turner. "I am very excited by the wave of product and services innovations being delivered in this next fiscal year."
Despite Turner's optimism, Microsoft again declined to...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Wal-Mart's Got Hot Deals on Laptops
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67970
Wal-Mart hopes to reboot the retail market for computers Sunday by selling beefy laptops for less than you'd pay for a pint-size netbook.
The retail giant is stepping up its campaign to become a more prominent PC retailer, a move that could accelerate a broader trend toward lower computer prices.
"Other retailers will be watching closely to see if they need to respond by dropping prices for comparable products," says David Daoud, IDC tech industry researcher. "It could potentially trigger a price war."
Wal-Mart recently renovated PC displays in 1,200 of its 3,600 stores to make them easier to navigate -- more like Best Buy than, well, Wal-Mart. It plans to refurbish more stores, broaden product selection and do a series of rock-bottom-pricing promotions.
"We believe we can move the needle for us as a laptop destination," says Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for entertainment.
For example, it will sell a Hewlett-Packard-made laptop, running Windows Vista with 3 gigabytes of memory and a 160-gigabyte hard drive, for just $298. Or for $548, you can pick up an Acer-made Vista laptop with an eight-hour battery, 3 gigabytes of memory and a 320-gigabyte hard drive.
Slumping sales at electronics and office-supply chains give Wal-Mart -- which has prospered as the recession made consumers more price sensitive -- a ripe opportunity.
"They're looking for growth opportunities wherever they can find them," NPD analyst Stephen Baker says. "Attempting to increase their share of consumer electronics makes sense."
PC sales have not declined quite as steeply as experts projected. Consumers are gobbling up low-end laptops and netbooks, although businesses still aren't buying many new computers.
"At the moment, price competition and extreme promotions are spurring the market," says Jay Chou, PC industry analyst at IDC.
"We're seeing the average guy on the street holding up PC sales pretty well."
The challenge for Wal-Mart is to...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
eBay CEO's Turnaround Plan Is Taking Root
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67969
EBay's year-long slide appears to be nearing its bottom.
The e-commerce company reported July 22 that second-quarter sales declined 4 percent, a less moderate drop than the ones eBay was experiencing a year ago. Earnings of 37 percent per share, excluding special items, beat Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate by a penny, though net income fell 29 percent compared with a year ago.
While not spectacular, the results gave investors hope that the worst may be over for eBay, and that Chief Executive John Donahoe's turnaround plan may be taking hold. Shares of eBay gained nearly 5 percent in extended trading July 22, after closing up 52 percent, or 2.75 percent, at 19.45.
"I knew the eBay turnaround was going to take over three to four years, and the first 18 months of a turnaround are always the hardest," says Donahoe in an interview. The former Bain & Co. consultant laid out a long-term plan for the company when he took the helm early last year. His strategy includes shedding weak businesses and creating a one-stop online shopping site where buyers can bid in auctions, peruse classified ads, or buy products outright. "This is good, steady progress," he says of the second-quarter results.
EBay has suffered from weak consumer spending, and merchants turning to other Web sites like Amazon.com and Craigslist for their transactions.
Donahoe attributes the stabilization in eBay's business partly to changes the company has made to its e-commerce site, including improved search and the elimination of some fees it charged to put items up for sale. Early signs of a comeback in consumer spending have also helped. "In the last couple weeks of June we saw an uptick, and that uptick has kind of held," Donahoe says.
Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, says the results are "encouraging...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Computer Attacker Still a Mystery to U.S. Security
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67968
The United States still has not figured out who was behind the July 4 cyberattacks that took down a series of government Web sites, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said Wednesday.
After an address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Blair also told the businessmen he is trying to patch up the relationship between Congress and the intelligence agencies. It was strained badly by a secretive Bush administration and flared up again with revelations this month that the CIA had hidden from congressional intelligence committees word of a program to develop secret hit teams to kill terrorist leaders.
The teams never were operational, according to the CIA. Agency Director Leon Panetta told the House of Representatives and Senate intelligence panels about it June 24, a day after he learned of the effort and canceled it.
The House Intelligence Committee has begun a full investigation of the program and the CIA's history of required congressional notification.
"What I am finding in my six months in the job is that there are a lot of legacy issues that we have to work our way through as we establish a relationship with Congress," Blair said. "I have been very clear that we will be on the side of telling them about things."
Speaking about the cyberattacks, Blair said the attackers covered their tracks by temporarily hijacking a network of computers, which was used to spawn the cyber offensive. The United States is working with other countries to identify the perpetrators.
The South Korean government says it has evidence of North Korean involvement but has not yet assigned blame.
The attacks, in which hundreds of computers tried to connect to a single Web site at the same time to overwhelm the server, caused outages on prominent government-run sites in both the United States and South Korea.
Blair said the attack was relatively...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Review: Evernote Tops Yahoo for Online Note-Taking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67967
Like many people, I often find myself with a dozen open browser tabs and countless bookmarks as I plan trips or comb through reviews for a new gadget.
It's amazing I haven't discovered online note-taking until now. Yahoo gets credit for introducing me to that concept with a new, automated service, though I ultimately found others that are more versatile and powerful -- most notably, Evernote.
Bookmarks suddenly seem rudimentary. All they'll do is point you back to a previously visited Web site.
The Web-based note-taking services, on the other hand, let you zero in on specific passages and entries within a Web site. The programs also let you keep a copy of information in case it disappears from the original site. And the collections are stored online and can be shared with friends.
I can see using them to keep track of summer events, hobbies, nutritional advice and more, replacing my clunky system of e-mailing myself tidbits or storing them on documents I'd never find later.
Yahoo Inc.'s new Search Pad tries to automate all that, which ends up being its chief advantage and its chief shortcoming.
As I searched on Yahoo for free kayaking opportunities, Yahoo began remembering the links I clicked on and compiled them for me. I didn't have to turn the feature on or do anything else. To access the links, all I had to do was hit "View Notes" on the upper right corner of the search page.
From there, I can delete irrelevant links or add notes next to each, by typing my own reminders or pasting highlights copied from the Web site. I can save them to my Yahoo account to continue research later.
I can also manually add information from sites I find on my own, rather than through Yahoo's search.
Once I paste a short passage, Yahoo combs through...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Social Network for Gamers Helps Friends Play
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67966
Raptr, a social network targeting gamers, is hoping to make it easier to see what your friends are currently playing on a broad range of platforms such as the Xbox 360 and personal computers.
And if you want, you can join them in the action.
On Wednesday, Raptr launched new software that integrates various instant-messaging services, as well as Twitter and Facebook, and automatically updates users' status with the games they are currently playing.
It recognizes about 32,000 games, including hardcore titles like "Halo 3," music games like "Guitar Hero" and social games such as Zynga's "YoVille" on Facebook.
And if your friend is in the midst of a multiplayer game, you can join in, provided you've installed Raptr on your computer, for free.
"Most people prefer to play with friends, ... but finding friends and playing with them is hard," CEO and founder Dennis Fong said. "Your friends are everywhere, and they play games on a lot of different platforms."
Raptr is expanding its service as more people play video games online and social networks proliferate in use. Combining the two, Raptr is like a Facebook for gamers.
Using the service, PC gamers can chat with users of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360, though Raptr does not yet support the other gaming consoles, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Co.'s Wii.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup also signed deals with two major video game publishers to bundle its service with upcoming titles, which will expose its service to many more gamers.
No money changed hands, Fong said, between Raptr and the game companies, THQ Inc. and Activision Blizzard Inc.
Raptr isn't the first gaming venture for Fong, a former professional video gaming champion. In 2006, he sold Xfire to Viacom Inc. for $102 million. Incidentally, Xfire is similar to Raptr in that it helps gamers keep track of people playing...
Sat, 25 Jul 09
Collaboration Tools Can Cut Costs, Boost Productivity
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67840
At a time when enterprise software investments are trending town, companies may not be looking to invest in unified communications and collaboration tools.
But with the boost to business productivity, the contained costs, and the chance to be a good corporate citizen by reducing your company's carbon footprint, it may be time to look at how collaboration tools -- both enterprise-level and low-cost open-source solutions -- can benefit your company.
"Providing employees with collaboration tools that enable them to work together effectively, no matter where they may be located, is no longer a wish-list or nice-to-have item -- it's a requirement," said Kent Erickson, senior vice president and general manager of Workgroup Solutions for Novell.
According to an IDG survey, companies are interested in making sure knowledge workers use collaboration tools to increase organizational innovation, productivity and efficiency, with 67 percent of respondents saying it's of critical or high importance. And 52 percent say it's of critical or high importance that their knowledge workers have access to next-generation collaboration tools and software like wikis, blogs and online team work spaces.
With companies like Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Novell aggressively pushing into the collaboration space, it's clear that the expectations of the market are grand. IDC pegged the global collaboration market at $34 billion. The unified communications segment of the collaboration market -- which includes instant messaging, Web presence, VoIP and videoconferencing -- is expected to grow to $17 billion in annual revenue by 2011.
"We've seen a huge uptick in usage of our collaboration tools like WebEx and Telepresence," said Grace Kim, a senior marketing manager for Cisco's Collaboration Software Group. "Over the year, we've seen a 40 percent increase in usage of our collaboration tools. That's a testament to the cost-effectiveness of collaboration."
According to Kim, companies are fundamentally changing their...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
New Gmail Users Cut Off as Yahoo Acquires Xoopit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67977
Yahoo has confirmed that it will acquire San Francisco-based Xoopit, which won the Yahoo Open Hack contest in 2008 and powers Yahoo Mail's My Photos application. The app finds photos in a user's in-box, including both file attachments and URLs that link to photo sites like Flickr or Picasa Web Albums.
Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Yahoo applications, said the acquisition will bring "phenomenal photo organization, improved photo sharing, and the serendipity of discovering forgotten photos to Yahoo Mail."
"With the integration of Xoopit's platform technology and capabilities, the task of sending photos via e-mail will be as easy as it should be, and sharing photo albums with friends and family members will also be a cinch," he wrote Wednesday on Yahoo's Yodel Anecdotal blog. "Just imagine having a tool that collects all the photos you've sent and received over the years into that scrapbook you've never had time to assemble."
Xoopit also provides a Web application for rival Google's Gmail service, and Web observers noted that Xoopit has stopped accepting new Gmail users. A notice on Xoopit's Web site said the service will "continue for the time being to operate for existing users."
PC World blogger David Coursey chided Yahoo for "allowing corporate ego to overwhelm common sense." He wrote that Yahoo has said current Gmail users could also be cut off from the Xoopit service.
Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, but some reports put the deal at about $20 million.
Fri, 24 Jul 09
AT&T Adds 2.4 Million Subscribers with Apple's iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67976
AT&T said it racked up 2.4 million new iPhone activations in the second quarter, with the bulk of the additions coming from the wireless carrier's launch of Apple's iPhone 3GS on June 19.
The first day of the iPhone 3GS launch was "the best sales day ever" for AT&T's retail and online stores, noted Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner. Moreover, 35 percent of all iPhone buyers in the quarter "were customers new to AT&T," he said.
Still, surging iPhone demand isn't without its downside, given that AT&T is heavily subsidizing initial device sales. The company said its wireless service margin fell nearly three percentage points year-over-year to 38.3 percent in the quarter. Without the increased acquisition costs associated with the iPhone 3GS launch, AT&T estimates that its service margin would have been more than 40 percent.
Nevertheless, AT&T is more than willing to trade off short-term margin gains in exchange for a long-term boost in the average revenue per user (ARPU) that it receives from each iPhone customer over time.
"As we start to benefit from recurring ARPUs from this customer base, the margins will grow," Lindner said. "But it is difficult to predict" what the ARPU will be in "the next quarter or two given that we have been surprised by the strength of demand."
Some industry observers worry that AT&T's wireless fortunes are too heavily tied to its iPhone exclusivity agreement with Apple and wonder what would happen should the deal come to an end. But Lindner pointed out that AT&T's smartphone growth isn't limited to iPhone sales.
AT&T recorded a 3.5 million increase in the number of 3G handsets with QWERTY or virtual keyboards running on its network in the June-ended quarter, Lindner observed. This resulted in a 37.2 percent increase in wireless data revenues to $3.4...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
New Final Cut Studio Has More Features, Lower Price
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67972
Apple on Thursday released an upgrade to its Final Cut Studio video suite with more than 100 new features, a new version of Logic Studio, and a lower price. Final Cut Server was also updated to version 1.5.
The suite includes Final Cut Pro 7 with expanded ProRes codecs that Apple said support virtually any work flow. It includes one-step output to a variety of formats and iChat Theater support for real-time collaboration.
Other components are Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5, and DVD Studio Pro, which remains at version 4.
Enhanced tools in Motion 4 allow 3-D shadows and depth of field for motion graphics. New multitrack audio tools are part of Soundtrack Pro 3, and Color 1.5 has better integration with Final Cut Pro. New export options are offered in Compressor 3.5.
The suite is now priced at $999, a $300 price cut. An upgrade is available for $299.
"With 1.4 million users and 50 percent of the market, Final Cut Pro is the number-one professional video editing application," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. "The new Final Cut Studio includes more than 100 new features and dramatically expands Apple's ProRes family of codecs so editors can work in the studio with the highest quality video, or on location at low bandwidths."
Soundtrack Pro and Compressor are also available as part of the new Logic Studio, allowing Final Cut and Logic users to collaborate and share files.
Apple said Final Cut Server 1.5 now includes unlimited client licenses, also for $999, or $299 for an upgrade. New features include offline editing with ProRes Proxy, production hierarchies to organize media, and support for still sequences.
Fri, 24 Jul 09
South Korean Regulator Fines Qualcomm Record $208M
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67961
South Korea's fair trade regulator said Thursday it was slapping U.S. chip maker Qualcomm Inc. with a record fine over what it said was abuse of market dominance. The company vowed to fight the decision.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said in a statement that it was fining the San Diego, California-based company 260 billion won ($208 million), the largest such levy ever in South Korea.
The commission, which had been investigating Qualcomm since 2006, said the company abused its dominant position in CDMA mobile phone chips by charging higher royalties for companies that used rival chipsets. It also said that Qualcomm favored customers who used its products by offering rebates.
The commission also ordered Qualcomm to correct the practices.
Donald Rosenberg, Qualcomm executive vice president and general counsel, said the company "strenuously" disagreed with the decision and called the fine "overly excessive and unwarranted."
After receiving a formal written decision, which could take several months, Rosenberg said the company's options included fighting the ruling in South Korean courts.
Qualcomm developed CDMA, or code division multiple access, a rival standard to the dominant cellular standard GSM, or global system for mobile. The company controls most of the key patents.
CDMA is used in the United States and South Korea. Every handset in South Korea has a CDMA chip and manufacturers of handsets have to pay royalty fees to Qualcomm.
Qualcomm, which licenses technology for mobile phones and manufactures semiconductor chips that run them, earns money by licensing the CDMA technology to other chip makers, handset manufacturers and wireless technology companies.
The previous highest fine was one of 113 billion won slapped on a South Korean telephone operator in 2005, the commission said.
Microsoft Corp. was fined 32.5 billion won in 2006 for what the commission ruled was the company's abuse of its dominant market position by tying certain software to...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Intel Appeals European Commission Antitrust Ruling
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67956
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, filed an appeal Wednesday challenging the European Commission's record EUR 1.06 billion fine and ruling in May that it had abused its dominance in computer processors by offering rebates to computer makers who used more of its chips.
"We believe that our policies and practices have always been legal and aboveboard," said Robert Manetta, an Intel spokesman in London. "That is why we are taking our case to court."
Intel filed the appeal in the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, the top European appeals court, which takes about two years to render an opinion.
Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for the commission, said the appeal had been expected. "The commission is confident that its decision is legally sound," he said.
Intel, which is based in Santa Clara, California, has appealed similar cases in the United States and South Korea.
In 2007, the court rejected an appeal by Microsoft of a commission finding that the software maker had abused its dominance in operating systems to support its media player and servers.
The appeal will not delay Intel's payment of the $1.45 billion fine, the largest ever assessed in Europe in a market-dominance case.
Mr. Manetta said the company planned to pay the fine in the current financial quarter. Setting aside $1.45 billion for the fine led Intel to report a $398 million loss in the second quarter, its first quarterly loss since 1988.
In its appeal, Mr. Manetta said, Intel was not asking the court to suspend the commission's demands to change its rebate practices pending the outcome of the appeal. Intel would not release a transcript of its filing, Mr. Manetta said; the court plans only to release a summary of the filing in a few weeks.
Mr. Manetta said Intel was working to meet the commission's demands but would not say...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Apple Drops Threats Against iTunes Jailbreaking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67952
Apple has backed down from threatening legal action against BluWiki, a hosting Web site that discussed how users could circumvent Apple's iTunes software. Apple and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit public-interest group based in San Francisco, have stopped legal proceedings.
While EFF believes Apple's withdrawal against OdioWorks came because of EFF's legal threats, Apple attorney Sadik Huseny of the law firm Latham and Watkins said the code discussed on BluWiki is no longer an issue.
"Apple has stopped utilizing the code in question, rendering the code obsolete for the purposes at issue in this action," Huseny wrote in a letter to the EFF.
"While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after seven months of censorship and a lawsuit," said EFF senior attorney Fred von Lohmann. "We hope Apple has learned its lesson here, and will give those online discussions a wide berth in the future."
The legal feud began after Apple learned that BluWiki was hosting discussions on how to sync iPods and iPhones without using iTunes and instead using other software, including Songbird and Winap.
Last November, Apple threatened BluWiki with legal action, saying the discussions were violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provisions. In response, BluWiki took down the wiki pages in question.
Five months later, defending the rights of OdioWorks, owner of BluWiki, the EFF and the San Francisco law firm of Keker and Van Nest, representing OdioWorks, asked a court to reject Apple's claims and allow BluWiki to restore the discussions.
They said the discussions weren't illegal because no information was posted on how to actually circumvent iTunes.
OdioWorks's owner, 24-year-old Sam Odio, said he takes the free-speech rights of BluWiki users very seriously and Apple should not be able to censor online discussions by threatening...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Google, Apple: Two Mobile Software Visions
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67938
When Service-now.com, a maker of software for corporate information technology departments, created a smartphone version of its product last year, it bucked a major trend.
Instead of creating an application that customers could download through an outlet like Apple's iPhone App Store or Google's Android Marketplace, the company built a customized Web site so users of many different devices could use the software via their phones' browsers without downloading anything. Tailoring software for the five big mobile-phone platforms -- iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile -- "would have taken five times as much work," says Service-now.com principal architect Pat Casey.
Service-now.com is hardly alone in discovering that the Web can be a more convenient place to host mobile applications than on devices themselves. The argument for Web-centric mobile computing got a boost this month when Google's vice-president of engineering, Vic Gundotra, told a San Francisco technology conference on July 16 that the Web, not downloadable apps, is the future of smartphones. "Over the next several years, the browser will become the platform that matters," Gundotra said during a panel discussion.
The weight that Google threw behind the online style of mobile software development isn't surprising. Much of Google's software, including applications for getting directions, creating documents, and sending e-mail, resides on the Web and isn't downloaded onto users' PCs or phones.
But if enough developers write Web-based applications that aren't exclusive to the iPhone or other devices, as Google hopes, Apple and other hardware makers could have less clout when it comes to keeping customers loyal to their platforms. The phone makers also could miss out on revenue shared with software makers when users download their applications. Apple declined to comment for this story.
"Suddenly, the browser is an application platform," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera Software,...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Would-Be Buyer of Pirate Bay Backpedals in Court
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67933
The would-be buyer of Web site The Pirate Bay backpedaled in a Dutch court Tuesday, saying that it is uncertain whether the purchase will ever be completed.
Lawyer Ricardo Dijkstra said Sweden's Global Gaming Factory X would only buy The Pirate Bay if it can turn it into a "legitimate business."
GGF, a software company, said last month it planned to buy The Pirate Bay domain name and related Web sites for 60 million kronor ($7.8 million), with the deal closing in August.
Dijkstra said Tuesday that is conditional on whether "those assets can be used in a legal manner."
The Dutch court is hearing a civil case brought against The Pirate Bay and GGF by Stichting Brein, a Netherlands-based organization funded by various copyright holders groups.
The Pirate Bay provides an index to BitTorrent files, which can be used for trading media such as movies, music and computer games. The site has more than 20 million users globally. In April, a Swedish court found that four Swedish nationals connected with the site had helped millions of people download copyright-protected material. They were given one-year prison terms and ordered to pay a fine of 30 million kronor ($3.9 million, EU2.8 million).
Stichting Brein had originally tried to summon The Pirate Bay and the men fined in Sweden for the Dutch suit, but amended that to include GGF after the company's announcement last month.
Dijkstra said GGF was surprised it had been named in the case, since it supports paying copyright holders, and GGF doesn't have any say over the site at the moment.
Whether the deal will ever be completed is "very much the question" he said.
GGF has said it hopes to strike a deal with copyright holders as Apple has done with its iTunes store, though the Swedish company has not presented details of how its service...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
U.K .Court Rejects Suit on Google Search Results
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67932
A British judge has ruled that Google cannot be held responsible for defamatory words that appear in results on the popular Internet search engine.
Justice David Eady said that Google is not a publisher because searches are carried out entirely by computers and the search engine does not choose the terms itself.
The case was closely watched because the United Kingdom is perceived as having particularly stringent libel laws.
The ruling came in a suit by Metropolitan International Schools Limited, a British company which offers distance learning courses and trades under the brands of SkillsTrain or Train2Game, and previously as Scheidegger MIS.
MIS sued both Google UK Ltd. and the parent company, Google Inc., and Designtechnica Corp., incorporated in Oregon. The company's Web site hosts bulletin boards and forums that have carried allegedly defamatory complaints about Metropolitan International Schools.
Google cannot be "regarded as a publisher" for what its searches discover on the Web, the judge said in his ruling handed down Thursday, noting that Google had prevailed against similar suits in the Netherlands two years ago, and this year in cases in Spain and France.
MIS had won a lower court order that Designtechnica and Google should answer the suit in London, but that was thrown out by Eady. The plaintiffs have "no reasonable prospect of success," he said.
"When a snippet is thrown up on the user's screen in response to his search, it points him in the direction of an entry somewhere on the Web that corresponds, to a greater or lesser extent, to the search terms he has typed in," Eady said. "It is for him to access or not, as he chooses."
Google Inc. said in a statement that the verdict reinforces the principle that search engines are not responsible for content that is published on third party Web sites.
The judge "made clear...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Amazon Offers 400K Titles With Print-on-Demand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67929
The University of Michigan said Tuesday it is teaming up with Amazon.com Inc. to offer reprints of 400,000 rare, out-of-print and out-of-copyright books from its library. Seattle-based Amazon's BookSurge unit will print the books on demand in soft cover editions at prices from $10 to $45.
The Ann Arbor school said the books are in more than 200 languages from Acoli to Zulu and include a 1898 book on nursing by Florence Nightingale, "Notes on Nursing: What it is and What it is not."
The move is possible because of the university's project to digitize its collection in partnership with Google Inc., school spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said.
"It's basically an outgrowth of the digitization process," Fitzgerald said. He said some of the reprints being offered for sale are of books scanned by Mountain View, California-based Google, while others were processed by the university itself.
The Michigan-Google partnership started in 2004 as part of a program that also includes Harvard and Stanford universities and the University of California system. Authors and publishers filed a federal court lawsuit claiming the pact violated copyright laws, but Google and the publishing industry settled the suit last year.
The books in the Michigan-Amazon deal do not have copyright protection and are in the public domain, so no royalty payments go to the author or original publisher.
The arrangement is a large addition to BookSurge's inventory.
"Many publishers and university libraries work with BookSurge ... to make content available on-demand," BookSurge spokeswoman Amanda Wilson said in an e-mail.
Wilson declined to provide figures on the number of titles on BookSurge's list or the number of participating libraries. But the print-on-demand service's 2007 launch began with books from the collections of Emory University, the University of Maine and the Toronto and Cincinnati public libraries. Cornell University recently joined as well, she said.
"Public and university libraries...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Yahoo To Spend More After Cost Cuts Lift Profit
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67926
Carol Bartz has already shown off her cost-cutting skills in her first six months as Yahoo Inc.'s chief executive.
Now, she will try to prove she isn't making a bad bet by spending more money while the Internet company's advertising sales are still sagging.
The risky strategy caused investors to fret more about what might happen in Yahoo's third quarter than to celebrate the 8 percent increase in second-quarter profit reported late Tuesday. It marked Yahoo's first quarterly earnings improvement since the start of 2008, but Yahoo shares nevertheless slid 45 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $16.30 in Tuesday's extended trading.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company wouldn't have boosted its second-quarter profit if not for layoffs and other cost cutting that pared Yahoo's operating expenses by nearly $150 million, or 15 percent, from last year. The savings enabled Yahoo to shake off the biggest drop in its ad revenue since the dot-com bust at the beginning of the decade.
But Bartz raised questions about whether the earnings momentum will continue by vowing to spend at least $75 million more promoting Yahoo's brand, hiring more engineers and improving some of its services during the third quarter. On top of that, Yahoo expects to surrender about $75 million in revenue by reducing the volume of ads that management has identified as being too obnoxious.
Those plans will squeeze profits unless Yahoo can snap out of a slump that deepened in the third quarter with a 13 percent decline in ad sales.
Bartz said advertisers appear willing to spend a little bit more during the second half, although she stopped short of predicting better times ahead.
"There's just so much conflicting information in the market that it's just too early to call," she told analysts in a Tuesday conference call.
Yahoo earned $141.4 million, or 10 cents per share, in the three...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Cyber-Expert Shortage May Hinder Government Security
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67922
U.S. federal government agencies are facing a severe shortage of computer specialists, even as a growing wave of coordinated cyberattacks against the government poses potential national security risks, a private study found.
The study describes a fragmented federal cyber force, where no one is in charge of overall planning and government agencies are "on their own and sometimes working at cross purposes or in competition with one another."
The report, scheduled to be released Wednesday, arrives in the wake of a series of cyberattacks this month that shut down some U.S. and South Korean government and financial Web sites.
The recruiting and retention of cyber workers is hampered by a cumbersome hiring process, the failure to devise government-wide certification standards, insufficient training and salaries, and a lack of an overall strategy for recruiting and retaining cyber workers, the study said.
"You can't win the cyber war if you don't win the war for talent," said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington-based advocacy group that works to improve government service. "If we don't have a federal work force capable of meeting the cyber challenge, all of the cyber czars and organizational efforts will be for naught."
The study was drafted by the partnership and Booz Allen Hamilton as the Obama administration struggles to put together a more cohesive strategy to protect U.S. government and civilian computer networks.
The size of the government's cyber work force is largely unknown, because agencies often classify their employees differently. The Pentagon says it has more than 90,000 personnel involved with cybersecurity, while the non-defense department civilian cybersecurity work force has been estimated at 35,000 to 45,000. Intelligence community estimates are classified.
While President Barack Obama has declared cybersecurity a top priority, the White House so far has been unable to fill its new cyber coordinator position --...
Fri, 24 Jul 09
Counting The Virtues of Virtualization
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67810
If you're an IT veteran, you probably remember the days when skepticism surrounded the concept of virtualization. It was a niche market, they said. Enterprises won't invest, they said. It won't be a game-changer. they said. Now, 'they' are singing a different tune and the proof is in the numbers.
According to research firm IDC, spending on virtualization software and services is expected to exceed $15 billion worldwide by 2011, up from $6.5 billion in 2006. The desktop virtualization market alone will make up $2 billion of that total. And, sales of virtualization management software are set to hit $2.7 billion this year, Gartner reports.
Considering the many layers of virtualization -- hardware, network and storage, applications and desktops -- and services for them all, the virtues of virtualization are well recognized in today's IT world.
But how will those virtues pan out in a down economy? Dan Burris, founder and CEO of Burris Research, a research and consulting firm that forecasts technology trends, expects to see enterprises investing in virualization of all types (hardware, networks and storage, as well as applications) because virtualization breeds efficiencies.
"Virtualization can save large amounts of both time and money, but virtualization is more that a money saving strategy. It allows for rapid scalability and offers flexibility, two important attributes in times of rapid change," Burris said. "It also allows a mobile workforce access to enterprise-level applications and data, plus unlimited storage 24/7."
For all the benefits of virtualization, the upside of investing in this technology is magnified in a down economy, according to Simon Crosby, CTO of the Virtualization and Management Division at Citrix. Despite early challenges with application certification and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and PCI in the credit card industry, Crosby said the barriers are rapidly falling and there's little that cannot be virtualized...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
More Americans Access Internet From Mobile Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67951
Americans are increasingly accessing the Internet with mobile devices like smartphones and laptops, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported Wednesday. The trend is especially prevalent among minorities.
In an April survey, the project found 56 percent of Americans had accessed the Internet from a mobile device, with 36 percent using laptops. Access through game consoles and MP3 players was also counted.
The report said 32 percent of Americans have used a cell phone or smartphone to send e-mails and instant messages or to find information. That was up from 24 percent in December 2007. More significantly, on a typical day 19 percent of Americans access the Internet from a mobile device, up 73 percent from 11 percent in 2007.
Pew also found that access to the Internet using handheld devices is more prevalent among minorities than among whites. The survey of 2,253 adults found a slight increase in the number of whites using a handset to access the Internet, to 28 percent from 21 percent in 2007.
By contrast, African-Americans accessing the Internet with a handheld device shot up to 48 percent from 29 percent. Latinos also registered a rise, to 47 percent from 38 percent.
Pew speculated that the cause was a shift of Internet use away from home desktops and laptops to mobile phones.
In a separate report, Pew found that minority access to the Internet from home was 46 percent less than among whites. It reported that minorities owned fewer computers than whites, but with mobile phones added, Internet access for whites, African-Americans and Latinos was relatively constant.
"Mobile access strengthens the three pillars of online engagement: Connecting with others, satisfying information queries, and sharing content with others," said John B. Horrigan, associate director of the Pew Internet Project. "With access in their pockets, many Americans are 'on the fly' consumers...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
100,000 Users Will Test Google Wave Collaboration Tool
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67948
Google said it intends to release a preview build of a new Web-based communication and collaboration tool by late September. Called Google Wave, the open-source tool will initially be offered to about 100,000 people who have volunteered to provide feedback.
Google Wave -- based on the new HTML 5 markup language for building Web pages -- is already available to developers via a "sandbox" version of the tool's enabling APIs, noted product manager Dan Peterson.
"We plan to start extending the Google Wave preview beyond developers on Sept. 30th," Peterson said. "In addition to the developers already using Wave, we will invite groups of users from the hundreds of thousands who offered to help report bugs."
According to Google Wave creator Lars Rasmussen, the tool will let individuals communicate and work together on "waves" -- collaborative communications containing richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, gadgets and other elements. Each wave is formulated as a "tree structure of messages" within which conventional e-mail and instant-messaging capabilities are combined and delivered in almost real time on a keystroke-by-keystroke basis, which "dramatically speeds up the conversation," he observed.
"Its concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave," Rasmussen said. "That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content -- it allows for both collaboration and communication."
With Google Wave, any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content, and add participants at any point, Rasmussen said. Moreover, mobile workers will be able to use smartphones to participate in waves without having to worry about intermittent wireless connections because the tool's playback function "lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when," Rasmussen said.
The new platform also enables any wave to...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Plastic Logic E-Reader Will Use AT&T's 3G Network
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67947
AT&T will be the wireless carrier for the Plastic Logic Reader, which Plastic Logic said will debut early next year. The e-book reader will use AT&T's 3G network and will also be Wi-Fi enabled, the company said Wednesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Plastic Logic said its device will be about the size of an 8.5 by 11-inch piece of paper and less than a quarter-inch thick. The company said the intuitive touchscreen will be the largest in the industry and weigh less than many print magazines.
"We're extremely proud to be able to offer the Plastic Logic Reader with the nation's fastest 3G network through AT&T. This alliance is a pillar in our strategy to provide mobile business professionals with a device that delivers a great reading experience," said Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic.
The new device will have a plastic screen and plastic electronics with E Ink technology. Plastic Logic said the battery will last for days and connect readers with content from newspapers, books and magazines. It will support multiple formats, including PDF and Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
The company said it's not planning to challenge Amazon's popular Kindle e-book reader. "We're actually targeting a different type of customer, the business professional, while Amazon has been targeting the leisure book-reading customers," said Daren Benzi, vice president of business development for Plastic Logic.
The company's announcement appeared to indicate that the wireless connection to AT&T will come with the reader, much like Amazon's Kindle on Sprint's network. Plastic Logic said pricing and availability information will be available when the device begins shipping. AT&T's network may allow the Plastic Logic Reader to work internationally, unlike Amazon's Kindle.
On Tuesday, Barnes & Noble launched an e-book store that will be the exclusive provider of e-books for the...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Microsoft Sets Dates for Downloads of Windows 7 RTM
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67935
Windows users are closer to getting their hands on the Release to Manufacturing version of the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Microsoft will begin making Windows 7 RTM available as early as Aug. 6 for some users and as late as Aug. 23 for others after its scheduled release at the end of July.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant released some details about who will get the RTM version and when.
"Many of you have said you want to know exactly when you will be able to get your hands on RTM," wrote Microsoft's Brandon Leblanc on The Windows Blog. "When you can get RTM depends on who you are."
Shortly after RTM is released, IT professionals will be able to grab Windows 7 from the Springboard Series site, which focuses on IT workers.
Independent software and hardware vendor partners, developers with Microsoft Developers Network subscriptions, and IT professionals with TechNet subscriptions will get first dibs on Windows RTM on Aug. 6. However, Leblanc cautions partners who haven't started testing Windows 7 to begin now.
Twenty-four hours later, Volume License customers with a Software Assurance license will be able to download Windows 7 in English, and other languages a few weeks later. Volume License customers without a SA license will have to wait until Sept. 1 to buy a version.
Microsoft Partner Program Gold members will have to wait until Aug. 16 to download Windows 7 RTM in English. Remaining languages will not be available until Oct. 1.
Even farther out on the calendar are Microsoft Action Pack subscribers, who can't tap into the English version of the RTM until Aug. 23.
There have been rumors that Microsoft will offer a family pack for Windows 7.
"We have heard a lot of feedback from beta testers and enthusiasts...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Chinese Worker Commits Suicide Over Missing iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67920
Chinese worker Sun Danyong was responsible for handling the prototypes of one of the world's hottest products -- the iPhone. When one of the gadgets went missing and his company began investigating him, he jumped off his apartment building and killed himself.
The death -- which involves allegations that security guards roughed up the worker -- prompted Apple Inc. on Wednesday to issue a terse statement, insisting that all the company's contractors must treat workers with respect and dignity.
The 25-year-old Sun started his new job last year after earning a degree in business management. He moved from his native Yunnan province -- a poor region sharing a border with Myanmar -- to the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, home to the sprawling factory complex run by Foxconn Technology Group. The Taiwanese manufacturer has long been one of Apple's key suppliers.
Sun's job involved shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple. It was an extremely sensitive position for a company like Apple, known for shrouding its new product launches in secrecy and suspense -- a strategy that's consistently helped whip up the just-can't-wait-to-buy-it feeling among consumers worldwide.
Although Apple and Foxconn confirmed Sun's suicide, they would not provide much information about the circumstances of his death. Many details have been reported by the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the region's most popular and aggressive newspapers.
The paper's account, which hasn't been disputed by the companies, said: Sun reported on July 13 that he was missing one of the 16 fourth-generation iPhones in his possession. Foxconn security guards searched his apartment, detained him and beat him. In the early morning of July 16, a distraught Sun jumped from the 12th floor of his apartment building.
Jill Tan, an Apple spokeswoman in Hong Kong, issued only a brief statement about the incident.
"We are saddened by the tragic loss of this...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Apple Can't Keep Up with Demand for iPhone 3GS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67919
Several months of hype surrounding its new iPhone 3GS have paid off for Apple, but has the company bit off more than it can chew? Demand has been high since the iPhone 3GS release in 18 countries, and the company hasn't been able to keep up with demand.
"We are currently unable to make enough iPhone 3GS and meet robust demand and are working to address this," said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, on an earnings conference call Tuesday.
Right out the door, demand for the iPhone 3GS has been high. Apple sold more than one million handsets within three days of its release, according to Oppenheimer.
iPhone releases traditionally have had great success. In the June quarter alone, Apple sold 5.2 million iPhone 3GS handsets, up from 717,000 in the year-ago quarter, so demand for the device should have been expected, say analysts.
Apple didn't respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Foreclosures, bankruptcies and job cuts have skyrocketed, but that hasn't put a dent in iPhone sales.
"At least when it comes to Apple, the words 'What recession?' comes to mind," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy for Interpret. "The fact that the 3GS is in short supply with people reportedly going to stores and waiting and told to come back is pretty significant at a time when other (competitors) are struggling."
So many factors could have changed consumers' thoughts on the iPhone 3GS from being a "nice to have" device to a "need to have" phone because of its new features, including increased speed, voice control, a video camera, and a GPS map with compass. Consumers are likely convincing themselves that the device is more than just a cell phone, which justifies purchasing the not-so-cheap iPhone 3GS, according to Gartenberg.
"It's not going to be their cell phone, but...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Class, Please Take Out Your iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67906
There's an app for just about anything, or so Apple says.
And colleges and universities across the country are taking notice, offering courses in programming iPhone applications to computer-related majors. The courses represent a new path of study for many colleges and universities recognizing the longevity of smartphones and social media, college professors say.
iPhone apps, short for applications, are single-purpose programs that allow users to do everything from read the news to play musical instruments. They are largely produced by independent programmers who pay a $99 fee to create, test and distribute -- many times for profit -- their app.
An iPhone Developer University Program launched last fall, however, allows qualifying colleges and universities to produce iPhone apps at no cost, spurring several institutions to offer a course in the technology.
Apple declined to comment on the number of schools participating, but they include Stanford and NJIT.
Stanford University is offering a course to 60 students taught by two Apple employees in app development technology. The university started the program last fall and expanded it for the spring semester.
"Students are really liking it," says teaching assistant Paul Salzman. "We have twice as many students apply as there are slots, so we distribute a survey and have to slim it down." The two Apple-employed lecturers declined to comment, as per an Apple company policy.
The information taught in the class is so popular, Salzman says, that the course is filmed and distributed at no charge on iTunes. The video downloads have prompted viewers around the world to create discussion boards and even a Web site based on the course.
"It's such a big marketplace," Salzman says. "It's a low entry fee -- getting your app on the store is not that hard, there's not a big price -- and then you have so many users...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Why Japan's Cell Phones Haven't Gone Global
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67899
Despite advanced technology and years of dabbling in overseas markets, Japan's handset makers have little presence beyond the country's shores. They call the problem Galapagos syndrome.
At first glance, Japanese cell phones are a gadget lover's dream: ready for Internet and e-mail, they double as credit cards, boarding passes and even body-fat calculators.
But it is hard to find anyone in Chicago or London using a Japanese phone like a Panasonic, a Sharp or an NEC. Despite years of dabbling in overseas markets, Japan's handset makers have little presence beyond the country's shores.
"Japan is years ahead in any innovation. But it hasn't been able to get business out of it," said Gerhard Fasol, president of Eurotechnology Japan, an IT consulting firm based in Tokyo.
The Japanese have a name for their problem: Galapagos syndrome.
Japan's cell phones are like the endemic species that Darwin encountered on the Galapagos islands -- fantastically evolved and divergent from their mainland cousins -- said Takeshi Natsuno, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo.
This year, Mr. Natsuno, who developed a popular wireless Internet service called i-Mode, assembled some of the best minds in the field to debate how Japanese cell phones can go global.
"The most amazing thing about Japan is that even the average person out there will have a superadvanced phone," said Mr. Natsuno. "So we're asking, can't Japan build on that advantage?"
The only Japanese handset maker with any meaningful global share is Sony Ericsson, which is a London-based joint venture of a Japanese electronics maker and a Swedish telecommunications firm.
And Sony Ericsson has been hit with big losses. Its market share was just 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009, behind Nokia of Finland, Samsung Electronics and LG of South Korea and Motorola of the United States.
Japan's lack of global clout is all the more surprising...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Netgear To Help Internet Subscribers Measure Use
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67894
How many gigabytes do you consume per month?
Not many people can answer that question, complicating the efforts of Internet service providers to get their subscribers to stay below a certain amount of data per month.
In August, Netgear Inc. plans to introduce a $190 router that will provide the first easy way for users to get a grip on their Internet traffic.
Netgear said it will include the feature on future models, eventually making it a standard, and provide software upgrades for older devices.
Most Internet service providers set a limit for how much their subscribers are allowed to download each month. Those limits are mostly set high -- it's 250 gigabytes per month at Comcast Corp. But some ISPs, led by Time Warner Cable Inc., have tried to set low limits, then charge extra for each gigabyte of data beyond the cap.
That has met with a lot of opposition, not least because most consumers have no idea how many gigabytes they consume each month. In April, Time Warner said it was postponing plans to expand a trial of metered billing beyond Beaumont, Texas, where it continues.
Time Warner Cable tried to educate its users by giving them a Web page where they could track their consumption. Netgear's routers will give owners a way to monitor their usage independently. The users can read the data in their Web browsers and could get customized alerts at certain levels.
Data-monitoring software already is available for PCs, but with game consoles, TV set-top boxes, iPhones and other devices now also connecting to the Internet, the PC software gives an incomplete picture of consumption in many households. Measuring at the router -- through which all Internet traffic flows -- captures it all. (It's possible to track consumption on certain routers by replacing the manufacturer's software with third-party packages, but...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Qwest Doubles Top Broadband Speed in Some Cities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67893
Qwest Communications International Inc. is doubling its top Internet download speeds in some areas to keep up with the offerings of cable companies.
The phone company said Monday it is introducing a plan with download speeds of up to 40 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 20 mbps in parts of 15 cities, including Denver; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Salt Lake City; Seattle and Vancouver, Wash.; and Minneapolis/St. Paul.
It costs $110 per month for the first year when combined with home phone service.
Qwest aims to add more areas in the next few months. It's also offering higher upload speeds to existing customers in the upgraded areas: up to 5 mbps for $5 per month. Higher upstream speeds are useful for online backups, sharing of large files and video conferencing.
Cable companies are rolling out a new cable-modem technology this year, allowing them to offer download speeds of 50 mbps, and in some places, even more.
To close the speed gap, Qwest is deploying a new DSL technology called VDSL2. However, it works only in areas where Qwest has already upgraded its network by running optical fiber closer to homes, shortening the distance the data signal has to run over old copper phone lines to reach a home.
In those areas, it has been offering a maximum download speed of 20 mbps and uploads at less than 1 mbps. In areas without extra fiber, the top download speed is 7 mbps.
Qwest is the country's seventh-largest provider of broadband, with 2.9 million customers.
Thu, 23 Jul 09
Poker Players Hope for Hot Hand in Lobbying Week
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67891
The Poker Players Alliance hopes a hot hand in the nation's capital this week will help its efforts to legalize online poker.
As part of its "National Poker Week," the group has set up nearly 100 meetings with members of Congress and their aides, and plans to present a petition to President Barack Obama on Wednesday that had more than 350,000 signatures at last count. Famous poker players such as Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch and Greg Raymer are participating as well.
On Tuesday night, the poker group will host a charity poker tournament, with proceeds going to the USO and Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The Poker Players Alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., gets its money from the Interactive Gaming Council, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based trade association for online casinos, as well as from the alliance's poker player members.
In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which aimed to curb online gambling by prohibiting financial institutions from accepting payments from credit cards, checks or electronic fund transfers to settle online wagers. The law didn't provide a clear definition of unlawful Internet gambling, instead referring to existing federal and state laws, which themselves provoke differing interpretations.
The Justice Department maintained that Internet gambling was illegal even before that law, a position the poker players challenge. Their goal is to pass legislation that would license and regulate online poker.
On Monday, the players hosted a congressional staff briefing, aimed at showing how online poker can be effectively regulated in the U.S. Staffers from about 20 congressional offices attended the meeting, according to the poker group.
The event had the feel of an infomercial. John Pappas, the poker group's executive director, asked questions of the panelists that inevitably ended with friendly responses.
"What about children?" asked Pappas. Is it possible, he asked, to...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
The Ongoing Vigil To Keep Data Secure
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67811
Malicious code is still on the rise -- and e-mail is one of the most common attack vehicles. You've got to contend with viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, spam, data-storage challenges, phishing, disruption and downtime risks, and a host of other potential threats via one of your company's most vital communications channels.
Unfortunately, there's no end in sight. Despite the shutdown of two U.S.-based botnet hosting outfits that contributed to a significant decrease in active botnet activity during September and November 2008, botnet operators found alternate Web hosting sites and botnet infections quickly rose to pre-shutdown levels and resumed mass spamming.
Indeed, a well-organized underground economy specializing in the sale of confidential data continues to create malware aimed at stealing sensitive information.
Over the past year, Symantec observed a 192 percent increase in spam across the Internet, from 119.6 billion messages in 2007 to 349.6 billion in 2008. In 2008, bot networks were responsible for the distribution of approximately 90 percent of all spam. Again, there's no end in sight.
"As malicious code continues to grow at a record pace, we're also seeing that attackers have shifted away from mass distribution of a few threats to micro-distribution of millions of distinct threats," said Stephen Trilling, vice president of Symantec Security Technology and Response. "Cybercriminals are profiting from creating and distributing customized threats that steal confidential information, particularly bank-account credentials and credit-card data. While the aboveground economy suffers, the underground economy has remained consistently steady."
Although corporations and antivirus firms have published security best practices that could help mitigate the risk, many users are ignoring them. A survey from the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group reports 12 percent of respondents admit to replying to a spam message or clicking a link in a spam message because they were interested in a product or service the...
Thu, 23 Jul 09
7 Ways To Protect Your Identity During Hurricane Season
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67808
The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season is part of the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation. The season officially started on June 1 and ends on November 30. "During a natural disaster, the first thing you'll think about is your family's safety. Probably the last thing you think about is identity theft," says Rob Wyse of CreditFYI.com, a leading consumer advocacy website on consumer credit and fraud.
"Unfortunately," Wyse adds, "it's probably the first thing identity theft criminals think about, but a little advance planning can protect you."
CreditFYI has developed a seven-point checklist to help disaster victims protect their identities as well as themselves:
1. Make copies of important documents for each family member, and secure them in a portable, fireproof safe or a waterproof plastic bag. If you have access to a computer and scanner, scan these documents, and keep electronic records on and off your premises. These documents should include:
• Birth certificatesbr /
• Driver's licensesbr /
• Social Security cards and statementsbr /
• Marriage licensesbr /
• Adoption paperworkbr /
• Death certificatesbr /
• Willsbr /
• Brief medical histories, including current prescriptions and dosage amountsbr /
• Health insurance or Medicare ID cardsbr /
• Bank, credit card and brokerage account numbersbr /
• Insurance paperwork (home, health and auto)br /
• Lease/mortgage paperworkbr /
• Past tax returnsbr /
• Utility billsbr /
• Computer and ATM passwordsbr /
• Motor vehicle VIN numbersbr /
• Photocopies of the content of your walletsbr /
• Passportsbr /
br /
2. Identify who in your family will be responsible for grabbing the safe or bag of documents (or electronic file) during an evacuation.br /
br /
3. Following devastating tornados or windstorms, many items, including file cabinets, can be blown more than a half-mile from where they were stored, with papers strewn about for blocks. After Hurricane Katrina, the SeaWorld sign ended up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 70 miles from the Gulfport aquarium. To avoid this...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Barnes & Noble Enters Competitive E-Book Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67913
Barnes & Noble is entering the e-book market through its launch of an online store, a partnership with e-reader maker Plastic Logic, and software for downloading books onto PCs and portable devices such as BlackBerry smartphones, the iPhone, and the iPod touch.
Barnes & Noble's e-book store already offers more than 700,000 titles -- including 500,000 free books courtesy of Google's digitization of works no longer covered by copyright restrictions. The company also said it expects to be offering more than one million e-book titles within the next year.
The online strategy for the world's largest bookseller is rooted in the belief that "readers should have access to the books in their digital library from any device, from anywhere, at any time," said Barnes & Noble President William Lynch.
Barnes & Noble also announced that it will become the exclusive online provider of e-book titles for the Plastic Logic e-reader, which will feature an eight-by-11.5-inch form factor that is only one-quarter of an inch thick with gesture-based technology. If the Plastic Logic device launches as expected in the first quarter of 2010, it will have a few advantages over Amazon's new, larger-screen Kindle DX, said Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
"Namely, it will have a touchscreen interface, and it will be less prone to breakage since it uses plastic electronics instead of glass for a backplane," Rotman Epps said. "Whether that's enough to win over consumers remains to be seen."
Rotman Epps noted that Barnes & Noble is entering a new market that is shaping up to be highly competitive. Amazon and Sony currently dominate e-book sales through their online stores and dedicated e-reader devices. Google has also announced that it will begin to market e-books online by the end of this year.
Though Barnes & Noble has long-standing relationships...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Yahoo Offers Redesign as Talks with Microsoft Continue
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67908
Yahoo rolled out a customizable home page design Tuesday amid uncertainty about whether Microsoft and Yahoo may announce a search-advertising deal.
The new portal is called Yahoo Front Doors and enables users to build a customized home page and add widgets to display special content like the weather. Direct links to popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and eBay can be added to a My Favorites menu on the left side. It's the first redesign of the main Yahoo page since 2006.
Rolling over a default selection under the My Favorites menu pops up a preview window using Ajax technology, which means users won't have to install plug-ins like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Additional choices can be selected with an Add button, including MySpace and rival Google's Gmail site.
Yahoo plans a synchronization feature that will put the customized home page on mobile devices. The new design can be previewed in the U.S. at http://yahoo.com/trynew. It will be rolled out in other countries and on mobile devices over the next week.
Customizing the Yahoo home page appears to be an effort to compete with Google's iGoogle and Microsoft's MSN. Yahoo also introduced a beta Search Pad feature earlier this month that lets users take notes from search results and share them with friends.
These changes could also be an effort to make Yahoo more attractive to Microsoft as top executives of the companies discuss a possible deal that would let them better compete with search-advertising leader Google. According to comScore, Google had 65 percent of the search market in June, Yahoo had 19.5 percent, and Microsoft had just 8.4 percent despite the launch of its Bing search engine last month.
Microsoft is likely to be watching as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz announces Yahoo's earnings after the market closes on Tuesday. If the companies are...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
BlackBerry Sync Software Is Coming for Mac Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67885
BlackBerry users with Mac computers will soon be able to manage their BlackBerry from the desktop. Research In Motion announced Tuesday that it will release BlackBerry Desktop Software for the Mac in September.
"Many of you commented on my 'updated your BlackBerry' post back in April saying '...this is great! But what about Mac?'" said Andrey, a product manager on RIM's handheld software team, in a blog post. "We have all been hard at work here for a while now, and you may have noticed some Mac support with the preview version of BlackBerry Media Sync for Mac released back in December."
Using RIM's software, BlackBerry owners with Macs will be able to sync iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts and tasks. Currently, there is no way for Mac owners to update an operating system, back up, and restore data without running some kind of Windows application.
Come September, however, the software will allow users to add and remove applications, update their BlackBerry when new software becomes available, and back up and restore the handheld with automatically scheduled backups and security features.
"It's significant for Mac users who've been using BlackBerry devices," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Up until now, all BlackBerry use has been done on the device, but no synching of data with the Mac has been possible. Now both devices, the Mac and the BlackBerry, can be extensions of each other, which is ultimately what a user wants."
Making the new software available is a strategic move by RIM and may just help the smartphone maker better compete against Apple's iPhone with a new market to manage BlackBerry devices. It also may help small businesses that use only Macs to utilize BlackBerry devices.
"Every one of these steps is important and not...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Will TV Web Revenues Come from Cable?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67874
The battle lines already are forming over TV shows on the Internet. Cable companies, led by giant operator Comcast, are pressing to limit online watching of TV shows only to those who already pay subscriptions to them. TV networks Fox, NBC, and ABC have allied behind Hulu, their own online service that offers advertiser-supported content to all comers for free.
But according to media mogul Barry Diller, broadcasters eventually will be getting more money from cable operators to stream those shows online through cable-owned networks. "TV was free until sometime in the '70s and then cable started to need content and began to pay for it," said Diller, who famously started the era of fragmented TV watching when he launched Fox TV as the fourth broadcast network in 1987. This time around, he said in an interview with BusinessWeek.com, cable operators will want to secure network TV shows because they are getting increasingly antsy that they could soon see folks drop their cable service as they are able to get TV shows elsewhere.
"Cable operators are worried about losing their programming revenue," Diller says, referring to the amounts the cable companies charge subscribers to offset what they pay TNT and other cable channels for programming. "Cable might call it connectivity revenue, but it's really all about the programs." Diller helped create Movie of the Week in the '60s when he headed programming for ABC. Today, he is chairman and CEO of IAC/InteractiveCorp, a major online company that owns the Ask search engine and Match.com dating site and produces online content through sites such as CollegeHumor.com.
A showdown between cable operators and broadcasters has been building for weeks over the operators' use of "authentication" technology. That technology would limit online viewing of shows only to those who already pay cable companies TV...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Spam-Proof Your Inbox, Cell Phone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67870
Spam accounts for more than 90 percent of e-mail. And now, cell phones are getting spam. You can banish most of it.
Filters kill spam before it hits your inbox.
Good spam filters use Bayesian filters that improve as you use them. I recommend free filters like MailWasher, POPFile, Spamato or SpamBayes.
Webmail providers usually have built-in filters. Make sure yours is activated.
How do spammers get e-mail addresses? They buy mailing lists and harvest addresses from the Web, and often just guess using programs that combine simple words.
Don't use a simple e-mail address. Instead, add numbers, underscores and other characters.
And addresses starting with letters at the beginning of the alphabet get more spam.
Some providers offer disposable addresses. When one starts receiving spam, kill it.
You can also create multiple accounts. When you see spam, drop the address.
When you sign up for something online, you may be registering for newsletters and updates. Look for opt-out check boxes.
Be stingy with your e-mail address and phone number.
Read a site's privacy policy before providing personal information.
Many spam messages contain an unsubscribe link. Ignore this. Clicking the unsubscribe link simply confirms that your address is active.
Forward spam to the Federal Communications Commission at spam@uce.gov.
Legitimate mailing lists are the exception to this rule.
A proactive approach makes sense.
First, join the Do Not Call Registry. After 31 days, you can file a complaint if you're still getting messages.
The CAN-SPAM Act bans unwanted commercial messages on wireless gadgets. You can file complaints at the FCC's site, tulsaworld.com/fcc.
Finally, check your account settings with your provider.
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Beyond Bing: Specialized Search Engines
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67869
Microsoft's recent launch of its search engine Bing (http://www.bing.com) prompted many to stray from Google for the first time in a while.
What they found was a search engine with a few nifty tricks up its sleeve.
But Bing isn't the only alternative search engine that has managed to introduce features that search kings Google and Yahoo don't have.
Plenty of newcomers are innovating in ways that can add up to significant productivity gains for you as you search for information on the Internet. Here are a few.
Social networking sites -- everything from Twitter to the myriad forums on every topic imaginable -- has transformed the Web in many ways, not least because these sites provide a flow of information that is constantly updated. Unfortunately, traditional search engines -- which rely on store and retrieve technology -- aren't good at indexing up-to-the-minute changes on these social networking sites, and that's where Collecta http://collecta.com) comes in.
Collecta specializes in "real time search," and it focuses on those sites where information is continually updated -- news sites, blogs, social networking sites, and more. Type a search term, and you'll get not just some stored or cached data that may be months old but rather the latest mentions of whatever you searched for.
What's more, Collecta continually updates its search results, and you can see those results being updated in real time. It's a far cry from the constant refreshing you would need to do at most search engines.
Collecta isn't the only search engine doing real-time search. IceRocket (http://www.icerocket.com), Scoopler (http://www.scoopler.com), and OneRiot (http://www.oneriot.com) have similar missions, scouring the "realtime Web" and presenting you the results.
Sorting through the vast amount of information on the Web to find what's most useful is a job normally left up to you. Most search engines present you with thousands...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
New Pirate Bay To Be Based on Give-and-Take Models
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67865
One of the world's largest filesharing Web sites, The Pirate Bay, is going legal through a series of give-and-take payment models that in some cases may even earn its users a bundle of cash, the new owners said Saturday.
"The more you give, the more you get," said Hans Pandeya, chief executive of Swedish software firm Global Gaming Factory X, which announced last month it was buying the site and would start paying both content providers and copyright holders.
The change in ownership was met with skepticism by the filesharing community who feared that, by taking The Pirate Bay legal, its new operators would start charging them for downloading content such as films, music and computer games, which they had previously accessed for free.
In April, four men connected with the site were sentenced to one-year prison terms for abetting violations of copyright law, and ordered to pay a fine totaling 30 million kronor ($3.8 million). At least three of the men claim they haven't owned the site for years.
Pandeya said his company bought the site from a foreign company through lawyers and he doesn't know who the current owners are, but that none of the prosecuted men seemed to be involved.
When the deal was announced, Pirate Bay spokesman and one of defendants, Peter Sunde, said however that he and his associates were pleased with GGF's plans for the site since they felt they couldn't take it any further -- lacking both money and resources to do so. Sunde could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Pandeya said The Pirate Bay, whose domain name and related Web sites were bought by Global Gaming Factory X for 60 million kronor, will not become like pure pay sites, such as ITunes Store and Napster.
"For the great majority it will be free of charge, for a minority...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
Big Tech Earnings Week Will Reveal Economic Trends
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67864
The technology sector is often talked about as if it were a unified front, an easy-to-define monolith. People say technology stocks rose or technology stocks fell. Tech helped drive a huge boom in the 1990s, and when that collapsed in 2001, tech contributed to the last recession.
In reality, technology companies have about as much in common as Toyota Motor Corp., Boeing Co. and JetBlue Airways Corp. Sure, all three play a part in getting you places, but their customers are different, as are their sales cycles and the metrics used to measure their prospects.
When some of the biggest technology names post earnings this week, investors shouldn't expect one clear picture to emerge. The reports, however, are a revealing proxy for the broader economy.
Two chip makers, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., could provide early evidence of a recovery when they report results this week. They make the silicon building blocks of computers, cell phones and other gadgets. Manufacturers of those devices are assessing what consumer demand will be several months from now, and their level of confidence can be reflected in the orders they place with suppliers like AMD and Texas Instruments.
Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. is on next week's list, as is Netflix Inc., the DVD rental service. Strong e-commerce sales and margins at Amazon could point to a consumer spending recovery, although big growth at Netflix could say the opposite: that people are still trying to save by spending more nights at home.
Making the picture harder to read, big technology companies such as IBM Corp. and Google Inc. showed last week that their obsession with cost-cutting is helping them squeeze more profit from their operations. That makes their numbers look good, even though sales are falling at IBM and barely growing at Google because of the economy.
Here's...
Wed, 22 Jul 09
AOL Tries To Recapture That Startup Feeling
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67861
It might seem an odd move for a company that relies on money from advertising. Yet AOL is reducing the number of ads it shows on its home page and some other Web sites it runs.
The maneuver is one of the changes new CEO Tim Armstrong, 38, has brought to the long-struggling Internet company since he took over AOL in April. The former Google Inc. executive was hired to recharge AOL and lead its spinoff from Time Warner Inc., undoing a legendarily disastrous deal.
To prepare for AOL's rebirth as an independent company later in the year, Armstrong and other executives say they are trying to recapture elements of the culture AOL had when it was a startup -- back when it was America Online and on its way to becoming the dominant provider of dial-up Internet access.
These days, AOL is focused on getting revenue from ads it sells for its own Web sites, like celebrity gossip blog TMZ, and for third-party sites, while the dial-up business slowly evaporates (though it still has 6 million subscribers). It's been a profitable formula, but revenue has been falling: In the first quarter, sales fell 23 percent to $867 million.
With 7,000 employees spread around the world, it's a stretch to think AOL can feel like a Silicon Valley startup, with employees whizzing down the halls on skinny scooters. But Armstrong says certain decisions -- like getting rid of some advertisements -- will alter AOL's culture and help it regain favor.
"I think AOL's return to higher prominence in terms of being an Internet leader is purely dependent on the work that we do here," the tall, affable Armstrong said in an interview.
For instance, he said, pulling back some ads -- a step that reduced clutter on AOL pages and made them load faster -- showed...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Record Apple Earnings Expected as Another App Booted
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67883
Apple is expected to report record earnings for its fiscal third quarter next week following an NPD report that Mac sales jumped 16 percent after more affordable MacBook Pros were introduced.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster estimated Mac sales for the quarter could reach 2.6 million. Other market analysts have been expecting a sales number of 2.45 million.
In the year-ago period, Apple sold 2.496 million Macs. Its all-time record quarter ended in September 2008 with 2.611 million sold.
The company's stock has been a top performer in the technology sector this year.
Sales of Apple's iPhone 3GS have been strong since its introduction last month. At the same time, Apple and carrier AT&T slashed the price for the iPhone 3G to $99.
Reuters Estimates projects Apple earnings of $1.16 a share on revenue of $8.2 billion, a earnings dip of about two percent and a revenue increase of 10 percent from a year ago. However, Apple has a long history of beating analysts' expectations.
Meanwhile, Apple removed another app from its App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch that it had initially approved. On Monday, Zombie School, which involved shooting students turned into zombies on a school campus, disappeared from the App Store.
The game was developed by Retarded Arts, which describes the game on its Web site this way:
"Your local campus has been infected by the Zombie Virus!!! Every one is infected!!! Will you run or will you fight to eliminate all the Zombies? We figured, you would like to fight? You have the control over the Zombie shooting tower that your supporters have made you. Starting with a single bow and arrow, start eliminating the Zombies. As you progress, you can buy Grenades, Gun or even upgrade your bow to shoot double or triple arrow at...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Mac Office 2008 SP2 Boosts Speed, Improves Access
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67878
Microsoft Office 2008 Mac users may have had to deal with a few bumps in the road, but Microsoft has offered users a chance to storm past those bumps with a boost in speed.
Microsoft Macintosh Business Unit on Monday made a free update available to Mac users making the software faster and more reliable. The update comes 18 months after Microsoft first released Office 2008 for Mac and after users requested feature updates.
Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 2 is a mid-cycle update available to users that will improve both access to and browsing of documents on SharePoint products and Microsoft Office Live Workspace, according to the company.
"There's never been a better time to try Office 2008 for Mac -- with SP2 we are not only delivering on top customer requests mid-cycle, but also taking a first step in bringing Microsoft software plus services to Mac users," said Mike Tedesco, senior product manager for MacBU at Microsoft. "This connection unlocks the door for Mac users to Microsoft services for easier collaboration and file sharing with colleagues, customers and classmates."
The 180MB update is available for download from both the MacBU Web site and through the AutoUpdate tool in Office 2008.
Mac users requested more speed, so Microsoft boosted the speed in Microsoft 2008 for Mac by adjusting the launch and scroll times. "Calculation speed in cells in Excel spreadsheets has been increased up to 24 percent," said Tedesco in an e-mail. "The outline view in Microsoft Word has also been overhauled and now works up to 10 times faster than before."
Microsoft also delivered on users' request for features by including a custom path animation feature in PowerPoint, giving users the ability to create and control motion-path animations. In the past, users could play back motion paths, but were not able...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
You, Too, Can Visit the Moon with a Google Tour
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67860
As space shuttle Endeavor astronauts prepared for a Monday that's both historic and mundane, Google released an update to Google Earth that will fly you to the moon. The Moon in Google Earth gives users the equivalent of Google's Street View on the moon.
Along with a virtual moon tour narrated by moon walker Buzz Aldrin, Google has included a gallery of Apollo space missions. The Moon in Google Earth also has images from the moon's surface and details about the space debris left on the moon since 1969. Google is also offering a Google Sky application for Android-based smartphones.
Anousheh Ansari, a trustee of the X PRIZE Foundation and the first female private space explorer, wrote on The Official Google Blog, "This tool will make it easier for millions of people to learn about space, our moon and some of the most significant and dazzling discoveries humanity has accomplished together. ... I believe that this educational tool is a critical step into the future, a way to both develop the dreams of young people globally, and inspire new audacious goals."
To promote Moon in Google Earth, Google sponsored an event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The scheduled speakers included Aldrin and Ansari.
Monday is the 40th anniversary of the day Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the lunar surface. To celebrate, astronauts planned a spacewalk and repairs to a broken toilet.
Astronauts Dave Wolf and Tom Marshburn were to take a six-and-a-half-hour walk outside the Endeavor. Inside the International Space Station, Gennady Padalka and Frank DeWinne were scheduled to repair the Waste Hygiene Compartment toilet in the station's Destiny laboratory. A pump in the system that adds chemicals to separate liquids and solid waste failed after running about 15 minutes on Sunday.
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Microsoft Keeps Watchful Eye on Yahoo's Earnings
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67859
All eyes are on the Yahoo executives who are expected to announce the company's earnings after the market closes on Tuesday. Along with shareholders looming over what Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has to report, Microsoft executives will be keeping a watchful eye as new reports have emerged about an Internet search and online advertising deal between the two companies.
Since her arrival in January, Bartz has been cleaning house at Yahoo in an effort to turn the company around and save on expenses. The executive, known for her tough-love management style, has cut 700 positions, or five percent of the workforce.
Bartz's effort to clean up is also seen as preparation to seal the deal between Yahoo and Microsoft, a deal expected to come to fruition this week, according to an All Things Digital blog.
The blog reported that Microsoft executives, including Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president for the online audience business group; Satya Nadella, senior vice president for research and development; and Dr. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's Online Services Group and a former Yahoo search executive, were in Silicon Valley on Thursday for final talks on a deal.
If the software and Internet giants can come to an agreement, the combination would create a stronger force to compete against Internet search giant Google.
Google currently has 65 percent of the U.S. search market, according to comScore. Yahoo is in second place with 20 percent, while Microsoft trails behind in the number-three slot with an eight percent share.A
A deal means Microsoft will have to provide Yahoo with "boatloads of money", according to Bartz, and Microsoft may be willing to pony up. Talks between Microsoft executives and predecessors Jerry Yang and Terry Semel in the past have not been successful. Microsoft's reported $47.5 billion bid ($33 a share) to buy the...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Concerns Raised As LA Looks to Google Web Services
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67857
Security and privacy concerns have been raised over a multimillion-dollar proposal by Los Angeles to tap Google Inc.'s Internet-based services for government e-mail, police records and other confidential data.
At issue is the security of computerized records on everything from police investigations to potholes as America's second-largest city considers dumping its in-house computer network for Google e-mail and office programs that are accessed over the Internet.
Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, complained Thursday that the union had scant information on the plan or what it would mean for the safety of sensitive records, such as narcotics or gang investigations.
His worries came just one day after the online-messaging service Twitter acknowledged hackers were able to access confidential information stored with Google, which has been promoting greater use of "cloud computing" -- storing data online rather than on individual computers under a company's or government agency's direct control.
The shift toward doing more over the Web could make it much easier for hackers to gain access to corporate or government files. No longer would someone need to try to break through layers of security firewalls. As various personal and work accounts become increasingly linked together, all one needs is a single password to access documents just like a regular employee.
In the Twitter case, a hacker got the password for an employee's personal e-mail account -- possibly by guessing, or by correctly answering a security question -- and worked from there to steal confidential company documents.
Weber said the Los Angeles proposal could increase the exposure to computer hacking.
"Any time you go to a Web-based system, that puts you just a little further out than you were before," he said. "Drug cartels would pay any sum of money to be aware of our progress on investigations."
City Councilman Tony Cardenas, who heads a...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Watchdog: Facebook Violates Canadian Privacy Law
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67852
Canada's privacy commissioner said Thursday the online social networking site Facebook breaches the law by keeping users' personal information indefinitely after members close their accounts.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart released a report that also accuses Facebook of disclosing users' personal information to the almost one million third-party developers around the globe who create Facebook applications such as games and quizzes.
The popular Web site, used by 12 million Canadians, lacks proper safeguards to prevent these developers from seeing users' profile information, said assistant privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham in the report.
Privacy has been a central, often thorny issue for Facebook because so many people use it to share personal information with their friends and family. As the five-year-old social networking service has expanded its user base and added features, its privacy controls have grown increasingly complicated.
The Palo Alto, California-based company said earlier this month that it was overhauling its privacy controls in an attempt to simplify its users' ability to control who sees the information they share on the site.
To make the settings easier, Facebook said it would consolidate its existing six privacy pages and more than 30 settings onto a single privacy page. It will also standardize the options for each setting so the choices are always the same, something that hasn't always been the case.
"It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Stoddart said in a statement, adding that understanding Facebook features can be confusing.
For example, the "account settings" page describes how to deactivate accounts but not how to remove personal data from Facebook's computer servers. She wants Facebook to remove personal data in deactivated accounts after a reasonable length of time.
Stoddart calls for more transparency to ensure the site's Canadian users have the information...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Nokia's Second Quarter Fails To Please Investors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67846
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo allowed that he was "quite pleased" with the Finnish company's second-quarter earnings, which showed improvement over the dismal first quarter. But stock markets disagreed -- big time.
Shares in the world's largest maker of mobile handsets plunged 15 percent in New York trading as investors brushed off a rebound in profit and instead focused on Nokia management's more pessimistic forecast for the rest of 2009. The company said it expects its global market share of 38 percent to be little changed from 2008, instead of increasing as the company had predicted earlier. Nokia also said its profit margin won't improve as much as hoped during the rest of the year.
The revised forecast fueled fears that Nokia still hasn't figured out how to regain the initiative from Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion in the lucrative smartphone market. Investors "don't think some of the devices Nokia is bringing to market will be competitive enough," says Carolina Milanesi, research director at market watcher Gartner. "I think that's what made the stock react the way it did."
There was actually quite a bit of encouraging news in the July 16 earnings report. Compared with the first quarter of this year, operating profit rose eightfold, to $602 million, from $78 million, better than expected, while sales rose 7 percent, to $14 billion. (The numbers still look terrible compared with the second quarter of 2008 before the world went into recession. Sales fell 25 percent, and operating profit plunged 71 percent from the year-earlier period.) Thanks to new models such as the touch-screen equipped N97, Nokia also regained some of the share it had lost in the smartphone market, claiming 41 percent of the segment vs. 39 percent in the previous quarter.
"We think industry demand is bottoming out," Nokia CFO...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Breach of Twitter E-mail Spotlights Security Issues
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67844
You might think your password protects the confidential information stored on Web sites. But as Twitter executives discovered, that is a dangerous assumption.
The Web was abuzz after it was revealed Wednesday that a hacker had broken into the e-mail account of a Twitter employee and had exposed corporate information. The breach raised red flags for individuals as well as businesses about the passwords used to secure information they store on the Web.
On Web sites containing personal information like e-mail, financial data or documents, there is usually just a user name and password for protection. More individuals are storing information on Web servers, where it is accessible from any online computer through services offered by Google, Amazon and Microsoft; social networks like Facebook; and backup services like Mozy.
But password-protected sites are growing more vulnerable because, to keep up with the growing number of passwords, people use the same simple ones on numerous sites across the Web. In a study last year, Sophos, an Internet security company, found that 40 percent of Internet users use the same password for every Web site they access.
The attack on Twitter highlights the problem. For its internal documents, the company uses the business version of Google Apps, a service that Google offers to individuals free. Google Apps provides e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets and calendars via the Web.
The content is stored on Google's servers, which can save time and money and allow employees to work together on documents at the same time. But it also means that the security is only as good as the password. A hacker who breaks into one person's account can access information shared by friends, family members or colleagues, which is what happened at Twitter.
The Twitter breach occurred about a month ago, Twitter said. A hacker calling himself Hacker Croll broke into...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Holiday Shopping Season Starts Now for Online Retailers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67781
Online retailers should be asking themselves today, "Are we ready for the winter holiday shopping season? ShopVisible LLC, a leading e-commerce solution provider, is helping e-tailers get ready now so they can be prepared to maximize sales during the most critical selling season of the year.
"Maybe it is a little early to hang the mistletoe, but in all seriousness, if you are an online retailer looking to really capitalize on the holiday season, the time to start preparing is now," says CEO of ShopVisible Sean Cook. "Whether it is time to overhaul your entire Web site, or just prepare your marketing tactics for the holidays, there are some efficient and effective strategies e-tailers may be overlooking that they can easily implement to achieve results."
This year, because of flagging retail sales, there will be particularly intense pressure on the winter holiday shopping season for retailers to meet their annual sales goals. And, with more people expected to be shopping online than ever before, the stakes couldn't be higher. By dedicating efforts now to have a definite plan of attack for Christmas, business owners can fix and prevent potential problems with online storefronts before it's too late.
"We have already begun setting our end-of-year sales plan into motion with features such as social media sharing, gift lists, gift ideas and free shipping," says Susan Aplin, president and CEO of Bambeco.com, an Internet retailer specializing in eco-friendly products. "By getting out the gate fast now, we will be in great shape to have a very lucrative holiday sales season."
"Don't get caught trying to solve issues on the fly," says Cook. "E-tailers cannot just hang some garland in the window and hope shoppers will come in and buy. Get your technology straightened out now, and create a...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Workforce Management That Works
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67699
Ensuring that the right contact center staff are there when and where they are needed to maintain customer attracting and retain quality is made much easier with workforce management (WFM) solutions. WFM automates processes that have traditionally been laboriously managed via spreadsheets.
With the strategic importance of WFM to contact centers it is critical that the right tools are purchased. Customer Interaction Solutions sought advice from leading firms on how effectively to evaluate and purchase them. We asked questions on:
This article has excerpted responses from selected companies. The complete responses from all of the participants will appear on TMCnet.com.
Jim Shulkin, Director of Marketing
The conventional mentality of buying point WFM solutions because they are 'best of breed' has really taken a hit in the last decade. That's because the suite providers have not only acquired and/or built best of breed point solutions in the market, but have made significant investments in tightly integrating them into the WFO suites while continuing to advance the point technologies. We believe buying point solutions in this space, such as WFM, puts companies at a real disadvantage because of the many benefits of the suite approach, including reduced total cost of ownership, integration, economies of scale, and simplified vendor relationship management.
SaaS is compelling simply because it seems to be a hot topic with analysts, but we haven't been asked for it by our market much yet. Some of the core functionalities of WFM require data transfer and delivery capabilities that are simultaneously massive and needed in virtual real time. This presents challenges for a true SaaS model or even simply an entirely Web-based solution delivery model.
As it did for CRM, both the technology and market appetite for SaaS solutions in this space will evolve, but are extremely immature right now. SaaS WFM will likely start...
Tue, 21 Jul 09
Business Intelligence Tools Can Help Control Costs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67344
There have been many predictions about IT belt-tightening in a down economy. But some business intelligence (BI) software observers say companies can't afford to ignore analytics tools in the midst of a recession that demands cost cutting.
BI tools aim to simplify information discovery and analysis so decision-makers can access, understand, analyze, collaborate and act on information. BI software deals with measuring, managing and improving the performance of everything from individuals, processes, teams and business units.
Worldwide BI platform, analytic applications, and performance-management software revenue reached $8.8 billion last year, a 21.7 percent increase from 2007 revenue of $7.2 billion, according to Gartner. The research firm expects single-digit growth this year and in 2010 despite tighter IT budgets.
"BI capability today is as critical as e-mail and word processing, yet only about 40 percent of companies are using BI," said Franz Aman, vice president of intelligence platform marketing at SAP BusinessObjects. "In the midst of a recession, BI is not just a matter of competitive differentiation. It's a matter of survival."
Although vendor consolidation drove much of the BI revenue growth, this sector of the software industry is nonetheless holding up better than almost all other enterprise application sectors, according to Dan Sommer, a senior research analyst at Gartner. That's because companies can leverage BI to drive revenue and cut costs.
Many companies are still struggling with reporting requirements, but best-practices organizations use BI software to identify unprofitable products, customers and employees, and take action accordingly. Leading organizations also use BI metrics to drive strategic goals and increase productivity, and to help knowledge workers identify the right information at the right time, which improves decision-making, Sommer said.
"The need for BI is repurposed, with more focus on identifying cost centers, isolating unprofitable products, and finding risk. So the focus is...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
HP Beefs Up Scaled Storage with IBRIX Acquisition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67858
In a move to bolster its enterprise storage offerings, Hewlett-Packard on Friday announced an agreement to acquire IBRIX. The privately-owned company offers enterprise-class file-serving software that includes data protection, high-availability features, and data-management services for extreme scale-out, cloud and high-performance computing.
HP has discovered a pain point among customers with large-scale, data-intensive application environments: Storage performance often becomes a bottleneck for their work flows. IBRIX's solutions, among others in a growing Network Attached Storage (NAS) marketplace, addresses that pain point.
"Customers need highly scalable storage solutions that efficiently and cost-effectively manage massive amounts of information," said Jeff Hausman, vice president of unified storage in the HP StorageWorks division. "This acquisition expands our portfolio to better support the needs of this market segment. In addition, IBRIX's highly scalable software leverages industry-standard hardware, allowing customers to fully maximize their existing investments."
IBRIX's solutions scale to tens of petabytes so customers can gain control of data growth and address application performance challenges. For example, the advanced data-management capability of IBRIX's Fusion software suite allows customers to add capacity as their data or performance needs grow.
Adding IBRIX's software to its portfolio strengthens HP's competitive position in the
emerging market of scale-out and high-performance computing storage, cloud storage, and fixed-content archiving.
According to Gartner, 2008 was a year of healthy growth for the midrange and high-end NAS market. The market grew 18 percent in the first three quarters of 2008, compared with the same period in 2007.
By HP's measure, this market is growing at a compound annual rate of 20 percent per year, which is faster than both the NAS and total external storage markets when compared to the percentages in the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Forecast.
IBRIX and HP have been partners for three years. IBRIX's software is currently available with HP...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
'Recession-Proof' Video-Game Industry Drops 31 Percent
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67856
The one segment of consumer entertainment that analysts believed would be recession-proof is proving otherwise. Sales for the video-game industry plunged to a nine-year low for June, according to NPD Group.
Last month both hardware and software game sales dropped a whopping 31 percent to $1.2 billion from $1.7 billion the same month in 2008, according to the report. June's decrease marks the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines.
The huge decrease is the greatest monthly year-over-year decline since September 2000, when the industry suffered a 41 percent drop.
In recent interviews with us, NPD analyst Anita Frazier had said the video-game segment would do well in the recession because it's one area in which consumers are willing to spend during an economic downturn. Now she has a different view.
"This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy is clearly reflected in the sales numbers," Frazier wrote in her analysis. "While the aggregate of content may not be as strong as what we saw in the first half of last year, and while the consumer base willing to spend dollars on hardware at the current price points may be thinning, the size of the decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut) compels them to spend."
Could consumers' lack of interest be the answer? No, as four million new players have joined the video-gaming market since last year, according to Frazier.
While some of those players are retail consumers, others are not purchasing games and instead are playing online for free.
Video-game software sales took a smaller hit in June, falling 29 percent from $876 million to $626 million.
While Nintendo took the top two slots for its DS and Wii...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Microsoft and Yahoo Reported Close To Search Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67855
Microsoft and Yahoo are reportedly close to a search and advertising deal that could be announced next week. Microsoft executives are said to be in Silicon Valley for final talks, and CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly monitoring their efforts.
The All Things Digital blog reported that the executives include Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's senior vice president for online; Satya Nadella, senior vice president for research and development; and Dr. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's Online Services Group and a former Yahoo search executive.
The blog said the deal would involve "Microsoft paying Yahoo several billion dollars upfront to take over its search advertising business and guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo." That would be in line with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz's comments in May that Yahoo was talking with Microsoft and any deal for Yahoo's search assets would require "boatloads of money."
All Things Digital said Yahoo is likely to lead in selling display advertising for the companies.
A deal could help Yahoo and Microsoft grab more of the search advertising market dominated by Google, which had 65 percent in June, according to comScore. Yahoo was second with 19.5 percent and Microsoft a distant third at 8.4 percent despite the launch of its Bing search engine last month.
Microsoft launched an unsuccessful hostile takeover bid for Yahoo in 2008, but Yahoo's board said the $47.5 billion offer was too low. That rejection infuriated stockholders and led to the resignation of Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang and brought in Bartz.
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Google Earnings Point Toward Economic Recovery
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67843
In another positive sign for Wall Street, Google on Thursday reported a year-over-year increase in its second-quarter revenue. The earnings suggest the online advertising market may be recovering even as the search giant's cost-cutting measures are paying off.
Google reported revenue of $5.52 billion for the quarter ended June 30, a modest increase of three percent compared to the second quarter of 2008. After accounting for the $1.45 billion it paid to advertisers, Google ended the quarter with $4.07 billion in revenue.
"Google had a very good quarter, especially given the continued macroeconomic downturn. While most of the world's largest economies shrank, Google's year-over-year revenues were up three percent," said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. "These results highlight the enduring strength of our business model and our responsible efforts to manage expenses in a way that puts us in a good position for the economic upturn, when it occurs. We remain focused on investing in technical innovation to drive growth in our core and new businesses."
Google-owned sites generated revenue of $3.65 billion, or 66 percent of total revenue, in the second quarter, compared to $3.53 billion a year ago. Meanwhile, Google's partner sites generated $1.68 billion in revenue through AdSense programs, to total 31 percent of the search giant's revenue for the quarter. This represents a two percent increase from second-quarter 2008 network revenue of $1.66 billion.
Revenue from outside the United States totaled $2.91 billion, representing 53 percent of total revenue in the quarter, compared to 52 percent in the first quarter and in the second quarter of 2008. U.K. revenue totaled $715 million, representing 13 percent of revenues in the second quarter, compared to 14 percent in the year-ago period.
Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of Google's AdSense partners,...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Transformed IBM Beats Wall Street Expectations
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67842
Technology companies are on a winning streak this week. Intel, Google and IBM are beating analyst expectations and causing a rally on Wall Street.
IBM on Thursday reported earnings of $2.32 per share, compared with diluted earnings of $1.97 per share in the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 18 percent. The earnings-per-share results were the highest for any first, second or third quarter in the company's history, adjusted for stock splits.
Second-quarter net income was $3.1 billion, compared with $2.8 billion in the year-ago period, a 12 percent increase. Despite all the good news, total revenue for the second quarter was down 13 percent to $23.3 billion from the year-ago period. But there is plenty of room for optimism.
"As a result of our strategic transformation, we have a very strong business model that is delivering superior earnings, cash and client value," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and CEO. "We have continued our strategic investments in Smarter Planet solutions, business analytics, and next-generation data centers. As a result, we are optimistic about how IBM is positioned to make the most of current growth opportunities as well as those that emerge as the economy recovers."
For the quarter, revenue from the software segment was $5.2 billion, a decrease of seven percent compared to the year-ago period. Revenues from IBM's key middleware products, which include WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational products, were $3 billion, a two percent decrease from the second quarter of 2008. Looking at WebSphere as a solo product, though, revenues increased eight percent year over year.
IBM saw losses in the services as its Total Global Service revenue fell 12 percent. Global Technology Services revenue decreased 10 percent to $9.1 billion, while Global Business Services revenue decreased 15 percent to $4.3 billion. Big Blue also...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Symbian Horizon Will Help Developers Create Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67839
The steward of the Symbian operating system used on nearly half the world's smartphones has outlined how it intends to foster the development of mobile applications for the platform.
Slated for launch in October, the Symbian Foundation's new Symbian Horizon program will provide developers with the technical knowledge to build software for Symbian-powered devices under a royalty-free license. The goal is to encourage robust app development, increase revenue, and enhance software diversity in mobile stores while improving the consumer experience, foundation Executive Director Lee Williams said.
"We are building a self-sustaining ecosystem that will drive the next generation of mobile," Williams said. "And we can help North American developers reach markets in Asia and Europe where the Symbian platform is widely known and loved."
The Symbian Horizon program is expected to reduce developer barriers while increasing the profitability of applications, the nonprofit organization said. Companies and developers participating in the program will gain access to a variety of services that support the development, distribution and marketing of mobile applications.
Backers such as AT&T, Nokia and Samsung expect to see Symbian Horizon produce a wealth of new mobile offerings for their online app stores. The other online community that Symbian Horizon is targeting ranges from individual developers to companies that want to reach a broader mobile consumer market, such as the Guardian newspaper and National Public Radio.
But Symbian Horizon faces formidable marketplace rivals. Apple and Google have already achieved stalwart followings among developers for the iPhone and Android platforms. Additionally, Palm has just released its Mojo software development kit for the Palm Pre.
"Even in its initial beta stage, over 1.8 million apps have been downloaded from the beta App Catalog since Palm Pre was released less than six weeks ago," said Palm spokesperson Jon Zilber on Thursday. "New applications...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Hurricane-Calming Technology? Gates Has Plan
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67828
Good news, folks. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has turned his attention to controlling the weather.
Five U.S. Patent and Trade Office patent applications, made public on July 9, propose slowing hurricanes by pumping cold, deep-ocean water in their paths from barges. If issued, the patents offer 18 years of legal rights to the idea for Gates and co-inventors, including climate scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Hurricanes, most famously demonstrated by the deadly intensification of Hurricane Katrina before its landfall in 2005, draw strength from warm waters on the ocean's surface. The patents describe a system for strategically placing turbine-equipped barges in the path of storms to chill sea surfaces with cold water pumped from the depths.
First requested by Gates and colleagues last year, the patents describe methods "not limited to atmospheric management, weather management, hurricane suppression, hurricane prevention, hurricane intensity modulation, hurricane deflection" to manage storms.
Given the scope of the applications, "I suspect these will have a lengthy stay in the examiner's office. They are talking about some interesting issues here," says patent expert Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog.com.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Caldeira declined to comment on the patents.
"The bottom line here is that if enough pumps are deployed, it is reasonable to expect some diminution of hurricane power," says hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is not part of the patent effort. Cutting sea surface temperature by 4.5 degrees under the eye of a hurricane would actually kill a storm, he adds. "This would have to be done on a massive scale, but is still probably within the realm of feasibility."
Says climate scientist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University in State College: "Needless to say, there is a whole lot of skepticism about this among tropical meteorologists. But it's not...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
In-Car Electronics Poised To Rebound
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67826
Executives at Autonet Mobile felt firsthand the effects of the auto slump. As car sales dropped 18 percent last year, growth in orders for Autonet's in-car Web-access gear also trailed off.
But in recent months, order growth is up to a 30 percent monthly pace, vs. about 10 percent in late 2008. "We are seeing a larger number of reorders," says Sterling Pratz, co-founder of Autonet. "As the car manufacturers come back in strength, we expect our sales to start coming back."
Pratz is heartened by forecasts that suggest the slump in automotive sales may be nearing an end. Auto sales may rise in the fourth quarter before posting 5.7 percent growth in 2010, according to researcher iSuppli. That bodes well for a host of companies that, like Autonet, make high-tech electronics for cars. The group includes Delphi, Bosch, and Sirius XM.
For some analysts, optimism for the auto industry surfaced July 10 when General Motors exited bankruptcy. "There's a number of consumers who have avoided GM cars because of the stigma" of the company's decision to seek Chapter 11 protection from creditors, says Efraim Levy, an auto analyst at Standard & Poor's, which like BusinessWeek, is part of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "Now the bankruptcy stigma should be easing."
Carmakers may get another boost after July 24, when the federal government is set to release details of its "Cash for Clunkers" program, which grants rebates to people who replace old cars with new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The rebates may increase car sales by 250,000 units, says Egil Juliussen, an analyst who covers the auto industry for iSuppli. The number would probably rise if the government increases the program's available funds. "At least one more increase is certainly possible and maybe even likely," Juliussen says. In Germany, car sales are expected to rise...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Review: $500 Samsung Netbook Sports New Processor
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67825
Intel Corp. has had a near lock on supplying processors for netbooks -- the cheap, tiny laptops that are the biggest hit in the computer market these days. Now there's an alternative from a Taiwanese competitor, Via Technologies Inc. It might be time to leave your Intel-powered comfort zone.
I took the Samsung NC20, the first netbook on the U.S. market with the Via Nano processor, for a spin. I found it to be a capable unit, comparable to the netbooks that use Intel's Atom chip, though there are some notable differences. If you're in the market for a netbook, perhaps for the fall semester, it's definitely worth considering.
First of all, the NC20 has a 12-inch screen. Netbooks have so far topped out at 10 inches, so the NC20 gives us a lot more space to work with. Intel has discouraged manufacturers from using Atoms with larger screens, saying the processor isn't powerful enough. (A few manufacturers, like Dell, have just started making 12-inch Atom-powered netbooks anyway.)
The size of the screen brings the NC20 closer to a full-size laptop, but the price and weight are still netbook-ish: $500 and 3.5 pounds. Like other netbooks, Samsung's lacks a DVD drive and runs the Windows XP operating system, rather than the more recent Vista. The keyboard is smaller than full size, but by no means cramped.
When it comes to performance, the NC20 is also clearly a netbook rather than a full-powered laptop. It's fine for Web browsing and e-mail, but not for the latest games or for video editing. The processor can't keep up with high-action scenes from shows like "Prison Break" on Hulu.com, resulting in stuttering video.
However, it did better at video playback than an Asus EeePC 1000HE, a good Atom-powered unit, indicating that the Nano has a bit more oomph. The...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Home-Based Businesses Can Have Pitfalls
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67824
For many of the people laid off during the recession, the next career move is a home-based business. It's an ideal solution for many, but these new entrepreneurs need to be aware of some caveats in running a company from home.
One is taxes. It's much easier to claim a deduction for a home-based business than it was years ago, when it almost guaranteed a visit from the IRS. But it's still possible to make a mistake, claim too big a deduction, and grab the government's attention. Another pitfall to look out for is insurance. Chances are you'll need to buy additional insurance if you're operating out of your house or apartment.
And, you need to be sure running a business in your home doesn't violate any local laws or regulations, or, if you're part of a homeowners' association or co-op, its bylaws.
You should take taxes into consideration as you decide where in your home you're going to operate a business. Mark Toolan, a certified public accountant in Exton, Pa., noted that the space you choose "must be exclusively used for business."
That means you can't claim your entire family room if the kids watch TV and play there too. You might be able to claim the part of the room with your desk and PC, but keep in mind you might need to prove to the IRS that your kids don't sit there for hours at a time playing computer games or visiting Facebook.
Claiming part of your home for business use means you can deduct the part of the mortgage or rent, insurance, maintenance costs and repairs that can be attributed to that space. For example, if your business takes up 10 percent of your home and you spend $10,000 on home expenses, you can deduct $1,000. If you have a cleaning...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Tracfone Tests Cheap Unlimited Plan on Verizon
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67823
Tracfone Wireless, the country's largest provider of "prepaid" cell phones, is quietly testing a new service that appears to be a response to the fierce price competition in the prepaid market.
Since June, Tracfone has been selling unlimited calling and texting for $45 per month under the "Straight Talk" brand, and 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages per month for $30. The service uses Verizon Wireless' network.
Tracfone's chief executive, F.J. Pollak, said Straight Talk is a test for the company, whose main customer base uses a phone for fewer than 100 minutes per month, paying an average of $10 per month.
The new plans are a better value for more-frequent callers, and represent Tracfone's entry into the unlimited plans at the "high end" of the prepaid market. The "high end" is relative because even the most expensive prepaid plans cost less than traditional, contract-based cell phone plans.
Sprint Nextel Corp. shook up the prepaid market this year with an unlimited calling plan under the Boost brand, taking on regional carriers like MetroPCS and Leap Wireless International Inc. that have long offered such plans.
Phones for Straight Talk are sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at 234 locations and on its Web site, Pollak said. Dallas and Atlanta are some of the largest markets targeted. The phones start at $30.
Tracfone is a unit of Mexico-based America Movil SA, which doesn't have its own wireless network in the U.S. Instead it buys wholesale access to the networks of U.S. carriers to support its 11.8 million subscribers.
While Tracfone uses Verizon Wireless' network for Straight Talk, Verizon's subscribers on contracts pay $130 per month for unlimited calling and texting.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett says the introduction of Straight Talk is a further sign of trouble for wireless carriers. The low prices for prepaid service might start to bring down...
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Apple Disables iTunes Sync Feature on Palm Pre
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67818
Apple Inc. has shut down one of the most compelling features on Palm Inc.'s rival Pre smart phone, crippling the Pre's ability to act like an iPod.
Users of the recently released Pre had been able to put music on it by using Apple's free iTunes software -- a unique twist for a device not made by Apple. But Apple updated iTunes on Wednesday to block this feature.
Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said the update "disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre."
Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts said Apple's move is a "direct blow to their users, who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience." For a workaround, she noted, Pre owners can stick to the older version of iTunes, move music from computers to a Pre with a USB cable or consider third-party music applications.
The iTunes software smackdown is the latest example of tensions brewing between Apple and Palm, which since June has been led by the former executive behind the iPod, Jon Rubinstein. Rubinstein became Palm's executive chairman in October 2007.
The $200 Pre includes a "multi-touch" screen like Apple's iPhone, letting users do things like pinch photos to zoom in and out. Apple was granted a patent in January related to certain multi-touch functions, though the effects on Palm are unclear.
Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton said Apple's move to squash the Pre's iTunes function could turn off some people looking to buy the Pre, since they might have considered the device as a way to consolidate their music player and cell phone.
Still, "it's not like 10 out of every 10 people who buy a Pre are going to use the device for their MP3 player," he said.
Sat, 18 Jul 09
Symantec's Novel Approach to Online Safety
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67816
Any parents concerned about children's safety is going to keep an eye on what their kids do online -- be it to protect them from predators, keep them from visiting inappropriate Web sites, prevent downloading of harmful software, or some combination of all three.
Computer security company Symantec recently introduced Internet watchdog software, OnlineFamily.Norton, aimed at assisting in the effort. But rather than just helping parents spy, Symantec says the software is designed to foster household cooperation, incorporating features that encourage kids and parents to have a dialogue about what sites are being visited.
Symantec's Web monitoring software relies heavily on a Web site, www.onlinefamily.norton.com, that parents can use to set parameters for their children's Web visits, then check on where they ended up. There's still software to install; a downloadable program called the Safety Minder collects information about where a child has been online. But parents interact with the software through the OnlineFamily site after creating an account they can access from any PC running Microsoft's Windows or from an Apple Mac.
Using the software, parents assign names to each person's computer log-in. I tested the software on a PC running Windows Vista and found OnlineFamily.Norton delivered simple-to-understand summaries of the sites visited by each logged-in user. But the software is overly restrictive at times. Facebook is blocked by default, for example. And unblocking sites took several hours, which could be too slow if a child needs immediate access to a site, for instance to complete a school assignment. And there were glitches; in one instance, the activity summary for one account I set up simply wouldn't load.
Symantec has some time to work out the kinks. OnlineFamily is free until Jan. 1, when the company plans to start charging about $60 a year for a subscription.
The company's pitch centers...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Verizon Adds Social Networking To FiOS TV Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67833
Verizon's FiOS TV is going social. The company just launched two new social-TV services: The Widget Bazaar applications store and Internet Video on TV.
Verizon worked with Facebook Connect, Twitter, ESPN, Veoh, blip.tv, and Dailymotion to create a converged Internet-to-television experience that lets FiOS TV subscribers network with others while watching TV. Subscribers can also search and view online, personal PC-based videos on television screens.
The demand is clear and growing. According Nielsen, there are 87 percent more online social-media users now than in 2003, with 883 percent more time devoted to social-media sites. In February, social-network usage exceeded Web-based e-mail for the first time. Nielsen also reported that the number of American users frequenting online video destinations has climbed 339 percent since 2003, and time spent on video sites over that period increased almost 2,000 percent.
"With FiOS, passive TV becomes social TV, part of the sweeping cultural shift that's changing how people connect with one another to share ideas, information and entertainment," said Shawn Strickland, vice president of marketing for Verizon Telecom. "We're working with some of the most popular companies on the Web to create the foundation for a high-quality, engaging Internet-to-TV experience that will only expand and grow richer."
Verizon's Widget Bazaar applications marketplace, located within FiOS TV's Interactive Media Guide, is launching with free Facebook, Twitter and ESPN Fantasy Football widgets. Verizon said it will add new widgets developed by the company and third-party developers in the coming months.
The Twitter widget lets subscribers follow tweets related specifically to the program, movie or sporting event they are watching. Subscribers can also select from a list of top topics to view tweets associated with current topics and trends, search for specific tweets, and create and save a favorite-topics list.
Subscribers with Facebook accounts can log in to Facebook through...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Rovi, Formerly Macrovision, Unveils Digital-Content Guide
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67832
Macrovision is on the move. The company has changed its name to Rovi, unveiled a media guide called Liquid, and is partnering with Blockbuster OnDemand.
Liquid seeks to solve the problem of digital-content overload. The media guide aims to connect consumers to entertainment content on the Internet and digital content stored at home, as well as broadcast and cable TV, in one user interface.
"We see today's announcement of the Liquid guide as the next step in delivering on our new vision and mission to power the discovery and enjoyment of digital content," said Fred Amoroso, president and CEO of Rovi. "By uniting all forms of digital media into one interactive and personalized source, we believe our new guide solution sets the bar for how we'll experience home entertainment in the future."
Liquid will offer an integrated menu with a Television Content Guide, a Broadband Content Guide and a Personal Content Guide.
The Television Content Guide is a linear broadcast television discovery solution that manufacturers can embed into their devices. The Broadband Content Guide connects users to their favorite full-length television and movie content for both free and paid services, as well as additional content, including Internet video, popular music, social networking, and other Internet destinations. The Personal Content Guide helps consumers navigate their media collections and gives them the ability to share their content.
Liquid will also allow users to personalize the entertainment viewing experience by learning the preferences and tastes of viewers based on their interactions with the guide. Liquid uses this intelligence to store favorites and make recommendations for undiscovered content. The guide also stores user profiles, so each member of the household can retrieve a personalized guide each time he or she turns on the TV.
The Liquid guide is planned to be available for manufacturers in early...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Amazon Will Replace Cracked Kindles for Free
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67831
After scores of complaints about cracked Kindle 2 electronic readers and a class-action suit filed Tuesday, Amazon.com has decided to replace the broken Kindles for free. The company reversed its initial decision to make owners pay $200 to repair the devices just two days after the $5 million class-action suit was filed.
The Seattle, Wash.-based law office of Terrell Marshall & Daudt filed the lawsuit against Amazon.com on behalf of all owners of Kindle 2 and Kindle DX e-readers. The lawsuit began after Seattle resident Matthew Geise, the lead plaintiff in the case, was told that the device for which he paid $359 and the protective cover for which he paid $29.99 would not be replaced for free.
The law firm alleges that Amazon.com changed its policy of replacing cracked Kindles for free to charge a $200 service fee.
"We do not comment on active litigation," said Amazon spokesperson Cinthia Portugal. "Nevertheless, we encourage anyone who has an issue with the cover-attachment mechanism to return the cover and device for a free replacement so we can investigate further."
Three months after Geise purchased the device for his wife, the couple began noticing cracks on the device where the protective cover attaches to the Kindle. The device's screen then froze on July 6 and has not worked since.
After contacting customer service, Geise was told the frozen screen was covered under warranty but the cracks to the device would not be covered. Geise was told, according to court documents, that the cracks would not be covered under the warranty since the only way cracks would occur is if the user opened the cover backward.
The couple was then told later by a different Amazon.com representative that the cracks were a common complaint and said the company would fix the device for a $200 service fee....
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Sony Ericsson Hopes To Recover with Camera Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67830
Sony Ericsson is hoping to boost its sagging handset sales through the launch of two new camera-enabled mobile phones on AT&T's national network, beginning Sunday.
Priced at $179.99 after an AT&T rebate, Sony Ericsson's C905a Cyber-shot sports an 8.1-megapixel camera -- the highest resolution ever offered in a mobile phone from AT&T. And the W518a Walkman phone combines a 3.2-megapixel camera with interactive features targeting the Facebook social-networking site.
The European handset maker needs all the help it can get after posting a "disastrous" 43 percent decline in sales Thursday, noted IDC Research Manager Francisco Jeronimo. "Sony Ericsson hasn't understood the three main opportunities for growth are emerging markets, smartphones and services," he said.
Sony Ericsson is targeting photography and video enthusiasts with the Cyber-shot phone, which integrates advanced features such as autofocus, GPS tagging, face detection, and xenon flash with red-eye reduction and a maximum storage capacity of 16GB. The goal is to enable users to snap crisp, bright and clear photos.
Users can either store their photos on the handset, send them over AT&T's 3G network, or print them directly via any PictBridge-compatible printer, said Sony Ericsson Vice President Karen Morris.
"Featuring a broad range of capabilities packed into a slick, easy-to-use slider form factor, the C905a is a versatile choice whether you're an avid photographer and early technology adopter, or a proud parent who always wants your digital camera by your side," Morris said.
Sporting a 2.4-inch scratch-resistant mineral glass screen, the Cyber-shot also doubles as a video recorder. And through the use of AT&T's Video Share service, users will be able to share their summer experiences in real time with streaming video.
By contrast, the Walkman phone is designed to appeal to social-networking aficionados. One click from the phone's standby screen enables a user to instantly update his...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Apple Wanted PC Hunter Ads Pulled, Microsoft Says
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67829
Microsoft says Apple tried to get its latest ad spots pulled as inaccurate. The ads depict PC hunters who find Mac computers too expensive and instead select a PC with Microsoft's Windows operating system.
The ads portray Macs as priced well above $1,000. The hunters invariably select a less-expensive PC and say they're not cool enough to be a Mac person.
At Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner told the audience, "You know why I know (the ads are) working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department."
He quoted Apple's attorneys as saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices."
"They took like $100 off or something," Turner said. "It was the single greatest phone call in history that I've ever taken in business."
"I did cartwheels down the hallway," Turner added. "At first I said, 'Is this a joke? Who are you?' Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them."
He also told the conference that Microsoft will open some retail stores this fall "right next door to Apple stores."
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Twitter Hack Shows Security Weakness in the Cloud
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67809
Twitter is reporting details on a hack that leaked internal Twitter documents to news Web sites, including TechCrunch. The social-media superstar is exposing the root of the vulnerability that allowed an attacker into an administrative employee's e-mail account.
"From the personal account, we believe the hacker was able to gain information which allowed access to this employee's Google Apps account, which contained Docs, Calendars, and other Google apps Twitter relies on for sharing notes, spreadsheets, ideas, financial details, and more within the company," said Twitter cofounder Biz Stone.
Stone was quick to note that the attack had nothing to do with any vulnerability in Google Apps and Twitter is still using the software. Rather, Stone blamed the attack on Twitter's popularity. The attack is not about any flaw in Web apps, he stressed, but speaks to the importance of following personal-security guidelines such as choosing strong passwords.
Stone also stressed that the stolen documents downloaded and offered to various blogs and publications are not Twitter user accounts, nor were any user accounts compromised, save a screenshot of one person's account. In that case, Twitter contacted the user and recommended a password change.
Albert Wenger, a partner at the venture-capital firm Union Square Venture and a Twitter investor, said the username/password scheme isn't sufficient for authentication. He said this is especially true given password-reset mechanisms based on canned questions with easily guessed answers. He offered a solution to what he sees as a major problem.
"Give users the option to secure with a second factor," Wenger said, noting that entering a cell-phone number during registration could enable the second factor. "As you log in with username and password, you receive an SMS with a code that you need to enter also. This will admittedly slow things down a bit and might be...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Dell Shares Dive as PC Market Still Looks Rough
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67797
Dell Inc. said Tuesday that the U.S. personal computer market has reached its low point but that the timing of a global turnaround in the technology industry remains anyone's guess.
The pessimism sent Dell shares plummeting $1.04, or 8 percent, to $11.98 in afternoon trading.
At a meeting with Wall Street analysts, the world's No. 2 PC maker elaborated on guidance it issued Monday, when it said it expects slightly stronger sales in the current quarter than in the last one. Despite these signs of improvement, Dell executives said Tuesday that many of the conditions that hurt the PC industry over the last several quarters aren't easing.
Businesses have clamped down on technology spending and put off new computer purchases as the economic crisis persists. Consumers are more eager to buy new computers but are choosing cheaper models such as "netbooks," which are smaller and less powerful than regular laptops.
"Certainly customers are elongating the life cycle" of their machines, Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said.
Before the economic downturn, PCs were replaced after about three years, but now the CEO said, laptops are being kept for 3 1/2 years, and desktops for four to five.
The CEO said he expects a wave of replacements for aging computers to come in 2010, provided the economy has improved. By then Microsoft Corp. will have released its next operating system, Windows 7, which Michael Dell said should accelerate new PC sales.
"Large numbers of commercial customers completely skipped Vista," the CEO said. He expects more interest in Windows 7, and not only because the cost of maintaining old computers will be rising.
"Windows 7 is a great product at this point, I'd say even a better product than Vista was at this stage," he said. For instance, he pointed to the upcoming software's improved power management and its "Windows...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Comcast Online Video Trial Grows to 23 Networks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67796
Seventeen more cable TV networks said Tuesday they are joining an online video trial by Comcast Corp., a move that tacitly acknowledges advertising isn't enough to support shows streamed over the Internet.
The networks join a growing roster of content providers -- including CBS, HBO, Cinemax, TBS, TNT and Starz -- that have agreed to participate in Comcast's test, bringing the total to 23 programmers since the initiative was announced in June.
In coming weeks, Philadelphia-based Comcast will be testing the service, which gives 5,000 subscriber households access to cable TV shows online without an extra fee. The trial will let these subscribers watch hundreds of movies and TV shows that previously could not be streamed over the Internet legally.
No other cable company has tried such a project yet. The test is meant to address a dilemma faced by cable programmers, which increasingly believe ads aren't lucrative enough on their own to support online video -- the model that sites like Hulu.com are trying for broadcast shows.
Comcast's pilot project will have ads. But the cable networks in the pilot hope that by offering the video content only to paying subscribers, the networks can maintain the fees they get from pay-TV operators while still meeting consumers' demands for shows on the Internet.
The 17 cable networks that agreed to join Tuesday are A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E! Entertainment, The Style Network, G4 and Fearnet. Fearnet is owned by Comcast.
For CBS, which also joined the trial Tuesday, the project provides another outlet on which it can sell online video ads, in addition to its CBS.com and TV.com sites. For now CBS is not sending shows to Hulu, which counts the parent companies of NBC, Fox and ABC...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Israeli-Palestinian Partnership Launches Startup
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67795
In a rare show of cooperation, a team of Israeli and Palestinian software developers came together Tuesday in the shadow of Israel's West Bank separation barrier to launch a product they hope will revolutionize personal computing and perhaps improve communication between the two conflicted sides.
Israeli entrepreneur Zvi Schreiber partnered with Palestinian engineers to launch G.ho.st Virtual Computer, a Web-based operating system that recreates the attributes of a personal computer's desktop from any computer with an Internet connection.
"Our idea is simply to use the Internet to give people a computing environment that is not just stored on a physical device, but is available on a Web page or any mobile device and gives you everything you need: your desktop, your files, your programs," G.ho.st CEO Schreiber said at the launch, in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla, close to Jerusalem's southern edge.
The company started more than three years ago after Schreiber sold his second high tech startup. He had never worked with Palestinians and knew very little about the fledgling software industry in the West Bank.
"I wanted to combine my technological interests with my social interests. I always wanted to do something to help resolve the complete mess that we've all made of this part of the world," he said.
The company's name refers not only to the virtual computer's ability to float through the boundaries of a physical computer, but also to the G.ho.st team's cross-border collaboration.
The Palestinian staff of nearly 30 workers confers with its Israeli counterparts mostly by video conference or at meetings in a roadside coffee shop in the desert between Jericho and Jerusalem. Many of the engineers living in the West Bank aren't able to get the permits needed to get into Israel, while Israelis are barred from most Palestinian areas in the West Bank due...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Prepping for Oracle, Sun Predicts Weak Results
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67794
Sun Microsystems Inc. projected quarterly results below Wall Street estimates Tuesday, signaling it will clear some charges off its books ahead of its $7.4 billion acquisition by Oracle Corp.
Sun said it expects one-time items to widen its loss to between 24 cents and 34 cents per share. The results will take into account charges for stock-based compensation, restructuring and the reduced value of long-held assets, among other factors.
Charges just ahead of acquisitions are fairly typical as companies look to get costs off their books that could affect the acquirer's earnings after a deal closes, analysts said.
Cross Research analyst Richard Williams called it a "kitchen sink" quarter. Williams said he sees no obstacles for Oracle's acquisition, which is set to close this summer.
Excluding items, Sun expects a loss of 6 cents to 16 cents per share. Sales for the computer server and software maker are expected to be between $2.58 billion and $2.68 billion, down from $3.78 billion a year ago.
The forecast, offered almost two weeks ahead of Sun's scheduled earnings release, fell below expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude special items from their estimates, forecast a loss of a penny per share on sales of $3.03 billion.
Curtis Shauger, an analyst with Caris & Co., said the shortfall was not a surprise given that sales usually suffer before a planned acquisition. "Buyers get cold feet ahead of these things," Shauger said.
In a statement, Oracle said it has reviewed Sun's preliminary results and reaffirmed that it expects Sun to add at least 15 cents per share to its adjusted earnings in the first year after its acquisition closes. It expects Sun to contribute more than $1.5 billion to adjusted profit over the first year and more than $2 billion the next.
Oracle shares fell 9 cents to close at $20.63...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Metro Signaling System Continues To Malfunction
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67793
Signaling equipment that is supposed to detect stopped Metro transit trains continues to fail periodically in the area where a deadly crash occurred in Washington, officials testified Tuesday.
National Transportation Safety Board member Debbie Hersman told a House subcommittee that investigators are replacing various pieces of equipment in an attempt to stop the problem from occurring on a portion of the red line near the Maryland border.
So far, she said, nothing has worked.
"It's a mystery as to what's going on here," Metro board chairman Jim Graham told lawmakers.
Nine people were killed and more than 70 injured June 22 when a Metro train slammed into another train stopped on the tracks.
Metro's signaling system is designed to prevent crashes by generating speed commands and not allowing more than one train to occupy a section of track. But problems began occurring after a piece of equipment was replaced five days before the crash.
Investigators are continuing to examine how the system was functioning at the time of the accident. If the system was malfunctioning, the oncoming train could have lacked information that another train was stopped on the tracks.
Investigators have said there is evidence the operator of the train that was moving, Jeanice McMillan, applied the emergency brake before the crash.
McMillan was among those killed in the accident.
Metro General Manager John Catoe said Tuesday that trains continue to run manually systemwide until the cause of the crash is determined. Added precautions are being taken near Fort Totten, where the crash occurred.
"Operators have to go at slower speeds and need permission from the radio control center to proceed," Catoe told reporters. He said that is causing ongoing delays on the red line, and he asked passengers for patience.
Tuesday's hearing was held one day after the NTSB urged Metro to upgrade its signaling system with continuous backup...
Fri, 17 Jul 09
Google Woos Advertising Agencies
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67788
The emissary from Google came bearing a PowerPoint presentation.
As the Ocean Spray team at ad agency Arnold Worldwide squeezed into a small conference room in its Boston headquarters, Jim Norton, Google's Boston agency team manager, plugged in his laptop. "We want to help you any way we can," he said.
That's a surprising pitch from Google, which fueled its spectacular growth with small ads placed by users, not professionals. But now the Internet search giant is wooing the agencies that direct the advertising budgets of the world's largest companies.
In recent months, representatives like Norton, who works in Google's Cambridge office, have been calling on agencies in Boston and around the world, trying to gain ground in major ad campaigns. They're telling advertising professionals that Google is an ally, not a rival, in the fast-evolving world of online marketing.
The agencies are approaching their new suitor with caution, for the most part. The relationship with Google hasn't always been smooth. A few years ago, Martin Sorrell, chief of WPP Group, one of the largest advertising holding companies, described Google as a frenemy, both friend and enemy.
Troy Kelley, chief digital officer at Arnold, freely admitted he used to consider Google a threat. "Google was Skynet," he told Norton, referring to the evil artificial intelligence system in the apocalyptic "Terminator" movies. "Google was scary; now we're looking to see what we can get out of a relationship."
Google is powering its charm offensive with what it believes the agencies need: online tools and instruction in the ways of Internet advertising. The company offers 19 free programs to advertisers, including Google Analytics, which measures and analyzes Internet traffic, and Ad Planner, a tool to help advertisers "identify Web sites that your target audience is likely to visit." Last month, Google also rolled out a beta "online educational...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
iPhone Gaming Developers Squeezed by Big Names
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67807
In a packed gaming market, iPhone developers big and small are competing for iPhone owners' attention. Gaming applications are a huge draw, but their popularity is putting pressure on independent developers, who are competing with big-name publishers like Electronic Arts and newly venture-backed and angel-funded gaming houses such as Ngmoco and Tapulous.
Independent game developers, who may have the drive but not the capital and resources of big-name publishers, are feeling the pressure, especially with the number of active publishers in Apple's App Store at 15,300.
There are currently 13,732 gaming applications available on the App Store and 25 to 50 gaming apps are added to the store each day, according to Sunil Verma, cofounder of Mobclix, an analytics company.
Popular iPhone app developers such as Ngmoco and Tapulous have skyrocketed past some of the platform's independent developers because they have the capital to promote iPhone games. Ngmoco has also tapped top executives, including former SEGA president and COO Simon Jefferey, to help run the business.
With nearly 80 percent of iPhone games requiring payment and 23.3 percent free, according to Mobclix, there is earning potential for both independent developers and big name publishers.
"I think independent developers will always be able to develop for the iPhone," said Krishna Subramanian, cofounder of Mobclix. "But you will start to see more big games and powerhouse developers like Electronic Arts and Ngmoco, big players that are looking at the iPhone as a gaming platform."
The two groups are developing to different audiences and offering a different caliber of gaming applications.
"I still think you will have one-app developers creating apps or casual games for the iPhone as a way to reach out to those users in other countries outside the U.S. who are attracted to the free apps," he said.
Demand for free downloads is still...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
ASUS Netbook Doubles as a Touch-Sensitive Tablet
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67806
Amazon has begun shipping the ASUS Eee T91 -- the world's first netbook to double as a Web tablet with a touch-sensitive screen. The hybrid device is priced at $499.
Measuring 8.9x6.5x1.1 inches and tipping the scales at just under one kilogram (2.11643 pounds), the new netbook sports an 8.9-inch backlit LED screen that pivots on a single axis. Users swivel the display to convert the device into a svelte, lightweight Web tablet that can be cradled in one arm when reading documents, scribbling ideas into digital notebooks with the built-in stylus, or surfing the Internet.
Under the hood, the T91 integrates a 1.33-GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1, a 0.3-megapixel camera, a 16GB solid-state drive, and a 16GB SD card. U.S. buyers also receive 20GB of free online storage through the first 18 months of ownership.
Although ASUSTeK Computer initially announced that the T91 would feature several advanced wireless options, the model currently shipping to U.S. customers only offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, said ASUSTeK spokesperson Josh Norem. "The GPS and TV tuner as well as 3G connectivity are not included in products slated for U.S. release, but may be included in" products that ship to "other parts of the world," he said.
The T91 sports two USB ports, a VGA port for an external monitor, and a slot that supports the use of MMC/SD/SDHC memory cards. The svelte book-sized device also integrates a mouse pad as well as a QWERTY keyboard that is 83 percent of full size.
The T91 incorporates a lithium polymer battery that can keep users connected for up to five hours per charge, depending on the nature of the tasks at hand. The netbook lets users select from several power-saving modes to maximize battery life.
Though the T91 ships with...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Bing Boosts Market Share, But Advertisers Remain Wary
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67803
Microsoft is gaining ground on its rivals in the search market. In June, Microsoft had 8.4 percent of online searches in the United States, according to comScore, up from eight percent in May.
Bing seems to be making the difference. Although some observers have predicted Bing would steal market share from Google, comScore's latest data shows that Microsoft grabbed searchers from Yahoo. Yahoo's market share dropped slightly, from 20.1 percent in May to 19.6 percent in June. Google held steady at 65 percent.
"Given all the publicity and advertising around Bing, we were expecting a month-on-month increase," said Citi analyst Mark Mahaney in a research note. "But we think it's too early -- need three to four months to call a trend -- and the June move wasn't material enough to make any definitive statements as to whether Bing is a search-market-share game changer. We continue to view Bing as a very solid product, but one facing a very large uphill battle."
Despite its gains in the search-engine wars, Bing didn't make much impact on Microsoft's share of the U.S. paid search advertising market in the second quarter.
While Microsoft's share of spending remained flat, Yahoo lost share to Google, which continues to dominate the search landscape, taking in 77 percent of paid search spending in the second quarter, according to a new report from SearchIgnite, whose search-optimization technology manages more than $350 million in paid search annually.
"Microsoft appears to be focusing its efforts on driving consumer interest and capturing increased search-query share," said Roger Barnette, president of SearchIgnite. "We have not yet seen this translate into more paid search advertising dollars for Microsoft, although typically consumer adoption precedes advertiser adoption."
The SearchIgnite report also reveals that retailers were a key driver of the paid search market in the second quarter,...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Intel's Earnings Contradict Expectations for PC Decline
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67802
U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday after Intel reported second-quarter revenue of $8 billion and a promising outlook despite a shrinking PC market. Intel shares rose eight percent, driving the S&P 500 stock index sharply higher and providing a positive ripple effect for other tech vendors, including rival AMD.
Intel reported 12 percent growth in the second quarter, buoyed by microprocessor sales with gross margins more than 50 percent higher than expected. Even though the average selling price dropped for most of its chips, revenue from Intel's Atom microprocessors and chipsets helped drive growth. Atom generated $362 million in revenue, up 65 percent from the first quarter.
Intel is predicting revenue of $8.5 billion in the third quarter with a 53 percent gross margin.
"Intel's second-quarter results reflect improving conditions in the PC market segment with our strongest first- to second-quarter growth since 1988 and a clear expectation for a seasonally stronger second half," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "Intel's strategy of investing in new technologies and innovative products, combined with ongoing focus on operating efficiencies, continues to yield benefits that are evident in our strengthening financial performance."
Intel's outlook seems to contradict a PC forecast from iSuppli, which said the global PC market would shrink this year for the first time since the dot-com bust of 2001. The firm cited falling IT spending and plunging sales of desktop computers. It said global PC shipments would decline to 287.3 million units in 2009, down four percent from 299.2 million in 2008.
"An annual decline in unit shipments is highly unusual in the PC market," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst of computer platforms for iSuppli. "Even in weak years, PC unit shipments typically rise by single-digit percentages. The last decline -- in 2001 -- was a 5.1 percent decrease in unit shipments...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Google Voice Released for BlackBerry, Android Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67801
Google released Google Voice for BlackBerry and Android-powered smartphones on Wednesday.
Last month, Google sent invitations to people who signed up to test the service that is based on technology from GrandCentral, which Google acquired in 2007. Google Voice gives users a single phone number that will ring his or her home, work and mobile-phone numbers. Users can control the service to have specific callers ring a particular phone. Callers can also be sent to voice mail, with messages transcribed and e-mailed to the user.
Writing on The Official Google Blog, Vincent Paquet of Google's voice team and Marcus Foster of Google's mobile team said the application can be downloaded from a Google site and the Android Market. They also said Google is responding to requests to make outgoing calls easier.
"Previously, to place a call using Google Voice, you had to dial your own Google Voice number from your cell phone or use the Quick Call button online," they wrote. "With this new mobile app, you can make calls and send SMS messages with your Google Voice number directly from your mobile phone. The app is fully integrated with each phone's contacts, so you can call via Google Voice straight from your address book."
They also wrote that Google Voice users will be able to access SMS messages sent to the Google Voice number even if a user's cell phone doesn't receive SMS. The app also displays the user's Google Voice number on outgoing calls and SMS messages.
For people who don't have a BlackBerry or Android device, a mobile Web version of the Google Voice site can be accessed through a mobile browser, Paquet and Foster wrote. A Google Voice account is required, and the service is only available in the U.S.
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Researchers Rate All Six Microsoft Patches as Critical
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67785
Microsoft on Tuesday released six bulletins as part of its monthly patch cycle. Three of the bulletins cover critical flaws, including two unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities. Three other bulletins address important risks that security researchers said can quickly escalate to critical.
Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys, said Microsoft's advisories should be addressed immediately because they allow an attacker to take complete control of a victim's computer.
Microsoft proxy server ISA 2006 has a vulnerability rated as important that allows remote unauthenticated users to access the server. However, paired with a knowledge of the administrator's username, attackers can take full control of the server. Because administrator usernames are often easy to guess, Kandek said, this vulnerability deserves special attention if IT organizations are using ISA with the Radius configuration.
Likewise, MS09-030 is an advisory for the Publisher component in the MS Office 2007 suite rated as important, but can be used to take full control of a system if the victim is logged in as administrator. If an organization uses Publisher or has it installed as part of Office 2007, this should be treated as critical as well, Kandek said.
"Microsoft also provided patches for their virtualization product VPC and Virtual Server on all versions (MS09-033) preventing an elevation of privilege in the guest operating system. This is classified as important because local access to the guest OS is required," Kandek said. "This bulletin is interesting because this vulnerability is introduced by the fact that the OS is running under a virtual environment and allows the user access to privileged kernel mode."
Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, isn't surprised that Microsoft released updates that address two of three critical zero-day exploits this month. He also anticipates a more complete patch for ActiveX later, since Tuesday's update only issues killbits...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Fliers Get Tips on Internet Etiquette
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67767
Now that it has become the first major airline to outfit its entire fleet with wireless Internet service, AirTran Airways is offering passengers a few do's and don't's.
Tip #134. "The lavatory is not your personal conference room."
The bathroom admonition is one of several included in the primer Internetiquette: A Guide to Keeping Everyone In Line, While They're Online that AirTran will place in every seat pocket following its announcement today that the Internet is now accessible on each of its 136 planes.
With the smaller Virgin America reaching that milestone in May, and Delta, American and United moving quickly toward making all their domestic flights Internet-ready, travelers have entered the era of sky-high Wi-Fi. Now that passengers can connect to meetings, check e-mail and surf the Web in-flight, travel and etiquette experts say it wouldn't hurt for the flying public to get some guidance on how to behave.
"Any time we have a new way to spend time on an airplane ... it's a good idea to think about how it affects those around us," says Anna Post, an etiquette expert and spokeswoman for the Emily Post Institute. "14B is not your office. It's an airline seat. Treat it as such."
In the midst of an economic downturn that has caused the airline industry to lose passengers and revenue, carriers view Wi-Fi as a perk that can help entice business fliers and others back on board.
Delta, which merged with Northwest last year, has already outfitted 199 of its planes, with the rest of its domestic mainline aircraft scheduled to be Internet-ready by the end of this year. Northwest's fleet will be ready in the last six months of 2010.
American, aiming to have Internet access on roughly 300 of its domestic aircraft, has equipped 70 so far and plans for the rest to be...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Internet Regulator Mulls Cybersquatting Block
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67762
The Internet's key oversight agency is considering a centralized database of trademark holders, to cut down on questionable registrations of new Internet addresses.
Officials say the mechanism won't preclude a new Web site from being created at, say, "http://www.apple.farm" by someone outside Apple Inc. But it would create hurdles. Backers of the idea say it is needed so trademark holders won't have to spend thousands of dollars registering domain names defensively, to block someone from registering them and trying to profit -- a practice known as "cybersquatting."
The proposed trademark database comes as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, is trying to widely expand the number of Internet domains, which include ".com," for the first time since the 1980s.
New names could start appearing next year.
Trademark holders have already had first dibs when new domain suffixes are created, but many companies fear that if ICANN suddenly adds 500 suffixes to the system, they'd have to register their brands in each domain. Administrative costs could balloon if those suffixes all have different rules for trademark claims.
So a central database, dubbed an IP Clearinghouse, would unify those rules. And someone's attempt to register a trademark under a new suffix would be automatically blocked, until the applicant could prove that its use is legitimate.
ICANN has long grappled with trademark complaints, and many of its critics say the existing system favors trademark holders over individuals and groups with legitimate needs for a name -- for example, to set up a Web site critical of a company.
The recommendations for an IP Clearinghouse come from a committee largely made up of corporations and intellectual-property lawyers. ICANN might not decide on the idea until December.
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Offer Puts Value of at Least $6.5B on Facebook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67761
How much is Facebook worth? A Russian investment firm appears to put it at $6.5 billion to $10 billion.
The investment group, Digital Sky Technologies, said Monday it will buy up to $100 million worth of Facebook shares from current and former employees. At the price the firm would pay, $14.77 per share, the Internet networking company would be worth about $6.5 billion.
In May, Digital Sky bought $200 million worth of preferred shares in Facebook. That valued the company at roughly $10 billion, but those shares are worth more because they come with more rights. Facebook's open-market price would likely fall between the values implied by the preferred and common shares.
A true test would come if Facebook pursued an initial public offering, which founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he is no hurry to do.
At the very least, it seems Facebook is worth less than $15 billion, which was implied in 2007 when Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in the company's preferred shares for $240 million.
But based on Digital Sky's investment it is worth more than the $3.7 billion value that Facebook placed on itself after the Microsoft deal, according to details revealed last year in a legal settlement.
Based in London and Moscow, Digital Sky also holds a stake in vKontakte, a Russian social network that is much more popular in that country than Facebook. If its $100 million tender offer is fully paid out, the company will end up with a 3.5 percent stake in Facebook.
The offer is not open to Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives.
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Special Alloy Sleeves Urged To Block Hackers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67760
To protect against skimming and eavesdropping attacks, federal and state officials recommend that Americans keep their e-passports tightly shut and store their RFID-tagged passport cards and enhanced driver's licenses in "radio-opaque" sleeves.
That's because experiments have shown that the e-passport begins transmitting some data when opened even a half inch (1.25 centimeters), and chipped passport cards and EDLs can be read from varying distances depending on reader technology.
The cover of the e-passport booklet contains a metallic sheathing that can diminish the distances radio waves travel, presumably hindering unwanted interceptions. Alloy envelopes that come with the PASS cards and driver's licenses do the same, the government says.
The State Department asserts that hackers won't find any practical use for data skimmed from RFID chips embedded in the cards, but "if you don't want the cards read, put them in an attenuation sleeve," says John Brennan, a senior policy adviser at the Office of Consular Affairs.
Gigi Zenk, a spokeswoman for the Washington state Department of Licensing, says the envelope her state offers with the enhanced driver's license "ensures that nothing can scan it at all."
But that wasn't what researchers from the University of Washington and RSA Laboratories, a data security company in Bedford, Massachusetts, found last year while testing the data security of the cards.
The PASS card "is readable under certain circumstances in a crumpled sleeve," though not in a well maintained sleeve, the researchers wrote in a report.
Another test on the enhanced driver's license demonstrated that even when the sleeve was in pristine condition, a clandestine reader could skim data from the license at a distance of a half yard.
Will Americans consistently keep their enhanced driver's licenses in the protective sleeves and maintain those sleeves in perfect shape -- even as driver's licenses are pulled out for countless tasks, from registering in hotels...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Tracking the News, One Phrase at a Time
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67754
For the most part, the traditional news outlets lead and the blogs follow, typically by 2.5 hours, according to a new computer analysis of news articles and commentary on the Web during the last three months of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign.
The finding was one of several in a study that Internet experts say is the first in which the Web has been used to track -- and try to measure -- the news cycle, the process by which information becomes news, competes for attention and fades.
Researchers at Cornell University in New York, using powerful computers and clever algorithms, studied the news cycle by looking for repeated phrases and tracking their appearances on 1.6 million mainstream media sites and blogs. About 90 million articles and blog posts, which appeared from August through October, were scrutinized with the phrase-finding software.
Frequently repeated short phrases, according to the researchers, are the equivalent of "genetic signatures" for ideas, or memes, and story lines. The biggest text-snippet surge in the study was generated by "lipstick on a pig." That originated in President Barack Obama's colorful put-down of the claim by Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin that they were the genuine voices for change in the presidential campaign. Associates of Mr. McCain suggested that the remark was meant as an insult to Ms. Palin.
The researchers' data point to an evolving model of news media. While most news flowed from the traditional media to the blogs, the study found that 3.5 percent of story lines originated in the blogs and later made their way to traditional media. For example, when Mr. Obama said that the question of when life begins after conception was "above my pay grade," the remark was first reported extensively in blogs.
And though the blogosphere as a whole lags behind the traditional...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Internet Thieves Raid Hong Kong Bank Accounts
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67752
Hong Kong banks have been ordered to step up online security measures after it emerged that thieves had stolen more than 289,000 Hong Kong dollars (37,000 US dollars) in a series of Internet bank raids, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said the money was stolen in three separate incidents in which people's accounts were accessed by thieves who first infected their computers with viruses that stole bank account login details.
Eight banks have been targeted since April, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
In a statement, the HKMA confirmed it had issued a circular ordering all banks to step up security measures, such as instantly alerting customers by text message or other means every time an online transfer to a third-party is made from their accounts.
According to the authority, thieves are using increasingly sophisticated measures to raid bank accounts.
It said the recent cases involved infecting bank customers' personal computers with a Trojan horse virus that hijacks user names and passwords.
These details were then used to transfer funds to third-party accounts.
An HKMA spokesman strongly encouraged bank customers to make full use of the text messaging alert system and to notify their bank immediately if they discover any suspected unauthorized transactions.
"We believe that, so long as customers and banks have taken appropriate security precautions, Internet banking services with adoption of two-factor authentication are safe to use."
Computer security expert Roy Ko, manager of the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre, warned that the onus was now on customers who bank on line to protect their accounts.
"The banks have already adopted security measures like two-factor authentication. The key issue now is whether the customers' computers are clear [of viruses]," Ko told the South China Morning Post.
"If they've been infected, it's like they are leaving their front doors...
Thu, 16 Jul 09
Glitch in Antivirus Software Troubles PC Users
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67722
Antivirus software cuts two ways. It's great at blocking known viruses, but it can sometimes misfire, mistakenly flagging clean files as malicious. That sends a computer into a tailspin trying to clean up stuff that's supposed to be on there.
The problem can crash a computer, and fixing it can be a bear.
An example emerged this week when users of antivirus software made by Islandia, N.Y.-based CA Inc. watched as their machines warned of an infection and started quarantining files that turned out to be legitimate.
Lee Jay Mandell, a 60-year-old retired computer consultant and patent attorney from the Los Angeles area, said the problem popped up on his computer Wednesday night. He knew something was wrong because he recognized the types of files that were being quarantined were parts of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.
He drew on his technical experience to restore the machine, but says less adept users might stumble.
"I'm back, but it took me about six hours to get back," he said Friday.
Every antivirus company deals with false positives, and it's an embarrassment for companies whose job is to protect people's machines from sabotage. It happens because legitimate files sometimes have programming code or behaviors that are identical to those of viruses. The antivirus software spots files it believes are malicious and starts plucking them out.
The results can range from annoyance to outright meltdown of the machine if critical files are targeted. Last week some people using McAfee Inc.'s antivirus software said their computers crashed because of a false positive.
McAfee said the false positive only happened on older versions of its software that are no longer supported by the company. Newer versions won't have the problem.
CA apologized for the problem Mandell and others encountered and said its last major false positive was three years ago.
"Minor false positives happen periodically,...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
What Me Worry? Ballmer Shrugs Off Google Chrome OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67779
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shrugged off Google's planned Chrome Operating System on Tuesday at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.
He said, "I will be respectful" to laughter from the pro-Microsoft crowd. "Who knows what this thing is?" he added. "To me, the Chrome OS thing is highly interesting."
Ballmer also told the crowd, "they already announced an operating system" in reference to Google's Android portable operating system that currently powers some smartphones and which is expected to appear in netbooks soon.
"I don't know if they can't make up their mind or what the problem is over there, but the last time I checked, you don't need two client operating systems," Ballmer said. "It's good to have one."
Google is aiming its Chrome OS at netbooks in direct competition with Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system. But Ballmer noted, "It won't happen for a year and a half."
The Linux-based, open-source Chrome OS is separate from Android and Microsoft already appears a bit nervous at the potential competition from Google's free offerings. It has announced that some key applications in Microsoft Office 2010 will be free online to counter the growing popularity of Google Apps. Its Bing search engine is also attempting to grab market share from Google and Yahoo.
Unlike Google, Ballmer said, "We don't need a new operating system. What we do need to do is to continue to evolve Windows, Windows applications, (Internet Explorer), the way IE works in totality with Windows, and how we build applications like Office."
He also said Microsoft will continue to target Apple in its advertising and added, "We're going to continue to tell the story of the PC."
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Windows Azure Will Be a Pay-As-You-Go Cloud Service
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67774
Microsoft has taken the wraps off its business and partner models for Windows Azure -- a services platform that enables computing applications to be hosted and run at the software giant's data centers.
Through Windows Azure, Microsoft expects to help customers and partners quickly develop and deploy cloud-based computing solutions, said Bob Muglia, president of the server and tools business at Microsoft.
"What's unique about the Windows Azure platform is that Microsoft manages the complexity, which allows partners to focus on what matters most for their business -- building innovative services solutions and driving new revenue," Muglia said. "This can drive down total cost of ownership by up to 60 percent for certain workloads during a three-year period."
Microsoft will offer Windows Azure under a pay-as-you-go pricing model where customers will pay only for the services they consume. Microsoft plans to charge 12 cents per hour for computing, 15 cents per gigabyte stored, and one cent per 10,000 storage transactions.
The Azure platform includes a Web-based relational database in Microsoft SQL Azure together with connectivity and interoperability with .NET services. Microsoft said it will charge $9.99 for the basic Web edition of its SQL Azure database, which includes up to a one-gigabyte relational database; and $99.99 for the business edition with up to a 10GB database. By contrast, .NET services will be 15 cents per 100,000 message operations, including service-bus messages and access-control tokens, the company said.
And when it comes to network bandwidth, Microsoft said it will charge between 10 and 15 cents per gigabyte for Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET services. The software giant also rolled out an enterprise-class guarantee backed by a service-level agreement that covers service uptime, connectivity and data availability for all three services.
"What is interesting about the announcement was that Microsoft...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
App Store Downloads Reach 1.5B Amid Competition
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67773
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, just back from a medical leave of absence, wasted no time trumpeting the success of the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch. The store has had 1.5 billion downloads since its launch a year ago.
Jobs' announcement may be an attempt by Apple to put a lid on recent questions about the App Store's success and revenue. Apple hasn't revealed if it is making huge profits on the store or if the money spent to maintain the venture is more than the revenue from purchased apps.
News of the 1.5 billion downloads also comes after several competitors have launched models similar to Apple's store.
Jobs said the App Store is "like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality." The scale of Apple's store hasn't been questioned because of its 65,000-plus apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone program.
The quality of the applications accepted by Apple, however, has been criticized. Developers and observers have complained about some applications that have made it through the approval process.
Applications such as I am Rich and iFart Mobile have been drawn questions about their purpose. Other applications have been questioned about function, including an application that allows the user to shake the iPhone to make a baby stop crying.
After Apple's App Store was launched in July 2008, it didn't take long for others to notice the number of consumers and developers it attracted. Since then, companies such as Palm, Microsoft and Google have launched their own application stores.
Finnish phone maker Nokia launched its Ovi Store in May. Ovi's model is similar to Apple's and gives developers 70 percent of the revenue from applications sold.
Others, including Research In Motion and LG Electronics, have launched stores. RIM launched...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Comcast, HBO Plan Online Content for Cable Subscribers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67770
Home Box Office and Comcast are partnering on a digital-content deal that will bring award-winning television shows and movies to cable-TV subscribers.
As an added value to Comcast's HBO and Cinemax customers, content from both channels will be available as part of the company's On Demand Online trial. On Demand Online is a free service that expands the number of top-rated TV choices available online to Comcast cable customers.
"The broadband services are the latest in a line of digital offerings that have dramatically changed the viewing experience for our subscribers, providing them with more access, choice and even greater value to their subscriptions," said Eric Kessler, HBO co-president.
At launch, the HBO and Cinemax broadband services will offer a combined 750 hours of programming each month. The companies said the offering will expand over time.
HBO and Cinemax broadband services on Comcast's On Demand Online will include full-length episodes of current and classic HBO series like True Blood, Hung, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Real Time with Bill Maher.
Available movies include Transformers, The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder, Atonement, Brokeback Mountain, Michael Clayton, Shrek the Third, Kung Fu Panda, Get Smart, The Bourne Ultimatum, and The X-Files: I Want to Believe. Titles coming soon include Juno, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who, Mama Mia!, and Burn After Reading.
HBO and Cinemax will also make available classic films such as Jurassic Park, Big, Mrs. Doubtfire, Speed and Rosemary's Baby, along with HBO Family programming like Harold and the Purple Crayon.
The companies plan to frequently update content, allowing subscribers to choose from programs in HD such as HBO films, series, documentaries, sports, specials and comedy, as well as theatrical films. Customers will also be able to view certain new programs online immediately after they...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Blockbuster Fires Back at Netflix with Samsung Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67769
In a move to compete with Netflix, Blockbuster on Tuesday announced a deal with Samsung Electronics to bring on-demand content to home theaters. The companies have joined forces to give consumers access to Blockbuster's library of premium digital entertainment content on select new Samsung HDTVs, home theater systems, and Blu-ray players.
As part of the agreement, Blockbuster will showcase Samsung products in its stores and on blockbuster.com. In exchange, Samsung will give Blockbuster OnDemand an advantage over rival Netflix with preferred positioning on Samsung's Blu-ray interfaces.
Blockbuster Chairman and CEO Jim Keyes said the agreement underscores the growing opportunities around digital delivery and carries the video-rental pioneer one step forward in its plan to make its brand as available on television screens as in its stores.
"The Blu-ray players Blockbuster will feature represent the perfect bridge between physical stores and digital delivery by providing streaming digital access to the newest hit movies and high-definition Blu-ray product, which is available in our stores and through Blockbuster By Mail," Keyes said.
The Blockbuster OnDemand service offers features that may be attractive to home-theater users, including on-screen search and browsing capabilities, full details, ratings, trailers and other information about each movie directly on the television. The function eliminates the need for customers to manage a viewing queue on their PC. Once a customer rents or buys a movie, pressing play begins instant viewing. Blockbuster's adaptive streaming technology offers immediate and uninterrupted playback.
"Samsung constantly seeks ways to provide greater value to consumers through innovation and connectivity," said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America. "Our strategic alliance with Blockbuster means that we will provide consumers another significant avenue to access rich content and a great viewing experience."
The partners expect to have the Blockbuster OnDemand service integrated into new Samsung Blu-ray Disc players and...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
ActiveX Office Vulnerability Could Give Attacker Control
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67768
It's Patch Tuesday, but Microsoft didn't discover the latest zero-day vulnerability quickly enough to issue a fix this week. On Monday, Microsoft issued a security advisory about a new vulnerability in the Office Web Components Spreadsheet ActiveX control.
"The vulnerability exists specifically in the Spreadsheet ActiveX Control and could allow an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability the same user rights as the local user," advisory said. "We are aware of limited, active attacks attempting to exploit this vulnerability."
According to Microsoft, this vulnerability could be used for remote code execution in a "browse and get owned" scenario. User interaction is required, since a user needs to go to a malicious Web site that hosts the exploit.
"The last couple of weeks have been interesting for anybody following Microsoft security," said Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys. "Beyond the DirectShow vulnerability zero day at the end of May, Microsoft has been forced to acknowledge two other zero-day vulnerabilities."
Kandek noted that both are related to ActiveX. The first vulnerability was discovered in a video component. Since Internet Explorer browsing of Web sites with exploit code embedded is the main attack vector, Kandek said it would certainly fuel the discussion about the use of alternative browsers.
"Microsoft has quickly provided easy-to-use workarounds for both vulnerabilities via their Fixit program," he said, "but it is not clear why they have waited for over a year to provide a fix for the underlying coding problems which they were notified of in the spring of 2008."
Last week, Microsoft issued a security advisory about a vulnerability in its Video ActiveX Control. Microsoft issued a patch Tuesday to plug two critical Windows security holes related to ActiveX.
The updates will plug a zero-day vulnerability within Microsoft TV Technologies that can be exploited through Internet Explorer. Microsoft TV...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Report: N. Korean Army Suspected in Cyberattacks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67719
A North Korean army lab of hackers was ordered to "destroy" South Korean communications networks -- evidence the isolated regime was behind cyberattacks that paralyzed South Korean and American Web sites -- news reports said, citing an intelligence briefing.
Members of the parliamentary intelligence committee have said in recent days that the National Intelligence Service has also pointed to a North Korean boast last month that it was "fully ready for any form of high-tech war."
The spy agency told lawmakers Friday that a research institute affiliated with the North's Ministry of People's Armed Forces received an order to "destroy the South Korean puppet communications networks in an instant," the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported Saturday.
The paper, citing unidentified members of parliament's intelligence committee, said the institute, known as Lab 110, specializes in hacking and spreading malicious programs.
The Ministry of People's Armed Forces is the secretive nation's defense ministry.
The NIS -- South Korea's main spy agency -- said it couldn't confirm the report. Calls to several key intelligence committee members went unanswered Saturday.
The agency, however, issued a statement late Saturday saying it has "various evidence" of North Korean involvement, though has yet to reach a conclusion.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency carried a similar report, saying the NIS obtained a North Korean document issuing the June 7 order. The report, quoting an unidentified senior ruling party official, said the North Korean institute is affiliated with the North Korean People's Army.
The state-run Korea Communications Commission said Friday that it had identified and blocked five Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses in five countries used to distribute computer viruses that caused the wave of Web site outages, which began in the U.S. on July 4.
The addresses point to the computers that distributed the virus that triggered so-called denial of service attacks in which floods of computers...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Trust Your Eyes: Test PC Monitors Before Purchasing
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67716
They're all flat, 22 inches measured horizontally and offer a range of additional functions. So how can buyers tell a good PC monitor from a bad one? Is a contrast of 500:1 sufficient, or does it need a ratio of 3000:1?
"The benchmark data they provide is only of limited usefulness," says Dirk Lorenz from the German consumer testing organization Stiftung Warentest in Berlin. Much more important is taking a look at the display itself in the store.
The first step is to consider how the monitor is going to be used. Displays needed for gaming, for example, need to have attributes different from office monitors. A monitor for video playback has to be big and offer high levels of color gradation, brightness, and contrast.
Office monitors, by contrast, should feature good ergonomics. Overly large monitors can be a distraction in that setting, though. "It's like being in the movie theater and sitting in the first row," explains Juergen Reinhard from hardware maker Samsung.
Office monitors must be height adjustable, says Ulrike Kuhlmann from Hannover-based computer magazine c't. If the display is set too low, the ceiling lighting can be reflected in it. Lorenz recommends against mirrored models for the same reason. "It may look nice in the store, but it is distracting in daily use," she says.
Kuhlmann also recommends a device with digital inputs such as HDMI or VDI. "They are more expensive, but they're worth it," she notes. Displays with only analogue input can only be attached to the computer using an adapter, since most computers today offer digital-only image output. "The images may end up with a flicker. But you won't notice it in the store -- only once you get it home," Kuhlmann says.
One thing that can and should be checked in the store is the image quality. The customer...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Chips in Official IDs Raise Privacy Fears
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67712
Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car.
It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker's gold.
Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner downloaded to his laptop the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians' electronic U.S. passport cards embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags. Within an hour, he'd "skimmed" four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet.
Increasingly, government officials are promoting the chipping of identity documents as a 21st century application of technology that will help speed border crossings, safeguard credentials against counterfeiters, and keep terrorists from sneaking into the country.
But Paget's February experiment demonstrated something privacy advocates had feared for years: That RFID, coupled with other technologies, could make people trackable without their knowledge.
He filmed his heist, and soon his video went viral on the Web, intensifying a debate over a push by government, federal and state, to put tracking technologies in identity documents and over their potential to erode privacy.
Putting a traceable RFID in every pocket has the potential to make everybody a blip on someone's radar screen, critics say, and to redefine Orwellian government snooping for the digital age.
"Little Brother," some are already calling it -- even though elements of the global surveillance web they warn against exist only on drawing boards, neither available nor approved for use.
But with advances in tracking technologies coming at an ever-faster rate, critics say, it won't be long before governments could be able to identify and track anyone in real time, 24-7, from a cafe in Paris to the shores of California.
On June 1, it became mandatory for Americans entering...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Young Workers Push Employers for Wider Web Access
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67711
Ryan Tracy thought he'd entered the Dark Ages when he graduated college and arrived in the working world.
His employer blocked access to Facebook, Gmail and other popular Internet sites. He had no wireless access for his laptop and often ran to a nearby cafe on work time so he could use its Wi-Fi connection to send large files.
Sure, the barriers did what his employer intended: They stopped him and his colleagues from using work time to goof around online. But Tracy says the rules also got in the way of legitimate work he needed to do as a scientific analyst for a health care services company.
"It was a constant battle between the people that saw technology as an advantage, and those that saw it as a hindrance," says the 27-year-old Chicagoan, who now works for a different company.
He was sure there had to be a better way. It's a common complaint from young people who join the work force with the expectation that their bosses will embrace technology as much as they do. Then some discover that sites they're supposed to be researching for work are blocked. Or they can't take a little down time to read a news story online or check their personal e-mail or social networking accounts. In some cases, they end up using their own Internet-enabled smart phones to get to blocked sites, either for work or fun.
So some are wondering: Could companies take a different approach, without compromising security or workplace efficiency, that allows at least some of the online access that younger employees particularly crave?
"It's no different than spending too much time around the water cooler or making too many personal phone calls. Do you take those away? No," says Gary Rudman, president of GTR Consulting, a market research firm that tracks the habits...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Still Traveling for Business, But Carefully
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67710
Airfare wars and room-rate promotions are usually aimed at vacationers, but airlines and hotels are resorting to similar tactics to regain their traditional cash cow -- the business traveler.
Corporate travelers, who pay higher airfares when they sit in the front cabins of planes or book close to the date of travel, are flying coach more often -- or not traveling at all during the recession. And their employers are booking fewer banquet halls and blocks of rooms, leaving many hotels pining for the sizable and reliable revenue that business meetings used to generate.
Partly as a result, several major airlines are expected to post losses for the April-June quarter when they report their earnings starting this week. And hotel revenue -- which fell sharply in the first quarter from a year earlier -- is not expected to show much improvement in the second quarter, either. Marriott International Inc.'s results are due Thursday.
Business travelers tend to generate a higher percentage of overall industry revenue than the percentage of total travelers they represent. Of the $641 billion spent by U.S residents in 2007 on domestic travel and tourism, roughly 33 percent came from business travelers, according to the U.S. Travel Association. But the number of domestic business trips accounted for less than 25 percent of that year's 2 billion total domestic trips.
Boston-based aviation consultant Mark Kiefer of CRA International said the economy is keeping a lid on business travel this year.
"We have a case of certain sectors that were consumers of a lot of business travel, like banking and so forth," Kiefer said. "The other issue we are grappling with are expectations. There is a lot of uncertainty about when the economy will turn around and by how much."
Travel companies are using a range of strategies to lure business travelers. Hotels are offering...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Web Site Recreates Apollo 11 Mission in Real Time
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67709
Families crowded around black-and-white television sets in 1969 to watch Neil Armstrong take man's first steps on the moon.
Now, they'll be able to watch the Apollo 11 mission recreated in real time on the Web, follow Twitter feeds of transmissions between Mission Control and the spacecraft, and even get an e-mail alert when the lunar module touches down. Those features are part of a new Web site from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum commemorating the moon mission and Kennedy's push to land Americans there first.
"Putting a man on the moon really did unite the globe," said Thomas Putnam, director of the JFK Library. "We hope to use the Internet to do the same thing."
The Web site -- WeChooseTheMoon.org -- goes live at 8:02 a.m. Thursday, 90 minutes before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will track the capsule's route from the Earth to the Moon, ending with the moon landing and Armstrong's walk -- in real time, but 40 years later.
Internet visitors can see animated recreations of key events from the four-day mission, including when Apollo 11 first orbits the moon and when the lunar module separates from the command module, as well as browse video clips and photos and hear the radio transmission between the astronauts and NASA flight controllers.
The site also connects the mission back to Kennedy, who first set the goal to have a man on the moon by the end of the decade during a May 25, 1961, speech before Congress.
The Web site's name was taken from another speech Kennedy gave in 1962, when he said: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve...
Wed, 15 Jul 09
Review: Palm Pre Promising, But Won't Replace iPhone
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67574
The much-awaited Palm Pre is a bit premature. I really wanted to love this smart phone, but I only like it.
I've been carrying three of the smartest phones available (to U.S. consumers) for a few weeks -- the BlackBerry Bold, the Apple iPhone (not the newest 3G S model) and the Palm Pre. Each have pluses and minuses, but the Bold and Pre have more of the latter.
* On the plus side for each:
The BlackBerry Bold runs on the AT&T 3G network; is great for e- mail; has a fair number of third-party applications (apps) available; has a great screen; has good battery life; good camera; looks good and operates well.
The iPhone also runs on the AT&T 3G network (which I was already using before getting the iPhone); has a large and fluid touch screen, is intuitive to learn and use; has thousands of third-party apps available and syncs calendar and contacts very well with my Apple Mobile Me account (I don't use the Mobile Me e-mail). It is the thinnest of the three, which makes carrying it in a pocket bearable. It also does an excellent job of displaying Web pages. Camera is just OK.
The Pre has a slide-down keyboard; can run multiple apps simultaneously with easy switching between programs; good camera; and combines multiple messaging and contact sources into single views. This feature is very helpful, especially when you have a contact that is in your personal e-mail address book, is on your Facebook friends list and is also in a work e-mail contact program. It displays Web pages well.
* On the minus side for each:
The BlackBerry Bold does a horrible job displaying Web pages or HyperText Markup Language e-mail. Beyond e-mail, this device pales in comparison to the others.
The iPhone can run only one application at a...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Microsoft Office 2010 Will Include Free Versions Online
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67742
Microsoft unveiled a technical preview of Office 2010 at its 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Monday and said it intends to invite tens of thousands of business partners to test the new software in advance of the suite's commercial release in the first half of next year.
Among other things, Office 2010 includes lightweight Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote that will allow users to work anywhere while preserving the look and feel of any Office document regardless of the Internet access device used. Microsoft also said it is cutting back the number of Office editions from eight to five and enhancing each edition with additional applications and features.
"From broadcast and video editing in PowerPoint, new data-visualization capabilities in Excel, and coauthoring in Word, we are delivering technology to help people work smarter and faster from virtually any location using any device," said Chris Capossela, a senior vice president at Microsoft's Business Division.
Office Web apps -- the software giant's answer to Google Apps -- will be made available beginning later this year through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to streamlined versions of Office applications online at no cost, the company said. Moreover, users will be able to store completed documents online using Microsoft's SkyDrive service.
Microsoft's 90 million Office volume-licensing customers also will have on-premises access to Office Web Apps via SharePoint Server. Additionally, the new Web-based service will be made available on Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.
"Most IT departments still favor the idea of the 'thin client,' but the cost associated with typical Office deployment, installation and maintenance is very high," said AMR Research Director Jim Murphy. Though it's...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Nokia Surge Emphasizes Social Connections on AT&T
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67741
AT&T and Nokia on Monday announced the Nokia Surge. The companies are touting it as a socially supercharged smartphone empowered over AT&T's 3G network.
In stores on July 19, the Nokia Surge is aimed at consumers who want to stay connected via IM, text or e-mail; update social-network status; and send multimedia messages to friends and family.
"Launching at $79.99 with a complete e-mail solution, downloadable applications and full HTML browser with Flash support, Nokia Surge hits the sweet spot between a quick messaging phone and a smartphone because of its low price and strong feature set," said Michael Woodward, vice president of AT&T's Mobile Phone Portfolio.
Nokia's social-media-driven device is equipped to help its user keep in close contact with a social circle anywhere. It comes with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard and runs on the Symbian S60 operating system with multitasking.
Is Nokia betting on the right market? The company thinks so. A recent survey commissioned by Nokia revealed that people are so hooked on staying in touch that they would rather give up coffee and sweets than live without their mobile for two weeks.
The Nokia Surge allows users to post messages, images, videos and comments to Web sites like Facebook with the preinstalled JuiceCaster application.
"Designed in the U.S., this socially charged smartphone comes in a sleek slide form factor that supports social networking and messaging -- and all on an open platform," said David Petts, a Nokia vice president. "Together with AT&T, we're excited to address the increasing demand for smartphones with a device that's as attractive to the customer as it is to his or her wallet."
The Nokia Surge isn't all about socially connected multimedia, though. The device also offers a browsing experience that includes Flash support to view most Web sites in...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Netbooks Expected To Grab 20 Percent of World Market
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67740
In what may be a sign of the economic times, low-cost netbooks continue to gain momentum in a struggling PC market. Nearly 33 million netbooks, also known as mini-notebooks, will ship this year as penetration into the PC market grows to 20 percent worldwide, according to NPD Group subsidiary DisplaySearch's Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report.
Traditional notebooks -- described as laptops with displays of 12.1 inches and larger -- are expected to see flat year-over-year sales for the first time.
As display sizes of netbooks have moved quickly from seven inches to 8.9 inches to 10.1 inches -- and now with the emergence of 11.6-inch and 12-inch products -- it's clear that buyers want a lightweight device, but they also want a bigger display, said John Jacobs, director of notebook market research at DisplaySearch.
"While these devices have certainly created a new market," Jacobs said, "our research indicates that they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers, and are not replacing notebooks."
Telecom providers have been offering subsidized netbooks for several quarters in many regions. AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless are all aggressively marketing the devices with service plans. DisplaySearch said telecoms are looking for their next revenue stream in anticipation of slower smartphone subscriber growth.
"I'm not sure how much that carrier subsidies are actually driving sales right now. The fact of the matter is if you are looking for a secondary or tertiary PC for your home, netbooks are cheap. They fulfill that purpose well," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis. "They are not good for video or playing heavy games, but for surfing the Internet and doing some light word processing, you can get a really nice machine for $349 from HP, ASUS, Acer or Dell."
Although U.S. consumers are steadily adopting netbooks, penetration...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
LG Will Start Its Application Store Outside the U.S.
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67730
LG Electronics has joined its rival mobile-phone makers in launching its own online store for applications. The Seoul, Korea-based company and world's number-three handset maker will launch the beta version of the app store on Tuesday.
The LG app store located at www.lgapplication.com will first launch in Asia-Pacific nations, including Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, and will offer LG users 1,400 applications, including 100 free programs, in 15 different languages. The company said it plans to have 2,000 apps available to nations in Europe and South America by year's end.
So far, there are no plans to offer the store to users in the U.S.
"LG is more successful in Europe than the U.S. and will go after the market with the highest penetration first," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group. "In Europe the open nature of the market works better for LG and they have a lot more freedom."
Plans for an app store have been under way for some time since LG launched the LG Mobile Developer Network, a Web site developed for third-party LG mobile-phone developers. The Web site, officially made available in October, allows developers to develop and share widgets to test applications. Currently, the developer site supports the Java software development kit and will support a virtual developer lab and over-the-air downloads for widgets by the end of the year, according to LG.
LG is late to the table with its app store in comparison with its rivals that have application stores already up and running.
Apple on Saturday celebrated the one-year anniversary of the very successful App Store. Nokia,the Finnish phone maker, launched its app store called Ovi. Palm launched the App Catalog and Research In Motion launched App World for BlackBerry smartphones.
LG also has to compete with the likes of Google and its Android...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Economy May Squeeze Windows 7 Deployments
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67729
Despite the pre-order success on Amazon and the warm reviews by many analysts, Windows 7 may not find many enterprises with open arms. According to a ScriptLogic survey, six of 10 companies do not plan to purchase Microsoft's latest operating system when it becomes available on Oct. 22.
Some are concerned about compatibility issues in the wake of poor experiences with Vista. Others are constrained by budgets.
More than 1,000 IT administrators responded to the ScriptLogic survey that statistically represents the entire IT industry. ScriptLogic is a systems life cycle firm that works with Microsoft Windows-based networks.
"This survey highlights the impact the economy has had on IT, with 35 percent of respondents saying they've saved money by skipping upgrades and delaying purchases," said Nick Cavalancia, vice president of Windows management at ScriptLogic. "This is likely a reason why IT administrators will put off a Windows 7 migration."
ScriptLogic reports many of the issues that prevented organizations from deploying Windows Vista are still relevant in preparation for Windows 7 migration.
Asked about their plans to deploy Windows 7, nearly 60 percent of the respondents said they have no plans to deploy at this time, 34 percent plan to deploy by the end of 2010, and only 5.4 percent plan to deploy by the end of 2009.
IT administrators cited the biggest barriers to deploying Windows 7 as lack of time and resources (42.4 percent) and application compatibility (38.9 percent), followed by OS deployment/migration (8.8 percent), hardware support (7.6 percent), and migration of user settings (3.2 percent).
"While it is important that our staff have access to the latest operating systems, we won't migrate to Windows 7 until at least the first service pack has been released," said Sean Angus, senior PC LAN tech for Middlesex Hospital in Connecticut. "The IT department...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Lantronix Begins Social Networking Campaign
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67681
Irvine [Calif.]-based Lantronix Inc., a maker of networking gear for industrial uses, is looking to connect with customers through a social networking advertising campaign.
The company, which makes small electronic devices that allow vending machines, thermostats, retail terminals, ATMs and other machines to be accessed via the Internet or other computer networks, is looking to LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to promote its brand online.
"Lantronix has been listening to all the chatter about social media, both the pluses and the negatives," said Peter Quill, chief marketing officer at San Clemente[Calif.]-based Motor Creative Marketing. "Ultimately they want to make sure their brand is protected and be able to respond to their customers talking about them immediately, not months or days later."
The company hired Motor to handle its social media campaign.
"They have a technology company to run, not a social media business," Quill said.
Lantronix first brought on Motor to revamp sales and marketing materials. The ad shop then started doing a series of interactive and e-mail campaigns for Lantronix.
"It's been a nice blend of both interactive and traditional, but heavier on the interactive side," Quill said.
Motor launched the social media campaign last month. It started by looking at what was being said about the company in social networks.
"Listening is a step most companies forget to do when they launch these types of campaigns," Quill said. "You have to listen to what's being said before you can talk, promote and defend your brand."
Motor has done several blogs for Lantronix as well as profiles on Twitter and LinkedIn.
"LinkedIn.com adds a new member every second and they are in 170 different industries and 39 countries," Quill said. "It's so big you can't just ignore it."
Motor came to Lantronix's offices to train employees on how they should act online in regards to the company.
The agency also will be...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Can Google's Chrome OS Threaten Windows?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67679
Search giant Google's recent announcement that it was would enter the operating system arena with its newly unveiled Chrome operating system (OS) caused quite a buzz in the tech world.
That's not surprising: When Google announces a new product, people generally listen, in large part because of Google's programming muscle and its reputation for boldly venturing into untested waters.
But the world of operating systems is untested for Google. In fact, the overriding question for many is whether Google will succeed. And, if it does, what would that success mean for computer users like you?
Read on for some answers.
Q: Why is Google releasing an operating system?
A: The primary reason, according to Google, is users' frustration with the speed of today's operating systems and the computers they run on. The number one gripe of many computer users, says Google, is that their netbooks, notebooks, and desktops take too long to boot up, too long to open applications, and are fraught with too many problems.
Few can disagree with that, of course. So with the Chrome OS Google is attempting to do with operating systems what it has done with search, its Chrome browser, and many other Google-branded tools: get out of the user's way. Today's computer users, says the Google blog entry that announced the new OS, "want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them" and "they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware."
The Chrome OS, then, will be about speed, simplicity, and ease of use. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Microsoft has been beating that drum for years with Windows, and Apple has as well with the Mac OS. The definitions of "fast," "simple," and "easy," though, tend to change over time -- and depending upon who is using...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
New York Official: Tagged Site Stole Identities
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67676
New York's attorney general charged Thursday that Tagged.com stole the identities of more than 60 million Internet users worldwide -- by sending e-mails that raided their private accounts.
Andrew Cuomo said he plans to sue the social networking Web site for deceptive marketing and invasion of privacy.
"This company stole the address books and identities of millions of people," Cuomo said in a statement. "Consumers had their privacy invaded and were forced into the embarrassing position of having to apologize to all their e-mail contacts for Tagged's unethical -- and illegal -- behavior."
Started in 2004 by Harvard math students, Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith, Tagged calls itself a "premier social-networking destination." The California-based company claims to be the third-largest social networking site after Facebook and MySpace, with 80 million registered users.
Cuomo said Tagged acquired most of them fraudulently, sending unsuspecting recipients e-mails that urged them to view private photos posted by friends.
The message read: "(name of friend) sent you photos on Tagged."
When recipients tried to access the photos, Cuomo said they would in effect become new members of the site -- without ever seeing any photos. Recipients' e-mail address books would then be lifted, the attorney general said.
Tagged temporarily suspended its online campaign last month, in response to user complaints.
E-mail and telephone messages from The Associated Press to the company were not immediately returned on Thursday.
In an open letter on the site, dated June 16, Tseng acknowledges that Tagged had received 2,000 complaints "from people who invited all the contacts in their e-mail address books but didn't intend to."
He said that every day, "our members make 2 million new friend connections" using the site's special "feature." But on June 7, in response to the complaints, "we hit the pause button."
The site than e-mailed all new members to offer "information on how to...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Google CEO: New Operating System Changes the Game
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67675
Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt can't wait for the Internet search leader's free operating system to debut next year.
But he admits his excitement is a relatively recent phenomenon, having spent his first six years as Google's CEO trying to convince company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin that developing an operating system to compete against Microsoft Corp.'s dominant Windows franchise would be a terrible idea.
Schmidt didn't think the timing was right and, worse, he didn't want Google to get into a potentially bruising battle with the world's largest software maker. His change of heart shows how far Google has come since Page and Brin started the Mountain View, Calif.-based company in a Silicon Valley garage nearly 11 years ago.
Schmidt now believes Google can withstand whatever counter punches Microsoft might throw as the company sets out to make computers cheaper to buy and more enjoyable to use with an operating system tied to Google's 9-month-old browser, Chrome.
"They are game changers," Schmidt said during a 75-minute interview Thursday with a group of reporters at an exclusive media conference in the Idaho mountains.
The operating system, due out in the second half of 2010, threatens to chip away at Microsoft's market share in the low end of the PC market -- the less expensive and less powerful laptops known as "netbooks," which are becoming increasingly popular among consumers primarily interested in surfing the Web.
Both Schmidt and Page, who accompanied the CEO during the interview, sought to downplay Google's showdown with Microsoft. It's also something Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates didn't want to discuss when he was approached at the same conference by The Associated Press earlier Thursday.
But Page couldn't resist taking some veiled shots at Windows. Without mentioning Windows, he suggested Microsoft's operating system is becoming archaic as people spend more and more of...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Experts Work To Untangle US, Korea Cyberattack
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67674
U.S. authorities trying to unravel the widespread cyber attacks against government Web sites in the United States and South Korea this week are facing a lengthy, complex investigation that may never identify a culprit, at least not one they would be willing to reveal.
Cyber experts familiar with the probe are divided over the extent of North Korean involvement, split between those who believe hackers may have simply used zombie computers in the region and those who think the communist nation has moved to the digital battlefield.
Active involvement by North Korea would signal a new advancement by the nuclear-ambitioned nation.
If Pyongyang is behind the attacks, "it probably establishes a new pattern of behavior," said Rod Beckstrom, former head of the U.S. cybersecurity center. "If this is them, they are now in the club. And they're probably only going to get better."
Effects of the outage lingered Thursday, as State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that cyber attacks on the department's computers continued, though not at the high volume seen in the first wave of the assault. A new wave of computer attacks also battered government sites in South Korea but did not knock them offline.
"We are taking measures to deal with this and any potential new attacks," Kelly said.
Investigators in both the U.S. and South Korea face a steep task in trying to trace the attack to its source. The assault involved more than 100,000 zombie computers linked together in a network known as a "botnet." Most of those computers were in South Korea, but others were in Japan, China, the U.S. and possibly other countries, experts said.
Analysts and former government officials on Thursday said the effort to find the culprit in the wave of Web attacks would be a multi-pronged federal investigation that includes agents lurking in nefarious cyber chat rooms...
Tue, 14 Jul 09
Social Media Touted As Avenue for Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67670
Almost everyone knows that social media Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter can provide a deluge of information.
However, more businesses need to realize that the flow of data is best used both ways, said Peter Shankman, the CEO of Geek Factory Inc., a marketing firm in New York.
"No one seems to remember that social media is the ability to listen," Shankman said Wednesday at the OkieSMart conference [in Oklahoma].
OkieSMart [aims] to teach businesses and professionals how to use social media to their advantage.
Shankman, who has provided social media consulting for a variety of clients, said the online phenomenon can help businesses spread their messages or take part in conversations about them.
Effective uses of social media include transparency, which builds trust; relevance, which is the act of getting information to clients in ways and places they are comfortable with; brevity, which ensures that recipients actually read the information; and a quality that Shankman calls "top of mind."
This final quality is, in part, about building enduring brand loyalty through customer service instead of traditional public relations pitches. Shankman gave as an example his recent stay at an Omni-branded hotel. When its wireless Internet gave out, Shankman posted a complaint on Twitter.
"Within 30 minutes, people from the hotel were calling me and asking how they could make it right," he said.
Social media users from Tulsa and nearby areas also spoke about their experiences during the conference.
John Andrews, the managing director of digital at Collective Bias in Bentonville, Ark., said he used to be the manager of emerging media for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The retail giant's attempt to create a blog chronicling RV camping in Wal-Mart parking lots blew up in its face when it became apparent that the blog was written by employees rather than an RV enthusiast, he said.
"It's now considered...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Intel Confirms It Helped Develop Google's Chrome OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67690
Intel has confirmed that it has been working with Google to develop the just-announced Chrome Operating System for netbooks, a potential competitor to Microsoft's Windows franchise.
Multiple operating systems already run on Intel processors, including Windows, Apple's Mac OS X, and Linux. Intel gave its Moblin OS to the Linux Foundation and has been working with the foundation to develop Moblin for handheld devices. Intel is also reportedly working with Google to put its Android mobile operating system on handhelds.
While the news of Intel's involvement in the Chrome OS may not be a threat to Microsoft's dominance of the PC market and its efforts to be the OS of choice for handhelds, the software giant isn't likely to be pleased that Intel has encouraged competition.
Google's open-source, Linux-based Chrome OS is initially targeting netbooks. It will run on both x86 Intel and ARM chips, and Google is working with manufacturers Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Toshiba and others to bring netbooks to market with the Chrome OS, which stresses speed, simplicity and security.
Intel's efforts to support multiple operating systems and smaller devices shouldn't be a surprise to Microsoft or others. Gartner has predicted PC sales will fall 11.9 percent this year, and Intel needs to encourage new markets outside its traditional PC focus. Netbooks are a growing market, as are handheld devices from mobile phones to music players.
In March, Intel announced a memorandum of understanding under which customers of Taiwan-based chip foundry TSMC will can produce customized designs of Intel's Atom chip for embedded applications. Intel Executive Vice President Sean Maloney told financial analysts at the time, "I believe as we look forward to the next three to four years, more and more customers will need to embed full PC functionality into their devices."
The agreement with TSMC lets Intel compete with...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Smartphones Made for Sprint Will Have Wi-Fi Access
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67686
Sprint Nextel is requiring manufacturers to provide Wi-Fi capabilities in its smartphones, including a version of the BlackBerry Tour that will be released next year. Jeff Clemow, director of business product marketing for Sprint, said the company "is embracing Wi-Fi in all its major devices going forward." However, no time line was given for manufacturers to comply.
The Tour is being launched by Sprint this weekend, with support for CDMA and GSM networks. Industry observers have noted that the anticipated device does not support Wi-Fi. No specific release date for Sprint's new, Wi-Fi-enabled Tour has been given.
Other BlackBerrys, including the Bold for AT&T, do offer Wi-Fi, and AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA have been aggressive about offering Wi-Fi. As an example, there are reports that Verizon has privately instructed its device manufacturers that Wi-Fi has to be included in all major smartphones.
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said there is "no question" that carriers have "changed their tune about Wi-Fi." At one time, he noted, it was seen as a competitor to 3G, but now some carriers have taken the position that Wi-Fi helps to off-load traffic from their 3G networks.
Consumers, he said, "prefer choice." Greengart said 3G offers consumers widespread coverage, while Wi-Fi can offer faster access. But, he noted, Wi-Fi can "also provide coverage where there is no 3G, and vice versa."
At this point, he said, many consumers "want both, particularly for high-end devices" such as the BlackBerry Tour.
The move to offer Wi-Fi more widely is part of several new initiatives from Sprint to position itself in the fast-moving wireless market. Some industry observers have suggested that Sprint, whose partner Clearwire is building a a high-speed WiMAX network, may soon begin to require that capability as well.
Sprint is also...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
App Store Is One Year Old and Revenues Are Still Secret
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67684
Apple's App Store has reached its one-year milestone. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company one year ago launched the online store for its iPhone and iPod touch and has had great success offering users applications that do everything from calculate nutritional information to games that shoot cartoons out of volcanoes.
The question on many peoples' minds remains how to gauge the App Store's success.
"I can confirm more than 50,000 apps are available for download on the App Store and that over one billion apps have been downloaded since launch," said Simon Pope, an Apple spokesperson.
While the number of apps downloaded isn't something to ignore, Apple, which receives 30 percent of revenue from each app sold, has never revealed what the profits are from the popular store. Because Apple has remained tight-lipped about profits and the cost to maintain the App Store, it's not clear if it has been a financial success for Apple.
Not all has been perfect in the 12 months since the store's launch. Developers have complained that Apple doesn't like competition and has blocked any app that might compete with its own iPhone programs.
They have also criticized Apple for being too rigid when it comes to deciding what is offensive. Developers have further complained about the app-approval process, which is often described as controlling, confusing and slow.
As a result, some developers have accepted Apple's terms in order to continue to develop for the store, while others have boycotted Apple's gatekeeper ways by developing for others.
"About 90 percent of apps are low-quality and unacceptable, and apps have been free as opposed to having fees," said Robert Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group.
In the year since its launch, the App Store has had to face competition from others.
"The Apple app store has been the property to set...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Bing Appears Ready To Grab Yahoo's Search Ranking
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67683
Microsoft's Bing search engine overtook Yahoo in the United States on Thursday, according to StatCounter. The last time Bing overtook Yahoo on a single day was on June 4, shortly after its launch, the Dublin-based Web analytics firm said.
Bing grabbed 12.9 percent of the U.S. market versus Yahoo's 10.15 percent share, but both are still well behind market leader Google at 74.99 percent, reported StatCounter, which bases its research on an analysis of 1.316 billion search-engine referring clicks -- including 336 million from the U.S.
"While (Bing's) lead over Yahoo may not last into next week, our data suggests that it is slowly but surely closing the gap," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen.
StatCounter reported earlier this month that Bing helped Microsoft increase its share of the U.S. search market by one percentage point during June. Overall, Microsoft held an 8.23 percent share last month, trailing far behind Google (78.48 percent) and Yahoo (11.04 percent).
Cullen said the latest data indicate Bing's success is coming at Google's expense. "We can see that Bing is gaining very slowly, but it is gaining, and the data is almost a mirror image in that when Bing goes up, Google goes down and vice versa," Cullen said. "But Yahoo remains very steady -- it's not losing any share."
Other recent reports suggest that Google users in particular seem to be looking for a viable alternative to the current search-engine market leader.
"In the first week following the announcement of brand Bing -- but still before the official June 1 launch -- 97 percent of visitors to Bing.com overlapped with Google, compared with only 37 percent and two percent overlap with Yahoo and AOL, respectively," said Taylor Holsinger at Web analytics firm Compete.com. "During launch week, the dramatically larger overlap of Bing Googlers continued, relative...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Amazon Launches Online Store for Mobile Phones
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67667
Amazon is moving into yet another retailing realm. This time, it's a Web site featuring mobile phones.
Amazon on Thursday rolled out AmazonWireless.com, a beta Web site that offers cell phones, service plans, comparison shopping features, easy rebate redemption, and free two-day shipping on AT&T and Verizon Wireless phones. Amazon has long offered cell phones, but this is the first time it has placed them on a specialized Web site.
Sprint and T-Mobile are noticeably missing from the short roster of carriers. However, Amazon said it plans to add carriers and expand its selection during the beta phase, as well as test features and gather input from customers to optimize the experience.
"We have taken our eight years' experience selling cell phones to create a new site that makes a potentially confusing transaction much easier for customers," said Paul Ryder, vice president of consumer electronics for Amazon.com.
Amazon may be tapping into a consumer pain point. A recent Best Buy Mobile survey reveals a large number of American adults are planning to buy a smartphone in the next 12 months, but barriers are standing in their way. Some of the barriers identified in the survey include confusion about the technology, the shopping experience, and price.
More than half of women and 42 percent of men are confused about which smartphone to buy, and more than half of adults over 50 express this confusion. Sixty-four percent of Americans say they don't own a smartphone because the devices are too expensive.
Best Buy and AmazonWireless seem ready to go head-to-head to solve these issues. Scott Moore, vice president of marketing for Best Buy Mobile, said his company offers smartphones from nine major carriers, along with unbiased, noncommissioned pros to guide consumers to the devices, features and services that are right for them.
"We offer...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Sprint Outsources Network Operation To Ericsson
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67666
In its latest cost-cutting measure, a struggling Sprint Nextel announced Thursday a seven-year network service agreement with Ericsson. Dubbed Network Advantage, the deal turns over the operation of Sprint's networks to Ericsson.
Sprint will pay Ericsson $4.5 billion to $5 billion over the term of the renewable contract. About 6,000 Sprint employees will be transferred to Ericsson sometime in the third quarter.
"No other U.S.-based carrier has followed through on the business-enhancing vision inherent in Network Advantage," said Steve Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale at Sprint. "Our best-ever network performance will become even better by leveraging Ericsson's world-class leadership in network services, their proprietary tools, and the knowledge of more than 30,000 dedicated and highly specialized service professionals to power Sprint's Now Network."
Sprint made clear that Ericsson is only running the network. Sprint will retain ownership and control of its network assets, and make all strategy and investment decisions, including technology and vendor selections. Sprint is also maintaining control of the customer experience, customer technical support, and services review.
Ericsson will take responsibility for the day-to-day services, provisioning and maintenance for the Sprint-owned CDMA, iDEN and wireline networks. Ericsson will also optimize Sprint's multi-vendor inventory of assets such as spare parts and transmission equipment, and provide processes and tools for managing the national network platforms and operational support systems.
"Managed services has been successful throughout the world. Measures that provide operators with reduced cost and improved efficiency have become increasingly valid and attractive," said Angel Ruiz, head of Ericsson's North American operations. "This shows that the trend of full-scope managed services with tier-one global operators is now happening in the U.S."
Sprint expects to see immediate fruit from the relationship. Ericsson has more than 15 years of experience in the field with hundreds of carrier contracts and manages networks...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Hewlett-Packard Printer Seeks a New Niche
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67654
Hewlett-Packard Co. has introduced the first Web-enabled printer to the world, creating a new category of consumer products that can access the Internet without first connecting to a PC. The printer got its start in Vancouver where it was conceived and designed by a Hewlett-Packard engineering and marketing team.
HP Engineer David Hall recalls brainstorming the new printer in the same cavernous building at the company's campus on Southeast 34th Street that once held its printer manufacturing plant. Printers have evolved into fast, design-savvy devices since the company moved its assembly operations overseas in 1999, and the team struggled to brainstorm new features that would really motivate consumers, Hall said.
They came up with the $399 HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web printer, available to consumers this fall. From a touchscreen display that resembles an iPod, users can scroll through pre-loaded Web applications to print movie tickets, maps, coupons, recipes and more from popular sites such as USA Today, Google and Fandango. The device, which also functions as a fax, copier and scanner, connects to a users Snapfish.com account, to allow printing directly from a personal photo database.
The biggest challenge to the design concept wasn't the engineering, but getting people to latch on to the concept and run with it, Hall said. Until now, no printer has had the capability to connect to the Internet on its own, without a desktop or laptop computer.
The printer signals HP's entry into the growing market of Web-enabled devices such as mobile phones, many of which are already in the third generation of technology. Web-connected printers can now finally connect to a wireless home area network, for example, so that a user could sit on the sofa and send a signal from their cell phone to print a document in another room.
But the...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Surprise! Bing Can Outdo Google
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67652
For the past 15 years, Microsoft's master business plan seems to have been, "Wait until somebody else has a hit. Then copy it."
I know that sounds mean, but come on -- the list of commercial hits/Microsoft wannabes is as long as your arm. You would think Microsoft would feel a little sheepish after awhile.
And now we have yet another me-too effort. It's something called Bing, and it's the latest iteration of Microsoft's multiyear attempt to imitate Google.
The name, presumably, is supposed to evoke the sound of a winning game-show bell. The cynics online, however, joke that Bing is an acronym for, "But it's not Google."
Here's the shocker, though: In many ways, Bing is better.
That's quite a statement, of course -- almost heresy. But check it out yourself. It's easy to compare the two, thanks to sites like bing-vs-google.com. Here, you are shown search results from both Bing and Google, side-by-side, on a split screen.
At first, Bing is pretty much Google: a Search box; a menu that offers to complete what you are typing; and inconspicuous links to Images, Videos, News, Shopping and Maps.
Once you hit Enter, however, you can't help noticing Bing's more concerted effort to get you answers faster.
For starters, how's this for a dream feature? Point to any search result without clicking; a pop-up balloon shows you the first few paragraphs of text on it. Without leaving the results list, you know whether it's going to be helpful. Here's another example. On Google, search results usually appear as a long list of blue text links. Occasionally, a photo appears, too. Or, if your search clearly has only one informational answer -- weather, stock price, sports scores, street address -- you get that answer right at the top: a five-day weather forecast, a stock chart, current game scores, a...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Review: Need Advice? Aardvark Can Sniff It Out
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67651
I like to get advice from friends on all sorts of things, and love to give it even more. In the past few years, instant messaging, e-mail and Twitter have sped up the process, but there's still room for improvement.
The creators of a free Web service called Aardvark think they have the solution. Aardvark lets you ask questions that get routed to friends and friends of friends. The goal is to quickly deliver specific answers on everything from apartments to zoos.
Aardvark is far from the first relayer of online advice. For example, Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn let users give each other guidance. The recently launched Hunch.com uses software to offer people answers on a number of preselected topics.
But Aardvark is counting on setting itself apart with a combination of software (which analyzes and classifies queries) and trusted hardware (people who sign up to ask and respond to questions within a relatively confined social circle). While the service has a ways to go, it's fun, clever and helpful.
You can sign up through Aardvark's main site, vark.com (aardvark.im also works), though you currently must have a Facebook account, because that's how Aardvark knows who your friends are. Once that's done, there are many ways to use Aardvark: On its main site, via instant messaging services like Google Talk and AIM, over e-mail or through Twitter.
I primarily tested Aardvark through Google Talk, which runs on my computer and smart phone. When I was off-line, Aardvark shot me answers by e-mail. You can also set your account so it will e-mail you questions when you're not online.
Initially, I was skeptical about the quality of answers I would receive, partly because I didn't have many friends using the service. But the network effect is powerful: By including friends, friends of friends, classmates, co-workers and people...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Diplomats Still Struggling With Laptop Lapses
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67649
Nearly a decade after a State Department laptop containing highly classified information disappeared in an embarrassing security lapse, the agency still is unable to account for all of its portable computers, a government report said Wednesday.
The State Department's inspector general said Wednesday that a review of a sample of 334 laptops belonging to four departmental bureaus found that 27 were missing at the time of the audit and that 172, including nine of 14 classified laptops labeled "secret," were not protected with encryption software, a potential risk to sensitive information.
"The department does not have an accurate accounting for and has not encrypted all of its classified and unclassified laptop computers in the Washington, D.C., area for the four bureaus included in (the inspector general's) audit," the report said.
No evidence suggests that any sensitive information has been compromised, and officials assured the auditors that the missing laptops, estimated to be worth $55,000, did not contain secrets, the report says.
But the computers and the contents of their hard drives could still be at risk, the inspector general's report said.
"Department officials could not provide ... documentation to support their assertions that the hard drives of the missing laptop computers did not contain (personally identifiable information) or classified information," it said.
"Because the content and the encryption status of the missing laptop computers are unknown, there is a risk that (personally identifiable information) and other sensitive department information may be susceptible to unauthorized access and use," the report said.
The inspector general's review was designed to see how the department has handled directives to boost the security of its laptop computers, including requirements to encrypt all information deemed sensitive in the devices. The report recommends that the department refocus attention on laptop security.
In 2000, disciplinary action was recommended against six State Department employees in connection with...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Top Media Execs Wonder How Twitter Will Make Money
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67646
It turns out the media elite aren't so different from a lot of less affluent folks: They think Twitter is a great communications tool, but can't figure out how the online messaging service is going to make money.
The recurring doubts about Twitter's moneymaking potential cropped up again Wednesday as an exclusive media summit hosted by investment banker Allen & Co. got under way at the posh Sun Valley resort.
One of the first sessions focused on how to capitalize on digital media. Twitter quickly became a focal point of the discussion because it has emerged as one of the Internet's fastest-growing services this year.
But Twitter hasn't attempted to profit from its popularity yet, leaving everyone guessing about how the 3-year-old startup intends to pay its bills after it exhausts its $55 million venture capital.
The participants on the panel moderated by media writer Ken Auletta of The New Yorker magazine predicted Twitter Inc. will face major challenges when the San Francisco-based company finally tries to generate revenue. Reporters were barred from the session -- like all other meetings at the media summit -- but Auletta confirmed the tenor of the Twitter talk afterward.
Two of the panel participants, veteran media executive Barry Diller and cable television magnate John Malone, reiterated their skepticism about Twitter's moneymaking potential in separate interviews.
"I think it's a great service. I just don't think it's a natural advertising medium," said Diller, who heads online conglomerate InterActiveCorp.
Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corp., also believes Twitter will be hard-pressed to sell advertising on its messaging service without alienating users. Twitter's best bet, Malone said, probably is to simply get people so addicted to the service that they might eventually pay fees.
It's an idea that YouTube, the Internet's leading video service, might want to try. Malone said billionaire investor Warren Buffett confided...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Report: UK Tabloid Hacked Into Voice Mails
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67645
Britain's most senior policeman ordered an inquiry Thursday into claims that journalists from a tabloid owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch illegally hacked into the mobile phones of hundreds of celebrities and politicians.
Lawmakers also demanded answers after The Guardian reported that the News of the World -- the country's most popular Sunday paper -- paid private investigators to obtain voice mail messages, private phone numbers, bank statements and other information about figures including Gwyneth Paltrow, George Michael and some of the country's most senior politicians.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the story "raises questions that are serious and will obviously have to be answered."
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said he had appointed a senior Scotland Yard officer to look into the allegations against the News of the World, which is owned by News International Ltd., a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp., owner of U.S. media outlets including Fox Television, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
"We will investigate thoroughly and follow the case to where it leads us," Stephenson told Sky News.
Home Office Minister David Hanson said police would make a statement later Thursday on the "serious allegations."
Citing anonymous senior police sources, The Guardian reported that journalists at the tabloid used private investigators to hack into private voice mail messages, using the information to "gain unlawful access to confidential personal data, including tax records, social security files, bank statements and itemized phone bills."
It said targets of hacking and other forms of illegal information-gathering included London Mayor Boris Johnson, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and politicians from Britain's three main parties.
The Guardian wrote that the News of the World had paid more than 1 million pounds ($1.6 million) in secret out-of-court settlements to three of the targets, including Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association.
News International said in a...
Sat, 11 Jul 09
Smartphones Are Eclipsing GPS Devices
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67636
The smartphone is already the Swiss Army knife of the digital age -- a quick flick of the finger can transform it into a camcorder, Web browser, gaming device or music player. For many consumers, the iPhone from Apple and its competitors are versatile enough that they can get by without separate cameras and laptops.
Now the smartphone is beginning to displace yet another stand-alone device -- the GPS receiver -- as a convenient way for drivers to get directions to unknown destinations.
More than 40 percent of all smartphone owners use their mobile devices to get turn-by-turn directions, according to data from Compete, a Web analytics firm. For iPhone users, the figure is even higher, eclipsing 80 percent.
High-end phones like the BlackBerry from Research in Motion and the new Palm Pre increasingly come equipped with features common in portable navigational devices, like spacious touch-sensitive screens, intuitive menu designs and improved audio capabilities.
"The smartphone has made a lot of progress in the last year," said Dominique Bonte, director of navigation research with ABI Research. "It gets very close to what people expect from the experience of the personal navigational device."
Sales of traditional GPS units from companies like TomTom, Garmin and Magellan, a unit of MiTAC International, have fallen sharply recently. During the first quarter, TomTom said it had shipped 29 percent fewer GPS units than in the same period in 2008. Garmin said unit sales fell 13 percent in the first quarter, compared with the previous year.
Meanwhile, shipments of smartphones in North America are expected to grow by 25 percent this year, with more than 80 percent of them equipped with GPS, according to ABI Research. "It certainly gives personal navigation device makers a run for their money," Mr. Bonte said.
He said many users still preferred the overall experience of dedicated GPS...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Growing E-Book Competition Drove Kindle Price Cut
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67663
Amazon's decision to shave $60 off the price of its Kindle 2 this week caught some industry observers off guard. But Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said she wasn't surprised.
"It's predictable that prices decrease for consumer electronics as manufacturing volume scales up -- just ask those poor saps who paid $499 for a 4GB iPhone in 2007," Rotman Epps said. "But there's also some pricing pressure specific to the e-reader category that Amazon is responding to."
Amazon's price change to $299 neatly repositions the Kindle 2 between Sony's PRS-505 and its touchscreen-capable PRS-700BC, which Amazon currently prices at $269 and $349. Last month's introduction of the $249 Cool-er by U.K.-based startup Interead also signals that the barrier for entering the market is dropping.
"Taiwanese manufacturer Netronix is cranking out stripped-down, less-expensive e-readers for companies like Interead and Borders UK," Rotman Epps said. "Neither has wireless connectivity, but they each expand consumer choice for a lower price. What's more, they were developed and brought to market rapidly -- the Cool-er Reader took only six months from concept to retail."
Amazon also has to deal with reluctance by some consumers to increase their gadget clutter. Rotman Epps observes that multi-function devices such as smartphones and netbooks have put a ceiling on how much e-readers are worth. "If you can buy a fully functioning netbook for $300, it makes consumers think twice about shelling out even close to that much for a single-function device like an e-reader," Rotman Epps said.
Netbooks represent yet another low-cost platform on which eBooks can be read using software from Sony and other vendors. "Google announced yesterday that it will be launching an OS for netbooks -- it already has Android for smartphones -- so I wouldn't be surprised to see Google partnering with a device...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Sprint Nextel Signs Networking Deal with Ericsson
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67662
Sprint Nextel Corp. on Thursday announced it will transfer operation of its wireless and wireline networks to Swedish telecommunications equipment maker LM Ericsson.
The seven-year deal, valued between $4.5 billion and $5 billion, will transfer about 6,000 Sprint employees to an Ericsson-owned subsidiary, based near Sprint's Overland Park, Kan., headquarters.
Sprint officials stressed that the nation's third-largest wireless provider will maintain ownership and control of its network, including future investment and strategy, while Ericsson provides day-to-day maintenance and monitoring of the network of cell towers and call switching equipment.
"This is about improving the customer experience," Steve Elfman, Sprint's president of network operations and wholesale, told reporters. "While we get the benefits of Ericsson's expertise and the tools and best practices they bring to the table, we can focus our attention on bringing great devices, great services, great applications to (customers)."
Elfman said the company expected to save money on employee and other operational costs with the agreement but declined to give details on how much. Sprint laid off 8,000 employees earlier this year, which it said provided $1.2 billion in savings.
The employees are expected to switch over to Ericsson in late third quarter, after which it will take 12-18 months to fully shift operations to Ericsson. Elfman said Sprint will retain about 2,000 employees who have network-related jobs, such as budgeting.
Jan Frykhammar, head of Ericsson's Global Services unit, told reporters the company was "excited" by the contract, its first network operation deal in North America. The company already manages global networks that serve 275 million subscribers.
"This is really a proof point of a long-term partnership between Sprint and Ericsson," Frykhammar said.
The deal, which has been rumored for months, came following a "vigorous bid process" that lasted up to a year, Elfman said.
"Our judgment over that fairly lengthy time ... they came out far...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Steven Sinofsky To Head Microsoft's Windows Division
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67661
Microsoft's Windows Division has a new leader. Steven Sinofsky, a 20-year veteran at the software giant, will take on his new role as president of the division this week, the company announced Thursday.
Sinofsky, known for directing the Windows and Windows Live engineering teams at the Redmond, Wash.-based company, will lead both the engineering and marketing of Windows, Internet Explorer, and Windows Live.
The executive previously oversaw the development of Microsoft Office's system of programs, servers and services. He was responsible for the development of Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office XP, and Microsoft Office 2000.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer also credits Sinofsky with getting Windows 7 ready for its expected Oct. 22 shipping date.
"Steven Sinofsky has demonstrated the ability to lead large teams that deliver great products," Ballmer said in an e-mail to Microsoft employees. "With this transition, we want to ensure we are setting up the next release and continue the market leadership and momentum that we have with Windows today."
Sinofsky's new role is no doubt recognition for getting Windows 7 on the right track after its predecessor, Windows Vista, received poor feedback from users and became the butt of rival Apple's jokes in TV commercials.
"Windows 7 is receiving terrific feedback from customers, partners, analysts alike, and the entire Windows team has done a great job," Ballmer wrote in the e-mail.
Along with positive reviews about Windows 7's functionality, Microsoft is also getting high marks for its recent promotional discounts for the operating system. Leading up to its October launch date, Microsoft has announced discounts, including for pre-orders from retailers, including Best Buy, Amazon.com and the Microsoft Store.
The company is also offering upgrades. Consumers who buy a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate installed will get an upgrade...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Netflix Will Stream Video To Sony's Bravia HDTVs
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67660
There's one more way to watch online video through a home TV with the announcement Thursday that Netflix will stream movies directly to Sony's Bravia Internet-capable HDTVs.
Beginning this fall, some subscribers to the popular movie-rental service will be able to watch any of 12,000-plus movies and TV episodes on these Net-connected sets, as well as on earlier Bravia models that are compatible with Sony's add-on, the Internet Video Link module.
The offer will be extended only to Netflix members who are on an unlimited plan, which starts at $8.99 monthly. The Bravia sets will require a software update.
Netflix has been busy striking deals to stream movies to a wide variety of consumer devices designed for the home, as more consumers watch programs and films via the Web. Previous arrangements with consumer electronics companies have included Microsoft for the Xbox 360, LG Electronics, Roku, Samsung, TiVo and Vizio.
Roku makes a $99 Digital Video Player for this purpose, and the deals with LG and Samsung involve Blu-ray high-definition DVD players.
A key consideration is the user experience. Netflix's streaming video quality on the various devices is reported to be good, and the movies start within 30 seconds. There is also an auto-resume feature so a viewer can continue viewing from a stop, even on another device. Multiple devices can be used on a single Netflix account.
Josh Martin, an analyst with industry research firm Yankee Group, said it's "interesting that Netflix continues to remain important" in the digital distribution of movies at a time when Apple's iTunes Store, Amazon, TV networks, and other big players are moving quickly into this area.
This is also an interesting development for Sony, he said, as the company has "not been focusing on streaming," but has offered it through its PlayStation 3 video-game...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Microsoft May Offer a Windows 7 Family Upgrade
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67638
In a move that could help counter some of the criticism of its pricing plan, Microsoft appears to be preparing a Windows 7 Family Pack/Home Premium upgrade. According to reports surfacing on the Web, the software giant has assigned a product number and UPC code to the Family Pack, along with pricing of about $135-$140.
Microsoft hasn't announced such a Family Pack upgrade, but the term is referenced in the license agreement for the most recent beta release of Windows 7. The agreement says a Family Pack user can install the upgrade on as many as three computers in a household.
During the current two-week Pre-order promotion in the U.S., an upgrade from Windows Vista or XP to Windows 7 Premium is $49.99. The promotion ends July 11, and includes an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional for $99.99.
The company said the normal purchase price for the Home Premium upgrade will be $119.99, compared to $129.99 charged for Vista. If a Family Pack/Home Premium upgrade begins after the pre-order promotion, it could provide a major discount. The normal price for the Professional upgrade is $199.99, and the Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade costs $219.99.
The scheduled release date for Windows 7 is Oct. 22. Retail prices for the full versions are $199.99 for Home Premium, $299.99 for Professional, and $319.99 for Ultimate.
A variety of industry observers have complained that the upgrade prices are too high, at a time when Microsoft should want to move as many users as possible from Vista or XP into the new OS.
Some have said the regular upgrade price is much too steep for the current economic environment, most notably for consumers, although it is lower than Vista's. Others have noted that Microsoft should be doing everything it can to replace Vista, which...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Google Bets on Market Rearrangement with Chrome OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67635
The speculation is building around the Google Chrome Operating System. Some see a netbook war with Microsoft, while others are calling it a wash before it even debuts. Still others are predicting a Windows revival in the face of Google competition.
The Google Chrome OS is an open-source lightweight operating system initially targeted at netbooks. It will run on both x86 and ARM chips, and Google is working with hardware manufacturers, including Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba to bring netbooks to market with an OS that touts speed, simplicity and security.
Although Google's Chrome OS announcement set off hype on one hand and speculation on the other about a Google-Microsoft battle, some analysts believe such assessments are premature. By the time Chrome OS-enabled netbooks make it market in 2010, Windows 7-based netbooks may have been on the market for a year.
"Underestimating Google is a mistake by nearly any measure, but we would suggest that expecting to compete effectively against Microsoft in markets where it has enjoyed a 12-plus-month head start is also foolish in the extreme," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "Depending on how or whether the Chrome OS catches fire, Microsoft has the wherewithal to price the netbook version of Windows 7 and its associated applications very aggressively."
Most important, King noted, the future development of the netbook market depends heavily on the activities of OEM partners. He points to problems with Vista that led many of those vendors to explore OS and application options beyond Microsoft. It's up to Windows 7 to repair those partner relationships before Google can get a foothold. But building an effective OEM partner ecosystem is always a challenge.
King said the most intriguing thing about the netbook phenomena is the way it is leading to a literal deconstruction of traditional...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Microsoft Patches Will Fight Attacks as Apple Fixes Safari
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67634
Microsoft plans to combat Internet attacks under way by plugging three critical Windows security holes in next week's Patch Tuesday. Apple also fixed some bugs with an update to its Safari Web browser.
One of the Patch Tuesday updates will plug a zero-day vulnerability within Microsoft TV Technologies that can be exploited through Internet Explorer. Microsoft TV Technologies is an ActiveX control that comes with Windows XP and is installed by default.
The exploit files are detected as Downloader.Fostrem (previously detected as Downloader). The downloaded files are detected as Trojan Horse, Backdoor.Trojan, Infostealer and Downloader.
Initially, there were limited attacks. However, Symantec has since reported new evidence of the flaw being exploited widely in China and other parts of Asia. Reports indicate thousands of Web sites have been compromised and are now hosting the exploit for this issue.
Another update will patch a DirectShow vulnerability. Microsoft has reported limited active attacks using booby-trapped QuickTime files.
Windows XP users with Internet Explorer 6 and 7 are at risk, but those with Internet Explorer 8 installed are not vulnerable. Preliminary testing shows that computers running Windows Vista are not affected by the vulnerabilities.
Microsoft said the third critical patch affects all versions of Windows. It provided few details in its advance report designed to give IT administrators time to prepare.
Other updates to be released Tuesday rated important will fix vulnerabilities in Microsoft Publisher, the Internet Security and Acceleration Server, and Virtual PC and Virtual Server.
On Wednesday, Apple released an update to Safari. Safari 4.0.2 fixes two bugs in the browser's WebKit. The first bug fixes an issue with the WebKit's handling of parent and top objects that could open the door to a cross-scripting attack if a user visited a malicious Web site.
The second bug is a memory-corruption issue in the way...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
How a Denial-of-Service Attack Works
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67628
Investigators are piecing together details about one of the most aggressive computer attacks in recent memory -- a powerful "denial-of-service" assault that overwhelmed computers at U.S. and South Korean government agencies, companies and institutions, in some cases for days.
How does this type of cyber attack work? And how can people make sure their computers are safe?
Here are some questions and answers about the attack.
Q: What is a "denial-of-service" attack?
A: Think about what would happen if you and all your friends called the same restaurant over and over and ordered things you didn't even really want. You'd jam the phone lines and overwhelm the kitchen to the point that it couldn't take any more new orders.
That's what happens to Web sites when criminals hit them with denial-of-service attacks. They're knocked offline by too many junk requests from computers controlled by the attackers.
The bad guys' main weapon in such an attack is "botnets," or networks of "zombie" personal computers they've infected with a virus. The virus lets the criminals remotely control innocent people's machines, which are programmed to contact certain Web sites over and over until that overwhelms the servers that host the sites. The servers become too busy to respond to anything, and the Web site slows or stops working altogether.
It's different from what usually happens when you try to access a Web site. Normally, you just make one request to see the site, and unless there's a crush of traffic from something like a big news event, the servers respond well. Hijacked PCs, on the other hand, are programmed to send way more traffic than a normal user could generate on his or her own.
Q: How often do these attacks happen?
A: People try denial-of-service attacks all the time -- many government and private sites report being hit every day. Often...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Internet Plays Key Role in China's Latest Unrest
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67621
The brawl between Han Chinese and Uighurs in southern China was scarcely covered by state media, but accounts and photos spread quickly via the Internet and became a spark that helped ignite deadly riots thousands of miles away in the Uighur homeland.
Even in tightly controlled China, relatively unfettered commentaries and images circulating on Web sites helped stir up tensions and rally people to join an initially peaceful protest in the Xinjiang region that spiraled into violence Sunday, leaving more than 150 people dead.
In China, as in Iran and other hotspots, the Internet, social networking and micro-blogging are playing a central role in mobilizing people power -- and becoming contested ground as governments fight back.
In the Internet age, events in "places like Xinjiang or Tibet, which were always considered very remote," can suddenly become close and immediate for people around the world, said Xiao Qiang, director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at the University of California-Berkeley.
Since the outburst in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi, the Chinese government has blocked Twitter and Facebook, scrubbed news sites, unplugged the Internet entirely in some places and slowed it and cell phone service to a crawl in others to stifle reports about the violence -- and get its own message out that authorities are in control.
Key-word filters have been activated on search engines like Baidu and Google's Chinese version so that searches for "Xinjiang" or "Uighur" only turn up results that jibe with the official version of events.
That a fight in one part of China could impact a riot 10 days later thousands of miles away underscores how slippery fast-evolving communication technologies can be even for an authoritarian government with the world's most extensive Internet monitoring system.
State media reports said only two people died in the June 25 fight between Uighur and Han Chinese...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
IBM on Notice Over Indiana Welfare Deal
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67618
Indiana's privately run welfare project has so many problems that the state could start taking steps to cancel its $1.16 billion contract with IBM as early as this fall, a state official said Tuesday.
Secretary Anne Murphy of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said she asked lead vendor IBM Corp. to submit a "corrective action plan" as part of a process that could result in canceling the 10-year deal if promised improvements don't occur by the end of September. She said she expects to review data from the changes in mid-October.
"We'll allow them an opportunity to start correcting those items, and we expect to see improvement by this fall," Murphy told The Associated Press.
Canceling the contract would set back efforts in some states to outsource and automate welfare systems and move away from cost-intensive, hands-on work by government case workers. The industry and some members of Congress have closely watched the Indiana experiment after a similar one in Texas ended with a canceled contract with Accenture in 2007.
Murphy's comments are the first by a senior member of Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration that IBM and its partners, most prominently Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., could lose the contract.
IBM and its partners so far have taken over welfare intake in 59 of Indiana's 92 counties and now handle about one-third of the state's 1.2 million-person caseload. The state so far has paid them more than $315 million under the contract.
Murphy said a 12-week review of their efforts resulted in more than 200 recommended changes to improve training, reduce turnover, add 350 more employees and introduce more technology to speed up approval of welfare applications and reduce error rates. The additional staff, including 40 managers, raises to more than 2,600 the number of private employees working with welfare recipients.
IBM spokesman Jim Larkin...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Get a (Down)load of These Addictive iPhone Apps
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67613
iPhone owners looking to spice up their summer can find more than 50,000 applications at Apple's popular App Store. And the word "popular" isn't used lightly here; more than 1 billion apps have been downloaded for the iPhone and iPod Touch in the store's first year. Apps range from the silly (digital whoopee cushions) to the sublime (classic novels in the public domain). Marc Saltzman recommends a handful of fun-and-games apps for summer.
It's one of those puzzlers that's easy to pick up yet impossible to put down. PopCap's celebrated PC game is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch and features nearly 100 levels of ball-bouncing fun. Peggle might be described as a digital Pachinko, in which you must choose where to shoot a ball at the top of the screen and watch as it cascades down, hitting colored pegs and bumpers along the way; if all the orange pegs are touched (and thus destroyed) with your limited number of balls, you advance to more elaborate stages.
How much would you pay to see how smart you are? For less than $1, The Moron Test features a collection of more than 100 brain-teasing puzzles that challenge players to see how many they can solve -- and vie for best time as well. For example, you might be asked to tap five yellow ducks in order from largest to smallest (based on body size or eye size) or quickly add up a few numbers and then tap the correct sum from among four options. This clever game is also fun to pass to friends to see how they fare. Scores range from Moron to Genius.
The first paid app to sell 1 million copies, Flick Fishing takes you on a virtual fishing...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Web Takes Vacation Shots To Next Level
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67612
Sharing vacation photos and videos with friends has never been easier.
New Web tools make it possible to tie together your photos, videos and thoughts in one central place -- instead of, say, posting a few photos at Flickr, videos on Facebook or random getaway musings on a blog.
With the added functionality of the Web, you'll want to give a little more thought to your presentations. Simple editing tools are available on most computers to add a little music, credits and pizazz to your travel photos in a video montage.
When you're traveling, keep the final product in mind as you snap photos. Do you really want endless shots of yourself in front of monuments, or do you want to show your friends your experiences visiting a faraway land?
For tips, we checked in with a group of experts to make your travel photos memorable.
Dan Heller, author of Digital Travel Photography, recommends shooting liberally and leaving home with a big memory card -- 8-GB cards now sell for $30 to $40.
"Shoot 10 pictures instead of one; that way you'll end up with one that you want," Heller says. "When you do a group shot, keep shooting and shooting. Ask them to make a funny face. Usually immediately afterward, they all start laughing, and that makes a great shot."
Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO of online photo site Shutterfly, says that in addition to the tried and true -- standing in front of the Louvre, or holding up a fishing pole -- have some fun and tell a different story.
"I recently went to New York with my son, and we took pictures of every restaurant we went to -- and every meal. The theme was: 'We ate our way through New York.' "
Use the video mode on your point-and-shoot to bring the sights home in moving pictures,...
Fri, 10 Jul 09
Justice Eyeing Tough Telecom Antitrust Case
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67611
Building an antitrust case against Big Telco may not be easy. The Justice Dept. is in the early stages of a review aimed at determining whether the largest U.S. telecommunication service providers are impeding competition, The Wall Street Journal reported on July 6, citing people familiar with the matter.
But before this inquiry turns into a formal investigation or results in charges against companies, the government will need to amass evidence that rivalry has been stymied and consumers harmed. That could prove challenging, legal experts and former government officials say. "There's no obvious antitrust case to me," says Donald Russell, an attorney who was chief of the telecommunications task force at the Justice Dept. until 2001.
A big concern for regulators and lawmakers is the industry's affinity for partnerships that wed a particular wireless handset to a single service provider, such as the arrangement whereby AT&T is the sole distributor of Apple's iPhone in the U.S. Smaller service providers say these deals bar them from selling some of the hottest phones on the market. Consumer advocates allege they limit consumer choice; the iPhone is of little use to a Verizon Wireless customer, for instance. The Federal Communications Commission has agreed to examine whether handset exclusives harm consumers and stifle competition.
Yet, exclusive devices account for only a small percentage of overall mobile device sales, making it hard to prove they give one carrier an undue advantage over rivals. In June, Apple iPhone's had 8 percent of retail sales at the nation's largest carriers, according to a survey from Avian Securities. That month, of about 600 handsets available through all U.S. carriers, only 14 were exclusive to a given carrier, mobile service providers say. There's no question that AT&T has benefited from its pairing with Apple, attracting more than 1.2 million...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Amazon Cuts Kindle Price To $299 as Competition Looms
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67632
With new competition emerging in the digital marketplace, Amazon.com on Wednesday slashed the price of its Kindle device by $60. The popular e-book reader now retails for $299.
Amazon didn't issue an official statement, but the price listed on its Web site is 17 percent lower than the original retail price. The reduction may be a combined response to the economic recession and the fact that new players are coming to the e-book market.
Plastic Logic and FirstPaper are both developing competing products and Google is planning to enter the e-book market with a program that would enable publishers to sell digital versions of their latest titles directly to consumers. But analysts said Amazon still has the market advantage.
"Amazon has a background and ethos of selling books. That background helped build a hardware device and get an application onto the iPhone to extend the platform," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "It wasn't easy to do, but now it's part of the Amazon ecosystem."
Google is no stranger to e-books. The company is making available 1.5 million public-domain books for mobile phones and the Kindle's main competitor, the Sony Reader.
Now Google may become an e-tailer rather than a conduit for free content. Instead of pointing consumers to Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to purchase hard copies of popular copyrighted books and letting users search though its book-scanning project, Google reportedly may compete to sell those titles.
Amazon is also getting some competition in e-book sales. Scribd launched an e-commerce publishing marketplace in May as a complement to its free content-sharing platform. Scribd boasts more than 60 million readers a month. Shortly after the May launch, Scribd inked a deal with Simon & Schuster to sell e-books in the new store.
Nearly 5,000 Simon & Schuster e-book titles will be available on...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
T-Mobile Begins Selling Android-Based myTouch 3G
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67631
T-Mobile launched its much-awaited second Android phone Wednesday, the myTouch 3G, with a pre-sale program for existing customers. The company said existing customers who take advantage of the pre-sales period, which lasts until July 28, can get delivery before the device is available nationally through stores beginning Aug. 5.
Chief Marketing Officer Denny Marie Post emphasized that T-Mobile sees the myTouch as providing customers with "boundless ways to make their phone a true expression, and extension, of themselves." These personalization touches include the ability to modify the device with new widgets, icons and wallpapers, as well as adding any of the thousands of applications available at Google's Android Market.
The carrier also said it will launch a new app next month through the Android Market, called AppPack, that will help customers chose apps to personalize the myTouch.
Pre-designed shell patterns will soon be available through retail and online channels, and a dedicated Web site will allow customers to design their own shell. The customized shell can include a photo, a graphic design, or a selection of shapes, icons or logos.
Ramon Llamas, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, said he doesn't think the "heavens parted and the angels sang" over the birth of this newest Android device from T-Mobile.
But, he said, it is a "lot better than the G1" for people who see smartphones and similar devices as expressions of themselves. The G1, he noted, has been called "the Jay Leno phone" because of its "big chin" where the keyboard slides out, although he described the features as "pretty darned good."
But he said the design of myTouch 3G is sleeker, and the features and overall experience "hit all the right notes." He added that it appears T-Mobile and device maker HTC took note of the...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
North Korea Blamed for Cyberattacks on U.S., South Korea
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67626
Independence Day took on new meaning this year as North Korea allegedly launched cyberattacks against the U.S. and South Korea. Twenty-five Web sites, including those of the Federal Trade Commission, the Secret Service, the Transportation Department, and The Washington Post, were shut down July 4 by a cyberattack allegedly from North Korean hackers, the Associated Press reported.
Access requests formed by malware crippled the Web sites of South Korea's presidential office, defense ministry, and the National Assembly, the South Korea Communications Commission reported.
The National Intelligence Service in South Korea told South Korean lawmakers Wednesday that North Korea was behind the attacks, according to the AP, citing an aide to one of the lawmakers. NIS, South Korea's spy agency, said it could not confirm the report but was working with officials in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a notice to federal agencies on handling such attacks. "We see attacks on federal networks every day, and measures in place have minimized the impact to federal Web sites," spokesperson Amy Kudwa told Reuters.
Both U.S. and South Korean Web sites were hit with denial-of-service attacks. DoS attacks often are intended to prevent a Web site or Internet service from functioning properly, temporarily or indefinitely. A DoS attack overwhelms a target with resource requests for bandwidth or server availability.
Typically, attackers have far less bandwidth per machine and need to band together to facilitate DoS attacks, according to Jose Nazario, a security analyst with Arbor Networks. In this case, 12,000 personal computers in South Korea and 8,000 in the U.S. were hijacked to bring down government, financial institutions, and media Web sites.
Politically motivated DoS attacks have increased around the world both by number and severity, according to Nazario. Notable examples include Olympic Web sites taken down by...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Palm Pre, iPhone Take Sales From RIM's BlackBerry
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67625
Industry analysts say smartphone competition is heating up in the United States and Western Europe as vendors jockey for advantage in a market niche that is still showing signs of major growth.
Piper Jaffray, which has a team that calls hundreds of U.S. retail stores each month, saw a slowdown in the sale of rival products from Research In Motion and other smartphone vendors at AT&T during June due to Apple's introduction of the iPhone 3GS for $199 and the iPhone 3G price cut to $99.
RIM's BlackBerry sales also decreased to a lesser extent at Sprint last month, noted Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Mike Walkley. "The Palm Pre took some share, and some people may be waiting for the arrival of the BlackBerry Tour," which is expected to account for "a big part of RIM's sales numbers for July and August," Walkley said.
Competition in Western Europe is also expected to increase once the Palm Pre launches on Telefónica's networks in Ireland, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom later this year. According to IDC Senior Research Analyst Ryan Reith, Western Europe may very well prove to be the key smartphone battleground in the years ahead.
p
As for smartphones sales outside of Japan, we expect to see the majority of the growth within the next five years in the West European market, Reith said. Even in 2009 our outlook for the overall market is only three percent, whereas in Western Europe we expect 16 percent growth.
p
RIM has been doing very well lately in Western Europe, but Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi thinks the Palm Pre will apply pressure to the BlackBerry maker's sales.
p
It will all depend on what kind of volumes Palm will be able to deliver, Milanesi said. RIM is growing more in the consumer space...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Experimental Fees Settle Royalty War for Internet Radio
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67624
The war between Internet radio stations and music rights holders has reached a settlement, at least for a few years. On Tuesday, SoundExchange, which represents many rights holders, announced innovative, experimental new terms for pureplay webcasters.
p
Pureplay webcasters are those whose primary business is streaming music and other sound recordings.
p
subhead
More Than Two Years
/subhead
p
The issue has been the amount of royalties owed by webcasters for streaming music and other protected sound recordings, and it was propelled to a war footing following a decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in 2007 that set new rates for Internet radio. Webcasters immediately protested the new rates, saying the costs would force many of them out of business.
p
The agreement gives these webcasters options as to how they will pay, including what SoundExchange described as a discount on per-stream rates, in exchange for revenue sharing for most services and more rigorous reporting requirements.
p
According to the new agreement, pureplay webcasters who sign this agreement will pay rights holders through SoundExchange a minimum percentage of all their U.S. revenues, up to 25 percent, as well as a minimum royalty.
p
John Simson, SoundExchange's executive director, said the agreement took more than two years, and it shows both sides can address the business concerns of the webcasters while giving artists and copyright holders the potential to share in the revenue growth of webcasters.
p
subhead
'Royalty Crisis is Over'
/subhead
p
The agreement sets up three rate classes -- large pureplay webcasters, small pureplays (up to $1.25 million in total revenues), and pureplays that offer bundled, syndicated or subscription services.
p
Larger pureplays will pay the greater of either a per-performance rate or 25 percent of total revenue, and will provide more extensive reporting of their use of sound recordings. Small pureplays can pay the greater of a percentage of revenue or a percentage of expenses, and can avoid the...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Google Pokes Microsoft Where It Hurts with Chrome OS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67608
Google isn't satisfied to challenge Microsoft with office-productivity software, search and the browser. On Tuesday the company announced an operating system to challenge Windows.
p
Google Chrome Operating System is the company's attempt to rethink what the operating system should be. Google Chrome OS is an open-source, lightweight operating system initially aimed at netbooks. Google Chrome OS will run on x86 as well as ARM chips, and the company said it is working with multiple OEMs to bring several netbooks to market in 2010. Google plans to open-source the code later this year.
p
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds, said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management and Linus Upson, engineering director, in the Google blog. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the Web.
p
subhead
A Web-Based Approach
/subhead
p
Google Chrome OS runs within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. Google said all Web-based applications will automatically work and developers can write new applications using Web technologies. The apps would run on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux, Google said, giving the developers the largest user base of any platform.
p
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear -- computers need to get better. People want to get to their e-mail instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up, wrote Pichai and Upson. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Some iPhone Owners Chafing at Links to ATT
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67592
Who really controls your Apple iPhone?
p
If you think you do, think again.
p
ATT, the U.S. distributor, requires iPhone owners to use its wireless networks exclusively. Those who jailbreak their devices and use another carrier void the warranty.
p
Even if you pay full retail ($500 to $700), you still have to agree to use ATT's network, or it won't sell you the device. Subsidized iPhones start at $199 but require a two-year service agreement.
p
As for trying to use your state-of-the-art device to place calls over the Internet, good luck. The iPhone's Skype application works on Wi-Fi but not on ATT's 3G network. Other iPhone apps work on both. ATT says the block is justified, because Skype is a direct competitor.
p
Customers have two choices: They can suck it up and stay with ATT, or storm the wall. So far, more than 300,000 iPhone owners are now using T-Mobile's network and data plans, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Those scaling the wall include owners of the new iPhone 3G S, which hit retail shelves in mid-June. The sources declined to be named because they aren't authorized to talk publicly about iPhone customers.
p
subhead
The Lesson?
/subhead
p
Consumers are craving greater control, says Joel Kelsey, a public policy analyst with Consumers Union. So much, he says, that they're willing to risk turning their $300-plus investment into a brick.
p
The problem for consumers: Carrier obsession with customer control is growing. Profit is the driver. As the USA reaches wireless saturation -- meaning everybody who wants a cell phone already has one -- carriers have to hustle hard to add customers and grow revenue. The USA (population about 300 million) currently has around 270 million cellphone subscribers.
p
The real pot of gold is mobile data, widely regarded as the next frontier of wireless. That's why carriers are so hot...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
EMC Hikes Offer for Data Domain, Bidding Escalates
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67588
Firing the latest salvo in a bidding brawl, data storage company EMC Corp. boosted its offer for Data Domain which has already accepted a lower bid from NetApp Inc.
p
EMC's new offer of $33.50 a share in cash, announced Monday, is $3.50 per share above its previous offer and values Data Domain Inc. at $2.1 billion.
p
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Data Domain has already accepted a sweetened bid of $30 a share in cash and stock from NetApp, which said Monday its board would examine in options.
p
Data Domain makes products that cut down on the amount of storage that customers need to buy from storage companies like EMC and NetApp.
p
NetApp, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., originally offered to buy Data Domain on May 20 for $25 a share in cash and stock, or $1.5 billion.
p
EMC then offered to pay $30 per share, or $1.9 billion, in an all-cash deal; NetApp matched that price in a cash-and-stock offer and Data Domain agreed to NetApp's new bid.
p
EMC's latest offer comes on the same day NetApp said it received clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the acquisition. The company also has cleared Federal Trade Commission hurdles.
p
In announcing its revised bid, Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC said the FTC had granted early clearance for the deal.
p
In response to EMC's new offer, NetApp Chief Executive Dan Warmenhoven said in a statement that his company's board will carefully weigh its options, keeping in mind both its fiduciary duty to its stockholders and its disciplined acquisition strategy.
p
Data Domain shares advanced 85 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at $34.06, while EMC shares rose 11 cents to $12.89. Shares of NetApp fell 11 cents to end at $18.85.
Thu, 9 Jul 09
NC Town Raises Offer for Apple Data Center Site
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67587
A North Carolina community battered by manufacturing layoffs raised the offer for Apple Inc. to open its East Coast data center just 30 miles down the road from a similar Google Inc. server farm that opened last year.
p
Catawba County and the town of Maiden agreed Monday to a package of local incentives aimed at luring Apple and cutting into the 15 percent unemployment rate. The state last month changed its tax calculations to land Apple's $1 billion data center, giving the company a tax break estimated at $46 million in the next decade.
p
The local governments have promised another $20.7 million over 10 years after the facility that could spread over 500,000 square feet or more is operational, said Scott Millar, president of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp., which led the local efforts. The county and town expect to collect about $9.3 million in new tax income over the same period, he said.
p
While the data center is only expected to employ about 50 full-time workers, promoters emphasize that the infusion of economic activity would mean work for local security, janitorial and repair service companies.
p
Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined comment on the company's siting decision.
p
Apple would likely use the data center to add capacity to store and move music, video and movies purchased through its iTunes Web site and its MobileMe service, which allows a user to synchronize desktop computers with other personal data devices, Millar said. Lundgren declined comment.
p
Maiden is a town of some 3,300 about 30 miles northwest of Charlotte. The town is part of the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metropolitan area, which the U.S. Labor Department last week reported had one of the country's sharpest increases in unemployment in the country. The area's joblessness gained 8.5 percentage points in the year ending in May to reach 15.4 percent.
p
Local economic developers targeted...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Dell Could Face Fine Over Taiwan Pricing Errors
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67586
A senior Taiwanese official said Tuesday that U.S. computer maker Dell Inc. could be fined up to $758,000 if authorities decide the company's handling of its recent online pricing errors has violated the law.
p
On June 25, Dell's Taiwanese Web site labeled its 19-inch LCD monitors at NT$500 ($15.16) and 20-inch LCD monitors at NT$999 ($30.29), Taiwan media reported. In each case, that's about NT$7,000, or $210, less than the real retail price.
p
Again on July 5, Dell priced its Latitude E4300 notebook at NT$18,558 ($562), only to correct it later to NT$60,900 ($1,850), the local media reports said.
p
In each incident, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell refused to honor the reported hundreds of thousands of orders placed online by consumers but instead offered a NT$1,000 ($30) discount for the LCD monitors, and a NT$20,000 ($600) deduction for the laptop.
p
Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission Deputy Chairman Wu Hsiu-ming said authorities will determine whether Dell has violated the Fair Trade Law by failing to deliver orders as advertised.
p
If we find Dell to have broken the law, the company could be fined NT$50,000 to NT$25 million, Wu said. In U.S. dollar terms, that's between $1,500 and $758,000.
p
Calls to Dell's Taiwan office rang unanswered. Dell's Taiwan general manager Terence Liao on Tuesday told the United Evening News that the company is trying its best to deal with the situation.
p
Dell's reluctance to deliver the wrongly priced orders has drawn a huge wave of criticism from Taiwanese Internet users and the media.
p
Two major mistakes within 11 days have shown that there is a grave problem in Dell's Taiwan office management, the mass circulation Apple Daily said Tuesday in an editorial. Refusing to deliver the wrongly priced orders is really hurting (Dell's) reputation.
Thu, 9 Jul 09
Gmail Drops 'Beta' Label To Woo Business Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67581
After more than five years officially in testing mode, Gmail is finally graduating from beta.
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Google Inc. says its e-mail service and three other applications in the Google Apps suite for businesses are now finished products in name as well as function.
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But that doesn't mean Google is finished improving upon them. Nor were the extra features announced Tuesday cause for dropping the label.
p
In fact, getting rid of beta doesn't mean a whole lot.
p
So why drop it?
p
Google concedes the move is aimed more at wooing business customers than marking any real developmental milestone.
p
The premier edition Apps suite sells for $50 per user to business customers, who get added features including offline access and 24/7 customer support. The beta label was scaring businesses off.
p
Many of the companies that have looked in depth at the apps have seen that they are feature complete, Rajen Sheth, a Google senior product manager, said in an interview. But there is a kind of perception thing, and in many cases that stops companies in their tracks from even looking at it.
p
Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk are now out of beta mode. Google Sites and Google Video have already dropped the label.
p
Other Google applications not included in Apps suite -- such as Google Scholars -- will still carry the tag.
p
Nostalgic Gmail users will even have the option to restore the beta tag on their own screens.
p
The Mountain View, Calif. company announced two new Gmail features it will roll out to premier business customers over the next few weeks. One allows administrative assistants to send e-mail on others' behalf, while the other lets companies automatically purge old e-mails after a certain period of time.
p
Google also said it will begin storing business-grade e-mails at two data centers simultaneously, reducing the likelihood of downtime.
p
The company says it has about 1.75...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
U.S. Charges Programmer in Theft of Goldman Code
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67577
He was a computer programmer earning $400,000 a year to develop a top secret trading program at one of the biggest and most venerable Wall Street firms.
p
But last month, in the final few days before he left the firm for an even more lucrative job in Chicago, the bank noticed the desktop computer at his office in New York was being used to transfer large amounts of data to a Web site in Germany.
p
Late last Friday, the programmer, named in court documents as Sergey Aleynikov, a naturalized American citizen who originally immigrated from Russia and who now lives in New Jersey, was arrested by U.S. agents as he got off a flight at Newark Airport, according to the criminal complaint filed in court in the Southern District of New York.
p
He was charged, according to the court documents, with copying computer code that allowed the bank to engage in sophisticated high speed and high volume trades on various stock and commodities markets.
p
The documents allege that Mr. Aleynikov passed in and out of the bank's offices in New York using his personal swipe card and used his home computer to evade the bank's security to steal software that was described as central to its trading strategy.
p
The arrest throws a spotlight on the high-tech rivalry between the world's biggest banks in the lucrative world of financial markets, where institutions spend millions of dollars on the latest technology to gain a competitive edge.
p
But perhaps more startling than the theft itself was the victim of Mr. Aleynikov's alleged crime: Goldman Sachs.
p
On Monday, the bank refused to comment publicly on the potentially embarrassing case. But a person familiar with Goldman Sachs said this was an instance in which someone had tried to steal proprietary information but that the company had since secured its systems. He insisted...
Thu, 9 Jul 09
U.S. Wants Privacy in New Cybersecurity System
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67556
The Obama administration is moving cautiously on a new pilot program that would both detect and stop cyber attacks against government computers, while trying to ensure citizen privacy protections.
p
The pilot program, known as Einstein 3, was supposed to launch in February. But the Department of Homeland Security is still pulling the plan together, according to senior administration officials.
p
Einstein 3 has triggered debate and privacy concerns because the program will use National Security Agency technology, which is already being employed on military networks.
p
Any involvement of the NSA -- the agency oversees electronic intelligence-gathering -- in protecting domestic computer networks worries privacy and civil liberties groups who oppose giving such control to U.S. spy agencies.
p
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the program is still being finalized, said that while the technology will come from the NSA, the program will be managed and run by the Department of Homeland Security. The monitoring would be limited to government systems and any Internet traffic moving in and out of them.
p
The latest developments in the Einstein 3 program were first reported Thursday on The Washington Post's Web site.
p
The NSA will provide technical assistance, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told reporters. We absolutely intend to use the technical resources, the substantial ones that NSA has.
p
Einstein 1, which is currently in use by DHS, is an automated program designed to detect intrusions into government networks, and Einstein 2, which is now being put in place, is a more advanced system for detection. It is being used now by about five of the higher risk government agencies, one senior official said.
p
Einstein 3 would be designed to not only detect intrusions, but to stop them -- preventing any malicious computer codes from getting into government networks and stopping any data theft from those systems. The key, said officials,...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Palm Pre Ready To Make Waves with Telefonica Europe
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67603
The Palm Pre smartphone is poised to take its inaugural bows in Europe before this year's holiday shopping season. Under Palm's new agreement with mobile network giant Telefónica Europe, the Palm Pre will become available initially on the O2 network in Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom and on the Moviestar network in Spain.
p
IDC Senior Research Analyst Ryan Reith said that for the first time ever, people in Europe are becoming excited about Palm, with Palm's latest move opening the door for the Palm Pre to make a wider splash than on Sprint's CDMA network in the U.S. Reith also expects to see the Palm Pre become available in Europe sooner rather than later.
p
I can't imagine Palm waiting until November, Reith said, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something out toward the end of August. That is what I would be aiming for.
p
subhead
Battling Head-To-Head
/subhead
p
Still, this year's holiday season will be a difficult time for Palm to come back into the market, given the large number of other smartphones slated for release in the months ahead, noted Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi. I think this is going to be the most competitive Christmas that I have seen in the last three years, Milanesi said.
p
Reith noted that Palm's deal with Telefónica Europe means the Palm Pre and Apple's iPhone 3GS will be competing for sales within the same subscriber pool for the first time. This brings head-to-head competition between the two smartphones, which is a good thing, Reith said. Now they can see just what it is that consumers are looking for in a smartphone.
p
Milanesi thinks Telefónica elected to pick up the Palm Pre because its exclusive iPhone deal with Apple runs out in September. Now that the iPhone is available in more countries, the initial excitement is...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Yahoo's SearchPad Organizes Extensive Research
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67602
Yahoo wants users of its search service to get rid of their pads and pencils and instead utilize a new feature it announced Tuesday called SearchPad. The feature automatically saves recent search items, including links, into a notepad that remains open while the user continues searching.
p
Once activated, SearchPad allows users to edit, save, print and share their notes with others, according to Yahoo.
p
The genesis of this feature was going out and meeting the people using various search engines and observing them in their natural environment and see how search is being used today, said Tom Chi, senior director of product and experience at Yahoo Search.
p
subheadHelp with Research/subhead
p
Search has evolved beyond quick one-word searches that result in a list of blue links. Now it is being used to conduct extensive research on various subjects, including placement of aging parents or the best schools for children.
p
You cannot do that in one search or in an hour of searching; that is something you will spend several weeks or months, Chi said. We believe this is truly a category of search that is underserved.
p
SearchPad is most useful for those conducting research in additional categories such as travel, health, jobs or academia, according to Yahoo.
p
When active, SearchPad automatically initiates note-taking once research on a specific topic begins. The service automatically collects visited Web sites and a thumbnail of content searched, and places it into a document for reference by the user.
p
While SearchPad is open, the user can add notes to the pad, drag and drop information, and add automatic attribution for a URL. Once all the search information is organized, the user can save the document for future use or send it to friends and family via e-mail or through social networks, including Facebook, Twitter or Delicious.
p
SearchPad, however, isn't for everyone, according...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Windows 7 Is Selling Well, But Microsoft Faces Challenges
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67595
The buzz is building around Microsoft Windows 7 -- in a tangible way. Despite the fact that the software giant's next operating system won't be available until October, people are flocking to Amazon.com and other retailers in droves to take advantage of special advance pricing.
p
Windows 7 is leading the list of available software products on Amazon.com once again this week -- discounts of 50 percent or more are available until July 11.
p
Amazon is selling the upgrade for Windows 7 Home Premium for $49, less than half the $119 suggested retail price. The Windows 7 Professional upgrade is selling for $99, half the retail price. Those who pre-order a copy of Windows 7 will receive the software on Oct. 22 when it is officially released.
p
subhead
Microsoft's Original Pricing Strategy
/subhead
p
But pricing may not be the ultimate issue. Microsoft faces a number of challenges, ranging from competitive pressure from Apple this year, from Google in 2010, and from the European Union about what is provided in Windows 7, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group.
p
When DOS hit the market, it represented about one percent of the cost of a new PC. And the revenue it generated came increasingly from the tools and applications that resided on top of it, Enderle said. Over time, the cost of the OS has increased by more than two times and the cost of a PC is now about 10 percent of what it initially was. The end result is a massive increase in the perceived price of Microsoft's operating system.
p
Complicating matters, Microsoft eventually launched a Windows group that measured its success by the sale of Windows. That, Enderle explained, turned a management process designed around a keystone product into one more closely aligned with a packaged application. That, in turn, resulted in pricing decisions designed...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Social Security Number Code Cracked, Study Claims
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67594
For all the concern about identity theft, researchers say there's a surprisingly easy way for the technology-savvy to figure out the precious nine digits of Americans' Social Security numbers.
p
It's good that we found it before the bad guys, Alessandro Acquisti of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh said of the method for predicting the numbers.
p
Acquisti and Ralph Gross report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they were able to make the predictions using data available in public records as well as information such as birthdates cheerfully provided on social networks such as Facebook.
p
For people born after 1988 -- when the government began issuing numbers at birth -- the researchers were able to identify, in a single attempt, the first five Social Security digits for 44 percent of individuals. And they got all nine digits for 8.5 percent of those people in fewer than 1,000 attempts.
p
For smaller states their accuracy was considerably higher than in larger ones.
p
Acquisti said in a telephone interview that he has sent the findings to the Social Security Administration and other government agencies with a suggestion they adopt a more random system for assigning numbers.
p
Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter said the public should not be alarmed by the report because there is no foolproof method for predicting a person's Social Security number.
p
The suggestion that Mr. Acquisti has cracked a code for predicting an SSN is a dramatic exaggeration, Lassiter said via e-mail.
p
However, he added: For reasons unrelated to this report, the agency has been developing a system to randomly assign SSNs. This system will be in place next year.
p
The researchers say their report omits some details to make sure they aren't providing criminals a blueprint for obtaining the numbers.
p
The predictability of the numbers increases the risk of identity theft, which cost Americans almost...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Sony Says Vaio W Is a Mini-Notebook, Not a Netbook
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67593
Sony on Tuesday unveiled the Vaio W PC. Many observers are pegging it as a late-to-the-game netbook.
p
Sony describes the Vaio W as a mini-notebook ideal as a secondary PC to surf the Web, check e-mail, and interact with friends and family on social-networking sites. The W comes in three colors -- berry pink, sugar white, and cocoa brown. It will be available in August in time for back-to-school sales.
p
The W Series lets you quickly look something up online, whether searching for a recipe in the kitchen or relaxing on your recliner -- there's no need to trudge upstairs to your office, said Mike Abary, senior vice president of the Vaio business group at Sony. And it's sturdy enough for the kids to use, making it perfect for every member of the family.
p
subhead
Not a Netbook
/subhead
p
The Vaio W is heavy on features. It offers a high-resolution, 1366x768, LED backlit 10.1-inch ultrawide display that allows users to view two full Web pages side by side without having to scroll back and forth.
p
The PC comes with a 160GB hard drive and Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. It also features an isolated keyboard with what Sony describes as springy keys that aim to make it comfortable and easy to use.
p
Although many observers see the Vaio W as a netbook, Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates, said netbooks are much cheaper and more simplified. The Vaio W, he said, is somewhere below a standard ultraportable and priced as such at $500.
p
Sony has always tried to offer premium products in all categories. That strategy has worked very well in recent years, Kay said. Sony's market share in the U.S. has dwindled. They still show up in the U.S. ranked seven out of the top 10, but their market share was down to 3.6 percent in...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Woman Seeks To Decrease $1.92M Fine for Downloads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67583
A woman ordered to pay $1.92 million for illegally sharing copyright-protected music is asking a U.S. judge to reduce the damages she must pay or grant a new trial, while the recording industry is taking steps to make sure she doesn't share music again.
p
Last month, a federal jury ruled Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and that she must pay $80,000 per song. In documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court, attorney Kiwi Camara argued this amount is grossly excessive.
p
Camara asked that the court either remove the statutory damages from the judgment, order that the damages be reduced to the statutory minimum -- which would result in a total award of $18,000 -- or grant a new trial altogether.
p
The plaintiffs did not even attempt to offer evidence of their actual injuries, seeking, instead, an award of statutory damages entirely for purposes of punishment and deterrence, Camara wrote, adding that the $1.92 million figure shocks the conscience and must be set aside.
p
He also wrote that civil penalties must relate to a defendant's own conduct and the injury she caused to the plaintiffs. Instead, he said, it seems the damages were awarded not because what Thomas-Rasset did, but because of the widespread and generalized problem of illegal music downloading.
p
Camara wrote that if a new trial isn't ordered, Thomas-Rasset would appeal based on evidence he argued should not have been allowed at trial.
p
This case was the only one of more than 30,000 similar lawsuits to make it all the way to trial. The vast majority of people targeted by the music industry had settled for about $3,500 each. The recording industry has said it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead working with Internet service providers to fight the worst offenders.
p
The Recording Industry Association of America had...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Sprint Offers 99-Cent Netbook That Will Cost About $1,440
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67573
Netbooks have been in a race to offer the lowest price, and Sprint Nextel is currently the winner in the U.S. On Monday, the carrier announced it will offer a Compaq-branded HP Mini 110c-1040DX for 99 cents with a two-year data contract.
p
The Compaq netbook has a 1.6-GHz Atom processor, one gigabyte of memory, an EVDO 3G modem, a 10-inch screen, a 160GB hard drive, Windows XP, and Wi-Fi. Sold separately, the Compaq model costs about $390.
p
The near-giveaway machine, only available at selected Best Buy stores, is part of a growing trend among carriers to offer inexpensive netbooks as an inducement for a data plan. ATT and Verizon Wireless offer comparable deals in the U.S., except their netbooks are $199 each.
p
subhead
About $1,440 For Two Years
/subhead
p
The razor in this razor-blade strategy is, of course, the data plan. Sprint's plan costs about $60 a month, or about $1,440 for two years.
p
Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said Sprint's price for the hardware is certainly competitive with ATT and Verizon Wireless, which are charging actual money for their netbooks.
p
He said the processor, near-full-sized keyboard, and 10-inch screen of the Compaq netbook are good enough for basic operations, but it has one specification that is way, way under what's needed -- the three-cell battery.
p
The battery isn't strong enough to get much work done, Greengart said, adding that there will also be a significant power drain from using the cellular network. You may not be tied to a hard-wired network connection or a Wi-Fi hot spot, he said, but you will be tied to an AC outlet.
p
Greengart pointed out that such near-zero prices for small computers have become common in Europe, and it's too early to tell if the Sprint offering will drive competitors' prices for netbooks down to virtually...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Philips Chooses Web for Epic Advertising
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67559
Selling consumers on a $4,000 home-theater TV these days requires some epic advertising.
p
Ad agency Tribal DDB and the Stink Digital shop delivered just that with an ad to help electronics giant Philips roll out a new set in its CinemaOne line that has a 56-inch, high-definition (1080p) LCD screen built to movie proportions.
p
The assignment was to own the idea of having a cinematic viewing experience at home, says Chris Baylis, executive creative director at Tribal DDB Amsterdam. From a production point of view, we thought it would suit the Web (rather than TV) and allow for better interaction.
p
So the final ad is not epic in the sense of the traditional big-budget, celebrity TV ad. But it is epic in its ambition: create an online video with an engaging cinematic storyline that also shows off the features of the product, and do it in an interactive way to pull the viewer in.
p
The story for the ad -- a quirky tale of evil clowns and a hospital heist gone bust -- was not the first choice. But the original idea for a Mission: Impossible rescue-theme story set at an opera house was deemed a little too ambitious. We had a script on the table, but it was too big to achieve in the time and budget required, so we had to rewind a bit, Baylis says.
p
Instead, admakers went with the clowns and filmed the story as a single-shot, frozen-motion movie for the Web. The video, at www.philips.com/cinema, lets people click on the screen to move and manipulate the shot and view hot spots within the video. It was all designed to let people learn more about movie-making and movie-watching.
p
The video highlights the key screen shape feature and a signature Philips backlighting feature called Ambilight. The screen proportion -- known in home theater...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Getting Software Onto Netbooks
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67557
Netbooks are trendy. They are small, light, and affordable, and they offer acceptable performance. They do have one problem, though: no drive for CDs or DVD-ROMs.
p
While this complicates the issue of installing software onto the machines significantly, all is not lost. Some programs can be started directly from other storage media like USB sticks or storage cards, or downloaded onto the netbook from the Internet.
p
If a CD or DVD-ROM is required for installation, then there are two other options available: either attach an external drive, or use a shared drive from another computer on the network. Simple external CD-ROM drives connected by USB cost less than 20 dollars. DVD drives can be purchased for around 40 dollars, and external DVD burners cost around 65 dollars.
p
External burners in the slim-line format are considered suitable peripherals for netbooks. The buyer should give some thought to how the external drive will draw its power, however.
p
Germany-based c't magazine recently tested six slim-line models priced between 60 and 110 dollars. Five were capable of drawing their power directly from the computer via the USB port without an external power plug. That's practical if the burner is going to be used on the go, away from a wall plug. Buyers are advised to check the compatibility of the external burner and mobile computer via USB before making a purchase.
p
If a PC is being used on the same network, its drive can then be made available to the notebook: in Windows the user need only right click on the drive and select Sharing and security from the context menu. In the next menu, select Share this folder on the network. Additional details can be set under Rights.
p
Windows Explorer must be used on the netbook to assign a letter to the networked drive: a right click on the...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
OMG! Positive Tone Boosts Yahoo Celeb Site to Top
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67554
Think of the most popular brands in celebrity news, and you'll probably come up with a small list that includes Entertainment Tonight, US Weekly and People.
p
Consider the most successful celebrity news destinations online, and something else jumps to the top. For more than a year, one site has attracted more eyeballs than any other in the realm of celebrity gossip: Yahoo Inc.'s omg.
p
With a dedicated staff of just five people, and more than a dozen shared with other Yahoo sites, the company has settled on a formula that Yahoo Media Group head Jimmy Pitaro calls highly profitable, though Yahoo won't reveal details.
p
The fact that Yahoo's entertainment site outdraws rivals that aim to break news -- such as TMZ.com, which broke the news of Michael Jackson's death -- helps illustrate that success online doesn't always mean being first and having exclusives.
p
It also marks a rare success for the struggling Internet portal, which has shed thousands of employees and shuttered several businesses, a process CEO Carol Bartz accelerated after being hired in January.
p
While Bartz said at a shareholders meeting in June that she felt too many entertainment stories make Yahoo's front page, Pitaro said she's a solid supporter of the company's media properties in general.
p
Omg puts a light, positive spin on articles and other tidbits that mostly come from other news organizations such as Access Hollywood and The Associated Press. The vital placement of omg links and blurbs on Yahoo's home page gives it access to some 500 million unique visitors a month.
p
The strategy has vaulted the 2-year-old site past People and TMZ, both units of Time Warner Inc., as well as other popular celebrity sites like PerezHilton.com.
p
According to the latest figures from tracking firm comScore, omg clocked 20.6 million unique visitors in May, a 65 percent increase from a year ago...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Senate To Post Staff Salaries, Expenses on Web
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67549
How your senators are spending their multimillion dollar budgets for staff salaries, travel, and office expenses may soon be just a computer mouse click away.
p
The Senate is planning to follow the House in posting office expenses on the Internet instead of in volumes that must to be purchased or viewed in Capitol office buildings.
p
The idea, says Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is to let people see what their lawmakers are doing with their taxpayer-funded office accounts -- and hold their feet to the fire for questionable expenses.
p
They've got it on computer. Just now make it available so everybody in the country can see it, Coburn said. So if you see something that doesn't look right, you can hold us accountable.
p
Coburn's move, expected to be approved Monday in a vote on a routine appropriations bill funding Congress' own budget, would require office expenses be posted online. The House and Senate would have to pass a compromise final bill before the new rule would take effect.
p
The Senate's move follows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's instructions last month to Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard to post House members' expense reports online at the earliest date. Beard has indicated that the expense reports would be posted by Aug. 31 of this year.
p
The more open disclosures would follow a major scandal involving the British Parliament and revelations of questionable or outright ridiculous expenses, such as $3,000 to replace a leaky pipe under a Conservative member's tennis court. Parliament's records had previously been secret.
p
Would-be watchdogs should probably tamper their expectations of what they'll find in the congressional reports. For starters, living expenses aren't covered as they are in Great Britain. Instead, they'll find salaries of lawmakers' staff aides, travel costs and itineraries, office supplies, rents for homestate offices and other mundane costs.
p
House members are permitted to lease cars...
Wed, 8 Jul 09
Web Viewers' Attention Spans Expand
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67542
When motion pictures were invented, at the end of the 19th century, most films were shorter than a minute, because of the limitations of the technology. A little more than a hundred years later, when Web videos were introduced, they were also cut short, for a very different reason.
p
Producers, by and large, thought their audiences were impatient. A three-minute-long comedy skit? Shorten it to 90 seconds. And so it became the first commandment of online video: Web users would watch only bite-size video clips on their computers.
p
New Web habits are defying that rule. As the Internet becomes a jukebox for every imaginable type of video -- from baby videos to television dramas -- producers and advertisers are discovering that users will watch for more than two minutes at a time.
p
The viral videos of YouTube 1.0 -- think dog-on-skateboard and cat-on-keyboard -- are being supplemented with a new, more vibrant ecosystem of online video. Production companies are creating 10- and 20-minute shows for the Internet and writing story arcs for their characters -- essentially, they're acting more like television producers, while operating far outside the boundaries of a network schedule. Some are specifically introducing new shows this month with the knowledge that American TV networks generally show repeats and reality shows over the summer.
p
Perhaps ironically, TV networks get much of the credit for the viewing behavior. In the past two TV seasons, nearly every broadcast show has been streamed free on the Internet, making users accustomed to watching TV online for 20 or more minutes at a time.
p
People are getting more comfortable, for better or for worse, bringing a computer to bed with them, said Dina Kaplan, the co- founder of Blip.tv.
p
Ms. Kaplan's company distributes dozens of Web series. A year ago, all but one of the top 25 shows on...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Microsoft Working on Patch for IE ActiveX Vulnerability
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67569
Microsoft has warned of a vulnerability in its Video ActiveX Control that affects Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The software giant said there have been limited attacks exploiting the vulnerability.
The flaw could be exploited by a visit to a malicious Web site and allow an attacker to take control of a PC. Microsoft said it is working on a security update, and meantime advised that users prevent Microsoft Video ActiveX Control from running in Internet Explorer.
The steps to stop the control in IE are a bit complex, but Microsoft offers a "Fix it for me" option at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972890.
Microsoft also recommends users of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 take these steps.
The Microsoft Video ActiveX Control connects DirectShow filters for video and is used in Windows Media Center. When the control runs in Internet Explorer, it can corrupt the system so that an attacker can run arbitrary code.
Security vendor Symantec said the vulnerability affects IE6 and IE7, but not IE8.
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Other Browsers Advance as Internet Explorer Slides
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67568
Microsoft's share of the global and North American browser markets continued to fall in June, according to StatCounter. The latest data from the Dublin-based Web metrics firm shows the software giant's Internet Explorer browser lost 9.27 percentage points of global market share during the past 11 months.
StatCounter also notes that Mozilla's new Firefox 3.5 release rapidly gained more than two percent of the U.S. browser market since its launch last week.
"The fastest version yet of Firefox has certainly sprinted out of the blocks with 2.06 percent usage in the U.S. in a short time," commented StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. "This latest addition boosts competition for Microsoft Internet Explorer in the browser market wars."
Rival Web metrics firm Net Applications also has noticed unusual changes on the browser front, though what it all means isn't yet clear. The company said it is currently conducting a review of its June data before releasing it to the public.
"We are investigating some significant variations in browser and operating-system statistics," Net Applications said. "The reports will not be available until we complete our review."
According to StatCounter, which collects user statistics from more than three million Web sites, Microsoft continues to lead the global browser market with a combined 59.5 percent share for IE6, IE7 and IE8. However, IE usage in North America has steadily fallen from 67.38 percent in July 2008 to 56.96 percent last month.
Mozilla remains firmly in second place in the worldwide browser market with a combined 30.4 percent share for its Firefox releases. Microsoft's leading browser rival also has picked up nearly 4.5 percentage points of global market share since July last year, according to StatCounter.
What's more, Firefox has moved within striking distance of toppling Microsoft from the top browser spot in Europe. Mozilla's browser grabbed a 39 percent share of...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Rumors Say Apple Will Add a Camera To iPods
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67567
Apple may be planning to add a camera to its iPods. Several Web sites have reported that the iPod touch and iPod nano may get the additions.
Currently, only all three models of Apple's iPhones have a still camera. The iPhone 3GS also allows video recording and editing and makes it easy to upload videos to YouTube, but it doesn't have a flash module for low-light situations.
One Web site, citing sources in Asia, said Apple has placed a "massive" order for camera modules for the iPod touch. Another site said new case designs said to be for the iPod touch and iPod nano have a hole for the camera.
Apple fans have been lobbying for a camera in the iPod. Such a development could pose a challenge to portable digital video cameras like the Flip, whose parent, Digital Video Technologies, was acquired by Cisco Systems in March.
Some observers remain skeptical of the reports, noting that the camera rumors have persisted for several years.
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Hulu Finally Adds ABC-TV Shows Amid Debate on Fees
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67566
More than two months after the online video service Hulu first announced a relationship with ABC-TV and said it would begin featuring content from the network, it has made its first shows available.
Six shows from season five of Grey's Anatomy have been added on Hulu.com and another 35 Web sites that offer the service. Two shows are from the season opener, two from the middle of the season, and the two shows leading up to the finale.
Other ABC shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives will be added to the lineup over the next two weeks, according to Hulu.com Editor Rebecca Harper, who announced the news in a blog post Monday.
Hulu.com is also using social-network services Twitter and Facebook to provide users with clues to what shows are coming this summer.
Hulu, a joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal, first announced the relationship with ABC in late April when it said Disney would acquire a stake in the company. Disney took a 30 percent stake and some seats on the board of directors, and Hulu received the right to feature shows from ABC, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. A representative from Providence Equity Partners, which backed Hulu with $100 million in funding, also has a seat on the board.
Along with offering content from NBC, Fox and Disney, Hulu also features programming from Comedy Central, Lionsgate, MTV Networks, National Geographic, Paramount, PBS, Sony Pictures Television, and Warner Bros. Television Group.
One major entertainment network missing from the Hulu service is CBS and a network CBS partially owns, CW. CBS has teamed up with Hulu rival TV.com.
While some executives gear up to provide the lineup of ABC content, others at Hulu may be working on rolling out a fee for the service, which...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Facebook Could Earn Billions by 2014 without Ads
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67538
There has been plenty of talk about how Facebook will generate revenue and much debate about its valuation. Now one of the social-networking giant's board members is making a bold prediction: Facebook will be hauling in billions of dollars in as little as five years.
The prediction came from Mark Andreessen, who just launched a Silicon Valley venture-capital firm to focus on innovative technology startups. Andreessen told Reuters that Facebook could break the $1 billion mark this year if it pushed hard to sell advertising. He expects Facebook to generate $500 million in 2009.
Andreessen is not just another venture capitalist. He's an Internet innovator. Andreessen founded Netscape Communications and built the first Web browser, an achievement that paved the way for the widespread use of the Internet.
"There's every reason to expect, in my view, that the thing can be doing billions in revenue five years from now," Andreessen told Reuters. His other predictions: MySpace may not be able to rebound, Twitter isn't making a mistake by not focusing on making money, and it's a mistake to sell your stock in Facebook.
"I don't disagree with that as a hypothetical matter," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "Billions can be 1.4 billion, $5 billion, or $10 billion."
Sterling's view isn't because Facebook is an advertising giant like Google. In fact, in his talks with companies large and small, he's heard mixed reports about the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook. Although Facebook will be a critical piece of every online marketer's strategy in one way or another, he said that doesn't necessarily mandate selling ads.
"Incorporating Facebook into your marketing plan is already a must-do for most folks who understand it, simply because there are so many people on Facebook," Sterling said. "Marketing on Facebook is happening...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Netscape Cofounder Launches Venture-Capital Firm
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67536
An Internet legend is launching a boutique venture-capital firm in Silicon Valley. Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape Communications, has teamed up with Ben Horowitz, his Netscape colleague, to form Andreessen Horowitz. The firm's first fund totals $300 million.
Andreessen Horowitz draws on the duo's experience as successful engineers and entrepreneurs to create a VC firm with the needs of today's technology startups in mind. The firm will make investments ranging from $50,000 to $50 million.
"Innovation is thriving despite the current economic climate," said Andreessen. "Ben and I are huge supporters of entrepreneurs and want to help turn today's sparks of brilliance into the next big thing."
Andreessen Horowitz described a "new philosophical approach" to venture-capital investing: Rather than being bound by tight restrictions on investment size or stage focus, the firm is open to committing any amount, up to $50 million, at various stages of a company's life.
"We see venture investing as a company-specific exercise," Horowitz said. "Therefore, we are looking for the best entrepreneurs and companies regardless of stage."
The firm will focus on investing in startups in the technology sector, including consumer Internet companies, cloud computing, networking, enterprise applications, and social-media businesses. Andreessen and Horowitz may take board seats in their portfolio companies.
Andreessen and Horowitz are no strangers to investing in startups. Since 2004, they have acted as angel investors for more than 45 companies, including Aliph (Jawbone), ExtraHop, LinkedIn and Twitter.
"We've had some time to test our investment approach and support great entrepreneurs," said Andreessen. "After years of angel investing, we decided to go pro and raise a fund."
Andreessen currently serves on the boards of eBay and Facebook, and is chairman of the board of Ning, which he cofounded and launched in 2005. Best known as the coauthor of...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Under-$300 CrunchPad Tablet Expected This Summer
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67535
In the growing environment of netbooks, smartbooks and other small computers, a new contender will emerge this summer -- the under-$300 CrunchPad tablet. The upcoming launch was reported by the San Francisco Business Times, which said Michael Arrington, who runs an influential technology blog called TechCrunch, will announce the Internet-only browsing device late this month or early next month.
Arrington began discussing the need for an inexpensive Net-browsing tablet about a year ago, at which time he asked TechCrunch readers for help in creating a "dead simple Web tablet." When he couldn't find a company to take on the task, he spearheaded the effort himself.
"These prototypes are real," Arrington told the Business Times, adding that he will soon be making "some really big announcements." The same publication also reported that he has incorporated a company called Crunchpad with 14 employees in Singapore.
The main idea behind the CrunchPad is that it's designed only for Web surfing, e-mail, music and watching online videos. There will be no hard drive or keyboard, although a user could add peripherals through a USB port. The device is Linux-based and boots up directly into a WebKit-based browser.
According to a report in Friday's New York Times, the CrunchPad will be 16 millimeters thick, the screen will be a minimum of 12 inches and flat with the surface of the aluminum case, and the product will be available in various colors. The Times also said the device will run on the Intel Atom chip, which is commonly used for small computing devices, and will support Adobe Flash.
Unlike super-secret projects that populate techdom, Arrington has been tracking on his TechCrunch blog the progress of the CrunchPad from its original concept design through various prototypes.
Arrington, a lawyer by trade, has a...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Shuttered Stores' Web Sites Still Sell
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67522
Circuit City. Linens 'N Things. Bombay Co. They're all out of business, their stores shuttered, many employees laid off.
But according to their old Web sites, they're all still selling, or planning to sell, the same stuff they always did -- everything from digital picture frames to leopard-print rugs.
How can this be? Didn't these companies shut down?
Typically, when a company goes out of business by way of bankruptcy, other companies buy its assets -- everything from cash registers and furniture to unsold merchandise. Also for sale are assets like the company's name, logo and Web site -- some experts say a name still has value even if the company has gone belly up.
That's why a store chain's Web site can live on -- and can even look largely unchanged -- after the company has gone under.
Here are some questions and answers about these phantom retailers.
Q: What are the old sites of out-of-business store chains doing?
A: Electronics retailer Circuit City, which closed down the last of its 567 stores in March, is one of the most prominent names that's gone under. Online retailer Systemax Inc. bought the Circuit City brand and Web site, http://www.circuitcity.com, in May. The company sells the same types of products that Circuit City did, like flat-panel televisions, computers and the Nintendo Wii, and says on its site it offers a wider selection than Circuit City had in its stores or online.
The Linens 'N Things brand also is still selling. The home goods retailer went out of business this past winter and in February a company called LNT Acquisition LLC bought the Web site LNT.com and the Linens 'N Things brand name, according to the Web site. It still sells items once found in the chain's stores, like dishes and bedding, and has since added more premium brands, like...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
To Follow Trip, Get Online and Get Onboard
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67498
For someone crisscrossing oceans in a 70-foot sailboat to stay at sea for 1,000 days without stops or resupplies, Reid Stowe is one of the planet's most accessible people -- online.
His 1000days.net -- for a voyage that started from New Jersey on April 21, 2007 -- offers far more than daily entries such as [a recent] post noting "the breaking wavetops spoke to me" or his explaining Sunday that "for me, speaking to you is speaking to God."
The site also has satellite tracking, video, audio, an online store, a handy way to use Paypal to pay $20-$49 to become an official "seaman," and listings of at least 33 corporate sponsors backing the venture.
Jeff Blumenfeld, who publishes Expedition News and wrote a new book called You Want to Go Where? that explains how explorers can get sponsorships, notes money was drying up for expeditions until the Internet arrived because sponsors didn't see much payoff.
"And then sponsors started to get it," he says. "These wouldn't be explorers who'd take off and you wouldn't hear from them for months. Online, you'd get exposure from them constantly."
Lots of expeditions were able to get backing, he says, that "would have had no chance without the Internet" -- like the explorer who hit golf balls across Mongolia, a drive across Europe in a truck powered by vegetable oil scavenged from restaurants, and a mountain biker pedaling from North America's lowest spot -- Death Valley -- to its highest -- Mount McKinley's peak.
Online, Stowe has chronicled plenty of drama -- wild storms, exotic sea life and his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad, becoming pregnant and going ashore -- even as he mixes in shout-outs to sponsors who make his isolation possible. Says Blumenfeld: "Without the Internet, he'd just be the Kon-Tiki."
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Internet Fraud, Scams Are on the Rise
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67485
As more of our lives are conducted online, including our financial lives, the risk of falling prey to online crime also grows. In 2008, a record-setting 275,284 complaints were filed, according to the latest report of the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Crimes, both fraudulent and nonfraudulent, increased by more than 32% in the United States between 2004 and 2008, and the amount of money reported lost annually skyrocketed from $68 million to $265 million.
Fraud complaints include auction fraud, credit and debit card frauds, and nondelivery of goods or services. Nonfraud complaints include computer intrusions (hacking/cracking), spam, and child pornography.
One of the biggest stories of 2008 was the popularity of fraudulent FBI e-mails used in identity-theft schemes, the report notes. Another development was the increasingly personalized nature of the contacts to gain trust of the victims, allowing fraudsters to take over unsecured e-mail accounts.
Despite the global nature of the Internet, more than 66% of the perpetrators of Internet crimes were from the United States, as were 92% of the complaints that the organization received.
Predicting where, when, how, and whom Internet crimes and frauds may strike is impeded by the many variables of individual Internet usage -- more time spent using the Internet increases exposure, for instance, but also increases a user's experience and Net savvy.
The report concludes that the best crime-fighting strategy is proactive prevention measures. Users need to educate themselves about Internet crimes and fraud schemes, and be more aware of their own risky behaviors.
Tips offered by the report for preventing Internet crimes include:
* In Internet auctions, learn as much about the seller as you can and see what actions the auction site will take in the event of a problem.
* Obtain a physical address for the seller, not just a post office box.
* Be particularly cautious in responding to...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Embracing New Media To Reach Customers
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67456
As traditional media continues to lose audiences, businesses are increasingly focused on new media formats, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, to connect with customers. The goal should be to reach your precise target audience.
New media allows marketers to activate the interested and turn them into campaigners for products and services. Advocates drive success. You may have the shiniest needle in the haystack, but without help, few will notice your podcast, blog, or Flash-enhanced Web site.
Once noticed, however, the best in any category will be discussed among the most passionate talkers and bloggers in that field. The trick is to learn where those people "hang out" and give them some-thing worth talking about (and forwarding to fellow aficionados).
How do you make viral marketing work for you? A good example is the Blendtec blender. The company's home blender sells for about $400 retail--a huge premium considering that most decent blenders sell for about $50. This is one tough blender, though. Tom Dickson, CEO of Blendtec hadn't even heard of YouTube in late 2006 before his marketing manager, George Wright, decided to try a viral marketing stunt by posting a few homespun videos on the Internet. Dickson actually became the main character in the "Will it blend?" videos.
In a matter of weeks, spending under $100, Blendtec generated rabid interest in its blender and increased sales dramatically because millions watched the company's YouTube videos.
The viral campaign worked like magic. Thousands of people rushed out to purchase a $400 Blendtec when a $39.95 Hamilton Beach blender would make just as fine a smoothie. In 2006, Blendtec sales were well under $10 million. By 2007, Blendtec sales exceeded $40 million. That astronomical growth resulted from giving the marketplace something unique, compelling and remarkable (as well as funny) to spread around.
E-mail marketing is almost...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Brazil: Venture Capital's Next Hotbed?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67440
Brazil is best known around the world for soccer, samba music, and supermodels. Now it's emerging as an attractive destination for investment capital.
At a June 25 conference in New York, a Brazilian venture capital trade group announced some impressive figures. As of the end of 2008, local and foreign investors had committed $28 billion in venture and private equity capital to Brazilian companies, said Luiz Figueiredo, president of the Brazilian Association for Private Equity & Venture Capital. That's up from $6 billion in 2004, amounting to a hearty 50 percent compound annual growth rate over the last four years. Investors have financed 500 Brazilian companies to date with venture or private equity capital, and there's $12 billion left to invest over the next few years from that $28 billion kitty.
Venture and private equity players see ample opportunity in Brazil, which boasts a stable financial system and a strong base of local investors. But the country's business challenges, including high taxes and restrictive labor laws, could hold back growth.
The conference on investment opportunities in Brazil was hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce and drew more than 150 investors, executives, and technologists. An initial public offering and a large investment underscored the event's theme.
On June 25, Brazilian stock exchange Bovespa hosted the worlds largest IPO this year, a $4.3 billion offering by Brazilian credit-card processor VisaNet. The same day, Boston private equity firm Advent International announced that it has bought a 50 percent stake in Brazilian holding company PAP for $142 million. PAP controls Kroton Educational, a fast-growing education company. It was Advents fifteenth investment in Brazil since 1997.
Investors are planning to increase their exposure to emerging markets, and Brazil is becoming a more attractive place for investments, according to an Apr. 6 survey...
Tue, 7 Jul 09
Building Strong Customer Relationships
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67431
Capital Media Group LLC has grown from an idea in 2002 to a business posting revenue of $60 million in 2008 thanks to the efforts of Tony Somers and six other owners. They did it, in large part, by focusing on building strong relationships with a small number of companies.
"You go to the supermarket and there's two bottles of water, and one is 99 cents and one is 89 cents," says Somers, president of the wholesale distributor of removable data storage products. "The average individual will buy the 89-cent bottle of water because they are the same. When you're in a commoditized world, which we are, that's difficult to be able to differentiate ourselves. I think the big thing is our people and the owners and the relationships they've built with customers."
Smart Business spoke with Somers about how to build customer relationships, familiarizing yourself with your customers' companies and delivering on your promises.
Understand your customers. The key is, what's going to help somebody's business, help them grow their business. If, ultimately, you're bringing them an opportunity to add greater profitability, greater efficiency to their organization then, by definition, they should look to you as someone that they see as a valued partner.
If all they see you as is another me-too, then they're more than likely going to say, 'Well, we'll see.' You might get orders, but you might not develop that long-term relationship.
It's key that you understand their business, whatever their business is, and make sure that whatever the offering, you give them slots into the model, that you're not trying to fit a round peg into a square hole sort of thing.
You have to, first and foremost, get to whoever the senior decision-makers are within that company. Often, buyers aren't owners of the company or part of their executive...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
Advertising Guidelines To Enhance Privacy on the Web
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67534
The nation's largest media and marketing trade associations introduced a set of self-regulatory principles on Thursday to enhance privacy protection for consumers surfing the Web.
Among other things, advertisers and Web sites will be required to clearly inform consumers about the data-collection practices they use. The new guidelines also will enable online users to exercise control over their personal information.
"This historic collaboration represents businesses and trade associations working together to advance the public interest," said Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg. "We are acting early and aggressively on their concerns, to reinforce their trust in this vital medium that contributes so significantly to the U.S. economy."
The new set of principles represents the behavioral advertising industry's direct response to mounting criticism from members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier this year, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz warned the industry that it needed to do a better job of delivering meaningful, rigorous self-regulation.
"Put simply, this could be the last clear chance to show that self-regulation can -- and will -- effectively protect consumers' privacy in a dynamic online marketplace," Leibowitz said.
Self-regulation, if it works, can be the fastest and best way to change the status quo, Leibowitz noted. "If there isn't an appropriately vigorous response, my sense is that Congress and the commission may move toward a more regulatory model," Leibowitz said.
The industry has incorporated many of the ideas that consumer advocacy watchdogs such as the Center for Democracy and Technology have suggested. On the upside, noted CDT Chief Computer Scientist Alissa Cooper, the guidelines include a robust framework for providing notice outside of privacy policies, and lay the groundwork for the use of a uniform link or icon that would appear on any Web site or advertisement where data is collected or used for...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
Teen Releases First Jailbreak App for iPhone 3GS
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67533
The first jailbreak application for Apple's new iPhone 3GS has been made available just two weeks after the iPhone debuted. George Hotz, a 19-year-old Google employee originally from New Jersey, created the application.
Jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS allows a user to install any programs directly onto the iPhone, including applications that are not from Apple.
Hotz, at the age of 16, was credited with being part of the team that unlocked the first-generation iPhone. The unlock, announced in a blog post, allowed users to operate the first-generation iPhone with any SIM card. Hotz traded his unlocked iPhone for three regular iPhones and a Nissan 350Z.
"Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and would rather wait for the development team to do it. But guys, what's up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played," Hotz wrote in his blog Friday. "We release, Apple fixes, and we find new holes."
In his blog post, Hotz provides a step-by-step explanation of what users need to do to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS and teases that a jailbreak for the Mac OS is coming soon.
Before jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS, Hotz warns users to be prepared by having Windows (not Windows 7) installed on a PC, the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. He also warns potential jailbreakers to first back up all their files and programs.
Once the preparations are complete, Hotz urges those interested in completing the break to go to purplera1n.com.
Once at the Web site, Hotz instructs users to click "make it ra1n" and wait. On bootup users need to run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.
"Hopefully you'll figure out what to do from there," Hotz wrote. If not, users are instructed to e-mail purplera1n support or call a support hotline.
Purplera1n is small enough, Hotz wrote,...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
China Testing Mac Version of Green Dam Web Filter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67532
Despite the delay in China's requirement to install Green Dam Web-filtering software on all new PCs, the controversy is not dead. PC makers are including the software with new PCs even though the July 1 deadline has been postponed indefinitely.
On Thursday, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology told China Daily that the mandate has not been canceled, only delayed. News media reported that China definitely plans to require Green Dam.
In addition, Green Dam publisher Jinhui Computer System Engineering is reportedly testing a version for Apple's Mac computers, which so far have been exempt.
China says the Green Dam-Youth Escort software is meant to protect young people from pornography and violence on the Web. However, opponents say it would be used for political repression. A survey found that many Chinese would not pay for the software after a one-year free trial period.
China originally directed all PC makers to pre-install Green Dam on all PCs sold in China, with a July 1 deadline. However, the ministry delayed the deadline on June 30. Earlier, it had modified its mandate to say that the Green Dam CDs could be included with new PCs rather than pre-installed.
Multiple tests found the software vulnerable to malware, and Sony has included a disclaimer about the software with its PCs. Tests also showed Green Dam blocked images of cartoon cat Garfield and roast pork, and returned links to both soft- and hard-core pornography.
Sat, 4 Jul 09
MySpace Cyberbullying Conviction Reversed, for Now
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67531
On Thursday, a federal judge threw out the conviction of Lori Drew for her part in a MySpace ruse that ended with a 13-year-old girl committing suicide. Drew was convicted in November, but appealed her case.
The indictment alleged that Drew, along with others, registered as a member of MySpace under the name Josh Evans. Drew and her co-conspirators then used the Josh Evans account to contact Megan and began what the girl believed was an online romance with a 16-year-old boy.
After approximately four weeks of flirtations between Evans and Megan, Drew and her co-conspirators broke off the relationship. Within an hour, Megan hanged herself in her room. She died the next day.
U.S. District Judge George Wu acquitted Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. The ruling is tentative until the judge puts it in writing and pointed to another case where a judge changed his mind after his initial ruling, signaling that the case is not final. Prosecutors are seeking a three-year prison sentence and a $300,000 fine.
The indictment alleged Drew and her co-conspirators violated MySpace's terms of service that prohibit users from using fraudulent registration information, using accounts to obtain personal information about juvenile members, and using the MySpace communication services to harass, abuse or harm other members.
In the government's theory, if someone signs up for an online service and then does not follow the rules of that service, the use of the service is unauthorized and thus (according to this indictment) a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1030. That law is used to prosecute people who break into a computer system.
p
However, Wu said to convict Drew would mean anyone who has ever violated MySpace's terms of service would also be guilty of a misdemeanor. Ultimately, he decided such a ruling would be unconstitutional....
Sat, 4 Jul 09
Web Retailers, States Tussle Over Tax Rules
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67529
In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.
p
Increasingly, states aching under the weight of the recession are seeking a way around that rule. Because companies like Amazon.com Inc. get help drumming up sales from online affiliates -- people who link to products on their blogs, promote Web shopping deals and offer coupons -- several states say the Internet retailers should charge sales taxes in states where those affiliates are based.
p
The financial benefits may not be quite what the states anticipate, though. Rather than gearing up to collect taxes, Amazon and other Web retailers are simply shutting down their affiliate marketing programs. As the small businesses that participate in these programs get cut off, a state could lose tax revenue rather than add to it.
p
A look at what the affiliates do helps explain why. They're just one of several methods that e-commerce companies have for driving visitors to their Web sites, so nixing them is not necessarily a big loss for the companies.
p
It's a far bigger deal to people like Rich Owings.
p
By running Web sites like GPSTracklog.com from his home in Asheville, North Carolina, Owings serves as an affiliate for Amazon and other companies. Owings, 53, spends most of his time reviewing GPS gadgets and covering industry news. He links to navigation products of his choosing on Amazon's site, and if his readers click through and buy one, he gets a commission.
p
Owings estimates he brought in about $80,000 in affiliate revenue from various companies in 2008, about $50,000 of which came from Amazon. After Amazon recently shuttered its North Carolina affiliate program in response to that state's attempt to collect sales taxes, Owings said he and his wife were thinking about...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
Creating Order from Chaos with Evernote
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67512
When he parks his car, author Timothy Ferriss snaps a photo of the nearest cross streets with his camera phone. In business meetings, he'll often take pictures of sketches and notes made on a whiteboard. When he's out for dinner, he'll whip out the phone again to capture an image of the label on the wine he's drinking. He never knows when he'll want to recall the data later.
p
Ferriss, a productivity expert, blogger, and author of the best-selling book The 4-Hour Workweek, then ships those photos to what he calls his augmented brain, which exists not in his head, but on the Web.
p
He is one of a growing number of people using a Web-based service and software application running on smartphones and PCs called Evernote that is quickly becoming a receptacle for much of the ephemera that otherwise gets cluttered and sometimes lost in a person's busy life.
p
At first, Ferriss resisted the suggestion from readers of his blog that he try the application. I have this philosophical stance where I tend to avoid accumulating new gadgets and software because usually they create more work than they are meant to prevent, Ferriss says. But when a few reader suggestions turned into dozens, he decided to try it. At first it wasn't clear what the appeal was. But the more I used it, it became really clear why they liked it.
p
subhead
Word Recognition in Photos
/subhead
p
Founded by Stepan Pachikov, who co-founded handwriting recognition software company Parascript and is a former vice-president of Silicon Graphics, Evernote is designed for people struggling to become more organized. A February survey by the National Association of Professional Organizers, a trade group, found that 96 percent of some 400 adults said they could save time every day if they were better organized. No one remembers everything as well as...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
China Learns Its Limits in Pullback on Web Filter
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67511
When China's authoritarian leaders are on top of their game, they can make awesome feats look breathlessly easy, lacing the coasts with bullet trains, throwing up vast airports seemingly overnight, plopping scores of power plants on the landscape like some giant farmer setting out rice shoots.
p
When they are off their game, it becomes apparent that managing a billion-plus people is not easy at all, even with near-absolute power.
p
Which is why, some here say, the government issued an embarrassing last-minute postponement on Tuesday of a plan to require Internet-censorship software on every computer sold here.
p
Technology experts said on Wednesday that the turnabout appeared to be the product of miscalculation and poor execution by a government bureaucracy whose reach -- a penchant for ratcheting up security -- exceeded its grasp.
p
That China's leaders have pressed for extraordinary restrictions on free speech and political protest this year, amid a stretch of politically sensitive anniversaries, could have led the program's backers to assume they had more support at the top echelons of the government than actually existed.
p
We outsiders tend to perceive the Chinese government as a monolith, said David Wolf, a technology consultant and blogger on Chinese technology matters based in Beijing.
p
But it's precisely these kinds of policies that underscore that there are actually a whole range of groups inside the government making policies, to a certain extent, without regard to broader issues.
p
Few outside the government know clearly how the plan to require censorship software, called Green Dam-Youth Escort, materialized.
p
The government's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which sponsored the program, has described Green Dam as a software program that blocks pornographic and violent content on computers.
p
Some reports suggest, however, that the developers of the software had close connections to China's security apparatus and that the proposal to require the software enjoyed support there.
p
From the...
Sat, 4 Jul 09
Cyberspace Shapes Up To Be Next Battleground
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67484
Congressional computers have been penetrated, probably by the Chinese. The avionics system of the F-22 fighter may be compromised. Computers of our presidential candidates were hacked into --- and probably not by teenagers on a lark.
p
Last year's advance of Russian tanks into Georgia was accompanied by the disruption of Georgian government computer systems.
p
These are only public manifestations of a new reality: Attacks on computer systems will be an integral element of future conflict, and the United States is more dependent on computer networks than any other nation.
p
Both policy-makers and the military are in the early stages of coming to grips with this threat. We need to take some important first steps to strengthen our national capability to defend ourselves in cyberspace.
p
First, we must abandon the notion that static defenses will help us against sophisticated threats.
p
One bipartisan Senate bill proposes to establish a government committee to set standards for all computer systems and software.
p
This is the electronic equivalent of building a Maginot Line of concrete fortifications against a mobile enemy.
p
It may keep common criminals at bay, but it will be no defense against a mobile and adaptable top-tier adversary.
p
American government and private computer systems operate on an interconnected global network that is constantly changing like a biological organism.
p
It operates at light speed, and both friends and adversaries are connected to the same network.
p
We must anticipate that the most dangerous players will stay quiet until a time of national tension.
p
Our cyber-defense capabilities must be inherently dynamic, with a close connection between system operators, intelligence analysts, and the researchers who can rapidly build and deploy tools to protect or restore vital capabilities.
p
Second, our intelligence on other countries' cyber capabilities must be strengthened.
p
We have scores of trained experts who know the ins and outs of foreign radars and missile systems and almost none who...
Fri, 3 Jul 09
Another Porn App Gets Booted From Apple's App Store
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67527
Week after week, Apple sees controversy swirl around its App Store like no other smartphone maker. Yet again, the controversy has focused on pornographic content.
The latest application to attempt to make its way into the App Store is called BeautyMeter. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users view user-submitted images of men and women, then rate them based on anatomy and clothing. One image up for rating was of a topless 15-year-old girl. Apple booted the application on Thursday.
But that wasn't the first time a pornographic application made its way through Apple's approval process. The App Store has a policy that prohibits pornography or explicit content of any kind.
Last week, Apple removed an application called Hottest Girl because it published photos of topless women. In both cases, the applications got by the approval process because the developers slipped in the nude pictures after the program was vetted.
The list of applications Apple has rejected continues to grow. In some cases, Apple initially approved an application, only to ban it later. In others, Apple originally banned the application and then accepted it after a firestorm of negative publicity. Still others were rejected for good.
In May, Apple rejected the Me So Holy App for having "objectionable" content. The application let iPhone users choose their religion, take a picture of themselves, and insert their face in 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.
Apple initially approved and later removed the controversial Baby Shaker application in April. Sikalosoft developed Baby Shaker, which featured a drawing of a crying baby, and the object of the game was to get the baby to stop crying. This was accomplished by...
Fri, 3 Jul 09
Hybrid Cellular Satellite Will Boost Rural Coverage
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67526
European space transportation provider Arianespace launched its largest satellite ever on Wednesday on behalf of TerreStar Networks -- a Virginia-based company that intends to inaugurate a hybrid satellite/cellular service in the United States and Canada later this year.
TerreStar Networks has already developed a Windows Mobile smartphone with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen capabilities for its new hybrid service. The handset will automatically switch from AT&T's terrestrial cellular network to a satellite link at any location within the 50 U.S. states where AT&T's local coverage is unavailable.
"We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead -- in both the commercial and government sectors," said TerreStar President Jeff Epstein. "And we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business-continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities."
The new TerreStar-1 satellite is equipped with an 18-meter reflector capable of sending and receiving signals via about 500 spot beams, each of which will function as a cellular tower in the sky for a specific localized area. Moreover, each individual spot beam can be custom controlled to increase the available capacity for emergency personnel responding to a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, which decimated a large part of southern Louisiana's communications infrastructure.
"TerreStar-1 has the capability to increase both power and capacity dynamically across spot beams with advanced ground-based beam-forming technology," a company spokesperson said. "This feature will be especially important to emergency responders and other critical users."
TerreStar's $300 million satellite also has the potential to fulfill one of the priority objectives of the national broadband plan currently under development at the FCC. Later this year, the fledgling network operator intends to begin providing core voice, data and video services to rural businesses and consumers in areas where cellular coverage is spotty or even nonexistent.
"We are creating...
Fri, 3 Jul 09
Facebook Will Simplify Confusing Privacy Controls
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Facebook will again tweak its privacy controls to give its 200 million users simplified control over what they want the public and their friends to see. In the past months, Firefox has added multiple privacy controls that confused and angered its members.
Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly said Wednesday that Facebook will begin a series of tests to simplify choices. "With the test we're announcing today, we'll move toward simplifying these settings and putting them all on the same page," Kelly said.
Facebook users will soon begin to see the move to new settings. During the process, Facebook will ask offer a Transition Tool so users can select their level of sharing.
The settings will be tested by 40,000 U.S. Facebook users in week one, using one of the six versions of the Transition Tool. Tests in week two will include 80,000 users worldwide.
In week three, Facebook will slowly begin rolling out the final product to all users.
"I think that Facebook very much needed to revamp its user interface, the many mechanisms that deal with privacy controls," said Ray Valdes, a Gartner analyst. "This had become complex due to a steady accumulation of features over the years that needed to be put back in order toward a more cohesive user experience."
The slew of updates and changes to the social-networking site included the "everyone" option in March, which allowed users to share all information, including photos and posts. Last week, Facebook launched a beta version of the Publisher Privacy Control, which allows users to decide who can see their published content on a per-post basis.
Combined, those features enable users to allow some posts to be seen by everyone and other posts to be seen only by select friends.
"You will have the choice of being as open...
Fri, 3 Jul 09
'BugDay' Planned To Fix Bugs in New Firefox 3.5
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67523
Mozilla is scrambling to fix bugs in its just-released Firefox 3.5 browser. Users are posting complaints about problems across the Web.
Those problems include longer load times and crashes linked to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. The browser also reportedly has problems with Windows XP. Mozilla has set a community "BugDay" for July 7 to address the bugs in open-source Firefox 3.5.
Firefox 3.5.1 is expected to be released later this month to correct some of the 55 published bugs. Firefox 3.5 was released to the public on June 30, although a beta version was released in April.
Among the new features of Firefox 3.5 touted by Mozilla was speed, with the new release said to be twice as fast as Firefox 3.0 and 10 times faster than Firefox 2. Mozilla also pointed to better JavaScript performance, a new Private Browsing mode, and location-based browsing.
Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux and has more than 300 million active users.
The Private Browsing allows Firefox 3.5 users to protect their privacy online. In this mode, nothing viewed on the Web is stored on the user's computer.
Firefox 3.5 also has a Forget this Site feature, which allows users to remove all traces of a site from the browser. A Clear Recent History feature lets users decide what data or activity should be removed.
The Location Aware feature is optional. When turned on, it allows Web sites to provide information based on the user's location.
Firefox 3.5 also includes support for HTML 5 video and audio.
Fri, 3 Jul 09
Sentencing Scheduled for Mom in MySpace Hoax
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=67518
A Missouri mother faces up to three years in prison at her sentencing Thursday in Los Angeles for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who later killed herself.
Lori Drew was convicted in November on three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. A defense motion to dismiss the convictions has received a lengthy review from U.S. District Judge George Wu, who delayed Drew's sentencing in May to review the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.
Much attention has been paid to Drew's case, primarily because it was the nation's first cyber